“Daed says it’s rude if we talk too much in a language the Englishers can’t understand.”
“I suppose it would be if you talked like that all the time, but you speak just like I do, and I can understand you just fine,” Vivian reassured her with a smile.
Molly smiled back. “Would you like to go ice skating when you finish eating?”
“As a matter of fact, I was thinking about that when I looked out the window of my room and saw that the pond was frozen over.”
“Did your daed teach you how to skate, too?”
“No, I used to skate with my mom. She taught me when I was five years old.”
Molly giggled. “That’s how old I am!”
“Well, you’re getting to be a big girl, and I would love to skate with you, as long as you promise not to laugh if I fall. I haven’t been on skates for a lot of years.”
Molly giggled. “I still fall sometimes too, so I wouldn’t laugh at you.”
Katie entered through the swinging door of the kitchen just then, a pitcher of orange juice in one hand, a coffee pot in the other. “Don’t bother our guest, Molly,” she scolded the child as she refilled Vivian’s coffee cup.
Vivian held a hand over her orange juice glass to stop Katie from refilling it. “She isn’t bothering me. As a matter of fact, we were just talking about going ice skating.”
Katie frowned at the child, and it made Vivian feel a little uncomfortable.
“Maybe we should ask your dad,” she said more for Katie’s sake.
“We don’t need to!” Molly said excitedly. “He sent me in here to ask if you wanted to go.”
Katie’s lips formed a thin line, but she pasted on a smile and excused herself promptly.
Vivian felt a little unnerved at Katie’s reaction, and wondered if the child was in for reprimand later. She prayed not, and thought about speaking to Benjamin about it.
When she was thoroughly satisfied from the meal, she pushed herself away from the table. She’d hoped Benjamin would have joined her and Molly at the table, but she supposed since he’d been up so early he’d likely already eaten his breakfast hours ago. She couldn’t imagine working so hard, having never had to, but for him, she might consider such a thing. Her thoughts made her giggle internally. Her thoughts certainly had a way of turning to Benjamin now, no matter what the subject. She’d never been so consumed with thoughts of a man, and wondered if this was what love felt like.
She excused herself from Molly’s company, and asked her to wait a minute downstairs for her. Then she ran upstairs to her room and stuffed her feet into her boots, then grabbed her coat from the closet. Peering out her second-floor window, she noticed Benjamin walking into the stables, and felt a little giddy that he’d had Molly ask her to go skating with the two of them. She couldn’t wait to ask him about all the activities he had boasted about in his ad in the newspaper. She was determined to get the old-fashioned Christmas she had planned out in her head. More than that, she was determined to spend a nice holiday with a certain handsome Amish man and his sweet little daughter.
Molly was waiting obediently at the bottom of the steps when Vivian came down from her room. Together, they walked over to the stables, and she remembered the conversation she’d overheard between Simon, Benjamin, and Katie, and wondered if it wasn’t such a good idea to go talk to Benjamin by herself. She scoffed at the notion, deciding that despite their differences, it was silly to think that talking to him alone should be considered so improper. After all, she was a guest at his B&B, and she certainly enjoyed his company. Besides, even though Molly was a child, she was certainly the perfect escort, in Vivian’s opinion.
She approached Benjamin with a smile of admiration as she watched him scoop his daughter up in his arms. “So when am I going to get to experience the Christmas magic your newspaper ad promised, and go ice skating or take another sleigh ride?” she teased.
Benjamin blushed. He felt embarrassed he hadn’t offered her some sort of itinerary.
“Didn’t Molly tell you I wanted to take you ice skating?”
Vivian let out a sigh of relief at his invitation, knowing that she just needed to hear it from him that he’d wanted her to go. Sending in a child to ask was sneaky, but she could already see he was a little shy and unsure of himself.
“Of course she did. I’d love to go skating!” She said cheerfully.
