“And you cleaned it up afterward. You learned a lesson, and you’re using what you learned. That’s maturity. Mamm and Daed would be glad to see it.” He took a blueberry muffin out of the breadbox and left the room.
Ruby stared at the soapy water. She didn’t feel that different inside. But she did have some confidence, especially after Christian’s compliment. Maybe she had changed, sooner than she’d thought thanks to Christian and his trust in her.
CHAPTER 13
By the Saturday following Christian’s first week back at school, his ankle was completely healed. The school week had also gone well. He’d already started making plans for the Christmas program, even though it wouldn’t be December for a couple of months. Christmas programs were important in the Amish communities, and Birch Creek was no exception. Since he was planning his first program by himself, he wanted to make sure he had a thorough road map to follow.
But as he was working through his plans, he kept thinking about Ruby. She had been so good with the younger students, having patience he usually had to pray for when working with them on things he wasn’t that good at or interested in, like art projects. But art was an important outlet, especially for the younger ones. He imagined she would have some good ideas about the program, and he decided he would ask her at his next lesson—if she remembered they had one.
It was the first Saturday in October, and fall was in the air. He’d brought a book with him, and as he sat next to the tree, which was quickly losing its leaves, he leaned against its sturdy trunk, opened the book, and started to read. But he couldn’t concentrate. After spending most of his life easily escaping into a book, no matter how dry the material, he was having difficulty doing it lately. He set down the book and looked at the pasture land in front of him.
More than once he’d looked up from his desk during quiet times in school this week and wondered—or maybe hoped— Ruby would walk in and pay a surprise visit. To the students, of course. He surmised she’d formed a bond with them, and that had been proven correct when Emma said she missed Miss Ruby. “When will she be back?” she had asked him.
“There is no plan for her to return,” he said.
Emma frowned.
He bent down. “But you will see her at church, ya? You can always say hello to her there.”
That pacified his student, but for some reason it didn’t sit well with him, and he had no idea why. He knew Ruby’s primary reason for visiting Birch Creek—to find a husband. Possibly Seth Yoder. And he had promised to help her, although that talk he’d had with Seth hadn’t been fruitful. He frowned. Offering to help her had seemed like a good idea at the time. Now he wasn’t so sure—and he wasn’t sure why he wasn’t sure.
His frown deepened. For someone who had always considered himself straightforward, his thoughts were taking a winding path.
“Christian!”
He turned his head to see Ruby waving at him from down the road. He scrambled to his feet and brushed stray grass off his pants. He checked to see if his hat was on straight. Good, it was. “Greetings,” he said, waving back.
She hurried to him, her steps quick until she practically bounced to a stop in front of him. “I thought for sure you’d forget about our lesson.”
He smiled. “I thought the same about you.”
“I didn’t forget because I wrote it down.” She lifted her chin and grinned. “I’m using a calendar now.”
That almost made him laugh. “You sound as if you’ve never used one.”
“I haven’t.”
His brow furrowed. “Ever?”
“In school our teacher liked for us to use a planner once we got to sixth grade, but I never could stick with it. I often lost it the following week anyway, and mei parents got tired of replacing them. But this time I’m determined to keep a schedule.”
“It’s not that difficult.”
She scoffed. “Easy for you to say. You probably plan every single minute of yer day.”
“Not every single minute.” He put his hands in his pockets. “That would be extreme.”
“Then every hour.” When he paused she said, “I think you also schedule when you sleep.”
“Now, that’s going a bit far.” He wasn’t about to admit he used to do that up until recently. Recently as in a few months ago. “Speaking of plans, what do you have planned for lesson number two?”
“Topical conversation.”
“I can converse on a variety of topics,” he said.
“Ah, but can you converse on interesting topics?” She put her hands behind her back. “Topics a woman would want to engage in?”
He frowned. He wasn’t sure how to answer that question.
“Just as I thought.” She grabbed his hand and they sat down by the tree. Her knee bumped the book he’d brought earlier. She picked it up. “Critical Thinking and Strategic Intelligence: An Analysis. Doing a little light reading, I see.”
Christian tried to grab the book, but she held it out of his reach. He leaned forward on his knees, but then he lost his balance and toppled on her.
“Oof,” she said. Then she laughed. “At least it wasn’t me falling on you this time.”
Her laugh was contagious, and he started to chuckle. That made her giggle and her eyes sparkle. Their faces were a few inches apart, and he could smell the sweet scent of her fresh skin, see the three freckles on her left cheek he hadn’t noticed before, the way her eyes started to darken . . .
“Christian?”
“Ya?”
“This isn’t part of the lesson.”
“Oh.” Oh. He scrambled away until he bumped into the tree. “Sorry,” he mumbled.
She handed him his book. “Nee problem. I’m used to being in awkward situations.”
But it hadn’t felt all that awkward to him. Being close to her had felt . . . good.
“Let’s brainstorm a list of topics you can talk about with Martha.”
