Cleon pulled into the Hostettlers’ place, halted his buggy in front of the hitching rail, and climbed down. As soon as he had his horse put in the corral, he skirted around to the back of the buggy and lifted his bicycle out. Today was another beautiful Saturday with clear blue skies and plenty of sunshine, despite the drop in the temperature that typically came with fall weather. Even though he knew Grace had worked until three this afternoon, Cleon figured they had time to go for a bicycle ride before the sun went down.
He parked his bike near the barn and hurried around the house to the back door, where he found Judith sitting on the porch with a pan of plump, golden apples in her lap and a paring knife in one hand.
“It’s good to see you, Cleon,” she said, smiling up at him as he stepped onto the porch.
“Good to see you, too.” He glanced toward the door. “I’m here to take Grace for a bike ride. Do you know if she’s ready to go?”
“She’s upstairs changing her clothes, so if you’d like to have a seat and keep me company for a while, that’d be real nice.” Judith nodded toward the wicker chair that sat beside her own.
“I believe I will.” Cleon liked the way Grace’s mother always took time out to visit with him. Not like his mother, who stayed busy from sunup to sunset. But then, Judith didn’t have a home-based business where she had to feed several groups of hungry, curious tourists several times a week. Mom also had her candle-making business, and even though she had the help of Cleon’s sister with both jobs, she had very little time to sit and visit.
“It’s a fine day for a bike ride, jah?”
Cleon nodded. “What are your other two daughters up to this afternoon?”
“Martha’s out in the barn hovering over her dogs, like usual, and Ruth went for a walk with her friend Sadie.” Judith’s lips puckered as she lifted her knife and began to peel one of the apples in the bowl. “Ruth was supposed to go somewhere with Luke this afternoon, but Roman asked him to work today, so she made other plans, which might be a good thing in the long run.”
“What makes you say that?”
She shrugged. “If Luke’s giving Roman a hard time in the shop, then he might not be the best choice as a suitor for Ruth. She tends to be quite sensitive, and I’m not sure a headstrong man like Luke is what she needs.”
The back door swung open, and Grace stepped onto the porch, saving Cleon from having to respond.
“Ready to go?” he asked, feeling a sense of excitement at the prospect of being alone with her again.
Grace nodded and smiled. “Just don’t expect me to go speeding down the road. My legs are tired from work, and I’m not sure how far I can go without my strength giving out.”
“Would you rather we not ride our bikes? We could go for a buggy ride instead.”
She shook her head. “That’s okay. I need the fresh air, and the exercise my legs will be getting is different from walking or standing.”
“Okay then.” Cleon smiled at Judith. “I’ll have your daughter home in plenty of time for supper.”
Judith’s eyes twinkled. “You’re welcome to stay and eat with us if you like.”
“I might take you up on that offer.” Cleon lifted his hand in a wave and hurried down the steps after Grace.
“I can’t believe how well this weather is holding out,” Ruth commented as she and Sadie turned off the main road and headed onto a wide path into the woods not far from the pond where they’d had a picnic with Luke and Toby the week before.
“Winter will be here soon, which is why we need to do some fun things before it gets too cold.”
Ruth poked Sadie gently on the arm. “There are plenty of fun things you can do in the cold, you know.”
“Right. Sledding, ice skating, and snowball fights.” Sadie swung her arms as they clipped along at a steady pace. “Too bad Toby and Luke weren’t free to join us today.”
“My daed has a backload of work right now, and he needed Luke’s help today.”
Sadie nodded. “Since tomorrow’s church service will be held at Toby’s house, he had to help his brothers get the benches they’ll need.”
Ruth stopped walking and pointed to a shiny black pickup parked behind a clump of bushes. “I wonder whose truck that is. I don’t recall seeing it before, do you?”
Sadie shook her head. “No, but the last time we came to the pond, we never walked back into the woods.”
“You’re right.” Ruth squinted as they moved closer to the truck. “It’s empty, and I don’t see anyone else around but us.”
