A Husband For Mari (The Amish Matchmaker 2) (6 page)

“Don’t thank us yet,” Anna teased. “Wait until you see how much work you’ve just agreed to.”

Chapter Five

T
he coat swap was every bit as crazy as Anna had warned it would be. Dozens of children ran, climbed, crawled and tumbled through Hannah Yoder’s kitchen. Babies cried, clapped their hands and squirmed in their mother’s and older siblings’ arms. School-age boys in lined denim coats and black wool hats were tugged into the parlor, which held piles of coats of all sizes.

The system was simple enough. People dropped off coats, found ones that fit their children and left. Between helping find sizes, Mari sorted through the trade-ins to see if they needed mending, washing or were too far gone to be used for another boy. Anything that couldn’t be worn any longer, she’d been told, would be cut up to be used in rag rugs.

For two hours Mari worked. As fast as coats went out, coats came in, and soon her neat piles of particular sizes weren’t so neat anymore. When there was a lull in activity and she found herself alone for a few minutes, she started trying to reestablish the piles according to size. Once she got the piles back in order, she wondered if she ought to go look for Zachary. She hadn’t seen him since he’d spied ’Kota when he’d scrambled down out of Rebecca’s husband’s buggy and ran off after him.

“There you are, Mari!”

Mari looked up from where she kneeled on the floor in the middle of piles of coats to see Rebecca Yoder standing in the doorway, a rosy-cheeked toddler in her arms.

“Have you been stuck in here all this time?”

“No, I grabbed a cup of tea earlier. And I don’t mind,” Mari assured her. “I like being able to help out.”

“I really am glad you decided to join us today.”

Mari held a little navy blue quilted jacket in her hands. “It was nice to be invited. I’ve met so many people that my head is spinning.” She chuckled as she folded the garment.

Upon her arrival Mari had met Ruth, Miriam and the youngest of the sisters, Susanna, all redheads like Anna and Rebecca, and all with their mother Hannah’s likable disposition. Leah, according to Anna, was serving as a missionary and teacher in Brazil. There was another sister, Johanna, who was expected later.

“So it looks like you’re settling in nicely.” Rebecca shifted the baby to her hip. “I heard from Addy that you’re doing well at the shop.”

Mari set the little coat in a growing stack and reached for another. “I really like it there. Everyone has been so pleasant. Not just at work.” She glanced up at Rebecca, suddenly feeling very emotional. Sara had written to her about Seven Poplars, but never in her wildest dreams had Mari imagined it would be so nice. “Everywhere I go, people are so kind and welcoming.”

“I’m so glad. You know, I saw you talking with James Hostetler last night before you joined us in the kitchen.” Rebecca cut her eyes at Mari and smiled as if she knew some secret. “A very handsome, eligible man, that James Hostetler. He seemed very interested in your conversation. Interested in
you
.”

Mari picked up another coat off the floor. “James is...very nice. I know him from Sara’s. He’s building her addition, so we see a lot of each other,” she explained, wondering why she felt the need to explain.

“I see.” Rebecca drew out the last word.

When Mari dared a glance up at Rebecca, she was still smiling.

Then she gave a wave of dismissal. “Oh, I’m just teasing you, Mari. I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”

“I...I’m not,” Mari managed, still feeling the heat of a blush on her cheeks. “James has been very kind to me...to us. To my son and I. He... I think he’ll be a good friend.”

“A good friend, yes,” Rebecca repeated, her tone still teasing. Her baby began to fuss, and she moved him to her shoulder. “You want me to take over here?”

“No,” Mari said. “I’m fine. I’m determined to get these piles in order.”

“Okay, well, give me a holler if you need help.” She peered into the baby’s face. “I think this one is hungry again.”

After Rebecca left the room, Mari turned to pick through a pile of coats too worn to be handed out. She came upon a familiar gray hoodie in the pile of blue denim coats. Zachary’s hoodie.
What in the world?
He must have slipped in and out again when she’d been in the kitchen having a quick cup of tea with the Yoders when she first arrived. She was holding it up, wondering what he was wearing, when she heard a familiar male voice.

“Hey! I didn’t expect to see you here.”

