And happiness will come 

“Mom, if Justin asks me to marry him I’m going to say no.” Mara had tossed the question around in her mind all day. She knew it was the right thing to do. Paula stopped in the middle of the kitchen with a piece of beef in her hand. Her daughter had dated the richest man in town for the last two months. Paula had dared to dream of the wealthy mansion her daughter would live in. But above all else was her child’s happiness. She swallowed hard.

“Are…are you sure?” Paula said, tears misting her eyes. Mara had voiced the very thing she had thought before. She never felt right about Justin. There always seemed to be some excuse for not going to church. “How do you know he will ask you?” Paula put the beef back in the refrigerator and washed her hands.“He’s been hinting around it for a while. I think he’s getting close.” Mara said, setting down in one of the kitchen chairs. Her face was downcast. Paula pulled up a chair facing her daughter and sat down. She took her daughter’s hands in hers. “Honey, Justin says he’s a Christian, but I don’t see any evidence.” She had broached this subject before. In the past. Mara had brushed it off with the words. “Maybe I can change that.” Paula knew better. Now Mara said. “Yes mom. I know. I thought I could change him, but I haven’t.” Her eyes moist, Mara was going through one of the hardest trials of life.

That evening Mara dressed in her best dress. The one Justin purchased for her. She saw it on display at Morrisons for $2000. The next evening, he gave it to her along with a dozen red roses. At 7 that evening, Justin pulled to the curb. His mother’s words ringing in his ears.
“She is not of our class. Why do you persist in dating her?”

“Just for the fun of it, mother. I don’t intend to marry her.” He straightened his tie. “I’m just stringing her along. I will break it off soon.”

“Please do.” His mother said.

 Now he sat in front of her parents’ home. He couldn’t imagine spending his life with Mara. She was fun for a fling. But he had his eye on other women. He blew the horn on his new Porsche 911 Carrera. She came out. He said to himself. What did I ever see in her? Of course she was a beautiful woman, but there were others just as gorgeous.

Getting in, she said. “You have a new car.” It’s a Porsche 911 Carrera 4 GTS. Cost a little over two hundred and thirty thousand. My dad bought it for me.

Mara twisted in her seat, looking at this rich man’s son. “Look Justin. I think you’re a great guy and all that.” She hesitated. This was going to be one of the toughest decisions she would ever make. “I…well…I can’t go out with you anymore.” Her heart fluttered. “I…I don’t love you.” His smile disappeared. He stared at her, his mouth hanging open. All his mother’s complaints. All his reasoning went out the window.

“You what? I was supposed to break up with you. Women fight over me. Get out of my car. I’m the richest man in the city and you’re rejecting me? I’m… Get out. Get out now.” He revved the engine until it screamed.

She hurriedly exited the car. His face flaming, he rolled down her window. “And I want that dress. You hear me? I want that dress. I’ll give it to the next bimbo.”

 He peeled out his tires, screaming. She watched him go until the taillights disappeared. Tears streamed down her cheeks. But in another way, she felt a new sense of freedom. Mara walked back into her parents’ home. In the living room, she fell into her mother’s arms. Her father stood back watching them, his eyes moist. She turned to her father. “I…I’m sorry…daddy…I…I hoped to buy you a…new house.” She dissolved into tears.

He smiled at her. “And what’s wrong with this one? You grew up here. We have a lot of wonderful memories in this house.”  

“But…but it’s old.” She said, looking at her father.

“Honey, do you know why I married your mother?”  

Mara smiled through her tears. “Be…because you fell in love with her.”

“That’s right. And when we got married, we didn’t have two nickels to rub together. But we scraped by. You marry the one God intends for you to marry. And happiness will come.”

There was a knock at the front door. A man in a chauffeur’s uniform stood nervously on the front porch. Mara smiled at him.

“James, come on in. Mom, dad this is James Gibson. He works for the Nelsons. James, this is my mother and father, Kent and Paula Wills”

“James, welcome to our home,” Kent said. shaking James’s hand. “To what do we owe this pleasure?”

“I’m pleased to meet you.” He said, shaking their hands. James turned to Mara. “I’m so sorry, Mis Mara. Justin sent me to pick up the dress and jewelry he gave you.”

Mara smiled at the man. “You’ve done this before. Haven’t you?”The chauffeur smiled, embarrassed.

“Yes. About every six months.” He grinned. “This is the first time a lady has broken it off before he could.”
Mara laughed. “I’ll be right back.” She retreated to her bedroom and closed the door.

While she was gone, Kent asked. “Would you like something cold to drink?”“No, thank you. I had better get back. Justin is in an uproar. Cussing and screaming. He has fired me three times. Once, when he was 10. Twice in his teens. Once more and I’m gone.”

Mara slipped from the room and was soon back holding out the dress and two necklaces.

“Please tell Justin I hold no ill will. I hope he has a very happy life.” Mara said, smiling.

“I will. Thank you. You have a good night.” And with that, James was gone.

Things were quite different in the Nelson household. Justin was on a rampage. He took the dress and jewelry without so much as a thank you. “Any problem?” He asked, throwing the items down on the couch.

“No sir. The family was very nice to me,” James said cautiously. He always trod carefully around Justin. Someday Justin’s father would back him up and James would be out of a job. “She said she hoped you would have a very happy life.”

“Go on, get out of here.” Justin screamed. He turned his back on the chauffeur. James slipped out of the house to his living quarters behind the pool.

“You see, mother? You see what trouble you have caused.” Justin screamed at his mother.

His mother frowned at her son. “I stand by what I said. You would be better off marrying someone of your own breeding.”

Justin glared at his mother. “I’m not a horse mother.”

James’ wife greeted him at the door to their cottage. “How did it go?” She said with a worried expression. He grinned at her.

“She broke up with him.” He said. She laughed.

“I’ll bet that went over well.” She said.

“Now he knows what it feels like to be rejected, and he doesn’t like it.” He laughed.

Mara went to bed that night with a new sense of freedom. She knew she should feel sad. After all, he was the son of the wealthiest man in town. Yet she didn’t. She never felt she fit in with his friends.

Three weeks later her church hosted an evangelist. He met her at the front door of the church, standing by her pastor. Joe McGill was not a handsome man. His ears appeared to be too big for his head. Yet Mara looked beyond his appearance to his heart. That morning as Joe preached, he caught Mara’s eyes several times. He couldn’t help but smile. After the evening service, he asked for her cell phone number. A few days later she received a greeting card, the first of many. Over the next six months, they spoke often. Him calling to tell her of the service from whatever church he was preaching at. And her talking about her walk with The Lord.

One snowy evening in January, Joe showed up at her front door. He had snow all over him. She helped him off with his coat. Sensing the young couple wanted to be alone, Mara’s parents excused themselves. Joe grinned at her and told Mara he had traveled across three states to ask her to be his wife. With a brilliant smile, she threw her arms around his neck and shouted, “Yes!” He slipped a ring on her finger and confessed he had purchased it 3 months before. They professed their love for each other and planned to be married in the spring.

Persuaded by Mara’s parents to spend the night, he slept on the couch. Joe left the next morning to cross three states again to preach at Fairview Church that evening. Mara could barely sleep that night. She insisted on fixing him breakfast before he left. At five the next morning, he backed out of the driveway. Mara stood on the porch, clad in a heavy coat, gloves and boots, waving goodbye. He called her an hour later as he crossed the state line.  

Mara and Joe were married on a beautiful day in April in her church. She traveled with Joe until they had their first child. A little boy they named Josh. One morning while she nursed Josh, she read in the newspaper of Justin’s divorce.  With great fanfare, he had married the woman who took Mara’s place 12 months before.