Second Chance Proposal

by Anna Schmidt

  She turned to face him and cradled his cheek with her hand. She removed his hat and ran her fingers through his thick hair.

  “Next week it will be a month, Liddy.” His voice was raspy with emotion.

  “I know.” And although she knew he wanted his answer, she also knew that she could trust him not to press her.

  She could trust him.

  Not only had John shown no recent signs of wanderlust, he seemed perfectly satisfied to give her the time she might need. He was content. He worked every day at the hardware store and in the evenings and on Saturdays he worked at establishing his carpentry business. He had even gone so far as to make needed repairs and renovations for members of the congregation at no charge. He had especially endeared himself to those women in Celery Fields who were widowed and perhaps reluctant to become too dependent on their neighbors, although that was the Amish way of things. John had a way of just showing up as if he had simply been passing by and noticed a loose hurricane shutter or a wall with some rotted boards. He would assure the women that they were the ones helping him to make amends for his past.

  Everyone in town knew that he was courting Lydia, but it was not their habit to speak of such matters. Courtship was private and that was a good thing as far as Lydia was concerned. For if things did not work out for them she could be sure that others would not speak of it—at least openly.

  But things were working out. These days she could hardly get through an hour without some thought of John that brought a smile to her lips. He was wonderful with Luke and Greta’s children, and sometimes he even came by the school during classes on some pretext or another. Her students looked forward to these impromptu visits. Even Pleasant seemed to be working hard to accept the idea that John was back to stay and that he intended to marry Lydia if she would have him.

  If she would have him.

  It was up to her. In so many ways it had always been up to her. “John,” she said now as she wrapped her arms around him and rested her cheek against his chest. “Is there a reason that we need to wait out the entire month?”

  She actually felt his heart beat a little faster. “I cannot think of one.”

  “Neither can I,” she whispered, and stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek.

  He placed his finger under her chin, holding her uplifted face to the minuscule amount of dusky light left, trying to see her face. “Do not tease me, Liddy.”

  “Do you still wish to marry me?”

  “You know that it is all I have ever—”

  She pressed her fingers to his lips to silence him. She would not allow him to lie. There had been all those years when he was away and thought only of his life in that world beyond Celery Fields, a life that had not included her. “Then you should see the deacon so he can meet with my family, and the bishop can make the announcement at services week after next.”

  “You are certain?”

  “I am,” she assured him, and she brushed his hair back from his forehead. “We have wasted far too many years, John Amman. I will not waste another day.”

  He pulled her tight against him, his lips brushing her ear. “I love you, Liddy. I have always loved you. We are going to have a good life together. I promise you that.”

  “As God wills it,” she added, with a silent prayer of thanksgiving that God had brought John home to her.

  * * *

  John hardly slept that night so anxious was he to call on Levi Harnischer, the deacon of their congregation, after services the following day. His uncle was not especially pleased that he wanted to take an hour off first thing on a day when he had orders to fill and customers to serve, but his aunt intervened.

  “Really, Roger Hadwell, the boy has been working tirelessly for weeks now. Would you deny him one hour?” Gert demanded.

  “An hour—no more,” Roger instructed, wagging his finger at John.

  And so the planning for his wedding with Liddy was set in motion. Once he had met with Levi, he knew that later that evening Levi would go to Luke and Greta’s house to meet with Liddy and her family, making sure marriage was what Liddy wanted and her family approved. Levi would then go to Bishop Troyer’s house to let him know that the planned nuptials should be made public.

  After returning from Levi’s and making sure he went straight to work unloading supplies and restocking shelves, John glanced at the calendar that his aunt kept hanging behind the counter. It was the fifteenth of March. Ten days hence the community would gather for the biweekly service, after which Bishop Troyer would make the announcement. By the middle of April he and Liddy would be married.

  But as he stacked lumber in the shed behind the store, he overheard his uncle talking with Jeremiah Troyer.

  “...no choice,” Roger said. “I mean if it has to be, perhaps now is the best time. We’re coming to the end of the term and, with Lydia and John planning their wedding, maybe this is God’s will.”

  John tightened his grip on a board and felt a splinter prick his palm. He bristled at the idea that it might be God’s will to take away the one thing that Lydia loved almost as much as he believed she loved him. What about the fact that God had blessed Liddy with a gift for teaching? What about the remaining children of school age who would not have the privilege of learning from her? What about...

  “Perhaps Lydia could offer private lessons in her home for the time being,” Jeremiah suggested. “After all, these hard times will not last indefinitely. In time the community will start to grow again and we can reopen the school.”

  John felt a whisper of hope. With their wedding only weeks away, the one thing John wanted more than anything was to assure Liddy’s happiness. She would be saddened by the closing of the school, but Jeremiah had offered a possible solution at least for the short term. Private lessons. In spite of his earlier reservations, it was an idea worth considering. There was certainly plenty of room to set up the front room of Liddy’s house—soon to be their home—for such lessons. And Liddy was such a practical woman. He had no doubt that she, like Roger and Jeremiah, would take the closing of the schoolhouse where she had spent so many years simply as God’s will.

