by Diane Craver
Will it be better for me? Priscilla wondered. I won’t be alone to paint with Carrie, Scott, Luke, and Violet there too. Maybe Violet’s brother Adam and his wife Eliza might decide to go too. It would be perfect to go to the Outer Banks and have the beach house to myself for months to paint the ocean. Obviously, that will never be possible. My parents would tell me that I couldn’t go by myself to stay for the whole summer. Two weeks with family doesn’t give me any freedom. I want to paint the ocean when it is peaceful and when it has angry waves. I want to paint children playing in the sand and for once to paint their faces. The church rules squelch my creativity. I hate faces are not to be photographed or painted.
As she absorbed her disappointment at their plan for her summer, Mamm said, “You can watch Isaac and Grace a couple of days a week while Molly works on quilts for her business. We talked to Sarah at the fabric store about you quitting your job for a few weeks.”
It couldn’t be true. Why wouldn’t Sarah have said something to me about my parents’ conversation? “When I worked at the store yesterday, Sarah never said anything.”
“We talked with Sarah today and explained to her that we need your help at home.” Daed continued, “She said when you’re able to return, she’ll be happy to rehire you.”
In an attempt to control her anger, Priscilla brushed a stray strand of hair back from her face. How could they go behind her back and tell Sarah that she wasn’t going to work there any longer? She wasn’t a child, and it hurt that they’d decided to talk with Sarah. It seemed they wanted to control every aspect of her life. “I don’t understand why you told Sarah that I was quitting. I asked for your permission to go to Florida. It’s one thing for you to tell me that I can’t be a nanny for Madison, but I don’t understand why you decided to have me watch Isaac and Grace two days a week without asking me first. It seems Molly should have asked me if I could.”
A guilty expression raced across her mother’s face. “I’m sorry, and you’re right. We should’ve talked to you about leaving your job. Your father and I realize that if you hadn’t been working at the store, Madison would never have asked you to be a nanny for her.”
Should Priscilla tell them that it wasn’t just about being a nanny, but that Madison wanted her to paint a picture of her family on the beach? Probably not a good thing to tell them. Daed would tell her it was definitely off-limits to paint faces, although she wouldn’t be painting Amish faces. Even though she’d never done faces, Madison said if she couldn’t do it, then it was fine. “I’m happy to watch Isaac and Grace, but I don’t see why I can’t still work at the store. Is there another family duty you are giving me on my other days?”
“You’ll be busy weeding the gardens when you aren’t babysitting,” Daed said in a matter-of-fact tone, then picked up his cup and sipped his coffee.
Priscilla cleared her throat. “I feel like I’m being punished. It seems like you’re planning what I should do.”
Mamm’s lips thinned. “How can you say that? You always have enjoyed babysitting. And you’ll still be able to paint the ocean this summer.”
Priscilla felt like saying how it was on their terms and not the way she wanted to paint the ocean. She might need more than two weeks to paint, and having two months seemed like a better arrangement for what she wanted to do. Experiencing the ocean with family for two weeks wasn’t the same thing as going away by herself.
Recalling what they’d said about Carrie didn’t make sense to her. “If I go with Carrie and Senator Robinson, I’ll be with Englishers. Why is that okay? There might be media people there to take pictures of Violet’s dad. It would be more peaceful at the beach with Madison and Olivia than being with a popular U.S. senator.”
A disapproving frown crossed her daed’s face. “You need to accept our decision instead of questioning us. I will tell you that Scott isn’t as popular since he decided not to run for president.”
“Also, we’ve known Violet’s parents for years,” Mamm added.
Priscilla wished she’d told them about Hannah’s relatives in Sarasota. They owned a bed and breakfast. Maybe they would’ve agreed for her to go if she promised to stay there at night and on weekends. She could still watch Olivia during the day while Madison wrote. But there wasn’t any point in mentioning it now. They’d made up their mind. Once her father said something, he seldom changed his mind. She sighed. “Danki for letting me know your decision. If you don’t have anything else to tell me, I’d like to go for a walk while I wait for Stephen.”
