In puzzlement, Tyler stared at Alvin until understanding flickered in his eyes, and he stuttered his reply. “Nae . . . nae. I’m here to see Aden.”
Beth wanted to laugh out loud. Tyler was trying to be tactful and encouraging at the same time. He didn’t realize that Alvin’s suit was a lost cause. It would have been better if Tyler had pulled her into his arms and kissed her wildly—to send the clear message that Beth was unavailable. That would do it. Alvin would run for the hills.
Beth shivered involuntarily. The thought of kissing Tyler was not all that unpleasant. He had such a handsome face and a steady way about him. What girl wouldn’t be tempted?
Had she lost her mind?
“I came to help Aden build a chest of drawers for his wife for Christmas,” Tyler said. “We’re putting it together here because Aden wants it to be a surprise.”
Alvin unclenched his jaw. “Christmas will be here before we know it. Only four months.”
Mammi opened the front door and clapped her hands together as if dismissing a class of scholars. “Well, Alvin, Beth and I must go.”
Dear Mammi. Always so accommodating.
Alvin shaped and reshaped his lips as if searching for the perfect word to release from his mouth. “Oh.”
Not a bad choice of words, considering how Mammi’s dismissal must have thrown him for a loop. He had come to make a marriage proposal, for goodness sake.
Alvin soon recovered his composure and smiled pleasantly. “I can see this is an inconvenient day for a social call. I will return next Tuesday. When does Toby take a nap?”
Tuesday. She had until Tuesday to come up with a kind yet firm refusal. Guilt niggled at her like a mosquito buzzing next to her ear. “Toby usually goes down at noon.”
Alvin nodded cheerfully. “I will see you at noon on Tuesday.”
She couldn’t match his enthusiasm. “Okay.”
He tromped away, and Tyler gazed at Beth with an apology on his face. “I’m sorry if I interrupted something—”
“You didn’t,” Beth said with a finality in her voice that indicated she would rather not discuss Alvin Hoover ever again in her lifetime. She watched as Alvin climbed into his courting buggy and rode away. The more the distance grew between him and Beth, the better she felt. She grinned at sober-faced Tyler. “I noticed you rode your horse today. Was that in case you ran across a little boy playing in the middle of the lane? A horse is easier to stop than a buggy.”
Tyler furrowed his brow and turned his face away, as if studying the whitewash on the barn. “Of course not. Some days I like to ride.”
Beth liked seeing him squirm. He was too polite to mention that unfortunate incident ever again, but she suspected it was precisely the reason he had ridden his horse to Huckleberry Hill.
“You think I’m a bad mother, don’t you?”
He snapped his head around to look at her and growled when he saw the amusement in her eyes. “I like riding my horse. And toddlers are gute at escaping even the most careful mothers.”
“It’s so fun to tease someone who doesn’t know how to be teased.”
His lips turned upward into a half smile. Quite an accomplishment. “Why does something have to be wrong with me? Maybe you don’t know how to tease.”
She laughed. “You could be right. But I must tell you, I have years of practice.”
Tyler inclined his head toward her. “Then I have a lot to learn from you.”
He said it with a voice as smooth as honey, as if he looked forward to her lessons. A warm sensation spread to the tips of Beth’s fingers.
Toby poked his head out the front door and saw Tyler. “Mommy!” he squealed.
Beth felt her face glow. “He only calls people ‘mommy’ if he likes them. Congratulations.”
“I’m surprised he remembers me.” Tyler bounded up the steps and scooped Toby into his arms.
From inside, Dawdi shuffled to the door, humming one of his many tunes. “Tyler, you are just the man I want to see. Can you help me set up this newfangled contraption?”
“Of course.” Tyler put Toby on his feet even as he whined to stay in Tyler’s arms. “I’ll be back in no time at all, Toby.”
Beth tried not to let Tyler’s gentle ways make an impression on her, but any kindness to Toby, even from a man, softened her heart to jelly.
Tyler followed Dawdi into the house. “It’s called a Pack ’n Play,” Dawdi said. “It ain’t nothing but a crib, but a stranger crib I never saw.”
Mammi’s eyes sparkled like the sky on a starry night. “He’s a nice young man, ain’t not? And quite taken with Toby.”
