“Hot chocolate ready yet?”
Mary Lou and Lucy turned their heads when they heard Adeline's voice. Adeline walked over and sat down next to Mary Lou.
“Not quite yet,” Lucy said.
“We were just talking about Levi,” Mary Lou told her.
"Oh. Levi and Lucy are doing better than ever."
Mary Lou stared at her and then she turned around and looked at Lucy. "Is that true, Lucy?"
Lucy gulped and didn't want to lie. "We’ll be okay."
Mary Lou tilted her head to one side. "So, you're not back together?"
"Not completely, but it’s confusing because we kind of never broke up. Nothing was said exactly.”
Mary Lou swung back around to face Adeline, who was still sitting next to her. "Did you just lie to me, Adeline?"
"It depends what you mean. I just wasn't sure how things were between them."
"You'll want to keep quiet, then, if you don’t know," Mary Lou said. “You're just wasting our time."
"Are you in a hurry?" Adeline asked her.
"Nee, but neither do I like talking about nothing or talking to someone who has the wrong information and makes things up. Don't you have something better to do?" Mary Lou’s lips turned down at the corners.
Without saying anything, Adeline got up and walked out of the kitchen.
Lucy called after her. "I’ll bring your hot chocolate out soon, Adeline." Lucy was grateful that Adeline was trying to protect her, and upset with Mary Lou for her rudeness to her sister.
"What was that all about?" Mary Lou asked when Adeline was gone.
"I'm not sure. Anyway, what have you been doing?"
"Nothing much. I was just at home and I was bored and realized I haven't seen you very much lately."
"Of course not, because of the shunning, but I’m glad you stopped by. I haven't asked, but how do you feel about Isaac being married? It must be hard for you."
"I’ve gotten used to the idea. I can't do anything about it and I can't change it. Sometimes it makes me angry, but I do my best not to dwell on it. I always thought it would be me who married Isaac. I mean, what does Hazel have that I don't?"
Lucy found that she was sympathetic. Mary Lou had something about her that made Lucy want to like her and be her friend. "I don't know. I don't think she has anything that you don't have. I really don't know how it all happened."
"I'm glad you said that because you’re my best friend, and then you were her attendant at her wedding. I was hurt by that."
"I can understand that. I was put in a hard position by Mrs. Fuller. She asked me in front of Hazel if I’d do it. And then Hazel asked me, so it was kind of hard to get out of it. Especially when Hazel knows no one very well. I guess I was the natural choice because of my relationship with Levi."
"I can't blame you too much then." Mary Lou gave a little chuckle while Lucy pulled some mugs down from the high cupboard.
Lucy sat down in front of Mary Lou while the milk heated. She wished things could be back to normal. Things had been so good when Mary Lou was dating Isaac and she was dating Levi. Everything just seemed to make sense, and now everything was upside down.
"I hope you don't blame me for anything," Lucy said. “I really couldn’t get out of being Hazel’s bridesmaid.”
"I don't blame you. Anyway, enough talk about that wedding. I've noticed a few times that Levi and Nella have been talking to each other. I've never noticed that before. It's just happened within the last few weeks. Are they good friends now or something? Or is it something more sinister?"
It wasn’t good that Mary Lou and Lucy’s mother had both noticed him talking with Nella at different times. She had to be honest. "I've seen that too and I've wondered about it."
"Have you asked him?"
"I did, but I didn't get a proper answer."
"What if she likes him?” Mary Lou asked.
"It's up to Levi. If he likes someone else more than me there’s nothing I can do about it."
"You’d give up without a fight?"
Lucy frowned. "A fight?”
“Yeah. Well, not literally.”
Lucy shook her head. “I won’t fight for anything or anyone. Either he wants me, or he doesn't."
“Hmmm. That’s very brave of you to say that after the way I was dumped."
"You can’t force a man to love you. And I don't want to marry a man who doesn't love me."
“Are you talking about me and Isaac?”
“Nee. I wouldn’t say something like that to you. From my point of view, if Levi wants Nella to be his girlfriend now and not me, there’s nothing I can do about it.”
