The Amish Buggy Horse BOXED SET Books 1-3 (Amish Romance Book Bundle: Faith, Hope, Charity) (Boxed Set: The Amish Buggy Horse) (17 page)

1 Corinthians
15: 19 - 20.
If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Chapter 17
.

The following week, Melissa arrived at Isobel's place of work in a breathless state.

Her friend looked up in alarm. "
Was der schinner is letz
?" she asked.

"Nothing's wrong. It's just that Irene is on her way back and I don't know whether to give notice or not. I wanted to talk it over with you before I come to a decision."

Isobel nodded. "Okay, well it's time for my lunch break; I'll just tell Mr. Harrison that I'm going."

Isobel disappeared into the back room and reappeared moments later. "Let's go."

The two girls hurried to their favorite café. No sooner than they were seated at their usual table overlooking the street, than the waitress hurried over to take their order. Melissa ordered first. "A sugar and spice latte, and a smoked salmon bagel, please."

The waitress looked at Isobel. "A chai tea latte and a smoked ham, cold sandwich on multi-grain, sunflower bread please."

The waitress smiled and left. "You know," Isobel said, "I didn't see her write anything down - did you?"

Melissa chuckled. "
Nee
. She probably just wanted to make sure that were having the same thing that we always have."

The two girls laughed, but suddenly, Melissa grabbed Isobel's hand. "Don't look around."

Isobel at once turned around.

"Isobel! I said not to turn around."

"Sorry. Why, what shouldn’t I be looking at?"

"It's Victor Byler."

Isobel's face lit up. "Oh, I really want to see him. Can’t I take just a little peek?"

Melissa shook her head. "
Nee
,
nee
, he's with an Amish woman. They're sitting in the secluded booth right over in the back corner."

Isobel at first looked concerned. "
Hmm
, well I suppose it could be his
mudder
, or his
schweschder
. Don’t jump to conclusions."

"He's an only child," Melissa whispered. "I've read his file. And she's too young to be his
mudder
. His back's to me, but I can see her face clearly. She's a young, pretty Amish woman, and their heads are close together."

"Are you sure it’s him?" Isobel asked as their drinks arrived. She briefly stole a glance over her shoulder. "You can't really see much as the booth's partially obscured - you can really only see the girl's face."

"
Jah, jah
," Melissa said. "It's him all right. Plus I don't recognize the girl, so she can’t be from our community."

"I only got a quick look but I didn't recognize her either. Melissa, I've said it once and I’ll say it again, don’t jump to conclusions. She could be anyone."

Yet try as she might, Melissa was unable to do anything other than jump to conclusions. "Isobel, could we please get our lunch to go? I truly can’t sit here looking at Victor all the time."

Isobel raised her eyebrows, but did as Melissa asked. The two girls took their lunch to a nearby park. Isobel chatted away happily, but Melissa was unable to concentrate. Who was the Amish girl? And what was she to Victor?

By the time Melissa arrived back at the office, she was in turmoil, and still scolding herself for having feelings for an
Englischer
. He wasn't exactly wholly an
Englischer
, but the fact remained that he was not Amish; he was not back in the community. There was no future with any
mann
who was not in the community. Melissa sighed loudly. Perhaps Victor was intending to come back to the community, and marry the Amish girl? Of course - it was obvious. Why hadn't she realized it before?

Melissa was sure she had figured it out. She had mistaken Victor's interest in returning to the Amish, for interest in her. He had been speaking to the bishop because he intended to return to the community, and now, he had brought his betrothed over to their town, likely to meet the bishop, as he intended to continue to live here when he was married. It all fitted together. How could she have been so stupid?

Melissa sank into the depths of despair, despair over her feelings for Victor, and despair that she had been so silly. Melissa threw herself into the filing, which only somewhat took her mind off her situation. Near the end of the day, the computer froze. It used to freeze all the time, but then several weeks ago had started working again.

Melissa was about to call Milly, when she came into her office. "Oh, Milly, I was just coming to get you. The computer's frozen again."

Milly sighed. "I think Irene will have to replace it. I thought it was fixed. Here, I’ll have a go; sometimes I can get it to work again. Anyway, we're out of termination forms, and I need to print out a set right now. There's a man at the front desk to see you. One of the difficult clients; he's leaving the agency." She tut-tutted. "Irene won’t be pleased."

Melissa walked out, her heart in her mouth, worried that the client might be Anthony Pollard, only, standing in front of her with a wide smile on his face, was Victor Byler.

"Victor, you're leaving the agency," she blurted.

