Joyful

by Shelley Shepard Gray

  “Didn’t they think he should stay at the hospital a bit longer?”

  Beverly nodded. “He’s such a big guy, it surely would have been easier on his brothers. But you know Randall. Once they cleared him to leave, he wanted to get back home as soon as possible.” Pointing to the cast, she added, “Especially since there’s still a possibility that he might need surgery. They’re waiting for the swelling to go down before they make a final decision.”

  It did look as if his brothers had their hands full as they attempted to guide Randall up the stairs. By the time they helped him hop up two steps, everyone looked exhausted.

  She tried to stay out of the way while Beverly paid the driver and Joe gathered up what looked to be Randall’s tool belt. As they helped him through the front door, Randall walked by where she was trying to hide and their eyes met. For an instant, his gaze softened, and she imagined that they exchanged a wealth of words that were better left unsaid.

  Before she knew it, Neil had sidled up next to her. “Glad you’re here, Elizabeth,” Neil said as Aden, Joe, and Levi helped Randall into the house. “And did I hear right that Anna Mae came, too?”

  “I didn’t want her to be home alone. I hope you don’t mind?” she asked as she tried to keep from staring at Randall. It wouldn’t do for everyone in his family to see her gazing at him like she was. She knew right at this moment that she couldn’t keep her heart out of her eyes.

  “We don’t mind. We’re glad you’re here. As you know, we need all the help we can get,” he said as he glanced toward the procession as it made its way into the house. “Oops, I think I better go help. Randall is kind of listing to the left.”

  When she walked back inside, her grandmother smiled. “Soon, all the Beilers are going to wonder how they ever survived without you.”

  Elizabeth groaned. “Mommi, you never fail to put a positive spin on things.”

  “That’s why we need each other, dear. You tend to overthink things. I promise, the Lord looks out for us. He always does.”

  “I know you’re right.” Looking at the door to the master bedroom—Randall’s room—she said, “Mommi, I’m going to go see if Randall needs anything.”

  “You do that. I’m going to get started on these piecrusts.”

  “Are you sure you’re not trying to do too much?” She couldn’t forget that they were there for her to work, not her grandmother.

  “My hands might not work too well, but I’ve been making crusts longer than you’ve been alive, dear. Go now.”

  “Wish me luck.”

  “I’ll wish you the Lord’s blessings,” she said primly. “Just as I always do.”

  Her grandmother had caught her again. She’d said time and again that she didn’t believe in luck or coincidence. Instead, she was sure that everything came from the Lord.

  So she closed her eyes and prayed for strength, and for the Lord’s will to be done. But as she thought about how topsy-turvy everything was with Randall, she quietly asked for a little bit of luck, too.

  At this point, she was going to take anything she could get!

  chapter sixteen

  Unable to wait another second to see Randall, Elizabeth hurried down the hall to his room. When it was obvious that his room was already full to bursting with his siblings, she paused, thinking to give them a moment or two of privacy.

  Actually, she was about to turn around when she heard Beverly repeating the doctor’s instructions about the medicine he prescribed, and Neil ordering Levi about. Thinking that was pretty important to hear, she stepped a little closer. If she heard the instructions now she wouldn’t need to pester any of them about what to do later on.

  “So you do understand that you are to stay in this bed unless you have to go to the bathroom?” Beverly said sternly.

  While the others chuckled, Randall barked an answer. “I understand that I don’t appreciate my sister talking to me about using the toilet.”

  “Watch it, bruder. I am your older sister. I’m supposed to boss you around.”

  “You’ve gotten pretty good at it, too.”

  “That’s because I’ve had years of practice.”

  “Which means I should probably be glad that Junior and Claire aren’t here.”

  “They would agree with me. Now, do you need to go?”

  “Nee. I do not.”

  Elizabeth grinned. Even from her spot in the hall, she could hear the mixture of embarrassment and aggravation in Randall’s voice.

  “If you do—” Beverly began.

