Mending Hearts

by Janice Kay Johnson - His Best Friend's Baby

  He clung to her whispered assurance that she cared about him, but right this minute, his confidence quaked.

  Could he be happy married to a woman who cared about him but would never feel the same for him as she had for her first love?

  That was a foolish worry, he told himself. In a lifetime together, love would grow, especially when kinder bound them together.

  Common sense stumbled over his real problem—her first love had been Levi Schwartz, not just anyone. Levi, David’s best friend . . . the man who would still be here if not for him.

  Gaze fixed unseeing on the grazing horses in the pasture, David sat for too long with his hands idle, his belly churning . . . and his father watching him.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Miriam clattered down the stairs Tuesday morning to find Mamm waiting for her at the bottom. “You’ll be late. Do you need me to help harness Polly?”

  Pretending surprise, Miriam said, “Oh, didn’t I tell you? David is giving me a ride to town. He has some sort of errand—I think he’s leaving a harness to be repaired. He said if he can pick it up today, he’ll pick me up at five, too.”

  “Does your daad know? He and Luke will expect you.”

  Miriam kissed her mother’s cheek. “I’ll be sure to let him know.”

  Mamm beamed. “David is courting you. I thought so. He didn’t like it when I talked about Gideon!”

  Did that explain why David had hinted more strongly at his feelings for her Sunday? That would make sense. And here she’d deceived herself that she was the only one who’d noticed David’s reaction, restrained as it was. She should have known better! Mamm had always had sharp eyes, especially where her kinder were concerned.

  “Mamm, he hasn’t asked to court me. He may feel he owes it to Levi to . . . to befriend me. I can’t assume—”

  Her mother made a dismissive sound. “Women know these things.”

  “I’m not sure I do,” she protested. Except . . . there’d been at least two occasions when she’d believed David was thinking about kissing her. Had she been wrong?

  No. And here he was, determined to protect her, not minding the talk that would be stirred up by her spending time alone with him. And he’d been feeling something powerful when he said, “I want you to care about me.”

  Her mother smiled and squeezed her hand. “Ja, I thought so.” She tipped her head to one side. “That must be him.”

  Miriam heard the buggy coming, too. “I need to go.” About to dash out, she paused. “I love you, Mamm.”

  A moment later, she placed her foot on the metal step and swung herself up in the seat beside David. “We should be on time,” he told her, then clucked at his horse, who swung into a U-turn.

  “Denke.” She felt absurdly shy.

  “Is this one of the days you take money to the bank?” he asked.

  “Ja.”

  “Then we’ll do it together.”

  She stole a look. She felt small next to him, feminine. Even in profile, he was a handsome man, his clean-shaven jaw strong, his cheekbones prominent enough to leave hollows beneath. She liked his hands, too, big and somehow . . . competent. As if he would never mishandle anything.

  His cheek creased. “No Copper today.”

  She smiled in the direction of Dexter’s strong red-brown hindquarters. “So I see. Is he coming along?”

  It was the right thing to ask. He talked about his progress with the young horse. She hadn’t known that he’d picked up the cart from the buggy shop this week. He told her that Nellie, the elderly mare he’d inherited from his onkel, was more comfortable than Dexter with being ridden.

  He smiled. “When I was small, I used to ride her around the pasture all the time when we visited Onkel Hiram. Daad put me up on one or the other of our workhorses, but that wasn’t the same. He insisted nobody had ever ridden our buggy horse and it wouldn’t be safe. Nellie was patient. Once in a while, I could even get her to trot. Of course, I bounced up and down until my teeth chattered, but it felt so daring.”

  He’d been meant to work with horses, she thought. Even in the outside world, where cars and trucks were everywhere, he’d found a job working with the animals that had always been a big part of his life.

  Miriam didn’t comment, though, only laughed. “So you rode her into town?”

  “Ja, already in her harness. We hitched her up to the cart, and she pulled it home. Riding in it was different—with it so low to the ground, it bounded over every bump, but it should work well in the arena, and up and down the lane.”

  She smiled. “Was the ride fun?”

  That same crease in his cheek deepened. “It wasn’t comfortable, and the next morning, I was sore.”

  Miriam giggled. “I’ve never sat on a horse.”

  “If you bring Abby over this week, you can both ride Nellie.”

  She might have liked that as a kind, but now? “I’m not so sure I want to, but Abby will.”

  “I’ll talk you into it.”

  Looking ahead, she was dismayed at how quickly they had arrived in town.

  Pulling up at the curb in front of the store, he became businesslike. “I’ll be here before five, so you aren’t alone near closing. Keep the back door locked,” David reminded her.

  “Bossy.”

  He raised his eyebrows.

  “I will.” She smiled. “Denke.”

  “It makes no trouble,” he responded automatically.

  She was smiling when she went into the store.

  The afternoon passed swiftly, although Miriam felt uncomfortable in two intervals when there were no customers. Not that she was alone; Sheila, Ruth’s one Englisch employee, also worked this afternoon. Still, if those two thieves were watching, this would be a good time for them.

