He opened the door and stepped onto Lambrights’ wraparound porch. The family obviously liked to sit out here often. There were six patio chairs and a porch swing. As he expected, Kristina stood with her hands resting on the porch railing staring into space as if she’d been waiting there ever so long. Dori Rose must have raced to the barn and brought Kristina back here, both of them sprinting all the way.
His mamm had taught him to be polite, even to people who sorely tested his patience. “Do you need something, Kristina?”
She snapped her head around, as if his presence surprised her. She probably hadn’t expected him to show up. It wasn’t like him to actually come when she called. “Noah,” she said, crossing the wide porch and throwing her arms around him before he had time to avoid her.
He gently but firmly pried her arms from around his waist. “Kristina, if you’re going to do that, I’m leaving right now,” he said, grateful that he hadn’t let Dori Rose talk him into the barn.
With urgency flashing in her eyes, Kristina dropped her hands and took three steps back. “Nae, nae. I’m sorry. Don’t leave. I just want to talk.”
“Maybe,” he said. “But I’d rather you let me alone.”
The disappointment on her face was almost tangible, but she soon recovered She laced her fingers together and regarded him as if she were giving him permission to stand on the porch. “I know you’re still mad at me about what I said about your dat.”
Noah crossed his arms over his chest and tried not to think about the shame. Kristina had thought she was being funny when she called his dat a drunk and a bum. After that cutting comment, his forbearance had snapped. That was when he had admonished her not to text or call anymore. And that was when Mandy had shown up at his door to scold him for breaking up with a girl he’d never actually been with. “I’m not mad about that anymore.”
She burst into a smile. “That is wonderful gute.”
“But I don’t want to date you, Kristina. We’re not really a good match.”
A divot appeared between her eyebrows. “How do you know if you won’t talk to me? Mandy said I should talk to you so we can get to know each other.”
Noah peered at her doubtfully. “This was Mandy’s idea?”
“She’ll be gone next week, you know.”
Noah didn’t know why this prompted him to contradict her. “Two weeks. She might stay for two more weeks.”
Kristina scowled as if he’d just insulted her. “It was Mandy’s suggestion that I should have a conversation instead of spying on you.”
“I don’t like to be spied on.”
Kristina pinched her lips and squinched her eyes as if she were trying to milk out a few tears. “I had to spy,” she whined. “You won’t talk to me.”
Like the stub of a candle, his patience was just about spent. “I’m talking to you now. What do you want?”
“I want to know why you let my best friend kiss you.”
Noah felt as if someone had beaned him in the head with a rock. “She told you that?”
Kristina narrowed her eyes resentfully. “She tells me everything.”
Dread crawled into Noah’s veins. Kissing Mandy had been one of the most wonderful-gute experiences of his life, and she had told Kristina about it? Silly, childish Kristina who couldn’t keep her mouth shut with a whole roll of duct tape?
“Why . . . would she tell you?”
“Don’t get upset about it. I don’t blame you. Who knows how many boys she’s kissed in Charm? Dozens and dozens, I suppose.”
Were their kisses so cheap, so meaningless to Mandy that she had shared their experience like a piece of bubble gum? Were his deepest emotions reduced to items of gossip for Mandy and her friends to giggle about? The kisses had meant everything to him. Apparently they hadn’t meant quite that much to Mandy. He felt ill.
“I think it’s pretty rotten for a best friend to kiss the boy I’ve loved for a whole year. She knew how much I loved you, and then she comes into town and steals you.”
“It’s nobody’s business,” Noah stuttered.
“How can you date a girl who treats her friends like that?”
Noah felt increasingly breathless. “You and I were never together.”
“She’ll be gone in a week. Do you really think she kissed you because she loves you?”
Noah didn’t know what to think. Why had she let him kiss her? Why had she asked him to kiss her? She knew as well as he did that she was leaving. What did she want from him?
