Forever

by Karen Ann Hopkins

  “She’s at the boulders. I think she wanted to give us some privacy.”

  He nodded and relaxed. “That makes sense.”

  He sat down, guiding me to his lap. I wrapped my arms around his neck and stared at the little I could see of his face in the darkness.

  “I was beginning to wonder if you were going to show up,” I said softly.

  He took a breath and said, “The singing was canceled, and some of the adults had a meeting. Father was tied up there, so I took Mother and Naomi home before I could make it out here.”

  “What kind of meeting? I don’t remember the singing ever being canceled before.” Uneasiness spread through me, and I sat up straighter.

  “Never has been as far as I recall, but there are some important issues that needed discussing, I reckon.”

  He said the words in a nonchalant way that pricked my interest all the more. Telling Noah about the pregnancy could wait a few minutes. I had the odd feeling that the special meeting had something to do with me. I pressed my hand on to his chest to hurry him along with the news.

  “Well…Elijah Schwartz isn’t very happy that I’ve called off the wedding to his daughter. He’s making things difficult for me and my family.”

  My inner lioness rose, and I blurted, “What’s he doing?”

  “Nothing yet—the meeting will give us a better idea of how far he’s willing to take the matter, but you don’t need to worry your pretty head about it.”

  He stopped talking and brought his mouth against mine. The feel of his lips distracted me, but not completely.

  I broke away from the kiss and said, “Have you talked to Constance?”

  “No, she wasn’t at church service this morning. I haven’t seen her since our fathers spoke.”

  The way he said the words, like he was feeling bad for her, made me suddenly jealous. After all, he had asked the girl to marry him. He must have really liked her to do such a thing—and he must have kissed her. I closed my eyes quickly, trying to erase the image that made me suddenly feel sick again.

  Swallowing carefully, I said, “Let’s just forget about her for now. There’s something more important we need to talk about.”

  Before I could continue, Noah hugged me tightly, pressing his face against my chest. His voice was muffled when he said, “Yes, we certainly do.”

  He pulled back, and with moonlight shining through the doorway, I could see his face better. His mouth was smiling and his eyes were content.

  Gathering my courage, I opened my mouth to speak, but he placed his finger on my lips and shushed me.

  “I’ve got it all figured out. My folks support us getting back together. They’re going to give us a couple of acres on the far side of their property that we can build a small house on. The adjacent land is owned by Marcus Bontrager, and he’s willing to sell about twenty acres, so we’ll have that option as time goes on.”

  “But, Noah…”

  “Hush now, and listen. Now that you’re back in Meadowview, we can arrange meetings like this. It won’t be so bad if my parents are in agreement. Your father is gone most of the time, anyway. But, Rose, there’s one little hitch to the plan that I’m going to need your help with.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “Wait. That’s all, wait. We need some more time to make this happen. Father and Mother think we need a while to announce our engagement. If we do it straightaway, it will enrage Elijah all the more. I understand their worry. It would be unfair to Constance for us to be formally together so quickly.”

  Without breathing, I asked, “For how long?”

  “Until after your birthday—what’s that, about six months away? It will give Father enough time to iron things out with the Schwartzes, and maybe Constance will have a new beau by then. I’ll continue to work and save money to start our life together. Your father will be thrilled that you’ll be finishing up your last year of schooling, and he won’t have any reason to think that you’re going to become Amish when you’re legally an adult and marry me. It will work out perfectly this way.”

  The intensity and speed of his words beat into my head as I repeated them over again in the silence. Wait six months—it was impossible. Anger rose in me.

  “So you’re okay with us being apart for that long, having to put our lives on hold once again to accommodate everyone else—and now Constance?”

  “Don’t go getting jealous. What I’ve done to her is terrible, and I can’t just go on without taking her feelings into consideration. It would be wrong to do so. Besides, I just listed off all the reasons it’s in our best interest to wait. For once we need to follow the course of patience and faith, Rose. We’ve made such a mess of things in the past. Let’s do this the right way and begin our life together in the best light.”

  My heart was breaking. Now, even Noah was keeping us apart.

  When I didn’t speak, Noah’s voice came out quiet, his words apprehensive. “Unless, there’s some other reason to hurry things along? Is that the case, sweetheart?”

  I heard Summer’s voice in my head, and then I thought about Noah’s desire to protect Constance and her feelings. The fact that the community seemed more important to him than me woke me from the deep sleep I’d been living in for the past week.

  Noah didn’t want to hear the truth. He wouldn’t be happy to know that his well-laid plans were about to go up in smoke. For the first time I had an excuse to lie.

  “No reason at all.”

  As Noah tilted my chin and began covering my face with featherlight kisses, I sighed and let him love me.

  At that moment, I felt no guilt, and I wondered if that was even worse than the lying part.

  7

  Sarah

  As I untied Juniper, I felt the tingle of being watched and turned to look around the dark interior of the barn. When Micah stepped out from behind the wooden post, I wasn’t surprised. His brazen behavior was getting worse, and secretly I loved it.

