“I know what you mean. Amos could’ve acted like he did because he was sick.” She shrugged her shoulders. “It’s possible.” Evelyn looked into his face. “You’re a smart man.”
He laughed. “Observant, that’s all.”
The waitress placed their food on the table.
“Thank you,” they said at the same time.
“Cracked pepper?” the waitress asked.
They both shook their heads.
“The haus is almost finished. The women have the garden all planned and they’re ready to get on with it.”
“It’ll be so gut once it’s done. I feel so much better. Denke, for all your hard work I don’t know what I’d do without you. And I mean that from the bottom of my heart. You’ve been such a gut friend to me.”
After they’d spent the whole day together, they were nearly at Beth’s place. Jed stopped the buggy on the side of the road.
“What’s wrong?” Evelyn asked.
He turned his body to face her. “It’s what’s right, and that’s you and I together. I know we haven’t spent much time together and you probably feel you don’t know me well, but I’ve felt so comfortable with you that I’ve been able to share things with you that I haven’t told anyone.”
Jed took hold of her hand while Evelyn wondered if she should tell him how she felt or wait to hear what else he was going to say. She remained silent.
“Have you considered marriage a second time? I know you’ve got a lot happening with the boppli coming along at any moment …” He stared into her eyes, brought her hand to his lips and pressed his lips against it.
She pulled back in fright. Feeling as though she could hardly breathe, she said, “We should get Martha. They’ll be waiting.”
“I’m sorry,” he said as he took up the reins.
“Nee, don’t be.”
Once they had collected Martha, Jed drove Martha and Evelyn home.
“Would you like to come in?” she asked when he’d pulled the buggy up at her door. She asked him in to be polite, but preferred he didn’t accept so she could gather her thoughts.
“Nee denke. It’s late and I should be getting back to Mark and Sally’s haus.” He helped them out of the buggy.
Because of their awkward moment, Evelyn had stayed home for the next two days. When she finally went to Sally’s haus, Sally delivered some bad news.
“What do you mean he's gone?” Evelyn stared at Sally in disbelief.
“Gone home. He said he’d go since your place is finished and it seems that Mary, his fiancée, wanted him home.”
Evelyn collapsed onto the couch. Sally continued to speak, but Evelyn wasn't focused on what she was saying. All she could think of was why Jed had left. Last time she’d seen him, she’d probably given him the wrong idea—she’d pulled away from him.
Nothing made any sense, though. He told her he'd made up the story about Mary. Had she nearly become involved with another man who didn't hold much store on the truth?
“Are you okay, Evelyn?”
Evelyn wrapped both arms around her stomach, as she was gripped by pains. Her face screwed up.
Sally kneeled down beside her and put her arm around her shoulders. “Are you having contractions?”
When the pain was over, she could finally speak. “It seems so.”
“I better get you home and while I’m taking you there, Mark can go fetch the midwife.”
“What about Martha?”
“I'll have Mark take Martha to Beth’s on the way back from the midwife.”
“Denke.” Evelyn did her best to put Jed out of her mind. She had lost what she’d come to think of as her one true love. Now she had to block out thoughts of Jed and concentrate on bringing her child into the world.
Chapter 15
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 29:11
* * *
In the early hours of the next morning, Evelyn delivered a son. Martha had a new baby brother. Evelyn laid back on the bed with her tiny son cradled in her arms. All her troubles had flown out the window. Nothing in the world mattered now—not money problems, not houses or men. The only thing that mattered was that her son had arrived and he was safe, healthy and well.
“He’s perfect,” Dana, the midwife stated.
“Denke, and denke to you too Sally for staying with me.”
“Of course I'd be here for you. You’ll have to be with me when I have my next one.”
“Jah, I will.”
“Whenever that will be,” Sally said. “Sooner rather than later, I hope.”
Evelyn kissed the top of her son’s smooth bald head and stared down at his tiny features. She placed her finger against his palm and he curled his fingers tightly around it. Lowering her head against his face, she breathed in his fresh newborn scent. “There’s nothing like the smell of a newborn baby.”
“Let me smell.” Sally leaned down and smelled the top of his head. “Mmm, freshly baked,” she joked as she straightened up. “I’ll go home and fetch my things and I’ll be back.”
“Nee, I’ve thought about it and I don’t want you to stay. You've got your own familye to look after.”
“You are part of my familye. I've got everything arranged already; you won't have to worry about a thing. I’ll stay in Martha’s bed for the next few days while she’s at Beth’s.”
Evelyn looked down at her baby and kissed the top of his head once more. “I don't know what I'd do without you, Sally, but I’d rather be alone.”
“That makes no sense. You should have someone here. Shouldn’t she, Dana?”
The midwife replied, “There’s no medical reason that you should stay, but it would be a precaution in case something were to happen.”
“What could possibly happen?” Evelyn asked.
“I can’t name anything off the top of my head, but bad things do happen.”
