Elijah And The Widow (Lancaster County Weddings 4) (11 page)

And he didn’t know how he felt about that, because despite his better judgment he cared for Martha, although apparently she still thought of him as only a friend.

* * *

Martha couldn’t put Eli out of her mind as she watched the Lapps head home after a full day of work. Because of the barn roof, it was not the last. She’d been conscious of Eli as never before while he’d eaten and appreciated her corn bread and jelly. Her awareness of him had started even before they were caught in the barn together during that terrible rainstorm, and it had steadily intensified ever since.

Stop
,
she mentally scolded herself
. Stick with your plan to manage on your own.

Eli was a good person and friend. He was always ready to help her whenever she needed him, but that didn’t mean there could be feelings between them other than as friends and neighbors.

He wants to open a carriage shop.
She smiled. He would be successful at the business, too. He was a hard worker who was thoughtful and considerate. He would do well with his customers, making sure they were satisfied. It wasn’t the money he wanted most, but to do a good job and to provide a service to his community. She had to respect that.

Thoughts of Eli naturally made her think about her late husband. After he’d passed on, she’d moved out of their bedroom into one of the smaller rooms. In fact, she barely entered their former bedroom except to clean.

She still hadn’t gone through Ike’s belongings. Until now, she wasn’t ready to face the task. She’d do that first thing tomorrow morning. Tonight she would design a label for her jelly jars.

Seated at the kitchen table after dinner, Martha made notes and sketched design ideas. She could talk with Bob Whittier. He might know someone who could help her with her jar labels. She’d decided on a brand name: Martha’s Best. It was an idea based on Eli’s suggestion, yet it was short and memorable and she thought it would work well with any one of the designs she’d drawn. She’d ask Eli’s opinion to make sure the name didn’t come across as too bold.

On a separate clean sheet of paper, Martha jotted down the ingredients she’d need to keep the stores stocked with her products. She was determined to be successful. She had to be, or she would be looking for a job as a housekeeper or waitress, and while both were good jobs, neither one of them appealed to her.

Martha spent the rest of the evening preparing for future sales. She felt pleased when she came up with a final design and business plan that she was sure would work. That night, happy with her progress, she slept well for the first time in ages. The next morning, she woke up refreshed, ready to begin her day. And she would start it by cleaning out her late husband’s belongings.

She enjoyed a breakfast of tea and toast, then went to clean out Ike’s belongings from their old bedroom. There was a storage bench beneath one window. She lifted its wooden seat lid, and immediately the scent of her late husband rose up to overwhelm her. Images and happy memories flooded her mind. Love filled her heart, the love she’d once harbored for him when she was a new bride. Ike’s clothes blurred as her eyes filled with tears. She lifted his belongings from the chest and set them carefully onto the end of the bed.

“Ike,” she whispered brokenly as grief overcame her. She began to cry in earnest, for the loss of a good man, for the knowledge that he’d left this life when they’d not been on the best terms. He hadn’t forgiven her for not getting pregnant after six months. Then after a year it seemed as if he’d no longer cared about having a child or for
her
. Would Ike have eventually come to accept and enjoy their childless marriage? Or would he have continued to ignore her, settling instead for buying fancy farm equipment and putting all his attention and enjoyment into farming as he had been during their last months together?

Sorrow made her chest tighten and brought a lump to her throat as she sorted Ike’s clothing into neat piles of shirts, socks, underwear and trousers.

If only he had understood and believed that she had wanted a baby as much as he did. If only, in the end, things had been different between them and she’d felt loved.

Chapter Fifteen

W
hen
Eli came to work alone the next morning, his arrival was later than usual. There wasn’t much left to do at Martha’s farm except the barn roof and a couple of other small tasks. As he maneuvered his buggy to park near the barn, he thought about the time he’d spent here...and how much he would miss seeing Martha every day.

He climbed down from his vehicle and stared at the house. The structure looked well kept with its newly painted working shutters, window trim and doors. Eli was pleased with all they had accomplished and for an amount that Martha could afford.

