Promised to Another

by Laura Hilton

  “This is an extractor,” Isaac said without looking up. “In a moment, I’ll show you how to extract the honey from the frames.”

  Joshua remembered helping Isaac carry the frames from the hives into the honey room, which they kept tightly shut, so that the bees wouldn’t rob the honey. After we’ve robbed them of it, Joshua thought with a smile.

  When it was time to extract the honey, Cathy joined them in the honey room. She kept a fire going, and a pot of water boiling over it. Isaac explained that this was to keep the uncapping knife hot, which made it easier to remove the ends of the honeycomb.

  Cathy wiped the steaming knife with a towel, then deftly removed the wax, setting it aside for later candle-making.

  “Watch carefully,” Isaac told him. “See how she moves gently from side to side, like slicing bread? Start a quarter of the way from the bottom of the comb, slicing upward, and then complete it with a downward thrust of the knife, to uncap the cells on the lower part of the frame.”

  After the frame had been uncapped, Joshua lowered it vertically into the extractor with the others. Then, Isaac closed the lid and began cranking. “You start spinning slowly at first. Build the speed as you progress. Don’t ever spin the frames at the maximum speed, because it might damage the delicate wax comb.” After he’d spun the extractor for five or six minutes, he had Joshua turn all of the frames to expose the other sides to the outer wall of the extractor. Then, he let Joshua do the spinning.

  “As the extractor fills with honey, it becomes difficult to turn the crank, so then we need to drain off some of the harvest.” He opened a valve at the bottom of the extractor and let it filter through a honey strainer into the bottling bucket.

  After that, they used the valve in the bottling bucket to fill the honey jars. “I’ll let Annie label them later,” Isaac explained. “One of her friends has a computer and a printer and can make these labels that we’ll simply peel off and stick on.”

  The job took all morning and left him sticky, but Joshua had fun, anyway. They took a break for lunch around noon, and then Joshua spent the rest of the day working in the machine shop.

  That evening, Joshua helped Isaac put the extracted frames on top of the hive, sandwiched between the top deep and the inner and outer covers. “We’ll just leave them here for a few days and let the bees clean them up,” he said. “They’ll lick up every last drop of honey, making the frames dry and ready to store until next honey season.” Honey extracting certainly made for easier cleanup than the sugar mapling process.

  After dinner, Joshua asked to borrow a buggy but didn’t explain why: he wanted to go to see Rachel, the girl he’d taken home from singing last Sunday. That night, he’d promised to come by and take her for a walk, but he hadn’t yet. So, he headed for her haus, though his primary purpose in going was to break things off. He hardly knew Rachel, but he was sure she wasn’t the one for him. Still, he didn’t want to burn any bridges. He didn’t return to the Beilers’ until after Annie had gone to bed, so he’d barely seen her all day. He hated to imagine what she thought of him, spending so much time with another girl, especially after their conversation about him being a player. It certainly wouldn’t look good.

  And if Annie had been the prankster, she’d probably retaliate in some form. The first chance he got, he would tell her he’d ended things with Rachel.

  On Thursday morning, when Joshua opened his bedroom door to go to the bathroom, he was showered with an aromatic white dust. Baby powder. Someone had sprinkled it heavily on the top of his door. Thankfully, no one was around to laugh at his sneezing fit, though he was fairly positive the perpetrator couldn’t have gone far.

  He proceeded to the shower, eager to rid himself of the smell he associated with babies’ diapers. But another equally distinct scent—strawberry, he thought—emanated from the red-tinted water that gushed down on him. He quickly turned off the water, unscrewed the shower head, and found it filled with a mostly dissolved powdery pink substance. One peek inside the trash can next to the shower confirmed his suspicions: strawberry Jell-O. With water from the spigot in the tub, he cleaned the shower head of all traces of the powder, watching as clumps of gooey red whizzed down the drain.

  All the while, he muttered to himself in disbelief. He’d had a warmer welcome at the Schwartzes’, despite his problems with Luke. Given what he knew now, Joshua would gladly let Luke have Annie—again, assuming Annie was responsible. He couldn’t rule out Aaron or Cathy. Heaving a sigh, he reattached the shower head and finally took a shower, hoping Isaac would show him mercy when he showed up tardy for morning chores. At this rate, he’d be lucky if he made it to breakfast.

  All day long, Joshua was tempted to tell Isaac what was going on behind his back, but he decided to hold his tongue. Would it be a sin to retaliate once he’d determined for sure who was behind all of these pranks?

  What would happen if he got kicked out of a second home? That wouldn’t look so good on his record. Would he get sent back to Pennsylvania in disgrace?

  He’d evidently been wrong to accuse Annie of planting that dead spider in his bed. But what about everything else that was happening in rapid succession? He would simply have to watch; to be on guard. Sooner or later, whoever was after him would get careless, and he’d catch her—or him.

  After a day of work, he borrowed a buggy again and went to visit his cousin Matthew Yoder and his bride-to-be, Shanna Stoltzfus, at the haus they had purchased to live in after their wedding. There, he helped Matthew and their friend Jacob Miller shingle a portion of the roof. While they worked, Joshua shared a little bit about what had been going on at the Beilers’.

