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Otis knocked on the door and took a step back. Phrases and words ran through his head. What could he say? What should he say? Did he even want to say anything?
Heavy footsteps came toward the door and it swung open. “Hello, Otis,” Tyrel said. “What brings you here?”
Every well-crafted question fled his mind and Otis swallowed. “Is Mabel here?”
“No, she left about ten minutes ago. Didn’t you meet her on your way from town?”
Otis shook his head. “I came from Ellis and Sarah’s. Thank you. I’ll head home.” He paused. “Is that where she was headed?”
“Yes.”
A shiver ran up and down his spine. “Thank you.”
“We’ll be praying for you,” Olive called.
“Thanks, sis.”
It was hard not to run all the way home, but easy, too. Otis wanted to be there instantly and also dreaded ever reaching home. What if she had gone there just to say she planned to go back to Fort Wayne? How could he live with that?
He shook the dismal thoughts away and made his steady and hurried way home. A note hung on the door saying he was only available for emergencies. Mabel had written it. Did that mean she wanted to talk? Or that she thought he would be useless to work except in an emergency?
The door creaked as he opened it and Mabel popped in from the kitchen. “I have some coffee and biscuits almost ready for you. When they’re done, can we talk?”
Otis nodded.
“Thank you.” She bounced back into the kitchen.
Otis stared at the place she had vacated. On a normal day, she was energetic, but today, she seemed more energetic than usual. He followed her into the kitchen and watched her flit around from here to there and back again.
“The coffee is done,” she announced. “Would you like a cup? The biscuits will be ready in a couple of minutes if you’d like to go to the sitting room.”
He nodded. “Yes to the coffee and sitting down.”
She glided to the stove, poured some coffee into a cup, and handed it to him. “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
Otis went to the sitting room and sat in his favorite chair to wait.
“I hope you’re hungry,” she said as she came in with a plate of steaming biscuits.
Otis stood, set his cup down, and smiled. “I am a little hungry, actually. Thank you.”
She set the plate on the coffee table and sat in her favorite chair. He grabbed two biscuits, sat down, and waited for her to talk.
Her cheery smile faded as she looked down at her lap. “I...I’m not sure how or where to start.”
Otis waited, and when she didn’t say anything for a while, he cleared his throat. “I don’t either. Maybe with last night?”
She grimaced. “Yeah. Last night.” She took a sip of her coffee. “You scared me.”
Otis started. “I did?”
She nodded. “I... I had no idea you felt that way. I thought you worked so much because you wanted to avoid being around me. When you said you loved me, I got scared because I didn’t know what to do. In some ways, I was glad you were called away. I needed to think and I can’t think as well when you are around. Then I let my fear get the better of me and I ran.
“I ran because I thought it was the best option. It worked when Douglas scared me. But this time it didn’t. I’ve heard enough sermons about the Israelites and Jonah that I should’ve known running would not work all the time.”
She paused, bit her lower lip, and took a deep breath. “I couldn’t sleep last night. I couldn’t sort things out in my mind. I couldn’t figure out if I loved either you or Douglas or both or neither. I finally gave up on sleep and lit a candle to read my Bible.
“I flipped through until I came to John 3:16˗18. I’d read it before but never really thought about it.” She wiped a tear from her cheek. “I’ve been trying to get to heaven by my works and didn’t realize it. That was one reason I was so confused. I didn’t know what real love was.”
Otis leaned forward, his elbows digging into his knees. “And now you do?”
Mabel sniffed and looked at him, tears in her eyes. “Yes. True love is laying down your life for others. Like you do every day. You sacrifice your time for other people who need your help. Yesterday and today, you sacrificed helping others to spend time with me. You may not verbally express your love much, but your actions show your love.
“Olive also gave me the letters you wrote and I read all of them. Every word. Have you learned to trust people yet?”
Otis looked down. “Yes, I have. Thanks mostly to you and those letters.”
Mabel smiled. “Thank you for writing the letters. Seeing into your inner thoughts like that was exactly what I needed.” She stood up and stepped next to his chair. “After my prayer last night, I prayed again, asking God to clearly show me if, and who, I loved.”
“Did He?” Otis barely got the words out as he suppressed the excitement trying to surface.
She nodded. “Yes. Otis Samuel Miller, I love you and with God’s help, I will be the best wife and helpmeet I can be.”
He jumped up and pulled her into a tight hug. They stood there for he didn’t even know how long. He finally whispered, “May I kiss you?”
She looked up into his eyes. “I... I guess so. Why?”
Otis grinned. “It’s what married couples do.”
She shook her head. “That’s not what I meant. Why did you ask?”
“Oh. Because I want to kiss you, but I don’t know how fast we should go.”
She tilted her head. “We should go as fast as feels right, I think. Consummation is not what makes a marriage. Love is what makes a marriage. A kiss here and there, a good talk there and here, me fumbling around trying to help you, you fumbling around trying to help me. Those types of things will help us get to know each other so we can be more like the ‘normal’ couples who courted before marriage instead of after.”
Otis held her away at arm’s length. “You’ve really thought this through.”
“I was up all night.”
He chuckled, pulled her close, and kissed her tenderly. “I love you, Mabel Miller.”
“I love you, too, Otis Miller.”