The Fruits of Fall

by Amy Clipston

  “I should get going.” He held up his glass, and she took it. “No church tomorrow, but I’ll see you soon.”

  “Okay. Have a safe trip home.”

  “Gut nacht. Sleep well.” As he walked to his buggy, he prayed Tena would someday see the good in Alex—and open her heart despite what happened with Lewis.

  Tena stood on the porch and watched Wayne lope down the rock path to his waiting horse and buggy. Confusion swirled through her mind and exhaustion through her body as she recalled their emotional conversation. She’d finally poured out her heart to him, and he’d listened and been supportive. And then he told her he cared about her. He even mentioned what he loved about her.

  Did Wayne truly believe they could have a future?

  Was that what she wanted?

  She shook herself from her thoughts and carried the lantern and glasses into the kitchen. After washing the glasses and setting them in the drying rack, she locked the back door and walked into the family room. Aenti Emma sat in her favorite chair, reading a magazine. Hank sat beside her in Onkel Henry’s favorite wing chair.

  “Are you comfortable, Hank?” Tena asked with a laugh.

  The cat simply lifted his head, blinked at her, and then snuggled deeper into the worn and faded blue fabric.

  Aenti Emma set her magazine on the end table beside her. “Did you have a nice visit with Wayne?”

  “Ya.” Tena sat down on the rocking chair across from her and set the lantern on the floor at her feet. “He told me he cares about me.”

  Aenti Emma smiled. “That’s so nice. I had a feeling he did.”

  Tears filled Tena’s eyes once again.

  “Was iss letz, mei liewe?” Aenti Emma leaned forward and touched Tena’s hand.

  “I’m just so confused. How will I know when I’m ready to date again?”

  “Well, I think you’ll know when it feels right. If God puts that desire in your heart, you should give it a chance to grow and flourish, like our fruits of fall outside. You’ve seen how schee our pumpkins are? And the apples from my trees? God did that, just like he gives us relationships that grow with the seasons.”

  Tena sighed. “I just don’t know what to do. I like Wayne. He’s kind and listens to me, but I’m afraid of getting hurt again. I’m too scared to share my heart with anyone after what Lewis did to me. Also, I told my parents I’d be back before Christmas, and I don’t want to wear out my welcome with you.”

  Aenti Emma clicked her tongue. “You can’t let what Lewis did to you affect the rest of your life. Wayne is nothing like Lewis, and I believe he truly cares for you. When you’re ready, you should give him a chance.”

  Tena nodded, but doubt continued to nip at her.

  “And you’re welcome to stay as long as you want,” Aenti Emma said. “I love having you here. If you decide you want to stay permanently, I think your parents would understand. And they’re welcome to come visit you.” She pointed to the stairs. “You and I can clean out that second bedroom, and I’ll get a double bed and a couple of dressers. We can make that another guest room for them.”

  Tena nodded, but it sounded too good to be true. Could she find true love with Wayne? But how could she just pick up her life and move to Bird-in-Hand when her parents and friends were back home in Indiana?

  “I think I’m going to go to bed.” Tena lifted the lantern and stood.

  “Sleep well, mei liewe,” Aenti Emma called after her.

  “You too.” Hank rushed past her on the stairs, and then he waited for her at the top.

  “Do you think I should give Wayne a chance?” she asked the cat as they walked down the hall.

  Hank jumped up on her bed once they were in her room and blinked his eyes at her.

  “Is that a yes or a no?” Tena left him long enough to brush her teeth, and then she changed into her nightgown before climbing into bed. Hank took his usual spot, curled up at her feet.

  Tena stared at the ceiling and considered her great-aunt’s offer. Could she move to Bird-in-Hand?

  But was she ready to risk her heart with Wayne? She wanted to trust him, but how would she survive another breakup when her soul was already so fragile?

  CHAPTER 7

  Need some help?”

  Wayne looked up from mucking a stall in the barn and found his father watching him. “I thought you said you had some new customers coming today, Dat. Wednesday, right?”

