by Jan Drexler
Ja, he was a good friend. Someone she could trust.
* * *
A light was shining from the kitchen windows when they arrived at Judith’s house. The ride had been silent, with Judith sitting next to Guy in the front seat, and he welcomed the pressure of her shoulder against his side as his arm along the back of the seat made room for her to sit close to him. He had hoped that she’d lay her head on his shoulder, but she stared straight ahead.
“Looks like Matthew is up and waiting for you,” Bram said as he pulled the horse to a halt by the kitchen door.
Judith stifled a yawn. “Or Annie is up with the twins.”
That question was answered as Matthew opened the door wide and trotted down the steps toward them before Guy could help Judith from the buggy.
“Judith? Is that you?”
“You didn’t have to wait up for me.” Judith stood next to Guy. “We got caught in the rain and ended up at Bram’s.”
Matthew leaned into the buggy. “I appreciate you bringing Judith home, especially since it’s so late.”
“Being late is partly our fault,” Bram said. “We got to talking while their wraps dried and kept them too long.”
“How did they end up at your place? That’s out of the way if they were walking between here and my folks’ place.”
Guy shifted his feet when Bram fixed his gaze on him. He had been responsible for Judith, but she had ended up walking nearly all the way to Topeka.
“It’s my fault,” he said, blurting the words out. “I should have brought her straight home.”
Judith stepped between Guy and the older men. “Ne. Guy had nothing to do with me ending up so far from home. If he hadn’t come to find me, I would still be out there in the dark and lost. I’m sorry I caused you so much trouble, Bram.”
“It is no trouble. Ellie hasn’t been sleeping well lately, and I know she enjoyed the company.”
“Everything is all right at your place?” Matthew asked.
“She’s doing well. She thinks we’ll be meeting our little stranger soon, though.”
Guy knew that was as close as the men would come to discussing Ellie’s condition.
“Then you need to get home. I appreciate you giving these young folks a ride.” Matthew shook hands with Bram, then closed the buggy door.
Matthew stepped back as Bram drove away and turned to Judith. “Morning will be here before we know it, and I need to turn in. I know Annie will want to hear all about your adventure tomorrow, but I’m just glad you’re home now, and safe.”
Judith nodded. “I’ll come in a minute.”
As Matthew went into the house, Judith wrapped her arms around herself. The night air was brisk as a breeze started blowing.
“You should go in, too,” Guy said, turning her toward the door. “It’s late, and you’re cold.”
“Come into the washing porch with me.” Judith tugged on his hand. “I’m not ready for sleep, and I want to talk to you. We’ll be out of the wind there.”
She was right. The washing porch was quiet and snug, even if it wasn’t warm. Judith closed the door against the chill and sat on a bench, patting the spot next to her. When he sat, she looked at him, her smile barely visible in the dark.
“All the way home from Bram’s, the only thing I could think of was how silly I was to go with Luke.” She spoke in English, and Guy was glad he didn’t have to work to understand her. “I don’t know why I did it, except that it sounded like fun. And Hannah has been encouraging me to get together with her brother, so I thought I’d give him a chance.”
“Hannah likes to interfere where she isn’t wanted.” Guy didn’t want to think about Hannah and girls like her.
“She isn’t mean about it though, is she? She’s always been nice to me.”
Guy rubbed at his chin. “She’s thoughtless more than mean.” He scratched the whiskers growing on his cheek. Hannah’s carelessness about his feelings last fall had hurt, no matter what her intentions had been. “But she’s blind where her brother is concerned. All the fellows knew he intended to see how far he could get with you tonight. He wanted to take advantage of your inexperience.”
Judith was silent for a moment, and when she spoke, her voice was strained. “Why didn’t you warn me?”
“I tried, remember? But you didn’t listen to me.”
She grasped his hand. “I’m sorry. I thought you were just trying to run my life, but instead you were only protecting me.”
Guy closed his fingers over her cold hand and reached for the other one. Clasped in his larger ones, they would warm quickly. “Of course I was trying to protect you. You went to the Singing with me, and Matthew trusted me to watch out for you.”
“I was wrong about Luke.”
“What do you mean?”
“I assumed that I could trust any of the boys in our church. I should be able to, shouldn’t I? I thought he would watch out for me, just like Matthew would or you would. But he didn’t.”
Guy thought about the fellows he knew from town and the Home. He wouldn’t trust any girl with them if they were alone on a dark night. He stroked the back of her hand.
“One of the things I like about you is that you look for the good in everyone, but not everyone is good.”
“But Luke’s father is a deacon.” Judith pulled one hand from his grasp and untied her bonnet.
“That doesn’t make Luke so good that he won’t succumb to temptation when it comes.”
“Like a girl who is trusting enough to accept a ride home with him.” Judith stood and paced the length of the porch. “I actually thought he was going to bring me home. How stupid could I be?”
