Molly started her search as soon as she got back home. She thought the best place to search for them would be on the computer. She had hoped they had gotten married, so she tried searching for "Steven and Abby." It was slow going though, even with such a useful tool as the internet. With no last names, Molly came up with hundreds of different Abbys, and she had no addresses, no high school names. For all she knew, one of them even could have died. She hoped not.
It was hard to keep optimistic when she was hitting so many dead ends. She even started doubting that Abby would want the letter back. What if it was too painful to have the letter back because Steven broke up with her or they had a terrible argument? What if Abby was married to someone else now? Molly tried her best to stay focused on the task before her, but after staying up half the night and clicking on hundreds of websites, she had nothing to show for her work.
"Are you okay, Molly?" Robert asked during worship practice. "You don't look so good."
"I'm just tired, and a little frustrated that I can't find what I'm looking for."
She explained the whole story of the letter and her search to him, to which Robert replied, "Have you tried looking in the library? My aunt works there, and she's great with research. I'm sure she could help you come up with some useful tips to narrow down the search."
"Really? That would be great! Thanks."
Robert's aunt was a lifesaver to Molly's endeavor. Together, they were able to narrow down the search to a dozen Abbys that fit the same profile that they were looking for. A few were named Abby while others were named Abigail. Those that were currently married were not married to a Steven. Robert's aunt suggested that the best thing Molly could do now was politely write letters to each of the women, explaining about the love letter, and pray she had found the right one.
A week and three days passed before Molly started receiving answers back. The fifth one she received was from an Abby Tate, who lived in Washington. Molly's hand quivered with joy and anticipation as she read.
"Dear Molly,
Receiving your letter was quite a surprise to me, but you have no idea what joy it has brought me. I am the Abby in that love letter you described. Steven wrote it to me when his job forced him to go to Canada for some special training. It was the first in a long series of letters he wrote me. That one had the most romantic things he'd ever written to me, and it was always my favorite. It comforted me being able to carry a part of him near me. I used to keep it in my Bible as a bookmarker. Then when he came back and we got married, I stuck it in another book on my shelf. I didn't need it now that I could see Steven every day. The times I glanced at it grew scarcer. Then, one day, my daughter was helping me go through my book collection to donate some for a drive at the nursing home. She dropped the pile off the shelf, and I suspected she stuck the letter in one of the books I was donating by mistake. I was heartsick when I found out it was missing, but it was too late to get it back. I suppose no one threw the note away for the same reason you didn't. Thank you so much, Molly, from both Steven and myself."
Molly, now with a treasured letter of her own, gingerly folded up Abby's letter and put it in the mailbox.
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