Like a Bee to Honey

by Jennifer Beckstrand

  Dawdi smoothed his beard, no doubt considering how dirty he was willing to let his floor get. “If we had been able to raise you, you would not be so stubborn.”

  Mammi worried the hem of her apron. “You’re too picky, Priscilla is a tomboy, and Rose won’t even talk to a boy. You’ll all be old maedles, and we’ll have no posterity to carry on after we’re gone.”

  Rose was the only one who would be an old maedle. Lily had Dan, and Poppy had Luke.

  “Don’t worry, Mammi,” Poppy said. “There is still hope for us. We will all find husbands, Lord willing.”

  Mammi grunted her disapproval. “Rose is the only one I have hope for. She is pretty and sweet and never talks back to her grandparents.”

  Rose didn’t dare argue with Mammi. Instead, she lowered her eyes and studied her hands. No one wanted to marry a mousy girl who startled at strange noises.

  Not even Josiah Yoder.

  Mammi reached out her hand. “Cum here, Rose.”

  Rose reluctantly rose to her feet and knelt down next to Mammi’s rocker. Mammi took both of Rose’s hands in hers. “Pull your shoulders back, heartzly.”

  Rose did as she was told.

  Mammi cupped her hand under Rose’s chin. “When you have finished with the bees this fall, you will come and live with us. We will teach you how to be a gute and worthy Amish frau, and find you a godly man like Paul Glick.”

  Rose wanted to push Mammi’s hand away and jump to her feet. She wanted to stand up to Mammi and tell her that she would never come to live with them and that if they said one more bad thing about Aunt Bitsy, she would never set foot inside their house. Someone else could make the bread.

  She swallowed past the lump in her throat and tried to find her voice. It was no use. The best she could do was stare at her hands and hope that Mammi got tired of waiting for an answer. It would be better if she could shrink to the size of a mosquito and fly away. She wanted to be anywhere but here, even sitting on Josiah’s back porch with tears running down her face.

  Ach, how she loved her sisters. No matter how undeserving Rose was, Lily and Poppy always came to her rescue, at least they would until they were married.

  “We could never spare Rose,” Lily said, rising to her feet, grabbing Rose’s hand, and pulling her from the floor.

  “Nae,” Poppy said, standing up and hooking her arm around Rose’s elbow. “We would never allow Rose to leave us.”

  “We’ve got to be going now,” Lily said. “Let me know if you’d rather we not come next week.”

  She and Poppy pulled Rose along as they marched out the door and down the porch steps like three draft horses in a log-pulling contest.

  Rose’s steps faltered. “I left my apron.”

  “They can have it,” Poppy said, not faltering, not looking over her shoulder, not even caring that Rose had just lost her favorite apron.

  Lily gazed sympathetically at Rose. “Oy, anyhow. What are we going to do about Mammi and Dawdi?”

  Rose was profoundly relieved and utterly ashamed at the same time. “I . . . I didn’t mean for you to have to do that for me,” she said. “I should have been braver.” Her tears were dangerously close to spilling from her eyes. “But I just can’t be brave.”

  Lily and Poppy practically dragged her along as they marched down the sidewalk to their buggy. “We will always protect you, Rose,” Lily said.

  Poppy smiled. “We don’t mind. Luke says I’m always looking for a fight anyway.”

  “I should fight my own battles,” Rose said.

  Her sisters didn’t even hear her. The screen door creaked open, and they turned to see Mammi with her head stuck out of the door. “Come back here,” she said. “You haven’t finished your cookies.”

  Lily smiled and waved. “We’ll see you next week, Mammi.”

  Mammi drew her brows together. “It’s a terrible waste of food.”

  Rose stopped and turned around, unable to bear the thought of hurting Mammi’s feelings. “We love you.”

  Mammi frowned and let the screen door slam behind her. Her feelings were hurt anyway.

  Poppy smirked. “That was a nice thing to say, Rose, even if we’d rather love them from a distance.”

  Rose slumped her shoulders. “I didn’t want them to feel bad.”

  “Don’t be too worried about their feelings or they’ll have you married off to Paul Glick before you can bake another loaf of bread,” Poppy said.

  Rose thought she might throw up.

  Lily’s mouth fell open. “Poppy Christner, bite your tongue. What a horrible notion.”

