“So, everyone has to ride a little faster than the rider to her inside in order to keep the line straight.”
“That’s right. It sounds simple but it’s pretty hard.”
“I look forward to seeing you pull it off.” He liked the eager light in her eyes and the way they sparkled when she was talking about her plans. It used to be that he had to make her mad to enjoy the sparks in those lovely eyes, but watching them shine with eagerness was every bit as satisfying.
* * *
Fannie blushed at what she sensed was a compliment from Noah. He seemed genuinely interested in what she was doing. If they could find some common ground it would make it easier to keep up their pretend courtship. “The girls have been practicing very hard. We meet for two hours twice a week. Sylvia Knepp rides for almost an hour to get here.”
“That is dedication. I think you mentioned they are all a part of your riding club.”
“They are. Before this project we met a few times a month for trail rides and such. Sometimes we would set up jumps for fun. We’ve shared tips on how to teach our horses tricks.” She put her arms around Trinket’s neck. “We love horses.”
“I can tell.”
“Like you love baseball?” He must, if he was willing to date her just to keep playing.
He smiled and shook his head. “I don’t think the two compare. Horses can love you back.”
It was a good answer, and that smile of his warmed her inside. When he was being nice, she didn’t have to pretend to like him.
“Have your parents changed their minds about sending you to Florida?”
“Betsy leaves next Monday unless Mamm sees that you and I don’t suit.”
“Then this fake courtship wasn’t such an outlandish idea, after all. If we can keep it up, we’ll both have what we want.”
The warmth in her chest died away. It was all make-believe. She was foolish to start liking him and wishing he’d smile at her more often. “I can keep it up if you can.”
He looked away. “I reckon I will have to.”
The riders returned from their warm-up and lined up beside Fannie. She needed to concentrate on these girls, not her infatuation with Noah. She gestured toward the young riders. “I want you to meet my team.”
She started from left to right. “Susan Yoder is riding Carmen. Rose King is riding Goldenrod. Karen Ebersol has Freckles.”
“She has white dots on her face and chest,” Karen explained, patting the mare’s neck.
“Does she have a short temper to match?” Noah cast a sly glance at Fannie.
Fannie ignored him.
“Oh, nee,” Karen assured him. “She is as sweet as the day is long.”
The next girl leaned forward, the only one with dark hair in the group of blue-eyed blondes. “I’m Sylvia Knepp and this is Maybelle. My father works in your family’s furniture shop.”
“I know him well. He’s our master carver. My brother Samuel says he listens to the wood better than anyone he has ever met.”
“What does that mean?” the girl beside Sylvia asked.
“This is Pamela Lantz,” Fannie told Noah. “She is riding Comet.”
He nodded to Pamela. “My brother says a skilled wood-carver must understand what the wood wants to become. He must listen to it. There is no point in trying to carve a ram’s head on a piece that is better suited to the grace of a willow tree. The wood won’t cooperate. Gott places gifts in all people and all things. We must respect that.”
“Our gift is understanding horses,” the girl on the end said. The last two riders were twins. He couldn’t tell them apart, but he made a guess as to who they were.
“My brother Timothy speaks often of Abbie and Laura Lapp, the new girls in his class and how well they do in school, but which of you is Abbie?”
The one on the end held up her hand. “I’m Abbie, and I’m the oldest by ten minutes.”
“By six minutes,” Laura said with a scowl. “I’m better at math.”
Noah noticed Fannie trying not to laugh at their sibling rivalry. “They are riding Copper and Morning Mist.”
“Misty for short.” Abbie patted her mount’s neck.
“All of the horses except Trinket belong to Connie. She picked the ones with the closest coat colors for the most impressive effect.”
“What do you call yourselves?” he asked.
“We didn’t want a fancy or prideful name, so we are The Amish Girls,” Susan told him with a grin.
He chuckled. “Very appropriate.”
Fannie made a little shooing motion with her hands. “We have dawdled enough. Time to work on our pinwheels and on our double circles. Zoe, can you start the music?”
“I’ll get it,” George called from near the back door. He crossed to the speaker system, fumbled for a minute, and then stepped to the side as a rap song blared forth. The lyrics were disgusting. Sylvia covered her ears. Fannie and the other girls stared at George in shock.
“Turn that off!” Noah yelled.
George started laughing. “It’s a harmless little joke. It’s funny.”
Noah strode to the machine and pulled the plug, silencing the music. “No, it isn’t.”
George had plugged his phone in to the speakers instead of the MP3 player.
Connie came rushing in. “If you would like to keep this job, George, you’d better start showing more respect to our guests.”
“It was a joke, Connie. Don’t get bent out of shape.”
She unplugged his phone and tossed it to him. “You have work to do.”
He slipped his phone in his hip pocket and ambled off.
Connie turned to Noah and Fannie. “I am so sorry. I’ll make sure nothing like this happens again.”