Mary Lou pursed her lips. "I think you should have a talk with Nella to see why she's always speaking to him."
"I couldn't do that." Lucy jumped to her feet when she heard the milk bubbling. She mixed in the sugar and the cocoa powder to make the hot chocolate, stirred it over low heat until it was creamy-smooth, and poured it. Then she placed one mug in front of Mary Lou and another one on the table for herself. When she had picked up two more mugs, she said, “I’ll just take these out to my sisters.” After that was done, she sat down again with Mary Lou.
After she took a sip of hot chocolate, Mary Lou licked her lips. “Denke for this. It’s nice.”
“You’re welcome.”
“I only said what I said about talking to Nella because, looking back, I think I should’ve said something to Hazel and I didn’t. She had the advantage of working with Isaac and seeing him every day. That’s how she was able to drive a wedge between us. There was nothing I could do about it when things went too far. But I regret not doing anything when she first started working there. Then she started working after hours with him." Mary Lou gave a little sigh from the back of her throat.
"How did that come about?" Lucy was confused that Mary Lou was telling her all this. Maybe she’d been wrong about Mary Lou because it sounded like she was trying to help her.
"The Fuller business was being audited, or something like that, and Isaac told me he had to make sure the books were right. Since Hazel had taken over that job from him, he had to show her how he’d been doing the books."
“And you think the extra time they spent together made the difference?"
"Of course it did. We were fine until she started working there. I wish she’d never come to this community."
They sat for a while in silence as they sipped their hot drinks. From the lack of talk coming from the other room, Lucy knew the girls were listening in.
Finally, Mary Lou said, “I want to help you and Levi get back together."
"You do?"
"Jah. We can't let Nella get in your way."
Lucy stared at Mary Lou, wondering what game she was playing now. "Denke, but I can’t worry about that. I only just finished saying I can’t worry if he likes someone else."
"That's okay in theory, but in real life it doesn’t make sense. Men don't really know what they want."
"Don't they?" Lucy asked, wondering how Mary Lou knew so much.
"Of course not. If they knew what they wanted, Isaac would’ve stayed with me." Mary Lou frowned and lines appeared in her forehead.
Maybe there was some truth in what Mary Lou said because it was accurate that everything between Isaac and Mary Lou seemed fine until Hazel came to work at the Fullers' kitchen joinery workshop. Except that Isaac had never asked Mary Lou to marry him …
"I’m only trying to help you, Lucy."
"I know, I can see that. Denke."
"That's what friends do for each other."
"Let's talk about something other than men. Can we do that?"
Mary Lou giggled. "Okay. What else would you like to talk about?"
"Pies."
"You want to talk about pies?"
"Jah. I was thinking of making a pie tonight for dinner. They’re Dat’s favorite."
Mary Lou sighed. "You see? Everything reminds me of Isaac, even pies. Apple pies are Isaac's favorite, t
oo."
Lucy felt sorry for her, but there was nothing to be done since Isaac was already married to Hazel. When she couldn’t think of any comforting words, she took a sip of hot chocolate. Mary Lou certainly wasn't helping take her mind off Levi.
"I just remembered there is somewhere else I need to be."
Lucy was startled by Mary Lou’s sudden words. "But you haven’t even drunk all of your hot chocolate yet."
"I don't want to get fat." Mary Lou rose slightly, pushed her chair back, and then stood up.
Lucy looked at her friend’s slim frame. "But you're not fat, you’re really skinny."
"And that's just the way I'd like to keep it."
"Where do you need to be?"
"I said I would help one of my sisters with something."
Lucy jumped to her feet. "I'll walk you out. I wish you could've stayed longer."
"Me too, but my schweschder won't be happy if I keep her waiting. I forgot her once before and I can't do that to her again."
"Okay. Denke for stopping by." Lucy walked out to the buggy with her and waited in the cold while Mary Lou took up the reins, got herself comfortable in the seat, and then moved the buggy onto the road.
