Men.
Daadi glanced at Mammi and winked. “Do you want to go out courting this evening and view the storm damage?”
Mammi fluttered her lashes. “I can’t think of anything more romantic.”
Hallie could.
But Kiah’s green eyes collided with hers. A spark heated them. And suddenly it seemed like the most romantic idea in the world.
Until her heart crashed in sharp, cutting shards around her feet.
He’d already planned a date with Anna.
And a pending marriage to Molly.
* * *
As soon as the storm passed, Kiah carried Hallie back out to the recliner and left her to straighten the blanket and situate the melting ice pack. The living room windows had survived.
Kiah went to try to help with the broken window cleanup, but the daadi looked at him. “I need you to hitch a horse up to a buggy. And park it near the house for Gloria. Do it now so we won’t be here when we’re needed.” He chuckled.
He was just kidding, right?
But Kiah nodded and headed for the barn.
Kiah was leading one of the horses out of the barn as the other family members emerged dusty and cobwebby from the crawl space.
Daed stopped and stared. “What are you doing, son?”
“I’m getting one of the buggies ready for the grandparents to go on a romantic date to view storm damage,” Kiah explained. Hopefully, the “date” to the singing with Anna would be canceled.
Anna crawled out, stood, and brushed herself off. “Is that for us? I need to shower before we go.” She turned away. “I get first dibs on the shower,” she called.
Daed looked after her and shook his head. Then he glanced at Kiah. “You need to get another one ready for you to take Anna to the singing.”
“I figured I’d be needed here—”
“Best to get Anna out of the way,” Ted said as he approached. He gave Kiah a pointed look.
Huh? Oh. Oh!
Kiah would rather go on a romantic date with Hallie even if it was just to see the damage. It sounded ever so much more pleasant than trying to tell Anna that he was interested in her sister. That had the potential of going so badly. In fact, it probably would.
He sighed. But it needed to be done and it was good to know that somehow he’d ended up on Ted’s good side.
Ted half smiled and winked; then he and Kiah’s daed stood out in the middle of the circular drive, staring up at the roof with matching glum expressions. It would need to be replaced. Daed probably planned to stay an extra day or two so he and Kiah could help reroof the house.
He was glad for the extra time here despite the cause.
The plains of Illinois got more tornadoes than Kiah was used to. But other than roof damage and broken windows from the softball-sized hail, the Brunstetters’ home appeared to have escaped any serious damage. At least it was still standing. That was a major plus.
The grandparents hobbled from the house and Kiah went to assist the mammi into the buggy while the daadi folded the walker and put it in the back. It appeared as if they might also plan to visit a few friends and family members. Or they at least were being prepared in case they needed to get out of the buggy for any reason…like Kiah should have been last night by hauling along Hallie’s crutches.
The older couple drove away and Anna rushed from the house. She wore a pretty light green dress and carried a white plastic dish full of deviled eggs to serve at the singing. She paused beside Kiah, gave him the dish of eggs, and waited, hand poised like a fancy lady, while he put the container of eggs on the floorboard, then turned to assist her. Molly used to do the same thing. It turned Kiah’s stomach.
She didn’t smell like lavender. Well, maybe a hint of it, but it was mixed with a sort of overpowering floral scent that tickled his nose and made him want to sneeze. Thankfully, he held it in.
But even though he knew the truth, that was more proof that Anna wasn’t the scribe. One of the letters had mentioned that she—the scribe—had an aversion to strong scents. Anna’s perfume was definitely strong.
“I need to run in and, um, do something,” Kiah mumbled once Anna was settled.
Anna acknowledged him with a regal nod.
Kiah dashed inside. Hallie stared glumly at a word search puzzle, marker in hand.
He bent and brushed a kiss across her forehead. “I’m telling her that it’s you I love. Don’t worry. This will all work out somehow.”
Joy buzzed into the room before Hallie could respond. “Here’s your pain medicine.”
