For Every Season (11 page)

“Please. I just arrived. My Mamm spent all she had to get me here.”

“Why would she …” Rhoda’s countenance radiated disbelief. “I’m sorry. That’s none of my business. But—”

“But,” Jacob interrupted, “we can talk about the job aspect a little later.” He picked up the tray and handed it to Leah. “Why don’t you show Iva to the empty bedroom.”

“Empty?” Rhoda shifted, looking up at Jacob.

Iva sensed his words bothered her. “If it’s being used, I’m willing to sleep anywhere, even in the barn.” She lifted the tray from Leah. “I know I’ve not said the right things, and I’ve probably made a bad impression, but if you’ll give me a chance, you’ll find I’m a hard worker.”

“I’m sure you are.” Rhoda’s gentle smile added to the sympathy mirrored on her face.

Jacob picked up a stack of mail and eased it in front of Rhoda. “Maybe we need to be more ready to hire someone than we are.”

“Maybe.” Rhoda nodded. “But there isn’t any money right now.”

What? If they didn’t have money to pay her, why had she come? How would she ever get home? Her Mamm couldn’t send any money. Besides, Iva would rather earn the right to stay than have them figure out a way to send her back home. If she went back, her Daed would start pressuring her again to marry Leon. If barely liking him wasn’t enough reason to remain single, she also wasn’t interested in marrying a man mired in grief.

“I don’t mind the money.” Iva shifted the tray. “At least not for now. If I have a place to stay and food, I’m better off than most.”

Rhoda nodded. “That’s a very kind offer, but …” She turned to Landon. “Would you take her luggage to the
empty
bedroom? Leah, see that she meets Phoebe and gets fresh towels and something to eat.”

Iva thanked them for letting her stay and left the office, trying not to cry.

What if, come tomorrow, they told her to go home?

Rhoda turned to Jacob, tempted to share her disappointment. He was ready to hire the girl full-time
and
give her Rhoda’s bedroom. Was he never going to invite her back home? “So now what?”

Jacob closed the door. “I think she should stay.”

Rhoda already knew that much. Needing something to do other than stare at Jacob, she began looking through the pile of mail. “You think that because you have a good heart. I appreciate that about you, but we can’t afford her.” Not daring to look at Samuel, she sorted letters to her into one pile. “Samuel?”

“There’s no way we’d consider hiring someone we know this little about if she hadn’t just shown up. We have far more questions than answers. I don’t like it. Leah let herself get talked into something, and I say Iva stays for a day or two to get some rest, and then we send her home.”

“And use what to purchase her ticket? Our good looks?” Jacob asked.

Rhoda held up a few envelopes. “We’re still getting money from folks who want to help because of all the legal trouble. We haven’t used any of it yet.”

“There’s no reason to use it to send Iva home.”

Jacob had more compassion than wisdom, but this was hard to believe. Rhoda straightened a stack of envelopes. “Look at what came from three girls who used our greenhouses to party. It turned into a nightmare. Why would this girl’s mother send her to beg off strangers unless Iva isn’t as eager to please as she’d have us believe?”

Jacob put his hand on the mail in front of her. “You’re both being skittish because of all Rhoda’s been through.”

Rhoda stared at him. “Don’t you find the whole thing strange?”

“Sure. But the way we connected with you was odd too.”

“I consider how we came together to have been a God thing.”

“And it’s too early to say this isn’t one too.”

Rhoda rose, gazing into Jacob’s eyes. “Why are you so much in favor of her staying?”

“I think we should talk alone.”

Samuel got up.

“Samuel, wait.” She turned. “Jacob, he should be a part of this discussion.” That was putting it mildly. Samuel
was
Kings’ Orchard long before she joined them and during the years Jacob was absent, working for his uncle and then traveling on his own.

