“Hi, Lucy. It’s gut to have you join us,” Dan said. He was standing on the periphery of the large group of singers milling about the parking lot. “Would you like to share my song sheets? I’ve marked which stanzas we’ll be singing since I can’t remember and I don’t want to embarrass myself.”
“Denki,” she replied. Since this was the final night of caroling, the youth were visiting homes in the Amish section of Willow Creek before journeying over to the more industrialized side of town, where they’d sing to shoppers entering and leaving a small strip mall.
Shuffling her feet to circulate blood to her toes, Lucy scanned the crowd and inhaled sharply when she spotted a young hatless redhead. But when she realized it was an Englischer, she let her breath out again. Relieved Nick was nowhere in sight, Lucy relaxed enough to concentrate on the words of the carols, which announced the joy of Christ’s birth. Her Christmas might not be turning out the way she had hoped it would, but she had the promise of God’s love to sustain her. Romance might be fleeting, but the love of the Lord endures forever, she reminded herself.
Still, as the large group moved from house to house and then journeyed to the mall, Lucy kept thinking about the sweet, vulnerable look on Nick’s face when he’d confided how much he disliked his singing voice. She’d gotten to know a side of him other people didn’t know—or at least, they never mentioned—and a knot of nostalgia twisted deep within her heart. She was glad when the group ended its final carol.
The large three-story duplex where the party was held afterward was crowded with Englisch and Amish carolers, as well as dozens of other Englisch young people Lucy assumed were home from college for the holiday. Music blasted in every room, and the Englischers had pushed the furniture against the walls so they had space to dance in the living room. Others lounged on the stairway or gathered near the fireplace holding drinks Lucy assumed from the smell were alcoholic. As crammed in as they were, everyone was jubilant and friendly.
In fact, they were too friendly for Lucy’s comfort; one of the Englischers tugged Mildred’s hand and told her he had room next to him on the sofa if she didn’t mind squeezing in real close. When her stepsister merely giggled in reply, Lucy understood why Betty had been so hesitant to allow her youngest daughter to attend this party. Nick might think it’s okay to be involved with an Englischer, but Betty’s counting on me to keep Mildred from making a mistake like that, she thought. She resigned herself to spending an hour sticking to Mildred like glue, but after that, they were both going home.
* * *
Since Kevin knew Nick had completed the cabin repairs and because he had nowhere else to go anyway, Nick remained at the hardware store long after their father left for the day. He even told Kevin he’d handle the shop on his own, but to his surprise, Kevin declined the offer.
“After all you’ve done for me, the least I can do is help out here on one of the busiest nights of the year,” Kevin insisted. The brothers agreed to keep the store open extra late in order to accommodate the scores of panicked Englisch shoppers who needed to purchase last-minute hardware essentials for Christmas, including tree light bulb replacements, batteries for their children’s toys and additional gifts for the men in their families.
As they were finally closing up, Kevin announced he was going to the after-caroling gathering on West Elm Street. Nick knew the place; an Englisch college student and his roommate lived there and they frequently hosted big, raucous parties. “You should kumme. You’ll have a lot of schpass now that you don’t have to pretend you’re courting Lucy anymore. I’ve heard that meed from as far away as Shady Valley are going to be there.”
“Neh. You go on by yourself.” Nick said, advising, “Just don’t get into any trouble.”
“I won’t. I’ve learned my lesson,” Kevin promised. He seemed to hedge before asking, “Are you okay? You seem a little down.”
“I’m just beat,” Nick glumly replied.
On the way home he allowed Penny to trot at a fast clip, but the velocity didn’t bring Nick the sense of excitement it usually did. Instead, he recalled how much Lucy enjoyed it when Penny galloped at top speed. Dan might have a great singing voice, but Lucy isn’t going to have nearly as much fun riding in his courting buggy as she did in mine. Just thinking about Dan and Lucy embittered Nick and he suddenly decided, Kevin’s right. I should go to the party. It’ll be a lot more schpass without having to hang around pious, priggish Lucy Knepp.
