“Why do we have to share a salary?” Bethany asked, interrupting Levinia’s reverie.
“She only needs one employee to cook and clean the rooms.”
Bethany took a look around at the expanse of the entry-hall. “For this place? This place has eleven bedrooms and more bathrooms than that! It’s the biggest haus in this county. It would take a staff of at least seven to run this place properly.”
“Bess and Jessup do a lot of the work, and Silvia works hard for this place. Her schweschder, Susie will be staying on and working with us if Bess gives us the job, so don’t worry about how much work there will be. Whatever it is, we will do it together.”
“But for one salary?”
“I will do the cooking and you can serve, but we will do the cleaning together. I’m certain she won’t object to us sharing a room.”
It was too late to turn back now. They stood in the lobby, suitcase in hand, prepared to work and live away from their father once and for all. Levinia was determined not to let her father or Nate be the downfall of her state of happiness. She would have faith that her life would work out according to Gott’s plan.
Bess strolled in though the swinging door of the kitchen, towel-drying her hands. She was getting on in years, and her hard work was beginning to show in the deep creases of her forehead that glistened with perspiration. She let her gaze fall to the suitcase in Levinia’s hand and looked at her curiously. “I thought you said you couldn’t take the job? But even so, you remember it doesn’t start until next month when Silvia gets married.”
Levinia swallowed down the lump forming quickly in her throat. She didn’t want Bess to know her business with her daed, but she’d neglected to rehearse what reason she would give the older woman for why she was accepting the job. She had forgotten the job didn’t start for another month. She didn’t have the means to pay room-and-board for two for an entire month before the job opened up.
“Perhaps…I made a hasty…decision in coming here,” Levinia stuttered.
She turned to leave, but Bethany caught her by the arm. “We will be needing a room then.”
Bess paused to study the two girls standing before her. It was obvious to her they were in need for some reason or another, and it was evident they had no intention of sharing that information just yet. But needy they were, and being neighbors, she would help them as long as she could.
“Since Silvia seems busy lately with wedding plans, it seems I’m spending more time in the kitchen than I want to in order to pick up the slack. If you two can fill in for me, I’ll give you a room in exchange for your help. But only on the condition that I don’t have a reservation for the room. If I get full-up, you’ll have to start paying for the room to hold it from a paying customer.”
“Nee,” Levinia began.
“We’ll take it,” Bethany interrupted her.
Bess pulled a key-ring out of the desk drawer and reluctantly handed it to Bethany while Levinia stood there in shock. “Are you sure this is what you want to do, Levinia?”
She nodded automatically and took the key.
CHAPTER 18
Nate winced every time Adam’s buggy hit a rut in the country road between his cousin’s farm and Levinia’s. The sun was barely up, and the birds hadn’t even begun their morning rituals yet, but Nate knew Levinia would be up working hard the way she did.
Though he was still in a lot of pain, Nate was eager to see her and just didn’t want to wait another minute. After the way he’d left things with her the day before when Miriam had made her scene, he felt he had to give her an explanation. He knew he’d be lucky if Levinia agreed to listen to him, especially given the grave news he had to share with her. Unfortunately, he felt he owed her the truth of his possible fate before she heard it from someone else—namely, Miriam.
His introduction to the community Bishop had been grueling, to say the least. After hearing Miriam’s confession, the Bishop had informed him if the girl’s story didn’t clear him, he’d be forced to marry her or be shunned. He’d taken the classes for baptism already, and had agreed to take the baptism tomorrow, and then the wedding would take place right after. The only reason Nate agreed to take the baptism was because he hoped it would afford him the opportunity to marry Levinia. He had no intention on marrying Miriam, even if meant he would be shunned. But Levinia didn’t know that yet, so he hoped she would give him the chance to explain.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Adam asked him.
“Jah, I’m sure.”
“Sounds like you have doubts. If you do, let me know before we pull into her driveway. Her daed is not the easiest person to get along with.”
