Esther opened the front door and waved as Isaiah came to a halt beside the hitching post. She could have run out to meet him beside his buggy, but that was how starstruck teenagers acted. Isaiah might think she was gloating over her easy conquest of him, which wasn’t true. They were like two streams that had come together in their proper place. Yah, she had been the one who brought about the meeting, but Isaiah had played his part. His readiness to move their relationship forward meant that she had read the Lord’s will correctly with her move to the valley.
Esther waved again to Isaiah, who was busy tying up his horse. As she waited, Diana appeared around the corner of the house at a fast run and didn’t slow down until she came to a halt in front of Isaiah’s buggy. She began chattering away as Isaiah bent down to listen, and moments later he threw back his head in laughter. Diana giggled, and Isaiah took the girl’s hand. The two ambled toward the house, their attention focused on each other.
“I helped Joseph and Arlene all morning while Mamm was working on her garden,” Diana was saying as they came within earshot. “Isn’t that true, Mamm?”
“That’s right,” Esther agreed with a smile.
Isaiah tickled the girl’s chin. “I wasn’t doubting you, Diana.”
Diana peered up at him. “Are you staying for supper?”
“Yep!” Isaiah proclaimed. “If your mamm will let me.”
Diana grinned, and Esther told her, “Run along now. There’s still light enough for you to play outside. I’ll call you when we’re ready to eat.”
“I want to ask one more thing,” Diana declared. “Joseph said that even if flowers look the same, they don’t all smell the same. Do you think that’s true, Isaiah?”
“Ah…” Isaiah appeared puzzled.
“I smelled my roses when we came home from Joseph’s place.” Diana waved her small hand toward the fence. “And I can’t tell any difference. Would you see if Joseph is right, Isaiah? Come smell them.”
Isaiah shrugged and winked at Esther. “I’m afraid I don’t know anything about roses—”
“But you can smell,” Diana insisted.
“I think I’ll wait to smell the delicious supper your mamm has prepared for us.”
“Okay.” Diana gave in with a sigh. Then she perked up. “But why do praying mantises eat each other? That’s what Joseph said they do.”
Esther gasped. “Why are you bringing that up again, Diana?”
“Well, you won’t tell me, and Joseph won’t either. I asked him this morning.”
Isaiah turned his head to hide his laughter, his beard jiggling despite his efforts.
“Joseph shouldn’t have told you those things in the first place,” Esther told her. “He’s sorry now. You’re just a little girl, and he feels bad about it. He told me so himself. Now, please forget about praying mantises eating each other.”
“But I want to know,” Diana insisted, standing her ground.
Esther squatted down and took her daughter’s hands in hers. “Sweetheart, the Lord made people and insects differently. People don’t do things insects do. I wish Joseph hadn’t told you this.”
Diana puckered her face. “I like him, Mamm. He makes me feel big and important.”
Esther wrapped her arms around her daughter’s thin shoulders. “You’re certainly growing every day. Run now and play. I’ll call you when supper’s ready.”
“Won’t Isaiah sniff my roses?” Diana tried once more, looking up at him plaintively.
“Sure, why not.” Isaiah was sober faced now. He took Diana’s hand and allowed her to lead him to the rail fence. Together they bent over one bloom and the next one, and then the one after that. Esther strained to hear the conversation between them.
“Is there a difference?” Diana looked up hopefully.
“Hmm…I think maybe only the bees can tell the difference.”
“I can’t tell either, but thank you for smelling them with me.”
“Anytime,” Isaiah said, smiling as he watched the small figure disappear around the edge of the house.
He walked back to Esther, who waited for him on the porch. “It looks as if your daughter is fascinated with Joseph.”
“You can say that again.”
“And what about you?”
“Isaiah, you shame me with that question. I didn’t come all the way from Lancaster County with Joseph Zook on my mind!”
Isaiah grinned slyly. “Aha. So you’re confessing your real reason for moving to the valley from Lancaster County?”