With a sigh, Kiah trudged back out to where Anna waited. He climbed in beside her, clucked his tongue, and drove the horse and buggy toward the road. His thoughts whirled as he tried to formulate exactly what he needed to say when he brought up the dreaded discussion of the scribe. He needed to be totally honest about the one he loved being Hallie from the beginning.
As he made the turn onto the road as if he were going to Zooks’ discount grocery, he inhaled deeply and almost choked on the odor of flowers. Lord, please help this conversation go well.
They approached an intersection and Anna leaned over Kiah, her arm brushing his and giving him another full, overpowering lungful of her perfume as she pointed left. This time the sneeze burst forth before he had a chance to prepare. He didn’t even get his mouth covered and he likely gave Anna an unplanned shower. His face burned.
Anna jerked back, out of his personal space. “Eww! How rude! I was just pointing out the way you should go. Didn’t your mamm ever teach you to cover your mouth when you sneeze? Now we’re going to be late because I need to clean up. Again. I’d just taken a shower, you know.”
No, he didn’t know, but he’d assumed she had. Especially since she emerged from the crawl space announcing to everyone within hearing that she had first dibs on the shower—and then she’d run for the stairs.
“I’m sorry. It was an accident,” Kiah muttered. His hands had been full of the reins and she’d invaded his personal space in the first place…not to mention his allergy. He refrained from asking if her mamm had ever told her not to take a bath in strong perfume. His district in Indiana had rules against wearing perfume because so many people were allergic, including Kiah to certain scents, which obviously included whatever Anna wore.
But Hallie’s gentle lavender scent didn’t bother him. He loved it. It was restful and calming, just like Hallie.
Anna and her perfume stressed him out.
Why hadn’t Hallie warned Anna? Didn’t he tell the scribe about his allergies in a letter? He was sure he had. Almost sure.
Well, he might have forgotten to.
He sighed. “I’m sorry,” he said again. “I meant to tell the scribe about my allergies in a letter. But I might have forgotten.” But even if he had remembered, Anna wouldn’t know.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Anna grabbed a hanky from somewhere in the deep, dark recesses of her purse and a small bottle of hand sanitizer. “But I’ll be fine. I can finish cleaning up there. Like I said, I was trying to show you which way to go.”
Kiah nodded. “I do understand verbal directions.”
“Turn left. I wasn’t sure, since you said something about needing a scribe.”
Kiah made the turn, then scratched at a mosquito bite on his neck and said nothing. She’d thought he was illiterate, too. So what did she even see in him, other than a means to hurt Hallie?
He obviously should have planned the trip to Hidden Springs better. Maybe arranged a certain date, time, and place to meet, instead of a spur-of-the-moment decision to join his parents when he discovered Daed would be a guest preacher at Hallie’s church.
He probably should’ve asked the scribe if she even wanted to meet instead of just assuming that, of course, she did.
But then again, the scribe was Hallie, who’d been working hard to keep his attention off of herself from the beginning.
He sighed again and drove the horse around a downed limb.
She would’ve said no, and he would’ve had to honor that.
But…Kiah brightened…Somehow in his spur-of-the-moment plans, Gott put him literally across the hall from the woman he loved. And gave Kiah the opportunity to meet and fall in love with Hallie without the “scribe” label coloring his judgment. After all, hadn’t he declared to witnesses—the daeds and brother—that he was picking Hallie instead of the scribe?
If only he could plan to spend more time with Hallie tomorrow so he could convince her that her being the scribe was only confirmation for the feelings that had sprung up.
Wouldn’t it be nice if he could pick up the ants tonight? It’d be more time to spend with Hallie…
Perhaps, if Gott smiled on him, Kiah could eliminate both Anna’s interest and the need to meet with the schoolteacher on Monday, because if the teacher were as desperate as Bishop Nathan implied to find a home for the ants, she might be willing to fetch them from the school tonight. That would save him a side trip on Monday and disruption of her classes. And a bunch of uncomfortable chitchat with the scholars who would be curious why he wanted their ant farm.
