Christmas in Apple Ridge

by Cindy Woodsmall

  She jerked the underwear away from him. “You can’t use the word stupidest when talking about how I feel.”

  “Okay, I promise not to use that word again. How about dumbest, most blockheaded, or dimwitted? Will those work for you?”

  “Golly, you really don’t know anything about getting along with women, do you?” She threw a wet towel in his face.

  “No.” He peeled it off. “But I know when I’m making progress, and you just hit me with one item instead of the whole basket.”

  Their eyes met, and she saw the same man who’d recognized her voice when she came to see him and had smiled before he opened his eyes. The same man who’d planted her feet in the path of an oncoming horse because he trusted she’d know what to do if need be.

  She bent, picking some black stockings off the grass. “You shouldn’t say disrespectful things about someone who’s passed. We all make mistakes, and unlike us, they can’t defend themselves or have one more day to try to make it right.”

  “I said something about a dead guy?”

  “Eva! Remember?”

  His eyes grew large. “Ach, ya, I do, but I didn’t realize I’d said that. Look.” He took the basket from her and set it to the side. “The subject of Eva is one I try not to think or talk about. I told you she’s gone, and she is, but she packed her bags and left four years ago. That’s when I moved in with Andy.”

  Eva wasn’t dead? She’d abandoned her husband and son? That explained a lot. “And that’s when you decided you’d never marry.”

  “It’s a little more drawn out than that.”

  “It always is.”

  “If it helps, I never lied to anyone about you or us.”

  “Ya, it helps a lot.” But that was it? He wasn’t going to apologize?

  She pinned a washrag to the clothesline, not at all sure she understood him, but the nice thing about being only friends was that she didn’t have to. She could benefit from the enjoyable parts of their knowing each other and ignore the rest. That’s what she’d done with her two roommates. “Katie said we’re the buzz of the community. How’d that happen?”

  “My guess is Mamm has been doing some hopeful whispering, and that with all the other connections Beth and Mattie know about—my getting your address and visiting you and our combining items to sell at the store—it just grew in people’s minds.”

  “Why would your Mamm say anything?”

  He explained about his parents being at his brother’s house when he came back from her place with the boxes of crafts. The timing made it such that he couldn’t hide where he’d been.

  She secured a dress onto the line. “And since then we’ve been writing to each other, and I send letters and packages.”

  “Ya, and Tobias told my folks about the horse candle you made for me. All of it had Mamm so hopeful that I was seeing someone, and I couldn’t tell her the truth.”

  “There’s no way to keep that up for long. When were you going to tell them?”

  “I don’t know. Soon. But I went a few weeks with no one griping at me about not going to singings or needing a girl. It was really nice, but it was also selfish.”

  Maybe he was onto something. As long as Levi and Sadie knew where each stood, what could be wrong with people thinking they were dating? “It’s not that I care whether people think we’re dating or not.”

  “Wait. I’m confused. So what’d you get angry about?”

  “I thought you had lied to me and about me.”

  “Oh, ya, I can see where that’d be angering.”

  She paused from hanging laundry and studied him. Did he know that hurt masqueraded as anger easily and often in a woman’s heart? “It hurt, Levi. A lot.”

  Regret filled his eyes. “I’m truly sorry that I did anything to make you think I’d lie to or about you. I’d never do that.”

  Finally she had the heartfelt apology she’d wanted. And more. She believed in him again. “Forgiven.” Ready to walk and talk, she left the clothes and went toward the dirt lane that meandered across the back field. Levi went with her.

  “I think you were more selfish than you know.” She poked his shoulder with her index finger. “You benefited from this, uh, misunderstanding. Why not let me?”

  “I’m confused again.”

  “Maybe you don’t need to set this straight with everyone. My parents are insisting I return home after I get my business with Hertzlers’ squared away. It’s so hard to be back there after living on my own for years. But they’d let me stay in Apple Ridge if we were courting. And Mammi Lee likes you, so she’d leave me alone about hiding from men. I could put all my focus on earning what I need to go with my mission team again.”

