Emily's Rose

By Mark Allen

Huntington Valley was a haven for family and friends who lived and worked together for generations. A community that would be no longer, with the proposed highway coming through the heart of it, all in the name of so-called improvement. Maureen, like all the others, would have no choice but to move on. Her husband, Bob, and her little angel, Emily, were ready to move on. Emily imagined life as a big adventure and ran at it with eyes wide open and a smile on her face.

They will start over in Weston Springs, a small town not far away. But they must accept the change and try to embrace their new lives and all that goes with it, if they have any chance of happiness.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 10, 2023
• ISBN: 9798886852943

Mark Allen

Mark Allen is co-author of the book Master Data Management in Practice: Achieving True Customer MDM (John Wiley & Sons, 2011) and is a senior IT consultant and enterprise data governance lead at WellPoint, Inc. Before joining WellPoint, Mark was a senior program manager in customer operation groups at both Sun Microsystems and Oracle Corporation. At Sun Microsystems, Mark served as the lead data steward for the customer data domain throughout the planning and implementation of Sun’s customer data hub. Mark has over 20 years of data management and project management experience including extensive planning and deployment experience with customer master initiatives, data governance, and leading data quality management practices. Mark speaks at Data Governance and Information Quality (DGIQ) conferences and has served on various customer advisory boards focused on sharing and enhancing MDM and data governance practices.

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Emily's Rose

Mark Allen

ISBN 979-8-88685-293-6 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88685-294-3 (digital)

Copyright © 2023 by Mark Allen

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

About the Author

Chapter 1

Maureen stood by the trailer, arms crossed, staring at the ground, trying to hold it together. Trying to escape the reality of the world and the beauty of the sunset and all else that surrounded her, which on this day of all days and like so many others, was spectacular. Huntington Valley, the only home the two of them had ever known. Maureen and her husband Robert Huntington, whose ancestors had settled this valley were leaving, knowing full well all hopes and dreams of raising a family here, were dead and gone.

Bob carried out the last couple of boxes, stacking them in the trailer, pulled the door shut, and latched it in place. He walked over to where Maureen was standing and put his arm around her, hoping it would calm her, if only for a moment, and help her to hold it together and be strong for the little one. He knew words would do no good at this point, only time would lessen the pain and hopefully take it away. As he stood there, looking all about their homestead, many different events and changes that their young lives had endured came to mind. It was their first place together and had been for the first few years of their marriage. Maureen turned and put her arms around him and laid her head on his chest as they stood in silence, just a moment more.

Let's make one final trip through the house to be sure we got everything, he said. As they made their way through, it was like they were trying to store every memory of every bit of the house, from the hand-hewn floors to the fireplace made from river rock and everything in between. Maureen was quickly lost in thought. She was thinking back on the first day they had moved in together, their wedding day. They were so happy, in the cabin which had been handed down from Maureen's parents, the perfect starter home. A rustic log cabin with an open kitchen, dining and living room area. It only had the one larger bedroom, but that had been all they needed starting out. Even after their daughter Emily was born, it was enough as she was kept in their room. This is something that would soon change at the new place. She would have her own room, and Maureen had to wonder how she would take to it.

They came back out the front door, for what would be the last time, out onto the porch and started down the steps. She stopped and turned, holding onto the banister, and said to Bob, The sign, it's ours, and it goes with us. It will be the one piece of this place we can take with us to remind us of our very first home.

Bob smiled, shaking his head realizing that he had walked right past it and hadn't even thought about it. He loved that she remembered this keepsake from their humble beginning. He had made it out of a piece of red oak that had been left over from another project. He left the live edge on it and routed in their family name, in his father's woodshop, before they were married and hung it up as a surprise for Maureen on the day of their wedding, so she would see it as they were entering the cabin for the first time as man and wife. She loved it. To her, it was like making an official statement to the world, We are the Huntingtons.

Bob reached up and removed it from the hooks it was mounted on, came down the steps, and was heading over to the truck when they heard Emily running around the house to meet them. Here you go, Mom. I picked these flowers, especially for you. We can plant these at our new place, can't we?