He turned the buggy around and headed in the direction of West Elm Street. Brian’s house was so crowded Nick could barely squeeze through the door, but when he did, the first Amish person he crossed paths with was Melinda Schrock.
“Hi, Nick. I didn’t recognize you without Lucy at your side. She’s clear across the room.” She took a sip of soda through a straw before adding, “But you better be careful, because your other girlfriend is here, too.”
Nick fell right into her trap. “My other girlfriend?” he asked.
“Jah. Jenny Nelson,” Melinda tittered. “Neither of them has probably seen you yet. There’s still time to escape. I won’t say a word, I promise.”
Nick’s mouth dropped open. He hadn’t expected Lucy’s false rumor to travel quite that fast, and he wondered if her stepsisters were responsible. “Who told you Jenny Nelson is my girlfriend?”
“I figured it out myself,” Melinda bragged. “It was so obvious—although your mamm sure seemed surprised. I hope I didn’t get you in any trouble.” Melinda’s voice dripped with complacence, not contrition.
As she turned to elbow her way back through the sea of people, Nick tried to collect his thoughts. He was so stunned to discover it was Melinda, not Lucy, who had started the rumor about him and Jenny that he might have collapsed to his knees if it weren’t for the crush of people pressing in on all sides, forcing him to remain upright. It hit him like a lightning bolt: he’d wrongly accused Lucy just as she’d wrongly accused him. But his accusation was worse, because it was completely unfounded, whereas Nick had been at least partly to blame for Lucy suspecting he was interested in Jenny. After all, Nick wouldn’t confirm he’d been completely honest with Lucy when she’d asked him to. And Lucy had seen Jenny hugging him the day he returned her key. Other than the fact Betty Knepp wanted to talk to Nick’s mother, what reason did he have to assume Lucy had started a rumor about him and Jenny?
I have to get to her, he thought. Even if she doesn’t believe me about Jenny, I owe Lucy an apology. Excusing himself as he knocked into people, Nick picked his way through the crowd. Lucy’s so tiny, I’ll never see her, he thought, raising himself on his toes to peer over the shoulders of the group of Englischers in front of him.
It took nearly fifteen minutes, but he finally located her chatting with Mildred, Eve and Dan. After greeting them he said, “Lucy, may I speak with you a moment?” He had no idea how or where he’d find a private place to talk, but the other three graciously turned their backs and began edging away.
“I have nothing to say to you,” Lucy replied. She tried to walk away, but the room was so thick with people she didn’t get very far.
“Could you at least listen to me?” Nick implored, trailing behind. The music was so loud he had to shout to be heard.
“Stop following me!” Lucy tried to continue weaving through the crowd, but a cluster of brawny Englischers wearing sweatshirts emblazoned with the name of a local college on the back stood shoulder to shoulder, forming an impenetrable wall in front of the door leading to the hall. Realizing there was no way around them, Lucy turned back and faced Nick, who encircled her wrists with his hands.
“Luce, please hear me out,” he begged. Just then someone behind him wrapped her fingers around his bicep.
“Hey, Nick. Am I glad to see you!” It was Jenny Nelson.
Before he could stop Lucy, she tore from his grasp and ducked beneath the arms of one of the students as he lifted a drink to his
mouth, tunneling past the young men.
“Hi, Jenny. Look, I, um, I’ve got to go—” he said, but it was too late. He’d lost sight of Lucy in the swell of partygoers.
Jenny laughed. “You can’t go anywhere fast in this place. But I won’t keep you long. I just wanted to tell you how great the cabin looks. My mother didn’t have a clue anything ever happened, especially because we were dragging in so many boxes of decorations it was hard to tell if anything was amiss or not.”
“I’m glad it all worked out,” Nick said. If only everything had worked out that well for me.
After they wished each other a merry Christmas, Nick searched in vain for Lucy. Moving at a snail’s pace from room to room without finding her, he finally decided he’d wait outside. She’d have to come out eventually. But it was Mildred, not Lucy, who emerged an hour later to unhitch their horse.
When Nick asked where Lucy was, Mildred said, “I assumed she’d left ages ago—with you. Now I’m going to have to go back in there and try to find her.” She shivered. “Some of those guys give me the creeps. The way they bump into you when you’re trying to get past them, it’s like they’re doing it on purpose.”