  “If I do, I will definitely let someone know,” he interrupted. “Not you, though.”

  Elizabeth had just stifled a giggle when Neil wandered out.

  Catching her eye, he grinned. “It looks like you caught most of that conversation.”

  “I was going to come in when I heard everyone talking, and thought it was pretty crowded in there. I was going to go back downstairs and give you some space, but then when I heard Beverly giving directions, I decided to listen in. I didn’t know the conversation would turn so personal, though.”

  “He’s a bit out of it. I hope our plain speaking ain’t embarrassing you too much?”

  “Not too much,” she said with a smile.

  Neil grimaced. “He’s acting mighty loopy. We’re all about to let him sleep, so you can go on in if you want, but I wouldn’t stay too long.”

  She was about to say she understood when Randall’s voice floated out the door.

  “Neil, are you talking to Elizabeth out there?”

  Just as she was about to call out that it was, indeed, her, Neil replied. “It is.”

  “But why does it have to be her?”

  “Because she’s willing to put up with you.”

  “But I don’t want her here. Couldn’t you have found someone else to play nursemaid?” Randall continued.

  Next to her, Neil flushed. “You know what? I think you should visit him later. Much later. Let’s go downstairs.”

  Elizabeth shook her head. “I don’t think so.”

  “She’s not playing nurse,” Levi protested, his voice full of belligerence. “And you shouldn’t be talking about her like that. You know she’s been doing her best to help us.”

  “I may be stuck in a cast, but I can still talk to you how I like, Levi. You shouldn’t have asked her to come over.”

  “I’m getting out of here,” Levi declared, pure irritation thick in his voice. “I’m fair worn out. I had to run all over town when you fell. Not that you even care.”

  “No one told you to do that.”

  “Micah, get him to shut up, wouldja?” Levi said over his shoulder as he walked through the threshold. “I’m about to stuff a sock in his mouth.”

  When he spied her, Levi came to an abrupt stop in front of her. “Elizabeth, how long have you been standing here?”

  “Only long enough to hear that I’m not wanted,” Elizabeth murmured.

  “You really need to ignore Randall. I promise that I want you here. We all do.” With a glare at the door, Neil added, “Randall’s going to drive us crazy within twenty-four hours.”

  “It won’t take me near that long to be sick of him,” Levi said.

  Looking from one brother to the other, she felt a true mixture of amusement and confusion. “You two certainly don’t need to be apologizing for anything he says.”

  “I don’t want him hurting your feelings, though,” Levi said.

  “I’m tougher than I look,” she countered. “I don’t get my feelings hurt easily. Besides, I do want to know what he’s thinking.”

  Both brothers were prevented from replying as Randall spoke again, his voice now even louder and more belligerent.

  “Micah, can’t you try to get her to leave? You know I don’t want to be around Elizabeth any more than I have to.”

  Elizabeth supposed a better woman might have started walking down the hall. Would take pity on Levi’s and Neil’s obvious embarrassment. Perhaps even started talking about so
mething else in order to pretend that she hadn’t heard a single hurtful word.

  But it was like she was witnessing a train wreck. She couldn’t seem to do anything other than stand there like a fool and eavesdrop.

  When Beverly rushed out of Randall’s room in an obvious huff, she drew up short like her brothers and moaned. “Did you just hear everything?”

  “She did,” Neil said.

  Now realizing that her standing there was only making things worse, Elizabeth pushed past Beverly and stepped into Randall’s room. It was time to confront the grumpiest, rudest patient ever.

  The moment she crossed the threshold, Micah and Randall looked her way.

  “Hi,” she said. After smiling briefly at Micah and noting that he looked just as aggravated as the rest of his siblings, she made a shooing motion with her hands. “How about you go take a break?”

  Rubbing his back a little, Micah nodded. “You know what? I’m going to take you up on that. And please, try not to listen to a word he’s saying right now. He’s not himself.”

