by Mary Ellis
Emma giggled. “Mom Davis sounds happy to no longer have me underfoot in her kitchen.”
“Nope. She’s just happy to finally become a grandma. She’s been jealous of some of her friends. You might see her at our new house so often, it’ll seem like we never moved.”
“Danki, Jamie,” she murmured.
“For what, dear one?”
“For taking me home today to tell my family. I just couldn’t wait for Christmas. My mamm’s eager for grandchildren too. And I can’t wait to find out how things are between Leah and Jonah. It’s not too late for them to take the classes and get baptized this winter.”
“Whoa. Settle down, Emma. If they are courting, you don’t want to scare the guy off, do you? Let him get to know the unusual Miller girls at a snail’s pace.”
Emma glared from beneath her lashes. “If I didn’t know you better, James Davis, I’d say you were trying to rile me. But it’s not going to work. I’ve made up my mind to be joyous today…and tomorrow and for many days to come.” Emma filled her lungs with the crisp cold air and decided to count houses until they reached her parents’ home. Before she reached triple digits, James pulled up the long Miller driveway, still lined on both sides with buggies. Many had stayed for an afternoon of socializing after church.
“We’re here and it’s still daylight,” he announced.
“Oh, Jamie, look!” Emma exclaimed, pointing at two people under a tree.
Beneath the bare branches of a huge oak stood Leah and a tall, dark-haired man that had to be Jonah Byler. And if the way they were looking at each other was any indication, Emma’s other prayer had just been answered.
“You have to talk to me some time, Leah,” Jonah said. “I’m not going home until you do. And it will look mighty suspicious to your daed come Tuesday when I’m still hanging around the backyard.”
Leah stopped in her tracks and turned around. “I’m not avoiding you, Jonah, but when you’re the hosting family you’re expected to do the lion’s share of running back and forth from house to barn. I can’t very well let my mamm overdo.” Carrying a tray of bowls and platters to be washed, she walked back to where he stood.
“Looks like you’ve been chatting up a storm with everybody but me. I’m starting to think you don’t like me.” He cocked his head and winked, not looking at all as though his feelings were hurt.
“I’m trying to make sure no one harbors ill will from the problems at the diner.”
“Why don’t you let me help? Then you’ll get done faster and we can spend some time together. Just tell me what to do.”
“Carry these to the house and I’ll get another load. As soon as they are washed, I can take a break.” She handed him her tray and hurried back to the barn. The buffet table had been picked down to broken cookies, dried out casseroles, and wilted salads.
Jonah delivered the dirty dishes and was shoed out of the kitchen by the women. Leah found him rocking in the porch swing when she climbed the steps with another armload. “I’ll wait for you right here,” he said. “And look, there’s room for one more.” He patted the seat beside him and winked again boldly.
She blushed to her hair roots. “Let me wash these and then I’ll be back.”
But inside the overheated kitchen, Julia had other ideas. When Leah set the stack of bowls in the sink and reached for the scrubbing pad, Julia said, “Go back outside, daughter. You have someone waiting for you.”
“No, I won’t have you doing my work.” Leah gently nudged her mother aside so she could reach the dishwashing liquid.
Julia bumped Leah with her hip so hard that Leah had to grab the counter for balance. She stared at her mother gape mouthed as the other women giggled like schoolgirls.
“Can’t you see I already have plenty of helpers?” Julia asked. “Do as I say before I go cut a switch.”
“You’ve never switched me in my life,” Leah muttered, drying her hands on a towel.
“It’s not too late to start.” Julia’s eyes twinkled with more mischief than anger as she pointed at the back door. “Now go.”
Leah tossed the towel on the counter and walked out to meet her fate. She had been avoiding Jonah. She had secretly dreaded asking some questions—ones she’d steered clear of on the drive home from the courthouse. But she needed answers before her heart became hopelessly entangled again.
Jonah jumped up the moment she appeared in the doorway. “My goodness, you’re fast. Must have been all that practice at the diner.”
“Let’s take a walk instead of swinging,” she said, glancing back toward the kitchen window. Someone had parted the curtains just a tad.
“Do you miss it?” he asked as they started down the steps.
“Miss the diner? Jah, I guess so, but I’ve been so busy I don’t know how I managed working four days a week, plus one day of baking.” She turned to face him. “Where are we headed? I don’t want to wander too far. I still have plenty of cleaning up yet to do.”
Jonah settled an arm around her waist. “Let’s head to the pond. I want to see if your ducks have flown south yet. Ours just left two days ago.”
Leah had no desire to discuss ducks or the diner, so she asked the first of many questions still troubling her. “How come you didn’t ask for the full story of my legal troubles? I thought you would on the way home from Millersburg, but you didn’t.”
He shrugged his shoulders. “No need to. I knew you hadn’t broken the law, cheated people or the state, or anything else people were accusing you of.”
“How did you know, considering all the lies flying around?”
“I know you, Leah Miller. I know your heart. The people who believed the tall tales must not.”