  After he’d mentioned his suspicions of Annie, Matthew shook his head. “I can’t imagine Annie doing any of those things. She’s the schoolteacher, and isn’t she under probation? I think she’d be too worried about her job to waste time playing practical jokes on someone.”

  Joshua shrugged. “I would have thought the same thing, but there has to be some explanation.”

  Jacob shook his head. “I agree with Matthew. Annie isn’t the joking type. She’s the one who wants to alphabetize the world. And, if she were going to play a trick, the farthest she’d go would be to organize your belongings in A, B, C order.” He chuckled a moment, then frowned. “On the other hand, Cathy did some pretty unkind things to me and Bex. Maybe you should keep an eye on her.”

  “I don’t know…Cathy usually seems to mind her own business.” Joshua shook his head. “Annie’s the one who told me I couldn’t stay. She warned me outright. Maybe she’s just making sure I get the message that I’m not welkum.”

  “It’s not Annie. Just doesn’t fit.” Matthew picked up a nail and held it in place with one hand, raising his hammer with the other. “I agree with Jacob. It’s probably Cathy. But no matter. You’re welcome to stay here. There’s room.”

  Joshua’s face heated. “Nein, I’m not going to move in with you, when you’re marrying your Shanna in mere weeks.”

  Matthew shrugged. “I promised to take her to Pennsylvania to meet my family. We’ll be gone for a month, at least. Maybe more. And that should put us in the time frame for you to be going back home to your family to help out during sugar season, ain’t so?”

  Joshua frowned and shook his head sternly at Matthew, then at Jacob. “We can’t mention that. No one knows, except you two.”

  Friday morning, the pranks were still just as time-consuming, but not as messy. Joshua’s suspenders had gone missing in the middle of the night, which meant that someone had come into his room while he’d slept and had taken them. Highly inappropriate for a single girl. Was Aaron behind the pranks, after all? Or had one of his sisters enlisted his help?

  Fuming, Joshua decided to take a shower and put off figuring out what to do about his lost suspenders. When he went to open his door, he was met with elastic resistance—his missing garment. He reached an arm through the opening and unfastened them from his doorknob, sending them sailing down the hall wi
th a loud snap.

  This was war.

  That night, he rigged an aluminum canister filled with water above his door. If anyone opened it to enter his room during the night, he would know—and, more important, that person would be soaking wet and sorry.

  Unfortunately for him, he forgot about the booby trap and fell victim to it himself on Saturday morning.

  ***

  Early Saturday morning, Annie sprang out of bed and hurried to get dressed. Joshua had seemed to be avoiding her all week, after he’d accused her of placing a dead spider in his bed. She shuddered at the thought. He’d spent two of the evenings out, probably in the company of another girl. Most likely, it had been Rachel, though she didn’t know that for sure. She’d tried to hide her envy from the rest of the family. With Aaron, it’d been easy, for his mind was consumed with thoughts about his future bride, as well as with his favorite activity: training former race horses to be buggy horses. And Cathy had made only one unkind remark about Joshua being a player before Daed had put a stern stop to it.

  Not knowing if their weekend plans to visit the battlefield were still on, Annie hadn’t called for a driver. She wanted to spend the time with Joshua, but she didn’t know who she could call to drive them without the inevitable result of word getting back to Daed. He would probably be disappointed in her for disobeying the Ordnung by going off to see worldly attractions, but he wouldn’t yell about it. And since she’d joined the church, she supposed her own guilty conscience would obligate her to kneel and confess before the church, even if no one caught them. And what would that mean, in regard to her teaching job?

  It probably didn’t matter, not with Joshua avoiding her and going off to visit Rachel or someone else, instead. She hesitated, then resumed pinning her dress shut. Would their trip be cancelled?

  Probably so.

  At least she’d rescued her quilt from Joshua’s bed and packed it away again in her hope chest. Saving it for her future marriage, however small its prospects.

  She shrugged, still hoping the act would help her to feel more indifferent, and then continued pinning the edges of the brown material together. If Joshua called off their trip to the battlefield, she would do her chores and then go see Becky. She didn’t know what her friend had planned for the day, but even sitting together and hemming something would be more fun than drifting aimlessly around the haus, thinking of what might have been.

  She went outside and did her chores, never seeing another soul. When she’d finished, she went back inside to help Cathy and Mamm get breakfast on the table.

  After several minutes, Joshua came into the room, and her heart rate increased exponentially. Oddly, his hair was still wet, and it stood up in tufts, as if he’d towel-dried it but had neglected to comb it. The shoulders of his shirt were soaked, as well, as if he’d been caught in an unexpected downpour. Even though she’d been outside earlier, she glanced toward the window. It was still a beautiful autumn day; the sky was a brilliant blue, with not a cloud in sight.

  Joshua nodded at her, his eyes icy, but didn’t say a word. That wasn’t unusual, considering their limited interactions this week. His personality had really seemed to change ever since Daed had welcomed him into their home. Maybe this was his normal temperament.

  As he skirted the table, he caught her eye and lifted one side of her plate, sliding something underneath. Then, with a tiny nod, he looked away and smiled at Mamm. “Gut morgen, Lydia.”

