An Unexpected Amish Courtship

by Rachel J. Good

  “Isaac?” Relief washed over her at the sound of his voice. “I’m in Ohio at my onkel’s. I can’t talk long, but when you come with Mrs. Vandenberg tomorrow evening, please come to get me.” She gave him the address. Wilma might not remember the directions, because it had been thirty years since she’d lived here. “I have to go. I’ll explain when you get here.”

  “Wait,” Isaac begged. “We’ll b-be there around n-noon. We’ll c-call.”

  “I’ll keep the phone with me and turned to vibrate. I can’t wait until you get here.”

  He promised to pray, and she said a quick danke and goodbye. Then she shut off the phone, concealed it in her pocket, and rushed back toward the house. This time the door creaked louder. Before she could shut it, angry footfalls stomped toward her.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” Lloyd growled. “Shut that door. If you had plans to meet someone after dark, you’re mistaken.”

  Sovilla gladly shut the door. “I don’t know anyone here.” She tried to sound reasonable and convincing, but Lloyd only puffed up more.

  “I’m supposed to believe that?” He waved a hand toward the stairs. “Get up to bed. And don’t you dare leave this house again without permission.”

  Bowing her head, she acted chastened as she hurried past him and up the stairs, thanking God Lloyd hadn’t caught her before she went outside.

  * * *

  Isaac held the dead phone in his hand. What was going on? Sovilla had rattled on, barely letting him speak. She’d sounded breathless and nervous. The fact that she couldn’t talk long worried him.

  But she had said she couldn’t wait until he got there. His insides danced—until his mind replayed her words. She had said, I can’t wait until you get here. She’d said you. Most likely, she’d meant all of them. His high spirits drooped.

  * * *

  He slept fitfully. Dreams of Sovilla calling for help kept waking him. At four, he hopped out of bed and got ready. Snickers’s claws clicked across the floor as she accompanied Isaac to take care of the puppies.

  Leanne had agreed to care for the dogs while he was gone. He left her a note to let her know he had to leave earlier than expected. Then he collected his suitcase and headed for Wilma’s.

  The lights were on downstairs, so he didn’t hesitate to knock. When she yelled, “Come in,” he entered, hoping she wouldn’t be upset Snickers had come with him.

  She didn’t notice as she dithered. After packing one thing, she second-guessed herself and pulled it out, only to return it to the suitcase again. By the time Mrs. Vandenberg pulled up out front, everything had been returned to the suitcase.

  While Wilma locked the door, Isaac carried her luggage out with his.

  When she turned around and saw the van waiting for them, she pretended to smack her forehead. “You have to do everything large, don’t you, Liesl? When I said a van, I meant a minivan, not a fifteen-seater.”

  “You never know when you might need extra room. We already have five passengers going out, plus Snickers. And Sovilla will be coming back.”

  “Hopefully,” Wilma muttered. “You don’t know Lloyd.”

  Wilma’s words added to Isaac’s anxiety. Would Sovilla’s onkel forbid her to return to Pennsylvania? What if she chose to stay there? Maybe she’d get back together with her old boyfriend.

  Wilma was still sniping at Mrs. Vandenberg.

  “Does my outfit pass muster?” Mrs. Vandenberg asked Wilma with a touch of humor in her tone.

  “Hmm . . . Where’d you buy it?”

  “Everything I packed is from the thrift shop.”

  “I guess that’ll do.” Wilma’s sigh seemed to come from deep within. “Even when you buy used clothes, they look more expensive and better quality than most people run around in. Maybe nobody will notice.” She rolled her eyes. “I doubt it, though.”

  Isaac didn’t care what people thought of them. He wanted to get on the road now. “Sovilla,” he burst out. With that one word, he ended the sparring and got everyone hustling.

  The driver loaded the luggage while David helped Wilma into the van. He patted the seat beside where he’d been seated. “Sit here beside me, please, Mamm.”

  Wilma beamed and settled near the door. Isaac stowed her walker and climbed into a back seat with Snickers. Hurry, hurry. He leaned as far forward as he could with his seat belt on, as if that would make them move faster.

