Just then the barn door burst open behind them.
“Daett, I want to…” Mabel called as she rushed in.
Jesse let go of Emma’s hand.
“Oh!” Mabel stopped mid-stride. “I see someone’s with you.”
Mabel knew gut and well there was someone with her daett, Emma thought, and she had known who that person was. She surely saw my buggy outside. Mabel was here not just to see what was going on, but to break up whatever was happening. Apparently Jesse had arrived at the same conclusion from the look on his face.
Still Jesse managed a smile. “Emma stopped by, and we’ve been talking.”
“Oh…” Mabel shifted from one foot to the other.
“Come, shake Emma’s hand,” Jesse said.
“Nee.” Emma heard her own voice counter Jesse’s. “Mabel doesn’t have to if she doesn’t want to.” She knew it wouldn’t help Mabel’s opinion of her if she were forced to do something uncomfortable.
“I don’t mind.” Mabel smiled and came closer. “Daett, I need you to look at the washing machine motor. It hasn’t been running well this morning.”
Jesse appeared perplexed. “You should have said something before this if it wasn’t working. I’ll check it this evening, Mabel. Emma’s here right now, and you’re done with your wash for the day, aren’t you?”
Mabel nodded while offering Emma her hand.
Emma shook it, trying to smile. “I’m afraid my hands are a little dirty.” She turned both up for Mabel to see. Faint oil streaks ran across her fingers and into her palms. Mabel’s eyes darted from Emma hands to her daett’s and then up at his beard, where small specks of oil glittered on several hair strands.
It wasn’t that hard for Mabel to make the connection, Emma figured. Her hands had been in Jesse’s beard, and Mabel would think they’d been kissing, which they had—or almost had.
Thankfully Jesse didn’t seem all that concerned. He nodded as if to acknowledge the obvious. “Yah, Emma and I have been talking. I’m glad you came out when you did. I was wondering when we should tell you.”
“Tell me what?” Mabel stepped backward.
“That Emma and I are to wed before too long.”
“But Daett!” Mabel gasped. “Ruth was just here, and you know what she told you. How can you still do this?”
Jesse nodded. “I know this may seem a little sudden to you, and I understand that. But like I said at the breakfast table, what Ruth Troyer said means nothing to me. She didn’t say anything I didn’t already know. And Emma is the one I’ve chosen for my frau.”
“But…but…” Mabel sputtered, stepping back and almost falling over a bale of hay as she burst into sobs.
Jesse moved forward and caught Mabel’s arm. He helped her sit on a nearby straw bale, and then he sat beside her.
He would have put his arms around her shoulders, Emma figured, if his hands hadn’t been so oily. She waited as Mabel’s wails pierced the air and sent chills up and down her spine. I will not run away, she told herself. She slowed her breathing, willing herself to calm down. None of this was Jesse’s fault. And neither was it her fault. She had not chosen Jesse. He claimed this was Da Hah’s doings. So how could she run away even if Jesse’s children didn’t yet understand? She couldn’t, she decided, even if Mabel never learned to like her and even if Katie never came back to the faith. She needed to be strong now and stand with Jesse…with her intended husband. Only if he changed his mind and asked her to leave would she do so. She stood up and trembled as she walked to the bench where Jesse had been working. She looked around and found a clean rag. One was stuck in a corner where Jesse had no doubt placed it. It would do for now. She took the rag to him.
A slight smile spread across his face as he wiped his hands. Then he slipped his arm around Mabel’s trembling shoulders.
“I don’t understand any of this,” Mabel whispered, sniffling hard.
Emma pulled her handkerchief from her dress pocket and handed it to Jesse, who passed it on to Mabel.
“This may be hard to understand,” Jesse was telling her, “but like I told you this morning, I don’t want any more discussion of what Ruth has to say about anything. Ruth is not your mamm and she never will be.”
Mabel rubbed her eyes with Emma’s handkerchief but didn’t look up.
