by Anna Schmidt
“That’s it then?” Lydia pressed and he saw that she was fighting a smile.
“That’s a good part of it. The rest I will keep to myself for now.”
This brought a laugh from Lydia as she got to her feet and clapped her hands. “Back to work,” she called and Greta was on her feet at once, collecting the used dishes from the others and organizing the washing up.
On her way back to the schoolhouse, Lydia paused and screened her eyes from the sun with her hand as she looked up at Luke. “I want to thank you.”
“For?”
Lydia nodded toward Greta. “Whatever happens between you and my sister, you have seen her through a very difficult time. I would ask one more favor of you, though.”
“Anything,” Luke said and meant it. For when it came to Greta Goodloe he would happily move mountains if she needed him to do so.
“Do not hurt her,” Lydia said. “If you find that you cannot love her—that she is not for you, then find a way to quit her so that she suffers no public humiliation.”
“I have no intention of bringing Greta any pain at all if I can help it,” Luke said quietly. “The truth is that you were wise to suggest we become better acquainted for I have come to see that...”
“Lydia Goodloe?” Hilda Yoder was standing by the entrance to the school, her hands on her ample hips and a scowl on her face as she watched Lydia and Luke closely. “The sun will not stay out forever,” she reminded them. “And there is still a great deal of work to be done.”
“Coming, Hilda,” Lydia called, but before she turned away she looked up at Luke. “Just be very sure of your feelings, Luke.”
“I will,” he promised as she walked away. I already am, he thought.
As the work continued amid lively chatter and general high spirits, Luke was aware of the frequent lilt of Greta’s laughter wafting out from the open windows to where he worked. He found it comforting somehow—the nearness of her.
All around him the men shared news they had heard about the state of the world outside Celery Fields. Mostly they talked about the man who had been elected President of the United States a year earlier. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was from a wealthy New York family and yet according to what several of the men had heard, he was focusing much of his attention on those that had suffered so much loss over the last few years. Luke heard the term New Deal and wondered why such a plan might be necessary. If neighbors worked together and took care of each other in hard times, as his neighbors had helped him after the fire and as they were all pitching in together now, there should be no need for a “new deal.” He did not understand the ways of outsiders.
Above him the school bell clanged and he glanced up to see Greta balancing herself on the edge of the cupola as she reached to polish the large brass bell.
“Get down from there,” he ordered, his fear that she might fall leaving a bitter taste in his mouth.
“Oh, Luke, don’t worry. I have done this at least a dozen times—since Lydia and I were students here ourselves.”
“You were smaller then and had more space to work and...”
She paused in her polishing and studied him. “Why, Luke Starns, I do believe that you are seriously concerned for my safety.”
He saw a couple of the men working nearby glance his way, their interest suddenly on what was happening in their world rather than the world of outsiders.
“As I would be concerned for anyone taking such a risk, Greta Goodloe,” he replied, turning his attention back to his scraping. “But as you say, you have done this many times and after all I am new to all this.”
He heard the men chuckle as they returned to their work and conversation. That’s when he looked up at Greta, his eyes pleading with her to move to a safer position.
At first she gave him a teasing smile, but then as she read his expression, her eyes softened and she eased herself back inside the cupola. Seeing her on safer ground, he heaved a sigh of pure relief and found that he could breathe normally again. And once again it occured to him that breathing normally whenever he was anywhere near Greta—and sometimes even when he wasn’t—was becoming more and more difficult.
* * *
As the day and the work progressed, Greta’s thoughts seemed more fixed on the future than on the present—a future that it surprised her to realize definitely included Luke Starns. Surely it was far too soon for her to have such reflections that ran the gamut from what it would be like to be married to him to imagining sharing a home with him all the way to envisioning the children they would have. And yet she thought about all of those things and more. Where would they live? With more and more trucks and automobiles on the road would there be enough call for his blacksmithing skills and the use of the livery to sustain them? And what of Luke’s family? He never spoke of them. All she knew was that his mother had died when he was young and his father and three brothers still lived in Ontario. The brothers were married and presumably had children.
If she married Luke she would be coming into a much larger family than the one that she and Lydia had in Florida. She imagined summer holidays spent in Canada away from the oppressive Florida heat. And of course, Luke’s family would all come south to escape the harsh winters—many Amish families were doing that these days. They would hire a driver to bring them or come on the train or bus. This was allowed even though operating or owning any motorized vehicle of their own was not. She envisioned riding to Canada on the train with Luke after their wedding. Tradition had it that newly married Amish couples took several weeks to visit friends and family following the ceremony. Along the way they would receive gifts to help them set up their household. The idea made Greta smile as she completed the polishing of the bell and took her bucket and rags outside to start washing one of the school’s tall windows. Slowly she polished the same area over and over again with the newspaper she’d soaked in a white vinegar solution once she’d cleaned away the surface dirt and grime.
“You’re going to work your way right through the glass if you keep polishing that same spot,” Luke teased. He had moved his ladder closer to where she was working and was painting the trim above her. “And I’m not sure I can mend a cut as easily as I removed that splinter.”