Kristina batted her eyelashes as if a whole fireplace of ashes had fallen into them. “She told me she came to town to be with me, but I think she came to lure you in and break your heart. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have invited her to come.”
Could this be true? Was Mandy toying with him, determined to collect his broken heart like a souvenir? He clenched his teeth and rubbed his hand down the side of his face. Mandy was leaving soon. She had never hidden that fact from him. Maybe she had known from the beginning that their relationship had an expiration date, like milk from Yoder’s dairy. And maybe she didn’t care that Noah would be crushed when she was gone.
He bridled his galloping imagination and considered the source of this information. He’d never heard one sensible word from Kristina’s mouth. Maybe her jealousy colored her understanding and made her say things that weren’t true. Still, Mandy had told her about the kiss. What else had she shared with Kristina, and were they laughing at him even now?
Kristina must have sensed that something she had said hit the mark. She studied her fingernails with disinterest even as her eyes blazed with intensity. “I’ll forgive her, of course. That’s what best friends do. But she doesn’t deserve your love, Noah. It doesn’t mean anything to her.”
Noah tried to keep any emotion out of his voice. “How Mandy and I feel about each other is none of your business.” His life was none of anybody’s business. Why wouldn’t everybody leave him alone?
“But I love you,” she whined at the perfect pitch to set his teeth on edge.
“I don’t love you,” he said. “I . . . don’t love anybody.” He felt as if he were choking as he shoved the lie from his mouth.
She balled her hands into fists and glared at him. “I’ve been loyal to you ever since we met. It’s useless to wait for someone prettier. No girl but me would ever marry a boy whose fater is a drunk.”
Noah flinched. She should have known how much he hated that word.
“Remember when you dragged your fater out of that bar? He was drunk, and he smacked you. He hit his own son.”
This time Noah felt as if he’d been sliced right through the heart with a carving knife. There was only one way Kristina could have known about the incident at the bar. “How do you know about that? Did Mandy tell you?”
Kristina stuck out her lower lip. “Everybody knows about it.”
Noah thought back to gmay this morning. Four people had asked him about his dat. Nobody ever asked him about his dat. He caught his breath. Kristina was right. Everybody knew. Just like Mandy wanted.
“No girl would stoop to marry into such a family,” Kristina said, reaching out to grab his hand. He stepped back. “No girl except me. My love is strong enough to help us through the bad times.”
Even though it was a cool night, Noah felt the sweat trickling down the back of his neck as an oppressive vise squeezed the air out of his lungs and threatened to suffocate him.
How could she do this to him?
She’d promised. Mandy had promised him that she wouldn’t tell a soul about that night at the bar, and like a fool, he had believed her. He pressed his palm against his forehead as their last conversation played over and over in his head. On Friday she had seemed so concerned for his well-being.
What are you going to do when somebody in the district discovers how bad your dat’s drinking is? What if someone sees you dragging your dat home from the bar? Someday, whether you want them to or not, people are going to see your dat as he really
is.
She must not have been satisfied with his response, because she was apparently trying to force his hand. Maybe she thought if she told everybody about his dat, Noah would feel compelled to admit the truth and shove his dat into a rehab center whether he wanted to go or not.
Mandy couldn’t help herself. She stuck her nose into other people’s business like bees stuck their noses into flowers, but Noah never thought she’d stoop this low.
Mandy knew that this wouldn’t help his dat. It would only serve to compound Noah’s already deep humiliation.
Had she purposefully wanted to shame him to teach him a lesson?
“You know it’s true,” Kristina said.
He’d forgotten what Kristina had been saying. He didn’t know what was true anymore.
“I would be the best wife you could wish for,” she said. When he didn’t respond, she added, “I make yummy pie. You like pie, don’t you?”
Mandy made pie. Huckleberry pie with mild, sweet berries. Apple pie with cinnamon and nutmeg. It was the best thing he had ever tasted. No other pie would ever, ever measure up. But that was all over now. He’d never eat pie again.
