She nodded.
Samuel stopped the buggy, climbed out, and approached the driver, an Englisch man who looked to be in his sixties, to offer his help.
The man regarded him skeptically. “You know how to change a tire?”
“Yes, sir. Where’s your jack?”
With the tool in in hand, Samuel set about changing the tire. When he finished, the man offered to pay him, but Samuel refused and they simply shook hands.
He got back into the buggy and wiped his hands on a bandanna. “Giddyap,” he called to Tom and got the buggy moving again.
“So how long do you suppose it will take for your bruders to accept me?” he asked her.
“You don’t have to worry about them.”
“I think I do. I want your familye to like me.”
“They do. Otherwise they wouldn’t have been so nosy.”
He considered that as he drove to her house.
She turned to him when he pulled into her drive. “I’m glad you and Lizzie had supper with us.”
He checked to make sure Lizzie was still sound asleep. He cast his eyes heavenward and asked God if the time was right to ask the question.
He turned to her and gazed at her soberly. “Rebecca, I’ve grown to love you. It would make me very happy if you would marry me. Share Lizzie with me.”
Tears rushed into her eyes. “Are you schur?”
“Schur? How can you ask me that?”
“We haven’t known each other long—” she began.
“How long does it take?”
“We both knew the people we married for years.”
“We did. But just because it’s different this time doesn’t mean what I feel for you isn’t just as deep, just as strong as what I felt for Ruth.” He squeezed her hand. “And we have months before we can marry to get to know each other even more. But I know this. I love you and I want to marry you.”
When she remained silent, he began to feel a prick of unease. “Now, if you don’t love me, well, that’s different.”
“I do!” She pressed her hands to her cheeks. “I just wasn’t expecting this just yet.”
“I wasn’t, either,” he admitted slowly. “Cassie’s wedding got me thinking about how I feel about you. How I want to marry you.”
He leaned over and kissed her. “I don’t need more time to think about it.”
Rebecca smiled. “Neither do I.” And with that simple proclamation, she kissed him. He didn’t know how long they might have sat there smiling at each other, but the buggy stopping must have woken Lizzie.
“Daedi? Are we home?” she asked sleepily from the back seat.
Samuel held a finger to his lips. Rebecca nodded, understanding they couldn’t share their news with her yet.
“We’re dropping Rebecca off at her house. Say danki to her for inviting us to supper at her mudder’s house.”
“Danki, Rebecca. I had fun.”
“I’m glad. Gut nacht.” She gave Samuel a last smile and got out and went inside her house.
Lizzie leaned forward as Samuel drove them home. “Daedi? When can we go to Miriam’s again?”
“Soon,” he said, grinning. “I think we’ll see her very soon.”
Chapter Eighteen
Rebecca smiled as she passed the bench outside her favorite quilt shop a few days later. She remembered the last time she’d visited the shop—when Cassie had told her about getting engaged to Steve. Cassie had been so sweet to encourage her to open her heart to Samuel. Wouldn’t Cassie be pleased to hear she’d done that and become engaged? She’d have to drop her a note soon and let her know.
Paradise was decked out for Christmas. Evergreen garlands and twinkling lights decorated shop windows filled with all sorts of goods perfect for gift giving. Speakers tucked in eaves broadcasted carols. Shoppers hurried along the sidewalks carrying packages and bags filled with purchases. Everyone seemed happy and in a festive mood.
She went inside the shop and wandered over to the fabric section. It was time to start on a new dress for Lizzie for Christmas. And to think of what she could make for Samuel. She found the perfect fabric for Lizzie—in her favorite blue color. A table of nice white material suitable for a fine men’s shirt caught her eye. She’d love to make Samuel a shirt for Christmas, but she wondered if either of their families might think it was very personal and make assumptions about their relationship.
After hesitating for a moment, she picked up the bolt of fabric and carried it to the cutting table. She’d make a shirt for him and give it to him privately.
A browse around the shop helped her check more gifts off her list. She’d make most of them—hand-knitted caps, mufflers, socks, embroidered dish towels, as well as baked goods and homemade candy—but she bought a few things because she never knew how much time she’d get around her work.
She told herself she had enough purchases in her basket and that there were months ahead to think about fabric for a wedding dress. But she couldn’t resist looking at the table of finer fabric nearby. She fingered one bolt softly. What color would she choose? Like Lizzie, she was drawn to blue. It was a popular color for wedding dresses, so there were more than a dozen bolts of blue varying from robin’s egg to a deep midnight shade. She lifted a corner of the robin’s egg blue, loving the springlike color and admiring the way it draped. And what a lovely subtle sheen it had…
Nee, she wouldn’t allow herself to think about buying it now. She had Christmas presents to buy and a budget to keep.
“Rebecca! I didn’t know you were coming to town!”
She turned to find Katie Ann beside her. “I didn’t know myself until a little while ago.”
“I see you’re shopping like me. That’s beautiful fabric.”
She jerked her hand back and felt herself blush. “Ya, it’s pretty,” she said lamely.
Katie Ann tilted her head and her eyes twinkled. “It would look wunderbaar on you. For a special occasion. Do you have a special occasion coming up, Rebecca?”
