He made a face. “Think I’ll head home, see if Mamm will make me something to eat.” He yawned and scrubbed his hands through his hair, making it stand up even more. “Thanks for the food last night. And the great accommodations. Feel like I’m as old as my dat today,” he said as he rubbed his back with one hand. “See you later.”
Isaac watched his friend stumble off to the barn, then turned his attention to the room. Beer cans littered the crate along with the empty pizza box. He got a plastic garbage bag and threw the box and used napkins inside it.
Rounding up the empty beer cans reminded him of how much he’d drunk the night before. He got the recycle box from the garage and tossed them inside. As he was carrying the container outside to the garage, he saw a buggy heading down the road toward him.
A familiar buggy.
He set the container down abruptly and ran toward the buggy, waving his arms. “Emma!”
Flora shied and tossed her head, but she stopped.
“Go away!” Emma yelled, but Isaac didn’t let the skittish horse keep going. He grasped her bridle and talked to her, and she let him lead her into the drive.
“I don’t want to talk to you!”
“Just give me a minute,” he pleaded.
Flora shook her head, nearly breaking free. Isaac stroked her nose and talked to her softly. He had a way with horses, and Flora had always liked him.
She made a snuffling noise and looked down at one foot, then at him.
“Something the matter, Flora?” he asked her, bending to look at the foot.
“She’s fine! Let go!”
“No, I think something’s the matter with her right front foot.” He lifted it and peered at it, frowning, before looking up at her. “Come on, pull in here and I’ll check it out.”
He watched her struggle with what to do and simply began to lead Flora over to the drive. When he stopped, Emma opened the door and climbed out. She stood watching him, her hands on her hips.
“I can’t find anything wrong, but she was definitely favoring her one leg,” Isaac said at last.
He patted Flora on the neck and turned to Emma who was watching him with a suspicious expression. “I don’t think you should let her pull the buggy any more today.”
“I just hitched her up.”
Her tone was tart and defensive.
“I know you love Flora,” he said quietly. “I wasn’t implying you’d do anything not good for her. Now, we can do one of two things: you can call your dat and ask him to come get you both. Or I can take you home and we’ll stable Flora here in my barn.”
Emma bit her bottom lip, something she did when she was trying to make up her mind. Then she shook her head.
“I have to call Daed. It’s his decision.”
Isaac nodded and pulled out his cell phone.
“I have my own.”
“Emma, just use it.” He handed it to her and waited while she made the call.
Emma disconnected the call and gave him the phone. “Daed said if you would stable Flora until he gets over here to get her he’d appreciate it.”
“And you? Do I keep you here as well?” he asked, smiling at her.
She stiffened. “Don’t joke. Daed wouldn’t want me anywhere near you if he knew what you’d suggested.”
He had to admit he hadn’t thought about what her parents would think. “I thought you’d want what I want,” he said defensively. “You always do.”
Emma’s eyes widened. She stared at him for a long moment. “Yes,” she said at last. “I do usually go along with what you want, don’t I?” She heard bitterness in her voice, but she couldn’t help it. She had a right to feel bitter after—she forced away the shameful thought.
“It’s what you should do,” he said. “A fraa should want what her mann does, right? If she loves him?”
“But you said you’re not ready to get married. You can’t talk about what a wife should want and yet not want to get married.”
“I just said I’m not ready yet.”
“Fall is months away. We weren’t getting married right away, you know that.”
He didn’t know what to say. When he’d thought he’d lost her earlier, he’d reminded himself fall was months away and he had time to fix things . . .
Emma lifted her hands and let them fall. “I can’t talk to you. I won’t talk to you. I want you to take me home.” She walked away and sat on the steps of the cottage.
Feeling defeated, Isaac led Flora back to the barn and unhitched the buggy. Then he led her to a stall and watered her, wondering the whole time if he was going to find Emma had bolted again like yesterday.
Cautiously optimistic, he hitched his horse to his own buggy and drove it to the front of the house.
She still sat on the porch steps. He let out the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.
“Ready to go?”
Emma didn’t say anything, simply walked to the buggy and got in.
Isaac bided his time, letting the only sounds be the clip-clopping of the horse’s hooves and the buggy wheels rolling on the road.
“Beautiful day,” he said at last, stealing a furtive look at her. He frowned. Her bonnet hid her face from his view. “Where were you headed?”
“Town.”
“I can take you there.”
“Nee!”she said with such vehemence the horse shook his head.
She turned to him. “No, danki,” she said in a quieter voice. “I want to go home.”
“But Emma—”
“Isaac, I said no,” she said, drawing herself up and looking at him with more determination than he’d ever seen her possess. “I’m not going to let you run over me like a steamroller. I let you do it in the past and look what happened. Now take me home or stop and let me out and I’ll walk.”
“Be reasonable, Emma. We just need to talk this out.”
She reached for the door handle.
Isaac jerked on the reins and threw his arm across her to prevent her from opening the door and jumping out. “What are you doing? You’ll hurt yourself if you try to get out when the buggy’s moving.”
Their faces were just inches apart. He couldn’t mistake the fire in her eyes as she glared at him.
“Allrecht, allrecht,” he said. “I promise I won’t try to talk to you the rest of the way.”
She turned, folded her arms across her chest, and stared at the road ahead.
He did the same, although Joe didn’t need his attention as he plodded along. Too soon, Emma’s house came into view. Joe needed only a slight pull on the reins to know to pull into Emma’s drive. Isaac figured as smart as Joe was he’d already figured out it’s where they were going.
Emma had the door open the minute the buggy stopped. “I’ll send Daed out to talk to you about Flora. Danki for the ride.”
She walked away without looking at him again.
And coming in Fall 2015 from Barbara Cameron and the Abingdon Fiction team . . .
Twice Blessed
Twice Blessed is a Christmas novella collection about two sets of twins—one male, one female. The Amish love large families and have more multiples than the Englisch. Twice Blessed follows two sets of identical twins as they pursue life and love. When you’ve been together in the womb and all your life since then, it’s hard to think about a job and a boyfriend without your twin tagging along. But these two sets of twins are determined to do it out of the shadow of their exact double.
Her Sister’s Shadow
Katie and Rosie—the twins—who are secondary characters introduced in Crossroads, the second book in the Amish Roads series—work part-time in an Amish store and part-time in Two Peas in a Pod, their own business raising vegetables and fruits and canning them for sale. Although they are identical twins, their personalities are different: Katie has always been more outgoing, and boys have been more attracted to her. Rosie has always felt she was in her sister’s shadow. Having to conform to a culture requiring community identity, not self-
identity, it’s even harder for her to be an individual. It will take an unexpected business opportunity and one special man to help Rosie see she’s a unique woman of her own.
His Brother’s Keeper
Ever since they were boys, Ben has trailed after his brother, Mark. Ben envies Mark because he’s always been more adventurous than him. He envies him even more because he’s engaged to Ruth, a woman Ben loves, too. Then the twins are involved in a terrible accident on Christmas Eve. When Ben wakes, he finds that Mark is seriously injured and everyone thinks he’s Mark. Mistaken identity . . . envy . . . it’s a dangerous combination. Ben has a chance at Ruth . . . and he takes it. It’s a terrible deception, but the only chance he’ll have to see what love would be like with the woman both men love.
Want to learn more about author Barbara Cameron and check out other great fiction from Abingdon Press?
Check out www.AbingdonFiction.com to read interviews with your favorite authors, find tips for starting a reading group, and stay posted on what new titles are on the horizon.
And be sure to visit Barbara online!
www.BarbaraCameron.com
www.AmishLiving.com
www.facebook.com/barbara.cameron1
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