  “Isn’t this too deceptive? I mean, not correcting someone’s misconception is one thing, but to plot it out like this?”

  “So we’ll date. Look at us. We’re a mess of distrust and not wanting to get involved with anyone. So if we were really dating, what are the chances of our staying together?”

  “After what I just saw of us, I’d say zilch. You’d get hurt over something I didn’t understand, and I’d find it impossible to apologize when you deserved it.”

  She knew he was here now only because of their friendship. If they were seeing each other romantically, they’d both have walked away today.

  “Exactly. Besides, my parents say they believe in keeping the Amish ways and that I need to abide by them too, but according to the Old Ways, they’re supposed to leave the matter of finding a mate in God’s trustworthy hands, not their pushy ones. Right?”

  “Ya, but I’m beginning to doubt the purity of your motives about mission work. Maybe you just don’t want to cope with your parents’ expectations.”

  “And you do?”

  He grinned, looking like himself again. “You know the answer to that. So for how long?”

  “We could break up a few weeks before I go to Peru. That would probably buy you six months to a year after I’m gone before people start pushing you to date again.”

  He looped his thumbs around his suspenders. “But if we’re still courting when you leave, it’ll be as if I’m waiting for you to return. That’ll buy me a lot more time. A year. Maybe two years.”

  She turned onto the lane, and he joined her. “If we stay together and I try to leave on a mission trip, my Daed will go to the church leaders to keep me home. If he thinks I’m heartbroken, he’ll let me go.”

  “Is that why they let you go the first time?”

  “Ya, but I wasn’t faking then. And going to Peru helped me heal in a way nothing else could have.”

  Levi nodded. He seemed to understand what heartache did to someone. “Eva shattered my brother’s heart, and she ruined his life.”

  She’d had a pretty negative effect on Levi’s life too. Did he realize that? “We’ve got three months to plan the timing of our relationship’s demise.” She leaned in, bumping his shoulder with hers. “There’s something that’s really important to me, okay?”

  “It’s okay with me if something is important to you.”

  She laughed and pushed against his shoulder again. “I’m not your mama or your girlfriend, so as we move forward, can we agree to be totally up-front with each other?”

  “I believe I can do that.”

  “That includes no misdirecting me like your oddly worded statement that ‘she’s gone’ or the like.”

  “Okay. But I’ve got one of those important things too.”

  “Let’s hear it.”

  “I’ve already imagined us being friends and visiting each other even when we’re old. Earlier today I thought I’d blown all chance of that.”

  She put her arm around his waist. “That’s the best hope for a relationship I think I’ve ever heard.”

  “I’m glad you like it.” He looped his arm around her shoulders. “Can we do it?”

  She couldn’t stop her grin. “I believe we can.”

  Levi fitted another piece of wood into place on the gazebo r
ailing. The birch and maple trees around him swayed. Sadie said they were strutting their deep yellows and brilliant reds of fall like a peacock did his tail feathers.

  He sighed. Girly nonsense. That’s what she had him thinking these days. When he saw her in a bit, he’d complain about it too. He peered across the backyard and into his shop to check the clock again, then he hammered another nail into the railing. There was more work to do than he had morning left to do it.

  Andy came around the corner of the house, two-by-fours stacked on top of one shoulder. Tobias was on his heels, carrying a two-by-two. Andy dropped his on the ground, and Tobias did the same. The planks banged and bounced, reminding Levi of the way sounds echoed through an empty home. Noise he wouldn’t have noticed until these last few weeks with Sadie.

  They used most of their courting time to work together on projects for the dry goods store. But when they weren’t doing that, she liked to take long buggy rides and discover empty homes to walk through. It was an interesting pastime. Some of the places were new, unfinished homes that the builders abandoned when the economy changed. One home they went into was off by itself, a Victorian place. She loved that one best of all. Sadie’s grandmother used to clean that house for the owners, a huge mansion Sadie had been in as a child. But the owners had passed away, and the house had yet to sell. She had few qualms about entering it, and even though the front door was locked, she’d found a side door that wasn’t. When he’d balked, she said she knew the owners wouldn’t have minded. If they were alive, she’d knock and visit with them, and she didn’t care if the police showed up. He could hear her now: “Let them take me to jail. I dare them.”

