by Amy Lillard
“You think I would be more successful?”
“Jah.” In fact, she was sure of it.
“Come to think of it, I haven’t seen James around much at all since his accident. He was outside a few minutes at the work frolic last week.”
“He has headaches,” Emily explained. “Joy and Elam are afraid he’s going to fall.”
“Now, Emily, I know you are trying to be helpful, but it seems to me they know his limitations better than you or I.”
Then she definitely wasn’t telling her mother about the information she’d given them earlier in the week. “But it would be gut for him to come to church, jah?”
Her mamm nodded.
“And since we are hosting this week we could make sure he is comfortable.”
“Jah.”
“And safe.”
Mamm nodded again.
“I think it would be gut for everyone. Joy and Elam could both attend the services, and James could be here, too.”
Her mamm smiled. “Tie your kapp strings and get in the buggy. We’ve got some convincing to do.”
Elam looked less than convinced two hours later as Emily and her mamm sat at the Riehls’ table sharing a pot of coffee with him and Joy.
“I don’t know,” Elam said, but his tone was anything but happy. It perfectly matched his stern frown.
Emily had thought she’d made such progress on Monday. What a difference a few days could make.
Joy, on the other hand, seemed intrigued by the idea. Intrigued and perhaps a little frightened.
“I am ashamed I did not think of this earlier,” Mamm said. “I s’pose I just got used to seeing only one of you at the service and didn’t think twice about it.”
“It’s allrecht,” Joy said, stirring a teaspoon of sugar into her second cup. “It’s a big district, and you have a lot to accomplish of your own.”
“That is no excuse. Thankfully, Emily here pointed out my shortcoming.”
Elam scowled at Emily. She shifted in her chair and glanced out the window to keep from having to meet his hard stare.
“Danki, Emily,” Joy said, but she shook her head. “I don’t know how we would manage though.”
“Like we always do,” Mamm insisted. “Together. I will send Mary over that morning, and she can help you get the girls ready. All you have to do is get James into the buggy and over to our house.”
“I don’t know,” Joy said again, though Emily could feel her weakening.
“I want to go.”
They all turned as James’s voice sounded from the hallway. He stood, arms braced on either side of him as he balanced himself between the rooms.
“James.” Joy was on her feet in an instant, Elam right at her side. “You should be in bed,” she admonished. She tried to get him to let go of the walls and follow her back down the hallway, but James was too busy looking past her to their guests.
“You said you would come.”
Emily smiled. “A promise is a promise.”
“And you wore your purple dress.”
“I said I would.”
James smiled. “Will you wear it to church on Sunday?”
“If that is what you want.”
“Jah,” he said. “I’m going to church on Sunday.” He sounded like a child about to throw a fit.
“Right now you need to go back and lay down.” Joy’s voice was unwavering.
“But I want to see Emily and her purple dress.”
“Does your head hurt? I’ll get you some pills,” Joy continued as if he hadn’t spoken.
“I do not want pills. They make me dizzy and go to sleep.”
“We will talk to the doctor about that next week. For now, you need to sleep,” she soothed.
“But I want to see Emily’s dress.”
Emily shifted uncomfortably in her seat as both her mother and Elam stared at her. Almost like she had done something wrong. Well, at least that was the way Elam was staring at her.
“You can see it Sunday,” Joy promised. “But only if you go back to bed.”
James hesitated. “Jah, okay then.” He smiled at Emily. “Danki for coming to see me again.”
“You are welcome,” she said, returning his smile.
Joy led him down the hallway, their voices drifting away as she managed to get him back to his room.
“It seems my dat has fallen a bit in love with you.” Elam’s words held an accusing edge, but he didn’t look as angry as he had before. That had to be gut, jah?
“We only want to help him,” her mamm said, saving her the trouble of coming up with a suitable response.
His green eyes softened until they were the color of a spring meadow after the rain. When he looked like that, not so mad, his face filled with love, and not worry, he seemed like a different person.
Emily wanted to reach across the table and smooth the last of the wrinkles from his brow. Once they were gone, the transformation would be complete. Elam Riehl would be changed from a worried soul into a handsome man.
“Danki, Emily . . . Helen. Your care and concern have been most welcome.”
She wasn’t so sure about that, but Emily was certainly glad she brought her mother along for the trip. There was something about the bishop’s wife that made everyone sit up a little straighter and see things a bit clearer.
Her mamm stood and smoothed nonexistent creases out of her frack and flawless black apron. “So we’ll see you Sunday morning, jah? All of you.” It wasn’t really a question, more of a confirmation of an order.
“Jah.” Elam nodded. “We will be there.”
“That Emily Ebersol seems like a gut maedel.” Elam’s mamm took a sip of kaffi and eyed him over the rim of her cup. The look on her face was far too innocent to be anything but a ruse.
“Jah?” Elam leaned one hip against the sink and feigned his own guileless expression.
“So considerate and kind.”
He allowed his gaze to drift out the window over the sink. Johanna, Norma, and the twins were playing their own version of Corner Ball. Becky served as the referee while the last litter of pups danced in and out between their legs and nipped at the hems on their skirts.