Rebecca saw the mischief in her schweschder’s eyes. “Don’t tease.”
Laughing, Katie Ann looped her arm around Rebecca’s waist. “I’m glad to see you finally look happy again.”
“Have I looked so unhappy?”
Katie Ann’s smile faded. “Ya. Of course. It’s been hard for you to lose Amos.”
“Well, coming into town today has done me gut. I’m getting into the Christmas spirit.”
“I think it’s more than Christmas spirit. You have a special glow about you today.” She grinned. “It’s nice to see you interested in someone at last.”
“It’s that obvious?”
“Only to someone who knows you so well.” She glanced at the clock on the wall. “Say, have you got time for lunch?”
She had a million things to do, but it was tempting to stay in town a little longer and enjoy the Christmas mood.
“I can’t stay too long.” She had Samuel and Lizzie coming over for supper, but she wasn’t going to tell Katie Ann that.
“That’s fine.”
“Then let’s go.”
After she paid for her purchases, they joined the throng of locals and tourists lining the sidewalk. As they passed a candy store, Rebecca found herself drawn to the window. A mason jar of red, white, and green candies caught her eye. “Oh, I have to run in here.”
“I’m staying outside and avoiding temptation,” Katie Ann told her with a laugh.
Rebecca hurried inside and bought the candy and added a box of candy canes and the peppermint drops her mudder loved.
By the time she returned home, she not only felt cheered by a fun time with Katie Ann but she also had several more bags to carry inside.
She glanced at the kitchen clock and saw that she would have to hurry to get supper ready before Samuel and Lizzie came. She’d put together and baked a ham-and-potato casserole the night before, so all she had to do was pop it back in the oven to warm up. A quick trip to the basement and she had mason jars of g
reen beans and beets to complete the meal. She set them on the kitchen counter, then went upstairs to freshen up.
When Samuel and Lizzie arrived a few minutes later, she was surprised to see Lizzie looking mutinous when she walked in.
“She’s not in a gut mood,” he told her as he helped Lizzie take off her jacket. “She asked me if we were going to get married this month. She heard weddings aren’t usually scheduled after December.”
“I want to go read a book,” Lizzie said, determinedly staring at the floor.
“Schur, you have time before supper,” Rebecca told her. She watched the kind walk to the home office, her little shoulders slumped. “Samuel, that’s so sweet that she wants us to be married. Maybe we should tell her we’re engaged.”
He shook his head. “I don’t think it’s a gut idea. She can’t keep a secret and it would be all over the community in no time.”
She sighed. “My schweschder tried to pry it out of me today. Said she could tell I was really happy and I think she figured out why. But she can’t keep secrets, either. I guess it’s just best to keep it to ourselves awhile longer.”
Living in a small, close community, it was just wiser to keep personal matters private. That way if things didn’t work out during an engagement, others didn’t know and relationships weren’t affected.
She poured him a cup of coffee, and he sat while she finished putting supper on the table.
Lizzie still looked unhappy when she was called to the table, but she climbed into her chair. She poked at her supper and wouldn’t talk, but Rebecca shook her head when Samuel frowned and looked like he was going to say something to her.
When Rebecca rose to serve Samuel dessert, Lizzie shoved her plate aside. “I want ice cream, too.”
“Eat your supper first,” Rebecca told her.
“You can’t tell me what to do! You’re not my mudder!” Lizzie cried.
“Lizzie! Don’t talk to Rebecca like that!” Samuel thundered.
She slid from her chair and ran from the room.
* * *
Samuel rose but Rebecca laid her hand on his arm. “Leave her be. She’s right. I should have let you tell her she had to finish her supper.”
“Still, she can’t talk to you like that.” He sat again and frowned.
A few minutes later Lizzie returned to the table, eyes downcast. “I’m sorry.”
“Come here.” Rebecca pushed her chair back and held out her arms.
Samuel watched Rebecca smile when Lizzie rushed into her embrace. “It makes me happy that you want me to marry your dat and be your mudder. I’ll tell you a secret if you promise you won’t tell anyone. Promise?”
Lizzie nodded.
“I want what you want, too. But I’m sorry that it can’t happen as fast as you want. You have to be patient, Lizzie.”
“I don’t like being patient.”
Rebecca laughed. “Me neither. But instead of being impatient, let’s think about it as the three of us having lots of time to get to know each other and do lots of fun things.” She glanced at Samuel. “Your dat and I will make sure you’re the first person we tell. How does that sound?”
“You will?” She looked to him to confirm.
“We will,” he agreed.
Samuel didn’t realize he’d been tensed up until Lizzie sat again, picked up her fork, and began eating. She cleaned her plate so Rebecca served her a bowl of apple crisp with two scoops of ice cream. He nodded when she finished the dessert and took the empty bowl to the sink without being asked to.
“Lizzie, I have board games in the cupboard by the kinner’s table in the waiting room. Why don’t you pick one and we’ll play it after your dat and I do the dishes? We’ll call you when we’re done.”
“I get to choose?”
“You choose.”
She scampered off.
“You knew just what to say to her about the wedding,” he told Rebecca as they washed dishes.
