Everlasting Amish Love (Amish Romance): Amish Love Stories Series: Emma & Benjamin

by Joshua Elliot James

  “I can’t rightly say that I have my friend.” Joshua tells the young mann honestly, a fond smile playing on his lips as he thinks of the girl he’s courting as part of his own Rumschpringe. Benjamin looks disappointed for another time today at the lack of understanding he seems to be getting from his closest friend, along with anyone he tries to talk about this with. Maybe if there was at least one other fellow that had gone through what he was going through now, he could find a solution to his desperate need for exploration that would satisfy everyone.

  “No,” Joshua continues, sensing the dissatisfaction his last answer caused Benjamin but unable to offer any advice after considering the problem at greater length. He supposes ignoring the problem with preference for thinking of Naomi instead isn’t going to help though. “I can truly say that I’ve never known a mann to go through their Rumschpringe quite in the same way you are now, but perhaps that’s why I’ve wanted to stay such a gut friend to over the years. Your want to explore and learn isn’t a problem as such, that’s what makes you so interesting to be around. Benjamin, I wouldn’t have you any other way, and I surely wouldn’t want to lose you to the city.”

  The younger mann blushes at the compliments, the golden curls around his cheeks only going so far in hiding the embarrassment he feels as Joshua chuckles deeply at the sight of him now. Benjamin pulls his black hat low down over his eyes and keeps it there all the while the older mann’s driving them back to his daed’s farmland. The blond even starts to doze off it turns out, as he’s startled into waking by Joshua announcing their arrival at the fields. The menner already at work aren’t so annoyed by the boy’s late arrival, as they are humored by Benjamin’s reaction to being awoken so suddenly. With the morning still being young, there is still plenty of daylight left for the work to be done in after all.

  * * *

  “We got a lot of work done today, didn’t we?” Benjamin smiles in satisfaction at all harvesting he’s completed today, the fruits of his labor now lying before him in the lowland field, while Joshua stands at his side, both menner taking in the amount of work they’ve mannaged to complete in such a short time.

  “There’s no one that can deny that you’re as harder worker as you ever were Benjamin.” Joshua has to admit. Despite both the boys’ lateness, Benjamin had quickly gotten stuck into work, his lean, young body soon allowing him to catch up to the same workload as the others and even exceed it slightly by the end of the day. When he put his mind and energy into what really mattered, the results could be astounding to others. It’s a pity, Joshua feels, that Benjamin’s wasting so much of his energy into getting worked up over daydreams of going to the city.

  “That’s why I have to wonder why you’d want to leave this all behind. You’re a well-liked mann here, both by the menner and women alike. Despite your quirks, each of us appreciates your efforts Benjamin. Do you truly want to leave all of that behind for whatever may await a young mann like you in the city?” Benjamin’s shoulders slump at the reminder of their earlier conversation, the happiness brought about by his hard work already leaving him so quickly.

  “They’d be nothing stopping me from coming back, would there?” He asks, more seriously than he had been speaking before, both on the attempted ride out of the Amish community and on the way back again. This particular mood is so unlike the boy’s usual behaviors that Joshua’s learned over the years that this is one of those times that his friend’s really reaching out to him for some sort of guidance in his life. Joshua nods his head, silently in response to the question, but isn’t fully confident in the answer’s he’s given. As much as he would like to think that his close friend would be welcomed back with open arms if the city doesn’t turn out to be all he has dreamed of, he’s uncertain as to how other members of the community will feel about the departure, especially Benjamin’s own family, as Joshua has his doubts that the boy hasn’t spoken to them about just the extent his desires have been taking him recently. The older mann patiently waits for Benjamin to continue with anything else he may need to say however; if he’s talking to him about something so close to his heart, than that gives Joshua the chance to be the voice of reason at least.

  “And it’s like I said before, Joshua; I need to get out there and see what the rest of this wide world is like.” Benjamin sits back on the floor at this point, leaning back on the hands he rests behind him as he looks skyward towards the setting sun. Hard work may not tire him out so much as it does some of the others, but making important decisions about the future rather than following his instincts certainly does. “Maybe the city’s not going to be the place for me, but I’m never going to find that out until I go there for myself, am I?”

  “I can understand that, I really can.” Joshua assures the boy, watching the same calming sunset with him, though he remains standing. “But surely it will be better for you to have some sort of plan in mind before heading out there so rashly. Some sort of idea of what you’re going to be letting yourself in for. Gott can only do so much for us Benjamin. We must take some responsibility for our own lives, following his teachings.”

  “I know.” Benjamin tells his friend, looking downwards now with a troubled element to his brown eyes. Despite his friend’s wise words, he isn’t ready to give up on this reckless dream of his just yet and Joshua can see that. He sighs deeply as joins his friend sitting down on the grass.

  “My daed is attending a dinner tonight at Jonah’s haus.” Benjamin looks up at his friend curiously at this revelation, wondering what this has to do with the discussion they were having up until now. “It’s to welcome his niece into the community. She’s from the city herself, so this could be a gut opportunity to find out about what you want to do in life. After all of your hard work today, and over the years, I’m sure both Jonah and my daed won’t be against you coming to that dinner, along with your family.” When Joshua looks to Benjamin to see his reaction to this information, he is pleased to see that the blond appears to have cheered up significantly from his earlier melancholic mood.

