Huckleberry Hearts (20 page)

“I have a hunch this guy from Florida doesn't exist.”

“But can you be sure?”

He huffed and puffed. “Fine. I'll be at church next week to check out Mr. Florida State. But I guarantee he doesn't know how to do laundry the Amish way.”

“He might not even be there.”

“He'll hear I'm coming and run squealing all the way back to Florida.”

She giggled. “Probably.”

From that side of the house, they could see a single horse and buggy clomping and crunching up the snow-covered lane.

Cassie groaned inwardly. Norman had promised to come today with Luke and Elmer Lee under the pretense of readying supplies for maple syrup time. But he'd also instructed Cassie to have a batch of bread pudding hot and ready in the oven. Elmer Lee loved bread pudding with raisins and dried cranberries, and Norman expected Cassie to feed the three of them supper with bread pudding for dessert.

And to wear the pink dress Mamm had given her.

Norman would be indignant when he found her in workout clothes hanging laundry with Zach Reynolds instead of baking in the kitchen in her charming pink dress. Well, it wasn't her fault Norman was three hours early.

Zach stiffened. Norman was surely the last person he wanted to see, even including the imaginary Mr. Florida State.

Norman stopped the buggy alongside the two identical cars. Luke jumped out and unhitched the horse with the skill and swiftness of someone who had done it hundreds of times. Unhitching the horse meant they were planning on staying for a while. She hadn't expected anything less, but her stomach still felt as if she'd swallowed a bag of lead pellets.

Luke waved to them as he led the horse to the barn. Norman stepped out of the buggy. Elmer Lee unfolded himself. Buggies weren't all that accommodating to long legs.

Norman marched in Cassie's direction with Elmer tagging along behind. Norman came close to Cassie and leaned his head until their foreheads were almost touching. “I told you to wear the pink dress,” he hissed so Elmer Lee, still a few steps behind, wouldn't hear him. “Those pants you are wearing are indecent. Too tight.”

Cassie's stomach felt as if it would sink to her toes. “I came from the gym and haven't had time to change.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Zach standing ramrod straight with his fists clenched at his sides and the muscles of his jaw twitching slightly.

“I told you I'd be here at nine. I made sure to be late so you'd be ready,” Norman said.

“You said noon.”

Elmer Lee finally caught up to Norman. Her brother took a step back and pulled Elmer Lee forward. Elmer Lee looked her up and down as if he were inspecting a horse. “Hello, Cassie.”

“I'm sorry she's not wearing her Plain dress today,” Norman said. “I know you don't like it when she wears pants.”

“I like the pink dress,” Elmer Lee said. “And a kapp would show me that you are devoted to God.”

Cassie held her breath. She could endure the humiliation, but Zach looked as if he were about to explode. He had told her that he thought Norman was a bully. But she could handle him. The last thing she wanted was for Zach to make a scene.

Zach crossed his arms over his chest and spread his feet into a wide stance. “Cassie goes to church every week. That seems pretty devoted to me.”

Norman glared at Zach. “Devotion to a false creed is damnation.”

“Browbeating in the name of devotion is hypocrisy.”

“What do you know?” Norman said. “My sister doesn't even care that she has broken our
mater
's heart and hurt our entire family. Jesus would have us go after the lost sheep. It's our duty as Christians and my duty as a brother.”

Cassie was on the verge of tears. The arguing was worse than Norman's sharp words. She knew how to absorb the hurt that Norman inflicted on her. She didn't know how to make peace between two angry men, especially when she had been the cause of the contention.

As Zach opened his mouth to reply, he glanced in Cassie's direction. Whatever he was going to say died on his lips. Holding up his hands as if stopping traffic, he took two steps backward. “I'm not here to argue. I'm just here to hang clothes, and the sooner I get done, the less chance there is for my fingers to freeze.”

He dragged the laundry basket to within easy reach, turned his back on the rest of them, and began hanging clothes as if trying to beat a storm.

Cassie couldn't relax, but her heart swelled with gratitude for that show of meekness. He had truly turned the other cheek. Norman never did.

“You best go change, Cassie,” Norman muttered.

Cassie did as she was told even though it was the cowardly way out, even though Zach probably despised her for her weakness. Even though it meant Norman had won.

Let him have his little victory. It would be little comfort if his harshness compelled her to turn her back on her family forever.

