by Jan Drexler
Chapter Six
As the first cold raindrops pelted his shoulders, Guy hunched into his black wool coat, wishing he was in Verna’s warm kitchen. Or back in the room crowded with young people at the Singing. Or in the Masts’ barn, milking the cows. Anywhere but jogging down a gravel road in the dark and the rain, chasing after Judith. He was a fool to follow her. She had to have known what she was getting into when she went with Luke. If he found them, he wouldn’t be welcome company.
His foot slipped and he slowed to a walk, breathing hard. Emma Lake was ahead, the slow, heavy raindrops plopping onto its dark surface. From here, he couldn’t see Luke’s rig. Of course, when the rain shower started, Luke wouldn’t have wanted to stay out in his open courting buggy. He had probably taken Judith on home and was sitting in the warm, dry kitchen, munching on cookies and flirting up a storm. Guy pulled his collar closer to his neck.
The quick shower let up as the wind pushed the clouds to the east. The moon came out, giving Guy a better view of the lakeshore. No one was there.
He should just walk home. Judith didn’t want him around, and didn’t want his advice. He should just forget about her and her beau. Isn’t that what a friend would do?
Ne, he thought, snorting when the word came into his mind in Deitsch. Ne, that’s not what a friend would do. He couldn’t shake off the feeling that Judith was in trouble. But where was she?
Guy started jogging again, keeping to the center of the slick mud-and-gravel road. Perhaps he should check at Matthew’s and see if Luke had taken her home. If Judith wasn’t there, he’d keep looking. It was all he could do.
Not all he could do, David would say. He had often said that the solution to a problem, to any problem, was to pray. But what David didn’t know was that God didn’t listen to Guy’s prayers. He had discovered that long ago. But this time he would be praying for Judith. Maybe God would listen to a prayer for her.
Guy slowed to a walk again as he reached the T-intersection west of the lake. He had come from the north a few minutes ago, making his way to the lake. He hadn’t run across Luke’s buggy on the way, but Luke could have taken a roundabout way to spend more time with Judith. They might not have reached the lake yet. Perhaps he was coming from a different direction.
Leaning on his knees while he let his breathing slow to normal, Guy looked up the road and down. He looked up into the sky with patches of stars showing through the disappearing clouds.
“Left or right, God? Which way should I go?”
Guy waited for an answer. A flashing star. A pillar of fire. Anything.
A cow bellowed from somewhere to his left, but no sign from God. He looked up the road again, toward the north. There was no sound. Nothing moved. He looked south. Something might have disturbed that cow to make it bellow like that. Guy turned south and started jogging again.
Before he reached the end of the mile, he gave up jogging, his side seared with pain. He walked, breathing hard as the discomfort eased. He stopped again, listening for any sound of a buggy. He had never heard such a quiet night.
At the next crossroads, he saw someone walking ahead, just cresting a rise, a shadow against the stars, a couple of hundred yards ahead. The person might have seen something, even if it wasn’t Luke’s buggy. He started jogging again as the shadow disappeared over the hill. As he came up the rise, the clouds gave way at last, and the moon shone with a clear light. Ahead of him, leaning against a fence post, was the person he had been following. As he came closer, he recognized her.
“Judith?”
She jumped and faced him. “Guy? What are you doing here?”
“I followed you. I didn’t think I’d ever find you. What are you doing walking, so far from home?”
He closed the space between them, catching her in his arms.
“I’m so glad you found me.” She hiccupped and buried her face in his shoulder. “I don’t know where I am. Luke drove in circles. And it’s such a dark night, and the rain was cold...”
Guy wrapped his arms around her as she trembled, trying to control her sobs.
“Shh. It’s all right, now. I’m here.” He let her cry for a few minutes while his irritation with Luke grew. “Judith, where is Luke? Why are you here alone?”
That stopped her crying. “I don’t know, and I don’t care.” She pulled back from his embrace and wiped her cheeks. “You were right about him. I should have listened to you.”
