Amish Circle Letters (19 page)

“I guess,” Melvin agreed meekly. “Guess I just got used to her being around.”

Katie glanced over his shoulder at the open door. “Did you ask her what’s wrong?”

“
Nee
,” he admitted.

“Well then,” Katie said, lifting her hands in the air. “You can’t be sure of anything, can you now? Let’s go talk to her. Find out what’s bothering her.” Reaching for his hand, Katie started to lead him back into the house. “Come on, then,” she insisted, pulling him along behind her.

Inside the house, Katie saw that Mary Ruth was seated at the table, her hands covering her face. The way that her shoulders shook, it was quite evident that she had, indeed, been crying. The thought shocked Katie and, slowly, she walked toward her aendi, curious and concerned as to what could have made Mary Ruth so upset.

“Mary Ruth?” she whispered. “What’s wrong?”

Wiping at her eyes, Mary Ruth quickly stood up and turned her back to the two wide-eyed children. “Nothing, nothing,” she lied. Then, as an afterthought, she added, “Nothing that concerns you, Katie.”

“You’re crying.”

“What are you doing here, Katie?” Mary Ruth asked, changing the subject as she began to clean up the dishes from dinner. The children had eaten at noon, just before she had walked out to Menno and had that disturbing conversation.

“Mamm said I could go visit Butterscotch. Thought Melvin would like to come, too,” she said.

Mary Ruth tried to force a smile. “That was right thoughtful of you, Katie.”

Melvin shook his head. “I don’t think I should go now, Katie. Mary Ruth shouldn’t be alone,” he whispered.

“Nonsense,” Mary Ruth replied, taking a deep breath and trying to force the sadness from her heart. She wasn’t certain why she was so bothered by what Menno had said. She understood why he had said that…why he had made the offer. She should feel honored but she didn’t. Instead, she felt offended, insulted that what should be a joyous moment, the moment of a man proposing marriage, was a solution to a problem instead of love.

“He thinks you’re going to leave,” Katie said softly.

“Leave?” she repeated, staring at Melvin. “Why would I leave?”

He averted his eyes and stared at the floor. With his hands clasped behind his back and his expression so sad, Melvin resembled Menno and, in that moment, Mary Ruth felt her heart flutter. She realized something powerful important…she loved these children and leaving wasn’t an option.

“I know my daed hasn’t been himself since Mamm died,” he said. “He’s been hurtful toward you and I figured you were crying because of something he said.” When he lifted his eyes, there were tears threatening to fall. “But that’s not my
daed
, Mary Ruth. He’s a right
gut
man with a large heart. He doesn’t yell and he doesn’t say mean things. Not my daed…at least not normally. He was awful
gut
to my mamm and to all of us…before she died.”

You can marry me
.

The insult stung less as she listened to Melvin. He was a sweet boy in great need of attention from his daed, much more so than love and hugs from her. And the little girls…they needed a mamm to brush their hair and teach them how to cook. But Mary Ruth knew that the last thing
she
needed was a husband, especially if that husband was Menno Yoder.

He had been rough with her, spoken to her in words that would have made most women cry long before today. She had learned how to stand up to him. By doing so, she had helped him begin the healing process. She had seen him through the worse, helped him accept the loss of Martha. Still, the memory of his angry eyes and booming voice still hurt her. He was the furthest man from her vision of a husband, not for her and not like this.

But the children…

“I’m not leaving,” Mary Ruth said, her voice firm and strong. She reached her hand out to touch Melvin’s shoulder and, when he fell into her arms, she gave him a warm hug. The strength of his arms around her waist and the warmth of his body touched her heart. And at that moment, she knew what she had to do. “I’m not going anywhere, Melvin. I promise you that.”

Chapter 8: Ella’s Letter

Dear Fisher Family,

What a gut surprise to find a package of letters awaiting me in my Mamm’s mailbox. I am honored to have been included in the Fisher Family Circle Letters, despite not being a Fisher …yet.

