More Than Friendship

by Amy Lillard

  “I told him that I was marrying you.”

  “What about love?”

  “Of course, I love him. He’s my best friend.”

  “And me?” Thomas asked. “Do you love me?”

  “You are the most wonderful man I have ever met, and I will be the best wife to you that I can be.”

  “That didn’t exactly answer my question.”

  “Thomas, I—”

  “Or maybe it did.”

  Chapter Nine

  Clara Rose hated the clouds that dimmed Thomas’s eyes. “I made my promises and I intend to keep them.”

  He shook his head. “What are you saying?”

  “That we have four hundred guests who came to see us get married. I suppose we should stop standing around and get to it.”

  He studied her for a moment, then gave a stiff nod. Behind him, Obie started his tractor.

  The bottom dropped out of Clara Rose’s heart. This was the right thing to do. Thomas was a good man, the best. She couldn’t drop everything and marry Obie. It wasn’t feasible. She couldn’t embarrass Thomas that way. She couldn’t bring that shame upon her family.

  This was it. The right thing to do.

  “Go on back in the house. I’ll be there in a bit.”

  Clara Rose gave a quick nod, thankful that her tears had finally stopped. Thankful that God had given her a man like Thomas. Theirs would be a good marriage.

  She slipped his jacket from around her shoulders and made her way back inside.

  * * *

  Somehow she made it through the throng of guests downstairs and back up to her room. She made a quick stop in the bathroom to wet a rag with cold water. If she was lucky, she would have just enough time for the cool cloth to work its magic on her tear-stained cheeks and swollen eyes.

  Her bridesmaids were gone, most likely waiting in the kitchen for their cue to take their place at the front of the room.

  That was okay with Clara Rose. She used the time alone to pray that she was doing the right thing by them all. She wiped the dust from her shoes and from the hem of her dress. Then took one last look in the mirror and made her way back downstairs.

  A hush fell over the room as she entered. All eyes were trained on her. She looked up and caught Thomas’s gaze. He gave an encouraging smile.

  She tried to return it but settled for a small nod instead. She joined her bridesmaids on the front bench, willing her heart to slow to a normal pace.

  Once everyone was seated, Bishop Ebersol stepped forward to start the service.

  “Ahem.” Thomas stood and went to the front of the room.

  This wasn’t part of the ceremony. And from the look in the bishop’s face, he had no idea what was going on either.

  “Friends and family, I want to thank you all for coming here today. We have everything ready to have a wedding—food, cake, paper plates.”

  Everyone laughed, but Clara Rose’s heart tripped in her chest as he continued. “But we are missing one very important item. A groom.”

  Gasps went up all around.

  Unable to stop herself, Clara Rose jumped to her feet.

  Thomas motioned her over to stand next to him. On shaking legs, she approached him and turned to look out over the sea of shocked faces.

  “We have a bride,” he continued, slipping his arm around her waist but not pulling her any closer. “But not a groom. Or maybe I should say we don’t have the right groom. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t still enjoy ourselves and the fact that we are here together. In a few minutes, we will cut the cake and serve the food, but for now I have a bit of unfinished business.”

  “Would you like to explain to me what’s going on?” Bishop Ebersol asked. His dark blue eyes searched their faces, but Clara Rose had nothing to say. She was just as confused as he was.

  “I found out something very important this morning.”

  The bishop nodded. “Go on.”

  “I found out that my bride is in love with someone else. And that this other person loves her in return.”

  “I see,” the bishop said.

  Clara Rose tried to wet her lips, but her mouth was so dry her tongue was sticking to her teeth. Where was he going with this?

  “Would someone like to tell me what’s going on?” Nancy Yutzy came to stand behind Clara Rose. Immediately, she had the love and support of her mother, and she relaxed. But only a little.

  “I’d like to know the answer to that myself.” Jason and Margaret Lapp came to stand beside their son.