Beth decided to skirt the issue. “Who wouldn’t love Toby?”
Of course Tyler was a nice young man. Beth had once thought Amos was a nice young man too.
“Who indeed?” Mammi said, as she slipped Toby’s arms into the small green sweater she’d knitted for him. “Did Alvin get a chance to propose?”
Beth curved her lips and shook her head. “He tried.” She studied the limp bouquet of flowers in her hand. “Am I wicked for not wanting to marry him?”
“Wicked? Of course not. Alvin needs a wife. You’re available. That’s as far as he’s thinking.” She fastened the sweater buttons up to Toby’s chin and gave the wiggly little boy a kiss. “Alvin needs Suvilla Mast. She’s four years older than him and has four children, all grown. She sits a bit broad, but so does he. They would get along very well together.” She sighed and looked as if the very thought of Suvilla Mast and Alvin Hoover wore her out. “There’s always so much matchmaking to be done.”
“That won’t stop him from coming back on Tuesday.”
“Nae. You’ll have to let him down easy. He’s worn out from all them kinner he’s caring for. He needs a wife right quick.”
Mammi went back into the house where she retrieved her bonnet and black sweater and a light yellow sweater for Beth. “Should we pick some of the huckleberries this morning? We can gather enough to make Christmas jam tomorrow, and the family can pick the rest of the berries on Saturday.”
“I would love to pick today.” Beth gazed at the clear blue sky of late August. They wouldn’t need sweaters, but she didn’t mention that fact to her mammi. Mammi loved seeing her grandchildren wear her knitted gifts. Beth slipped the sweater around her shoulders. Black was the traditional sweater and coat color that all Amish wore, but when it came to knitting, Mammi either forgot or ignored the rule. Beth shrugged. Mammi had gone to a great deal of work to knit her a yellow sweater. She would wear the yellow sweater.
Tyler and Dawdi reappeared on the threshold, and Tyler immediately lifted Toby and gave him a squeeze. “Toby’s new bed is ready.”
“All Tyler did was push the center down. I should have thought of that,” Dawdi said.
Tyler stared intently at Beth and didn’t look away when she caught his eye. “That’s a wonderful-pretty sweater,” he said.
Hoping her ears hadn’t turned bright red, Beth reached for Toby, and Tyler flew him down the steps like an airplane. He even supplied the airplane noises. Toby’s giggles bubbled from his lips as Tyler placed him in Beth’s arms.
“Mammi and I are going to pick huckleberries,” Beth said. “Denki for your help.” Especially the part where he’d come just in time to fend off a marriage proposal. “I hope Aden comes soon so you’re not left waiting again.”
“Come on, Sparky,” Mammi called. The dog waddled out of the house as if she had just awakened from a nap.
Worry etched tiny lines around Tyler’s eyes. “It’s quite a walk to the huckleberry patch. Can you manage Toby by yourself?”
“He loves to explore the woods.”
“Does he ever wander off? It wouldn’t be easy to find him if he wandered off. Do you have a bell or something you could tie to his arm?”
A smile tickled Beth’s lips. “Like a cow?”
“Jah. We sometimes use bells on our cows when they graze.”
The laughter tripped out. “I will keep a
careful eye out.”
Mammi handed Beth a bucket, and the two of them strolled toward the path into the woods.
Undeterred by her teasing, Tyler followed. “Aden saw a bear there last year. You should take a frying pan.” That deep furrow right between his brows was adorable.
Beth strolled blithely down the path. “We’ll make lots of noise, and Sparky will scare off the bears.”
She and Tyler glanced at Sparky, who shuffled lazily after them as if merely lifting her feet were a monumental chore. Beth and Tyler locked gazes. Beth giggled. Tyler frowned.
He held up his hand to motion for Beth to stop. “Wait. Wait a minute. We’ve got to think about this. I’m worried you’re putting yourself in unnecessary danger.”
“When I was a little girl, I used to go to the huckleberry patch by myself all the time.” She leaned closer to punctuate her next words. “I ran all the way. With scissors. While being chased by three bears and a cat. And I didn’t wear sunscreen.”
