“I know. We can do it. We’ll have the time before November next year.”
Amos nodded. “Go hitch up the buggy for me, will you?”
“Schur. Where do you want me to drive you?”
“I’ll drive myself.”
His dat still looked tired and frail to him, but when he stood it was with a strength of purpose David hadn’t seen in a while. He decided not to argue with him.
“Amos, where are you going?” Waneta trailed after him.
“I’ll tell you after I see how things go.”
David and his mudder exchanged baffled looks.
“You going to go hitch the buggy or do I need to do it?” Amos demanded.
“I’m going.”
As he left the room he heard Amos asking what was for supper.
His world had shifted, he reflected. But some things never changed.
A short time later David stood at the front door watching his dat drive down the road. He stopped breathing when he saw the buggy slow at the driveway of Lavina’s house and then park. His dat got out and walked up to the front door. David blinked, wondering if he was seeing things. Nee, he was seeing clearly. He started breathing again.
His mudder was singing a hymn as she moved around the kitchen. David walked in and took a seat at the table. “I don’t think Daed will be gone long.”
“Nee?” His mudder turned. “Why?”
“He stopped at Lavina’s house.”
“Really?” She beamed.
“Don’t get your hopes up.”
“You don’t know how persuasive your dat can be when he wants to be.”
“Nee, I’ve never seen that side of him.”
She went to the cupboard, got plates, and began setting the table. David watched her lay four place settings. “Maybe you just need to believe.”
He stared at her. “Maybe I do.” He looked around. “Do you have a piece of paper and a marker?”
***
“Lavina, would you come downstairs, please?”
She put down the quilt she’d been sewing and went down to see what her mudder wanted. When she walked into the kitchen she got a shock when she saw who was sitting at the table. Amos Stoltzfus sat there looking stern and silent.
“Amos wants to talk to you.” Her mudder set a cup of coffee before him. “I’ll be in the living room if you need me.”
“Will you sit?” he asked politely as if it was an everyday thing for him to stop by for coffee.
She nodded and sat. What on earth was he doing here? First Waneta and now him.
“Waneta’s been crying ever since David told us what you said.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Nee. You have nothing to be sorry about.” He stared into his coffee for a long moment then looked up at her. “A little while ago I told David he’d be taking over the farm starting with the spring planting.”
She felt her heart skip a beat. “That’s gut.”
He nodded. “I can’t change the past. But I can try to change the way things are in the future.”
She didn’t know what to say so she stayed silent.
“Do you know what I’m trying to say?” He fidgeted and looked uncomfortable.
He was trying to apologize, she realized. Stunned, she could only stare at him. “I think so,” she said slowly.
“If I upset you, well, then you’re going to have to speak up,” he told her abruptly. “Do you think you can do that?”
His bushy eyebrows drew together in a frown that at one time would have intimidated her. But things seemed different . . .
“Ya, I think I can do that.” She sat up straighter. “I can do that,” she said more positively.
“Then tell your mudder you’re going to eat supper with us tonight.”
She grinned. He was telling, not asking, but she was fine with that. She rose and went into the living room. Her mudder was sitting on the sofa looking tense. The minute she saw Lavina she jumped up.
“Is everything allrecht?”
Lavina nodded. “Amos wants me to eat supper with them.”
Her mudder’s eyebrows rose. “And what do you want to do?”
“I want to go.”
Linda smiled. “Then you should go.”
Lavina returned to the kitchen for her jacket and bonnet. Amos sat there with a half-eaten gingerbread man in his hand and crumbs in his beard. He gave her an embarrassed smile. “Got hungerich waiting.”
She slipped on her coat and tied her bonnet. “Then we should get going.”
He was silent on the short drive to his home. It was as if he’d used up all his words.
Lavina didn’t say anything, feeling a little apprehensive of what was happening.
And then when he pulled into the drive she saw David standing beside his truck. There was a hand-lettered sign in the rear window. It read For Sale.
Then he looked up at her and he smiled. He walked over, opened the door to the buggy, and held out his hand.
19
David stared at Lavina. “I don’t know what to say.”
His gaze ran over her face. He hadn’t thought he’d see her for a very long time. And never here.
“What, you need me to give you the words, too?” Amos barked. “Come in to supper, Lavina.”
David grinned. “Come in to supper, Lavina,” he repeated.
Amos got out of the buggy. “Put Nellie up, David.”
“I will,” he said, not taking his eyes off Lavina. “What just happened?” he asked her.
He watched her glance at his dat as he walked into the house, then she met his gaze.
“I think he apologized to me. Then he asked me to come to supper. Actually, he told me I was coming to supper.”
She slipped out of the buggy but didn’t let go of his hand.
“If it was an apology you ought to know. Then again, I don’t remember him ever apologizing to anyone.”
He squeezed her hand then reluctantly let it go to unhitch Nellie.
“I think it’s as close as he ever gets to one. I’ll take it.”
He walked Nellie to her stall, made sure it was locked, then turned to Lavina and they walked toward the back door of the house. “I know someone else who’s going to be very happy here.”
