A Home for Lydia (The Pebble Creek Amish Series) (44 page)

Four more people sat down at their table and started talking about the baseball game the boys had been playing the day before. From bits and pieces of their conversation, apparently the older Lapp boy had a decent pitching arm.

Aaron stopped talking completely when they arrived.

“Let’s go have a look at Bishop Atlee’s southern hayfield,” Gabe suggested.

“Why would we do that?” David stared at him before looking back down at his plate, which was only half empty.

“You can bring it with you. I wanted to show Aaron how Atlee mixes the red clover in more heavily than some do. Makes for an interesting crop.”

Aaron pushed his plate away and stood, though he’d eaten very little. David grabbed his plate, some of the extra bread on the table, and his drink.

Ten minutes later they were standing in front of the clover, alsike, alfalfa, and timothy. It was a sight to behold, full of color, birds, and butterflies. But, of course, that wasn’t why Gabe had brought Aaron away from the increasingly crowded table.

The boy needed to talk, to share the burdens he was carrying. He was merely giving him a chance to do so.

“So what happened?” Gabe leaned back against an old fence that partially enclosed the field.

“If I knew that, would I be standing out here with you two?”

David continued eating his food and studying them both. Swallowing a large bite, he pointed his fork at Aaron. “I’m a bit sleep deprived, but let me see if I can catch up. You care for Lydia.”

“
Ya
.
Ya
, I do.”

He moved the fork toward Gabe. “And you think something’s wrong between the two of them. So we’re out here to give him some advice.”

Gabe shrugged. “He has no family here.”

“True.”

Aaron folded his arms across the top slat of the fence and stared out over the field. “I don’t understand women. Everything seemed fine after the last burglary. We even shared a kiss. I followed her home and—”

“You kissed her?” David finished eating and placed his plate on the ground, finally more interested in Aaron than in his food.

“I did,
ya
. She was tired and maybe a little scared. It had been a long night.”

“Is that why you kissed her?” Gabe asked. “Or did you kiss her because you care for her?”

“Well, both, I guess.”

“You guess?” David belched. “A man should know why he kisses a woman.”

Aaron took off his hat and rubbed his hand over his hair. “Because I care for her. Sure. But I’d been waiting for the right moment.”

“And being surrounded by police officers seemed like the right moment.” Gabe pulled his fingers through his beard.

“
Ya
. At the time it did.”

David made a sound between a laugh and a harrumph. He stretched and then reached over the fence, pulled up a piece of the clover, and commenced to chewing on it.

“Maybe it was. Maybe so. Go on with your story.” Gabe made a forward motion with his hand.

“So I saw her home. And the rest of last week we were busy at the cabins, and now she won’t speak to me.”

David and Gabe stared at each other, and then they turned and looked out over the hay field. Finally, Gabe said, “You’re leaving something out. Miriam always tells me I’m leaving something out. She says I’ve skipped over something—something that doesn’t seem important to me but is very important to someone else.”

“Huh. I’m lucky to remember where I left my buggy.” David yawned. “You’re sure Rachel only woke you once a night?”

“
Ya
. Just the once.”

Aaron dropped his head between his arms and stared at the ground. “Well. I can’t think of anything else. We were going to talk of some things, but we haven’t yet…so I figured after she rested she didn’t want to talk anymore.”

“Oh, never figure that.” Gabe shook his head.

“Nope. You’re supposed to offer answers,” David said, yawning again.

“I am?”

“Yes, you are.” David worked the clover to the other side of his mouth.

“Why would I do that?”

“You’re supposed to go to her and tell her you’re ready to talk,” Gabe explained.

“About what?”

“You need to talk about that kiss.” David put his hands on the fence, stepped back, and stretched his back, which made a satisfying crack.

“Lydia’s a
wunderbaar
girl. I didn’t want to move too fast, though. I wanted to give her more time.”

Gabe and David exchanged another look.

“Why do you two do that?”

“Do what?” Gabe asked.

“Look at each other that way.”

“What way?” David’s smile stretched so that his beard reached up nearly to his eyes.

“Oh, never mind.”

“Giving a girl more time isn’t always best.” Gabe tugged his hat down. “Unless she asks for more time.”

David said, “Giving her more time can make her think
you
want more time.”

“Or that you’re having second thoughts about the kiss.” Gabe turned and faced back toward Atlee’s barn. All this talk about kissing made him think of Miriam. He wondered what she was doing.

“I’m not having second thoughts,” Aaron said.

“Have you told her that?” David asked.

“Well, no.”

“Sounds to me like you two should talk more.” Gabe slapped him on the back.

“That’s my problem to begin with. She won’t talk to me.”

The three considered Aaron’s predicament for a moment.

