A Place of Peace (10 page)

A strange excitement coursed through Miriam’s veins. She would be a member of the Kauffman’s extended family. Why did this inspire her? Her future with Timothy had been shattered the day she’d left Lancaster County.

Could God be giving her a second chance with him?

Miriam shook her head at the naïve notion. There was no hope for a second chance with Timothy. He’d made his choice, and Miriam had made hers.

Yet something inside her awakened at the thought of being welcomed by his family.

Pushing that thought aside, Miriam hurried back into the house. She had a full day of sewing ahead of her.

Jessica dropped into the swing on her aunt Rebecca Kauffman’s porch. Pulling her cell phone from her pocket, she checked the time and sighed.

“He’ll be here,” Lindsay, her younger sister, said, leaning on the doorway. “Jake has never let you down.”

Jessica lifted her can of Diet Coke from the small table beside the swing. “You’re right. He’s kept all of his promises, and he’s the only man who’s ever done that for me, aside from Dad.”

“That’s true.” Lindsay leaned on the porch railing. “Can you believe Mom and Dad have been gone over a year now?”

Jessica absently fingered her mother’s wedding ring, hanging on a chain around her neck. “It’s gone by so quickly, hasn’t it? It seems like only yesterday we moved in here. So much has happened.”

Lindsay gave a bleak smile. “I miss you.”

Jessica crossed her legs. “I miss you too. It feels weird not having a little sister to argue with. Aunt Trish’s house is too quiet.” She studied her sister’s plain purple dress, black apron, and prayer
kapp.
“Don’t you get hot in all those clothes?”

Lindsay shrugged. “I’m used to it.” She nodded toward Jessica’s legs. “I think it would feel weird to wear jeans again. I’m used to dresses and aprons.”

“Do you get headaches having your hair plastered to your head in a bun?”

Lindsay snickered. “No. Like I said, I’m used to it.”

Jessica shook her head. “It’s beyond me why you would want to wear that stuff. Don’t you want to be a normal fifteen-year-old and listen to alternative music and go to the movies and the mall? You know, Aunt Rebecca wouldn’t love you any less if you weren’t Amish. You don’t need to feel pressured to fit in here.”

“I don’t feel pressured, Jessica. I only feel pressured by you because you keep telling me that I don’t need to be Amish. I’m comfortable here. I feel like a Kauffman.”

“I’m just saying—”

“Let’s not fight tonight, okay?” Lindsay smiled. “Today’s a special day. Today you turn seventeen. I’m still surprised you didn’t want a party.”

Jessica gave her a look of disbelief. Did her sister have a selective memory? “Are you serious? Don’t you remember the fiasco it was last year? I ran away. Then I got hit by a car in Virginia and wound up in the hospital.”

“I remember what happened, but things are better now with the family. They would’ve been happy to celebrate with you.” She shrugged again. “That’s okay. We can still celebrate without a party.” Lindsay pulled an envelope from a pocket in her apron and handed it to Jessica. “Happy birthday, big sister.”

Jessica’s eyes widened. “Lindsay, you didn’t need to—”

“Of course I did.” Lindsay sank onto the swing next to her. She gestured toward the envelope. “Open it, silly, before he gets here.”

Jessica tore open the purple envelope and found a purple and pink card covered in flowers with a sweet poem about the importance of sisters. Opening it, she gasped at the sight of a fifty-dollar gift card for Walmart. “Lindsay, you shouldn’t have spent this much.”

Lindsay looped her arm over Jessica’s shoulder. “You deserve it. I know you wanted to get a few things before you head back to school, so I thought a gift card was the best gift. You can combine it with the gift card from
Aenti
Rebecca.”

“Thank you.” Jessica gave her a quick hug.

The rumble of an engine sounded on the dirt road leading to the farmhouse.

“Your date’s here,” Lindsay said, waggling her eyebrows. “Go have fun, but be home by midnight.”

Jessica smacked her sister’s shoulder. “I’m the older sister, not you.” Standing, she put the card and gift card back into the envelope and handed it to Lindsay. “Would you put this in my room?”

“Of course. See you later.”

“Thank you.” Jessica gave her sister a quick hug and then rushed down the porch steps and climbed into the cab of Jake’s dark blue Chevrolet pickup. Since Jake was Mennonite and not Amish, he was permitted to drive a vehicle and wear
English
clothing. “Hey,” she said, fastening her seatbelt.