Nate chuckled. “I met him yesterday, remember? But I’m not going to see her daed—this time!”
Adam slowed his horse before turning into Levinia’s driveway. “You really think you’re going to get out of this with Miriam so you can marry Levinia?”
Nate nodded confidently. “I have faith that the truth will set me free.”
Adam turned the horse into the driveway, but let him stroll down the lane, hoping the gentle clip-clop of his hooves would not alert Levinia’s father of their visit. They managed to reach the house, without being seen by anyone, but it looked as though no one was even home. With Adam’s assistance, Nate slipped from the buggy and went to the kitchen door.
He knocked three times, but there was no answer. He turned around to get advice from his cousin, when Levinia’s father came toward him from the barn.
“She isn’t here,” her father said gruffly.
Wearing his Amish attire this time, Nate tipped his hat politely. “When do you expect her return?”
The man walked past without looking up.
“Don’t know where she is,” he said over his shoulder. “Mei dochders both packed their things yesterday and left home. I don’t know where they are and I don’t expect them back. I suppose you’ve put ideas in their heads about living among the Englisch. You had no right to come here and upset mei familye life the way you did. Go back to your own community and leave me alone. You’ve done enough damage here.”
Nate turned around to face him. “If you’re dochders left home, it might be because you have made them think you don’t love them anymore, and Levinia believes you blame her for her bruder’s death. You need to forgive her—for her sake and yours.”
Adam assisted Nate back into the buggy and then climbed in beside him. They looked one last time at Levinia’s father to give some sort of answer, but he just stared at them.
“Just so you know,” Nate said. “I love Levinia and would like to marry her. I have no intention of marrying that liar, Miriam!”
The man ignored them and walked in through the kitchen door and closed it behind him.
“That is one bitter mann,” Adam said as he clicked to the horse to set the buggy in the direction of home.
A deep concern set in Nate’s thoughts. Where could they have gone?
Levinia dressed quickly after nudging Bethany to get up. Even though they’d gone to sleep too early, and had even missed out on the evening meal at the B&B, they needed to get up and start earning their keep. They should have helped to serve the guests the meal last night and helped to clean up, but they’d both been so overwhelmed from the dramatic events that took place yesterday, it’s no wonder they slept for more than ten hours.
Levinia pinned her apron and once again nudged at Bethany. “Get up. If we don’t start working, we’re going to have to start paying for this room.”
Bethany stuffed the pillow over her head. “I don’t care. I have money.”
Levinia snatched the pillow off her head.
“Where did you get money?”
She sat up sleepily and grabbed at the pillow, but Levinia pulled it out of her reach.
“I’m not always out running around with boys like you think. I babysit for the Anderson kinner.”
Levinia turned up her nose. “Ach, the ones th
at are always throwing rocks?”
“Jah, their poor mamm needs a break from them a lot since her husband is always working. Sometimes, she just likes to go get groceries by herself because they throw cans in the aisles and stuff like that. Plus I sometimes help her do the wash.”
Levinia shook her head. “You do the wash at her haus, but you won’t help me with it?”
“She has an automatic washer! You know how much I despise hanging clothes on the line.”
Levinia rolled her eyes. “They have one here, too, so you should be right at home with no excuses to do the wash.”
Bethany pulled a paper bag out from under her pillow and dumped out the cash. “But she pays me gut!”
Levinia dropped to the bed beside Bethany and ran her hand through the stack of bills. “This is a lot of money! What were you planning on doing with that?”
Bethany frowned as she stuffed the money back into the bag. “It’s over five thousand dollars, and I was thinking about buying a car.”
Levinia giggled. “I always wanted to know what it was like to drive a car, but I never had the guts to do anything about it. If you want to spend your money on a car, I think that is a fine use of it. You obviously worked hard taking care of those out-of-control kinner. For that alone, you deserve something nice.”
