A Wedding for Julia (15 page)

“Hmm. I may have heard that before.”

“She only escaped the one time, and we found her sleeping next to a pile of fresh hay.”

Miriam waved as she tugged Julia away from the table.

“Where are we going?”

“To talk about your wedding.” Lydia linked arms with her on the right as Miriam clasped her hand on the left. “We’re practically going to be in-laws because Aaron and Caleb don’t have family here.”

Julia hadn’t thought of that. She should add it to the list she kept, but what would she list it under—become closer to new family?

“And Gabe goes to Aaron’s every time he comes to see my
bruder
David. We’re all going to be very close.” Miriam patted her hand. “Now tell us what you have ready for the wedding and what you need.”

“Oh. I don’t know. We’ve finished my dress.”

“
Gut
. I’m not much for sewing right now with this stomach.” Lydia shook her head. “I can crochet and knit, but sewing seems to fall off my lap. What else have you done?”

“I’ve written out the invitations, and we’ll deliver them this week. Our guest list isn’t very long.”

“I’m sure your invitations are beautiful,” Lydia assured her. “It’s been interesting to see Caleb spend his days off at your place. Usually every free hour is spent down on the creek, angling for a fresh supper until it’s too dark to see his line. That man enjoys fishing more than anyone I’ve ever known.”

“Is he going to keep working at the store?” Miriam asked.

They had reached the front porch, the same place Julia had sat with Bishop Atlee nearly three weeks ago. Climbing the steps, they each took a rocker. Miriam pulled hers closer so they formed a tight little circle.

“
Ya
. He’s going to stay on there at least at first, until we see how the café is doing.”

Miriam beamed at her. “So many changes at once. All
gut
, but a lot to digest.”

“The next few weeks are going to be especially difficult for him. There’s so much that needs to be done at the house to prepare for the wedding and also because we plan to open the café the week after we’re married.”

“Gabe’s crops are in. Maybe he can help.” Miriam leaned back in her rocker. “I’ll speak to him about it.”

“Tell us what we can do.” Lydia folded her hands over the top of her stomach. “Caleb told Aaron about your lists. I know you can’t have it all done.”

“He told—”

Lydia waved away her surprise. “Men talk as much as women do, only somewhat differently. Believe me, I know. I hear them as they work.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Oh, I think I do, but go ahead and explain, Lydia.” Miriam set her chair to rocking.

“One moment they’ll be discussing us—who they claim not to understand. The next, they’ll jump over to a fish they caught last week or the newest type of seed to use in their field. It’s not as if we don’t matter more than their hobbies or work. It’s more as if one naturally leads to the other, and we’re all part and parcel of their world.”

“So I’m on the same level of conversation topics as a fish?” Julia pretended to be offended, but she couldn’t quite pull it off. She was picturing Caleb as he had stared off at the bend in Pebble Creek one evening, and then he went back to working on the side of their barn that had needed mending. She had been able to see the longing in his eyes, but he had chosen to help her instead.

“Pretty much.” Lydia rubbed at the right side of her stomach.

“Elbow?” Miriam asked.

“That or he has a pointed head. Now tell us what’s left on your lists, Julia.”

So she did. She didn’t have any trouble remembering. She could close her eyes and picture both pages quite well. There had been several moments of panic when she’d wondered how she could accomplish everything and still care for her mother and deliver the invitations, though there were precious few to deliver.

As she spoke, they divided what was left to do among the three of them. Julia was astonished that neither Miriam nor Lydia balked at the amount of work left to accomplish.

How had she ever thought she could do it all on her own? How had she ever thought she could do it all in time?

She had checked off every item left to do, envisioning it clearly in her mind, when Lydia cleared her throat. Opening her eyes, she saw the look pass between her two new
freinden
and realized now she could call them that—God had blessed her once again.

“What?”

“I’m thinking that we can do all this, but there’s the harvest and perhaps you might want to consider…”

“What she’s trying to say is you might think about expanding your guest list. We don’t want to tell you what to do, but people care about you Julia. They want to celebrate this day with you, especially the people from your congregation.” Miriam glanced out toward the folks still milling around the table. “Not that you have to invite them all, but together we make up a family of believers.”

Lydia nodded in agreement. “And inviting more guests means more invitations, more food, and more work!”

Julia’s heart sank. “It’s too much to do in too short a time, isn’t it?”

“
Nein
. Not at all.” Miriam reached out and covered her hand with her own. “My
mamm
will pitch in, and don’t forget I have lots of family here—nieces we can call on to help, plus three
bruders
who have wives.”

“My
mamm
will be happy to help as well,” Lydia said.

