Amish Treasures of the Heart (3 page)

Chapter 4.

“You’re finally getting the hang of it!” Isaac cheered on as Jake milked their family cow. “You actually got some milk into the pail this time.”

Jake laughed at himself. “It wasn’t one of the toughest tasks I’ve tried to master, but I did it nonetheless.”

Jake was pleased with himself, he’d only been working with Isaac the past two days, but he knew his skills had vastly improved. He couldn’t wait to get back to Ellie’s farm and show her what he’d learned. She had not been too happy when he’d told her he was taking a few days off. Bethany had come back home after her first day exchanging places with him, and complained that Ellie had been asking her a lot of questions about why Jake had been at their farm instead of with her. It had made Jake happy to know that Ellie seemed to miss him, 

“I think you’ll be good to go very soon, you’re a fast learner.” Isaac said.

“I hope so. I can’t wait to get back to work with Ellie.”

“You like my cousin,
Jah?”

Jake nodded, but didn’t say another word.

“Do you mind if I ask what my sister is up to, then? If you like Ellie, then I have my suspicion Rachel has talked you into making another
mann
jealous with her juvenile plans.”

“Yes, she is, but please don’t tell her I told you,” Jake pleaded. “I was supposed to keep it a secret for her.”

“I’m probably not the one you should be telling,” Isaac warned him. “You need to have an honest talk with my cousin. I’d hate to see you lose Ellie because my sister has you tangled up in her childish schemes to get Troy Miller to notice her. That boy wouldn’t notice a horsefly if it landed on his nose and stung him.”

“I was thinking I should talk to the young man myself,” Jake confided. “What do you think?”

Isaac smirked. “I think that if my sister catches you, you’ll have an enemy on your hands.”

“She’s a girl,” Jake said, chuckling. “What can she do?”

Isaac shook his head. “You don’t want to find out!”

Jake rolled his eyes. “I’ll take my chances with her being mad at me before I lose Ellie because she thinks I’m courting Rachel.”

“You’re a brave
mann,
” Isaac said, slapping Jake on the shoulder. “Let’s finish up here so you won’t be late for your buggy ride with my sister! I hope you know what you’re doing; if not, I might be calling you
brother-in-law
soon!
”

Jake hoped Isaac was kidding, but on the off-chance that he wasn’t, he would have to come up with an alternate plan to get out of this mess he’d gotten himself into. He bid Isaac farewell, and thanked him, promising to see him later when he picked up Rachel for their buggy ride.

*******

Jake returned to Ellie’s farm after lunch, prepared to work with the skills he had learned from Isaac so far. Ellie was pulling weeds in her garden.

“Well, it’s good to have you back.” Ellie said to him sarcastically.

“I know I haven’t been working much lately, but I had a few things to take care of,” Jake said casually.

“At Rachel’s
haus?
”

“Yes, at your cousin’s house,” Jake replied cautiously, hoping to avoid the topic. He was eager to show Ellie his new skills, and show off how much he’d improved without having to admit he’d had help.

Ellie bit at her bottom lip, worried there might be something going on between Jake and Rachel. She wanted to ask him outright why he was spending so much time over there, and if he intended to make it a regular habit, but she held her tongue. She tried not to worry about it and just concentrate on her work, but her mind was racing. Was it jealousy she was feeling? She had decided that she didn’t want to acknowledge her attraction to Jake, but she couldn’t help that her feelings were creeping up on her.

Jake noticed the puzzled, somewhat concerned look on Ellie’s face, and the fact that she was pulling at the weeds a lot more violently than she had been even a few minutes ago. He worried he’d made her angry, and figured it was probably best if he gave her a little time to cool off before discussing the topic of Rachel again. He left her alone to strangle the weeds by herself, figuring it was best if he got to work. Maybe seeing his improvements would put her in a better mood.

Jake had noticed when he’d driven up to the house that the fencing on the south side of the barn was in need of repair, and since he’d helped Isaac mend the fence at his farm, he felt confident he could remedy the problem. He went into the barn for the necessary tools, and set to work on the line of downed fence. Ellie watched him from her garden across the yard, and was impressed at his newfound skills. Where had he learned to mend fences? That stretch of fence had been in a state of disrepair for a while, and Angus had complained about the horses getting loose, but had not gotten around to fixing it.

Ellie caught herself staring at Jake, smiling, and quickly turned away.

Jake noticed she’d been staring, and couldn’t help but smile about it. He finally felt a sense of belonging, which he wanted just as much as he had wanted Ellie’s attention, and getting both made him feel more than satisfied. He couldn’t wait for Isaac to teach him everything he knew so he could truly feel worthy of Ellie.

Chapter 5.

Jake was loading up the wheelbarrow with bags of insecticide to spread in the fields when Ellie walked in with Coal from running some errands in town. She noticed what he was doing and got a little concerned. Did he know what he was doing?

“Are you sure you know how to spread the insecticide, Jake? I know it seems easy, but it’s not something we’ve gone over.”

“Angus had it here to be used, not to sit in the barn. He was probably getting ready to spread it two weeks ago when he left, but it slipped his mind with everything that happened. But don’t worry, I picked up the skill, you have nothing to worry about.” He shot her a reassuring smile.

“Oh, at Rachel’s I’m guessing?”

He chuckled inwardly at her jealous tone.

“Something like that.” He replied as he wheeled the insecticide out of the barn. “I’ll come back for the spreader.”

