A Time to Love

by Al Lacy

  “Okay. I’ll drink some more.”

  “That’s a good girl,” Adrienne said, taking the tray from Linda’s lap. “I’ll go see to your father now.”

  Adrienne returned to the kitchen and laid the tray on the cupboard. Nolan was seated at the table, drinking his own cup of hot tea.

  “She only ate a little toast, Nolan, but she downed most of the tea.”

  “You know what I’m afraid of?” he said. “I’m afraid Linda will pull into a shell and withdraw from her friends, the way she’s talking.”

  “Me, too. And if she does, it may be that she’ll even withdraw from you and me …”

  Nolan’s features were drawn and pale as he reached for Adrienne’s hand. “Come sit down, honey. Let’s take this to the Lord in prayer right now.”

  Linda moved like a sleepwalker to the washstand. She tipped the water pitcher and poured some of its contents into the basin, then splashed her face with cool water, holding it to her swollen eyes.

  When she had put on a nightgown, she blew out the lantern and crawled beneath the sheets. She knew she wouldn’t sleep, but maybe if her parents saw no light under her door, they would go to bed and get some rest themselves. She was sorry her parents had to be hurt so deeply, and she didn’t want to worry them, but right now all she could focus on was her own pain.

  In spite of the fact that Linda had put out the light, her parents came in to check on her. When they found her awake, they prayed with her for a few minutes, then went to their room.

  After her parents left, Linda lay in the dark, thinking about Lewis and Janet, trying not to hate them. She wondered how long they’d been seeing each other on the sly. The thing that puzzled her the most was why they went so far as to attend the wedding practice last night.

  That was when the urge to hate them rose the strongest in her breast. If they had run off together even last night before the rehearsal, it wouldn’t have been the embarrassment it was with a church full of wedding guests. They must have planned it this way to hurt her as much as possible.

  She gritted her teeth. Why would they want to hurt her so? She wondered how it got started between her sister and Lewis, and then her thoughts went back to a Saturday about a year ago. Yes. It was the third Saturday in June last year. Janet had made one of her infrequent visits to the Forrest home on Friday evening, and her parents had asked her to go along with them and Linda the next day for a picnic on the shore of Boston Harbor….

  The family was sitting around the kitchen table, drinking coffee. Janet brushed her blond curls back from her forehead, and said, “I’m sorry, but I can’t do the picnic with you. I have plans all set to go somewhere with a bunch of my friends. Maybe some other time.”

  As Linda watched her sister, she noted what a hardness had overtaken her. It showed in her eyes especially.

  Linda knew Janet didn’t mean it when she said “some other time.” She’d made it quite apparent that she detested being with her family. But they continued to invite her because they loved her and hoped to see a change in her life. They couldn’t influence her in the right direction if they didn’t spend time with her.

  With a heavy heart, Adrienne said, “You know we want you with us as much as possible, Janet.”

  “Sure, Mom. I know.”

  The next day, as the Forrests drove away from the house in the family carriage, Linda sat between her parents. It was a beautiful day with a clear sky. Perfect for a picnic on the harbor shore.

  “I sure wish Lewis had been able to come,” said Nolan, guiding the carriage around a corner.

  “Me, too,” Linda said. “He seldom has to work on Saturdays, but he said his boss really needed him today. Some big shipment coming in from England. He said he’ll be thinking about us enjoying all this food, and him having to carry a lunch bucket so he can grab a few bites while unloading the ship. He’ll be right there on the docks all day.”

  They had gone a few blocks when Nolan said, “Oh! I almost forgot. I’ve got to swing downtown and make a stop at the hardware store. I can’t fix that leaky water pipe in the cellar without the proper wrench.”

  Adrienne laughed. “Well, let’s not forget the wrench, husband dear. I’m afraid the bucket that’s catching the water from the pipe is about to spring a leak, too!”

  Soon they were downtown, pulling up in front of Kruger’s Hardware. The women stayed in the carriage while Nolan went into the store to make his purchase.

  Mother and daughter sat silently for a few minutes, just watching the people pass by on the street. Adrienne broke the silence by saying, “Well, honey, a year from now, you and Lewis will be husband and wife.”