Greta felt a rush of pleasure at his nearness. “Liddy likes for the windows to sparkle. She says the cleaner they are, the more light the children have to do their work by and that makes them better students.”
“She certainly has a way with those youngsters,” Luke agreed. He lowered his voice. “May I come by to see you tonight, Greta?”
But before Greta could reply, they were interrupted.
“You missed a spot way up there, Luke Starns,” Esther Yoder shouted, coming alongside Greta before she could respond and pointing to a place that Luke hadn’t gotten to yet. She giggled and glanced up at him. “Perhaps you need some help? I could hold the paint bucket while you reach those cornices.”
Greta’s mouth fell open. Esther Yoder was openly flirting with Luke when she knew—or thought she knew—that he was already courting Liddy. Of course he wasn’t courting Liddy at all. He was courting her. Or at least that’s what she’d thought until now when she looked up and saw Luke grinning down at Esther. He was giving the Yoder daughter that very same heart-stopping smile that he’d given Greta numerous times these last several days.
“Now, Esther, what would your mother say if I had you climb onto this ladder next to me?” he asked.
Esther’s giggle turned into something more resembling a cackle. “My mother is not here, Luke. She’s working inside.”
The brazenness of Esther’s invitation was downright shocking. The way Luke seemed to be eating it up was infuriating. “Luke,” Greta said, intentionally keeping her tone sweet and adding a friendly smile for Esther’s benefit, “if you’ve finished there, I think Lydia could use some help inside reaching the cobwebs that have gathered in the corners of that high ceiling.” Greta fought to hold her composure despite her annoyance as she squinted up at him.
> But when he turned the same smile that he’d offered Esther on her, Greta could tolerate no more. She gathered her bucket and newspaper and with a toss of her head went inside to find Lydia. “Never mind. I can ask one of the other men. I can see that you’re still busy here.” What could she have been thinking? Luke Starns was just like every other man she’d ever met—easily won over by sweet talk. Well, she would show him.
“Sister?” Lydia came clear across the room to meet her. “What has happened?”
“It’s nothing,” Greta assured her.
“But you’re so flushed. Are you ill? Perhaps too much sun?” She pressed the back of her hand to Greta’s cheek and it was all that Greta could do not to lean into the solace of her sister’s touch. “Is it Luke?” Liddy asked, her voice barely audible in the din of chatter from the half-dozen other people busy working inside the small schoolroom.
Greta nodded. “He’s no different than...”
“Now stop that,” Lydia chided, still keeping her voice low. She glanced toward the window and evidently surmised the problem when she saw Esther still standing at the foot of Luke’s ladder, gazing adoringly up at him and giggling at something he’d just said.
“First Josef and now Luke,” Greta murmured. “Why does that woman dislike me so?”
“Be careful that you not suffer the sin of pride, sister,” Lydia warned. “Besides, how can you think that Esther wishes to harm you by flirting with Luke? Let’s remember that Josef has recently quit her, as well, and like it or not Luke Starns is one of the—if not the only—single man in the community that most women would set their eye on. Besides, wouldn’t it make more sense if I were the one upset by Esther’s actions?”
“Yah, I suppose, but...”
“I would remind you that, in all the years you spent with Josef, not once did I ever see you upset when some other girl caught his eye. But Luke Starns seems to have caused you great distress when I expect that all he was doing was being kind.”
“He smiled at her,” Greta argued.
Lydia laughed. “As he is prone to do these days—ever since he started coming around and calling on you, I might add. God gave the man a wonderful smile, Greta. Would you deny him the use of it?”
“Neh, but...”
Lydia squeezed Greta’s hand. It was a warning that almost came too late as Hilda Yoder was suddenly there beside them. “Is something wrong, Greta?” she asked.
“Nothing at all,” Greta replied. “I’ve finished with the windows so Lydia and I were just going over the list of chores yet to be done.” She turned to her sister. “The cobwebs, right? I’ll get to them right away.” She picked up a broom and wrapped the bristles with a clean rag.
“Oh, Greta, you are far too slight to reach the corners,” Hilda huffed. She glanced toward the doorway. “You there, Luke Starns, come here and make yourself useful.” She took the broom from Greta and handed it off to Luke. “Greta can show you where to reach.” Then she smiled. “Or perhaps you would rather Lydia Goodloe instruct you?”
Greta almost laughed when she saw the sly look that Hilda gave Lydia. As if she knew a secret. But then the older woman’s face collapsed into the more familiar grimace that she usually wore. “Esther,” she called out when she spotted her daughter lingering near the doorway, her eyes on Luke. “I thought I sent you to make sure the young ones are doing a proper job polishing the desks. What are you doing in here?”
Esther mumbled an excuse and scurried back outside, her mother on her heels still lecturing her.
“That was close,” Lydia said with a sigh. “Do you think you two can work together without causing trouble?”
“I...” Greta started to protest but Lydia was already halfway across the room, calling out to Caleb Harnischer to stop visiting with Bettina and get back to work.
