A Merry Heart (29 page)

“I’ve wasted so much time thinking about all the bad things that have happened to me that I couldn’t see all the good things You’ve done for me,” she murmured.

“Who are you talking to, Mama Mim?”

Miriam turned to see Mary Ellen standing in the
kitchen doorway. The child had put on her coat and boots after breakfast, saying she was going out to play in the snow, but apparently she’d changed her mind.

Miriam reached her hand out to Mary Ellen and pulled her onto her lap. “I was talking to God.”

“But your eyes were open, and you were praying out loud.”

Miriam chuckled. “I suppose they were open.”

“I’m glad today’s Saturday and there’s no school,” Mary Ellen said eagerly. “I get to spend the whole day with my mamm and my daed!”

“Should we do something fun together?”

“Let’s bake cookies; then we can go to the Country Store; and after that, we can go out to the barn and play with Pappy’s new piglets; and—”

“Whoa! Slow down some, daughter!” Amos called as he entered the room. “Mama Mim has only been out of the hospital a short time and needs to take it easy. If we do all those things in one day, we’ll wear her clean out.”

Miriam looked up at Amos and smiled. “I’m fine, really.”

“You may feel fine, but I don’t want you to overdo.”

“I appreciate that, and I will be sure to get enough rest,” Miriam promised. “But I’ll rest after Mary Ellen and I bake some chunky chocolate peanut butter cookies.”

Mary Ellen’s face lit up. “Yum! They’re my favorite kind.”

Amos laughed. “I think all cookies are your favorite.” He took a seat next to Miriam. “May I help, too?”

“Pappy, do you know how to bake cookies now?”

“Sure he does,” Miriam teased. “He knows how to lick the bowl, and he’s an expert at eating the cookies.” She poked Amos playfully in the stomach.

He gave her a crooked grin. “It’s good to have you home, Mim.”

“It’s good to be home.” Her forehead wrinkled. “Say, what are you doing back in the house? I thought you had chores to do outside.”

“That’s true, but I got to thinking about you and thought I’d pop back inside to see how you were doing.”

“I’m doing just fine.”

Amos grinned and pushed away from the table. “Okay then. Guess I’ll head back out to the barn, but I’ll be back soon to try out a few of those cookies.”

Miriam smiled as he left the room. She knew her physical injuries were not the only injuries that were healing. So was her heart. Since love was a choice and not just an emotion, she could choose to love Amos in the way a wife should love her husband.

She reached for the most recent copy of
The Budget
, which had been lying on one end of the table, and opened it, hoping to find her mother’s most recent article. As she scanned the pages, she noticed the C
ARDS OF
T
HANKS
heading and decided to read a few submissions.

Miriam gasped as tears slipped under her lashes and rolled down her cheeks. That message was from Nick, she was certain of it, and he’d found happiness and wanted her to know it.

She squeezed her eyes shut and offered a silent prayer on her friend’s behalf, asking God to bless Nick, and thanking Him for the happiness that she, too, had found.

Amos whistled as he did his chores in the barn. He couldn’t help himself, for he was happier than he’d been in a very long time. Miriam was home from the hospital and recovering nicely, and she seemed more peaceful now that she’d committed her life to God.

“Maybe there’s some hope that she will come to love me,” he said aloud as he spread clean straw in one of the horse’s stalls. “She’s been friendlier toward me since I admitted that I’m in love with her.” He shook his head. “Of course that doesn’t mean she loves me.”

“You talkin’ to yourself or one of the horses?”

At the sound of a man’s voice, Amos nearly dropped his
pitchfork, and when he whirled around, he saw Miriam’s youngest brother standing a few feet away. “Lewis, you about scared the wits out of me. I didn’t hear your horse and buggy. What’d you do, walk over to our place?”

“Nope. Parked my rig down by your blacksmith shop, figuring I’d find you there.”

“Not today.” Amos leaned the pitchfork against the wall and stepped out of the stall. “Miriam came home from the hospital yesterday.”

“Jah, I heard the doctor might be lettin’ her go soon. Mom will be happy to hear that news.”

Amos nodded. “I figured it would be best if I stuck around the house, at least through the weekend, just to be sure Miriam doesn’t do anything she shouldn’t be doin’.”

“Makes sense to me. My big sister has always been a hard worker, and she’s not likely to let a little thing like a bump on the head and a few broken ribs keep her down for long.”

“Which is why I’m not working today.”

Lewis motioned to the bales of straw stacked along one side of the barn. “Looks like you’re workin’ to me.”

Amos chuckled. “Well, the horses needed some clean bedding, and I hadn’t planned on being out here that long.” He motioned to the barn door. “Why don’t we go inside so you can say hello to Miriam? That will give me another chance to make sure she’s not overdoing.”

“Sounds like a good idea.” Lewis opened the barn door and stepped outside. Amos followed.

When they entered the house a few minutes later, they found Miriam and Mary Ellen in the kitchen, baking cookies.

“Umm. . .smells mighty good in here,” Lewis said, stepping up to Miriam and giving her a pat on the arm. “Welcome home, sister. I’d hug you real good, but I know your ribs are probably still pretty sore.”

“They aren’t so bad.” She held a cookie out to him. “Try one of these.”

“Hey, where’s my cookie?” Amos asked with a mock frown.

Miriam smiled and handed him three cookies. “Is that enough?”

He wiggled his eyebrows. “I think that will tide me over for a while.”

Mary Ellen giggled. “Pappy, you’re so
eefeldich
.”

