Who Loves Her? (11 page)

Susan found Bob
leaning against an old tree just around the corner behind the church sign.  She felt her heart skip a beat when she saw him.  His big arms crossed over his chest and his legs were crossed in comfort.  Susan wondered to herself if this gentle giant of a man had any idea how truly beautiful he was to her.  Bob waved and broke the moment of magic.

“Bob, I
just talked to my mom about us.  It might be the wedding jitters, but she pretty much blew her lid and said no way.  We need to find out the news about Harris before we keep going.  Sorry.”

Bob’s eyes grew dark, “No Susan
.  This is not right.  We love each other, and no one, not even your mom, has the right to interfere.  How will it help anyone if you marry the wrong guy and stay sad and miserable your whole life? You and Harris will just fight nonstop and eventually he will grow to hate you because secretly he will know you love another man.”  Susan laughed in spite of herself at the drama spilling from this man’s lips.

“Just hold on a minute there
, big guy,” Susan laughed.  “I have no intention of marrying Harris.  I won’t marry him.  I won’t live in misery.  I won’t spend the rest of my life wondering where the man I really love is at and wonder if he ever thinks of me.”

“Bob,” she continued, “I am going to marry you
.  We just need to do the right thing now, and find Harris.  We cannot get married if Harris is lying dead in a ditch somewhere, think about it.”  With that she gave him a quick kiss on the lips then stepped away before anyone would see.

Bob dug his hands deeper into his pocket
s.  Then he pulled his baseball cap from his back pocket and slipped it defiantly onto his head.  Finally, he looked around the corner at the groomsmen.  He frowned, “it seems like some are missing.  Have you noticed that?” Glancing back at Susan, he acted like he wanted to either crawl into a hole or just go shoot the breeze about the Walleyes with the guys.  Hard to read what he felt exactly?  He still had the rosy cheek blush every time Susan talked.  She plowed through her speech trying to ignore how cold it was getting between the two of them.

“Yeah, I noticed there were a few guys gone
.  I figure they have a bottle planted down at the creek.  I even though of going down there and grabbing a drink with them,” she laughed. 

“
Let’s just wait for some news about Harris.  Once we find out, I’ll work it out with my parents.  I’ll call you.  I promise.  You just keep in touch on the phone until everything has settled.  I love you, Bob.  I will call you soon.  Take care of yourself.” Susan reached out to take his arm to let him know how much she cared, but he was already pulling away.

Mrs
. Christiansen came around the corner and listened in on the conversation.  Bob looked up at her and tipped his hat.  She scowled and crossed her arms.  Bob didn’t need another word.  He shot a quick look back at Susan, nodded, and left without saying another word.

Susan
sighed and watched him leave.

Thankfully
, out of nowhere, Nina waltzed up and linked arms with her.

“Hey!  This is your wedding day!” she said in a loud voice.  Then coming closer she whispered: “No more stunts like that.  The guests have enough to talk about in the rumor mill with the stolen dress and the car thing.  Let’s get you inside before this whole thing hits the front page of the paper.”

“Too late
!  I think it already has,” Susan spoke in a conspiratorial tone as she glanced back at the biddy ladies and giggled as they frowned at her.

“You slut,” Nina whispered as the two girls fell into a fit of laughter as they went in search of some privacy.
Nina and Susan, along with her friends, Anna and her cousin, went to the back Sunday school room in the church.  They sat in toddlers ‘chairs when they could fit and all started asking Susan about her plans.  After a while, Nina got a call and stepped out into the hallway to have a private conversation.

She came back to Susan and
waved her out into the hallway.  Everyone was chatting away and thought Susan had some last-minute arrangements to work out.

Susan stood up, and
followed Nina out into the hallway.

“What now?’
Susan insisted.

“Bob called
.  He says that you two should get married immediately.”

“I already told him that we cannot do that
!  We can’t do anything as long as Harris is missing.

“Well, h
e says he is sure they won’t find Harris.  Bob usually keeps to himself and stays quiet, but he must really have it bad for you.  He’s even dredging up old stories about how he saved you with the broken wrist and what not.”

Susan hissed, “He knows damn well this has nothing to do with my broken wrist or his puppy dog eyes
!  Harris is missing, and I would look like a terrible person if I married another man while the first man was still missing.”

“Well you should know, h
e is pleading for a second chance.  Something about a night after an ATCC basketball game?  I see that little smile.  So he
was
the one you were giggling about the next morning.”

Nina grabbed Susan and forced her to look at her squarely in the face, “
He says at least for old times’ sake you two should do this soon.  He’s afraid he’ll lose his nerve and something else might interfere.  He told me that.  Now since you both know you want this marriage, it is better to be married soon.  It’s the rest of your lives.  And Bob says no matter what your parents or Harris say, you two should do what will be best for the two of you.  Susan, I know I sound crazy and your mother will probably never speak to me again once she finds out I helped you, but Bob didn’t really leave.  Bob just parked his car around the corner behind the big sycamore tree and hedges that keep the little private school out of view of prying eyes.  When it’s time, you can sneak out the back door and take that little alley behind the church that leads out to Maple Avenue.  The guests are getting restless, and everyone will probably leave soon.  You guys can leave from here right after we leave the church.  I’ll tell your mom that you are staying at my place.  It’s an hour’s drive from here to Little Falls.  In the morning you can get married by a justice of the peace.  At least you can get the paperwork started through a lawyer.  Remember Sarah, my cousin?  Her fiancé is a lawyer.  I’ll put in a call to her.  He could come in handy.”

