Bethany smiled. “I believe I’m starting to rub off on you a little bit, big schweschder!”
“Ach, I believe you’re right,” Levinia agreed.
She wiped her remaining tears, and all three went back out to the dining room to finish serving, presenting a united front against Miriam’s trickery.
CHAPTER 20
Levinia shook as she prepared food for the wedding that was to take place in less than an hour. She hadn’t slept more than twenty minutes all night, tossing and turning so much Bethany had gotten after her for not having more faith. It wasn’t that she lacked faith in Gott to fix the situation, she lacked the confidence that the humans involved would not use their free will to create a different plan from Gott’s.
She’d prayed for wisdom for the Bishop, and for Miriam to suddenly grow a conscience. She didn’t have much faith in the latter. What she did have faith in was her love for Nate, and his love for her.
Love never fails, she kept telling herself.
As she finished working on the last of the celery casseroles, she wondered what had become of Bethany. She hadn’t seen her in some time, and she’d made the excuse of putting the table cloths on all the tables at least twenty minutes ago. If her sister had run off and given up on this job already, Levinia was going to have a tough time supporting the two of them.
A high-pitched scream interrupted Levinia’s reverie. It sounded like Miriam. Several screams, accompanied by stomping down the front stairwell alerted the entire house that Miriam was upset about something. Levinia exited the kitchen door to see what all the commotion was, when an angry Miriam ran into her.
She held up a dirty, blue dress and shook it in Levinia’s face. “Look what your sister did to my dress! I caught her putting chicken guts on my wedding dress!”
Levinia looked beyond Miriam at Bethany who had strolled in behind Miriam, wearing an obvious look of satisfaction on her face.
“Tell her Miriam, why it is that you conveniently have that wedding dress with you! Tell mei schweschder how you planned this whole thing, and how you lied to force Nate to marry you.”
“I will tell her no such thing! I only said that because I caught you trying to sabotage my dress. Well, naturally I went along with you because I didn’t want you soiling my wedding dress,” Miriam stuttered. “Now what am I supposed to get married in?”
Bethany stuck her tongue out at Miriam. “It doesn’t matter because Nate isn’t even going to show up. He doesn’t want to marry you, he wants to marry Levinia!”
Miriam stormed off in a fitful cry. “You’ll be sorry—both of you!”
When she was out of earshot, Levinia reprimanded Bethany for doing something so spiteful and childish.
“You’re just a pushover,” Bethany muttered.
“Nee, but Gott commands us not to repay evil with evil.”
“Jah, you’re right. Let’s go finish preparing the food for her wedding so she can kick us some more.”
“Honestly, Bethany, I don’t know where you get your attitude from. Vengeance is for the Lord, not for us.”
Bethany sighed. “I hate it when you’re right.”
Levinia walked into the kitchen with Bethany. She didn’t want to prepare the food for Miriam’s wedding any more than her sister did, but she wouldn’t let her know that. She would always have the attitude of being a mother to her younger sister, and for that reason alone she would suffer through being a gut example to her no matter how painful it was for her.
CHAPTER 21
Levinia looked out the side window at all the benches set up in front of the gazebo. They were nearly all filled. Had the entire community come to witness this wedding? In the back, buggies filled the parking area and they were beginning to line up alongside of the long driveway leading to the haus.
Suddenly, her eyes focused on Nate, who was walking up the lane with Adam.
He was dressed for his wedding.
Panic filled Levinia as reality set in.
He’d shown up.
He was actually going to go through with it.
Her hand clamped across her mouth as she stifled a sob. She couldn’t fall apart. It wasn’t over yet. He was a gut and honorable mann. But was he so honorable that he should go through with marrying a woman simply because she’d tricked him? Most likely it was so, and the sooner she faced it the better off she would be. Like it or not, she had a job to do, and she would need to go in there and tend to the guests with a smile pasted on her face, or she might lose it.
The kitchen door opened just then and in walked her daed. “Hello, dochder—Levinia.”
Levinia collapsed into the nearest chair, stunned at her father’s presence. But more than that, it was the first time he’d spoken her name since Daniel’s funeral.
“I know you’re surprised to see me here,” he began. “I wanted you to know that I don’t blame you for Daniel’s—for Daniel’s death.”
He didn’t look her in the eye, and she could tell he was having trouble getting the words out. She felt sorry for him. She loved him. More than that, she felt respect for him for the first time since she was a young girl, too young to realize his selfish ways and how they’d affected her life.
“I also want you to know that I’m sorry for expecting you to take on the chore of being mamm to Bethany. I should have married one of the women in the community so you’d have a proper mamm again and wouldn’t have to raise your schweschder, but I loved your mamm so much I just couldn’t bring myself to marrying another.”
“Ach, I understand that.”