He knew Katie would scold him later for it, but he couldn’t just leave Vivian to do all the activities by herself. He felt that was more wrong than being alone with her without a proper adult escort, but he felt Molly was more than sufficient. Besides, he was more than anxious to spend more time getting to know her. He liked her—a lot, and he didn’t think his sister should find fault with that.
Molly and Vivian followed him to the tack room where he grabbed a pair of ice skates for each of them from the cupboard, and then headed over to the pond just behind the barn.
The sun gleamed across the ice, and although it was almost blinding, it was spectacular. It reminded her of the pond she’d skated on when she was little. Vivian sat on the small bench by the pond and laced up her skates. Then she instinctively knelt down and helped Molly, who seemed to be having a little trouble. She could feel Benjamin’s eyes on her, and she hoped he approved of her take-charge attitude, and wouldn’t feel she was overstepping her bounds with his daughter. When she looked up, she could see him smiling at her, and guessed he approved.
She stood up and Molly slipped her mitten-clad hand into hers as they pointed themselves in the direction of the pond.
“I have to warn you,” Vivian said. “It’s been years since I’ve ice skated. I’m a little rusty.”
Benjamin chuckled a little. “That’s alright, I’ll catch you if you fall.”
Vivian blushed. Was he flirting? Was he allowed to flirt?
“I’m ready whenever you are.” She said, taking a wobbly step toward the pond.
Though her ankles buckled a few times, she made her way to the ice and slowly glided her way out, Molly skating circles around her. She tried to be as careful as possible but she started to stumble, and fell.
Vivian laughed at herself. “I thought you were going to catch me if I fell!” she shouted to Benjamin, who was still at the edge of the pond.
“Sorry about that,” he said. “You looked like you were doing fine until the last minute.”
Feeling embarrassed that he’d been so busy admiring her that he’d forgotten his promise, he skated over to her and helped her up, guiding her along to help her keep her balance. Guiding her didn’t seem to help as much as he had hoped. Her ankles wobbled, and she started to lose her balance again, brushing her cheek against his on her way down. He quickly pulled her up into his arms. Instinct made him want to kiss her, but he knew better than to kiss her in front of Molly, and so he resisted. The two blushed and chuckled awkwardly. “Maybe we’d be better off with an activity that’s a little less athletic, such as building a snowman.” Benjamin suggested. “The snow is very wet, and perfect for snowman building.
Molly clapped her mittens together. “I want to build a snowman!”
“Let’s build a snowman!” Benjamin said excitedly.
Vivian smiled. She hadn’t built a snowman since she was a child. Her dad used to build one with her every year, but that had stopped when her parents separated. She was so delighted that Benjamin was willing to help bring back all the best memories from her childhood, and was even making new ones with her.
They unlaced their skates and put their boots back on, and began to roll up giant balls of snow for their creation.
“You were right,” Vivian said. “This snow is perfect for packing. We’ll have this built in no time at all.”
“I’ve got the bottom finished. Roll yours over here and we’ll use it for the middle. It’s the perfect size.”
Vivian rolled it over to him, and the two of them hoisted it up on top of the larger one Benjamin had made. They helped Molly finish rolling the head, laughing a
s they nearly slipped on the wet snow.
When they had finished building the snowman, Benjamin tipped his black, felt hat from his head and plunked it on top of the snowman.
“Let’s get a few rocks for his face,” he said as he dropped to his knees and began to dig around in the snow.
“Here’s a small twig for his nose,” Vivian said with a giggle.
Molly found two perfect black stones for his eyes, and Benjamin held her up so she could push them onto his face. Vivian pushed in the twig on for his nose, and together, they formed his smile from the smaller pebbles. After, they stepped back to take a look at him. He was a little crooked, but Vivian thought he looked perfect anyway. She was so happy to be experiencing regular Christmas activities for the first time in years, even if she had lost her touch with them. When she was younger, her mom taught her to spin on her skates, and now she could barely stand on the pond without falling. Her snowmen used to look a lot better too.
Regardless, she still felt the Christmas spirit finally returning to her—with a little help from Benjamin and Molly, who were beginning to feel like family.
