by Emma Miller
“Ya.” Eve nodded. “The train left Philadelphia late, so we arrived in Wilmington late, and then there was traffic. Beach traffic, Levi said?” She hadn’t understood what he meant by beach traffic but hadn’t asked because much of what he said she was unfamiliar with. Levi had been raised so differently than she had that she was beginning to wonder how hard it was going to be for her to transition to his way of life.
“Ya, beach traffic.” Rosemary rolled her eyes as she walked into the mudroom, obviously expecting Eve to follow. “The highways get very busy in the summer because of the beaches south of here.” She was hanging up Eve’s cloak and bonnet on a hook just inside the door. “So many Englisher tourists come from Pennsylvania and New Jersey to our beaches. But not to worry, we know the back roads to get where we need to go without tangling with cars.”
Pausing in the doorway, Eve glanced over her shoulder at Levi. He was standing in front of his father; neither was speaking. She studied the older man for a moment. Benjamin was a sturdy, fiftyish man of medium height with rusty-brown hair streaked with gray. He had a weathered face with a high forehead and broad nose with a full beard that had a reddish cast, which had also begun to gray.
The last week had been such a whirlwind that Eve and Levi had had little time to talk. However, on the train ride, Levi had told her about his complicated family. He said that his mother and Rosemary’s husband, Benjamin’s best friend, had died six years ago. Then Benjamin and Rosemary had wed, and both families, except for his oldest sister, Mary, who already had a family, had moved from New York state to Delaware to begin anew as a blended family. Levi had led her to believe that his father, Benjamin, was a kind, understanding man. A happy man.
He didn’t look happy now. In fact, he seemed so unhappy with his son that Eve was hesitant to leave Levi alone on the porch with him.
Benjamin was speaking now. He hadn’t raised his voice, but it was obvious he was saying something Levi didn’t like.
Eve wasn’t sure what to do. It was her fault Levi had married without consulting his parents. Shouldn’t she be at her husband’s side if Benjamin was dressing him down?
Levi glanced her way. “I’ll be in in a minute,” he told her. “Go in with Rosemary.”
Eve nodded and followed her mother-in-law through the mudroom into a big family kitchen that held not one, but two tables pushed together in an L shape. It was a kitchen nearly as big as the first floor of Eve’s father’s house had been.
“They’re here,” Rosemary announced to two young women standing at a large country-style sink doing dishes. “Eve, that’s Tara.” She indicated the younger of the two who Levi had told her was twenty. “And Nettie.” Nettie was a little older than Eve.
In green dresses of different shades, both girls were pretty, Tara with very light red hair and Nettie with blond. Their eyes, like their mother’s, were green.
Of course they were pretty, Eve thought. Everyone in this family was handsome or pretty. She was a plain wren among a flock of colorful finches, blue jays and cardinals.
“We’re so glad you made it safely. I was worried something had happened, a train crash or something,” Tara said, setting down a dish towel.
“Tara is a worrier,” Nettie explained, rinsing off a dinner plate and setting it out for her sister to dry. “She worries so none of us have to.”
“It happens,” Tara threw in her sister’s direction. She turned back to Eve. “You must be starved. I made your plates. It’s fried chicken, pasta salad, broccoli slaw and pickled beets. I hope you like pickled beets, Schweschder. Is it all right if I call you sister?” She walked toward a refrigerator, not waiting for Eve to respond. “I know I have plenty of sisters, but can you have enough?”
“You’re going to love her fried chicken,” Nettie put in. “Tara’s the best cook in the house, after Mam, of course. Tara’s also the chattiest. Which gets her into trouble sometimes,” she added in a fake whisper.
“I don’t know why you say things like that,” Tara flung over her shoulder at her sister as she set the plates on the table. “Mam said you shouldn’t tease me so much. Didn’t you, Mam?”
“Girls, girls,” Rosemary admonished.
Eve glanced in the direction of the porch, where she’d left Levi. She didn’t hear any shouting from the porch. She hoped Levi’s father wasn’t too upset with him.