  The bishop looked back to Thomas. “We’re waiting.”

  “It’s simple, really. Clara Rose loves someone else, and I won’t stand in the way of her happiness.”

  Tears stung her eyes.

  “What?” Margaret all but shrieked the one word. “I told you she wasn’t the right girl for you, Thomas.”

  Thomas opened his mouth to speak, then thought better of it and closed it instead.

  “There’s nothing wrong with my daughter,” Mamm huffed, hands on her hips.

  “I’ll have you know—”

  Clara Rose stepped between everyone and held up her hands. “Please, stop. Enough is enough. This is between me and Thomas.”

  “She’s right.” Thomas took her arm to lead her away. The bishop followed. Clara Rose figured he had the right to hear the truth seeing as he had had blessed their marriage months ago. But their parents followed.

  “We should at least know what’s happened here,” Mamm said.

  “Fine,” Thomas said. “But everyone has to keep their feelings in check. This is nothing to get upset over.”

  His mother opened her mouth to speak, but closed it again after a stern look from Thomas.

  “I found out today something I think I have known all along but was too blind to see.”

  “And that was?” the bishop prompted.

  “That Clara Rose and Obie Brenneman are in love with each other. And as much as I know in my heart of hearts that she would be the best wife a man could ask for, I can’t stand in the way of true love.” He turned to Clara Rose and took her hands into his own. Her fingers trembled in his sure grasp. “I release you from your promise to me.”

  “Thomas.” She knew it was forward, but she pulled him close and wrapped him in a big hug. “Thank you. Thank you so very much.”

  “Just go and be happy,” he said, pulling away from her to run one hand over the side of her face. “And promise me that the two of you will always love each other.”

  “I promise,” she said. And it was one promise she knew she would be able to keep.

  * * *

  A din of barking welcomed her as she pulled her grandmother’s buggy in front of the Brenneman house. Her grandmother was right—the ex-racehorse, Daisy Lane, could still fly like the wind.

  She patted the horse on the rump and unhitched her from the rig. She wasn’t sure where Obie was, but she knew she needed to get the horse out of the wind before she went in search of him. Once Daisy Lane was in the barn, she went back to the house.

  She peered in the window, but the house had that empty look, as if no one was home. Where had they all gone on a Thursday morning? Most likely to their various jobs around town, but she had seen Obie at the wedding and she felt he had to be close.

  Then she remembered. His favorite place. Millers’ pond.

  She knew it was taking a chance that he would actually be there, but that was exactly what this was about: taking chances.

  She hitched Daisy Lane back to the buggy, then off she went, so grateful to have such a swift horse on her side. Daisy Lane tossed her head into the wind as Clara Rose pushed her faster and faster. They reached Millers’ pond in record time.

  She hopped down from the buggy, her heart pounding in her chest as she saw Obie’s tractor parked off to one side. At least she had found him. That had to count for something.

  One down, two to go, as they say.

  She tethered her horse, then ducked under the fence, only then rea
lizing that she wasn’t wearing a coat. Not even her sweater. Up until now, she hadn’t needed the warmth, with adrenaline pushing her. But now that she had found him, a chill had set in. And it didn’t have as much to do with the weather as it did her own doubts. She had flown here on the wings of a racehorse, but her steps slowed as she neared the crop of trees.

  What if he told her it was too late? That she’d had her chance. What if he spurned her as she had him earlier?

  Only one way to find out. She clomped through the trees and into the clearing. Just as she’d known he would be, he was skipping rocks along the water’s surface.

  “Hello, Mrs. Lapp.”

  She shook her head and wrapped her arms around herself, that chill setting in once again. “Don’t call me that.”

  He shrugged. “How’d you find me?”

  “I’m your best friend, remember? You love this place.”

  He gave a quick nod, then skimmed another rock across the water. “So you are, so I do.”