Chapter Seventeen

Even with the temperature hovering near freezing and his fingers feeling like they were going to fall off, the heat rose off Zach's body as if he were boiling from the inside out.

He'd be horsewhipped before he let Norman Coblenz and Elmer Lee bully Cassie. No one, not even her own brother, would be allowed to hurt her as long as Zach had something to say about it. And he had an awful lot to say about it.

He loved her too much to provoke Norman when she stood there pleading with her eyes for him to stop. He could pretend to be contrite if it made her happy but only until she disappeared safely into the house. With his back turned and his laundry basket empty, he heard her walk up the porch steps and close the front door.

He slowly turned to face Norman and Elmer Lee and Luke, who had just come from the barn. He felt sorry for Luke, who was going to get his share of Zach's wrath when he had no clue what had happened. Or maybe he did know. Maybe they'd all come to Huckleberry Hill today to browbeat Cassie into submission.

Zach put on the face he showed to hostile soccer opponents, the expression that said, “If you mess with me, I'll rip your head off.”

“Norman,” he said, because Norman was clearly the ringleader of the gang, “I'm only going to tell you nicely one more time. I won't put up with you talking to Cassie like that. If you want to yell at somebody, yell at me, but leave Cassie alone or you'll have to deal with someone who's not afraid to fight back.”

Norman's face turned to stone. Elmer Lee looked only slightly less imposing, mostly because there remained a spark of confusion in his eyes. Luke turned pale. He'd just walked in on something he clearly didn't want to be part of.

“It's okay,” Luke said. “Whatever Norman did, he didn't mean to hurt Cassie's feelings. He—”

Completely ignoring Luke, Norman took a step forward and folded his arms across his chest. Zach folded his arms in return. They must have looked like two sea lions on the Discovery Channel about to do battle.

“Not afraid to fight back?” Norman said. “This is the second time you've hid behind Cassie's skirts.”

“I'm not hiding now.”

“I'm not afraid of you, Dr. Reynolds.” Norman motioned to the laundry basket at Zach's feet. “Is this all you know how to do? Woman's work? I noticed how you turned tail and ran into the house the first chance you got when we butchered that hog.”

Zach almost plowed his fist into Norman's pointy nose. He'd saved Norman's own daughter from a terrible accident and gotten injured in the process, and Norman accused him of not being man enough to stick a pig? His gut clenched with the impulse to flatten Norman with a swift right hook to the jaw. But he didn't move. He wasn't a brute, and Norman wouldn't appreciate his reasons for giving him a bloody nose.

Norman pointed his thumb at Elmer Lee. “He's not afraid to stick a pig.”

Luke seemed to have a little more sense than Norman. “The doctor pulled Priscilla out of the fire. Don't you remember?”

Zach nodded a thank-you to Luke before turning his attention to Norman again. “I don't care what you think of me, but you will leave Cassie alone or I will make you.”

Norman's scowl cut deep lines into his face. “I am a man of peace. If you strike me, I will turn the other cheek. Your threats have no power over me.”

“Cassie likes godly men,” Elmer Lee said.

Zach scrubbed his hand down his face. “Get off your high horse. I would never hit you. I'm not that stupid or that volatile. You've had free rein to pick on Cassie because she doesn't fight back. You make her feel guilty and small. Just remember that the next time you try it, I will fight back for her.”

“Cassie doesn't argue with me because her own guilty conscience whispers to her that I am right. She will come back to our way of thinking if we show her the way. If we remind her of her wicked ways and keep the memory of her sins before her eyes, she will yearn for forgiveness.”

Luke's eyes darted between Norman and Zach. “Cassie doesn't—”

“Keep quiet, Luke,” Norman snapped. “You don't know anything.”

Norman didn't realize that he pushed Cassie further away from the church and her family with every harsh word he uttered. “Cassie is not wicked,” Zach said through clenched teeth.

Norman lifted his chin. “The Englisch know nothing about the ways of God. You like her, but what can you offer her? If you truly cared about her soul, you would stay away from her.”

Zach stood his ground. He wouldn't let Norman weaken his resolve to be the kind of man Cassie could love. The kind of man Cassie deserved. “Your mistake is underestimating me.”

Norman turned his face away from Zach. “I have said what I have said.” He turned toward the house. Elmer Lee followed close on his heels. Luke was a little slower to go along.

“Wait,” Zach said.

Norman and his wingmen turned back.

