The Amish Buggy Horse BOXED SET Books 1-3 (Amish Romance Book Bundle: Faith, Hope, Charity) (Boxed Set: The Amish Buggy Horse)

by Ruth Hartzler

  By the time more Scriptures were read, and Nettie kneeled for the silent prayer before the main sermon, she had all but made up her mind what to do, should she find the will.

  Romans 1:17.

  For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

  Chapter 15.

  After the church meeting was over, Nettie walked outside into the spring air with Melissa, who introduced her to the other young women of the community. Some Nettie remembered from her days at skul; others she did not.

  Nettie kept one eye out for Daniel, and could see him talking to some young menner. One mann she did see in another group caused her quite a shock. "Melissa," she whispered. "Look, over there, see that mann? That's Jebediah Sprinkler."

  "That's him?" Melissa looked long and hard at Jebediah before speaking. "I've seen him at church meetings before, but only recently. He's not from our community."

  "Nee," Nettie said in a low tone. "He's told me that he's staying with the Glock familye. He's only hanging around until the will is all sorted out." Just then, Daniel looked up at her and smiled, and she smiled back, before Daniel hurried away with other menner to convert some of the backless benches to tables for the meal.

  Nettie and Melissa walked down to look at the Schlabachs' herb garden, and before Nettie knew it, it was the youngie's turn for the meal. Nettie followed Melissa back inside to the room where the young women were to eat. They ate in a separate room to the young menner.

  Nettie sat down next to Melissa and looked at the cup, saucer, glass of water, and knife set at each place. In front of her was a veritable feast set on the table. Nettie fondly remembered from long ago the church spread, the combination of peanut butter, marshmallow crème, and corn syrup. Her mudder, unlike Nettie, did not have a sweet tooth, and would not allow Nettie to make anything that Nettie considered delicious.

  Spread on the table along with kaffi and meadow tea, were snitz pies, cheeses, red beets, pickles, bread, jam, and apple butter. The menu for the meal following the church meeting was always the same, so that a familye could not become prideful by having different, possibly better, food than another familye.

  As soon as the silent prayer before eating was over, Nettie spread some church spread on a piece of bread, while keeping an ear on the conversation. Up until now, the conversation had been about bopplis and about which young mann the girls were interested in, so Nettie pricked up her ears at the mention of Jebediah Sprinkler.

  "Poor Lydia," a girl was saying. "She was heartbroken when Jebediah broke off their engagement. She thought everything had been going well too, so it came as a shock."

  "Did he give her any reason?" the girl sitting opposite asked.

  "Nee," the first girl said. "Nee, not at all, but the strange thing was that within a few weeks, he'd left their community and come here."

  Melissa was listening to the conversation too, and she asked, "He's staying with the staying with the Glock familye, isn’t he?"

  "Nee," the girl said. "He was for a short time, but he moved into the B&B down by the stream. He told my bruder that he was coming into some money soon."

  "Perhaps he has another girl," the second girl said.

  The first girl laughed. "Jah, and a wealthy one by the sound of it."

  Melissa and Nettie exchanged glances. "Jebediah must be sure there's a will," Nettie whispered to Melissa, "for him to break off his engagement as soon as my mudder died and then come to this community. He can’t have been bluffing about the will after all."

  "I think you must be right," Melissa said. "He is certainly a sneaky one. Now Nettie, are you going to the singing tonight?"

  Nettie shook her head. "I think I have to work my way back into crowds slowly," she said with a rueful laugh.

  "I understand. I’d be the same in your position. Besides, I don’t like singings; I never go."

  Nettie was puzzled. "Why not?"

  "It’s all just matchmaking really, and I work in a matchmaking agency. It’s all too much like work to me."

  "Matchmaking?"

  Melissa laughed. "Jah, only the single young women and the single young menner go to singings. It's obvious, isn’t it?"

  Nettie was not sure, so merely smiled and nodded.

  "You don't need to worry about Daniel, though," Melissa said. "He never goes to singings."