She looked up to see James standing in the doorway holding the hand of a small boy in a black hat and blue denim jacket identical to his. Her first thought was one of fear. He must have passed Rebecca in the hallway. Had he overheard them talking about him? “James.”

“My nephew Roman,” he introduced him, pointing down at the little boy.

If he’d heard any of her conversation with Rebecca, he didn’t give any indication, which made Mari sigh with relief. Not that she’d said anything wrong or inappropriate, she just...
You just what?
She looked down at the little boy.

The child eyed her suspiciously.

“Roman, here, is in need of a larger coat than the one he has.”

The boy ducked behind James’s legs and buried his face in his uncle’s trousers.

“Hello, Roman.” Mari rose from the floor. “Did you come to find a new coat?”

James shook his head. “He doesn’t understand English yet.” He quickly translated for the child. Roman peeked around James’s legs at her and buried his face again.

“Ne,”
Roman murmured.

“Ya,”
James corrected. Then he returned his attention to Mari. “My sister’s twins were fussy today, so I was elected to coat detail,” he explained. “Do you think you can help us? We’re not trading in this one, because there are three more boys younger than Roman, but my sister sent a pile of mittens she knitted. They were gone before I got through the kitchen.” He reached behind him, scooped up the boy and tucked him under his arm. “Of course if we can’t find something that will fit him,” James said, switching back to
Deitsch
, “we’ll just trade him for one of the bigger boys outside who comes with his own coat that fits.” James didn’t crack a smile and appeared perfectly serious.

Roman began to giggle, James broke into a grin, and Mari found herself chuckling with them.

“I’m sure we won’t have to go that far,” she said in
Deitsch
so Roman would understand her. She was amazed by how easily the language was coming back to her. “We can find something that will fit him. We probably have more of the smaller coats left than the ones for the older boys.”

“So long as I go home with one boy and one coat,” James said. “Otherwise, I’ll have some explaining to do.” He hesitated and then said, “Your
Deitsch
is good. I’d never have suspected you’d been away so long.”

“Thank you.” Mari turned away, suddenly feeling shy and having no idea why. “So...let’s see what we can find.”

* * *

Finding a coat for Roman at the coat exchange proved more difficult than James expected. Because all of the jackets had been handmade, nothing was marked with sizes. Some were too long, some too short. And every one of them looked just like the others to him until he got it on his nephew. And then once he found one that fit, the trouble was finding one that would be acceptable to his sister. One had been poorly patched, and others were badly worn or not sewn as neatly as Mattie would have liked. The denim coats were fastened with snaps rather than buttons, and he’d been instructed not to bring a garment home that had missing or broken snaps. Most of the jackets were lined, but in different material and padding, and not all were as warm as what James wanted for Roman.

“He’s an outside boy and rough on his clothing,” James explained to Mari in
Deitsch
. Roman beamed. “He needs something that will protect him from the cold and something that will hold up. Mattie wasn’t sure that she could trust me to pick out the right coat, but I told her I could. So my reputation is pretty much on the line here.”

“Not to worry,” Mari promised as she dug through a pile of coats. “We’ll find one here somewhere and Roman will go home as warm as toast.”

Roman wasn’t happy about actually trying on the coats, and he was soon squirming and whining in protest. James could understand the boy’s reaction. Unlike his sisters, he’d never had the patience to stand still while his
mam
measured him for new clothing or had him try on new garments she’d made.

“There must be something suitable here,” James said to Mari, looking through another pile. “I promised Mattie that I’d find him something that she wouldn’t be ashamed for him to wear to Sunday worship. She was hoping to make him a new coat, but the twins keep her pretty busy.”

“Twin newborns?” Mari’s smile lit her dark eyes. “I’d think they would.”

James decided she had a nice smile. “You should hear William, the older of the twins. He has a set of lungs on him.”

“Bless her. I can’t imagine how she does it. I was at my wit’s end with Zachary when he was a baby. I think raising a monkey would be easier than twins.”

She was a woman with a sense of humor, and he liked that. He really hoped that she and Zachary would decide to stay in Seven Poplars because they would be a welcome addition to the community. And he couldn’t help thinking how easily she seemed to fit in among them. He’d seen it at Sara’s house and then at the dinner the previous night, too. Maybe she just needed a little encouragement and support from everyone.