“Want to show me where those cobwebs are hiding?” Luke asked as he scanned the rafters above them. “And while we’re at it maybe you can tell me what just happened outside there? I thought we were...”
“We can talk about it tonight,” Greta said primly as she led the way to the back of the room. “There,” she pointed to a web that stretched across one corner.
Luke raised the broom and swiped at it until it was gone. The fact that he was smiling only irritated Greta more.
“Do you truly take such pleasure in removing cobwebs?” she asked as she continued to point and he continued to swipe, smiling the whole time.
“No. What I take pleasure in is knowing that even though you seem to be more than a little upset with me—for reasons I can’t quite figure out—you’re still going to let me come calling tonight.”
“We have things to talk about that cannot be discussed here,” she reminded him.
“Do I get a hint?”
“Just one—Esther Yoder.”
“You think that...” he sputtered, drawing the attention of others.
“Hush,” she hissed as she pointed to a far corner that forced him away from the prying eyes of the others.
“You can’t be jealous.” He had lowered his voice again and then he flashed that maddening grin of his. “Because that might mean that you care, Greta. It might mean that you care a great deal.”
“And what if I do?”
He studied her for a long moment, his tone softening into something far more serious than the banter he’d been exchanging with her before. “I want you to be very sure,” he said. “Because the fact is that I care about you—more than I would have thought possible.”
She felt her mouth go slack in response to her surprise at such a declaration. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that when I come calling tonight, I’m hoping that we might do more than just talk,” he said softly and as he then turned back to his work he was chuckling.
Suddenly Greta found that she was the one fighting a smile as she scanned the corners, praying to discover even more cobwebs so that she could stay close to Luke for the remainder of the afternoon. But in her mind she wasn’t seeing the dark corners of the schoolhouse. She was seeing the two of them sitting together on the porch swing, in the shadows of the night, and Luke kissing her.
Chapter Twelve
“You must be very tired, sister,” Lydia commented later that evening after she had declared the work on the schoolhouse complete and sent everyone home.
“Not so very,” Greta replied absently as she paced from the window of one of their two front rooms to the other across the hall.
“Are you expecting someone?” Lydia asked, not looking up from her mending.
“Luke mentioned that he might come by.”
“And you agreed? I thought that you were annoyed with Luke,” Lydia said.
Greta plopped down in the upholstered chair on the other side of the fireplace that they used to heat the front rooms on those rare days when the Florida weather turned chilly. “Oh, Liddy, I don’t know what I feel for him. I keep telling myself that it’s only been a few weeks. How is it possible that in such a short time I might have come to...” She waved her hands in frustration then clasped them tightly around her knees as if it were necessary for her to hold herself together. “To what? I have no understanding of my feelings when it comes to that man but these last few days...”
“Have you considered the idea that perhaps you are in love with Luke Starns?” Lydia said, her voice as calm as if she had simply asked Greta if she intended to make chicken or beef for their supper.
“How could I love him?” Greta protested. “Surely it’s far too soon.”
“God does not work on our timetables, sister,” Lydia reminded her. “If it is His will for you and Luke to be together, then why wait?”
“But how can I be certain?” Greta moaned.
Lydia lightly tapped the place on her chest where her heart beat. “You must pray for guidance and when the time is right then you will know it here.”
They both looked up at the sounds of footsteps on the porch. After a moment the swing creaked a
nd Lydia folded her mending. “It has been a long but fruitful day and I find that I am very tired, Greta.” She kissed her sister’s forehead as she passed her on the way to her room. “Let God guide you,” she said softly.
“Easy for you to say,” Greta mumbled as she remained sitting in the chair by the unlit fireplace. Then as she had done her whole life, she followed her sister’s advice. She squeezed her eyes closed and prayed silently.
After a long moment she heard Luke quietly calling to her through the open window. “Greta, will you not come out?”
“Yah, coming.”
Slowly she walked to the door and out onto the porch where she was surprised to see Luke standing rather than sitting on the swing. He took a step toward her and held out his arms and she did not hesitate to walk directly into his embrace.
“I am sorry for upsetting you earlier today,” he said as he folded his arms around her, creating a kind of safe cocoon that Greta found she never wanted to leave.
Was this feeling of coming home God’s answer? Was He showing her that Luke was the man she would spend her life with? Lydia had advised prayer and then listening to her heart, and while her prayer had been brief and interrupted by Luke’s presence, there was no denying what her heart was telling her in this moment. “It’s so late,” she murmured. “I thought you might be too weary.”
“Come and sit with me. I want to tell you something,” Luke said as he led the way back to the swing.
He sounded so very serious that Greta feared that he might have decided to quit her as Josef had done. But if that were the case, would he have come at all? And would he now be holding both her hands between his own as he sat forward on the swing so that he could face her?
The lamp from the front room cast its glow on her features while Luke’s face remained in shadow. “What is it?” she asked and the tremor in her voice gave away her nervousness.
He cleared his throat, revealing his own unease. “I know that the time we have spent together has not been long,” he began. “And it would be wrong of me to ask this without acknowledging that.”