“Elijah likes you,” Rachel teased.
Hannah made kissing noises against the back of her hand. “Is there anything else you need, Jane?”
“Don’t mock me,” I insisted.
“I can’t help it. It was just so cute the way he took your hand in his. I agree with Rachel. I believe my cousin likes you.”
I looked at Hannah, wondering if she was still teasing me, or if she truly believed Elijah liked me. Excitement welled up in me, and I was almost glad I’d fallen.
****
That night, I could scarcely sleep. I tossed and fidgeted so often that I woke Nadine.
“What’s the matter with you? Go back to sleep and be quiet.”
“Don’t yell at me, Nadine.”
Nadine scowled. “If I was yelling, you’d know it,” she threatened.
“You are so yelling, so cut it out.”
Nadine’s scowl deepened. “Nope. And you can’t make me.”
“I’m sorry, Nadine. Don’t be mad at me. I didn’t mean to wake you. I just can’t stop thinking about Elijah.”
She raised a thin eyebrow and sat up in her bed to face me.
“What about Elijah?” She was practically gritting her teeth when she spoke.
“Oh man. I’ve never been so embarrassed in my whole life as I was today. I fell in Elijah’s field and he had to help me back to his porch. But oh my gosh, Elijah was so sweet to me. You wouldn’t believe how nice he is—and so cute too, but anyone can see that.”
Nadine sighed and rolled her eyes, stuffing her pillow over her head.
“I’m just so happy that you got to spend time with him, but I don’t want to hear another word, so please shut up and go back to sleep,” came a muffled and angry scolding from Nadine.
“Well you don’t sound very happy for me. What're you getting so mad about?”
Nadine yanked the pillow off her face and pursed her lips. “Not another word, Jane—I mean it.”
“What's your problem, Nadine? You’re acting like you’re jealous.”
“I am not jealous. I just want you to stop talking and go back to sleep.”
“You’re the one that needs to stop talking. If you don’t be quiet, you’re gonna wake up everybody in the house,” I warned her.
“I said not another word or you’ll be sorry—I mean it, Jane—this is your last warning.”
“You need to take a chill-pill,” I said, throwing a stuffed animal at her. I laid down on my bed, determined to dream of Elijah—she certainly couldn’t stop me from doing that.
****
The following morning, my ankle was very stiff and hurt more than the day before. It reminded me of a time when I was five, and had sprained my ankle because my mother had let me fall from the monkey bars at my elementary school. She had been so cruel that day by teasing me and refusing to help me down.
As I hobbled down the stairs, I reminded myself that I’d forgiven my mother quite some time ago, so I determined that I would put it out of my mind. I smiled as I reflected on the day she came home from the clinic, but a sudden commotion toward the side of the house interrupted my thoughts.
When I opened the door, I was surprised to see Elijah with a horse.
“Hello, Miss Jane.”
He tipped his hat and bowed slightly, making me feel somewhat bashful.
“I felt so awful about what happened yesterday, that I took it upon myself to bring my horse, Eli, to be your personal escort to school for the next few days.”
His tone was very polite, but also very formal. I was stunned by his offer even though I was happy at the thought of being able to have some time to get to know him better.
“Wait a minute while I grab my sweater,” I said from over my shoulder.
The excuse of needing a sweater would give me enough time to rid myself of the giddiness I felt. After all, I couldn’t afford any more embarrassment. My stomach growled in a quest to beg for breakfast, but I was suddenly too nervous to think about it. When I re-entered the house through the side door, Nadine was pacing the wooden floors of the front room. She stormed over to me and suddenly grabbed my arm and squeezed tightly.
“What’s Elijah doing’ here?”
“What’re you mad at me, for? He only brought his horse over to give me a ride to school. Leave me alone. I ain’t gonna fight with you anymore.” I pulled my arm away from her.
“I’m going with you. Papa will say it’ll look improper for you to go alone. And since Mam is still sleeping and Papa is at work, I’ll do the deciding for you.”
“Oh now it’s Mam and Papa, is it? What’re you gonna do? Tell Mom and Dad on me if I refuse?” I challenged her.
“What if I do?”
I shrugged, and looked down at the floor, feeling defeated.
“I knew you’d see it my way,” she said. “So I guess you won’t be arguing with me anymore about going with you.”
Her statement was final, and I knew she was probably right. It angered me, though; because I knew her reasons for going were partly out of jealousy. We walked out the side door together, and met Elijah on the dirt drive.
“Nadine will be hanging with us,” I announced.
“Are you all right, Jane? You seem a little upset.” Elijah tried making eye contact with me, but I didn’t want him to see the fury in my eyes.
“I’m cool,” I muttered softly.
It was a lie, but I couldn’t burden a new friend with the petty problems between Nadine and me—especially since he was the subject of our dispute. Elijah seemed to pick up on my annoyance with the situation, but smiled softly at me.