Victor looked puzzled. "I thought I’d mentioned that before."

Melissa bit her lip. "Oh yes, you did."

Victor took a step toward her. "You're not happy that I'm leaving the agency? I thought you’d be happy."

Melissa was entirely puzzled. Why would she be happy that he was leaving the agency? She'd never see him again. "But, why?" she stammered.

A look of confusion passed across Victor's face. "I thought you’d know."

Melissa shook her head and tried to avoid his gaze. Had Victor seen her at the café after all? If so, then she would be expected to know that he had a girlfriend and so was leaving the agency.
That must be the explanation
, Melissa thought with dismay.

"I've got them!"

Both Melissa and Victor looked up at Milly, who was waving some forms. "The termination forms. I managed to print them," she said as an aside to Melissa.

Melissa took the opportunity to leave the room, but despite her misgivings, could not stop herself listening on the other side of the door.

"We're sorry to see you go, Mr. Byler," Milly said. "Can you tell me why you're leaving?"

Melissa could not hear Victor's response but then realized that he had not yet answered. "Well, I've fallen in love," he finally said.

"That's wonderful," Milly said. "Is it one of our ladies?"

Melissa turned away. She knew the answer to that one. Victor was getting married to the Amish girl at the café. She had been such a fool.

1 Corinthians
15: 19 - 20.
If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Chapter 18
.

Milly came back into the room. "Mr. Byler wants to speak to you again."

Melissa shook her head. "Please tell him that I'm not available."

Milly gave her a strange look but disappeared to do as she asked.

Melissa looked at the clock on the wall. Thank goodness, it was time to leave for the day. When Irene returned, she would give her notice. She walked into the front office, looking around the door first to see if Victor was still there. "Milly, has he gone?"

Milly nodded. "What was all that about?"

Melissa shrugged. "I've had enough of the difficult clients. 'Bye, Milly."

"Goodbye, Melissa; I'm about to close up."

Melissa walked to her parking spot, filled with conflicting emotions. When she reached her parking place, she groaned aloud. Could the day get any worse? Blessing was gone. She walked over and looked at the double clip she had used to tie him. The clips seemed to be working well enough, so how had he gotten away? Well, that wasn't the issue; the issue was to find him, and fast.

Melissa looked around, and then it dawned on her; Blessing had gone to Victor Byler's store before. What if he had gone there again? That could prove awkward and embarrassing.

Melissa hurried in the direction of Victor's store, hoping that one of his staff members would find Blessing and be on their way back with him right now. She sent up a silent prayer as she hurried.
Please help me, Gott
.

When Melissa turned the corner, she saw to her great relief that Blessing was tied next to Raymond's horse and buggy. Melissa let out a long sigh of relief. Someone must have caught him and tied him up, and this time, Blessing had been content to stay put. She hurried over to him. "Blessing, I was so worried."

"That's twice he's turned up here," said a gentle voice.

Melissa swung around to see Victor standing behind Blessing.

"Oh, Victor! Sorry, I didn’t see you there."

Victor walked over to her. "Melissa, I'm sorry if I've upset you."

Melissa groaned inwardly. This was rapidly turning embarrassing. "
Nee
,
nee
, not at all," she said. "Congratulations."

"Congratulations?" Victor frowned, and scratched his head.

Oh, I've put my foot in it
, Melissa thought.
He’ll know that I found out that he said that he's in love with someone
. Melissa didn't know what to say, so her mouth went into overdrive. "
Err
, yes, you told Melissa you were in love with someone, so I meant congratulations on that, and on returning to the community. Oh well, I figure that you're returning to the Amish, as she's Amish."

"She?" Victor's brows met in the middle.

Why did he say that?
Melissa wondered. "Yes, the Amish lady in the café."

"The café?"

"Oh, you didn't know I was there. I was having lunch with my friend, Isobel, and I saw you in the café with the Amish lady."

Victor's face suddenly lit up. "Ahhhh!" he said. "That explains everything. Now I see."

Melissa frowned at him. She was a little cross that he looked so happy when her feelings were so hurt.

"Melissa, can we go for a walk in the park? There are some things I want to explain to you."

Melissa wanted to walk in the park with Victor, just to be close to him, but she did not want to prolong the agony and she did not want to hear him profess his love for the Amish girl. "
Nee
, I’d best be getting back to my
haus
."

"Please, Melissa, it’s important."

Melissa stood there in two minds.

"Please." His tone was urgent.

"All right then."
You fool, Melissa
, she thought, silently scolding herself for giving into him.