"Bye, Lucy," Mary Lou yelled over her shoulder while waving her hand over her head.
"Bye, Mary Lou." Lucy hurried back to the house, hoping her hot chocolate was still hot.
Blocking the doorway to the house was Adeline. "What did she want?"
"Quick, it's cold. Let me inside."
Adeline moved out of the way and Lucy rushed into the kitchen, and when she grabbed her mug, she wrapped her hands around it to warm them. She took a sip, glad that it was still hot enough to warm her inside, too.
"Well?"
When she'd sat down, she saw that Adeline was now standing in the kitchen doorway. Lucy slumped into the chair and Adeline sat next to her. "It was weird. She didn't really say anything at all and then she started asking me questions about Levi, which you would've heard. Then, after that, she told me that she's worried for me because Levi spends a lot of time talking to Nella."
"Jah, I heard her talking about Nella. She was talking as though she hasn’t been talking behind your back."
"That's right."
"I thought I heard her talking about Nella. That's probably a lie. I've never seen him talking to Nella."
"It's not a lie. I've seen him talking to her two, or maybe three times."
"Why didn’t you ask her why she’d been saying awful things about you? You could’ve told her you found out what she’s been doing.”
Lucy shrugged. “I don’t know. It was awkward with her in front of me. She’s so forceful all the time. She says she wants to see me and Levi together and Nella is some kind of threat to me just like Hazel was with her and Isaac. You know how that ended.”
“Yeah, not very well for Mary Lou.”
Lucy nodded. “Denke for trying to protect me earlier."
"She made me mad. I guess I shouldn’t have said what I did."
"I know you had the very best intentions."
Adeline nodded. "I did. I think Mary Lou is too sly. She's like a fox. She watches everyone with amber eyes like a fox."
"She has blue eyes."
"It doesn't matter what color they are. They’re hunting eyes, like a bird of prey has."
"And a fox," Lucy added with a giggle.
"That's right. Sly like a fox."
"Well, I can't worry about it. There's nothing much I can do."
"About what?" Catherine, their youngest sister, asked. She'd brought her hot chocolate into the kitchen with her, and Adeline's too. She joined her sisters at the table, handing Adeline's mug to her.
"It's just that I don't know whether I can trust Mary Lou, and Adeline thinks I can't."
"Of course you can't. Is your memory so short? She’s only pretending to be your friend to your face. You can tell just by looking at her that you can't trust her."
Lucy shook her head, resisting the urge to ask her how she could ascertain that. Or was Catherine just babbling, trying to keep up with conversations that were too old for her? Catherine was only fifteen.
"Did I hear you mention Nella's name?" asked Catherine.
"It was Mary Lou who mentioned Nella first," Adeline said.
“We heard a bit from the other room, but not all of it.”
Lucy told her youngest sister what Mary Lou had said about Nella and Levi.
"And Lucy has said that she has seen them together too," Adeline added.
"I can't see what's wrong with that. Why can't Levi and Nella talk to each other?"
Lucy took another sip of hot chocolate. When she placed the mug down on the table, she said, "You wouldn't understand, you're too young."
“I'm not too young to understand that a man and a woman can be friends. Just because they talk doesn't mean they want to be boyfriend and girlfriend."
Lucy nodded. "Maybe it doesn’t mean that, but maybe it does.”
“Especially if they’re seen talking together a lot," Adeline said.
"Do you want me to talk to Nella and find out if she likes Levi? Last time we talked, she told me she liked his bruder, Joshua. But he's too quiet and never talks to her. So maybe she has gone for the more outgoing bruder."
"Denke for making me feel better," Lucy said sarcastically.
Adeline said, "That's interesting, what you just said, Catherine. Maybe she still likes Joshua."
"I'll find out," Catherine said.
"I didn't know you were a friend of Nella’s," Lucy said to Catherine.
"I’ve got a lot of friends. I talk to everyone."
“Okay, talk to her. It will be interesting to hear what she says.” Lucy hoped Catherine wouldn’t find out that Nella liked Levi.
