The Way to a Man's Heart (The Miller Family 3) (19 page)

Lawn chairs lined the hillside next to the paddock. Leah found a ringside seat to watch the girls practice and warm up their mounts. Martha sat beside her with some friends as the competition began.

Rachel had been correct—Martha clapped during her sister’s turn to race around the barrels but didn’t raise her voice. Leah however shouted, “Go, Rachel!” “Yay!” and “Great ride!” at regular intervals. After all, wasn’t that why she’d been invited? Unfortunately, her yelling attracted attention.

“Hello, Leah,” Daniel said, sitting down next to her. “We never would have guessed you would come tonight.”

“Hi,” she said. “Who do you mean by we?”

“John, Steven, and me.” He hooked a thumb toward the gate where the other two were standing. Both cautiously lifted their hands in greeting.

Leah waved back. “You three are speaking to each other? I’m surprised after how you acted in Cleveland.”

Daniel’s face turned pink as peonies. “We’re mighty sorry about that. We got a bawling out from the bishop and had to apologize to Sarah and Sam Yoder.” He cracked two of his knuckles. “We’re also sorry we embarrassed you. And I’m speaking for all of us.”

She glanced back to the gate. Sure enough, the other men looked contrite. “Let’s just forget about it, okay? I want to watch my friend race.” She focused on the paddock, where men were resetting the barrels into a different course.

“The gals are finished,” Daniel said. “They just go once through. Rachel Hostetler took third place. The races are timed, so you find out who won once everybody’s done.”

“I see. I kind of thought they would all come out and race around together.”

Daniel stared at her and then laughed. “You’re funny, Leah. The guys will race next—sort of impromptu since so many of us turned out tonight. Just for fun, no prizes.” He grinned before striding off to rejoin his friends.

Leah contemplated looking for Rachel when Jonah Byler sat down where Martha had been. His hat was pulled low on his forehead, shading his wonderful eyes.

“What a nice surprise,” he said. “I thought horses bored you to sleep like a bear in winter hibernation.”

“I told you that was due to the medication,” she said, trying not to reveal how pleased she was to see him.

“Really?” He lifted his head. “I thought my company was like a glass of warm milk before bed.”

She realized arguing would be futile. “The men are getting ready to race around the barrel course. Don’t you want to mount up and join them?”

“Nope. I’d fall off and get my duds dirty. I’ve never been much of a horseback rider. I’ll just sit with you and watch.” He tugged his brim lower again and viewed the hubbub.

Leah grew nervous with his close proximity. She never possessed the upper hand with him the way she did with Daniel, John, and Steven. “My friend took third place and won a trophy,” she said.

“Rachel? I thought that’s why you were screaming and yelling. Tell her I said congratulations if we don’t run into her.” He refocused on the paddock, apparently content to sit with but not talk to her.

“You know, now that I take something for my allergies, I’m starting to like horses, at least a little.”

“Does that mean I’ll see you racing around these barrels one day?” He asked without taking his focus from the men climbing onto tall Arabians.

“Absolutely not, but at least I don’t call them ‘big fly magnets’ any more.”

Leah saw Jonah’s lips pull into a smile but his hat still hid half his face. She wished he would at least notice her new dress. It had been finished last night with
mamm’s
help. Martha had said that the color complemented her complexion. But soon the racing began with far more hooting and hollering than the girls had inspired.

Daniel raced through the course second, performing quite well. He might not be a Matthew Miller, but he handled the horse competently. After racing the circuit, he rode to where Leah sat, reined to a stop, and swept off his hat with a flourish.

“I pictured you waiting at the finish line, Miss Miller, and that spurred me on. My time is the best so far.” Daniel settled his hat back on his head.

“You’re only the second rider,” Jonah said. Leah buried her face in her hands to hide her laughter.

“First place is first place,” Daniel replied, undaunted. He dug his boot heels in the side of his horse and galloped off.

The next barrel racer wasn’t quite so agile. He knocked two barrels askew and lost his hat in the dust. Leah recognized John when he galloped past. As he raised his hand to wave at her he nearly fell off the horse.

“Looks like your friend Daniel will keep his first place position after that sorry showing.” Jonah spoke very softly close to her ear.

“At least he got up there and tried,” she said, feeling a frisson of excitement. Jonah knew Daniel’s name and he sounded a tad jealous.

Steven entered the paddock next, called to her, and then rode around the barrels as though he were being chased by a swarm of bees. Then he pulled up hard on the reins and stopped suddenly in front of Leah’s chair. With a smooth motion, he plucked a long-stemmed daisy from the horse’s mane and tossed it to her. Then he galloped off, almost missing the last two barrels.

Jonah laughed. “That little stunt cost him time. If he hadn’t given you that flower, he could have bumped Daniel out of first place. He is one great rider.” He scratched at his chin. “What do you make of that, Leah?”

She was speechless. People were staring. All three men had made a fuss, and all the while she had been sitting with Jonah Byler. She rose to her feet, clenching her hands into fists to stop them from shaking. “I conclude that men are the most illogical creatures on earth…other than perhaps goats. And I’ll never understand their need to compete with each other.”

“I can’t argue with you there,” said Jonah. “We often don’t make sense, but at least I’m not getting up on a horse just to toss you a flower. I’ll be happy to pick some from Mrs. Yost’s garden if you like.”

Leah made a sound similar to a dog’s growl and marched toward the house. She needed Rachel and Martha—female company—but she didn’t see either one of them along the way. And the girls she did pass were staring at her strangely. After washing her hands and face, she decided to search for her brother. If horses were involved, he would be here somewhere.

She expected to find him among those waiting their turn on the barrel course. But he too was nowhere to be found. An unsettling feeling churned in her belly as Leah picked up her skirt and ran to where the buggies were parked. From a distance all the buggies looked the same, but close up each had been personalized to stand out with hardware on hitches and colorful blankets. Rachel’s buggy was no longer here, nor was Matthew’s.

