Regina put on her Sunday best dress of sky blue linen and fastened the mother-of-pearl buttons that marched down its front. “Danke, Mama, but no.” She gave her mother the sweetest smile she could muster. “I am sure you have things to do in the kitchen. I will be down to help you in a few minutes.”
Tears glistened in Mama’s eyes as she gazed at Regina. “What a beauty you are, liebes Mädchen. She hugged Regina and kissed her on top of her damp head, sending a squiggle of shame through Regina. “I would not be surprised if Diedrich Rothhaus insisted on setting the wedding date within the month.”
Instead of bringing comfort, the compliment ignited a flash of panic in Regina. Dear Lord, give me time to convince Diedrich Rothhaus that I am not someone he would want to marry. As Mama left the room, closing the door behind her, Regina sent up her frantic prayer. Then she calmed herself with thoughts of her budding plan designed to thwart the life-changing one her parents had foisted on her.
Gazing into her dresser mirror, she watched her brows slip down into a determined frown. If Diedrich Rothhaus refused to marry her after all the money Papa had spent to bring him and Herr Rothhaus here from Venne, surely Papa would relent and let her marry Eli or whomever she chose. All she had to do was make herself repugnant to Diedrich Rothhaus.
She plaited her damp hair into two long braids. But as she brought them up to attach them to the top of her head as she normally did, she paused. Instead, she tied the ends of each with a blue ribbon as she used to do when a child, letting them dangle on her shoulders. She might as well put her plan into action immediately. Young Herr Rothhaus would doubtless find a girl who looked twelve far less appealing than one who looked Regina’s age of seventeen.
Diedrich splashed tepid water from the tin dishpan onto his face, rinsing off the lye soap. Herr Seitz had brought him into this long narrow room between the back door and the kitchen to wash up before taking Father on a tour of the farm.
With his eyes scrunched shut against the stinging water and soap, he reached for the cotton towel Frau Seitz had left for him on the side of the washstand. He couldn’t get his mind off the girl he’d carried to safety little more than a half hour earlier. Behind his closed eyelids, he saw again her big blue eyes wild with fear, shining from her mud-covered face. The face of his future wife? Though the image that lingered in his mind could not be called attractive, it was more than compelling. Something about the look in her eyes had made him want to protect her, reassure her.
Burying his face in the towel, he scrubbed as if to scrub the image from his mind. He must be daft. Did he want to end up like his brothers, growing old before his time trying to eke out a living farming with too many hungry mouths to feed? No. He hadn’t come all the way to America to become snared in the same trap into which his brothers had fallen before him. He must stick to his plan and let nothing—not even a pair of large, helpless blue eyes—distract him from reaching the California goldfields and the riches waiting there for him.
He dipped a scrap of cotton cloth into the tin basin of water and washed off the mud that still clung to his hands and arms. At the pressure of the cloth on his skin, he felt again the soft curves of the girl’s body in his arms. She had fit as if she belonged there. Despite the cool spring air that prickled the skin of his bare torso, heat marched up his neck to suffuse his face.
At a creaking sound on the stairwell to his left, followed by what sounded like a sharp intake of air, Diedrich turned. What he saw snatched the breath from his lungs as if Alois, the strongest man in their village, had punched him in the stomach. The prettiest girl he’d ever seen stood as if frozen three steps from the landing. Her hair, the color of ripe wheat, hung in two braids on her shoulders. They made her look younger than her obvious years. But there was nothing childlike about her gently curved figure. Her blue frock matched her bright blue eyes, which were at least as big and round as Diedrich remembered from the barn lot and seemed to grow larger by the second. Her pink lips, which reminded him of a rosebud, formed an O.
It suddenly struck Diedrich that he was standing before her shirtless. Glancing down, he watched a bead of water meander down his bare chest to his stomach. He snatched his waiting clean shirt from a peg on the wall beside the washstand and held it against him to cover his bare chest. He opened his mouth to utter a greeting, but his throat had gone dry and nothing came out. He cleared his throat. Twice. Had he lost all his senses? She was just a girl. Regina. For months he had tried to fashion an image to attach to the name. But nothing he had ever envisioned approached the loveliness of the girl before him.