  “They’re not coming for another couple of hours. They left a message saying they got a late start.” Dat grabbed a pitchfork and started on the next stall. “How are things going at Emma’s?”

  “They’re going well. The harvest has been fantastic, and we’ve raised a lot of money for the Bird-in-Hand Shelter.” Wayne swiped his arm across his sweaty brow before returning to his task.

  “That’s great. I was talking to the bishop the other day, and he said he’s proud of what you all have done. Not only have you helped Emma, but you’ve helped others in the community.”

  “Danki.” Wayne’s thoughts turned to Tena. “Dat, when you were dating Mamm, how did you know for sure she was the one God intended you to marry?”

  Dat appeared in Wayne’s stall, his blue eyes wide as a smile crept across his face. “Have you met someone?”

  Wayne nodded. “Ya, I have. I really care about Emma’s great-niece, Tena. We’ve become gut freinden, but she’s been closed off. I finally got her to open up to me Saturday night, but when I told her I cared about her, she said she wasn’t ready to date again. She was engaged back in Indiana, and her fiancé broke her heart. I don’t want to lose her, but I also don’t want to come on too strong and scare her away.”

  Dat leaned on his pitchfork. “Well, to answer your question, I just knew with your mamm. It was as if God had put it in my heart that she was the one for me. If you feel that, then Tena’s most likely the one. If she’s not ready, though, I think you should just concentrate on being her freind and follow her lead. She’ll let you know when she’s ready to date.”

  “Okay.” Wayne nodded, and hope rose in his chest. If he was patient, maybe, just maybe, she’d eventually realize he would never hurt her and give him a chance to prove she deserved true love. He just hoped she would love him too someday.

  He stilled. Love? Did he love Tena?

  He did—with his whole heart.

  “How has Alex worked out?” Dat asked as he walked back to the stall next to Wayne’s.

  Wayne took a deep breath and brushed some straw from his shirtfront. “He’s been doing a great job. He helps with the weeding as we agreed, and he also helps Emma and Tena around their haus. He told me he’s thankful we’re letting him help us.” He turned back to his stall.

  “That’s wunderbaar. I think you’ve helped that man see he can be a productive member of the community. All he needed was a chance.”

  “You know, I think we should do more for him. Maybe we can help him find a place of his own and a better job.”

  “That’s a fantastic idea. If you feel like God wants you to help Alex in those ways, you should pray about it and then talk to your freinden.”

  “Danki, Dat,” Wayne called over to him. “I think I’ll do that.” He smiled as ideas began to form in his head. Now, if only Tena would agree to help Alex even more.

  Tena hung one of her great-aunt’s dresses on the clothesline that stretched from the back porch to a large oak tree. As she moved the line, she gazed toward the garden, where Wayne and some of his friends were loading pumpkins into wheelbarrows. Alex was with them.

  As she methodically hung her clothes, Aenti Emma’s clothes, and Alex’s clothes to dry in the fall sunshine, her thoughts moved to her conversation with Wayne a week ago.

  When Wayne brought up Alex, and she said she was still uncomfortable around him, she was sure he was about to tell her the man had nothing to do with Kendra. Fortunately, he dropped the subject. Maybe Wayne would have been right, but she wasn’t ready to tell him what an Englisher had done to Micah. She�
�d been emotional enough just telling him about Lewis. And no matter what, she still couldn’t discard her resentment toward Englishers, Alex included.

  She’d avoided the man as much as possible the whole time he’d been here, ignoring what could be merely a veneer of good, still amazed that her great-aunt and friends welcomed his presence.

  She was about to carry the empty clothes basket into the house when Alex called her name from the bottom of the porch steps.

  “I have to go for supplies, and your aunt’s driver is here. Do you need anything from the store?” he asked.

  She’d been so deep in thought she’d never noticed the van’s arrival. “No, danki.” All she could manage with Alex was politeness.

  “Okay.”

  Alex walked away, and Tena went inside, puzzled. Her great-aunt and Mandy were washing heads of lettuce at the kitchen sink. “Aenti Emma, did you ask Alex to go to the store for you?”

