Gabriel's Bride (18 page)

Ruth heard the rattle of horse and buggy and peeked out the front window. Her new daughter-in-law and current youngest grandchild hopped out of the buggy and started toward the house. Rachel had a basket covered in cloth hooked over one arm, her other hand intertwined with Samuel’s.

The sight brought a smile to Ruth’s face. She had been so worried when Gabriel and Rachel married, concerned for her special grandson who needed more care than most. She hadn’t been convinced that Rachel Yoder would be up for the task of caring for a Down syndrome child. Not that Rachel had done anything to cause Ruth’s concern, but she knew that playing with someone else’s child after church and caring for them on a day-to-day basis were two different matters all together.

She laid down her scissors and smoothed back her hair. Not a strand was out of place, but the motion had become such a habit, ever since her cancer treatments had caused her to lose it all. Once the shorter strands had gotten long enough to pull back and hide beneath her prayer
kapp
, they required constant attention to hold them in place. With each passing month, her hair grew longer and longer, her glory to God reinstated.

And now she had found another lump.

She pushed those thoughts away and instead concentrated on the two smiling faces approaching the house.

Ruth opened the door before they could even knock. “
Guder mariye
, Rachel.”

“Guder mariye.”
Rachel smiled in return as Samuel threw himself at her, burying his face in her skirts and muffling his greeting. “I brought you some cheese.” As she said the words, Ruth noticed a high pink color staining her cheeks.

She took the basket. “Your cheese?”

Rachel nodded.

“
Danki
. Come in, and we’ll have some together.”

“I can only stay a little while,” Rachel said, leading Samuel into the
haus
. “Gabriel promised to take me into town this afternoon. I have a batch of cheese ready to go to the pizza restaurant. They have offered to try it on one of their pies.”

Ruth shook her head with a smile. “It sounds so strange to call them a pie,
jah
?”

Rachel nodded and dropped Samuel’s hand to run her fingers over the material lying on the kitchen table. “It’s so
schpass
.”

“It’s for Katie’s wedding.” The fabric was a beautiful blue with just the barest hint of green to make it interesting. When she’d seen the fabric in the general store, she knew right away that she would have to have some yardage to make Katie’s
frack
for her upcoming wedding.

“She will be a most beautiful bride.”

Rachel’s voice held a hitch at the end. Ruth stopped folding up the pattern pieces and faced her daughter-in-law.
“Was iss letz?”

But Rachel only shook her head.

“Samuel,” Ruth said, turning toward the child. “There’s some feed corn on the screened-in porch. Will you take some out and feed the geese?”

“Jah, Grossmaami.”
He beamed up at her, then raced toward the back door.

She took Rachel’s elbow and steered her toward the table. “Now tell me,
dochder
, what has you looking so sad today?”

Rachel shook her head and blinked back her tears. “Have you thought any more about going in to the doctor?”

“Nay.”
She jumped up and busied herself cutting a loaf of bread and putting on a kettle of water for tea.

So many happy days were ahead of them. She couldn’t put a damper on such things as weddings and
boppli
with the ominous threat of cancer.

“I was hoping you’d reconsider.”

“Don’t tell me you came all the way over here just for that. What else is on your heart today, Rachel?”

“Nothing.”

Ruth poured the hot water over the tea bags and placed one of them in front of Rachel.

“Perhaps I can help.”

Eyes as big and deep as a sauce pan filled with melted chocolate turned themselves on her, and Ruth found herself wanting very much to help the child.

“I’m not used to having others to talk to.”

“Well, now that’s what families are for.” She laid a reassuring hand on Rachel’s.

The young woman opened her mouth as if to speak, then shook her head instead. “I don’t think I should talk to you about it. I mean, you are his mother.”

“This has to do with my Gabriel?” Her son could be a hard man, but Ruth knew that his calloused exterior was a mere front for the softness of his heart.

“He . . .” Rachel turned her face toward the kitchen window, her fingers twisting a napkin to shreds. “He almost kissed me.”

“He almost . . . Do you mean that . . .?” She couldn’t finish the statement. It was just too personal.

Rachel cast her glance down to the strips of paper in front of her on the table. “We agreed to have a marriage in name only.”

She had said something about that when they were planning the festivities, but Ruth had chosen to ignore her protests. “I’m not sure such a feat is possible.” It was a shame, she was nearly sixty years old, and she couldn’t talk about the relations between a man and a woman. It wasn’t something that the Amish discussed very often, but it seemed that Rachel needed it.

“We . . . we don’t sleep in the same bed.”

“And you are fine with this arrangement?”

Rachel shrugged.

“You are going to do this for the rest of your life?”

She shrugged again.

“This is what you want?”

“I don’t know,” Rachel said to her hands. “But it seems that it is for sure what Gabriel wants.”

Ruth smiled. “I do not know every thought in my son’s head, but I know that he would welcome more children into his family. There is only one way to get those.”

Dark pink colored her cheeks.
“Jah,”
she mumbled.

“The Bible teaches women to be a servant to her husband. To love him and obey him. But that’s not to say that we cannot point their . . . wishes to a different direction.”

