All Things for Good - Part 2

Good Morning FFFs!

Just to get this out of the way,

I will be posting later today

On the page of Traveling the U.S.A.

So come back and see what I have to say.:)

I couldn't resist writing that in rhyme.:)


Are you all just longing the hear the chosen title? Well . . . drum-roll please

The Unexpected Request

Thanks goes to Katelyn, Kristina and James W. for offering that suggestion. I will tell you though, it was a hard choice. There were many good title suggestions. Mom, S and I spent some time going over the list, crossing out ideas one by one until we were down to four. Then we numbered them. The other three came out with the same number while this one won.


I don't know about the rest of you, but it has been HOT here! Just take a look at this picture and you'll see just how hot it has been. Can you imagine living when they didn't have AC?

Those of you who have been waiting patiently or otherwise for me to get back to other stories, namely Triple Creek Ranch, will be glad to know that I stated working on the next part of that last night. It sure was quite a change from the western to the ranch. :) We'll see how it goes. I'm wondering what happens just as much as you all are. And I have other short stories that I'm supposed to be writing as well as working on another story and starting the sequel to Home Fires of the Great War. I should be busy. Not to mention that I still am in the middle of editing The Unexpected Request and sending it to the proofer. But you can keep up with that here.


Enjoy the second part of this story and stay cool. (If you can.)

All Things For Good - Part 2

by

Rebekah M.

Late in the afternoon, Sergeant Dwight appeared. “After you notified me this morning that your father’s car was also gone, I alerted the force to be on the lookout for it. Just got word over the radio that it was found parked at the train station.”
Rose and Josiah exchanged glances. “What would it be doing there?”
“I don’t know, Rose,” Josiah answered. “Can you think of any business trip he was taking?”
Rose shook her head and swallowed hard. “He wasn’t going anywhere. I know that.”
“But if he did,” persisted Sergeant Dwight, “where might he have gone?”
The clock in the hallway ticked loudly as Rose sat on the stairs with her face in her hands. Where would he, where could he have gone? Her brain refused to think, and she could feel the tears threatening once again.
“Sergeant, couldn’t we find out which train he took?”
“I already checked on that,” the sergeant sighed. “It might have worked except there is a new ticket agent. The other one, the one that would have sold her father his ticket, is on vacation, and no one has contact information.”
It seemed to grow more complex with each lead. Josiah’s mind was confused, and he wasn’t sure what to think.
“All this seems to point that Mr. Davidson left of his own free will and, therefore, will most likely return.”
“But Daddy would have let me know!” Rose buried her face against the railing and sobbed.
Both men looked uncomfortable.
“I’d best be getting on. I’ll see how Edward Randolph is,” and with that, Sergeant Dwight let himself out of the house.

“Oh, Rose honey, everything will be all right.” She was gathered in Josiah’s arms where she continued to cry though with less bitterness. Gently he stroked her hair. “I know it is hard to believe, but God doesn’t make mistakes. He knows where your father is, and He can bring him home. Darling, you have to believe that He does work things out for good.”
“I-I know.” Rose moaned. “I want to believe, but oh Jose, it is so hard!”
The afternoon sun sank and evening was approaching rapidly before the two young people arose from their knees and began slow preparations for the evening meal. It was a very silent dinner; neither one seemed hungry but made at least a pretence of eating for the sake of the one sitting opposite them.

Rose lay awake a long time that night, her mind in a whirl. She couldn’t focus on any one thing for more than thirty seconds, yet she couldn’t sleep. After turning her hot pillow for the sixth time, she looked at the clock; it was nearly midnight. Why couldn’t she sleep? Everything was quiet and still. Even the crickets seemed to have ended their nightly concert and gone to bed. The sound of a car pulling into the driveway brought her bolt upright. One car door shut and then a second one. Instantly she was out of bed and peering from the window. She gasped. There was her father and with him a young man. The stranger lifted his head to gaze at the house and as he did so, the light of the moon fell full on his face. Rose stared. Her heart seemed to stop beating and for one moment she couldn’t move. Then with a scream she flew out of her room and down the stairs to become locked in a pair of strong arms while she cried, “Oh Bobby! Bobby! Daddy!”
All was confusion for some time after that. Josiah, not a little startled by this unexpected awakening, joined the group, and questions flew thick and fast. Rose, in her excitement, clung first to the stranger and then to her father and then turned to Josiah, only to start it all over again.
“Come, come Rose,” her father chided her at last. “Let us at least sit down. And would it be permitted to have some coffeecoffee at this untimely hour?”
Rose flew to make it and soon returned to the living room where the three men had settled themselves.
“Now Daddy, tell me everything. I was so worried when you hadn’t left even a note!”
“Didn’t you talk to Randolph?”
“He had a stroke two days before we returned, sir,” Josiah answered.
“Then you didn’t get my note. It is simple really. I received a lead as to Bobby’s whereabouts, dropped everything and followed it. The results, your brother.”
Rose had dropped down in a heap before her father and Bobby and now gazed into their faces. “Oh Bobby, I never doubted you.”
“I know, sis. Thanks.” Bobby couldn’t say more.
With a sudden move, Rose turned and cried, “Oh Jose!” and for the second time burst into tears.
“Hey now! I thought we were done with those.” Josiah pulled her up to a seat beside him.
Smiling through her tears she replied, “Those were sad, these are happy. It’s been six years!”
“Let me explain it to you, Josiah.” Mr. Davidson had noticed his future son-in-law’s bewilderment. “Six years ago, something of great importance was lost. I accused my son of taking it. He denied it and hot words followed. I never should have doubted him--”
“I didn’t deserve your trust then, Dad,” Bobby put in. “I was--”
But his father cut him short and continued. “Things finally came to a head, and I told him that if he wouldn’t confess, I would disown him. Well, he couldn’t confess what he had never done, so he just left. How Rose grieved for him. I hadn’t really meant what I said, but I couldn’t take it back, for Bob was gone. He just disappeared. Only two weeks after he left, I discoverd the missing item. It was obvious Bobby had told the truth. I began to search for him, but couldn’t find a trace because he had changed his name. Then last week, like I said, I got a lead. Thank God it was true and led me straight to my son.”
“He works all things for good.” Rose’s soft yet excited voice broke the stillness that followed.
“Amen! Let us all thank Him.”

Questions? Comments? Observations?