  “Mm-hm-m-m-m!” Linda said, smiling happily.

  “One of the many things your daddy and I appreciate about Lewis is that he wanted to get some money put aside before he took you as his bride. That shows he has character.”

  “Oh, he’s so wonderful, Mom! We’re going to be so happy together!”

  “That’s what Daddy and I want for you, sweetheart. And we couldn’t have picked a better young man for you to marry if we’d gone on a hunt ourselves!”

  Nolan returned with a paper bag and tossed it on the floor in front of the backseat. “Okay! Now, the pipe can get fixed … but before that happens, we’re going to have us an enjoyable day.”

  The carriage swung out on the busy street, and Nolan aimed it eastward toward the harbor. They were passing an intersection when Adrienne suddenly pointed to a group of people standing on the corner. “Look! There’s Janet!”

  When Linda’s gaze flicked that way, her eyes widened. She saw her sister in the middle of a group of people. The women had the same hard look Janet had taken on. Everyone in the group was about Janet’s age. But Linda’s attention was drawn to a man standing next to Janet with his back toward the street. Her glimpse of the man was brief, but his size and shape were very familiar.

  Linda swallowed hard. The man standing next to Janet strongly resembled Lewis. She couldn’t be sure. She had barely gotten a look at him.

  As the carriage moved on toward Boston Harbor, Linda said nothing to her parents. She closed her eyes and tried to picture the man in her mind. He certainly was built like Lewis, and he looked to be exactly the same height. And the hat he wore was very much like one of Lewis’s.

  After a few minutes, Linda dismissed it from her mind. Of course it wasn’t Lewis. For one thing, he was at work on the docks. And for another, Lewis was a Christian. He wouldn’t run with the ungodly crowd Janet hobnobbed with.

  And another thing. Why would Lewis be with Janet? It was simply a man who resembled Lewis…. Lying there in the darkness, Linda clenched her teeth and said in a hissing whisper, “It was you, wasn’t it, Lewis! So your little affair has been going on for at least a year!”

  She trembled with anger as she said a bit louder, “Why didn’t I see what was going on? Sure, I had to dismiss the scene on the street corner because I didn’t get a good enough look at you, Lewis. But there must have been some other hint of some kind … something I was too love-blind to see—Wait a minute! The locket! Yes, the locket!”

  Her mind flashed back to one day in early March, a little over four months ago….

  Linda and Lewis were leisurely strolling along one of Boston’s downtown streets on a Saturday afternoon. They had been window shopping when they came upon Laster’s jewelry store. A display of gold and silver lockets and necklaces lay on black velvet in the window.

  The sun was at just the right angle to strike the display with its bright rays, and it caught Linda’s eye.

  “Oh, Lewis!” she said, stopping to look in the window. “Look at this! Do you see those beautiful lockets?”

  “Mm-hmm. They really are nice.”

  “I know we’re putting away money for when we get married,” she said, “but someday when we’re well off, I’d like to have a locket to put your picture in. You know, so I can have your likeness with me when I wear it.”

  Lewis smiled.
“And if you could pick one of these lockets, which one would it be? I realize all of these will be sold by the time I can afford to buy you one, but if I have some idea what you like best, I’ll be able to come close, maybe.”

  Linda’s eyes danced as she ran her gaze over the display of lockets, pausing at those that most caught her attention. “I see it!”

  “Which one?”

  Pressing the tip of her forefinger against the glass, she said, “Third row from the left, fourth one down.”

  The gold heart-shaped locket hung on a delicate gold chain. It had an intricate design of dainty flowers etched into it.

  “Oh, yes,” said Lewis. “That’s a pretty one. I’ll have to keep it in mind so I can come as close as possible.”

  Linda’s thoughts shifted to March 22. The last time Janet had come by to see the family—on Christmas, so she could pick up her presents—Adrienne had told her she would prepare a special dinner on her birthday. Since Linda and Lewis were engaged, Adrienne had invited Lewis to the meal and to Janet’s little party afterward.