Susan felt the room beginning to spin
.  My goodness!  All those years, she thought, waiting for Bob to make his move, crying into her pillow at night out of frustration.  She finally settled on Harris, because he was always right there.  It seemed she could go nowhere without him helping her.  She thought for sure it meant he loved her.  After giving up on Bob it seemed so weird.  Now? Susan looked at Nina like she was insane.  You honestly want me to run off with Bob?

“Of course I do!” Nina exclaimed
.  “You have been wanting this since kindergarten, girl!  You have known nearly your whole life that Bob is your destiny.  He is your soulmate, Susan!” A tear was forming in Susan’s eyes.

“You’re serious
then? You think I could handle the fall out?”

Nina frowned at Susan, “What is wrong with you?
You have been in love with Bob and disappointed because he would not fight for you.  Now he is fighting for you, so stop being such a little coward!”

Susan laughed timidly, “
Oh, I am so happy.  Bob finally stepped up.  Well, it will be awkward to explain, but I’m sure we’ll have a story to tell our grandkids and it will all blow over.”  She sighed softly as she reflected.  This is like a love story-a real love story.  As she dreamt of small children and white picket fences, she realized that every love story has a dark side.  An evil witch or a dark sorcerer always worked to kill the heroine.  Susan tried to shake the bad feelings and resigned herself to the notion that her mother was clearly the wicked witch in this fairytale love story.

“
Awww, you two are going to be so cute,” swooned Nina.

“Yeah but I hope you realize
my  Mom probably won’t ever talk to me again.”  As an afterthought, Susan added, “ I’ll just have to come back and patch it up with Anna and Dad sometime later.”

“Hah
!  Sure Susan, we will tell them all that you had a bad case of the nerves and so you traded the groom in on a newer, improved model.”  The girls laughed together as they lived out a real live fairytale.

“
Don’t roll your eyes at me.  Okay, now what?” Susan asked.  Nina had been studying her nails and smiling.  Maybe it would work this time.  Maybe Susan would chill out and they could all just breathe a little easier.

Nina woke up from her thoughts and said,
“Well, we have to wait for your dad to come back.  My dad went with him, and if we don’t wait, my dad will give me hell.  I need to stay here and smooth things out for you, and that won’t be possible if my dad is blasting me in front of your mother.  She’ll just try to hunt you down, and if I am not around to stall her, then you and Bob might not make it out of town.  If Bob is correct, then as soon as they arrive, we’ll all hear the news about Harris.  Good or bad, we’ll probably be leaving.  Whoever is left of the guests will all be leaving too.  Most of them have started to make their way to their car.  I just pray that Harris is all right.  All of this should be happening for a reason.  After all, you said it was fate.”

“Ok
ay, fine, that’s the way it should be.  Wish me luck, Nina.”  Susan hugged Nina for a while, and as they both had tears in their eyes.  Nina was, in fact, her only friend since the third grade.

“Let’s
get back into the room before they start asking a bunch of questions,” said Nina, and the two of them went back to their group of friends and cousins.  Susan was quiet as she sat by the window staring up into the clouds.  Nina was charming and gregarious keeping the girls laughing without paying any mind to Susan.  No one noticed the tear on Susan’s cheek.

After a little while, their fathers returned from the police station and Susan’s father told them that although the police have found Susan’s car, they were still clueless
. It looked like someone just took a joy ride.  Everything was still in the car and they had just abandoned it at a rest stop along Highway 29.  When they got back into town to check out the bistro, they came to another dead end.  The restaurant had the “CLOSED” sign just like Susan reported, but the owners were missing.  The police said the owners matched her description as well when they interviewed a couple of people that had shops in the area.  The other shopkeepers said it was a little strange, but that they had been known to keep odd hours when they couldn’t find enough help to keep the bistro open.  Of one thing the other shopkeepers were certain: they had not seen the owners in town for at least three weeks.  It was impossible that Susan would have seen them, especially in a restaurant that was in operation with dirty dishes and butcher knives.

The police reported it was now an ongoing investigation
and that they would update all the interested parties first thing the next morning.  As for the burglary and stolen dress, Susan’s mother shot a disapproving glare in her direction before they continued.  The store clerk admitted to the mistake.  The younger one had made clear to the police that the majority of the dress had been paid for when it was ordered.  The dress that Susan “chose” from the rack was significantly lower in price than what she had paid.  The policeman said the younger shop clerk was very clear that Susan had paid for the dress and did not owe the store a single dime.  As for Harris, there was still no news.

Although there was relief that Susan would not face charges for stealing the wedding dress, she could not get past the terrible shock about Harris
.  It was as if Harris had evaporated into thin air.  He had one of the hottest, snazziest cars that Chevrolet makes.  It also has a big “Come Shop at Bill’s” sign slapped on the driver and passenger car doors, so it was pretty easy to spot.

Susan approached one of the police officers, “How is this possible
, sir? Do people just disappear? Do they disappear without a word and then reappear unharmed? What should we be hoping for at this point, sir?”

One of the guests
at the wedding piped up that he had seen Harris driving toward town earlier that morning.  The rest of them looked at him with skepticism and Susan wondered to herself: “Why is he just now telling us that he had seen Harris this morning?” Another strange occurrence on this very strange day.  The policeman wrote down the information, although he did not appear to believe what he had just been told.  As he prepared to leave, he addressed the group. “At this point we have an APB out on Harris and his car.  If he is in this state, we will find him.”

Turning to the crowd
with Susan standing on the front steps of the church, Mr. Christiansen said: “We all need to send up a quick prayer for Harris.  We don’t want to alarm anyone, but the police have expanded their search and launched a large investigation.

Mom turned and looked at
the police officer who addressed Susan directly, “And Susan,” he said:  “You need to be close by so that you can give a more detailed report to the state police in the morning.