A Perfect Amish Match

by Vannetta Chapman

  “Ya, all right. Then you can go back out to Henry, though I don’t know why you’re eating on the porch.”

  “It’s a picnic, Mammi.”

  “In the rain?”

  “Well, that I didn’t plan on.”

  While the water in the kettle heated up, Olivia Mae checked in on Daddi. He was sitting in his favorite chair in the living room, oblivious to the rain splattering into a bowl next to his chair, trying to make sense of some article in the Budget.

  At least he didn’t appear agitated. She pulled a knitted throw from the basket in the corner of the room and placed it across his lap, righted the paper, which he was trying to read upside down, and kissed him on top of the head.

  The kettle had begun to whistle when Noah rapped lightly on the screen door.

  “Everything all right in there?” He’d cupped his hands around his eyes and was peering inside.

  “Fine. It’s all fine.” She rushed to the door and pushed it open, forcing him back. “I just needed to help my grandparents.”

  “Did she call you Elizabeth?”

  “I’ll be out with dessert in just a minute. Just, um, take a seat and I’ll be right back with some cake.” Before he could ask any more questions that she’d have to ignore, she fled inside.

  Daddi had turned the paper upside down again and was growing increasingly frustrated with it. She needed to get it out of his hands before he had a complete meltdown.

  Her mammi called out from the kitchen, “Elizabeth, the kettle is ready... I’ll just make us some tea.”

  Olivia Mae didn’t think Mammi was steady enough on her feet for tea making. She hurried back toward the kitchen and tripped over the soup pot, sending it sloshing across the floor. Dashing to retrieve it, she slipped on the wet floor, grabbed for the doorjamb and fell, landing hard on her backside. She sat there on the floor—wet, frustrated and unsure whether to run to her daddi or mammi—when a scream came from the kitchen.

  She attempted to stand up, but the floor had become as slippery as an ice rink. Suddenly she felt two strong hands lifting her to her feet.

  “Check on your mammi.” Noah’s voice was low, calm and steady. “I’ll go and sit with your daddi for a minute.”

  Before she could answer, he’d retrieved the soup bowl, placed it under the biggest leak and hurried back toward the living room. Olivia Mae rushed into the kitchen to find the kettle on the floor and Mammi standing with a hot pad in her left hand, glancing around wildly.

  “Elizabeth. Thank goodness you’re here. I don’t know what made me drop that kettle. It was as hot as a live coal.”

  “I’ll take care of it, Mammi.” Her grandmother was right-handed. Apparently she’d remembered to pick up a hot pad, but had put it in the wrong hand. “Let me help you to the table. Did you burn yourself?”

  “Nein, I don’t think so.”

  “Let me see.” Olivia Mae sat in the chair next to her and pulled her grandmother’s hand into her lap. The palm was a bright red, but it didn’t look as if it would blister. She breathed a silent prayer of gratitude and smiled at Mammi. “We should put your hand in water.”

  “Seems to be plenty of that around here.” Mammi glanced around the room, then met Olivia Mae’s eyes. They both started laughing at the same time.

  Perhaps it was relief over the fact that Mammi hadn’t been burned more badly than she was. Maybe it was the look on Noah’s face as he’d helped her up from the floor, or it could be that exhaustion had finally taken its toll. Whatever the reason, tears rolled down Olivia Mae’s face. Mammi reached forward and thumbed them away. “You’re a gut doschder.”

  “Danki.”

  She didn’t bother to correct her grandmother, to explain that she was her granddaughter, not her daughter. Instead she snatched a bowl out of the drainer that sat next to the sink, stuck it under the nearest leak and brought the bowl filled with rainwater to the table. Gently she placed Mammi’s hand in it.

  “Does it hurt?”

  “Nein. It was a silly thing to do.” She glanced down at the hot pad she still clutched in her other hand. “For some reason, I had it in my left and I always use my right. Getting old and forgetful, I guess.”