  Nettie frowned at the mention of Daniel, but said, "I thought all the youngie went to singings."

  "I told you, only the ones looking to get married."

  Nettie could not resist asking, "But surely Daniel wants to get married?"

  Melissa simply smiled to herself.

  As their sitting of the meal was over, Melissa and Nettie walked outside together. "Are you going home now, Nettie?" Melissa asked.

  "Jah, but I can’t right now."

  Melissa frowned. "Why ever not?"

  "'Cause I want to avoid Jebediah Sprinkler, and he's over by the buggies." Nettie nodded her head in his direction.

  Melissa turned around to look. "Ach, well let's go back down to the garden until he leaves. We can keep an eye on him from down there."

  Nettie and Melissa went back down to the flower bed, talking happily. If it hadn’t been for Jebediah Sprinkler and the thought of the will in his favor looming over her, Nettie would have been happy. It was a beautiful, late spring day. The sun was shining; the birds were singing, and the fragrance of the flower beds was invigorating.

  "Look at the butterflies around the bee balm; aren't they pretty." Nettie pointed to the exotic, blue and black striped butterflies encircling the deep red, tubular flowers. "I'm not surprised that the Schlabachs grow bee balm," Melissa said, "as they're beekeepers. Mamm loves the honey she gets from them."

  Nettie turned to say something to Melissa, but she was looking over her shoulder. "I've got to run, Nettie, see you later."

  Nettie turned to see what or who was responsible for Melissa's hasty departure, and saw Daniel coming her way. How embarrassing, she thought, Melissa left so that I’d be alone with Daniel. I hope Daniel doesn’t think it was my idea.

  Daniel walked over to her. "Hiya, Nettie. Did you enjoy the church meeting today?"

  Nettie smiled up at him shyly. "Jah, it was gut, gut to be back in the community again."

  Daniel simply smiled and turned back to the garden. "You must love gardens, Nettie; are you looking forward to starting work in our garden this week?"

  "Jah, I am." And all the more so because I’ll see you, Nettie thought, and then was embarrassed as her cheeks grew warm. I hope I'm not blushing, she thought, so bent forward to smell the lilac bush.

  When she stood upright, Daniel was holding out some stems of lilac to her. They had the prettiest flowers of deep purple, edged with white. "I don’t think the Schlabachs will mind," Daniel said as he offered them to her.

  As Daniel handed Nettie the flowers, he did not let go as soon as she took them, and his hand lingered on hers for a moment. Nettie's face flushed again as she realized that he did so deliberately. He must like me, she thought, her heart all but beating out of her chest.

  Nettie did not know how to react, so unaccustomed was she to being around young menner, so said the first thing that came into her head. "I wanted to go home, but Jebediah Sprinkler is over by the buggies," she blurted. "I think he wants to speak to me, and I want to avoid him, so Melissa and I came to the garden to wait for him to leave." As soon as the words were out, Nettie was annoyed with herself for saying them.

  Daniel looked in the direction of Jebediah, and Nettie could see he looked none too pleased. "Would you like me to escort you safely to your buggy?'

  "Denki, that would be gut."

  Nettie and Daniel walked to the buggies, Nettie still annoyed with herself for bringing her time with Daniel to an end. She did, however, enjoy the feeling of being protected by Daniel. It made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

  When they approached Nettie's bug
gy, Daniel positioned himself between Jebediah and Nettie, and both of them simply nodded to Jebediah, who was watching them through narrowed eyes. Daniel helped Nettie into the buggy.

  Nettie drove home, daydreaming about what it would be like to be Daniel's fraa. In fact, so engrossed was she in naming their future kinner and imagining their happy familye life together, that she would have missed the turn to her haus, but Blessing took himself there anyway.

  * * *

  Daniel watched Nettie drive away, feeling Jebediah Sprinkler's eyes on him the whole time. He turned around, and Jebediah walked over to him.

  "Gude nochmiddaag. I believe you're Daniel Glick? I'm Jebediah Sprinkler."