  Proving that her mind was on the same track, Sheila said, “You’ve heard about the holdups here in town, haven’t you? Ron says that pair are real professionals. Maybe they’ve done the same thing other places, just move around so they don’t get caught.”

  “Professional robbers?”

  Sheila nodded. “Like Jesse James and the gang or something.”

  “It does sound as if they’re smooth. Just . . . in and out.”

  Her co-worker’s expression turned avid. “I forgot you know the police chief. Is that what he said?”

  “Something like that,” Miriam said, not wanting to explain that Chief Durant had actually talked to the men in the family, not saying a word to the women. Although Sheila might understand; Miriam had the impression that her husband made all the decisions in their family. It occurred to Miriam that she shouldn’t think twice about the women being excluded, but she did. She had become more independent in her thinking than even she had realized. “A friend of mine is coming sometime after four thirty so we’re not alone at closing,” she added. “I talked to Ruth about us keeping the back door locked all the time. I don’t think that pair would want to rush in the front door on such a busy street. If they were seen, they might not be able to get away.”

  Sheila’s uncovered head bobbed, her graying red hair swinging. “That makes sense. Is your friend a man?”

  “Ja. I mean, yes.”

  “Oh.” The other woman eyed her with interest, but didn’t ask about David. Instead, she said, “Would you mind if I left a little early, then, if we’re not busy? I have a couple of quick errands to do.”

  Miriam smiled. “No, of course not.” She moved out from behind the counter when two women she didn’t know came in the door. Englischers, both carried colorful tote bags and wore stylish, wide-brimmed straw hats and those pants that stopped midcalf. Tourists, for sure, here to look at quilts, not for fabric.

  “Lookie-loos,” Sheila murmured, but Miriam hoped she was wrong. The excited way the two began to talk about the quilts hanging on the walls made her think they might be serious.r />
  If the two left the store with bulging bags, though, anyone watching could guess they’d spent a lot of money. If that happened, Miriam would be especially glad that David was coming.

  Warmth rose to her cheeks at the thought, and she hoped Sheila hadn’t noticed.

  As much as she already anticipated the ride home with David, she wasn’t sure she could look forward to his arrival any more than she already did.

  * * *

  * * *

  His hands gloved, David gripped the handles and used all his muscle to control the plow, willing it to drive a deep, straight furrow. He’d looped the reins loosely around his body. Dirt rose in an enveloping cloud, and ahead all he could see was the powerful hindquarters of the pair of Belgian draft horses borrowed from Reuben.

  David’s back and shoulders ached furiously already, making him fear that he was a weakling compared to his father and brother, both of whom did this kind of work every day. He gritted his teeth as he stumbled and the plow kicked up.

  It had been too many years since he’d done this, but he was getting the hang of it again. He knew he’d leaned into the plow the first few furrows, causing them to be shallower than they should be. Memory having nudged him, he’d gradually straightened until he was upright now, letting the horses do the greatest part of the work. His biggest problem still was a tendency to trip over clumps of earth and put more pressure on one handle or the other, probably causing his furrows to wind like the path of a creek.

  He was thankful he didn’t have to cultivate the whole thing himself.

  Jake drove the other team, having started on the opposite side of the field. He and Daad had a new plow, one they rode, their weight and adjustments made by feet accomplishing what David had to do with the power of muscles alone.

  Well, it was his field.

  The sun beat down on his back. For June, this was a hot day. He was glad for his straw hat. Sweat and dirt both stung his eyes, but he couldn’t lift an arm to wipe his face until he reached the far end of the field and turned for the next row.

  Once he had swung the team around, he called, “Whoa!” and reached up to rein them in. He had just swiped a forearm across his eyes when he saw a car driving up to his house. Not just a car, a police car, with a bar of lights on the roof. The lights weren’t flashing, though, so his best guess was that Chief Durant was visiting him.

  Jake had halted his team, too. “Why would a police officer be here?”

  “It’s probably Julia Bowman’s brother.” He hesitated, deciding not to take the time to tell his brother about the holdups, if he hadn’t already heard. “Maybe just here for lunch. I suggested Deborah and Miriam come.”

  “We can’t stop yet.” Jake’s teeth flashed in a grin. “Want to race?”

  David laughed ruefully. His brother was moving fast enough, he’d end up doing close to two-thirds of the field. “No, you go ahead. Slow and steady, that’s my speed. Reuben begged me not to hurry his horses.”

  Cackling, Jake snapped the reins. His team—Daad’s team—leaned into their collars and pulled forward. David followed suit, afraid if he stopped for more than a minute, he’d stiffen up. He’d forgotten the exhaustion of muscling logs onto a sled, chaining them, controlling the path and speed of his team. Nothing he’d done during the last six years had been as hard as that—or as plowing the baked earth of a field uncultivated for several years.

  Just as when he was younger, though, it wasn’t the hard work he disliked, but the tedium.

  When he reached the fence at the end, Nick leaned against it, watching. David brought the team to a stop again.

  “Did you come to help?” he asked.

  The police chief laughed. “Not a chance. If I had, I’d take that plow.” He nodded toward where Jake had already turned and started back the other way.

  “Ja, my onkel did this the old-fashioned way.” Rolling his shoulders, he couldn’t suppress a groan. “Do you have news?”

