Rebecca's Promise

by Jerry S. Eicher

  Pulling on the reins, he turned left, then right on 100. Ten minutes later he was at a stop sign with the buildings of Milroy within his sight. Waiting for two cars to pass, he slapped the reins and pulled out onto the state road, hugging the right shoulder—driving half on and half off of it to make more room for passing vehicles.

  The state road was always dangerous, and in snow like this, it was extra precarious. He considered turning on his flashers, but that would use up battery power. Instead, he would just keep his eyes open, and when headlights lit up his rear mirror, he would turn the flashers on for a short time.

  But no headlights appeared until he was in the center of town, and by then the cars had to slow down anyway, so he left his flashers off. When Luke reached the post office, another buggy was already tied to the hitching post, so he pulled up beside it.

  After climbing out, he tethered his horse, picked up the envelope from the passenger seat, and headed up the walk. With so many Amish in the area, he gave no thought of who might be inside until he swung open the post office door and saw her.

  Susie was standing beside the counter with her mother, while a package was being weighed by the clerk. Turning, she saw him and quickly lowered her eyes. He thought for sure she would keep them there, but she must have caught something in his face because she looked up again.

  He smiled at her. A smile he meant to convey meaning. This was his day. The Lord Himself must be smiling from the heavens for so many things to be going in his direction.

  Susie blushed, the first time he had ever seen her do that. It made him feel like a man—like an important person. It was a feeling he liked very much. Stepping up to get in line, he held the envelope in front of him, still looking at her blushing face now turned away from him.

  Her mother, a stout short woman whose brown hair showed no signs of gray yet, turned around, apparently sensing his presence. “Hello, Luke,” she said with a smile. “We weren’t expecting to see you.”

  “No,” he allowed, “I wasn’t planning on coming into town, but Emma wanted this envelope dropped off. She was afraid the mailman wouldn’t be making his rounds, what with the snow and all.”

  “Must be important,” Nancy said, “to have to be mailed today.”

  “I suppose so,” he told her, keeping the address covered with his arm. It was none of Nancy’s business whom Emma was writing to, and he would keep it that way.

  He felt a great boldness come over him, and he wondered if all people with money felt like this. He looked in Susie’s direction, meeting her eyes, now turned toward him fully.

  “Can I speak with Susie? Outside maybe?” he asked Nancy.

  Nancy raised her eyebrows. “I suppose. The clerk isn’t done checking this in. Go on,” she replied and motioned to Susie.

  As if frozen to the spot, Susie made efforts to become unthawed, her body moving slowly. Luke noticed it, his heart skipping a beat. He had never known that a girl could be so attractive. “We’ll be just a moment,” he said to her mother.

  She nodded as if she understood.

  Luke led the way, and Susie, finally thawed, followed. After they had walked a few feet outside, he stopped. Glancing ahead, he saw that no one was coming up the sidewalk, which was just perfect. It was as perfect as this day had started out to be, like the Lord God Himself was truly in it.

  Susie was looking at him, questions in her eyes. He cleared his throat, a little nervous after all. “Can I take you home from the singing this Sunday?” he asked.

  He felt like lowering his gaze as her cheeks distinctly gained color right in front of him. Her lips moved and her hand came up to her mouth. “Me?” she finally got out.

  “Yes,” he said, feeling calmer, “I want to take you home. Will you?”

  “Oh, yes!” she gushed, her tongue becoming unloosed too quickly, too suddenly. Then she remembered she was an Amish girl. “I mean… yes…if Mother doesn’t object.”

  “Do you have to ask her?” Luke asked.

  “Well, no. Not really,” she said. “It’s just that I’m so surprised.”

  “Okay…well, it’s a date? I’ll see you then.” He smiled at her again. “You know what my buggy looks like, don’t you?”

  “Of course.” She was sorely flustered. “I mean. I can find it.”

  “Sunday night,” he told her, raising his eyebrows, “after the singing.”