  Rather than agreeing or disagreeing with her, Olivia Mae patted her arm and made sure her hand stayed in the bowl of water. “I’m going to check on—” she almost said Noah, but at the last minute changed it “—Daddi. I’ll be back in just a minute. Promise to stay put?”

  “Ya. But you should pick up our kettle off the floor.”

  Olivia Mae accepted the hot pad, scooped up the kettle, placed it back on the stove and hurried into the living room. What she saw there stopped her in her tracks. Noah and Daddi were sitting at the small table near the window. Noah had moved it so it no longer sat under one of the leaks in their roof, and he and Daddi were engrossed in a game of checkers.

  “Ha. Crown me,” Daddi said.

  “Got me again.” Noah glanced up and smiled at her as she walked into the room.

  Olivia Mae felt a surge of gratitude in that moment that threatened to overwhelm her. She’d put Noah through what must have been a difficult lesson on the front porch. She fully realized that no one liked being corrected and change—well, change was always difficult. Yet, here he sat, playing checkers with her daddi as if he had nothing better to do.

  She skirted around yet another bowl and stopped beside the table. “How are we doing in here?”

  “Gut.” Daddi laughed. “Your beau isn’t very gut at checkers.”

  She was about to correct him when Noah said, “Does that mean you’re afraid to play me again?”

  “I thought you’d be begging for mercy.” Daddi proceeded to reset the checkerboard, his hands shaking only slightly and a smile playing across his lips. All the frustration from a few moments earlier had been forgotten, and he seemed to not have noticed the minor emergency in the kitchen.

  Noah jumped up from the chair and pulled Olivia Mae a few feet away. Lowering his voice, he said, “We’re doing fine here, but how is your mammi?”

  “Okay. Only a little burn.”

  “Does she need to see a doctor?”

  “Nein. I have her soaking her hand in water. I’d like to put some aloe vera on it. Could you stay with Daddi just awhile longer?”

  “Are you kidding? I couldn’t bear to miss another thrashing at the checkerboard.” He touched her arm as she turned away, and that—the simple act of him placing his hand on her arm—nearly caused the tears to spill over again. For some reason Noah’s kindness cut her to her core, and that made no sense at all. Had it been so long since she’d accepted help from someone?

  The next hour seemed unreal, as if it was happening to someone else. She cut two leaves from the aloe vera plant in the windowsill, washed them in the sink, then sliced them open and placed the jelly inside of each stem against her grandmother’s palm.

  “Does that feel all right?”

  “Ya.” Mammi reached forward and cupped the side of Olivia Mae’s face. “Danki, Olivia Mae.”

  Her grandmother calling her by the correct name righted her world and eased the last of the tension in her shoulders. They were okay. They’d made it through another event. She had no idea what brought on her mammi’s episodes, but since Lucas had insisted that she take them to the doctor, she might know more by the end of the week. For now, it was enough that her grandmother was back in the present.

  “It must be hard, living with old folks like us.”

  “Not hard at all.”

  “Daddi is okay?”

  “He’s fine—playing checkers with Noah.”

  “There’s some apple crumb cake left. Maybe we could have that with some hot tea.”

  “Cake and tea sounds gut.”

  They spent the next half hour all gathered around the kitchen table, enjoying the cake and the
tea and one another’s company.

  The storm had moved on and the sky was clearing by the time she walked Noah out to the barn. “Danki, for your help.”

  But she could tell, even in the last of the summer evening’s light, that he wasn’t going to let her off the hook so easily. Instead of climbing up into his buggy, he sat down on a bale of hay near the barn door and patted the place beside him.

  “Sit. Talk to me.”

  “About what?” she asked lightly.

  “Talk to me, Olivia Mae.”

  Her shoulders sagged and she dropped down onto the bale of hay next to him. “You’re here for a lesson, and I’m sorry it was interrupted.”

  “I’m not.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, this is your life, and I’m not sorry I had a glimpse of it. But tell me what’s going on. Obviously you’re struggling.”

