Of course, the kiss wasn’t real. It was just for effect. No matter how many times she reminded herself of that, Lucy couldn’t squelch the sensation of pure bliss at the memory. She would rather share one fake kiss with Nick than a thousand real kisses with...well, with anyone else.
How she wished their time together wasn’t coming to an end. She felt like the fictional Cinderella character she’d read about in books from the Englisch library; at the stroke of midnight, her dream would vanish. Unless... She allowed herself to wonder if Nick would ever consider courting her for real.
But that thought was preposterous. Nick had been tolerant about her physical shortcomings, but that’s because he stood to benefit from their arrangement. Lucy knew she wasn’t “marriage material,” as the saying went. Men wanted robust women; they wanted women who could bear half a dozen healthy children. At the very least, they wanted wives who weren’t too feeble to go outdoors to beat a rug or sweep the porch. Besides, she and Nick were polar opposites, so it was useless to allow herself to hope Nick was interested in her romantically, wasn’t it? She wished she had someone to confide in about the situation. If only she could write to Bridget for advice. But in a way, Lucy already knew what Bridget’s advice would be: she’d tell her to steer clear of Nick. To save herself a world of heartache.
Any heartache is worth how elated I feel right now, Lucy thought before she finally dozed off, wishing she could slumber straight through until Wednesday night, when Nick would take her to the soup kitchen again. But she woke the next morning to a draft of cool air followed by a loud click and then her father’s footsteps tapping down the porch stairs. She wished she hadn’t missed preparing breakfast for him once again. She sat up and blinked, realizing she should rise before Betty entered the room. Too late.
“Why did you sleep on the sofa, Lucy? Are you ill?” Betty asked.
Why did everyone always assume she was sick? “Neh. I felt like I couldn’t sleep last night so I came down here to embroider for a while. I don’t remember what happened after that, but the next thing I knew, it was morning.” Actually, Lucy did recall thinking about Nick, but those thoughts felt more like a dream than something she’d willed herself to consider. They were too private to mention to Betty, anyway. “I’ll put the kaffi on,” Lucy volunteered.
To her surprise, Betty insisted she’d do it instead while Lucy gingerly gathered her embroidery and combed her hair. Betty served the hot beverage at the table along with eggs and bacon, but Lucy could hardly eat.
“Are you sure you’re not coming down with something?” Betty asked.
This time Lucy snapped, “Neh. Why does everyone always assume I’m sick?”
Betty looked taken aback, and Lucy regretted her tone immediately. Her stepmother probably was worried, just as Nick expressed he’d been. “I’m sorry,” Lucy apologized. “I know you’re concerned about my health. But I’m not sick.”
“Yet you still can’t eat?” A smile played on Betty’s lips as she blew on her coffee. “That happened to me, too, when your daed first began courting me. I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep. Lovesickness is all it is.”
Inwardly, Lucy groaned. She almost felt bad that Betty was so hopeful about her courtship with Nick, knowing the disappointment her stepmother would experience when they broke up in another week or so. “It’s more likely I ate too many brownies last night, not that I’m lovesick.”
“Oh, but she is lovesick!” Mildred chanted from the doorway. She was still dressed in her bedclothes. “She and Nick were hiding in the hallway kissing last night.”
“Mildred!” Betty scolded, genuinely angry. “That’s none of your business and it’s inappropriate to talk about.”
“It was even less appropriate for her to do it in public view.” Katura was suddenly in the room. She slunk into a chair and poured herself a cup of coffee.
“It doesn’t sound as if she was in public view,” Betty said as she rose to get eggs for her daughters. Lucy was amazed her stepmother was standing up for her, but at the same time she wanted to cringe. Lucy and Nick hadn’t wanted everyone to know about the kiss—just Melinda. But they should have known she’d tell everyone else, too. It had been embarrassing enough that Dan had witnessed the kiss firsthand without everyone else being given a secondhand account.
Betty continued to scold her daughters. “Do I need to remind you of what the Bible says about envy?”