  The Englischer sobered. “Unfortunately. Last night, they hit the liquor store.”

  David pondered that. “Smart. I’ll bet a lot of people pay cash.”

  “Apparently. They lost about three thousand dollars.”

  “Do they take checks or the slips with credit card information on them?”

  “No so far. Credit card numbers can be sold, but it takes some sophistication. These two don’t seem to know how to do that.”

  “If they only want cash—”

  Nick looked as grim as David felt. “Sooner or later, it’ll occur to them that Amish businesses might be cash cows.”

  David didn’t quite understand that, but got the gist. “They could pick up a few hundred dollars, easy, if they started in on small businesses out here in the country. Half the Amish homes have a sign advertising what they sell.”

  “There wouldn’t be a lot of money in it—”

  “But no risk, either. Unless a teenager who has a cell phone happens to be home.”

  “Wonder if these two know Amish kids often do have phones?” Nick shook his head. “I stopped at half the stores in town to give them an update. Both banks are going to hire a security guard until we arrest this pair.”

  No Amish businessman would consider doing such a thing, but David nodded his understanding. “Do you have time to stay to eat? Several women are setting up lunch.”

  Nick grinned. “Why do you think I’m here? When I stopped by the furniture store, Eli mentioned that Deborah and Miriam planned to bring food. He felt sure I’d be welcome.”

  “You are.” David turned his head to see the other team already approaching after having plowed two furrows. “I need to finish before I can take a break to eat.”

  “Don’t envy you,” the police chief said amiably, and strolled away.

  David turned the team again, looped the reins over his shoulder and under his other arm, and clicked his tongue. The horses willingly started forward.

  * * *

  * * *

  David was slow to appear. Miriam hoped nobody had noticed her keeping an eye out for him. His brother, who’d also been plowing, came from the house first, his hair wet. Since she’d gone to school with Jake, they’d had little to do with each other. Of course she knew his wife from Sunday fellowship meals and work frolics. A cheerful woman, Susan never seemed to lose patience with their three kinder. Today, Miriam saw that she was expecting another boppli, probably still a few months away. The way the two women were chattering, heads together, it appeared Susan and Rhoda Yoder were friends, not surprising when their younger kinder were of an age.

  She caught a brief glimpse of David walking toward his back door. Five minutes later, he came out onto the lawn, scanning until he saw her. She told herself it was chance there was a place open on the bench beside her, not that she’d schemed to make it so . . . but it wasn’t good to lie even to yourself. Abby had been eager to visit David’s puppies on Thursday, but that had been an excuse for Miriam to indulge her need to see him, to spend time with him. And, ja, Abby had loved sitting on the old mare’s back, but Miriam had balked.

  “Stubborn,” David had teased her.

  She was probably already blushing at the memory by the time he filled his plate and came to her end of the table. “Is anybody already sitting here?” he asked.

  “No.” She scooted a couple of inches closer to her mother. “Please. Sit.”

  His hair was wet, too. He must have dunked his whole head. Of course, his clothes were filthy; sweat soaked circles under his arms and on his back, but he’d rolled up his sleeves and scrubbed his arms and hands as well as his face. He set his plate and a glass of lemonade on the table and swung a leg over the bench.

  Once he’d taken a long drink of lemonade, she asked, “Is it going well?”

  “Not sure. I’m taking orders from Daad.” His grin flashed. “And Jake. I’m hoping if they think we need
to use the harrow, that he and Micah will do that. I’d forgotten what hard work farming is.”

  She laughed at his exaggerated slump, and he cast her one of those smiles that made her heart skip and twirl.

  “I’ll be happier if I can make a living training horses,” he admitted.

  “They can bite, kick, and step on you, though.”

  “So can a draft horse while you’re harnessing it, and they weigh a lot more.”

  “Mostly, they seem placid.”

  “The ones you know are well trained,” he corrected her. “And even with those, you need to watch where you put your feet, and where they put their feet.”

  “Elam was limping the other day,” she remembered.

  “I can guess why.”

  Miriam became aware that her mother was quiet beside her, undoubtedly eavesdropping on their conversation. Not that they’d said anything personal. Still, she needed to give David the peace to eat.

  Reluctant as she was to leave him, she’d cleared her own plate. Seeing that his glass was empty, she said, “I’ll refill that while I get a piece of the peach pie Susan brought.”

  “You don’t have to—” He stopped. “Peach pie?”

  Amused at the hopeful note, she said, “Ja, she says she froze plenty of peaches last year. I’ll bring you one, too.”

  By the time she got back, Micah Yoder had taken her place. Jake stood at the end of the table, and the three were discussing their plans. She thought David looked apologetic, but she smiled and went to sit with David’s mamm, who had been quieter than usual, less active. Normally she would have leapt up by now to serve the men seconds, but instead she held a kinskind on her lap, a little girl with curly dark hair and a thumb in her mouth as she leaned sleepily against her grossmammi.

  Miriam smiled. “Nap time, ain’t so?”

  “Ja, I think Susan plans to take the kinder home soon. I don’t mind leaving once we’ve helped clean up.”