His answer bolstered her courage. “Is that why you didn’t come see me when you came back from Wisconsin? I thought for sure you would either come for an explanation or to bawl me out, or at least to say I told you so.”
As they reached the pond, he tipped back his hat and gazed out over the water. “Would you look at that? Your ducks are still here, swimming around as though they have all the time in the world.” The breeze ruffling the surface created small waves that rolled gently onto the bank. But somehow the water didn’t tempt a person to dip in a toe the way it did during the summer. “I wouldn’t have had any pleasure from gloating, Leah. It ate me up inside when I watched you walk into the courtroom with Mrs. Lambright. I was sorry you had to go through that.”
She sat down on the edge of the dock. “It served me right. I felt better when I saw that so many district members had come out, and my sister…and you. I had just about given up on you, Jonah Byler.”
“What? Aren’t you the one who taught me to believe the best will happen, not the worst—to pray for what you want and then step out in faith?” As he sat down beside her, the rickety dock creaked and groaned. It tilted that much closer to joining the deep dark mud on the bottom.
“Jah, that was me.”
“That’s what I thought, and so that’s what I did. My mamm wrote to say there was trouble at the diner and that you had been subpoenaed. She said I should come home as soon as possible. Well, I couldn’t leave right away, so I started praying for guidance and for God to be near you since I couldn’t be. Then I prayed to be able to come home in time for your hearing, to be there when you needed me.”
“Sounds like you found your faith again.” She spoke in a near whisper as the milling half dozen ducks swam closer.
“I had plenty of time to think up north. And I read a little Scripture during the evenings when sleep wouldn’t come. The first night I opened my Bible I found Psalm 130:5: ‘I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.’ I memorized that verse so that every time I found myself growing impatient I would say the words to myself. My mamm says that when God says no to our prayers, it’s because He’s got something better in mind for us. And sometimes it’s better than we could imagine. I sure didn’t believe that after my daed died, but I believe it now.”
“You, Leah. If we hadn’t lost my father, we never would have sold the farm and moved to Ohio.”
“I recall you didn’t want to make the move. You were all set to spend the rest of your life in Wisconsin.” She couldn’t stop smiling.
“That was before I met you and tasted your Chocolate Mousse Cream pie.” He picked up her hand and kissed the backs of her fingers.
Shivers ran down her spine to pool deep in her belly. She didn’t pull her hand back but allowed him to press it to the side of his face. “Are you saying you prefer the Chocolate Mousse Cream to the Peach Parfait Supreme?” she asked breathlessly.
He leaned over and kissed her, not on the cheek or the forehead, but squarely on the lips. “Ask me again in twenty years. By then I’ll have made up my mind.”
“Jonah, stop,” she said and scooted away until the dock creaked ominously. “I’m just recovering my reputation.” Leah glanced over her shoulder but nobody was paying any attention. “Is there anything else you prayed about?”
“Hmm, let’s see. I prayed for us…that you would come to love me and be willing to marry me.”
She was afraid to look at him or even draw breath. He had spoken the words with no more difficulty than inquiring about the soup of the day. She glanced up to find him grinning from ear to ear.
“What do you say? Do you think you can make the change from cooking for dozens of adoring fans who sit with forks in hand to just one dairy farmer who happens to love you? Will you marry me, Leah Miller?”
She sat very still, letting his words soak into her soul like syrup on waffles. These were the words she’d longed to hear from practically the time she’d met him in his dawdi’s barn. Yet no snappy reply came to mind, no memorable answer that she could repeat to daughters and granddaughters in the years to come.
Her Aunt Hannah would have said something like “It’s about time you got around to asking me that!”
Emma would have had the perfect romantic reply planned out months in advance, while her long eyelashes fluttered above her blue eyes.
But Leah’s response was direct and to the point. “Jah,” she said. “I would love to.”
Jonah leaned over and kissed her again. “That’s my girl. And now my last prayer has been answered.”
He’d whispered his admission low, but Leah heard him clearly.
Apparently, so did the mallards swimming around in the frigid water. As though on cue they rose into the air and with a rapid beating of wings, circled the pond twice and flew off toward the road.
“Looks like they have been hanging around to hear your answer,” he said.
Leah felt an odd shiver snake up her spine. “Do you think they are gone for good, on their way south for the winter? They should have started out earlier in the day than this.”
Jonah rose to his feet and pulled her up to his side under the spreading branches of the oak tree. “Don’t worry. Even if they are officially gone till spring, they won’t fly down to the Carolinas all at once. They’ll probably get as far as Charm and settle down for the night. Tell your sister to watch for them on the Hollyhock Lake.”
“Speaking of whom…isn’t that Emma and James standing in the driveway?” Leah arched up on tiptoes to see but people had crowded around the pair, obscuring her view. “I didn’t know they were coming today. I can’t wait to tell her my…our good news.” She smiled up him.
“After we make our announcement, you can get caught up with your sister while I look for the bishop,” said Jonah. “I want to see if we can still get into a class to prepare for baptism and joining the church.”
“Do you mean it? You’re prepared to take your vows?” Her wide-eyed expression revealed her shock.