“Oh, you think I’m silly, do you? Why, I’ll show you silly!” Amos chased his daughter around the table, laughing like a schoolboy and tickling her as he went.

Lewis and Miriam stood off to one side, shaking their heads. “Maybe I need a couple more cookies,” Lewis said. “Then I’ll be smiling like your high-spirited husband.”

Amos scooped Mary Ellen into his arms and gave her a hug. He wouldn’t admit this to Lewis, but the reason he was so happy had little to do with the cookies he’d eaten and everything to do with the woman who had baked them.

Miriam had been home from the hospital for several days, and even though she said she was feeling stronger, Amos wouldn’t allow her to drive the buggy yet. So every morning, he drove Mary Ellen to school and picked her up again each afternoon. One morning when he returned from the
schoolhouse, he entered the kitchen and found Miriam making a pot of coffee.

“I was wondering if you’d have time for a little talk,” she said as he slipped out of his jacket and hung it on the wall peg.

He rubbed his hands briskly together. “That sounds good if a cup of hot coffee goes with the talk. It’s pretty cold out there this morning.”

Miriam smiled. “I’ll even throw in a few slices of gingerbread. How’s that sound?”

“Real good.” Amos smacked his lips in anticipation and pulled out a chair at the table.

“I’ve been thinking,” Miriam began. “That is, I was wondering if it would be all right if I moved my things out of my room and into yours.”

“Are you saying what I think you are?” Amos asked as hope welled in his chest.

She nodded. “I want to be your wife in every way as God intended it should be.”

Amos pushed away from the table and crossed the room to where she stood at the cupboard cutting the gingerbread. He placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her around to face him. Miriam’s eyes held a look of tenderness and something more, too. Did he dare believe she might actually love him?

“Are—are you certain about this? I don’t want to pressure you in any way. I know we’re getting closer, but—”

Miriam placed a finger against his lips. “I want to be your wife, Amos. With God’s help, I want to love you as a wife should love her husband.”

Amos wrapped his arms around her as every nerve in his body tingled with the joy of holding her. “I love you so much, Miriam.”

She pressed her head against his chest, and he inhaled the sweet scent of her freshly washed hair. “I love you, too, Amos,” she murmured.

“Really?”

“Jah, it’s true.”

The words Amos had so longed to hear poured over him like healing balm, and he lifted Miriam’s face toward his and placed a gentle kiss against her lips.

She responded with a sigh, and he felt her relax against him as they kissed again. It was a kiss that told Amos how full of love his wife’s heart truly was. It was an answer to his prayers.

I
f love was a choice, then Miriam had made the right choice, for she found the love she felt for Amos seemed to grow more with each passing day. His tender, gentle way had always been there, but before, she’d chosen to ignore it. Now she thanked the Lord daily for helping her see the truth.

Miriam hardly missed teaching anymore. Her days were filled with household duties she now did out of love. When Amos wasn’t busy with his blacksmith duties, he helped her with some of the heavier housecleaning. They took time to read the Bible and pray together, which Miriam knew was the main reason they were drawing closer to one another and to God. Their evening hours were spent with Mary Ellen playing games, putting puzzles together, reading, or just visiting.

Miriam had a special project she was working on, and whenever she had a free moment, she would get out her cross-stitching, just as she had done tonight after she’d tucked Mary Ellen into bed.

“What are you making?” Amos asked as he stepped into the living room.

“It’s a surprise for Mom.” She patted the sofa cushion.
“Have a seat. You look tired.”

He sank down beside her with a groan.
“Ich bin mied wie en hund—
I’m tired as a dog.”

She reached over and took his hand. “I don’t know of any dog that works as hard as you do, Amos.”

He smiled. “I think you’re right about that. I’ve had so much business in my blacksmith shop lately that I’m plumb wore out. If things keep on the way they are, I might have to hire an apprentice.”

“Might not be a bad idea; I hate to see you working so hard.”

He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “It’s nice to know you care about me.”

“Of course I care.” She needled him in the ribs with her elbow. “If you wear yourself out, who’s going to brush my hair for me every night?”

“Oh, so that’s how it is, huh?” Amos tickled her in the ribs. “I’m just a convenience to have around whenever you need something, jah?”

“Be careful, or you might get stuck with this needle,” she scolded, holding her handwork out of his reach.

He took the sampler from her and placed it on the coffee table. Then he pulled her into his arms and kissed her gently on the lips.

One Saturday afternoon, Miriam suggested they go for a buggy ride.

“Where would you like to go?” Amos asked.

“I think it’s time to pay my family a visit. Let’s stop and
see Lewis and Grace first. Then we can go over to Crystal and Jonas’s, and finally, we’ll call on Mom at Andrew and Sarah’s. I want to give her the gift I’ve been working on.”

Amos raised his eyebrows. “A little ride, I thought you said. It sounds to me like you’re planning to cover the whole of Lancaster County.” He smiled at Miriam and gave his daughter a playful wink.

Mary Ellen, who had been coloring a picture at the kitchen table, jumped up immediately. “Can I go, too?”

Amos bent down and lifted the child into his arms. “Of course, you may. It’ll be a fun outing for the three of us.”

Miriam gathered up the chunky chocolate peanut butter cookies she had made the day before and placed some into the plastic containers she’d set out. She planned to give one package to each of the families they visited.

The buggy ride was exhilarating, and the trees, budding with spring, were breathtaking. It felt good for Miriam to be out enjoying God’s majestic handiwork again.

Mary Ellen, who sat in the seat behind Miriam and Amos, called out, “Oh, look—there goes a mother deer and her boppli. Isn’t it lieblich?”