by Emma Miller
Jacob looked to Eve. “Don’t listen to her. They’re called wickets. Just hit the ball with the mallet, so it will roll through these first two wickets.” He pointed at the two wire arches directly in front of the wooden stake in the ground, which was the starting point.
Eve held her breath and then tapped the blue ball ever so gently. It rolled halfway under the first wicket and stopped in a tuft of grass. She groaned. “I can’t do this. I’m terrible at games.”
“Ya, you can,” Tara insisted, running toward them.
While she looked for more jelly jars in the cellar that morning, Tara had discovered the croquet set, practically new in a bag, left by the previous owners. After cleaning up from the midday meal, she had insisted Eve help her set up the game in the front yard. The fact that Eve had never played croquet, had never even seen the game, didn’t matter to Tara. And in the end, Eve had agreed to help because she couldn’t say no to Tara. Her new friend had been so kind and generous since her arrival. Tara made a point every day to include Eve not just in the work of the day, but in the family, as well as any fun that was to be had. And if there was one thing Tara knew, it was how to have fun. She reminded Eve so much of her sister Annie that it hurt sometimes.
Tara and Eve had been following the written instructions in the bag to set up the playing field when Jacob returned from town. He’d fetched some lime from the barn and marked the field with the white powder, then helped them place the remainder of the wickets at the correct distance.
“You have to hit it harder than that,” Tara told Eve as she came to a sliding halt, bumping into her and Jacob.
Jacob caught his stepsister by the arm and ducked to keep from being hit by the wooden mallet in her hand. “Easy,” he warned good-naturedly.
Eve turned sideways, caught her lower lip between her teeth and hit her ball. Except that this time she hit it too hard and at a bad angle. It flew through the grass, hit the brick edging of a flower bed filled with orange daylilies and popped into the bed. A disgruntled toad hopped out of the flower bed.
Tara burst into laughter, and Eve and Jacob laughed with her.
“Okay, that might be a little too hard,” Jacob told her. He leaned down and placed his green ball at the starting point. “I’ll go get your ball. You hit this one. Hit it harder than the first time, not as hard as the second.”
“Ne, I’ll get it!” Tara took off, swinging her mallet in her hand like a windmill.
“Okay, okay.” Eve nodded again and again, telling herself she could do this. The game seemed like it would be so much fun, especially on a warm, breezy day like today. She hadn’t played games outside since she was eleven or twelve, though she had loved them as a child. Her father saw no need for a girl that old to play anymore. He thought his daughters’ places were inside the house, cooking and cleaning, or in the garden weeding. Anytime he saw one of his children idle, he found them another chore to do.
Eve pulled back the mallet, concentrating so hard on lining up behind the green ball that she swung back too far and hit her ankle. “Ouch!” she cried, laughing as she dropped the mallet.
“It’s not supposed to be a dangerous game,” Levi’s brother told her, trying not to laugh as she jumped up and down in pain. He picked up her mallet. “You okay?”
“She’s fine!” Tara hollered back as she dug Eve’s ball out of the flower bed. “Try again,” she told Eve. “It took me forever to learn how to play, and now I love it. We play it at the Fishers’ all the time.”
Eve looked up at Jacob. Like Tara, he’d gone out of his way to welcome her into their family. But while Tara seemed oblivious, she had an idea that Jacob suspected something wasn’t right between Eve and Levi. He’d just been polite enough, so far, not to bring it up. “I’m fine,” she told him, reaching for the mallet. “I just don’t know how to hold this thing.” She turned sideways again, eyeing the green ball.
Jacob stepped behind her and reached out to turn the mallet slightly in her hands. “You have to hit the ball squarely. It’s all about hitting it square on, every time,” he explained. “That’ll keep it out of Rosemary’s flower beds and all of us out of trouble.”
She laughed. “Like this?” She adjusted the mallet in her hand.
“Almost.” He reached from behind her and turned it slightly.
