Pursuing Mrs. Regrets - Ch. 19.1

Delia decided to do two things now that she was a Christian - start looking for a church home and take up ballroom dancing. Both would give her something constructive to do besides think about Royal all the time and improve her quality of her life.

Interestingly enough, Delia was more nervous about going to church than she was about ballroom dancing, though the latter required almost constant movement. She was nervous because the last time she was in church was the day they buried her biological father. All that whooping and hollering had frightened her terribly. She’d begged her mother never to make her go again. Valena didn’t, although she continued to go alone.

Two years later, Valena stopped going herself. She’d gotten remarried by that time to a domineering man that liked to be addressed by his last name – Tully. Because Tully didn’t want anyone to know the extent of his physical abuse upon Valena, which had been next to impossible to hide with her being so fair skinned and the lead singer, he made her quit the choir and ultimately the church. Valena stopped singing altogether after that. Even at home.

I miss Mama’s singing, Delia mused, sighing wistfully as she settled into her desk chair. She’d just come from the front of the store after getting her three cashiers squared away with their registers.

Switching from thoughts of her mother to thoughts of E-Blade, Delia realized that even he had been to church more than her thanks to a favorite aunt that kept him in church as a child. When that aunt died, the then angry pre-teen stopped going completely. Then when E-Blade’s mother became a drug addict, the young man wholeheartedly turned to the streets, taking his bitterness out on anyone he deemed an enemy. It was the grace of God that allowed E-Blade to not only live as long as he did considering all the people he’d killed, but to also get things right with Him before he died.

Hopefully church will keep our kids from following in their daddy’s footsteps, Delia mused, determined to overcome her fear of church for her children’s sakes.

Just then, Delia’s desk phone rang. “Baby-This-And-That, may I help you?” she said pleasantly.

“Miss Valentine, there’s a Dr. Seeger to see you upfront,” said Bailey, the lead cashier. She was on the front desk phone.

“Dr…Did you say Dr. Seeger?” Delia stammered out, her pulse racing at a gallop.

“Yes, he just bought out our whole inventory of new mother packages. Says he would like to see you to discuss opening an ongoing account for more packages as the need arises. Shall I send him back to your office now?”

Delia swallowed hard over the lump in her throat. “Wait a minute. Did you say he bought every new mother package we had?”

“Yes, ma’am. The ones on the shelves and in the storeroom. I’m making arrangements to have them shipped to his office right now,” Bailey replied, clearly excited about this large sale, too. New mother packages came with a 15% commission attached for each one sold.

On a personal level Delia wanted to turn Royal away. She knew exactly what he was doing today. Knew why.

Yet on a professional level, Delia was too smart of a businesswoman to miss this new opportunity presented her. The medical practice where Royal worked was premier in this town. Top-notch. If they established such an account with her store, other doctors would follow suit.

Opening her mouth, Delia allowed the smart businesswoman in her to speak. “Send him on back, Bailey.”

© 2008 by Suprina Frazier

Comments

Popular Posts