Like a Bee to Honey

by Jennifer Beckstrand

  Aunt Bitsy shrugged. “If you want to learn to be brave, you have to do something that scares you.”

  Rose wasn’t very brave, but she was madly in love. How could she let Josiah go one more second without knowing that? She grabbed a chocolate chip cookie from one of the plates on the island and headed for the door.

  “You’re taking a cookie for protection?” Poppy asked.

  “It’s an excuse,” Rose said.

  She marched onto the porch and shut the door behind her. No doubt they would crowd around the window as soon as they thought she wasn’t looking.

  With galloping heart, Rose tiptoed across the flagstones to the barn, where Josiah was just pouring some red paint into the tray. He smiled. “Rose,” he said, and she thought she might faint before she had a chance to say what she’d come to say. Nothing she could do was any match for that glorious smile and the sound of her name on his lips.

  She held out the cookie. “You . . . you looked hungry. I brought you a treat.”

  “Denki.” He took it from her, pulled a tissue from his pocket, and wrapped the cookie in it. “I’ll save it for later.”

  She nearly turned on her heels and marched back into the house. How could she have a reasonable conversation when her pulse raced faster than Buddy’s car and her knees knocked together like a woodpecker on a telephone pole?

  “It’s a wonderful sunny day to paint,” she said. Thank the gute Lord for the weather. Without it, people wouldn’t know how to start a conversation.

  He gazed at her as if he didn’t want to do anything else, as if he didn’t have a barn door to paint before it got dark. “Jah. It’s supposed to rain on Monday. I hope the paint will have enough time to dry.”

  “Aunt Bitsy bought a new pillow for Leonard Nimoy.” Oy, anyhow. If she weren’t so dreadfully, desperately nervous, she wouldn’t be so tongue-tied.

  “Does that mean Leonard Nimoy is officially part of the family?”

  “I think so.”

  With a smile on his face, he stared at her for a few moments until Honey nudged her nose against his hand. He patted his dog on the head, picked up his roller, and dipped it into the paint tray. “This is the same color we used on the back. It should match.”

  “Josiah,” she said, too loudly and with too much urgency.

  He snapped his head up to look at her, and his expression immediately clouded over with concern. “Is something wrong?”

  She wrung her hands. Nothing was wrong. If she wanted to learn to be brave, she had to do things that scared her—not to mention the fact that she loved him with every breath she took.

  She started again. “Josiah, remember when you asked me what I truly want?”

  “Jah,” he said. “It has always been the most important question.”

  She clasped her hands together to keep them from trembling. “I’m ready to tell you the real answer.”

  He drew his brows together. “Anything, Rose. Anything you want.”

  “I want . . .” Her mouth felt like a piece of day-old, dry bread. She swallowed hard. “I want to marry you. What do you think about that?”

  His mouth fell open, and he glanced behind him as if Rose were talking to someone else. “What do . . . what do you mean?”

  Her legs started to wobble. Better get this over with right quick. “I love you something wonderful, Josiah Yoder, and I want to marry you.”

  For a few seconds, he didn’t say a word, just stared at her as if he was trying to decide if she was teasing him. Then, in one swift movement, he crossed the distance between them, took her into his arms, and brought his lips down on hers.

  It was a little sudden and completely unexpected, but she didn’t let that stop her from snaking her arms around his neck and kissing him back. She’d never experienced anything as fierce as the love she felt for him at this very moment. Josiah was her sun, moon, and stars. He was the sky and the earth, the bees and hives, and his kiss sent warmth flowing through her veins like a toasty fire on a frosty night.

  He pulled away, but kept his arms around her, and regarded her with those shocking blue eyes. “I’m feeling a little foggy yet,” he said. “Did you just ask me to marry you?”

  “I suppose I did.” She gave him a hopeful smile.

  He chuckled. “It would have taken me months to work up the courage.”

  “Aunt Bitsy says if you want to learn to be brave, you have to do something that scares you.”

  “Your Aunt Bitsy is the wisest woman I know.” It was as if he was compelled to be as close to her as possible. He cupped her chin in his hand and brushed his thumb against her bottom lip. She felt the vibration of his touch all the way to her toes. Lightning struck when he kissed her again. Ach, du lieva. Even though she was still standing, he’d knocked her off her feet.

