Amish Willow

by Samantha Price

  "Of course." When Willow walked out of the house, she was a little embarrassed that she was there. And if he liked her so much like his mother said, why was she only just learning about it now? And from her, instead of from him? Samuel certainly didn't act like he was keen on her.

  He was out of the buggy and leading his horse closer to the barn when he looked over and saw her. "Well, this is a nice surprise, Willow. What are you doing here?"

  "I came to visit your mudder."

  He looked around. "Where’s your buggy?"

  "My mudder left me here while she and Violet visit Aunt Nancy. She's getting me soon."

  "Not too soon, I hope," he said with a smile.

  "Your mudder says to let you know the midday meal won't be ready for another twenty minutes. It's my fault; I distracted her."

  Samuel secured the reins.

  Willow continued talking, because he was barely talking at all. "I thought it was best that I come over here and apologize for being so rude last night at dinner. So, I'm sorry to you as well.”

  "You've got nothing to be sorry about as far as I'm concerned. You were saying what you felt and that’s a good thing.”

  "You're not concerned about our parents trying to make us marry?"

  "Don't you see, Willow? The more we push against it the further that increases their desire to match us together."

  Willow was a little disappointed at his words. She would’ve been pleased for him to say instead how much he admired her and that she was a kind and caring person—just like his mother had told her that he’d said of her.

  "If we pretend to go along with it, though, there comes a time when it must all come to an end. So how does that work?" Willow asked.

  He wagged a finger at her. "I haven't quite figured that out yet."

  Willow smiled at him. He was quite funny, to her surprise, and he had a wicked smile.

  "Perhaps if we put our heads together, we can come up with a plan," Samuel said as he started walking toward the porch. He indicated that Willow should sit on one of the porch chairs, and then he took the other.

  "That's a good idea, as long as they don't work out what we're doing." Willow sighed. "I don't know why they just can't leave me alone. I'm far too young to get married.”

  "You don't think I am?"

  She looked into his blue eyes to see if he was joking and she couldn’t tell. He seemed serious. "You have to be a good ten years older than me. I don't even remember you being there when I started school so that must—”

  "I'm only twenty four. Not ten years older than you, like you say. Only about seven. Ten years would make me an old man; nearly as old as your vadder."

  Willow giggled. "Well, I'm glad you're not taking the whole thing too seriously.”

  "I know I want to get married someday, so I guess that's the true reason I went along with it. And, as you said, I'm such an old man …”

  Willow felt her cheeks warm and she looked away. "I suppose everybody wants to get married, but doesn't a person have a right to choose when and to whom?"

  "That's exactly right, Willow. It's not nice that they've taken over from us."

  "Well, you're an adult. They all just think of me as a child. Why don't you say it's not what you want?"

  He tipped his hat back slightly and scratched his head. "I tend to prefer to stay away from trouble, and I'm not good when people nag me. Mamm will nag me and go on and on talking about it. I guess I find it easier to just go along with it."

  It sounded like he was a man with no backbone and Willow did not want a man like that. She wanted a man who knew what he wanted and went after it no matter what anybody said. Not a man who was just going along with things that other people wanted.

  "Why are you looking so sad?" he asked.

  "I'm not sad. I'm worried. I don't like people forcing me to do things either, but I'm not just gonna go along with it and hope something works itself out. We have to come up with a plan."

  He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back. "Let's hear it."

  "I haven't thought of anything yet, except I know that we need to come up with a plan. Why don't you think of something?"

  "How about I tell my parents that I'm interested in someone else?" he suggested.

  "Who?"

  "I won't say who, I'll just say someone else. It won’t be fair to expect you to marry me when I like this other woman.”

  "That makes sense. So, do you like someone else?"

  "If I did, I wouldn't have gone along with my parents this far."

  "So that's a no?"

  "That's a no." He laughed at her. "You're very forceful."

  "I hope that's a good thing."

  "Depends."

  "Depends on what?"

  He looked down. "Nothing."

  "It must be something."

  He looked up at her with a look on his face as though he really liked her. To cover her embarrassment, she said, “Will you really tell your parents you're interested in someone else?"

  "If that's what you want me to do.”

  Willow nodded. "I would be grateful if you did.” Willow hoped it could be that easy.

  "I'll tell them soon."

  "You can’t tell them tonight. You’ve got people stopping for dinner."

  "Who is it? You?"

  "Nee, it's your Onkel David and his family.”

  "Well, I'll tell them soon, anyway.”

  "Denke, Samuel. I really appreciate you doing this."

  "I really had no idea what my parents had in their minds at first. I was just as shocked as you last night when your father said the thing about being there to discuss our intended marriage."

  "You didn't seem that shocked."

  He chuckled. "I was. Believe me, I was. Too shocked to even look shocked, I guess.”

  “Why did you think you were coming there for dinner all the time? Violet and I were already suspicious that your parents and mine were trying to match us together. I thought you would have seen that.”

  “Not really. My mudder doesn’t have many close friends and I just saw that she was getting close with your mudder.”

  As they talked, Willow found herself attracted to him, and she didn’t want to be. His skin was tanned and his blue eyes stood out against his dark skin, the whites of his eyes matching the whiteness of his teeth.