“Hey yourself.” Leaning over, he pulled her into his arms. “I’ve been wanting to do this all day. Happy birthday.”

“Thank you,” she said, resting her cheek on his shoulder and breathing in the scent of his musky cologne. Closing her eyes, she wondered if she’d made the right choice when she’d left Jake to live with her parents’ best friends in Virginia.

But she needed to finish high school and go to college—to make Mom and Dad proud.

“Hungry?” Jake pulled back and clicked his seatbelt.

“You betcha.” Jessica rubbed her hands together. “I only had a yogurt for lunch, so I’m starved.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Bird-in-Hand Restaurant?”

“Sounds great.”

Jessica sat across from Jake in a booth and swirled her straw in her glass of Diet Coke while he pored over the menu as if he’d never seen it before.

Glancing up at her, he grinned, and her heart thumped in her chest. She’d imagined his face in her mind nearly a thousand times every day they were apart after she’d left Pennsylvania. His dark brown hair was cut short, accentuating his bright blue eyes.

“Do you know what you want?” he asked.

“The usual. Ham loaf.” Lifting her glass, she took a sip. “I can’t have that back at the beach, so I need to enjoy it here.”

“That’s true.” His smile deepened. “Or you could stay here permanently.”

She sighed. “Jake, we’ve been through this a million times. It’s my senior year.”

“Right.” He gripped the menu. “And you can finish up here and go to college here.”

“But my friends …”

He frowned. “If my memory serves me correctly, they weren’t very good friends to you last summer.”

The waitress appeared and took their order.

When the woman was gone, Jessica leaned forward onto the table. “I’ve made new friends,” she said. “I know you want me to move here, but it’s important to me to graduate with my class.”

His eyes were hopeful. “And what happens after graduation?”

Jessica leaned back in the booth and bit her lip. “I’m going to college. I know that for sure, but I don’t know where I’ll end up.”

He gestured widely with his arms. “Why not here with me?”

“It’s a possibility, but I can’t make any promises.”

“Well, no matter where you wind up, I have a promise for you.” He reached in his pocket and pulled out a small felt box. “Happy birthday.”

He held the box out, and Jessica stared at it, her mouth gaping with surprise.

A jewelry box. What could be in it? A ring?

But Mennonites don’t wear jewelry.

A key? But a key to what?

“Take it.” He took her hand and placed the box in it, closing her fingers around it.

The warmth of his touch sent her pulse galloping. With her heart banging against her ribcage like a bass drum, she flipped open the top and found a simple gold cross shimmering up at her.

Tears filled her eyes as she looked up into his. “It’s beautiful,” she whispered.

“Look at the back.” He pulled the necklace from the cardboard insert and held it up.

Jessica grasped the cool metal with her fingers and flipped over the cross. The tiny engraved letters spelled out, “To Jessica. Forever, Jake.”

Her eyes filled with tears as they met his probing gaze. “It’s gorgeous,” she whispered.

Reaching across the table, Jake took her hand in his. “I know it’s not customary for a Mennonite to buy or wear jewelry, but I wanted to do this for you. You always wear your mother’s wedding ring on a chain on your neck. I wanted to give you something to remember me by while we’re apart. A cross seemed appropriate, since Jesus brought us together.”

He squeezed her hand. “I know you’ll make whatever choice is best for you next year after you graduate, and I promise I won’t pressure you to come here for college. But just the same, I don’t want you to forget our friendship. The cross is a symbol of how much you mean to me.”

“I could never forget you,” Jessica said, her voice trembling with the admiration surging through her. She unlatched the catch on the chain and fastened the cross around her neck. Holding the cross to her chest, she cleared her throat. “I’ll keep it here, next to my heart.”

“Good.” He smiled and then lifted his glass. “Happy birthday.”

“Thank you.” Jessica gripped the cross in her hand. No matter where she went to college, she knew she would keep the cross and Jake close to her heart forever.

Later that evening, Miriam nudged the porch swing and floated back and forth. She breathed in the sweet, humid air and yawned. She’d accomplished her mission to tailor three of Edna’s old dresses for herself, along with the capes and aprons. She also started three new dresses but didn’t finish them.

