A Wedding for Julia

by Vannetta Chapman

  “Only two classes. I’m a senior this year, so I go half days—well, not even that long. I’m out by eleven.”

  Sharon nodded as if she understood, but to her what he’d just said didn’t make any sense. She thought all Englisch students went to school through the twelfth grade.

  Wess stood up and stuffed the money in his pockets. “At this rate, I’ll be able to buy—”

  But before he could finish, the front door opened and a woman walked in with two small girls. The mother was probably Julia’s age but with short red hair. The girls were young. One looked to be five or six. She had brown hair pulled into two ponytails and was holding a baby doll. The other was a few years older and had red hair like her mother, which she wore in a single long braid. She was holding a small dog, who was wearing a sweater.

  The second both girls saw Wess, they let out a screech and ran across the room.

  Chapter 23

  Victoria, I told you to leave that dog on the front porch.”

  “I can’t leave Bandit outside. He would feel terrible!”

  Julia heard the voices and the commotion in the front room. She walked in as Victoria was handing a small dog over to Wess. The little pooch was about the size of a stuffed animal, with a lot of brown hair that one of the girls had tried to pull into ponytails. The sweater he was wearing said, “Beware of Dog.”

  “I’m sorry, Julia. I explained to them you don’t have pets in your home.”

  “It’s not a problem. I’m guessing by that sweater that…”

  “Bandit.” Both girls supplied his name.

  “I’m guessing Bandit isn’t just any pet.”

  “See, Mom? I told you she’d understand.” Victoria scratched the small dog between the ears, and he responded with a yip.

  “They wanted to walk over to see Wess at work, but we try to take Bandit for a walk every afternoon to use up some of his energy.”

  “Beware of dog. Is he dangerous?”

  “Only in his mind,” Jeanette said, with a laugh. “He thinks he’s much larger than he is and quite ferocious.”

  Wess tried to hand the dog to Sharon, but she stepped away from him.

  “Tell me you’re not afraid of dogs.”

  “Nein.”

  “Especially itty-bitty dogs.”

  “I’m not.”

  “Then hold him. He wants to say hi.”

  Both girls giggled.

  “He likes you,” Zoey declared.

  Julia wondered if the young girl was talking about Bandit or Wess. Sharon accepted the dog, but she made the mistake of holding him up in the air in front of her. Bandit pushed his nose forward and licked her on the face.

  “Oh!” She dropped Bandit back into Wess’s arms.

  “It’s official now. You’re friends for life.”

  Sharon shook her head and wiped at the wet spot near the right side of her mouth.

  “He does that to me all the time.” Zoey reached up and patted Sharon’s arm. “Don’t worry. His germs are good germs.”

  Which caused them all to laugh, even Sharon.

  Julia walked the Elliots to the door, though she noticed that Sharon slipped out the back way.

  “We couldn’t have done it without Wess today. I don’t know what I was thinking. There’s no way Sharon and I can handle everything alone.”

  “That’s wonderful.” Jeanette stopped, turned, and gave her a hug. “Your first day and already the café is a success.”

  “I don’t know about that. We’ll see how many of our customers return and how the winter months go.”

  “One day at a time. Or in your case, maybe we should say one meal at a time. I have no doubt your customers will return and tell their friends. I’m so excited for you.”

  “I wanted to speak with you and Wess about his returning. We could use his help each afternoon.”

  As they all filed out onto the porch, Jeanette looked up at her son. “Are you interested in part-time employment?”

  “Sure. I don’t have much else to do,” Wess said, tugging at his ponytail.

  There was a story about his hairstyle, Julia was sure. Sooner or later he would tell them. Even as he answered his mother, he was glancing back through the open door, looking for Sharon. Jeanette and Julia’s eyes met, and they shared a smile.

  While Julia didn’t want Sharon to be involved with another boy, especially an Englisch boy, the young girl could use some friends her age.

  “As long as your grades don’t suffer, it sounds like a good arrangement to me.”