She couldn’t believe Jacob wanted Samuel to leave what was clearly a business meeting. “I know that Samuel and I have lost most of our power businesswise and, in many ways, relationshipwise. We can’t even breathe for fear of angering you. But you can’t possibly make a decision about Iva without Samuel being in the room.”

“Is that what you think? That
you’re
powerless?”

She saw it in his eyes. Her words described how he felt. “You just gave away my bedroom. The farmhouse is my home. You haven’t even mentioned me returning. And then you offer my room to a perfect stranger.”

“She needed a place to stay.”

“And what about what
I
need, Jacob? Do you even have a clue what that is?”

Samuel went to the door. “This is becoming personal, so I’ll go. But I’d like to remind both of you of something. Jacob, Rhoda did nothing wrong.” He turned the handle. “Rhoda, Jacob did nothing wrong. I don’t know what else to say.” He closed the door behind him.

Silence hung in the air, and yet Rhoda heard condemnation loud and clear. If Samuel thought she was faultless, he was fooling himself. She remembered every second of being in his arms, and the feelings of those few moments haunted her.

Jacob owned her heart, so why couldn’t she get her flesh free of that memory with Samuel? Without a confidant the mess might stay a confusing jumble inside her brain. Would it ever fade? Would it become one more grief she had to learn to live with?

Jacob went to the file cabinet and began gathering items from it. “You don’t trust my opinion anymore?”

She could ask him the same thing. Instead, she flipped through the mail.

“Kumm on, Rhodes.
We
need Iva here.”

“What do you mean?”

“I overheard some of what you said to Samuel about Nicole. And it sounded to me as if you’re jealous of her.”

“What?” Her raised voice made hurt flicker through his eyes. She took a breath, determined to measure her tone as well as her words. “Even if that were true, and it’s not, I don’t see what that has to do with Iva.”

“Then look again. If I try hard enough, I can make myself believe that your attitude about Nicole comes from your fear that an Englisch woman has an eye for a lonely Amish man. But what am I supposed to think now that you want to keep Iva away from him just as much?”

“You’re supposed to realize I’m being practical. We know nothing about Iva. We can’t afford her. And her mother paid good money to send her to a community that doesn’t know her and may be desperate enough for help to let her stay. Your forte is math. Add up those facts, and tell me we should open up our lives to that.”

“There are other things that need to be factored in.” He moved to the office door. “She came in facing this direction. You and I were directly in front of her. Leah was to her left, and Samuel was on the far side of Leah. Yet the only person Iva saw when she came in was Samuel. Their attention seemed glued for a bit, and maybe I’m seeing what I need to, but I think there were sparks.”

She didn’t see any of that, but it was possible Iva was caught off guard by Samuel’s presence. Rhoda was when she first met him. Of course she was also frustrated and annoyed by him. “He doesn’t want her here either. You heard him.”

Jacob strode back to her. “Of course not. He’s looking at it strictly from a business perspective.”

“That’s the only one that matters where Iva is concerned.”

He sat on the corner of the desk, facing her. “I don’t like that you’re so against her staying.”

She put down the mail and leaned back in her chair. “You gave her my room, not just for a night or two, but in hopes she’ll stay. How do you expect me to react?”

He angled his head, studying her. “Your feelings are hurt.”

She swallowed hard, embarrassment creeping up her neck. “I’d hoped you’d invite me to move back home.”

He drew a deep breath. “I know it’s been only a couple of days, but I like picking you up in the mornings and taking you home in the evenings. It’s the closest thing to a courtship we’ve ever had. And …”

“And what?”

He shook his head. “Never mind.”

“Don’t do that. Finish your thought.”

“I don’t want you and Samuel under the same roof, where by the time anyone else in the house is up, you two have shared half a pot of coffee and an hour of conversation. I don’t want to wake during the night wondering if you’ve bumped into him while getting a glass of water. It’s not a good situation for now.”

“Jacob.” She stood and cradled his face. She wanted to kiss him. It’d be their first since before he’d left to go into hiding in mid-January.