  Honey barked and jumped up and down, then ran around and around them as if she were on a carousel.

  Holding on tight to Josiah so she wouldn’t fall over, she tried to catch her breath between giggles. “Do you want to think about it for a few days?”

  He growled. “Think about it? I’ve thought of nothing else for four years. I want to marry you with every bone in my body. Is that gute enough?”

  “It will do,” she said. “How do you feel about a triple wedding?”

  There was a catch in his breath when he spoke. “Does that mean I can marry you in two weeks?”

  She nodded.

  He threw his head back and whooped to the sky. Lifting her off the ground, he twirled her around and around until he nearly ran into the barn. She took it as a yes.

  Breathlessly, he set her on her feet and kissed her again. “My Rosie,” he said, cupping her face in his hands. “I love you like no man ever loved a woman. Gotte is gute.” He brought his lips down on hers one more time and made her heart do a very clumsy somersault.

  This was the way she wanted to feel for the rest of her life.

  A loud and forceful voice startled them out of their kiss. “Josiah Yoder, do I need to remind you of the rules?”

  Without disentangling themselves, they looked in the direction of the house. Aunt Bitsy stood on the porch, leaning on her shotgun like a cane and scowling in Josiah’s direction as if she were thinking of shooting him. With the kitten tattoo on her neck, she looked quite intimidating.

  Josiah was too ecstatic to be intimidated. “Before you get mad . . .”

  “Too late,” Aunt Bitsy said.

  “I just want to point out that we are kissing well away from the porch.”

  Rose tried to hide a smile behind her hand.

  Bitsy didn’t think it was funny. “I’m talking the spirit of the law rather than the letter of the law, young man.”

  Rose couldn’t help a wide grin. “Aunt Bitsy, it’s a matter of safety. If he lets go of me, I’ll fall over.”

  Aunt Bitsy gave Rose the stink eye. “Then have him bring you into the house so you can sit down.”

  Aunt Bitsy had never given her the stink eye before. Getting the stink eye felt like some sort of graduation. It meant Aunt Bitsy wasn’t going to treat her like a baby anymore. The stink eye was reserved for grown-ups and unapologetic fiancés.

  Josiah winked at Rose. “I’m sure there’s a place to sit behind the barn. Let’s go find it.” He tightened his arm around her waist and tugged her with him.

  No doubt Aunt Bitsy was glaring at them as they walked away.

  How long before she’d start shooting things?

  Chapter Twenty

  Aunt Bitsy swung open the door to the Honeybee sisters’ room and the doorknob banged against the wall behind it. “Well, girls,” she said. “I’ve taught the cats a new trick.”

  Rose sat on her bed putting on her brand-new wedding stockings. Wedding stockings weren’t any different from ordinary stockings except that she would be wearing them on the day she was joined for life to the boy she loved. The butterflies in her stomach had been eaten by a flock of sparrows, and the sparrows were making quite a fuss. As e
xcited as she was, she couldn’t concentrate on anything. Had Aunt Bitsy said something about cats?

  Aunt Bitsy strolled into the bedroom—without the cats—and shut the door behind her. Her hair was a light shade of green to match her mint-green dress. She wasn’t sporting any temporary tattoos that Rose could see, but she was wearing a sparkly pair of earrings.

  “I love your hair today,” Lily said, checking her black wedding kapp in the small hand mirror—the only mirror in the whole house.

  “It’s symbolic,” Aunt Bitsy said. “Green means life and spring and new beginnings.” She squeezed Lily’s earlobe affectionately. “Today is the most important day of your lives. I thought green would be gute karma.”

  Rose didn’t know what gute karma was, but she hoped it would be a truly blessed day.

  With only two weeks to prepare, Rose had decided not to sew a new dress for the wedding. She wore her pink dress, the one she had been wearing on the day she was kidnapped—the day Josiah had come to her rescue in Ashley’s truck. The day he had taken her in his arms and made her feel safe and cherished. The day she had finally surrendered her heart. It wasn’t an old dress, and Josiah lit up like a room full of propane lanterns whenever she wore it.

  Poppy had chosen a royal-blue fabric for her wedding dress. It made her eyes look like bright summer leaves dancing above a serene blue lake. Lily wore a yellow dress that accented her hair. Rose didn’t mind that she was the plainest sister. Josiah thought she was pretty, and he was the only one who mattered.

