“Eva is a wonderful-gute knitter. Do either of you knit?”
“I don’t knit,” Toby said, as if it should be obvious.
Martha pressed her lips together and regarded Toby the way a big sister often looked at an annoying little brother. “We all like to knit. All the girls.” She emphasized “girls” as if knitting was too gute for the boys.
After a long pause, Fern realized Martha wasn’t going to say more, but she couldn’t stand by and let them descend into bleak silence once again. “What do you like to knit?”
“Blankets and such.”
“I like to quilt,” Priscilla volunteered.
Fern nearly fell backward with surprise. “I like to quilt too.”
Eva, with Johnny and the other little sister in tow, opened the door at the end of the hall and ambled in Fern’s direction. She gave Fern a worried frown, but was brave enough to close the distance between them. Using that mysterious, unspoken language, she turned to her siblings and shooed them out of the hall. They shuffled into the adjoining room as if they were sad to go. As if they had truly been enjoying the lively conversation.
Eva fidgeted with the neckline of her dress, hooking her fingers over the seam and tugging gently, as if it were too tight. “Johnny said you wanted to talk to me.”
Fern motioned toward the buggy. “Jah. You see, we feel really bad about—”
Eva gasped, snatched Fern’s arm, and yanked her over the threshold. Panting heavily, she slammed the door and pressed her hand against it. “Reuben Helmuth is out there!” she said, as if a tornado were standing by the buggy instead of a handsome boy.
Fern did her best to act as if Eva hadn’t just turned hysterical. “Vell, yes. He came to apologize for what he did at the knitting group on Monday.”
Eva’s eyes filled with horror, as if she’d just been assigned to recite a speech for the school program. “Apologize?”
“Jah. He was very rude.”
“Apologize to me?”
“He’s very sorry,” Fern said, not sure what else she could say to help Eva understand why Reuben was waiting patiently outside. “He’s a little smelly, but he doesn’t have to come in if you’d rather not.”
Eva tugged both her kapp strings as if she wanted to pull her kapp over her eyes and shut out any boys who might want to make apologies. “He can’t. I don’t know what to say. I think I’d rather die.”
Coming from anyone else, Fern would have thought these words were just overly dramatic, but when Eva said she’d rather die, Fern believed her. Eva was a nervous little thing, and the thought of talking to a boy probably made her want to throw up.
“What if he stays right where he is and you open the door and let him yell his apology to you?”
Eva pulled one of her kapp strings so hard, the stitches popped and the string tore off. Okay. No yelling of apologies. “I’m sorry he stinks, but he really wants to ask your forgiveness. Could he come in?”
“Can’t I just forgive him from a distance?” Eva said.
It was probably the best Fern was going to get. “Are you sure? He was pretty mean.”
Eva nodded so hard her one-stringed kapp nearly flew off. “For sure and certain. Tell him I forgive him but to please never come over again.”
Fern cupped her hand around Eva’s elbow. “Are you okay? I’m sorry I made you so upset.”
Eva leaned back against the door, probably as a precaution in case Reuben tried to break in. “I’m not upset. I’m just shy. Mamm says it’s okay to be shy as long as I get a husband.” She frowned until three deep lines appeared between her brows. “I don’t think I want a husband if I have to talk to him.”
Both Lorene and Eva needed to marry someone deaf. Were there two such men in Bonduel? “It can be wonderful frightening.”
“Too frightening for me.”
Fern squeezed Eva’s hand in hopes of lending her a little comfort. What would life be like if she were afraid to talk to people? “I will tell Reuben you forgive him. You won’t have to say a word. Is that okay?”
“Jah. Tell him.”
“But do you really forgive him, or do you just want him to go away?”
Eva paused, as if she’d finally realized what Fern had come for. “He scared me right out of my wits yet.”
“I know, and I scolded him but good.”
A ghost of a smile might have crossed Eva’s lips. “I wish I was brave enough to give a boy what for.”
Fern grinned, remembering how much she’d enjoyed it. “He deserved it.”
“He did.”
“What can Reuben do to make amends for his hesslich behavior?”