“She’s a gut kind,” she said as she handed him a dish to dry. “She came back and apologized without being told to.”
“You really like her, don’t you?”
“I think I fell in love with her before I fell in love with you, Samuel,” she said quietly.
He grinned. “Well, so it wasn’t my charm, eh?”
Rebecca shook her head. “I’m afraid not.”
They finished washing and drying the dishes. Rebecca pulled the plug on the drain, turned, and Samuel drew her into an embrace.
He bent his head and kissed her until they were both breathless. “What was that for?” she asked him when they pulled away from each other.
“Just starting a new tradition.”
“Ya?”
“Ya. Dish washing and drying should include at least one kiss each evening.”
She glanced quickly in the direction of the office.
“It won’t hurt if Lizzie sees us kissing.”
“Now, do you think she could keep such a thing secret?” she asked as she put distance between them.
“Probably not,” he admitted. “But I don’t care.”
“I bought the material for her dress when I was in town today. It would be helpful if you’d loan me one of her dresses so I could take measurements. I can get it back to you in a day or two.”
“I can do that.” He moved closer, hoping to steal another kiss.
“Lizzie, we’re done with the dishes!” she called quickly and grinned as Lizzie rushed back into the room carrying several board games. “I found them. Can we play Candy Land?”
“That would be fun. Don’t you think, Samuel?”
“Schur. But just one game; then we have to go home. It’s a schul night.”
Lizzie climbed up into a chair and began setting up the game. She played enthusiastically and won.
“It’s one of her favorite games,” he told Rebecca. He gave in when Lizzie begged for a second game but shook his head and stood when it was over.
She packed up the game and carried it back to the waiting room. When she returned, he helped her put on her jacket.
“Daedi, Rebecca has the Life on the Farm game. Maybe we can play that next time?”
“Schur.” He buttoned her jacket up and tickled her under the chin to make her giggle, then donned his own jacket. “Say danki to Rebecca for having us for supper.”
“Danki, Rebecca. It was gut.”
“You’re wilkumm.”
“Lizzie, stay here while I go for the buggy.”
As he hitched Tom to the buggy, he thought about what Lizzie had said about the Life on the Farm game. He and Rebecca hadn’t talked about where they would live after they married. His farm was bigger, but she had her office in her house. He could convert a space for her in his house, but he wondered how she’d feel giving up the one her late mann had made for her.
They’d have to talk about it.
Lizzie was already asleep by the time they got home. The kind always fell asleep so quickly when they rode in the buggy. He carried her inside and up the stairs to her room and quickly helped her change into a nightgown. Then he went back downstairs and out to the barn to unhitch Tom and give him and the other horses chunks of apples.
With everyone all settled for the night, he went into the house and packed Lizzie’s lunch for schul the next day. With that chore done, he sorted through the mail he’d brought in earlier but hadn’t taken the time to look at. There was a letter from his mudder. He sat at the table, opened it, and found it full of news about his old community. His dat—all the familye—was doing well, she reported. She wrote that she was enjoying the game she and his dat played each year at this time where she tried to catch him making her Christmas present. His dat was on to her after all these years, of course, and was always able to hide what he was doing in the barn when she went out there.
That reminded him that he hadn’t thought about what he wanted to give Rebecca. With her midwife work, she didn’t have much time to sew or knit or even cook. Besides, he
wanted to give her something more personal than a spice rack or something like that. He’d have to think about it, maybe carefully ask Hannah’s advice.
Lizzie was easier. She’d seen a cradle he’d built for an order for the furniture store and said her favorite doll needed one. So he’d built a doll-sized cradle for her and one day would drive into town and buy her a few books. The kind was an insatiable reader.
He yawned and considered going to bed early to read. And told himself not to think about how it would be when he was married to Rebecca and wouldn’t be taking a book to bed.
Chapter Nineteen
Frost crunched under Rebecca’s feet as she walked out to the barn the next morning. It was warm inside, and when Daisy put her head over the top of her stall to greet her, Rebecca smiled.
“Guder mariye to you, too!” she said as she caressed Daisy’s velvety nose.
She set about doing her morning chores. Taking care of the horses—the one used for buggy travel and those used for farming—used to be the job of Amos, but now the care of Daisy, the buggy horse, fell to her. She didn’t mind. She’d always loved horses. She missed the other horses, but since the men in the community took care of the farming, she’d sold them.
The barn door slid open. Her bruder Eli walked in, bringing a blast of cold air before he shut the door. “Nippy out there.”
“Danki for coming to help me clean the stall.” She’d had to call him the night before and say she’d been so busy she hadn’t been able to do it. So she’d put Daisy in a different stall in the meantime. But Daisy liked being in the first space in the barn near the door so today they’d clean both stalls and put her in her favorite.
“No need for thanks.”
Rebecca bit her lip. “Eli? I have appreciated your help so much.”
He stopped and his eyebrows went up. “Are you firing me?”
She chuckled. “Nee, I just don’t think I thank you and all my bruders enough. You’ve all been so wunderbaar since Amos died. I don’t know what I’d have done without you.”
“The men in the community have helped, too.”
“I know. I just hope everyone knows how much I’ve appreciated their support.”
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