Midnight in Brussels (26 page)

“Well, I’m marrying an angel whose dream is to live in Belgium. A few months ago, she came over to learn how to make lace and took classes at the Kantcentrum in Bruges. Now she’s designing clothing using the lace. She has hired seamstresses to sew her garments and uses the lace-makers in Bruges to make most of the lace, since she can’t do it all herself.”

“She sounds pretty industrious. Is she originally from Belgium?”

“No. She’s American, isn’t a permanent resident here yet, but she wants to be. In fact we’ll be living here just outside of Brussels as soon as we get married. I just bought the Sargent estate near Leuven.”

“The castle?” John Boy raised his eyebrows in disbelief.

“Yes. She doesn’t know about it. I’m going to surprise her.”

“So how can I help you?”

“Well, she applied for the business permits and there’s a hang-up,” Richard explained. “I just arrived a little over a month ago, by the way. So we need to speed up the permits so she can open on Saturday as planned. Everything else is ready. Can you help us get the permits?”

John Boy leaned back in his chair, thinking.

“And I just filed for a
Certificate of Residency for Marriage Purposes
. I’ll be going back and forth to the U.S to check on the ranches, but Amanda plans to apply for permanent residency here. So, John Boy, what can we do?”

“I have a contact in the EU who might be able to help us.” John Boy reached for a directory. “And he can also get the ball rolling on the residency situation. Hell, she’s creating jobs for Belgian citizens and you’re contributing to our export economy. How could they possibly refuse?”

The number he wanted wasn’t in the directory, so he picked up the phone and buzzed his assistant. “Hillary, would you get Larry Grodin’s private number for me? Yes, please.” He stood up and asked Richard, “Would you like a cup of coffee while we wait?”

Chapter 49

It was Saturday, June 15, the hottest summer day on record for Brussels. But the extreme weather didn’t prevent the shoppers from flooding the streets and lanes on this particular special day ─
Mandy Malone Designs
was open for business.

Banners were crisscrossing her shop windows announcing the event, carefully placed so as not to hide the creations on the mannequins in the windows. The paneling on the stone front of the shop had been painted navy blue; the double doors’ wooden trim around the etched glass panes was a deep crimson with brass fittings. Gold lettering on the glass spelled out:

Mandy Malone Designs

LADIES APPAREL

Hand Made Belgian Lace

Hours: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

For private showing see proprietor

The shop had been full of customers since the doors first opened at ten that morning. Rachel and Amanda were busy talking with potential buyers, helping them find the right fit, suggesting a garment that would be perfect in their coloring or shape. Two other salesgirls were busy—one monitoring the dressing rooms, one at the cash register. Although the shop was small and crowded, the traffic seemed to flow without feeling claustrophobic. The racks had been placed in a manner that allowed easy maneuvering around them. Horizontal clothing poles were also built into the walls at different heights with shelving above them.

Richard stood on the steps outside greeting people and displaying his natural charm. He handed out business cards and answered questions about the designer. Whenever he caught Amanda’s attention, he winked or blew a kiss or waved.

Finally at mid-afternoon, when the pace had slowed down considerably and the two salesgirls had had their break, Richard stepped inside and asked Amanda and Rachel to lunch.

They gladly and wearily trudged to The Roy which was just down the lane on the square.

“My goodness, I am worn out!” Amanda plopped down at a table in the window.

“Me too.” Rachel sat across from her.

Richard sat next to Amanda. “Well, you ladies have been at it for hours. It’s no wonder you’re exhausted. It’s time for resting and refueling.”

“I feel like goin’ up to my room and crawlin’ into bed when we get back,” Amanda moaned.

Rachel laughed. “Looks like it’s going to be an early night for me, too. I’m pretty tired myself.” She took a sip of the water the waiter had just set on the table. “That’s hard work, Mandy. I’m accustomed to sitting while I work.”

“And I appreciate all that you’re doing for me, Rachel. I really do,” Amanda told her. “I don’t know what I would have done without you and Richard.” She reached over and gave both of them a squeeze of the hands.

Richard squeezed back. “Darling, I believe you could do anything you set your mind to. I don’t have a single doubt about that.”

Amanda shrugged. “Well, there have been some pretty rocky moments through it all. If it hadn’t been for y’all … you were the one who made them give me the permits and built all the shelves and racks, Richard. And Rachel, if it hadn’t been for you investing the money and encouraging me, helping me with the layout of the shop, well—” Tears filled her eyes.

“My pleasure, sweetie.” Rachel whispered as she patted Amanda’s hand. She took another sip of water. “And, Richard, those racks are fabulous. The way you cut out the ends that hold the brass poles and painted them navy blue to match the decor. What gave you that idea?”

“I saw it in a shop in the States.”

Amanda gave a sly grin. “It wasn’t Elaine’s shop, by any chance, was it?”

Clearing his throat, Richard blushed, “Uh, well, yes it was, darling. I hope you don’t mind.”

“That was his old girlfriend. The one I told you about, Rachel.”

“The one with the ring?” Rachel asked. “I would venture to say that you ended up with the most beautiful ring. Hers doesn’t compare to the one you’re wearing now.”