She hadn’t been widowed a full year yet. Dare he tell her how he felt? Or would he frighten her by confessing his feelings for her? And what exactly did he feel? Friendship sure, but it was more. It was a feeling that told him that when she was ready, he wanted to pursue their relationship.

As he approached the house, he noticed that her windows were open, allowing the outside breeze to filter in. He headed toward the back door, raised his hand to knock but stopped when he heard soft sobbing inside. Eli moved to the window and saw Martha at the kitchen table. His gut wrenched as he realized that something had caused her pain.

“Martha,” he said worriedly. She looked up, widened her eyes as she saw him in the window opening before she glanced away. He opened the door and stepped inside. “Martha, what’s wrong?” he asked with concern as he closed it behind him.

Her tear-filled eyes made his stomach twist into a knot. And then he saw the pile of men’s clothing on the chair next to her and he understood. “You cleaned out Ike’s belongings.”

“Ja.”
She gazed up at him with glistening brown eyes, and his heart melted. “It had to be done,” she whispered. “I don’t know why I didn’t do it sooner.”

He felt her pain as if it were his. It hurt, too, to realize that Martha had loved her husband so much that she was grieving for him still. She wasn’t ready to move on, and even if she were, given the difference in their ages and his current inability to provide for her, Eli feared that he’d lost any chance of winning her heart.

“What are you planning to do with them?” he asked softly as he pulled out a chair and sat down across from her.

She blinked back tears. “I thought maybe Amos would want them. Do you think he’d like to have his
bruder
’s
clothes?”

Eli gave her a gentle smile. “I’m sure he will.” He hesitated. “Would you like me to take them to him?” Amos King was a longtime friend and neighbor who lived on the farm across the road from his father’s.

“You’d do that?” She sniffed, wiped her eyes with her fingers.

“
Ja
, ’tis no inconvenience. Amos lives close by.”

Martha rewarded him with a genuine smile that warmed him from the top of his head to his toe tips.

He stood, eager to please her, and she rose to follow. He held out his arms, and she retrieved the pile of men’s clothing and came around the table to hand it to him. “I’ll put these in the buggy,” he said before he turned away.

“Eli,” she called softly.

He halted on his way to the door and faced her.
“Ja?”

“Danki.”

He was glad to see that her sadness had eased. “’Tis my pleasure, Martha.” It would always be his pleasure to help her.

Eli left to stow the clothing, which included shirts, pants and three hats—two straw and one black felt Sunday best—into the back of his vehicle. He returned to the house when he was done. He couldn’t start work without checking on her one more time.

She stood near the stove. When she heard him come in, she turned to him. He was surprised and gratified to see a big smile on her face. “I put coffee on. I thought I’d make you something to eat.” Her tone was pleasant, brisk.

He didn’t have the heart to tell her that he’d already eaten. Besides it was hours ago when he’d eaten two of his mother’s homemade butter biscuits.

“You don’t have to go to any trouble for me.” Although he wanted to stay and spend more time with her, he didn’t want her to think she had to cook or do anything for him.

“’Tis no trouble.” She was already taking out cooking utensils, dishes and pans. “Eggs? Pancakes? Waffles?”

He grinned at her, happy to be able to stay alone in her presence for a while longer. “I don’t need all that.” He pushed back the sudden sad thought that his time with her was limited and his work there almost over. He realized that he could see her every day, spend every moment with her and it would never be enough time.

If she was disappointed, she didn’t show it. “I can make you eggs, and I have some muffins and corn bread left in the pantry.”

“Perfect.”

She looked pleased as she headed toward her food pantry. He watched her reach into her food stock and take out two plates.

His mouth watered in anticipation of her cooking. “Do you have any open jars of jelly?” He sat down at her kitchen table.

She beamed at him as she set the plates within his reach. “I’ll get them from the refrigerator.” She brought back five different kinds, which he eyed with delight.

“This is nice, Martha,” he said after she’d fixed them both eggs, poured them each a cup of coffee and then taken the seat across from him.

