Courting Emily (A Wells Landing Book 2) (8 page)

“
Jah, jah
.” Joseph nodded. “He said to give you something.” He stood and went to his desk, shuffling through papers before finding what he was looking for. He located it, then handed it to Emily.

She took the folded piece of paper, and her heart thumped in her chest. Her first news from Luke since he’d left. She opened the paper to find numbers written on the other side.

“It is his cell phone number. He said for you to call him anytime.”

Joy burst inside of her. She could call Luke, hear his voice, talk to him, and find out firsthand how the
Englisch
world was treating him. “
Danki,
” she said, slipping the paper into her apron pocket. She took a sip of her coffee and tried to appear calm when she was anything but. She wanted to jump up from the table and race to the phone shanty out front. She wanted to call Luke that very second and hear his beloved voice. But she would have to wait. At least until she finished her visit with Joseph Lambright.

“Go on,” he said, his eyes twinkling. “I know that is why you came all the way out here. Not that I don’t appreciate the bread and such. You go on home and give him a call.”

Emily smiled and pushed back from the table. “
Danki,
Joseph. I’ll come back in a couple of weeks and check on you.”

He smiled. “Next time, could you bring some pie? I really love pie.”

 

 

Emily was so very aware of the piece of paper in her pocket as she drove the buggy back to her house. It seemed to burn straight through her clothes, which was silly, but she supposed love could do that to a person. Turn them silly.

She wished they lived closer to each other. She was so anxious to call Luke, she was bursting at the seams. As it stood now, it would be another half an hour before she could even think about calling him, and that would mean she would only get to talk to him twenty minutes or so before it was time to start the milking again. Coupled with the fact that church was at the Ebersols’ house this week, it would be days and days before she could call him again.

She sighed. She would take anything she could get. She just hoped Luke answered when she called.

 

 

The phone rang three times before he answered.

“Hello?”

Emily’s mouth went dry. It had been months since she had talked to him, but he sounded close, as if she could reach out a hand and touch him. “Luke?”

“Emily. It’s so
gut
to hear your voice.” His smile floated across the lines as clear as his words.

“You, too. How is everything for you?”

“It’s amazing here.” She listened while he chatted about sponsors, dirt tracks, and safety gear. She understood none of it, but listened as closely as she could. He seemed happy, so much so her heart gave a lurch. It wasn’t that she wanted him to be unhappy, but how would he ever return to Wells Landing if the
Englisch
world was tempting him with fulfillment of his dreams?

“I share a place with three other guys,” Luke said, finally taking a break from racing talk. “It’s sort of crowded, but we all seem to get along.”

“When are you coming home?” Her time to talk to him was quickly evaporating, like mist in the summer sun.

Someone spoke on the other end of the line. Not Luke. “Listen, Emily, I have to go.”

“
Jah,
” she said, trying not to let her disappointment taint her voice. She really needed to get off the phone before she raised her
dat
’s suspicions as well.

“Call me tomorrow, okay?”

“I can’t. We’ve got church here this week and—”

“Then call me when you can, okay?” His tone seemed distracted.

“
Jah,
” she said, pushing her frustration deep inside. “
Ich liebe dich
.”

“I love you, too,” he said, and then he was gone.

The next two days were filled with cleaning and cooking and otherwise getting ready for the church service to be held at their house.

As was their usual custom, they had started cleaning weeks ago, washing down the walls, cleaning the baseboards, and polishing the windows.

Emily told herself that she had been too busy to tell Mary about her conversation with Luke, but the truth was she wanted to keep it all to herself. She only wished he had answered her last question, and she knew when she could expect him home.

“
Mamm?
” Emily started just after breakfast Friday morning. “I know there is still a lot left for us to do, but I was hoping to ride out to the Riehl farm today and visit with James.”

Helen turned from drying the dishes. “I think that’s a fine idea.”

“I promised him I would be by this week, but the time seems to have gotten away from me.”

Mamm
nodded. “That is the way of church week,
jah?
So much to do.”

“So much that you wouldn’t be able to ride out there with me?”