“Why don’t the two of you ride, and I’ll walk alongside. There certainly isn’t enough room on this horse for the three of us,” he said.
There wouldn’t be three of us if my sister wasn’t so bossy and controlling.
We laughed lightly, alleviating some of the tension between my sister and me. He assisted the two of us onto Eli, which was slightly awkward at first, being our first time on a horse. Nadine took full advantage of his assistance, using the opportunity to flirt with my Elijah. Even though he hadn’t made known his intentions toward me, I still felt that we were meant for one another, just from the way he looked at me. Along the way, Nadine monopolized nearly the entire conversation, causing anger to rise in me like it hadn’t in years. I pushed aside the angry thoughts, hoping Elijah wouldn’t pick up on it.
When we finally reached the schoolhouse, I was so eager to be rid of my sister that I decided I should remain outside for a minute to put a halt to my fuming. Elijah must have finally noticed my agitation, for he stalled in giving assistance to us in dismounting the horse.
Nadine, in her impatience, tried showing off by trying to dismount the horse on her own, and fell to the ground in her unsuccessful attempt. Unable to hold in my anger any longer, I let out the most un-lady-like guffaw, but quickly apologized. Nadine ignored my apology and pushed aside the hand that Elijah offered. She dusted herself off, then, stormed into the school. This left me to deal with my guilt and embarrassment in facing Elijah’s silence alone. If ever I was to get off on the wrong foot with someone, the embarrassment of strife between Nadine and me didn’t present well. How could I ever convince him that I could be the one for him after what he’d just witnessed?
“I'd like to say a prayer for the two of you,” he said after a minute or so.
I was shocked by his offer. I thought he would walk away from me after I’d been so unsympathetic toward my sister. Still, he looked at me with kindness showing in his eyes.
“My father told me that there’s differences in our beliefs—not just the way we live.” I stumbled over my words.
“My papa was brought up in the Old Order, and I was, too, until five years ago. My father’s relatives in Pennsylvania brought about the change under the leadership of their Bishop. Now we embrace even more liberal ways in our Ordnung.”
I knew if we didn’t end our conversation soon, I would be tardy, but I didn’t
want to go in and leave things the way they were.
“May I say a prayer for you anyway?” he asked humbly.
I nodded my approval and he urged me to go into the schoolhouse. I stalled for a minute to watch from the top step as he rode away in a cloud of dust on Eli.
THREE
A TIME TO MATURE
After school, Elijah was there to pick me up, just as he had promised. I didn’t want Nadine tagging along this time and wondered how I could rid myself of her. I’d spent a fair portion of my afternoon thinking up excuses, but had neglected to see the obvious until she nudged me at the top of the stairs at the schoolhouse.
“Hey, watch it. You almost knocked me down the steps.”
“Don’t be so dramatic, Jane. I only wanted to tell you that I’m not riding on that horse again.”
“Does that mean you're gonna rat on me if I do?”
“No, Jane. I ain’t gonna rat on you. As long as you stop acting like you're so happy to get rid of me.”
“I’m not happy to get rid of you.”
Peace out.
“Just don’t get caught by The Man, or you’ll be grounded for life.”
“Nadine, thanks for being so cool about this. I’m really sorry for the mean things that I said to you last night. And I didn’t mean to wake you up.”
“I forgive you. I’m sorry too. Hey, I’ll see you back home.”
“Bye, Nadine.”
I was happy that Nadine and I had settled our differences, but much happier that she’d opted out of the ride home on Elijah’s horse. Elijah showed up just then and called me over to him with a wave of his hand, causing most of the girls in the schoolyard to gasp. I looked back at them and the looks of envy on their faces.
Keep your eyes in your heads girls because that fox is mine.
Seeing their envious faces gave me an additional boost in confidence. I gave Hannah a quick “thumbs-up” and limped slightly in my walk over to Elijah, then, allowed him to boost me up on the horse. He walked quietly beside me for several minutes, until I thought I could no longer stand the silence.
“It doesn’t seem right that I should ride and you should walk. I don’t mind if you wanna ride with me,” I said.
“You don’t sound too sure about your offer.”
I’m perfectly sure I want you closer to me, daring me in ways I ought not to be thinking about.
“Well, I wasn’t sure how you might take it. I’d like it if you’d ride with me—maybe so we could go a little faster on him.”
“Jah, but it might not look gut to your papa if he should see us on the horse together.”
“Does that mean you don’t wanna ride with me?”
“No, Jane. I’d like to ride with you—show you how fast he can go. I’m just not sure that it would be proper.”
Right then, I didn’t care what my father would think.
“My father is at work in town, he won’t see us. Let’s just keep it real. I won’t tell him if you won’t.”