  Just the thought made him laugh inside—a kind of hilarity he hadn’t known until recently, where his outward expression showed little while inside he enjoyed great merriment.

  They had yet to be caught breaking into a home. Although, if an officer or two did arrive, Levi would let Sadie do all the talking. She was the one who didn’t mind defying authority as long as she wasn’t doing any actual harm.

  She was an odd bird, willing to bend her knee to whatever she thought God wanted of her and yet unwilling to yield to man’s rules any more than absolutely necessary to stay out of serious trouble.

  Levi had yet to fit those two women into one person—carefully defiant with a heart of utter obedience. Weird. The good news was that since they weren’t really involved, he didn’t have to be concerned about her attitude or outlook.

  “Hello?” Andy set one of the boards on the sawhorses.

  Levi looked up. “Did you say something?”

  Andy turned to Tobias, shaking his head. Tobias clasped both hands to his head and moaned. The two kept telling him that lately he lived in a world of his own.

  “I guess I was talking to myself.” Andy brushed his hands together, knocking off the dust. “So what’s today’s game plan?”

  Tobias jumped into the gazebo. “Ya, so what’s going on tonight?”

  Levi took a step back, looking at the clock inside his shop again. Did it need a new battery? It sure was moving slowly. “It’s the annual hayride at Lizzy’s, so I have about two hours before I pick up Sadie.”

  “Just two hours?” Tobias stomped across the gazebo, never looking up as he counted boards in some game he played.

  “Ya.” Levi pulled a nail from a pocket in his tool belt. “It’s called a hayride, but it’s an event for singles that starts right after lunch and lasts until midnight.”

  Tobias eyed him. “What’ll you do all day?”

  “Well, let’s see. I’ve been told there’ll be a cookout, volleyball and softball games, a hayride that’ll last for at least an hour, a singing, and a bonfire.”

  Tobias shoved his hands into his pockets. “Why can’t I go?”

  “It’s for singles.”

  Tobias rubbed his face, indicating he didn’t have a beard. “I ain’t married.”

  “You can’t go, Son. It’s for people at least sixteen years old.” Andy pulled out a tape measure and put it against the two-by-four, his smirk undeniable. “Are you and Sadie staying at the gathering the whole time or coming by here after a while?”

  “Don’t know yet.” Levi took a step back, inspecting his work. He shook the railing—steady as could be.

  Tobias looked up, his eyes wide. “I hear something.” He ran across the backyard and took off toward the front of the house.

  Andy marked the wood with a pencil. “I can’t believe Lizzy is still having those gatherings each year. I went to three before marrying, so my first time would’ve been twelve years ago.”

  Levi ran his hands across each nail, tapping certain ones a little deeper. “I’ve never been.”

  “Somebody your age and single shoulda been six or seven times by now. You do know Lizzy invites Amish from as far away as Illinois.”

  “Are you griping at me about girls again?”

  “Sorry. Old habits die hard, I guess.”

  Tobias came around the corner of the shop. “Sadie’s here.”

  “She is?” Levi left the gazebo, a smile tugging at his lips.

  Tobias hurried back along with him.

  Sadie had some craft items spread out in his shop, so maybe she needed something from her stash. Sometimes she worked here when there was no more shelf space at Mammi Lee’s. It took quite a bit of room when juggling wreaths, candles, soaps, and dolls during the same workweek.

  She came into view, wearing a purple dress and carrying a large basket lined with red fabric. Tobias was in front of her, walking backward and jabbering.

  Levi spun his hammer around a few times, making the head of it rotate similar to a helicopter. “Is it soup yet?”

  She’d made a batch of soap a couple of days ago that came out the consistency of soup—and he hadn’t stopped harassing her about it yet.