  “Good afternoon,” Daniel said in return, and then added, "I've seen you around, of course."

  "Denki for looking after Nettie."

  Daniel narrowed his eyes. It was clear that Jebediah was trying to imply that he was courting Nettie. Daniel just crossed his arms and stared at Jebediah.

  Jebediah appeared to be disappointed that Daniel did not respond. "I can’t say too much, but we will soon be neighbors," Jebediah said, with a calculating look on his face.

  "Really," was all Daniel said.

  "Jah." Jebediah pushed on. "I can’t say too much," he repeated, "but I am soon to be married to a neighbor of yours."

  "Really," Daniel said again. "Well, if you will excuse me, Jebediah, I must be getting back to my familye."

  Daniel left, pleased that he had managed to hold his tongue and keep his opinions to himself. The nerve of the mann, trying to imply that he was going to marry Nettie. Well, no names had been mentioned of course, but the implication was clear.

  Galatians 2:16.

  Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

  Chapter 16.

  After the meal, Nettie drove home. The fact that Jebediah Sprinkler had gone so far as to break off his engagement and come to the community soon after her mudder died, did seem to suggest that there actually was a will in his favor. Otherwise, surely he wouldn’t have bothered to go to such lengths.

  Nettie set herself afresh to searching the haus. She started with the floorboards, checking to see if any were loose and thus could have something hidden under them. By the time she had been through the whole haus and not discovered any loose floorboards at all, it was almost dark, and she had to lock up the chickens. Her back was aching horribly from all the stooping over.

  Nettie came back inside after her evening chores, somewhat refreshed by the fresh air. Nettie made a heap of mashed potatoes and then made some beef gravy and ladled it out so that the potatoes looked more like a little island in the midst of a sea of gravy. She heated up some chicken pot pie to go with it. As Nettie sat down to her meal, she remembered that her mudder once told her that Englischers don’t usually mix beef and chicken in the one meal. I wonder what made me remember that? Nettie thought, as she spooned some beef gravy and chicken pot pie into her mouth.

  Nettie was also uncomfortable on the kitchen chairs she had brought in from the barn, as they were not as high as the other set, and she felt like a child sitting at a high table. She had taken all the old, worn, wooden kitchen chairs out to the barn, to avoid any possible further injury, and had fetched another set of old chairs from the barn and dusted them thoroughly. These looked the same age, but, while the previous chairs had weak-looking spindles, these were a most sturdy melamine with metal bases and legs. There appeared to be no parts that could break, unlike the ladderback wooden chairs, which had six weak-looking spindles under the seat. The only drawback of the metal and melamine chairs, apart from their lack of height, was that they were a most glaring, salmon-pink color. "At least they're safe," Nettie said aloud.

  After that part of her meal, Nettie was still famished. She looked in the refrigerator, and saw the banana pudding. This was Nettie's own recipe; she always substituted half the sugar for maple syrup, so it was a delicious, gooey treat. Nettie helped herself to a big serving of the banana pudding. "I wonder why I'm so hungry tonight?" Nettie said aloud. "Oh, I know. Mamm always used to say that people get hungry when they're tired. I haven’t had much sleep lately worrying about Jebediah Sprinkler and the will."

  The thought of the will spurred Nettie into action. She washed the dishes, and left them to dry on the rack, as was her habit. Her mudder had always said that drying dishes with a dish towel made germs grow, and her mudder had been obsessed with germs. Why she had so much clutter then, Nettie did not know.

  "I wonder if there's still something up in that cupboard?" Nettie asked herself. She dragged one of the melamine and metal chairs over to the refrigerator, and then climbed on it. When she opened the cupboard above the refrigerator, Nettie realized just how much shorter these chairs indeed were. She got back down and looked around for something to extend her reach.

  Nettie got the straw broom, and then climbed back on the chair. She poked the broom inside the cupboard, and found there was another box at the back of the cupboard, but, although the broom could prod it, she was unable to maneuver the broom to encourage the box to come out.