“Maybe it’s abandoned.”
“Or maybe someone hid it here.”
“Why would anybody do that?”
Ruth’s hands went straight to her hips. “Some fellows going through rumschpringe have vehicles they don’t want anyone to know about. You ought to know that.”
Sadie’s blue eyes widened. “You think some Amish fellow owns this truck?”
“Maybe so.”
“It’s not a new vehicle, but it’s clean and polished.” Sadie touched the chrome mirror. “I’d say whoever owns it feels a bit of hochmut and takes pleasure in keeping it nice.”
“If it belongs to an Amish fellow, then he’s not supposed to feel pride.” Ruth pursed her lips. “I hope he doesn’t like having a truck so much that he decides to leave the faith so he can continue to drive it.”
Grace’s legs were about to give out, and she was on the verge of asking Cleon to stop so she could rest when he pulled his bike to the side of the road and signaled her to do the same. “This hilly road is starting to get to me, and I’m feeling kind of tired,” he huffed. “Why don’t we push our bicycles awhile? That will make it easier for us to talk, too.”
She smiled in appreciation and climbed off her bike.
“I’m glad you were free to spend the afternoon with me, since this is the last chance we’ll have to be together for a week or so.”
“Oh, why’s that?”
“Didn’t I tell you that my family and I are leaving for Rexford, Montana, on Monday morning to attend my cousin Sarah’s wedding? We’ll be gone a week.”
She shook her head. “I don’t remember you saying that.” Of course, lately, she hadn’t paid much attention to anything that had been said to her. All she could think about was Gary showing up in town, and whether she should tell Cleon the truth about her past. After another restless night of tossing, turning, and mulling things over, Grace had concluded that it might be best if she revealed her secret now before Gary had a chance to say anything. If Cleon was as understanding as she hoped he would be, then maybe it would give her the courage she needed to tell her folks about it, too.
They walked in silence for a while as Grace tried to decide the best way to broach the subject of her rumschpringe days. Maybe it would be good if she led into it slowly, to see how he felt about things.
“Let’s get off the main road and head into the woods,” Cleon said, nodding toward a path on the right. “I think this leads to the pond near the Wengerds’ place.”
Grace pushed her bike off the shoulder of the road and onto the wide dirt path, deciding to wait until she was walking by his side before she spoke again. “Uh … Cleon, there’s something I want to talk to you about.”
His eyebrows drew together. “You look so serious. Is there something wrong? Are you having second thoughts about marrying me?”
Grace moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue and halted her bike. This was going to be harder than she thought. “I’m not having second thoughts, but I think you should know that—”
“Hey, what are you two doing out here?”
Grace whirled around at the sound of her sister’s voice. “Ruth, you scared me!”
Sadie chuckled. “I can tell she did. Your eyes are huge as buggy wheels.”
“I—I just didn’t expect to see either of you here,” Grace stammered. It was a good thing she hadn’t revealed her secret to Cleon. What if Ruth and Sadie had overheard their conversation? The last thing she needed was Sadie knowing anything about her personal business, because she tended to be a blabbermouth.
“Sadie and I cut through the woods and spent some time at the pond,” Ruth said. “It’s beautiful there this time of the year.” She nodded at Grace. “Is that where you two are headed?”
“Jah,” Cleon spoke up. “We were riding on the shoulder of the road but decided to walk our bikes awhile.”
Ruth glanced at the diminishing sun filtering through the trees. “It’ll be getting dark soon, so I wouldn’t stay too long if I were you.”
“She’s got a point,” Cleon said. “Maybe we should head back before we lose our daylight.”
“Okay.” Grace felt a mixture of relief and disappointment. If they headed for home now, and Ruth and Sadie tagged along, she wouldn’t be able to tell Cleon what was on her mind. Still, the girls coming along when they did might have been a good thing, especially if Cleon’s response had been negative. Maybe it would be best to wait and tell Cleon sometime after he got back from Montana. That would give her another whole week to think it through and decide the best way to word things to him.