Fannie wished she could believe that, but George didn’t seem to care if their performance benefited Connie. He wasn’t putting any effort into saving the stable. He was just out to amuse himself. Maybe he wasn’t worried about finding another job, but Fannie knew if Stroud Stables went under, her dream of continuing to work with horses would go under with it.
She couldn’t let that happen.
Chapter Six
“We have been invited to visit the Erb family today.”
Noah wasn’t surprised by his mother’s announcement at breakfast on Sunday. It was the off Sunday, a day without church services. Visiting family and friends was a normal way to spend the day, but he knew this wasn’t a normal invitation. His mother and Fannie’s mother were determined to provide their children with every opportunity to be together. When he and Fannie called off their courtship, he feared both mothers were going to be deeply disappointed.
Noah knew better than to try and get out of going, and he realized he didn’t want to miss the outing. He wanted to find out how Fannie’s first riding event had turned out. He was even looking forward to telling her about his game.
The morning progressed like any other, but not as fast as he would have liked. The milking had been done before breakfast by Noah, his father, Mark and Paul. The horses, cattle and pigs were fed after breakfast by Samuel and Joshua. The guinea hens, chickens and ducks were let out of their coops to forage and their eggs were gathered by Noah’s mother and Rebecca. Joshua’s wife, Mary, and Timothy’s wife, Lillian, soon joined the other women in preparing a lunch to take along while Hannah and her dog, Bella, entertained the babies on a quilt on the dining room floor.
Noah checked on Ginger’s hoof and washed both the family’s buggies before harnessing the horses and hitching them up. It was almost noon before Luke and his wife, Emma, arrived. Once they did, the family made the short drive over to the Erb farm in three buggies.
Fannie’s father was standing in front of the house. “Welcome, neighbors. We have set the picnic tables down by the creek. Y
ou know the way, Isaac,” he said as he waved them through.
“Jump on the back, Ernest, unless your wife wants you to start jogging.”
Ernest laughed and patted his ample belly. “She’d better not complain of my size, ’cause it’s her good cooking that’s done this to me.”
Noah opened the door and moved Hannah to his lap to make room for Ernest. It was a tight fit but no one minded. Fannie’s father soon had them all laughing at his jovial stories and jokes.
The buggy jolted over the rough pasture track for a quarter of a mile before Isaac pulled to a stop beneath the wide-spreading branches of a group of old river birch trees. A shallow creek flowed across a natural stone shelf formation before tumbling off the edge in a miniature waterfall barely a foot high. There were already two buggies parked in the shade.
Noah set Hannah on the ground and she raced away to join Fannie, Betsy and two other young women who were wading in the water with their dresses hiked above their knees. He could pick out the sound of Fannie’s laughter from the others and he smiled. It was good to see her having fun.
He and his brothers carried the ice chests and hampers to the picnic tables set up under the trees. The bishop and his wife were sitting on lawn chairs beside the creek below the falls. They had their fishing poles in the water. Noah’s father and Ernest strolled over to join them.
Noah’s mother took the hamper from his hand and turned to his cousins. “You boys run along and enjoy yourselves. The two girls with Fannie and Betsy are the bishop’s nieces, Margret and Helen Stolfus. I’m sure Fannie will introduce you.”
“We met them at the singing last week.” Mark had his gaze fixed in their direction, prompting Noah to wonder which young woman had caught his fancy. Noah and his cousins walked casually to the water’s edge.
“Is the water cold?” Noah asked when Fannie caught sight of him.
“Nee, it’s wunderbar.” She waded toward him with an ornery grin on her face. She bent low and scooped a handful of water, sending it spraying in an arch toward him. Knowing Fannie, he had quickly moved behind his cousins. Mark and Paul were splattered across their shirtfronts.
Margret and Helen chided her for her mischievous behavior, but Fannie didn’t look chastised as she grinned at him.
Noah’s cousins took off their shoes and rolled up their pants legs. They were soon exploring the creek with the young women. Paul began his auctioneer call, to the amusement of everyone, as he sold them fish swimming in the stream left and right. Noah sat on the grassy bank and watched. Fannie came over and sat beside him, keeping her bare toes in the water.
“Do either of them catch your fancy?” she asked.
He pretended to look the young women over carefully. “It’s hard to tell at first glance. What about you? Mark and Paul are both single, although Mark has a girlfriend back home.”
“They seem like nice fellows, but I’m not looking for a man to marry.”
“Yet. You aren’t looking for a man to marry yet.” He’d never noticed what pretty feet she had, small and neat, with dainty toes pink from the cold water. Several tiny fish were investigating them, as well.
“I might wed someday, but I see no point in rushing into something that’s lifelong. Do you see the minnows nibbling on my toes? That tickles.” She pulled her feet out of the water and tucked them under her hem.
“Fannie, on Sunday night, just before you shut the door in my face, you said something I can’t stop thinking about.”
“Did I?”
“You said if you had to list my sins, it would take all night. Have I somehow offended you greatly? If I have, I’m truly sorry.”
“You were never as bad as some of the boys who teased me. You and I got along so well when we were little, but when we went to school, you stopped being my friend and I didn’t have any others.”