With autumn just around the corner and the fall baptism almost here, both John David and I are looking forward to November and our upcoming wedding.

We are also looking forward to establishing a home together. I pray that God leads us to a nice farm so that John David may continue farming, unlike so many others who have not been blessed with that option.

Mamm and I have been canning chow-chow and beets. We are looking forward to when the apples are ready for picking so that we can make applesauce. And Daed is taking a cow to butcher for canning meat. I will be certain to send some home with John David for everyone to enjoy.

My entire family continues to pray for Elijah, that the good Lord will care for him during his sickness.

May God bless all of you and your families.

Ella Yoder

It was late Thursday afternoon when Steve decided to pick up Mimi at her work place and take her for a drive in the new buggy. It was unusual for him to leave the farm in the middle of the week, but he knew that he might not see her over the weekend. With a late season hay cutting scheduled at his daed’s farm on Saturday and church on Sunday, he knew it would be a busy weekend.

Steve hadn’t told Mimi about having purchased the horse and buggy. Instead, he had decided to surprise her. For the past few days, he had tried to imagine how she would react and if she would realize what his decision to stop using a driver for his errands truly meant.

When he pulled into the parking area of the store, Steve guided the horse to the side of the building. There were the hitching posts for the Amish drivers. He noticed that there were no cars in the lot nor were there any other buggies.

Once he climbed down from the buggy, he tied the horse to the hitching post, pausing to run his hand down the mare’s sleek neck. He had spent a good part of the previous weekend with the horse, getting to know her and practicing driving her so that he could become familiar with her quirks and personality. After all, every horse had different ones, he reckoned.

For a moment, he smiled to himself, thinking back to his childhood and his daed’s horse, Star. Throughout that horse’s entire life, it would obstinately refuse to walk into water puddles, however small, but chose instead to either veer away at the last second or simply jump over them. Once Steve had gotten used to Star’s quirky behavior, it hadn’t been much of a deal, since Star was, otherwise, the perfect driving horse, but it had taken Steve a while to get used to it. In fact, he had even taken a liking to it, thinking of how it broke the monotony of his travels, way back when he first learned how to drive the horse as a teenager. He had even enjoyed witnessing the frightened reactions of the unaware girls he occasionally took to a singing or a volley ball game.

That had been so many years ago, he thought with a touch of nostalgia. Now that he was a man and looking toward the future, that kind of quirky behavior from his mare would not bode well with Mimi. He certainly did not want to take a chance on anything going wrong, that was for sure and certain.

The mare was a fast but honest horse with only one issue that he could identify: she knew her way back to the farm where she had come from and continually tried to return there. Twice during the past week, she had pulled herself free from the hitching post and started to slowly trot down the lane. Once, Steve had caught her on the road. The second time, the original owner bought her back, laughing about the homesick mare.

Steve knew that it would take time for the horse to learn that the Fisher farm was now home.

The hanging bell to the Hostetler’s store rang when he opened the door. He shut the door behind himself and, taking a deep breath, walked down the narrow aisle toward the front counter. He could see her, bent over some papers and unaware that he was watching. She frowned, scribbling something in the margin of the yellow pad next to the files. Then, thinking twice about it, she erased it quickly.

“So serious,” he said quietly, gently laughing when she jumped. Clearly he had startled her. “Sorry, Mimi,” he apologized. “Didn’t mean to scare you, now.”

A broad smile warmed her face and he noticed that she reached up to brush a stray hair back under her prayer kapp. “I didn’t hear you come in, Steve.” She glanced around to see if anyone else was nearby. “I didn’t know you were stopping in, either.” A look of alarm crossed her face as she realized that it was a Thursday, not the typical day for a man to come calling. Since the family was so concerned about Elijah and his cancer, she immediately panicked that something bad had happened. “Is everything all right or did you just need to pick up something?”

“Ja,” he said, leaning against the counter. “Everything is fine. Just needed to pick up something.”

“Well, I’ll be happy to get it for you,” she replied, a smile of relief lighting up her face. “What did you need to get?”