Kristina must have found his silence encouraging. “I also make really good pretzels. Much better than Mary Lambright’s.”
Mamm probably wouldn’t consider it good manners to tell Kristina that he’d be happy to never lay eyes on her for the rest of his life. And what about the girl who had taken his heart and thrown it on the pavement? What would his mamm say about a girl who’d put his secrets on display like laundry on a clothesline?
His legs would no longer support him. He stumbled to the nearest chair and sank into it, burying his face in his hands to cover his despair.
“Kristina,” he whispered. “I really want to be alone. Could you please just go?”
“Is that all you have to say?”
“I don’t want to talk right now. If you go, I’ll text you later.”
With his face in his hands, he couldn’t see her expression, but her voice rose to an almost fevered pitch. “You will?”
“Jah.” He would have said just about anything to get her to leave.
“Do you promise?”
“I promise. I will send you a text.” One text, and at the moment, he couldn’t promise her it wouldn’t be a rude one.
Kristina gave a little squeal. He heard her skip down the porch steps, and soon the sound of her footsteps faded in the distance. She had probably gone back to the barn to lie in wait for some unsuspecting boy who had the misfortune of wandering in there.
Noah did his best to breathe. Was this really happening? Was kind, adorable Mandy really this calculating—so bent on getting her own way that she would reveal his most carefully guarded secrets?
Because of Mandy, everybody knew about the night at the bar. How many of his neighbors were laughing at him behind his back or horrified by what they knew about his fater? How could he face anyone ever again?
He heard the front door open, and someone walked out onto the porch. Should he stand up and try to act as if nothing were wrong? It didn’t matter. Now that everybody knew about his family’s disgrace, they knew how unworthy he was to be living among them. He wanted to crawl into a hole and never come out.
“I know that was a lot longer than three minutes, but Mary wanted to tell me all about her new kittens.”
Noah exhaled in relief. It was Yost.
“Noah? Are you okay?”
Noah lifted his head to see Yost peering at him anxiously. He hastily stood and swiped his fingers through his hair. “We need to go.”
Yost placed a hand on Noah’s shoulder. “What’s wrong? What did she say?”
“Nothing. It doesn’t matter.”
Yost frowned. “I know you, Noah. Whatever it is, it matters a lot.”
Noah jumped off the porch and marched in the direction of their buggy. “If you want a ride home, you’d better come now. I’ll not stay here another minute.”
“Okay, okay. I’m coming. Just let me get my coat.”
Noah didn’t slacken his pace. If Yost couldn’t catch up, he’d have to find his own ride home. The front door opened and closed, and Noah heard Yost’s quick steps close behind him. “Noah, tell me what’s wrong.”
Noah made the mistake of searching his brother’s face. He saw the innocence of youth and the blissful ignorance of hope. Yost could return to Missouri without having to endure the shame of a fater’s downfall or the gossip that circulated around the Mischler family. Yost could go home and live his life and be happy. Noah would never be happy again.
Everything was different now.
Something inside him crumbled, like the walls of Jericho. He yanked Yost to him and sobbed until he was too weak to cry anymore.
Chapter Seventeen
Mandy looked up toward the ceiling. She couldn’t see them, but she could hear Noah and his brother tromping about on the roof like two lumbering moose in the forest. It was gute that Noah had his brother to keep him company, but two people working on the roof meant that it would be finished twice as fast. What would she do when Noah didn’t have a reason to come to Huckleberry Hill?
What would she do in less than two weeks when she had to go home?
Maybe she should spend the rest of the week outside gazing at the boy on the roof who had become the center of her universe. Could she convince him to make her the center of his? Would he care when she left? Might he ask her to stay?
Dawdi tromped up from the cellar with a box of empty canning jars in his arms. “Some morning yonder, we’ll cease to ponder, O’er the trouble life’s brought to our eyes. All will be clearer, my love will be dearer, In that lovely heav’n in the sky.”
