“He’s coming back here tonight,” Everett said and turned a page. “About nine o’clock, give or take . . . on the chance you might want to talk to him.”

Amala stood clutching the letter, unable to move or even think. The need to be alone finally set her free and she rushed to a long-unused carriage that was her favorite place to hide. She was glad to have sufficient sunlight shining from the carriage-house window into the carriage so that she could still manage to see her name written in Henry’s hand. Minutes passed while she just held the letter and stared at it. Everything Everett had just said swirled around in her mind, mingling with her encounters with Henry and the feelings she’d been battling ever since she’d met him. She already knew the letter would be some attempt to try to get her to change her mind, and she already knew she had to remain firm in her resolve. It only took her a moment to reassess all of the careful thought and pondering and prayer that had gone into her decision. She would be a fool to change her mind now, no matter how her emotions might contradict what she knew to be right. Far better to hurt Henry a little bit now than to make his life miserable with all that would inevitably follow if they became romantically involved to any degree. Far better that she come to terms with her own sorrow over the matter in the present, as opposed to hurting others in the future.

Finally, Amala found the courage to break the wax seal and unfold the letter. She had to move closer to the light in order to more clearly see what was written. At a quick glance she was able to see that the letter began with My Dearest Amala, and that it ended some pages later with, All the love my heart possesses, Henry. The problem was that in between was such a beautifully detailed expression of his devotion that Amala kept having to dab at her eyes to keep her vision from blurring so that she could continue reading. When they had spoken in the garden, she had told him plainly and clearly where she had to stand on the matter of their attraction to one another, but she was now reading a genuine and sincere rebuttal to her every argument. It became evident through his words that he knew a great deal more about the issues of prejudice behind her motives than she’d given him credit for. He declared his firm belief that no matter what governments or society might try to dictate in this world, God surely saw all of His children equally, and that in God’s eyes, surely they could find a way to be right with this.

Amala was completely taken off guard by how much her resolve had melted by the time she finished reading the letter, and after she’d read it through a second time, she was filled with doubt and confusion over matters that had previously seemed completely clear.