  “I know you’re upset,” she started, but then didn’t know how to finish. But I love you? They had already covered that. But I’m sorry. That had been talked about as well. There was only one thing left to say. “I didn’t marry Thomas.”

  He stopped and turned to face her, his gaze raking over her from head to toe. She still wore her wedding dress, white cape, and apron, though they now looked a fright. And she was certain her prayer kapp had a big snag in it where she hadn’t been careful enough making her way through the trees.

  He opened his mouth, then closed it again with another shake of his head. “I want to say something mean and spiteful, but I can’t.”

  “Why would you want to say something like that?”

  He shot her a look.

  “Oh. Right.” She supposed she deserved it. “You can say anything you want to me, as long as you forgive me and tell me again that you love me.”

  He walked from the water’s edge over to the fallen tree trunk and flopped down as if all the energy had been drained from his body. “Do you think my feelings have changed in the last two hours?”

  “I don’t know.” She took the necessary steps to sit down next to him on the log. “I never meant to hurt you, but what kind of person would I be if I didn’t go through with my promise to marry Thomas? If I had thrown him over for you, how could you ever trust me?”

  “I trust you with my life forever and always.” He clasped her hand in his, and a thrill shot through her.

  “How was I supposed to know that?”

  He gave her a look.

  She laughed.

  “But I’m glad you held on to what you believe.” He sat with her in silence for a moment, just holding her hand in his. “Why aren’t you marrying Thomas?”

  “He said he didn’t want to stand in the way of our true love and released me from the promise.”

  “I suppose now you want me to marry you.”

  “It would be nice.”

  “Nice?” He released her hand, his expression dark.

  “Okay, maybe a little more than nice.”

  “How about so fantastic no one will ever believe us?”

  Clara Rose smiled. “That works too.”

  He leaned in and kissed her, his lips warm, his love clear. How had she not seen it all along? “I love you, Clara Rose Yutzy,” he said once he lifted his head.

  “I love you, too.”

  “And tomorrow we go talk to the bishop. I want to get married this wedding season.”

  She nodded. “We’ve known each other long enough, I’m sure the bishop would make an exception and approve the union.”

  He swooped in to kiss her again. Her head swam with the thrill of it all. Married this year. And to her best friend. She could only hope that he never stopped kissing her like he did in that moment.

  He pulled away.

  She sighed.

  “Just one more thing, and this is not negotiable. We name our first son Thomas.”

  “That sounds like a fine idea,” she said and reached up to kiss him again.

  The Amish of Wells Landing, Oklahoma, treasure their close-knit community, and the promise of their growing families. But one young woman is struggling to choose a future that is true to both her heart and her faith . . .

  Everyone in Wells Landing has long expected Sadie Kauffman and Chris Flaud to marry—despite Sadie’s telling them differently. While she loves Chris, it is more as a friend than a husband. Yet at twenty-two, the plainest girl in her group, Sadie is also the only one who is still single. Perhaps it’s time to be practical and marry Chris—though he still has not asked. But when Sadie meets a kind, handsome Mennonite, it seems her prayers have been answered . . .

  With Ezra Hein, Sadie at last feels the joy she nearly gave up on. Unfortunately, others only feel shock that she would consider marrying an outsider. To complicate matters, Chris has finally begun talking to Sadie about their future. Distressed, Sadie will have to search her heart to recognize God’s marvelous gifts to her—and find the courage to accept them, challenges and all . . .

  Please turn the page for an exciting sneak peek of Amy Lillard’s newest Wells Landing romance

  JUST PLAIN SADIE

  coming in April 2016 wherever print and e-books are sold!

  Chapter One

  “I have something I need to talk to you about.”

  At Chris’s words, Sadie’s heart pounded in her chest. Was this it? She had been waiting for this moment for a long, long time. Now it was about to happen on this cold but bright January day on his father’s farm. She had known something was up when he’d asked her to take a walk, but she hadn’t dreamed that today could be the day. Yet, from the sound of his voice, Chris had something very important to say. As important as a marriage proposal? She could only hope.