“You just want to see me blush, but I’m not the blushing type. If you want to talk plainly, we will. I’ve done nothing I am ashamed of. Yah, I came partly because of you—as you surely know.”
“I’m just teasing. Now can I come in? All this rose sniffing has exhausted me.”
Esther suppressed a smile. “I didn’t expect to see the day that Isaiah Mast would be on his knees in front of roses. Or concerned about Joseph and me…as if there was anything to be concerned about. Shame on you.”
“Well, Joseph is a man who needs a frau, just like me. You can’t expect me not to take notice. Especially when he offers you a spot in his greenhouse for your garden.”
She tried to change the subject. “That was a fine answer you gave Diana. Where did you come up with that? About the bees being able to tell the difference?”
“Maybe I have a few inspirations from time to time.”
“I know you do, Isaiah, but that was goot. I wouldn’t have known how to explain it.”
“I guess we could have walked down and asked Joseph.”
Esther gave him a sharp glance. “I think I know you well enough, Isaiah Mast, to hear irritation in your voice.”
“You sounded irate a moment ago yourself, yet you planted your garden this morning in the man’s greenhouse.”
“That is true,” Esther agreed. She held the front door open wide. “I’m becoming a bundle of contradictions.”
“All because of Joseph?”
“Maybe if you heard the story about his frau, you would understand him better. Or do you already know?”
Isaiah flopped down on the couch. “I can’t say that I have. The man comes from Lancaster County. People down there are kind of secretive, and Silvia passed before Joseph moved here with Ben.”
“Well, it’s a touching story.” Esther gave him a warm smile. “But enough about Joseph.”
“Okay, but the way the talk is going, I thought maybe he was coming for supper.”
Esther rolled her eyes before heading for the kitchen. Isaiah rose and followed her.
“Have a chair,” she offered. “Supper’s just about ready.”
He took a deep breath. “I like the smells in here much more than I do the ones by the rail fence.”
“I thought you looked cute down on your knees sniffing the roses.”
“You’ll have me blushing soon,” he said with a smile. “But in all seriousness, your lives seem quite wrapped up in Joseph’s all of a sudden. Every time I come around, that’s all Diana speaks of. Now with this garden, you’ll be seeing a lot of him.”
“I didn’t plan this,” she protested. “Dorrine asked me to help her connect Arlene with Joseph. Now I’ve ended up with your questioning the situation. That’s not helpful.” She brought a platter of pot roast to the table and awaited his inspection.
Isaiah leaned forward with a look of rapture on his face. “Now that’s definitely better than the smell of roses.”
“Glad you like it,” she said with a soft smile.
Next, she went to the stove and brought back a bowl of mashed potatoes. Making one more trip, she said, “And here’s the gravy.” She set the boat on a hot pad in front of him.
Isaiah lowered his head until his beard touched the edge of the table. He took several deep sniffs before exclaiming, “What more could a man want on a spring evening than a supper like this served by a wunderbah woman like you, Esther? How long has it been since I’ve had this kind of meal?” He
pretended to tick off numbers on his fingers. “I had begun to forget.”
“You haven’t been that bad off. I’m sure your mamm and your sisters see to it that you’re invited to the family gatherings—and often enough, I’m thinking.”
“That they do,” he said. “But this is still very special. I want to make that clear, even if I didn’t bring you any roses.”
Esther gasped. “Roses! Why would you bring roses? That can’t be another reference to Joseph.”
Isaiah shrugged. “With all this talk of roses and Joseph, I just thought—”
“Well, you thought wrong. I don’t need roses.”
Isaiah studied her for a moment. “What is going on, Esther?”
“Nothing is going on,” she said as she brought a bowl of corn to the table.
Isaiah drew the dish close before he looked up. “When a woman says nothing is going on, that means there usually is. That’s what I learned from living around my sisters with all their emotional ups and downs. But I didn’t think you were into drama, Esther. Mandy was a simple woman, you know.” He smiled up at her. “I like simplicity. So what is this ‘nothing’?”