“Bad things can happen at any time. I could fall down the stairs, I could accidently set the haus on fire, but nothing will happen. I’m on my own and I’d rather get used to it now. If it was my first, I’d love you to stay; since he’s my second, I know what I’m doing.”
“I can’t force you I suppose. I’ll come back with some meals that you can just heat up.”
“That would be wunderbaar!”
When the midwife went downstairs, Evelyn took the opportunity to ask about Jed.
Sally answered, “I told you he’s gone back to get married.”
“Nee, he can’t be. That can’t be true.”
“I know you liked him very much, but you knew all along he belonged to another. He was only here to save money.”
Evelyn shook her head. “It can’t have been true.” The baby cried. “I’ll try to feed him again.”
“Looks like he’s more interested this time, he’s turning his head and making sucking movements with his mouth.” Sally looked back at Evelyn. “Don’t be so upset, you’ll upset the boppli.”
“I’ll try.” Evelyn sniffed back tears.
“Everything is working out great for you. It looks like Meg and Byron Lapp want to lease your haus.”
“They do?”
“Jah. I was waiting for today to tell you, because you had so much on your mind yesterday.”
“Denke, Sally. That does make me feel much better.” Evelyn couldn’t tell Sally how close she’d become to Jed, but had he lied to her? It didn’t seem possible. “Sally, what do you know about the woman Jed is marrying?”
Sally sneezed. “I hope I’m not coming down with something. Jed got a call that he was needed back home. He said his fiancée missed him. My guess is she wanted help planning the wedding.”
“The women do that. What part of planning the wedding would he have needed to help with?”
“I don’t know; put him out of your mind. He’s gone.”
She tried her best to stop the tears
that stung behind her eyes, but soon they were falling down her cheeks.
“Don’t cry. It’s just your hormones. I don’t think you’re upset about Jed.”
“No?”
Sally shook her head, and then mopped Evelyn’s face with a damp washcloth. “You’ll feel better in a day or two.”
“When David was born I cried for three days straight. And not because I thought he’d be a girl. I don’t know why I got so upset. I felt overwhelmed with everything—life in general.” She placed the washcloth back on the nightstand and stroked her sister’s shoulder. “I’ll come here every day. Don’t worry.”
“Denke, Sally.”
“You’ve got a beautiful boppli. What will you call him?”
“Not Tom.”
Sally giggled which made Evelyn smile.
“I don’t know yet. A name will come to me. I’ve always liked the name David. It’s a strong, solid name.”
“Too late,” Sally said with a laugh. “You’ll have to pick a more original name. We can’t have two Davids in the same familye.”
She looked down at her baby who was nuzzling into her. “It’s a shame. He looks a little like a David.”
“He does actually. I’ll help you think of a name. What about Nathan?”
“Jah. I like that name.” She looked down at the baby. “What about Nathan David King?”
“Sounds a wunderbaar name to me, and David will be so pleased. He thinks he misses out on everything by being the youngest; this will be something special. I’ll tell him his cousin is named for him.”
“Gut. Nathan David it is, then.”
“Dana said you need to have lots of fluid.” She picked up the pitcher. “I’m going to fill this with water and I’ll be back in a minute.”
Evelyn closed her eyes, pleased that she’d soon have someone to lease the house. Amos' black horse had sold for a good price at the auction, so she would have that money for necessities in the meantime. She’d lost Jed, but she’d have a way to support her children. When she felt a little more like herself, she would contact Hezekiah and between them they could work out a payment plan so he’d get his money back.
Things weren’t great but she could see that the future might be okay. Jed had changed her life by fixing her house, and she was grateful to Hezekiah for loaning Amos money. If Hezekiah hadn’t loaned Amos money, Amos might have mortgaged the houses and now she’d be paying back the loan with interest to the bank. It was a standard practice amongst their Amish community that they never charged each other interest on loans made to one another.
Chapter 16
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding.
Proverbs 3:5
* * *
The next two days passed by in a blur. All Evelyn wanted was to get some sleep. Beth was still minding Martha.
When someone knocked on the door Evelyn opened it expecting to see Dana on her daily visit. Instead it was Mark.
“Mark! Hello.” It was unusual to see Mark visiting without Sally. “Is Sally okay?”
“I’m afraid she has a bad fever.”
“How bad is she?”
“Not too bad, but enough to keep her in bed. I’m afraid I’m here because I’ve got some bad news. Perhaps we should sit while I tell you.”
“Jah, come in.” She stood back to let him through the door.
When they were both sitting on the couch, he began, “It's William's old house.”
Evelyn’s mind went to smoke she had smelled as she was trying to sleep. She’d gotten out of bed to check that the house wasn’t on fire, and when she saw that everything was okay she’d gone back to bed. But had it been William's house?
“It burned down. Not completely, but there's not much left of it.
Everything around her faded into darkness. When she came back to herself, she was on the couch with the sounds of her baby’s cries ringing in her ears. She looked around and saw Mark sitting close by. He rushed to her when he saw her open her eyes.
“Evelyn, are you okay?”