“But Clara and Seth are marrying too—”

“Their wedding is two weeks after yours, and we’ve been planning it for months.
Nein
. What I’m thinking is that we can cut the work you’re trying to do in half.” Lydia stood and stretched, placing her hand at the small of her back.

“In half?”

“
Ya
, if you’ll allow someone else to take care of the cooking. I know it’s what you do, and I know you do it well, but you can’t expect to prepare your house and cook for your own wedding. It’s not possible.”

Julia opened her mouth and then shut it again. Finally she managed, “Who—”

Miriam squeezed her hand. “Let us worry about who. We’ll be in charge of the cake and the menu, if you trust us.”

“
Ya
. Of course I do.”

“You can jot us a few notes for what you had in mind, and we’ll take it from there.” Lydia looked pleased at the thought.

“And we’ll divide up some of these tasks among the men. Aaron can bring the church pews. Seth can see that the property is nicely mowed and trimmed.”

Julia fiddled with her apron, overwhelmed by their offer. It was tradition to have the wedding at the bride’s home, and she had thought her house was ready until she’d started looking at it as a guest might. There was much she’d let slip since her father had passed, and probably for years before that. There was too much work for one woman to do, and maybe that was proof also that
mamm
was correct in saying it would have been difficult for her to live there alone.

Once they had set a date for the wedding, she’d realized it meant a lot of work. In her mind if she awoke earlier each day, worked harder, and went to bed later, she could somehow finish it all, but even with Caleb’s help she had been falling further behind.

“Are you sure you want to do all of this?”

“We do. That’s why we offered,” Lydia said.

“Seems like
gut
solutions.” Miriam stood as well. “But only if you like our ideas.”

Julia pulled in a deep breath and looked from Lydia to Miriam. The thing that convinced her to agree was that she knew they wouldn’t run over her. They wouldn’t make any decisions she wasn’t happy about, and besides, Julia wanted to make it
through
the wedding. In her heart, she was more interested in reaching the other side, in starting a new life together with Caleb.

If, as a group, they could help to make the wedding day a success and her place presentable, that’s what she wanted to do. It wasn’t that she was prideful, but Caleb had shown her that there were certain areas on the porch that were rotten—unsafe even. And the grounds, other than her garden, had been utterly neglected.

What they were suggesting would solve the problem of preparing for the wedding and also help with meeting the deadline they had set to open the café the week after they were married.

“I’ll want to speak with Caleb first, but if he agrees, then yes! I say yes.”

Chapter 13

S
haron walked along the side of the four-lane road, determined not to cry. The darkness of the night seemed to close around her like a bad dream, and she had no way to tell what time it was. She hoped she was walking the right direction. She hadn’t paid much attention when James was driving. She didn’t think she had been this way before, at least not recently, and she didn’t know what the road names were—she hadn’t noticed earlier.

There were a lot of things she hadn’t noticed.

At first her anger had kept her tears at bay.

She had been so mad when they had stopped at the convenience store in Romney that tears were the furthest thing from her mind. James hadn’t seen her angry before, but he caught a good dose then.

The night had gone nothing like she’d expected. Why had she thought it would be the same as before? Because he’d said it would be, that was why. Because he had lied. She kicked a rock with her foot, kicked it hard enough to feel the impact on her toe.

Now she had to walk with a sore toe. Not very bright at all. In fact, it was stupid! Just like slipping out of her grandparents’ window had been stupid. What had she been thinking?

She’d been thinking about his blue eyes. Colossally stupid.

The single night at her grandparents’ had stretched into a week. It had been harsh punishment—
ya
. She loved her
grossmammi
and
grossdaddi
, but they lived so far out in the country, and she couldn’t see her
freinden
or speak with anyone her own age. Then there were the pigs she had to help tend—feeding them scraps, changing the hay where they slept, and cleaning their pens. The smell was disgusting. The entire week had been awful.

As bad as it was, she was scheduled to go home the next day. She’d told herself she wouldn’t sneak out with James, that she would walk away if he even spoke to her at church…but then he’d stood in front of her and stared at her with those eyes the color of the sky when it was clear and you could see into forever. He’d slipped the note into her hand and whistled as he’d walked away.

Her heart had been thumping so hard, she was sure her grandparents would hear it during the buggy ride on the way home. They hadn’t. She’d waited until after she was supposed to be reading her Bible in her room, and then she had pulled out the sheet of paper with his words of love.

All lies! She knew that now.

Though the instructions had been clear enough. She was to meet him on the next farm at exactly nine o’clock. Sneaking out hadn’t been an issue because her grandparents fell asleep before eight. No, the real problem had started when she’d opened the door to the old truck.

“What is that smell?”

“I don’t smell anything.”

Then he’d leaned over to kiss her, and she’d backed up against the door. “You’ve been drinking? Already? And you’re driving?”