She let out a breath. “It really is nothing. If I seem a bit off, maybe you can attribute it to the move and settling in a new community. I’m so thankful for folks like the Kings. They’ve been wunderbah to Diana and me. They had us down for supper on Wednesday evening with—” Esther stopped abruptly and grabbed the salad.
“With Joseph,” Isaiah finished for her.
“Yah. Arlene is interested in him, and the Kings thought including him in the mix would help move that relationship along.”
“I see,” he said. “Sounds like drama to me.”
“Not really,” she insisted, “although I do plan to talk with Arlene about how she can improve her approach to Joseph. I had some ideas this afternoon, which I haven’t fully explained to Arlene. He has a tender side to him that I didn’t expect, and his story of his frau really touched me, and…”
“And?”
“You don’t want to hear more about roses or Joseph. Besides, we need to eat. I’ll go get Diana.”
Esther scurried to the front door and called out, “Diana, time for supper.”
Dusk had almost fallen, and the little girl appeared at once from around the corner of the house to follow Esther back into the kitchen.
“There you are,” Isaiah said to Diana. “What were you doing out there?”
“I was playing in my little doll playhouse under the oak tree.”
“Oh,” he said. “Is it a pretend playhouse?”
“Yah.” A look of delight filled Diana’s face. “Joseph let me make a big playhouse out of boxes today at the greenhouse. He said I could make more when I come down again and Mamm works on her garden.”
“So you had lots of fun today?” Isaiah asked.
“Yah, I did,” Diana said. “But I wish Joseph or the King family had some girls to play with.”
“That’s too bad.” Isaiah hid a smile. With that, he bowed his head, and Esther and Diana did likewise as he offered thanks. Esther tried to keep her thoughts on Isaiah’s words, but her mind was racing. Things were not going well. Isaiah’s impressions of her were all the wrong ones. Thankfully, she had avoided the story about Silvia’s Rose and the award Joseph hoped to win.
Isaiah finished the prayer with a solid, “Amen,” and fixed his gaze on the food. Esther passed the dishes to him, and he helped himself to generous portions.
“I hope everything tastes okay,” she ventured.
“If it tastes as good as it smells, it’ll be more than okay,” Isaiah replied, buttering a piece of warm bread fresh from the oven. With a wide smile he spread on a thick layer of blackberry jam. “I think I’ll have to come back here more often.”
“You’re welcome anytime,” she told him with a warm smile.
Isaiah chuckled. “Maybe we can make this our regular Friday night date. Perhaps we could do this instead of a more traditional courtship, since we’ve both been wed before.”
“I agree,” she said without hesitation. “That is a wunderbah idea.”
“And this is wunderbah nourishing,” he said, taking a big bite from the slab of jam-coated bread.
TEN
The following Tuesday afternoon, Esther held Diana’s hand as they strolled down Fords Bush Road to Joseph’s greenhouse.
“Can I make a playhouse again today?” Diana begged.
“You had best leave those big boxes alone, sweetheart. What if they come crashing down on your head? Anyway, I don’t think Joseph is home this afternoon. Your imaginary dollhouse in the backyard is all you need.”
“I want to play with Joseph’s boxes. They make the best playhouse,” Diana whined.
“Well, you’ll just have to wait until Joseph is home.”
That wait would be awhile if Esther had anything to say about it. She could easily avoid Joseph if she kept a sharp eye out and only visited the greenhouse while he was away. The plan had worked to perfection today. Joseph and Ben had driven out of their driveway right after lunch, and she had left the dishes in the sink in her rush to get on the road. She was going to try to keep Diana away from Joseph as much as she could without it being too noticeable. There would be too many questions in Diana’s young mind if they cut off all communication, and a cold shoulder to a neighbor would be terribly impolite.
Isaiah had said nothing more about Joseph last week after supper, and because she was in no danger of falling for Joseph, there was no sense in acting as if he were a real threat. Yet why was she on pins and needles when it came to him? There was no reason at all. With a little guidance, Diana’s heart would soon be drawn to Isaiah’s steady and predictable ways. Her heart was already there.