Nick knew exactly what she meant and she was probably right. “You go on,” he said, motioning toward the Knepps’ buggy. “I’ll go get Lucy and bring her home.”
Mildred brightened. “Denki, Nick. I’d really appreciate that.”
The fact Mildred didn’t argue proved she knew nothing about Nick and Lucy’s breakup; otherwise, she would have waited for her stepsister instead of letting Nick take Lucy home. Feeling even guiltier that he had suspected Lucy of telling anyone about him and Jenny, Nick urgently jostled his way through the crowd, desperate to apologize.
* * *
What Lucy lacked in height or strength she made up for in fury, doggedly prodding her way past bony elbows, avoiding sloshed drinks and sidestepping embracing couples as she dug her way from room to room in search of Mildred, but her stepsister was nowhere to be found. Lucy knew the rule of thumb for being lost was to stay in one place, but she didn’t want Nick to catch up to her. Especially not with Jenny Nelson in tow.
How can he keep denying what I can see with my own eyes? Maybe that was just it; maybe when he approached Lucy, Nick was going to come clean about his relationship with Jenny. Lucy didn’t want to hear it. Not yet. She didn’t want him to apologize because she wasn’t ready to forgive him. Not for being dishonest about his relationship with Jenny and not for accusing Lucy of telling anyone about it.
So she kept searching for Mildred as best she could, growing increasingly frustrated. The house was thrumming with the pulse of what the Englisch considered music and on the basement level people were smoking, which caused Lucy to cough uncontrollably. Someone handed her a mug of something—peppermint schnapps, they called it—but after one vile sniff, she realized it was alcoholic and set it down without drinking it, coughing even harder. Finally, she cut a path to the balcony. She anticipated no one would be outside since it was so cold, but there were so many people huddled on the little rectangle of wood Lucy feared it would collapse, spilling them onto the concrete two stories below. But she couldn’t reenter the smoky house until her lungs cleared.
Lucy peered down at the driveway. Is that Dan leaving? she wondered, since it was difficult to tell from above whose buggy was whose. She had to find Mildred and get out of there, but when she turned, she noticed an Englisch couple was kissing passionately right in front of the door, blocking anyone from leaving. Everyone else was engaged in chatter and didn’t seem to give them any heed. Too modest to interrupt the couple’s embrace, Lucy stayed where she was, wiggling her toes and hugging her cloak to her chest to warm herself. By the time the couple finally moved, Lucy felt as if her bones were icicles.
Poking her way through the room, she prayed in vain to find Mildred. Lucy stood in the threshold of the door leading to one of the bedrooms, which was surprisingly empty except for a lone man who appeared to be asleep next to a pile of coats on the bed. Lucy shivered and turned to find herself face-to-face—or actually face-to-chest—with an Englischer.
“Are you lost?” he asked, slurring his words.
“Neh, I was just looking for someone.”
“Well, you found him,” the young man said, extending his arms.
“Excuse me.” Lucy tried to dodge around him.
The young man didn’t budge. “You’re awfully cute, but you should ditch these.” Before Lucy could stop him, he reached down and removed her glasses. “There, just like I thought. You have beautiful eyes.”
The room was a blur. “I’d like those back.” Lucy tried to sound firm, but she heard the quaver in her own voice.
“How about a trade? You give me a kiss, I’ll give you your glasses,” the Englischer said. Lucy didn’t know whether he was teasing or not, and her stomach churned with a sickening feeling.
“Please give them to me, now,” she repeated in what she hoped was a demanding tone.
“Please give me a kiss, now,” the Englischer said, mimicking her tone. Then he pointed upward. “We’re under the mistletoe, see? You have to kiss me.”
“No, she doesn’t,” a male declared adamantly. Lucy couldn’t see him clearly but she recognized the voice. It was Nick. Just when she didn’t think this evening could get any worse, he had to turn up again. If he thinks I’m going to feel indebted toward him for kumming to my rescue, he couldn’t be more deluded.