Dawdi placed the box on the table. “Applesauce canning day is my favorite time of year.”
Mandy smiled. “I’m glad I’m here to help this time.”
“You can turn the crank. Once I turned eighty, my elbow froze up every time I did it. Young people should always be the crank turners.”
“I’d be happy to turn the crank. I like seeing the applesauce come out one side and the peelings come out the other. I love applesauce day too.” Even though it would mean less time outside dreamily gazing at Noah.
“Annie wants us to put up three dozen quarts of applesauce, but I bet we’ve got enough apples for five dozen. Do you want to take some bottles back to Charm with you?”
“I might not be able to carry them on the bus.”
Dawdi fingered his beard. “Too bad Noah can’t go with you. He could carry a whole suitcase full of jars as easy as you please.”
“We could give some to Noah and his dat. They don’t do any canning of their own. They’d probably appreciate it.”
“Very gute idea. It’s the least we can do for all his work on the stove. It saves your mammi a lot of labor.” He nodded thoughtfully. “Noah sure is a smart young man, to know how to install a stove and fix our roof. I don’t think there’s nothing he can’t fix.”
“Jah,” Mandy said. “I think I’ll go take him some cookies.”
“The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, your mammi always says.” His eyes twinkled. Did he suspect something between her and Noah? “You should save some for Luke Miller. Your mammi’s invited him to dinner tonight.” Dawdi didn’t suspect anything. He was probably hanging his hopes on the nine-toed boy.
Mandy snatched the small bag of snickerdoodles from the counter, donned her sweater, and stepped outside. It was nearly ten o’clock. Noah and Yost had been up there for almost three hours yet. Maybe they’d like a cookie break.
She’d baked them early that morning in hopes of giving them to Noah before he started working. He usually came to say hello to her before going to the roof. It was always the best part of her day, especially when he brought her something to eat. But this morning, he hadn’t knocked, and she hadn’t known he was here until she heard the clunky footfalls above her.
Chester and Sparky frolicked around th
e yard like two puppies, wagging their tails and nudging each other with their wet noses. Mandy gave each dog a little love before ambling far enough away from the house to be able to see the boys working on the roof.
Yost, following behind Noah with a pile of shingles and his own nail gun, glanced in her direction. He didn’t seem inclined to acknowledge her. That was strange. On Friday, he hadn’t seemed like the timid type.
“Gute maiya, Yost.”
He turned and gave her a half smile. “Gute maiya.”
All of Noah’s attention was focused on nailing shingle after shingle into place. The muscles of his shoulders and back seemed to work in one fluid motion whenever he raised the nail gun. He was laying down shingles so fast, he didn’t even turn to look at her. She didn’t want to be a nuisance and interrupt his hard work, but she simply had to see that smile at least once. “Noah,” she called, “try not to work yourself to death. I wouldn’t want to have to carry your body down the ladder.”
He didn’t even turn around. Could he hear her over the popping of the nail gun?
Yost sprouted a sheepish grin. “He’s in a hurry to finish before the rains come this weekend.”
Uncertainty tightened around Mandy’s chest. Something was wrong. Noah wouldn’t look at her. What didn’t he want her to see?
She felt a catch in her throat. Two Sundays ago, Noah’s dat had given him a black eye. What was it this time? A broken nose? A goose egg on his forehead?
Dear Heavenly Father, not now. Not when his brother has come for a visit.
What could she do? She didn’t want to embarrass him, but if she knew what his injuries were, she was sure she could fix them. Why didn’t he trust her? She already knew the worst about his dat.
Her insides plummeted to the ground when she heard the familiar sound of a bicycle bell behind her. Oh sis yuscht! Kristina couldn’t have picked a worse time to pay a visit. Wasn’t she still mad at Mandy? She had told Mandy to go back to Ohio and leave her alone. Her righteous indignation should have kept her away for at least another day or so.
Huckleberry Harvest (The Matchmakers of Huckleberry Hill Book 5) Page 25