  Sure, she and Chris were nothing more than best friends who had been paired off in their buddy bunch like a true couple instead of just good pals. But what better person to marry than a best friend? She knew all his little habits, all his quirks, and shortcomings. So she didn’t love him with that breathless wonder that the Englisch novelists talked about. There was more to a marriage—more to life—than that.

  “Jah?” The one word was a mere whisper upon her lips. She had wanted to come across as strong and true, yet all she sounded was anxious and fretful. But she was anxious and fretful.

  More than anything in the world she wanted to get married. That wasn’t so much to ask, was it? Especially when everyone around them thought they were just being secretive when they claimed to be only friends.

  A couple of years ago, Sadie had given up defending their friendship and let people believe what they wanted. They were doing that anyway. But somewhere along the road, she had started to think about marriage. Not in a silly, romantic way, but in a strong, steady kind of way. And she knew that one day Chris would ask to be her husband. She just knew it.

  Was today that day?

  He took her hand into his own, turning it over and tracing the creases on her palm. “This is kinda hard to say.” He glanced up at the sky, across the field where they sat next to a half-frozen pond. He looked at his lap, then back at their hands once again. “It’s no secret that you’re my best friend, right?”

  “Of course.” She did her best to sound confident, but she feared she had failed miserably.

  “Best friends should be able to say anything to each other, right?” He seemed to be asking himself rather than her, so Sadie kept quiet and waited for him to continue. “It’s just that . . .”

  Her heart pounded even harder in her chest, so hard that she thought it might fly away on its own.

  “What I’m about to tell you is between the two of us, okay?”

  She nodded, breathless as she waited for him to continue.

  “I’m going to Europe.”

  Suddenly the world was swept out from underneath her. She took her hand from Chris’s, using it to steady herself, though she was still sitting in the same place sh
e had been before. Everything seemed tilted now, a little askew, not quite right. He was going to Europe?

  Europe?

  “Sadie? Are you okay?”

  She cleared her throat and managed to nod. “Jah, of course.” Her voice didn’t sound like her own, and a sudden chill ran through her bones. She pulled her coat a little tighter around her. “I think my ears are playing tricks on me. I thought you said you were going to Europe. That can’t be right.” He was supposed to be proposing, stating his intentions of joining the church and making her his wife. Wasn’t that what everyone thought would happen?

  “That’s what I said.” His voice seemed small, as if it were coming to her from down a long tunnel.

  “Europe?” Thousands of thoughts flew through her head at once. Europe was so far away; was he asking her to go too? No, wait. He hadn’t said anything about getting married, about joining the church, about the future they would have. Just Europe.

  Sadie pushed to her feet, though the world still seemed to be spinning, her emotions a strange mixture of disappointment and relief.

  “I told you how I wanted to travel.” From behind her, Chris’s voice held a damaged edge, as if somehow her reaction had wounded him.

  “Jah, you did.” She stifled a laugh and whirled back to face him. “A lot of us talk about the things that we want to do. But they’re not things that we are really going to do.”

  “You thought I was just talking?”

  He had talked for hours and hours about seeing the world and what it would be like and traveling and how it would feel to be on a boat, to be on a plane, to be in a car in the remote places he’d read about on the computer at the library. But that was all she’d thought it was—talk. Reluctantly, she nodded and wondered how the day had turned so wrong.

  Chris pushed to his feet and came to stand by her side. He reached out as if he was going to touch her, then seemed to change his mind and dropped his hands back to his sides once again. “I thought you would understand.”

  “I do.” She wanted to. But how did she explain to him that searching for his dreams was killing hers? Was it so much to ask to want to be married? It was all she wanted from life. To work her job at the restaurant, get married to a nice man, have children, and live out her days in Wells Landing. They seemed like attainable dreams, but now they were as far away as the moon.