  Her eyes moved from Tobias to him. “Leave me alone, Fisher.”

  The way she talked—those firm words spoken dryly—made him chuckle. It was her best effort to sound tough despite teasing, and he knew she’d dish out equal amounts of whatever pestering he came up with.

  He shoved his hammer into its loop on his tool belt and took the basket from her. “Or what? You’ll wash my mouth out with soup … I mean soap?”

  She pursed her lips, looking peaceful and sweet as he harassed her, but he knew she wouldn’t just leave it at a smile. There would be a price to pay.

  “Excuse me?” Levi leaned in, cupping one hand behind his ear. “What was that you said, Sadie Yoder?”

  Sadie flashed him a mocking look of anger before spotting his brother. “Hey, Andy, how are you?”

  Andy nodded, giving a welcoming smile as he remained at the sawhorse. “Morning, Sadie.”

  She pointed at the gazebo. “It’s looking good. I suppose that means you managed to make Levi use a straightedge and a level.”

  “Of course.” Andy winked at Tobias. “It’s standing straight, ain’t it?”

  “Hey.” Levi waved an arm. “I’m right here as you insult me.”

  She eyed him from head to foot. “With a tool belt, a girly basket in your hands, and doing absolutely nothing.”

  “Sadie.” Tobias looked up, eyes bright with questions. “Can we sit on the fence and watch Levi work with the horses again?”

  She glanced at Levi before clearing her throat. “He needs us to give him some lip while he’s training, doesn’t he?”

  Tobias grinned. “I think so.”

  “I don’t agree.” Levi shrugged, but he actually enjoyed their harassment while he worked.

  “Tobias, give me a hand.” Andy held out a pencil, probably aiming to keep him distracted so Sadie and Levi could talk.

  Levi opened the screen door to the workshop, and Sadie went in ahead of him. She took the basket and unloaded dried flowers, wire, and half-made wreaths.

  “Lizzy asked me to bring centerpieces for the tables at the cookout, and I’ve cleaned Mammi’s small patch of woods for other projects.�
�� She picked up her now-empty basket. “You can go on working while I hunt for flowers.”

  “Me, do woodwork when I can pick flowers?” He opened the door again. “No way.” He could make up next week for taking off early today. Besides, he’d worked long, hard hours six days a week for years. Sadie was here for only two more months, so he had no problem taking off when it suited him.

  They headed for a trail that hadn’t been all that familiar to him before he’d started helping Sadie gather items for her wreaths. Now that she lived closer to Hertzlers’, she was able to fill orders quickly and get them to the store without cost or delay. She was making great money.

  “Uncle Levi?”

  Andy shushed his son, but Sadie bumped her shoulder into Levi’s. “Let the boy come with us.”

  Levi turned, motioning for him.

  Andy angled a look at them. “You sure?”

  “We’re sure.”

  Tobias thundered past them. “I bet I can find the best flowers again.”

  They went deeper in the woods, leaving the trail at will and quipping nonsense at each other as they found treasures for the wreaths.

  “Tobias,” Sadie called, “kumm.” She pointed to a patch of Johnny-jump-ups. Tobias headed their way.

  Basket in hand, Sadie straddled a log, aiming to get what was on the other side.

  Levi leaned against a tree, keeping an eye on Tobias as he made his way to Sadie. When Tobias passed him, Levi bumped the hat off his head.

  “Uncle Levi!” Tobias bent to grab it.

  Sadie screamed an ear-piercing shrill.

  Levi bolted upright, but he was sure he knew what the problem was.

  “It’s something furry!” She hopped and danced before jumping up on the log. She shook her arms before gasping. Apparently she’d seen the culprit afresh. And a blur of purple hurtled toward him.

  Before Levi could react, she jumped into his arms. “Ew, yuck!” She shuddered against him.

  He didn’t know what to do or say. While seeing a critter out here wasn’t new, and it always caused her to immediately panic, Sadie jumping into his arms was a first.