“Not stupid.” Guy leaned against the wall and watched her walk back and forth. “You aren’t stupid.” He stood and caught her arm as she walked past the bench again. “You are new to this whole thing. The Singings, fellows being interested in you, flirting, all of it.” He turned her toward him, wishing he could see the expression on her face in the shadows. “You’ll learn, and someday you’ll ride home with a boy who actually takes you home instead of trying to take advantage of you.”
Judith sighed and leaned against him. “But how will I know which boys I can trust and which ones I can’t?”
He tightened his arms and held her close. “Ask me. I know most of the fellows and can give you advice.” His stomach turned when he thought of someone else talking with her the way he was now. He couldn’t think of boys he trusted, except perhaps Benjamin Stoltzfus or Nathan Zook.
“Denki, Guy. You’re a good friend.”
As she went into the house, Guy lingered on the porch, fastening his coat before walking across the road to his warm bed. Judith was looking toward the future with more confidence than he had. She would go out with those boys and perhaps end up marrying one of them. He could see her standing next to Nathan Zook in a few years, a toddler at her knees and a baby in her arms. Happy and content.
And where would he be? Guy shoved his hat onto his head and let himself out into the night. He tucked his chin into his coat and skirted a puddle. Who knew? Still working for David, most likely, and waiting for something that would never happen.
Chapter Seven
“Why are Mondays always so busy?” Annie, with a baby in each arm, pushed a pile of laundry across the washing porch’s floor toward Judith with her foot.
“Well, first of all, it’s washday.” Judith took a shirt from Eli. He was trying hard to help, but the job would have gone smoother without him handing her the soiled clothes one item at a time.
Annie shifted one of the twins to face front as the baby grew fussy. That one must be Viola. She was always wanting to see what was happening around her, while Rose was more likely to be content watching whoever held her.
“Ja, it’s washday, but that doesn’t explain why things are always
in a kerfuffle on Mondays.”
Judith grinned at her. “Or it could be because you didn’t get much sleep last night. I heard you up with one of the twins soon after I got home.”
“Both of them.” Annie sighed and jiggled the babies, soothing Viola’s fussing. “First Rose woke up, and then before I could get her fed and changed, Viola was crying. Sometimes I feel like I get nothing else done except feeding them and changing their diapers.”
Judith watched Annie’s expression soften as she leaned down to kiss Viola’s red curls and swallowed a sudden longing that had appeared from nowhere. A longing so strong that her throat filled and her eyes grew moist. Such a simple gesture, but one that showed the intimate bond between mother and child. She shook her head and turned back to the next shirt Eli handed her, not wanting to stare.
She smiled at her nephew. “But you wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world, would you?”
“Ja, that’s for sure. Sometimes, when I should be sleeping, I just sit and watch them, amazed at the wonder of babies.”
That brought Judith’s thoughts to her sister-in-law, and the mysterious labor she might be experiencing at this moment.
“Guy and I stopped at Bram and Ellie’s last night. She said she expects their little stranger to arrive any day now.”
“I haven’t had an opportunity to ask you how the Singing went. Did you have fun?”
Judith’s cheeks warmed as she put the rest of the load of clothes into the washtub. Eli had found the handle to the wringer and was busy trying it out. “Most of it was a lot of fun.”
“Most of it?”
“Matthew didn’t tell you?”
Annie shook her head. “He was out and doing chores by the time I woke up this morning. We haven’t had a chance to talk.”
Judith had been glad when Matthew didn’t mention anything about the previous night at breakfast, but she thought he had already told Annie.
“There was a bit of a problem. I got caught in the rain, and Guy took me to Bram’s to dry off and borrow their buggy.”
Annie stepped closer as Judith scrubbed a shirt on the washboard. “You went to Bram’s? How did you end up all the way down there?”
Judith told her the story of Luke and how she ended up alone on a strange road. “I was so embarrassed. I hope the story doesn’t get out to everyone.”
“No one will hear it from me. But how did Guy know where to look for you?”
“I’m not sure. He was suddenly there, and I never asked him. I was so glad to see him.” Judith stopped her scrubbing and looked at Annie. “But you don’t need to worry. I won’t be accepting a ride from Luke Kaufman again.”
“I hope you’ll let Guy bring you home from now on.”
“Or someone else. Guy said he would let me know which of the boys I can trust.”
Annie didn’t answer but chewed her bottom lip as Judith ran a shirt through the wringer and dropped it in the basket with the other clean clothes.
“What is wrong?”
“Guy said that? Why? I thought he would have wanted to bring you home himself, not make way for another fellow.”
“We’re friends, and that’s the way I want it to be. I appreciate his willingness to help me, but he knows that I’m not looking for anything more from him.”
Viola squirmed and Annie started rocking from one foot to the other with a bouncing motion, a habit Judith had seen in other young mothers. It worked, though, and Viola’s fussiness eased.
“I’m not sure that Guy thinks of you as just a friend.”
Judith stared at her, the wringer forgotten in midturn. The memory of how his eyes had darkened when she’d thought he might kiss her last night flashed through her thoughts. “What makes you think that?”
It was Annie’s turn to grin at her. “I see the expression on his face when he thinks no one is looking.”