“Me?”
Mamm
stacked the dry plates, one on top of the other, and lifted them into the cupboard above her head. “Why, I don’t know.”

“Please,
Mamm
. It’s just . . .”

Her mother dried her hands on a dishcloth and studied her with those pale blue eyes. “What is on your mind, Emily Jane?”

She never could get one over on her
mudder
. Too many years as the bishop’s wife had honed her skills to a fine point. “I want James to come to the church service this week, and I don’t think Joy or Elam will let him attend if I ask. But if you were to invite him . . .”

“You think I would be more successful?”

“
Jah
.” In fact, she was sure of it.

“Come to think of it, I haven’t seen James around much at all since his accident. He was outside a few minutes at the work frolic last week.”

“He has headaches,” Emily explained. “Joy and Elam are afraid he’s going to fall.”

“Now, Emily, I know you are trying to be helpful, but it seems to me they know his limitations better than you or I.”

Then she definitely wasn’t telling her mother about the information she’d given them earlier in the week. “But it would be
gut
for him to come to church,
jah?
”

Her
mamm
nodded.

“And since we are hosting this week we could make sure he is comfortable.”

“
Jah
.”

“And safe.”

Mamm
nodded again.

“I think it would be
gut
for everyone. Joy and Elam could both attend the services, and James could be here, too.”

Her
mamm
smiled. “Tie your
kapp
strings and get in the buggy. We’ve got some convincing to do.”

 

 

Elam looked less than convinced two hours later as Emily and her
mamm
sat at the Riehls’ table sharing a pot of coffee with him and Joy.

“I don’t know,” Elam said, but his tone was anything but happy. It perfectly matched his stern frown.

Emily had thought she’d made such progress on Monday. What a difference a few days could make.

Joy, on the other hand, seemed intrigued by the idea. Intrigued and perhaps a little frightened.

“I am ashamed I did not think of this earlier,”
Mamm
said. “I s’pose I just got used to seeing only one of you at the service and didn’t think twice about it.”

“It’s
allrecht,
” Joy said, stirring a teaspoon of sugar into her second cup. “It’s a big district, and you have a lot to accomplish of your own.”

“That is no excuse. Thankfully, Emily here pointed out my shortcoming.”

Elam scowled at Emily. She shifted in her chair and glanced out the window to keep from having to meet his hard stare.

“
Danki,
Emily,” Joy said, but she shook her head. “I don’t know how we would manage though.”

“Like we always do,”
Mamm
insisted. “Together. I will send Mary over that morning, and she can help you get the girls ready. All you have to do is get James into the buggy and over to our house.”

“I don’t know,” Joy said again, though Emily could feel her weakening.

“I want to go.”

They all turned as James’s voice sounded from the hallway. He stood, arms braced on either side of him as he balanced himself between the rooms.

“James.” Joy was on her feet in an instant, Elam right at her side. “You should be in bed,” she admonished. She tried to get him to let go of the walls and follow her back down the hallway, but James was too busy looking past her to their guests.

“You said you would come.”

Emily smiled. “A promise is a promise.”

“And you wore your purple dress.”

“I said I would.”

James smiled. “Will you wear it to church on Sunday?”

“If that is what you want.”

“
Jah,
” he said. “I’m going to church on Sunday.” He sounded like a child about to throw a fit.

“Right now you need to go back and lay down.” Joy’s voice was unwavering.

“But I want to see Emily and her purple dress.”

“Does your head hurt? I’ll get you some pills,” Joy continued as if he hadn’t spoken.

“I do not want pills. They make me dizzy and go to sleep.”

“We will talk to the doctor about that next week. For now, you need to sleep,” she soothed.

“But I want to see Emily’s dress.”

Emily shifted uncomfortably in her seat as both her mother and Elam stared at her. Almost like she had done something wrong. Well, at least that was the way Elam was staring at her.

“You can see it Sunday,” Joy promised. “But only if you go back to bed.”

James hesitated. “
Jah,
okay then.” He smiled at Emily. “
Danki
for coming to see me again.”