  “That would be wunderbaar!” He tells Joshua, a glimmer in his eyes as he quickly gets to his feet again and dusts down his clothes. “Dinner’s not far off now. We should get ready.” Joshua is left on his own to get to his feet as Benjamin’s already started to walk away, his mind racing with all sorts of questions he hopes he’s going to be able to ask the girl about the city when he meets her. He still has more to say to his friend when he catches up however.

  “Joshua, if after tonight I still want to leave, you know that there is going to be no stopping me.” Benjamin grins at the possibility of what he is saying. If this is how things turn out, this may truly be a sign that Gott wants Benjamin to explore the world as he so longs for. “You must promise me that you’ll let me go, if that’s the case.”

  “I shall promise no such, my friend.” Joshua shakes his head at Benjamin’s request, but has a small smile on his face despite this. He prefers so much this happier side of the mann, regardless of the trouble they may almost get them into at times. Still, deep down he hopes that the continuation of this happiness isn’t only going to result from his friend leaving behind the community and the people within it.

  Chapter 3

  “Emma? I know you probably want to look your best for this dinner, but there are so many people here waiting to meet you. Jonathan’s even brought along Daniel and his family; it’s a gut thing we made so much food together.” Ruth laughs as she converses with the empty room, not yet opening the door to find that her niece is nowhere to be found inside. She waits a minute longer, but after still not hearing any response from the girl Ruth slowly opens the door to give Emma time to react to her entry if need be.

  “Emma? Now where did that girl get to?” Ruth furrows her eyebrows in confusion as she wonders this. She returns to the dinner table downstairs to check that she hasn’t missed her niece has already leaving her room to join the others, without her noticing.

  “Well? Where’s this Englisch
er girl you’ve been wanting to introduce to us all?” Daniel asks, once Ruth has returned to the dining room with no sign of Emma in tow. “My son hasn’t been able to stop talking about meeting her on our journey to your haus.” Daniel goes on, giving his son a knowing look. Benjamin looks at his daed, a little offended by the comment but unable to deny its truth. The woman scans the room quickly, only to find that her niece is nowhere to be found here either. She really starts to worry at this point.

  “In all honesty, I can’t say I know where Emma has gone.” Ruth reveals and the room that had been full of people conversing joyfully with each other only moments ago becomes suddenly silent as her worry is shared amongst all present. Benjamin is especially downhearted to hear that the girl he has so been hoping to talk to about the city isn’t here at this dinner after all.

  “It’s nothing to worry about.” Jonathan speaks, rising out of his chair. “Being so new to the area, she might have simply gotten herself lost taking a look around the place. If we all split up and search for Emma now surely one of us shall find her, before this dinner becomes too cold even.” He walks to the door and each of the dinner guests follow his lead, taking his sensible explanation as the what is most likely to have taken place. “Hannah, Ruth and Sarah, you three stay here with the Kinner in case Emma comes back; it will be gut for the girl to have people around after losing her way in the night.” He tells his wife and the other women present as lanterns are lit for the menner to go out and search for the girl through the darkness.

  “We will all pray for her safe return.” Hannah assures her husband, already fetching the bibles and prayer kapps, before the menner depart. The three women are left to patiently wait for their husbands’ return and set about encouraging their young children to do the same. They tell bible stores in addition to their prayers, to distract the boys and girls from their hunger stemming from all of the food laid out before them, but unable to be eaten quite yet.

  * * *

  “How could this have happened?” Benjamin begins talking with Joshua as they search for the missing girl together. “The one person I could talk with about my desire to go to the city, the one who may be the only one to understand that desire, has gotten herself lost somewhere out here.” Despite his disappointment, the boy’s still as vigilant as everyone else in his search for Emma, even more so perhaps, as he is still so reluctant to deny his curiosity the learning opportunities finding her will allow. In a way, he feels partly responsible for her disappearance, with all of the expectations he has already placed upon her, though the two are still yet to meet.

  “Maybe this in itself is a sign, Benjamin.” Joshua doesn’t get his friend’s full attention with this comment, as he’s still hoping to be the one to find the young woman first, but the blond’s interest in the talk of signs is noted by the older mann as Benjamin glances back at him briefly. “A sign that you shouldn’t be so eager to leave for the city just yet. That’s a promise I could have held you to, had I known something such as this would happen.” Benjamin looks away again, slightly irritated by his friend using a missing girl as support for the opinion he has already expressed that he doesn’t want Benjamin to leave the community.

  “Whether this is a sign or not, this girl needs to be found.” He tells him with resolve and Joshua is once again surprised to see the young mann taking something he has said so seriously. Perhaps that’s a sign that he is indeed growing up, at least in some ways. Joshua hurries to catch up to his friend, who has once again strode on ahead with seemingly with added determination to find Emma now. Whether he’s going to be able to find out about the city from her or not, this is the right thing to do.

