© copywrite 2008 by Diana Mylek check out her website

Chapter 3

Pam was waiting when her sister returned. “So? Who is this guy and are we going to draw straws to see who gets him?” Leah frowned and kept walking to her office. “Get real! He’s a professional, not a…prize to be won. We need his expert advice, don’t drive him away or make him uncomfortable.”

“Oh, I plan to make him plenty comfortable,” Pam drooled. “Did you see the size of his arm muscles? And that cute little dimple in his cheek? I nearly fainted when you introduced him!”

“Don’t get too fond, he’s only here for a couple months or so.” Leah opened her office door and dropped her purse on a chair. “He’s already given me valuable advice on how to use the upper floors. Apartments, even one for you or me,” she said as her sister sorted through bills.

Opening the checkbook, Leah waited while Pam found travel receipts.

“I stayed at an extended stay motel, I hate regular ones,” Pam said. “I like to feel at home, even if I’m far from it. Oh, and from now on, first class on planes. We travel in style.”

Leah bit her lip and tried to juggle figures to pay for the trip. “If only you were able to get our quilts into Heidelman’s.”

Pam shrugged and played with her perfectly manicured nails. “Oh, we’ll get them in; I’ll make sure of that. You just get ready to produce mass quantities of linens.”

“I pray it will happen,” Leah sighed. It had been a long day and she was growing weary. Tomorrow she wanted to speak to a bank loan officer to inquire about capital for construction on the upper floors. Why didn’t she think of that before her consultant came along? Or the other ideas that Spencer had given and claimed she had them in her the whole time? Leah knew he was just trying to be kind and make her feel smart, but it still made her feel warm inside. After their short time together at the coffee shop, Leah had learned more than she had since Spencer began working; she was learning that under the tough, disciplined exterior beat a real human heart. And he was hurting over his father’s death so much that it spilled out of him at dinner. She could see it in his eyes, the way he stared at the table with such sadness. God must have sent him to me for help, Leah decided. And he’s helping me with the business, so we are good for each other. Isn’t it wonderful how God works?

“So, is he going to be here tomorrow?”

Leah nodded and kept writing. “For a few more months. Did I tell you he lost his father recently in an accident?”

“Hmm, too bad.” Pam sorted through fabric samples on the desk. “Think he’s ready to start dating again, or is it too soon?”

“I have absolutely no idea.” Leah closed her check register and began turning out lights.



She lay in bed thinking of all the things that Spencer had suggested for the company. I need to take photos and find a printer that can put this all together. Maybe Spencer knows someone, or he could help to photograph and sort pictures. I can write the advertising text, and then we just have to distribute them. And Pam can work on the website, if I can keep her in the office more than a day or two. Leah’s head spun with details and sleep eluded her until the morning dawn crept through the slight opening of her curtain. Morning! How will I get through the day after no sleep? Leah rose and showered, dressing in her most comfortable outfit. Then she remembered the meeting with loan officers and changed again to a suit. She forgot her car keys on the way out the door and had to retrace her steps to find them. What a start for the morning, Leah sighed.

The day went downhill from there, a sewing machine sputtered and died, leaving them with more workers than jobs. So she decided to send them home, but Spencer called an employee meeting instead and talked for an hour on company expectations from the workers. They were not pleased, but he was unyielding and by the end of the meeting employees were grumbling and Leah felt fingers of pain creeping up her neck and skull. However, that afternoon no one took extra time for lunch and all went back to machines without prompting. The ones who were without a sewing machine worked together to design a new quilt pattern. Leah was pleased that time was being used wisely and credited the consultant for motivating her employees.

Spencer also had information for Leah about daycare providers and magazines that showcased old buildings turned into living spaces. He accompanied her to the bank and spoke to loan officers of Leah’s vision, giving no hint that it was actually his idea to make the upper floors into living spaces. He showed statistics and figures for downtown revitalization and renewal and even asked for enough money to improve the daycare area.

“If I make you spend so much money, I have to prove my worth,” Spencer said to Leah. “I’ll personally supervise construction and stay until you’re making more money that your sister can spend.”

“I don’t think that’s possible,” Leah answered, her head spinning from the thought of owning so much money. If the loan were approved she would have ten years to pay back more than she had made in her entire working life. What was she thinking?

