“It would be. I got a letter from Bruno yesterday. They don’t know when they’ll be back. He said Daisy’s starting to like it there.”
Lily didn’t like the sound of that. This had been Bruno’s plan all along, to pretend he’d move to Lancaster County when all the time he was always going to take Daisy back to Ohio and stay there where his business was.
“I should go home. Denke for the tea.”
“Come here anytime. I enjoy our conversations.”
Lily giggled. “I’m glad you said that. I thought I was starting to annoy you.”
Valerie laughed. “I know what it’s like to be without the man you love. I know the circumstances aren’t the same, but it’s no more easy for either of us.”
When Lily was driving away in the buggy, she remembered what Valerie had said. At least Valerie had lived with her husband for many years and had had that time with him. Lily had had no time with Elijah—not as husband and wife. Or perhaps Valerie had been talking about Ed Bontrager?
* * *
Lily was tempted to take up Daisy’s invitation to visit her in Ohio. Remembering that there would be no one to look after the flower stall, she knew she’d have to stay put. On the way home from Valerie’s house, she came upon Tulip and Wilhem’s haus. Maybe another perspective would clear her head.
* * *
“Don’t you see, Tulip? I won’t feel the same way about any other man. Why did Gott want me to meet Elijah and then have it not work out between us?”
Tulip brought her fingertips up to her mouth as she yawned. “I don’t know the answer to that, Lily. Have you heard that he’s married the woman in Lowville yet?”
“Nee. You’re not listening, Tulip. He told her he couldn’t marry her and he’s in love with me, but he came back and heard I’d been out with Nathanial and Matthew. He was upset with me.”
“For what reason?”
“I didn’t wait for him, but how did I know he’d be coming back? He told me he had to marry someone else, so what was I to do? Stay an old maid? Never marry while he goes off and marries someone else and has a brood of kids?”
“That doesn’t make any sense. You’d find out eventually.”
Lily frowned at Tulip. She wasn’t listening at all. If she had been, her answers would’ve made more sense. “Are you concentrating on what I’m saying, or are you thinking about something else?”
Tulip rubbed the side of her head. “I’m listening.”
When Lily was satisfied she had Tulip’s attention, she continued, “I was trying to forget him and that’s the only reason I went out with the others. He didn’t listen to me and just walked away.”
“What you should do is find out what’s going on in his head.” Tulip yawned again. “I’m sorry, this boppli is making me tired.” She covered her belly with her hand.
“I can see that. Do you want me to leave you alone so you can get some sleep?”
“I can’t do that because then I won’t be able to sleep tonight.”
Lily figured she better ask something about what was happening in Tulip’s life so it wouldn’t seem like she’d come there solely to talk about herself. “So, what’s it like having a boppli in your tummy?”
Tulip put her fingertips over her mouth and giggled.
“What’s so funny?”
“It sounded funny the way you said it. Like someone came and placed a boppli in my tummy.”
Lily pulled a face. “You know what I mean. What does it feel like to be pregnant?”
“Tiring. I haven’t had any morning sickness at all, so I suppose that’s something good, but I’m tired all the time.”
“Have you been eating more than usual?”
Tulip took a moment to answer. “Nee. I don’t think I have been. I guess I’ll have to wait until the boppli grows bigger, then I might get more hungry.”
Lily stayed a while longer and heard how Tulip was doing in her new marriage with Wilhem. It made Lily want to marry Elijah all the more. Tulip had been no help. She was far too vague and wasn’t focused on what she was saying. Valerie had been the best person to go to.
Chapter 23
The following Sunday, there was no meeting as the services were held every second Sunday. Lily stayed in bed for as long as she could because there was no reason to get up.
Her mother opened the door. “Are you ever coming out of your room?”
“I guess so. What’s the time?”
“It’s just on midday and your vadder and I are going out to see Nerida, John, and the girls. Would you like to come?”
Lily sat up in bed, pleased that she was going to have the house to herself. “Nee, but I’ll get out of bed now.” Sunday was Lily’s favorite day because there were no chores on Sundays, except chores of feeding animals and collecting eggs. There was no cleaning or scrubbing and no washing of clothes. “I’ll get up, but I’ll stay here if that’s all right.”
“Of course. We’ll be gone in about fifteen minutes.”
“Okay. Dat’s going with you and staying there the whole time you’re visiting?”
“Jah, he’s staying with me. He’s just outside hitching the buggy. Did you want to see him about something?”
“Nee denke. Just asking.”
Her mother left her alone and then just as she was getting dressed, she heard glass shattering. With her prayer kapp in her hands, she raced downstairs. Her mother was standing there with her hand on the front door handle.
“Oh, Lily, it appears we’ve had a little accident with one of the windows. Dat has just called the Bontragers and someone will be over to fix it soon.” Her mother wasn’t upset and her lips were tilted at the corners with a secretive smile. “You’ll have to wait for one of the Bontrager boys. Bye.” Her mother closed the door.