“Envy? Pah!” Katura muttered, loud enough so Lucy could hear but not so loud that Betty turned from the stove. “That courtship isn’t going to last. With Nick, it never does. Mark my words, within a month, he’ll have moved on to someone else.”
To Lucy, it almost sounded like wishful thinking on Katura’s part. But her stepsister was right; before the month was up, Lucy’s arrangement with Nick would be over. I’m not looking forward to bearing the humiliation of listening to Katura gloat. But even worse, Lucy would have to bear the pain of ending her courtship. Right then and there, she decided until that day came, she was going to make the most of her time with Nick while she had it.
* * *
Nick could hardly wait to take Lucy to the soup kitchen. It felt like forever since he’d seen her. Since he’d kissed her. If only someone else needed convincing they were really a couple... He shook his head. Was he really that pathetic he’d daydream about excuses to steal another fake kiss from Lucy instead of being brave enough to ask if she’d ever allow him an authentic one? The answer, sadly, was yes. His courtship—and his kiss—with Lucy might have been contrived, but they were better than nothing. Which was exactly what he’d be left with if Lucy turned down his proposal to become her suitor for real.
“I heard you were really putting on a show with Lucy at the singing last night,” Kevin remarked on Monday as they stacked bags of deicing material in a bin by the door before the store opened. Supposedly, snow was on its way, and their customers would need to treat their driveways and sidewalks.
Regardless of the public nature of his kiss with Lucy, Nick resented his brother’s intrusive remark so he ignored it entirely.
“It can’t be easy, pretending to like her. I just want you to know how much I appreciate what you’re doing for me,” Kevin added in a rare display of gratitude.
“It’s not a problem. I like spending time with Lucy,” Nick said, suddenly defensive. “She’s...she’s different than most women I’ve courted.”
“You can say that again,” Kevin said.
Now Nick was even more irked. “What exactly does that mean anyway?”
“Well, Lucy’s sort of plain. She’d kind of, you know, dull.”
“That just goes to show how little you know her,” Nick said. “And how little you know about the other women I’ve courted. All that external facade, the animated conversations, the flirty gestures, the exaggerated giggling—that gets boring pretty quickly.” Nick was articulating feelings he hadn’t fully realized he had.
Kevin cocked his head. “All right, fess up. Are you and Lucy really a couple now or what?”
“Of course not. What makes you say that?”
“From the way you’re talking about her. And from what Melinda described—”
“Melinda has big mouth and so do you, so you’d better shut it before you stick your foot in it.”
“Okay, okay,” Kevin said, holding his hands up. “How long until you’re done with the cabin anyway?”
If Nick wanted to, he could finish up in about three more nights. But he didn’t want to. “I’ve got a little sanding left to do. A couple more pieces of paneling to get right before I hang them. And of course there’s the cleanup. I accidentally scuffed up the floor in a few places when I was moving furniture around, so I’ll want to buff that, too.”
“I know how to do those things. I could take over and you could tend the store at night.”
Nick panicked. It was true; Kevin could handle those tasks on
his own. “Neh, I started the project, I’ll finish it.”
“Because you want to spend more time with Lucy?”
“Because I don’t trust you to get the job done.”
But Kevin was right. Nick did want to spend more time with Lucy. As he sped to her house, an idea struck him: he’d help her serve at the soup kitchen. That way, his project would be extended one more evening and he’d get to spend additional time with her. More to the point, she wouldn’t be spending time alone with Dan. Nick couldn’t wait to propose the idea to her. Since Dan had witnessed them “kissing,” as well as at the rink, Lucy couldn’t argue there was a need to hide their courtship from him any longer.
“Oh, if you can spare the time that would be wunderbaar,” she said when Nick presented his idea. “We’re shorthanded because people have so many other commitments at this time of year. We need a few men to help set up the folding tables beforehand and carry the heavier trays during the meal. Then there’s bussing the tables afterward. Dan does a lot of that, but he can’t handle it all on his own. Although he sure tries. He’s one of the hardest workers there, which is saying a lot since everyone is so dedicated.”