“I want your promise that you'll leave Cassie alone,” Zach said, knowing he wouldn't get any such promise.

Norman grunted his disapproval. “I'll not stop trying to save my sister.”

“Then we haven't solved anything.”

“Stay away from Cassie,” Norman said. “That will solve everything.”

“You're stubborn and self-righteous.”

“And you want to pick a fight.”

A crazy idea popped into his head. “What about a friendly contest?”

“What do you mean?”

“A wrestling match.” Zach didn't' technically know how to wrestle, but he'd had it out with a few center midfielders before, and Norman wasn't near as intimidating as that. “We draw a circle in the snow. If I throw you out of the circle, you promise to quit pestering Cassie about coming back to the church. You never mention that pink dress or white kapp or question her faith again.”

Norman glanced at Elmer Lee. “And if I win?”

Zach swallowed the boulder-sized lump in his throat. The stakes had to be high to gain Norman's cooperation. “Then I promise not to set foot on Huckleberry Hill again.”

“What about my mammi?”

“I will still see her at the hospital like all my other patients.” And Cassie too. Hopefully Norman wouldn't think about the other places he and Cassie could run into each other. But how would he win her heart if he couldn't come to Huckleberry Hill?

Zach glanced toward the house. What would Cassie say if she knew what they were plotting? She'd probably hate him for life. “Cassie can't know.”

Norman stuffed his hands in his coat pockets and mulled it over. “Elmer Lee will be Cassie's husband someday. He should wrestle you.”

Zach should have anticipated that. He had several inches on Norman. Cassie's brother would never agree to a wrestling match he couldn't win.

Elmer Lee didn't even flinch. He was big and powerful, and Zach did laundry and wore pink shirts. No doubt he thought he could clear Zach out of any circle with a flick of his wrist.

Zach would have smacked himself upside the head if he had an extra hand. Wrestling Norman or even Luke was one thing, but Elmer Lee looked as if he ate nails for breakfast. He eyed Elmer Lee's thick arms and solid frame. It wasn't too late to back out.

Zach took a deep breath and squared his shoulders. Nothing mattered but Cassie's happiness, and he wouldn't gain Norman's cooperation easily. He'd have to do it the hard way. His gaze traveled the length of Elmer Lee's large frame. He'd have to do it the really hard way. He didn't have any wrestling experience, except with his older brothers, who had never been gentle. He suddenly felt grateful for all the times they'd ground his face into the dirt. He'd learned a few things.

Besides, he'd been able to hold his ground when he had gotten older. A lot of what happened on the soccer pitch felt like wrestling. He was a brick wall. If he was smart about it, he could take Elmer Lee down.

Zach nodded. “Do you agree, Elmer Lee?”

Elmer Lee flared his nostrils like a horse before a race. “A friendly match.”

They shook on it.

“The bishop wouldn't approve,” Luke said. “We believe in nonviolence.”

“It will be friendly,” Norman said. Nobody argued with him, but nobody believed it either, not even Luke.

“We can't do it here,” Zach said. “I don't want Cassie to see.”

Norman smirked. “You don't want her to see you get beat.”

“I know a place,” said Elmer Lee. “Flat ground, lots of snow.”

Zach held up his car keys and jangled them. “I'll drive.”

 

 

Cassie took the fastest shower of her life. Hopefully Zach had gone back to the hospital, and Elmer Lee and her brothers were in the barn hunting for sap buckets. She had been reluctant to leave them outside alone together, but she thought the best way to avoid conflict was to remove the source of conflict itself. Her. Maybe Zach would stop glaring at Norman if Cassie weren't there for Norman to admonish. She could only hope.

The pink dress went over her head. After securing the front with straight pins, she tied a half apron around her waist. She towel-dried her hair and put it into a stumpy little bun before pulling the prayer covering over it and pinning it in place. She'd done it so many times, it barely took her five minutes.

She pulled on her stockings and went to the great room. Dawdi perused a seed catalog, and Mammi was attempting to fix Zach's knitting project. It wasn't going well. She'd surely have to throw it away and start over.

Cassie went to the front door and slipped her feet into her snow boots, then donned her coat and rushed outside. She half expected to see Zach and Norman engaged in a fistfight. Instead, she saw lots of footprints and no men. The buggy stood where they'd left it, but when she looked in the barn, her brothers were nowhere to be seen. She came back outside scratching her head.

Zach's car was missing. Where had they all gone?