  The aroma of baked chicken and hot bread filled the Forrest house when Janet arrived that evening for the dinner in her honor.

  Linda ran to her, saying, “Happy birthday, big sis!” and hugged her.

  Janet reacted coolly and didn’t return the hug. Nolan and Adrienne came into the parlor and wished their oldest daughter happy birthday.

  “Take your coat off, dear,” Adrienne said. “Dinner’s about fifteen minutes from being ready. Lewis should be arriving any minute.”

  When Janet had removed her scarf and coat, light from the lamps in the parlor glistened off a gold locket that hung on a delicate gold chain around her neck. Linda was surprised to see that it was exactly like the locket she had pointed out to Lewis in the window display at Laster’s.

  Curious, Linda said, “What a beautiful locket! Where’d you get it?”

  Janet hung her coat and scarf on a nearby clothes tree, lifted the locket with her fingers, and said, “One of my boyfriends gave it to me this morning for my birthday”

  “Oh? Who was that?” Adrienne asked.

  “Hmm?”

  “What’s the fella’s name who gave you the locket?”

  “Ah … George Kendall.”

  Nolan laughed. “He must be a pretty good boyfriend. A locket like that doesn’t come cheap.”

  “Yes,” said Janet. “He’s pretty stuck on me.”

  There was a knock at the front door.

  “That’ll be Lewis!” Linda said, rushing to open it.

  Lewis came into the parlor beside Linda, smiled at her parents, then said, “Happy birthday, Janet.”

  “Thank you,” she said warmly. “And how have you been, Lewis?”

  “Just fine.”

  Linda touched shoulders with Lewis to get his attention and said, “Did you notice Janet’s locket, Lewis?”

  “What’s that?”

  “Janet’s locket.”

  Lewis’s line of sight went to the locket. “Oh. Mm-hmm. It’s really nice. Birthday present, Janet?”

  “Yes. From one of my boyfriends.”

  “Look closer at it, Lewis,” Linda said.

  He gave her a quizzical look but did as she said.

  “Do you recognize it?” Linda asked.

  It took him a few seconds to say, “Oh, sure! It’s like that one you showed me at Laster’s when we were downtown a couple weeks ago. It really is pretty, isn’t it?”

  “It was the prettiest one in the window.”

  Lewis chuckled. “Well, I guess when your birthday comes, I’ll have to get you another kind, so you and Janet don’t have identical lockets.”

  The memory of the incident burned in Linda’s mind as she lay in the darkness. “You bought that very necklace for Janet, Lewis!” she said aloud. “But you covered your underhanded deed quite cleverly, didn’t you?”

  Her mind went to her wedding rehearsal and the drive to the harbor afterwards. Lewis had seemed so preoccupied, and when she’d asked him if anything was wrong, all he’d said was that he was nervous about tomorrow.

  Linda sat up in the bed and gasped with a sudden intake of breath, then pounded the covers and said loudly, “Nervous! You were nervous, all right, you snake-in-the-grass hypocrite! Not because you were marrying me but because you and Janet were scheming to run away together on the very day of our wedding! I hate you, Lewis Carter! I hate you! I hate you! I h—”

  The door burst open, and Nolan plunged into the room, carrying a lighted candle. Adrienne was right behind him.

  “Honey, what is it?”

  Linda was on her knees in the middle of the bed, the breath sawing in and out of her throat. “I hate him, Daddy!” she said through her teeth. “I hate him!”

  Adrienne moved to the bed and laid a hand on her daughter’s arm. When Linda turned her face toward her, hot tears fell swiftly and silently down her cheeks and off her chin. “Mom,” she squeaked, “why didn’t I see what was happening? Lewis and Janet were carrying on behind my back and I didn’t have a clue. Now I’ve been remembering things that should have told me something was wrong. Why didn’t I see it?”

  “Sweetheart, they say love is blind. You loved Lewis so deeply that it blinded you to what was going on.”

  “Well, I don’t love him anymore! I hate him, Mom! I hate him!”

  Nolan kept his voice level as he said, “Linda, you can certainly hate what Lewis did to you, but you mustn’t hate him.”