She stared at the two wickets lined up just so, held her breath and swung. Just as the wood mallet hit the wooden ball with a satisfying sound and the ball shot straight through the two wickets, she heard Levi call her name.
“Eve!”
She spun around to see her husband striding toward her, his gait long and purposeful. He did not look pleased. “What are you doing?” When he reached her, he swung around to his brother. “More importantly, what are you doing? I’m inside working, waiting on you, and you’re out here playing games with my wife?”
Tara ran toward them, carrying Eve’s blue game ball. “Levi, what’s gotten into you?”
Jacob took a step back. “Brother, calm down.” He raised both hands, palms out. “I had to go to two stores to find the nails, so it took a while. When I got back, Tara and Eve were trying to—”
“Don’t you have work to do inside, Eve?” Levi interrupted loudly.
Eve’s first impulse was to lower her head, mumble something apologetic and hurry back to the house. In her father’s home, that would have been her response. Otherwise, she might have gotten a berating or, worse, a slap across the face. It happened occasionally. But this man was not her father. He was her husband, and she would not cower. If this marriage was going to work, she needed to make Levi understand what was acceptable and what was not in the life they were building together—that she hoped they would build together. And shouting at her was not acceptable.
She crossed her arms over her chest, met Levi’s gaze and said very softly, “You cannot speak to me like that, husband.”
For a moment, he stared at her stony-faced, and then suddenly, his expression changed.
Chapter Seven
Levi saw a myriad of emotions on Eve’s face. She was scared and angry, but there was also an admirable calm about her. He had caused the first two emotions, but the last was her own. This young woman whom he’d married on impulse was turning out to be so many things he hadn’t expected. Initially, that day Mari had led him to the barn, he had offered to marry Eve for her sake. And on some level, he had to admit, at least to himself, that he assumed she would be forever grateful to him, maybe even beholden to him. But in the weeks since that afternoon, no matter what Levi told himself, everything had been about him. Secretly, he had been so proud of the sacrifice he had made in marrying this woman. Today it seemed as if it was her sacrifice.
And he was ashamed of himself.
Eve remained where she was, studying him. A lesser woman would have turned to tears and apologies, maybe even fled had her husband behaved as he just had. But not Eve. Not my wife, he thought, because she’s a better person than that, a better person than me right now.
Levi lowered his head. “Eve, I am so sorry,” he whispered, unable to meet her gaze.
“Come on,” Jacob quietly said to Tara.
“What? Why?” Tara was watching the exchange between Levi and Eve with obvious interest.
Jacob took the croquet mallet and ball from his stepsister’s hands, set them in the grass and led her away. Levi watched them go, whispering a silent thanks to his brother. Then he forced himself to meet his wife’s gaze.
Eve was dressed in her new ankle-length green dress and a white apron and her feet were bare. She wore her prayer kapp over her glossy brown hair that was pinned up, though tendrils had managed to escape. She was watching him with her big, brown eyes.
“Eve, I’m sorry,” he said, his voice barely a whisper. He cleared his throat and spoke a little louder. “I know this isn’t an excuse, but I was frustrated and angry with my father, a
nd with Jacob. Things aren’t going as I had thought they would when I came home and—” He exhaled, ashamed and embarrassed to have behaved so badly. And with his wife, of all people. “I’m sorry,” he repeated.
He thought about the words the bishop had spoken the day he and Eve had married.
Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife.
He was not honoring his wife, nor was he honoring the sanctity of marriage, family, friendship or any of the things his parents had taught him.
“You’re right,” he told her, reaching to take her hands, hoping she wouldn’t pull away from him. “I should not have spoken to you that way.” He searched her eyes for forgiveness. “And I promise you I’ll try very hard to never do it again.”
She was quiet for so long that Levi was suddenly afraid he had ruined everything, but at last she spoke in a calm, firm voice.