  He turned to go back into the post office. As he turned his back and left her standing there on the sidewalk, Nancy was just coming out, and he held the door for her.

  “Have a good day,” he told her in passing.

  “And you,” she responded, wondering what had transpired until she looked at her daughter’s face. “He asked you,” she stated more than asked.

  “Oh, Mother,” Susie whispered in awe, “can you believe it? I have wanted this for so very long. I was beginning to think it would never happen.”

  “Just control yourself,” her mother said. “You have a long ways to go yet. This is just the first date. Trouble and love go hand in hand it seems. You just remember that.”

  “But he asked me!” Susie placed her hand on her heart. “I can’t believe it.”

  Nancy muttered something, which Susie was hardly listening to anyway. Luke watched them climb into the buggy, a smile on his face. So this was how it felt to be a man.

  “Can I help you?” the clerk asked him, as if her voice was coming from a distance.

  “Ah, yes.” He brought himself back sharply. “I need to mail this envelope. First class.”

  Taking the brown envelope, the clerk carefully weighed it. “That will be four dollars and fifty cents.”

  Luke fished in his pocket for the money, gave her the five dollars, and took the change. Emma would be expecting the fifty cents and a record of the transaction tomorrow, so he took the receipt and carefully placed it in his billfold. She liked things done that way, proper and in order.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  There! That’s done.” Rebecca breathed a sigh of relief, turning off the gas oven. On the counter beside the window sat the six pecan pies, cooling and looking like inviting faces turned upward toward the world.

  “Why did we make so many?” Mattie asked.

  “It’s the way it turned out,” Rebecca told her. “You had a little extra dough, I think.”

  “Ach! Lester can eat two himself,” Mattie said, justifying the matter.

  “He has better sense than that,” Rebecca replied, confident in her father’s good judgment. “I suppose they can always be put to good use somewhere.”

  Mattie chuckled. “How true.” She glanced toward the kitchen door. “I know what we can do with one. Take one and run it across the road to Edna’s. She doesn’t get out much, what with her arthritis and all. I’m sure she can use it.”

  “But I have to help chore. It’s almost time for that.”

  “I know. Go anyway. You’ll be back. If not quite in time, Matthew can help. He needs all the practice he can get, with you leaving on Saturday. Here, throw this to the chickens on the way out.”

  Rebecca reached for the slop bucket after the pecan pie had been carefully placed in the plastic holder. Slipping on her heavy coat and boots, she stepped outside. Setting the pie holder gently on the ground, she used both hands to upend the slop bucket and pour its contents inside the wire chicken enclosure.

  The chickens tried to dodge the falling pastries, then pranced back to greedily peck them from the ground. A few ended up with pastries on their backs and getting pecked, their indignant squawks adding a discordant sound to the beat of beaks on frozen ground.

  Rebecca looked grimly at the ruckus, leaving the slop bucket set on the ground. The main road was already plowed when she got there, so it was an easy matter to walk the few hundred feet west to Edna’s driveway. The driveway had not been plowed yet, and Rebecca sunk into the snow. Her father, who normally cleared Edna’s driveway, must not have gotten to it yet.

  Knocking on the door, Edna
answered immediately, her smile radiant. “Oh my, I saw you coming, and I was sure you would never make it in all that snow,” she exclaimed, her black shawl wrapped tightly around her shoulders. Still spry at seventy, Edna’s white hair was tucked tightly under her head covering, her shoulders stooped.

  “Dad didn’t get to the driveway yet,” Rebecca commented, answering her smile.

  “Yes. He has so many things to do. Harold would do it when he comes for chores. Though with only a shovel, it’s a little too much.”

  “Dad’s glad to do it,” Rebecca assured her. “We’d even do your chores at times, if Harold can’t make it.”

  “Oh, it’s all too much to ask,” Edna told her. “There aren’t that many chores anyway. Harold just sees that the horse and cow are fed. I half think I could still do them myself except on snowy days like this.”