At the mention of Dan’s name, Nick’s mouth soured. Lucy always seemed to praise him, and Nick was desperate to find out if she was interested in him romantically. “He seemed really glad to see you the other night,” he hinted.
“Jah, well, since he’s new in the next district I’ve been trying to get him to attend a singing. He’s kind of shy. Or I guess you’d call him socially reserved, like me. Which is probably why we work so well together. Anyway, I was glad to see him at the Planks’ last night. I think meeting a few people at the rink on Saturday helped him feel more comfortable about attending a singing, too. You wouldn’t know this because you’re so outgoing, but for us introverted types, well, let’s just say social events aren’t usually high on our list of things we love to do.”
Her response did nothing to quell Nick’s envy. To hear her talk about them, Lucy and Dan were perfectly compatible: both hard workers, both quiet. Dan was probably smart like Lucy was, too, and clearly he was charitable. Nick almost wished he hadn’t offered to help serve on Wednesday night, because he didn’t know if he could stand to witness the rapport between Lucy and Dan as they worked.
But when they arrived at the soup kitchen, there was no time for wallowing. The Englischers greeted him with gratitude and huge smiles. Then the place was bustling. Nick could hardly set up additional chairs and clear the tables fast enough to keep the crowd comfortable and content.
And Lucy... Well, Lucy was a force to be reckoned with. Nick knew she was industrious, but he hadn’t realized quite how much energy such a small person could generate. She prepared sandwiches, served food, poured beverages and wiped up spills, yet he noticed she always had time to stop and chat with the diners, smiling all the while. Watching her, Nick smiled, too. And as a local church choir sang Christmas carols in the background, he found himself humming along. At least I can hum in tune to the music, he thought, chuckling at his own expense.
When most of the diners had left and Lucy was carrying a tray of glasses across the room, Nick noticed it was tipping precariously to her left. He hurried across the room to assist her, but Dan beat him to it. Nick noticed Dan’s hands dwarfed Lucy’s as he up righted the tray before taking it from her.
“Denki, Dan,” she said. “That was close.”
Yeah, too close, Nick thought begrudgingly. He didn’t want envy gnawing at his gut, but he felt outdone. Dan was truly a generous and compassionate guy, serving others regularly, whereas Nick was just pretending to help a family in need. Of course, Lucy didn’t know that and Nick intended to make sure she never found out. Otherwise, he wouldn’t stand a chance against Dan for Lucy’s affections.
Realizing he had to maximize his time with her, on the way home Nick finally worked up the courage to say to Lucy, “I’d like to pick you up early on Friday night, if that’s okay. I thought maybe we could get a pizza or something before I drop you off at the café.”
“Oh, sure,” Lucy agreed breezily. Nick’s self-esteem momentarily soared until she added, “I understand why you want to get an earlier start on your project. I do, too. We’ve been keeping some awfully late hours, haven’t we? But there’s no need for us to go out for supper. I’ll pack something we can eat along the way.”
That wasn’t at all what Nick had in mind, but he was too embarrassed to tell Lucy he wanted to take her out to supper for the pleasure of taking her out to supper, so he just agreed with her idea. Next time, he’d be more forthright. If there is a next time, he thought, all too aware their arrangement was one day closer to drawing to an end.
Chapter Eight
Even though the temperature was in the high twenties, Lucy waited on the porch for Mildred and Katura to return from working at the mercantile on Thursday. When their buggy pulled up the lane, she dashed across the lawn so as soon as they disembarked she could take the reins and head back to town. That afternoon she’d finished embroidering the last of the place mats she’d promised to deliver to Schrock’s before the shop closed. To her delight, the customer who had ordered them was eagerly awaiting Lucy’s arrival.
“Lucy Knepp, I’d like to introduce you to Sandra Nelson,” Joseph said.
“Oh, they’re exquisite, just as I knew they would be!” the woman exclaimed after Lucy spread the place mats on the counter for her to examine. “I can’t tell you how much this means to me. We’re having a special Christmas celebration this year at our family’s cabin for my father who’s visiting us from Washington State. I’m probably going overboard with the preparations, but I want to create as festive a setting as I can. These are going to look lovely.”