Emily was considerate and kind, but it wasn’t something he wanted to think about. He had mulled it over too many years to count. That time was over now. If it had ever begun.
“She’ll make some man a gut fraa.”
Elam poured the rest of his coffee down the drain and rinsed his cup. “Jah . . . Luke Lambright.”
Mamm’s forehead puckered into a frown. “I thought Luke had run off to join the Englisch.”
“He’ll be back.” With a girl like Emily Ebersol waiting for him, Luke would be a fool not to return to Wells Landing.
“It seems to me that he’s not here. And you are.”
Elam sighed. Time to meet this head-on. “What are you suggesting, Mamm?”
She delicately shrugged and took another sip, that too-innocent expression settling back over her face. “Nothing.”
He waited, sure there was more to come.
“You have dedicated so much of your life to this farm. Maybe it’s time you started thinking about marriage.”
And there it was. “I hardly have time to do my work and sleep. How am I supposed to go courtin’?”
He was twenty-five years old. Most of his friends were long-ago married. Some even had two or three kinner. He was the male equivalent of an old maid. A sworn bachelor. Wasn’t that what the Englisch called it?
A lot like Abe Fitch.
But Abe just got married, the voice inside him whispered. Old Abe had waited years and years for the one woman he wanted and now that their lives were half over, they would get to spend the rest together.
Is that what Elam wanted? To wait until it was almost too late and then try to find someone to spend his days with?
“A man can find the time if he so chooses.” Mamm stood and brought her cup to the sink, rinsing it out and setting it next to Elam�
�s. “We’ll find someone to help us,” Mamm started. “We’ve put it off too long. Emily said she would come help with your vatter. Her sister Mary promised to ask Aaron Miller if he’d be interested in coming to help with the milking and other chores. Once those things are in place, you will have plenty of time to court and such.”
“What brought all this on?” He asked the question, but he was almost afraid of what her answer might be.
She shrugged again. “I have just been thinking about it.” She didn’t look him in the eye, giving him the suspicion she was not being entirely truthful. “It is time you had some happiness. Perhaps even your own family.”
He couldn’t find the words to answer.
“Once we get help, you’ll have more time for the sweeter things in life.”
That was exactly what he needed: Time to pursue the one girl in the county he couldn’t have.
Chapter Nine
Sunday dawned with blue skies and a thin layer of frost twinkling in the sunlight. So very soon temperatures would drop even lower and winter would officially come to Wells Landing.
Emily couldn’t say she liked winter, but she enjoyed the change from one season to the next. Oklahoma winters were unpredictable at best. The morning could be sixty-five and breezy, with snow falling the same day at sunset. Such changes were hard, but expected. Though she hoped tonight would be a little more even. Especially since the youth singing would be held at their house.
But first . . .
She turned the buggy into the Riehls’ driveway. So much for her mother sending Mary over to help. As the oldest, Emily felt she should be at home helping to get ready for the church service, taking care of the final details before everyone started arriving.
She parked her buggy and set the brake. For this trip she wouldn’t unhitch the horses. Soon enough they would be back on the road headed toward home.
Becky opened the door, a bright smile spreading across her face. “Guder mariye, Emily. Come in, come in.”
Emily stepped into the house and hugged her young friend.
“I was expecting Mary.”
“Mamm sent me instead.” She shrugged.
Becky smiled. “Dat will be pleased.”
The Riehl house on a church Sunday morning was a lot like the Ebersols’. The milking had been done long ago, but five girls were trying to get ready to go. Add in James who was so excited about attending church for the first time in a year, and the atmosphere was more than chaotic.
Emily brushed out Johanna’s hair and twisted it into a tidy knot at the back of her head. Then she pinned on her prayer kapp. She sent Johanna on her way, then did the same for Norma. In no time at all, the girls were dressed and ready to go.
“I want to ride with Emily.” James rubbed his hands together and grinned. Couldn’t they see how good this was for him? A high flush rode his cheeks, making him look like a kid at Christmas. His eyes twinkled, and his lips had curved into a permanent smile.
“The sun is awfully bright today.” Joy shaded her eyes and cast a concerned glance toward James.
“I almost forgot.” Emily pulled out the dark sunglasses she had bought for just this occasion and handed them to James.
He slid them on his face. If anything, his grin grew even wider as he swung his gaze from one side of the yard to the other.
“It’ll help with the glare and your headaches,” Emily explained.
The family seemed to hold its collective breath.
“That is against the Ordnung,” Joy whispered.
Elam frowned.
“I have it on good authority that the bishop does not object.”
Everyone relaxed. Except for Elam. What was his problem today? Was it outside help that he objected to or her in general?
“Danki, Emily.” James grabbed her hand much like Johanna would have and squeezed her fingers.
“You’re welcome.”
Then he turned his head, this way and that, as if posing for invisible cameras. “Do I look like a movie star?”
Everyone laughed. Except for Elam, of course.