  The old defensiveness reared its head, and it took all of her control to stay put. “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “You don’t?” He shifted on the bale of hay so that he could study her. “Your grandmother called you by the wrong name, then burned herself because she couldn’t properly pick up a kettle. Your grandfather was nearly in a state of panic sitting in the living room by himself, and if I’m not mistaken he thinks Eisenhower is still president. Lastly, your home’s roof has more holes than a sieve.”

  “I was hoping you wouldn’t notice.”

  “Which part?”

  “All of it?” Olivia Mae sat forward and buried her face in her hands. Why was this so humiliating? Why was it so difficult to admit how desperate their situation was?

  * * *

  Noah was embarrassed. He’d actually thought he had problems, but he understood now that his were minor compared to Olivia Mae’s. His biggest problem at the moment was whether he would continue living with his parents or strike out on his own. He’d had no idea that Olivia Mae was dealing with such a volatile situation. He hadn’t taken the time to know, but he would now—that’s what good friends did, they listened.

  “No rush,” he assured her. “Snickers seems quite content here in your barn.”

  “Don’t you have somewhere you need to be?” She lowered her hands and smoothed out her apron.

  “Me? Nein. I had a dating lesson tonight that went much better than I expected.”

  “It did go well. Didn’t it?”

  “No changing the subject. Maybe start with the roof. Why haven’t you had it fixed?”

  “No money? It seemed easier to hope it wouldn’t rain? I wasn’t sure who to ask?”

  “The first two might be true, but not the last. If you’d told the bishop, he would have had a work crew out here before the end of the week.”

  “You’re right. I know that—yes, but Daddi was in the hospital.”

  “When?”

  “Before you were here, and the total of what we owed for doctors and the hospital was quite high. The benevolence fund paid his bill. I wasn’t ready to ask for more help.”

  “Okay. We’ll come back to that. What’s going on with Abe? Does he have Alzheimer’s?”

  Olivia Mae flinched at the word. She and her grandmother hadn’t discussed it, as if not saying the name of the disease could keep it at bay.

  “I think so.”

  She told Noah how Daddi often had trouble dressing correctly, that he sometimes couldn’t remember the names of common household items and other times he did things like put his reading glasses in the icebox. She told him about her grandfather wandering off the previous Saturday.

  Noah could tell by the way that she wrapped her arms around her middle how terrified she was.

  “It’s what you were speaking to Lucas about on Sunday, ya?”

  “Ya. After Daddi wandered off, I searched and called and prayed and searched some more. Then when I found him, he didn’t recognize me, didn’t know where he was. Worse, he was so frightened that it broke my heart.”

  “I can’t imagine what that must have been like for you.”

  “It was a wake-up call, that’s what it was. I knew then that I had to speak with Lucas. I had to come clean about all of this—though I didn’t mention the roof. I planned to after we worked out the more immediate stuff.”

  “Such as?”

  “Lucas insisted that I take them both into the doctor. We have appointments tomorrow.”

  “For Rachel and Abe?”

  “Ya. Mammi doesn’t have whatever Daddi has, but there’s something wrong. I don’t know what it is.”

  She stared down at her hands, and he forced himself not to rush her. From the way she was acting, he was the first person she’d talked to about this—other than the bishop.

  Did that make them friends?

  More than friends?

  Finally she glanced up and admitted, “I don’t know what to do anymore, so I called my bruders.”

  “They live in Maine?”

  “Uh-huh. I told Ben everything. I’m supposed to call him back after we see the doctor, but regardless what we learn tomorrow, I know his answer.”

  “Which is?”

  “That we move to Maine.”

  Noah felt a jolt of surprise for the first time since she’d begun baring her soul. “Do you want to move to Maine?”

  “Nein.” Now she jumped up and began pacing in the doorway to the barn. “I do not, and I don’t think it would be gut for them, either. I think they should be here, where they’ve always lived. Goshen is where they met and married. It’s where things are familiar, and we have a church community that we know.”