Lucy had been so intent on showing the customer the finished product she hadn’t paid attention to the woman’s last name. But when Sandra Nelson described her family’s upcoming celebration, Lucy caught her breath. This is the same Nelson family whose cabin Nick is working on! she realized, utterly thrilled. I can’t wait to tell him about this happenstance!
“Here you go, Mrs. Nelson,” Melinda said from behind Lucy. She set two large red cinnamon-scented candles on the counter. “I guess we did have a couple of these in the back room after all.”
“Oh, thank you, Melinda,” Sandra replied. Carefully stacking the place mats, she said, “Everything is falling into place beautifully. Look at what Lucy just brought me, too.”
Melinda barely glanced at Lucy’s handiwork. “Did you say you’re having a party at the cabin? That must mean it’s all fixed up now.”
“All fixed up? Hardly! I’ve collected most of the embellishments, but I haven’t begun to decorate. In fact, I haven’t even given the place a thorough cleaning yet. Because of my work schedule, that won’t happen until next week. But I’m not worried about it, not at all,” Sandra quipped, chuckling nervously.
Melinda began to clarify her question, saying, “Neh, I wasn’t asking if you’d decorated yet, I meant has the cabin been—”
Aware Melinda must have heard about the fire and, mortified that she was about to let the cat out of the bag, Lucy had to act quickly. Since she couldn’t think of any other way to butt in, she began coughing violently into the crook of her elbow. It was a phony cough at first, but the more she coughed the more she legitimately had to cough, and soon she was gasping. Mrs. Nelson patted her back as Joseph directed Melinda to bring Lucy a cup of water.
After catching her breath, Lucy said, “I’m sorry about that. Don’t worry, I’m not contagious. I have asthma, that’s all. I never know what’s going to set it off.” Lucy wasn’t lying—the scented candles may have exacerbated her breathing difficulty. “I think I’ll go see if Melinda has that glass of water. I’m so pleased I got to meet you and I hope you have a joyful celebration.”
“We will,” Sandra said. “Thanks in part to you, Lucy.”
&nb
sp; When she located Melinda in the back room, Lucy did her best to trap her there until she was sure Mrs. Nelson had left the shop.
“Denki,” Lucy said, slowly sipping her third cup. “I don’t know quite what triggered that coughing attack, but I feel much better now.”
“The cold weather is probably too much for your delicate constitution,” Melinda commented. “I heard it’s going to snow tomorrow night, so if you were planning to go out, you might want to think twice. You don’t want to catch a cold.”
Aware her peers planned to socialize after rehearsing carols, Lucy was antagonized by Melinda’s remark. She and Nick wouldn’t have wanted to attend the party anyway, but it was insulting that Melinda was clearly trying to stop her. “I don’t think the weather has anything to do with it. Nick always brings extra blankets to keep me toasty warm. If I am coming down with something, it’s more likely I caught it from...I don’t know, from sitting too close to someone who had a cold at church. Or something like that.”
Lucy’s thinly veiled reference to kissing Nick didn’t escape Melinda’s notice. Her eyes narrowed and she screwed her mouth into a frown, but for once she was speechless. Satisfied, Lucy followed her back into the main gallery, where she was happy to discover Sandra Nelson had left. As long as she doesn’t kumme back before Grischtdaag, my secret with Nick is safe, Lucy thought.
Then she decided if Melinda was right about Friday’s forecast, sandwiches wouldn’t suffice for supper; Lucy would prepare a hot meal to take in thermal containers. So the next day she prepared yumasetta with rolls and “stained glass window” cookies—a favorite Christmas treat made from chocolate, walnuts and marshmallows—for dessert. It would be too awkward eating as they traveled, but Lucy figured she could give Nick his share to take with him to the cabin. Or, preferably, he could spare a few minutes to eat with her in the buggy before dropping her off for the evening.
“You’re going on a picnic?” Mildred asked when she saw Lucy packing a basket. “In December?”
Her Amish Holiday Suitor (Amish Country Courtships Book 5) Page 11