“Speaking of rings, girls,” Richard spoke up. “When are we going to tie the knot, darling? Now that the shop is open, shouldn’t we set a date?”

Amanda’s eyes widened. She looked at Rachel as if pleading for help. “I don’t know. Uh, what do you think, Rachel? I ain’t ever planned a wedding by myself before. Richard was doing the planning in Cupertino. Arlie and me just went to the justice of the peace in Mountain Home, Arkansas, to get hitched.”

Richard gently touched her elbow. “The law here says we have to have a civil ceremony. We can’t have it in a church. That is, we can have a wedding in a church after the civil ceremony, if we want. But a church wedding alone isn’t legal. It has to be at City Hall before a judge or whatever they call the guy that does it. So we just need witnesses at City Hall. Not much planning. And then we can have a big blowout somewhere else for everybody that wants to come celebrate with us – family and friends.

“You remember that castle I showed you, darling? The one out there past Lueven? I found out it can be rented for shindigs. Why don’t I see about that for our reception?”

“Oh my goodness! I guess that would be all right. Sure!” Amanda looked at Rachel, becoming more excited about the subject. “Of course I want to make my own wedding gown.”

Richard frowned, “But you already made one for the Cupertino wedding.”

“I had Paula give that one to Goodwill in Bakersfield. So, I’ll need a new one, and that’s going to take some time. I have to plan that.”

“Well, how long will it take?” Richard asked as he sipped coffee.

“I have to find the fabric and make the lace for it.”

“Why not use some of the lace that your girls have already made. It’ll take too long to make more, won’t it?”

“All the lace and my wedding dress will be made by me, Richard,” Amanda declared firmly.

He grinned and faced Rachel. “This certainly isn’t the shy, meek little Arkansas princess I met a year ago in Bakersfield. I think that castle will make a perfect reception party for Queen Amanda.”

He and Rachel winked at each other, exchanging a secret-sharing look that Amanda missed.

Chapter 50

Amanda was standing behind the cash register after a customer had paid and left. “I’ll miss Rachel,” she said to Richard.

“She’ll be back for the wedding, darling. That’s less than two months away. C’mon, let’s go to lunch.”

They decided to go to the restaurant next door to The Roy for a change. It was less crowded and Amanda wanted to hurry and get back to the shop; a shipment of fabric was due to arrive.

Just as they got seated, Richard’s cell phone rang. He looked at the screen and said, “It’s Jered. I’ll take this outside.” He answered as he was walking out the door, “Jered. What’s up?”

“Boss, I got some bad news. I don’t know how to tell you this.”

“Just spit it out. That’s the best way.” Richard walked into the square away from the ears of diners on the patio.

“It’s Darys, Boss. She’s had an accident.”

“And?”

“She’s in the hospital. You better come, Boss. It doesn’t look good.”

Richard put his hand to his forehead, breathing in short spurts. “What happened?”

“Spider threw her. She was up in the mountains and you know how wild she can get when she’s riding horses. Well, she pushed him too hard and he threw her down an incline into a pile of boulders. It took us a day to find her after Spider came home. Her back is broken, Boss, and she’s got some head injuries, along with a lot of other stuff. She’s in a coma.”

“I’ll be out of here on the first plane. I’ll call you when I get to the airport.”

He hurried back into the café to tell Amanda.

Later that afternoon Amanda took a walk to the Gothic Beguinage Church of St. Jean Baptiste. It was just a short distance from the Metropole Hotel and its carved doors and façade was considered the most beautiful in Belgium. She’d been drawn to it several times before, mainly because she felt familiar with the name of John the Baptist, figured it might be similar to her grandmother’s Baptist church in Arkansas.

When she was a child, Granma Conroy would take the two girls to Sunday school and church every Sunday. Amanda got away from the habit when she and Arlie got married and moved to Nevada, but lately she was being drawn back into it, bit by bit. It wasn’t an every-week occurrence, just an occasional excursion.

The soaring vaults of the seventeenth century Flemish Baroque church captivated her as she sat quietly looking up at the expanse and beauty of them. The stained glass windows always gave her a sense of peace as she sat there and reflected.

Sometimes she even sent up a prayer, but normally she wasn’t into praying. It made her feel uncomfortable. She didn’t know why, but it did. She would pray occasionally in bed, but only in her mind, nothing spoken aloud. It used to amaze her how people could pray loud, long and hard like they were giving a speech, and so eloquently, when all she could do was stumble over words and say something that didn’t make any sense and would embarrass her. So she had decided way back then that prayer wasn’t for her, at least not the spoken kind.

She wondered if she would be able to teach her children how to pray since she couldn’t do it. She felt that children should definitely learn the basics of religious beliefs; she would want them to go to Sunday school and church like she did when she was a child. Oh how she wished her grandma was still alive. Amanda would bring her to Belgium to take care of her children, if and when she ever had any.

Her thoughts then drifted to Richard and his daughter. She closed her eyes and prayed to herself that Darys would recover and be normal again. She’d never known or heard of anyone with a head injury. Richard had told her that it could leave a person disabled or even worse. No, she didn’t want that for Darys. As much as Darys had hurt her, she wanted her to get well. It would kill Richard if she didn’t.