Amish Brides

by Jennifer Beckstrand

  Reba felt more drab than ever as she looked at the beautiful dresses hanging around the room. There was one for Bernice, of course. And ones that matched for the girls. And one for Reba herself.

  Since Bernice’s sister was married and her cousin Sarah a widow, Reba had figured Bernice would choose another female cousin to serve as her attendant. But she’d been happily surprised when Bernice asked her.

  And next Tuesday she would wear that beautiful dress that matched Bernice, Constance, Hope, and Lilly Ruth and witness her brother’s second happy marriage. The thought brought tears to her eyes.

  Lilly Ruth tugged on her hand. “Are you okay?”

  Reba nodded and swallowed back her tears. “I’m fine.”

  Hope sidled up to her other side and took hold of her hand. “Then why are you crying?”

  Reba shook her head. “Sometimes we cry happy tears, jah?”

  Lilly Ruth’s freckled forehead puckered into a frown. Her blue eyes sparkled behind her clear-framed glasses even as she shook her head. “I’ve never heard of happy tears.”

  “It’s a big girl thing,” Constance said. “You’ll understand when you’re older.”

  “You’re not that much older than I am.”

  Constance sniffed. “Old enough.”

  “How about let’s stop bickering and go get a snack,” Reba suggested. She had a feeling Jess was out in the barn. And since neither he nor Bernice was around, Reba didn’t have reason to hang out much longer. She would have to leave soon before it became painfully obvious she was waiting to catch a glimpse of their handsome repairman.

  Not ones to turn down cookies and milk, the girls ran to the kitchen without waiting for Reba to follow behind. She set them all up with a snack and grabbed a cookie of her own for the road. “I guess I need to be getting home now.”

  Constance took a bite of her cookie, then looked to the door. “Are you sure you can’t stay longer?” She looked back to Reba.

  It was pathetic, really, how she was waiting to see him. The worst part of all was she knew Constance was thinking the same thing. She really needed to get out of here before she lost every bit of her dignity. “Jah, I’m sure I can’t stay any longer. I’m supposed to help Mamm today. I’ll see you all tomorrow.” She smiled and started for the door.

  Her steps slowed as she walked across the porch and down the stairs. She could always blame it on her ankle boot; a person couldn’t be too careful while wearing something like that. But really, her steps slowed to a snail’s pace.

  Where could he be?

  Why do you care?

  Pathetic was not even the word. She needed to leave this to God. Wasn’t that what her mom told her she should do?

  She grabbed a hold of the sides of her buggy and started to hoist herself inside.

  “Reba,” Abel called. She stopped, her breath leaving her in an audible whoosh.

  “Abel.” She tempered her smile so it just went from ear to ear. She was so happy to see him she was afraid it would slide right off her face.

  She waited by the buggy as he drew near.

  “Just the person I wanted to see.”

  “Oh, jah?” she asked. Friends, she told herself. They had agreed to just be friends. That was all she wanted from him. Friendship. She wanted to be a good friend. But it was just friendship. So why was her heart thumping wildly in her chest at the sight of his blue eyes and those dimples?

  “My cousin is having a get-together Thursday night. I was wondering if you wanted to go with me?”

  “Get-together?”

  Abel nodded. “They like to have a welcome summer kind of party. I guess there’ll be a lot of family and a few friends and cupcakes. You like cupcakes, right?”

  She laughed. “I absolutely love cupcakes.”

  “Then it’s your kind of party. Will you come?”

  Reba could scarcely believe this was happening. “Of course I will. I would love to.”

  * * *

  Maybe she should have made more than one new dress. What if Abel came by the schoolhouse on Wednesday? What would she wear then? She paced in front of her closet. She had the dress she had borrowed from Bernice, but that was what she was going to wear on Friday. Though it was brighter than the gray she had worn to church and the new dress she had just taken off, she knew she couldn’t wear it Thursday night to the party and again on Friday. And she didn’t have time to make a new dress tonight. She might be able to tomorrow night, but it was still pushing it. She had barely gotten the one made on Monday. She shook her head. Reinventing herself was turning out to be harder than she ever imagined.

