by Beth Wiseman
She glanced at Aaron. He sat tall in his seat, like a towering spruce, and his profile was sharp and confident as he flicked the reins and picked up the pace. This was not the quiet boy from their school days, but a man who caused her heart to flutter in an unexpected way.
When his eyes met with hers, Leah knew something was happening between them, whether it was a part of her plan or not.
Chapter Seventeen
JAMES WAITED ON THE FRONT PORCH FOR MARIAN AND the girls to gather up the dishes they’d brought to the Lantzes’ for the Sunday meal. What a good day it was. A fine worship service, a wonderful meal, and plenty of good company. He waved as several buggies pulled out to head for home, as he was hoping to do soon. The heavy meal had settled on him, and he was ready to relax at his own home before bedtime, perhaps take in the sunset from the front porch. Tomorrow would be a busy day, but Sundays were a day of rest, and that was exactly how James planned to spend the remainder of this one.
The screen door slammed, and James turned to see Ruth joining him on the porch, toting a plastic bag. She’d shed her bright red shoes, and as she walked barefoot toward him, still dressed in the red polka dot dress, he couldn’t help but smile. She didn’t smile back.
“This is for you.” She thrust the plastic bag at him, almost hitting him in the stomach. “Read it. Think about it. Pray about it.”
“What?” James peeked into the bag. Dozens, or hundreds, of notebook-sized papers were bound with three rubber bands. “What is this?” He flipped through the pages for a moment, then looked up at Ruth.
“Leah has a gift from the Lord, James. Don’t keep the girl from being who she really is by stifling her dreams.” Ruth waved her hand in the air. “There’s plenty of women around here who can cook, clean, tend gardens, and the like—but I don’t know any who have the ability to touch another person through words on a page like your Leah. She is special, James. And someone is gonna read this book and be changed by it.”
“This is Leah’s?” He looked in the bag again. “Why are you giving it to me?”
Ruth grinned. “’Cause I think you’re gonna be the first one to be changed by it.” She slapped him on the arm. “Now, go store that in your buggy. No need to mention this to the others, but you take yourself home and you read that girl’s story. Quit trying to mold her into something she ain’t. She has a far greater purpose.”
Then she actually gave James a little push on the shoulder. He just wanted her to go away, so he marched to the buggy, stashed the bag under the seat, and stalled a bit until he saw her go back inside. Glad she’s not my aunt.
It wasn’t long before Marian, Edna, Mary Carol, and Kathleen joined him, and they all squeezed into the buggy. Without Leah in between him and Marian, the ride was much more comfortable, even though his daughters were somewhat cramped in the back. But it was a short ride, and the entire way he thought about what Ruth said and about the bag under his seat.
Leah flung her hands into the air and held her head back, the wind whipping her cheeks into a rosy shade of pink, and Aaron didn’t think he’d ever seen a more beautiful vision. Her brown dress brought out the color of her eyes, which flickered like gold in the sunlight. He picked up the pace even more, until his horse was in a comfortable gallop.
“I love to go fast!” She dropped her hands and turned toward him, and Aaron smiled in her direction. “I hardly ever get to drive our buggy. We have two, the family-sized covered buggy and the spring buggy. But if Mamm and Daed aren’t using one, Edna gets the first chance to travel in it. Since she’s the oldest and all.”
Aaron slowed the horse to a trot, glad that he was fortunate enough to own a topless buggy. Unlike a spring buggy, which wasn’t enclosed and held four comfortably, his courting buggy only had one seat—just room enough for two. A cozy arrangement for those of dating age. “You wanna drive?”
“Ya!” She twisted toward him. “I sure do!”
“Whoa, boy,” he said, bringing the buggy to a complete stop. “There aren’t too many cars on this road, but watch that curve up ahead in front of the Miller place. Sometimes the Englisch come barreling around that corner in their cars.”
“I will.”