  He smiled and said, “Do you need any help hitching up your horse?”

  Unable to keep my foot still, I pushed at the shavings on the ground with the toe of my black shoe. “Thank you very much, but I’m fine.” I placed my attention back on Juniper’s head.

  “I knew you’d refuse me.”

  Catching the slightly raised pitch of his voice, I glanced back and met his green-eyed stare.

  Lowering my voice, I said, “You really must stop this.”

  “Why?”

  “We’ve already gone over it. It’s better if we don’t talk anymore, because of the situation brewing between our families.”

  “You didn’t pay any attention to Edwin during volleyball. What does that mean, then?”

  I sighed. Micah was so different from Edwin. If I didn’t make eyes with Edwin or start up a quick exchange of words, he was too shy to approach me. I had to do all the work or nothing would ever get done with the boy. Micah was the opposite. He was forward to the point of rattling my nerves.

  “Again, it’s none of your business what happens between me and him. I wish you’d just leave it be.”

  “I caught you looking at me several times during the service.”

  My face reddened with the heat that suddenly flamed my cheeks.

  “I only turned your way because you were so rudely staring at me. I’m surprised the entire community didn’t notice.”

  “It wouldn’t be so bad if they did.”

  “You’re being silly. Please excuse me while I take the horse to the buggy.”

  Shocking me, Micah blocked the back of the stall. If I continued to nudge Juniper in that direction, he’d get trampled.

  “Why isn’t Noah assisting you? Where is he, anyway?”

  I wasn’t supposed to know where Noah was, but deep down I ha
d my own suspicion why he’d hurried off to take Mother home, completely forgetting about me and Rachel. After listening from behind closed doors several times this week, I was fairly certain Rose was involved.

  Part of me was happy for him, knowing in my heart all along that she was the girl for him—even though she was born English. But I also feared the trouble that would be stirred when it came to pass.

  “Since my father must attend the meeting called by yours, Noah took Mother home. Now if you’ll kindly step aside, I’ll be on my way, too.”

  He stepped out of the way and motioned widely with his arm. I ignored the frown on his face as my heart raced. I wanted nothing more than to talk to him longer, even if it wasn’t the most pleasant kind of talk. As much as I tried to push Micah away, I felt myself growing closer to him each time we came together.

  “Thank you,” I muttered, not looking up as I passed by him.

  Before I cleared the doorway, he raced up behind me and tapped my shoulder. His touch made me catch my breath, but I stopped and glanced back, anyway.

  “Wait. There’s something I want to give you. It isn’t much—I made it the other day when I had a little free time.”

  He handed me a soft, tan strip of leather. When I turned it over, I gasped as I read the engraving of my name.

  “It’s a bookmark,” he said quietly.

  I looked up and met his gaze. When he smiled and shrugged, my heart melted, and I knew that I was lost to him. All the anxiety I’d carried before vanished. As if my eyes were opened for the first time, I saw the young man before me…and I knew he was mine. The contentment that filled me was sweeter than honey, and I returned his smile.

  “Sarah, what are you doing?” Jacob’s voice boomed from the barn opening. I quickly tucked the leather beneath my apron and tugged on Juniper’s reins. Micah moved swiftly by without looking at me or my oldest brother and left the barn.

  “What was that all about?” Jacob said as he stepped in front of me. His eyes flashed accusingly, and I was suddenly angry.

  “Only me getting Juniper ready to harness—there was no need to startle me so.”

  “I’m not blind. I saw that you were talking to Micah.”

  “And what if I was? It isn’t against the rules to say hello to someone passing by in the barn, is it?”

  Jacob smoothed the small amount of hair on his chin down in a movement very much like Father before he said softly, “I’m not giving you a hard time, Sarah. I just don’t want you to get hurt.”

  “Whatever makes you think that I’ll get hurt?”

  “Elijah Schwartz will never allow one of his sons to become involved with a Miller. Not after what Noah did to his daughter. There are too many other eligible young men for you to court around here. Don’t go after something that is only going to cause you grief. Take the lesson learned from Noah and his disastrous choices.”

  From somewhere deep within me, defiance grew, and I met Jacob’s stern gaze. “My situation is nothing like Noah’s. There is no reason that our heavenly father would work to keep Micah and I apart if we chose to be together. We share the same faith, beliefs and community. Elijah Schwartz has no right to interfere.”

  The smile that rose on Jacob’s face was unexpected. “You looked a whole lot like Father when you said that.” Chuckling, he took the reins from me and turned to take Juniper to the buggy. As he walked away, he said over his shoulder, “I reckon Elijah might have met his match.”

  How did I go from not wanting anything to do with Micah Schwartz to defending a relationship that hadn’t even begun with him to my oldest brother, and all in the matter of some minutes?

  I didn’t know the answer, but for the first time I was the one in the family having some excitement.

  And, I liked the feeling a whole lot.

  8

  Sam

  I set the bowl of ice cream down to answer the door. Who the hell would be knocking at this late hour? I wondered. When I looked out the window and saw that it was Hunter, I relaxed and opened the door. With Rose’s situation, I was always ready for the worst.