“Sorry, it was just a joke,” the Englischer said, handing Lucy her glasses. She put them on immediately and propelled herself past both of them.
“Wait,” Nick called loud enough for her to hear above the music’s hammering beat. “You can’t leave—”
“That’s what you think,” Lucy retorted. She jabbed her way through the crowd to the kitchen door, and then ran down the steps and along the path leading to the driveway. She was so frazzled she must have forgotten where she’d hitched her horse because she didn’t see it anywhere.
“Lucy!” Nick called again, a couple paces behind her. “Mildred took the buggy. I told her I’d bring you home.”
She spun to face him and shouted, “You had no right to do that! Now leave me alone.” She stormed across the lawn and scurried along the sidewalk, leaving Nick behind. She’d trekked several blocks when a horse came clopping along from behind and then flew by her. It was Penny and Nick. But instead of continuing down the main stretch of pavement, they stopped about an eighth of a mile up the road and Lucy realized Nick was climbing down and coming her way. She’d have to pass him in order to continue her journey home.
“Be reasonable, Lucy,” he said. “You can’t walk all the way home.”
“Don’t you dare tell me what I can do,” she shouted. She was so fed up with everyone deciding what she was or wasn’t capable of doing. She’d show him! When she passed his buggy without getting in, Nick climbed in and followed her as she made her way down the street. Penny must hate walking so slowly. But that was Nick’s fault, not hers. She thought, He can follow me all the way home if he wants, but he’s narrish if he thinks I’m going to break down and accept a ride from him.
She must have walked for over an hour before the cold air made it so difficult to breathe she struggled to take in enough air. A tear dribbled down her cheek and then another and another before her eyes released a flood. Defeated, she wiped her face with her sleeve before marching toward the buggy and boarding the carriage. “If you say so much as one word to me, I’m going to jump out,” she warned in a raspy voice.
Nick honored her demand although two or three times when her coughing became especially ragged, she felt him studying her. She turned her face and angled her body so he couldn’t see she was fighting not to cry.
“You can let me off here,” she said, indicating the end of her lane, but Nick brought the buggy up to the turnaround by the back porch. They
hadn’t even come to a full stop when Betty darted outside, a cloak covering her nightclothes.
“Where in the world have you been?” she demanded to know. “You were supposed to make sure Mildred got home safely!”
Lucy was annoyed. Mildred and Katura had gotten away with missing their curfew on countless occasions, but the one and only time it appeared Lucy didn’t follow instructions, her stepmother worked herself into a tizzy. It wasn’t fair.
“Mildred did get home safely, didn’t she?” Lucy asked sarcastically.
Betty balked. “Young lady, you wouldn’t be assuming that tone if your daed were still awake. I’d hate to think how worried he’d be. I told you to be home by eleven and it’s after midnight!”
Lucy resented being scolded in front of Nick. Mildred was the one who had left without Lucy, not the other way around. Why should I get all the blame, just because I’m older and more responsible? But she did realize Mildred wasn’t to blame for Lucy missing their curfew; if Lucy hadn’t been so adamant about not accepting a ride from Nick, she probably would have arrived home a few minutes after Mildred did.
“It wasn’t Lucy’s fault,” he piped up. “It was mine. I told Mildred go to ahead home. I’m the reason Lucy was so late. I’m very sorry.”
First Nick had played the role of her hero in front of the boorish Englischer and now he was being chivalrous in front of Betty. If Lucy hadn’t known how deceiving Nick’s appearance could be, she might have been grateful to him. But nothing he did now could change Lucy’s perception of what kind of man he was. Besides, technically he was right: he had told Mildred to go home, which ultimately caused Lucy to miss her curfew.
Betty apparently wasn’t taken in by his apology, either. “You will be sorry if it ever happens again!”
“It won’t,” Lucy said emphatically before she followed Betty inside and quietly shut the door behind them.
Betty apparently wasn’t done with her tirade. “I should have known it was a bad idea for Nick to court you. He’s completely unreliable. I expected this kind of behavior from him, but I thought you’d have a gut influence on him. I never imagined he’d influence you.”
Her Amish Holiday Suitor (Amish Country Courtships Book 5) Page 17