Tyler didn’t even flinch. Didn’t even crack a smile. She would definitely have to help him with his sense of humor. With a frown still firmly riveted to his face, he took Toby from Beth’s arms, grabbed her bucket, and walked briskly into the woods. “I’m coming with you.”
“What about Aden?” she said, grinning and struggling to keep up with him.
He glanced back at her while sustaining his breakneck pace. “I wouldn’t consider myself any kind of a man if I let two women and a baby traipse into the woods by themselves.” He halted abruptly and pinned her with a concerned look. “And you shouldn’t run with scissors.” Without another word, he turned and marched adamantly down the path.
Beth was laughing too hard to argue.
Chapter Four
Huckleberries had taken over Mammi’s kitchen. With Tyler’s help yesterday, they had picked five bucketsful, enough to make seven or eight dozen half-pints of huckleberry jam to sell at the Christmas bazaar. Making that much jam was quite a production. With mashing, stirring, boiling, and processing, it would take them all day.
Although it was hard work, Beth always looked forward to jam making day, especially when she did it with Mammi and her mamm, Sarah. It had been four years since she’d been part of a jam frolic. They would spend the day stirring, visiting, and laughing, and she loved seeing the bright purple jam glistening in the jars when they finished. And the jam tasted wonderful gute. Neither Beth nor Mamm were known for their cooking skills and Mammi was the worst cook of all, but jam only had five ingredients. It was hard to mess up.
Besides, Amos wasn’t here to remind Beth of her poor cooking skills. Food tasted better without the constant criticism.
Dawdi and Sparky’s job was to entertain Toby while Mamm, Mammi, and Beth worked.
After checking for stems, Mamm rinsed the berries in the colander. Once the huckleberries were cleaned, Mammi deposited them into every available bowl in the kitchen. The table and counters were soon a sea of shiny purple berries ready for processing.
Beth rinsed out the galvanized metal bucket. Every last huckleberry had been washed. She glanced at Dawdi, who sat in his recliner with a box of crackers and a can of Easy Cheese. He sprayed the pasty cheese onto a cracker and handed it to Toby, who eagerly ate crackers while playing with his blocks. Sparky cheerfully cleaned up Toby’s crumbs, which often turned out to be whole crackers with generous globs of smeared cheese.
“You doing okay, Dawdi?” Beth asked.
“Right as rain,” Dawdi said, popping a cracker into his mouth. “This cheese is the weirdest stuff I ever seen.”
Beth smiled. Everybody looked perfectly content on that side of the room.
Mamm filled a measuring cup with water while Mammi pulled a large saucepan from under the sink. “Moses stacked the sugar in the cellar last time he came,” Mammi said. “Can you manage, Beth?”
“Jah, of course.”
Beth skipped down the cellar stairs and had no trouble locating the three large bags of sugar that Moses had stacked against the wall. She propped her hands on her hips. How would she ever lug a fifty-pound sack of sugar up the stairs? What had cousin Moses been thinking?
She stooped and wrapped her arms around the top sack as best she could. Using all her strength, she managed to lift it a few inches before her arms gave out. Unless she wanted to break her back, she’d have to find another way. Huffing in exasperation, she grabbed the sack by two corners and grunted as she strained to slide it off the pile. It fell with a thud onto the cement floor, sprinkling grains of sugar as it landed. Hunched over like an old man, she dragged the sugar to the bottom of the stairs, leaving a grainy trail behind her.
Breathing heavily, she attempted to yank the sack up one stair at a time and almost toppled head over heels. Was it possible to rip her arms out of their sockets? Maybe she would have to leave the sack down here and bring the sugar upstairs one cup at a time.
“Can I help?”
She turned to see Tyler Yoder at the top of the stairs, with Toby in his arms and that deeply concerned frown on his face, as if a great tragedy had befallen her and he wanted to help any way he possibly could.
His expression made her smile. She took a deep breath. “Never wrestle with a bag of sugar. It shows no mercy.”
He came down the stairs carrying Toby. “Are you hurt?”
“Nope. Just humiliated.” She flashed a smile, hoping to coax him out of his distress. She thought maybe his eyebrows moved apart a fraction of an inch. Maybe not. The cellar was sort of dim.
“That’s a lot of sugar,” he said.
“It takes more sugar than berries to make jam.”