Feeding the next shirt into the wringer, Judith started turning it again. “Now you’re imagining things. Guy is just the boy across the road.”
“That you spend a lot of time with.”
Judith put the last shirt through the wringer. “Only because of his language lessons.”
“Are you sure that’s all it is?”
As she picked up the laundry basket to take it outside to the clothesline, Judith caught Annie’s gaze. If she was going to have any peace, she needed to squelch Annie’s speculations once and for all.
“Of course that’s all it is. Guy and I are friends. Nothing more.”
Judith let the wooden door slam, Annie’s giggles echoing behind her. Picking up the first shirt, she shook it with a snap, then reached up to pin it to the clothesline. As she did, her gaze wandered across the road to the Mast farm. Looking for Guy? She shook her head and concentrated on jamming the pin down on the shirt’s shoulder. Where was her determination to find a boy from a good, Amish family? One who would be able to offer her the security and comfort Mamm had never enjoyed?
Guy was a friend. Only a friend.
As she bent down to pick up the next shirt from the basket, her gaze went across the road again. Two figures stood in the barnyard, one a few inches taller than the other. That one must be Guy. David grasped Guy’s shoulder as they walked behind the corner of the barn, their heads bent together as if they were deep in conversation.
Annie had been right about Luke, and she might be right about Guy. Security and a good name would be nothing without love. The kind of love Judith saw between Annie and Matthew, and Samuel and Mary. Even last night, she had seen that same love between Bram and Ellie.
Would she and Guy ever share that kind of love? Judith stared at the Mast farm as if the empty barnyard held the answer.
* * *
“I didn’t ask you how things went at the Singing last night.” David held the wagon tongue as Guy fitted the new bolts into place.
“It went fine.” Guy finished replacing the bolts and picked up the pieces of the old, worn ones to put in the scrap bucket.
The older man ran a hand over his beard. “You got in later than I thought you might.”
“Judith had some trouble getting home, so I stayed to make sure she made it all right.”
“Trouble?”
Guy leveled a look at his boss. He didn’t want to betray Judith’s confidence, but he could use some advice. He gave David a brief account of what had happened the night before. “I did the only thing I could think of, and took her to her brother’s place.”
“You did right, son.” David gave his shoulder a squeeze as they walked toward the machine shed next to the barn. “Bram is a good man and would make sure she got home safely.”
“I tried to tell Judith not to accept a ride home from Luke, but she wouldn’t listen to me. How can I convince her I know what I’m talking about?”
“After last night, she might trust your opinion more.”
Guy tossed the broken pieces of the bolts in the air a few inches and caught them again. “Sometimes I get the feeling she thinks of me like a younger brother. I don’t know if she’ll ever listen to me.”
“You’re her friend, aren’t you? You are earning her trust.”
Guy couldn’t think of how to answer. Every time he thought he might want her to be more than a friend, the sound of Hannah’s laughter echoed in his ears.
“Yeah,” he said, switching to English. “Yeah, we’re friends.”
David stopped in the doorway, facing him. “Verna and I started out as friends, sitting across the aisle from each other in school. Some of the best marriages start out that way.” He grinned. “Should we look for a courting buggy for you?”
His stomach dipped down and then up again. A courting buggy?
“If I bought a courting buggy, it would be the same as putting a sign on my back saying Bachelor Available. Looking for a Wife.”
Da
vid laughed, then set to work on the new milking stool he was making. “You’re probably right. A courting buggy would declare your intentions to the world.” He held up the three legs of the stool he had sanded and finished yesterday, checking them against each other. “It would also tell the world that you’re thinking about joining church.”
“It would, for sure.” Guy tossed the old bolts and washers into the scrap bucket.
“And you’re not ready for that?”
Leaning on the workbench, Guy watched David whittle the end of one leg of the stool to match the others. “I never put much thought in it.” He flicked at a little pile of sawdust. “I’ve always assumed that when my pa came back, I’d go off with him.”
“Do you still think he will?”
After the years of broken promises? “I don’t think he’ll ever ask me to go with him. Not after all this time. I’m not sure he’ll even show up again.”
David fitted one of the legs into the hole he had drilled in the bottom of the stool. “You’ve put a lot of faith in your father over the years. I’ve seen you waiting and watching for him. One of your first summers here, you’d perk up every time an automobile drove by the farm, hoping it was your dad coming for you.”
Guy glanced at the older man, but David was concentrating on getting the angle of the leg right. “I remember that. Pa had stopped by the Home in April, just before my twelfth birthday.” Guy ground his thumb into the little pile of sawdust he had created, pressing it together. “He had promised he’d be back before school was out. He said he had a job out West somewhere, and I could come with him.”
It had been another broken promise.
David dipped an old brush in the glue pot, swirled it in the hole and set the leg in place. “People will always disappoint us. That’s why we should be wary of putting our faith in them. Even the best of men will let us down eventually.”
Guy snorted. “You’ve got that right.”
“God, on the other hand, will never let you down.”