Her mother had to be helping her to be alone with Elijah so they could talk. Lily raced up the stairs and finished getting dressed. She changed out of her green dress into her grape-colored dress. Once she had her cape and apron on, she quickly braided her hair, fastening it to her head, and placed on her kapp before heading down to the kitchen for breakfast.
Lily poured the cereal into a bowl while giggling at the picture in her mind’s eye of her mother breaking the window. That had to be the only answer since her mother wasn’t the slightest bit upset over the broken glass and neither had she said how it had happened. Her parents were helping her and Elijah to reconcile.
Lily munched on cereal while she ran through everything she wanted to say to Elijah. This could be her very last chance of explaining everything to him. And she had to tell him exactly how she felt about him or she might regret it for the rest of her life.
It was half an hour later when she saw a buggy heading up the driveway toward the house. Looking closer, she saw it wasn’t Elijah’s buggy and she hoped that it might be one of the buggies the Bontragers used for work. Then she realized that they used a wagon to transport the glass.
She walked to the front door and opened it when she heard the buggy stop outside the house. It was then that she saw it wasn’t Elijah; it was one of his younger brothers.
Jacob jumped down from the buggy. “How are you, Lily?”
“Gut denke. I thought Elijah might have come to fix the window.”
He walked closer before he spoke. “He normally would have come here, but he didn’t. I can tell you where he is right now if you like.” With a quick raise of his eyebrows, he added, “He’s alone.”
“I’m not sure if he’ll want to see me.”
He smirked. “I think he would.”
“Do you think so?”
Jacob nodded.
“Where is he?”
“He’s at home repairing the roof. We got a leak in the roof with all that rain last night.”
“Denke, Jacob.”
“Are you going to see him?”
“Jah, I am.”
“You better show me that broken window first. I’ll have to take the measurements.”
Onc
e she took him around the other side of the house, he told her it would take him some time to measure the window and once he’d done that he would cut the glass to the correct size.
“I’ll help you hitch the buggy if you’d like.”
“Denke, Jacob. That’d be wunderbaar. Dat normally does it when he’s around, but he’s just gone out visiting.”
“The sooner we get you on the road, the sooner you can go see my bruder.”
She headed toward the barn, trying to keep up with his long strides.
* * *
When she got to Elijah’s house, she saw him on the red roof of his white rendered home.
He looked around, saw her and then made his way down the ladder.
“Lily, I didn’t expect to see you.”
“Jacob told me where you were. I hope that’s all right.” When he stood there staring at her, she asked, “Can we talk?”
“Jah, we can sit on the porch.”
Once they were seated, she began, “I wanted to explain to you how it came about that I went out with Nathanial and Matthew. You see, I was so upset about you …”
“You’ve already told me this, Lily. We spoke about this on Sunday after the meeting.”
“But I need you to understand and see things from my point of view.”
He shook his head. “You don’t have to say anything. Both Matthew and Nathanial have come to me and explained that you were never interested in either of them.”
“They did?”
He smiled. “Jah, they did.”
“So does that mean you forgive me and things can go back to normal?” She held her breath, hoping that he would say that they could.
“I would’ve gone over to fix that glass myself but I thought you wouldn’t forgive me for being so awful to you and not listening. I’m still a little mad at you for going out with them, but I can’t be mad at you forever.”
“I guess we both needed to see things from the other person’s point of view. I had no idea why you’d gone to Lowville. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I wanted to surprise you.”
Lily laughed. “Well, you did that, but not in a good way.”
“I should’ve thought things through better before rushing off. I should’ve taken the time to tell you what I was doing. The problem was I didn’t want to get your hopes up and have things not turn out the way you wanted.” He reached out for her hand.
She gladly offered her hand to him and he held it tightly.
“I was fully prepared to marry her until I met you. Things are over between Patricia and I forever.”
“How did the poor girl take the news?”
“Not too badly. It turns out that she’d fallen in love with a young Mennonite man. Her parents won’t be happy, but she’s now prepared to face that. Once I told her that I was going back on my word to marry you, it gave her the strength to tell her parents about the young man she liked.”
Relief washed over Lily. “I’m so glad that this worked out well for everyone.”
“It will work out, Lily, but only if you agree to marry me.”
She smiled at him. “Jah, I do.”
“Phew. I don’t know what I would’ve done if you’d refused me.”
“So Patricia had dated, or at least gotten to know a man, and you told me that she hadn’t been seeing other men. That’s what you told me last Sunday.”
“I’m sorry. I was angry. I should’ve given you a chance to explain things. Will you forgive me?”
Lily normally would’ve joked with him but she didn’t want to risk another misunderstanding with him. “I will. If you’ll forgive me.”
“I want to marry you, Lily, and as soon as we possibly can.”
“That sounds gut to me.”
“I’ll have to work out where we’ll live.” He rubbed his chin. “At least I can stay on working for my vadder now that I’m staying here.”
“It doesn’t matter where we live. We could live with my parents until we save some money.”
“We’ll figure that out later. Now, are you certain you want to do this? There’ll be no backing out.” He stared into her eyes.
