Huckleberry Hill

by Jennifer Beckstrand

  Lia fell silent and tried to make sense of the world. “Do you love Rachel?”

  Moses growled again. This time he sounded more exasperated than angry. “I’ve always tried to be plain with you, Lia. I told you before. I don’t even like your sister. You’re accustomed to everybody fawning over her and ignoring you, so I suppose I can understand how you came to believe that I liked her. But to be honest, I’m annoyed with you for jumping to that conclusion.”

  “You are always annoyed,” Lia said cautiously, but church bells chimed inside her head and her feet wanted to do a happy dance right here in the barn. Moses didn’t love Rachel.

  “Annoyed and insulted,” he continued. “Insulted to know that you don’t think very highly of my intelligence.” He shook his head. “For you to believe that I would pick a girl like Rachel . . .”

  Lia put her hand to her mouth to stifle a giggle. “Her face turned red as a beet?”

  Moses’s somber mood seemed to melt in the blink of an eye. He studied her as his eyes began to twinkle. “I’ve never seen the veins in her neck pop out like that before. Then she stomped on the pie for good measure and left a trail of berry juice all the way down the hall. Mammi made her clean it up.”

  Lia truly pitied her sister. “Oh, poor girl. That wood soap chafes her hands.”

  “She wore gloves.”

  They laughed in unison. Moses got so carried away that he snorted and made Lia jump. That prompted the laughter to continue for another minute. Finally Lia cleared her throat. “We shouldn’t. It is uncharitable to make light of Rachel’s misfortunes.”

  “Her misfortunes are of her own making.” Moses changed moods faster than the horse could swish her tail. “Can we sit?”

  Lia looked around and retrieved the two milking stools. She tried to support Moses’s arm as he sat as carefully as he could. It was a long way down for him, and his knees bent awkwardly as he braced his foot and cast on the floor. A look of annoyance camped on his face. What else?

  Lia sat facing Moses and wrapped her arms around her knees. Dread pulsed in every nerve. That look of annoyance often accompanied a declaration that he was not looking to marry. She braced herself for yet another rejection.

  But why should it hurt? She had already accepted the fact that Moses was not interested.

  He pulled an envelope from his pocket. “I want to talk about this letter you asked Mammi to give me.”

  Lia couldn’t breathe. Jah, a rejection was coming. She remembered every word of that letter she’d written three days ago.

  You have meant so much to me. I will always remember my summer on Huckleberry Hill as the best time of my life.

  She had been too plain with her feelings in her good-bye note, and he wanted to deflate her hopes gently.

  He fingered the folds of the envelope as he studied her face. “Lia, you have always been honest with me. Did you truly mean what you wrote?”

  She didn’t want to make him uncomfortable, but he was right. She had always been honest with him. “Jah,” she said breathlessly, “I meant every word.”

  Moses looked so unhappy, Lia wanted to weep for him. He slumped his shoulders and buried his face in his hands. “Is there nothing I can do?”

  “What do you mean?”

  He sat like that, perfectly still and silent, while Lia held her breath. He slowly reached over and took her scarred hand in both of his. “Lia, can you find it in your heart to give me a chance?”

  A flicker of hope shimmered in the back of Lia’s mind like the first star on a clear summer night. She looked down at his hands—strong, calloused hands, big and able. The warmth of his touch spread through her entire body. “I don’t understand.”

  He handed her the letter and gestured for her to take it from the envelope. “Did you say those things to let me down easy or because you thought I loved Rachel?”

  His piercing gaze left Lia unable to catch her breath. Growing more flustered, she pulled the card from the envelope if only to have something to do with her embarrassment. Her gaze traveled to the bottom of the note.

  P.S. We are friends, but I don’t love you.

  Her heart jumped to her throat.

  “I think I could bear it if you haven’t completely decided against me,” Moses said, “if you can see fit to give me even a speck of encouragement. I’ll do anything to win your love.”

  The words flew from her mouth like a bird escaping from a cage. “I didn’t write this.”

  Moses raised his eyebrows and riveted his attention to her. “What?”