She remained still and mute. Fearing she might fly back up the stairs, he tried again to speak. This time he found his voice. “Are you all right?”
“Ja. Danke.” She finally stepped down to the floor, though she stayed close to the stair rail as if to keep maximum distance between them. “Thank you for helping me… out of the mud.” Though she spoke with a hint of an American accent, her German was flawless.
“Bitte sehr. I am glad you were not hurt. Forgive me.” Turning away from her, he hurriedly shrugged on his shirt and began buttoning it up, praying she would still be there when he turned back around. She was.
“I am Regina.” Unsmiling, she took a couple of halting steps toward him.
“I am Diedrich. Diedrich Rothhaus.” Without thinking, he reached out his hand to her.
In a tentative movement, she reached out a delicate-looking hand that ended in long, tapered fingers and touched his palm, sending tingles up his arm to his shoulder. An instant later, she drew back her hand as if she’d touched a hot stove. Looking past his shoulder, she glanced out the open door behind him. “Papa and Herr Rothhaus are back from looking at the farm. You may join them outside until Mama and I call you for dinner.”
She slipped past him and headed for the kitchen, leaving him feeling deflated. Not once had she smiled, and no hint of warmth had softened her icy tone. Instead, her stilted voice had felt like a glass of cold water thrown in his face.
Fully revived from the odd trance that had gripped him at first sight of her, Diedrich gazed at the spot where her appealing figure had disappeared. As beguiling as her face and form, Regina Seitz was an enchantress chiseled from ice. His resolve to find a way out of this arranged marriage solidified. And if his prospective bride’s chilly reaction to him was any indication of her feelings in the matter, obtaining his goal might not be as difficult as he’d feared.
Stepping outside, Diedrich headed to the relatively dry spot in the lane where Father and Herr Seitz stood talking and laughing.
“Ah, there you are, mein Junge.” Herr Seitz clapped Diedrich on the shoulder, his round face beaming. “I was telling your Vater, I have wunderbare news. On my way back from Dudleytown, I met Pastor Sauer on the road and told him about you and my Regina. He is looking forward to meeting you and Herr Rothhaus and will be happy to perform the marriage whenever we like.”
CHAPTER 4
Regina looked down at her plate of fried rabbit, boiled potatoes, and dandelion greens and fought nausea. Not because of the food on her plate, which she normally loved, but from Papa’s enthusiastic conversation with Herr Rothhaus speculating on the earliest possible date for her wedding.
“By the end of May, we should have the planting done.” Papa wiped milk from his thick blond mustache that had lately begun to show touches of gray. “The first Sunday in June, I think, would be a fine time for the wedding.”
June? Regina’s stomach turned over. Unless she could think of a way out of it, in six weeks she would be marrying the stranger sitting across the table from her. She looked up at Diedrich, who sat toying with his food. Did the alarmed look that flashed in his eyes suggest he shared her feelings about their coming nuptials? Her budding hope withered. More likely he found the date disappointingly remote.
“Ja.” Herr Rothhaus nodded from across the table, a boiled potato poised on the twin tines of his fork. His face turned somber and his gray eyes, so like his s
on’s, took on a watery look. “Mein Sohn and I owe you and Frau Seitz much.” His voice turned thick with emotion, and he popped the potato into his mouth.
Papa clapped the man on the shoulder. “Happy we are that you and your fine son are finally here, mein Freund. Over the last three months, I have said many prayers for your safe passage.” He brightened. “And this Sunday, I shall ask Pastor Sauer to lead the whole congregation in a prayer of thanks for your safe arrival.” Then he turned his attention to Regina, and his smile drooped into a disapproving frown—one of many he’d given her since they all sat down for supper. “Again, it is sorry I am that you came all the way across the ocean to see our Regina, and she is covered in mud.”
Regina groaned inwardly. Did Papa have to keep bringing it up? And how many times did he expect her to apologize for embarrassing herself in front of the two men? Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she caught the hint of a grin on Diedrich’s lips, but at that moment he lifted his cup to his mouth and took a sip of milk, covering his expression.