“I’m more than certain. You’re not going to back out, are you?”
He laughed and shook his head. “Come on. Let’s go and let your parents know.”
Lily giggled. “You’ll have to tell them.”
“Okay.”
Chapter 24
Nancy and her husband had not been home long when they saw that the window had been fixed and Lily was nowhere to be seen.
When Hezekiah came back in from the barn after tending to the horse, she told him, “It looks like my plan worked. Lily’s left the haus and the window is fixed.”
“I thought it was our plan.”
“Maybe, but mostly mine since I was the one who broke the window. I had to hit it a lot harder than I thought I would have to.”
Hezekiah laughed.
When they both heard a buggy, they headed to the living room and peeped out the window.
“What did I tell you?” Nancy asked. “Looks like things worked brilliantly. That’s Elijah’s buggy and Lily is sitting right beside him.”
“I have to agree it seems promising,” Hezekiah said.
“I’ll go and put the pot on to boil for a cup of tea.” Nancy raced to the kitchen, and was back just as Lily and Elijah walked through the door. “Hello, you two.”
Lily looked from her father to her mother. “We’ve got some news to tell you.”
“Okay, would you like to sit down in the living room, or perhaps in the kitchen?”
Nancy knew there was only one thing that they could have to tell her. They had sorted out their differences and were getting married. And it was about time.
“Let’s sit in the living room,” Elijah suggested.
Once they were all seated, Lily looked at Elijah, who was sitting next to her. “You tell them.”
A smile spread across his face as he looked at Nancy and Hezekiah. “Lily has only just now agreed to marry me.”
Nancy squealed with delight and both she and Hezekiah got out of their seats. Nancy kissed them both while Hezekiah kissed Lily and shook Elijah’s hand.
“We haven’t had a chance to talk to the bishop or anything. I suppose …”
“You could see the bishop today. You could go over there right now,” Hezekiah said.
“There’s plenty of time for that,” Nancy said, patting her husband on his shoulder. “First, I’ll make us all a cup of tea.”
Nancy headed to the kitchen, pleased that she had completed what she’d set out to do. Soon, she and Hezekiah would be alone to spend some years with just the two of them. It certainly would be quiet in the house without the girls. She wondered if she’d been too hasty pushing Lily to marry when recently she had expressed doubts about doing so, but what else would give Lily the happiness that a good marriage and children would give her?
* * *
Lily’s mother brought the tea items out on a tray and set them down on the low table in front of the two couches. As she poured the tea, she asked Lily, “Have you told Daisy that you’re getting married?”
“Nee, I wanted you and Dat to be the first to know and then we have to tell Elijah’s vadder.” Lily saw her mother’s hands shaking a little. “I’ll do that, Mamm.” Lily took over pouring the tea into the cups.
“Denke.” Nancy sat back onto the couch next to Hezekiah. “When will you tell Daisy?”
Hezekiah said, “I thought you’d want her to be the first to know.”
Lily glanced at Elijah and then said to her mother, “You can tell her if you want.”
“Nee, it’s your news. You should tell her.”
“Things are a bit funny between us now.”
“You can’t let things get between you. You’ve always had a special bond.”
“Your mudder’s right,” Elijah said. “Daisy would appreciate hearing from you, especially now that you’ve got this special
news—our special news.”
She smiled at Elijah and wanted to do anything to please him. “Okay, I’ll tell her after we tell your vadder, how’s that?”
“That’s perfect,” Elijah said as he smiled at her.
Lily handed everyone a cup of tea. When she handed her father one she knew he was deep in thought about something. “What is it, Dat?”
“I’m thinking about you and Daisy, that’s all.”
“Can you concentrate on me for a moment? We’re two separate people and I just want to be happy for myself for once without considering another person.”
Her mother sipped her tea. “Jah, Lily, you should take this time to enjoy your happiness and not be so concerned for others like you usually are.”
Her mother’s words were sweet, but Lily knew her mother was being sarcastic. Lily thought her a little mean for having a jab at her on such an important night. Looking at Elijah, she hoped he didn’t know that her mother didn’t mean her words. Elijah caught Lily’s eye and smiled at her with adoration in his eyes. He wanted a woman who was concerned for others, and if that’s what he wanted then that’s the kind of woman she’d become. She knew she had to grow up and be totally honest because that’s the kind of woman Elijah deserved.
Lily cleared her throat. “I know you don’t think I care for others, Mamm, but I will be more caring and considerate. I’m going to become a new person.”
“I like the person you are now, Lily,” Elijah said.
She smiled at her beloved. “I will be better—a new improved Lily.”
Hezekiah chuckled. “Elijah, this is where you should say that she couldn’t possibly improve.”
Elijah laughed. “I’ll learn these things over the years, I’d reckon.”
Nancy turned to Hezekiah. “You’re not trying to teach Elijah to be a sweet-talker, are you?”
“It’s not sweet-talking if Elijah believes it. Or, if Lily thinks he believes it.”
Amish Lily Page 12
