The Only Way (The Amish Millers Get Married Book 4) (9 page)

“Oh, I’m so sorry.”

Nash nodded. “I also wanted to see my
grossmammi
again with her being so old and frail, even if my
parents had said I couldn’t.”

“Your parents said you couldn’t see your
grossmammi
?”

She’s hooked
, Nash thought with
satisfaction. Aloud he said, “
Jah
, sadly that is the case.
The bishop from our community told them they had to allow me to
come here, but they haven’t forgiven me for the bad things I did on
rumspringa
.”

“But you repented.”

Nash just shrugged. “Anyway, I must apologize
for calling in on you when you were alone.” He fixed the most pious
expression on his face that he could muster.

Sarah looked a little embarrassed and simply
smiled shyly at him.

“I hope it doesn’t cause problems between you
and Elijah.” Nash was careful to look out toward the rolling hills
when he said that, but he could still see Sarah’s reaction in his
peripheral vision.

“Elijah? Whatever do you mean?”

Nash was concerned. Sarah actually appeared
to be shocked. He didn’t think a simple Amish girl would be such a
good actor; it must be genuine. He now turned his full gaze upon
Sarah. “Oh do forgive me if I’ve overstepped the mark. It’s just
that everyone thinks you and Elijah… well…” He let his words hang,
and he looked at Sarah from under his long eyelashes.

“Oh no, you have it wrong,” Sarah hastened to
explain. “It’s Rebecca and Elijah.”

Nash thought for a moment how to play this.
“Yes, I must have it wrong,” he said. “But I heard my
mudder
and Rebecca talking in the kitchen, and Rebecca said that she no
longer had feelings for Elijah. She said that a few weeks ago
Elijah told her he liked another
maidel
. Rebecca told my
mudder
that she was upset at the time, but has moved on.”
Nash hoped that was believable;
he
wouldn’t have believed
the far fetched story he had just invented on the spot, but then
again, he wasn’t a sweet and naïve young girl.

“I’m surprised Rebecca didn’t say something
to me,” Sarah said.

Nash continued to look at Sarah and raised
his eyebrows, waiting for her to make the connection. When, to his
annoyance, she didn’t, he continued. “I could be wrong, but I
thought the other
maidel
was you.”

“Me?” To Nash’s disappointment, Sarah looked
alarmed. For his plan to work, Sarah would need to have at least a
little crush on Elijah. It didn’t seem that this was the case.

“It’s not my place to say,” Nash said,
injecting concern into his voice. “I shouldn’t have repeated what
I’d heard.” He sipped his tea, hoping Sarah would say something. He
was not disappointed.

“I have no idea about Elijah, but I know he’s
not interested in me,” Sarah said thoughtfully. “As for Rebecca, I
don’t know.”

Nash’s plan had gone out the window, so he
said the first thing that came into his head. “The new
mann
at the B&B asked Rebecca on a buggy ride.”

Sarah knocked her tea over, at the same time
exclaiming, “Benjamin Shetler?”

Nash hurried to right the mug. He was now in
high spirits again. Why would Sarah care if Benjamin Shetler and
Rebecca Miller were dating? Yet clearly she did. This was a new
twist. His plan wasn’t a failure after all.

1 Timothy 3:16.

Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of
godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the
Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on
in the world, taken up in glory.

Chapter
14

Rebecca pulled on her black coat, buttoned it
up, and headed out the door of the B&B. She only remembered
just half an hour earlier that she had offered to help Hannah with
the twins so that Hannah could have a well earned rest. She hurried
to Hannah’s
haus.
It was a little way over the rise in the
hill and if it had been any further it would have been too far to
walk in the cold weather.

Although she was tired, Rebecca knew that
Hannah would have been even more so with looking after the twins
all day and all night, especially now that they were teething.

She could hear the twins’ cries as she
hurried up to the
haus
. “Hello, I’m here,” she called as she
pushed the door open.

Hannah’s face was filled with relief. “I’m so
pleased you didn’t forget to come.”

“Of course I wouldn’t forget. I’ve been
looking forward to it all day.” Rebecca sent up a silent prayer to
Gott
to forgive her for the white lie.