He didn’t. But the ants would be well loved by George.
The horse plodded through a mud puddle.
“Turn right at the intersection,” Anna said.
Kiah nodded, following directions. They passed a small building with a vestibule. He nodded toward it. “Is that the school?” Gott, are you smiling?
There didn’t seem to be any hail damage here.
“Jah, the singing is at the next house.” Anna pointed ahead and to the right.
Kiah got another strong sniff of her perfume with her movement. This time he was prepared and covered his mouth before he sneezed.
“Are you allergic to something?” Anna asked.
Hadn’t he just said he was? More proof positive that Anna didn’t care two hoots about him. Despite calling dibs, she’d insulted him and didn’t seem to know anything about him— except for his interest in Hallie. And even being sneezed on, she didn’t care enough to remember.
Kiah hesitated a long minute, not wanting to hurt Anna’s feelings. Odd, because he wouldn’t hesitate to be honest with Hallie. He turned his head away and inhaled a fresher breath. Exhaled. “I’m allergic to some perfumes.”
“You should’ve said something earlier,” she said.
He had. Though he hadn’t specified perfume. Would it have done any good?
He nodded again. “I didn’t notice until we got into the buggy.” Which was sort of untrue. He noticed when she’d handed him the deviled eggs. But they were standing outside and it didn’t bother him as much as it did in the enclosed confines of the buggy. That seemed like too much trouble to explain. “Just open all the windows on your side so the air circulates.”
Anna quickly obeyed. He held the reins in one hand and opened his own windows. Too bad the grandparents had taken the open buggy…except as chilly as it was, it might have encouraged Anna to snuggle.
The rain-scented fresh air helped. Kiah inhaled deeply.
Anna flapped her hand toward a farmhouse on the right side of the road. “The schoolteacher lives at the house we’re going to for the singing. Convenient, don’t you think?”
Almost like God was orchestrating this.
Kiah drove around a huge puddle.
All he had to do was find the teacher in the crowd, talk to her, put the ants in the buggy—and pray the farm didn’t break and infest Ted’s buggy in the process—and save himself that trip tomorrow so he’d have more time to spend with Hallie…
Oh, Anna was still talking?
“I think this was the first teacher they hired who literally lives next door to the school. She’s a great teacher, too. The one before her was the sweetest girl ever. Everyone loved her, but she was so tiny and nice, the scholars wouldn’t listen to her. She only lasted a week or two. Sad, really, that she got fired for being too nice. She was one of Hallie’s friends, too.”
“Was?”
“They’re still friends, it’s just that the dynamics changed. She got married. Both of her friends are married now.”
As if Hallie only had two friends, total?
But that aside, this was the most talkative Anna had been since Kiah’s arrival—except for a few minutes they’d talked yesterday when she came home to get the notes. That still confused him. Since Hallie was the scribe, why did Anna need the scribe’s notes? Or did she refer to a different sort of notes, maybe directly related to midwifery?
Kiah drove the buggy into the muddy field and parked between two other buggies. He cleared his throat. Hunted for courage to ask about a taboo subject. “Why did you need notes when you were hurrying to a home birth yesterday?” His face heated.
Anna sort of giggled and her face turned pink. “Mamm is training me and there is ever so much to remember. It comes naturally for some people like Hallie, but I have to work at it. Unfair, really, especially since she is so selfish to waste a gift Gott gave her by doing nothing except working at a restaurant.”
“Maybe Gott gave you other gifts,” Kiah suggested gently. But at least the notes made sense now. They were midwife notes and not scribe notes.
Anna shrugged. “Such as? And why? I want the midwifery job.”
“I don’t know.” His turn to shrug.
Anna giggled again and made a motion at the side window. “We’d best go in. A chaperone is coming this way.”
Kiah belatedly set the brakes and opened the door to climb out. He’d have to finish the conversation later. “Can you introduce me to the schoolteacher?”