  Nettie sighed and climbed down from the chair once again. She looked around the room, and her eyes alighted on the heavy, wooden, kitchen table. That would do; it was certainly high enough. The table proved to be harder to drag than it looked. It was of quarter sewn oak, and was quite a sturdy table. Nettie was relieved by the time she'd managed to drag it over to the refrigerator.

  Nettie climbed up onto the table, and was able to see to the back of the cupboard. There was indeed a box, but old bits of yellowing, crochet lace were poking over the top. Nettie sighed with disappointment; she had hoped it would be a box of documents. Nettie dragged the box toward her and then placed it down on the table. She hopped off the table, and then sat on it to look through the box.

  At first, Nettie picked up the crochet piece by piece, but then simply upended the box. There at the bottom, was an envelope. Nettie caught her breath. Even upside down, it looked important, for there was a deposit of what looked like candle wax on the back, sealing it.

  Nettie picked up the envelope and stared at the back of it for a moment, before turning it over.

  There, in her mudder's handwriting, was written:

  The Last Will and Testament of Elma Swarey.

  Ephesians 2:8.

  For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.

  Chapter 17.

  Nettie shook and shook. She carried the envelope into the living room and placed it on the little, round wooden table next to the big, blue sofa, and then sat down, staring at it.

  This must be the will leaving everything to Jebediah Sprinkler. Was there any chance it was simply her mudder's copy of the previous will? There was a date next to the writing, but it had faded. Nettie peered at it until her eyes hurt, but could not make out the writing.

  Nettie walked into her mudder's bedroom, and fetched the magnifying glass from beside her bed. Her mudder used to read the Dordrecht Confession of Faith, a booklet of statements of belief, including salvation by faith in Jesus Christ, baptism, and avoidance of violence, among others. It also included the Martyr's Mirror, the testimonies of Christian martyrs, most of whom were Anabaptists who were killed because of their belief in adult baptism, and the Bible in German, the Martin Luther version.

  There was an oppressive atmosphere in her mudder's bedroom, and all the window-opening and spring cleaning since her mudder had died had not made much of an impression on it. Nettie hurried back out of the room.

  She sat back down on the sofa and held the magnifying glass over the date. There was no doubt; the date was the very year that she had gotten engaged, against her will, to Jebediah.

  There was only one conclusion to be had: the en
velope that Nettie was staring at was in fact the will leaving everything to Jebediah Sprinkler.

  * * *

  The next morning, Nettie got up just before the sun. She did not have many chores to do, but she had barely had a wink of sleep. Nettie walked to the living room to see if the envelope was still there. Yes, there it was; she hadn't dreamed it as she hoped she had.

  Nettie rubbed her eyes and set to brewing the kaffi. With a loud sigh, she sat down to sip her kaffi. A headache was forming at her temples and she tried to rub it away, to no avail. Nettie wasn't at all hungry, but forced herself to eat stewed crackers in warm milk. After that, she paced up and down the kitchen.

  The sun was coming up, and Nettie peered out the window at it. It looked like a fine day. Fine for that Jebediah Sprinkler, Nettie thought with resentment. Then she saw her old horse, Harry, grazing with Blessing in the field.

  A thought occurred to her as she looked at Blessing. He was technically homeless, as no one knew who owned him, yet hadn’t Gott provided for him? Then Nettie's mind was drawn to the Scripture, Matthew chapter six, verse twenty six: "Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?"

  Nettie walked into the living room and took up the envelope in her hands. "This envelope holds my future," she said aloud. Then she thought of Blessing, and Gott providing for the birds. "Nee, it is Gott who holds my future," she said firmly to herself.

  Three hours later, Nettie drove Blessing to the phone shanty and made an important call, and a further three hours after that, there was a knock on her door.

  Nettie opened to the door to a stooped Mr. Koble standing on the porch. "Come in," she said to her lawyer.

  "I must say, I was surprised when you told me there was another will," Mr. Koble said.

  Nettie nodded. "I was surprised too. As it’s sealed, I wanted you to open it."