Hannah had Mason on her hip. He was dribbling
and crying and had poked a finger in his mouth. Rebecca could see
Rose in the wooden playpen in the corner of the room.

“Give him to me.” Rebecca put her arms out.
Mason put an arm out to her and she took him from Hannah.

Hannah rubbed her eyes. “I can’t thank you
enough for this, Rebecca. I’m so looking forward to having a sleep.
I haven’t slept a wink in the last two days. Well, perhaps I slept
for an hour or two; I’m too tired to remember.” Her voice was
slurred.

“You go upstairs now. I’ll stay until you
wake up.”

As Hannah was walking upstairs, Rebecca
wondered what was going to happen with dinner. She guessed she
would have to cook that too, as well as look after the crying
twins. “Hannah, what about dinner? What shall I cook?”

Hannah shook her head and with a weary voice
said, “Whatever you can find in the kitchen. Just cook whatever you
can. I think Noah will be grateful for anything.” Hannah continued
walking up the stairs.

As soon as Hannah disappeared, her two small
dogs ran into the room, both playing tug ‘o war with a small tree
branch. “Get out, you two.” The dogs ignored her. Rebecca placed
Mason in the playpen with Rose. Now the two
bopplis
were
crying together, which made them cry even louder. It was as if they
were in competition, each trying to cry louder than the other.

Rebecca grabbed Annie, the beagle, by the
collar and led her outside. The terrier, Sophie, quickly followed,
abandoning the tree branch. Now with the two dogs outside, Rebecca
clipped the lock on the dog door so they would not come back in.
Two naughty, young dogs and two crying
bopplis
were a little
more than she could handle all at the one time.

Now, all she had to do was to calm the
bopplis
and cook the dinner at the same time. Rebecca
shrugged and hoped that she would do a
gut
job of looking
after everything while Hannah had a sleep. At least it would be
gut
experience for when she had
kinner
of her own.
She found the pram in the utility room and sat the two
bopplis
in the pram and wheeled them up and down, hoping the
motion would calm them while she looked for something to cook for
dinner.

It worked; the twins remained quiet so long
as Rebecca pushed them back and forth. With one hand on the handle
of the pram, Rebecca gingerly made her way to the icebox where she
found a leg of lamb and a chicken. There was no time to roast a leg
of lamb so she pulled the chicken out and set it on the kitchen
bench while wondering what to make out of it. There were plenty of
vegetables in the box under the sink. Rebecca decided to make their
grossmammi’s
chicken casserole. She knew the recipe
well.

When Rebecca stopped pushing the pram, the
twins immediately burst into loud wails. Rebecca needed two hands
to prepare the meal, but finally found that if she sang at full
volume, the
bopplis
stopped crying. She sang
Blessed
Redeemer
loudly and hoped that no one would be able to hear her
sing. Hopefully Hannah was not expecting any visitors. Rebecca
nearly laughed every time she looked at Mason and Rose’s faces,
looking at her with wide eyes.

As she sang and pulled the chicken apart she
thought of Elijah and what their
kinner
would look like if
they married. Surely they would look similar to Hannah and Noah’s
twins since they would be cousins. How nice it would be to have
bopplis
soon so they could grow up with Hannah and Noah’s
kinner
and Esther and Jacob’s
dochder
, Isabel.

Rebecca silently rebuked herself and pushed
such silly thoughts from her mind. She could hardly marry Elijah
just to have their
kinner
grow up with her
schweschders’
kinner.

The twins launched into a fresh bout of
sniffling and looked as though they were about to cry again.
Rebecca abandoned the chicken and hurried to push them once more.
Finally the two fell asleep, leaning against each other. They
looked so cute, that Rebecca felt tears sting her eyes. How
beautiful they were. She admired them for a moment before she
hurried to get the meal finished before they woke up and before
Noah came home.

Matthew 5:43-45.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall
love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love
your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you
might be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun
rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on
the unjust.

Chapter
15

“How long have those raisins been soaking
now, Sarah?”

Sarah looked up at Rebecca. “It would be
three hours by now. Will we make the funeral pies now?”