  She stared across the yard at the house.

  He could tell that she was exhausted and a little lost.

  What she’d just described was a lot for a young woman to carry on her own, and the fact that she and Abe and Rachel had made it this long was testament to how strong she was.

  Noah stood and moved behind her. He wanted to put his arms around her, but he didn’t. He had the sense that she was like a newborn fawn—easily frightened and apt to dart away. When she turned to look at him, he couldn’t help smiling.

  “What?”

  “Only that you look pretty standing there, rain still dripping off the leaves and the last of the sun’s light pushing across the field.”

  She didn’t respond, but her cheeks blushed a pretty rose color. He felt an irresistible urge to pull her into his arms and kiss her. Something told him he wouldn’t make a mess of it this time, not like he had when he’d tried to kiss Francine outside her brother’s house. He realized that had been foolish. He hadn’t done it because he’d cared about Francine, but because he’d been curious, nothing more.

  He almost asked, “Olivia, may I...?” but then Snickers neighed, and Olivia Mae plastered on a smile, and the moment slipped away.

  “You should go. Your horse is growing impatient.”

  “And you need to get back inside with your grandparents.”

  She nodded in agreement, watched as he backed Snickers out of the barn and stood beside him as he climbed up into the buggy.

  “I can’t fix the situation with your grandparents, though I’ll pray that tomorrow goes well.”

  “Danki.”

  “But I can fix your roof.”

  She’d been standing close to the buggy door, but now she drew back and crossed her arms. “There’s no need—”

  “To fix your roof? Ya. There is.” Then, realizing that she might be worried he’d do a bad job, he added, “I did some roofing while I was in New York. Pretty sure my dat has some leftover supplies from when he redid our roof a couple of years ago. It’s no problem.”

  “But...the storm is passed.”

  “Bound to be another. There always is. If it’s okay. I’ll come over after I do my chores in the morning.”

  “No auc
tion?”

  “Actually, it’s my day off.”

  “Which you usually spend working at your parents’ place. And don’t bother denying it because you told me as much while we were eating.”

  “My parents would insist that I come over and help, and I don’t mind, Olivia Mae. In fact, I’m happy to do it.” He realized as he drove away that it was true—he was happy at the thought of easing her burden a bit.

  But that part about her moving to Maine left him with a new kind of knot in his stomach.

  Chapter Nine

  Their doctor’s appointment the next day was for three in the afternoon. Olivia Mae spent the morning baking, cleaning and trying to convince Daddi that it wasn’t cold enough to wear his winter coat outside.

  Noah arrived around noon and was nearly done with the roof when they left at two. The image in her mind as she drove the buggy down the lane was of him on top of the roof—straw hat pulled low against the afternoon sun, sleeves rolled up to his forearms, his hair curling and damp from the sweat running down his face.

  She didn’t know what she’d done to deserve a friend like Noah Graber, but she was grateful that the Lord had seen fit to send him her way.

  Lucas must have explained their situation to the doctor, because they’d only been waiting twenty minutes when Dr. Laney Burkhart called all three of them into her office. She was a middle-aged woman, with purple-framed glasses and shoulder-length red hair. She had a kindly expression and looked straight at them as she spoke. She didn’t act in a hurry, which immediately put Olivia Mae at ease.

  “Your bishop explained a little of your situation to me over the phone, but I wanted to speak with you as a family before I begin my examinations. Then we’ll meet back here when I’m done.”

  Mammi clasped her purse and nodded.

  Daddi had become preoccupied with an old-fashioned slide puzzle that had been sitting on the corner of the doctor’s desk. His suspenders were twisted and his hair was sticking up in the back, but overall he seemed to be having a pretty good day.

  Neither her grandmother nor grandfather said anything, which left it to Olivia Mae to speak up. “There have been some...issues for a while now.”