Whatever It Takes: Day 15

 Word Total: 90,023

Year to Date: 750,189

Summary of Events:

Josiah arranged a meeting to talk with his mother, which gave him some respite from being asked weekly by Mr. Allaway if he'd talked to her — as he informed Mr. Allaway of the arrangement — before the meeting finally occurred, despite Josiah's nerves striving to get the better of him . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

“I thought we were meeting later,” Mother said. “I’m expecting company in a few minutes.”
“It shouldn’t take long,” Josiah replied. “I just want to talk to you about the future.”

A smile came over Mother’s face. “And when is the wedding?”

Josiah gathered his brow. “We’re not even betrothed. We can’t pick a wedding day until then.”

“Oh,” Mother said. “What else is there in the future to talk about?”

“Where Evangelina and I will go once we are married,” Josiah replied.

Mother looked bemused. “But you’re going to China.”

“No,” Josiah replied. “No, we’re not going to China.”

For a moment Mother stared at him blankly, but then, like a slow-breaking wave, anger came over her face from top to bottom, inciting her mouth into motion the moment it made contact.

“What could possibly make you forsake your calling?” she demanded. “How can you possibly cast aside the work that your father gave his life to begin? That work is for you to carry on!”
“I am not finished,” Josiah snapped firmly.

Mother immediately silenced, looking at Josiah with a rather bemused expression.

“Evangelina and I are not forsaking the mission field,” Josiah said firmly. “But we are going where we are called. You and Father were called to China, you went, and you did. It has been twenty years since then. I am sure someone else has taken up the work Father began, for as a doctor, I cannot take up the work of a pastor, and if that work has been left untaken-up since his death, then it would be completely undone, and thus would have to be started all over again anyways. Evangelina and I, on the other hand, are called to the Navigator Islands of the South Pacific, and that is where we are going when that time comes.”

The bemusement had turned to a blankness again as Josiah had spoken, and Mother sat in near-immobile silence with her gaze fixed on the dancing flames in the fireplace for a considerable length of time before she looked up at Josiah.

“Well, at least you’re still going to the mission field,” she said, although she didn’t sound wholly satisfied, and she also looked quite dejected.

Josiah nodded. He had nothing more to say, but he had to admit that his nerves had passed, and he actually felt rather heartened.

“I’ll leave you to your company Mother,” he said quietly, rising to his feet and leaving the room, garnering no response from her.

When he returned to his room, Josiah thought over what had all happened. He hadn’t shouted at Mother, nor threatened to punch her, but he had held his ground against her and not let her get up steam so that she could continue ranting and raving in upset.

If he was honest, it’d been far easier than he’d expected it to be, what had been more difficult was handling the nerves and anxiety beforehand. But it was done now, and Josiah felt immense relief that it was.

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