Leah looked at Spencer, so calmly shaking hands with the bankers as if it was ten dollars, not a quarter of a million. If this doesn’t work out, I’m sunk, ruined! She clutched a corner of the table to steady her self, smiling weakly at her consultant as he held open the office door.



“Keep smiling till we’re out of the bank,” Spencer whispered and waved as he pushed her through the revolving door. “Remember what Pam says, and give off an aura of success."

“I would if my legs weren’t jelly,” Leah replied. She leaned heavily on Spencer as they moved through the parking lot to her car. “Here’s the keys. I’ll just collapse onto my seat.”

He helped her to sit and went around to the other side. “Gotta spend money to make money. You’ll be fine, Leah. This is going to work, you’ll see.”

Tiredness and the headache were catching up to her so when they returned, Leah asked to be left alone in her office for a while. She lay on her sofa and tried not to think about the money that she was about to borrow. Instead she prayed for Spencer, that God would heal his heart and give him wisdom concerning her business. After a while, she felt her body drifting into sleep but was confident her presence wasn’t needed for at least a few hours.



She awoke to the slamming of her office door.

“Good, you’re awake.” Spencer locked her door behind him and brought a stack of papers to the desk.

Leah struggled to sit up and stretched. “What time is it? What are those papers?”

Spencer sat on the side of her desk and rifled around the top for a pencil. “I have an idea I’d like to run past you, something that couldn’t wait.”

“Give me just a second.”

The office door shook and Pam called from the outside. “Leah? Your door is locked. I’m looking for Gunny; he was just in his office and he’s gone. You didn’t send him anywhere, did you?”

“No.” Leah went to the door and stepped outside, closing it behind her. “I was napping, Pam. Is something happening I should know about?”

Pam waved her hands toward the work floor. “Everything’s fine but I wanted to spend the day with Gunny going over our marketing strategies. We were in the middle of a meeting, and he just disappeared!”

“Maybe he’s in the little boy’s room?” Leah answered. “I mean, we all drink tons of coffee around here, and he’s no different.”

“You’re right.” Pacified for the moment, Pam said she would be in her office when he returned. “Tell him it’s important, I just thought of something else and I’ll forget if we don’t write it all out soon.” She left her sister in the hall.

Leah opened her office door. “Something you want to talk about?”

Spencer let out a sigh. “I needed a break. Feeling better?”

“I’ll be fine. Did you have something to share?”

He made a puppy-dog face. “That was my idea, to get away from your sister for five minutes. I never thought about the little boy’s room.”

Leah laughed. “We’ve never had men here before! Now I’ll have to change the signs.”

“I’ve been called a lot of things since joining the Marines. Little boy is a first for me.” He rubbed his eyes, and searched for her phone book. “If you approve, I’ll start plans for remodeling and construction upstairs. I need to apply for permits and see about zoning, and that may take a few days. I’d like to make that my focus all next week, but today I’ll finish out the week by working with Pam on marketing strategies. We can have a catalog out in two weeks, if Pam does her homework and gets us a mailing list.”

“I can call for advertising space in magazines. We have before, but never with a catalog to offer. And I’ll put some of my women in charge of Internet sales, shipping and customer service. We’ll need another room as an order office.” Leah started making notes. “Should we use part of the construction loan to set this up?”

Spencer nodded. “Absolutely. And enough to carry over the company expenses for a couple weeks. Can you keep track of spending?”

Leah rolled her eyes. “I do it in my sleep.”

He stood and moved to the door. “Good. I’ll carry the ball on construction and you sisters handle catalog sales. We should have some idea of where we’re headed by next Friday.” Holding the door handle, he took a deep breath and grimaced before opening it.

“Gunny! There you are! Let me tell you about this idea I have, did I ever tell you about my trip to Portland? I was really planning to go to Seattle, but you won’t believe this cab driver who didn’t speak English and by the time I made him understand…” Pam had him by the elbow and herded him down the hall till Leah couldn’t hear her talk anymore. She laughed quietly and started to choose quilts for the catalog.



He was dreading the weekend, hours with nothing to do but stare at a wall and think about the ever present sadness, but after listening to Pam talk for nine straight hours, including lunch Gunny was ready to run screaming out the doors. As the rest of the employees gathered their children and belongings, Gunny scoped out the hall to see if the coast was clear. He neither heard nor saw Pam and decided to make a run for the front door, hoping he could say good bye to Leah and be gone before her sister noticed. He made it down the stairs and was nearly out the door when Gunny spotted one of the children, a boy around ten standing in a corner alone. On closer inspection, the boy sported a shiner and bruises on his lip and chin. “What does the other guy look like?” Gunny asked.