  “Mom. Seriously? Have my grades ever suffered?”

  “There was the one time you became obsessed with that video game and you—”

  “I was twelve years old, and you’re still bringing that up!”

  “Just saying…”

  “Just saying,” both girls echoed.

  Wess set Bandit on the ground and handed his leash to Victoria. The leash was black leather with shiny jeweled decorations. Julia knew the Elliotts were embracing the simple life. Tim had been farming their way for more than a year. Jeanette had shared with her that she’d begun sewing the girls’ clothes, and they were attending church again for the first time in years. She was also working with the children to cut back on television and computer time.

  Simple things, which often seemed difficult for Englischers.

  The Elliotts were adjusting well.

  As they walked home next door, Bandit’s fancy leash caught and reflected the last of the day’s light. Everyone was apparently on board with a simpler lifestyle except the dog.

  Dinner was good, as usual.

  Caleb was tired from his day of loading and unloading orders. He’d arranged to cut his workdays back to three days a week—Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. That way he could help around the café and also tend to things on the property the other days of the week. His boss had been willing to consider the new arrangement. Caleb had been working there a year, he was a good employee, and he had agreed to try to deliver five days of orders in three.

  It had worked out, but he and Red were exhausted.

  There had been no time to stop and chat during his deliveries, and he’d actually eaten the lunch Julia had packed while he was driving. In the old days he’d often take an hour off to sit by Pebble Creek. Those days were over now. The upside was that tomorrow he would be home.

  Looking around the table, he was thankful his boss had agreed to the new hours. His family looked as if they might fall asleep in their soup.

  “Tell me about your day. Which part was busiest? What part was slow? And did you have any difficult customers?”

  At first Julia was the only one who spoke, her eyes sparkling and energy returning to her voice as she relived the day’s events. He could tell by listening to the details how much the opening of the café had meant to her. Her enthusiasm pulled on his heart and caused him to care for her even more than he had. It was a thing that would have been hard to explain. He wanted to do whatever was necessary to give her another day just like today, to give her a whole string of them.

  Soon Ada joined in, describing an old Englisch couple who sat in the front room and didn’t speak to each other at all—until the man had reached across the table and helped himself to something on the woman’s plate. She had feared there was going to be a fight. Sharon started laughing then and told about the children. She’d thought they would all be in school, but there were plenty of younger children brought by their parents and grandparents.

  “A successful day,” Caleb declared.

  Julia sighed as she pushed her plate away and pulled out her list. “We might have had a little too much success. I thought I would get more of the cooking done for tomorrow. Now it’s late, and I still need to make desserts, sandwich spread, and two vegetable casseroles.”

  Ada yawned and Sharon slumped in her chair.

  “It can’t be so bad.”

  “Maybe we could get up early,” Sharon suggested.

  “Nein. We’re
already getting up early to put the breakfast casseroles in. Tomorrow will be better. I’ll be more organized and work on the next day’s meals whenever I have a free moment.”

  “How are you going to do that?” Caleb asked.

  “I won’t need to help Sharon because Wess will be here.”

  “Wess was here today,” Sharon pointed out.

  “True, but he didn’t come over until Jeanette saw all the cars. Tomorrow he’ll get here as soon as his classes are out.”

  “And I’ll be faster at making change.” Sharon stood. “Which reminds me that I want to make sure we have plenty of everything we need in the cash box.”

  “I can do that,” Ada said. “I might be old, but I can still count dimes and quarters.”

  The extra activity in the house seemed to have invigorated Julia’s mother. Although she’d apparently needed to rest a few times, her color was good, her eyes sparkled, and her hands looked better than Caleb had ever seen them. They were curved but not cramped.

  “And I can help with the cooking.” Caleb put his hands on his hips when everyone stared at him. “Are you saying a man can’t cook? Just tell me what to do.”

  Julia started laughing, but she agreed it was a plan.