Emma moved over beside Jesse. “Should I leave?” she asked softly when he looked up at her. She could make a quick dash for the door, she thought. She wouldn’t be running away—not if Jesse agreed it was best for her to go. She could come back another day.
Jesse shook his head and reached for Emma’s hand.
Tears were close to coming again, Emma thought. How truly great this man was. He understood her anguish, but he wanted her to stay. Somehow he knew how to reach out to her. Somehow he knew what she needed. He even chose the right moment to give her courage to stay because he must have known that her running away would take more work later to fix. The way ahead might be long and hard already.
“Mabel,” Jesse said, his voice now low, “I’m very sorry that you find this disappointing, but this is very important. You are my daughter, Mabel. And I love you and will always love you. I want you to like the woman I choose as my frau. But in the end, that choice is mine alone to make. My heart has to reach out and find the woman Da Hah has prepared for me. You can’t be expected to see that, Mabel. No child of a parent who is making that kind of choice can always see what is right. I hope you can understand that a little. Can you?”
Emma looked away. Why did she have to be in on this conversation? She ought to be a thousand miles away while Jesse discussed this with his daughter. But she must learn to trust Jesse, just as she was learning to open her heart to him. If Jesse was to be her husband, she must be his frau in every sense of the word. And the sooner the better.
Mabel was still sniffling and saying nothing.
“I want you to understand that Ruth is not seeing things like she ought to,” Jesse continued. “Ruth is biased because she has her own interests to deal with. Yah, some of the facts she shared were true, but how she interpreted them was not. And she has no business interfering with what I know is best for all of us as a family.”
This produced a fresh wail from Mabel.
Emma shifted from one foot to the other. Obviously Jesse was getting nowhere in this attempt to convince Mabel. Should she try to reach the girl since she was going to be her mamm? But how would she do that?
“I think you’ll find that I’m right in time, Mabel,” Jesse tried again. “Once you know Emma and Katie better. But this has been enough talk for one day. I don’t think you’re making the best impression on Emma either. I’m sure she wasn’t expecting this kind of reception. Perhaps you should go back into the house now. I’ll get Emma back on the road again, and tonight I’ll look after the washer motor. Okay?”
Mabel nodded. Without another word, she jumped up from the straw bale and dashed out the barn door.
“I’m so sorry I couldn’t help you out,” Emma said. “I couldn’t think of a single thing to say or do.”
“That’s okay.” Jesse took Emma into his arms. “You came over here to talk with me, not deal with emotional teenagers.”
“Mabel has a point,” she said into his chest even as she felt his strong arms were close to squeezing the breath out of her.
When he didn’t answer, Emma pushed away and looked up into his face.
“No, she doesn’t,” he said. “Mabel doesn’t understand everything, and I’m not going to explain it to her. There are some things that are best left unsaid. And some things between a husband and frau shouldn’t be shared. Mabel will get over this. Leroy already has, for which I’m thankful. The others will follow.”
Emma hung her head. “I’m thankful you stick up for me, but I did do what Ruth Troyer said I did. Even if it was all those years ago.”
He shrugged. “And Ruth imposed herself on my household, showing up without my permission, turning the hearts of my children in
her direction with sweet talk and pecan pies.”
“That’s not half as bad as what I did.”
Jesse smiled. “I think that’s up to me to decide. And I have already done so. I want you as my frau. That is—if you’ll still have me after this commotion.”
“You know I will,” Emma whispered.
Jesse wrapped his arms around her again. “Come now,” Jesse said a few minutes later as he led her outside. “I’m sure you have things to do at home. And I have plenty to do around here myself.”
Emma followed him on wobbly legs. She climbed into her buggy with Jesse’s help. He untied her horse and threw the tie rope in the back. She waited until Jesse had come back around and stuck his head in the buggy door.
“Thank you again,” she said. “For everything. You know just what to say to encourage me. You don’t know how much gut you are doing me.”
