Bethany stood there washing the same cup over and over again, her full attention on Levinia’s story.
“Well by the time Daed finished hammering, I’d wet mei pants, but you threw a rock at the window and cracked it.”
Bethany laughed. “I remember that!”
Levinia finished placing a dollop of apple preserves on each square of dough, and then draped a square over the top and crimped the edges with a fork.
“I don’t know how you remember that; you were barely four years old.”
Bethany handed Levinia the sugar and went back to scrubbing the pots and pans. Levinia brushed each turnover with an egg-white glaze and sprinkled a generous portion of sugar on top before placing the tray in the oven. Then she grabbed a dishtowel and began to wipe the dishes dry while she waited for the turnovers to bake.
Bethany stopped scrubbing and turned thoughtfully toward Levinia. “Do you suppose enough time has passed that Daed would let me open up that bakery?”
Levinia gasped. “I don’t want to be around when you bring up that subject. He will probably yell, or he might just ignore you and pretend he didn’t hear you—he likes to do that a lot. But I can guarantee he will not permit it.”
Bethany went back to the chore of scraping the skillet used to scramble the eggs. “I’m going to ask him anyway, and I’m not taking no for an answer!”
The kitchen filled with the warm aroma of cinnamon and apples. Levinia breathed in, satisfied with the treat they would share with Nate’s cousin, Adam, and his familye. They’d been distant neighbors forever, and Levinia had even entertained Frau Troyer for several quilting and canning bees, but now that she was involved with Nate, she hoped to impress her future familye.
“Ach, I don’t know how you can be defiant toward Daed and get away without a sound lashing behind the barn.”
Bethany rinsed the skillet and placed it on the towel on the counter for Levinia to dry, and then went about finishing the last of the cooking utensils.
“I know you think Daed is tough, but you need to know that he no longer has the strength or the will to enforce the rules he tries to lay down.”
Levinia looked at her sister curiously. “I think you are just a little on the side of being naïve where Daed is concerned, because he is certainly tough, and he will enforce the rules when pushed far enough. I, for one, do not want to push him to see just how far he can be pushed. But it seems you do, so let me know when you decide you are going to carry through with your narrish little plan, and I’ll be certain I’m miles away from here.”
Bethany giggled. “You are a chicken!”
Levinia scoffed. “When it comes to Daed, I suppose I will always be afraid of him, but now that I have Nate, I will have him to step up in front of me and protect me.”
Bethany laughed heartily. “You better hope he doesn’t have to do any defending before those ribs of his heal.”
“I have a feeling he would brave Daed’s temper even with several broken bones!”
Bethany sighed. “You’re lucky to have him. I have to admit, I was a little jealous.”
Levinia put a hand on Bethany’s shoulder.
“Don’t be jealous of me. Be happy for me.”
“Ach, don’t worry. It’s isn’t real jealousy. It’s more of a sadness and loneliness.”
“Well don’t be sad either, little schweschder, because the right mann will come along for you, too.”
“I wish I had your confidence.”
Levinia picked up the pair of crocheted pot-holders and opened the oven, letting the cinnamon-apple turnovers scent the kitchen with mouth-watering anticipation.
“It’s funny that I always thought you had complete confidence in yourself, Bethany.”
Bethany shook her head. “What you think you see is really a defense and an illusion. I act confident to make it appear that I am.”
Levinia chuckled. “I suppose I never thought about that. It’s a pretty deceiving act you put on. Unfortunately, I don’t even have enough confidence to act confident.”
Bethany let out the stopper at the bottom of the sink and swished the suds down the drain. “I think we are getting way off-track with this conversation. I’m going to put on a dry apron while those heavenly smelling turnovers cool so I can get them over to your would-be familye.”
Levinia’s heart quickened its pace at the thought of it. Though she’d talked to Adam and his mamm plenty of times, she was suddenly nervous about the impending meeting. It would be as if she was meeting them all over again. The circumstances were different now. Suddenly she’d gone from being simply a neighbor to being familye.