  The flock of sparrows became a whole herd of stampeding cattle. Would she be able to get through her own wedding without passing out?

  Aunt Bitsy clapped her hands together. “Would you like to see the new trick I have taught the cats?”

  Rose grinned. “Of course. It will be our first wedding present.”

  Poppy picked an errant thread from her sleeve. “So they are learning some tricks?”

  One corner of Aunt Bitsy’s mouth curled upward. “More or less.”

  She walked out of the room, and Rose could hear her going down the hall to her bedroom. She must have corralled the cats in there. She came back with all three of the cats in her arms. Farrah Fawcett looked as irritated as she always did at the indignity of being carried by a human being. Billy Idol hissed as if he were in the arms of a murderer. Leonard Nimoy looked eager, as if her whole life was an amazing adventure. “Shut the door, Lily,” Bitsy said, “so they won’t try to escape.”

  As soon as Lily shut the door, Bitsy put all three cats on the floor. It was only then that Rose noticed that each cat had something tied to its collar. Farrah Fawcett was dragging something along behind her, like a leash that had lost the person on the other end.

  Bitsy pulled a kitty treat from her apron pocket. “Sit, Farrah Fawcett,” she said, holding the treat just out of reach of Farrah Fawcett’s paws. Farrah Fawcett watched the treat with absolutely no interest, jumped up onto Lily’s bed, and settled in for a nap. Whatever that leash thing was, it still dangled from her collar.

  Bitsy grunted. “I should have said ‘lie down.’ At least then you might have been impressed.” She unhooked the leash from Farrah Fawcett’s collar and detached what turned out to be a plastic bag. She reached in the plastic bag and pulled out a beautiful white organdy apron. A wedding apron.

  Aunt Bitsy held the apron up to Lily. “This is the apron your mother wore on her wedding day.”

  Lily gasped. “For me?”

  “She would have wanted you to have it.”

  Lily lovingly fingered the stitches along the hem and shoulders. “She made this?”

  Aunt Bitsy nodded. “Uh-huh. She was always more patient than I was with such things.”

  Lily put it on and smoothed it over her yellow dress. “It’s beautiful,” she said, blinking back tears pooling in her eyes.

  Aunt Bitsy patted her cheek. “Just like the bride wearing it.” She pulled the same kitty treat from her pocket. “Come here, Billy Idol.”

  Billy Idol had crawled under Rose’s bed, probably to better defend himself in case of attack. Aunt Bitsy got down on her hands and knees and peered under the bed. “Billy Idol, come here now.”

  The sisters watched curiously to see what kind of trick Aunt Bitsy had in store, but Billy Idol didn’t budge.

  Aunt Bitsy blew a strand of green hair out of her face. “Where’s Luke when you need him? He’s the only one Billy Idol will listen to.” She finally put the kitty treat on the floor and stepped away from the bed. Billy Idol tiptoed out from under the bed and sniffed at the kitty treat as if it might be poisoned. Aunt Bitsy wasted no time grabbing Billy Idol by the scruff of the neck and untying the small plastic bag tied to his collar. Aunt Bitsy smirked. “You should have seen me try to get that on him. This is for you, Poppy,” she said, pulling a black wedding kapp from the bag and pressing her fingers along the seams to reshape it.

  Poppy’s eyes misted up just as Lily’s had. “Is it my mater’s?”

  Bitsy nodded. “For her wedding day.” She handed it to Poppy and pinched Poppy’s ears for good measure.

  Poppy held the kapp to her face and breathed in, and a thousand memories glowed in her eyes. “I remember her smile,” Poppy said, her voice shaking with emotion. “She was always smiling, even when I was naughty. Thanks to Josiah, I’ve got something to remember her by.”

  Rose had made two copies of their mater’s photo and given one to each of her sisters.

  “She loved you very much,” Aunt Bitsy said. She dabbed at what might have been moisture in her eyes. “She was the kindest, gentlest person I’ve ever known.”

  “Denki,” Poppy said, giving Aunt Bitsy a hug. “I’ll cherish it forever.”

  Aunt Bitsy squared her shoulders and cleared her throat. “Now for Rose. Leonard Nimoy has been waiting very patiently.” She untied the small bag from Leonard Nimoy’s collar and gave the kitten two treats. Leonard Nimoy was delighted.

