For Every Season (32 page)

Bob folded his arms. “Nevertheless, you need our capital to build a canning kitchen.”

Rhoda shook her head, her lips pursed. “We can figure it out.”

“What is the problem with letting us invest in you? I take it you two have talked about it since Sunday, right?”

Samuel wished they had. “No.”

“Why not?” Bob asked.

In truth, it was probably because of Jacob. He stood sentry between Samuel and Rhoda at all times, and Rhoda let him. Some days Samuel wasn’t sure how the three of them would manage to run the business together. Would Jacob get better after he and Rhoda married? Or worse?

“Rhoda.” Camilla ran her fingers along the edge of the birth certificate. “Can you at least help us understand why you’re so against it?”

Rhoda fidgeted with a string to her prayer Kapp. “I’m not sure I can. In many ways I’m just now coming to grips with my gift of knowing things, but I can’t allow myself to be compensated for telling you something God shared with me to share with you. I have no peace within me that it would be okay to accept your money—not as a gift, a loan, or an investment.” Rhoda gestured toward the birth certificate. “But I’m glad you’re on your way to finding Sophia.”

“You’re being stubborn.” Camilla raised her eyebrows. “We wanted to build your canning kitchen before you told us anything about Sophia.”

Samuel studied Rhoda. If he accepted Bob’s investment, he would probably disrupt Rhoda’s newfound confidence in allowing God’s gift of insight to reveal itself at will. He kicked at a piece of broken concrete on the driveway. King’s Orchard Maine was desperate for a kitchen before the harvest.
He
was desperate for one, but he turned to Bob. “We can’t accept your offer. I’m sorry.”

Bob sighed. “Well, I have a backup plan, and we took something into our own hands today.” He reached into the car and pulled out a checkbook. “You’ll need to go to the bank with us to put your John Hancock on the signature cards. If you won’t let us invest, let us loan you some money so you can get started.”

Rhoda shook her head. “That’s very kind, but—”

Bob held the checkbook out to Samuel. “It’s a loan. That makes a difference, right?”

Samuel swallowed hard and shook his head. He wouldn’t take any money
from the Cranfords, not without Rhoda’s approval. He’d expect the same of her. They were partners.

“Well, shoot.” Bob slapped the checkbook against his palm. “At least come over and let’s talk about some other solutions. We know this area, and we know the Realtors, and I’m quite clever when it comes to finances and business.”

Camilla nudged Rhoda. “Come on, we have reason to celebrate, and we don’t want to spend the evening alone.”

Samuel rubbed a knot out of his shoulder. “Sure, we’ll come over tonight. Right, Rhoda?”

She jolted, her eyes large with surprise at his response. He realized too late that today was Friday—a courting night for her and Jacob.

“You can go, and I’ll see them later tonight.” Rhoda crossed her arms. “I’ve talked to a few Realtors, and they’re mailing me some brochures. It’s not as if we’re completely stalled on the topic.”

Samuel held up a finger to Camilla and Bob. “Could you excuse us for just a moment?” He motioned for Rhoda to follow him toward the barn. When they were a safe distance away from the Cranfords, he stopped. “You’re being rude. They’re excited about Sophia, and they want time with
you
. I’m tired of racking my brain on my own about the canning kitchen. You’re never around to discuss it, and you’ve turned them down as investors and rejected borrowing money from them.”

“So you’re blaming me?”

“No. I understand your thinking, but I think you can give up one date night with Jacob to help celebrate and brainstorm with Bob and Camilla.”

“Why can’t we do this another night?”

“Because it’s Friday. I know how the weekends work. You and Jacob have plans for the next three nights. The Cranfords have amazing news
today
, and you should be excited for your part in their discovery.”

“But Jacob … won’t like being left here. Couldn’t he come too and help us sort through the different ideas?”

