Lisa and Margreet left in relief towards the thrift store.

"I think I'll dive straight into the book corner to look for books for Annerieke," Margreet suggested. "That Nora Roberts, whose series you read, also writes detectives under a pseudonym. Huib loves them, and so does Annerieke, but she doesn't have them all yet."

"Good idea to see if you can get your hands on them here. I think I'll just start poking around."

"Okay, I'll find you when I'm done with the books! Have fun!"

"Yeah, you too!"

Margreet went to the book corner and discovered that it was well organized. There was a special corner for thrilling books, and those books were arranged alphabetically by the last names of the authors. She looked for the books by authors with an R... and to her surprise she found eight books by J.D. Robb! She compared the titles with the book list in her mobile phone. Annerieke didn't yet have one of them all! She put the books in her basket and looked at the novels, just to be sure. There she found a few books by Nora Roberts, but nothing by her pseudonym. Margreet decided to search for Lisa. She found her in the music corner. She had an instrument in her hands that Margreet did not recognize immediately. Lisa looked up and held the instrument up a bit, "Look at this, a mandolin. I've always thought that was a funny instrument, and now I'm wondering if I'd like to learn to play it. I do like stringed instruments, but a mandolin is totally different from a violin or a cello."

"Doesn't that include a bow?"

"No, it's kind of plucking what you do, chords or a melody, at least with a plectrum. If you do that with a group, it sounds really funny. And while I tell you this, I feel that for myself I don't have anything to do with them. I really like them to hear once, but not to play them myself."

Margreet laughed, "Great that you manage to feel that!"

Lisa discovered the stack of books in Margreet's basket, "So many? Are those all detectives by the same author?"

Margreet nodded enthusiastically, "Yes, cool huh? If Huib agrees, I want to make a present of it for Annerieke."

"Is she almost celebrating her birthday? Or for later, for Christmas?"

"No, I've always hated those celebrations, including birthdays. I prefer to give it outright, just because I like it, and because I love her."

"Hmm, sweet idea, and your dislike of those parties... well I'm like that cop now, I'll have to think about that for myself. If I'm honest, I don't think I like them deep down either. Really a point to chew on..."

Margreet chuckled: "Bon appetit! By the way, have you been everywhere? Or do you want to look further?"

"I haven't seen everything yet, but I'm actually quite tired. Shall we go to the checkout and then go home?"

They walked together to the cash register, where the same employee was as last time. She recognized Margreet immediately and asked if Lisa also worked at the guest house.

Lisa shook her head, but Margreet contravened: "Lisa doesn't officially work there, but she does help me."

"Yes, I do, and other than that I live in the attic of the guest house."

Lisa didn't say much else. Her eye had fallen on the woman's name tag: Elly Verkamman. Extraordinary, this had to be the wife of that policeman....

At that moment, a police car stopped in front of the front door. Elly grinned, "There you will have my husband, he works for the police."

Martin and his colleague entered. Martin smiled when he recognized Margreet and Lisa.

"So gentlemen, have any problems been reported? Or did you just come for coffee?" asked Elly.

With a nod to the young ladies, he said, "Reports plenty, but not from here. Coffee we just finished. So... another reason. Would you come over on this side Elly?"

While Elly went to the other side of the counter in surprise, Lisa discovered a bunch of red roses behind Martin's back. She tapped Margreet on the arm and secretly pointed at the roses. Martin took a step toward Elly and said, so clearly that his colleague and the young ladies could also hear, "Elly, I have told you many times that I love you, and I do, but thanks to two young women who came to my desk this afternoon, I have made a grim discovery about my attitude toward you. I was not aware of it until today, but I saw you as my possession, and in doing so I placed you under me. I promised myself to think about that and I did, actually only briefly, no longer was necessary, because I knew full well that I was selling you short. And that was a terrible discovery. From now on I only want the best for you, you are my dearest, and I want to be the dearest for you. It probably won't be perfect overnight, but I want to go for it. And to underscore that decision, I brought you these flowers." He held out the roses to her, sturdy roses that would last, the florist had assured him. He handed them to Elly and hugged her. "You are my everything and I want to be your everything!" he whispered at her ear.

Elly had tears in her eyes as he released her again. "I've always loved you, Martin, but now that you say it like this... yes, somewhere I've felt that... and I've found it normal. I look forward to see how our relationship will only get better now! Thank you, dear, also for the roses, they are really very beautiful!"

"Will you put them in water here or shall I do that for you at home?"

Elly looked at him smiling: "Sweet of you to ask like that! If you want to do it, please! Otherwise I'll get a traffic jam in front of the checkout."

"Can I just put them in water like that, or does there have to be something else with them?"

"Actually, you have to cut them with a sharp knife first, but I can do that too when I get home."

Margreet and Lisa both recognized a slight slave attitude. To their surprise, Martin responded nicely, "Well no girl, I'll cut a piece off at an angle with a sharp knife and put them in that beautiful crystal vase. Just water?"

Elly nodded, "Yes, just water."

Martin gave her a kiss, "It will be fine! See you later sweetheart!" He waved briefly to Margreet and Lisa and, with the flowers in his hand, went with his colleague to the car.

Elly stared at him for a moment, but then discovered that there were indeed quite a few people waiting for her. She quickly went back behind the counter.

"Well now, that was something! I wonder what those two women at the desk said to him that he found out. You know, I had no idea about it myself, that kind of grade difference"

As she gave voice to her thoughts aloud, she let Margreets books pass through her hands one by one and hit the amounts on the cash register.

Margreet paid. "If you feel like it, come visit us Wednesday afternoon and we'll tell you more about it."

"What, were you two...? Hahaha great! And Wednesday afternoon, yes, that's good, a little early afternoon?"

"Yes, that's best. Just drive right past the guest house on the path to the second house you meet there."

Margreet quickly wrote down her phone number and handed the bill to Elly. "For emergencies," she said with a wink.

Elly nodded, "See you Wednesday!" and turned to the next customer. Margreet and Lisa headed for home.

"Lisa, is it okay for you to talk about it with Elly? Otherwise, we'll keep it general, you know!"

"Well, I was hesitating about that too when you mentioned it to her, but I realize that our story can help others, and I think it's okay if we do talk about it. Do you mind if I join you?"

"Yes of course, that’s fine!"

To chapter 68. Mieke and John In 't Veld

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