“You.”

The single word surprised her and she frowned for just a moment. At first, she didn’t understand. But then, she laughed and reached out to touch his hand. “Me? I didn’t realize I was store inventory, Steve Fisher !”

He laughed with her, delighting in the touch of her hand on his. Her comfort around him was charming and reassuring at the same time, a true blessing and indication that he was on the correct track. If he had always felt terribly uncomfortable around other women, he felt completely at ease around Mimi.

“Might you leave a bit early today?” he asked. “I want to show you something.”

It took her but just a few minutes to locate her daed in the back storeroom and inform him that she was going to leave early, if he didn’t mind. When her daed glanced up and saw Steve by the counter, he smiled and nodded. He raised his hand in greeting to Steve and gave a wink at Mimi. “See you at supper?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “Ain’t sure,” she replied casually, curious about Steve’s unusual appearance at the store and knowing only too well that her daed was bursting at the seams with unspoken questions and hopes. “Steve wants to show me something.”

Outside, Steve helped her into the shiny black buggy with the grey top. He noticed her glance at the plush blue seats as she touched the fabric. But she said nothing. He sat next to her and backed up the horse until they were able to turn and head down the road. The mare lifted her head, her mane fluttering in the air as she trotted gaily across the main road, free of an overcheck strap as Steve didn’t like to use them, considering them too restrictive.

He guided the mare down a side street then turned the buggy left at the next stop sign and headed toward the main street. But Mimi didn’t speak. He glanced at her, wondering why she wasn’t saying anything. Why didn’t she ask about the obviously new buggy? Why didn’t she comment about the gorgeous young horse that trotted so regally…so eagerly…down the street?

They rode in silence, each moment dragging longer and longer for Steve. In the past, he had always borrowed Isaac’s or even John David’s buggy. She had always teased him, commenting about his borrowed buggies. Now that he had finally taken that step in order to properly court her, she hadn’t even noticed!

Silence.

When they turned down the road and crossed over Route 340, he glanced at her one last time. She was staring straight ahead, perfectly content as if she hadn’t perceived anything different at all. But that moment gave him the opportunity to study her as the horse trotted down the road. She was truly a very pretty woman with such lively eyes and high cheekbones. Unlike other women, her skin was neither freckled nor tanned, probably because she spent so much time indoors at the store. He wondered how she felt about working outdoors, especially since she probably hadn’t ever done much more than help in her mamm’s garden.

“You awful quiet,” he finally said.

A smile. “Guess the same could be said of you,” she replied.

He held the reins in his hands, feeling the back and forth jiggle of the leather as the horse continued trotting at a steady pace. “You wondering anything?”

She kept staring straight ahead. “Not particularly.”

He frowned. “Nothing?”

She shook her head. “Not really.”

He was stunned. She was always so observant and quick to comment. This was a new side of Mimi that he had yet to experience. “You mean to tell me that you didn’t notice anything?”

He saw her purse her lips as if trying to mask a smile. “Steve Fisher !” she finally said, turning to look at him straight on. “If you have something you want to say to me or show me, I suggest you just do it rather than try to get me to say it.” Her eyes twinkled and she couldn’t hide her delight. “But I’ll just do it anyway since I can tell it’s just tearing you up that I haven’t noticed your fine new horse and fancy new buggy.”

A gasp escaped his lips. She had known and hadn’t said anything. She had been teasing him and he had fallen for it. Again. “Why! Aren’t you the tricky one?” he whispered, his own eyes sparkling at her playfulness.

Laughing, she laid her hand on his arm. “Oh Steve! What made you do it?”

The fact that she asked that question concerned him. Hadn’t she been so insistent on not courting in a buggy? Hadn’t she teased him about constantly borrowing his brothers’ or daed’s buggies? Didn’t she know the answer? “Well…I…” he stammered. “I thought…”

Noticing his discomfort, she stopped laughing and chewed on her lower lip. “You thought what, Steve?”