She picked up a plate of baked goods and handed it to him. He grinned as he took a piece of corn bread and a sweet muffin, then reached for a knife and a jar of jam.

She smiled back, and at this moment all seemed right in Eli’s world.

* * *

It didn’t take Eli long to repair the last few items on his father’s list or to install a back screen door, which wasn’t on the list. When he was done, he decided to check Martha’s fence line. He doubted that Amos had found the time, and Eli thought he could repair any breaks before her animals found another way to escape. Next time livestock got out of the pasture, he wouldn’t be there to help her.

Isaac and Jedidiah arrived as he was checking the front fence line. Surprised to see them, he waved them over. “I didn’t expect to see you here today.”

Jedidiah shrugged. “I had some time, so I thought I’d stop by to see if you needed any help finishing up.”

Eli looked at Isaac.

“I was done at home and I’ll be seeing Nancy tomorrow, so I thought I’d come, too,” their younger brother said. “Sarah and Gideon are at the house visiting with
Mam
and
Dat
. Poor Gideon didn’t need someone else gawking at him.”

Jedidiah laughed at Isaac’s mention of someone gawking at his young son. “Gideon loves all the attention.”

Isaac grinned at the boy’s father. “He’ll get plenty without us.”

“I finished
Dat
’s list,” Eli said. “And I installed a screen door.”

Jed raised his eyebrows. “You bought Martha a door?”

Eli shrugged. “Thought she might like to leave the inside door open like
Mam
does on nice days.”

Jedidiah nodded, and Eli was relieved that his older brother seemed to accept his reasoning behind his spending money on the door. “What can we help you with?” He frowned. “What are you doing
here
?”

“I thought while I was here I’d walk the fence line and fix any breaks so her animals won’t get out.”

“We can help you with that.” No doubt, Jed was recalling Eli’s story of chasing animals on Martha’s farm. “Where do you want us to start?”

Eli directed each brother to a different area of the fence. Within an hour, the brothers had checked the fence and were satisfied that all of it was in good order.

“What about inside the house?” Isaac asked as they met in the barnyard. “Was there anything inside to be done?”

“I don’t think so,” Eli said. But he hadn’t asked, had he?

Jedidiah looked skeptical. “Hard to believe given the condition of the outside. Shall we check with her before we leave?”

Eli agreed but then was tensely silent as Jedidiah tapped on Martha’s new screen door. Martha appeared, wiping her hands on a dish towel.

“Jed! Isaac! Eli, are you finished?” Throwing the towel over her left shoulder, she opened the door and invited them in. “Have you come for the balance owed?”

“Nay,”
Eli said. “
Dat
said there’s no balance.”

Martha looked puzzled as she glanced from him to Jedidiah and on to Isaac. “Then you’ve come to tell me that you’re leaving.”

Jedidiah spoke up. “We thought we’d check to see if there is anything that needs fixing inside.”

Martha widened her eyes. “In the house?” She looked from Jed to Eli. Eli nodded. “There’s nothing much. Maybe just a squeaky door.”

“I can fix that for you,” Jed offered. “Why don’t you show me?”

While Martha left to show Jed the problem door, Eli stayed in the kitchen with his younger brother.

“This shouldn’t take long,” Isaac said.

“Ja.”
He stared in the direction where Martha and Jed had disappeared. He would have liked to be the one to help her. It bothered him that he hadn’t offered first, but Eli knew that in the end the only thing that mattered was Martha’s fixed door.

She and Jed returned from the other room within seconds. “Nothing some greasing can’t fix,” Jed told Eli. “Do you have any WD-40 left at home?”

“Probably,” Eli said. “
Dat
greases his farm equipment with it.” He turned to Martha. “I can come back tomorrow to fix that for you.”

She nodded. “That would be
gut
.”

Eli left then with his brothers. Martha walked them outside and waved from her front porch as Jed drove away first with Eli and Isaac following. Eli was glad to have an excuse to return to the farm the next day. He wasn’t ready to stop seeing Martha, even if their friendship stayed the way it was...even though he wished for more from her.

