A Home for Lydia (The Pebble Creek Amish Series) (3 page)

Miriam smiled down at Grace as they rounded the corner of the buggy.

“Miriam, meet Aaron Troyer. He’s new to Pebble Creek. Aaron, this is my
fraa,
Miriam, and my
dochder
, Grace. Our youngest, Rachel, is in the basket.”

“Hello.” Aaron nodded and shuffled his feet.

Miriam noticed he seemed impatient to move on. “Nice to meet you.”

“I’m nine,” Grace proclaimed.

“Nine. That’s a good age to be.” Aaron looked uncertain how to continue.

“We came straight to town after school to pick up more feed and buy drawing supplies.” Grace closed her mouth suddenly and stepped closer to her father.

Miriam had noticed she was doing that more lately since the baby was born. She’d have a rainfall of language before clamming up as if she was afraid that perhaps she’d said too much.

Gabe smiled at her, and Grace relaxed.

The small interchange brought back memories of Grace’s silent time, memories of all that had brought them together.

Miriam handed Gabe her package from the general store and reached for Rachel as the baby began to fuss. “What brings you to the Cashton area, Aaron?”

“Actually, I was asking your husband directions to the Plain Cabins. He offered to give me a lift, but I don’t mind walking.”

“Oh, we’d be happy to drive you. We know exactly where they are. The cabins are near my
bruder
’s home.”

Aaron shrugged, apparently too tired to argue further.

“There’s room in the back for your duffel.” Gabe moved the baby basket onto the backseat, accepted Rachel from Miriam, and tucked the baby in.

“I don’t mind sitting in the back—”

“It’s no trouble. This way Gabe can tell you about the area,” Miriam said as she settled on the backseat beside Grace, who was peeking into her shopping sack.

Grace glanced at Aaron Troyer, at the mud that had dried on his clothes, and then she stared back down into her bag.

“You can take out the tablet,” Miriam whispered.

Carefully folding down the top of the paper bag, Grace set it on the seat beside her. “No. I’ll wait until we’re home. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to it.”

“All right. Maybe safer is better.”

“
Ya
. Safe is
gut
.” Grace reached into the basket to rest her hand on top of her baby sister.

“First time to Cashton?” Gabe asked the younger man.

“
Ya
. My bus left Indiana before daylight this morning.”

Gabe murmured to their gelding, Chance. A large dark bay with white tips, he was the same age as Grace and quite spirited. To Miriam, he seemed as eager to be on the move as their new acquaintance. Gabe directed the buggy onto the two-lane road. As soon as they left the parking area and the horse’s hooves crossed onto blacktop, Chance picked up speed.

“Long ride from Indiana,” Gabe said. “I’m from the Nappanee area myself. Been here almost a year and a half.”

“Seventeen months,” Miriam murmured.

“I’ve been to Nappanee,” Aaron said. “I’m from Monroe.”

“Southeast of Fort Wayne?”

“
Ya
.”

“Well, I went to Fort Wayne once, but never Monroe.”

Aaron shook his head, staring out at the countryside. “My
dat
says he wouldn’t give the
Englischers
either of our donkeys for all of Fort Wayne.”

Gabe laughed and glanced back at Miriam. “Your
dat
sounds like a smart man.”

“We have a donkey,” Grace piped up. “His name is Gus, but he tends to find trouble at least twice a week.”

“Sometimes more than that,” Miriam admitted.

They rode in silence a few minutes, the sun casting long shadows across the hills and valleys of southwestern Wisconsin as the afternoon brought its chill.

Aaron cleared his throat. “My
onkel
owned the Plain Cabins, owned it for the last ten years. I’m here because he recently passed.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Gabe said.

Aaron struck Miriam as young, though he was old enough to shave. She guessed he was probably in his early twenties, but he still impressed her as being more boy than man. There was enough
difference in their ages that he could have been one of the pupils in her classroom when she first began teaching. She waited for him to say more, which took another minute.

Finally he offered, “
Dat
says it was
Gotte’s wille
.”

Gabe, his voice as soft as the late afternoon light, asked, “And what do you say?”

“I say his passing is a shame, and I shouldn’t be the one who has to clean up his mess.”

Lydia peeked out the window as a buggy pulled into the cabins’ parking lot. She was already late leaving, and obviously these were not tourists. The last thing she needed was to become caught up in a long conversation with an Amish family.

Amish families were rarely paying customers.

She shuffled the paperwork she’d been fussing over into a desk drawer and locked the office door behind her. As she made her way down the steps, two men, a woman, and a young girl exited the buggy.

“Lydia?”

Stepping closer, it took her a few seconds to recognize her former teacher. It had been so many years. Since before the move. Since before they had lost the farm.

“Miriam.” Lydia hurried to cross the distance between them and accept a hug. “How are you?”

“I’m fine. I didn’t know you were working here.”