Martha . . . he hadn’t thought about Martha all week. He hadn’t even thought about her today while he was waiting for Ruby. He definitely wasn’t thinking about her now.
He had to get his focus back on target. “All right.”
She looked at him expectantly. “Where’s yer notepad?”
He paused. How had he forgotten his notepad? He always took notes when he was learning something new. “I didn’t bring it with me.”
She nodded. “I was so busy this week I forgot to remind myself to bring a pad and pencil.”
He listened as she told him about watching the boys while Patience visited her expectant mothers, plus delivered Sadie Troyer’s baby. “I was glad I could be there to help. And of course, my nephews are the greatest little buwe”
He raised his right brow. “A little biased, are we?”
“Nee.” She leaned forward. “I’m a lot biased.”
Christian relaxed. It was good to see her like this—amusing, confident, at ease. He never wanted to see her as upset as she’d been on Bring Your Pet to School Day. “Emma missed you this week. So did the other students.”
“They did?” She looked genuinely surprised. “That’s so sweet.” She paused. “Speaking of sweet . . . how is Selah?”
“Mei schwester isn’t one of the topics of conversation,” he said.
“Oh. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry.”
He glanced away. “It’s not yer fault. Things are at an impasse between us, and I don’t see that changing.”
“Maybe she needs something more to do than taking care of you and yer home.”
“I know she does, but she doesn’t seem interested in looking for a job. When we first moved here, I even asked her if she wanted to be mei assistant.”
“And she didn’t jump at the chance?”
He eyed her. “Yer sarcasm is noted.”
She scooted a little closer to him, the movement so natural he wondered if she realized she was doing it. “Christian, maybe you should—”
“Like I said.” He held up his hand. �
��Selah isn’t a talking point.”
“Got it.” She shrank back a bit. “Then let’s talk about Martha.”
Martha. Right. That’s why they were there.
“And I’ll just trust that yer fantastic brain will remember this conversation later.” She smiled. “Now, what does Martha like?”
“Like?”
“You know. Her favorite foods, hobbies. What does she like to do? What are her hopes and dreams?”
“I have nee idea.” He realized he still didn’t know much about her. “Isn’t that the whole point of this lesson? So I can talk to her and learn those things?”
“Ya, but . . . if you don’t know anything about her, then why do you think she’ll be a gut spouse for you?”
“I could ask you the same thing about Seth Yoder.”
“I know some things about Seth,” she said, crossing her arms.
“Such as?”
“He likes cake.”
Christian scoffed. “Doesn’t everyone?”
“I don’t.”
That surprised him. “Why not?”
“Usually it’s too sweet. There’s so much sugar in the cake, and then you pile on the frosting, which is also full of sugar.” She grimaced. “I prefer pie.”
“What kind?”
“Any kind.” She folded her knees, tucking her legs underneath her. “Raspberry, peach, blueberry, strawberry, rhubarb . . . I really haven’t met a pie I didn’t like. What about you?”
“I also like pie. And cake. I’ve never found either of them too sweet.”
“Now we’re making progress.” She pushed up to her knees. “We just had a conversation where we found out something about each other. That wasn’t so hard, was it?”
No, it wasn’t. In fact, it was easy to talk to Ruby. It always had been, ever since the moment they met. Natural. As if they were meant to—
“Now you just have to do it with Martha.”
He paused, tilted his head, and looked at her. A sudden thought came to him. “What if I don’t want to?”
“I don’t understand.”
He knelt in front of her. “What if I don’t want to get to know Martha anymore?”
She scoffed. “That’s silly. How are you going to marry her if you don’t get to know her?”
“I’ll marry someone else, then.” His mind warmed to the idea. Yes, this could work out . . . for them both.
Ruby rolled her eyes. “Who would that be?”
He leaned forward. “You.”
Ruby fell back on her behind. “What did you just say?”
“I’ll marry you.”
This had to be a joke. But she wasn’t sure Christian knew how to make a joke, and right now his expression was as serious as she’d ever seen it. “You’re joking, ya?”
“I would never joke about something as serious as this.”
“But . . .” She had no idea how to respond. She’d imagined what it would be like to be proposed to, and it was nothing like this. “What makes you think I would marry you?” The question flew out of her mouth, and she was about to apologize when she saw that he didn’t seem offended at all.
“A logical inquiry. Obviously, I will need to convince you to agree.”
“Obviously,” she muttered. She wasn’t sure how to handle this. A moment ago they were talking about Martha, and a little bit about Seth—she had to admit she hadn’t thought about him at all until ten minutes before their lesson started—and now she was being proposed to. Sort of. More like commanded. In proper English. “You can’t just tell someone you’ll marry them.”
“Why not?”
“Because it doesn’t work that way.” She got to her feet.
He followed suit.” Why not?”
“Because . . . because . . . Well, I’m not exactly sure, other than it’s not romantic.”
“Does marriage have to be romantic?”
“Of course!”
“I beg to differ. Many marriages have been born out of convenience and have worked quite well. It’s even a practice that’s still continued in some cultures.”