The boy turned away without answering. Gunny moved so he could inspect the child and asked when this incident happened.

“At school,” the boy finally answered.

“What were you fighting over?”

“Lunch. I was hungry but he always makes me give it to him. Today I told Todd no, like my mom said but…” His voice trailed off.

Gunny watched him for a moment. “So did you eat today?”

The boy shook his head. “Usually Leah feeds me but I didn’t want her to see my eye. She would be mad and tell me to go to the teacher.”

“And you should.”

“That would make it worse! I hate school.” He kicked at a planter and knocked it over. Gunny jumped to save the plant and set it upright.

“What’s your name? And where’s your mom?”

“Devin.” He pointed to a woman holding a tiny infant. “She’s gotta talk to Leah for a while and said I had to wait. I don’t care; I didn’t want her to see my eye either. She cries when I get beat up.”

“How often does that happen?”

Devin’s eyes began to flood. “Whenever he feels like it.”

Gunny called to Leah that he and Devin were going for a walk. She nodded and waved before he and the boy went outside. Gunny had noticed a McDonalds just down the road so he took Devin there, and let him order anything he wanted. At first the boy was hesitant, and only ordered fries, but with Gunny’s prodding added two burgers, a shake and chicken nuggets. Gunny never ate fast food if he could help it, but ordered a burger and fries to make the boy comfortable. They sat in a booth and Gunny waited while the young man filled his stomach.

“So, Devin,” Gunny began, setting his food wrappers on a tray, “Your mom is a single parent?”

“Yeah. I don’t have a dad.” His eyes didn’t meet Gunny’s as he spoke. “Or Tyler, my brother. Mom says she doesn’t need no man.”

Gunny nodded. “That makes it hard on you, not having a dad.”

Devin’s eyes flashed. “Lots of kids don’t have dads! It’s not like I don’t have a grandpa!”

“Is that what you get teased about in school?”

The boy nodded miserably. Gunny’s heart tore; his father was everything to him and this child never knew a father’s love. “You do have a father, Devin. Not on earth, but God is our heavenly father. He loves you very much and it bothers him too that you have no father here on earth.”

“Mom says God is nothing but a cuss word. She says if there is a God she wouldn’t have such a lousy life.” He bit into his second burger.

Gunny watched the child closely. “Sometimes the decisions we make cause us to have a lousy life and then our kids get the worst end of the deal. It’s not your fault, Devin. You didn’t ask to be born.”

The boy shrank in his seat as three other boys his age entered the restaurant laughing and running past their table. Of the three, one saw Devin and poked his friend, who looked also. They snickered and hurried to the food counter. Devin dropped his burger and pushed it away.

“Can we go?”

Gunny nodded and stood. They walked toward the boys, who called to Devin in derogatory terms. Gunny crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes.

“You boys have business with my friend?”

They stopped laughing and looked at Gunny. He stood to his full height and rolled up his sleeve to show them his arm muscles. Three pairs of eyes widened and they fell silent, staring with open apprehension.

“I couldn’t help notice,” Gunny said slowly for emphasis, “That you were making fun of my friend, Devin.”

“We didn’t say nothin’.” A pudgy boy wiped at his nose and looked at Devin. “Did we, Devin?”

Gunny ignored Devin. “Which one of you is Todd?”

Two of the boys pointed at the one who had just spoke.

“I thought so.” He moved Devin so his injuries could clearly be seen. “It seems you have a habit of forcing Devin to give up his lunch and that if he doesn’t you like to rough him up.”

“You can’t prove nothing.” The boy lifted his chin defiantly. Gunny rolled up his sleeve enough so his eagle, globe and anchor showed, then flexed his muscle to make it bigger.

“See this? It’s the emblem of the United States Marine Corps. We’re the first lines of defense in hostile territory, men trained for one purpose—to defend our country in war. We have to be tougher than anyone or anything just to survive and to save the lives of those around us. Each and every Marine is trained in combat, and right now, if I wished I could snap your stinking neck like a pencil.” He lunged forward for emphasis. The store manager stepped up to the counter and warned Gunny with his eyes.

