The Innkeeper's Bride

by Kathleen Fuller

  “You’re very kind.” Delilah took the basket. “Oh my, it’s heavy.”

  “I made a few things. More than a few, actually.” She put her hands behind her back. “I hope you like them.”

  “I’m sure we will,” Loren said. He leaned back against the chair and closed his eyes.

  “Nina will bring you some soup in a minute, just as soon as she’s back from Schrock’s,” Delilah said to him.

  Loren nodded. “That’s fine.”

  Delilah gestured toward the kitchen. “Join me for some tea,” she said. “I just made a pot of peppermint.”

  She had taken the baby step of voluntarily coming over here, but she hadn’t anticipated staying any longer than it took to drop off the basket. “I should probably get back home—”

  “Surely you can spare a few minutes?” Delilah peered at her over her glasses.

  Selah wasn’t about to say no. “Of course. May I carry that for you?”

  “Nee, I can handle it.”

  Selah followed Delilah into the kitchen, where the older woman set the basket on the counter and then pulled two white mugs from a cupboard. “Do you like sugar or honey in yer tea?”

  “Plain is fine.”

  “That’s how I like mine.”

  Selah took off her coat and laid it over the back of an empty chair before sitting down.

  Delilah poured tea into the mugs and then brought them to the table. She set one down in front of Selah. “We’ve been so thankful for everyone who’s helped us out since Loren’s accident,” she said, sitting down in the chair nearest Selah. “It’s made this unfortunate incident much easier to bear.”

  “I’m glad.” Selah blew on the tea and then took a sip, enjoying the strong mint flavor. “How is he feeling?”

  “Tired, as you can see. He’s still on pain medication. He didn’t want to take it, but he found out the hard way what happens when he doesn’t.” She set down her tea and looked at Selah. “I want to talk to you about something, if I may.”

  Selah steeled herself. Had this woman somehow found out about her past? Martha had assured her that she never told anyone why Selah left Birch Creek, not even Seth, and of course Christian and Ruby would never betray her confidence. She relaxed, feeling irrational again. Why did she always jump to the worst conclusion? “What would you like to talk about?”

  “We’re in a bit of a pickle right now.” Delilah explained that because Nina was tending to Loren, she had to give up her job cleaning the inn, at least for the time being. “We’ve been trying to hire someone, but we haven’t had any luck.” Her eyes locked with Selah’s. “Would you like the job? As I said, we need someone now because of Loren’s accident. But we’ve always planned to hire additional staff when the inn starts being full most of the time, so this position can quickly become permanent.”

  Selah’s mouth dropped open. That was the last thing she’d expected Delilah to say.

  “I heard you’ve been looking for employment.” Delilah picked up her mug and took a sip. “I believe Carolyn Yoder mentioned it. Or Mary. I can’t remember, honestly. But if you still are, and you’d like the job, it’s yers.”

  “I . . . I don’t know what to say.”

  “I don’t mean to pressure you, dear. But we are due to open this weekend.”

  She wanted time to think about it, but she also recognized that they would need time to train her.

  “If you can’t take the job, we’ll have to find someone else. But so far, no one has answered the ad we put in the paper.”

  Selah had stopped reading the want ads this week, not wanting to be discouraged. Delilah stared at her, expecting a response. What am I waiting for? This is an answer to prayer. Besides, how could she turn down the Stolls when they needed her? And Delilah had assured her the position could become permanent. “Ya,” she said. “I’ll take the job.”

  “Wonderful.” Delilah set down her mug and clasped her hands together. Then she popped up from her chair. “You’ll need to fill out some paperwork. Loren is a stickler for that. Levi’s over in the office at the inn, and he can give you the forms.” She went to Selah and practically lifted her out of her seat, and then she grabbed her coat and thrust it at her. “You can start tomorrow.”

  “O-okay,” she said, dazed as she put on her coat. As soon as her arms were in her sleeves, Delilah ushered her to the small mudroom off the kitchen and directed her to go through the back door of the inn.

