Worth The Wait

  She heard the bell jingle and stood.

  Dad came ambling in. “Hello, daughter.”

  “What are you doing here? You don’t look well today. Did you call the doctor?”

  “I’ve been dealing with your upset brother and sister-in-law.” He took a seat.

  She frowned. “Have they been bothering you with this?”

  “Sounds like Rhonda has a chance at a promotion. Maybe things will improve after that.”

  “Oh, Dad, you don’t buy into that, do you? And just how long will that take? I’ve been waiting eleven years to go to college. When will it end?”

  “Is it college or this man that has your head turned?” He gave her a hard look.

  Sugar fritters! “Leave Kipp out of this.”

  “I will if you will,” he said, only half smiling.

  “Are you telling me I can’t see him?” She got to her feet. “Are you saying I can’t go to the U?”

  “I’m not telling you you can’t do anything. I just want you to think about what’s best. Zymon has scheduled a long buying trip to the upper east coast. He’ll be gone for a week. Rhonda flies out tomorrow for Florida.”

  She whirled around. “You’re kidding.”

  He shook his head.

  “Why did they even bother having kids?”

  “You don’t mean that.”

  “I’m sorry, Dad, but they’re never here for them.”

  “This business requires travel.”

  She scowled. “This place is jam packed with antiques. He doesn’t need to go on another buying trip. He needs to stay home and sell some of this crap.”

  “We need you, Adele. I need you.”

  Her heart softened. He stood and held out his arms to her, and she walked into them.

  * * * *

  Kipp finished the work on the connections to the electric motor of the old water clock and wiped his hands on a rag.

  Adele’s life certainly appeared to be complicated. Life should not be complex though. Life should be about love and beauty. If you had the right thoughts in mind, it shouldn’t be convoluted at all.

  He loved her. She loved him. They should be together. She needed to speak her mind to her family and live her own life. There was nothing difficult in that.

  He sauntered outside the bank, climbed up the ladder, and started to reassemble the clock faces. He could solve her problems so easily. They could get married, share his apartment, and both go to college. What could be easier to comprehend?

  But how could he convince her of the simplicity? How could he explain to her that she should follow her heart instead of being persuaded by others when he is practically a stranger to her himself?

  Tomorrow. He would sleep on it and the answers would come to him. He would show Adele his heart, and she would know what to do.

  * * * *

  Adele ran the last of the fabric through the sewing machine and clipped the threads.

  She’d been working most of the night at the shop to finish Kipp’s chair. She hadn’t been able to sleep. Too many problems demanded her attention, but she didn’t want to face them.

  The desire to restore the chair and thoughts of Melisa and Ralph rescued her from her present dilemmas. She pulled the last section of the material tight and stapled it, her hands aching. Now she just had to staple the dust cover on the bottom. She spread out a blanket and carefully tipped the chair over.

  Knock, knock.

  Could someone really be here this early in the morning? Fresca chased out of the room, barking. Adele peeked out and spotted Kipp waving through the window. Her heart somersaulted. Dashing to the door, she quickly unlocked the lock. He had come back. She thought about throwing her arms around him and giving him a kiss but held back.

  “Good morning to you,” Kipp said, a huge smile on his face. He bent over and gave Fresca’s nose a rub.

  “Hello. It’s so early. How did you know I was here?”

  He handed her a big box of pastries. “It seems I cannot stay away.”

  “Please, come in. I bought some fresh milk. I-I-I’m glad to see you.”

  “So happy that makes me,” he said.

  She smiled, and he followed her into the conference room where she had the love letters spread all over the table. She grabbed two glasses and the milk.

  “Have you read all the letters?” he asked.

  “Yes.” She frowned.

  “What is wrong?” He opened the box and placed a lemon pastry on a napkin for each of them.

  She poured the milk. “Melisa’s parents won’t let her have anything to do with him because he is Hispanic.”

  He cocked his head. “Ralph is Hispanic?”