Samuel wanted to snap,
Get real, Rhoda. He doesn’t care
anything
about finding solutions for this farm
. But he drew a deep breath. “The Cranfords didn’t
invite him. They will if you ask them, but they want to enjoy their good news with you and me. Can’t you do that for them?”

Her shoulders slumped. “Ya, but—”

“Tell me the rest of it later. Kumm.” He strode back toward the Cranfords. “Sorry about that. There were other plans for tonight that we needed to talk about, but we’ve decided we’d rather accept your invitation if it’s still open.”

“Then it’s settled,” Bob said. “And, Samuel, maybe while you’re there, we could talk more about your beliefs. You and Rhoda have a faith in a supernatural God, but you two seem so levelheaded, like people we could have intelligent conversations with. So I’d like to hear what you believe.”

Rhoda’s eyes met Samuel’s, and clearly she found Bob’s wording amusing. But they both liked the Cranfords—despite the couple being so very different from anyone they’d ever known and saying what they thought when it suited them.

Bob held up a hand, laughing. “Let me be clear. It’s not that we’re interested in converting or whatever you religious people call it. But after having the proof in our hands that Camilla has a granddaughter, we need to hear what you believe and why—just out of curiosity as we try to make sense of this craziness concerning Rhoda’s
knowing
.”

It sounded to Samuel as if this might be an opening for planting some good seed. Was Bob searching for what else might be true that he didn’t believe in?

Other than living by example, Samuel had never had the privilege of planting seeds of faith in someone’s life. The Amish weren’t evangelical in the least. In Pennsylvania he could get into trouble with the church leaders for opening the Bible to nonbelievers. God was to do the leading, not man, and the men God elevated as church leaders were to do the sharing within the Amish community. But if Bob was curious, shouldn’t Samuel explain what he knew?

“It’s settled then. We’d better go.” Bob went around the car and opened Camilla’s door. “She should rest for a bit. Do you want me to pick you up in about three hours?”

“No, we’ll drive the rig.”

Rhoda made a face at him, silently asking what he was doing.

“See you then.” Bob climbed into the driver’s side, and Camilla waved as they pulled out of the driveway.

“Why are we going by carriage?”

“Because we need to think and talk. You’re the one who begged me to do whatever it took to keep this farm afloat until the harvest, and I sold acreage to keep this place going. We have to have a kitchen, Rhoda, and maybe if you’d stop tiptoeing around Jacob, you could quit being so indecisive and make some intelligent decisions, the kind of hard decisions you made when you were running your own business.”

She massaged her forehead. “You should’ve let Bob pick us up. Other than that, you have some reasonable points. But—”

At that moment Jacob rounded the side of the house, walking toward them. “Hey, what’s up?”

Surely Jacob could understand the importance of their figuring out how to build a canning kitchen for the orchard—in a way Rhoda could agree with. If not, then he’d either have to get angry with Samuel about it or get over it.

Or both. Samuel wasn’t sure he cared which way Jacob went with it.

As Jacob approached, he held out his hand for Rhoda. “What was that all about?”

“Samuel and I need to go to the Cranfords’ tonight. But to make up for you and me missing our night out together, Samuel’s giving us the whole day off tomorrow.” She looked to Samuel. “Isn’t that right?”

Even though Samuel’s plans with Rhoda tonight centered solely on business, his upcoming time with her now seemed tainted. He knew it was wrong, but more than ever before he wanted to fight Jacob for Rhoda’s hand in marriage. “Sure.”

Jacob didn’t look thrilled as he silently stared at Samuel.

Rhoda looked at Jacob. “Iva brought back more money than expected, and I haven’t been to the beach since I was a little girl. What if Landon gives us a lift to the train depot in Bangor tomorrow and we ride the rails to Orchard Beach?”

Jacob’s surprise turned into a grin. “Now this is what I call a deal.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and turned her toward the house, whispering something in her ear.

Samuel sighed in disgust. How were the three of them going to navigate a lifetime together?