  She couldn’t talk fast enough. “I wrote this note, but I didn’t write this last part—about not loving you. It’s in my handwriting, but I didn’t write it.”

  Moses’s whole face seemed to come alive. “You didn’t?”

  “I would never write that,” she said, her voice trailing off as she looked at him. The pure joy in his expression left her speechless.

  “Rachel must know of Mammi’s secret hiding place,” he said, as if it were the best news in the world.

  Lia nodded, bewildered and overcome with emotion.

  He put a hand on her knee and locked his brilliant blue eyes with hers. “Do you love me, Lia?”

  There was nothing to do but be blunt. “Jah, more than I can ever say.”

  In one swift movement, Moses stood on his good leg, braced his cast on the milking stool, and pulled Lia with him. He wasted no time in wrapping his arms around her and tugging her close to him. She thought she had died and gone to heaven as every nerve in her body seemed to come alive and tingle with happiness. “Don’t let go,” she whispered, sliding her arms around his neck. “If you let go, I might wake up from this blessed dream.”

  He nestled his mouth close to her ear. “Did I ever tell you how much I love tall girls?”

  She giggled softly. “Do you?”

  “Oh, Lia, I love you so much I think I will float away.”

  He stared at her lips until she tilted her face closer to his. He took the hint and kissed her hungrily. She kissed him back with all the emotion she’d bottled up for so many weeks.

  “Oh, Moses, I’ve loved you from the day I laid eyes on you.”

  “Then marry me?” he said, his lips barely half an inch from hers.

  “Have you changed your mind about not wanting to marry?”

  He pulled away slightly. “Have you changed your mind about refusing to have me?”

  “Yes,” they said together.

  Moses transferred his bad leg to the scooter so he could get a better hold of Lia. Squeezing the stuffing out of her, he kissed her again and again. If they kissed a million times a day, she still wouldn’t grow tired of it.

  Lia knocked Moses’s hat off his head and intertwined her fingers through his thick hair. She was on fire.

  A groan came from deep within his throat, and he relaxed his hold on her. “I promised myself I would only kiss you three times, but I find it impossible to resist you.”

  Lia grinned at him. “I am not inclined to think that is a bad thing.”

  “Only because you don’t know how fast my thoughts are galloping,” he said, releasing her completely and nudging her away from him.

  Lia thought it was completely unnecessary. She reluctantly took a step back, surprised at how out of breath she was.

  Moses picked up his hat and grimaced. “I wasn’t going to ask you to marry me in a barn. I got carried away.”

  “The barn is a very romantic spot. I never knew this much happiness existed in the whole world, let alone in my barn.”

  “Me either.” As if it pained him to separate from her, Moses slid his scooter backward. But after only a few seconds, he rolled next to her and laced his fingers with hers. Lia felt quivery all over.

  “Truthfully, I can’t bear to be more than a few inches away from you,” he said.

  Lia giggled like a schoolgirl as delight and joy overflowed from her heart.

  Moses stroked the back of her hand with his thumb, and the c
orners of his mouth quirked upward. “Is there any hope that your fater will give his permission?”

  Lia slumped her shoulders as her excitement collapsed. “He will be furious for Rachel’s sake. What are we going to do?”

  A sympathetic smile sprouted on Moses’s face. “Would you consider coming back to Bonduel without his permission? Mammi and Dawdi will take you in until the wedding.”

  Lia let out a breath and shook her head. “I don’t see any other way.”

  Moses took her by the shoulders and knit his brows together. “Is that what you want? Because I’ll do anything you say. If you want to stay here, I’ll camp out in the field and work your farm until I win your dat’s approval. It might kill me, but I’m willing to wait.”

  Lia slid her arms around him, leaving him no choice but to enfold her in an encompassing embrace. “You already have my dat’s approval. It’s me who is lacking.”

  He nudged her closer and gently kissed her forehead. “I hate to hear you talk like that. I promise I will always take care of you and that you will never be starved for affection again.”