She ran her hands over the thighs of her old jeans and examined her peach T-shirt. As of tomorrow, she would be dressing Amish again. What a strange turn her life had taken in the past few days. She’d gone from pediatric assistant to Amish baker in less than a week. Yet, somehow, she was comfortable with the change. It felt right, despite the years she’d tried to convince herself that she belonged in Indiana working in a pediatrician’s office.

Was God trying to tell her something about her life plan?

The clip-clop of a buggy caught her attention as it approached the cabin. Miriam stood and leaned on the porch railing, anxious to see who would arrive to visit Edna.

The horse and buggy came to a stop at the hitching post in front of the cabin, and Miriam smiled when Zach climbed from the buggy and tethered the horse.

“Zach Fisher,” she said, pushing an errant lock of hair back that had fallen from her ponytail. “What on earth are you doing here?”

“Wie geht’s
to you, too,” he said, climbing the stairs with a mischievous smile. “Since you’ve forgotten how to use the phone shanty, I thought I’d come visit you. I was in the neighborhood returning some books to the library. I had a pile of overdue books in the back of my workshop.”

“You’re still reading those Christian novels, huh?” Miriam laughed. “I meant to call you, but I’ve been so busy.”

“Of course you have,” he deadpanned. “That’s what all the girls tell me when they’re trying to avoid me.”

“I doubt you’ve ever had that problem.” She motioned toward the porch swing. “Please join me.”

“I’d be honored.” He followed her to the swing and sat next to her, gently rocking it back and forth in the warm breeze. “What has kept you so busy?”

“I sort of got a job.”

“Here? You got a job here?” His smile was genuine and wide. “You’re staying?”

“For a couple of weeks. I’m going to work at the Kauffman Bakery and use my vacation time from my job in Indiana.” She grasped the cool chain that held up the swing. “I want to try to make things right with my
daed,
help out
aenti,
and spend time with Hannah and her children.”

“Is Abraham still treating you badly?”

She cleared her throat, hoping to stop her threatening tears. Why did the thoughts of her father upset her so? “He wouldn’t speak to me at the funeral. I’m not sure how to get through to him. Hannah says to wait a few days and go over there, but I’m not sure what I would even say to him.”

“Listen to your heart. The Lord will guide you.”

She nodded, afraid if she spoke, she would wind up crying in front of him.

“Maybe you’ll work things out and decide to stay,” he said.

His hazel eyes were hopeful, and she wondered why.

“I don’t know.” Miriam glanced toward the large field separating the cabin from her father’s house. “I’m not sure if I belong here.”

“What’s keeping you in Indiana?”

She shrugged. “I like my job. I love working with the
kinner
.”

“You can find a job like that here.”

Meeting his gaze, she found an intensity in his eyes that surprised her. She braced herself when he opened his mouth to speak.

“Miriam,” he began, his expression serious, bordering on nervous. “I have something I’ve wanted to say for a very long time.” He cleared his throat and looked down at his hands, then back up to her. “I care for you. I didn’t get a chance to tell you before you started courting Timothy, but I’ve always cared for you.”

She opened her mouth to speak.

He held up his hand to stop her from answering. “No, please. Let me finish. I had always hoped and prayed you’d come back. I’m sorry your return was under a very sad circumstance, but I have to admit, it’s good to see you again. I hope you do decide to stay, and if you do, I would be honored if I could have a chance to court you.”

“Zach,” she said. “I’m not sure what to say.”

“You don’t need to say anything.” He looked toward the field. “You don’t need to make any decisions now. I just wanted to be honest with you for once. I’ve longed to tell you that for quite some time.”

She studied his handsome face, wondering if he’d practiced his speech throughout the entire ride to the cabin. A calmness enveloped her. His friendship had always been a comfort to her, especially during the tough times.

Without thinking, she took his warm hand in hers, and he gave her a surprised smile.

“I value your friendship,” she said. “You were the one person who listened to me when Jeremy Henderson died. You believed me when I told you it wasn’t my fault.”

“I know who you are as a person, and I’ve always believed in you.” He squeezed her hand. “If you stay, and I hope you do stay, I want to be the first in line to court you.”

Dropping his hand, she laughed. “I doubt there would ever be a line for me.”