  “I can wash up the dishes while you two are cooking.” Sharon started up out of her chair, but she reached for the table when she stumbled.

  Julia was at her side immediately, easing her back into the chair. “Are you dizzy again?”

  “Possibly a little, but it’s nothing.”

  “I want you upstairs resting.”

  “But—”

  “Nein. Upstairs. We need you tomorrow, and it has been a long day.”

  Instead of arguing, Sharon ducked her head, stood slowly, and made her way out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

  Caleb helped carry the dishes to the sink. He didn’t bring the subject of Sharon up until he heard water running upstairs. “What do you think is wrong?”

  “I’m not sure. She didn’t eat.”

  “She never eats, and she barely sleeps,” Ada said. She’d retrieved the cash box and was checking the ones, fives, tens, and twenties. They had decided they would start each day with two hundred dollars in the cash box and keep the rest of the money upstairs, ready to be deposited in the bank at the end of the week.

  Caleb rolled up his sleeves and began running dishwater. “Has she talked to either of you about what happened in Monroe?”

  Both women shook their head.

  “She hasn’t said a word to me either, but she seems to like it here.”

  “Liking it is one thing.” Julia set her ingredients on the counter—bologna, onions, cheese, and pickles, and then she washed her hands at the sink. “But a body has to have food and rest. I’m worried about her.”

  “Gotte makes His people strong.” Ada broke open a roll of quarters and dropped them into the appropriate compartment.

  “Ada’s right. Gotte will make Sharon strong. We need to give her time.”

  Julia began measuring and chopping the meat, cheese, and onions. The ingredients quickly filled up the large ceramic bowl as she worked. She added mustard and mayonnaise, put her hands in the bowl and began to mix the spread together. Finally she admitted, “I still worry.”

  Ada cracked open a roll of pennies. “God gives His people peace.”

  “Ya, I know, mamm, but maybe we should do something.”

  “Keep praying,” Ada said. “Pray and cook and be there for her. Sharon’s a gut girl. She’ll be fine.”

  “I suppose.” Julia added pickles to her mixture.

  “Are you making Guey Louie sandwiches?” Caleb asked. His stomach was full, but maybe not completely full.

  “Ya. Wednesday is Guey Louie day or vegetable soup. Didn’t you read the menu?” She pulled out four packages of buns, filled them with the mixture, and wrapped them in foil.

  “I read the menu, but I didn’t pay attention to it so much. Maybe you should let me try one of those when they come out of the oven.”

  “Then I’ll only have thirty-one.”

  “Thirty-one is a gut number.”

  “You already ate.”

  “But I worked extra hard today.”

  “We still have to make Sunbonnet cake.”

  “You’re not going to let me cut a piece of that cake tonight.” Caleb’s hands were becoming wrinkled in the dishwater. He glanced down and realized his skin looked like prunes. He turned his attention back to the stack of dirty dishes, which seemed to be growing.

  “I was going to make two batches of batter—one to use for the cake and the other to make cupcakes. It seems cupcakes are a very popular item now.”

  “And you’d let me eat a cupcake?”

  “You can’t have a cupcake and a Guey Louie. You’ll be sick.” Julia shook her head at him, but she was also smiling.

  He was learning to recognize his wife’s mannerisms. He already knew that when she smiled with her ducked head down, she was enjoying their conversation.

  “I suppose the sandwich could wait until tomorrow.”

  “It probably should. You know, living inside a café could be dangerous. You don’t want to become like some old Amish men who need suspenders to keep their pants up. You might want to watch your waistline.”

  Caleb had grown up in a family full of rowdy boys. He’d helped wash dishes a time or two. So it was a natural reaction for him to put his hands into the last of the soap suds, catch a handful, and flick them at his wife.

  She stared down at the front of her apron as if he’d thrown some of Missy’s dropping on her, but the shock gave way to amusement, and the amusement was replaced by a look he’d seen from his brothers more than once. It was the I’ll-get-you-back-for-that expression.