Mamm smoothed the wrinkles in her purple apron. “Of course you can. It’s a lovely evening to go for a walk. See, this is another advantage to not working for Madison. You’ll be here to do things with Stephen.”
“What’s this about going with Stephen this evening?” Daed asked.
“When I was at work yesterday, he stopped in to see if I’d like to go for a ride and get dessert in town.” She hurriedly mentioned where, because otherwise her mother would suggest they could have dessert at home with them. I don’t feel like staying here with Stephen. Even though she wasn’t surprised that her parents said no to Florida, she was still hurt that they didn’t trust her enough to go away.
Once outdoors, many questions ran through her mind. Priscilla stopped to pull a few weeds from a bed of purple and white petunias. It would’ve been too good to be true if they had agreed to her trip to Florida. She’d given Madison the impression that she could go, but that she would run it by her parents. She’d told Madison how she was old enough to take the job and she didn’t see a problem with her parents. Okay, so her positive thinking hadn’t turned out the way she’d hoped. Before Madison left to drive ahead to the beach house, Priscilla promised she’d let her know immediately if something happened and she couldn’t work for her. I don’t want to forget about being a nanny for Olivia. Working for Madison is important to me. I want to leave in two weeks as planned.
Madison wanted time to do a few things with Olivia before she focused on finishing her book. She and her husband had booked a resort at Disney World for several days. Five-year-old Olivia was excited they were going to the amusement park.
Priscilla could take a few days to pray and ask God what she should do. Although she felt strongly about leaving, how would she manage? She’d have to get a ride to the bus station. If a driver came to the house, would her parents try to stop her? And what would happen when she returned home in two months? They couldn’t shun her because she wasn’t baptized. What kind of repercussions would she receive from her parents, especially her father? She couldn’t see him welcoming her with open arms because he’d missed her. He’d still have his favorite kinner at home. He’d be upset because she disobeyed him.
Even though I’ll be disobeying their wish for me to stay home, I don’t want to lie about why I’m getting a driver.
When she heard a buggy, Priscilla glanced away from her flowers. When she saw Stephen at the end of their driveway, a warm sensation ran up her spine. Her experience with dating had been limited. When she had first gone to the singings at age sixteen, she’d been shy and gone home with Beth. That had been awkward since Henry was courting Beth. She’d felt like a third wheel in the buggy. Then a young man, Elmer, had asked to take her home once, so she’d said yes. Although she wasn’t interested in him, Priscilla decided that Beth could have time alone with Henry. It hadn’t gone well with Elmer. With his sweaty hands, he’d grabbed her hard and bruised her lips with his kisses. When she’d pushed him away, Elmer became angry, and said she was a prude. He’d warned her if she said anything negative about him, she’d be sorry. When Elmer and his family moved away, she’d been relieved. Apparently, his sister suffered from asthma, so the family decided to move somewhere in Florida. The outdoor air quality was better in the Sunshine State.
As she waved to Stephen, she was glad he wasn’t anything like Elmer.
Once the buggy was stopped, Stephen hopped quickly to the ground. When he was next to her, Stephen said, “Today
dragged. I couldn’t wait to see you again. You look schee.”
“Danki. I’m happy to see you too.” She noticed he was dressed in a blue shirt and wore black pants with his black suspenders. “We match. We both are wearing blue.”
He grinned. “We do match.” After he glanced at their white farmhouse, he asked, “Should I go and say hello to your parents?”
“Let’s wait until we return from town.”
As he helped her get in the buggy, Stephen said, “Your flowers are beautiful. You have a lot of them. My mamm and schweschder don’t have as many.”
“Danki. I love flowers, so I always plant a lot of them.”
When Stephen climbed in, his leg brushed hers. A tingling shock of warmth went through her at the closeness of their legs. She had never felt anything like this before, but she had no dating experience. No wonder her parents wanted her to attend youth activities. She was going to be twenty years old soon, and had never been serious about any young man. I’m on an actual date. Glancing at Stephen, she noticed he studied her face. His look took her breath away.
