The Scent of Cherry Blossoms: A Romance from the Heart of Amish Country (19 page)

“You two haven’t made plans behind my back?”

“N-no.”

“No strolling arm in arm, making out, or creating a bed out here in the orchard?”

“No sir.”

Moses sighed. “You sure don’t make it easy for a man to dislike you.”

The woodpecker’s drumming stopped. Moses started walking
toward the house, and Aden walked with him. “She knelt before God and gave her word.”

“And I won’t ask her to br-break it.”

“You’ll join her faith?”

“N-not because I believe it’s more right. B-both groups are right on certain things and wrong on others.”

“Your family can’t run that restaurant without you. Just do everyone a favor and stay away from Annie.” He said it as if those last four words finalized the discussion.

“I c-can’t … unless that’s what
she
wants.”

Halfway up the steps of his home, Moses stopped. “I forbid you. Do you understand me, Aden Zook?”

“W-why?”

Moses went inside, snatched his Bible off the kitchen table, and waved it at Aden. “Because it’s wrong! It says not to be unequally yoked!”

Aden studied him, wondering if Moses really thought two Plain believers who’d grown up in a similar manner were unequally yoked. If he had Roman’s gift of speaking, he might stand a chance at reasoning with Moses. “I’m s-sorry you feel that way.” Aden went out the door he’d just entered. “Denki.”

Moses grabbed the door before Aden shut it. “After all I’ve done for your family, you’ll do this to me?”

“It’s n-not about you.
Any
of you.”

Moses’s eyes took on a faraway look, and Aden saw pain and confusion on his withered face. He ran his hand over the worn-out leather Bible before returning to the table.

Moses sat down, saying nothing as Aden continued to wait by the doorway. Moses buried his head in his hands. “I’m not saying I think you’re right, but trying to make people do what I think is right hasn’t worked either.”

Aden blinked. He knew Moses couldn’t give his permission outright for Aden and Annie to be together. But it sure sounded as if he was getting awfully close to accepting their relationship.

“You have integrity.” Moses got up and began fixing coffee. “Here’s my final word, Aden. You pray before you decide what to do about Annie. Talk to God. Be sure you take into account all that she will face. You do that, and I’ll not stand in your way, no matter what you decide or who chooses to join which faith.”

Aden’s heart raced like a wild bird set free of its cage. His lack of words seemed to have allowed Moses to talk until he found the answers Aden needed him to find.

Moses poured water into the coffee maker. “What kind of a man would threaten to remove food out of the mouths of a good woman, her children, and two injured men?”

Aden hoped Moses’s words meant he wouldn’t pull his partnership from the diner. Roman was wrong that the diner couldn’t be run without Aden. It’d need modifications, but Roman had capabilities he never used. Aden would miss the diner but not anything like he’d miss Annie. Other diners could be opened. They wouldn’t be a part of him like this one was, but that didn’t matter.

All that mattered was Annie … if she’d have him.

A
nnie let her little sister run a brush through her hair.

“You have the most beautiful blond hair of any of us,” Erla said.

“Denki. But the color of one’s hair doesn’t matter, my sweet, sweet Erla.” Annie tugged on her sister’s sleeve. “How about if we have a picnic in our beds after everyone goes home tonight?”

“Ach, Ich lieb sell.”

Annie grinned, enjoying her sister’s renewed effort to use Pennsylvania Dutch. “I’d love that too.”

To appease her mother—and to take a step toward finding some happiness—Annie had agreed to host a couples’ gathering in the hangout room above the carriage house. It was just an evening of friends with their dates. They’d play games and talk and eat snacks. Nothing big, but Mamm sure was happy that she’d agreed to it.

Leon would be her date again. He wasn’t nearly as boring as she’d once thought. His parents owned several older racing horses, and he’d offered to take her on a ride sometime. She’d always loved horses, and their thoroughbreds were stunning.

“Knock, knock.” Mamm tapped on the door while saying the words.

“Kumm rei.”

“You’re not ready?”

Annie had dawdled for too long, trying to put off the inevitable.

“It’s my fault,” Erla said.

Annie twisted her hair into a bun and slid hairpins into it. “I’m almost done.”

Her mother placed her prayer Kapp onto her head and pinned it into place. “I’ve made popcorn balls for you to take up to the hangout room.”

“Denki.”

The sounds of a carriage outside made her mother gasp. “Your first guest must be here.” She went to the window to look out. “Ya. It’s Leon. Go.” Her mother shooed her out the door. “Don’t forget the popcorn balls. I already took drinks and brownies up there.”

Annie winked at Erla. “You’ll wait up for me tonight?”

Erla nodded.

Annie hurried down the steps and greeted Leon. He helped her tote items up the steps to the carriage room, and within forty minutes they’d greeted numerous guests. The guys and girls sat around on the old furniture and beanbags, eating and talking.

Annie rocked back in a recliner, finally enjoying a reprieve from the weeks of heartache. Leon sat on a stool beside her. He reached behind him and grabbed a deck of cards. “Care to play a game of Dutch Blitz?”

“We’d need two decks if everyone wants to play.”

He reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out another pack. “After how much we loved our game the other night, you won’t find me without a deck in my pocket.”

She laughed. They had enjoyed their time, mostly because his sister was a jokester who kept harassing him the whole time. “Then I do care to play … and win.”

“That remains to be seen.” While everyone who wanted to play gathered around a huge table, Annie shuffled the cards.

A knock at the door barely registered as Annie dealt cards, turning all of Leon’s face up.