Esther quickened her steps but stopped short when the Kings’ front door slammed and Dorrine hurried across her front lawn.
“Goot afternoon,” Dorrine sang out. “Headed down to your garden patch, I’m guessing.”
“Yah, that’s the plan.”
“I think Joseph just left.” Dorrine leaned over the front gate. “This would be the perfect time for a chat with Arlene about…well, you know what. You have such a way with Joseph, and Arlene could learn so much from you.”
“Well, I’ll try,” Esther told her. “But Joseph is not what I’m used to in men, so maybe I don’t have much to say. The man has some high ideals.”
“That’s foolishness!” Dorrine dismissed the objection with a quick wave. “You have Isaiah eating out of your hand in the short time you’ve been here. Why, his face practically glowed at this past Sunday meeting. I haven’t seen the man so happy since before Mandy passed.”
“You have to remember that Isaiah and I have known each other from way back,” Esther reminded her. “That’s why it seems like the Lord has brought us together without much fuss.”
“You undersell yourself, Esther!” Dorrine said, reaching down to brush a few stray hairs out of Diana’s face. “How is my little darling today?”
“We’re going to play with Joseph’s boxes,” Diana announced.
“You are?” Dorrine raised her eyebrows.
“Well, that’s Diana’s plan,” Esther said. “I want her to wait on the playhouse building until Joseph is back, but I hope to be out of there before he returns.”
“Oh?” Dorrine raised her eyebrows.
Esther forced a laugh. “I’ll tell you later.” She pointed down at Diana.
“What, Mamm?” Diana asked, peering upward.
“You weren’t supposed to see that.”
Dorrine chuckled. “They have eyes everywhere, kinner do.” She bent down to Diana’s level. “Does Joseph fascinate you?”
“What’s that mean?”
“You like him, don’t you?”
Diana glowed. “Yah! He tells me lots of things.”
“Some things you shouldn’t know,” Esther muttered.
“Really? Like what?” Dorrine asked.
“Praying mantises—”
“Sweetie, why don’t you run on in and help Arlene?” Esther interrupted.
As Diana scurried off, Dorrine said, “She’s such a dear little girl. If the Lord should see fit to bless my life with such a gift, I would never get off my knees for giving thanks.”
Esther smiled. “I pray your wish will be granted soon. Am I correct in thinking…”
Dorrine blushed. “How did you know? Well, never mind. Would you pray that I might have such a blessing?”
“If the Lord wills it,” Esther agreed.
“Yah, to that we must always submit.” Dorrine sighed. “But what else was Joseph telling Diana that was so out of line?”
“All about praying mantises and the female’s habit of eating the male after their…”
Dorrine giggled. “Joseph is strange, but what a thing to say! No wonder you’re upset. Did you chastise him?”
“I tried, but he’s so innocent…and with his lame leg and all… But he did apologize on his own. I don’t think he always knows what his words do, and there is Arlene…”
Dorrine nodded. “I know. The comparison could cross a man’s mind. I have tried to speak to Arlene about the way she talks to Joseph, but on the other hand, those Southern Lancaster County people are all a little strange. Usually that end of the county stays pretty much put where they were born.”
“So there’s the problem, but let me say that Joseph does have a kind heart. He told me more about Silvia.”
“Well, she’s gone now, and he needs to accept that and consider settling down with Arlene if only for Ben’s sake. So anything you do to help things along would be greatly appreciated.”
“I’ll do what I can,” Esther told her. “Now I’d best be going, or Joseph will be back before I even get started.”
“Don’t avoid him,” Dorrine advised. “The more you’re around him, the better it will be for both Arlene and Joseph. A woman’s influence on a man can be wunderbah even when they aren’t married.” Dorrine winked before hurrying back across her front yard.
Esther continued to the greenhouse. Dorrine’s words had comforted her, in a way. As for Joseph, what he had gone through must have touched his heart at great depths. What man in his condition wouldn’t be moved deeply if a frau like Silvia had loved him with all her heart? Silvia had likely done that out of gratitude for Joseph’s tender care through her illness.
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