THIRTY

Golden sunlight played on miles and miles of rippling water as waves crashed and frothy water rolled back and forth on the beach. Stunning swaths of pink and orange sky hovered over the ocean along the horizon.

Sunset.

The sea gulls and surf played a kind of music for them.

Cool sand squished beneath Rhoda’s bare feet as she walked hand in hand beside Jacob. She grasped his arm with her other hand. “This has been a perfect day.”

Jacob smiled peacefully as he studied the horizon where the water met the sky. “It has. It’s sort of sad we have to let it go.” He paused, standing close to the edge of the ocean, and remnants of retreating waves occasionally ran up against his feet. His green eyes reflected his pleasure. “We’re good at minivacations.”

She smiled. “We are.”

The two of them had played Frisbee and then joined a beach volleyball game with a group of strangers, causing their side to win three times before time for Jacob and her to leave. She’d forgotten how good he was at making her laugh—all people really.

They’d gone on a few rides and had even boarded a whale-watching boat that went out twenty miles or more from shore. She’d found it a bit scary, but he had loved every second. Actually, she wasn’t sure
love
covered how he felt.
Exhilarated, renewed
, and
mesmerized
weren’t quite strong enough either.

Out at sea they had only a single brief sighting of a whale’s back. But the two of them seemed to catch glimpses of each other. For that she was grateful.

He tugged on her hand, trying to get her to dip her toes into the cold water. “Kumm. Get your feet wet. We have to leave soon.”

She shook her head. “I’m fine right here.”

He frowned playfully. “You don’t need to be afraid of water this shallow.”

“But it’s painfully cold.”

“This from a woman who worked in open fields during a Maine winter.” He shook his head, an endearing grin on his face.

She arched her shoulders. “I’m going to pay for all those games of volleyball.”

Jacob moved behind her and rubbed them. The breadth of the ocean stretched out as far as they could see. “Rhoda,”—he wrapped his arms around her, whispering in her ear—“we should come here more often.”

She nodded. They needed times like this. Since Landon had taken them to the train station that morning, Jacob had relaxed and become himself again, almost as if Samuel had been erased from his memory.

She, however, wasn’t that free of him, perhaps because of the conversation she’d had with Landon the day before. His words rang true. She needed to deal with what was between her and Samuel, to look at what she felt and why. And she liked the idea of filing away every rogue and unwanted thought of Samuel and using all that space for Jacob.

He was everything any woman, including Rhoda, would want—kind, gentle, intelligent, humorous. So what was it about his gruffer, more challenging brother that drew her even a little?

Gentle waves crashed one after the other. Despite their variations they were so predictable and a constant source of enjoyment. She wanted Jacob and her to be like that for each other—having a rhythmic sameness that was spellbinding.

“Rhoda?” Jacob sang softly in her ear before he propped his elbows on her shoulders.

She turned a bit, just enough to see him for a moment. “Ya?”

He chuckled. “Have I already told you too many tales about my deep-sea fishing and scuba diving?”

Suddenly she realized she’d been daydreaming of who she wanted Jacob and her to be rather than focusing on their relationship right now. She turned, grabbed his collar, and pulled him into a kiss. She would live fully in every moment with him. Listen carefully. And love deeply.

Absolutely.

Positively.

And she’d do so as steadfastly as the ocean beat against the shore.

Leah patted the horse’s neck, talking to it softly while aligning the animal between the shafts of the carriage. She hadn’t been off in nearly three weeks, not since the Sunday after the frost came through. And she’d worked double time two Saturdays ago when Jacob and Rhoda went to the beach. She was edgy and irritable and needed a break. She’d done enough chores today, and she was taking off early regardless of what else was on anyone’s to-do list. End of story.

Her nerves were taut as she planned to drive on unfamiliar roads. Even though she could talk a good game of being brave and use sarcasm like a weapon, a lot of things, even normal things like driving a rig, taxed her.