Gunny ignored him and continued. “But that doesn’t make me a better man. Having power over someone else isn’t where the reward lies; it’s having power and using it for good. What you did to my friend wasn’t good, and that makes me so mad I want to kick your scummy little butt from here across the street. AND I COULD.” He made sure the boys understood clearly. “Now, if I was to hear from Devin that he was being mistreated ever again, in any way…even someone laughing behind his back, well I don’t know that I would be as nice as I am today. Understand?”

Three boys nodded earnestly.

“Now if you boys will apologize to my friend, we’ll be on our way.” He stared hard at the boys as they mumbled a half-hearted sorry. “Never touch Devin again, or you’ll deal with me.” He nodded to the manager and led his young charge out of the restaurant.

“I’ll meet you for lunch at school Monday,” Gunny said. “And next week we’ll start working those muscles. You need to defend yourself against bullies, no matter what your mom says. God doesn’t want you to be pounded on every week, and I’m going to help you stop these guys for good. Okay?”

Devin nodded vigorously, smiling a crooked grin. Gunny and he returned to the building and iced down Devin’s eye before he left with his mother. She was upset by her son’s bruises, but adamantly refused to do anything about them.

“I don’t want him fighting,” Darlene stated firmly. “It doesn’t solve anything.”

“Ma’am there’s a difference between fighting and defending,” Gunny replied. “Your son is a target for these bullies; they know he won’t fight back. For his own good, he has to be able to stand against them and be a man. They won’t leave him alone till he does.”

She was skeptical and told Gunny to stay out of their business. “I’m not going to make my son into some macho blowhard who uses his fists instead of his mind to solve problems.”

“Begging your pardon, but you’re taking away his ability to be strong in the face of adversity,” Gunny replied. “He needs a man to teach him.”

“How dare you tell me what my son needs!” She held her baby tight and grasped her older son’s arm. “I do perfectly fine on my own. I don’t need any man telling me how to raise my children!”

Gunny was unmoved. “I wouldn’t presume to do that, Ma’am. I’m just offering my help to your boy.”

She softened and let go of her son’s arm. “Just so you don’t make him a fighter.”

“Not at all. My goal is to stop him from getting beat, and lift his self-image. No one wants to be laughed at and knocked around.” He shook Devin’s hand. “You help your momma this weekend and I’ll see you Monday.”

Devin grinned widely as he and his mother left. Gunny closed the door behind them and turned to Leah. “Guess I’ll be going.”

She touched him on the arm. “That was a very nice thing you did for Devin. My heart breaks for him; he’s so…lost and alone. And his mother wants peace at any cost.”

“Being beat up isn’t peace. Sometimes the only language these bullies understand is strength and once he stands up to them, they’ll back down.” Gunny began unrolling his sleeves, but not before Leah spotted his tattoo.

“What’s that? The Marine Corps symbol?” She traced the outline on his biceps. He nodded and caught his breath at the way her finger tickled him. “I got that just out of boot camp; all of us in the platoon did. Think God has a problem with tattoos?”

Leah laughed. “Not so long as they’re clean. I have one myself, a butterfly. I did it on a dare with Pam; she said I was too heavenly minded to be of earthly good. She dared me to do one worldly thing and I chose that. Never mind that it’s permanent!”

“Were you young?” Gunny looked her over for the decoration but didn’t see it.

“My eighteenth birthday,” she admitted. “And no, you can’t see it. I at least had the good sense to place it in a…less conspicuous place.” Gunny tried not to think about where that place might be.

A door closed upstairs. “Lee?” Pam called. Gunny felt for his car keys and said a hasty good bye before she made it down the stairs.

“You have my cell number if you need me,” Gunny said as he hurried from the building. He waved and practically ran to his car. Laughing as he started the engine, Gunny was glad his father didn’t know that his son who had fearlessly fought the enemy with only a k-bar in a dark, middle-eastern desert was running from a woman who babbled more than a baby. I used to be so tough, Gunny sighed as he pulled away from the building. Now…one woman has me running and the other makes me weak with her touch. What’s happening to me? And why am I so glad that it is?

by Diana Mylek (email: Drmarcia1@aol.com)

More About the Author:
Diana Mylek has published Melody of the Heart, Paperback, I-Universe, BarnesandNoble.com, Amazon.com, Booksamillion.com, Target.com. Pick up her book today!




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