  “It’s nothing for you to worry about.” Looking at Randall, she decided right then and there she’d never seen him look worse. When they were courting, he’d always taken time to look his best.

  Now he was a cranky mess of scrapes, bruises, and cast. “So, I gather that you don’t want me here? That you would like to spend as little time as possible with me?”

  He grimaced. “I didn’t mean what I said exactly the way you heard it.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah.” He groaned as he shifted on his pile of propped-up pillows. “I’m sorry, Beth, but I’m not doing too good right now.”

  Hearing him call her Beth, especially when it was obvious that it had just slipped out, made much of her irritation float away. Softening her voice, she murmured, “I kind of noticed.”

  “Listen, when I said I didn’t want you here, it wasn’t because I didn’t want to see you.”

  “Why don’t you want me here?”

  “Because I don’t want you to see me like this.”

  He looked so dejected that a bit of her hurt feelings started to dissipate. Actually, she was starting to get a very good feeling that there had been more to his words than she’d first thought.

  “Are you in a lot of pain?”

  “Jah.” He squirmed again. “And I canna get comfortable.”

  She fluffed the pillows behind him. “Here, try lying back again.”

  He shifted, groaned, then shifted again. After a couple of seconds, some of the tension in his face eased. “That’s better.”

  “Gut.”

  “Hey, Beth?”

  “What?”

  “Now that you’re here and all . . . would you stay with me for a little while?”

  Not bothering to tease him about his change of heart, she nodded. Sitting on the side of his bed, she ran a hand gently through his hair. “Jah. I can do that.”

  “Danke.”

  They sat in silence for a while. Unable to stop touching him, she continued to brush that one stubborn lock of hair that looked in need of a trim.

  When she saw him attempting to swallow a yawn, she said, “I think you should try to get some rest. Close your eyes.”

  Miraculously, he did as she asked. “So tired, Bethy.”

  “I know, Randall. Stop worrying and just rest. I promise, everything’s all right.”

  As he shifted, then slowly relaxed, she ran her hand through his hair again.

  Moments later, he was fast asleep.

  To her bemusement, she was smiling as she walked back down to the kitchen. Her grandmother was there rolling piecrust—and, it seemed, offering a bit of comfort to the other Beiler kids. When Elizabeth entered, she smiled sweetly. “There you are, Lizzie. I was wondering when you were going to leave Randall’s side.”

  “I wanted to wait until he fell asleep.”

  Levi looked surprised. “You got him to sleep?”

  “Yep. He just needed to relax. I have a feeling he’ll sleep for a couple of hours now.”

  Beverly, Micah, and Neil were sitting at the table holding mugs of hot chocolate. Levi was sitting on one of the countertops eating an apple and watching her grandmother.

  Elizabeth met Levi’s irritated gaze, Micah’s sheepish one, and Beverly’s pleading eyes. “Everyone, stop looking so worried. I am fine.”

  “Are you sure? I canna even believe that Randall was so rude,” Neil said. “I’ve never known him to act like that.”

  “He is in pain, I’m afraid. I would be a terrible person if I held everything he said against him right now.”

  “Not terrible. Maybe justified,” Beverly said darkly. “My Joe would never speak to anyone like that,” she added as Joe walked into the kitchen through the back door.

  After bestowing a fond look his bride’s way, Joe said, “Do I want to know what she’s talking about?”

  “Nope,” Levi said quickly. “It has to do with my fool bruder.”

  Joe’s brows rose. “What has Randall done now?”

  “It’s really nothing,” Elizabeth said as she filled the kettle with water and set it on the burner.

  “It really would be best if you don’t listen to him over the next couple of days, Elizabeth,” Neil said. “Randall is chock-full of pain relievers. He doesn’t know what he’s sayin’. Actually, he probably won’t even remember.”

  As she went to make herself some tea, she figured Neil was right. Randall couldn’t be held responsible for the things he was saying. There really was a very good chance that he wouldn’t remember a single thing he said.

