The Exiles (34 page)
Finally he lifted his head and said, “I love you, Chantel, but I’ll be serving God in a mission and working in a law office. That’s not a glamorous life.”
“If it’s your life, it will be mine.” She put her hand on his cheek and said, “Neville, do you love me then?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Then will you come courting me?”
“What!” Neville said with surprise.
“I—I think I love you, but I want you to take me places. I want other girls to see you with me and to know that you love me. And will you write me letters?”
“Letters? What kind of letters?”
“Love letters. And maybe a poem. I know you love poetry.”
“I can’t write poetry, Chantel!”
“Yes, you can,” she said firmly. She smiled then and said, “It doesn’t have to be a good poem, just a poem.”
“All right. I’ll write you a poem.” He held her tightly and was stirred by her touch. “And I’ll get a guitar. I’ll learn to play, and I’ll sing love songs under your window. My singing will be so bad that all the servants will laugh.”
Chantel felt suddenly that she had come home. “I won’t laugh,” she said. She reached up, pulled his head down, and kissed him. Chantel put her head on his chest, then, while he held her tightly, she whispered in his ear, “We’re going to have a beautiful courtship, Neville.”
Neville held Chantel tightly, then laughed, saying, “You know, I feel like Job.”
“Like Job? The man in the Bible who suffered so much?”
“Yes, he did suffer, but in the end, God made it up to him—for all of it.” He had lost everything as the Lord tested him, even his children, but after all this tragedy, God gave Job seven sons and three daughters.” Neville kissed her, and his face was glowing with joy.
“And you are like the daughters of Job, sweetheart!”
“How am I like them?” she whispered.
“The Bible says, ‘And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job.’” He placed his hand on her cheek, and his voice was filled with emotion as he said, “That’s how I have thought of you for a long time, Chantel—in all the world there is no woman so fair!”
The two clung together under the silvery moon, silhouetted in white light and filled with joy and hope.
Dr. Gilbert Morris
is a retired English professor. He is the author of more than 170 novels, many of them bestsellers and several of them award winners. He has been married for fifty-three years to Johnnie, and they have three children. His daughter,
Lynn Morris
, has coauthored many books with her father, including the
Cheney Duval, M.D.
series.
Look for the next book in
The Creole Series,
The Immortelles.