  “If you need help some Sunday morning, do let us know,” Rebecca told her.

  “Ach! That’s not necessary yet. Your mother send something over?”

  “A pecan pie,” Rebecca said, lifting the lid so Edna could take a peek.

  “Oh my! A pecan pie,” she proclaimed. “The Lord must have made those the very first day He worked, to help Himself along the rest of the week.”

  “You think so?” Rebecca chuckled, used to Edna’s ventures into theology.

  “Well! You never know,” Edna allowed. “They are sure good. Did you make them today?”

  “Just out of the oven,” Rebecca told her. “Mom didn’t have time on Saturday to make enough for all week. We had to catch up today.”

  “Yes. That’s how it used to be,” Edna said, a faraway look in her eyes.

  Rebecca ventured, “Mom thought maybe you could use the pie for your visitors this week.”

  “Well! I guess I could,” Edna allowed. “I suppose they won’t think I can’t do my own work anymore. It certainly would help out.”

  “Mom wants me to go to Leona’s this Saturday.”

  “Oh! A baby?” Edna guessed.

  “Yes. It’s due next week. The latter part, I think.”

  “How are you going?”

  “Mom said there’s a load coming through from Holmes County. They’re going on out to Milroy Saturday morning. It might be the same people you are getting.”

  “Yes, it could be.” Edna’s face brightened. “My brother Mose is along. Wants to come out and visit. He and his wife Elsie. Then they go on to our sister in Milroy.”

  “Who are the others?” Rebecca wanted to know.

  “I’m not sure,” Edna said. “Mose got up the load. So probably folks with relatives or connections in both places.”

  “Well,” Rebecca drew in her breath and said, “I must be going. It’s already past choring time.”

  “Matthew helping out yet?” Edna asked, as they stepped toward the door.

  “Just starting,” Rebecca replied. “He’ll get broken in next week when I’m gone.”

  “That’s good,” Edna said. “Learning to work must never be lost. It keeps a man or woman close to their God. The young ones should learn that as soon as possible.”

  “It’s hard sometimes, though.”

  “No one said it wasn’t,” Edna agreed. “Just necessary.”

  “It does seem so,” Rebecca allowed, opening the door and stepping outside. “Enjoy the pecan pie.”

  “Yes. I will,” Edna assured her. “Tell your mother thanks.”

  “Okay,” Rebecca replied, walking quickly down the driveway and then up the hill. She picked up the slop bucket at the chicken coop and deposited it on the kitchen doorstep, not bothering to go inside. Then she headed out to the barn to milk, thinking that Matthew would be glad to see her coming.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Stepping out of the post office, Luke got into his buggy and headed home, his head full of happy thoughts. Always before, he had kept thoughts of girls at a distance. Now though, it felt like the floodgates had opened, the waters pushing hard downstream.

  The snow was slowing. His horse flicked its ears to get the last flakes off, jerking its head down as far as the reining strap allowed to complete the job.

  So he would finally be having a girl, other than his sister, in his buggy. Nearly twenty, he told himself in surprise, now that he thought of it. I should have done this a long time ago.

  How old is Susie? he suddenly wondered. He did some calculations, concluding she was also twenty. A few months younger though, he added quickly. That was important to him. Older would not do. Vague images appeared in his mind—her wrinkled face—while his hair was still black, her walking with a cane while he was still throwing out the hay by hand.

  He pushed those thoughts away. She was not older than he was. “So why is she not taken already?” he wondered out loud. “Twenty’s old already for an Amish girl.” Running his memory again, he recalled no time when he heard of her ever having had a date. That’s strange, he thought. I wonder why? Was she waiting for me? He smiled at that thought, slapping the reins to get more speed on the back road.

  He continued smiling to himself, letting thoughts run through his mind of Susie turning down wildly handsome prospects in her wait for him. No, that was hardly the reason. She was simply plain looking, he decided. That likely had as much to do with it as anything.