“Is that why you were always so angry?”
“I come by my bad temper naturally but it has nothing to do with the color of my hair.”
“So you say. I’m dying to know how your first drill team competition went yesterday.”
She smiled brightly. “Are you?”
“I asked, didn’t I?”
She half turned toward him. “You should have seen us. The horses were awesome. Abbie had some trouble keeping Misty in step during the pinwheel, but otherwise the girls did a great job. We took second place.”
“Second out of two entries?” he asked to goad her.
“Second out of six entries.” She bowed her head slightly, not rising to his baiting.
“Impressive.”
“What about you? Did you win your game?”
“It was close, but we pulled it out. Walter hit a homer that brought in the two winning runs.”
“I’m glad you won.”
“Are you?” He leaned forward to swirl his fingers in the water.
“I said so, didn’t I?”
“You also said the water was wunderbar.” He flicked a few drops at her face.
She giggled and wiped her cheek on her sleeve. “‘Wunderbar refreshing’ is what I meant.”
“I thought so.” He leaned back on his hands as he grinned at her. Fannie was good company when she wasn’t hurling insults at him. How long would it last?
* * *
Fannie glanced away from Noah’s smiling face. If only he wasn’t so good-looking and sweet. When he smiled at her, she wanted to smile back and bask in his warmth. She kept her eyes focused on the tiny fish darting back and forth in the clear water, in case something of what she was feeling showed in her face. The last thing she needed was to start caring for Noah beyond their friendship.
Wouldn’t that be a just reward for concocting their fake courtship? To fall for the fellow who wouldn’t be able to get rid of her fast enough come August.
Sitting here enjoying his company wasn’t solving anything. She got to her feet. “I should help get the meal on. I see the bishop has reeled in his line. I think that means he’s ready to eat.”
“Looks to me like he’s coming our way.” Noah rose to his feet beside Fannie as the bishop approached.
“Good afternoon, Brother Noah, Sister Fannie. The Lord has given us a fine day to enjoy our fellowship.”
“Indeed He has,” Noah agreed.
“Noah, I would speak with Fannie alone for a few moments, if you don’t mind.”
Her heart dropped to her knees. Had he somehow learned of their agreement?
“Of course,” Noah said, and cleared his throat. He walked away, but glanced back once, his eyes filled with concern.
Fannie gripped her fingers together. “What did you wish to speak to me about, Bishop Beachy?”
“I understand you have formed a riding group with some of the younger girls in our congregation and you are their leader.”
“That’s true.”
“I watched your performance at the fairgrounds yesterday. I wasn’t happy to hear the Englisch music being played, or to see you girls putting yourselves into the public eye in such a bold way, but as none of you are baptized members of our faith, I won’t object to that.”
Something in his voice told her he wasn’t finished. “But you are objecting to something.”
“I’m told you practice at the home of an Englisch woman.”
At least this wasn’t about her courtship. “We do. Connie Stroud is her name. She is allowing the girls to ride her Haflinger horses.”
“I have already spoken to your father about this, because I was hoping that he would be able to help, but he says he cannot. Several parents have come to me with concerns.”
“What kind of concerns?”
“They feel their daughters are not being adequately supervised. They believe having the girls exposed to Englisch ways and music is not good for them.�
��
“What are you saying?”
“Someone other than you must be the group leader. You are young and unmarried. Unless you can find an Amish adult, preferably a married man, to oversee this group, these parents are going to remove their children from it.”
She couldn’t believe this. “But we have worked so hard.”
“Fannie, you can’t ask our parents to send their kinder to a place that makes them uncomfortable. I won’t change my mind about this. It is in the best interest of all our members to know our children are looked after properly.”
When he walked away, Fannie sat down on the creek bank and put her head in her hands. Who could she ask? Who would be willing to devote so much time to their project if her own father couldn’t?
* * *
Noah waited until the bishop was out of earshot before he approached Fannie again. She looked pale and shaken. How much trouble were they in?
He took her hand and pulled her gently in the direction of a thick stand of willows where they would be out of sight. A large fallen log lay in a clump of grass a few feet from the water’s edge. Noah led Fannie to it and sat down.
“What did the bishop have to say?”
“That I may have to disband my riding group.”
“So this wasn’t about us? You and me? That’s a relief.”
“Nee, it isn’t about you at all.” She jerked her hand from his. “It’s about me letting my friends down.”
“Don’t get angry. Tell me what he said.”
“Some of the parents have complained that the girls aren’t being properly chaperoned at Connie’s place.”
“That’s ridiculous.” The moment he uttered the words he recalled the way George had pressed his attentions on Susan and played such ugly music. He shouldn’t have been surprised that there were objections. “What are you going to do?”
“Whatever I have to do. I’ve come too far to give up now. I can’t let Connie down.”
“The bishop didn’t say you had to stop, only that you and the girls needed a chaperone.”
“Preferably a married man.”
Their Pretend Amish Courtship Page 7
