Falling in Love With Her Husband (16 page)

breathed a sigh of relief as we pulled up to the post office.

We usually checked the mail when we got to town.

To my surprise and delight, my parents sent me a

letter. I had only told them I was going to North Dakota. I

did not mention where in North Dakota. My mother wrote

three pages alone on how hard it was to find me. “Oh, your

father worried about you,” she continued in the letter. “We

know Todd is taking good care of you, but we do worry

when we don"t know what"s happening out west.”

I wiped the tears from my eyes, thankful that my

parents had forgiven me for leaving like I did.

“Are you alright?” Barbara asked as we left the post

office.

I nodded and laughed. “Yes, I"m fine. I didn"t mean

to upset you. My mother wrote me. I miss my parents.”

She smiled. “Maybe you could visit them.”

“Todd and I already discussed it. He said we could

go later this month. He"s even been working extra hours at

the bank so we can afford the trip. I am fortunate to have

him. I know he"s sacrificing a lot so I can see my parents.”

“He can also visit his parents while you"re there.”

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“I"m not sure. He doesn"t think they will have

anything to do with him.”

“I know I couldn"t turn my children away. Perhaps

they wil change their minds once they see him.”

I hoped so. Since she had to get to her mother"s, I

waved to her as she left. On this particular day, I remained

outside the post office for a few minutes despite the chill in

the air. I wouldn"t be able to focus on my work until I

finished reading the letter. To my delight, my mother

announced that she and my father would come to visit for

Christmas.

“It is vital we stay in touch, my dear,” she wrote. “We

look forward to seeing you again.”

I quickly checked the clock in front of the bank. I

went to the mercantile and cheerfully did my work. As

usual, I finished my tasks several minutes before Barbara

was due to pick me up, so I had a few minutes to spare. I

wanted to be sure Todd was alright with their visit. If he

wasn"t, I would have to tell them we"d go visit them instead.

According to the letter, they planned to stay at a motel in

town, but I didn"t want them to do that. I wanted to see as

much of them as possible.

I ran to the bank. In my excitement, I ran into

someone by mistake. “Excuse me.”

The man grumbled something but I was too happy to

care what it was.

I hurried up to one of the tellers since I didn"t see

Todd anywhere.

“May I help you?” a balding man with glasses asked

in a whiny voice.

“Yes. I"m looking for my husband. His name is Todd

Brothers. Has he gone to lunch?”

“Mr. Brothers is talking to the owner of this bank.” He

nodded in the direction of the owner"s office. “To be honest,

it doesn"t look good.”

I blinked. “What do you mean?”

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“I don"t know what"s going on except that the owner

didn"t look happy when he asked your husband to join him in

his office. Oh, I need to help the next person in line.”

I numbly moved out of the way. A sense of dread

washed over me. What could Todd have done to upset his

boss? I waited for Todd to come out, but after ten minutes, I

realized I had to wait. I put the letter in my coat pocket. I

hated leaving Todd when he was facing difficulty but didn"t

see that I had a choice.

Barbara was stil at her mother"s, so I decided to do

some extra cleaning in the backroom of the store in order to

alleviate my anxiety. What could the owner want to discuss

with Todd that was so serious? I didn"t have to wait long to

find out. Mrs. Carson, the town gossip, came in to tell Mrs.

Coley what occurred between Todd and his boss.

As soon as I heard Todd"s name, I froze and

listened. I was still in the backroom so she didn"t see me.

“You won"t believe what happened at the bank

between Todd Brothers and Samuel Richard,” Mrs. Carson

began.

“Is this all you are buying today?” Mrs. Coley

interrupted her. She hated it when people gossiped in her

store.

However, Mrs. Carson wasn"t to be deterred. “Who

would have thought Todd Brothers was capable of stealing

money from his own employer? That"s what we get for

welcoming people who grew up with lots of money. He just

couldn"t handle the fact that he wasn"t rich anymore. You"d

better watch Mrs. Brothers closely next time she shops here.

You know what they say: two birds of a feather flock

together.”

“Mrs. Carson, I would greatly appreciate it if you"d

leave now,” Mrs. Coley cool y stated.

“Wel ! Never say I didn"t warn you,” she huffed

before she left the store.

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I stood still, my hand frozen as I held a jar of

peaches.
My
Todd was accused of stealing money? That

explained the „unhappy" look on his employer"s face. I knew

Todd would never steal anything. So who did? I suspected

that even Mrs. Carson didn"t know the answer to that

question.

Mrs. Coley appeared around the door. When she

saw my stunned expression, she sighed and shook her

head. “Mrs. Carson doesn"t know when to keep her big

mouth shut.”

“It"s a lie. He didn"t do it.”

She took the jar of peaches out of my hand and

gently put it on the shelf. “I know. Mrs. Carson has spread

false rumors before. She"s not someone who can be

trusted, and most of the people in town know that. Maybe

it"s best if you went to comfort him. Men may not realize it,

but sometimes they need our support.”

I smiled and hugged her, grateful for her friendship.

Then I shrugged into my coat and ran to see Todd at the

bank. But he was already gone. I figured he was on his

way home to tell me what happened.