  “So it seems. He has such hopes and dreams for the two of them being together, but his last letters are so…desperate. I feel so badly for them both.”

  He chuckled. “That was so long ago.”

  “I really want to find them. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if they were together and still in love?”

  “Yes, it would.”

  His passionate look at her made her dip her head in shyness. Fresca brought him the toy he’d bought her and wanted to play.

  “Not now, Fresca,” he told her.

  She padded off, the toy in her mouth.

  Knock, knock.

  Adele stared at Kipp. “Who could that be?”

  He shrugged. “Do you want me to go?”

  “No. Have another pastry.” She headed out front.

  Reggie waited with his back toward the shop. She hesitated. Did she really want to go through this again? She relented and opened the door.

  “Hi, baby cakes,” he said.

  “It’s too early to start, Reggie.”

  He pushed his way through the door. “I wanted you to know that I forgive you for yesterday.”

  He put his arm around her. “I realize I haven’t made my intentions clear.”

  “Look, Reggie—”

  “Hear me out.”

  She tried to free herself from his grasp. His grip tightened.

  “You’re hurting me,” she said.

  Kipp bolted toward them, anger in his eyes. Adele thought he would hit Reggie, but instead he grabbed him firmly by the arm and lead him toward the door.

  “Excuse us just a moment, Adele.” He never stopped moving until they were outside the shop.

  She watched as Kipp pulled Reggie toward him by the neck of his shirt and his mouth moved. Reggie’s eyes grew large and he nodded a lot. Kipp drew back and straightened Reggie’s shirt. She would have given anything to hear what Kipp had said to Reggie. They separated and Kipp calmly walked back into the shop.

  “Are you all right, Adele?” he asked.

  “Yes. Fine.” She smoothed her hair.

  “He did not bruise you?”

  She rubbed her arm. “I’ll be fine.”

  “I am sorry about that, but he won’t bother you again.”

  “How can you be sure?”

  He headed into the conference room and she followed.

  “We came to an understanding,” he said, closing the box of pastries.

  She put the milk away, hoping he was right. Reggie had become more and more aggressive. He probably was a very nice man, just not someone she was interested in. Hopefully, he would get Kipp’s hint. He certainly hadn’t listened to her.

  “Where are the boys today?” Kipp asked as calm as ever.

  “I found a two week camp that would take them at the last minute. They’ll be much happier getting up in the mountains and having fun rather than hanging around here with me.”

  “Oh, I don’t know. I can’t think of anything I’d rather do.” He smiled at her.

  Her stress washed away as always when he was around. Fresca whined and barked from the workroom. Something was wrong. Kipp sprinted out of the room, and she rushed after him. Fresca came running from the bathroom, rushed to the corner of the room, lay down, and covered her eyes with her paws. Water flowed out into the workroom. Kipp quickly
picked up his chair and set it up on the counter so it wouldn’t get wet. They rushed into the bathroom to an overflowing toilet.

  “A plunger?” Kipp called.

  She grabbed it off the shelf and handed it to him. He plunged and plunged but the overflowing toilet didn’t stop until it ran out of water.

  “I know where her new toy went,” he said.

  “Don’t tell me she flushed it?” Adele hit her forehead. “What will we do?”

  “I’m afraid you’ll have to get a plumber in here. He’ll have to take everything apart.”

  “Sugar fritters! We can’t open the shop without a working bathroom.”

  Kipp rinsed off the plunger and set it back on the shelf. “A marvelous idea I have thought of.”

  “Really?”

  “I have a friend who is a plumber. I will call him to fix the plumbing, and we can go in search of your romantic couple.”

  She shook her head in amazement. Did nothing get him down? Could he always see a silver lining?

  Chapter Seven

  Kipp pulled up to the address on the envelopes and parked in the elite neighborhood of The Avenues east of the State Capitol near the Wasatch Mountain range.

  “Are you ready?” he asked Adele.

