AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Oh dear,” she said, biting at her lip just like I do when I’m nervous or thinking hard about something. “I suppose that does present a problem, doesn’t it?”
I wiped at my eyes and Mom’s frown softened, her brows drawing together in sympathy.
“Do you love this boy?” she asked me, meeting my eyes.
I nodded, biting down on my tongue so I couldn’t shout my admission to the world.
“Oh dear,” she murmured again, taking my hands across the table.
We sat in silence for a while, before Mom finally started talking.
“You know,” she said eventually. “In the bible it talks about the first great commandment.”
I nodded.
“To love God,” I told her.
“Yes,” she agreed. “And the second?”
“Like unto it, love your neighbor,” I answered on instinct.
Mom just sat there nodding.
“Now, I have so many ideas of the man that I imagined you would marry one day. Of course I hoped that maybe he’d be a good Christian boy. That’s every mother’s dream, you know.”
Well, not every mother but…
“But you know what means more to me than that?” she asked me.
“What?” I whispered, unsure what she would possibly say.
I always knew the kind of man my mother wanted for me. I’d looked for that kind of man myself, but the right one had never appeared. Then Owen fell into my lap and…he changed everything. All the things that I thought had mattered didn’t even blip on my radar anymore. The things I didn’t used to think mattered became the most important things.
“What means more to me than all that is whether he’s a good man or not. Does he have a good moral code, and does he stick to it, live his life by it? Is he good to other people? Is he Christlike in his actions and dealings with others? Will he be a good husband and father? Is he selfless and caring and sympathetic? Is he giving and kind? Those are the things I want for you, honey. Now, can you tell me, is he a man like that? Is he all of those things?”
The way Owen had given his student a second chance whispered across my mind. The way he cared for his students was next. The kindness and empathy he’d shown me when he’d accepted my virginity echoed through me until I was nodding.
“We haven’t known each other that long,” I admitted. “But from what I’ve seen, he’s a good man. A great man. I think he and Dad would get along.”
Not to mention they were about the same age.
Mom’s smile blossomed.
“Then there you go, honey. What more can a woman ask for than that? Yes, I’d prefer if he was devoted to God, but if he’s living the same values as we’d expect, then does it matter all that much? Besides, I know you never really liked going to church all that much, anyway.”
She did have a point.
“But…what if the difference is just…too big?” I asked her. “Would you and Dad accept him?”
Mom smiled.
“If he’s as good a man as you say he is, then your father will accept him. I’ll make him.”
I choked out a laugh.
I needed to tell her the truth. I needed to—
“Mia-May, is that you?” our neighbor Beatrice called in from the back window.