  She closed her eyes as he tightened his arm around her waist and took his other hand and slowly traced his warm fingers down her neck and then followed the trail his fingers made with his lips. A sigh escaped Lia’s mouth before she felt him withdraw. When she opened her eyes, he had scooted a good three feet away.

  Holding up his arms as if to stop her from advancing, he said, “I’m in control now. Complete control.” He smiled sheepishly. “But don’t touch me.”

  Lia obediently clasped her hands behind her back.

  He regarded her doubtfully. “What do you want, Lia? Shall I set up a tent in the field across the road?”

  Lia longed to melt into his arms. Instead, she took a step forward. “I want to go back to Huckleberry Hill.”

  Lia couldn’t help but beam with delight as Moses threw his hat into the air and whooped and hollered as if he were cheering at a horse race. They both erupted into a fit of laughter when his hat got stuck in the rafters.

  Unfortunately, the laughing could not drown out the sound of Rachel’s shouts. “I told you, Dat. I told you!”

  Lia looked around so fast, she almost wrenched her neck. Rachel marched into the barn with Dat close behind, his expression as dark as a looming storm.

  With her anxiety rising, Lia glanced at Moses. He smiled reassuringly and held out his hand to her. She seized it like a lifeline and let him pull her close. She fit nicely, tucked under his arm and close to his heart. “I’ll always take care of you,” he whispered.

  Rachel jabbed her finger in Lia’s direction. “You see how she throws herself at him, Dat? It’s disgusting.”

  Dat, angry and stern, put a protective hand on Rachel’s shoulder. “Lia, you should be ashamed of yourself, deceiving your sister like this. Get away from him.”

  Lia, who had never been anything but obedient to her fater, would have pulled away from Moses, but he held her firmly at his side and said, “She’s not going anywhere.” He looked at Lia with a twinkle in his eye as if he didn’t understand the seriousness of the situation. Lia’s heart swelled as wide as the sky. No one had ever stood up for her before.

  Rachel scowled. “Didn’t you read the letter Lia left you? She doesn’t love you, Moses.”

  “How do you know what was in that letter?” Moses said, gazing at Rachel like a cat playing with a mouse. “Did you read it?”

  Rachel didn’t move one muscle in her face except for her eyebrows, which shifted a fraction of an inch higher. “Of course not.”

  “In truth, you added your own special note,” Moses said.

  Rachel scrunched her lips into a very unattractive shape. “I never did.”

  Moses exhaled loudly. “I forgive you, Rachel, because today I am the happiest man alive. But I want you to think about what you have done. You tried to separate us. I could have spent the next fifty years mourning a girl I’d never lost.”

  “You would have forgotten her soon enough,” Rachel protested. “Once you got to know me better.”

  Moses shook his head in astonishment and pity, and then he winked playfully at Lia. She pressed herself closer to him. “Lia is your own sister, yet you care nothing for her happiness. I’m sorry to say this, but you make me sick. I can’t hardly bear to look at you.”

  Rachel stood like a statue, silently blinking back tears and staring vacantly at Moses.

  “Now, now,” Dat said, taken aback by Moses’s speech. “Rachel is a gute girl. There’s no need to be so harsh.”

  Moses looked down at Lia and twitched his lips. “I probably shouldn’t have said that about being sick.”

  Lia wanted to smile back at him. Instead, she kept her eyes to the ground. Playfulness would only compound Dat’s anger.

  Dat folded his arms across his chest. “What are your intentions, Moses Zimmerman?”

  Moses wrapped both arms around Lia and kissed her on the lips, right in front of her dat. “I intend to marry your daughter.”

  Dat opened his mouth but Moses interrupted him before he could speak. “The tall one.”

  The tender way he said it brought tears of gratitude to Lia’s eyes. Was there any girl ever as blessed as she?

  Rachel snapped out of her momentary remorse. She stamped her foot and squealed loudly enough for every dog in Wautoma to hear her. When she was younger, such a fit of temper would have triggered her violent coughing. Mamm and Lia would have scrambled like decapitated chickens to make Rachel stop crying. Today, everyone stared at her while she dissolved into tears. “Felty said you wanted somebody sweet. Didn’t you see how sweet I acted this morning?”