Rebecca nodded. “
Jah
, we’d better
hurry or we’ll be late. Good thing funeral pies keep well; there
would be no time to make them tomorrow.”

“Is Mrs. Flickinger doing all right?” Sarah’s
face was full of concern.

Rebecca tucked a stray strand of hair back
under her
kapp
. “She is happy that her
mudder
is with
Gott
and has no more suffering, but she’ll miss her, of
course.”

“And are you okay, Rebecca? I know you and
Grossmammi
Deborah were close.”

“
Jah, denki,
Sarah. It’s hard, but I
know she’s better off with
Gott
; there’s no more pain or
suffering.”

Sarah simply nodded and beat a bowl of eggs.
“It doesn’t make it any easier at all for someone when they know
that a friend or relative’s time is nearly up and that they could
go to be with
Gott
at any time, but I suppose at least it
was not a shock.”

Rebecca sighed and poured flour and sugar to
a large mixing bowl. “Suppose.”

“I feel sorry for Nash, though,” Sarah said
as she mixed the eggs with flour and sugar.

“Nash?”

“
Grossmammi
Deborah was Nash’s
grossmammi
. I think everyone’s misjudged Nash. I got into
trouble when I was on
rumspringa
, and it’s not if he’s been
baptized or anything. People judge him by the way he looks, and
that’s really not fair.”

Rebecca decided it was best not to give her
opinion; after all, Sarah’s mind seemed made up. Rebecca did not
trust Nash, not one little bit. She always did her best to avoid
him, but there would be no avoiding him today.
Grossmammi
Deborah had passed away the day before, and today everyone would go
to the B&B for the viewing. Tomorrow would be the funeral.

Rebecca stirred the eggs, sugar, flour, lemon
juice, lemon rind, cornstarch, cinnamon, allspice, and water over
the stove for fifteen minutes, while Sarah finished making the
pastry. Finally the pies were made, covered with slender lengths of
dough in a crisscrossed pattern, and now had to be baked until
browned.

“These will only take around twenty five
minutes to go golden brown,” Sarah said aloud to herself.

“Are you okay, Sarah?”

Sarah looked up from placing the pies in the
oven. “
Jah
, why wouldn’t I be?”

“You’re talking to yourself.”

Sarah’s hand flew to her mouth.

Rebecca chuckled. “You only do that when
you’re stressed, I’ve noticed.” Sarah just smiled politely and
ducked her head, so Rebecca decided not to pursue the matter.

On the buggy ride to the B&B, which was
only a short distance, Rebecca noticed that Sarah grew more and
more anxious. She wrung her apron between her hands.

When Mr. Miller drew the
familye
buggy
up to the B&B, the first person Rebecca saw was Nash. He, like
everyone else on this occasion, was wearing black, but in his case,
they were not Amish clothes. Still, he seemed more toned down than
usual, and even from that distance, Rebecca could see that he had
taken out all his piercings. She was glad that he had chosen to be
respectful.

The Hostetler
familye
buggy, Noah and
Hannah’s buggy, and Moses and Martha’s buggy all arrived at the
same time as the Millers, and pulled in behind them. They all
walked in together. Rebecca’s heart leaped when she saw Elijah, and
he gave her a warm smile.

There were no guests at the B&B, apart
from Benjamin Shetler who was more or less a permanent resident, so
there were no
Englischers
to interrupt the solemn
proceedings. To Rebecca’s discomfort, Elijah accompanied Sarah into
the reception rooms at the B&B.

The Miller and Hostetler
familyes
filed into the main living room, and greeted Mrs. Flickinger who
was doing her best not to cry. Mr. Flickinger stood close by her
side. Many other members of the community were already there, all
dressed in black and sitting around.

Mr. Flickinger asked the Miller and Hostetler
familyes
if they would like to see the body. They all
politely said they would, then lined up in single file. Mrs.
Hostetler stayed back to comfort Mrs. Flickinger while Mr.
Flickinger took them to the plain, six-sided, pine coffin, the
upper half of which was opened. He pulled back a white cloth to
reveal
Grossmammi
Deborah’s face.