A surge of hot anger went through Guy. “Why? What did he do? Did he hurt you?”
Judith shook her head. “It was so stupid. He thought he could get away with kissing me.” She sniffed. “Oh, Guy, it was awful. So wet and slobbery. Like a cow licking my face.”
Guy nearly laughed at her description, but choked instead. He was glad his face was shadowed so she couldn’t see his reaction. “I hope you told him off for being so fresh.”
“I kicked him right in the leg. And then I got out of the buggy and he drove away.”
“He left you in the road with rain coming?” If Luke had been here right now, Guy would have done a lot more than kick him in the leg.
Judith sighed, a sob catching her breath. She leaned against the fence post again. “I didn’t know which way to go.” She rubbed her forehead, her shoulders slumped. “I’m so tired.”
“Don’t worry. We’re near Bram’s farm, and I can borrow your brother’s rig to take you home.”
She hiccupped. “That would be wonderful. All I want to do is get dry and warm.”
“Come on, then.” Guy tucked her hand in his elbow and started back toward the crossroads. He hoped she was up to the walk, even though Bram’s farm was less than a mile away. Judith would be welcome there, that was for sure.
She walked in silence beside him, stumbling once in a while.
“Are you sure you are all right? Do you want to wait here while I walk ahead and get the buggy?”
She clutched at his elbow. “Ne, don’t leave me. I can walk. Just don’t leave me alone.”
Guy stopped and turned her toward him, tucking a finger under her chin and tilting it up. The moonlight shone on her bonnet, but her face was in shadow. If he could see her expression, maybe he’d know what to say.
“I would never leave you alone.”
She tilted her head, as if she was seeing him for the first time. “You wouldn’t, would you? Even if I had kicked you.”
Guy grinned at the thought of Luke’s sore leg. “I wouldn’t give you any reason to kick me.”
Judith nodded.
“And I would never leave you alone to find your way home.”
“I know.”
She didn’t move. Their cloudy breaths mingled in the cold, damp air between them, and Guy leaned closer, her dark eyes in the shadowy depths of her bonnet drawing him in.
“If I kissed you,” he said, his voice catching, “it would be only because you wanted me to.”
“If I let you kiss me,” her breath spanned the inches between their lips, “I don’t think it would be anything like Luke’s kiss.”
Guy stroked her soft cheek with one thumb. “I would make you forget all about Luke and his kiss.”
She smiled and he could feel a dimple form beneath his thumb. Pa’s fancy girl, the last one he had brought to the Home, had had a dimple. The girl had clung to Pa’s arm, pulling him back to the car as he had waved at Guy.
I’ll be back, Pa had called. Watch for me. I’ll find a job we can work on together.
One more wave and then Pa’s attention had been on the girl with the dimple, the waiting boy forgotten.
Guy stepped back, the mood broken. Judith deserved to be treated better than how Pa treated the fancy girls he hung around with. She deserved someone better than another Luke.
“I need to take you home. Bram’s farm is just down this road, the first one past the bridge.”
* * *
Even though Bram and Ellie’s house was dark when Judith and Guy walked up the lane, Bram opened the door quickly at their knock.
From inside the house, Ellie’s voice called, “Who is it, Bram?”
A match scratched on the stove top as Ellie lit a lamp. Bram pulled Judith into the kitchen, her big brother’s grasp on her arms as strong and comforting as Guy’s. Her knees started shaking. She was finally safe and in a familiar place.
“It’s a couple of drowned kittens from the looks of them.”
Ellie peered around Bram’s shoulder. “Judith! Come in here and get warm.”
She set the lamp on the big kitchen table and pulled a chair out. Judith sank into it, every bone weary and sore. And cold. She couldn’t stop shivering.
Bram built up the fire in the kitchen stove while Guy pulled off his wet coat and hat.
“You two got caught in the rain?” Bram asked, feeding the growing fire with kindling.