He laughed. “I’m sure it’s not that much.” He motioned with his head toward the house. “I’m the one who is asking great things of you. Don’t worry, Emma. Mabel’s a sweet girl. You haven’t seen her at her best. Give her a chance to come around.”
“I hope she’ll speak to me,” Emma said wistfully. She could imagine moving into the house after the wedding with a mute Mabel glaring at her.
“It’ll be okay,” he said. “Look, why don’t you come over sometime next week? Bring Katie along, and we will try this introduction thing again.”
Emma nodded.
“I’ll see you then,” Jesse said, stepping back from the buggy.
Emma took off, leaning out of the buggy to wave at him. Jesse was standing in the middle of the driveway, waving back. There was no sign of Mabel. The house windows were empty.
Chapter Thirty-Six
The next afternoon Ruth made her decision. She closed the schoolhouse door behind her, leaving a pile of ungraded papers lying on her desk. Today there was something more important that needed tending to. She would visit Jesse’s place again and find out more about the matter that had troubled her all day. From what she’d gathered watching his children in school today, Jesse must have come to his senses and was ending this silly chasing after that strange Emma Raber. Although that hardly seemed possible considering how Jesse had ushered her so rudely out of his house last week.
But now, looking back, Jesse’s actions were understandable in a way. And she would forgive him. After all, he had been exhausted that evening. Her words must have been quite a shock to him. But now it was obvious something had happened, if the looks on Carolyn and Joel’s faces could be trusted. The fault might be hers in that she’d waited this long to visit Jesse again. Today Carolyn had sat at her desk for hours without smiling. Joel had refused to speak when she asked him what his sour mood was about. Likely Jesse was in meltdown mode at home, having been thoroughly embarrassed by the awful flaws in Emma he’d missed until she’d pointed them out to him. Men were like that. They had thin egos, and it didn’t take much to send them over the edge. Well, it was time to offer her sympathy since Jesse was no doubt ready to open his mind, if not his heart, to her considerable appeal. She’d learned from life that the opening of a man’s eyes to the world around him was not always a pleasant experience, regardless of how highly the preachers spoke in favor of it.
A man must be honest, the preachers said. Which was true, of course, but they never seemed to understand how important a woman’s role was in helping a man see right. But she understood, and she would give an understanding ear to Jesse now that he was willing to see the truth. She’d expected this moment to arrive once Jesse had time to think things through. She had to admit the moment had come more quickly than even she’d expected. This did speak well for Jesse—even though she would have taken him as her husband if it had taken him weeks to back down from his obsession with that Raber woman. That’s what it had been. Nothing but an obsession. Those sometimes overtook a man, and they needed correction. Apparently even Jesse Mast—the catch that he was—had his faults in that area. And she was exactly the woman he needed now that he was down.
Ruth slapped the reins against her horse’s back as she drove up the road. Carolyn and Joel would have been home for over an hour now. She would have followed them right away, but she’d had to wait until everyone left the school. And, as usual when she was in a hurry, there had been an accident. One of the first-graders, little Elsie Yoder, had fallen on the steps right after school was dismissed and cut her knee. By the time the blood had been washed off, her tears wiped away, and her leg bandaged, time had slipped by.
If Ruth hurried now, she could still be back by five or so to finish grading papers. If any of the parents who lived in the area noticed her early departure, they would be pleased to see a light burning later at the school. They would know their teacher was busy at her duties.
And if Jesse asked her to stay for supper, she would have to refuse him. There would be plenty of opportunity to see him later now that he’d come to his senses. His children were her first concern, but she could only spend a few moments with them this afternoon. Her other duties came first at present.
Poor Jesse must feel awful for the words he’d spoken to her the other night. He might hesitate to see her because of embarrassment. But the sooner one faced one’s mistakes, the better.
