Radio mirror (July-Dec 1947)

stopped speaking to Vic's, and Mattie Willinghouse the dressmaker, who had already started work on Ellen's wedding gown, told anyone who would listen that she expected to be paid for what she had done. "Seems like people just can't help choosin' up sides when a thing like this happens," Henry Foster said soberly to Mary. "Half the folks you talk to claim that Vic's no good and Ellen's better off without him, and the other half say Ellen's too strait-laced, always was, and it's a good thing for Vic he's found it out ahead of time, 'stead of after he married her. All I wish is that Amelia and Tom had picked out some other night to go to the movies in Tilton. If Amelia hadn't caught sight of Vic's car, none of all this would've happened." Mary nodded. "I dropped in to see Ellen this afternoon," she said. "It was dreadful to see how pale and miserable she looked. And Bill says Vic hardly ever bothers to come to his office any more." Bill Nelson and Vic both had office space on the second floor of the bank building. "You and Bill talked much about Ellen and Vic?" Henry asked, and Mary shook her head. "No — not very much." The truth was that she and Bill had come uncomfortably close to a quarrel, the only time they had discussed the subject. Bill had said frankly that as far as he was concerned, Ellen was making a lot of fuss over nothing. "Suppose he was out with another girl? He and Ellen aren't married yet, and a man's got a right to some freedom as long as he's single." "Bill! You don't mean that!" Mary had exclaimed. "Sure I do." "Then you must think that even though you and I are engaged, you have a perfect right to take out another girl if you feel like it!" "AF course I have. Only — " And Bill U had laid his big hand over hers and smiled his utterly disarming grin. "Only I don't feel like it, and never expect to!" It wasn't a completely satisfying answer, Mary had felt at the time. Still, she supposed men were always loyal to each other in a situation like this, and besides, Bill and Vic had become good friends during the months when their offices were next door to each other. Quickly, Mary had changed the subject, and they hadn't mentioned Ellen nor Vic again. That same evening, though, when Bill called to take Mary for a drive, he said, "I had a talk with Vic today. He's planning on closing up his office here and moving to Boston." "Because of Ellen?" Mary asked, and Bill nodded glumly. "He told me who he had had with him in the car that night," he said after a moment. "And why." Mary gasped. Past Bill's regular, strong-featured profile as he drove she could see moonlit autumn fields, with their Indian tepees of stacked corn. She waited for him to go on, and when he was silent she exclaimed impatiently, "Well, tell me!" "I can't," Bill said. "Vic made me promise not to tell anyone." Abruptly, he pulled the car to the side of the road and stopped. "Mary, Vic's crazy about *' Ellen. He doesn't give a hoot about anybody else. And he could get her back just by going to her and telling 76 her the truth — but he won't do it." "I don't understand — " "What happened that Tuesday night was perfectly innocent. Even Ellen would believe that." "Then why doesn't he? Is he insane?" "I don't think so," Bill said quietly. "AH he wants is for Ellen to believe in him — to have faith in him." "But if he refuses to give her any reason for having faith — " "That's just it," Bill said. "He wants her to have faith without any reason. Simply because she loves him. "IIAYBE I'm trying to say that Vic's ill an idealist. He'd rather not have Ellen at all, than have only part of her." Bill passed a hand over his forehead. "I hope I can make you see it, because if something like this should ever happen to us, I don't think I'd have the courage to do what Vic has done. It would seem so easy to clear up the misunderstanding instead." "That's all it was?" Mary demanded. "Only a misunderstanding?" Bill nodded gravely. "That's all. But don't you see — Vic's stubborn. I suppose he's too stubborn, but that's the way he's made. When Ellen accused him of lying to her, something happened to him. He couldn't say the few words that would have cleared everything up. He still can't. But he needs Ellen, and she needs him. Mary — " He was leaning forward, and she felt his intensity