  They’d organized for their trip as quickly as they could, but they still lagged behind their expected starting time. Then they made three stops, including for some fast food they could eat in the car. Isaac would have gladly given up eating to get to Ohio sooner, but he couldn’t deny the older women a meal.

  Wilma and Mrs. Vandenberg napped, but Isaac stayed on high alert, willing the driver to speed up. Mrs. Vandenberg handed Isaac her cell phone, and he left a phone message for Sovilla each time they stopped so she’d be updated on their arrival time.

  When they reached Middlefield, Mrs. Vandenberg insisted on stopping at the hotel. “Wilma and I need to freshen up.”

  All Isaac wanted to do was get to Sovilla.

  Mrs. Vandenberg’s sympathetic glance made it clear she understood his impatience. “It would be best if David stayed here with us, don’t you think, Wilma?”

  “Definitely. If Lloyd takes one look at him, he’ll know.”

  “And I’m sure you’d prefer to go alone, wouldn’t you, Isaac?” Mrs. Vandenberg kept her voice low so the others couldn’t overhear.

  He nodded, wishing they’d hurry and unload the car.

  “You can be the white knight riding in to rescue the damsel in distress.” As a gentleman in a uniform piled the luggage onto a cart, Mrs. Vandenberg asked her driver to take Isaac to pick up Sovilla. Finally.

  Just before they reached the driveway of the house, Isaac asked the driver to pull over. Using Mrs. Vandenberg’s phone, Isaac called Sovilla. “We’re here. T-turn left p-past the c-cornfields.” Concern for her made it hard to keep from stuttering.

  Waiting for her to appear was agonizing. What if she couldn’t come? She seemed to be afraid to talk on the phone, but maybe her onkel didn’t approve of phones. Isaac hoped her family wouldn’t object to her leaving. He’d almost given up on seeing her when she slipped around the rustling cornstalks.

  She kept glancing over her shoulder. Once she saw the van, her face lit up, and she dashed toward them. Isaac opened the van door for her.

  She climbed inside and ducked low. “Hurry, before anyone notices I’m gone. I told Mamm, but . . .” She bit her lip.

  The driver gunned the engine and peeled away. When they were out of view of the house, Sovilla sat up.

  She giggled. “I didn’t know you were a race car driver.”

  He only smiled.

  Her laughter faded. “I hope Lloyd doesn’t blame Mamm for my disappearance.” She hated leaving her mother to face his wrath.

  Isaac thanked God she seemed all right, but he still worried about her. What was she trying to escape? “What’s g-going on?”

  “Lloyd told me Mamm wanted me to come back home. I assumed it must be an emergency, so I went with him. But when I asked what was wrong with Mamm, he said, Nothing. He lied about it to get me away from Wilma’s. He called her place a house of sin. He was also upset about me living Englisch.”

  Isaac still didn’t understand the first part of her story. “He l-lied to g-get you to c-come home?”

  “Jah. And now he doesn’t want me to leave.”

  “He’s k-keeping you p-prisoner.”

  “I guess you could call it that. He told me not to go out without permission. He has a terrible temper when you don’t listen.”

  “Like Wilma?”

  “Ten times worse.”

  “He d-doesn’t hit you, d-does he?”

  “Neh, but his rages can be as painful as beatings.” Her face squinched up as if she were remembering one. Then she relaxed back against the seat. “Getting outside the house is such a relief
. And I didn’t want to miss a chance to be with you.”

  Isaac’s spirits soared. Maybe last night she had meant she couldn’t wait to see him.

  Then she continued, “I want to be there when David and Wilma meet Eli. I’m so grateful to Mrs. Vandenberg.”

  Isaac bit back a sigh. It hadn’t been only about him.

  “Aren’t you excited too?”

  Sovilla must have noticed his dejected expression. Isaac forced his thoughts away from his selfishness and let his happiness for her and her family show in his smile. “I’m p-praying for Eli.”

  “Me too. Meeting David will be a shock.”

  As soon as they pulled up outside of the hotel, Sovilla hopped out of the van. Isaac and Snickers followed more slowly. Now that he had her back with him, his urgency to hurry things along faded. Mrs. Vandenberg and David stood in the lobby, waiting.

