A Simple Wish

by Charlotte Hubbard

  A few minutes later, everyone was sitting down at the long tables and passing big bowls of potato salad, coleslaw, broccoli salad, and fruit gelatin and platters of sliced ham and sandwiches. The September weather had remained unseasonably warm, so the women had prepared food that didn’t require running an oven. Drew was happy to eat fresh vegetables from his neighbors’ gardens and sample salads that a single man didn’t prepare for himself.

  “What did you bring today?” he asked, leaning closer to Loretta. He enjoyed watching the color rise in her flawless cheeks.

  “Rosalyn and I made the no-bake peanut butter cookies and the big blue bowl of potato salad,” she replied, holding his gaze with her hazel eyes. “And what did you bring, Drew?”

  He laughed—but being a bachelor didn’t mean he couldn’t contribute to the meal. He always felt that if you were going to eat, you should bring something, even if it was a bag of potato chips. “I grilled the chicken legs.”

  Loretta’s eyebrows rose as she picked up the chicken leg on her plate. “You must’ve had to grill two or three batches, as many legs as are in that glass casserole,” she said in an approving tone. After she bit in and chewed the chicken, she nodded. “You’ll make some girl a lucky catch, Drew. These are seasoned well with just enough sauce, and they’re cooked just right. I love cold chicken, don’t you?”

  His heart thudded hard. They’d tossed the subject of marriage around—indirectly—for a while now, and he hoped Loretta’s remark meant that she was of a mind to accept his proposal. “Zook’s Market had family-size packages of chicken legs on sale, so it seemed like an easy thing to cook for my supper last night and to bring today.”

  Loretta smiled again. “You’re quite the meal planner. Most fellows don’t have a clue about doing that.”

  Drew shrugged. “When you live alone,” he said with a playful sigh, “you can’t open cans of chili or boxes of mac and cheese every day, or exist on frozen pizza. Well, you could—but yuck.”

  Her burst of laughter delighted him, even though it made a lot of people turn their way. Drew didn’t care about that. He was pleased to have Loretta smiling and responding so well to him after her difficult morning—and he wanted folks to know that he and Loretta were a couple. When he saw Will smile knowingly from a table across the crowded room, he also noticed that Savilla was seated across from him. He was pleased that Gingerich had found somebody to spend his time with as well.

  Drew cleared his plate and resisted the urge to refill it. “See you in a few,” he whispered as he rose from the table.

  Loretta nodded. “I’ll be out front by Miriam’s rosebushes. Ready to go.”

  It was all Drew could do not to run from the Hooley home to the stable near Asa and Edith’s house. “All right, Raven,” he said as he quickly hitched his open rig to the Percheron, “today’s the day, and you’ve got to help me get it right. We’ve got to strike while the iron’s hot.”

  As he thought about that old saying, he realized it didn’t quite fit his situation—but he laughed, because Raven wouldn’t know the difference anyway. Everything delighted him today, and he prayed that the afternoon’s ride would work its magic and that Loretta would be his fiancée when they returned to town.

  His pulse was pounding as he drove to the intersection and turned onto the county blacktop, because Loretta was standing there waiting for him. She was rocking from heel to toe in her eagerness to ride with him, smiling brightly as she watched him approach—making him feel he could say or do no wrong. He hopped down to lift her into the rig, holding her gaze as he placed his hands at her waist.

  “You make me so happy, Loretta,” he said.

  “I do, don’t I?” she teased. “I don’t care where we go, as long as we find some shady places to park along the way.”

  “I just happen to know of a few,” Drew said, easily lifting her into the open buggy.

  The easy banter they shared as he drove along the county highway seemed to foretell the marriage they would share, not just as husband and wife, but as good friends. They remarked about the huge red barn that had been completed on Wyatt McKenzie’s property—along with the fancy double-wide trailer he was living in—and speculated about the other structures he might build.

  “Do you suppose he’ll build a house and hitch up with Rebecca?” Loretta asked.

  “They seemed pretty chummy the day his barn was raised,” Drew remarked lightly.

  Loretta considered this for a moment. “That would mean her pretty brick house would be empty. Maybe up for sale,” she hinted.