  In the meantime he felt a real urgency to work doubly hard on building his business. For without Liddy’s stipend as the community’s teacher they would struggle to make ends meet on the small wages his uncle could afford. And if they should be blessed with children the financial burden would grow.

  With all of these responsibilities dogging him through the rest of the day John could hardly wait to finish his work. He would not be expected to call on Liddy that evening, because Levi would go to Luke’s house after dark to maintain the privacy of the matter. So, as soon as possible after bidding his aunt and uncle a good evening, John took a large piece of the wrapping paper his aunt used for purchases and rolled it up. Then he spent the rest of the evening making signs to post in Sarasota advertising his furniture-making business. And before dawn he rode into town and put up signs on every public bulletin board that he could find and still make it back to Celery Fields before the hardware store opened for the day.

  To his delight and surprise he didn’t have to wait long for his first order. That very afternoon Dr. Benson walked into the store and asked to speak with him. John knew the unusual request aroused Gert’s curiosity, but to her credit she called him and then left him alone with the doctor to talk business.

  “I’d like to order that cabinet we spoke about for my wife,” Dr. Benson said. “I showed her the sketch you made and she said it was exactly the thing. Name your price.”

  John’s heart was beating so hard he thought surely the doctor must hear it. He knew it was important to give a price that would cover materials and still leave a decent profit. Yet, it was also important that he not price his skill so high it would discourage other orders.

  When he hesitated, Dr. Benson named a figure that was
higher than John had been considering. “If you think that’s fair,” John managed.

  The doctor laughed. “If you knew what they’re charging for these things in the stores you’d know it’s a bargain.” He stuck out his hand. “Do we have a deal, then?”

  John shook Dr. Benson’s hand and grinned. “We do.”

  “Remember now. I need the thing finished and delivered on her birthday—June the first.” He tipped his hat to Gert, who had lingered in the back of the store and left.

  “You are doing business with the Englisch now?” she asked.

  “I need to earn a living.”

  “You have a job here.” She tapped her pencil on the counter. “Your uncle will not—”

  “This is work that I do after hours.”

  “Using your uncle’s tools,” she reminded him.

  “And how am I ever to have the money I need to buy tools of my own, Tante Gert? How am I to build a secure future and start a family?”

  Her scowl softened. “Oh, Johnny, is it never enough for you?” He understood that her use of his childhood name was deliberate. She intended to remind him of mistakes brought on by his decision to go out into the world to seek a future instead of building one with his own kind in Celery Fields.

  “It’s not the same,” he said, and was surprised to see tears well in his aunt’s eyes.

  “I hope not, Johnny. We would hate to lose you twice.”

  The bell above the door jangled and she hastily wiped her eyes on the hem of her apron before calling out, “Be right with you.” She turned then and walked to the back of the store, leaving John to serve the customer.

  * * *

  That evening Lydia waited eagerly for Levi’s visit. At supper she had told Luke and Greta that she would be moving back to her house at the end of the week. Greta and the baby were thriving and the other children had settled into the new routine of having a newborn in the house. They no longer needed Lydia to help manage her sister’s household.

  “I must make plans for the closing of the school,” she told them.

  “That’s not been decided,” Greta protested.

  “I am speaking of the end of the term, Greta,” she corrected. “But the truth of the matter is the elders are leaning toward a permanent closing for the time being, and that will require a great deal of work, as well.”

  “How can you be so calm about this?” Greta asked her later as the two of them washed the dishes after supper while Luke read the older children a story. “I do not see why the school can’t remain open,” she fumed. “In time....”

  “But until such time, Greta, it is the practical solution.”

  Still, Lydia was concerned about losing the income that her stipend provided. But surely with John’s wages they could make do. After all, they would have a roof over their heads and it was Florida, where the growing season gave ample opportunity for raising a variety of fruits and vegetables in the garden that lay between the house and the livery. Their needs were simple. Of course, if they were blessed with children...

  Knowing that Levi would not come until well after dark, Lydia walked down to her father’s house, that she and John would share once they married. She wandered through the rooms, smiling as she mentally arranged the furnishings to suit their new life. This small bedroom had once been a nursery for her and Greta, then it had been Greta’s sewing room and most recently the place where Lydia prepared her lessons and graded her students’ work. “By this time next year perhaps it will again be a nursery,” she said aloud, testing the sound of the words against a vision of the room furnished with a brand-new crib and rocking chair made by John for their baby.

  She pressed her palms over her flat stomach and closed her eyes as she considered all the changes that would surely come once she and John were married. “May it be Your will that they are happy changes,” she whispered.

  “Liddy!”

