© Copyright 2006 by More Than Novellas

Part I

Sarah
Jul 25, 06
baughmanks@sbcgobal.net

The bitter wind bit through Magdalena's skirt and many petticoats. Pulling her woolen cloak more tightly around her shoulders, she steeled herself for the trek across Main Street. Before she could go more than a few steps, though, she collided with something hard. Gasping more from the cold that whipped through the cloak than from surprise, she gazed up into the eyes of Freiderick.

"I do beg your pardon, Miss Lena," Freiderick yelled over the noise of the wind.

Merely nodding because the wind -- and perhaps his presence -- took her breath away, Magdalena continued toward her grandmother's seamstress shop across the street.

After being blown in the door by the wind, she struggled to close the door, then turned to face her grandmother.

"Vare are my buttons?"

"Oh dear, Oma, I must have dropped them when Fritz and I ran into one another."

Elizabeth Delayne
July 25, 2006
lizdelayne@hotmail.com

"Vu and Fritz ... dis and that." Her grandmother waved her hand. "I cannot sew dis blouse wit excuses."

"I--" Magdalena thought of the cold and sigh. "I'll just go look for them."

"And invite your young man to dinner."

"He's not my young ..." Magdalena started to mutter just as the door opened behind her and the cold slipped through.

She turned and stared up at him and found that the word trembled on her lips ...

"... man."

Rachel Waspe
July 26, 2006
Funshine999@aol.com

When would her heart quit leaping every time she saw him? It was humiliating, even if she was the only one that knew it was doing it.

She really should be steeled against him by now. After all, having one's heart broken three times by the same man should be enough to spring up fortified barriers in the most weak heart!

"Hallo Lena." He held out the packet of buttons that she had so carelessly dropped at his feet.

"Danke Freiderick." She closed her hand around the package, not allowing herself to use his nickname to his face.

He closed his hand around hers, effectively keeping her prisoner.

Sarah
Jul 26, 06
baughmanks@sbcgobal.net

Freiderick was not sure whether to scowl or grin at the deep rose blush that crept up Magdalena's face, so he held back showing any emotion. He knew that he had wronged her. Intentionally? Nein! But she obviously had decided to be finished with him. How could he show her that what had happened in the past would not happen again? With all that had happened, he probably would have been suspicious that it was not a carefully orchestrated plan, as well.

"Mein Gott," he prayed, "please show me how to make amends with Lena. She is my heart. Help her see that."

Mrs Brown
Nov 9, 05
mrsbrown1@optusnet.com.au
Tulip Fiction.com

“Freiderick?” He repeated, catching the briefest glimpse of response in her ice-blue eyes before she looked away. “That is not what my good friends call me.”

She began to pull back on her hand, but he was not going to let go so easily. “How is your Oma?”

“Gut, danke. But she is waiting for these buttons - I must not keep her waiting.”

“No, she is not patient with those she thinks are wasting her time, is she?” Freiderick chuckled, then grew more serious. “Perhaps it is a family trait?”

There was a sharp intake of breath from Lena, and Freiderick knew his words had gone through her guard. This time when she tried to tug her hand free again he released his clasp, but followed closely behind as she retreated to the shop door. “I won’t keep her waiting any longer then. I will come and pay my regards to her - it has been too long since I’ve called.”

There was no reply but the tinkling of the bell over the door, but Freiderick went inside, praying for courage to believe the damage from the past could be repaired.

“Ah, Fritz. You vant some new clothes?” The older woman regarded him with a mischievous eye.

“Nein, Oma. I just ran into Lena outside and--”

“I saw dat. I vundered how long you would be standing out dere in dat cold. I just put d’ kettle on d’ stove. Both of you, come through and get a hot drink.”

Lena shot her grandmother a look of desperation, but after the authoritative raising of Oma’s grey eyebrows she meekly followed her into the kitchen.

Oma had only put the china cups on table before she looked up and fixed Friederick’s eye. “I hear you have gone out into business on your own, young Fritz? Dat would take some courage, leaving your Vater’s shop after all these years.”

Freiderick swallowed, his throat suddenly dry as he recalled the many recriminations his father had thrown at him over the past several weeks. If he’d had courage, he’d have made the break long before this.

“Ya, we . . . we had different priorities in business. I thought it best for us both to go our own ways.” And not just in business, he thought ruefully, but in much more important things.

“Your Vater, I think he just want the money, the wealth. I thought for a while, dat you did too.”

Freiderick shook his head, breathing out slowly. It probably had seemed that way. He looked across at Lena, his beautiful Lena, wondering if she had thought same. But she was staring down at the table top, giving nothing away.

Elizabeth Delayne
July 28, 2006
lizdelayne@hotmail.com

Lena felt the tension and swallowed. Why was she the one being punished with it? It was Oma's fault ... and Fritz's. She would just have to blame him as well.

“Your buttons, *Oma*,” Lena said pointedly as she handed the buttons back to her grandmother, then she turned back to Freiderick. She could be strong, she could be sure in one thing.

She wanted him out of here.

“Thank you for bringing in the buttons,” she said, meeting his gaze—and hoped he saw nothing. There was too much going on inside of her. “I know it was out of your way.”

He reached out and stopped her from turning, his hand to her arm. She stopped, unwilling to struggle in front of her grandmother, unwilling to turn back.

“It was my pleasure, Lena.”

“Didn’t vou have someting to ask our guest, my Lena.”

She shot her grandmother a dark look. “*Oma*.”

But her grandmother’s look was pointed. Lena sighed.

“Oma wanted to invite you to dinner, Freiderick.”

Sarah
Jul 28, 06
baughmanks@sbcgobal.net

"I would be honored, Oma Greta. But first I must attend to some business I have with Herr Froelich. May I return in half an hour?"

"Ja, ve vill see you then."

As Freiderick stepped out the door, he could barely hear Lena's Oma placating her protests with "Mein liebschen . . ."

He hurried down the road to Mr. Froelich's shop. There were many elegant gifts and fine goods, but a certain piece of merchandise had caught Freiderick's eye about a year ago. He was ready to purchase it.

* * *

"But Oma," Lena was saying, "you saw yourself how he couldn't wait to rush off and attend to his business. What drove him then still drives him now."

"Ja, my girl, but vat you tink drive him is not what actually does."

Lena opened her mouth to reply, paused, then sighed. "Oma, it is no use arguing with you. I do not agree, but I will say no more . . . for now."



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