“Thank you for apologizing, Levi. We all make mistakes. What matters is seeing them and trying to do better.” She hesitated and then went on, still allowing him to hold her hands. “Jacob wasn’t doing anything wrong except helping me learn how to play the game. He did nothing inappropriate. Jacob would never do that. I haven’t known him long, but I know what he isn’t. And I know that no son Benjamin Miller has raised would ever behave improperly with another man’s wife.”
“I know,” Levi murmured.
“You need to apologize to him, too. And to Tara. We don’t want her thinking this is the way married people talk to each other.”
Levi nodded. “I’ll find them now.” Surprised by how good her small hands fit into his, how warm and comforting they were, he was reluctant to let go.
“I think that’s a good idea. I’m going back inside to help start supper.” She pulled her hands away. “And maybe we can talk about this later?” she asked.
Her gentle face made Levi want to pull her into his arms. But right now, he didn’t feel as if he had the right. As her husband, he needed to earn her physical affection. He just had to figure out how.
“Go on, make amends,” she told him as she turned to walk away. “They both adore you and look up to you.”
“Thank you,” Levi called after her.
She glanced over her shoulder and offered a sweet smile. And that smile was what gave Levi the courage to hunt down Jacob and Tara, make his apology and promise to try to be a better big brother.
* * *
Levi found Jacob in the buggy shop finishing up applying mud to the last seams on the drywall. Jacob was whistling to himself, obviously content with the task at hand. His younger brother was always so even-tempered, just like his twin, Joshua. Nothing ever seemed to rattle either one, and Levi envied them for that.
“Hey,” Levi said.
Jacob glanced over his shoulder. If he was upset with Levi, he didn’t look it. “Hey.” He returned to his task, smoothing the spackling compound expertly over the taped seams.
“I see you got those last couple drywall nails in.”
“Ya, the walls look good. We’ll let this dry overnight and we can sand in the morning and put the primer I bought on tomorrow afternoon. We’ll be done in no time, and then you can get to work building your first buggy.”
“It sounds like Eli might be interested in placing an order. With their family growing, he said it’s time they got a bigger buggy. I just have to sit down and come up with a price.”
“With a family discount,” Jacob suggested.
“Of course.” Levi took a step toward his brother. “Jacob?”
“Ya?”
Levi took a breath, trying to find the right words to use in an apology to his brother. “Could you stop a second?”
Jacob drew the spackling blade over a nail dimple and then set the spackle and blade down on an aluminum bench they used to reach high on the walls. He turned to his brother.
“I want to tell you how sorry I am.” He hooked his thumb in the direction of the house and the front lawn where Jacob and the girls had set up the croquet court. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. You weren’t doing anything wrong outside with Tara and Eve. You were being nice to my wife.” Levi drew the back of his hand across his mouth. “Which is more than I can say for myself.”
Jacob was quiet for a moment and then said, “Don’t worry about it. I know you’re under a lot of stress.” He hesitated and then went on. “And I know something’s going on between you and Eve.”
“What do you mean going on?” Levi asked, tempering his tone.
Jacob shrugged. “I can’t say for sure. It’s not like I’m an expert at marriage or anything.”
“No, I don’t guess you would be, considering the fact that your chin is clean-shaven.”
Jacob met Levi’s gaze and went on. “For newlyweds, you two don’t seem all that happy together. Eli and Ginger were married months ago and they’re still holding hands and grinning at each other all the time.”
“As I’ve said before...” Levi responded, reminding himself that he was the one who had started this conversation. And he had been the one apologizing for words spoken in haste. “...it isn’t easy going from being single to having a wife and the responsibility it bears.”
“And then coming home with your new wife, staying in the house with Dat and Rosemary and the rest of us. I’d guess that’s not easy, either.” Jacob smiled in understanding. “I just... I’m worried about you. I’m worried about you both. Eve seems like a woman easily content. I guess I’d like to see her that way.”
