Sweet as Honey

by Jennifer Beckstrand

  After half an hour, Raymond wound down. “Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.”

  Closing his Bible with a sense of finality, he eyed Lily as if he expected her to jump to her feet and accept Paul’s marriage proposal immediately.

  She pretended to be unaware of what they expected from her. Nodding at Paul, she got to her feet. “Denki for a wunderbarr dinner, Martha and Ada. I could eat your rolls every day of my life.”

  Raymond wasn’t about to let her escape that easily. “I thought we could discuss the scriptures I just read.”

  “I’m sure I would never be able to tell a minister anything he doesn’t already know about the Bible.”

  Raymond nodded. “That is true. Still, I would like to hear your thoughts.”

  “That is very kind of you,” Lily said. “But I should be going. My sisters need help filling honey jars.”

  “I’ll walk you out,” Paul said.

  “Ach,” Lily said. “I forgot. I need you to take me home.” She’d have to endure another half hour of Paul’s persistent persuading.

  Paul smashed his lips together until the bottom one stuck out. “Where’s your buggy?”

  “Aunt B dropped me off.”

  “Why would she do that?” Paul said. “It’s just as easy for you to bring the buggy.”

  “I suppose I can walk,” Lily said. She glanced out the window into the half light of sunset. She’d make it a good part of the way home before it got dark. She should have brought a flashlight.

  Maybe she could go to Dan’s house and ask him to drive her home. He didn’t live all that close to Paul, but he was closer than her farm by half.

  Raymond thumped Paul on the shoulder. “Paul is always more than eager to drive his girl home, aren’t you, Paul?”

  Paul frowned. “They have all those bees.”

  Raymond forced an irritated smile. “A few bees shouldn’t stand in the way of love.”

  Paul knit his brows together as if he’d never thought of that before. “Love. Okay.” He took Lily’s hand and pulled her toward the door. “Let’s go before it gets too dark.”

  Paul hitched up the horse, and they were on their way in two shakes of a lamb’s tail. Lily was almost glad to have a little time alone with Paul. If she could steer the conversation away from Dan Kanagy, they could have a frank discussion about the honey. Dan had planted seeds of doubt in her mind, made her wonder if she shouldn’t ask for more money. She’d never dared negotiate before. It wasn’t seemly for an Amish girl to be pushy or greedy, and Paul valued humility and modesty above all else.

  Still, she’d feel better if she tried. Paul might have no idea that honey could fetch such a price. He’d probably insist on paying her more once he found out. “It was a wonderful-gute dinner. Will you tell your mamm denki again for me?”

  “I’m glad you liked it. We went to a lot of trouble.”

  “I’m sorry I was late.”

  Paul glanced in her direction. “What did you think of the scriptures? When my dat read from Proverbs tonight, I thought of you. Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land. She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. That’s the kind of wife I hope you’ll be someday.”

  “I hope so too.” Lily squirmed. She hoped her husband wouldn’t be disappointed in her, whoever he turned out to be. She hoped Paul wouldn’t be disappointed in her when she asked about the honey. “Paul, I have a question about our honey.”

  Paul squinted into the dimming light before turning on the battery-operated headlights. “Lily, don’t worry. I know it’s been a gute year for you. We’ll buy it all.”

  “Well, you see . . . Dan says . . .”

  Paul’s lips immediately formed into a scowl.

  Ach du lieva. How could she be so deerich as to mention Dan? She cleared her throat, which had suddenly turned as dry as a piece of burnt toast. “I mean . . . there is a grocery store in Shawano that pays four dollars a pint. Maybe I should sell them some of the extra you don’t need.”

  Paul peered at her as if she’d gone crazy. “Four dollars? You must have heard wrong. Nobody’s paying four dollars for honey.”

  “Oh. Okay. I’m sure you’re right. But since there’s such a surplus, you’d probably be grateful if I sold some of our extra honey elsewhere. Do you want me to call them?”

  Paul seemed to expel all the air from his lungs. “How many times do I have to say it? We’ll buy all your honey.”