  Mamm smiled back, the traitor. “Gut morgen, Joshua. Get caught in the line of fire?”

  His grin flattened, and he glanced at Annie. “Something like that.”

  Was he really blaming her for whatever had gotten him wet?

  Suddenly, Annie’s anger was riled. He should have had the decency to greet her with more than just a glance and a nod. Well, she supposed she ought to be grateful for even that much. After all, she hadn’t greeted him, either. She opened her mouth to rectify that, but then she shut it again, leaving the words unsaid.

  She realized she ought to get over her crush. It was obviously unreciprocated. Two nights out with someone else, not to mention his attitude toward her lately…it hurt.

  Added to that, the fact that he seemed to think her guilty of…what? Spraying him with the hose? Tossing a bucket of water on him? Whatever had happened, Annie certainly wasn’t responsible. Tears burned her eyes. If only she could go to Daed about this. Surely, he’d know what to do.

  During the silent prayer, she quietly lifted her plate, pulled out Joshua’s note, and slipped it into her pocket. Immediately after breakfast, while Cathy washed the dishes, Annie hurried upstairs to her room to read it in private.

  Annie,

  I was tempted to slip this into the mail, the way things are supposed to be done. But this is the next best thing. If you are still free, meet me out by the low-water bridge at 9. A ride will be coming.

  Joshua

  He’d set something up. Their weekend plans were still on! Annie couldn’t keep from smiling. Would it be wrong to pray for a good time, even though she felt guilty about going on this trip?

  She glanced at the battery-operated clock on her dresser. It was barely six. She had plenty of time to do the rest of her chores before walking down to the bridge. Maybe she’d even get a chance to grade a few of the papers she’d brought home to check over the weekend.

  ***

  Joshua was a bit early. He paced in the grass near the low-water bridge, keeping an eye out for Annie walking across the fields to meet him, as well as for the car that would be coming to pick them up. Of course, there was certainly no guarantee that Annie would show up. After everything that had happened this week, he was almost positive she wouldn’t. Even if she wasn’t to blame for all of the pranks aimed at him, she had to know about them. Sisters shared everything, ain’t so? And she hadn’t tried to stop them from happening. In his opinion, that spoke loud and clear of her lack of interest.

  The pranks had been more than sufficient to get the message across. He wasn’t wanted. To stand him up would be the crowning event.

  Still, he couldn’t quell his sense of anticipation. Hope. Belief that maybe Annie hadn’t lied when she’d claimed ignorance about the pranks. That maybe the flicker of interest he’d sensed before had been real. That maybe, as his friends had suggested, Cathy was the one behind the unending tricks. He’d asked Annie to meet him half an hour before the ride was scheduled to come, so that they’d have time to talk. When and if she showed up, he’d try to find some nice, nonaggressive way of asking her about them. Give her an opportunity to tell him straight-out that she’d had nothing to do with the pranks. But she didn’t come.

  After what seemed like hours, he caught sight of her hurrying across the fields, just as a greenish-gold four-door car slowed to a stop nearby. The front passenger window rolled down. “Josh?”

  He peeked inside and saw a young Englisch woman. She had alabaster-pale skin sprinkled liberally with freckles, and her red hair was pulled back in a ponytail. Behind the wheel was a young man—her boyfriend, maybe.

  “Jah. I mean, yes. You are….” He hesitated, trying to remember the name of the friend Shanna had said would take them. “Belle?”

  She smiled widely. “Yes. And this is my boyfriend, Harley. We’ve never been to the battlefield, so we decided this would be a great time to visit.”

  “Nice to meet you, Harley.” Joshua put his hand on the top of the door. “Annie is coming. She’s….” He straightened and turned. “Right there.” Closer than he’d realized. She must have run. Their eyes met, and he forced a smile. At least she’d come.

  Chapter 11

  Annie stopped beside Joshua and checked out the two people in the car. They weren’t the usual Amish drivers. Danki, Lord. She didn’t have any idea who this couple was, or where Joshua had found them, but it seemed that their secret would be safe—for now. “Hi.” Her voice was only a little louder than a hoarse whisper. She wondered if she should try again. She cleared her throat.r />
  “Hi!” The young woman gave a friendly smile. “I’m Belle, and this is Harley. I go to school with Shanna Stoltzfus. Please, hop in!” She gestured to the backseat. “We’ll stop by my apartment first and get you dressed in some other clothes, so that you won’t stand out so much. Shanna said you’d want to keep this trip a secret so you wouldn’t lose your job.”

  Shanna? When had Joshua enlisted her help with this outing? Annie gave him a curious glance.

  Joshua shrugged, opened the back door, and gestured for Annie to get in.

  “Wow. Shanna thought of everything.” Did she sound as overwhelmed as she felt?

  Joshua slid into the seat next to Annie, forcing her to scoot over. As she did, his leg pressed against hers, and the heat seemed to singe her through the fabric of her dress. She glanced over at him, wondering whether he’d be nice or continue giving her icy glares.

  He didn’t seem to be glaring, but the reason for that might have been as simple as the company they were with.