“He’s got to be the most handsome snowman in all of Indiana!” Vivian said excitedly. “What shall we name him?”
“How about Parson Brown—like in the song,” Molly suggested. “Then he can marry you like they did in the song!”
Benjamin smiled at Vivian.
“Parson Brown it is.” Vivian said with a smile. “And Molly’s right. In the song, they asked him to marry them!”
“Then we shall ask him to marry us!” Benjamin said boldly.
Vivian smiled shyly, thinking how cute it was that he was not only playing along, but he was taking his flirting to such a clever level.
Molly jumped up and down. “Yes, marry Miss Vivian, Daed!”
Benjamin looked Vivian deeply in the eye, and decided to challenge her.
“You’d have to kiss me if he married us,” he said, chuckling.
“I’m okay with that,” she said shyly, feeling her cheeks heating.
“Well, it’s settled then,” Benjamin said slipping his hand in hers and facing the snowman.
“Parson Brown, will you marry us?” he asked the snowman.
Vivian giggled, her heart racing with excitement. “I think I heard him say he would,” she said boldly.
“I heard him say yes,” Molly chimed in.
Benjamin cleared his throat. “Well, then in that case, my answer is; I do,” he said, as he bowed slightly to the crooked little snowman.
“My answer is also, I do,” Vivian said quietly as she turned to Benjamin and looked into his smiling blue eyes.
“I believe this is the part where we’re supposed to kiss,” Benjamin said in his deepest baritone.
Molly covered her face with her mittens. “You can kiss her now. I won’t look!”
Vivian simply nodded as Benjamin pulled her into his arms and pressed his warm lips against hers. She leaned into him, deepening the kiss, thinking that if she wasn’t in love with him before—she was now!
Chapter 5.
Benjamin walked into the kitchen early the next morning to see Katie already at work on breakfast. She looked frustrated, and he could only guess why.
She turned toward her brother with her hands on her hips. “What are you so happy about?”
He couldn’t tell her that he’d stayed up half the night talking to Vivian after they’d tucked Molly in together, and they’d managed to slip in a lot of kisses in between conversation. That was probably best left unsaid for the time-being.
“You’re spending too much time with Vivian. She is a guest, that’s it.” She came right out with it. “I’m going to offer her a baking lesson today so you can be out of her hair.”
Benjamin scowled at her choice of words.
“She enjoys my company, and I enjoy hers. I’m not in her hair!” he said defensively, even though technically, his fingers had run all through her hair when he’d kissed her last night.
Katie rolled her eyes at Benjamin.
“Mamm didn’t like the eye-rolling any more than she liked you being so bossy,” he scolded her. “You’ve been doing that since you were Molly’s age. Don’t you think it’s about time you stopped that?”
“I don’t want you spending time with her in such an improper way anymore, Benjamin.” She said firmly.
“It’s not improper,” he argued. “She’s my wife now!”
He cringed at the admission. He hadn’t meant to say it, but at least now it was out in the open.
Katie’s face twisted when it registered in her mind what he’d said. “She’s your wife? What do you mean, she’s your wife?”
Benjamin chuckled as he grabbed a piece of bacon off the platter. “The snowman married us!”
“What?” she practically shrieked.
“It was actually Molly’s idea!” he said with a chuckle.
“Oh, now you’re going to blame your irresponsible behavior on your five-year-old daughter?” she said, raising her voice further. “You need to act your own age, not your daughter’s!”
“I’m serious,” he said. “And I’m not being irresponsible.”
Her eyes widened and her lips formed a thin line. “Are you out of your mind, dear brother?”
“No,” he said. “I’m in love, and I’m going to marry her for real.”
“You will do no such thing, dear brother! Do you see what you’ve done?” she scolded him. “You’ve got Molly thinking it’s alright to get attached to Vivian. She’ll be leaving in a few days, and if you let this go any further, she won’t just break your heart, she’ll be taking Molly’s heart with her too!”