  “Who knows? Her dat built that house, and he might have other plans for it,” he pointed out.

  Drew steered Raven toward Cedar Creek, because long stretches of the road were shaded by a canopy of trees growing along both sides. When they reached the first of these cooler areas, Drew slipped his arm around Loretta. “Just beyond this next bend, you’ll see the old stone silo and the big white house that belong to Bishop Vernon,” he said.

  Loretta leaned forward in anticipation as the clip-clop, clip-clop of Raven’s hooves resounded against the shady road. “Oh my, are those black cattle his, too? That’s a pretty picture, with them grazing in the pasture.”

  “Jah, those are Black Angus, which he raises for their high-quality beef,” Drew replied. “Just down the road, his nephew Abner runs a butcher shop, where a lot of the meat gets processed.”

  “Bishop Vernon’s such a kind, levelheaded man,” she murmured. “He was such a voice of reason and wisdom when we were figuring out Will and Asa’s dilemma about who fathered Louisa and Leroy.”

  “He was,” Drew agreed. It was too bad she’d mentioned the part of his past he wasn’t particularly proud of, yet her tone held nothing but acceptance of the way Asa and Edith had taken Drew’s children to raise as their own. “We’re lucky Bishop Vernon and Bishop Tom are longtime friends who help each other out—and we’re lucky that Nazareth and Vernon’s wife, Jerusalem, are sisters, so we see him a little more often.”

  “Do you suppose Bishop Tom will consult with him about whatever Dat’s been caught at?”

  Drew pulled the rig over onto a wide spot at the side of the road and set the brake. From here, the silo, the big white house, and the black cattle dotting the lush green pasture made a picturesque backdrop—the perfect spot to take Loretta’s mind off her troubles.

  “I don’t know the answer to that,” he murmured as he pulled her closer. “Right now, your dat is the furthest thing from my mind.”

  Loretta giggled and reached for him as he went after the kiss he’d been craving all day. With her arms around his neck and her lithe body leaning into his, the moment ascended to a bliss he hoped to maintain for several more minutes—and for years to come.

  Drew kissed Loretta again, praying the words came out just right—and hoping with all his heart that she would accept his offer. His heart was beating so fast and loud, she could surely hear it, but as he gently placed his hand on her neck, he realized her pulse was thrumming in time with his. There would never be a more harmonious, opportune moment, so Drew held her close.

  “Loretta, will you marry me?” he whispered near her ear. “You’re all I can think about, and it seems to me you feel the same—”

  Loretta eased away to gaze at him with her vibrant hazel eyes. “I’ve been waiting for you to ask me,” she murmured in a dreamlike voice. “I’d be pleased and proud to be your wife, Andrew Detweiler.”

  He didn’t often go by his given first name, yet the way Loretta said it made him feel ten feet tall. Drew hugged her close again, reveling in her immediate acceptance. “I love you so much,” he said hoarsely.

  “I love you, too, Drew. These feelings I have are so much different from when—well,” she added with a little shrug, “I guess we’ve both been in love before, or we believed we were. With you, I feel like a completely different person than I did the last time I got engaged.”

  Drew closed his eyes, resting his forehead against hers. “M
aybe because we both understand how it feels to move beyond our past feelings, we’re better prepared to make it work this time,” he suggested softly. “Your forgiveness of my relationship with Molly means so much, Loretta. Denki for understanding.”

  Her face shone like the sun as she smiled at him. “Who can regret Louisa and Leroy?” she asked sweetly. “You saw that they’d be raised with a mamm and a dat, at a time when Will couldn’t possibly have cared for them.”

  “Ah, but your sisters got them through the toughest days,” Drew countered. “Had Edith not stood up for them and expected me—and Will—to do right by them, where would we be?”

  “And now we’re a bigger, happier family,” Loretta said with a nod. “Someday, we’ll be an even bigger family, jah?”

  Her teasing tone sent desire coursing through Drew’s body. “So when would you like to be married? Bishop Tom will want to allow time for some instruction, even though we’ve both already joined the church.”