Mama turned to her, and in the same coaxing voice she used to speak to Regina’s two-year-old nephew, Henry, said, “Regina, perhaps you would like to ask Diedrich about his voyage?” She rolled her eyes in Diedrich’s direction, her expectant look conveying both a summons and a warning.
Regina sat in mute defiance. There may be nothing she could do to stop her parents from forcing her into a marriage with this Diedrich Rothhaus, but they couldn’t make her like it. And they couldn’t make her talk to him.
At her reticence, Papa leveled a stern look at her and in a lowered voice that held an ominous tone said, “Regina.”
Diedrich’s glance bounced between Papa and Mama, but then his gaze lit softly on Regina’s face like a gray mourning dove on a delicate branch. “A rough winter crossing, it was. But thanks be to Gott, the Franziska, she is a sturdy bark with a crew brave and skilled.”
Regina hated that Diedrich had come to her rescue once again. Even worse, she hated how her gaze refused to leave his. And how his deep, gentle voice soothed her like the caress of a velvet glove.
The three older people launched into a conversation about the Rothhauses’ journey from Venne. Though he remained quiet, a pensive look wrinkled Diedrich’s brow. Then in the midst of his father recounting an incident on the flatboat during their trip down the Ohio River from Pittsburg to Cincinnati, Diedrich broke in.
“Forgive me, Vater. Herr Seitz. Frau Seitz.” He looked in turn at the three older people. “I have been thinking. You are right, Vater. We do owe Herr and Frau Seitz much, as well as Fräulein Regina.” His tender gaze on Regina’s face set her heart thumping in her chest. “The scriptures tell us to owe no man anything. And King Solomon tells us in Proverbs that the price of a virtuous woman is far above rubies.” He turned to Herr Rothhaus. “Vater, I feel it is only right that before any marriage takes place, we should work the summer for Herr Seitz. With our labor, we can at least repay him our passage.” His focus shifted to Regina. “And the extra months will allow time for Fräulein Seitz and I to get to know one another—which, I think, will make for a stronger union.”
At his quiet suggestion a hush fell around the table. Then the elder Rothhaus began to nod. “Ja,” he finally said. “What my son says makes much sense, I think. I am not a man who likes to feel beholden.”
Looking down at his plate, Papa frowned. But at length he, too, bobbed his head in agreement, though Regina thought she detected a hint of disappointment in his eyes. “In my mind, you and your son owe me nothing, Herr Rothhaus. But I understand a man’s need to feel free of obligation.” Smiling, he turned to Regina and Mama. “And waiting until September will give you two more time to plan the wedding, hey, mein Liebling?”
During the exchange Regina sat agape, relief washing through her. Vaguely registering Mama’s agreement, she could have almost bounded around the table and hugged Diedrich’s neck. A reprieve! It did not entirely undo the deal, but it bought her some time to put her plan into action and a real chance of escaping this unwanted marriage. She glanced up at him engaged in conversation with Papa and couldn’t stop a smirk from tugging up the corners of her lips. By the end of summer, Diedrich Rothhaus would beg to be let out of the agreement.
Over the next week Regina had managed, for the most part, to stay clear of Diedrich. Their only interaction was at mealtimes and after supper when everyone sat together in the front room listening to either Papa or Herr Rothhaus read from the Bible. To her parents’ chagrin, Regina began taking less care with her appearance. Only on Sunday and when she took her pony cart past the mill on the road to Dudleytown did she make sure that her hair was neatly plaited and her dress clean and mended.
A smug grin lifted her lips as she fairly skipped through the chill dawn air to the barn, swinging her milk bucket. The sunrise painted streaks of red and gold in myriad hues across the blue-gray of the eastern sky. The sight would normally be enough to brighten her mood, but this morning she had even more reason to smile. So far, her plan to turn Diedrich against her seemed to be working. Only rarely did she catch him looking her way, and she doubted the two of them had shared a dozen words since his arrival. On Sundays when the five of them all rode to and from St. John’s Church together, Regina was careful to sit between Papa and Mama. And during the week, the men spent their days in the fields plowing and planting while Regina and her mother worked around the house.