  Her only choice was to wear one of her pre-reinvention dresses tomorrow, the dress she borrowed from Bernice on Thursday, and her new dress, the raisin-colored one, on Friday to the picnic. The way things were shaping up, she was spending all day Saturday tied to the sewing machine. It was the only way to make this reinvention work.

  * * *

  Abel had thought he’d been set up on Monday with the three little lunch coolers all lined up on the bench outside the door of Jess’s house. But today, seeing those same three little lunch boxes neatly in a row on the bench outside of Jess Schmucker’s front door, he knew. He had been set up. As much as he would have liked to teach three little girls a lesson, he knew he couldn’t let them go hungry.

  He hitched up his horse and headed to town. Yet he didn’t want Reba to get the wrong impression. He would have to explain to her that he felt that Constance, Hope, and Lilly Ruth were doing their thing again, trying to get the two of them together. And he knew she would believe him after all the things that the three girls had already put them through. He could only hope it didn’t come across as prideful. Jah, he would make a good husband. Someday. Maybe to even someone like Reba. If he could ever figure out exactly who she was.

  He had been surprised to see her yesterday in that drab brownish-colored dress. It looked like something his great grossmammi would wear. But whoever she was, Abel knew he wanted to get to know her better. And maybe, once he healed his broken heart, they might have a chance at even more.

  * * *

  Just before lunch, the school door opened, and Reba’s greatest fear walked in.

  “Abel!” the children called.

  Lilly Ruth actually jumped up from her seat without permission and raced toward him. She threw her arms around him, hugging his legs as she craned her head back to see him better. “Did you bring our lunches?”

  Reba started to tell Lilly Ruth to return to her seat when her words hit home. How did she know why he had come? He didn’t have a lunch cooler in his hands.

  She didn’t need to ask the question in order to get an answer. She already knew. “Lilly Ruth, sit down,” Reba finally said.

  Lilly Ruth gave Abel one last squeeze, then returned to her seat.

  Abel turned his attention to Reba. Why, oh, why hadn’t she worn the gray dress today? It was too small and horribly uncomfortable, but at least she would have been her reinvented self.

  Abel frowned. Was he looking at her dress?

  He couldn’t be. Men didn’t notice such things. Mamm barely noticed. And tomorrow she would have another chance to show him the new and improved Reba Schmucker. And for a lot longer than it took to drop off lunch then drive away.

  Just as they had on Monday, the children wanted to sing to Abel. They wanted him to stay and eat lunch, play softball with them, and help them with the remainder of their work. But he politely declined, promising to come back on Friday and spend the entire day with them.

  “Everyone, get out your readers. I’ll be right back.” Reba stood and followed Abel out the door. “I’m sorry,” she said as the door closed behind them.

  “For what?”

  “I think the girls are at it again. You know, trying to get us together.”

  He chuckled. “Whew! I’m glad you noticed it, too. I was trying to figure out how to talk to you about it without seeming. . . arrogant.”

  “They are defi
nitely up to something.”

  He loped down the steps and made his way over to his buggy. “They mean well.”

  “You’re not upset?”

  He gave her that heart-stopping smile. “How can I be? I’m flattered they think enough of me to want to add me to the family.”

  “They’re pretty smart kids.”

  He climbed into his buggy and touched the brim of his hat in farewell. “See you tomorrow night, Reba Schmucker.”

  She stood on the small stoop watching him drive away. Tomorrow night. Her and Abel on what could only be described as a date. “Looking forward to it,” she whispered. More than she had anything in a long, long time.

  Chapter 8

  “No no no no no!” Reba stripped the ponytail holder from her hair, released the clip barrettes, and grabbed her brush. She had spent so much time worried about her dress, she hadn’t given a second thought to her hair.