“Katie, you’re not the boss around here. You’re the youngest, and you should start acting like it.” Benjamin said. “She isn’t going to hurt either of us, and I’d appreciate you minding your own business,” he added as he walked away, stuffing another strip of bacon into his mouth.
Katie made a face at his backside as he was leaving. She had assumed a motherly role when her parents had passed, and it upset her when her brothers rebelled.
Ignoring her brother for the time-being, Katie put together a plate of food, coffee, and a glass of fresh juice, and brought the tray up to Vivian’s room. She wanted an opportunity to speak to her alone about the baking lesson she had in mind, so her brother would have no room to jump in. As far as she was concerned, he wasn’t thinking straight. If he wasn’t going to put a stop to this foolishness—she would have to do it for him.
Katie knocked lightly on Vivian’s door, speaking before getting an answer. “I’ve got a nice, hot breakfast, Viv. Are you up?”
Vivian opened the door, still a little sleepy. She wasn’t used to being up so early, but the aroma from the tray of breakfast in Katie’s hands immediately woke her up.
“If you’re not careful,” she warned Katie. “You’re going to spoil me, and I might never leave.”
Truth-be-told, it would be her talk with Benjamin last night that would keep her here, but the perks of the service was another plus. Katie’s cooking was the most delicious she’d tasted since her mother used to cook for her, and she couldn’t wait to devour it. Katie took the tray to the bedside table and set it down.
Trying to keep her composure, Katie turned to Vivian. “I was wondering if you’d like to learn how to bake bread today, and we could make some Christmas cookies too, if you’d like.”
Katie tried to sound as convincing as possible.
“That sounds like it could be fun, I haven’t been in the kitchen in years.” Vivian said with a chuckle. “I’ve never even attempted to bake bread from scratch, but I used to bake Christmas cookies with my mom when I was little. Too many Christmases have gone by since we’ve made cookies.”
“Well feel free to come down when you’re finished with your breakfast.” Katie said with a smile. “I’d like to get started as soon as possible so the bread will be ready for supper tonight.”
“It tak
es that long to make?”
“It takes a few hours,” Katie admitted. “But you’ll see; the time will fly by quickly.”
Vivian had promised to spend the afternoon with Benjamin. They’d planned to go riding, but he’d warned her Katie would try to monopolize her time, so she was expecting an invite of some sort. But to spend the entire day baking was not what she’d hoped for. She supposed if she was to really become a part of the family, she’d better get used to the hard work.
Katie left Vivian to eat, hoping she’d made a favorable impression on her. She had no idea if her brother was being serious in the kitchen a few minutes before, but if he was, Vivian hadn’t let on that it was true about the two of them. She’d actually seemed eager to bake with her, even though she did get a bit anxious when Katie had mentioned how long the process would take. If there was any truth to Benjamin’s statements, they would surely have plans to spend time together at some point during the day, and if Katie had anything to do with it, she’d do her best to keep Vivian busy for as long as she could. She hoped the time away from each other would make them come to their senses, but if not, her brother hadn’t heard the last of Katie’s lectures. She would turn her words to Vivian if necessary, in order to put a stop to their foolishness.
Putting aside Katie’s awkward behavior just now, Vivian finished her meal quickly, changed out of her pajamas, and headed to the kitchen where Katie was setting out all the ingredients for the cookies. Vivian felt a bit sad she wouldn’t be doing some sort of activity with Benjamin until later, but she was excited nonetheless to be learning a new skill.
Then she remembered she was supposed to call about her car this morning. Having not yet paid them, she worried they might back out of their promise to drop off the car. Having to pick it up would certainly interrupt her plans with Benjamin if he had to stop what he was doing now to take her into town. She checked her cell phone, and then dialed the garage where it had been towed. Relieved when they reminded her of their offer to have their porter bring the car to her, she paid them for the repair over the phone with her father’s credit card.
That’s when it hit her.
Amish Christmas Gift Page 4