  He continued to clean while she cooked, and the kitchen was soon filled with delicious smells.

  Ada eventually closed the cash box, said good night, and toddled upstairs.

  Caleb waited until he was sure they were alone before he stepped behind Julia and slipped his arms around her waist. “Have I told you how beautiful you look in that apron?”

  “You’re lucky this apron is dry now.”

  He nuzzled her neck. “Ya. I shouldn’t have splashed you. For a minute there I thought you were one of my bruders back at home. We always played around.”

  She turned in his arms and gazed up at him with her pretty brown eyes. “Are you saying I look like your bruders?”

  “Nein. They’re even uglier than I am.”

  “You’re not ugly,” she whispered. Standing on her tiptoes, she kissed him softly on the lips.

  He reached to lengthen the kiss but she slipped out of his arms like a fish slipping off the line.

  “Cake’s ready,” she said with a smile, a mischievous look in her eyes.

  Hmm. Somehow he thought Julia Beechy—correction, Julia Zook—realized how crazy she made him. At the moment he would take her over an entire Sunbonnet cake or a tray of Guey Louie sandwiches. But because she was already moving toward the table with the cupcakes, he opened the refrigerator, grabbed the milk and two glasses, and joined her.

  Suddenly he didn’t feel tired at all.

  Maybe after he’d helped her frost the cupcakes, they would have a small sample for their dessert. Maybe when her work was done, he could talk his wife into taking a nighttime stroll down to the river.

  Chapter 24

  Caleb spent all day Wednesday working on the bridge that would connect their property to Aaron’s cabins. The sky was overcast, but the temperatures weren’t cold. It was good weather in which to do the work. Tim showed up bright and early to help. He brought the designs he’d been working on. Caleb chose the most simple one, which was for a bridge three feet wide, using split logs and having two handrails.

  “Safe and stable. Have you chosen a spot?”

  “Ya. Narrowest point, like you said. Let me show you.”

  They hadn’t had much rain, so the water level in Pebble Creek was lo
w—maybe only a foot and a half deep. Caleb donned his rain boots and slogged across the water, holding on to one end of Tim’s tape measure.

  “Fourteen feet,” Tim called out.

  Caleb nodded and headed back. He only paused once to watch a fish dash downstream.

  “We’ll add a six foot overhang—three on each side.”

  “Makes for twenty feet. David’s delivering wood midmorning.”

  “We have time to go to town then and pick up supplies.”

  By the time they had returned, David was there waiting. He insisted on staying to help. “I’ve built a lot of things, but I’ve never put together a bridge.”

  They had been sawing and hammering for less than thirty minutes when Aaron and Seth showed up.

  “Sounds like you need help over there,” Aaron said, standing on the opposite bank.

  A corner of cabin eight’s roof was just visible over his shoulder. Caleb remembered the cabin well—it was the one farthest from the office and the barn. The path between the cabins curved back toward the river, so that cabins nine and ten were actually closer to the office. He’d had to walk the entire circle, checking each building before bed when he’d lived in the little room in the barn. That seemed like another lifetime now.

  “Ya. Sounds like you need our help badly.” Seth squatted down and stared across at them.

  No doubt the boy would rather do anything than yard work. Boy? He was to marry in another week.

  “We could use some help,” Caleb admitted. “If you don’t mind getting your feet wet.”

  “I’m way ahead of you.” Aaron held up two pairs of rain boots.

  With the five of them working, the bridge took shape quickly. David used a handsaw to cut all of the split oak into thirty-six-inch lengths. Caleb and Seth dug six-foot trenches parallel to the creek on each side—wide enough and deep enough to hold the footings for the bridge.

  Aaron notched the footings with an ax. The ends of the logs, which were not split, went into the notches and spanned the creek.

  “I can’t believe you were able to deliver these.” Caleb had fallen asleep each night thinking of how they would do this, and now it was all taking shape in front of his eyes.