A Husband for All Seasons by Irene Brand

Author:Irene Brand
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Steeple Hill
Published: 2007-10-12T21:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Vicky stiffened at Chad’s question. How could she talk to anyone about a situation she had secreted in her heart for so long? But noting the resolute determination on Chad’s face, she knew he wouldn’t take no for an answer.

She wanted to plead, “Not now. Don’t spoil the evening.”

Instead she dropped her eyes before his steady gaze and said in a voice barely above a whisper, “I guess I do owe you that.”

Still she hesitated. If she told Chad the truth, he might decide he would be better off to find other companionship, and she knew that even if they were just friends it would be a blow to lose him.

But she had gnawed on her painful experience long enough, and in the few weeks she had known Chad, she had sometimes wondered if, because of her young age, she hadn’t magnified the experience. Compared to what had happened to him, perhaps her mistake wasn’t as bad as she remembered.

Taking a grip on her courage, she started, “For the past three years, I’ve been fretting over an incident that changed my outlook on the future, but it certainly doesn’t compare with the trouble you’ve had.”

“Tell me about it. Friends don’t need to keep secrets from each other.”

Still she hesitated to resurrect an incident she longed to forget, but was that also necessary before she renewed her vow to serve God.

“I’ve mentioned that I’d gone to the southern part of West Virginia as a Red Cross volunteer to clean up after a terrible flood. God had called me to be an overseas missionary, and this seemed a good opportunity to learn if I was missionary material. It was a humbling experience.”

“I can understand that. My experience with the Boy Scouts in Alabama quickly changed my outlook concerning people who were having trouble.”

“We worked out of a church, and even though the pastor, Allen Chambers, was several years older than I was, I fell in love with him. We were together every day. He was so kind to me I thought he shared the same feelings I did. I didn’t tell him I loved him, but I’m sure I got the message across. When I learned that he was already engaged to someone else, I was shattered. It was such an embarrassing situation that I lost interest in everything, even my plans to prepare for full-time Christian service.”

“Didn’t you talk to anyone about this?”

“Only to my roommate, Amelia Stone. She’s married now, to Chase Rause, and lives in Worthington, a few miles from here. We have lunch together occasionally, but we never discuss my crush on Allen. She knew how I felt, but perhaps she thinks I got over it.” She sighed. “Maybe to some people it seems silly, but to me it was very real. The love…and the pain. After that, somehow, everything just lost meaning.”

She avoided telling him of her second and worst romantic entanglement by saying, “I’ve been doing some soul searching, too, while you’ve been gone.” Briefly

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