Amy's Dilemma. (Book 4 Of The Arlington Series) (complete )

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

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Natalie was concerned for her son. She knew that he was having some sort of internal struggle. She wished that he would talk to one of them about it. She was determined to get to the bottom of it. Later that evening, while she was brushing her hair out at her vanity table, Joshua was standing at their window looking out.

"He's in the tree house again."

"I know there has to be something bothering him. He hasn't spent this much time in his tree house since he was a little boy, only when he was disappointed by those girls, but never for this long. Has he said anything to you about what's bothering him?"

"Not a word. What do you think it could be?"

"Why don't you go talk to him?"

Joshua let out a sigh, walked over to his wife, and began to braid her hair as was his custom. "Not tonight, tomorrow while we milk. That way we will be undisturbed. Stephen will be out of town because he has a load of cows to deliver."

When he finished braiding her hair she turned around, took his hands in hers and kissed them, then looking deep into his eyes she said; "I love you Joshua."

As he went over to the switch to turn off the light he whispered; "I love you too Nat."

While Jacob put the cows in the lot Joshua gathered his thoughts in order to talk to him as he had promised. The first cows were in the stalls and everything was done that could be done until they were finished. Joshua went over to sit beside Jacob and asked; "What's going on Jacob?"

"Nothing's going on, why do you ask?"

"Son, I can tell when one of my children is disturbed or having problems. It's not like you to work yourself to the point that you fall into bed exhausted and dirty. Your mother said she could almost fill a flower pot with the dirt from your sheets."

"I see what you mean. I don't like the fact that Amy moved out. How can we watch over her if she's living in town? You and mom shouldn't have let her go."

"We couldn't stop her son. She's not our daughter. Even if she was she's of an age to make some decisions on her own. Is she being irresponsible in some way?"

"Well no. Not that I know of anyway. How can I tell you how she's doing if I hardly ever see her?"

Hearing the sadness in his sons voice Joshua realized what the problem was. He decided to tell him a story that he hoped would open his eyes.

"I once knew a young man and woman who had grown up together. They did everything together and came to view one another as brother and sister. As they got older each started to yearn for marriage and so they began looking for a potential mate. The only problem was neither liked seeing someone else with the other. They thought that it was just the over protective feelings of a sibling but what they didn't realize was that their friendship had developed into love. True love doesn't just happen overnight with one glance. It's like a flower, the seed is planted when the two are drawn together as friends, the close bond they developed is like the bud, now the flower can stay in the bud as it grows until one day, suddenly, it blossoms often times unnoticed. You look at it and say, 'when did that happen?' Love can be like that. Do you understand what I'm saying Jacob?"

"Do you really think this is what I'm feeling?"

"Only you can determine that." Their conversation ended there because the cows were finished and needed to be let out and the next ones let in.

After the milking was finished Jacob headed for the barn to get the tractor. He had some cultivating to do which would give him plenty of time to think about what his father had said and he had a lot to think about. Was he in love with Amy as his father was intimating? That would explain why he felt like a knife twisting in his gut when he saw the look on Amy's face when she was dancing with Randy. That was the one part of his dad's story that wasn't running true to form. It was obvious to him that Amy didn't return his love.

Joshua went back to the house to tell his wife about his conversation with their son.

Jacob made sure that he finished up in time to get in, shower and change, and be at the table for supper on time. His parents asked him about his day as they always had, not once did they refer to the talk he and his father had that morning. He informed them that he would be moving back into his old room. He had decided that when he was out working. It was his way of acknowledging that Amy wasn't coming back. They accepted his decision without batting a lid. They were secretly glad because they hoped he was finely coming to grips with himself.

Later that evening his mom was outside working in her flowers. He decided to help her by fetching and carrying. They were having a pleasant conversation when all of a sudden he shouted; "Don't pull that flower!"

"Why not, Jacob, the bud must have gotten damaged by frost because only half of it has bloomed. Doesn't it look bad amongst all the pretty flowers?"

"If you give it a chance the other side might come on out. Maybe it's just stunted."

Natalie was going to argue further but remembered the talk Joshua had with him and realized that the flower was symbolic to him. She smiled and said; "OK" and went on working.

Jacob watched over that flower every day for two days and realized that his mother was right; the flower wasn't going to bloom. In fact it was beginning to die. On the third evening his parents had gone into town so while no one was watching he cut it then placed it between two pieces of wax paper, and took it up to his room where he pressed it between his books from agricultural school. He didn't know why he did it. He just knew that he had to preserve it.

Later that evening when she was working in her flowers Natalie noticed that it was gone but didn't say anything about it because it was obvious that someone had cut it off and the only one who had any interest in it was Jacob. She wondered what he did with it.

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Author's Note: Poor Jacob, he was really hoping that flower would bloom. Were you? Does this mean his love is hopeless?

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