Jesse’s house came into view ahead, and Ruth slowed to turn down the driveway. No one was around the barn that she could see, but it looked like Carolyn had just run into the house from the front porch. The girls must be in the house with Joel, Ruth decided. This was gut. It would give her a chance to speak with Mabel and Carolyn before she walked back to the field where Jesse was probably working. Of course, he might see her buggy and come up to meet her, but she wasn’t going to count on that. Men didn’t usually face their mistakes that easily.
Ruth tied her horse to the hitching post and walked across the front yard and up the front steps. She was reaching for the doorknob when it opened to reveal Mabel’s tear-stained face.
“Oh my darling Mabel,” Ruth cooed, wrapping the girl in her arms. She squeezed so hard Mabel could barely breathe. Ruth didn’t notice as she gushed on. “I came as quickly as I could when I saw at school today that Carolyn was so terribly upset. But she wouldn’t speak a word to me about it, and Joel wouldn’t tell me much either. I’m so sorry you have to go through this. Your daett’s breakdown must have been an awful experience, and so soon after your mamm passed away.”
Mabel nodded and sobbed harder.
“Come!” Ruth led the way to the couch. “Sit down and cry all you want. And where is Carolyn? I wanted all day at school to give her a big hug, but the children would have started asking questions. And your family does have a right to some privacy while you go through this hard time.”
“She’s upstairs,” Mabel managed to say. “I think she was tired of seeing me cry.”
“Of course,” Ruth cooed, giving Mabel another hug. “But we’ll get through this. I really do think the worst will soon be over. That’s the way men are, but I don’t wish to speak ill of your daett.”
“You can say whatever you want about Daett.” Mabel paused to blow her nose.
“He’s really a gut man at heart,” Ruth assured her. “You will see that after he’s calmed down. This is how things go when men can’t see the truth and have to be shown by someone else. You must not hold this against him.”
“But it’s so hard,” Mabel said. “You should have heard him talking to us this morning. It was awful.”
“Yah, I’m sure.” Ruth gave Mabel another hug. “But the worst is over now. Your daett means only the best for you.”
“That’s what he says,” Mabel wailed, fresh tears pouring down her face.
Ruth patted Mabel on the arm. “At least he’s talking some sense. It’s a gut sign. Soon he’ll be completely back to his senses and won’t say such hard things to you again. But at least we can be thankful your daett has changed his mind about…well, about Emma Raber.”
Mabel stared at her. “Ch
anged his mind? What are you talking about? Nothing will change Daett’s mind about that woman.”
“I knew her past would catch up with her. I just…” Ruth suddenly stopped speaking. “What did you just say, Mabel?”
Mabel dried her eyes. “Nothing is going to change Daett’s mind about Emma. I caught the two of them in the barn on Monday night after Emma made a special visit over here. Daett was holding her hand and looked ready to kiss her. I threw a big fit, and Daett told me he’s going to marry the woman. This morning he told the whole family. Daett’s totally smitten, and I can’t do anything about it. No one can.”
Ruth’s mouth was agape, and she said nothing for a long moment. Finally she said, “So that’s why Joel and Carolyn were so upset. Are you sure about this, Mabel?”
Mabel nodded even as new tears formed. “We’re going to live with this woman now that she has snuck her way into Daett’s heart. Will you still give me a lesson in baking even if Emma Raber becomes our new mamm?”
“I just can’t believe this!” Ruth said, getting to her feet. How could she have been so wrong? Well, it didn’t matter. At least she was here now to help these poor children. “I must speak to your daett at once!” she declared.
Mabel snorted through her nose. “It won’t do any gut. I’ve tried everything.”
“You’re a young girl, Mabel.” Ruth pulled herself together. “A grown woman needs to take care of this problem. I will speak with your daett myself. Where is he?”
Mabel shrugged. “In the barn fixing horse harnesses, I think.”
“This can still be straightened out,” Ruth declared as she headed for the door. Mabel followed close behind her.
Ruth held her head high as she marched across the front yard. She arrived at the barn and pushed open the door. Mabel chose to stay outside, giving Ruth a little nervous smile just before she went inside.
Katie Opens Her Heart Page 21