* * *

On Saturday, the whole family gathered at the Samuel Lapp farm. Noah and Rachel came with their baby daughter. Jedidiah and Sarah arrived shortly afterward with young Gideon. Jacob and Annie were late as Annie and EJ had been napping and had overslept while Jacob had finished a custom job at the forge. Eli had gone earlier that morning to oil Martha’s squeaky door, but the task didn’t take long and he was back home within a half hour. He wished they were in a relationship that would have allowed him to invite her.

It was his sister Hannah’s fifth birthday.
Mam
had baked Hannah’s favorite cake, and Jed and Sarah had brought two different flavors of ice cream. Annie had made potato salad for the occasion. Eli had teased Rachel earlier when he’d watched Noah trailing behind his wife carrying the huge stockpot of Amish chicken potpie she’d cooked.

“Feeding the whole congregation?” he’d teased as he put out his arms for his young niece.

“Only half of it,” Rachel quipped with a smile as she handed him her daughter.

Eli studied his sister-in-law, pleased by what he saw. “You’re looking well.”

She glanced at her husband, who had reached her side. “Is there any reason why I shouldn’t?” she asked, narrowing her gaze at Noah’s guilty look.

“He saw the cradle,” Noah admitted.

“I didn’t say a word,” Eli said.

Rachel beamed at him. “
Gut.
Please keep it that way. I want to tell the family.”

“As you should.” Eli turned Katy within his arms so that they were forehead to forehead then nose to nose. “Katy, girl, are your
eldre
treating you well? Or would you like to come live with your favorite
onkel
?” His little niece was adorable. He experienced a sudden intense longing for children of his own.

Rachel laughed. “This one is mine, Eli. Have one of your own.” She looked at him thoughtfully. “After you settle down with the right girl.”

Martha.
Eli wondered if he would ever settle down. The only woman he wanted was Martha, and she was too much in love with her late husband to move on.

“I’m not ready to settle down,” he said, hoping that his smile for Rachel appeared genuine. “I’ll just have to settle for stealing this little one’s attention.”

“I think otherwise,” Jedidiah whispered to him with a mysterious smile a short time later out of earshot of Rachel, who had left with Katy once again within her arms. “You like Martha King.”

Eli scowled at him. “What makes you think that?”

“You’ve spend a lot of time with her. You bought her a door.”

He raised his eyebrows and laughed. “Buying her a door means I’m smitten?”

“Smitten,” his older brother said. “Telling choice of words.”

“It is not!”

“And you ate meals with her.”

Eli shrugged. “And so did Isaac and
Dat
.”

“What did I do?” Isaac asked after hearing his name mentioned as he approached.

“You ate lunch with Martha,” Eli said.

“Ja,”
he said, “as did
Dat
and you.”

Eli shot his older brother a triumphant look. “I told you.”

“
Ja
, but I’m sure you liked it more.”

Isaac agreed, which earned him a scolding look from Eli. “He did.”

“We’re friends,” was Eli’s only answer.

Jedidiah flashed him a knowing look.

“Jed, stop. Installing a door and eating a couple of meals with Martha doesn’t mean I’m in love with her.”

“Hmm. He doesn’t want to admit it, Isaac,” Jed said with a half smile. He studied Eli with a knowing gaze. “Visiting Sunday is tomorrow. We’ll see how the wind blows.”

Isaac and Jedidiah nudged each other as they grinned at Eli.

“Lecherich,”
Eli muttered, calling them ridiculous.

“Who is being ridiculous?” their father asked as he joined them.

“Your other
soohns
here,” Eli said. “They think they know everything, yet they don’t have a clue.”

Dat
gazed at his boys with fond amusement. “That wouldn’t stop them from making assumptions,
ja
?”

Eli smiled.
“Ja.”
Leave it to
Dat
to see things as they were.

Their father turned to Isaac. “Where is this Nancy?” he asked with a smile.