Eva seemed to back away, even though she was standing against the door. “Ach, I don’t want him to do nothing. I’d rather just forgive him.”
Fern nodded. “I understand. He’ll be happy that you accepted his apology without his ever having to make it, but if you ever think of anything he can do . . .”
“Wait.” The lines between Eva’s eyes could have been plowed there. She twisted her homeless kapp string around her finger. “Could you do something instead?”
“What?”
“Would you do something to make up for Reuben?”
Fern shrugged. “I suppose, as long as Reuben doesn’t care. What do you have in mind?”
Eva wrapped her fingers around Fern’s wrist and pulled her farther away from the kitchen door as if she feared her siblings might be listening in. It was quite possible they were. Fern’s lips twitched with amusement. You could always count on your siblings to stick their noses in your business. “I want you to take a buggy ride with Johnny,” Eva whispered.
“A . . . a buggy ride?”
“I’ll have him pick you up tomorrow at seven.”
Surely her ears were playing tricks on her. “Are . . . are we talking about your brother Johnny?”
“Jah. He thinks you’re pretty, and he wants to take you on a buggy ride.”
Fern had a vivid imagination, but in her wildest dreams she couldn’t imagine Johnny wanting to take her anywhere. He seemed too shy to be alone with a girl, let alone carry on a conversation. It would be like riding around town with a baked potato. “But he’s so young. Why would he want to go on a ride with me?”
Eva eyed Fern as if she had spinach stuck in her teeth. “He’s twenty-two. Aren’t you twenty?”
Fern cringed. Oy, anyhow. She shouldn’t put her foot in her mouth like that. “He seems so young at heart, I guess.”
“He’ll pick you up at seven tomorrow night.”
“Ach,” Fern said. “I have to work.”
“At seven?”
“I work late.” Long days on the job were the only way to clear her Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. She needed the money, but her primary purpose for being here was Reuben. She couldn’t make him all better if she worked six days a week.
“Then what about Friday night?”
Fern had hoped to spend some time with Reuben on Friday teaching him how to knit, but it would have to wait. If this was all it took to convince Eva to forgive Reuben, Fern would gladly do it. She mentally mapped out all the things she and Johnny could talk about. Was he interested in hogs? Did he like red hair?
She smiled as if she were eager to spend an evening talking to herself. “Friday night at seven.”
Eva gave Fern what passed for a smile. She wasn’t all that prone to smile, so Fern appreciated the effort. “Denki, Fern. I know he’ll be thrilled.”
Given that he couldn’t form a complete sentence in her presence, Johnny might not be so much thrilled as mortified, but he’d probably feel some deep emotion associated with Fern, whether it was terror or elation or irritation.
It was something, anyway.
Eva lowered her voice even further. “You don’t have to fall in love with him.”
“Okay. I’ll keep that in mind.”
“He needs to learn how to be with a girl. I don’t want him turning out like mein bruder Melvin.”
> “I don’t think I know Melvin.”
Eva cringed as if she’d bit into a green cherry. “He lives on the edge of town with no one for company but his dogs and cows and chickens. And he’s thirty years old. Mamm says there’s no hope for him.”
“I see.” Fern nodded. “I’ll be waiting in front of Barbara and Wally Schmuckers’ house at seven sharp.”
“They say Barbara Schmucker is crazy,” Eva said.
Fern didn’t want to share any sort of opinion about Barbara, even if she had one. “Maybe she’s just shy.”
Eva seemed taken aback. “Maybe she is. I never thought of that. It’s very sweet of you not to judge. People shouldn’t judge.”
“I agree.” Fern sidled toward the door. “I should be going. Reuben will be eager to hear you’ve forgiven him.”
Eva stayed far away from the door, for sure and certain not wanting Reuben to catch a glimpse of her. “Don’t forget Friday night.”
“I won’t,” Fern said. “Tell Johnny I’m looking forward to it.”