  “Hey, bro, what’s going on?” I asked Hunter as he slid past me to stand in the foyer.

  “Is Rose home?”

  I ran my fingers roughly through my hair while I quickly thought of an answer. I certainly wasn’t going to tell him that she’d been knocked up by Mr. Suspenders and was off on some sneaky liaison with him that Summer had hatched. No, the less Hunter knew, the better, but I was still majorly bummed that things hadn’t worked out between him and my sister. Hunter was a good guy, especially now that he’d quit drinking.

  “She’s out with Summer, doing some girl thing.”

  “Do you mind if I hang around for a while and wait for her?”

  He didn’t exactly sound like he was begging, but his eyes were for sure. Damn, under the current circumstances, having Hunter in the house when Rose returned could be a national disaster in the making.

  “Uh, man, I don’t think that’s such a good idea. She just got home last night and she’s still settling in. You know how temperamental she is.”

  Hunter smiled. “Yeah, I do, but I don’t mind if she has a meltdown. I need to talk to her.”

  Part of me was becoming aggravated that the guy wasn’t listening to me, but the other part had to respect his persistence. It was just a shame that he didn’t have a chance now.

  “Look, it’s your skin that’s going to get chewed up and spit out if she comes home in a mood.”

  Hunter followed me into the family room, and we’d barely sat down in front of the TV when Summer and Rose came through the door.

  Summer shot me a look that gave me the heads-up that she was upset with me, but Rose didn’t even take the time to look my way before she began her barrage.

  “What’s he doing here? Are you insane or just stupid, Sam?”

  “Hunter’s my friend, and he can come by whenever he wants.”

  “Oh, is that so? Even with everything going on, you’d do that to me?”

  I glanced at Hunter’s look of shock and Summer’s narrowed eyes. I was screwed no matter what I said.

  “So, I guess things didn’t go so well with your meeting?” The words tumbled out of my mouth without much thought. I really just wanted to get back to my bowl of ice cream and the episode of Swamp People, but it was unlikely that would be happening anytime soon the way Summer was glaring at me.

  “Can you ever just keep your mouth shut?” Summer growled.

  Rose turned and ran from the room. Summer paused long enough to shake her head at me and mutter something that was mostly unintelligible, except for the word idiot, before pursuing Rose. Their stomping feet could be heard going up the stairs before a door slammed shut.

  “That didn’t go well, did it?” Hunter asked quietly.

  I thought for a second and said, “Actually, it could have been much worse.”

  “The night isn’t over yet,” he said as he walked past the couch toward the stairs.

  I leaped up and followed him.

  “Where are you going?”

  Without slowing to glance my way, he replied, “I’m going to talk to Rose.”

  “Are you nuts?”

  “No, I’m perfectly sane, just in love.”

  I grabbed Hunter’s shoulder as he began climbing the stairs, stopping him.

  “You couldn’t possibly fall in love so quickly,” I argued.

  “Some people do. It might not be your thing, but give me a break here.”

  “Trust me, I am. You don’t want to go up there.”

  “Just try and stop me.”

  Hunter’s eyes held a cold glint that I hadn’t seen before. The dude was dead serious. I lifted my hands in the air and backed down the step.

 
“I warned you.”

  I returned to the couch but purposely left the door open. Hunter was still my friend, after all. I was expecting to have to rescue his ass in a few minutes, anyway.

  9

  Rose

  “What is he doing here?” I demanded of Summer, knowing full well that she was as clueless as me.

  “Maybe he came by to see Sam. They are friends and all,” Summer suggested as she flopped onto my bed.

  I shook my head. “No, there’s more to it than that. Hunter won’t quit. He won’t accept that I’m with Noah again.”

  “How do you feel about that?” Summer asked quietly.

  I took a deep breath and sighed. “It doesn’t really matter now, does it? I’m pregnant and I have to marry Noah.”

  Summer sprang off the bed and grabbed my arms. “Whoa, you have options. Life isn’t over because you’re pregnant.”

  I rolled my eyes and sat down on the bed.

  “You never did tell me how Noah reacted,” Summer said as she joined me. She placed her arm around my shoulder.

  Staring at the ugly wallpaper adorning my walls, I quickly thought about what I should say. Even though she hadn’t come right out with it, I knew Summer was already against Noah. If I told her what he’d said, she’d really get down on him.

  “I took your advice. I’m going to wait a little while longer before I break the news.”

  “What made you change your mind?”

  “From the first moment I laid eyes on Noah, I’ve acted impulsively…and look where it got me. I’m going to take things slower from now on and really think everything through before I make a decision.”

  Summer pulled me into a tight hug and said, “That’s a girl. You’re not alone, either. Sam and I will be there with you every step of the way.”

  I sniffed back the tears and returned her hug. The smell of her flowery shampoo tickled my nose, and I was suddenly very grateful to have her by my side.

  The soft knock at the door separated us. Summer’s face scrunched into a frown, and she said loudly, “Go away, Sam, I’m busy with Rose.”