Rosemary caught her looking at the door. “He’ll be in in a minute,” the older woman soothed. “Sit. Relax.” She smiled kindly. “You’re home now.”
“I can’t tell you how nice it will be to have another girl in the house,” Nettie said, bringing two place settings to the end of one of the tables. “Our sisters Lovey and Ginger married, and Bay is so busy with the greenhouse this time of year that I feel like all Tara and I do is cook and clean. One meal is barely over, and it’s time to start preparing for the next. It will be nice to have someone else to spend time with besides Miss Worrywart.”
Tara stuck her tongue out at her sister as she carried a foil-covered plate in each hand toward the table.
Nettie rolled her eyes. “Do you see what I have to deal with every day?” she asked Eve.
Eve smiled to herself. Tara reminded her of her sister Anne. She was a worrier, too, but also playful and fun. She used to stick her tongue out at Eve when their father wasn’t looking.
Thinking of her sister brought a lump to her throat. She hadn’t been gone even a whole day and she already missed Anne.
“Please, Eve. Sit down. Can I get you some water?” Tara asked.
The loud sound of footfalls and little boys laughing came from the hall and then filled the kitchen as twin toddlers burst into the room. They were followed by an older boy who Eve thought might be Jesse, Rosemary’s son from her previous husband. The family was so big, and it was confusing as to who were Benjamin’s children and who were Rosemary’s. The twin boys, she knew, were Benjamin and Rosemary’s. Levi had said that it had been a bit of a surprise to the family that Rosemary had given birth at her age, but the little boys had found their way into everyone’s hearts and sealed the union of the two families.
Rosemary made another round of introductions, and then another sister walked into the kitchen—Bay, the one who had the greenhouse. Then Levi’s brother Joshua arrived with his family, and the kitchen was so loud, with everyone talking at once, that Eve started to feel overwhelmed again. More handsome, beautiful people who seemed so content. How would she ever fit into this big, happy family?
What had she done in marrying Levi, a stranger?
When Levi walked inside with his father, Eve could tell he was upset. Levi sat down beside her to eat his supper, and everyone joined them at the table for dessert, diving into fresh strawberry pies Tara had made. Everyone was talking to Eve, asking questions, but no one, she realized, was speaking to Levi. He ate in silence, not looking up from his plate.
Was he angry with her? Eve began to wonder.
Thankfully, once she and Levi had eaten their supper and declined the pie, the family began to scatter. Nettie and Tara excused themselves to put the twins to bed, Joshua and his family went home, and the others went their separate ways to finish chores and prepare for the next day.
Eve insisted on washing Levi’s dinner dishes and her own. When she took up a clean dish towel to begin drying, Rosemary told her to put it down.
“Let the dishes sit on the drainboard until tomorrow,” Rosemary said. “Jesse took your bags up to your room. I know it’s been a very long day for you. You turn in.” She looked at Levi, who was just standing at the end of one of the tables. “I’ve prepared Joshua and Phoebe’s old room for you.”
“Thank you, Rosemary,” Levi said, then looked to Eve. “Come on. It’s this way.”
Eve said good-night to Rosemary, the only one left in the kitchen, and climbed the stairs behind Levi. At the landing, they went down a long hall and then
a second one. He opened the very last door on the right and stepped back to let her pass.
Only when Levi walked into the bedroom and closed the door behind him did Eve realize the full extent of her impulsive decision to marry a stranger. She stared at the only bed in the room, made up with a colorful log cabin patterned quilt.
She was married to Levi now.
And that meant she would share a bed with him.
Suddenly, she was afraid. And angry. Hot tears burned the backs of her eyelids. How could her father have forced her to make the choice between marrying a complete stranger and a would-be rapist?
And how had she been so foolish as to have put herself in such a position in the first place?
Chapter Three
Levi closed the bedroom door and leaned against it, his hands tucked behind him. He took a deep breath, suddenly so tired, he could barely think. He was trying hard not to second-guess his decision to marry Eve because what was done was done.