  That thought didn’t faze him as much as he supposed it should. What good was a good-looking girl if she didn’t like you? Not a lot, he supposed. There was no sense in pursuing what couldn’t be caught. Anyway, Susie suited him just fine. “As sweet as the morning’s dew,” he muttered, a phrase from somewhere he couldn’t recall. Yes, that was what it was.

  Then the same force that released him in Susie’s direction now drove him past her. Pushing at him like a train on the tracks rolling across the open fields of Indiana, the thoughts came unbidden and forceful. Wouldn’t money make a big difference in the consideration of the type of girl I wanted? He pondered the question, letting it drive him upright on the seat of the buggy.

  He ran it through his mind. Did money have anything to do with me asking Susie out? The answer was “Yes.” Without a doubt it had everything to do with where he was now. Could it then go even further? The more he thought about it, the more certain he became, and the more certain he became, the more the thought took a hold of him. Why not get a beautiful girl, now that I have money, or the near certainty of it?

  Nervous at the very notion, he let the thoughts continue. Thoughts that were to him unholy and blasphemous ran unchecked through his mind. Ones he would never have gone close to before were like horses set free from the barn after a long hard winter, kicking their heels in excitement. Visions of girls, good-looking ones, their heads turning in his direction, smiling at him, self-consciously brushing their stray hairs back under their head coverings when he walked by, played in his mind.

  Then fear struck as a strong feeling of unease gripped him, and he brushed his forehead with his gloved hand. What was he doing, thinking this stuff? Must God Himself not be angry, real angry with him?

  Then another thought struck him like a blow to his chest. What if Susie knew about the money? The horror of the thought went all the way through him, but surely that was not possible. How could Susie know I will come into money soon?

  Then he knew that it was very possible. She could know. She could know quite well. It was widely known that Emma had received all of the inheritance, her brother having left it all to her, and now her health very questionable. She could die soon, and everyone knew it. And certainly everyone, including Susie’s family, knew Emma had three farms, free and clear. From there the conclusion any reasonable person could have was that when Emma died, she would be passing the farms and her money to immediate family.

  So Susie might have been waiting for me because of this. His joy gone, he now stared blankly at the snow through his buggy’s storm front. Feeling an ache in his back, he shifted on his seat.

  “Confounded money,” he said out loud. “A blessing and curse,” he adde
d, quoting something from memory but not sure from where. Surely she doesn’t know. He stared at the snow again. Then why had she been waiting so long?

  “Because she’s plain,” he shouted, causing his horse to jump, double its speed, and throw him back against the seat. Amusement hit him as he clutched the reins. I am really being stupid, that’s what I am. So what if she’s seeing me for the money, which she probably isn’t?

  He let the memory of her eyes at the post office return, and decided finally that she was not. The longer he thought on it, the more sure he became.

  But she was plain.

  There were prettier Amish girls he knew. And shouldn’t he think more about them? There would always be Susie.

  I should keep my options open until I’m actually married, he told himself. Yes, he would keep his options open. In the meantime there was no reason to deprive himself of Susie’s company on Sunday night and in the weeks to come. The experience would be beneficial, if for no other reason. Having dated someone before was not a stigma against you, provided you were the one who quit. That he would be the one, if it came to that, he had no doubt.

  Plus Susie’s sweet, he thought, the smile returning to his face.

  Slapping the reins, he urged his horse on for the last few hundred yards to his parents’ driveway. It would look better to be moving fast when he approached home. Not that his father would say much about speed, but his mother might.

  “Time spent poking on the road is time wasted,” she had told him often.

  That it was, he was sure, slapping the reins again for good measure.

  The snow had quit completely as he pulled into the driveway. Stopping at the barn, he unhitched the horse and took it inside. Luke then pushed the buggy under the lean-to, making sure the doors were both shut. With the wind blowing, it could easily move snow inside, especially overnight.