She readied a tray of the leftover meal she’d been keeping warm in the lower part of oven to take it to Nate. Giddiness overtook her as she lovingly prepared everything just right. She’d been a servant all her life to her daed, but to serve Nate was a joy because he loved her, and her heart overflowed with love for him too.
CHAPTER 13
“Bethany, what’s wrong?”
Levinia felt dread traveling through her veins, churning up emotion like a waterspout over Willow Creek.
Bethany narrowed her gaze on Nate as she took her sister gently by the hand and guided her toward the small kitchen of the loft. Before they could exit the bedroom where Levinia had been enjoying a leisurely breakfast with Nate, her path collided with a very beautiful young Amish woman.
Levinia gazed into the woman’s sea-glass, blue eyes and trailed over her shiny, flaxen hair. Her skin was flawless, like the porcelain dolls that are sold at the gift shop in town. Her slender hands rested on perfectly trim hips as her gaze stretched around Levinia.
Tall, lanky and plain, Levinia.
“Nate! I’ve been so worried about you!”
Nate’s gaze darted between Levinia and the young woman, shock rendering him momentarily speechless.
Please, Lord, Levinia begged silently. Don’t let her be who I think she is.
“Miriam, what are you doing here?”
“I went by and had kaffi with your schweschder, and she told me her husband is tending the animals for you through the remainder of the harvest because you plan to stay here. Why did you leave without telling me goodbye?”
“You shouldn’t have come here, Miriam.”
Nate looked past Levinia at Miriam, who had brushed by her and was fast-approaching his bedside.
“Why wouldn’t I come to you, my love?”
Her words dripped with honey, but her tone was soaked with vinegar. She pounced on the mattress beside him, startling Levinia with her boldness. Nate, however, didn’t seem surprised by her actions and ignored her.
Nate still had not looked at Levinia, but she had heard enough. She wasn’t going to stick around long enough for him to publicly humiliate her. The embarrassment she felt at having Bethany witness this was more than she could bear. She ran from the room, unable to handle the sight of Miriam sitting so close to the man she loved.
Nate called after her, but she was compelled to leave the loft.
She couldn’t breathe.
Tears choked her almost to the point of suffocation. A myriad of emotions ripped through her, each twisting at her heart, wringing it out like the laundry on washday. Every breath she pulled in became more strenuous than the last as she struggled to make sense of her relationship with Nate.
Her feet prodded down the steps of the loft, propelling her into an automated state of mind, though her thoughts remained very much with Nate and the woman he really loved.
Had they had a squabble and he’d decided to put some distance between them? Or was the reality of it more grueling than Levinia dared to imagine? She didn’t want to think that she’d kissed another woman’s betrothed, let alone that she’d fallen in love with him. She began to second-guess herself, wondering if her feelings for Nate had been nothing more than the makings of a first crush.
“Levinia, wait,” Bethany called after her.
Waiting wasn’t a problem for Levinia; mov
ing was. Her feet felt planted in the earth like the tall stalks of corn growing in their field, only she didn’t feel as graceful. Still, she wanted to bolt instead of facing Bethany.
“I think you should know that I told Adam to pack up Nate and take him back to his farm. He should be here soon with the buggy. I suspected as much about this Miriam Schrock. I’m so sorry Levinia, but it’s better you find out now, than to take up with a liar and a cheater like Nate.”
Levinia’s breath caught in her throat as she stifled a sob. She would not cry over this man.
The hinges of the screen door squeaked the presence of Miriam. Levinia looked up at the graceful beauty as she trailed pretentiously down the stairs toward them. Levinia’s first instinct was to run, but her legs still felt wobbly. Besides, it was best to get this over with and put her silly notions of a future with Nate behind her so she could go back to her life.
Ach, what life?