“Yeah I'm okay. Did I dream about the haus?”
“Nee. I told you about William’s haus and you fainted.” The baby cried louder. “I haven’t seen my new nephew yet. Shall I go up and fetch him for you?”
“Jah, but tell me first. How bad is it?”
He stood up. “It will need to be rebuilt.”
“All that hard work you and Jed did, gone up in flames.” She recalled how good the house had looked and some of the ladies in the community had even planted a garden. Now that would be all for nothing. Everyone’s effort up in flames, and for what? “Why, why did this happen?” she screamed out.
Mark stood there in stunned silence.
She wished Sally was there; she would know the right thing to say to make her feel better. How was she going to get money to live on now?
“Things will work themselves out, Evelyn,” he said in a quiet voice. “I’ll go and get the boppli.”
When he brought the baby to her, he said, “He’s a fine bu, and he’s so tiny. I forgot what they were like at this age. I almost want to keep holding him.”
“He stopped crying when you picked him up, so he must like you.” Evelyn held out her hands and Mark passed her the baby and sat back down.
“While you were resting, I fed the chickens and changed their water; they should be okay for a day. I'll come back and do the same again tomorrow.”
“Denke.” She had to feed the baby but she couldn't do so in front of Mark, and she had no desire to go back up the stairs.
“Why don't I take you to Beth’s? I’d bring you all back to my place, but I wouldn’t want you or the boppli to catch what Sally’s got.”
“Nee, Beth’s already got Martha. The boppli’s not much work. As long as I get some sleep tonight I’ll be fine.” The baby was now howling and Evelyn was jiggling him to try to keep him quiet.
“I’ll be back tomorrow.”
“Denke, Mark.”
“And don’t concern yourself with the haus. You get better and then we’ll decide what to do.”
Evelyn nodded, glad that she had Mark and Sally close by. Once Mark closed the door behind him, she leaned back on the couch and fed Nathan. She figured she’d be able to get back on top of things in a couple days.
The very next day she would go out and have a look at how bad the house was; perhaps Mark would drive her when he came to feed the chickens. And she could see how bad things were.
That night, as though sensing her worry and torment, Nathan hardly slept. He woke up three times for feedings and then spent the rest of the time making fussy sounds in his crib. Evelyn was pleased when she woke to see the sun shining, because they were running out of clean clothes. She peeked over the side of the crib to see the baby finally asleep. She had a chance to get as many chores done as she could rather than going back to sleep.
She still hoped Mark would drive her to look at the fire-damaged house when he came to feed the chickens.
Once she had loaded the small gas-powered washing machine to capacity with bedsheets and one of her dresses, she switched it on, glad that the old machine was still working. Evelyn headed inside to fix breakfast. Although she was too tired to cook or even eat, she knew she had to keep her strength up. She fixed herself a plate of scrambled eggs, and then she headed upstairs to see if she might be able to grab a few more minutes of sleep. As soon as she was in bed with her eyes closed, her baby cried.
Evelyn rubbed her eyes and told herself she should be pleased that she’d been able to put some washing on and get some food. After she managed to get out of her comfortable bed she looked down at him. He stopped crying when she’d come close, and stared up at her.
“Hello, my boppli. You didn’t sleep much last night; you didn’t let me get much sleep either.” She stretched her hands above her head and yawned. “I think you might be due for another feeding and we might have time to do that before we pin out the was
hing.
After the baby had been fed and the washing was on the line, she hadn’t been in the house ten minutes when she heard rain. Scarcely believing her ears she looked outside to see the rain pouring down. She raced outside with a coat over her head to get her one clean dress that was on the line. When the dress was safely inside, Evelyn spread it out on a chair in front of the fire.
The sound of a buggy in the distance had Evelyn racing to the window. Each time Evelyn heard a buggy, she hoped it was Jed coming back. It was Mark’s horse and buggy. She squinted to see that Mark was driving the buggy and he was alone. As he was still a fair way up the road, she took her baby in one arm and with the other she managed to slip on a clean apron. The clean apron should cover up her dress that needed washing and tomorrow if it was sunny, she could wash her other dresses.
By the time Mark pulled up at the front of the house she was ready at the front door with Nathan wrapped in a warm blanket. “Hello, Mark.”
“Hello.”
She hurried closer to the buggy. “Would you mind taking me to look at the haus?”
“Jump in. Ach, wait there. I’ll give you a hand.”
He jumped out, and took Nathan from her until she got in, and then passed him back to her.
“How’s Sally today?” she asked when Mark got back into the driver’s seat.
“She’s better. A little better, but she’s staying in bed another day. At least until the boys get back from schul.” He clicked the horse onward.
“That sounds like it would be a good idea.”
“How are the both of you today?”
“We’re fine. I’m just concerned to see how much damage the fire caused. Is the haus completely gone?”
“Not completely.” He turned to look at her. “You scared me a little yesterday. Are you sure you’re up to this?”
Amish Widow's Proposal Page 8