  “Ya. Why?” Aenti Emma turned toward her.

  “Nothing. I was just wondering.” Tena slipped into the utility room, where Hank sat on the floor beside the wringer washer. She looked at him as she set the basket on the floor. “Maybe Alex is a gut help around here. Still . . .”

  Hank responded with a yawn before collapsing onto his side and closing his eyes.

  Tena joined the two women in the kitchen. “May I help you?”

  “Oh, ya. Please.” Mandy pointed to the several heads of lettuce clogging up the counter. “Would you please put those in plastic bags and then price them?” She pointed to the stickers on the kitchen table.

  “Sure.” Tena set to work while her mind spun with thoughts of Indiana. She’d spoken to her parents a few days ago, and they were doing well. Still, she missed seeing them daily, and she missed her friends back home. How would she cope with leaving them all behind if she stayed with Aenti Emma permanently?

  The women had worked for nearly an hour, washing, bagging, and preparing today’s harvest of vegetables for storage and sale, when Alex walked into the kitchen carrying three bags.

  “I got all the groceries you put on the list, and also a few things from the hardware store.” Alex handed Aenti Emma a few bills and coins. “Here’s your change.”

  “Thank you so much.” Aenti Emma slipped the money into her apron pocket.

  “You’re welcome.” Alex put the bags on the table, nodded at them, and then disappeared through the mudroom.

  Tena looked over at her great-aunt. “Has he gone for groceries for you before?”

  Aenti Emma shook her head. “No, but he offered, so I thought I would let him go. He seems to like helping, and we can certainly use it.”

  Tena nodded slowly. “Ya, I guess that’s true.” Had she misjudged Alex all along? Had avoiding him so much kept her from knowing him as well as everyone else did?

  “Alex is a great help.” Mandy stepped over to Tena. “And he’s been a complete gentleman since he came here.”

  Tena divided a look between them as she considered their words. “He doesn’t make you naerfich?” she asked Mandy.

  “Alex make me nervous?” Mandy gave a little laugh. “Are you joking? Not at all. He reminds me of Ephraim and Chris. He works harder than half the young people out there in the garden. They’re all taking breaks and chatting, but he’s still carrying pumpkins.” She pointed to the window. “You should take a look.”

  “I believe you.” Confusion wafted over her as she began loading the lettuce into a plastic container. No one else felt the same fear she did when Alex was around. Had she been wrong about him from the first time he walked up to their stand?

  Maybe, but she had more reason to be cautious than anyone else.

  “Tena, listen to me.” Aenti Emma rested her hand on Tena’s back. “You’re going to miss out on a lot of wunderbaar friendships being so distrustful of people who are different from you.”

  Tena kept her eyes focused on her work as guilt crept in. Maybe her great-aunt was right, but she still couldn’t forget what that Englisher did to Micah.

  Wayne waved at Tena as he guided his horse past the roadside stand. She was working with Clara, and some Englishers were checking out their pumpkins and the apples from the small orchard Emma told them Henry planted long ago. And of course, the baked goods.

  Tena waved in response before turning her attention back to a customer.

  A chilly breeze seeped through Wayne’s light jacket, and he regretted not grabbing a warmer one when he left the house. For the past two weeks the days had grown shorter and the nights were colder. Now the chill seemed to permeate the air from morning to night. Fall had descended upon Lancaster County.

  He frowned as he drove up Emma’s driveway to her barn. Thanksgiving was only a month away, which meant he had only a month to convince Tena to stay.

  When Wayne reached the barn, he hopped out of the buggy, unhitched his mare, and led it to the pasture. Then he headed toward where Ephraim, Chris, and Jerry were leaning on the pasture fence.

  “Well, look who decided to show up today.” Ephraim smirked as he gave Wayne’s shoulder a light punch. “We were just talking about you.”

  “Oh ya?” Wayne grinned. “What were you saying?”

  Jerry pointed to Ephraim. “He was saying he imagined you were sleeping in today while we were doing all the work.”

