Miriam and the Stranger (20 page)

Miriam arrived at Deacon Phillips’s front door and knocked. She was greeted at once by Katie’s cheerful voice. “Come on in. You know our schoolteacher is always welcome.”

“
Gut
evening.” Miriam returned the greeting and stepped inside. “I hope I’m not interrupting supper.”

“Already finished,” Katie assured Miriam. “The girls are washing dishes in the kitchen.”

“
Gut
to see you,” Deacon Phillips greeted, looking up from his
Budget
with a smile. “I hope you haven’t come to report trouble with that Mose of yours?”

“Now, Phillip,” Katie scolded. “Miriam just got here.”

Miriam blushed and dropped her gaze to the floor. Thankfully,
Ruth stuck her head out of the kitchen doorway at that moment and chirped, “Hi, Miriam. We’re washing dishes in here.”

“I should help,” Miriam said at once.

“You will do no such thing,” Katie ordered. “You didn’t come to wash dishes.”

“
Yah
,” Miriam allowed as she reached for a chair beside the stove and sat down.

Deacon Phillips looked up again to regard her soberly this time. “Surely there’s nothing wrong at school,” he said.

“No.” Miriam tried to laugh. “I need to ask your opinion on something. I cleared it with the schoolboard last night, but they thought I should also speak with you. Would it be okay if I took an extra week off from school for Shirley’s wedding so I can also take in the bishop ordination in Wayne County?”

“Oh!” Deacon Phillips’s face lit up with interest. “That’s true. There is an ordination soon in Wayne County. Mose must have told you.”

“Of course he did,” Katie interrupted. “Mose plans to wed Miriam.”

Miriam quickly hung her head and looked away.

Deacon Phillips chuckled. “I’d say that’s a great idea, Miriam, even if Mose doesn’t draw the lot. You’d spend some time with him and show the proper concern a future
frau
would have for her husband.”

“Thank you.” Miriam still kept her head down.

Deacon Phillips cleared his throat. “I know this is none of our business, so don’t tell me too much, but it does concern the school, so we should ask.”

“
Yah?
” Miriam clutched the side of her chaira and waited.

Deacon Phillips proceeded with caution. “There wouldn’t be a chance Mose plans to take you away from us before the school term is over this year?”

Miriam allowed a smile to creep across her face. “No, I don’t think so. He…”

Katie reached over to touch Miriam’s arm. “You don’t have to say more. We shouldn’t have asked this much, but we were worried. Mostly because we have no idea where we’d get another schoolteacher to replace you this year.” Katie laughed. “Or next year for that matter. At least we now have time to think about this and plan. And we all knew you wouldn’t last forever—that some man would soon be along to snatch you up.”

“I don’t know about that,” Miriam responded. Katie’s praise was nice, but they both knew she had been well on her way to spinsterhood and could be thankful for any offer of marriage from an Amish man.

Deacon Phillips chuckled. “Then it’s settled, and my mind is relieved.”

Miriam jumped to her feet and declared, “And now I’m helping Ruth and the girls. I insist!”

“As you wish,” Katie said with a laugh, and Miriam made her way into the kitchen. Ruth had soapsuds up to her elbows and a big grin on her face. Two of her younger sisters scurried around as they gathered up the last of the supper dishes and scraped them clean. The bucket of slop sat on a kitchen chair within reach of their small arms.

“How about if I dry dishes for you?” Miriam asked.

Ruth shooed both of her sisters out of the kitchen at once. At the last minute she handed the slop bucket to one of them and ordered, “Dump this over the fence, and then you’re done for the evening.”

Miriam watched both small girls run out with big smiles on their faces and then turned back to Ruth. Clearly, Ruth wanted to speak about something private if she got rid of her sisters so quickly.

True to Miriam’s suspicions, Ruth whispered, “He’s coming here tonight,” her arms in the soapsuds again.

“Who?” Miriam whispered back, but her heart felt like it had sunk already.

“Tyler Johnson. The
Englisha
man.” Ruth’s face glowed. “Oh, my heart pounds at the very thought of him.”

Miriam picked up the dish towel but didn’t say anything. Did Ruth want a rebuke or an encouragement? Perhaps neither. Ruth must simply want a sympathetic ear to spill her secrets to. Ruth’s
mamm
, Katie, obviously wouldn’t tolerate such talk. Guilt crept through Miriam. Her own actions at the volleyball game must make Ruth think she could tell her these things.

Right away, Ruth began to chatter. “I don’t exactly know what he wants, but it’s something to do with
Daett
, I think. They are talking all the time, and
Mamm
mentioned Tyler should be invited for supper, but
Daett
said no. Oh, Miriam, do you think the man plans to join the community?”

Miriam finally found her voice. “We really shouldn’t be speaking of the man, Ruth. He’s not from the community, and…”

Ruth looked at Miriam in surprise. “But you were speaking so freely with him the other evening.”

“I know.” Miriam frowned at the memory. “Maybe I don’t always do what’s right, either.”

“But there was nothing wrong with what you did,” Ruth insisted. “I know because
Daett
was pleased you made Tyler feel so comfortable around our young people.”

Mose wouldn’t be happy about that
. The words almost slipped out, but instead Miriam said, “I still don’t think you should get your hopes up about Tyler joining the community. I imagine he’s got other things on his mind.”

“Don’t you even think there’s a small chance?” Ruth’s face had hope written all over it.