  Poppy put her arm around Rose. “I’m just teasing. You know I’m just teasing, right? I would never let Paul Glick within a hundred feet of you. I won’t let him near Lily. Or Dan. Or Luke either. Luke might be tempted to break his vow of nonviolence and pop Paul in the mouth. Or I might be tempted to do it myself.”

  Rose’s heart pounded against her chest. “Please, Poppy. Promise me you won’t ever hit Paul Glick.”

  “I’m teasing,” Poppy said. “If I hit Paul Glick, I would be shunned and then we’d have to postpone the wedding, and Luke would probably get an ulcer.”

  Rose frowned. “You don’t . . . you don’t really think Mammi and Dawdi would try to match me up with Paul Glick, do you?”

  Poppy snorted.

  “Of course not,” Lily said. “Despite what Dawdi hopes, Paul wouldn’t lower himself to be seen with any of us. He hates us, most especially me and Dan.” They climbed in the buggy, and Lily took up the reins. “I’m ashamed to say I almost married Paul.” She looked around as if making sure no one was listening in on their conversation. “Paul as a boyfriend is definitely scraping the bottom of the barrel.”

  Rose felt reassured enough to manage a small smile. “Dan and Luke are the top of the barrel for sure and certain.”

  Poppy’s eyes sparkled like lights reflecting off the lake at night. “If only we could find someone at the very top of the barrel for you, Rose.”

  Rose shuddered. “That thought scares me to death.”

  “You were brave enough to take a cake to Josiah Yoder yesterday,” Lily said.

  Rose fidgeted with her kapp strings. “Aunt Bitsy said if I want to overcome my fear, I have to do something that scares me.”

  “And?” Poppy said, pushing her eyebrows halfway up her forehead. “Did it work?”

  “Maybe it helped a little.”

  “You said he showed you Suvie’s butterfly garden,” Lily prodded. “I don’t wonder that it was nice.”

  Poppy smiled. “And you said he was very happy about the cake.”

  Rose twined her fingers around one of her kapp strings. “He thinks I’m a better person than I am.”

  “Impossible,” Lily said. “You’re a better person than anyone could even imagine.”

  Rose hated it when her sisters gave her undeserved praise. “I’m not. I’m selfish and scared. Josiah tried to give me a tube of paint as a gift, and I refused it.” She shook her head. “I shouldn’t have told him no. I hurt his feelings something wonderful.”

  Poppy put her good arm around Rose. “It’s not bad to keep him guessing. He’ll appreciate you more if you make him work for it.”

  “You make it sound like I’m a chore that needs to be done. I don’t want to be a burden on anybody, especially Josiah Yoder.”

  Lily turned the horse down the main street. “You’re too sweet to ever purposefully hurt anybody’s feelings, Rose. Don’t worry about Josiah. If his feelings are hurt, it’s his own fault. The most important thing is how he treats you.” She cleared her throat and concentrated faithfully on the road ahead. “And . . . how he treats everybody else. It’s not as if Josiah is concentrating on you specifically.”

  Rose furrowed her brow and bit her bottom lip. Josiah was nice to everybody. He probably gave away tubes of paint like handshakes. Her not taking one would just leave more for the next person who came to visit. She relaxed her fingers and tugged them from around
her kapp strings. She wasn’t anyone special to Josiah Yoder.

  That thought made her feel considerably better.

  And maybe a little sad.

  Chapter Eight

  “I don’t know if this is such a gute idea,” Josiah said as he and his two best friends tromped across the flagstones in front of Rose’s house. “They don’t know I’m coming, and I wasn’t invited.”

  “Didn’t you say you were here earlier today?” Luke said.

  “Jah. I returned Rose’s cake plate, but Rose was away visiting her grandparents. I fixed a chair and the sofa for Bitsy.”

  Luke looked at Josiah sideways. “You fixed a chair?”

  Josiah nodded.

  “With tools?” Luke said.

  “I should be offended that you don’t think I know how to use tools.”

  “You don’t,” Luke replied.

  Josiah lifted his chin. “As it turns out, one of the chair slats was broken. There aren’t tools that will fix that. I used duct tape. Bitsy was very grateful.”

  Luke snorted. “I’m sure she was.”

