Love Stories

By Erwin Hargrove

Four short stories and one novella about the mystery we call "romance:" - A Remembrance - A Chance Encounter - Amor Francaise - A Surprise Letter - Love Across the Sea. Stories of the heart perfect for Valentine's Day or anytime to celebrate love's longings.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Erwin Hargrove
• Release date: Feb 2, 2018
• ISBN: 9781732539532

Erwin Hargrove

Erwin Hargrove is a retired professor of political science at Vanderbilt University. The author of several books on the American presidency and a novel entitled American Journeys, A Story of Three Lives, he drew inspiration from a true tale from his own mother’s Parisian life for Danger in Paris.

Book preview

A REMEMBRANCE

When Clay was a freshman in college, his minister persuaded him to attend a conference for college students at a nearby university during the Christmas vacation. The minister was trying to talk him into taking the cloth, because his church had never produced a minister. This didn’t seem a sufficient reason to Clay, but he agreed to go.

The conference was a large meeting of many college students of mainline Protestant denominations from all over the country. Clay was going through a religious phase, which was to fade in and out for the rest of his life. There were lectures in a large auditorium and small discussion groups.

Clay arrived by bus on the first night after dinner and went to a student cafeteria for something to eat. There were only a few people there. As he sat down to eat his sandwich, a young girl about his age walked into the room. She had strawberry blonde hair, cut short, and was wearing a bright green suit that complemented the red-gold of her hair. She was wearing short boots with a ruff around her ankles.

Clay had never seen anyone so beautiful. She did not look at him as she went to the cafeteria line, and he lost sight of her. He did not see her again, but he never forgot her. His memory of her would often come into his mind’s eye to be enjoyed as a kind of mystery. Where was she now? What had she been doing all these years?

Many years later, when Clay was sixty, he attended a cocktail party in the large city in which he lived. It was not far from the university of many years ago. He was a widower who dated sometimes but was happy in his independence. As he was chatting with friends, a motion caught the corner of his eye.

She had come into the room. Her hair was much the same, and she was wearing a green dress. He was not imagining. It was the same woman.

Clay walked over to her, introduced himself, and learned that her name was Sally. I think that I might have seen you many years ago, he said. Did you attend a religious conference for students at the university in December 1948?

Sally gasped. Yes, how would you know that? Were you there?

I was, and I saw you in the student cafeteria on the first night. You were wearing a bright green suit.

She was even more astonished. How could you remember me all this time and why?

Do you really want to know?

Yes.

I thought you looked wonderful. I can’t say more except that I still think of you. I hope that you do not object?

Of course not. I wonder whether we would have connected if I had seen you.

Probably not. I was a shy college freshman who would not have dared to approach you.

But you have approached me now. Let’s make the most of it, she said with a cheerful smile.

They left the party and went to dinner at a small restaurant where they could talk. Sally had grown up where they were now living but had married and moved away. She was a widow. She had recently moved back to be closer to her parents. Her three children lived in Chicago. Her two sons managed a manufacturing company that her husband had created. Her daughter was active in charitable work, and her daughter’s husband also worked in the family firm as an executive. He was an engineer.

In the following weeks, Clay and Sally had a wonderful romance. They went to Jamaica for vacation, spent April in Paris, and, while they did not live together, they might as well have. They were in love.

One day Sally told Clay that she wanted to revise her will and asked if he would help her with it. He was a corporate lawyer but said that he would help with the advice of the estate lawyer in his firm. She wanted to leave the firm to her two sons, Rob and William, and an equal