“
Ya
. More than a year now.”

“We were in town and happened to meet—” Miriam turned to introduce the younger man, but she never had a chance.

“I’m Aaron Troyer.” Stepping forward, Aaron glanced around at the cabins. His expression changed quickly from curiosity to disappointment to contempt.

Lydia could read him the way she could read the
Englischers’
looks when they came for three nights but stayed only one.

She pushed down her resentment and aimed for pleasant. “Aaron Troyer. So you’re Ervin’s—”

“He was my
onkel
. Yes.”

“I’m sorry for your loss. Your
daed
sent a letter saying someone would be coming, but we didn’t know who or when or even what to expect.”

“You could have expected we would want you to keep the place in better repair than this.” Aaron dropped his duffel bag onto the ground and placed his hands on his hips.

He wasn’t overly large, as men went. In fact, he was quite a few inches shorter than the man with Miriam, who must be her husband. Lydia had heard the teacher at the school at Pebble Creek had married the year before. Aaron only topped Lydia by an inch or so, and she was barely five foot six. That didn’t make her short for a girl, but she often felt short—short and round. She pushed the thought away and studied Aaron Troyer.

She guessed he was near her age and unmarried—and with his attitude that didn’t surprise her. Even with his jacket on she could see he was muscular, and from the look of his tan he was more than likely a farmer. Light brown hair and chocolate eyes scowling at everything completed the picture of a very unhappy man.

Great. That’s what she needed around the place—one more disgruntled person at the cabins.

Why was he staring at her with that frown? She had an urge to reach up and pat down her hair, which had no doubt frizzed out from its braids and was peeping from the corners of her
kapp
, but she resisted. She looked presentable enough. Nonetheless, the sour look on Aaron Troyer’s face raised hackles along the back of her neck. The way he frowned at the cabins and then her snapped the last string of her patience.

Lydia forgot her hair and the dirt she’d smeared across her apron while dusting under the beds. Suddenly, the last thing she was worried about was how she looked to this out-of-towner who had only just arrived but was already judging her and the cabins.

“Has it been flooded in the last few days or does it always look this way? Have you made no attempt to clean it up recently? The place looks deserted.”

Lydia’s cheeks flushed, and she took a step back from both Miriam and Aaron.

“I’ll have you know I’ve been working very hard since your
onkel
passed. It’s not as if there are a lot of hands to help with the place. I’m the only employee. And, in case you haven’t noticed, there are twelve cabins.”

“It doesn’t look as if there’s a lot of business, though. You should have had plenty of time. It looks…it looks…” He seemed as if he were at a loss for words.

They all turned to study the cabins.

“It looks as if everything is falling apart.”

Lydia sucked in her breath and promptly bit her lower lip. It was the one thing proven to keep her from speaking her mind.

The man standing next to Miriam bent down and whispered something to the little girl, who ducked back into the buggy.

When she was out of earshot, he stepped in between them.

“Aaron, I’m sure you’re tired from your trip. Perhaps it would be better if you rested before saying anything else to…” he paused and glanced at Miriam.

“Lydia,” Miriam said. “Gabe, this is Lydia Fisher. She was one of my better students in the years I taught at the Pebble Creek school.”

The words were said so simply that instead of embarrassing Lydia, they managed to calm her emotions. She pulled in a deep breath, stared down at the ground, and fought to settle the feelings struggling within her.

She would not cry.

She was exhausted, late heading home, and angry, but she would not give in to tears.

This arrogant stranger was rude, but he was going to be her boss. She would not break down and bawl like a calf in front of him.

In fact, she’d rather scream and show the temper her mother
often warned her about, but she couldn’t do that in front of her former teacher. So instead she stared at the ground.

“I don’t…” Aaron snatched his hat off his head and ran his hand over his hair, which could stand a good cutting. Ramming the hat back on with much more force than was necessary, he added, “I don’t see how resting will make this place look any better.”

“Maybe a few days of working instead of complaining—” The words were out of Lydia’s mouth before she had a chance to weigh them.

“Lydia, why don’t we fetch a key for Aaron so he can stay in one of the cottages?” Miriam tucked her hand into the crook of Lydia’s arm and tugged her toward the steps of the office. “Gabe and Aaron will see to your buggy. We’ve kept you late, and I’m sure your parents are waiting for you.”

“
Gut
idea. We’ll see to the buggy.” Gabe nudged Aaron toward the barn, calling out to the girl as he went. “Grace, watch out after your sister. Your
mamm
will be inside the office if you need her.”

The last sight Lydia had of Aaron Troyer was of him storming across the parking area toward the barn. It occurred to her that Tin Star would be looking for his raisins and that neither of the men had any.

Gut
. Maybe Aaron would be the one who was nipped. It wouldn’t bother her at all if he was. That might take the edge off of his temper.

Chapter 3