  “The office is off the lobby.” Delilah opened the door. A blast of cold air hit them, but her grin stayed in place. “Danki, Selah. I think this is going to work out . . . for all of us.” She quickly closed the door as soon as Selah had stepped outside.

  Selah stood in the cold, her coat still half on, wondering what had just happened. Then it hit her. She finally had a job. She smiled and glanced up at the cloudy sky. Thank you, Lord.

  * * *

  After she shooed Selah to the inn, Delilah went back into the kitchen and sat down at the table. She picked up her tea, satisfied. She was often surprised by God’s timing, and this was no exception. When she saw Selah standing on their front doorstep with the heavy basket of food in her hands, it hit her that the young woman was the answer to several prayers. First, they did need a maid, and no one had answered the ad. Now they wouldn’t have to scramble to find someone at the very last minute before they opened.

  Selah Ropp was also another answer to Delilah’s prayers, her private ones. She had promised to stay out of Levi’s and Nina’s love lives and had fully intended to keep that promise. But that was before Selah moved back to town. She belonged to a responsible family—her brother and sister-in-law were teachers and had the trust of the community with their most precious possession, their children. Quality relatives were of the utmost importance. She knew firsthand how life could be when family wasn’t what it was supposed to be.

  Selah’s family was a good sign, but Delilah had fully made up her mind to intervene when she caught Levi looking at Selah during the last church service. Her grandson had always ignored female attention, and she had never noticed him paying attention to a particular girl before. Seeing him gazing at Selah had lit a lightbulb in her head. She had to jump at the chance to nudge Levi in the right direction. Of course, any woman would be happy to date her grandson. That was a given. The best way to make sure that happened? Put them in each other’s proximity.

  She grinned again, the stress of the past few days finally starting to fade. Seeing Loren in so much pain as he lay on the ground after falling from the roof had taken a few years off her life. But he would mend. The doctor had assured her of that. Even more important, the Lord had too. Nina was taking excellent care of him, and now that they had someone to clean the inn and the inspector was finally coming on Thursday to certify them, they could open for business this weekend.

  Delilah looked up as Nina came into the kitchen carrying three bags of groceries. They hadn’t needed much from the store since the community had brought them plenty of food, but they’d been running out of some toiletries. In addition, Delilah had wanted a few special items for Christmas baking.

  Nina set the bags on the counter. “Who brought the basket?”

  “Oh, I can’t believe I forgot about that.” Delilah jumped up. When she opened the basket’s lid, she saw an array of food—a breakfast casserole, cabbage rolls, buttered noodles, bread, a chocolate cake, a thermos—most probably filled with soup—rolls, and a jar of pepper jelly. Selah was right. She had made too much. But what a thoughtful maedel.

  “What are you grinning about?” Nina asked, taking jars of molasses and honey out of one of the bags.

  “Oh nix.” She picked up the jar of pepper jelly. How did Selah know Levi loved pepper jelly? Yes, getting the two of them together would be as easy as shoofly pie. “Nix at all.”

  * * *

  Levi sat at his father’s desk and rubbed the back of his neck, which had been aching since yesterday. He stared at the pile of receipts and the ledger
book in front of him. He’d never paid attention to paperwork other than to file a couple of permits with the city of Barton during the inn renovations, but his father was a stickler for documentation. What he wasn’t so particular about was telling the family exactly how in debt they were.

  Nearly all the renovations on the inn had cost overruns. Levi had known about the broken sump pump and cracked septic tank, but his father had assured him they had the funds to pay for the repairs. Yet when he looked at the ledger book, he saw that wasn’t the case. His father was making only small payments on the bills, which meant they were also paying more and more interest.

  He sat back in the creaky office chair. The chair was brand-new but sounded like it had been hidden in a shed for ten years.