  Now all she had to do was figure out a way to forget everything he said, too.

  chapter seventeen

  “So, I can’t wait another minute before I ask,” Christina declared as she delivered a stack of freshly cleaned menus to Pippa. “Who’s going to pick you up tonight, Pippa?”

  The question caught her off guard. “Is it that time already?” she teased.

  “Already?” Christina rubbed the back of her neck. “The time has gone by quickly, but not that quickly! I started thinking about taking a hot bath about two hours ago.”

  “A hot bath does sound like heaven. Anything to soak my feet.”

  “Definitely my feet. And my arms! I’m going to be so sore. We sure had some big tables.”

  “We did. It was a good night.”

  It had been an unusually busy night of service. Much to her surprise, her Mexican dishes were slowly gaining a steady and very loyal following. Two weeks ago she’d instituted Mexican-food Mondays, offering three Mexican-themed specials. Word had soon gotten around, and tonight they’d run out of both the vegetarian chalupas and the chicken enchiladas.

  All she’d been doing for the last hour was counting down the minutes until she was able to sit down and put her feet up.

  And that was probably the reason she did a double take when Christina asked her question. “I’m not following you.”

  “Sure you are. The last two times you’ve gotten a ride, it was that handsome man picking you up. The girls in the back and I want to know if he’s going to return anytime soon.”

  “That man would be Bud.”

  “Bud.” Christina rolled his name on her tongue. “That’s a short and sweet name.”

  “I think it’s short for Robert.”

  Christina wrinkled her nose. “Really? I like Bud better than Robert. I think Bud’s got a real nice ring to it.”

  Pippa chuckled. “You are silly. But you might be right about that. I like his name, too.”

  “So . . . is he going to pick you up today?”

  “I think so.” She was becoming amused—in spite of the fact that she could practically feel her neck and cheeks turning an embarrassed pink. “Now, do you care to tell me why you are all so interested?”

  “Why do you think? He’s mighty handsome.”

  “You’re embarrassing me.”

  “I’m sorry. But, you shouldn’t be embarrassed.
You don’t have anything to do with his looks.”

  “I suppose you’re right about that.” Bud had broad shoulders, hazel eyes, and a square jaw. In her more fanciful moments, she liked to think he looked a lot like one of those movie stars of old.

  “It’s exciting that you are going courting.”

  “You . . . you think so?” She wasn’t all that sure what “going courting” actually meant. But she knew it was what the Amish folks around here did instead of dating. Despite being still a relative newcomer, after getting to know so many of the Amish women working at the inn, she was starting to understand their customs.

  “To be sure! Why, all of us have been having a grand time watching you wait for your admirer to take you home. It’s mighty romantic.”

  She was embarrassed to let Christina realize how much she hoped that she actually did have an admirer—and not someone who was just feeling sorry for her. For someone who felt so at home running a busy restaurant, she was certainly feeling insecure about her love life. “Christina, do you think maybe Bud is only stopping by and taking me home because he feels sorry for me?”

  “Why would he feel sorry for you?”

  Now she had done it. Ever since she’d started at the Sugarcreek Inn, she’d tried to remain professional and detached. Jana had said that by keeping a little distance it was easier for her to give the other girls directions. But Pippa was by nature a social person. It was difficult for her to not want to be friends with the other women whom she worked with. “No reason.”

  “Come on and tell me.” She leaned forward. “Do you and he have a secret past?”

  “What an imagination you have! Nothing like that. It’s just that, well . . . Bud and my ex-husband are friends. Sometimes I feel like he knows that I am a little lonely these days.”

  Christina raised her brows. “Is it awkward, knowing that Bud and your ex talk to each other?”

  “It is. But I’m also learning that Bud didn’t necessarily agree with how my ex-husband treated me.” Realizing that she couldn’t leave it at that, Pippa added, “Miguel and I got married very young. We grew apart and started fighting a lot.”