  Her heart pounded against her rib cage, and her brain screamed at her to reconsider her next words. She didn’t listen. “Then maybe you should pay me more for it.” She sounded like a squeaky little mouse asking for mercy from a cat.

  A look of annoyance stumbled across Paul’s face. “What do you want from me, Lily?”

  “It wonders me if I should charge more for our honey.”

  Paul’s face became an entire parade of emotions. Was he irritated or frantic? Aggravated or hurt? “I already told you. We’re saving up for a new freezer, and Dat just bought an old racehorse for our other buggy. We can’t afford to pay four dollars a pint. It isn’t right for you to charge that much when we need the extra money.”

  “But if there’s more honey than you can use, it wouldn’t hurt to sell it to somebody else.”

  A deep furrow appeared between Paul’s brows. “It boils down to loyalty, Lily. We buy your honey in lean years as well as in years of plenty. We’ve always been reliable. We expect you to be reliable in return. Where’s the loyalty if you merely sell to the highest bidder every time? True friends stick with each other no matter what.”

  “I suppose that’s true.”

  “You don’t have a head for business, Lily,” he said, patting her hand. “And I don’t expect you to. A woman shouldn’t concern herself with the details of buying and selling. If your mammi and dawdi had raised you instead of your aunt Bitsy, you wouldn’t have been forced to worry about this in the first place.”

  Lily stiffened. “I wouldn’t change the way I was raised.”

  “Well,” he said, smiling as if he were so much wiser than she, “you don’t know any different.”

  Paul spent the rest of the trip talking about his plans for the house, sure that she would love the layout and the great room with plenty of space for the gmayna. She didn’t volunteer an opinion about house plans. He didn’t ask.

  It was half dark when he dropped her off at the lane, telling her he loved her but that he didn’t want to fight the bees tonight or spare the time to drive her all the way to the house. She climbed out of the buggy, disquiet gnawing at the pit of her stomach.

  She should feel good knowing that the honey question was settled. She might not know much about business, but she knew loyalty was more valuable than profit.

  Thank goodness she had someone like Paul to remind her of what was important in life.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Dan, Luke, and Josiah strolled around the makeshift stockyard looking at cattle before the auction.

  Luke pointed to a Percheron horse that stood behind the temporary fence that corralled the stock. “How about that one, Josiah?”

  “Nae,” Josiah said. “I’m not buying today. I need another plow horse, but there’s not one to tempt me today. I’ll wait for the bigger auction in August.”

  “What about you, Dan?” Luke said. “Find anything you want to bid on?”

  “Dat and I are selling two old heifers. We might buy a yearling if we find a gute one.”

  Josiah adjusted his hat to shade his eyes from the morning sun. “What are you bidding on, Luke?”

  “Nothing. I came here to help Dan and look at the pretty girls.”

  Dan smirked in Luke’s direction. “To help me? Why do you think I need your help?”

  “You’re distracted. I’m here to make sure you don’t get carried away and bid seven thousand for a heifer.”

  “Dist
racted? I’m not distracted.”

  Luke folded his arms. “Lily Christner still has a boyfriend. You’re so distracted, you can’t remember your own name.”

  Despondency washed over him like stinking, muddy swamp water. Lily Christner hadn’t broken up with Paul despite all of Dan’s efforts to the contrary. What was a boy in love supposed to do?

  “She’s still seeing Paul?” Josiah asked.

  Luke kicked the dirt at his feet. “Let’s not talk about Paul Glick. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth.”

  It left a bad taste in Dan’s mouth too. Even if he washed his mouth out with soap three times, Paul Glick would still linger there.

  He wouldn’t be much help to his dat today. All he could think about was Lily. He’d shown up at the Honeybee Farm on Wednesday evening only to be told that Lily had gone to Paul’s house for dinner. That news pretty much pushed him over the cliff and into the depths of despair. Was there even a chance that Lily would choose him over Paul? Maybe their bond would prove too strong for Dan to break, no matter how many books he bought or how many mousetraps he made. Thoughts of what he might have already lost tortured him until he couldn’t breathe.