When they entered the kitchen David saw his dat had already seated himself at the table. His mudder turned from the stove and when she saw Lavina, rushed to hug her. The two women embraced for a long moment. When they parted he saw their eyes were damp with tears.
“Now, is there anything I can do to help?” Lavina asked Waneta when they stepped away from their embrace.
“Everything’s ready.”
David watched Lavina’s expression when she turned and saw that four places had been set at the table. Her gaze flew to his, and he smiled and found himself swallowing hard at the lump that formed in his throat. He pulled out her chair and she slid into it.
Prayers of thanks had been said at this big old kitchen table many, many times over the years, but David didn’t think any had been as meaningful to him in his life. When it was over he looked at his mudder, and he realized he hadn’t seen her so happy for a very long time. His dat? Well, he didn’t wear the same expression but his attitude seemed lighter, and he wasn’t glaring and that said a lot. He even joined in the conversation as the platter of fried chicken and bowls of vegetables were passed around.
“How are your grosseldres liking Pinecraft?” Waneta asked Lavina as she passed her the basket of rolls.
“They’re loving it. I’m glad their friends talked them into trying it for the winter,” Lavina told her as she split a roll and buttered it. “We miss them, but it’s nice that they’re away from the cold weather this winter.”
“Next time you come over ask Mamm to show you the postcards we’ve been getting. It looks so pretty in Florida with all the palm trees and the beach with its white sand. Grossmudder says the women wear flip-flops, and everyone rides bicycles to get where they want. Grossdaadi
has been fishing and saw some fish with really big teeth. He wrote that they’re called garfish. And one day he saw an alligator.”
“People shouldn’t be flitting off like that,” Amos said bluntly. “Amish don’t belong in Florida.”
The table got quiet. He looked up from his plate. “Well, just seems strange, that’s all,” he amended.
“I’ve always wanted to go.”
David stared at her. “I didn’t know that.”
“Grossmudder said she went out and picked an orange from the tree in her front yard. She said it’s eighty degrees in Florida right now, and they’re enjoying playing shuffleboard and eating ice cream outside afterward.”
“I’ll bet the warm weather is helping her arthritis,” Waneta said. “The cold gets into old bones. The cold and the damp.”
“That’s what she said before they left. The fried chicken is so good, Waneta.”
“She makes the best in Paradise,” Amos said, taking a second piece. He bit into it with relish.
“Just in Paradise?” she asked mildly and got a chuckle—an actual chuckle—from his dat.
David exchanged a surprised look with Lavina.
“Maybe we could go sometime,” Amos said.
“Go where?” Waneta asked him as she poured gravy on her mashed potatoes.
“To Pinecraft.”
“Mamm, the gravy,” David said.
“What?” She stared at him with a blank expression.
He gestured at the gravy boat in her hand. She looked down and saw that gravy was pooling all over her plate, covering the potatoes and the green beans and creamed corn.
She tilted the boat back and replaced it on the table. “Silly me.”
“We could spend a week there once I can get away from the farm next year. Leave the young folk to take care of things.”
“That would be so wunderbaar,” Waneta managed as she stared at him.
She rose to get a small bowl and spent a lot of time scooping up the excess gravy into it, but David could tell she was doing it more because she was emotional than because she had too much on her plate.
“Fishing’s gut, huh?” Amos asked Lavina.
“Ya, that’s what Grossdaadi says.”
“I haven’t fished in years. Haven’t had the time.”
It was happening, David thought, listening to him. It was really happening. Lavina was sitting here with his family, and they were actually acting like a family—one that wasn’t stiff and unpleasant and . . . He had to take a sip of water so he could get food past the lump in his throat.
His gaze went to the door that led to the dawdi haus. Soon he and his dat would be renovating the rooms in it. It was hard to believe. Encouraged, he chose another piece of chicken and began eating it.
The conversation moved on to Lavina’s quilting class. Waneta wanted to know how it was going, and that led to her telling them about the presents the women were making for Christmas.
“You should see the cute things they’re sewing,” Lavina told her. “I got some ideas from Leah’s shop. And Mary Elizabeth and Rose Anna are going into town tomorrow to look for some small, inexpensive presents for the kinner at the shelter.”
“I haven’t thought much about Christmas,” Waneta said.
“Maybe we could go shopping this week. It’s fun to walk around the stores this time of year.”
“I’d like that.” She looked at her mann. “We got the best present this year, didn’t we, Amos?”
He looked up and smiled at her. “Ya.”
David reached under the table and squeezed Lavina’s hand. She smiled at him.
So had they, he thought. So had they.
***
Later, as they took a drive after the dishes were done and goodbyes said for the evening, Lavina thought about what had just happened.
She turned to David. “You know what you need to do?”
“What’s that?”
She pulled her hand away from his. “First, keep both hands on the wheel. You don’t want an accident before you sell this truck.” She paused for a moment. “You need to contact your bruders and tell them about your dat and his test, and about the farm. About all of it.”
“I’m not sure they’ll believe me.”
“They will,” she said. “But don’t call them. Go see them.”