“Are you asking me to keep it a secret?” Elijah flashed me a crooked grin.
Oh how that smile turns me on.
“Maybe. Besides, it ain’t like we’re doing anything wrong, so he’ll be cool with it even if he does find out.”
I lied.
If the truth be told, my father—papa—would likely have forbidden me to see Elijah again if he were to catch me riding the horse with him. I knew it was wrong to keep silent about my father’s rules, but my desire to have Elijah near me was clouding my judgment of what the exact truth was. It was my opinion that I was plenty old enough to ride a horse with a boy. After all, it was my father who had changed his mind regarding the age Nadine and I could begin dating. If he challenged me, my argument would be that Elijah and I were just friends…even though I intended to try for more.
Long before we moved into the Amish community, he sat us down and told us he would like us to mirror the rules of proper behavior after our new neighbors. At the time, neither Nadine nor I cared if we had to wait an extra year to date because neither of us had any real prospects.
“There ain’t nothing but Amish boys out in the wilderness where you’re taking us, so why should we care?” Nadine had said at the time.
If only I had known about Elijah before I agreed to such a rule. Now the only question was; how could I weasel my way out of this one?
Elijah flashed me a quick smile of acceptance to my offer, then mounted the horse, and settled in behind me. I pushed my thoughts of getting caught aside when his arms went around me as he grabbed the reigns. I was grateful that he was behind me; unable to see my face flush when his arms went around me. Eli bucked slightly, showing his protest at having two riders on his back. I squealed a little out of fear and grabbed Elijah’s arms to brace myself. Strong arms tightened around me, keeping me on the horse as I fell back against Elijah’s chest. When the horse settled down and began a slow trot, I relaxed just enough to start a conversation in an attempt to break the awkward silence.
“Is this your horse, or does it belong to your papa?”
“Being the oldest son, I get my own horse, but I would guess that Samuel will get one, too. Papa’s gut and generous,” he said. “I own a pig and a cow too. Papa gave them to me when I was younger to test my abilities with the farm stock.”
There was another long silence in which my thoughts wandered to my riding companion. I had allowed myself to remain up against his broad, muscular frame and it seemed somewhat confusing that he didn’t protest.
“Does this make us friends?”
His question interrupted my thoughts and my face felt hot as I wondered if he was referring to the fact that I hadn’t stopped leaning on him. I sat up straight out of embarrassment.
“What do you mean?” I asked nervously.
“I wondered if we’ll be friends now that we’ll be spending a gut amount of time together. After all, I’ll be escorting you to school until your ankle is healed.”
“I suppose it does,” I said quietly.
“In that case, I’m happy to be your friend. My other friends might even accuse me of rumspringa,” he said, then, laughed out loud.
“Uh—wait a minute. What does that mean?”
“Don’t worry. It isn’t anything bad. It means I’m in my running around years, and free to run around with a girl—to be friends or court her. I thought we could be friends—secretly, perhaps. To avoid having the fellas tease me,” he said.
It sounded as though he was saying the same things that Mitchell was saying about Rebekah. I didn’t understand most of Elijah’s explanation, but was relieved that he hadn’t mentioned my improper actions. I liked being close to Elijah, and wondered if the horse might buck again just so I would get another opportunity to lean up against him.
“I’d like it if we could be friends, and I’ll even be happy to keep it our little secret,” I said.
Truth was; I couldn’t keep a secret. But I no longer had anyone to tell. Putting it in a letter and sending it to the girls at school wasn’t the same as seeing their reaction if I told them in person. Besides, they would probably tease me because they just wouldn’t understand being attracted to an Amish boy. Though he wasn’t what I expected, there was no way I could convince city girls that Elijah fit into the category of “fox”.
I looked back at him over my shoulder. Who cared if I had no one to tell? My heart raced at the thought of being his girl.
I was painfully aware that friendship was all I could have for the time being, because friendship was all he was offering. I didn’t dare tell him that I’d thought ahead about what it would be like to be married to him some day—that would be a foolish thing to blurt out. In spite of my feelings, he had expressed only friendship, so I made up my mind to be content with the relationship he offered. I looked back at him again in time to catch the full smile that played gently across his lips.
When we reached the property line, I slid down from the horse with assistance from my riding companio
n. Elijah then bid me good-bye with a tip of his hat and a promise to return promptly in the morning. So formal and proper, I wasn’t sure what to do but nod back in fear that my hippie talk would scare him off. Being the gentleman he was, he just smiled at me.
Filled with excitement, I practically skipped into the house, forgetting that my ankle was still swollen and in need of rest. My mother and Naomi were bursting with excitement as I entered the front room.
“We have a surprise for you,” Naomi said.
Little Wild Flower, Amish Romance/Amish Fiction/Christian Romance Page 4