The exchange between him and his father had been worse than he had anticipated. He had suspected from the conversation on the phone back in Lancaster that his father was upset with him, but never in his life had the man he looked up to expressed such disappointment in him. Not even the time Levi had convinced his twin brothers, Jacob and Joshua, to jump out the second-story window of their barn back in New York. The twins had only been ten, he had been thirteen, and Jacob had ended up with a trip to the emergency department with a broken arm. Their father had expressed his disappointment in Levi’s choices right before he assigned all of Jacob’s chores to him for two months while his little brother’s bone mended. But that had not been half as bad as what had happened on their porch that evening.
Levi closed his eyes, thinking back to the conversation. He’d been the one to speak up first.
“Thank you for letting me bring my wife home, Dat,” he had said.
His father had slid his hands into his pockets and gazed out at their orchard before returning his attention to Levi. “You will always be welcome in my home, Sohn.” His voice then cracked with emotion. “You know that. No matter what you have done.”
Levi had had to bite down on his lower lip until he tasted blood to keep from shouting, “But I didn’t do anything wrong, Dadi. I did the right thing!”
But, of course, he hadn’t been able to say that because he was a man of his word. Instead, he had just stood there and listened to his father talk about the choices a man made in life and the consequences until Joshua, carrying his new baby, and his wife and young son had come walking across the yard. Then Levi’s father had gone into the house.
“There’s just one bed,” Eve said, her voice bringing Levi back to the present.
He looked up. “What?”
“The bed.” Eve’s voice had taken on a tone of annoyance. She was talking quickly, her voice higher pitched than he had heard before. “There’s only one bed. I can’t... I won’t—” She pointed, lowering her voice. “If you think I’m sleeping in that bed with you...” She crossed her arms over her chest, moisture in the corners of her eyes. “You’ve got another thing coming, Levi Miller!”
Levi was so surprised by the tone she had taken with him that he didn’t understand what she was so upset about. And then he did. They were married. It was customary for a married couple to share a bed and procreate as God intended. She was worried he expected her to have relations with him.
He drew back, staring at her. As with his father, he was hurt, but angry, too. How could Eve think he was that kind of man? The kind of man Levi had just saved her from? He had sacrificed his father’s opinion to protect her from Jemuel Yoder, and now she was accusing him of being cut from the same cloth?
“Eve, I don’t expect us to sleep together,” Levi snapped back. “Why would you think that?”
“That’s why.” She pointed at the bed again.
“But this is the room Rosemary gave us,” he said defensively. “You think I should tell her it’s not acceptable when she’s welcomed us into her home with open arms? What will she think if I say we need separate rooms?”
Eve stared at him, a challenge in her dark brown eyes, which surprised him. In the week he’d known her, she had seemed so agreeable and thankful for his intervention. She had been so easy to please. And now she was making demands on him and causing him stress he didn’t need piled on his shoulders on top of his father’s disappointment in him.
Levi exhaled loudly, stepped around her, grabbed the quilt and a pillow off the bed and tossed them on the floor. Then he picked one of his bags from where Jesse had left it and strode to the door. “I’ll go into the bathroom first. You put your nightclothes on while I’m gone. When I come back, you can take your turn in the bathroom. I’ll sleep here on the floor.” He pushed the pillow with the toe of his boot. “Will that work?”
Eve looked like she was about to burst into angry tears. Or throw something at him. Maybe both.
She gave a quick nod.
“Fine.” He walked out the door, closing it behind him. The moment he was in the hall, he regretted the harshness in his voice. It didn’t matter that she had spoken unkindly to him first. He knew better. His parents had raised him better. Eve was under stressful circumstances, too, and he should have kept that in mind. In fact, her situation was worse than his because she hadn’t asked for any of this. He had offered to marry her. And now he was the head of their family and he was the one who had to take the lead in such matters. It was his duty to promote harmony in their married life.
As Levi walked down the hall, he made up his mind that he would apologize to Eve when he returned to their room. However, after preparing for bed, he returned to their bedroom to find her tucked into bed, sound asleep.