  Loretta considered his question. “Today’s the eighteenth of September, so . . . sometime in late October? As soon as Bishop Tom can perform the ceremony? Rosalyn and Edith and I will need to plan the meal and—”

  “I’d be happy to spring for dinner at the Grill N Skillet,” Drew put in. “Edith’s raising babies and you and Rosalyn are busy with canning vegetables, so why not let Josiah and Savilla cook?”

  “And we’ll ask Miriam to bake the wedding cake!” Loretta said. “Her cakes are the prettiest I’ve ever seen. And the ladies are all happy to bake pies, if we ask them.”

  “Sounds like we have the day pretty well planned.” Drew smiled, feeling as though his world had expanded to the point that he was floating inside a huge balloon filled with love, as happy as he’d ever been. “If you want to, we can go back to the house and ask Bishop Tom to announce our engagement. That will set our plans in motion a little sooner.”

  “Gut idea! Let’s do it!” Loretta hugged him hard and then kissed him with excited fervor. “It’s not as though our news will come as a total surprise.”

  Drew disengaged the brake and took up the leather lines. “Geddap, Raven,” he murmured, steering the Percheron in a wide circle to head back to Willow Ridge.

  Despite the afternoon heat, Loretta sat against him as he wrapped his arm around her. If things went as they’d planned, he’d be married to this delightful young woman by the end of October, and his heart skipped happily at the thought. There’d been a time in his life when the responsibilities of marriage had seemed heavy and onerous, but at this moment he simply knew that Loretta was the woman he’d been born to marry. He’d resisted moving to Willow Ridge when Asa said it would improve business for their furniture shop, yet now he could see that God’s providential hand had been guiding him all along.

  “Where shall we live, Drew?” Loretta asked softly. “Maybe if Rebecca takes up with Wyatt, she would rent us her house—”

  “We can’t assume that she’ll do that—or that her plans will be on the same schedule as ours,” Drew put in with a chuckle.

  “I know there won’t be time for you to have a house built—unless we wait,” she continued pensively. “But then, maybe you don’t have the money to do that—and it’s okay if you don’t. Honest.”

  “Money’s not an issue,” Drew assured her. “The furniture business has been brisk, and I’ve not been spending money for much except groceries.” His thoughts began to spin as he mentally worded his reply to her original question.

  “Or we could live with Asa and Edith,” Loretta said. “They have plenty of bedrooms—”

  “I thought we’d live at your place for a while,” Drew said carefully. “Lots of couples stay with the bride’s family until—”

  “Absolutely not.” Loretta straightened on the buggy seat to fix him with her intense hazel-eyed gaze. “I’ve spent my entire life wishing to get out from under Dat’s thumb. Since Mamm’s been gone, he’s taken out his frustration and—well, just plain meanness—on my sisters and me, and I’m tired of it. And who knows what he’s gotten himself into lately?”

  Drew’s heart clutched for a painful moment. Loretta wasn’t accusing him, exactly, but he had withheld information about her father’s activities—and that probably didn’t seem fair to her. “I don’t know all the details about your dat’s predicament, either,” he hedged. “But—but I told Bishop Tom and Ben that I would move to your place so your dat wouldn’t feel tempted to . . . backslide.”

  Loretta’s eyes widened as she scooted away from him. “And you made these plans without asking me? Assuming I’d marry you and go along with whatever you’d decided?” she demanded in a hurt whisper. “Drew, you know how cranky and unreasonable he gets about every little—”

  “If I’m living there, I believe he’ll curb his tongue,” Drew insisted quickly. “Your dat persists in his criticism because he knows you girls won’t stand up to him. I will.”

  Loretta turned away from him, crossing her arms as waves of indignation stretched between them like an ocean. Drew steered Raven over to the side of the road again, fearing that even the canopy of shade wouldn’t cool the mood Loretta was in.

  And you put her in that mood, his conscience pointed out. You assumed you were acting on her behalf, with the best of intentions, and now you’ve really stepped in it.

  “You’re right, Loretta,” he said softly. “I should have spoken to you first, but at the time—after Ben and Tom visited your dat, and Cornelius and I had our private chat during that difficult dinner at your place—I said I was going to keep track of his comings and goings. His trips to Kansas City haven’t been for buying clock parts, Loretta. I’m sorry.”