  “Do you hear that?” Joshua comes to a sudden stop just behind Benjamin as the blond asks this question. He’s looking to the source of the sound he has heard, which are some nearby stable buildings. Then he hears the same noise again.

  “It sounds like there’s something going on with the horses.” Joshua acknowledges, giving Benjamin all the encouragement he needs to sprint over there, allowing his lantern to swing behind him as he does so. He knows this area so well that he doesn’t need the light to find where he is going, the familiar footfalls are enough.

  He holds the lantern out in front of him again once he’s made his way to the stable where the horses can be heard neighing inside however. Opening the door, he looks around the interior of the building, steadily casting light over each area of the place to help his eyes make sense of what is taking place within.

  Now that he’s here though, the horses seem to have calmed down on without him needing to do anything for them. He checks each and every one of the stalls nonetheless, certain that there must be something to be found, a reason he was led here. He finds that reason soon enough, in the form of a young woman at the back of one of the stalls. She appears to be trapped behind the chestnut mare occupying the stall, as she stands with her back pressed to the wooden divider and stares nervously at the horses back legs.

  Benjamin is too struck by her appearance to even consider about doing anything about the lady’s predicament at first. She may be dressed in the same style of clothes as any of the other woman to be found around here, but her sleek, more modern hairstyle strongly suggests she is the Englischer he has so longed to meet since he has heard of her presence in this Amish country. Now that he has found her, all of the questions he had in his mind previously, regarding her life in city, leave his mind. Instead he’s caught up in her slender form, unused to the hardworking country lifestyle he’s grown up with it seems, and those beautiful green eyes, glistening so well in their widened, terrified state.

  Benjamin snaps out of his own awestruck state after fully noticing that, and the likely reason behind the girl being so frightened. Wanting to stop her from feeling that way, he takes a rope to lead the mare, opens up the stable door and moves the horse out of the girl’s way so that she’s free to leave without any fear of being hurt. Emma quickly leaves the stall and goes to stand before the boy.

  “Denke.” She tells him. “From the bottom of my heart. I only meant to stay here briefly, but the sky turns dark so quickly around here. I knew I’d never be able to find my way back to my Ant’s haus walking around out there without any light. I tried getting to know some of the horses better as I waited for someone to come and find me, but… you must be able to tell how that turned out.” She smiles sheepishly, her eyes finally meeting Benjamin’s after her panic has worn down through her rambling. The boy’s eyes are such a warm brown that even in this cool Autumnal night air she doesn’t feel cold while she’s gazing into them. Her cheeks lighting up with a pink glow only add to feeling of warmth she feels wash over her as they stand so close to each other, even without touching.

  “You’re safe now.” He tells her, his lips forming into a kind smile that only softens the warm glow of his eyes even further, leaving Emma feeling so deeply fond of the mann already. “And I’ve got this light here to show us the way back to your Ant’s haus.” He says, holding up the lamp with one hand as he leads the horse back into the stall with the other. Emma finds herself following the mann as he does this, but he doesn’t seem to mind when he turns to see her standing behind him after securing the stalls half-door. He’s surprised, but pleasantly.

  “My name’s Benjamin.” He smiles, figuring now would be a gut time to introduce himself since he neglected to do so earlier, being so caught up in the moment of finding this girl. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  “Emma.” The girl tells Benjamin her own name, feeling a little awkward again that she too had forgotten to do so up until now. What may have been the start of a conversation between any other two people, turns out to be the ending of this one as both Benjamin and Emma can no longer think of anything to say to each other, and instead just stand together, enjoying each other’s company, each unable to keep their eyes off of the others, or keep the deep happiness evident in their faces hidden.

  “Ah, so you’ve found each other.” Jonat
han brings the young mann and woman back to their surroundings as he enters the barn with the group of menner Joshua had sought out and brought to the stable after his friend had run off on his own. Both Benjamin and Emma are rightly startled by the sudden audience they have and blush profusely as they finally look away from each other.

  “Then let us return to the women and the dinner Ruth prepared for us all.” Jonathan concludes, and the new young lovers walk towards the group, keeping a greater distance from each other than they had when they were alone. Still, Daniel raises an eyebrow at the situation he’s found his son in with the Englischer he, as of yet, knows so little about. With the way Benjamin’s Rumschpringe has been going, Daniel isn’t so sure he can trust the lad with a girl that may not even support the Amish traditions.

  “I’m sorry for bringing so many people with me Benjamin.” Joshua talks quietly with his friend as the group makes their way back to Jonah’s haus, alerting all of those still searching that Emma has been found along the way.

  “Pardon?” Benjamin turns to Joshua jumpily in hopes of better registering what the older mann has said; he’s been so distracted by his thoughts since he’s laid eyes on Emma. “Oh. There was nothing going on.” He tells his friend honestly. As Benjamin dashes ahead of the others again, to let Ruth know that her niece has been found, Joshua is left to wonder if he is being entirely truthful however, just as Benjamin’s daed is wondering. Only time will tell, they suppose, what the meeting of Emma and Benjamin is going to lead to.