  Soon the hospital bills would come in, and they would be high. Levi could do nothing about them until the inn opened and they had guests booked, but yesterday, in a hospitality magazine, he’d read that the winter season was the worst time for tourism—unless one was operating a ski lodge or something similar. All the red in the ledger made his stomach queasy. No wonder his father had been quieter than usual lately. This also explained the bottle of antacids he’d found in the top desk drawer. He was tempted to take one himself. If Daed hadn’t had the accident, Levi would still be unaware that they owed so much money.

  He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. They couldn’t afford any more problems before they opened this weekend.

  “Levi?”

  Was that Selah’s voice? No, he had to be hearing things.

  “Is anyone there?”

  That definitely sounded like her. What was she doing here? He pushed back from the desk and stepped out of the office. Selah was standing before the front counter, looking a little stunned. He had to admit he was a little stunned to see her. “Hi,” he said, shutting the office door behind him.

  “Yer grossmutter sent me over.” Selah glanced at the wood counter and then back at him. “She offered me the cleaning job.”

  Levi stilled. “She did?”

  “Ya. I accepted, and she said you would have some paperwork for me to fill out.”

  He was still trying to grasp the fact that his grandmother had hired Selah. Why had she done that after telling him he had to do the hiring? Was it because she didn’t trust him to hire someone himself? Or did she have something else in mind? His stomach churned. She’d better not have—

  “It’s okay, ya?” she said. “That I took the job?”

  “Oh. Of course.” He blinked, trying to bring her into focus. “Uh, let me find that paperwork.” He turned and opened the office door. Selah would have to fill out a job application. He knew that much. What else was he supposed to give her? “Just a second,” he called out, opening a cabinet drawer and riffling through it. “I’m not sure where Daed keeps the papers.”

  “Okay.”

  She sounded as unsure as he felt, which added more pressure for him to hurry and get the paperwork so she wouldn’t have to wait any longer. Had Grossmutter pressured her to take the job? Just the idea of it stuck in his craw. His grandmother could be difficult to refuse at times. Most of the time, actually. The last thing he wanted was for Selah—or any other employee—to work at the inn reluctantly.

  Finally he found the folder labeled Employee Forms. He pulled it out and took out the papers he thought Selah would need, and then he shoved the folder back into the drawer and slammed it closed, catching the tip of his thumb. “Ow,” he yelped.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Fine.” He put his thumb to his mouth, and then he rushed out to the lobby. “Here,” he said, giving her the papers and grabbing a pen out of the jar next to the guest book. “Just, uh, fill these out.”

  “Danki.” She skimmed through the four pages. “Mind if I sit at one of the tables?”

  “Be mei guest.” He inwardly groaned at the awkward hospitality pun as he walked to the table. His gut churned as he imagined what his grandmother had said to Selah to get her to take the job. “I’ll be back,” he said, unable to take the uncertainty. He raced from the inn to the house and burst into the kitchen.

  “Why did you hire Selah?”

  Grossmutter turned to him, her eyes wide with innocence. Fake innocence, he was sure. “You didn’t let her leave before she finished the paperwork, did you?”

  “Forget the paperwork.” He went to her as she put a jar of pepper jelly on the table. “Don’t you trust me to do the hiring?”

  “Of course I do.” The smug look on her face disappeared.

  “Then why did you hire her?”

  His grandmother took a step back, looking uncharacteristically unsure. “I thought she would be a gut fit.”

  “For the inn?” He ground his back teeth. “Or for me?”

  “Of course for the inn.” She averted her eyes for a second.

  That was enough to tell him she had ulterior motives. “I don’t believe this. I told you I’m not interested in Selah!”

  “Excuse me.”

  Levi and Grossmutter both whirled around. Selah stood in the doorway of the kitchen. “I’m sorry for the intrusion, but I had a question about the form.” She started to back away. “I’ll wait for you back at the inn.” She looked at Levi, her face impassive. Before he could stop her, she disappeared. Had she heard what he said? Good grief, he hoped not. While it was the truth, it still sounded hurtful.

  “Now look what you’ve done,” Grossmutter said.

