Loving Eliza (12 page)

“Think of it what you will.
”
She
gave him a nudge.  “You need to get back to your rightful position.”

He stuck out
his lower lip.

“What am I going to do with you?” Before he could point to his ring finger again, she held up her hand to stop him.  “Don’t answer that. 
Now look here
.  If you don’t move over to your side, I’m going to be forced to jump out of this wagon.  Then I’d land on the ground, and I might get hurt.  Do you want that to happen?” She steeled herself against his puppy dog eyes.
  “Alright.  Fine.  Here I go.”

She started to stand, but he quickly stopped her.  Then he scooted back to his side of the seat.

Satisfied that her bluff had worked, she settled back down.  “You should be happy enough wit
h the fact that I’m going to
town
with you tonight.  That means I won’t dance with anyone but you.”

His smile widened.

“Don’t take that to mean I’m going to marry you.”

He didn’t stop his foolish grinning.

“I’m serious, John.”

He just shrugged.

She huffed
and shook her head
.  “You know, for a man who can’t talk, you sure do say a lot.”

Deciding it was time to change tactics, she spent the rest of the way into town discussing what she planned to make for lunch and what she’d wear that evening.  She figured such topics might bore him, but she was at a loss on what else to discuss, and he had said that she could talk about anything.  To her surprise, he actually seemed to enjoy listening to her.  Odd.  That word didn’t even seem to describe him.  He was more than odd.  A man who willing
ly listened to topics that would only interest a woman just couldn’t be right in the head.

When they reached town, she allowed him to help her down.  It wouldn’t be right to out-smart him in front of other people.  Men, no matt
er who they were, had their pride
to protect
.

Upon entering the church, she noticed that his steps had slowed to a pace that would make a snail seem fast.  “I’m with you,” she whispered.  “It’s alright.”

He didn’t look convinced but lumbered to the pew they had been sitting at
every Sunday
.

“I thought we’d say hello to Charity and her aunt.
  Then we can say good morning to a few others.” Fortunately, Troy made it a habit of coming a few minutes after the service started.  She didn’t feel like dealing with him.  At leas
t not yet.  She motioned for John
to follow her.  “Come on.”

Looking as if he were facing a death sentence, he joined her.

“Good morning, Charity!” she greeted, pasting on a friendly smile.  “Good morning, Bethany.”

The two women turned from talking to Willy and Ralph Custer.

“Of course, good morning to you too, gentlemen,” Eliza quickly added.  “You’re all looking fine.  Why, Charity, I do believe you’re glowing.”

Bethany gave a satisfied nod in Charity’s direction.  “You see.  I told you that it was obvious.”

Eliza’s gaze shifted to Ralph whose chest puffed up with male pride.  Eliza stopped Bethany before she could continue.  “Let me guess.  Charity, are you expecting?”

Charity blushed.

“That’s wonderful!  Isn’t that wonderful, John?”

John looked as if he wished he were anywhere but there.

Eliza returned her attention to the group.  “Well, that is wonderful.  You’ll make a terrific mother.”

“We just found out yesterday,” Ralph added.  “The baby will be here in April.”

“Good.  That gives me plenty of time to make a gift.  Is there anything special you need?”

Charity shrugged.  “I don’t even know what a baby needs, except for clothes and diapers.”

“I’ll think of something then.”

Bethany patted Eliza’
s hand and leaned forward to whisper in Eliza’s ear.
“You do know that
we don’t think there’s anything inappropriate going on with you and John.  I know we haven’t had a chance to talk to you the last couple of times you’ve been here, but I wanted to clear the air.  Charity and I misunderstood the situation.  We know better now.”

Right.  Because Ralph explained that John was incapable of
having
a single sexual thought.
  Eliza supposed that this worked in her favor.  No one assumed
anything was going on, which there wasn’t.  S
he
did like
the respect people were finally giving her, and the last thing she wanted to do was to ruin it.

Eliza nodded and smiled.  “It’s good to have things resolved.” Then she took a step back.  “I better say hi to Addy.  Last time she said she had some recipes for me, and I’m anxious to check them out.” She turned but glanced over her shoulder.  “Congratulations, Charity and Ralph.”

She le
d John over to Addy and Frank,
so they could sit next to them
.  Of all the people in town, she felt most comfortable with them.

As Addy pulled out a couple of recipe cards from her purse, Aaron came up to John.  And Aaron didn’t look too happy.  “John, I need to talk to you outside for a minute.”

John shook his head and motioned to Eliza, Addy and Frank.

“They’ll keep your seat,” Aaron insisted.

John shook his head again and crossed his arms.

Aaron leaned down so that he could speak low.  “It’s about Troy and that thing you did.  I didn’t give you that paper so you could write a letter on Troy’s behalf like that.”

If John did have a voice, he would’ve groaned, for Eliza recognized the exasperation on his face as he stood
up and motioned for
Aaron to go outside.

Eliza turned to Addy as John and Aaron left.  “You said you have recipes for me?”

Addy seemed curious about the exchange between John and Aaron but turned her attention back to her purse.  “Yes.  I wrote everything down for my three favorite dishes.  The best part is that they are simple too.”