“I suppose I should thank you for helping my Nate,” Miriam began in a condescending tone. “But I think it’s best you know of my involvement with him in order avoid any more confusion on your part. I can certainly understand you developing a crush on the mann. Ach, surely you must know he was only being kind to you because you were helping him. You can’t possibly believe he would prefer you over me. You live so simple here it’s obvious you take Plain living to an extreme. After all, if you weren’t wearing a dress, I’d have wondered if you were a mann!”
Levinia’s mind went numb and she tuned out the hurtful words. She couldn’t hear any more of it lest she crumble inwardly like a dilapidated barn. If she didn’t feel so numb inside, she’d have run to the next county before stopping, but her legs just wouldn’t take her away no matter how badly she wanted them to.
Bethany pulled on Levinia’s arm, but she couldn’t budge her from the spot she’d not yet moved from. “Let’s go, Levinia. We don’t have to stand here and be insulted by someone from another community. She thinks she’s better than we are, but being from a different community and wearing fancy, colorful dresses doesn’t make her any less Amish than we are.”
If Levinia would have been thinking a little more clearly, she’d have sworn she’d seen Bethany stick her tongue out at Miriam.
Miriam tipped her head to the side, swinging the loose flaxen hair from her kapp. “Ach, I’m not Amish at all. Turns out, I’m adopted! I’m an Englischer. And that makes me better than both of you.”
Levinia looked a little closer at Miriam’s perfect skin, noting that she was wearing makeup. And though her dress might be acceptable for some other community, it seemed too fancy even for some of the rebellious Mennonite girls. Miriam was young, most likely Bethany’s age, so it made sense for her to dress the way she was and to wear makeup, being that she was at the end of her rumspringa.
Bethany posted both her hands on her hips defensively. “We don’t care what you say you are, but we know what we think you are! Your life is of no concern to us, so leave our farm and don’t come back.”
Levinia looked at her little sister as if she’d suddenly become someone she didn’t know. She knew Bethany was free-spirited, but she’d never heard her fight with anyone. Normally, Levinia would reprimand her for such behavior, but right now, she wanted Miriam to leave more than Bethany did.
“It doesn’t matter what you think,” Miriam said, flouncing her pale, yellow frock. “Nate wants to be an Englischer and that is what we have in common. You have nothing in common with him.”
The snarly look Miriam sent Levinia momentarily empowered her to harness the courage to fight this battle herself. Her lips parted, but the words stuck there like the bugs hanging from the strips of flypaper suspended from the rafters of the barn. Why couldn’t she be as bold as Bethany?
“As soon as Nate agrees to leave the Amish, we will become Englischers together and he will forget all about the mistake he made in thinking he might want to stay here and court you. After all, why would he want someone like you when he can have me?”
The squeak of the screen door startled Levinia out of the stupor in which Miriam’s words had momentarily trapped her. Her gaze impulsively lifted to meet Nate’s. Her heart involuntarily filled with pain the moment their eyes met.
“That’s enough lies, Miriam,” Nate called down to her.
Miriam pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes as if she was prepared to charge at Nate like a penned-up bull ready to fight. She looked up at him with a piercing glare in her eyes. “Perhaps you should take your own advice. You obviously didn’t tell this poor Tomboy that you declared love for me the night of your schweschder’s wedding.”
“I did no such thing! You followed me around the whole night and wouldn’t leave me alone.”
Levinia watched Nate grab the banister with determination, wincing with every step he took down the staircase toward them. For a moment, she was tempted to go to Nate and help him, but Miriam’s words reminded her that he wasn’t hers.
Behind her, the clip-clop of horse’s hooves and the grinding of buggy wheels against the gravel driveway brought her back to reality.
Adam hopped out of the buggy without setting the brake and sprinted up the stairs to help his cousin down the rest of them. “I’m sorry about not getting here sooner, but I had to drop off mei schweschder, Libby, in town. I tried to stop Miriam from coming here, but she wouldn’t listen to me.”
