Page 40 (1/2)

He stood, reached for his jacket, and headed out the door Perhaps by the tied up some enthusiasm for this dinner party

When he arrived at his fiancée’s, he was surprised to find that she hadn’t changed out of the business suit she’d worn to the office that afternoon

He was even arette and blew a strea It was all he could do not to ask her not to s of guilt herself because she put out the cigarette after a single puff

"I thought you’d given up s," he said dryly

"I had After these last couple of weeks I ain"

"I hope you don’t nored the corandmother this afternoon" She waited as if she expected him to make some statement

"That’s nice" A rather dull remark, but he hadn’t a clue what she wanted hirandmother hasn’t spoken to you?"

"No," he adave a cold, short laugh Ted disliked the cynical, pessimistic moods she sometimes slipped into

"If it had been me, I’d have been on the phone so fast it’d make your head spin"

Ted was lost He’d co in riddles "I’m afraid I don’t understand"

"I don’t expect you to," she said, and slipped the diaer It came off with some difficulty She stared at it a moment and then deposited it in his hand

"Blythe?"

She sobbed once It could have been a laugh, but with Blythe it was sometimes difficult to tell

Ted stared at the diamond in the palm of his hand and frowned "If this is because of--"

"You can have your precious Joy now," she said bitterly

"Blythe," Ted said gently, not wanting to distress her, "we’ve already been through this once"

She turned her back to him "The baby isn’t yours"

Ted reeled backward and sank onto the end of the sofa, sitting on the arm "What do you mean?"

"Do you need me to spell it out for you?" She whirled around to face him "You’re not the father of this child"

"But--"

"I assumed it wouldn’t ht that I could make you believe that a couple of weeks one way or the other in a pregnancy doesn’tBut I can’t marry you, Ted I know that now"

"What about you and the baby?"

"What about us? The way I figure it, this kid is stuck withbusiness"

Madge was gone She’d died peacefully, surrounded by those who loved her With the grace and coentle old woman had slipped silently, serenely from one world to the next

Paul looked to Bernard and knew the oldersense of unreality and profound loss If it had been in his power, Bernard would have reached for his wife and pulled her back, and clung to her

It hat Paul had wanted in Barbara’s final moments

Desperately tired and emotionally exhausted, Paul returned to the house He walked in the back door, to be greeted by dirty dishes soaking in the sink They reency hich he’d left

He heated a single cup of coffee in the microwave and carried it into his office with hie’s death had resurrected

He knew that his own grief had been all-enco and severe for several months now Only recently had it occurred to him that his capacity for pain was indicative of his capability to experience joy He was ready for the penduluued hie’s funeral Paul had reluctantly agreed Noasn’t the tined from his ministerial duties at the church Noasn’t the time to inform the bereaved husband that Paul had turned his back on his congregation

Paul stood in the doorway of his small den and stared at the book-lined shelves Several volumes were spread about in a haphazard fashion In times past, he had been fastidious about his library Never a book out of place Never an unfiled paper or an unanswered letter

He hadn’t noticed that the roolected some of the most beloved volu his books back in their proper places, he sat down at his desk The surface was reasonably neat Either Joe or Annie had hten up for him Stacks of sermon notes and other slips of paper were piled onto one corner, held down by a white binder

The binder resembled the one he’d kept for his notes on John’s Gospel, the one he planned to write a book from someday, but it couldn’t possibly be his notes He’d tossed thee himself and then later retted the action now, but it was done, and nothing could undo it

He sat on the old any chair, which moaned in protest Curiosity made him reach for the tattered white binder He flipped it open and read the first line

He gasped and wheeled back from his desk as if burned It was his sermon notes from the Gospel of John It simply wasn’t possible

With his very own eyes Paul had seen the sanitation worker empty the Dumpster no e

Leta Johnson

Soone after the sanitation truck and convinced them to let her have the binder

As far as he was concerned, his secretary had overstepped the boundaries of what he considered her duties She’d stretched the li point

Furious in a way he rarely was, he marched across the yard and into the church, past the sanctuary and directly into his office