by Anna Schmidt
* * *
Luke found himself smiling broadly as he leaned against the porch swing, his arms spread across the back of it. He listened to the sounds of Greta in the kitchen—taking out a dish and cutlery, uncovering the cake, pouring a glass of milk or water to wash down the cake—and he found that he liked those sounds very much. More than that he liked the image of Greta Goodloe in the kitchen preparing something just for him.
He closed his eyes and thought about how his life had changed in only a matter of days—the fire and then the way the community had come together to help him rebuild. The business with Lydia and now calling on Greta. He thought about how sitting so close with her on the swing he had been more aware than ever of the sheer life force that seemed to radiate from her petite frame and touch everything around her with its energy and power. In all of his life Luke had never felt so alive as he did in the presence of Greta Goodloe.
He closed his eyes and prayed silently that he truly understood God’s plan for his life and, if that plan included the possibility of a life spent with Greta, then God had surely blessed him. He heard her come onto the porch, the screen door closing with a soft thud behind her. He made room for her next to him on the swing and held out his hand to take the plate she offered.
In the light from the window he saw that she was smiling and he thought that he had never in his life seen a woman so very beautiful as Greta Goodloe was. “Das ist gut,” he managed around a large bite of the cake.
“So happy not to disappoint you,” Greta replied as she set a glass of milk on the floor near him and sat down next to him. She sighed heavily. “Do you truly wish to do this?” she asked.
Aware that they were no longer discussing the merits of her chocolate cake, he set the plate next to the glass of milk and gave her his full attention. “Do you? I saw you talking to Josef earlier today and...”
“It is unlikely that I will be able to avoid talking to Josef now and again,” she snapped irritably.
“I did not mean it as an accusation.”
She pushed herself more firmly back onto the swing and folded her arms. “He asked to call on me.”
Luke was confused. “I thought that he and Esther Yoder—that...”
“Josef is a man who has difficulty choosing what he truly wants.”
Luke took a moment to consider this. “But surely, in the matter of choosing a wife...”
“He’s always afraid that there might be something better—someone better.”
“Then he is a fool.”
“And are you any different, Luke Starns? You set your sights on Lydia and yet here we sit. What about that is so very different than Josef deciding to consider Esther?”
Any comparison between him and Josef Bontrager was insulting in Luke’s mind and his lips hardened into a straight line as he stood up. “Thank you for the cake—for the supper tonight, Greta. I can see that your sister and I have not given you the time you need to consider whether or not your feelings for Josef...”
“Please do not try and hide your wounded pride under the veil of pretending that this has anything to do with my feelings for Josef. I will admit that I am still reeling from the events of the last several days, but I know my mind, Luke Starns.”
Luke bristled. “This is not a matter of wounded pride,” he protested.
“Then what?”
“I like you,” he blurted. “Your sister saw before I did that I noticed you long before Josef quit you. In time I think that perhaps we could...that I could come to...” He ran his hand through his thick hair as he struggled to find the words. “The fact is, Greta, that...”
She was standing next to him now and in the lamplight he saw that she was smiling. “The fact is, Luke Starns, that you are seriously seeking a wife. My sister has spurned you and you have turned to me—also spurned. We make quite a pair.”
Under the light of her smile and her softened tone, he felt all of the tension drain from him. “We do at that,” he admitted.
And suddenly they were both laughing—laughing so hard at the ridiculous situation in which they found themselves that they were unaware of a buggy passing the house on its way out of town.
Chapter Ten
Over the next two weeks, Greta and the other women once again set out the lunch for the men as they finished construction of the outer walls, laid the floor for the hay loft and framed out new living quarters for Luke. As soon as the last shingle was in place on the roof, the men would go back to their farms and businesses and jobs in town and Luke would work alone with the occasional help of neighbors as they had time. There would be no further need to organize meals for the crews of neighbors and customers from Sarasota. Once the last dish had been washed after the last shift of men taking their noonday meal before returning to work, the other women gathered their belongings and headed for home, leaving Greta alone to finish cleaning up.
She stretched her back as she stood at the kitchen door of the house that her father had built before she was born and watched the men working. By sunset the roof would be complete. Within another week Luke would be back in business. She saw Luke walking across the high roof as easily as if he were walking on firm ground. He carried a stack of shingles and she heard the sound of his laughter as he set them down and began to work next to Roger Hadwell.
She also saw Josef glance to where Luke was working. He’d been about to start up one of the ladders leading to the roof, but then he had turned toward Luke and back to where Greta watched from her porch and stepped away from the ladder. He’d set down his hammer, wiped his hands on a cloth before drinking a dipper of water and starting across the yard toward her.
Greta steeled herself for the confrontation that was bound to come. It was clear to her that Josef had changed his mind about pursuing Esther Yoder. Pleasant had confided that news to her earlier when Greta had wondered what might be keeping Esther and Hilda from coming to help serve the workers.
“He quit her just last evening,” Pleasant told her. “She is devastated, of course, and Hilda is furious.”
