7

I saw the way he looked at you.

Maven straightened and wiped away the tears. She had seen the love in Paul’s eyes as well. And the kindness and compassion he showed her every day. Not only the love, but the excitement of them getting married. She’d never seen any clue that he had cold feet.

In fact, all she’d seen was warmth, love, and growing excitement as their wedding day approached. And the heat of desire. Since both of them were Christians, they’d vowed to wait until after they were married for physical intimacy. As hard as it was, they’d succeeded.

Learn to trust your eyes to help you communicate.

Maven had told Layla those words earlier in the day.

Paul’s words had said he loved her and so did his actions and his body language. Paul hadn’t communicated any doubt about them getting married. Ever. In words or in any other way.

Trust your eyes.

Maven believed in following her instincts.

God often spoke to His children with a still, quiet voice.

She prayed for wisdom. Finally, she opened her eyes. Vickie was right—something was wrong. There was nothing about this situation that was Paul.

He wouldn’t make his daughter worry. He wouldn’t quit work without an explanation or an official resignation. If he had changed his mind about marrying her, he would have come to her. They would have talked it out and come up with the right action plan—together. He would never have left her at the church alone to face such humiliation.

For a moment, panic took over. Her imagination ran wild. Every news story about missing persons flashed through her mind. Look what had happened to Lara Holt and the others. Kidnapped for years. She jumped up and went to the kitchen. Taking Paul’s house keys from the hook on her wall, Maven walked outside to his condo.

It seemed like an invasion of his privacy, but she had to check. She slid the key into the lock. The place felt odd without Paul. Empty. Lifeless. A deadly silence filled the rooms. She tried to pick up on a clue that would help with this mystery. She forced her mind to slow down and think through some realistic reasons why Paul would be missing.

Maybe he was sick. She’d seen that happen in more than one movie where the hero or the heroine discovered they had a fatal illness. Being noble, they refused to tell their loved ones. Instead, they’d disappear to take care of the problems on their own.

Maven headed towards Paul’s office and sat down at his desk. She stared at the drawers for a moment, hesitant to open them. Then she shook off the guilty feelings. It was the right thing to do. Besides, if she was the one who’d disappeared, Paul wouldn’t simply accept it and move on. Not without an explanation.

She found a file marked MEDICAL and opened it. It revealed nothing that she didn’t already know. Paul took medicine for high cholesterol and high blood pressure.

Another file was marked WILL. Her hands shook as she lifted it out of the cabinet. She opened it and looked at the date. Updated the month before. It only took a few minutes to see that Paul had not had second thoughts about marrying her.

None of the other files held any answers or questions about Paul or his disappearance. She moved to his bedroom. Everything was neat. Nothing out of place. The bed was even made. Did that mean he hadn’t slept in it the night before their wedding?

She and Paul had decided to not worry about living arrangements until after the wedding and honeymoon. They’d discussed buying a new home or possibly finding a way to combine their two townhouses into one as long as the housing association agreed. It wasn’t something they felt a need to rush on. Until then, they’d use both homes as needed.

So Paul’s bedroom was still Paul’s bedroom. Looking through closets and drawers, nothing seemed to be missing. Not even his camping gear.

She hadn’t even thought about whether Paul had left the night before the wedding or the morning of the event. It hadn’t mattered before.

Maybe his cell phone would give a clue. After a thorough search, Maven couldn’t find his cell phone or anything else that could tell her where Paul was.

The only thing she’d discovered was more questions.