They both laughed. It was freeing to be able to laugh and share such things without having to look over their shoulder to be certain they were not overheard by their father—or worse yet—disturbing him in any way.
Bethany dragged herself from the bed and pulled her brown dress from the small closet in the corner of the room.
Fastening her kapp, Levinia sighed as she looked in the mirror. She wished she could see herself the way Nate had claimed to see her. But none of that mattered anymore. This was her life now unless a miracle brought Nate back to her.
“I’ll meet you downstairs in the kitchen,” she said over her shoulder to Bethany. “Hurry!”
Bethany pulled her apron over her head. “I’ll be there right behind you.”
Levinia closed the door and went down the service stairs to the kitchen. Silvia had already gathered the eggs and Jessup walked in just then with the morning milking, and exited without so much as a nod. For as primitive as they presented, they did use some modern conveniences that Levinia noted. She’d never had an occasion to be in the kitchen before, and she was happy to see they had a large, industrial sink for washing dishes. They also had a nine-burner gas stove and a large refrigerator and freezer. She assumed they would have to in order to keep up with health codes, but Levinia knew it would make things easier when it came to getting Bethany to do her fair share of the workload.
“Bethany will be down in just a few minutes,” Levinia said. “Where would you like me to start?”
Silvia looked up from kneading dough on the large, stainless steel island in the center of the kitchen.
“We don’t usually start cooking until seven because guests like to sleep in a little. We have four guests—no, five. We just got in a young woman last night. She showed up in time to join us for the evening meal. A real pretty young woman from Ohio. She’s getting married tomorrow—here. Bess agreed to hold the wedding at the last minute, so we have a lot of work to do to prepare for this wedding. We’ve never done a wedding on such short notice, but she only agreed to do it since we have you and Bethany for extra help now.”
Levinia’s heart sank to her feet and she felt the blood draining from her face. Was it possible there was another beautiful woman in town from Ohio that was getting married tomorrow? She prayed it wasn’t Miriam, because that would mean she was marrying Nate—her Nate.
Silvia went about her chores as if Levinia wasn’t even there. Carrying a stack of plates to the dining room, she nearly ran into Bethany as she entered through the swinging door.
Bethany entered the kitchen and rushed to Levinia’s side. “Schweschder, are you alright? You look as if you’re about to pass out.”
“Miriam is here!” she whispered to Bethany.
“Ach, are you sure?”
“Jah,” she said, tears filling her eyes. “And she is to be married tomorrow—to Nate.”
“Do you really suppose she was able to convince the Bishop of her lies?”
“It would seem so. What am I going to do?”
Bethany handed her a napkin to wipe her face.
“We aren’t going to do anything until we know for sure and for certain. And when we know, we will figure it out then.”
“But we have to help with the preparations for her wedding because she’s having it here and we work here now! I don’t want to attend that wedding, much less be a servant for it.”
If we must, that is what we will do,” Bethany said sternly. “For now, you need to pull yourself together so I don’t have to spend mei car money keeping a roof over our heads.”
Levinia swallowed hard the lump in her throat and wiped her face before Silvia returned and saw her in that state. Bethany was right. They had a job to do, and she would not jump to conclusions. She would trust that Gott would answer her prayer about Nate.
CHAPTER 19
Levinia’s fingers felt stiff from plucking all the feathers from the chickens to prepare for tomorrow’s wedding. Perspiration rolled from the end of her nose and she swiped at it with her shoulder. Though it was a chilly morning, the blanching pot Jessup had set up over the fire-pit in the yard was making her too warm.
Her hands were raw from the blanching pot, and the laborious task of plucking some of the younger hens that had been selected because they were covered in pinfeathers, and those were not the easiest to remove.
Gott, please help me to do this task with a merry heart—even if it is for Miriam and Nate.