like a powerful current between them. "Will you go to Ellen and tell her Vic intends to leave town? Tell her she has to have faith in him, if she wants to be happy. See if you can't ntiake her call him — right away, tonight." Mary sat staring at him, unable to move. A shaft of moonlight slanted across his cheek, and above it his eyes were in darkness. She knew those eyes so well she didn't have to see them — she knew they were pleading with her, silently, powerfully. Faith — the word rang in her brain like the sweet note of a bell, struck repeatedly. "Yes," she said faintly. "Yes— I'll go to see Ellen. I'll ask her to call Vic." STATION LIST FOR EDITOR'S DAUGHTER WCHS— CHAKtESTON, W. VA. WBBM — CHICAGO, ILL. WLW— CINCINNATI, OHIO VVTAM— CLEVELAND, OHIO WBNS— COLUMBUS, OHIO WBTM — DANVILLE, VA. WJK — DETROIT, MICH. KFPW — FOKT SMITH, ARK. WOAVO — FORT WAYNE, IND. WOOD— GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. WIRE — INDIANAPOLIS, IND. YVDAF— KANSAS CITY, MO. KARK — LITTLE ROCK, ARK. WHAS— LOUISVILLE, KY. WIBA— MADISON, WIS. WMC — MEMPHIS, TENN. WSM— NASHVILLE, TENN. WMBD — PEORIA, ILL. KDKA— PITTSBURGH, PA. WDBJ — ROANOKE, VA. KMOX— ST. LOUIS, MO. WBOW — TERRE HAUTE, IND. WSPD— TOLEDO, OHIO yVAOV— VINCENNBS, IND. KFH— WICHITA, KANSAS Bill bent his head and kissed her, swiftly, on the lips. Then he started the car, spun it around in the road, and gathered speed on the way back to Valley Springs. In front of Ellen's house he stopped. "I'll wait," he said. It was less than half an hour later when Mary came out of the house again. She was smiling — a tender, misty smile that wasn't far from tears. She ran to Bill's car, slipped through the door he'd already opened, sat down. "She called him," she said softly. "And he's coming over — he's on his way now. Oh Bill, she's so happy — and I'm so glad you made me go to see her!" "What happened?" Bill sounded deeply content as he put the car into gear and went slowly down the street. "Well — when I told her Vic was giving up his law practice and leaving town, she started to cry. And we talked, and I told her what you said — that I couldn't believe Vic would have done anything wrong. You know. Bill," Mary said earnestly, "I think she ^vanted to hear somebody say that! She wanted somebody to disagree with her, and tell her she was Avrong!" "Of course she did." Bill smiled. "So I said no couple could be happy unless they trusted each other fully, and that she had to call him up right away and say she loved him and ask him to come over. ... I guess," Mary said, "he didn't need so very much urging." A pair of headlights came along the street toward them, and whizzed past. Bill glanced into the rear-view nnirror. "That would be Vic right now," he said with satisfaction, "losing no time." "Bill — " Mary said timidly. "Can you tell me now who Vic was with that night?" "Sure. I don't see why not. In a minute or two, Vic will be telling Ellen. It was Wilma Kenyon." "Wilma Kenyon? Why, but she's Ellen's best friend! She's going to be the maid of honor!" "fTHAT'S exactly why Vic asked her to I go with him and look at a house he found in Tilton. He wanted to surprise Ellen, but he didn't want to buy it without being pretty sure she'd like it. So he figured that if Wilma liked it, the chances were Ellen would too." Bill slid down more comfortably behind the wheel, and put one arm around Mary's shoulders, pulling her nearer. Mary didn't relax completely against him. "But why hasn't Wilma told Ellen she was the girl? . . . Oh, I forgot — she's visiting her aunt in Boston, isn't she?" "Right. And I don't suppose she even knows the wedding's been called off, or if she does know it, she doesn't know why. But she'll be home in the morning, and of course the minute she found out what had happened, she'd be telling Ellen she was Vic's mysterious girlfriend." "Then — but then everything would have been cleared up anyhow," Mary said. "I don't see why you insisted on having me talk to Ellen tonight, if tomorrow she was going to find out the truth." "Don't you?" His eyes left the road long enough to smile at her. "Because Ellen had to call Vic back on faith. She had to believe in him without having any reason to believe in him. That's love." Mary sighed, and now she let her head droop on Bill's shoulder. "Yes," she agreed. "I guess that's love."