With the reins in his hands, he asked, “Where would you like to go for dessert? I checked, and Weaver’s Bakery stays open until eight, or we can go to Angela’s Restaurant or somewhere else.”
Since he’d checked to see how late Weaver’s Bakery stayed open, Stephen might prefer to go there. She smiled at him. “Weaver’s Bakery sounds good.”
As they traveled to town, Stephen told her about the framing of a house he, Jonathan, and other Amish men were working on. Apparently, the home owners chose the construction company they worked for because of the quality work they did. He mentioned how he enjoyed working with Jonathan. He’d asked him to become a volunteer for the fire department.
“Do you think you might become a firefighter?”
“I’m not sure.”
“It would be a big commitment. Molly met Jonathan when her barn caught on fire. He stopped her from going into the barn. She wanted to get her husband, Caleb, out of the barn. It was heartbreaking that he died. Molly and Caleb had a little boy at the time, and she was pregnant with Grace.” Priscilla remembered how sad it was when Molly’s first husband had died.
Stephen cocked an eyebrow. “I helped with the barn raising. I felt terrible about Molly’s husband’s death. I’m glad she has Jonathan now. I wanted to talk to you at the barn raising, but I didn’t see you there.”
Her heart did a small flip in her chest as she realized it was over a year ago when they had built a new barn for Molly. It’s amazing that Stephen looked for me that long ago. “I was home with Sadie. She’s my youngest sister. I’m sorry I wasn’t there.”
“Me too. I guess it wasn’t God’s timing for us to spend time together until now.”
She’d never thought about it to be like that for dating, but Stephen could be right. “What you said reminds me of the verse in Ecclesiastes, ‘To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.’”
* * *
He slid in the opposite side of the booth from Priscilla. They had barely sat down when a waitress approached them to take their drink orders.
“A cup of kaffi for me,” Priscilla said.
“The same for me,” Stephen said.
“I haven’t told you my surprising news.”
“Your parents must have said yes to you going to Sarasota.”
She shook her head. “I wish, but before you came by, they said no to me working for Madison. But there’s more. My parents told Sarah at the store that I won’t be working there any longer. I can’t believe they did this and then told me what they did.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Why did they do that?”
“They want me to watch Molly’s kinner a couple of days a week while she sews, and the rest of the week I am supposed to help at home. They want to keep me away from Englishers.”
“I’m sorry. I know how much you want to paint the ocean.”
She then told him how they tried to placate her with a family beach vacation.
The waitress brought their cups of coffee and asked, “What would you like?”
Priscilla glanced at her menu. “I’d like coconut cream pie.”
“I’ll take the same.”
“I’ll be right back with your pie.”
After the waitress took their menus and left, Stephen said, “I’m sorry.”
She frowned. “I don’t get why I can’t even work at the fabric store. My sister, Anna, worked as a veterinarian’s assistant for Dr. Haney, then for Dr. Knupp. They are both Englishers, but Daed allowed Anna to work for them for several months. I’m sure if I reminded him of Anna’s association with the Englishers, he’d say that she only went with them to Amish farms.”
“That doesn’t seem fair.”
“Anna isn’t working with the veterinarians now, but is assisting Violet with the home births.” Priscilla gave him a small smile. “Anna says she likes helping to deliver human babies instead of animal ones.”
He grinned. “Anna and Violet must be pretty busy with the births, because it seems like there are a lot of babies being born around here.”
She nodded. “That’s for sure and certain.” Leaning closer to him, Priscilla continued, “Please don’t mention what I’m about to tell you to anyone, but I’m thinking of going. If I do go, I need to get a driver to take me to the bus station. It’s too far for me to drive a buggy. I’ll check the schedule for the Pioneer Trail bus and see how early one leaves.”
When Stephen saw her hopeful expression in her incredible blue eyes, he knew Priscilla wanted him to offer to take her to the station. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the server approaching the table with their pie. He waited until she gave them each their order and she was out of hearing to say, “I can take you, but I’m afraid your daed won’t allow me to see you when you return.”