Maureen knelt and gave her daughter a big hug and had to smile at the dirty face and hands of the little angel looking back at her. Yes, of course we can. That was a clever idea. Look at that, you brought roots and all! Bob just grinned watching this whole exchange and put the flowers in a bucket in the back of the truck. Hopefully, they would stay alive long enough to be planted at the new place, and hopefully, he wouldn't forget about them. Of course, not much of a chance of that with Emily. She never forgot a thing.

He opened the side door for Emily, and she scrambled into her car seat, in the back. He buckled her in, then slid the sign on the floor over to the opposite side. After he got in the truck and fastened his seat belt, he could see Maureen standing off to the side, taking one last look at one of the most beautiful sunsets they had seen in a while. A masterpiece from the artist on high, as her mother used to say. She got in the truck and after buckling the seat belt, lowered her head and closed her eyes, trying to hold it together. It was only a fifteen-minute ride to their new place, but it would be in silence. Emily fell asleep almost immediately as the truck bumped its way down their lane and onto the highway. Maureen knew that nothing could change their situation now, so she just remained silent, as she fell apart on the inside, trying to hold back the flood of tears that was right near the surface. She had to be strong for Emily.

Their trouble began when the government proposed a new highway to improve the flow of traffic through the area and promised that it would bring more jobs and businesses, which was great for the surrounding areas, but not so much for them or their families. The problem being most of the overpass that had to connect the areas was going to go right through the heart of their valley, taking most of the houses and farms, and there was no way to stop it. Maureen thought that the older citizens, including her and Bob's parents, would have been the most upset, but most of them had taken it in stride and decided to move on. They had been farming their entire lives, and some even felt this was a welcome change. They would all move to retirement communities and other such places down the road. They accepted the money offered for their homes, knowing the money would give them enough for another place and they would be able to enjoy their remaining years in relative peace and comfort.

Maureen, however, was a different story. She had the roughest time letting go of all of them and embracing this change. She thought that her marriage was just the start of this journey of their life together, but now she was being told, not asked, to pick up the pieces of her shattered dreams and move on. What she had wanted was to raise a family in this valley, as the generations had before them, with a sense of community and closeness that few would ever know about these days.

Starting out as Maureen Martin and Robert Huntington, they had grown up together and became best friends as they grew older. They had been married a little over two years when Emily was born. What a bundle of joy she was from the very beginning! Even from the very start, she had been a peaceful little girl, rarely crying. She was happy to just take in the world that surrounded her with a curiosity that was never-ending. Maureen looked back at her, in her car seat, thinking that Emily would find it difficult moving away from family and her little friends and all, but she could not have been more wrong. She had told Maureen that this was going to be a big adventure and that God had told her there would be a special friend at the new place. Maureen didn't know what to say to that but just agreed, thinking kids are very resilient at that age, wishing she could say the same.

Bob was moving ahead without too much trouble, as always. He had already been through a few rough patches in his young life. His father had taught him that the key to life is to deal with life the way it comes to you, not the way you wished it to be. His mother, who was the anchor of the family at the time, had passed on early in their life, to a disease that preys on many these days, breast cancer. When she passed, it left his father with four young boys to raise, in between trying to earn a living also.

When Bob's father eventually remarried, the boys' new stepmother was just one more thing to get used to. The older ones adjusted to the change okay, but the younger ones had a tough time getting over the idea that Mom was not coming back. They eventually made it through this, and it toughened them up and refined them when other problems would come along. Bob would take that experience with him through the rest of his life, knowing that when these things happen, you must try to keep moving forward and focus on the solutions, not the problems. When he did this, the answer always appeared, as his dad told him it would.

He knew he had to be patient with Maureen; she was not listening to reason at this point. He needed to give her some space, and time would eventually take care of the rest. She had always been somewhat independent and headstrong, even when she was growing up. Bob knew it was good for her to be this way, but it was also frustrating at times when he knew he could help.

The two of them had been together since they were young and were rarely seen apart. Bob was one year ahead of Maureen and wanted nothing more than to use the carpentry skills and landscaping skills he had acquired in school and in the family, woodworking shop to start a business of their own. Maureen was almost finished with her associate degree, as a paralegal, when she found out she was pregnant. They both agreed that once she finished the degree, it was more important to spend time with their daughter. She'd be able to decide when the time came whether she wanted to work in that field or not.