Finally, David said, “I bet they’ve set out the desserts now.”

“Might help us to think better. You know, Aaron, most things look better after a piece of shoofly pie.”

“I don’t feel much like eating.”

Gabe glanced at David and shrugged. “Say, how’s your neighbor doing, the
Englischer
?”

“Tim?”

“The guy who’s trying to farm our way.”

“Tim Elliott. He’s
gut
. I checked on him yesterday. He saw a tedder advertised in the
Budget
and purchased it. The man has no idea how to hitch it to his team. If I’m not back by the time his hay has been mowed, would you show him how to use it?”

“Sure, we can do that,” David said, yawning again. “Wait. Where are you going to be?”

“I’m going home.”

“Indiana?” Gabe asked.

“
Ya
.”

“Kind of sudden, isn’t it?” Gabe studied Aaron. “Any problem with your family?”

“
Nein
. It’s only that I need to speak with my
dat
, and I didn’t want to do it on the phone this time.”

Both Gabe and David nodded in understanding.

“I’ll check in with Tim to see if he needs any help.” David rolled his shoulders, as if he were trying to loosen a kink in his muscles.

“And I’ll stop by the cabins,” Gabe said. “When do you leave?”

“Tomorrow.”

“That soon? I suppose Lydia will have a way to contact you if she runs into anything we can’t help with.”

“Lydia doesn’t know yet.”

Gabe and David exchanged a look.

“Don’t you think you should tell her?” David asked. “She’s bound to wonder what happened when you’re not at the cabins.”

“I was meaning to talk to her. I just haven’t had the chance.”

Aaron stuck his hands in his pockets and slouched his shoulders as they walked back over to the picnic tables, but Gabe noticed that he did eat the pie instead of pushing it around his plate.

So maybe their talk had helped a little.

Chapter 38

M
iriam caught up with Lydia as she helped to load the last of the dishes into her mother’s buggy.

“Are you sure you want to walk, Lydia?” Ella was holding the reins to Tin Star in one hand and reaching behind her with the other to check that the younger Fisher girls had carefully stored the dishes on the floor of the buggy.

“I’ll be fine,
mamm
. It’s only half a mile and the weather is
wunderbaar
today.”

“All right. We’ll see you soon.”

It wasn’t lost on Miriam that Lydia’s
dat
didn’t speak. His breathing was labored, but his eyes expressed as much as his voice would have. He reached out and patted his daughter’s hand, and Lydia stood on the tips of her toes to kiss him on the cheek.

Miriam was so pleased to see that Mr. Fisher was able to attend church. His health had deteriorated considerably since the time when Lydia was her student. But she could see in his expression how much he was still able to care for his family, and that
Gotte
was still using him for things other than farming. He provided for his family even in his weak condition, but in different ways.

“I’m glad you could attend our church service today,” Lydia said to her as they walked back toward Bishop Atlee’s kitchen.

“It was special for us as well. David has been trying to get us over here, but we haven’t had the chance. With the baptism of my nephew Seth, today was the perfect day.”

“
Ya
. I was happy to see Seth settling down and committing himself to the church and affirming our beliefs…” Lydia’s voice trailed away, like the light summer breeze in the trees.

Miriam guessed she was thinking about Jerry, who hadn’t settled down, and about the tragedy of his arrest and pending trial. It hung there between them as they crossed Bishop Atlee’s yard.

Miriam looped her arm through Lydia’s and pulled her toward the picnic table under the willow tree. Its branches draped the table gracefully, offering them some privacy from the half dozen families who were still milling about.

“You know, Lydia,
Gotte
is still watching over Jerry. He may have a long road back, and it may be a difficult one, but he won’t be alone. We’ll be here for him.”

Lydia nodded as she ran her fingers down the length of the strings of her prayer
kapp
.

“But…”

“But what?”

Lydia waited a moment, and then the questions that had been building for a week came tumbling out of her. “Why did he have to choose that path? Why didn’t anyone notice and try to stop him? Why wasn’t I aware of the troubles Mattie had? What is she guilty of, other than loving Jerry? Why does she have to suffer so much now? And how did Aaron guess what was wrong with Jerry?”

Miriam didn’t answer immediately.

She was thinking of what her mother had told her, back in May, when Aaron had first arrived and she had first gone to the cabins along Pebble Creek. When she had first asked her mother about Lydia’s situation. Her mother had said, “You young girls, you need to learn to be there for one another. Friendship, it’s about more than Sunday socials.”

Now here they were, on a Sunday, and her mother had been
right—again. Friendship was about more than supporting each other on Sundays. It was about carrying each other’s burdens all week long. It was about praying for one another and working beside one another.

“You’ve been struggling with these questions all week?”

Lydia nodded.