“You are welcome,” she said, returning his smile.

Joy led him down the hallway, their voices drifting away as she managed to get him back to his room.

“It seems my
dat
has fallen a bit in love with you.” Elam’s words held an accusing edge, but he didn’t look as angry as he had before. That had to be
gut, jah?

“We only want to help him,” her
mamm
said, saving her the trouble of coming up with a suitable response.

His green eyes softened until they were the color of a spring meadow after the rain. When he looked like that, not so mad, his face filled with love, and not worry, he seemed like a different person.

Emily wanted to reach across the table and smooth the last of the wrinkles from his brow. Once they were gone, the transformation would be complete. Elam Riehl would be changed from a worried soul into a handsome man.

“
Danki,
Emily . . . Helen. Your care and concern have been most welcome.”

She wasn’t so sure about that, but Emily was certainly glad she brought her mother along for the trip. There was something about the bishop’s wife that made everyone sit up a little straighter and see things a bit clearer.

Her
mamm
stood and smoothed nonexistent creases out of her
frack
and flawless black apron. “So we’ll see you Sunday morning,
jah?
All of you.” It wasn’t really a question, more of a confirmation of an order.

“
Jah
.” Elam nodded. “We will be there.”

 

 

“That Emily Ebersol seems like a
gut maedel
.” Elam’s
mamm
took a sip of
kaffi
and eyed him over the rim of her cup. The look on her face was far too innocent to be anything but a ruse.

“
Jah?
” Elam leaned one hip against the sink and feigned his own guileless expression.

“So considerate and kind.”

He allowed his gaze to drift out the window over the sink. Johanna, Norma, and the twins were playing their own version of Corner Ball. Becky served as the referee while the last litter of pups danced in and out between their legs and nipped at the hems on their skirts.

Emily was considerate and kind, but it wasn’t something he wanted to think about. He had mulled it over too many years to count. That time was over now. If it had ever begun.

“She’ll make some man a
gut fraa
.”

Elam poured the rest of his coffee down the drain and rinsed his cup. “
Jah
. . . Luke Lambright.”

Mamm
’s forehead puckered into a frown. “I thought Luke had run off to join the
Englisch
.”

“He’ll be back.” With a girl like Emily Ebersol waiting for him, Luke would be a fool not to return to Wells Landing.

“It seems to me that he’s not here. And you are.”

Elam sighed. Time to meet this head-on. “What are you suggesting,
Mamm?
”

She delicately shrugged and took another sip, that too-innocent expression settling back over her face. “Nothing.”

He waited, sure there was more to come.

“You have dedicated so much of your life to this farm. Maybe it’s time you started thinking about marriage.”

And there it was. “I hardly have time to do my work and sleep. How am I supposed to go courtin’?”

He was twenty-five years old. Most of his friends were long-ago married. Some even had two or three
kinner
. He was the male equivalent of an old maid. A sworn bachelor. Wasn’t that what the
Englisch
called it?

A lot like Abe Fitch.

But Abe just got married,
the voice inside him whispered. Old Abe had waited years and years for the one woman he wanted and now that their lives were half over, they would get to spend the rest together.

Is that what Elam wanted? To wait until it was almost too late and then try to find someone to spend his days with?

“A man can find the time if he so chooses.”
Mamm
stood and brought her cup to the sink, rinsing it out and setting it next to Elam’s. “We’ll find someone to help us,”
Mamm
started. “We’ve put it off too long. Emily said she would come help with your
vatter
. Her sister Mary promised to ask Aaron Miller if he’d be interested in coming to help with the milking and other chores. Once those things are in place, you will have plenty of time to court and such.”

“What brought all this on?” He asked the question, but he was almost afraid of what her answer might be.

She shrugged again. “I have just been thinking about it.” She didn’t look him in the eye, giving him the suspicion she was not being entirely truthful. “It is time you had some happiness. Perhaps even your own family.”

He couldn’t find the words to answer.

“Once we get help, you’ll have more time for the sweeter things in life.”

That was exactly what he needed: Time to pursue the one girl in the county he couldn’t have.