Aaron walked around to the other side of the buggy, and Leah slid over to his side and picked up the reins. He was just getting ready to give her some simple instructions when she whistled and slapped the horse into action. Aaron grabbed his hat just as it began to lift off his head. He pushed it down tighter around his forehead as Leah brought the horse to a faster run than he had a few moments ago.
I hope this wasn’t a mistake. She seems fearless.
But as he watched her slow the horse and ease around the sharp corner, his heart rate returned to normal. Then she picked it up again, and they flew down a long stretch of wide-open road. Her smile was eager and alive, and Aaron slid an arm around her shoulder. She slowed down almost instantly, and the perk in her mood seemed to deflate. Aaron pulled his arm back, realizing he’d gone too far.
“That’s enough for me,” she said. She brought the buggy to a halt and wasted no time jumping from the seat. Aaron exited his side and met her up front where she was rubbing Pete’s snout. “He’s tired. We probably ran him too hard.”
Aaron knew that wasn’t what caused her to jump out of his buggy.
“Why are we going to Bird-in-Hand?” She tilted her head to one side, still stroking the horse. “It’s mostly for tourists.”
Aaron shrugged. “Just somethin’ to do. We can go anywhere you want.”
He saw her take a deep breath, and she avoided his eyes when she spoke. “Maybe back to your cousin’s pond. It’s pretty there.”
And private. “Sure. We can go there.” It wasn’t in his plan. He’d wanted to buy her something at the market in Bird-in-Hand, sip root beer at the small stand on the way there, and make sure she knew he wasn’t boring. But this was a far greater plan.
Less than five minutes later, Aaron parked the buggy, and he and Leah walked down to the water’s edge. He followed her out onto the pier. She pulled off her black leather shoes and socks, sat down, and dangled her feet in the water below. Aaron followed her lead, careful not to sit too close to her.
“Remember when we were younger, how everyone used to go to the river? The girls would all sit on the bank and watch all you boys swim.” She turned toward him with an expression of fond recollections.
“Ya.” Aaron remembered that he was always looking at Leah to see if she was watching him when he took his turn on the tire swing. “Those were fun times.”
They sat quietly for a few moments.
“I can’t wait to hear what Donna and Clare think of my book,” she said out of the clear blue.
Aaron took a deep breath, knowing he was about to kill the mood and the moment.
“Leah, I need to tell you something about that.”
“What?” She was still splashing her feet in the water, but she looked up.
“Your Englisch friends left the book on the table, and I picked it up, and—”
“What?” Her feet grew still in the water, and her eyes searched his.
“I’m sure they didn’t mean to. I saw them leave, and they must have just—”
“But that’s my only copy. What if you hadn’t picked it up?”
Aaron didn’t have the heart to tell her what he’d overheard the girls saying. He wanted so badly to take her in his arms, comfort her, and tell her that those girls were not the ones meant to read her book. They weren’t ready.
She bolted upright. “Where’s the book now?”
“I didn’t want to upset you that night, so I stuffed it into Auntie Ruth’s purse. I meant to bring it to you, but I forgot to get it back.” He paused. “Ach, and I hope it’s okay, but Auntie Ruth asked if she could read it.”
This brightened her face. “Really?”
“Ya. Is that all right?”
“Ya. Ya. I can’t wait to hear what she thinks of it.”
“I’m
sure that Donna and Clare want to read it too.” It was a lie, and Aaron wished he hadn’t said it, but he felt compelled to make her happy.
She shook her head, then turned to him and smiled. “Maybe they just aren’t ready.”
He smiled back at her, and then without warning, she cut her foot to the side and splashed water all over him. “You were sweating like our pig!” she said, laughing.
Aaron wiped the water from his face, cut his eyes in her direction, and then returned the gesture, covering her with water. “You looked pretty sweaty yourself!”
She screamed when the cool water doused her, and immediately kicked water back at him. “Take that, Aaron Lantz!”
