Amelia's Story

by C.P. Murphy

  Chapter Sixteen

  Drops of cold sweat fell down Emma’s neck as she knocked on Patrick Buchanan’s door. Her decision to speak with the stranger had happened before she had the time to stop and think about what she was doing. She knew Amelia was busy back in the village and used the time she had to her advantage. She thought it was absurd for her friend to be in love with someone she hardly knew. Emma needed to break the connection between him and her friend before Amelia wound up hurt somehow. She paused on the thought and realized that her actions would also cause pain but Emma was convinced it was for the best. She held her breath as she knocked again and hoped that Amelia would never find out.

  As she waited for the door to open, she thought about Thomas. Emma hated him marrying Amelia almost as much as Amelia did but she thought he would at least protect her from any harm. Once she was successful at turning Patrick away from Amelia, Emma hoped that her friend would respect her fiancé.

  “Can I help you with something,” a voice said. Patrick stood behind the girl who jumped high into the air when he called to her, “Its Emma, right? Emma Cooper?”

  Emma was at a loss for words and hadn’t expected him to be outdoors when she arrived. It threw her approach off a little, but she had to regain her courage. She cleared her throat and said, “That’s right.”

  Patrick stood back and looked at the girl he had met the day he met Amelia. He didn’t know why she was there. He stood there with his arms crossed over his chest waiting for her to say something but she was silent. She was looking around as if she was afraid to look him in the eyes. “Well?”

  Emma realized that she had to do this and get it over with. She only hoped that her best friend would forgive her someday. “I meant no disrespect by showing up here, but we need to talk.”

  Patrick knew that she wouldn’t accept his invitation into the house so he gestured for her to follow him. He walked several feet away from the house and pointed to two logs he was preparing to chop up. He motioned for her to take a seat as he took one himself. “So tell me what is troubling you, Emma.”

  Emma bit on her lip thinking of how to start the conversation. She decided that she couldn’t beat around the bush, so she came right out and said, “I know that you have been together with Amelia. She told me all about you.”

  Patrick wasn’t surprised. He knew how close the girls were. She was still working on her father to allow them to be together and she must have asked her friend for help.

  “Listen, it’s not what you might think. I would ask nothing improper from her. We like to,” but he was cut off.

  “It’s all a lie and you need to know that,” Emma poured out. She knew this would hurt Amelia’s feelings, but in the end it would make everything all right again. Emma started at the beginning. “Has she told you about her engagement to Thomas Van Martin?”

  “Yes, as a matter of fact she did. But she doesn’t love him and she is convinced that her father will end the engagement before it goes too far.” Patrick was intrigued about what this girl was trying to say.

  Emma stood up from the excitement and paced back and forth before saying anything. She knew that she would twist things around, but she had to be convincing. “That is only part of it. I’m here to stop her before she gets you all caught up in this whole mess.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “She is using you, don’t you see that?” Emma told him about Amelia’s plan to get out of her union with Thomas. She told him that Amelia wanted to make her father believe that she loved someone else, anyone else so he would call of the marriage.

  Patrick listened to what Emma was saying but didn’t think that it had anything to do with him. He had met Amelia, spent time with her, and they fell in love. It wasn’t a scheme. “Maybe she said that, but that isn’t what she is doing.”

  “Yes, she is, Mr. Buchanan,” Emma stated.

  Patrick laughed; he wasn’t used to formalities. “Please, call me Patrick.”

  Emma was impatient; there was no time to argue about the proper way to address someone so she agreed, “Okay, Patrick.” She stopped for a moment to pull her-self together. “Don’t you think it’s kind of ironic the way after just meeting you, she suddenly finds a reason to see you more? Then even though you have only known her for a few weeks, she is in love with you? How can you not think that she isn’t carrying out her plan to change her father’s mind?”

  “She hasn’t told him. So there goes your theory.” Patrick didn’t know what to think at the moment. Emma was part right and their relationship happened fast. He remembered how sweet Amelia was to him and how they had shared special moments together and how they opened to each other. No she was wrong, Amelia loved him. He went on, “And if she tells him, I mean when she tells him, she’ll tell him how much she wants to be with me.”

  Emma shook her head. He wasn’t seeing the whole picture the way she was trying to paint it. “Okay, you’re right. She will tell her father about you and she’ll give you the fluttering eyes when he is around and I’m telling you, once he goes to the Van Martins and tells them that the engagement is off, she’ll want nothing to do with you.”

  He was having a hard time believing what the girl was saying to him. “How do you know this,” he asked. He had to figure out whether it was true or not because as much as he didn’t want to admit it, what Emma was saying was making sense.

  Emma paced for a while then stopped to look him square in the eyes, “Because she is my best friend and we share everything. She told me you were the key to getting Thomas out of her life.” Emma couldn’t believe how well she had done. She wanted the stranger to keep his distance from Amelia and she was sure that her plan would work fine. She noticed how his face changed and how upset he looked. For a second she felt bad, perhaps he was a nice man with no intentions on hurting her friend. Maybe they were in love but Emma couldn’t take that chance. She had to make sure he understood and believed her. “See, what you don’t know about her is that she always gets what she wants. She doesn’t want to marry Thomas and will use you to break the engagement.”

  Patrick was saddened. He had shared his most intimate thoughts with Amelia and the thought of it going in one ear and out the other upset him. He knew that Emma thought of him as nothing more than the stranger in the village so he wondered why she would bother to spare him the heartache. His voice got dry as he asked, “So why would you tell me all of this?”

