A Love so Great 3

A Love So Great

part 3 of 3

September 2010 
by Tiffany

            It had been three long days since Chin’s capture.  She sat idly at the table missing her old life.  She missed the hour of learning how to read with Father Nathan each day, and the hours of sitting on her bed watching him study, but most of all she missed Father Nathan himself.  Not that life at the Lawrels was bad, in fact many orphan girls would have given a lot to be in that household, but she wasn’t loved like she had been with Father Nathan.  Although Mr. and Mrs. Lawrel had a lot of time, they weren’t used to having a little girl on their hands.  Mrs. Lawrel noticed a decline in Chin’s health and that the little girl hardly did anything now.  She tried to interest Chin with puzzles, mazes, dolls, and all the things that she had loved as a girl, but had no success.

               “Oh, Harry! What are we going to do? I mean I love the girl, I do, but it is no good keepin' her so.  She won’t do anythin’ an’ I’m worried that she’ll catch ill or sometin’. We gotta give her back, it isn’t good for her health. An’ if we really...”

               “Quiet Women! While I think!” Mr. Lawrel thundered in a harsh tone.  A pause followed before he threatened, “No! We will not give her back.  Look at what HE has done to her already not providing proper things for her health.  Obviously she is not at all tolerant to change because of HIM, and she was not properly taken care of.  So do not even think about it Harriet, or else.” 

            Harriet left the shop shaking her head and muttering something to herself.  Chin meanwhile had taken the liberty to look at a shiny pot nearby. She looked curiously at her distorted reflection and for all her grief she actually giggled.  Mrs. Lawrel burst into the kitchen, flung off her apron, and was already halfway through the front door before she called back,

               “Chin, darling, I’ll be back soon. I just have an errand that I need to take care of.”

               Chin somewhat startled watched Harriet disappear around the corner. “I wonder if Papa Nathan really doesn’t want me?” Chin asked aloud the question that she had asked herself a million times throughout the past three days.  But this time hearing the words out loud, it sounded fake.  She suddenly remembered the hours that he had patiently tried to teach her how to read, the nights when she had been afraid and he had let her snuggle into his own bed, the kind nuns who would chat with her as they hung up laundry, the time that he had bought her a beautiful carved crucifix, and finally the words echoed through her mind “Why yes! Of course I love you. What made you think I wouldn’t?”.

               “No!" she thought, "He must love me! He must! I only wish he would come save me like in the stories Mr. Lawrel use to tell me.”  It never occurred to Chin to go to Father Nathan herself, so she waited, confident now that he would come and get her.  She resumed her examination of the pot and thought that she looked so funny that she burst out laughing.  The joyous sound rippled through the room and Chin thought that the kitchen looked so much more cheerful.  But suddenly Mr. Lawrel exploded into the kitchen and demanded,

               “Where’s my wife?”

               “She went on an errand. But she said she would be back soon.” Chin answered as she ran over and hugged Mr. Lawrel’s legs.  Her confident smile beaming up at him soothed his disturbed heart.  He almost wanted to do what was best for her, but that was broken by a knock on the backdoor.  Without waiting for permission to come in, two figures burst into the kitchen.  It was Harriet and Father Nathan.  Chin left Mr. Lawrel and ran toward Father Nathan laughing,

               “Oh! You came to save me!” She cried.  Suddenly Mr. Lawrel caught her up and her joy was cut short.

               “OH! No you don’t! You're not going to HIM are you, not after all we’ve done for you, little Chin?” Mr. Lawrel asked, but to no avail.  Chin squirmed and kicked, reaching out to Father Nathan.

               “Mr. Lawrel, give Chin back!  By law she belongs to me.  And as we both know you don’t really love her.  So give her here!”  There was a fire in Father Nathan’s eyes that Chin had never seen before.  She was promptly released and she ran over to Father Nathan, jumping into his arms.

              “Fine! Have your little cargo! I'm surprised you didn’t bring the police with you to arrest me.” Mr. Lawrel growled.

               “No, I’ve decided not to have you arrested, or to put charges against you. But if I hear of you doing something of this sort again, I will witness against you. Furthermore, you must not harm your wife because of this good deed she has done, or I will press charges against you for harassing your wife.  Now we will take our leave.” Then turning toward Harriet he murmured,

            "Thank you Ma'am for informing me, I am very grateful. May the Lord bless you for it."

             The fire that had burned in his eyes before dimmed until there was hardly a trace of it, only gentleness shone from his face now.  That fire, Chin would learn when she was older, was the passion of love.  A love so great that one would even die for the cherished one.

             Father Nathan and Chin walked out the door down the alley hand in hand.  The same alley that three nights before had only brought terror, now looked cheerful, bright, and full of happiness because she was with her Father Nathan.  

The End