  “Ready.” She picked up the letters and something flat and square she’d wrapped.

  He hadn’t asked her about it, but curiosity overwhelmed him. He helped her from the car. His mind struggled with the events of the day. He’d wanted to punch Reginald Vega. It took everything he had to control himself. How could that man roughly handle a delicate woman such as Adele? The thought made him ignite like a space shuttle launch. She should have a man that adores her and puts her on a pedestal.

  He had given Reggie something to think about if he ever laid a hand on Adele or bothered her again. With much certainty, he knew the man would never dare.

  Adele stopped halfway up the drive. “I can’t do this.”

  “Wait? Why? You were so anxious to find them.”

  She touched his arm. “I don’t know. I just feel nervous.”

  He gave her hand a pat and gently took it in his. “We are together. Everything will be fine.”

  She smiled, and they continued up the walk. He rang the bell. They could hear muffled sounds coming from inside and soon the door opened.

  An elderly man emerged, his head shaking like he had Parkinson’s. “Can I help you?”

  Adele gave Kipp a blank look.

  “Please, can you tell us if you once knew a woman named Melisa Mathews?” Kipp said.

  The man’s Dick Clark face looked at them puzzled. “I haven’t heard that name in forty some odd years.”

  “Then you know her?” Adele ventured.

  Kipp gave her hand a squeeze for reassurance. “Do you know where we could find her?”

  The man’s expression grew solemn. “I’m sorry, but I’m afraid she’s gone. Disappeared not long before I bought this house from her parents. They couldn’t stand to live here any longer.”

  “Disappeared?” Adele said, her grasp weakening.

  “They didn’t have Amber Alerts back then. Never did find her to my knowledge.”

  “D-d-do you know anything about her boyfriend?” Kipp asked.

  “Now let me see. You’re really testing my brain cells. Why are you looking for them anyway?”

  “I own an antique shop, and we found these letters written to Melisa by her boyfriend, Ralph, and—”

  “Ralph,” he said, pointing a shaky finger at them. “That’s the name. Ralph something. Ralph… Starts with an M. Martin, Mendez. Can’t quite remember. You might try West High School. They have all the old yearbooks there. They might have an alumni list.” He gave them the address.

  “Thank you so much,” they said in unison.

  The old man smiled. “Best of luck to you.”

  They quickly returned to the car and drove the short distance to the school, Adele a bundle of nerves beside him. Why did she take this so seriously? Why was it so important to her? He knew he would never understand everything about Adele, but he wanted to try. He wanted to spend a lifetime getting to know her.

  The parking lot was empty except for one lone car. Kipp parked close to the door and rushed up to check whether it was open. Locked. School had not started yet for the new year. He caught movement inside and pressed his face to the window. He frantically waved at the janitor pushing a floor buffer across the hall. The man looked up and shut off his machine.

  He came bounding toward Kipp and unlocked the door. “School’s closed, mister.”

  “Yes, I know, but this is very important.” He waved at Adele to join them. “We just need to look at a yearbook.”

  “Yearbook?” the man said, scratching his bald head.

  “An old one, 1950.”

  “You say 1950? What gives?” He nodded to Adele as she approached.

  Adele smiled a charming smile at him. “I own an antique shop and found—”

  Kipp nudged her. “Umm, a very valuable item hidden in a piece of furniture that belongs to a woman who went to school here in 1950.”

  “Well, I’ll be.” He pushed the door wide for them to come inside. “Right kind of you to try to find the owner.”

  “If we could just get the last name, we might be able to find her and return the, er, item.” Adele gave Kipp a nervous look.

  Kipp could tell she wasn’t used to flavoring the truth. But if they really wanted to find Melisa and Ralph, they needed a little help. The janitor directed them toward the library and unlocked the door. He turned on the lights.

  “Be quick about it,” he said, jingling his keys. “Mind you, I don’t want to lose my job.”

  “Oh, no. We wouldn’t want that,” Adele said.