  From the bag, Aunt Bitsy pulled a white handkerchief with beautiful lace tatting along the edges. “Your mamm made this for her wedding, but I never saw her without it in her waistband or tucked up her sleeve until the day she died. She kept it to remind her of her love for your fater, even during the times when they were cross with each other.”

  Rose took the hanky and wiped the tears that were falling down her cheeks. “Denki, Aunt Bitsy. I couldn’t have asked for anything more beautiful.”

  Aunt Bitsy held her hands out to Rose and Lily. In turn, Rose and Lily each took one of Poppy’s hands. They stood in a circle, silently holding hands and savoring a moment that would never come again.

  How far they had all come in one summer!

  Lily looked like the radiant sunshine in her yellow dress. Paul Glick had beaten her down for so many years that Rose had feared they would never get her back. But Dan had shown Lily what real love could be, and she had blossomed like a flower in the springtime.

  Luke had taught Poppy how to forgive and how to need another person without losing herself. She adored him, and he adored her. Poppy deserved to be adored.

  Rose’s heart swelled with joy almost too big to contain. Josiah had taken her gently by the hand and helped her make peace with her past and not fear her future. She loved him as if he were her own soul.

  Gotte is gute.

  Rose looked at Aunt Bitsy. Tears streamed unchecked down her cheeks. She had never seen Aunt Bitsy cry before. “I loved your mater so much,” Aunt Bitsy said. “I hope she’s not disappointed in how I raised you. I wish she could have been here to do it herself.”

  “Oh, Aunt B,” Lily sighed.

  Rose wiped her eyes. “If Mamm were here, she would thank you a thousand times for what you did for her little girls.”

  Poppy giggled through her tears. “I think we turned out very well.”

  The three sisters hugged Aunt Bitsy all at once. Aunt Bitsy embraced them right back in a tangled four-way hug. They disintegrated into a flood of tears and laughter, the perfect bitt
ersweet beginning to a perfect day.

  “We’d better stop,” Aunt Bitsy said. “Or you’ll none of you look fit to be married.”

  They all jumped when someone rapped forcefully on the door. Mammi Sarah burst into the room without waiting to be invited. All three cats darted from the room as if it were on fire. “Elizabeth,” Mammi said, obviously righteously indignant about something. But then, Mammi’s main personality trait was righteous indignation. “Elizabeth, you have got to get that girl out of my kitchen, or I quit. She’s ruining the celery.”

  “What girl are you talking about, Mamm?”

  “The one with canning lids in her earlobes.”

  “Ashley?”

  The lines on Mammi’s forehead piled up. “She doesn’t know how to dice. Her fingernails are too long. She can’t even hold a stalk of celery properly, and when I tried to correct her, she told me it was okay because she writes a cooking plog and she knows what she’s doing. I don’t care what a cooking plog is. That girl has got to go.”

  Lily leaned over and planted a kiss on Mammi’s cheek. Mammi’s lips puckered like a prune. “Denki for being in charge of the cooking today. We couldn’t have a wedding without you, Mammi.”

  “Don’t I know it,” Mammi said. “And two weeks’ notice was all I got—for three weddings.” She pointed to Aunt Bitsy. “This is your fault, Elizabeth. You could have at least put a bug in my ear so I had more time to plan. I scoured three counties to find enough celery.”

  Rose cocked an eyebrow. Just how much celery was Mammi cooking down there?

  “We’re sorry, Mammi,” Lily said. “We wanted it to be a surprise.”

  “Surprise?” Mammi said. “It was more like a heart attack. I had you pegged to marry Paul Glick.”

  Lily took Mammi’s hands. “But you like Dan Kanagy, don’t you?” Despite everything, Lily still wanted Mammi’s approval. Rose felt the same way.

  Mammi shrugged and pulled her hands from Lily’s. She had never been comfortable with shows of affection. “Paul Glick is richer than Dan Kanagy, but there’s no shame in working a dairy farm. It’s gute, honest work. And Paul Glick is a bit chubby. I suppose if I was your age, I’d rather have looks than money, but I hope you don’t come to regret it. Beauty fades, but money never does.” She eyed Rose. “I wish you would have told me about Josiah. I was working out a way to get Paul Glick and you alone at the house.”