  For the thousandth time, he told himself he should give up, but the mere thought of letting Lily go made him ache. As long as she wasn’t married, Dan would keep fighting for her. He loved her. He had no other choice.

  Josiah stared at Dan for a minute and forced a smile onto his face. “How about we get a pretzel? Food always makes me feel better.”

  “I’m not hungry,” Dan said.

  Luke shrugged and gave Josiah a sideways glance that Dan figured he wasn’t meant to see. Luke and Josiah were probably ready to pull their hair out. Dan couldn’t blame them. He couldn’t have been much fun to be around today. “I want a pretzel,” Luke said. “The Miller sisters are running the pretzel stand. They’re both pretty.”

  Dan grinned in spite of his low mood. “You weren’t kidding about being here for the girls, were you?”

  Luke raised an eyebrow as they filed in line behind a dozen other people. “I’m getting old. I need to find a wife.”

  “We’re only twenty-two,” Josiah said.

  “Jah,” Luke said. “My mamm thinks I’m lollygagging.”

  “What about Poppy Christner?” Dan said. “She’s pretty.”

  Luke widened his eyes in horror. “I’d just as soon stay a bachelor.”

  Josiah nudged Dan in the arm. “Does Rose ever talk about me?”

  Luke rolled his eyes. “You are pathetic, Joe. Pathetic.”

  Dan’s heart stopped when the person in front of him in line turned around. Oh, sis yuscht! Was Gotte trying to torture him?

  Paul Glick puckered his lips as if he’d just eaten a worm. “Dan Kanagy,” he said, just in case Dan didn’t know his own name.

  Paul’s two brothers, who were standing in line with Paul, turned and greeted him with matching sour expressions. Peter James was less meaty than Paul but still stocky and solid. His brother Perry was decidedly chubby.

  What they lacked in height, they made up for in bulk. Dan, Luke, and Josiah, on the other hand, towered over the brothers like three stone pillars.

  “Gute maiya, Paul,” Josiah said. “It’s a fine day for an auction, don’t you think?”

  Paul folded his arms across his chest and glared at Dan. “You’re trying to steal my girlfriend.”

  Gute maiya to you too.

  Luke returned Paul’s glare. He wasn’t one to back down on anything.

  Dan sort of nudged Luke back with his hand to calm him down a bit, then blew a puff of air from his mouth and shook his head in resignation. Paul didn’t beat around the bush. Dan might as well be equally blunt. “I’m not trying to steal her, Paul. I’m trying to win her.”

  Paul’s scowl could have been carved into his face. “A godly man wouldn’t even consider courting another man’s girlfriend.”

  Dan tried to appear calm even as he felt every muscle in his body pull tight. “Unless that godly man thinks the girlfriend would be happier with him.”

  Paul’s face turned a sickly shade of dark purple. “Happier with the man who called her cruel names and made her miserable in school?”

  He had to give Paul credit. He knew where to hit so it hurt the most. “Lily says she has forgiven me, and that’s the end of it.”

  “You wish that was the end of it. I counseled Lily to forgive you, but she will never forget how your harsh words hurt her. You and your arrogant friends thought you were so funny.”

  A few people in line turned to see what all the fuss was about. Dan didn’t want to make a scene or have a confrontation. He truly had nothing to say to Paul Glick, and anything Paul said to him would only make him angry. He who got angry with his brother was in danger of hellfire, and there weren’t enough dirty dishes in Bienenstock to quell his irritation. It seemed better to walk away and get out of danger.

  Luke looked like a coiled snake ready to strike. Dan grabbed his arm and pulled him backward, out of the line and away from Paul and his brothers.

  Josiah followed, but only after giving Paul a pleasant smile and saying, “I hope you enjoy the auction.” Dan nearly laughed out loud in spite of himself. Josiah was ever the peacemaker.

  To Dan’s surprise, Paul and his brothers left their place in the line and followed after Dan and his two friends. Were they looking for a fight? Even someone as abrasive as Paul wouldn’t resort to blows. Except for Perry who hadn’t been baptized yet, they had all taken a vow of nonviolence, and nobody, not even Luke, for all his bluster, would break that vow.

