Read Online Heathersleigh Homecoming by Michael Phillips - Free Book Online

expecting you, dear,” she said.
    â€œWe?”
    â€œMyself and my friends. The moment I saw you I instantly asked the Lord if you were the one. He told me you were.”
    Her statement met only a look of yet deeper perplexity on Amanda’s face.
    â€œDon’t worry,” said Gretchen cheerily. “You will understand in time.”
    Amanda didn’t understand yet. But if she had decided to trust this woman, she would do so immediately.
    Ramsay ran into the waiting area of the Milan station.
    A quick glance about revealed no sign of Amanda. He ran to the ticket window.
    â€œI just arrived from Verona,” he said. “When was the last departure west?”
    â€œThe westbound to Turin has not left yet,” the man answered. “The two trains join here in Milan.”
    â€œWhen does it leave?”
    â€œNot for another thirty minutes—on platform four.”
    Already Ramsay was making for the train. Within minutes he had talked the conductor into allowing him on board.
    A thorough search of every coach, however, did not turn up Amanda anywhere. He descended back onto the platform, now more confused than angry. What could have happened to her?
    He would keep watch, he thought. She must be hiding somewhere, waiting for the last moment to board.
    Behind him on an adjacent track, the northbound train for Switzerland ground into motion and began to pull out. Absently Ramsay turned and glanced toward it. For a fleeting moment the horrifying idea struck him that maybe he was mistaken about Amanda’s destination.
    Just as quickly he dismissed the thought. He turned around again, wondering if he should search the Turin express again.
    In one of the windows of the northbound behind him sat a certain Swiss woman on her way home from a visit to her sister in Milan. Had she observed the young man stewing about on the platform trying to decide what to do, she would have had no idea that he was searching for the very one she was now doing her best to make comfortable beside her.
    Spread out on the seat between them were a few simple sandwiches, which looked to Amanda like the very bread of heaven. For once in these last two days Amanda’s attention was not drawn outside. Neither of them ever knew, in those few fateful moments, how close to each other they had been.
    Seconds later the northbound was gone.
    Ramsay Halifax, meanwhile, stood alone in Milan on platform four more mystified than ever.
    By the time he began walking back into the station, however, the temporary detour of his mood into perplexity was well on its way back toward rage once again.



 12 
Alpine Waking
    Amanda awoke to bright sunlight streaming through the window. Outside she heard birds chirping and someone singing in the distance.
    She lay for a long time warm and contented, not eager to creep out from the depths of the heavy feather bed. The cold on her face told her that to rise meant leaving this pleasant warmth for an icebox. And inside the bed, it could not have been cozier. How long was it since she had felt such a sense of comfort and safety?
    At last she rose, quickly put on the thick robe and slippers from the stool beside the bed, and walked to the window. The sight that greeted her eyes was something no amount of preparation or foresight could have led her to expect. Spread out and sloping nearly straight up before her stood the most spectacular peaks of grandeur imaginable, dazzled with the purest white and reflecting the morning’s sun here and there with blinding shafts of brilliance. She stood awestruck for several long moments.
    She had known they were going to Switzerland. In some vague way she supposed there would be mountains. But she had been too exhausted to conjecture about the matter further.
    She had, of course, heard of the Swiss Alps all her life. She knew they were rugged and topped with snow. She had even seen photographs. But nothing could have readied her for the fantastic