“Not in our culture.”
“That you know of. Ruby, let’s look at the facts. The first one—we are both ready to get married. The second—we both have limited prospects.”
“You have limited prospects,” she said. “I have quite a few.”
“And yet you are unable to speak to one of them without hiccupping or getting injured.”
He was being truthful. And annoying. “I only tried twice.”
“And that leads me to number three. With me, you don’t have to try.”
She froze as something tingled inside her, which was weird because this was Christian. Mr. Logical. Mr. Non-Emotional. Mr. Feelings Are Immaterial. And yet for some strange reason she was feeling . . . something.
“We’re friends, correct?”
She nodded, even though this was the strangest friendship she’d ever had.
“We can talk to each other. Confide in each other, even. We both have the same goal—marriage. Other couples who married for convenience have had less to go on.”
“Since when did you become an expert on the subject?”
He frowned. “I read a lot.”
She drew in a breath and turned from him. She had to admit he was making some sense, logically speaking. “But what about love?” she said, turning to him.
He arched a brow. “Love?”
“You’ve heard of it, I’m sure. You know, that emotion that makes you tingle inside with excitement when you think about another person. Or how you would do anything to make them safe and happy.”
“Yes, I am aware of the emotion.”
“And?”
“A solid marriage doesn’t have to be based on love. Mutual respect, yes. Treating the other person well, absolutely. But love isn’t a requirement.” He paused. “Do you love Seth?”
His question took her off guard. “Well, nee—”
“Yet you saw him as a viable candidate for a husband?”
“Ya, but I wasn’t ready to marry him right away. I assumed we would fall in love.”
“And if you didn’t?”
“Then I would find someone else.”
He moved closer to her. “What if that someone else is standing right in front of you?”
Again, the tingle went through her. But when she searched his face, she saw no emotion there. “How long have you been thinking about this?”
“Approximately ten minutes.”
“A whole ten minutes?” She backed away from him. “And yet you’re so sure this is the right thing for you to do? For both of us to do?”
“It’s the logical thing.”
Ruby had never done anything logical in her life, at least not on purpose. She lived by her emotions and impulses. But wasn’t that a trait she was trying to change? To become more responsible, to make decisions not with her heart but with her head?
“I do realize this is a lot to take in,” Christian said. “It would behoove both of us to pray about it.”
“Ya,” she said. “It would behoove.”
“And”—he glanced down—“I apologize if I’ve offended you or if you feel coerced at all. That’s not my intention.” He looked off into the distance. “Perhaps I should have thought about this more before speaking to you about it.”
“Perhaps.” For the first time since he’d brought up marriage he looked unsure. Concerned, and obviously he didn’t want to hurt her feelings, which did touch her. “I will pray about it,” she said. “You did bring up some gut points.”
He nodded. “And I will pray too.”
They both stood there, the breeze kicking up around them. She pulled her sweater closer. “I guess we can end today’s lesson, then.”
“Yes.” After another pause he said, “What do you think is a good timetable for us to get together and discuss this again?”
“Later this week?”
“Wednesday, then?”
She nodded. �
��Wednesday.”
“At a neutral location?”
Logical to the end. “Here will be fine.”
“At three o’clock?”
She nodded.
“Good. I’ll see you then.”
Now it was awkward, which it hadn’t been between them since she’d bumped into him the first time they’d met. He looked at her for a moment and she tried to figure out what he was thinking. He walked away before she could discover anything.
She plopped down on the grass, regretting that she’d even agreed to consider Christian’s proposal. It didn’t make any sense. The fact that he’d asked her so impulsively should have the warning bells going off in her head. And they were . . . They just weren’t as loud as she’d thought they should be.
Ruby shook her head, trying to force some sense into her brain. No, she couldn’t marry Christian. She couldn’t imagine being married to someone she didn’t love, even if everything else was logical. But she told him she would pray about it, and she would. Yet her mind was made up, almost one hundred percent. Yes, marriage was in her future, but definitely not with Christian Ropp.
Christian went home, pondering about his proposal the whole way. Doubts had crept in as soon as he was several yards down the road. It wasn’t as if his reasoning was wrong, but he had blindsided Ruby. He had blindsided himself.
He sat down at the top of the front-porch steps. His ankle ached now after all the walking he had done. But that pain didn’t compare to the confusion in his head. What in the world was I thinking?
The screen door closed behind him, but he didn’t turn around. He knew it was Selah, and he wasn’t in the right frame of mind to deal with her right now.
“What’s wrong with you?” she said as she went down the steps. She turned around and faced him.
“An ironic question, coming from you,” he mumbled.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
That wasn’t a good sign. He shouldn’t be terrified at the prospect of marrying Ruby. And he wasn’t. He was . . . perplexed.
Selah crossed her arms and looked down at him. “Tell me about it.”
His brow went up. “You want to converse? With me?”
“I want to know what’s going on. You have me curious. Does this have to do with Martha?”
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