Just then she spotted Jon Yost, their host, and hurried toward him. “Have you seen my
bruder
Matthew? I can’t find his buggy.”

“I saw him earlier. He’d been dropped off after work by an
Englischer.
He told me he didn’t want to show up the amateurs on the course, and he rode home with Martha and Rachel Hostetler. They left right after Rachel got her trophy.” Jon continued hitching up a horse.

“Something wrong, Leah?”

She wheeled around to find Jonah leaning on a buggy wheel.
“Jah,
I rode here with Rachel and Martha, and they seemed to have forgotten me. They’ve left and I have no way home.”

One side of his mouth pulled into a grin, deepening his dimple. “You only live maybe a mile and a half away. It’s not like they abandoned you in Kansas.”

Leah was too tired to laugh at his humor. She stood with her teeth and hands clenched.

“Don’t fret. I’ll take you home. Let me thank Jon Yost for the invite and we can leave right now if you like.”

Leah nodded and then stepped up into his buggy and closed her eyes. She was curious as to why he had followed her but too exhausted to ask during the brief but tense ride home.

Matthew couldn’t believe his good fortune. He had not only run into Martha at the Yost farm, but she’d offered to give him a lift home. He hadn’t planned on attending the barrel races because they would be over by the time he arrived. But just as he finished his chores, one of the Macintosh workers stopped by to deliver his order of bridles. The man lived on the same road as the Yost family. Matthew accepted a ride to the races without eating dinner. Food could wait, but opportunities like this didn’t come often.

Martha had chatted all the way back to the Hostetler farm, relieving his anxiety about tripping over his own tongue. She was not only the prettiest girl in the district but the most thoughtful as well. She’d praised her younger sister’s riding and then smiled at him while saying
gut nacht.
After the door closed behind her, he ran home through the bog with only the stars to light his path. If he had fallen into the pond, he doubted he would have noticed. His mind was too filled with dreams and plans and big ideas for the rest of his life.

He knew he was
in lieb
with Martha Hostetler without a shadow of a doubt. He figured something else out on the path between the two farms. When he contemplated explaining his work predicament to her, he was filled with revulsion. It was time to part company with the likes of Jeff Andrews. Money might buy acres of land from Mr. Lee, but it couldn’t buy self-respect…or the respect of the sweetest girl in Holmes County.

Breathless but exhilarated, Matthew reached his backyard just as his father walked out of the barn.
Daed’s
expression turned into a frown when he spotted him.

Matthew held up both palms. “Wait before you scold me, Pa. I did my chores before going to the Yosts’. And I’m back early enough to finish up anything else you might want done.”

Simon pulled on his beard, which seem to grow grayer with each passing day. “You missed supper, son.” He sounded more tired than angry.

“I took a bologna sandwich to eat on the drive over. I got a lift from an
Englischer
I work with.”

Simon shook his head and muttered “bologna sandwich” under his breath.

“Could I talk to you a minute?” Matthew asked, walking almost on Simon’s heels.

“All right. Let’s sit on the porch.” Simon walked as stiffly as Emma had right after they removed the casts from her legs after her buggy accident. He lowered himself to the swing while Matt took a green plastic chair.

“I wanted to tell you what’s going on at work, and then I’ll need your advice.”

Simon settled back and began to rock. “Go on.”

Matthew poured out his tale, beginning with the day Jeff Andrews noticed the colt limping up until the present, glad that the lamplight through the window didn’t illuminate his face. Throughout his explanation, his father didn’t interrupt with questions or comments.

Finally, after Matthew explained Mr. Mac’s lack of reaction, Simon asked, “What are you going to do, since your boss has turned a blind eye to his employee’s shenanigans?”

Matthew almost tipped over in his lawn chair. Normally his pa would bluster and deliver ultimatums right about now. “That’s the second thing we need to discuss.” He braced his hands on his knees and sucked in a deep breath. “What do you think about me starting my own training business for the Amish? I can help folk who have trouble with balky horses, train their yearlings, and help with new purchases.” He paused to collect his thoughts.

“Do you think you could find enough customers to make a living?” Simon leaned forward into the kerosene light. “Most people train their own horses to the buggy or to their farm equipment.”

“I don’t know; that’s why I want your opinion. Between you and the bishop, you would know if there would be a call for what I do. But I do know many folk try to train and aren’t very good at it. That’s why they’re always in the market for new horses. And there are new Amish breeders in the area, plus tourist farms and trail riding stables.”

“You’ve got a point. I hear plenty of complaints about horses not minding signals and commands, especially when the wives are driving. If they were well trained, it shouldn’t matter who held the reins.”

Matthew forged ahead with his second gift of grace that evening. “Emma’s husband was real happy with the job I did at his place. He said his gelding is a whole ’nother horse.” He hoped he didn’t sound prideful, but this was his only chance to make his case.

“Jah,
I heard the same from Emma.” Simon had retreated back into the shadows, his face unreadable.

“Jamie is the one who put the idea in my head. With everything that has gone on, it might be my best option…if you and the bishop agree.” He allowed half a minute to pass before delivering his final argument.
This must be what it’s like to be one of those lawyers Englischers hire to fight their battles.
“And I would be home more,” Matthew continued. “Folk could drop their animals off for me to train, and I’d only have to call on the big breeders and riding stables.”

Simon rose clumsily to his feet. “You’ve done enough convincing. I’ll talk with the bishop and let you know his opinion. I’m going up to bed. You coming?”

“In a little while, Pa. I want to sit and think some more. It’s a good night for it.” He thought Simon would chafe and send him upstairs like a child, but he was wrong.