  * * *

  Willow’s attention was taken by a buggy. She turned to see that it was her mother and Violet coming to fetch her. What rotten timing! Maybe … maybe she didn’t want Samuel to tell his parents he liked someone else, but it was too late now to say anything further to Samuel.

  “Here they are to fetch me. I’ll just say goodbye to your mudder.”

  “Okay.”

  She stood and opened the door, leaning inside. “Mrs. Troyer, Mamm’s here to collect me.”

  Mrs. Troyer came out of the kitchen. “Denke for stopping by, Willow. I’ll talk to my bruder tonight, and I'll tell him you’ll come into the lumberyard tomorrow.”

  “Wunderbaar, denke. What time do you think I should get there?”

  “He’ll be there all day.”

  “I’ll go early.”

  Mrs. Troyer smiled and Willow saw that she had the same color eyes as Samuel. Would Mrs. Troyer regret recommending her to her brother when Samuel told his mother he liked someone else? Willow couldn’t say anything now; all she could do was thank Mrs. Troyer again and leave. That’s exactly what she did. On her way to her mother’s buggy, she turned back to Samuel. “Goodbye, Samuel.”

  “Denke for stopping by. Mamm gets lonely here by herself all day.”

  “Does she?”

  He nodded. “Jah. That’s why I come home for lunch.”

  Willow continued walking to the buggy while thinking how kind Samuel was to be concerned for his mother like that.

  As soon as Willow got into the buggy, her mother said, "How was your visit?"

  "We had a lovely time. I'm glad I went. We talked about me getting a job and
she said she's going to talk to David Hostetler, her bruder, who owns the lumberyard. She said he has a job there for someone to do office work."

  "You never told me you wanted a job," Violet said.

  "It's something I've just been thinking about."

  "I could've asked around at the markets for you."

  "I don't think I want to work at the markets. I want somewhere quieter to work. I don't like to be around a lot of noise and a lot of chatter."

  "That's only because you want to be the one doing all the chattering," her mother said.

  Willow ignored the jibe, and took great delight in saying, "Another thing I found out is that Samuel likes someone else. We had a talk and he's going to tell his mudder and vadder soon.”

  "Is this some scheme you have cooked up, Willow?"

  Willow gasped. How could her mother know her so well? "What do you mean, Mamm?"

  "Did you put Samuel up to this?"

  "Mamm, how could you say such a thing?"

  "Answer me."

  "Nee, he told me himself. He likes someone else, not me. His parents didn't even bother to check with him if he liked someone else. So I don't know what last night was all about, and all the other times the Troyers have been over. We haven't had anybody else in the community over so much. Not anybody else at all, even if they're not in the community, come to think of it."

  Violet turned around and looked at her. Willow knew she’d have to tell Violet the truth because the expression on her sister's face told her that she was highly suspicious. Her sister knew her all too well.

  "Anyway, I'm excited about the job. She said to go there early. No, wait a minute. She said go there anytime tomorrow because her bruder is going to be there all day, but I said I'd go there early. I can borrow the buggy, can't I?"

  "Of course, if it's for a job."

  "Denke."

  "If you ask me, Samuel was looking at you as though he liked you. He had a twinkle in his eyes and he found it hard to look away. It was sweet. I think he likes you, but you don't like him and you made him say to his parents that he likes someone else. You cooked up this whole thing, didn't you, Willow?"

  Willow was disappointed that she was so transparent. But the complete truth of the thing was that it wasn't her idea. The idea, the actual suggestion, had been Samuel's.

  "Samuel and I were just talking about our parents and he said he was shocked when the subject of marriage came up and I said I was too. And then we talked some more, and he said he was interested in another woman. His parents had never even asked him.”

  "And why would he offer you that information unless you said you weren’t interested in him?"

  "He's not just going to marry me when he’s interested in someone else, Mamm. Don't you think so, Violet?"

  "Willow does have a point.”

  "And he’s going to tell his parents what you just told me?" Mamm asked.

  "Jah. That’s right.”

  When they arrived at the house, Willow’s mother said, "I feel a headache coming on. You girls can unhitch the buggy and fix dinner tonight. I'm going to lie down in bed.”

  "Jah, Mamm," both girls said in unison.

  Once their mother was inside, Violet stared at Willow. "Okay, tell me what really happened."

  "It was just like I told Mamm."

  "I know there was a lot more to it than that. So tell me. You've always told me everything so don't stop now."

  Willow unhitched the buggy while telling Violet exactly what had been said.

  "And the thing is, after getting to talk with him one-on-one, I kind of like him now."

  "It's a bit late for that now. You were so rude to him, Willow. The poor man would've been really embarrassed."

  "He didn't seem embarrassed at all. We were just laughing and talking away. He is so easy to talk with, come to think of it. And his eyes are a lovely blue color, just like the sky on a clear summer’s day. And his skin is dark but it doesn’t look like leather. I bet it’s soft to the touch."

  Violet led the horse into the paddock while Willow pulled the buggy further into the barn.

  "What did you do at Aunt Nancy's, Violet?"

