A Diamond in the Rough (Paperback)

Lyle Rowe has just returned to his home in Meridian, Ohio, after four years of military service as an Air Forces meteorologist during World War II. He is enjoying his freedom from the service and being home with family and old friends and is planning a short hiatus before resuming civilian employment. He has expressed his intentions to rejoin and marry a beautiful English girl, Chrystene White, whom he met and fell in love with while in England during the early days of World War II. Military demands on both Lyle and Chrystie kept them physically far apart for over three years. A resumption of their love affair is not a foregone certainty, although Lyle still has sincere affection for Chrystie and he believes she has reciprocal affections for him. Within days of his return to Meridian, Lyle is reintroduced to an unusually-attractive girl, Marge Schaff, whom he met while on furlough two years earlier. At that earlier meeting, Marge was spending serious time with Lyle's best friend, Rob Hilfer, who was deeply interested in her, but she was romantically inclined toward another young man, serving in the Navy. Lyle approaches Marge and she agrees to a dance date at a popular dance place and then to a second date four days later. Quickly, Lyle finds himself hopelessly attracted to and falling in love with this beguiling beauty. His intended short hiatus extends to a month as Lyle considers and procrastinates about meteorological positions in Chicago and New York, a theatre management job in Marion, Ohio, and a sporting-goods store business venture with his friend Rob Hilfer. He also agonizes and procrastinates about his fading romantic affair with Chrystene White in England. As Marge shows limited signs of reciprocal interest, Lyle finally accepts the theatre management position in Marion because it enables him to return home frequently and spend one evening each week with her. To his dismay, he soon learns that Marge has serious concerns about the incompatibility of evening theatre operations and a happy family life. Their relationship begins to cool and Lyle is unable to find other suitable employment. The sporting-goods store partnership must be deferred for at least a year because of inability to obtain full lines of quality sporting goods. Things drift, unresolved, for a while then Marge, who has severed her relations with her Navy suitor and has been reserving most of her time for Lyle, considers a party date with another pre-war boy friend. It leads to testy conversations and eventually to a major crisis in their relationship. A week of deep anxiety by both Lyle and Marge leads to a tearful reunion and a happy resumption of their romance followed by plans for an autumn wedding. Lyle returns to Meridian to work with two friends as a tree trimmer. The three friends bolt the tree-service employer and form an independent tree business of their own in hopes of improving their incomes. From its inception, the new tree business achieves only limited success. Plans go forward for an autumn wedding as the tree business continues to flounder. The wedding day approaches and Lyle considers postponing things for a few months, but Marge argues to go forward, insisting that there must be a way to happiness and they can find it together. Marge prevails and, despite the dismal financial outlook, they are married and off to a happy honeymoon in the Smoky Mountains.