Her grin widened. This morning she had taken her plan to discourage Diedrich even further. Time and again over the years, Mama had reminded Regina and her sisters that a man would often overlook appearance if his wife was a good cook. Regina had noticed that Diedrich and Herr Rothhaus were usually the first up and out of the house each morning, often putting in as much as an hour’s work before returning for breakfast. So this morning, Regina had gotten up extra early and made two batches of biscuits, one the normal way and the other with twice the flour. It had taken some vigilance, but she made sure that Diedrich and his father got the rock-hard biscuits while she saved back the good, soft ones for her parents.
Remembering the look on Diedrich’s face when he bit into one of the hard biscuits, she laughed out loud. For a moment, she actually feared he had broken a tooth. But even more encouraging was the frown Herr Rothhaus had exchanged with his son when he tried unsuccessfully to take a bite of his own biscuit. Though the two men had smiled and thanked her, they were forced to finally abandon the biscuits. Somehow they’d managed to chew most of the eggs she’d fried to almost the consistency of rubber as well as the fried potatoes she’d carefully burnt.
As she neared the barn, she hummed a happy tune, trying to think of how she might destroy another meal for the Rothhauses. No man in his right mind would marry a woman who cooked like that, and no caring father would commit his son to a lifetime of dyspepsia.
In the barn, she made her way through the dim building to the stall where their milk cow stood munching on timothy hay. “Good morning, Ingwer.” She pulled her milking stool near the big, gentle animal and patted her ginger-colored hide that had inspired the cow’s name. “How are you this fine morning? Will you give me lots of good milk with thick, rich cream today?”
Settling herself on the stool, Regina giggled, the happy noise mingling with the cow’s dispassionate moo. “I shall be careful not to startle you with cold hands so you will not kick over the bucket like yesterday,” she said as she crossed her arms over her chest and warmed her hands in her armpits.
As she bent down and reached beneath the cow, a hard hand clamped down on her shoulder, and she jerked. Her head knocked into Ingwer’s side, causing the cow to moo and kick the bucket over.
Whipping her head around, Regina met Eli’s angry glower. She jumped to her feet. “Eli, you scared me! What are you doing here? You know my Vater will be very angry if he finds—”
“I thought you were my special girl. Now I hear you’re gettin’ married.” Not a trace of sorrow or even disappointment touched his green
eyes. The only emotion Regina could read in his twisted features was raw fury. For the first time, she felt fear in Eli’s presence.
She shrugged her shoulder away from his grasp. If possible, his face turned even stormier. He stepped closer, and for an instant the urge to run from him gripped her. But that was silly. She’d known Eli since they were children. He would never hurt her.
His fists remained balled at his sides. The rays of the morning sun filtering between the timbers of the barn’s wall fell across his thick, bare forearms. In the soft light, she could see the muscles flexing beneath his tanned skin like iron springs. He leaned forward until his face was within inches of hers. “So are you gettin’ married or not?”
“No, of course not. I’m not marrying anyone.” Regina prayed she could make her words come true. “And I am your special girl.”
“Not what I heard.” He eased back a few inches, but his face and voice remained taut with anger. “Heard you were marryin’ some German right off the boat.”
Regina waved her hand through a sunbeam that danced with dust mites. “Oh, it is all Papa’s idea. I knew nothing about it.” She didn’t know who she was angrier with—Papa for making the deal with Herr Rothhaus without her knowledge, neighbors who had trafficked in gossip disguised as news, or Eli for questioning her interest in him. “Do not believe everything you hear, Eli. I have no intention of marrying anyone, including the man Papa chose for me.”
Instead of diluting Eli’s anger, Regina’s words seemed to stoke it. Lurching forward, he grabbed her arms. His fingers bit into her skin as he glared into her face. “You’d better be telling me the truth. I let a man take a girl from me once. I won’t make that mistake again.”
Regina yelped at the pain his hands were inflicting on her arms and struggled to pull away. “Ouch! Stop it, Eli. You are hurting me!”
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