  Dat narrowed his eyes. “I don’t understand why you would pick Lia over Rachel unless Lia has deceived you.”

  Rachel was beyond hysterical. “She’s done everything she can to steal him.”

  “What do you have to say for yourself, Lia?” Dat said.

  Moses nudged Lia slightly behind him and stretched to his full height. “I won’t have you blaming Lia for anything.”

  Glancing at Rachel, Lia was tempted to feel quite satisfied. Dat always stood up for Rachel. Now Lia had someone to stand up for her.

  But was that what she wanted?

  She really looked at her sister, who still fussed and fumed. Why had Lia never defended herself against Rachel or Dat? Rachel had grown progressively more selfish every year. Dat had let Rachel get away with bad behavior, but by being so long-suffering, Lia had indulged Rachel too. At first, she had felt responsible for Rachel’s getting sick and made excuses for Rachel because she felt sorry about what had happened. Rachel’s mistreatment of Lia became a habit, and Lia wore Rachel’s abuse like a badge of honor. In some way, she had even come to believe that she deserved her parents’ indifference.

  The truth struck Lia so forcefully, she almost cried out at the sting of it. All these years, she had been confusing weakness with meekness. If she wanted to be a midwife, she had better be strong enough to deal with life-and-death situations. Shouldn’t she be strong enough to stand up for herself? Strong enough to stand up to her unbending fater and spoiled sister?

  She swallowed the lump in her throat and nudged Moses’s arm. “Wait, Moses. I have something to say.”

  “You got nothing to say,” Rachel said bitterly.

  Lia didn’t respond to her sister and kept her eyes on Dat. “I didn’t want Rachel to come to Huckleberry Hill and neither did the Helmuths.”

  “What a liar you are. They love me.”

  “Rachel, be quiet,” Lia yelled, actually yelled. Had she ever raised her voice in her life?

  In shock, Rachel snapped her mouth shut.

  Lia glared a threat at Rachel and turned back to Dat. “When you sent Rachel to Huckleberry Hill, I tried to be obedient to your wishes. Moses and I took Rachel everywhere, even though Sarah was set against her. She was a terrible hindrance when a baby was coming.”

  “There is no use for you to train with
a midwife,” Dat said.

  “Dat, listen to me,” Lia said. She laced her tone with authority. Dat fell silent out of sheer surprise.

  Moses gazed at her with admiration. His confidence gave her resolve.

  “I made all the food for Rachel’s picnic,” Lia said. “I stayed away from Moses’s room when he recovered from his broken leg so Rachel could have all the time with him she wanted. I have done nothing wrong. But no matter how I tried, Rachel treated me with ingratitude.”

  Dat frowned. “Rachel is a gute girl.”

  “You can tell yourself that if it makes you feel better, but in truth, Rachel is a selfish, lazy baby.”

  “How dare you?” Rachel snapped. She took a step forward and without warning, slapped Lia hard on the face.

  Dat called out in astonishment. Moses gasped and stepped quickly forward even as Lia motioned for him to stay back.

  Lia pressed her hand to her stinging cheek and blinked back the threatening tears. She would never give Rachel power over her again.

  “Rachel,” Dat growled, “you shame yourself.”

  Rachel practically snarled. “You should give her the switch for saying such horrible lies about me. You’re on my side, aren’t you, Dat?”

  With her cheek still smarting, Lia moved close enough to Rachel to tower over her. She pointed to the milking stool. “Sit down, and don’t say another word.”

  Rachel lifted her chin and looked to Dat for support.

  “Go, sit,” Dat said.

  Rachel shot daggers at Lia with her eyes, but she got no sympathy from Dat, which must have surprised her. Her bottom lip quivered as she flounced to the milking stool and plopped herself into place.

  “I know you have grand plans for Rachel’s husband,” Lia said. “She is, after all, so very pretty. But I deserve to be happy too.” She took Moses’s hand. His eyes brimmed with emotion as he squeezed her fingers in his.