  “You fixed Bitsy’s chair,” Dan said. “She’s probably wishing she had a phone so she could call and invite you for dessert. Besides, you didn’t get to see Rose. That’s reason enough to barge in on them.”

  Josiah grimaced. “What if she thinks I’m rude for coming over uninvited?”

  Dan draped an arm over Josiah’s shoulder. “Tell her Luke invited you. The Honeybee sisters already know he’s rude. They won’t blame you.”

  Luke rolled his eyes. “Don’t be so jumpy. Rose will lose interest before she even remembers your name. And I am not rude. I’m assertive, and Poppy thinks I’m adorable.”

  Dan grinned. “And I used to think Poppy was such a smart girl.”

  Luke puffed out his chest. “The smartest. Why do you think she loves me?”

  They’d been standing on the porch for nearly a minute, and Josiah wasn’t altogether sure he should stay. He wanted to see Rose something wonderful, but despite what Luke thought, Josiah had to be careful. He wasn’t sure he should be standing here.

  Too late to reconsider. Luke knocked on the door as if he were trying to break it down. Did that boy even know what “subtle” meant?

  The door opened. The lanterns inside had already been lit. The three Honeybee sisters and their Aunt Bitsy stood in the doorway, as if they had agreed to open the door together. Lily and Poppy burst into radiant smiles that put the propane lanterns to shame. Josiah’s gaze immediately flew to Rose. She didn’t beam like her sisters, but she did give him a tentative smile that might have meant she wasn’t altogether unhappy to see him. His heart did a little jig.

  The enticing smell of cooked peaches and brown sugar made his mouth water. Josiah almost wished Rose wasn’t such a gute cook. He didn’t want her to think he only came over for her cooking. He couldn’t love her any more than he already did, peach crumble or no peach crumble.

  Leonard Nimoy sat next to Bitsy’s foot with that deceptive, wide-eyed-innocent look on her face. She didn’t fool Josiah. He had some very nice scabs on his arm where Leonard had been, and he had seen the mess Leonard Nimoy had made of Bitsy’s sofa.

  “We hear there’s peach crumble,” Luke said, walking into the house without being invited. The Honeybee sisters sort of scooted back to let him enter, but they didn’t seem to mind. Poppy adored him, for goodness sake. She would have put up with most anything.

  Bitsy frowned. “Ach. It’s you.”

  Billy Idol catapulted himself into the air and landed with his claws deep in Luke’s trousers. Luke pried the cat from his leg and cuddled Billy Idol in his arms. “Hello, Billy Idol,” he said. “Have you been protecting my girls?”

  Dan put his hand on Josiah’s back and shoved him forward. “We brought Josiah too. Hope that’s okay.”

  “I suppose he’ll want to be fed,” Bitsy said.

  Lily’s smile for Josiah was almost as wide as the one she’d given Dan. “We’re wonderful happy to see you, Josiah. Rose needs to practice.”

  Lily was happy to see him, and she’d said something about Rose. “Practice?”

  Rose’s blush was about the most attractive thing Josiah had ever seen. “Lily is trying to help me get over my fears. But I’m afraid it’s a lost cause.”

  He pinned her with an earnest gaze. “You’re anything but a lost cause.”

  Her face got redder, but she didn’t reply.

  “We’ve got ice cream too,” Poppy said, gazing at her fiancé as if he were the only boy in the world. Josiah longed for Rose to look at him like that. Mostly, he longed for her to look at him at all.

  “Rose made it,” Lily added.

  Of course Rose had made it. If the Christner sisters had intentionally set out to torture him tonight, they couldn’t have planned it any better.

  Bitsy seemed resigned to the burden of having boys at her house. “Luke only gets one piece,” she said, closing the door once they’d all come inside. “That boy could eat Wal-Mart out of house and home.”

  “I’m in the room, Bitsy,” Luke said, setting Billy Idol on the window seat next to Farrah Fawcett. “You don’t have to talk about me like I’m not here.”

  Bitsy smirked. “I wish you weren’t.” She looked at Josiah as if trying to figure out how he’d gotten into the house. “You fixed my chair and sofa today. I suppose you can stay. But don’t get the wrong idea.”

  How could he get the wrong idea? He didn’t even know if Rose would rather he hadn’t come.