“You might be right.”
A few minutes later they passed through town. Traffic clogged the streets. People packed the sidewalks. Some of the shops and stores had stayed open a little later for holiday shoppers.
“That was nice of you to invite Mamm to go shopping.”
She shrugged as she watched the shoppers happily lugging their stuffed shopping bags. “You know I like her.” She looked at him. “Last time we said something about getting out of the house your dat blew up.”
He glanced at her briefly. “I remember. That was the night before the test. Life certainly can take a turn, can’t it?”
Lavina remembered walking into her kitchen and seeing Amos sitting there. She remembered watching him struggle through an apology.
And then she remembered getting into the buggy with him and seeing David standing in the drive, putting a For Sale sign on this very truck.
She turned and looked at the square white sign in the corner of the rear windshield, as if she needed to see it again to believe it.
When she shifted back to look ahead she saw him glance at her.
“It’s true,” he said quietly. “Need me to pinch you?”
She laughed. “Nee, danki.”
A little later, she reluctantly told him that they needed to head home. “We have work tomorrow.”
He nodded and made a U-turn and headed in that direction. As he pulled into her driveway she thought about how this time next year this haus wouldn’t be the one she’d be walking into. And she wouldn’t be walking in by herself.
“Do you think your family will be surprised?” he asked her when she didn’t immediately get out.
“I don’t think so. After all, at least two of them helped you by playing matchmaker.” When he didn’t immediately respond she gave him a stern look.
“True,” he admitted. He turned off the ignition.
“And Mamm was here when your dat came earlier today. Then I told her he wanted me to have supper at your haus. So I don’t think she’ll be surprised. So that just leaves my dat.”
“Should I come in and talk to him?”
“No need. I’ll do it. He likes you, and he wants whatever makes me happy.”
He leaned over and kissed her. “That’s what I want, too. To make you happy.”
“I want to make you happy, too.”
She glanced at the door. Some of her friends had parents who were overprotective, but she knew hers weren’t lurking near the front door wondering why she hadn’t come in yet.
And she couldn’t wait to share her news with her family. They had loved her and been so supportive for the past year.
She put her hand on the door handle. “Come for supper tomorrow?”
“I will. Danki. Love you.”
“Love you, too.” She glanced around, then leaned over and gave him a quick kiss. “Sweet dreams.”
“I’ll dream of you,” he said, his eyes full of love.
Her entire family was sitting in the living room when she walked in. They looked up.
Most of the time Amish couples kept their plans private until shortly before their wedding. But she couldn’t keep it a secret. She didn’t want to. All of them wore such expectant expressions. Even her dat.
“David and I are together again, and his dat is turning the farm over to him,” she told them, feeling her heart near to bursting as she said it. “Amos got gut news from his test. I think he realized he’s been given a second chance. And he realizes he’s upset Waneta and me. He’s not a hundred percent different, but he seemed to be trying a lot harder to be a considerate person with David and Waneta and me tonight. And he told me I’m to speak up
if he upsets me.”
She lifted her chin and grinned. “I told him I can do that.”
Mary Elizabeth and Rose Anna jumped up and hugged her. Their mudder joined them after a moment, wiping her eyes with a tissue.
“We love you,” her mudder said. “We’re so happy for you.”
When they all parted Lavina looked over at her dat. He stood, this man who was the first man she loved, waiting patiently and simply held out his arms.
Lavina cried as she stepped into his embrace. “I love you, Daed.”
***
Lavina was peeking out the front window so she surprised Kate by opening the door before she could knock.
“You’re right on time!” Lavina said with a smile. “Everything’s ready to go into the car.”
“You’re taking all that?”
“And more,” said Mary Elizabeth as she walked into the living room from the kitchen. She had a shopping bag hung on one arm and carried a big plastic container of baked goods.
“I’m coming too,” Rose Anna cried as she followed Mary Elizabeth. Her arms were loaded with more plastic containers. She beamed at Kate. “Thank you for inviting me to the Christmas party at the shelter.”
“I’m glad you could come. Maybe you’ll come to the quilting class sometime.”
Rose Anna nodded. “Maybe.”
Lavina piled plastic containers in Kate’s waiting arms then picked up two containers and a shopping bag.
“This is too much,” Kate told her. “You shouldn’t have gone to all this trouble.”
“It was no trouble,” Lavina told her. “We love to bake. Don’t we?” she asked, glancing over her shoulder at her schweschders.
“We do,” Mary Elizabeth and Rose Anna chimed in together.
They loaded the trunk with plastic containers and shopping bags, and then everyone piled into the car. A light snow was falling when they got to the shelter. They hurried inside with all the goodies.
“I’m already ready for spring,” Kate said as she shed her coat, revealing a Christmasy red wool dress.
“Your dress is so pretty,” Rose Anna said. “I love red.”
She and Lavina wore dark green. Mary Elizabeth wore her favorite dark blue.
“Thank you. It only gets out at Christmastime,” Kate said, brushing a piece of lint from the dress. She touched the silly little Santa pin on her shoulder. “My kids gave me this.”
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