Chapter 13
Every Friday night in the cold weather, the three oldest Fuller boys helped the elderly and the widows by chopping their wood and restocking their wood boxes.
While they were sorting out wood to chop at old Sara Kursler’s house, Isaac said to Levi, “Hazel is just about ready to paint. She’d like it very much if Lucy helped her.”
“Jah, Lucy already said she would. She’s looking forward to it.”
“Gut. Hazel really likes Lucy. Do you know if Lucy’s doing anything tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow?”
“Jah, tomorrow—Saturday. You'll be seeing her tonight, won't you?"
Levi wasn't sure what to say. He wasn't ready to tell the world that he and Lucy were going through some problems. "I was thinking of stopping by her place before I went home."
"I thought so. I guessed that was why you brought your own buggy today," Joshua said.
Levi nodded. It wasn't the reason, but he had planned to drive past Lucy's house in the hope that he might catch a glimpse of her. There was no way he was going to admit that to his brothers. They would’ve teased him and called him all kinds of names.
The brothers took turns chopping the wood, and soon old Sara had a good store of wood in her barn and they were in her house filling her wood box by the fire.
Joshua put another log on her fire. "Is there anything else we can do for you today, Mrs. Kursler?"
"I had a tap in the kitchen that was hard to turn on, but someone came out just yesterday and helped me with that. I've got nothing left for you to do."
"We’ll be back when you're running low on wood, then. You just let us know."
"It's very good of you boys to do this. How's that new wife of yours, Isaac?"
"She's fine, just fine."
When Mrs. Kursler turned to Levi, he knew what was coming.
"Will it be your turn next, Levi?”
Everyone was asking him if he was going to be next. Levi smiled at the old lady. "Who knows? It could be any one of us."
"It'll be Levi, I'd say," Joshua said, slapping Levi on his back.
Levi moved away from his brother. He was annoyed with him, but couldn't show it.
"Lucy is a l
ovely girl, Levi. I like to see all the young people getting married. It gladdens my heart. Would you boys like a hot drink now that you’ve finished?"
"I'd love one," Joshua said.
"We do have other places to be," Isaac reminded him. He looked over at Mrs. Kursler. "Denke for your kind offer, but we must keep moving."
"I understand. Maybe another time?"
"Jah, another time," Isaac said.
They said goodbye to Mrs. Kursler and headed to the last place of the day, William and Mary Reed’s. They were an elderly couple, and William hadn't been well.
"There's no need for the three of us to go to the Reeds’ is there?” Levi asked.
“Nee, Joshua and I can handle the Reeds. Why don’t you go to Lucy’s and see if you can arrange things for tomorrow? And if Lucy can make it at this short notice, it would be good if we could all have an early start."
Levi raised his eyebrows. "We? You've got work for me to do at your place too?"
Isaac chuckled. "It’s possible I forgot to mention that. I’ve been so busy lately."
"Jah, it is possible you forgot, and nee, you didn’t mention it. This is the first I’ve heard of it."
"Did you have anything else to do tomorrow?" Isaac asked.
"Nee, I'm happy to help. What are we doing?"
"Come prepared and I’ll let you know tomorrow. The girls will be painting, and you and I can do the hard work."
"Sounds good."
Levi farewelled his brothers and set off in his own buggy to Lucy's house. He tried his best to calm himself, but the closer he got, the more he sweated. He was worried about what Lucy might say to him. He wondered whether he should apologize, but he felt he’d done nothing wrong and he wasn’t going to be sorry for having an opinion that differed from Lucy’s. That thought gave him pause. Why did he think she shouldn't have an opinion that differed from his?
And what if she wasn't home? Besides that, he didn't even know whether she’d told the rest of her family that they were having problems in their relationship. When he had last spoken to her, she hadn't told anybody, but maybe she had changed her mind. It would be awkward to be faced with any of Lucy’s family if they knew about their arguments. He wished it had never happened, but it had.
His Amish Romance: Amish Romance (Seven Amish Bachelors Book 2) Page 7