He frowned and shoved his cards in front of her and stole her stash.

“No!” Annie laughed and tried to grab her cards back.

“Annie,” a girl’s voice grabbed her attention.

“Ya?” When she looked up, she saw Aden holding a rather tattered cardboard box with a ribbon around it.

Her thoughts ran crazy, and she imagined tripping over her own feet or blurting out random questions. But she slowly stood. “Excuse me for a minute.” She passed the rest of the deck to Leon and went to Aden, gesturing for them to go outside. She stepped onto the landing and closed the door behind her. “What are you doing here?”

“I sent him up there,” Erla said. “Is it okay?”

She glanced at the bottom of the stairs. “Ya, Erla. Denki.”

Erla waved and headed back to the house.

Why was he in New York?

He held the box out to her. “I m-miss you. And I should have b-boldly told you all I was willing to do to k-keep you in my life.”

Annie’s heart caught in her throat. She untied the box and opened it. The porch light seemed to offer more shadows than light, but when she looked inside, she saw a stack of sketch pads in various shapes, colors, and sizes. She took out the top one and opened the cover.

In an instant she forgot all about her surroundings—the porch, her friends, and her date with Leon. Aden’s drawings immediately transported her back to Apple Ridge, to her grandfather’s orchard. To their late-night walks in the moonlight or fog, talking about everything except their future.

When she’d finished looking at the first book, he urged her to open the next. She moved to the top step and sat. He put the box nearby and sat beside her. To her shock it was filled with sketches of her. In the diner’s kitchen with her hair a mess, sweeping the floor. In the serving area, her arms loaded with plates as she approached a family at a table. Several were from years ago—events she’d forgotten about. Her in Ellen’s garden, kneeling in the dirt, smudges on her cheeks. Roller-skating through the diner. Walking in the rain.

Several pages showed her in her Daadi’s orchard, standing among the barren trees, wandering among the budding twigs, touching the blossoms, holding her arms out wide amid an expanse of flowering branches. Every picture portrayed her with a smile on her lips and a glow on her face.

She’d never been that happy unless she was in Apple Ridge with Aden. Not even close. Tears stung her eyes.

Aden smiled. “The d-decision is yours. But, Annie …” He looked into her eyes, silently telling her everything she needed to hear.

Every ounce of love she’d felt for him came rushing back all at once in a torrent of emotion. But every logical reason she’d had for keeping her distance from him came back as well. “But if we do this, your family will lose their livelihood.”

“I t-talked to Moses. He’s r-relented.” He took her hand into his. “But what do you want?”

Her head swam in confusion. She’d spent the last month and a half convincing herself that she was doing the right thing to stay here and that Aden didn’t love her. That their feelings for each other were simply childhood affection, not something that could sustain a lasting, happy marriage.

And her relationship with her mother was just starting to mend. Finally, after all these years, they’d actually been able to enjoy each other’s company lately. She couldn’t risk shattering that.

She stared at the open book in her lap. Only a man who loved her as much as she did him could’ve drawn those sketches with such detail, precision, and passion.

The door to the carriage house opened, and Leon stepped outside. “Everything okay?”

“Ya.” Annie pulled her hand free of Aden’s and closed the sketch pad. “I’ll just be another minute.”

Leon didn’t budge.

“Leon, I’ll be right in.”

He clicked his tongue and went inside.

“I’m sorry, Aden.” She rose. “But I have a date for the evening.”

“I u-understand.” He stood and started to leave but stopped on the stairs and looked back. “I’ve t-told you what’s on my heart. I want to be with you. I’ll move here and join your church. The decision is up t-to you.”

She watched as he strode to the vehicle he’d apparently arrived in. Before he got in on the passenger’s side, he paused, looking at her one last time.

Roman paced the front porch, rolling from one end to the other, waiting on Aden’s driver to return. He even managed a few prayers, hopeful God would hear him more this time than He had after the accident.

A desperate feeling gnawed at him, as if life could be set right if Annie agreed to marry Aden and nothing would be set right if she refused him. His eyes stung as tears threatened. Did Aden know how much he admired him? loved him? wanted him to be happy?

Probably not. Roman hadn’t even known until recently. From inside the house, Mamm stepped to the screen door. “In diner lingo, the dishes are done, the food is stored away, and I’m about to put the Closed sign on the kitchen for the night. Since you didn’t eat supper, you want me to fix you something first?”

Roman shook his head. “What if this doesn’t work out but it would have if I’d been the brother I should’ve been, helping instead of thwarting? That’s who Aden’s always been to me. But not me. No way. I mean, I’m the smooth talker who just has to push for his way and knows how to do it, right?”

Mamm stepped onto the porch. The screen door slowly squeaked its familiar tune, and when she released it, it banged numerous times against the frame. What was wrong with him that he’d begun noticing the weirdest things and was being moved by them? The sound stirred him, feeling like home, and thankfulness wanted to rise instead of sarcasm.

“Is that where he’s gone, to see Annie?”

Roman cleared his throat. “The problem with being a talker is one often doesn’t realize what all he’s sharing until it’s too late.”

She sat in the porch swing, staring out over the land. “I’m glad for him.”

“We’ll be okay, Mamm. I’ve been thinking a lot lately, driving myself half crazy. But I’ve finally realized a few things. I’m not as incapable as I make myself out to be. I have limitations, but I became hostile, thinking everyone owed me. I don’t want to be that person anymore. I’ve decided to become determined and find answers … if God will help me.”