  John’s voice echoed through the house, filling Lydia’s heart with such joy that she could not help but hurry back down the hall to greet him. “I am here,” she called out.

  His eyes glittered with excitement and she was sure that he had brought good news, perhaps about the school. Perhaps, it would not have to be closed, after all. Perhaps...

  “I have been given a commission,” he said. “Dr. Benson has officially ordered a china cabinet for his wife’s birthday. And he will pay handsomely for it.”

  “John, that’s wonderful news.”

  “It’s more than wonderful, Liddy. With the money he is paying me we can manage a proper wedding trip, and with his influence there are sure to be more orders. Things are getting better all across the country and people are once again looking for ways to spend their money.”

  “Englischers,” she said. She wanted to share in his excitement, but the idea that he might once again be drawn to building a business based on the patronage of outsiders gave her pause.

  “People in Sarasota, yes. It’s always been a town that attracted people of wealth. They come down for the weather, to escape the cold, and many of them stay on. Or if they don’t they build winter homes here—homes that need furnishing.” A little of his initial excitement had faded. “I’m not leaving, if that’s got you worried,” he added, and this time she heard the hurt in his tone.

  She laid her hand on his wrist. “I am sorry, John. It is good news.”

  “For both of us,” he said, his eyes holding hers.

  “For both of us,” she repeated, because that seemed to be the assurance he needed. But instead of the smile of relief that she had expected, he frowned. “What else?”

  “I overheard my uncle talking to Jeremiah Troyer,” he said, and he did not have to say the rest aloud.

  “It’s decided, then,” she whispered, and looked down at the floor, suddenly aware that her shoes needed a good polishing.

  John pulled her into his arms and rocked with her from side to side. “We will be fine,” he said huskily. “I will make things good for us. Don’t worry. I will provide for you.”

  She raised her face to his. “We will do it together, John. With God’s help.” She saw the slight frown that marred his handsome features. “We have each weathered hard times before, John, and now we will have each other to lean upon when challenges come.”

  The frown was conquered by his smile. “I love you, Lydia Goodloe.”

  She rested her cheek against his chest, taking comfort from the hard strength of him. Surely God would not have reunited them if a match between them was not to prosper and thrive. Still, for all her happiness at having John back in her life, she could not quell the dull pain of disappointment that the school would close and her role as teacher was coming to an end.

  “Jeremiah suggested to my uncle that perhaps after the school is closed you might offer private lessons here. You could use the front room. The extra money could be a blessing when we have children of our own.”

  Lydia stepped back from him. “I could never charge our neighbors and friends for lessons. Of course, I will teach any child but I will take no money for doing it.”

  “Why not? You are offering a service in the same way Luke offers his services to shoe horses or repair machinery. Besides, you are already being paid for that work.”

  “Luke is in business. What I am paid comes from a general fund for services that benefit the entire community. Yes, everyone contributes to that but no one is asked to pay individually.” She saw that her answer did not satisfy him and once again realized that in the world where he had spent much of his adult life the very idea that a person might simply give away something that could bring a fee was not likely. “John, these are the children of our neighbors, my sisters. How can I ask them to pay?”

  There was a beat of silence between them and then John smiled uneasily. “Then we will make do. I will work at the hardwa
re and build furniture and in time...”

  She hugged him. “It will all work out, John. I am certain of it.” But it was only a half-truth. Liddy wasn’t sure at all, mostly because she could see that John was not convinced.

  He kissed her forehead and grinned. “Enough talk of finances,” he announced. “I believe that we have a wedding in need of planning.”

  “So we do,” she agreed, happy to have the discussion of how they would make their way behind them. “Will you want to live here, John, in my father’s house?” She had really never thought they would do otherwise, but their discussion of money had reminded her of the many times her father had expressed objections to her spending time with John.

  “It is your house now, Liddy, and if it suits you then it suits me, as well. Or we can start fresh somewhere else.”

  “I want to be close to Greta,” she replied.

  “Then this is the place.” He gave her a hug and then stepped back. “I have to get to work on that china cabinet,” he said. “Will you come to the hardware store after Levi leaves and keep me company?”

  “I will,” she promised as they walked together through the kitchen to the back door. “I’ll bring some of that strudel Greta makes that you like so much. We can have a picnic on the loading dock.”

  “You aren’t worried about someone seeing us?”

  “Let them look,” she said with a recklessness that was completely out of character for her. She felt giddy with her love for John, and for once in her adult life she was going to permit herself to enjoy that feeling.

  After John left, Lydia walked back to her sister’s house at the end of town. In her absence Pleasant and Jeremiah had arrived, bringing Bettina along in case the baby started to fuss while the family met with the deacon. It seemed as good a time as any to prepare Bettina for the news of the school’s closing that would soon be spread throughout the community.

  “But they can’t,” Bettina protested. “I had thought that after you and John Amman married...” She blushed scarlet, realizing her mistake in mentioning a courtship and marriage that were not yet properly announced.