“Something like that.” Guy watched Judith in the lamplight as she untied her bonnet, his brow wrinkled with concern. “We were on our way home from the Singing, and your house was the closest after we got caught in the rain. I hoped to borrow your rig to take Judith home.”
Judith’s teeth chattered.
“Take your shawl off,” Ellie said, helping Judith ease the wet wool off her shoulders. “Are you soaked through?”
Judith shook her head. “Ne, just my shawl and bonnet.” She lifted one foot. “And my shoes.”
“Come in the bedroom with me, and I’ll loan you a pair of warm socks.”
Following Ellie’s waddling form through the kitchen and into the bedroom, Judith shivered again. Her shawl had been wet, but at least it had held a little warmth. Ellie lit the candle on top of the dresser and pulled a knitted throw from the back of a small chair, her movements awkward. The newest addition to their family was due to arrive sometime very soon.
“Here,” she said as Judith sat on the chair, “wrap up in this while I find some dry stockings for you.”
Judith pulled the warm blanket around her shoulders and relaxed against the chair back.
“And here,” Ellie continued, bending down to open a dresser drawer. “These are a pair of Bram’s socks. Take off your shoes and stockings, and slip these on.”
As Judith removed her stockings, she held her toes for a minute. They were ice cold.
“How did you get caught in the rain, anyway?” Ellie sat on the edge of the bed, facing her. “Our house is pretty far from Deacon Beachey’s.”
Now that Judith was getting warmer, the memories of her ride with Luke came flooding in. Her nose prickled.
“I made an awful mistake.”
Ellie sat on the edge of the bed and waited for her to go on.
“Luke Kaufman wanted to give me a ride home, and I said he could, even though I had gone to the Singing with Guy.”
“Luke?” Ellie said. “He’s kind of wild, isn’t he?”
Judith nodded. “I guess I didn’t realize what that really meant.”
Ellie took her hand. “Did he do something on the way home?”
“First, he drove all around until I was lost, and then we ended up at the lake.”
“Emma Lake? That’s at least three miles from here.”
A shiver ran through Judith. But she couldn’t tell if it was from the cold or remembering the dark lakeshore.
“Then he tried to kiss me.”
Ellie nodded. “Some boys think they can get away with anything. Did you let him?”
“It was awful.” Judith wiped her lips with her free hand, feeling his wet mouth again. “I don’t think I like kisses.”
With a laugh, Ellie leaned forward and hugged her. “Someday the right boy will kiss you, and then you’ll find out how sweet they can be.”
Judith leaned her head on Ellie’s shoulder, suddenly sleepy now that she was getting warmer. As she closed her eyes, she saw Guy’s face, handsome and ruddy in the moonlight, close to her own, and the way his eyes had flicked to her mouth. She had thought he wanted to kiss her, out there in the dark, but he hadn’t. Would his kisses be sweet, the way Ellie said?
Ellie gave her another squeeze, then stood up slowly, leaning backward and pushing herself up with one hand.
“Ach,” she said, smoothing her hand over her swollen stomach, “I’ll be glad when this wee babe is finally here. Then I’ll be able to put it down in its cradle instead of carrying it with me all the time.”
Judith glanced at the waiting cradle in the corner of the room. “Is the baby awfully heavy?”
Ellie smiled as she rubbed her back. “It isn’t so terrible. But I can hardly wait to see the little one.”
“It won’t be much longer, will it?”
“It can happen any day now.” Ellie kneaded her back with her fist as she led the way back to the kitchen. “Any day.”
Ellie made them all some hot tea to drink, and they sat on the chairs Bram and Guy had brought near the stove. Judith hung her wet socks on the line behind the oven so they could dry.
The conversation turned to the Singings that Ellie had attended before she married her first husband.
“Did you ever have a beau other than Daniel?” Judith asked, cupping her hands around her mug of sweetened tea with milk.
Ellie shook her head, her eyes focused somewhere over Judith’s head. “Daniel was my only beau. He was handsome and kind. And such a good father.” She smiled at Bram. “Almost as good a father as you are.” She turned to Guy. “He was an orphan, too.”
