Irene Brand - Second Chance at Love

“God bless you, young lady,” Mandy said. “You’ve already perked me up.”

Amelia left the dining room to go upstairs to her quarters, seeking some privacy. She was surprised, and annoyed, at the emotional turmoil she was experiencing because she’d encountered Chase again. She’d voluntarily walked away from him fifteen years ago without a backward glance, and as the years passed, often weeks would go by when she didn’t think about him. So why had Chase’s surprise appearance sent her pulses spinning? Why was she filled with unease at being around him in this cleanup effort?

Chase had been visiting with Allen Chambers when Amelia left the gym, and she’d hoped to escape talking to him tonight. Instead of going to the cubbyhole she’d be sharing with Vicky, Amelia followed the signs to the chapel, a small room with an altar, a lectern, a few pews and an illuminated cross in the background that dimly lit the room. She knelt by the altar to pray, but words were hard to find. She did pray for the flood victims, asking for strength and wisdom to make a difference in their lives. Since she didn’t know how to pray about Chase, she simply asked for guidance in every aspect of her life during these weeks she’d be spending in the mountains.

When she rose from her knees, Amelia had the sensation that she wasn’t alone. She turned quickly.

Chase leaned gracefully against the doorframe. His stunning good looks captured her attention as if she was seeing him for the first time. He’d changed from the shorts he’d worn earlier. His tailored brown slacks revealed a lean, sinewy, youthful body. His waist and hips were thin, but his broad shoulders stretched the fabric of his brightly colored shirt, which emphasized the gold flecks in his gray eyes. Chase had always looked well put together, like a male model.

“I didn’t mean to startle you,” he apologized. “Maybe this is a good place for us to talk?” He spoke hesitantly, as if he doubted his welcome.

Amelia’s head swirled with doubts, and she experienced momentary panic, but she didn’t want him to know her feelings. “Why not? It’s quiet here,” she said calmly.

“Looks like a good place to me,” he agreed.

They sat on the front pew, not close, but in comfortable conversing distance. Several minutes passed in tense silence, each of them waiting for the other to speak. What could they say to bridge fifteen years?

“The Amelia Stone I knew wouldn’t be praying in a chapel,” Chase said at last. In the dim light, his gray eyes seemed dark and unfathomable.

“Thanks to God, that Amelia Stone is gone.” She seemed to be in a Scripture-quoting mood today, Amelia thought humorously as she continued. “‘If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come!’ Vicky tells me that you’re a member of her church, so you’re probably familiar with that verse.”

“Yes. It’s true for me, too. I’ve been a Christian for several years.”

“Then neither of us is the person we used to be, which is for the best, I think.”

“What are you doing now, Amelia? I never meant to lose track of you, but the years passed quickly.”

“I’d had enough of being a rich man’s kid, so I left home to make it on my own. I wanted a job that would make a difference in other people’s lives, so I went to work for the Red Cross in Philadelphia. I’ve been there for several years. My parents never did have much time for me, so I’m pretty much on my own.” She scanned his face briefly. “Now it’s your turn.”

“I’m working at a bank in Worthington, Ohio. I transferred there from Chicago twelve years ago.”

She took a deep breath and plunged into chancy territory. “I assume you’re married?”

“No, I haven’t married.”

A tremor touched her lips and, hoping he hadn’t noticed, she changed the subject. “How long are you going to be here in Mingo County?” Amelia asked.

He paused thoughtfully, before he answered. “I’d only intended to unload our truck and go back home, but if I can arrange to take some of my vacation now, I might stay for a few weeks. I didn’t realize the extent of the disaster until I got here.”

“Neither did I. I want to help as much as possible, and I need some rest. It’s been a long day.”

Uncomfortable with the knowledge that Chase might extend his stay, Amelia stood and headed toward the door. She’d be more comfortable emotionally if he went back to Ohio. Was he really concerned about the flood victims, or was he staying because of her?

Chase walked alongside her to the door of her sleeping quarters. “My buddy and I are in the room next door,” he said. “If you need anything, pound on the wall, and I’ll hear you.”

“Thanks. See you in the morning.”

Chase walked into his room, thankful that his friend from the church was already sleeping. He undressed quietly, turned off the light and lay on the cot, wide-eyed. He’d been awake for almost twenty-four hours. He should be ready to sleep, but he couldn’t stop thinking about Amelia. Memories of the past plagued his mind. He remembered much about their time together—memories he’d be better off forgetting. Seeing what Amelia had become, he realized anew what a big mistake he’d made when he’d let her slip out of his life.

He stirred uneasily on the cot, a very uncomfortable place to sleep, but that wasn’t the cause of his distress. His marriage to Amelia had lasted for almost five years, and he kept remembering the intimate moments they’d shared. He was even more restless when he remembered the reason for their divorce, and who was to blame.

Amelia awakened sluggishly, her befuddled mind hazily questioning why she was sleeping on a board instead of her comfortable mattress. She stretched, turned over and barely missed tumbling off the narrow cot onto the floor. Her eyes popped open as reality surfaced. She was in a disaster area of West Virginia, not her Philadelphia apartment.

Cloud-darkened daylight crept into the schoolroom where she slept in the company of Vicky, who had abandoned her narrow bed and was curled up, kittenlike, on the floor with a yellow blanket wrapped around her. Rubbing the crick in her neck and her aching back muscles, Amelia thought the floor might have been preferable to the cot.

Amelia stifled her moment of self-pity, remembering that many people on the first floor of the building not only didn’t have a comfortable bed, but no home to put one in. Moving quietly so she wouldn’t disturb Vicky, Amelia stood, stretched her stiff muscles and went to the bathroom. Allen Chambers had mentioned last night that there was a shower room adjacent to the gymnasium, but Amelia knew the disaster victims would need that facility. She took a skimpy sponge bath with water from the lavatory.

She dressed in heavy socks, jeans, a pullover sweater and the knee-high waterproof boots her supervisor had insisted that she must have. Even though it was late April, this mountainous area was cold.

Pastor Chambers had mentioned that the church women would be serving breakfast at seven o’clock. When Amelia finished dressing, it was half-past six. She called Vicky’s name quietly, and the girl awakened immediately, seemingly none the worse for sleeping on the floor all night. Youth! Amelia thought enviously, when she compared the young woman’s bright and cheery attitude to her own low spirits. She doubted, though, that the uncomfortable cot was the only cause of her wretchedness this morning.

Amelia was usually more peppy upon awakening, and she knew that her exhaustion resulted from mental—rather than physical—fatigue. She hadn’t rested physically, because an overburdened mind had contributed to her restless night. Why had running into Chase caused her so much misery? She’d occasionally wondered how seeing him again would affect her. She’d never expected to experience the devastating anguish that had seared her heart the moment she had seen her ex-husband yesterday.