“Why not? We can’t marry until we join the church. I don’t have any doubts about you, Leah. Are you getting cold feet already? It’s not even been ten minutes.”
“No, silly, no cold feet here.” She lifted her skirt to show off her best black boots. “But are you sure you’re ready to pledge yourself to God? You were pretty mad at Him not too long ago.”
He lifted her chin with one finger. “I’m ready to trust again. I’ve given up trying to figure everything out on my own. I wasn’t having much luck anyway. I’d prayed for a sign that He had forgiven me, and I believe you’re it. God would never let a fine woman like you marry me if He didn’t have high hopes for my spiritual future.”
No bolt of lightning struck the earth. Not even a timely parting of clouds revealed rays of sunshine, but Leah and Jonah felt the earth move beneath their feet just the same.
“Now let’s go tell your family I’m about to steal away the best cook and baker in Holmes County.”
She felt giddy as they approached the knot of people surrounding Emma and James. Mamm and daed were there along with Henry. Matthew and Martha Hostetler had pushed up to the front of the group. Aren’t those two standing awfully close together?
Aunt Hannah, Uncle Seth, Phoebe, and little Ben had come and were smiling about some unknown good news. Leah spotted Rachel toward the back, and as she was about to call out her name the crowd parted. Emma Davis came marching toward her as though on a mission.
“It looks like you’ll be last to hear our announcement instead of the first.” Emma kept glancing over at Jonah as he joined Leah’s side. A grin filled her entire face.
Leah felt Jonah’s steadying arm on her back. “I have news too, sister, that I…we were just coming to share.” She barely recognized her own voice. Joy seemed to have tied her vocal cords into knots.
Emma closed the distance between them in a few short steps. Her pretty blue eyes were filled with tears, while Leah’s honey brown ones weren’t exactly dry, either. They met each other’s gaze for a moment and then opened their arms to embrace.
Neither sister had to explain a thing.
Somehow they both just knew. Upcoming marriages and on-the-way babies couldn’t remain secrets for long in a small town on a sunny day in December when a family loved one another as much as the Millers did.
RECIPES
Peach Parfait Supreme Pie
Rosanna Coblentz
Pie Crust (makes 2 crusts)
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
⅔ cup Butter Flavor Crisco
Cold water
Use a fork to mix the salt with flour and then work in the shortening until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add 4 to 6 tablespoons cold water and mix well. Divide the dough and roll out both pieces to fit two 9-inch pie pans. Place a crust in each pan, crimp the edges, and prick the dough with a fork. Bake at 350 degrees or until slightly brown. Crusts should seem loose inside the pans.
Rosie’s secret: To prevent the crusts from shrinking, place them under the broiler for a few seconds before baking.
Filling
1 small box vanilla instant pudding
1 cup milk
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1 cup sour cream
Mix the pudding and milk according to package instructions and set aside. Cream together the cream cheese and sour cream and then stir in the pudding. Pour into the cooled piecrusts and let set.
Topping
1 cup sugar
2 cups water
1 tablespoon light Karo syrup
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Pinch of salt
3 tablespoons unflavored gelatine
2 tablespoons Peach Jell-O
2 tablespoons Orange Jell-O
Peach slices from six ripe peaches (canned peaches may be used as well)
In a medium-sized saucepan, bring the sugar, water, Karo syrup, lemon juice, and salt to a boil. In a separate bowl mix 2 to 3 tablespoons of gelatine with enough water to moisten. Slowly stir the gelatin into heated syrup until it reaches desired thickness. Remove from heat and add the Peach Jell-O and Orange Jell-O (more Jell-O may be added t
o taste). Cool the topping mixture and then add peach slices. Top pies over the filling and refrigerate until well chilled. Serve with Cool Whip or whipped cream.
Chocolate Mousse Cream Pie
Rosanna Coblentz
Pie Crust
1 box chocolate cake mix (your favorite)
¾ cup melted butter
Mix the cake mix and butter and divide mixture into two pie pans. Press dough evenly up the sides and in the bottom of the pan and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Cool.
Rosie’s secret: Use 9-inch glass pie pans and spray with cooking spray.
Filling
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1½ cups Cool Whip or whipped cream
Fold ingredients together and divide between the 2 pies. Spread the cream cheese mixture in the bottom of the chocolate pie shells.
Topping
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons cocoa
Pinch of salt
2 egg yolks
2 cups milk
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
In a medium-sized saucepan, mix together the sugar, cornstarch, cocoa, salt, egg yolks, and milk and cook over medium heat while stirring with a wire whip. After the mixture thickens, remove from heat and add the butter and vanilla. Cool the mixture and then pour over the cream cheese layer in the pie pans. Chill and top with Cool Whip or whipped cream. Shaved chocolate or chocolate sprinkles may be added on top.
Rosie’s Secret: Whip egg yolks and milk together before mixing with other ingredients—this makes a really smooth mix.
Spellbinder Cookies
Esther Miller
Cookies
1 cup sugar