Guy cleared his throat. “You mean he lived at the orphanage?”
“He came from Ohio to live with his aunt and uncle when his parents died. They are Hezekiah and Miriam Miller, who live in our Dawdi Haus, now. He was only fourteen years old, and it was very hard for him. He lived with the Millers until we married. They were a second set of parents for him, and the three of them needed each other.”
“Well, he needed a home, I know that.” Guy turned the mug in his hand. “But why did they need him? To work on the farm?”
Ellie sipped her tea. “The Millers had never had children. Daniel coming to them was a gift. He gave them a reason to continue building up the farm. A reason to work for the future.” She smiled, her eyes focused on her hands as she looked back over the years. “Miriam says that Daniel was the child of her heart, and his coming to them was the greatest blessing God could have given them. And Daniel’s children—” she paused to take Bram’s hand in hers “—and our new son or daughter, are the light of their old age.”
Guy frowned as he drained his mug. “We should get going. It’s late, and Matthew will be wondering where Judith is.”
“I’ll drive you both home,” Bram said. He put his mug on the drainboard next to the sink. “You know, I had never thought about it before, but David and Verna are a lot like Hezekiah and Miriam. You’re the son they never had, just like Daniel was for his folks.”
“Not really,” Guy said. His frown deepened.
“Why not?” Judith retrieved her dry stockings and slipped them on.
“I don’t belong to them, I just work for them.”
“That’s not the way David thinks of you,” Bram said. “I’ve heard him tell the other men how glad he is that you’re living with them full-time now, rather than going back and forth to the orphanage.”
Judith slipped her feet into her damp shoes as Guy and Bram went to the barn to hitch up the horse. Why didn’t Guy see how much David and Verna loved him? It was almost as if he pushed away any idea that he belonged here in the community. If it hadn’t been for his Deitsch lessons and attending church with the Masts, she wouldn’t think he had
any interest in becoming Amish at all.
Ellie dipped some hot water out of the stove reservoir into a dishpan.
“Let me wash the cups for you.”
Ellie shook her head. “I’m not sleepy. I’d rather be up and doing something until Bram gets back.” She rubbed the small of her back with one hand.
“Are you feeling all right?”
“It’s only the wee one making himself known. I think he might be making his appearance tomorrow or the next day, the way I’m feeling.”
“What if you need help while Bram’s gone?”
“Don’t worry about me,” Ellie said, shooing her toward the door. “If I need someone, I can send Johnny to the Dawdi Haus for Miriam.”
“If you’re sure...”
Ellie laughed. “I’m sure.” She settled Judith’s damp bonnet over her Kapp. “But Judith, are you sure?”
“About what?”
“Luke and Guy. It seems like you’re caught in between the two of them.”
“Not anymore.” Judith tied her bonnet under her chin. “I thought Luke was nice looking, and he is popular, but he isn’t the boy for me.”
“But is Guy?”
Judith looked toward the barn, where Guy was leading the horse out, hitched to the buggy and ready to go. His only thought through the entire evening had been for her. Making sure she was safe, making sure she was taken care of. Even when she had pushed him away, he didn’t abandon her.
“I don’t know.” Judith gave Ellie a quick hug goodbye. “But he’s given me a lot to think about tonight.”
Ellie caught Judith’s sleeve before she stepped away. “He seems to be a kind and thoughtful man. Someone who will be a good friend for you.”
Judith glanced toward Guy, waiting to help her into the buggy. Ellie was right. Guy had been a good friend tonight. Her words from earlier in the evening echoed in her ears. Had she really told Guy she didn’t want folks to see them as a couple?
As she stepped into the buggy, her hand in Guy’s for balance, she met his look. Those eyes, so gentle and comforting, lit a warm fire inside her.
She sat next to Bram, and Guy squeezed into the seat on her other side. He laid his arm along the back of the bench, his hand barely touching her shoulder. But at the same time, she felt safe and protected.