  “Not half as sorry as I am,” she retorted with a whimper. Still looking away from him, she wiped away tears. “For most things, I could go along with what you want, Drew—I could be an agreeable wife. But I promised myself long ago that once I married, I’d no longer be living at home.”

  She might as well have sucker punched him. Her words sounded serious. Final. “Well then, you made that decision without asking me about it, too, ain’t so?” he asked quietly.

  Loretta turned back around to glare at him. Her eyes were filled with tears, and a few of them ran down her flawless face. “That’s different, and you know it.”

  With a sigh, he dared to ask the question that hung between them. “So you’re saying that you won’t marry me if we’re going to live at your place?”

  Loretta heaved a heavy sigh. “No, actually I’m saying it’s probably best if I don’t marry you at all,” she replied in a quavering voice. “I thought you of all people would realize how unhappy I’ve been at home. We apparently don’t know each other very well—and that’s not a gut way to start out as husband and wife.”

  Drew nearly choked. “But—but we can talk this over,” he protested. “Married people should state their opinions and listen to each other and—”

  “Nope. Just take me back to Willow Ridge.”

  He felt as though Raven had kicked him in the chest, and for a moment he could hardly breathe. “Loretta, an engagement is the time for us to settle issues like this, and—and I’m willing to reconsider—”

  “I don’t think so. I’m too upset to see reason right now.”

  Drew stared blankly at Raven’s muscled hindquarters. How had the conversation gone from the dizzying heights of her yes to this rock-bottom basement of her disappointment and his despair? In a matter of minutes they’d planned their wedding day, and within seconds Loretta had backed out.

  He lightly clapped the lines on his horse’s back. “Maybe tomorrow, after we’ve had a chance to think about it—”

  “I’m finished thinking. I want to go home.”

  Drew immediately saw the irony in her statement, but he knew better than to point it out to her. The ride back to Willow Ridge felt hot and sticky with the day’s humidity and Loretta’s tears. He urged Raven into a faster gait, sensing that the young woman beside him would’ve walked home if
they hadn’t been more than a mile out of town. Anything to be away from him.

  About twenty minutes later, the new barn at the McKenzie place came into view, along with the mill on the river. Drew cleared his throat. “I can either drop you at the Hooleys’ place or at your house—”

  “No, I want to get out right here,” Loretta insisted. “I’ll walk—”

  “And have the men sitting in Ben’s front yard speculate about why you’re hiking down the road while I’m driving the rig?” Drew interrupted. “Sit right where you are. Neither of us needs their questions right now.”

  Loretta pressed her lips into a tight line, but she nodded. Rather than passing the gathering of men in lawn chairs, Drew steered Raven onto the road that went in front of Nora and Luke’s house and the barn that housed Simple Gifts. He was searching for words to change her mind, to give himself a foot in the door to see her again, but as they drove past the Wagler home and followed the curve left to pass the Kanagy farm, he decided to leave things as they stood.

  For all they knew, Cornelius was home. He’d apparently left Ben and Miriam’s house before folks had even sat down, because he’d never shown up to eat the common meal.

  She’ll just have to deal with him. I offered to act as a buffer between her and Cornelius, but she turned me down.

  A few minutes later they drove past Bishop Tom’s dairy farm, where his black-and-white Holsteins were gathered beneath the shade trees in the pasture. The Hostetler place wasn’t quite as picturesque as Bishop Vernon’s, but the cows appeared contented—which was more than Drew could say for himself. When he eased the rig to a halt in front of the Riehl house, he sighed. “I hope you’ll reconsider, Loretta,” he said softly. “We can talk this over. I—I still love you.”

  Her wounded expression said more than words. Without waiting for him to come around and help her, Loretta hopped down from the buggy. Her stiff walk as she crossed the road stabbed at Drew’s heart—but he’d done everything he knew to dissuade her from leaving things between them on a sour note. He watched her hurry up the porch steps and into the house. He drove slowly to the barn where he and Asa stabled their horses.