“Sure, but about that, remember, I’ve got dibs.” Anna flashed him a flirty smile.
“It’s about the ant farm.” But dread churned in Kiah’s stomach. He somehow needed to make her understand that he was here for Hallie without straining the relationship between the sisters even more.
* * *
Hallie mentally paced the floors all evening. After her grandparents left, followed by Kiah and Anna, Joy went with a girlfriend to the singing. Although technically she was too young to date, she was old enough to start mingling and getting to know the other youth, some of whom came from other districts. Sometimes even other states. Like Kiah.
As cute as Kiah was, the girls would flock around him.
But of course, Anna had dibs. And that bothered her. Big-time.
And even though Hallie wouldn’t have gone even if she could—the emergency room doctor and Mamm had grounded her to the recliner until she got her walking boot—being left home with the two sets of parents was really uncomfortable, especially being around his parents.
Though, truthfully, no one paid the slightest bit of attention to her. Both fathers worked on boarding up the broken windows while the mothers cleaned the glass and rain and melted hail water from the floor. Both jobs would be considered necessary, even for the Lord’s day, when one was expected to rest.
But considering the way both of Kiah’s parents eyed her, sooner or later one or both of them would attempt to talk to the broken girl their son had decided he was in love with.
Sight unseen.
Okay, well, they had met, not even five minutes spent together and she in a cloud of grief. And yet they both remembered the other.
Amazing.
It reminded her of the Bible story of Hagar and how she called Gott the Gott who sees.
Did Gott see Hallie? Did He hear her? Did He remember her?
The flash of light yesterday morning when she was writing seemed to indicate that He did see her. And He heard.…
Tears burned her eyes.
She wasn’t worthy.
“Who am I?” she whispered. Lord, help me to believe that You do see me and hear me. Help me to trust. Help my unbelief. Help me to truly begin to live again.
Somehow, something that she could only call peace flowed through her.
And Hallie knew that Gott did see her. He did hear her. And more importantly, He cared.
And she cried, but this time they were tears of healing.
Chapter 22
Kiah stuck out like a sore thumb. At least it seemed he did. He and Anna had no sooner joined the youth when a flock of energetic girls came over, batting their eyes and chattering about whatever they could think of. Not that Kiah understood a word of it since they were all talking at the same time.
And while Anna didn’t hang all over him, she did stay close enough to stake her claim…even though none of the other girls paid attention. It was flattering—but very uncomfortable.
With all the girls circling Kiah, all the boys came over and surrounded the girls—which made Kiah think of the eye of a storm, or maybe the very center of a cell…what was that called? The nucleus? Maybe. And that made him think of identifying the schoolteacher.
He studied the group of women, but none of them resembled any teacher he’d ever had.
Of course, none of his teachers were giggly and batty-eyed around the scholars. And all these girls definitely had the giggles and fluttery lashes. That confused him.
He leaned close to Anna. “Which one is the teacher?”
Anna pointed off to her right. When Kiah frowned and shrugged, she clarified, “Maroon dress. Dark hair.”
That didn’t help a whole lot either, but at least it narrowed it down to ten.
“Glasses. Big glasses.”
Oh. Jah, they stood out. Especially since they were a dark gray shade. And huge. “What is her name?” It started with a G. He remembered that from Hallie’s earlier game to evade detection.
If Anna heard, she ignored him. One of the guys started calling names for his team of volleyball. At least it worked to thin the crowd around Kiah. Finally he could breathe and move without accidentally bumping into something feminine and starting a scandal.
Anna and Kiah ended up on different teams, but thankfully Kiah was on the teacher’s team.
These Amish took volleyball seriously. Like it was a trophy-worthy competition sport. When Kiah and the teacher rotated near to each other in the game, Kiah leaned close. “I’m Kiah Esh.”
“I know who you are.” She smiled coyly. “And I’m the teacher. I heard that you were looking for me.”
The Amish Secret Wish Page 20