  Emma had to think of something fast. She didn’t have a reason that would satisfy him. Because of her reaction to Amelia’s feelings, Amelia didn’t tell her anything about Patrick. She knew that if she didn’t sound like she was sincere than he wouldn’t believe her. Emma made something up. “She told me what happened to you before you moved here and I didn’t want to see you get hurt.”

  Patrick was shocked. Amelia must have told Emma about his wife and child. He didn’t want to hear anymore. “I have things to do,” he tipped his hat off and said, “Good day, Miss Cooper.”

  Emma, surprised that her excuse worked, watched him storm into his house before she too stood to leave. As she walked away curiosity grabbed her insides, and she wondered what happened to him before moving to Millersport. She had come to see he never interfered with Amelia’s affairs again and she was positive it worked. It was time to see to the other half of her plan.

  Jacob looked over at Emma and put his arm around her shoulders. He could see that something was bothering her, but she was silent. Jacob wanted to find out what her troubles were, but expected it had something to do with Amelia. He knew that she missed her friend though they lived only a half mile apart it felt as if they were hundreds of miles away from each other. “What is bothering you,” he asked her hoping she would open with him.

  Emma swore to Amelia that she wouldn’t tell a soul about her sudden feelings for the stranger but Emma couldn’t help but worry about the situation. Still, she feared that something terrible would happen if she kept quiet. “It’s Amelia,” she explained
but before she could continue, Thomas had appeared out of nowhere.

  “What about Amelia,” he demanded. He was still furious over seeing his fiancée with that stranger and wondered if perhaps Emma knew something too.

  Jacob jumped up from the bench he and Emma were sitting on and faced Thomas. He wondered where his friend came from; he hadn’t seen him coming. Chances are if he had known that Thomas was around then he would’ve never of asked Emma what was wrong to begin with. Jacob knew how touchy the subject of Amelia has been for Thomas since he announced their engagement. Something had made him mad but whatever it was; he wasn’t telling Jacob about it. He stood between Emma and Thomas. “Thomas, you should stop sneaking up on us like that. Where did you come from, anyway?”

  Thomas grinned. He didn’t sneak up on anyone but he knew that he had soft steps that often were unheard. “I didn’t sneak, I need not sneak around either,” he arrogantly said. He looked past Jacob to see the girl still sitting on the bench. “What were you about to say about Amelia?”

  “She doesn’t have to tell you anything,” Jacob snapped in defense of his new girlfriend. Thomas might have been his best chum, but that didn’t give him the right to treat Emma the way he did.

  Emma stood and interrupted the brief argument between the two men. “It’s okay, Jacob,” she started. “Maybe it’s best I talk to Thomas.” She looked at them and paused. She would never tell him but she knew that Thomas was nearby, and that is why she brought up her best friend’s name. Jacob didn’t seem to understand, so she said, “Alone.” Jacob looked confused and concerned but he honored her with a little time with Thomas. He told her he would go inside the general store for a minute but he would be right back. When Jacob was out of ear shot, Thomas sat down on the bench next to Emma. “Now are you going to tell me what I want to hear?”

  Emma swallowed hard. This was all happening so fast and she no longer knew if what she was doing was right or not. All she knew was that her best friend was becoming dangerously close to the stranger and someone had to stop it. “I don’t know how to say this,” she started.

  “Well then just tell me,” Thomas snorted. She was trying to beat around the bush, and he didn’t have time for such foolishness.

  Emma growled at his interference. Poor Amelia, she thought, she could never talk for the rest of her life once she marries this man. “She claims she has fallen in love with someone,” she stopped to swallow the lump enlarging in her throat. “It’s not you, either.”

  Thomas was more enraged than he thought he would be. It wasn’t a shock for him to hear that she had fallen in love but his pride had been telling himself that he was wrong about the situation he saw. “She’s in love with the stranger, right?”

  Emma was surprised to hear him say that. She had no idea he suspected Amelia. “You know about him?” She quizzed.

  “I had a bad feeling about the guy since the day you two first ran into him near the docks,” he admitted to her. Looking back to that day, he found it strange that Emma was scared but yet Amelia remained calm. There must have been an instant attraction for Amelia and the unknown man. He didn’t want Emma to know how angry he was though so he tried his best to be polite. “What makes you think that she loves him?”

  “She came straight out and told me,” Emma stated and then continued to tell him all that Amelia had said.

  Thomas rubbed his boney chin with his forefingers. He was trying to figure out why she couldn’t love him. Why couldn’t she give him a chance? His family was the richest in Millersport which meant he could give her whatever she desired, including him. After all, he was the most handsome man around, not just in the village but in all the United States, he thought. “What about me?” He furthered his questioning. “Doesn’t she look forward to our marriage?”

  Emma laughed. Thomas was trying to be so sincere, but she knew that he meant none of it. “You know she despises you,” she chuckled. “What makes you think that she wants to be with you?” Noticing that Jacob was heading back towards them, Emma wanted to make sure that Thomas would protect her friend. “I only told you this because I worry about her. It’s not safe or proper to hang around with strange men. Are you going to make sure she is taken care of?”

  Thomas had plans to take care of Amelia all right but they might not be what Emma had in mind. He couldn’t wait to make her his wife, now more than ever so he could punish her for being unfaithful to him. “Yes,” he lied to her face. Before they could continue to discuss it any further, Jacob came back from the general store and insisted that they wanted to be alone. Thomas took the hint and tipped his hat to Emma and thanked her for giving him the heads up and then walked away as quietly as he had arrived.

  “What was that all about,” Jacob asked Emma.

  “Nothing,” she told him. “It’s all taken care of now.”