Settling onto a makeshift bed on the hard floor, Levi clasped his hands together and prayed to God to help him be a good husband to Eve. And then, exhausted, he fell asleep.
* * *
Eve woke to the heat of early morning sunlight on her face and the sound of someone moving around the bedroom. When she opened her eyes, she saw Levi, fully dressed in denim pants, a faded blue shirt and suspenders, his shaggy hair wet. He was unpacking his bags, placing items of clothing in the drawers. For a moment she watched him, then softly greeted him. “Guder mariye.”
He turned to her, his face solemn. “I’m sorry if I woke you. Good morning.”
She sat up, pressing her lips together. They’d not spoken since the night before after she’d been so terrible to him. After he walked out of their bedroom, Eve had quickly put on her nightgown, rehearsing her apology to him for when he returned. Once in bed, she said her prayers and then waited for him. But she must have fallen asleep before he returned. And now here they were, their second day of marriage.
She started to say she was sorry, but he spoke at the same time. Then both of them went silent.
“You first,” she said.
He closed a drawer behind him and approached the bed. “I want to apologize for how I spoke to you last night, Eve. It’s not an excuse, but I was tired and frustrated with my father and—” He looked out a big window that faced south, then back at her. “I took it out on you.”
She gave a little sigh of relief, glad he wasn’t angry with her. She felt so alone right now. She had no one but Levi, and she couldn’t bear the thought of him being mad at her. “I wanted to tell you I was sorry, too.” She clutched the bedsheet to her chest. “You didn’t deserve what I said. How I said it. I was tired, too. And everything is so different here from home that I was feeling a bit...overwhelmed. Also not an excuse,” she added.
He sat down on the edge of the bed beside her. “I should have brought up the subject of sleeping arrangements before we came upstairs.” His blue-gray eyes were kind. “I had to accept whatever room Rosemary gave us because no one here knows that our marriage is anything different from any other marriage in my family. They don�
��t realize we don’t know each other very well.”
She looked down, appreciating how delicately he was discussing the matter.
“Eve, I have no problem sleeping on the floor, but no one can know, otherwise they’ll ask questions.” He paused and then went on. “The same goes for how we speak to each other in front of everyone, how we are with each other. We’re supposed to be newlyweds. Do you understand what I mean?”
She nodded. “You’re saying we have to...act like we like each other.” She lifted her chin, sneaking a peek at him when he didn’t say anything. She noticed that he had not shaved except above his upper lip. Because he was married, he was now growing a beard. Which meant this was all real. She was married, and now she was Levi Miller’s wife. She wasn’t Eve Summy any longer, she was Eve Miller.
She met his gaze to see that he was smiling at her.
“Eve, it’s not that I don’t like you. What would make you say that?” he asked. “I’m just saying that we need to give the appearance of a newly married couple who, you know, planned to wed.” He sat there for a moment and then pressed his hands to the tops of his legs and stood. “I’m going to go downstairs to the kitchen. You come down when you’re ready.”
“Ach,” she said, copying the expression she’d heard her mother-in-law make the evening before. She threw off her sheet. “I should be in the kitchen, helping Rosemary and your sisters with breakfast.”
He rested his hand on the doorknob and looked back at her. “I’m sure they’ll appreciate your help but take your time. They know you had a long day yesterday. I’m going to go out to the barn and give my brothers some help with feeding, and I’ll see you for breakfast.” He offered a smile, and then he was gone.
The minute the door closed behind him, she jumped out of bed and made it, using the pillow and the quilt that Levi had left on the floor. Then she put on the same green dress she’d worn the day before. It was her only dress now. She’d ruined the blue one two weeks ago running from Jemuel. The only other dress she had owned was the black one she wore to church, but her father had refused to let her pack it, saying it was his property. Thankfully, he had allowed her to keep the only prayer kapp she owned. After brushing and tying back her hair, she lovingly placed the starched white kapp over her hair and took great care to pin it down without mussing it. As with most Amish women, for Eve, the head covering was a symbol of her faith. It made her feel safe.