Not sure how to respond, Levi ran his thumbs beneath his suspenders. “I guess these walls aren’t going to finish themselves. What do you want me to do? Finish the mudding?”
“Ne, I’ve got this. Grab the nails and put a couple more in that stud near the door,” Jacob instructed, pointing to an inside door that opened into a hall their father had created when he’d divided the old dairy barn.
Levi crossed the room to pick up the new box of nails Jacob had brought home from the hardware store. “Danke, Jacob,” he said quietly.
Jacob picked up his spackling blade. “For what?”
“I don’t know. For not being angry with me, I guess. Right now, I don’t know that I could bear it.”
Jacob squeezed Levi’s arm as he passed. “You’re going to be fine.” He hesitated and then spoke again. “My advice, from a man who fully admits he knows nothing about marriage?”
Levi arched an eyebrow.
“Don’t worry about Dat. He’ll come around, and if he doesn’t.” He shrugged. “His problem. Ne, I think it’s best you concentrate on Eve. Because you can change that relationship, and she deserves it. You both do.”
* * *
Supper was a quieter affair than usual in the Miller household that night. There were no guests, and Bay and Tara had gone to their sister Lovey’s place and stayed for the evening meal.
That afternoon, Tara had taught Eve how to make meatballs and a tomato sauce and they served it over noodles with Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top. They also made fresh garlic bread sticks and a salad from new greens in the garden. Eve not only hadn’t known how to make the pasta dish, but she hadn’t ever even eaten it. One bite, and she decided that spaghetti might be her favorite meal of all time. The week before, Rosemary had given her some index cards to write down recipes and she intended to add it to her growing stack.
When everyone had had their fill of the meal, there were sweet home-canned peaches covered in cream and sprinkled with cinnamon for dessert. After everyone was properly stuffed, Rosemary took her toddlers upstairs for a bath, and the men drifted out of the room one by one until there was no one left but Tara, Levi and Eve.
As Eve carried a stack of dirty dinner plates to the sink where Tara was already washing, she saw Levi begin to gather glasses from the table. She turned to him. “What are you doing?”
He carried the glasses to the counter, setting them down with the dirty dishes. “Helping.”
Eve lifted her brows, confused. She had never once in her life seen her father pick up a dirty dish off the table. Her mother had done it until her death, and then he had left them for his daughters to pick up. “You’re helping clean up the kitchen?”
He shrugged. “My mam always used to say ‘many hands make light work.’”
“Is that from the Bible?” Tara asked, lowering the whole stack of dinner plates into the hot, sudsy water.
“Ne, I don’t think so.” He went back to the table and picked up the can of Parmesan cheese and a jar of homemade salad dressing and carried them to the refrigerator. “It’s just something people say.”
“Like a proverb,” Tara said.
Levi pointed at her. He seemed as if he was in a good mood. “Exactly.”
Eve frowned. “I don’t understand. Isn’t Proverbs a chapter in the Bible?”
“Ya, but a proverb can also be a general kind of thing. It can just mean a saying that has a lesson in it,” Levi explained, seeming unperturbed by her question. Her father had never appreciated questions of any sort, but he particularly disliked questions that fell into the category of fancy learning. Levi’s family, however, enjoyed sharing knowledge and even encouraged the children to be inquisitive.
Tara turned from the sink, water dripping from her hands. “It’s like an adage.”
Eve stared at Tara. “I don’t know that word, either. Did you learn that in school?”
She shook her head. “Ne, but you know Ethan’s a schoolmaster, right? He told me. He reads a lot.”
“We like to tease him sometimes about knowing a whole lot of useless information,” Levi said and Tara chuckled.
“My father only allowed us to finish the sixth grade,” Eve said, collecting silverware from the table. “He saw no need for more schooling than that. At least for girls.”
“We all went until we were sixteen in New York.” Tara had returned to her dishwashing. “A lot of girls I knew stopped when they were fourteen. I wanted to do the same, but Mam wouldn’t let me.”