  “I’m not done,” Paul said.

  Dan stretched to his full height and looked down at short and squatty Paul Glick. “I am.”

  “Lily is the only one you’re hurting.”

  Dan nearly lost his composure. He was hurting Lily? Paul had done more to crush Lily’s spirit than anything Dan could ever, would ever do.

  Paul pointed to the buggies lined up on the road. “Let’s go over there so we can talk privately. People are staring.”

  Dan nodded reluctantly. A conversation with Paul would do no good whatsoever and only tempt Dan to further anger. But it might be better to let Paul have his say and then be rid of him.

  Paul motioned for his brothers to stay put. They leaned against one of the temporary fences and stared in Dan’s direction. Luke and Josiah leaned against the same fence, Luke with a scowl pasted on his lips and Josiah with a doubtful, I’m-here-if-you-need-me half smile.

  Dan found a nice spot between two buggies, out of the line of sight of most of the auction goers and with enough room so he wouldn’t have to stand close to Paul. There was only so much a person could endure.

  Paul lifted his chin as if daring Dan to contradict him. “I want you to stop seeing Lily, for her own sake. She feels obligated to be nice to you, to show everybody that she’s forgiven you for being so cruel. I understand it. Lily is a sweet girl. It’s one of the reasons I love her.”

  Dan thought his teeth might crack.

  “When you spend time on their farm and help them with their bees, you only upset her. She’s confused because you’re nice to her.”

  He felt immediately ashamed for it, but Dan couldn’t resist a little dig. “I can understand that. A boy hasn’t been nice to her in a long time.”

  Paul got close enough to bite Dan’s nose off. “Don’t try to justify yourself. I saved her from you.”

  An unexpected dose of humility slapped Dan upside the head. He lowered his gaze and his voice. “You did. I’m grateful for that.”

  Surprise flashed in Paul’s eyes. He opened his mouth but nothing came out.

  Dan stuffed his hands in his pockets. “I am glad Lily had a friend. But that doesn’t mean you were the only one who liked her. I just didn’t know how to show her.”

  Paul very nearly smiled. “I knew you liked her. Why do you think I took an interest in her in the first place? You got our property, but you didn’t get the gi
rl.”

  Dan drew his brows together. Paul and his family had convinced themselves that they had been cheated out of their property, and they despised Dan’s family for it. “You . . . you used Lily to get back at me?” It was unthinkable. And made oh so much sense. He thought he might be sick.

  Paul curled his lips into a sneer. “You can’t bring yourself to believe that I might have befriended her out of the goodness of my heart.”

  “Nae. I can’t.”

  “We stuck together because we had both been bullied by Dan Kanagy. We had a common enemy.”

  Dan flinched. Lily had once considered him an enemy. It made him even sicker.

  “My dat had always encouraged me to find a homely girl to marry. They grow up more humble. More godly.”

  Dan balled his hands into fists. “Lily isn’t homely.”

  “I’ve worked hard to keep her vanity in check, to mold her into the kind of wife I want. She was coming along well, until your flattery puffed her up and tempted her to be proud. You’ve done nothing but confuse her.”

  “I’ve only told her the truth,” Dan said, his voice soft and threatening. How dare Paul talk about Lily that way? She had more goodness in her than Dan and Paul combined.

  “I’ve warned her to beware of your flattery. You’re a liar and a cheat, like your dat.”

  Could he clench his jaw any tighter? Paul certainly had a way with words. Dan took a deep breath and started reciting poetry in his head.

  Sticks and stones may break my bones . . .

  He only had to repeat it in his head four times before he could speak with relative composure. “Is that everything you wanted to tell me? I’d like to go back to the auction.”

  Paul glared at him. “If you want what’s best for Lily, you’ll leave her alone. When she’s with you, she forgets what she owes me.”

  “She doesn’t owe you anything.”

  “I wouldn’t expect you to understand virtues like loyalty and friendship,” Paul said, practically spitting the words out of his mouth. He slid out from between the buggies and rejoined his brothers. They marched straight to the line at the pretzel stand.