She really did understand loving someone so much that she couldn’t imagine ever loving anyone else. She loved Nate that much.
“The Bishop told me what happened with the young mann—Nate. I’m sorry for the outcome, but I’ve prayed things will work out for the two of you.”
He’d prayed for her?
Tears rolled down Levinia’s cheeks as she slipped into her daed’s waiting arms. “I’m sorry I left and took Bethany with me.”
“I’d like you both to come home,” he said in a loving tone.
He sounded different.
He sounded kind.
He sounded sincere.
“I’d like that too.”
Levinia felt relief wash over her. No matter what happened today, she and Bethany had a place to go home to.
CHAPTER 22
Levinia couldn’t take her eyes off Nate as she peeked out the service door. He looked so handsome. He’d asked to talk to her, but she couldn’t bring herself to seeing him except from afar. She knew she’d broken his heart, but her heart was breaking just thinking of him going through with this wedding. Hadn’t he been the one to say he wouldn’t marry Miriam even if it meant he would be shunned?
What had happened to that declaration?
Surely if he intended not to go through with it he would have left her at the altar. Unfortunately, Nate was not that dishonorable. She prayed he only showed up to give Miriam one last chance to tell the truth.
“We have nothing left to do until it’s time to serve the guests—if the wedding goes through, so let’s go sit at the back and watch.”
Levinia whipped her head around and scowled at Bethany and Silvia. “Are you narrish? I’m not watching that mann marry that woman!”
Bethany hooked her arm sternly into Levinia’s and yanked her out the kitchen door into the yard. “That mann is the mann you love, and you will go watch to see if Gott has truly blessed you or not.”
Levinia allowed Bethany to pull her along, feeling so numb at this point, she didn’t know if she would burst into tears or crumble into a million pieces.
As they walked toward the back of the benches, Miriam exited the side door nearest the gazebo.
“Miriam is wearing your wedding dress, Levinia!” Bethany shouted.
Several members of the community looked toward the commotion, and Levinia froze in place. She couldn’t move, she couldn’t think straight.
“I w
arned you that you’d be sorry!” Miriam said, contempt dripping from her words. She smiled maliciously. “Now you get to watch me marry the man you love—wearing your wedding dress!”
Bethany took an aggressive step toward her, but Levinia and Silvia held her back.
“You are a miserable, evil person!” Bethany screamed at her.
Miriam smiled even wider. “Perhaps, but I’m about to be Mrs. Nathan Troyer!”
Miriam turned her back to them dramatically and walked to the gazebo where Nate and the Bishop waited for her. She took her place beside Nate and faced the Bishop.
Nate turned to Levinia as she walked past the gazebo and winked at her.
Levinia clenched Bethany’s arm and smiled widely. “He still loves me, and he has a plan to get himself out of this mess!”
CHAPTER 23
Levinia sat down on the bench automatically. With Bethany and Silvia on either side of her, she tried not to think and tried not to feel. She feared that if she gave in to her feelings she would break down and fall apart. If Miriam won this, as it appeared she had, then she would need to stay strong lest she lose her mind completely. She tried not to hope too much, tried not to expect too much. Even though Nate had given her the signal that he loved her, there was still the very large obstacle of Miriam’s lies that stood between them. She prayed whatever he had planned would work.
Adam and Libby sank down on the bench beside them, and Libby nudged Bethany. “I still don’t understand why mei cousin is marrying that girl. He doesn’t even like her.”
Bethany and Libby had been friends since they could crawl, but they hadn’t seen each other in the past two days since she and Levinia had moved into the B&B.
Bethany leaned over Libby and glared at Adam.
“You didn’t tell her why Nate’s marrying her?”
Adam shrugged.
“When Miriam showed up at mei cousin, Amanda’s, wedding and got in that big fight with Nate, I knew then how much he hated her,” Libby began. “She accused him of leading her on and making her think that he loved her. When he told her he wished he’d never kissed her in the first place, I thought I was going to fall on the ground laughing. She actually thought he loved her after only one kiss!”
“She still thinks it,” Bethany said. “Except now, she’s claiming Nate took advantage of her that night.”
“That’s not true,” Libby said. “After Nate told her to leave him alone, I overhead Miriam on her cell phone talking to some guy asking him to pick her up. I followed her to the end of the road and watched her get into a car with an Englischer. She kissed him after she got in, and then they drove off. Miriam never came back to the wedding, and we both stayed over at Nate’s haus that night.”
Bethany grabbed Libby by the arm and yanked her to her feet. “You have to tell the Bishop this and stop the wedding!”
Adam pulled on Libby’s arm and forced her back down gently beside him. “Stay here and wait.”
Just then, a young man walked up to the gazebo.
“That’s him!” Libby whispered. “That’s the one she drove off with that night.”
“Ach, are you sure?” Levinia asked.