“An Amish movie star.” Ruthie chuckled.
“Maybe you could be on one of those television shows,” Becky said.
“What do you know of those shows?” Elam scowled at his sister.
Becky mumbled something and looked off over the pasture.
“We’d better go if we want to get there in time.” Emily had to say something to break the tension. Hadn’t Elam said he wanted Becky to enjoy her rumspringa? What harm was there in a little bit of television? Emily had certainly never been afforded such freedoms during her own run-around time. Sometimes being the bishop’s daughter was harder than anyone knew.
“I want to ride with Dat, too.” Norma took his hand into hers and bounced on the balls of her feet.
The twins joined in, chanting that they wanted to ride to church with their vatter as well.
Elam let out a shrill whistle that Emily was certain he used to summon his livestock. “Of course everyone is going to ride with Dat. Now get in the buggy. Dummle. Hurry, before we are late.”
James crossed his arms and frowned, looking all the more like a spoiled Englisch movie star in Plain clothes. “I am riding with Emily.”
All at once the chatter began again as the girls argued as to who would ride with Emily and their father.
Elam whistled again. It was a handy trick for sure.
The girls immediately fell silent.
“Not everyone can ride in Emily’s buggy,” Elam said.
Immediate protests sprang up.
Elam frowned.
As if sensing they had pushed their bruder beyond the limits of his good nature, the sisters fell silent once again.
Obviously he didn’t like the disobedience he received from his siblings. He had been head of the household for a year and evidently had grown accustomed to everyone following his orders.
“I could drive your buggy,” Emily said. “And you can drive mine.”
The buggy she’d brought could only comfortably seat four, but the Riehls’ buggy could hold the entire family.
“That’s a perfect idea.” Joy nodded.
Elam looked like he wanted to protest, but the words didn’t come.
The girls cheered, and they scrambled into the large buggy without another word.
Elam helped his father climb inside. He was still frowning, his scowl the direct opposite of his father’s soppy grin.
“He’ll be fine,” Emily said quietly. She didn’t receive so much as a grunt in response. Had Elam even heard her?
He slid the door closed. “Hang on here, if you feel dizzy.”
James patted his son’s hand where it rested in the open widow of the buggy. “I am fine. Emily will take gut care of me.”
Elam gave a stern nod, then disappeared from view.
Emily set the horses in motion.
James laughed and grabbed his hat as they started down the road. Everyone seemed happy, content, even excited to be on their way to church.
Couldn’t Elam see that? His family needed normalcy, something to let them know that despite their hardships, God was good and watching over them all.
“Why such a look, Elam?” Mamm asked him as they drove Emily’s small buggy back to her house.
He relaxed his features into what he hoped was an impassive expression. It seemed the more time he spent around the bishop’s oldest daughter, the more he scowled.
“No look,” he said.
But from the frown on Mamm’s face she wasn’t convinced. “I think perhaps this has something to do with our new helper.”
“I don’t want to talk about Emily Ebersol.” His voice came out sterner than he intended.
“Why not?”
Elam shook his head. The woman had upset everything about his way of living. She had come in unwanted and started rearranging what Elam had spent the last year carefully stacking into place.
How could he explain that to Mamm?
Elam grunted. “So you’ve said.” She would make a gut wife for someone. Nor would he admit that out loud. She was kind and caring, beautiful even with her chocolate brown hair and eyes the color of twilight. She was smart and brave, but her heart belonged to Luke Lambright.
“Do you really think I don’t know?”
He turned his attention from the road to stare at her. His heart gave a hard pound of apprehension. “Know what?”
“That you are in love with Emily.”
An immediate protest sprang to his lips. “She is in love with someone else.”
Mamm shook her head. “Luke Lambright is not coming back here, and Emily’s not leaving her family. Seems to me you have a gut opportunity to show her you care.”
He pulled his gaze from Mamm’s to stare over the swaying rears of the horses. “I don’t know.”
“I do.” He saw her nod out of the corner of his eye. “It would help if you would stop glowering at her whenever she gets near.”
“I don’t glower,” he lied.
“You do.” A small laugh escaped her. “How is she supposed to know you care if you keep trying to scare her away?” She stopped. “That is it, jah? You don’t want her to know that you care.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” he said, feeling very much like a bug trapped in a jar. “She is a menace.” A beautiful menace, for sure.
“Mm-hmm,” Mamm murmured. “Be sure to add these lies to your prayer list today.”
Back before Elam could even remember, Bishop Riehl had built on a special room to his house for when church services were held there. The room was open and airy with large unadorned windows that let nature be a part of the service. Elam wasn’t sure which he liked best: the dark cool services held in the barns or the bright service held in what the Ebersols referred to as the “bonus room.”
He supposed it served two purposes. It gave them extra room for when they hosted church. But it also gave the family a place to gather to play games and enjoy each other’s company.
Today it was filled with rows of benches from the bench wagon. As usual, there was a walkway through the middle. The women gathered on one side and the men on the other. Special cushioned seats had been set up across the back for the elderly and infirm.