Rachel’s head jerked up, her attention focused on Ruth. “You mean . . . ?”

“I mean that when an opportunity presents itself, that you should take it and see where it might lead.” She paused. “Now let’s try this cheese.”

The wind lightly ruffled her hair as they clopped along to town. Rachel lifted a hand and brushed the wayward curls back into place. Once again they popped free. She sighed.

Ruth had told her to take her opportunities, and she supposed that finally being alone with Gabriel in his buggy was as much of an opportunity as she was going to get.

“Are you
allrecht
?”

She nodded.

“There’s a fan under your seat if you are getting too hot.”

“I’m fine.” But she could feel the heat in her cheeks, and it had nothing to do with the unseasonably warm weather and everything to do with the man beside her.

“Are you worried about what the Murrays will say about your cheese?”

She shook her head and glanced down at the cooler between her feet. She made the best cheese in three counties. The Lord had definitely blessed her with those abilities, but her skills at making a man notice her were sadly lacking.

She bit back a sigh. It had always been that way. Even before she moved to Clover Ridge and dating and singings were only a part of the future, all the other girls had their hearts set on a boy who shared their feelings, but Rachel had been the odd duck out, a little too chubby and more like a kid sister to everyone and girlfriend to none. When she moved to Oklahoma she had slimmed down, but by then it was too late. All the couples had paired off, leaving her as a third wheel at any gathering. So she’d simply drawn into herself and concentrated on getting through her grief over her family and adjusting to the new
Ordnung
. One day a man came out to work on their barn, a Mennonite with thick dark hair and crystal blue eyes. His appearance alone sparked something deep inside her, but by then it was too late. She was over twenty and an old maid.

She reached up a hand and lightly traced the scar on her cheek.

“How’d you get that?” Gabriel’s voice rumbled from beside her.

“What?” She turned toward him, jerking back a little as the sway of the horses brought them closer than before.

“That scar.”

She fingered it once again. “In a buggy wreck.”

“Car or other buggy?”

“Car.”

He grunted, but didn’t ask for more details. Yet Rachel felt obligated to share them with him. “My
elders
and
bruders
were killed in the crash. By the will of God, I was spared.”

“I’m sorry.” His normally gruff voice was gentle and caring. This—
this
—was the Gabriel she wanted to know better, his voice soft spoken, his frown missing from those handsome features. What made a man frown so?

She shrugged. “It was a long time ago.”

She had expected for their journey into town to continue, but Gabriel pulled the buggy to the side of the road. Thankfully there was a turnoff that allowed them to get completely out of the path of traffic. He turned in his seat to face her. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“There’s not much to talk about.”

Those intense green eyes studied her, searched her face, and seemed to dig deeper into her heart than anyone else ever had. “What are you hiding from, Rachel?”

You
, she wanted to shout, but to what benefit? How crazy would it sound to tell him that when he turned all kind and concerned, she felt herself falling in love with him? That she wasn’t sure which was the real Gabriel—the frowning man or the kind one? Or that she was afraid to ask lest her answer be the one she dreaded.

“Nothing.” She had intended the word to come out strong and sure, instead it was a whispered plea.

When had he drawn so close to her? He leaned in near enough that she could see every fleck of gold in those incredible eyes of his, count the whiskers in his dark beard. She was helpless to keep herself from moving toward him, drawn in by this caring streak she had found in her husband.

He hooked his fingers under her chin, gently, bringing them closer together than ever before. Closer than they had been the night they married. Closer and closer still until his lips were almost on hers.

A car horn sounded to let them know they were passing, and Rachel jumped back in her seat. She sucked in a deep breath and smoothed down her dress, her skirt, her hair, anything she could reach. She needed something—anything—to keep from looking at him and knowing that he had almost kissed her.

Wife or no, she couldn’t throw herself at him. It was too bold by far. Oh, what must he think of her? Ruth had told her to take her opportunities, but she didn’t think his
mudder
meant
that
.

He cleared his throat. “Rachel?” Her name on his lips sounded strange, like a strangled cry of a faraway bird. Despite his frown, he was a good man, and he was doing his best to let her down easy.

She kept her gaze to the front and folded her hands in her lap. “If we do not
mach schnell
, then we will be late.”

His gaze stayed on her, steady and searching for what seemed like an eternity but could have only been a couple of minutes. Then he, too, looked toward the road and clicked the horses into motion.

The time for taking opportunities had passed.

Her cheeks were still burning when they pulled up in front of the pizza restaurant thirty minutes later. After their almost kiss, her excitement over possibly gaining the pizza parlor as a client had dampened. She wanted to be excited—she did—but all she could think about was the ride home with Gabriel and what to say to him next.

She slid from the buggy without his help and made her way to the door of the restaurant. It was nearing four o’clock, and the early dining customers were starting to arrive. She had wanted to be there a little earlier, but with them stopping on the side of the road and all . . .

The heat stole into her cheeks once again. Involuntarily she fanned herself as she set the cooler on the counter.

“Rachel! Hi,” Mrs. Murray greeted, beaming a super sweet smile filled with perfect teeth and genuine happiness.