Laughter erupted from way down deep. Aaron wasn’t sure what came over him, but he suddenly grabbed her around the waist and threw her in.
Leah bobbed up, soaking wet, bobbed back under again, then bobbed up, gasped for air, and said, “I can’t swim!”
Aaron’s heart leaped from his chest as he jumped into the water to rescue her. He wrapped his arms around her, pulled her close to him, and then stood up in the four feet of water. Leah stood up then, too, laughing so hard she could hardly speak. “Gotcha!”
But Aaron still had his arms tightly around her waist. “Who’s got who?”
She stopped laughing, and fear stretched across her face as her eyes met with his. He could feel her trembling. The honorable thing to do would have been to let her go and help her out of the water and back onto the pier. Instead he pulled her closer and kissed her gently on the lips. Then he kissed her again, and this time she closed her eyes and kissed him back.
“Leah,” he whispered. He pushed a strand of wet hair from her cheek and attempted to tuck it back beneath her wet prayer covering. “I’ve wanted to do that for a long time.”
“Aaron, I—I—” She pushed away from him. “I’d make a terrible choice for courtship.” She crinkled her face as if she’d bitten into something sour.
He stepped closer to her in the water and gently put his hands on her waist and turned her so that her back was against the pier. She was still trembling. With ease, he lifted her up and onto the pier. He stayed in the water facing her. “Is this the part where you’re gonna tell me what a terrible cook you are, and how you can’t sew?”
She hung her head, then looked back up at him. “Not only is it true, it doesn’t even bother me much that I can’t do these things. I’d rather be writing and doing things that matter to me.”
Aaron grabbed his straw hat, floating nearby. Then he lifted himself onto the pier. He set the wet hat down beside him, pushed back his soaked hair, and turned to face her. “Why don’t we just see how it goes?”
Leah nodded. “Okay.” Then she pointed a finger in his direction. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you. I’ll never be one of those women who cooks and cleans and waits on a man constantly, without any other outside interests, and I also will not—”
Aaron kissed her again, and she stopped talking and fell willingly into his arms.
Chapter Eighteen
MARIAN CLIMBED INTO BED BESIDE JAMES, BUT HE DIDN’T even look up.
“Leah is home. She said she had a wonderful time with Aaron. Gut news, no?”
James nodded. “Ya.”
Marian reached for her lotion on the bedside table and lit her own lantern on her side of the bed. “Leah’s clothes were damp and wrinkled, like maybe they’d been swimming, but I didn’t ask.”
Her husband still didn’t look up.
“James, you’ve been reading all afternoon. Are you still trying to learn from the Englisch author how to rear daughters?”
James had Leah’s note pages propped up against the book he’d been reading, so it was no wonder Marian thought he was reading the Englisch author. He veered the book in Marian’s direction so that she could see the stack of notebook paper resting against it. “No, I am reading Leah’s book.”
Marian’s eyes grew large. “Leah’s book?” She scooted closer to him and pushed back his arm so she could see better. “Where did you get that? Does she know you’re reading it?”
James pulled off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “I don’t know. Ruth gave it to me.”
“Ruth? What was she doing with it?”
He raised his shoulders, dropped them slowly. “I reckon I don’t know. She said she thought I should read it, though.”
They sat quietly for a moment.
“Is it gut? The book,” Marian finally asked.
James swallowed back the lump in his throat. “Ya,” he whispered. Then he wrapped an arm around his wife, pulled her closer. “Listen to this.” James put his glasses on and read a page from Leah’s book.
Rose thought about her relationship with God, and she couldn’t imagine herself alone and without faith—like Lauren. She sat down beside her Englisch friend and prayed for guidance, for a way to open Lauren’s heart to the Lord and His Son, Jesus. As she silently prayed, she thought about her father and what he might do in a situation such as this. Rose’s father was the wisest man she knew, often strict with his daughters, but Rose had never doubted his love for her, or his faith in God. And he had a way of knowing what to do in a crisis.