Greta sighed as she watched Josef approach. So, he had changed his mind after all. Well, he was too late. The realization struck her like a bolt of lightning as she realized that her mind was made up. The idea that she needed to make a choice between Josef and Luke was no longer a matter of concern. Of course there was no way of knowing whether or not things would work out with Luke in the end. But for now she was more certain than she had been of anything in a very long time that it was God’s plan for her to give a courtship with Luke the time necessary to see where it would lead.
“Did you need some more lemonade, Josef?” she asked when he reached the foot of the porch steps.
“I need to know why Luke Starns was sitting—laughing—with you and not your sister on your porch the other evening.”
Greta’s heart beat a staccato rhythm as she tried to come up with some plausible answer that would not jeopardize Liddy’s plan to give Greta and Luke the time they needed to get better acquainted. “You must have...”
“It was not your sister’s laughter I heard—only yours, Greta—and his. Lydia was nowhere in sight.”
“She was inside,” Greta replied. It was not a lie. “Were you spying on my sister and me, Josef Bontrager?”
“I was driving by on my way home—a fact you might have taken note of were you not so engaged with the blacksmith. I have to wonder what Lydia thinks of your spending time with him?”
“She thinks that it is fine,” Greta said. “Not that it is any of your business. This is a private matter, Josef.”
“He is not courting Lydia. He is calling on you.” The way Josef’s eyes widened Greta understood that he had finally worked out the details to their logical conclusion.
“Again, this is none of your...”
“You will not deny it?”
“I will not discuss it.”
“Because denying it would be a lie and you do not lie, Greta.”
Before she could
form a reply, Josef had turned on his heel and stalked off. She watched as he returned to the construction site, packed up his tools, offered some explanation to Bishop Troyer and then drove away.
Once again Greta felt her chest tighten with the certain knowledge that by morning everyone in Celery Fields would know that Luke was calling on her and not Lydia. Once again she would be the topic of speculation and gossip. Oh, why did life have to be so very complicated?
* * *
After Greta told him later that Josef had uncovered their secret, Luke decided to take a ride out to the Bontrager farm. His plan was unclear. He knew only that Greta had been more than a little upset and he wanted to protect Greta from becoming the topic of fresh gossip in the community. She’d been through enough and through no fault of her own. What was Bontrager’s problem? Hadn’t he been the one to quit Greta? Hadn’t he been the one to make it no secret that he had turned his attention toward the Yoders’ daughter?
The Bontrager farm was an impressive expanse of plowed fields laid out like a patchwork quilt around a large white farmhouse, a whitewashed barn and other outbuildings. The property lay along a rushing stream and was surrounded by a split-rail fence. When Luke saw what Greta would not have, his heart went out to her. He thought about how she would have thrived in this place, turning the house into a home, the large yard into a playground for the children, the kitchen garden into her own private store of herbs and vegetables.
Forcing himself to contain the rising irritation he felt with Josef Bontrager for being such a fool, he tied his horse to a hitching post and walked up the path that led to the front door.
“He’s not there,” a voice shouted.
Luke turned to see Josef’s Uncle Cyrus standing in the doorway to the barn, a piece of straw dangling from the corner of his mouth.
Luke retraced his steps since it was obvious that the older man had no intention of moving toward him. “Any idea when he’ll be back?”
Cyrus shrugged. “I expect it’ll be some time—maybe a couple weeks. He left this morning. Asked me to watch over things ’til he returned. Something about needing to make a visit up north.”
“I hope no one in the family has taken ill,” Luke said and meant it.
“Nobody I know of and I do keep up with all of them wherever they are.” Cyrus’s tone was defensive. He squinted at Luke. “He owe you money or something?”
“No. I just... It can wait until he gets back.” Suddenly a thought had come to Luke that made his heart race with excitement. With Josef gone—possibly for several days or even a couple weeks—he and Greta would have the time they needed to discover whether or not they were right for each other unencumbered by her concerns about Josef exposing them. Luke headed back across the yard to where his horse was tied up.
“Kind of sudden his leaving,” Josef’s uncle remarked and Luke realized that the man had followed him. “Seemed kind of upset about something.”
“He probably just had a lot on his mind and wanted to be sure this place was looked after,” Luke offered as he mounted his horse.
“Could be. More likely it’s something to do with the Goodloe woman. He thinks he made a mistake there.”
“Well, it was his decision,” Luke said through gritted teeth.
“Yah, that’s true. I expect that he was thinking that as a practical matter a union with the Yoder girl made more sense—financially speaking. After all, these are hard times for everybody and Josef has got himself a big nut to crack running this place. The Yoders—as everybody knows—have a real steady business. Secure.”
Luke understood what the man was saying. Joining forces with the Yoders made more sense financially speaking than marrying Greta who had no dowry at all.
“But the heart knows,” the older man continued, “and that boy’s heart has always been set on Greta Goodloe.” He shook his head as he turned and ambled toward the barn. “I’ll let Josef know you came around once he gets back.”
