Maire's Story

Chapter 29 and 30

C H A P T E R  T W E N T Y - N I N E

New Year's Day dawned with gentle sunshine. But it failed to calm the emotional blizzard Monique was experiencing. Barely able to sleep, she was up early and called Magic Maple to see if Gram would like a visitor. The answer was yes, so as soon as she and Maire finished breakfast, they were off.

This suited Maire just fine, of course. When they arrived she saw Gramp heading into the barn and dashed off to follow.

Monique watched her go, breathed a sigh of relief, then headed inside.

"I saw you leaving rather early last night," Gram commented after pouring Monique a cup of tea and settling into her kitchen rocking chair. "Were you tiring out?"

"Yes...well, no."

Gram smiled. "I didn't realize I was asking such a hard question."

Monique was silent for a moment and wrung her hands together in desperation before admitting, "I was...I am...confused."

"Ah. Well, I'm here if you want to talk about it.

"Yes, yes. That's why I came over. I'm in trouble. That's all there is to it."

"Why? What have you done?" Gram asked, her face clouding with concern.

"I haven't done anything. At least not yet. And I don't want to do anything, either."

"Heavens to hamburgers, Monique, you have me all confused. Just say what's on your mind."

Monique wrung her hands some more until Gram was positively distracted. Finally...
"I'm in trouble because...because I think I'm falling in love."

Gram's eyes grew large and she took a sip of tea.

"And that's troublesome, is it? You're not falling for a married man, are you?"

"No, no. He's not married. But that's not the point. It's me, falling in love with a man!"

"Forgive me, dearie, but this sounds like good news. Well, unless he doesn't love you. Does he?"

"Yes, I believe he does, but how can I love a man? How?!"

Gram's brow creased for a moment, then relaxed as she figured out where Monique was coming from.

"Ah, and you're not supposed to even like men, are you?"

Monique nodded.

"Well, you couldn't hate them forever, could you?"

"No. But I feel as if I'm betraying myself."

Gram shook her head. "No, you're just moving forward, Monique. I never quite understood why you hated men so, but I guess it was necessary. Now it's not. Maybe God has done some healing."

"Perhaps."

Monique said nothing more for a moment, pondering Gram's words. Could this healing have occurred without her even realizing it? God does work in mysterious ways, she acknowledged. Perhaps He was even helping her come to a place of true forgiveness for all the events of her past.

"I guess you're wondering who he is," she finally said.

Gram shook her head with a smile. "It could only be Rory Fallon. As far as Pa and I know, you haven't spent time with any other man."

Monique smiled ruefully. "No, I haven't. And I wouldn't have allowed this to happen if he hadn't been Maire's uncle. She took to him pretty quickly and, after he turned his life around, forgave him before I did."