  Then again, Bitsy had sort of invited him into the house for peach crumble. How could he be unhappy when he was being included in the inner circle, the one he ached to belong to. Even if he never got into their family circle, he’d get to spend at least another hour with Rose, gazing at her, hearing her voice, being driven crazy with his love for her.

  He’d take any bone they threw at him and be grateful.

  Luke rubbed his hands together. “Let’s see this chair Josiah fixed.”

  Bitsy pulled it out from under the table and held out her hand as if she were introducing it. Josiah hadn’t known quite how to fix the slat, but he had wanted to impress Bitsy, so he had wrapped several layers of duct tape around it. That thing wouldn’t break even if Perry Glick sat on it.

  Bitsy glared at Luke. She seemed to glare at him often. “Josiah did a gute job on it, ain’t not?”

  Luke’s lips twitched. “Looks like he did a gute job.”

  Poppy pointed to the base of the sofa that Josiah had also covered with duct tape. “He fixed our sofa too.”

  Leonard Nimoy had scratched the fabric up something wonderful. He thanked the gute Lord for duct tape.

  Bitsy looked up to the ceiling. “Dear Lord, please bless that nothing else breaks while Josiah is here.”

  Josiah grinned. “It’s all right, Bitsy. I don’t mind fixing anything you need.”

  Bitsy didn’t lose her no-nonsense expression. “I wouldn’t want to impose.”

  Luke brought plates and spoons to the table. Josiah had to give Poppy credit. A few weeks ago, Luke wouldn’t have lifted a finger to do kitchen chores. Now he practically clambered for a chance to help—probably to show Poppy what a gute catch she’d made. Poppy brought the ice cream while Rose carried the warm peach crumble to the table. Josiah took a whiff. Brown sugar and oatmeal topping sat over a pool of sliced peaches swimming in their own juices. Ice cream would make it irresistible.

  Josiah found the ice-cream scoop and a spatula in the drawer. He could show them he was at least as gute a catch as Luke, even if he wasn’t. Josiah was just a poor orphan farmer. He wasn’t as gute a catch as anybody.

  Bitsy sat at the head of the table with Lily to her right and Poppy to her left. Dan sat next to Lily and Luke sat next to Poppy. That left the chair opposite Bitsy, and Josiah was pretty sure it wasn’t for him.

  Dan and Lily had their heads together giggling about something, and Poppy and Luke were arguing about whether Poppy could sco
op the ice cream with a broken hand. Poppy never wanted Luke to help her with anything, and Luke got annoyed when Poppy stubbornly tried to do things that Luke was perfectly capable of doing for her.

  Usually, Josiah didn’t mind not being noticed. He just wanted to work the land and serve Gotte, but tonight, a sharp and heavy lump of coal lodged in his throat. What was he doing here? Rose deserved a bishop’s son with acres and acres of land. She deserved a hundred tubes of paint and every sort of paintbrush she could think of.

  “Are you all right, Josiah?”

  Rose was standing closer than he had realized, looking at him with those wide, innocent eyes that always captivated him. She reached out and laid a hand on his arm. It felt as if she were pulling him back from a cliff.

  “What could be better than peach crumble and ice cream with Rose Christner?”

  Her smile sent his temperature to the sky. “Don’t say that until you taste it.” Rose nearly sat down before stopping short when she noticed there wouldn’t be enough chairs. “Ach, Josiah, sit there,” she said, motioning to the last chair.

  He cleared his throat. “I should probably go. Morning comes early on the farm.”

  “Nae, Josiah,” Rose said. “You fixed Aunt Bitsy’s chair. You deserve to sit. I’ll stand.”

  Bitsy growled. “All the unselfishness in this room is giving me a headache.” She pointed to the back room, where she kept her bucket for unclogging the sink. “There’s folding chairs in there, Josiah. Grab one.”

  “We’ll scoot closer together so you can sit on this side,” Dan said.

  Bitsy shook her finger at Dan and Lily. “Don’t get fresh, and don’t get any ideas.”

  Feeling a little less awkward, Josiah retrieved the folding chair from the back room and sat next to Dan while Rose sat at the end of the table. At least he had an excuse to be near her. Rose dished up servings of peach crumble for everyone. He was probably imagining things, but did she give him the biggest bowl?

  Jah. He was imagining things. If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.