Rose recalled the time when her father’s brother died, Rose’s only uncle. It was the only time she’d ever seen her father cry, and despite all of their grief, he’d reminded his daughters that God’s will often causes us pain that we cannot understand, but that to question His will is to question all things in life and our purpose on this earth. “We each have a purpose,” her father had said. “Mei brother’s purpose has been fulfilled.”
James took a deep breath, glanced at Marian.
“She’s talking about you.” Marian stroked his arm tenderly. “And David.”
James thought back to when his brother’s horse—an animal fresh off the track with no road experience—bolted out onto Lincoln Highway and into oncoming traffic. He nodded, then went on.
But this was a different kind of crisis. No one had died, yet a part of Lauren seemed to be dying on the inside. Her father was a loving man, but he thought Lauren should follow in his footsteps by running the family business. But Lauren had her own dreams, dreams her father couldn’t understand.
“My father says my dreams are nonsense, and that playing music will never make me a fine living, like taking over his business will,” Lauren said. “How can I make my father understand that he can’t make me into something I’m not?” She looked at Rose. “I want to make my father proud of me, but I also want to live my own life.”
James pulled off his glasses again and leaned his head against the headboard.
“James.” Marian leaned her head on his shoulder, then kissed his cheek. “She is also talking about you here.” Marian reached for the book on her husband’s lap. “Here, let me.”
James lifted his hand so Marian could take Leah’s loose pages. He closed the Englisch book and placed it on his bedside table. Marian straightened Leah’s pages, pulled her knees up, and propped their daughter’s words in front of her. James kept his head resting against the headboard as his wife read.
Rose smiled at her friend, then latched onto her hand. “Let me tell you about Jesus. He is a personal friend of mine, and I’d like to introduce you to Him.” Rose proceeded to tell Lauren about Jesus and His Father, and she prayed constantly that God’s words would flow from her and into her friend’s heart. When Lauren began to weep, Rose knew that the Holy Spirit was settling around her friend, and she thanked God continually. In the back of her mind, though, she kept wondering if her own father would be proud of her.
James felt a tear roll down his cheek.
His wife set Leah’s book aside and kissed away his tear. “My darling James.”
“I’ve been praying for the wrong things, Marian.” He took a deep breath and gathered himself, embarrassed for Marian to see him like this. He’d only cried once in his entire life—when David died— and yet his daughter’s words were having a profo
und effect on him. “I’ve prayed each night for God to rid Leah of these silly stories, not once considering that His will is being done.” He turned toward Marian. “Perhaps this story of hers will change a life somehow.”
Marian smiled. “Maybe it just did.”
When Aaron took Leah home, he kissed her yet again, and the feel of her lips against his stayed with him all the way home. What a wonderful day it had been. After their swim, they’d spent hours talking, and Aaron knew that someday he was going to make Leah his wife.
He wasn’t surprised to see the Petersheim spring buggy at his house when he pulled up. When he dropped Leah at home, she’d commented that Edna had probably taken the buggy and gone back to see Abner. The closer it got to the wedding, the more inseparable Abner and Edna were.
Aaron tended to his horse, then walked up to the house, a newfound bounce in his step. He smiled. He might have to eat a lot of chicken salad for the rest of his life, but he was willing to do that to be with Leah.
When he hit the porch, he heard voices. Edna and Abner were evidently in the den. Aaron heard his name and paused.
“Leah is only using Aaron. You do know that, right?” Edna’s voice coursed through him.
“What do you mean?” Abner asked.
Aaron inched closer to the door, careful to stay out of sight, then leaned his ear toward the door.
“Daed won’t let her go out and do anything because she shirks all her responsibilities at home. She’s late to meals all the time, and she just doesn’t do her share,” Edna said. “She helped a little bit when I got sick, but then she just slipped back to her old ways.”