Luke nodded and turned his horse toward town. He could not wait for evening when he could walk up to the Goodloe house and tell Greta what he’d learned. He wondered if she would see it as the opportunity that he did. Only time would tell—and thanks to Josef Bontrager’s sudden decision to take a trip, they now had that time.
* * *
“I hope nothing’s gone wrong with his family,” Greta said that evening when Luke told her about Josef’s trip. “Maybe somebody’s sick.”
“I asked, but I didn’t get the idea that it was anything like that,” Luke told her. “His uncle certainly would have known if somebody in the family had taken ill, don’t you think?”
“I suppose. But then where could he have gone? I mean to just take off like that?”
“Maybe he needed some time to sort things out. Seems to be common knowledge that he’s regretting his decision to quit you.”
Greta considered this as she and Luke sat side by side on the porch swing, the lamp in the window casting a pale golden light over them.
“Are you regretting his decision, Greta?” Luke asked and she realized that his voice had softened to the point where it was barely above a whisper.
“It was his decision,” she said firmly.
“But he might have changed his mind and that’s not an answer.”
Greta had to wonder if all men were like this—always questioning what her feelings might be, what they were going to be in the future. Josef had done that repeatedly, taking every conversation she had with any male and turning it in his mind into a flirtation or abandonment of him. “What are you asking me, Luke Starns?” she demanded irritably. To her further annoyance the man actually grinned. “What’s so amusing?” She sounded like Lydia now—Lydia would say something like that.
“Which question do you want me to answer?”
“Both.”
“All right. Second answer first—I was smiling because when you get your dander up you are a little like a spoiled child.”
“I seem to have to repeatedly remind you that I am not a child,” Greta snapped. “I am a grown woman—grown up enough to have been jilted once and now maybe yet again.”
“I have no intention of jilting you, Greta.”
She noticed that any hint of amusement had disappeared from his tone. “Then what?”
“When I learned that Josef had gone away for a while, it seemed to me that perhaps God was giving us this opportunity.”
“What opportunity?”
“To become better acquainted without the shadow of Josef Bontrager hanging over us. To consider whether or not your sister is right in her estimation that we could make a good union and to do it all before Josef returns. That way if things between us do not work out, you know that Josef...”
“Don’t you dare say that he would be willing to take me back as if I were some flawed piece of farm equipment or something.”
Luke surprised her by taking her hand between his larger ones. “Listen to me, Greta, and hear me clearly. There is not a flaw in you that I can see. If things do not work out for us it will be because you found flaw with me—that you realized that a union with me would not make you happy.”
She studied him, his features now fully revealed in the lamplight and realized that he was serious. “And how will we know this?”
He ducked his head for a moment and his thick, dark hair fell across his forehead. Greta had to resist the urge to brush it back with her fingers. When he looked up he was smiling and that smile had a way of making her heart beat a lot faster than was normal. “I suggest that we could start by thinking we might wed, then we could spend these evenings talking about what being married to each other might look like.”
“What it might look like? I don’t understand.”
“You know, we could imagine how we would be together, what we would do, what we would talk about, what things we share in common and how we may differ.”
“And then?”
He tossed his head like a horse clearing the errant strands of hair
. “I don’t know. I mean I just came up with the idea this afternoon after I learned that Josef had gone away. Don’t you see? It’s like God is giving us the time we need to figure this all out.”
It gave her comfort to see in his expression and hear in his voice that he was as confused about this entire business as she was. But like Lydia he had laid out a plan—one that just might work—while she had come up with nothing at all.
“Very well,” she said, pulling her hands free of his and sitting back in the swing so that they were side by side but no longer facing each other. “How do we begin?”
There was a moment of silence that stretched on for long enough that she glanced his way and saw that he was smiling—yet again. Then he stood up and held out both hands to her.
“What?” she demanded as she came to her feet and realized the two of them were fully concealed in darkness now.
“Well, I was thinking that in courting it’s sometimes getting that first kiss out of the way that can break the ice, so to speak. You know, it sets both parties more at their ease not having to think about when or even if it will happen.”
“You wish to kiss me?”
“Very, very much,” Luke said huskily as he drew her closer. “If you would agree.”
His mouth was no more than a whisper’s distance from her own and she realized that she had raised onto her toes to meet him halfway. “I think that would be a good start,” she said.
“Das ist gut,” Luke murmured as his lips skimmed hers.
Greta and Josef had kissed, of course. After all, they had been a couple for most of their teen years. But Josef’s wet, almost desperate kisses were nothing at all like Luke’s full lips touching her face. His kiss darted and teased as his lips met her lips and then skittered to her cheeks and onto her eyelids, squeezed shut to savor the experience. And just when she thought that her knees might buckle with the sheer pleasure of being in his arms, he tightened his embrace and kissed her fully on the mouth for what seemed an eternity and yet was over in an instant.