Melissa followed Victor into the park, and across the well maintained lawns. It was a lovely day, with happy ducks splashing under the fountain, but the beauty of the day was lost on Melissa, just as it had been in her earlier visit to the park that day. Victor turned onto the paved walking path that traversed the length of the park, running alongside the stone waterway.

Finally, just past the large, white gazebo, Victor came to a stop. "Shall we sit here?"

"
Jah
." Melissa just wanted to get it all over with. The colorful flowers were giving off all kinds of pleasant fragrance, and the tinkling of the little waterfall was soothing. Only Melissa was not relaxed, as Victor was about to tell her that he was engaged to another woman.

"The lady you saw me with was Nancy Esh - or rather, she used to be."

Melissa was a little confused by that, but she sat in silence.

"Nancy Esh is the reason why I left the Amish."

Despite herself, Melissa was now intrigued.

"My parents and Nancy's parents had been
gut
friends for years and always joked that the two of us would be married one day. When we turned seventeen, our parents tried to pressure us to marry. Nancy wanted to marry me, but I didn’t want to marry Nancy. I wanted to be in love with my
fraa
and I wasn't in love with Nancy. The pressure was so strong, that I left the Amish. I took the coward's way out, and fled."

Melissa turned to look at Victor, taking in his golden-flecked eyes. "You didn’t tell Nancy that you didn’t want to marry her?"

Victor shook his head. "That's just it; I did tell her, more than once, and she always went into floods of tears. I told my parents again and again that I didn’t want to marry Nancy, but they said I was young and foolish. In the end, I just ran away and became
Englisch
."

Melissa bit the end of one fingernail. "Is that the terrible thing that you did?" Melissa did not think it so terrible at all.

"
Jah
, it was."

"But really," Melissa said. "I can't see what else you could have done. You couldn’t marry Nancy if you weren't in love her… then," she added, sad that Victor was now in love with Nancy.

"Anyway, to cut a long story short," Victor continued, "I always felt I had done the wrong thing, and I've been talking to the bishop for some time about returning to the community, although I was in two minds about it at first. The last time I saw him, the bishop said I needed to contact Nancy to ask her forgiveness."

Melissa was puzzled. "Did the bishop think you did the wrong thing? Did the bishop think you should've married Nancy back then?"

Victor shook his head. "
Nee
, it wasn't that. I was the one who thought I had done the wrong thing, so the bishop told me to contact Nancy so that the past could be resolved."

"I see."

"So I wrote to Nancy," Victor continued, "and she agreed that it needed to be resolved, so she came to see me."

Melissa could not help but feel jealous. She sat silently and waited for Victor to continue.

"Nancy said that she had completely forgiven me," Victor continued. "In fact, she had forgiven me some time ago. She and her husband felt they should come and tell me that Nancy had forgiven me, so that I could go forward with my life."

Melissa scratched her ear. What had Victor just said? "Husband?" she said aloud. "Whatever are you talking about?"

"Nancy and her husband, Dan, came to have lunch with me today," Victor said.

Melissa scrunched up her face. "I didn’t see any Dan."

"He was sitting next to Nancy."

"Oh!" Melissa realized that she had only a partly obscured view of the booth, and that Dan must have been sitting on the other side of Nancy. "But then why did you tell Melissa that you were leaving the agency, since the Amish woman you're in love with is married?" Melissa looked down at her boots.

Victor chuckled. "I'm not in love with Nancy; I never was, and I'm certainly not now."

"But then why did you tell Melissa that you were in love with an Amish girl?" Melissa turned to look at Victor, and then it dawned on her. "Oh." Her cheeks flushed hot. Could he possibly mean what she hoped he meant?

Victor took her hand in his. "Melissa, my love, you’re the only woman I've ever been in love with."

Melissa gasped. Everything seemed to slow down. Could this be true? She hoped it wasn't simply a dream.

"I've told your
vadder
-"

"My
vadder
!" she gasped.

Victor nodded. "
Jah
, I have your
vadder's
permission to court you, if you'll have me. The bishop knows too. I'm returning to the community; I'm taking instruction, and I'm going to be baptized."

Melissa could scarcely contain the excitement that was bubbling up within her. She had thought there was no hope, but how wrong had she been. "
Jah
,
jah
, of course I want to," she said, breathlessly.

Victor put his arm around her, and pulled her close. As their lips met softly, Melissa sent up a silent, heartfelt prayer of thanks to
Gott
who had in fact, done abundantly more than all she had ever hoped.

The End