It was almost eight o’clock, and the guests would be expecting breakfast to be served any minute. It would be then that Levinia would find out once and for all if Miriam was indeed the guest bride. She quickly let Jessup know she was finished blanching the first batch of chickens so he would gut them. She was grateful he’d agreed to do that task for her. It wasn’t like she hadn’t done it before for her own familye, but there would be more than thirty chickens to prepare for the wedding, and that was too much for her to handle on her own. The blanching and plucking alone would take another couple of hours. She’d already spent two hours preparing the first ten.
Brushing the loose feathers from the front of her, Levinia went in through the service door to the kitchen to wash up in preparation for serving the morning meal. She hoped Bethany had fared well with working alongside Silvia in preparing the food. Cooking was not her sister’s strong-suit, but Levinia knew it would easier for Bethany than what she’d spent the morning doing. Bethany had never plucked a chicken—ever. So Levinia decided the best place for her sister would be the kitchen, knowing Silvia would have enough patience to give the instruction Bethany needed.
When Levinia finished washing up, she could hear the guests gathering in the dining room. Bethany picked up the platter of various muffins and a pitcher of milk, while Levinia hoisted a tray with three kinds of juice and several stemmed glasses, and together they took a deep breath to prepare for what they would find beyond the swinging door that led to the formal dining room.
“It’s show-time,” Bethany whispered just before Silvia walked in ahead of them carrying a large tray full of scrambled eggs, sausage and bacon.
Levinia struggled to balance the tray she carried when her gaze focused on Miriam sitting at one end of the large dining room table. Almost immediately, Miriam flashed a look of disgust toward Levinia, making her feel even more uncomfortable than she ever thought she could. She had nothing to be ashamed of. She was putting in an honest day’s work. So why did Miriam’s presence make her feel so unsure of herself?
Certainly Miriam’s over-confident demeanor was part of what made up her aggressive nature. Levinia had already learned that Miriam had a way of forcing her way on people, and if they didn’t do exactly what
she wanted them to do, a punishment was sure to follow. Levinia had already unintentionally crossed paths with the woman, and Miriam’s very presence shook her confidence.
Miriam pinched the end of her nose dramatically when Levinia stood near her to place the stemware and juice in front of her. “You smell like dead chickens. You’re causing me to lose my appetite, and I must keep up my strength. After all, tomorrow is my wedding day, and I wouldn’t want to have a bad wedding night with Nate.”
Levinia blew out an angry breath as she finished placing the stemware around the table, finding it very difficult to ignore Miriam’s comment about spending her wedding night with the man she loved. Levinia quickly exited the room, waiting until she reached the safety of the kitchen before she let out a strangled cry.
Gott, please don’t let Miriam force Nate to marry her, she cried out. I love him and I really believe you have blessed me to be his fraa. I pray that Miriam’s lies will be found out in time. Help me to have faith.
Bethany and Silvia trailed into the kitchen just then and rushed to her side.
“Why did you let her talk to you that way?”
Levinia sniffled. “Because she is a guest here, and I am nothing but a servant. This is mei life now. I work here, and will for probably the rest of mei spinster life, unless Gott sees fit to change this situation around.”
Levinia sobbed even harder while Bethany filled Silvia in on what had happened. Pulling the end of her apron to her face to wipe it, Levinia choked a little. She did smell bad. Miriam was right about that.
“That snooty girl doesn’t have the final word,” Bethany said. “Gott does.”
“Miriam can’t take something away from you that Gott has blessed you with,” Silvia offered. “Have faith that you will be the one to marry Nate if it be Gott’s Wille.”
“How am I going to get through that wedding tomorrow when mei heart is breaking?” Levinia sobbed.
“This isn’t over until the Bishop declares them as wed, so don’t give up hope, dear schweschder.”
Levinia stood up and wiped her face, and then crossed to the back end of the kitchen and took a clean service apron from the pantry closet. “You’re right. I’m not going to let her win. Her lies will not get between me and the man I love, no matter how many people she has listening to her lies. The truth will set Nate free from that evil woman!”
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