  Never in her life had she wanted her hair to look just right. But the sides weren’t rolling evenly, and the last bob she had created at the nape of her neck felt heavy and unnatural.

  She braced her hands on the bathroom counter and stared at herself in the mirror. She sucked in a deep breath, but didn’t feel any better.

  “Reba?” Mamm rapped lightly on the bathroom’s open door. “Is something wrong?”

  She took in another breath, preparing to answer, but what was she going to say? That her hair wouldn’t cooperate and tonight might end up being the most important night of her life?

  She couldn’t say either of those things. A man was supposed to look below the surface, not at a woman’s hair, dress, or figure, but to her heart underneath.

  She picked up her brush once again and ran it through her hair.

  “You’re not worried about your appearance, are you?”

  “Of course n—jah, maybe a little.”

  Mamm took her by the shoulders and spun her around. “Sit.” She closed the toilet lid and urged Reba to sit down. “You never worried about such things before,” Mamm said, and she began to fix Reba’s hair.

  Reba shrugged. “It’s no big deal.”

  “It shouldn’t be,” Mamm agreed as she made two perfect rolls on each side of her head. “But sometimes it can be hard not to worry about how we look and how others see us.”

  Reba met her mother’s gaze in the mirror in front of them. “How do you keep from worrying about it?”

  Mamm smiled as she scooped Reba’s hair into a quick ponytail. “Head down,” she instructed.

  Reba leaned forward and braced her forehead on her outstretched arms. A few well-placed bobby pins later, Mamm touched her shoulder. “All done.”

  She lifted her head to perfect rolls with a perfect bob. Reba turned her head from side to side, studying her mother’s handiwork. “Thanks, Mamm.” She stood and gave her mother a hug.

  “You’re welcome.” Mamm hugged her in return.

  “So, how?” Reba asked. “How does a person quit worrying about things like hair and appearance?”

  “Prayer,” her mother said. “Prayer and the good Lord’s grace.”

  * * *

  “Did you have a good time?” Abel asked as they made their way back to her parents’ house. She seemed to have enjoyed herself, but he was never sure of anything where Reba Schmucker was concerned.

  “I did, jah. And the cupcakes were delicious.”

  “I told you. My cousin Johanna makes the best cupcakes.”

  Reba nodded. “She should open her own business.”

  “Everyone keeps telling her the same thing, but it would be really hard for her considering the children.” Johanna was only thirty and already had six kids, three boys and three girls. She had her hands full with the family, too full to be making cupcakes for anything other than family parties. Thankfully, the Weavers liked to have parties. Otherwise, they would never get their fill of her delicious creations.

  “Speaking of kids,” Reba started. She shifted in her seat, half turning to face him as she spoke. “Are you sure you’re not upset about the girls? I mean, they made you make two unnecessary trips to the school.”

  “I wouldn’t call them unnecessary. They had to eat.”

  “And they would have been able to, if they weren’t trying to play matchmaker.”

  “There’s only two more days of school, and one of those is the picnic.”

  “What are you saying?” she asked.

  He gave a quick shrug. “There’s only one more day, and they won’t have forgetting their lunch as an excuse to bring us together.”

  “I suppose not,” she murmured.

  The thought made Abel’s stomach sink, just a bit. As confusing as he found Reba Schmucker, he enjoyed her company twice as much. Her no-nonsense ways and fresh attitude made him smile. And smiling wasn’t something he’d done a lot lately. Well, not the real thing. He forced smiles for months after he and Abigail broke up. Then living in Punxsutawney became harder and harder. The only choice he had was to move to Lancaster. And given the people he’d met so far, Jess and Bernice and the woman at his side, this move might turn out to be the best thing for him.

  Whoa, slow down. No need to go that fast. But the more time he spent with Reba, the more he wondered why some man hadn’t snatched her up already. True, the very first time he met her, he wondered how any man could possibly stand her bossy ways. She wasn’t bossy. She was unique. He found he liked that about her.