“How about this one?” Mari held up another coat. “This would be fine to wear to worship.”

“Let’s hope it fits.” He reached for it. “Are you coming tomorrow?”

“Coming where?” She looked up at him, another coat now in her hand.

He went down on one knee to wrestle Roman into the coat. “To worship. With Sara, Ellie and the others? Last Sunday was visiting Sunday, so we have worship tomorrow.”

Mari’s mouth tightened, and she visibly paled. “No,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m not coming.”

“That’s too bad.” He realized he had made her uncomfortable, and that hadn’t been his intention. “We’ve got a good preacher. Caleb. He’s a young man, but he knows the word of God.”

She glanced at the coat in her hands, then up at him. “You might as well know right off, James, that I don’t go to church anymore,” she said quietly. “I haven’t been to an Amish service since I left my uncle’s farm when I was eighteen.”

“Do you mind if I ask why not? Sara said you were raised in the faith,” he said.

When he met Mari’s gaze, he saw that her eyes suddenly glistened, and he wished he’d chosen his words more carefully. She looked as if she might cry. He released his hold on Roman, and the boy got down on his knees and crawled under a chair to pick up a wooden rabbit that some other child must have left behind in the parlor.

James sat down on a wooden stool and looked at Mari. He was already beginning to think of her as a friend. A very good friend. And he disliked the idea of upsetting her. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to pry.”

“No, it’s all right.” She swallowed, obviously trying to regain her composure.

He was quiet for a moment. Logic told him to change the conversation, but there was something about the look on her face that made him think that wasn’t what he was supposed to do. It wasn’t the Amish way to talk about God leading a person to do something or say something, but it
was
the Amish way to respond to such callings. “Do you miss it?” he asked softly in English, knowing she did. He could see it in her eyes.

“Sometimes,” she admitted, meeting his gaze for a moment, then looking away. She hesitated and then went on in English, “It’s hard to explain, James. Why I left the church. I don’t think I’ve lost my faith in God, but...I think He turned away from me.”

Someone or something had hurt her badly to make her say such a thing, and James instantly felt protective of her. His first instinct was to get up and go to her and put his arm around her. That wouldn’t have been appropriate, of course. So he stayed where he was. “I don’t think God ever turns away from us, Mari.”

“It felt like it at the time.” She hugged the little coat to her chest. “I wasn’t welcome in my family’s home anymore.”

“Were you placed under the
bann
?” he asked.

Mari shook her head. “No. I left the morning of the day I was supposed to be baptized.” Her lower lip quivered. Suddenly she seemed younger, more vulnerable. But she raised her chin and looked directly into his eyes. “I couldn’t go through with it, and so I ran away.”

“To the English world,” he said, remembering so vividly the day he’d done the same thing. Only he’d been fortunate enough to not have to leave in the cover of darkness as many Amish did. His family had been there in the barnyard to say goodbye and to hug him and wish him well and encourage him to come home as often as he wished.

“Yes.” A tear welled in the inner corner of her left eye, and she dashed it away.

“And you never went home again? Later, after the fuss of your leaving had died down?”

“I went to my uncle once, when I knew I was expecting.” She didn’t look at him when she said the words. “He said I would have to give up my baby in order to come home, so I didn’t go back after that.”

“Your brothers and sisters? Did they feel the same way?”

“My sisters were married and gone. I don’t know where, but they were older, and we were never close. My brother...he died.”

“I’m so sorry,” he said, finding himself feeling the grief that clouded her beautiful eyes. “If you weren’t baptized, there was no reason for them to treat you that way. Our faith gives each person the choice of baptism. Our church doesn’t shun the ones who leave.”

“Ours didn’t, either. But my aunt and uncle were...not very understanding. He was a deacon, and he felt I had shamed him in front of the congregation.”

They were both quiet for a long few moments and James knew he should let the conversation go, that he should take a coat and walk away, but he couldn’t leave Mari like this. “Were you happy out there? Among the Englishers?”

“Yes,” she answered too quickly. She set the coat in her arms aside and picked up another. “Well, sometimes...most of the time.”