He nudged her elbow and slipped Toby into her arms. “He wanted me to pick him up the minute I walked in the door. I hope that’s okay.”
“Of course. You were his berry-picking buddy yesterday.”
In one swift movement, Tyler reached down and hefted the heavy bag over his shoulder. Beth’s tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth, and she didn’t even try to pull her gaze away as she instinctively hugged Toby tighter. Muscles had always been a weakness of hers. She pressed her lips together so a girlish sigh wouldn’t escape her lips. She’d rather not make a fool of herself so early in the morning.
Tyler tromped up the stairs with Beth and Toby following close behind. He propped the sack on the counter. “Is this a gute spot?”
“Wonderful-gute,” Mammi said, her eyes twinkling. “I’m glad you came by when you did. Beth needs a strong young man around the house.”
Tyler merely nodded and sprouted that worried look on his face again, as if all of the Helmuths’ problems had just become his problems.
Beth felt as if her cheeks had burst into flames. She bent over and put Toby on his feet. It gave her an excuse to hide her face momentarily. Mammi had been on her side about Alvin Hoover. Surely she wasn’t trying to shove Tyler Yoder on her. Both Mammi and Mamm knew perfectly well that Beth had chosen to remain single permanently.
Beth’s lips twisted in annoyance. Her refusal to marry wouldn’t stop Mammi from trying to find her a husband. Dawdi had told Beth that Alvin “wasn’t the one Anna wanted,” which clearly meant that Mammi had somebody else in mind. But it didn’t matter how big Tyler’s muscles were or how much he helped with Toby, she was immune to every good quality. She refused to marry ever again.
It was as simple as that.
Beth’s mamm took some scissors and cut the top off the sugar bag. “We could use some strong arms, if you can stay, Tyler,” she said.
“Mamm,” Beth protested, suddenly irritated beyond endurance. “We don’t need Tyler’s help making jam.” She looked at Tyler. “I’m sure you’ve got more important things on your schedule today,” she added, in case he thought she wanted to get rid of him.
One side of his mouth turned down. Beth wasn’t the only one irritated. “I’m waiting for Aden. Again. He assured me he’d be here at ten o’clock. That’s why I came at ten-thirty.” He rolled up his sleeves. “How can I help?
”
Mamm turned on the water and started filling the sink. “Wash bottles.”
Beth was tempted to point out that it didn’t take big muscles to wash bottles, but they’d already reeled Tyler in. Mammi had told Beth that Tyler liked helping people. He couldn’t very well back out now. He plunged his hands into the water and started washing.
“How old are you, Tyler?” Mamm asked.
“Twenty-three.”
Mamm nodded in satisfaction. “Same age as Beth.”
“How very nice,” Mammi said, gushing like a geyser.
Beth clenched her teeth.
Mamm was just getting started. “Tell me about your dairy. Is it making gute money? Can you support a wife and children?”
“Jah,” Tyler said, unsuspecting of where Mamm’s questions led. “I planned it all out last year before I got engaged.”
Beth tried not to let her eyes pop out of her head. “You’re engaged?” Unexplainable disappointment sneaked up on her, which she immediately quashed. How could she possibly feel disappointed? Tyler may be solidly built, but she didn’t in a million years want to marry him.
Tyler’s expression deflated. “Not anymore.”
Studying his face, Beth clapped her mouth shut and determined not to ask more questions. Some sad story had to be behind a broken engagement, and she wouldn’t force Tyler to relive the memories.
Mamm had no such reservations. “His fiancée ended up with your cousin Aden.”
Beth couldn’t keep her eyes from popping out of her head. “That was you?”
Tyler washed the jars with increased vigor. “Yep.”
“I heard the story, of course, but Mamm never told me the name of the jilted fiancé.”
Tyler turned one shade darker and glanced at Mamm. “I suppose you wanted to spare my feelings by not repeating it?”
Mamm nodded. “I suppose I did.” She waved her hand as if brushing aside the topic. “That’s all water under the bridge. The important thing is that when you do find a girl to love, you’re ready to provide for a family.”
“That’s right,” said Mammi, winking at Beth. “Somewhere out there is a beautiful girl who needs a pair of strong arms to take care of her.”
Huckleberry Christmas Page 3