“It’s how I feel.” The sadness in his eyes made her ache.

Would things between them ever be as they once were? “If you need me to stay at Camilla’s, then that’s what I’ll do.” She smiled. “I have to admit, your coming to pick me up is fun. I woke last night looking forward to it. But hiring Iva and letting her stay—”

“Until other Amish move here, we’re a tiny settlement. Your brother has Phoebe and their children. Leah has all of us, including Landon. You and I are starting to really talk again, and Samuel has no one he can open up to.”

Rhoda sighed. “Unless Iva stays.”

“Exactly.”

She was tired of the unrest between her and Jacob. With the months of silence when he’d been absent and the weeks of stilted conversation because of what had happened with Samuel, their relationship had been prickly for too long. Still, she wasn’t ready to just surrender. “I’ll agree on one condition. I want to be free to work with Samuel again.”

Jacob’s green eyes bore into her, his gentle nature so evident. “It’s hard to believe you’d even bring up such a thing. It’s more than business. It’s a friendship. Isn’t my friendship enough?”

“Is mine?”

“Absolutely.”

“You say that, but in all the time I’ve known you, I’m not the one you share everything with. But it doesn’t diminish what we have between us or how much you love me. Does it?”

He played with her fingers, running his hand across her calluses as he mulled over an idea he clearly didn’t like. “Rhodes …”

“Samuel and I must be able to work together, to talk and yell and maybe even laugh. It makes me feel sick to have to avoid him or to have only a brief, stiff conversation where nothing is accomplished.”

Jacob stared into her eyes, and she could see how much he loved her. “Okay.” It came out as a whisper, and he looked more resigned than accepting. “I can understand that.”

Joy stirred inside her for the first time since Jacob had come back. Was it possible there would be healing for the three of them?

“I love you, Jacob.”

He gazed into her eyes, a tender smile curving his lips. “You’ve never said that before.”

She hadn’t, mostly because his past kept raising its ugly head and causing her to move slowly and carefully. But she did love him. “I should have.”

He eased his face closer to hers. When his lips were mere inches from hers, she couldn’t see anything but Samuel. In this very room, so close she could hear his heart thumping, sense the strength of his feelings for her.

She wanted to pull away from Jacob so the memory would stop, but if she did, it might ruin all the work they’d done to get to this point.

Her thoughts were broken by the dogs’ barking and a horn blasting.

Jacob took a breath, his warm hands still cradling her face. “We need a vacation.”

She chuckled. “Think so?”

He moved to the window.

“Who is it?”

“Sandra.”

“Here?” Rhoda peered out the window. She wanted a good look at this
mystery woman, but she could only see flowing dark hair. The dogs circled the car, barking.

“It’s my fault. I should’ve returned her calls.”

“What does she want?”

“Forgiveness.” He sighed. “I need to talk to her alone first.”

“You do what you need to. Isn’t she going to get out?”

“Not with the dogs right there. She has a phobia of them.”

Rhoda rested her hand on his chest. “Are you getting your past sorted out?”

“I’m working on it. Even hired a lawyer, but he wants things of me I’m not sure I’m willing to give.”

“You have to. For us.”

He stared into her eyes, and she saw determination replace reluctance. “You’re right.” He wrapped her hand with his. “We’ll talk about what’s going on with her later, okay?”

“I’ll always be here, waiting for you.”

An endearing boyish grin lit his face. He pulled the walkie-talkie out of his pocket. “Samuel.”

“Ya.”

“Rhoda needs to see you in the office after dinner. There is a ton of mail to discuss and work plans to go over.” By using the two-way, he had let everyone know that he approved of Samuel and Rhoda working side by side again. He slid the radio into his pocket.

“Denki.”

He kissed her on the forehead. “We’re gonna get to where we were before I left here, and when we do, we’ll keep right on going until our grandchildren are awed to see what real love is.” He smiled. “Now go eat, and then get busy before we drown in letters and paperwork.”