Nate paused his journey down the steps long enough to glare at Miriam. “She doesn’t listen to anyone. In fact, she doesn’t even listen to reason.”
Miriam planted her dainty hands on her dainty hips angrily. “You are the one who doesn’t listen. If you did, you wouldn’t have left without me. I’m the only one who understands how much you want to leave the community—we are meant to be together.”
Nate chuckled. “I only left to get away from you!”
Miriam gritted her teeth. “You left because you’re a coward who goes back on promises.”
“I never promised you anything,” Nate retorted.
“Having your way with me was an unspoken promise—a commitment to…”
Nate took an aggressive step toward her. “I never did anything except kiss you—once, and I wish I hadn’t because when I realized what a shallow, self-absorbed person you were, I wanted nothing to do with you!”
Miriam pushed out her lower lip. “But I thought you wanted to live among the Englisch with me.”
“You misunderstood me when I said I wanted to see what being an Englischer was all about, just as you misunderstood the kiss between us. When you showed up at mei schweschder’s wedding, I told you I wasn’t in love with you. I wish I’d never stopped to help you that day when your horse threw a shoe, and I wish I’d never impulsively kissed you that day either. You haven’t left me alone since, and I don’t understand why you can’t get that I don’t love you! I don’t intend to have a future with you outside or inside of the community. You misunderstood my kindness for something else.”
Miriam stamped her foot and let out an angry cry. “I didn’t misunderstand anything. You should do the honorable thing and marry me.”
Nate blew out a discouraging breath. “I’m not going to marry you over one kiss and a conversation about leaving the community.”
Miriam leered at him. “Ach, it was much more than a simple kiss and we both know it.”
CHAPTER 14
“Adam, fetch the Bishop. Bring him here so he can settle this once and for all,” Nate demanded.
Miriam folded her arms across her ample bosom and pursed her lips. “Yes, Adam, fetch the Bishop.”
Adam turned toward his buggy, but Bethany caught him by the arm. “Wait a minute. No one is bringing the Bishop here. Levinia and I will have no part in the disagreement between the two of you. Go back to your farm Adam, and take these two with you.”
She pointed disgustedly to Nate and Miriam while pulling on her sister’s arm. “Let’s get to our chores before Daed gets back from town. All of you need to be gone in the next f
ew minutes.”
They turned to leave, but Nate called after her.
“Levinia, wait. Don’t let Miriam’s lies turn you away from me. I love you!”
Levinia whipped her head around to face Nate, and Miriam stepped between them.
“You love her?!”
“Jah, I do,” Nate said without taking his eyes off Levinia. “And I want us to spend every night together just the way we did last night.”
“You spent the night with her?” Miriam shrieked.
Nate blew out a heavy sigh. “Jah, I did. It was the most wunderbaar night of mei whole life.”
Letting out a low-pitched growl, Miriam’s eyes filled with tears. “So you would take advantage of two women in the same week?”
“How dare you talk of mei schweschder that way!” Bethany screamed at her. “Get off our farm before I throw you off myself.”
Levinia glared at Bethany. As much as she wanted Miriam to leave, she would not tolerate violence or even the threat of violence.
Miriam ignored Bethany’s threat and turned her attention back to Nate. “You made me believe you loved me!”
Nate shook his head “I don’t understand how you can get all that from one kiss. I never took advantage of you.”
By this time Miriam was in a full-swing bout of fake crying. Levinia recognized it since she’d heard Bethany do the same thing so many times.
“So you admit to taking advantage of her, but deny your involvement with me! Why would you choose a woman who is so plain and boyish compared to me?”
Nate looked at her and scoffed. “There is no comparison. The beauty Levinia has in her heart makes her the most beautiful woman in the world to me. You, on the other hand, are shallow and spoiled and self-centered. Not to mention how mean you are to others for no reason. I could never marry a woman who is so unkind to others when they have been nothing but kind to you.”
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