“Jah, I’m sure. I couldn’t forget that spiky blonde hair of his.”
The look of shock on Miriam’s face as the young man walked up to her would not soon be forgotten by Levinia. She watched in shock herself.
“R-Ray,” Miriam stammered. “What are you doing here?”
The hurtful look in his eyes was disheartening.
“The real question is—what are you doing here?”
“I’m getting married as you can very well see,” she said snottily. “How did you know I was here?”
Ray pointed to Nate. “He called me from your cell phone after you left it in his cousin’s buggy. He told me how you lied and was forcing him to marry you.”
“I didn’t lie, and I’m not forcing him.”
Ray shook his head. “I really thought you cared about me. You cared enough to spend the weekend with me, but not enough to marry me, obviously.”
“I never spent the weekend with you! We’re only friends.”
“That’s a lie,” Libby shouted from the back of the community. “I saw you get in the car with him the night of Amanda’s wedding. You kissed him when you got in the car, and you never came back. Nate couldn’t have taken advantage of you that night because mei bruder and I stayed at his haus after the wedding.”
Miriam let out a low-pitch growl.
The Bishop then turned to Miriam. “If you intend to remain in the community, you must confess your transgressions.”
She growled at Nate. “I have nothing to confess. I’m better than this. I’m an Englischer! I don’t care if I stay in the community. You’re all backward and primitive.” She turned back to Nate. “I want my cell phone back. You had no right to go through it.”
“I had every right. Your lies could have kept me from marrying the woman I love—Levinia.”
Miriam growled at Nate again, and then turned to Ray. “Let’s go!” she demanded.
“I don’t want to go anywhere with you! You’re nothing but a liar.” He stormed off toward his car, leaving Miriam dumbfounded.
The Bishop came forward and addressed Miriam. “If you will not confess, you must leave.”
Miriam stormed into the B&B muttering under her breath that she would rather die than to give a confession just to stay in the community.
After a moment of shocking silence, the Bishop asked Levinia to come up to the gazebo and take her place next to Nate.
“Members of the community,” the Bishop began. “There will not be a wedding taking place between Miriam and Nate, as it appears she has lied about her involvement with him. However, it has come to mei attention that Levinia and Nate have something they wish to confess to everyone.”
He flashed Levinia a knowing smile.
Levinia looked at Nate. Had he already confessed to the Bishop he’d spent the night with her? They both knew it was innocent, but perhaps he’d neglected to leave that part out to afford the opportunity to marry her.
“Will you marry me?” Nate whispered to her.
“Jah, but Miriam took mei wedding dress.”
“Ach, I don’t care that you are wearing a maid’s uniform. The dress Miriam has on is now tainted and I wouldn’t want you to marry me in it. I want to marry you just the way you are.”
Happy tears filled Levinia’s eyes as he kissed her gently before addressing the community.
“I must confess that I love this woman and would like her to be mei fraa.”
He hadn’t told of their night together after all.
He was an honorable mann.
He loved her and wanted to marry her, and not because the community would force it on him. He would marry her because he loved her.
Are you eager to know what happens next for Miriam?
READ ON TO THE NEXT PAGES…
Amish Brides
of Willow Creek
Book Two: Second Chances
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
Second Chances
CHAPTER 1
“It’s gone!”
Bethany tore the quilt off the bed and tossed the pillows
onto the floor. She flung items out of the drawers of the antique bureau and threw it all on the floor at her feet.
“What are you looking for?” Levinia asked.
“Miriam stole mei car money.”
“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Levinia said trying to calm her frantic sister.
“I’m not jumping to conclusions. I know she took it!”
Bethany continued to throw things around the room they’d shared at the B&B, when she came across the empty paper bag the money was in. She wadded it up in a ball and pounded it with her fist. “Miriam warned us we’d be sorry just before she took your wedding dress and tried to marry your new husband in it! Now she’s stolen my money. I had over five thousand dollars in this bag.”
“Perhaps you should have given more thought to your actions before tossing chicken guts on her wedding dress,” Levinia reprimanded.
“I only did it to defend you!”
“Ach, where did that get you? Now she’s taken my wedding dress and your money.”
Bethany tossed the wadded bag onto the bed.
“We need to go after her before she gets on the Greyhound Bus. Adam offered to drive her to the bus station to keep her from ruining your wedding. I’m sure he’s gotten her there by now, but we can still catch her if she hasn’t gotten on the bus back to Ohio.”
“I have a feeling she’s not going back to Ohio,” Levinia said calmly. “Especially if she did take your money. For all we know, she may not even be getting on a bus. Hopefully Miriam is long-gone by now whether she has your money or not.”
Bethany sank to the edge of the bed. “Ach, do you know how long I’ve been saving that money? I worked so hard for that money, and now it’s gone.”
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