Making sure Eva was out of sight, Fern carefully shut the door behind her and sighed. What would Johnny think when his sister told him she had scheduled a buggy ride? Would he be upset or excited? She hoped neither. She knew already that she wasn’t interested in Johnny, but a boy like that, who never got any notice from girls, might take her kindness the wrong way.
She bit her bottom lip. There seemed little danger of his falling in love with her after one buggy ride. She was only a pig farmer’s daughter, after all. Surely Johnny Raber was setting his sights higher than that.
That thought made her feel better. At least she wouldn’t have a broken heart on her conscience when she returned to Sugarcreek.
Standing next to the shed, Reuben seemed to be engaged in a very serious conversation with Eva’s fater. Reuben caught sight of Fern, shook Eva’s dat’s hand, and jogged toward her with a wide grin. “Did you know that Vernon Raber heats his water with solar panels? They have plenty of hot water for bathing, but they also run pipes under the floor that heat the house. Isn’t that wunderbarr?”
“No more woodstoves,” Fern said.
“Jah. No chopping and hauling wood or risk of fires. I’ve got to tell my dat about this.”
Fern raised her eyebrows. “You should come back to Sugarcreek and talk to him face-to-face.”
Reuben shoved his grin off his lips and shook his head. “Still up to your tricks, I see.”
She shrugged. “It was worth a try.”
“What did Eva say? Can I go in and apologize?”
Fern formed her lips into a definite no. “You must promise never to come here again.”
“Why? What did she say? Is she still mad at me?”
Fern smiled at the disconcerted look on Reuben’s face. He really did want to put things to rights. “She says she forgives you but would be very upset if you actually tried to apologize to her. She wants you to go away immediately, and she’ll offer her forgiveness from a distance. She’s very shy and just a little frightened of you.”
“Frightened?”
“Don’t let it give you a big head. She’s scared of boys in general, the ugly and the good-looking ones.”
She motioned toward Reuben when she said “ugly,” and he grunted his indignation. “I know I’m handsome. You can’t talk me out of it.”
She rolled her eyes. “It’s a wonder you can stand to be in the same room with yourself.”
“It’s hard, but I’m so wunderbarr, there’s no one I’d rather spend time with.”
She cuffed him on the shoulder. “Every fool enjoys his own company.”
He chuckled. “A fool or a very wise man.” Taking her elbow, he boosted her into the buggy and laid the blanket over her legs. “So Eva is satisfied with my—your—our apology?”
“She wants one thing in return.” She hesitated. Reuben was going to laugh, and it didn’t seem right that he should laugh at Johnny’s expense. At her expense. “She wants a buggy ride for her brother Johnny.”
Reuben puzzled that out for a few seconds as he hefted himself into the buggy and picked up the reins. “She wants me to take her brother on a buggy ride?”
“She asked me to make amends for you by letting Johnny take me for a ride.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” he said.
“I’m sure my parents would tell you differently. I can be obstinate when I want to be.”
“Don’t I know it. But you shouldn’t be punished for something I did.”
“It’s the only thing Eva wants,” Fern said. “I don’t see much harm in it if it helps ease your conscience. Eva says he thinks I’m pretty.”
Reuben’s eyebrows loomed like storm clouds over his dark eyes. “Of course he thinks you’re pretty.”
What did he mean by “of course”? Fern didn’t think she was pretty by any stretch of the imagination. Reuben was just being silly now.
“How do we know he’ll bring you home at a decent time? He may not know how to handle horses well. You could get killed in an accident. How can I be sure he’ll treat you well? What if he talks you into a second ride and a third? No good will come of you getting friendly with Eva Raber’s bruder.”
“It’s only one ride, and then you’ll be off the hook with Eva.”
He snapped the reins, and the horse jumped forward. “Sorry, Rhubarb,” he said, relaxing his arms and giving the reins a little slack. “I don’t like it.”
Fern’s pulse hummed through her veins. “It’s going to be fine, Reuben.”
He pinned her with a stern eye, as only a big brother could. “Mind that you don’t fall in love.”
“Why?”
“I just don’t want you to, that’s all. I’ve got enough to worry about without you chasing after some boy.”