  “Me?”

  “Geh after her and apologize.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “And next time, make sure you do a better job of explaining the forms.”

  He would have argued with her, except she was right. He did owe Selah an apology. Levi rushed back to the inn, where Selah was still working at a table in the lobby. Thank goodness she hadn’t decided to leave right then and there. Maybe she hadn’t heard him after all.

  “I figured it out.” Selah gathered the papers and handed them to him, her expression inscrutable.

  An awkward silence filled the room as he gave the paperwork a once-over, as if he were reading it, but the words swam in front of him. “Everything looks, uh, in order.” Levi lifted his gaze.

  Her eyes resembled steel. “What time do I report for work?”

  “Seven a.m.”

  With a nod she said, “See you then. And please tell yer grossmutter danki for the opportunity.” She turned and left through the inn’s front door.

  Levi leaned against the counter and let out a deep breath. Then he dropped off the forms in the office before going back to the house, where he found his grandmother cleaning the front of the kitchen stove.

  “Did you set everything straight?” Grossmutter dried her hands on her apron. “Or did she turn down the job?”

  “She’ll be here in the morning.”

  Nina came into the kitchen, saving him from having to tell his grandmother that he didn’t apologize. “Was that Selah I saw leaving?”

  Grossmutter nodded. “She’s our new maid, starting tomorrow.”

  “That’s great.” Nina grinned. “Martha said she was looking for a job.” She looked at Levi. “Gut idea to hire her.”

  “It wasn’t mei idea,” Levi muttered. What was he going to say to Selah tomorrow? Should he bring up what happened? Leave it alone? Avoid her?

  “Daed wants to talk to you,” Nina said. “He says it’s important.”

  Levi got up from the table, the sickening lump still in his stomach. He never wanted to offend anyone, but for some reason, knowing he might have hurt Selah made him feel worse than usual. He went into the living room, not wanting to keep his father waiting. He was glad to see Daed looking more lucid than he had since he’d come home from the hospital.

  “Have a seat,” Daed said, motioning to the couch next to him.

  Levi complied, pushing Selah out of his mind. “How’s the leg?”

  “Painful. But it will heal.” He paused. “I suppose you’ve been in the office.”

  “Y
a.”

  “Mutter explained what you three have worked out to manage while I’m incapacitated.” He frowned. “I didn’t want you to know about the bills, sohn.”

  “Why not? I could have helped. Gotten a second job or something.”

  “You were already working so much around here and had put in so much time and effort that I couldn’t ask you to do more because of mei mismanagement.” He fumbled with one of the suspenders that had slipped off his shoulder. Levi pulled it up for him. “Besides, I’m confident that once we open, we’ll catch up on those bills.”

  Levi had always known where he got his endless optimism, but it was hard to feel optimistic about anything right now. Hopefully they would have caught up on their debt soon after guests started arriving. But now they’d have the hospital bills too. He just wasn’t going to point that out now.

  “So there’s nee need to worry.” Daed gave him a weak smile. “Remember that verse in James? ‘But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.’ We might be feeling tossed lately, but that will change. I have faith that it will.”

  “I do too.” Hearing the Scripture verse bolstered him a little, which happened whenever he remembered God’s promises. They didn’t need to waver over a temporary setback. After all, life was full of them.

  He dug deep and found hope. When he went back to the office in the inn, the sight of the ledger didn’t turn his stomach. Then he glanced at Selah’s forms. Noticing her slightly messy handwriting made him smile a little. He still felt crummy about what happened in the kitchen at the house, but if she’d heard what he said, he’d figure out how to make it up to her. Maybe he and his grandmother were wrong. Maybe Selah hadn’t heard him. Dear Lord, I hope not.

  * * *

  I’m not interested in Selah!

  Selah pushed a small red potato against the slice of chuck roast on her plate. She gripped her fork as Levi’s words reverberated in her mind, just as they had all afternoon. He wasn’t interested in her, and he couldn’t have been firmer about that.