  “Wilma said she’d be right down,” Mrs. Vandenberg informed them.

  When the elevator door opened, Wilma surprised everyone by stepping out wearing Ohio Amish clothes. She’d slicked back her short hair, and from the front it looked almost like it should. Sovilla guessed she had a lot of hairpins under her kapp to hold the ends in place.

  David smiled. “That’s how I always pictured you, Mamm.”

  Wilma’s watery smile showed he’d touched her heart. “I couldn’t do much with my hair, though.”

  “It looks fine,” Sovilla assured her.

  “I thought Eli, I mean your daed, would be more likely to recognize me like this. Although with the ravages of time”—sadness filled her eyes—“I’ve probably changed too much.”

  “I doubt it,” David said.

  Sovilla sent him thanks with her eyes.

  “Well, let’s go.” Despite her walker, Wilma hustled out ahead of everyone and headed to the van, where the driver waited.

  As Sovilla got in, she moved the seat forward so Snickers could get into the back with Isaac. Thoughtful little gestures like that made him appreciate her even more than he already did. He turned to thank her for her kindness, but the deeper feelings he meant to keep hidden spilled out into his expression.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Isaac’s eyes, gleaming as if lit from within, startled Sovilla and held her in place. Unsure if she was reading his emotions correctly, she couldn’t look away.

  “What’s taking so long back there?” Wilma grumped.

  Her aenti’s complaint broke the spell, and Sovilla tore her gaze from Isaac’s. She slid into the seat beside him, wary of the churning he’d started inside her. She sat frozen in place, conscious of him next to her. His breathing. His movement. His presence.

  On the way to Ohio, she’d discovered she cared for him, but this connection was deeper, stronger, truer. She’d never experienced this pull, this attraction before.

  Throughout the ride, she tried to make sense of what had happened between them, but she couldn’t put it into words.

  In front of them, Wilma’s perky expression drooped as they drove down country lanes, and when they turned at a crossroads, her shoulders slumped.

  “What if he doesn’t want to see me?” she mumbled.

  Sovilla prayed that he’d not only be willing to see her aenti but that he’d also open his heart to David.

  As they pulled in front of Eli’s house, Wilma emitted a strange sound, like the cry of a trapped animal.

  “Are you all right?” David asked.

  “Neh.” Her voice shook. “It’s been so long, yet it looks the same. Exactly the way I remembered it.”

  He craned his neck to study his daed’s house.

  She buried her face in her hands. “I can’t do this. I can’t face him after all these years.”

  “You can do anything with God’s help.” Mrs. Vandenberg’s crisp words seemed intended to brace Wilma.

  Without acknowledging the statement about God, Wilma squared her shoulders. “I have to do this. For David’s sake.” She stared at the house for a moment. “Maybe I should go in alone.”

  “It’s up to you,” Mrs. Vandenberg said. “We’re here to support you. We’ll do whatever you want.”

  “I want to break the news gradually. If he sees David, he’ll know right away.”

  David reached for the door handle. “Why don’t I go for a walk around the grounds? I can look at the horses in the pasture.”

  Sovilla’s heart went out to him. Meeting his daed after thirty years had to be as difficult for him as it was for Wilma. Maybe he needed time to compose himself. Or maybe he was doing it for Wilma’s sake. He’d proved to be skilled at reading other people’s needs.

  Very like Isaac.

  Sovilla couldn’t help glancing at him. His hand rested on his leg, so close she could reach out and entwine her fingers in his. She wished he’d reach over and—Neh, she shouldn’t be longing to hold his hand.

  As she looked up, Isaac’s smile made her feel accepted and understood. Almost as if he’d read her thoughts. And shared them.

  Wilma unclicked her seat belt. “I’ll go alone.” She got out of the car and braced herself with her walker. But she didn’t close the door behind her.

  Maybe preparing for a fast escape? As her aenti marched toward the front door, Sovilla prayed all would go well.

  When Wilma neared the porch, her steps faltered. She stopped and tilted her head to take in the whole house. Then, straightening her shoulders, she set her walker down firmly and climbed the steps one by one. She hesitated again before knocking on the door.

