Once in Love with Amy (standard:romance, 1676 words)
Author: Maureen Stirsman	Added: Jan 13 2004	Views/Reads: 3831/2436	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
The last notes of 'Once in Love with Amy' lingered in Amelia's ears as she zipped the case of the old familiar cello on the stage of the Columbus Philharmonic Orchestra for the last time.

ONCE IN LOVE WITH AMY 

The last notes of 'Once in Love with Amy'lingered in Amelia's ears as
she zipped the case of the old familiar cello on the stage of the 
Columbus Philharmonic Orchestra for the last time. ... 

Her name was Amelia Joyce Novak. Only two people had ever called her
Amy. Her Papa called her Amy Joy when she was a little girl and she had 
not been a little girl for a long time. Amelia had just celebrated her 
63rd birthday but she was still Miss Novak. She was the first and only 
daughter born into a family of four boys and Papa said she was the 
'Joy' of his life. Mama dressed her in the most feminine and frilly 
clothes that were available in the finest stores in Ohio.  Amelia still 
had a flair for putting the right things together, even after all these 
years. 

The other person who had called her Amy, was David. Papa had died during
the diphtheria epidemic of the 20's and David was killed at Corregidor 
in 1942. 

When Amelia was a little girl she had the advantage of all kinds of
lessons; dance, elocution, piano, and violin. This had set the stage 
for the appreciation of music that she carried all her life. When she 
was in high school she began to enjoy the cello and made that her 
instrument of choice. She became an accomplished musician, joined the 
philharmonic and gave piano lessons for a while. She enjoyed the piano 
students but the cello was her life. 

Because of her parents affluence she never had to take a job, but she
did like to do volunteer work at the church and whatever charitable 
organization needed her, so when war broke out and many women were 
taking factory jobs that the men had left open, Amelia surprised her 
family by announcing she was 'going to work'. 

She found she enjoyed being in the work-a-day world and made some
lasting friendships, one of these was with Helen Barstow. The two girls 
became instant and constant friends, shopping, attending movies and 
concerts, and visiting each other's homes. One weekend Helen asked 
Amelia to come to dinner when her brother David would be home from boot 
camp. Helen had regaled Amelia with stories of David and her family and 
was looking forward to meeting all of them. 

Amelia felt strange electricity go through her body when she finally
laid eyes on this young, black haired man. He was not handsome in the 
way the world thought handsome; indeed he was a little short. He was 
exactly the same height as Amelia and a little shorter than his sister, 
but David's straight black hair and blue eyes were disarming.  Amelia 
thought he was beautiful. 

As Helen had predicted, David fell in love with Amelia and spent every
moment he could with her before he had to return to his base. Four 
weeks later David came home for one last furlough before being sent 
overseas. On that evening with the full moon as their witness, he asked 
Amelia to be his wife. Yes, it was sudden but this was wartime and many 
were getting married, but if they did the young wife would be alone for 
the duration and no one knew how long that would be. 

Helen was overjoyed, as were David's mother and Amelia's mother. 
However, Mrs. Novak cautioned Amelia not to move too quickly. There was 
much to do to plan a wedding, music, flowers, hall, church, attendants 
and most importantly, a wedding dress. The wedding dress would take 
time. Mrs. Novak said, “We will order some of that lovely Irish lace we 
both love so much, and get Mrs. O'Brien to take your measurements and 
look for patterns.” Yes, it would all take time. 

But, they did not have time. David was going overseas. “Please, Amy,
let's not wait. I don't know when I will come back.” 

“I love you, David, but I have always dreamed of a big wedding and Mama
has ordered the Irish lace.” 

“I don't care about the lace. I just want you to be my wife. Don't you
want to be?” 

“Please, David, don't ask me that. Can't you see how important it is to


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