Barbara appeared with her horse and carryall. Her

cheeks were red with anger. “Some people have too much

time on their hands,” she commented. “Have you heard

about Todd?”

“Yes.” I climbed in next to her. Word had already

reached Barbara? Was there anyone in town who didn"t

know? I pulled my coat tightly around me, suddenly feeling

exposed.

“That Mrs. Carson makes me so mad! Apparently,

she was there at the bank when Todd came out of the

owner"s office, and someone at the bank told her what

happened.”

My jaw dropped. No one told me anything but Mrs.

Carson got the whole story? “Do you know who told her?”

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“She won"t say. Isn"t that funny? Mrs. Busybody

blabs everyone else"s business but she never reveals her

source. Wel , John and I wil stick up for Todd. We"l set

them straight.”

As she continued to talk, I wondered how Todd was

taking this. Was he angry, sad or relieved to be rid of his

job? How could I comfort him when I had never comforted

him before? Did I ever try to comfort anyone?

As soon as she paused in her monologue, I asked

her for tips on being supportive. I breathed a sigh of relief

when she didn"t laugh at me.

“Listen to him and let him know you are there for

him,” she replied. “Real y, that"s all you can do.”

I hugged her. “Thank you.”

“John and I wil be praying for you two.”

I suppressed my anxiety. Could I help him through

this? I was surprised at how fast my heart was pounding. I

knew Todd all of my life, so why was I nervous? Saying

good-bye to Barbara, I walked around the house and to the

barn. Patches of snow decorated the grass. I hardly

noticed the beautiful landscape. I said a quick prayer as I

entered the barn.

Todd was chopping wood. The axe slammed

through the wood with so much force, I jumped. Todd

wasn"t just mad. He was furious. Maybe this wasn"t a good

time to approach him. I quickly turned to leave.

He stopped chopping. “You heard.” It was a simple

statement but I could hear him fighting back his anger.

I took a deep breath as I walked to him. “I think the

whole town"s heard, but I know you"re innocent.”

He dropped his axe and held me close to him. “As

long as you believe me, I don"t care what the rest of the

town thinks.”

“Do you have any idea who started this whole thing?”

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“I have a suspicion but I can"t prove it. I can"t believe

my boss thought I"d steal money, especially after all the

overtime I put in.” He shook his head in exasperation.

I rested my head against his shoulder, wondering if

he took as much comfort in my embrace as I took in his.

“What happened at the bank?”

“I was counting money at my desk when my boss

told me to go to his office. Mr. Richard is usually a mild-

mannered man, but he nearly lost his temper when he told

me he discovered my bookkeeping was totaled incorrectly. I

was short by five dollars. I told him I didn"t know how that

was possible but he didn"t believe me. Since the other

employees have worked there for at least two years, he

decided that I had to be the one who took the money. Then,

to top it all off, he had me search my desk. There was fifty

cents in a place where it shouldn"t have been. As if that

wasn"t bad enough, there was a piece of paper with the

combination to the safe written on it.”

“Someone must have made you look guilty,” I said.

“I agree. That"s the only explanation for it. It doesn"t

matter now though. Mr. Richard said he hated to let me go

but didn"t know what else to do. I don"t know what to do.

Who"s going to hire me? And we can"t afford to take that trip

to see your parents.”

“We"l make it through. And speaking of my parents,

they sent me a letter. They plan to visit for Christmas.”

“Your parents wrote you? How did they find out

where we are?”

I took the letter out of my pocket and handed it to

him. “I told them I was going to North Dakota, and they

narrowed it down from there.”

After he read the letter, he gave it back to me.

“They"re wonderful people.”

I grinned. “Did you notice that they asked how their

new son is doing?”

He smiled and nodded.

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I sighed. “Your parents wil come around. When we

save up the money, we can go visit them. We don"t need to

go to Virginia as soon as I wanted. I can wait. But we can

go when you want to.”

He didn"t respond. Instead, he picked up the axe

and said he needed to be alone. I nodded and went back to

the house.

I picked up the Bible and began to read it. I fell

asleep on the couch and woke up as the sun was setting. I

blinked a few times as I recalled the day"s events. Todd"s

chopping wood assured me it hadn"t been a dream.

I quickly put on my coat, gloves and hat. Why had

he stayed outside for so long? I entered the barn and

frowned when I saw he didn"t have on his gloves or coat.

I shivered in the cold weather. “Todd, you"re going

to get sick if you keep this up. Will you please come into the

house?”

He wiped the sweat from his forehead. “I need to

chop more wood.”

I shook my head in disbelief at the piles of wood he

had already chopped. “If you keep this up, there won"t be

any more trees on our land. We have enough wood to last

us the entire winter.”

He sighed heavily and sat on the ground. “I keep

wondering how Mr. Richard could believe I stole that money.

I thought he knew me better than that.”

I didn"t know what to say, so I sat beside him and put

my head on his shoulder. I reached for his hands which

were red from being cold and rubbed my gloved hands over

them. He knew better than to stay outside for so long when

he was underdressed. Didn"t he know I worried about him?

“You"re wonderful, Ann.”

“It wil work out, Todd. I know you"ll find another job.