“Good.” Eliza didn’t care much for cooking.  It was alright, but she’d rather be doing other things.  She’d never be a gourmet chef, but at least John could eat her food without getting sick.
  “The simpler, the better.  I’m still learning.”

“Really?  Didn’t your mother teach you how to cook?”

“A long time ago.  I don’t remember much of what she did teach me.” Her lessons had been basic up to the time her parents died.  And after that, well...there was no need for cooking.  “But some of it’s coming back to me as I go along.”

That was true.  She didn’t like to lie, especially in church where she could feel the eyes of the Lord bearing down on her.  But He understood that she needed to keep her past a secret.  At least she hoped so.

John returned as the first hymn started, and she frowned.  He didn’t look happy.  In fact, he looked downright grumpy.  She wondered what happened between him and Aaron.  Sh
e glanced at Aaron who seemed
equally upset as he stood next to his wife and sang the words to the familiar song.

All of her life, Eliza had wished for a brother or sister.  Now she was glad she never had one.  It seemed to be more trouble than it was worth.

J
ohn adjusted his tie for the tenth time.
  He hated this.  He didn’t want to go to the social gathering in town where people would eat and dance and talk.  His parents used to drag him to those things when he was a child but let him stay home when he turned fifteen.  And now someone else was dragging him.  Well, that wasn’t necessarily true.  He asked Eliza to go with him and she agreed.  It was his choice.

He sat on the edge of his bed and pulled on his nice boots.  No.  It hadn’t been a choice.  Not really.  Troy
and Old Willy wanted to take her
.  Then there was Buck who usually farmed so much he rarely came to town.  Funny how he managed to make it to church to talk with Eliza after the service.

John adjusted his tie again.  It felt too tight.  Frustrated, he yanked it off and threw it
on t
he hardwood floor.  He’d be fine
in his green shirt, black vest and denim pants.  He rubbed his eyes.  He still remembered when he was at the social gatherings as a child and the other kids made fun of him.  The adults
didn’t do anything to stop it
, but they had to have known.  He ended up spending all of his time in the corner of the room, watching the ascent of the moon and judging when the gathering would be over.  Back then all of his brothers had joined in the rounds of pulling jokes on him and laughing at his expense.  As they got older
,
things changed.  It wasn’t until after their parents
died that Aaron,
Guy
, and Shawn
shaped up.

But then this
morning when Aaron talked down to him as if he were a child...John didn’t want to have anything to do with any of them. 
So what if he wrote to a mail-order bride on Troy’s behalf? 
He picked one of the best ones that Aaron read to him.  If Troy would just leave Eliza alone whenever they went to church, he wouldn’t have bothered writing that letter anyway.  Not that it w
as much of a letter.  He kept it
simple because he was still learning how to read and write.  The words he h
ad used, he showed to Eliza, but
she had no idea what he was doing it for.  She thought he was just practicing.

Sighing, he stood up and took the ring from his dresser.  It had been too big for Eliza, but he made the necessary adjustments to it.  Now it would fit right.  Only if she’d put it on!  He tucked it into his pocket.  Ever the optimist.  What made him think that tonight she’d say yes?  Still, she was right about him.  He didn’t give up easily.
  He sensed that she enjoyed being with him.  Just not enough to commit to him...yet.

He left the bedroom and walked through the kitchen.  His stomach protested, but he mentally reminded it that there was plenty of food at these social gatherings in town.  His stomach growled again, obviously not believing him.  He shut the kitchen door behind him and looked up to see Eliza fiddling with the
blue bow in her hair that went with her nice blue dress.

He smiled.  She looked so pretty.  Then he frowned.  No doubt the other men would think so as well.  And that was a problem.

She turned and saw him.  “Are you ready?”

He shrugged and went to get the horses.  They looked healthy.  Too bad.  Now he couldn’t claim they were sick.  After he hooked them to the wagon, he checked the wheels.  Too bad the wagon was in good shape.  Now he had no excuse to stay...and keep her safely away from Troy, Old Willy or Buck.

Once again, she managed to hop in the wagon before he got around to her side.  She spread her skirt around her and glanced at him.  “I’m not dancing with anyone but you.  I promise.”

Alright.  That helped him feel better.  He nodded and joined her.  On the way, she talked about how she looked forward to talking to Addy.

“Frank will be there too, so we can talk to both of them.  You like Frank.”

It was true, so he nodded.

“
It won’t be so bad, John.  Not if you look on the bright side.”

Well, she was going with him.  That was good.

“That’s what I try to do.  Look on the bright side.  No matter how bad things get, there’s always a bright side.”

Then she rambled about things that he tuned out.  The closer to town they got, the more tense he became.  When he finally pulled the wagon to a stop a block from the town hall where the festivities occurred, he gave one last look at the road out of town.  Four hours.  He just had to go through four hours of this.

Reluctant, he stepped down from the wagon and wondered why she bothered to let him help her down from it.  As they strolled up to the group of people entering the building,
Old Willy waved to them.

John inwardly groaned but followed Eliza as she approached him.