  They scurried inside and quickly located the section of yearbooks. Already in order by year, the one they wanted was easy to find. Adele flipped to the index in the back and easily found the page with Melisa’s pretty photo. She definitely looked like a blond, teenage bobby-soxer with a pony-tail, although there wasn’t much detail in the small black and white photo.

  Ralph took a little more research since they didn’t know his last name and there wasn’t a Ralph listed. The janitor calmly waited just outside in the hall, eating an apple.

  Kipp sighed. “Right there.” He pointed to the name. “Rafael Mendoza.”

  Adele turned to the correct page, and they stared at Ralph with his rebellious pompadour hair-style and winning smile.

  “It’s him,” she said. “He wrote the letters.”

  “Could be.”

  “I’m certain of it.” She closed the book.

  “No chance of looking up an alumni list,” he said, taking her arm. “We better go before the janitor gets into trouble.”

  They headed for the door.

  “Thanks for your help,” she said to the janitor.

  “No problem. I needed a break from that floor buffer. You two ever run one of those things?”

  “Can’t say that I have,” Kipp answered, grinning. “To you I wish a good day.”

  They loaded into the car and Kipp headed for the U of U. They could use the computers there to look up Melisa and Ralph.

  In no time, they were huddled at a computer with an assistant helping them. Melisa’s name brought up all sorts of records and news items about her abduction. Adele’s face paled. He could understand her concern. She’d read all the letters and somehow felt a connection to the woman. But he couldn’t stop thinking that this was forty-six years ago not yesterday.

  Adele touched his arm with a trembling hand. “The last report says her abduction has been filed as a cold case. There aren’t any other reports or records.”

  He gave her a hug.

  She leaned up to whisper in his ear. “Do you…do you think he might have killed her?”

  She had said Ralph’s letters had become quite desperate toward the end, but Kipp didn’t or wouldn’t believe Ralph would kill the woman he loved.
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  “Could you look up Rafael Mendoza for us?” he asked the assistant.

  After giving him what information they knew, the man came back with an address and profession for them. They quickly thanked him and headed for the car. Adele’s worried expression never changed. Kipp wanted to somehow comfort her but felt as helpless as a kitten.

  Other than giving him her home address, Adele was silent on the drive home. He pulled up in front of her house and parked.

  “You don’t honestly believe he killed her,” he said.

  “I don’t want to believe it. I want Melisa to have stood up for herself, eloped with Ralph, and lived happily-ever-after. But, real life doesn’t work that way, does it?”

  “It can, drágaságom.”

  “What did you call me?”

  “Umm, it means my dearest one. Adele, my sweet, I think you know that I have very deep feelings for you.”

  “Yes, and I you.”

  “Whatever happens with Melisa and Ralph does not mean we are destined for the same fate.”

  She closed the distance between them and snuggled in his arms. “I know. It’s just that I hoped these two would fight for love. What if Ralph decided that if he couldn’t have her no one could? He was so in love with her.”

  “Then it wasn’t true love. A man could never hurt the one he truly loves. A woman is a treasure that God created and should be handled delicately with love, patience and wonder.”

  He kissed her tenderly, his body trembling with pleasure. He held back his passion so as not to frighten her.

  She sighed and rested her head on his shoulder. “I’m falling in love with you.”

  “Good. I didn’t want to be the only one.”

  But a deep concern settled at the pit of his stomach. Could she stand up to her family? Could she live her own life? Would she take the risks needed to find happiness? This he did not know. He only knew he loved her and would do whatever it took to share his life with her.

  “Are we driving to Provo?” he asked.

  She looked up at him with glistening eyes. “Oh, yes. I really want to go, but I’m afraid it will have to wait until Saturday when Zymon gets back and can watch the shop.”

  “Fine. I should get some work done the rest of this week. I need the money for college.” And the antique chair. How would be ever pay for that chair?

  “Do you think Ralph is still an attorney?” she asked.