Roy
The following Saturday, Anna was relaxing at home with a book on wildlife in South America. ”What was God thinking when He made Tapirs?” Her ponderings of odd animals were soon interrupted when she heard a vehicle pull into their driveway. Dumping the book on the floor, she ran to the window to see who had come. An unfamiliar black Ford truck was parking in front of their garage. The doors opened and Roy and one of his sisters jumped out and came toward the front of the house. The butterflies started their own Cirque-du-Soleil in her tummy. Why was he here? Her mother came out of the kitchen and Anna stammered, “It….it’s him.” Clara mentally connected the dots and realized it was Roy. She quickly went to the door and welcomed them inside while Anna, still frozen with shock, tried to compose herself. Roy walked right up to her and shook her hand. That was something she thought was off limits….touching a girl. Finally, she shook herself and asked if they would like to come and sit down. Roy replied that he actually wanted to know if she would go back to Platzville with them. “Is anything special going on?” she asked. He replied, “No, I…uh….we would like for you to come visit again.” The truth was that his parents wouldn’t allow him to visit her in her home without their protective eyes. There was safety in numbers and the Mullers had numbers. They could not watch over his every move and scrutinize Anna away from their kingdom. His younger sister was looking around Anna’s house with critical eyes, which made Anna disbelieve what Roy was saying. The thought then struck her that HE really wanted her to visit. “Let me discuss this with my mother,” she said. She found her mother and told her the proposition. “Honey, you were so uncomfortable there before,” her mother sweetly interjected. “Yes, I know,” replied Anna, “but I think I would like to be with Roy a little more.” Her mother nodded in approval and Anna raced to find her coat.
To her great surprise, Roy wanted her to sit in the middle and helped her find the seat belt. On the way to Platzville the truck was silent except for Roy asking a few questions about the saw mill. When they arrived at the Muller’s house everyone was outside admiring a new milk cow John had acquired that morning. Roy and Anna hung back on the outside of the group engaged in ohhs and ahhs for the poor cow. Roy smiled at her and she felt very warm in spite of the frosty temperature. “Would you like to go in and play chess?” he asked her. She nodded consent and followed him to the house. “Must be the only thing a guy can do with a girl around here.” Since most of the family was still out with the cow, it was fairly quiet inside. She felt that he should know about her education and love of books. Somehow she thought he might appreciate it. “Um, Roy, I wanted to tell you I have an online degree in English Literature,” she said shyly. He smiled and told her, “Hey, that’s good.” She felt a little boldness come over her. She leaned forward and whispered, “What does your family think of your education and job?” “They hate it.” He replied with a look that told her there was much pain in this subject. She decided to avoid it.
All too soon, her visit was over and Roy and his reluctant chaperone were taking her back home. Her butterflies returned to party when she realized that he was looking down at her and smiling quite frequently on that thirty mile trip. He walked her to the door when they arrived at the Nathan house. As she turned to go inside, he asked with a voice full of hope, “Next Saturday?” She smiled and nodded yes. After he was gone she went to her room to process her feelings for him. He was cute and sweet and apparently would be a good provider. What else could she want? She wasn’t deeply in love with him, but she could see herself making a life with Roy. After all, what choice did she have? Her father would probably never approve of anyone else, so she had to take the opportunity. She gave her mother a positive report about Roy and tried to avoid talking about the rest of the family other than the cow.
After just a few more Saturday visits, Roy showed up and went to the saw mill office instead of the Nathan house. Bill Nathan was busy catching up on paperwork for his business, but he could see that Roy was there for more than chit chat. He laid his glasses on his desk and sat back to listen to Roy. Anna could see Roy’s truck over at the saw mill and wondered why he had gone there instead of the house. Her mother asked her not to burn a path in the rug as she watched Anna pace back and forth frantically. Before she knew it, Bill and Roy were back at the house and were both smiling at her. She immediately got a hyper performance from her acrobatic butterflies. And then, he was there kneeling before her, asking her to be his wife. “Is it supposed to be this fast?” She thought perhaps the pseudo-Amish just do it this way to avoid any sin of the carnal nature. She already knew they had her father’s blessing by the ridiculously huge grin on his face. So, she said what everyone expected, “Yes.” He stayed for a few hours longer and her parents actually let them be alone on the couch. She wanted him to hold her hand or show some sort of affection to let her know that he loved her. She desired to feel what it was like to be in love and feel passion like the great historical romances she had read. He was a good boy and didn’t touch her, though. She hated the rules at that moment. After he was gone, she sat in her room and wondered what it would be like to kiss him. She couldn’t really imagine it to be wonderful, so she stopped thinking about it.
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