  "Talked about the wedding and what food we would have. Well, after Aunt Nancy told Mamm that she shouldn’t have tried to match you with a man in the way that she did.”

  "Gut! I wish I could've been there.”

  "You can come next time. We are meeting again next week to talk about the same thing.” Violet shook her head.

  "What's the matter?"

  "I think that Mamm and Aunt Nancy just like weddings. You're the last wedding they'll have any real say in.”

  "Well I won't get married for some time, then, and that will give them something to look forward to,” Willow said.

  "Maybe they don't see things that way."

  "Well it's my life and not theirs. They have lived their lives and now they should let me live mine.”

  Violet giggled. "Now you know how I felt when they were trying to match me with Benjamin.”

  "I knew how you felt all along. But I didn't want you to like Nathan at first, either.”

  "Jah, you made that quite clear. You were rude to him.”

  Willow smiled. "Jah, I was, but I really like him now. And I'm sorry I misjudged him."

  "That’s good. I'm glad you like him; he'll soon be your bruder by marriage. I hope you get that job at the lumberyard. What will you have to do there?"

  Willow shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. She just said office work."

  "Who said that?"

  "Mrs. Troyer. She said the job’s for office work, and I'm not quite sure what that is. Probably working with computers and things like that. If I get the job, it might make Mamm and Dat think of me as more grown up and they’ll stop trying to run my life. They’ll see I’m my own person with my own mind and not someone to be pushed around."

  “I know what you mean. I hope we’re not like this with our kinner when we have them.”

  "That's a long way off into the future—for me, at least. If you turn out like Mamm, Violet, I’ll tell you to stop being so bossy."

  "And I'll tell you the same."

  "Did I give Mamm a headache?" Willow asked.

  "Probably."

  "I feel bad about that, but what can I do? It wouldn't have worked out with Samuel anyway. It's embarrassing. I hope no one finds out they were trying to force me to marry him.”

  "I'm sure Samuel won't be telling anyone.”

  "His mudder seemed quite convinced that he likes me."

  "That's not so good. Hopefully, they won’t be over for dinner so much now. Not that I've got anything against them, but I've heard Mr. Troyer’s stories over and over again about how he used to fish and swim in the creek with all his brothers and what a good time they had jumping into the water from the rope swing.”

  Willow agreed. "I know the stories by heart. I could tell them myself."

  * * *

  Nerida stayed in bed the rest of the day and only came down for a dinner of meatballs, sauerkraut, and mashed potatoes.

  When they were all seated around the table, Willow’s father looked directly at Willow, and said, “It seems we’ve made a mistake about Samuel.”

  Willow nodded, hoping her father wasn’t angry.

  He added, “We’ll say no more on the matter.”

  “Are you feeling better, Mamm?” Violet asked.

  “Jah, I am.”

  “You girls need to help your mudder more around the haus.”

  “We will, Dat,” Violet said.

  “I’m going to see about a job tomorrow, Dat,” Willow said.

  “Jah, I heard about that. Will it be full time?”

  “I’m not certain. Anyway, Violet only works part time, so she’ll still be around the house when I’m not. Until she gets married, anyway.”

  “I won’t be far away,” Violet said.

  “You’ll have your own household to take care of, and you’ll be doing that.”

/>   “I can still—”

  “Willow will help out here.”

  “Jah, of course. I always do more than my share.” Willow was tempted to ask who would help around the place if she’d gotten married like they’d planned, but thought better of it.

  “I don’t know if I like the idea of you working in a lumberyard, but I won’t stop you if that’s what you want to do.”

  “Denke, Dat. I never thought I’d work in a place like that, but I’ll be happy if I get the job.”

  “You’ll get the job if it’s Gott’s will,” her mother said.

  Chapter 5

  Willow drove the buggy away from home the next morning, feeling good to be seeing about the job. Being the youngest in the family, it was rare she got a chance to drive the buggy alone and she enjoyed the peace and quiet. The November morning was frosty even though the last few days had been unseasonably warm. She breathed in the dew-scented air and enjoyed the chill that greeted her skin.

  She pulled the buggy up next to the lumberyard and secured her horse amid the sounds of woodcutting saws in the distance. The Hostetlers’ lumberyard was the biggest in the area and that was the only thing she knew about it. She’d been there only one or two times before, when her father was doing a building project.

  After she had taken a deep breath, she walked into the office. Mr. Hostetler was sitting behind a large desk. He looked up when she walked in.

  "Good morning, Mr. Hostetler."

  “Willow. Good morning. I've been expecting you. My schweschder said you’d be stopping by today. Have a seat.”

  Willow sat on the opposite side of the desk. "Jah, she was kind enough to tell me that you might have a job."

  "And you're here to tell me that you're the right person for that job?"

  “I hope so. Let me start by saying that I'm a fast learner, but I have never had a job before and someone would have to show me what to do and then I'll be sure to be very good at it."

  He laughed.

  "The main thing I want is someone to sit here behind this desk and take phone messages. That would be the first priority. I don’t want to be stuck here on the phone when I’ve got so many other things to do. After you learn how to answer the phone inquiries, and you learn the pricing system, then my bookkeeper might be able to show you how to get the paperwork ready for her.”