  Her eyes grew wild. “I do hate that vile beast of a man, Daddy! I hate him as much as I used to love him! And I hate my wicked sister, too!”

  Nolan started to speak again, but Adrienne laid a hand on his shoulder. “Nolan, she’s too upset for us to reason with her. We must understand how deeply she’s been hurt. It’s best that we save the admonitions for later.”

  Linda set her jaw. “I feel so ashamed and mortified by the predicament those two have put me in. Oh, how could I have been so blind?”

  “Honey,” Adrienne said, “get back in bed now. You need to rest.”

  Linda looked at her with pain-filled eyes. “All right, Mom. I’m sorry I woke you two up.” As she spoke, she slipped back under the covers.

  “It’s all right,” Nolan said, bending over to caress her cheek. “Mom and I love you, Linda. You’re our daughter, and when you hurt, we hurt. You try to get some sleep.”

  Both parents kissed her, told her they loved her, and quietly left the room.

  Once again Linda said in a bitter tone, “Never again will I love with such total trust. Never. That’s a promise to you, Linda Lee Forrest.”

  Hot tears spilled down her cheeks, soaking her pillow.

  “And here’s another promise, Linda Lee Forrest. I will never again face those people at church, nor anyone else in Boston who knows me. Never. I couldn’t stand the awful embarrassment.”

  She lay in the dismal gloom around her, trying to harden her heart against the pain within.

  5

  LINDA TOSSED AND TURNED through the long night hours, but sleep refused to come. Her emotions were like the maelstrom of a storm-tossed sea, and her nerves were strung tight. She kept picturing Lewis and Janet together, having a good laugh on her.

  Sometime in the night, she left her bed and walked to the window and looked at the shimmering white stars in the black sky above. They were cold, brilliant, aloof.

  Under those same stars, she thought, the two traitors are about to arrive in New York City. What then? Were they going to stay there, or would they come back to Boston after they had their fling?

  Linda stood quivering with wrath. They wouldn’t dare show their faces around here again!

  Slowly she turned and went back to the bed. Soon there was a slight hint of gray on the eastern horizon, and it touched the window of her room. Little by little, a drowsiness began to come over her, and when the fan of dawns orange light filled the eastern sky, Linda fell asleep.

  Nolan paused behind Adrienne at L
inda’s door and peeked over her shoulder as she turned the knob and inched the door open. They could see that their daughter was sleeping.

  Adrienne closed the door and motioned for Nolan to come back with her to their room. Once inside, she said, “I’ll stay home with her, Nolan. You go on to church.”

  “You sure? Maybe its best I stay here, too. One or both of you might need me.”

  “We’ll be fine. People at church will want to know how Linda’s doing. The way word gets around, I’m sure by now that many of them know every detail of the wedding that didn’t happen.”

  “All right. I guess one of us needs to be there.”

  As the morning passed, Adrienne looked in on Linda every half hour and was pleased that she was still sleeping.

  It was almost 11:30 when Adrienne tiptoed to Linda’s bedroom door and quietly turned the knob. As she pushed it open to get a glimpse of the bed, she saw her daughter sitting on the room’s padded chair, fully dressed, groomed, and looking out the window.

  Linda turned and set bleary eyes on her mother. Her features were pallid and drawn.

  “Good morning!” Adrienne said brightly. “I’m glad you got some sleep.”

  Linda released a faint smile. “Mm-hmm. Me, too. I was awake most of the night.”

  “I was afraid you would be.”

  “Daddy go to church?”

  “Yes.”

  “You didn’t have to stay here with me, Mom.”

  Moving close to her, Adrienne said, “I couldn’t leave you alone. I wanted to be here if you needed me.”

  Linda’s second smile of the day was a little wider. She rose from the chair, opened her arms to embrace her mother, and said, “You’re the best mom in the whole world.”

  Adrienne kissed her cheek. “I don’t know about that, but you’re the best daughter in the whole world.”

  Linda turned and looked out the window. “Sure. The best daughter. You mean the one who couldn’t keep her fiancé and make him her groom?”

  “Honey, don’t blame yourself. It wasn’t your fault.”