Ellie couldn’t help but feel extremely jealous that he had been spending so much time over at Rachel’s. She grabbed the handle of the spreader, wheeling it behind her as she followed him out of the barn.

“You sure have been spending an awful lot of time there for the last few days, Jake. Is there anything I should know about?” she asked as nonchalantly as possible, though it was clear to Jake she was jealous. He decided to play with her a little, just to see how far her jealousy would go. Even though he knew it wasn’t right, he had to know if she really did have any feelings toward him.

“Maybe, I’m not sure yet. I guess we’ll find out after my buggy ride tonight.” He said with a mischievous grin.

Ellie planted her hands on her hips. “You asked Rachel to take a buggy ride with you?”

“Nah, she asked me! Besides, it’s not our first buggy ride.”

Ellie leered at him. “It’s not your first buggy ride with her? You
do know
what that means to an Amish girl, don’t you?”

Jake shrugged and walked toward the cornfield. He didn’t really know what the significance of what the buggy ride was, and he suddenly worried if that was the meaning behind Isaac’s warning.

Was it possible that taking the buggy rides established the courting ritual the Amish believed in? He made a mental note to look it up online as soon as he had the chance. The only thing he knew was that he was doing it to get Rachel to be courted by the one she wants—and that was
not
him. Troy had already seen them once, and he was hoping this second buggy ride would be his last. If the shy Troy would not get the hint after tonight, he intended to put a bug in his ear. He didn’t have time to waste with the childish games that Rachel expected from him, especially since he’d agreed to do it in exchange for a favor. And although it had managed to get a rise of jealousy out of Ellie, he didn’t want to take things so far that it would permanently ruin his chances with her by making her think he’s lost interest in her.

Ellie left the spreader at the edge of the cornfield and walked away, and he could hear her sighing heavily. It was obvious she was jealous, and though it shouldn’t have, he just couldn’t help but let it ride for now. He knew it was wrong, but he finally felt he had gotten some emotion out of her. It seemed now that maybe she did have feelings for him, and this made Jake happy. He decided that he would clear things up in a day or so once her anger had calmed.

Ellie stomped back into the barn, furious that Jake was taking Rachel on a buggy ride and not her. She reprimanded herself for being so hesitant to tell him her real feelings, but she worried it was too late now. Perhaps if she’d been more outgoing and had asked Jake before Rachel had, he would have realized her attraction to him.

“Hello Ellie, how are you doing today?” Jackson said with a polite tip of his hat.

Had he been there the whole time to witness her little fit? She lowered her gaze a bit, feeling a little embarrassed.

“Hello Jackson. I’m doing well, thank you.” she replied, trying to keep her attention away from Jackson as she returned to brushing down Coal.

“Say, I was wondering, would you maybe wanna go for a buggy ride with me sometime?” He had overheard what had just happened and was taking full advantage of Jake being out of the picture.

Ellie thought for a second. Maybe this was a good opportunity to get Jake’s attention. Her jealousy over Rachel suddenly got the best of her, and she decided to accept Jackson’s offer. “I’d love to.” She said, not very convincingly. “How about tonight?

She immediately felt regret saying this, she didn’t actually like Jackson, and certainly didn’t want to be alone in his company. But she really wanted the chance to spy on Jake and her cousin. She was so upset wondering if he could be courting Rachel, and if it was too late to put a stop to it.

“Absolutely!” Jackson said with a huge grin. “Tonight it is! I heard there might be a meteor shower. In your open buggy, we could get a good look at it.”

“M-hmm, that’s fine.” Ellie said, not even bothering to turn her attention from Coal to Jackson.

Jackson was so pleased with himself; he headed to the field to rub it in Jake’s face. Even if Jake was courting Rachel, he knew he still had feelings for Ellie and Jackson was going to enjoy having the opportunity to boast.

“Hey Curly, guess who I’m taking on a buggy ride tonight?” Jackson shouted as he walked toward Jake in the field.

Jake was not amused, he didn’t care one bit for Jackson and he didn’t care about anything he was doing. He didn’t even dignify him with a response.

“You give up already?” Jackson joked. “It’s Ellie! We’re going to watch tonight’s meteor shower; it should be pretty romantic.”

Jake felt like his blood was about to boil over like a pan full of hot water. “How can
you
be taking
Ellie
on a buggy ride? She’d never agree to that.”

“Oh, but she did, seems she’s moving on to better things. Seeing as you’re so busy with her cousin lately, she’s decided I’m the better man!” Jackson laughed to himself as he walked away with his head held high.

“I don’t believe you,” Jake argued. “She doesn’t like anything about you!”

A lewd smile crossed Jackson’s lips as he turned around and chuckled confidently.

“After her buggy ride with me tonight, she’ll be so in love with me, she’ll forget all about you.”

He couldn’t possibly be telling the truth, could he? Did Ellie think he was interested in Rachel? That was the only explanation as to why she would ever accept a buggy ride from someone who lacked any manners;
someone so English,
as she would put it. His head hurt just thinking about it. Had she only accepted because she was jealous of the time he’d spent with Rachel? Did her acceptance of Jackson’s offer of a buggy ride mean she was truly interested in Jackson?

Had he completely messed up his chances?

He felt sick.

Jake walked over to the barn to ask Ellie himself if what Jackson was saying had any truth to it. He had to know one way or the other.

He approached her, and she didn’t look up. She kept slicing in between the rows with the hoe with such force, he could tell his presence was causing her to fume.

“Did you…?”