It made sense. He’d taken on the role of big brother, and there was nothing a big brother disliked more than a boyfriend. At least she thought so. Fern had never had a boyfriend, so she had never seen John be stupid about one.
She laid a hand on Reuben’s arm. “I won’t fall in love with Johnny Raber. It’s just one ride, and then you can stop worrying about Eva.”
His jaw quit twitching. “Okay, but if he asks you for a second ride, I want you to turn him down. There’s no reason to get his hopes up.”
Fern did her best to keep the tease out of her voice. “Oh, for sure and certain I’ll turn him down. I’d rather meet at the lake. It’s much easier to kiss a boy when you’re not sitting in a buggy.”
She heard the telltale scrape as Reuben clenched his jaw. He’d break a tooth if he ground his teeth any harder.
Chapter Twelve
If Clara and Carolyn had a brother anywhere close to Fern’s age, Reuben thought he might put a stop to the whole apology thing. He couldn’t risk Fern falling in love with one of the knitting group member’s brothers. Even though he didn’t know any of them, they weren’t gute enough for her.
Clara and Carolyn Yutzy’s house was three down from the Rabers’, but this being Amish country, that was still half a mile away. Unlike the Rabers’, the Yutzys’ house sat back from the road with a circular gravel driveway and room for parking buggies and cars. Fern didn’t need to tell Reuben which house the twins lived in. A modest, hand-painted sign pointed the way. YUTZYS CANDY SHOPPE, CLOSED SUNDAY, PLEASE HONK.
Fern jumped from her seat before he’d even come to a complete stop. Didn’t she ever get tired? Or discouraged? Apparently not. Maybe she was anticipating a buggy ride with Johnny Raber, and her excitement made her giddy.
Reuben clenched his teeth until they screeched. The twins better not have brothers.
“Cum,” Fern said, when she turned to notice that Reuben was still sitting in the buggy. “Their peanut-butter-chocolate drops melt in your mouth.”
“Will they give us a sample?”
“Sometimes they give out free tastes, but you yelled at them on Monday. They’ll probably charge you double.”
He grunted in Fern
’s direction and gave her the stink eye, which only made her laugh, but he didn’t mind. He loved the sound of Fern’s laughter, except when it came at his expense.
The Yutzys’ small candy shop was attached to the house and had screened windows on three sides. A placard hung on a hook next to the door. OPEN. IF NO ONE IS HERE, KNOCK ON THE FRONT DOOR. The screen door creaked and rattled as Fern pulled it open. They both stepped inside, and Fern flinched when the door slammed ear-splittingly behind them. The candy shop was deserted and dim, as if no one had been in there for months.
Two tables sat in the middle of the room surrounded by smooth white shelves lining every wall. The shelves were empty except for half a dozen jars of raspberry and dandelion jelly in the corner and three tubs of divinity stacked on top of each other. Several tubs of peanut-butter-chocolate drops sat on the table with a stack of crispy rice treats and a basket of assorted colors of lollypops.
April couldn’t be considered tourist season yet. This was probably all they could sell in an average week before the summer rush. Reuben examined a tub of peanut-butter-chocolate drops. Maybe there wasn’t a summer rush. Sugarcreek teemed with Englischers during the summer, but Bonduel was off the beaten path in northern Wisconsin. Maybe there were no tourists.
There was a small window between the candy shop and the white kitchen where they must have made candy. Fern slid the window open and stuck her head into the kitchen. “Hello! Clara? Carolyn? Is anybody home?” She turned and grinned at Reuben. “Englischers honk when they come to buy. The Yutzys listen for the honk.”
“Should I go outside and try to sound like a car?”
Fern giggled. “It couldn’t hurt. Or we could follow the instructions and knock on the front door.”
Reuben turned at the sound of approaching feet. Clara—or Carolyn—practically danced into the kitchen and burst into a grin when she spied Reuben and Fern through the interior window. Vell, her smile was most likely for Fern. Reuben still hadn’t apologized for his behavior on Monday, and Carolyn—or Clara—probably hated the very sight of him. It was an attitude he was sort of getting used to.
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