Chapter 2

Bob backed the truck and trailer into the driveway and shut it off. He looked over at Maureen, who just sat there with her head down, not saying a word. He looked behind him at Emily fast asleep in her seat. He clapped his hands together and said, Well, here we are, Weston Springs. Who wants to see the new house?

Emily's eyes popped open; she was suddenly wide-awake, kicking her feet and looking around. I do, I do. Let me out. Unbuckle me, Dad. I can't wait to see our new house. Bob had to laugh, if only to himself. One was completely miserable over the whole thing, and the other was excited to be here.

The second he unbuckled her and lifted her out of the truck, Emily was off and running around the yard as soon as her feet hit the ground, exploring it, and taking it all in, the house, the yard, and the other place across from theirs. But when Bob unlocked the front door to their new home and said, Hey, let's go. You wanted to see this, Emily came running as fast as her little feet would carry her, right past her dad and into the house, and stopped dead in her tracks. Maureen made her way slowly up the sidewalk behind them. Emily stood, hands on her hips, looking into her new living room. With a puzzled look on her face, she turned to look up at her dad and asked, Why is our new house full of boxes?

Bob looked down at her, laughed, and said, Well, this is all stuff from our other house. We just have to put it where we want it. Let's check out your bedroom. How about it?

I get my own room?

Yes you do, and your mom painted it already, your favorite color, pink.

Emily let out a squeal that startled them and had them laughing. It made Maureen laugh, just a little, for the first time that day, breaking through her sadness, just a bit, at least knowing her daughter was thrilled and adjusting well to this. Bob picked up Emily and smiled, looking at her face; she was a miniature version of Maureen, all the way from the tiny bit of freckles on her face to the slightest tinge of red in her hair. She was also just as thin and wiry, with that streak of independence thrown in.

All three headed upstairs and the first room they came to on the left was hers. He had set up her new bed and dresser, and not much else, seeing as she did not have all that much. Perfect for a three going on four-year-old. Maureen had already put away most of her clothes and what few toys she had on earlier trips. Her bed was made, and her favorite bear was lying on the pillow. Oh, Mom, I love it, and with this, she jumped on the bed and laid her head on the pillow. It's perfect.

Maureen felt a little more at ease seeing this and said, Well, there's more for you to see. She took her by the hand, led her across the hall, and said, You have a bathroom too, so when you get up at night you won't have far to go. We will leave a little light on in there for you.

That's mine too? Wow!

Yes, it's all yours and we have our own down at the other end of the hall. Bob laughed and they all headed to the master bedroom, which was about twice the size of their old bedroom and had a view out into the backyard, the same as Emily's room. The big difference was that their bathroom was inside their bedroom. They got done checking it all out and headed back downstairs.

I am going to go ahead and unload the last of the stuff off the trailer for the night before I get too tired. There's not too much.

I suppose I should go out and start putting away some of the kitchen stuff and try to make us something to eat. Bob thought about that for a second and added, How about we just order some pizza for today? We can unpack some and then when the pizza comes, go out back, and just eat off paper plates?

Sounds good to me, answered Maureen. She ordered a large pepperoni pizza and got to work, putting some of the pots and pans away. She had to make sure she had everything in just the right places. She wanted to set up the kitchen much like she had in the old place. She was fussy about things like that. There was a place for everything and everything in its place. That was something she had picked up from her mother; the kitchen was her domain. She had learned early on that Bob was not all that handy in the kitchen. He was more of a microwave type of guy, heat and eat as he called it.

She had about half the pots and pans, dishes, and utensils put away when the doorbell rang. Emily came running downstairs. She looked at her mom and said, What was that?

That is a doorbell. Instead of knocking on the door, you hit the button out there, and it rings in here, letting us know someone is out there.

Oh…

She could see the pizza delivery guy through the front window, standing on the front stoop. She opened the door, paid him, took the pizza, and headed into the kitchen. She had already found the paper plates and a roll of paper towels. The napkins were in some unknown box that she would find later. She opened the door that led out to the garage, where Bob was putting away everything out of the trailer, and said, Pizza's here.

"Perfect timing. Just got the rest of the stuff off the trailer. Done for tonight.