  They rode side by side, her shoulder brushing against his every so often as the carriage tilted with the lay of the road. He wanted to say something clever, but the words failed him. He wanted to say something charming, but nothing came. So he remained quiet, the only sounds the click of the horse’s trappings and the soft whir of the wheels on the road.

  “Thank you for inviting me,” Reba said. He could see her driveway up ahead. Their date was nearing an end.

  Was it a date? He had to think about it a moment. He said he wasn’t ready to date. He said he was taking this slow. He wasn’t in the market for a new love. Yet somehow he seemed inexplicably drawn to Reba Schmucker.

  Or maybe that was just Constance, Hope, and Lilly Ruth putting them together every chance they got. He wondered how he would feel if their interference hadn’t been . . . well, interfering.

  He turned down Reba’s drive and bit back a sigh. There was no going back. There was no way to find out if things would be different if she didn’t have three little matchmaking nieces. She did, and they had tried to make a match. And just because he and Reba had been thrust together, just because they were in such close proximity, didn’t mean there was more to their relationship than what was on the surface. Was there?

  He shook his head. All these thoughts were going in circles and confusing him even more.

  He pulled to a stop and sat there for a moment, debating whether to get out. Would she invite him in? Did he want her to invite him in? Even more importantly, did she need help getting down?

  “I’m glad you came with me tonight.”

  In the darkness, Reba nodded. The only thing casting the glow around them was the soft porch light.

  “Danki for inviting me.”

  He nodded, then stopped. “You’ve already said that.”

  She gave him a trembling smile. “Jah, well, I meant it twice.”

  She seemed nervous. What did she have to be nervous about?

  “I had a good time,” he said. He kept saying things, purposely trying to detain her. He wanted to spend more time with her, jah. That was true. He wanted to find out more about her. Who was Reba Schmucker?

  Tonight, with his family, she had seemed relaxed and natural. Now, at his side, she seemed anxious and a little uncomfortable. Could she be feeling the same thing he was? Or maybe she didn’t feel anything at all and was ready to get out of the carriage and run to her house, and he kept talking to her like some crazed suitor.

  “Do you still want me to come to the school tomorrow?” Now why had he asked that? Because he
was worried. He was worried that she regretted that invitation. And he didn’t know why.

  “Jah, of course.”

  Say something to keep her from leaving.

  He took her hands into his own, running them over her knuckles in a small caress. He wanted to keep talking to her, he wanted to keep touching her, he wanted to keep being with her. But if he didn’t come up with something clever to say, there would be nothing left between them. She would have to get out of the carriage and go into the house. They couldn’t sit there all night.

  “Reba,” he started. He really didn’t have anything to say after that, but knew that if he spoke her name, it was one sure way of stalling the inevitable.

  She tilted her head back and stared at him. Her eyes, bright blue, shining despite the dim interior of his buggy.

  Say something.

  But he had no words. So he did the only thing he could. He lowered his head and pressed his lips to hers.

  * * *

  Whoa, Nelly.

  Reba resisted the urge to put a hand on the back of her prayer kapp to hold it in place. With her head tilted back and Abel’s lips on hers, she was surprised it didn’t fly off in shock and sweet, sweet passion.

  He was kissing her! Really kissing her! And until this moment, she hadn’t realized that she had been thinking about this moment ever since the time she decided not to blame him for a broken ankle. That long. His kiss was sweet and sassy, teasing, and gentle. And she wanted it to last forever and ever. Because she had a feeling once he discovered who she truly was, there would be no more kissing. There would be nothing left for either one of them. And she wanted it to last just a bit longer.

  All too soon, he lifted his head. His expression was unreadable. His gaze darted about. In the dim interior, she couldn’t discern one emotion from another. Was he moved? Surprised? What if he was disgusted? It wasn’t like she’d done a lot of kissing in her days. Okay, so there was one boy way back when, but his kiss was nothing like Abel Weaver’s.

  “I shouldn’t have done that.” Abel’s words dropped like a dead duck between them.