  Following a brief wait, the front door opened, and the man in the doorway stepped back, shock on his face. “Wilma?”

  Her words floated through the air. “You recognize me after all these years?”

  “How could I forget? You look almost the same.”

  Her laugh was tinged with disbelief.

  “Who’s in the car with you? Have them come in.” He beckoned to all of them.

  “Do you think we should go?” Sovilla asked. “Wilma would probably prefer her privacy.”

  Isaac nodded. “We should s-stay.”

  But when Eli called out, “Come in, come in,” they all got out of the car and entered the house. All except David, who stood by the pasture fence out of sight.

  After Wilma had introduced everyone and they’d all settled into chairs, she and Eli gazed into each other’s eyes as if everyone else in the room had disappeared.

  Eli finally broke the silence. “What brings you here?”

  “I have something to tell you.” Although Mrs. Vandenberg had told them Eli was a bachelor, Wilma stared at his clean shaven chin. “You—you never married?” Her words came out low and shaky, but also surprised.

  “The only girl I ever loved broke my heart.”

  “So you did find someone else?” She gazed down at her hands as she pleated a section of her apron between her fingers.

  “Neh. Even though you urged me to do that, I stayed faithful to the only woman I ever loved.”

  “What?” Wilma’s eyes flew to his face. “I never told you that.”

  “Not to my face,” he said heavily. “Your brother told me that. It hurt twice as much that you couldn’t even tell me in person.”

  Wilma shook her head back and forth the whole time he was speaking. “You were the one who rejected me. I never—”

  “How can you say that? The last time we were together”—Eli lowered his head as shame washed across his features—“every time we were together, I told you I loved you. That never changed.”

  In an anguished voice, she said, “Lloyd.” Her mouth worked, but no sound came out. She closed her eyes. Then, her face a mask of agony, she asked, “What did he tell you?”

  “He said you wanted to break up but were too ashamed to face me because you’d fallen in love with someone else. You were moving out of state to marry him.” Eli’s voice trembled. “I barely heard the rest. I could hardly believe you’d done that. Not after we—”

  Wilma let out a pitiful cry.
“Neh.”

  Eli raised his head and stared into her eyes. “I didn’t want to believe it. I went to your house to talk to you, to beg you to stay, to ask you to marry me.” He drew in a shuddery breath. “But you were gone.”

  “That was a lie.”

  “A lie?”

  “I never married. Lloyd sent me to Pennsylvania. I didn’t have any choice. I couldn’t come back.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  Wilma put her head into her hands and wept. “Lloyd told me,” she said between sobs, “you didn’t want anything more to do with me. You wanted me out of your life. He had a driver waiting. I didn’t even know where I was going.”

  “That makes no sense. Why would he do that?”

  “Because he’d found out about us.” Her words muffled, she added, “What we were doing.”

  “Ach. All of this is my fault. Your brother wanted to protect you.”

  “Neh. He wanted to protect himself. If he’d cared about me, he’d have let me stay. I would have faced the shame.” Tears trickled down her cheeks. “We could have married, if you’d have had me.”

  “Of course I would. Nothing ever changed that.”

  “But Lloyd didn’t tell you the truth. He sent me to Pennsylvania to have the baby. Our baby.”

  Eli sat bolt upright in his chair. “You had our baby and never told me? Why? You knew I loved you.”

  “Lloyd forbade me to talk to you. He went to tell you instead of letting me do it. But he lied to you. And to me.” Wilma dashed at the tears coursing down her cheeks.

  “You thought I rejected you because of the baby? I never would have done that.”

  “I wish I’d known,” she said, each word infused with bitterness. “For thirty years, I’ve lived alone and heartbroken from the pain of losing you and our baby.”

  “Ach, Wilma. I can’t bear to think of you going through all that alone. We could have married. What happened to the baby?”

  “They made me give him up for adoption.”

  “Him? We had a little boy?”

  “He’s not so little anymore.” Wilma smiled through her tears. “He’s thirty. And—” She paused. “I just met him a few weeks ago. Now he wants to meet you.”