  “First of all,” Wayne began, holding up his pointer finger, “I never get to sleep in. The chores don’t end on mei dat’s farm. And second, what exactly kind of work is this?” He gestured toward them. “You’re all standing here talking. I wouldn’t call that work.”

  “We just finished carrying more pumpkins down to the road.” Chris jammed his thumb toward the driveway. “Since the Englishers will celebrate Halloween next week, we can’t seem to keep the pumpkins stocked at the stand.”

  “We’re almost out, actually.” Jerry nodded toward the garden. “We should plant more next year.”

  “That’s a gut idea.” Chris nodded. “I’ll tell Katie Ann to write that down. She and Mandy are keeping a list of ideas.”

  “I have an idea I want to run by you all.” Wayne leaned back against the fence.

  “Uh-oh.” Ephraim rolled his eyes with a grin.

  “Keep your comments to yourself, Blank,” Wayne said, and Ephraim laughed. “I’ve been thinking about how hard Alex has been working, and I want to do more for him.”

  “What do you mean?” Jerry asked.

  “I keep feeling that God wants us to help him more. I talked to mei dat about it a couple of weeks ago, and he suggested I pray about it. So I have been, and I keep coming up with the same answer.”

  “What answer?” Chris asked.

  “That we should help him find a permanent place to live and a real job that pays money. He can keep working here”—Wayne pointed to where Alex was helping harvest apples—“and we’ll give him some of the money from our sales to find an apartment. We can support him until he finds a decent-paying job. Maybe we can ask everyone who volunteers here if they know of someone who might hire him. He’d be a fantastic handyman, or he could work at a nursery. He seems to love to be outside working with the crops.”

  “I think it’s a wunderbaar idea.” Chris held up his hands. “You’ve all told me the purpose of the garden is to help people.”

  “Exactly.” Wayne nodded. “Mei dat said the bishop has been impressed with our work here. He even said he was proud of us.”

  “Wow.” Jerry’s eyes widened. “You should bring it up at the meeting tomorrow to see what everyone else thinks.”

  “I think so too.” Ephraim patted Wayne’s shoulder. “It’s a great idea. It will help us take this project to a new level. Not only will we still be supporting the Bird-in-Hand Shelter, but we’ll be helping someone we know get back on their feet.”

  “Exactly.” Wayne’s stomach constricted with some worry, though. Would Tena understand?

  Tena shivered and hugged her quilt closer to her body as the bonfire snapped and crackled i
n front of her. A large group of young people had gathered at the back of her great-aunt’s property for a bonfire and singing tonight.

  Couples huddled together as they sang hymns and laughed under the stars. Sad, Tena scanned the happy pairs in the warm glow of the fire. She could still recall how she and Lewis enjoyed attending singings together. They would talk and laugh and enjoy the company of other couples. Would she ever find that happiness again?

  “What’s on your mind?”

  She looked up at Wayne sitting beside her and shrugged. “I was just thinking about how cold it’s gotten.”

  “It has.” He pulled his quilt closer. “October has flown by and brought the cold with it.”

  “Ya.” She looked out at the bonfire again.

  The group began singing again, and Tena joined in. After a couple more hymns, the group started to break up. A few of the young men used buckets of water to douse the fire, and soon most everyone was heading home.

  “Would you walk me to my buggy?” Wayne asked after they’d lingered under the stars a while longer.

  “Of course. Let’s just take the quilts to the haus.” Tena folded up their quilts, and he carried them. They left the quilts on the porch steps, and then she walked with him to his buggy.

  “I had fun tonight,” he said, holding up a lantern to guide their way.

  “I did too.” She smiled up at him.

  “Tena, I know it’s been weeks ago, but I want to apologize for coming on too strong the night I told you how I felt about you.” He paused and looked up at the sky before meeting her gaze again. “Your friendship is important to me, and I never want to lose it.”

  “You haven’t.” Her stomach fluttered as if on the wings of a thousand hummingbirds as she looked up into his gorgeous blue eyes. “I’m sorry for being so skittish. You’re important to me too. I just don’t think I’m ready to jump into another relationship.”