“I was hoping you’d offer to drive me to the station. We won’t tell my father that you’re the driver.”
He didn’t like this plan of Priscilla’s at all.
Chapter Six
Stephen rubbed his forehead and hoped the two aspirin he’d taken would help him get rid of his headache. The construction work seemed to be going fine, even though the retired house owner stopped in to watch them for several minutes. The English gentleman came by daily to check on the progress. Maybe the man’s wife told him to keep an eye on the job they were doing. Stephen couldn’t blame the man for wanting his house to turn out fine. He’d overheard him mention how he wanted to give his wife of thirty years her dream house. In that regard, the English were not so different from the Amish. Sure, their houses were not fancy like the non-Amish, but a Plain husband wanted to provide a sturdy and fine house for his fraa. Just like his daed, Stephen wanted to have a wunderbaar-gut home for his future wife and children. Either he’d build a new house or buy one.
He appreciated the shade of a big tree close to the building site. It was a humid and warm June day, with showers predicted. After he opened his insulated lunch bag, he removed a sandwich. He’d already taken the can of pop out of the bag when he’d taken his aspirin. He had thought and hoped that Priscilla might be his fraa someday, but now he was not as sure about her. The verses in Proverbs said how a wife of noble character was worth far more than rubies. In this chapter, it stated how a husband should have full confidence in his wife. He had been struck by her beauty, but she had seemed like a caring and kind daughter. Now he was questioning her character. Would a thoughtful and caring daughter sneak away to a job in another state when her parents had told her no?
I wish I hadn’t told her about my car. I don’t want to drive her to the bus station. It’s not my way to help her to leave Fields Corner when her parents told her specifically she’s supposed to stay home. I’m not sure where the nearest Pioneer Trails station is, but she said that it wasn’t close enough to go by buggy. First, Priscilla wasn’t interested in me, and now she seems to be. Or is it all an act to please her pare
nts? That way they won’t suspect her of disobeying them when she decides to run away from home.
My parents aren’t happy that I have a driver’s license and a car, so I’m not the model Amish son. Still, I am living at home and helping with farming and daily chores. I haven’t gone away from home to experience my running-around time.
As he took a sip of his Coke, he felt it was wrong that her parents were not allowing her to continue working at the fabric store. He couldn’t imagine his parents going to his boss Ralph to tell him he’d no longer be able to work. If they did something like that, maybe he’d feel like leaving home.
He took a bite of his chicken salad sandwich, realizing he better finish eating his lunch. The half-hour they had went by quickly.
“Hey, you seem deep in thought.” Jonathan stood by him and smiled. “You didn’t hear me say hello to you.”
Stephen looked up at Jonathan. “Ach, sorry. You’re right. I didn’t hear you.”
“Have you given any more thought to visiting the fire department? You can ask questions and meet the other volunteer firemen.” Jonathan removed his straw hat and ran his fingers through his brown hair. “I think you’d be an excellent firefighter.”
“I’m not sure it’s something I want to do, but I’d like to visit and learn more about it.”
“Maybe you can come to our next meeting at the station.”
“Okay, I can do that.”
“I have another request. Molly wants me to invite you to supper this week.” Jonathan grinned. “I’m supposed to make it a day that Priscilla is babysitting Isaac and Grace. We thought you might like to come when she’s at our house.”
Stephen wanted to see Priscilla, but it would also be great to see Jonathan’s house he’d built for Molly. He smiled. “Danki for the invitation. Sounds like a fun time.”
After Jonathan left, Stephen thought how recently his parents mentioned that when he married, he could live with them. It seemed his mother felt things were going right now that he was seeing Priscilla. Marrying the bishop’s daughter would ensure he would not jump the fence. He decided not to mention that Priscilla wasn’t sure about joining their faith either. Although it was common for a young Amish couple to live with parents, he’d like to have a house ready for his bride.