Miriam sighed. Ruth was so innocent and pure in her heart. If Ruth knew Miriam’s own feelings at the sight of Tyler’s handsome face, all of Ruth’s respect for the community’s schoolteacher would be shattered.

“Not really,” Miriam said.

“Well, I think there is at least some hope,” Ruth insisted.

Miriam tried to keep her words gentle. “Sometimes a young heart gets ideas that don’t pan out later, Ruth. I think you should be very careful with what your heart is feeling. Tyler is much older than you are, and he hasn’t even mentioned joining the community, which I don’t think he ever plans to do.”

Ruth’s face had fallen. “Has Tyler told you this?”

“No, but I can guess.” Miriam forced a smile. Shame threatened to send a rush of color into her face at the memory of what Tyler had said in her buggy. Those had been very intimate words they had shared. Ruth was still very ignorant of the ways of the fallen heart.

“You were once promised to Wayne, weren’t you?” Ruth asked, studying Miriam’s face intently. “You lost him. Is that why you’re so skeptical?”

“I hope not,” Miriam managed. “I just think you should be very careful about Tyler Johnson.”

“I’ll try to be patient,” Ruth sighed as she finished the last dish. “But it does so hurt inside. I feel like I could cry sometimes.”

Miriam reached over to hug the young girl. “That’s the way the Lord has made our hearts, Ruth. We are to love a man someday, and bear his
kinner
and raise them in the fear of the Lord. Surely a
gut
-looking girl like you will have no problem getting a husband.”

Ruth tried to suppress a smile. “I hope so… but you know I’m not that
gut
looking.”

Miriam wiped the last of the dishes with a quick whisk of her towel before she answered. Pride was an awful thing, and she didn’t want to swell Ruth’s head, but right now the girl did need
encouragement, so Miriam said, “You’re quite a beauty, Ruth. You’re much better-looking than I am, so you don’t have anything to worry about.”

Ruth’s face sobered. “
Mamm
says the character of the heart is much more important than the beauty of the face.”

“And that is true,” Miriam agreed. “But every once in a while you can comfort yourself with the thought that the Lord has given you a beauty on the outside that will someday fulfill a man’s dream. Someone you love will look at your face, and you will make him very happy.”

“Oh, Miriam.” Ruth leaned against her. “You speak such
wunderbah
things. I will ponder them well in my heart. And I’m sure
Mamm
would agree. I’ve heard
Daett
tell her how
gut
-looking she is, and
Mamm
turns all red.” Ruth leaned closer to whisper. “I even saw them kiss once in the hallway. Oh, Miriam, will that happen to me someday?”

Miriam looked away. “If the Lord wills it,
yah
. But you must wait for His time.”

“Have you been kissed by a man?”

Miriam swallowed hard, but no words came out. Wayne had kissed her often enough after they had been engaged, and the memory of those precious moments down by the creek blazed through her mind. All these years later she still hadn’t forgotten, even if she was almost promised to another man.

Ruth’s eyes had grown large. “So you did, and you were not married.”

“A man can kiss you before you’re married,” Miriam managed.

“Has Mose kissed you?”

Miriam strangled a laugh. “No, but please, Ruth, we must not speak of this anymore.”

“Do you love the man then? You must if you…” Ruth let the question hang.

Miriam laid the towel on the counter. “I really must be going. It’s been nice chatting with you, and I hoped that I helped. But give up the idea of the
Englisha
man, Tyler. Okay?”

“I suppose I should,” Ruth allowed.

Miriam waved a quick goodbye to Deacon Phillips and Katie as she dashed out the front door. “Got to get home before dark,” she said as she passed.

“Thanks for helping with the kitchen,” Katie called after her.

Hopefully Katie would appreciate the advice she had given her young daughter, Miriam told herself on the rush out to her buggy. Ruth likely was too shy to speak with her
mamm
yet about such matters, but that day would come, as it had for her. In the meantime, strangers were sometimes easier to speak to than one’s own parents.

Miriam untied Star and climbed into the buggy. There was no sign of Tyler as she raced out of the lane. Tyler must have run late, and thank the Lord for that. The last thing she needed was to see him tonight. Maybe she should have a long talk with
Mamm
about all this once she arrived back in Possum Valley. Her parents had been the last to learn of her two-million-dollar gift from Mr. Bland. Maybe they should be the first to know about her heart’s wanderings after a young, handsome
Englisha
man.

A car appeared in the distance, and Miriam kept her head down until it passed. She still caught a glimpse of Tyler’s smile. He had seen her, she was sure, and knew she had avoided him. This would only make things worse in the long run, Miriam was certain.

Chapter Twenty

A
little more than a week later, Miriam peered out of Mrs. Faulkner’s car window. The fall foliage crept past as they made their way through the town of Sugarcreek. Miriam was coming home to Possum Valley during a beautiful season of the year. Even more, she had left Tyler Johnson far behind for two weeks at least. Maybe by the time she returned her heart would have found some peace and settled down. Her mixed-up feelings for the
Englisha
man were a complete disgrace.

“You came at a perfect time of the year.”
Mamm
echoed her thoughts from the front passenger seat.

Mrs. Faulkner turned around to say, “I suppose you haven’t forgotten how crowded it can get with the tourists around here. You hardly have that in Oklahoma.”

“No, we don’t,” Miriam allowed. “But I don’t think I mind the tourists right now. I’m just happy to be home.”

Miriam watched as more familiar sights came into view. She
had forgotten how much she missed Possum Valley. Once she married Mose, they wouldn’t live that far from here, and she could visit often.