Catherine chose an empty row in the middle of the bus and took the seat next to the window, nervous excitement feeding her veins. She placed her handbag on the floor at her feet, then pressed the wrinkles out of her dress with jittery hands.
Elijah shoved his duffel bag into an overhead compartment, then sat beside her. “You nervous?”
“A little. I’ve never been on a bus before.”
“Trust me, sitting for hours on end will get old quick.”
At least the cushioned seat was comfy, unlike the hard buggy bench. “It all seems unreal.” Leaving town, sitting next to Elijah. “Did you tell anyone you were going to Florida?”
He shook his head. “You worried about Zach finding out?”
Zach had his chance to stop her before she boarded the bus.
The overhead speaker crackled to life. “On behalf of Budget Bus, I’d like to welcome you aboard,” the driver mumbled into the handheld microphone. “I need to get a few things out of the way before we begin our journey. In case of emergency there is an exit located to my right and at the back of the bus.” The man pointed to the designated areas.
A young child fussed in the seat ahead of them, making it hard for Catherine to concentrate on the emergency evacuation instructions given by the driver.
Fear must have shown in Catherine’s expression, because Elijah reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze.
“I won’t let anything happen to you.” He smiled. “I promise.”
Much as the warmth comforted her, she quickly slipped her hand out from his. “We both know you’re nett gut at keeping promises.”
His expression sobered. “Are you incapable of extending even a little mercy?”
“The driver’s still speaking.” She turned her attention to the short, pudgy man speaking over the loudspeaker but didn’t hear a word he said.
Guilt niggled at her conscience as the words of the Lord’s Prayer came to mind. “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us . . .” She couldn’t hold his empty promise to her against him forever. Besides, he only meant to try to ease her fears about traveling by taking her hand. His gesture was sweet, protective, exactly how she remembered him being years ago. Lord, help me see him through Your eyes.
The driver concluded his speech, then took his place behind the wheel. As the gears ground and the bus moved forward, she watched the terminal fade in the distance. A few miles down the road, she settled back in the seat. This would be a very long, very agonizing trip if she and Elijah didn’t clear the air once and for all.
She drew in a deep breath, let it out slowly, then turned to him. “Can we talk?”
“Sure.”
The wide smile he flashed set her back a little. “I . . . I shouldn’t have said what I did. You were just trying to be nice when you promised not to let anything happen to me, and that means a lot, because truthfully I am a bit frightened. I’d like to call a truce over our . . . past issues.” She extended her hand, and he accepted it with a firm grasp that reached her core and instilled a measure of trust and safety.
“Truce it is.”
He held her hand longer than necessary to seal their agreement, but she forgot about pulling her hand free when his mesmerizing blue-gray eyes caught and captured hers.
“I hope over these next few days you’ll see me differently,” he said.
See him through God’s eyes. That had been her prayer. Catherine’s throat dried. His gaze was too familiar, and so were the nervous tremors that rippled through her unchecked. Get ahold of yourself.
“Danki.” She let go of his hand. “I feel much . . . safer nau. Nett as . . . afraid.” Oh, Lord, I’m sputtering like a fool. Elijah’s always had this effect on me.
“I’m glad you feel safe.” He sat up straighter and stretched his neck to look around the bus. “I’ve read that buses tend to draw a lot of transient people. It wouldn’t surprise me if some of these passengers have criminal records.”
Catherine leaned forward and looked up and down the aisles— until a man with a straggly beard and a bandanna wrapped around his forehead eyed her back. She slumped in her chair, scooting closer to the window.
Elijah relaxed, stretching out his legs under the seat ahead of him. “I can’t believe Zach didn’t insist on escorting you to Florida. This isn’t the place for a woman traveling alone.”
She ignored his edgy tone. “Zach has a new client. A furniture store owner wants to sell his grandfather clocks, and apparently the man owns more than one store, so it should mean increased revenue for his business.” She recited almost verbatim the information Zach had told her.
“Hmm . . .”
“What do you mean by ‘hmm’?”
He rolled his eyes and shrugged. “Seems odd to me that he would value money above his future fraa’s—your—safety.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You’re implying he’s greedy.”
“Either that or his priorities are skewed. But that’s for you to decide. You’re the one who wants to marry him.” He slouched down, crossed his arms over his chest, and closed his eyes. “I’m going to take a nap. Wake me when we make our first stop.”
“Okay.” She leaned her forehead against the cold window and watched the snowy landscape pass in a blur while replaying the conversation she had with Zach on the sleigh ride. “We can get married.” Even today his choice of words made her cringe. She had waited so long for him to ask, and when he did, it was so matter-of-fact that it left her more confused than ever.
His response replayed in her mind. “First I rejected you, and nau you’re rejecting me? This was your idea. You’re the one who was desperate to get married. If you want to marry me, then I forbid you to go to Florida.”
A sour taste rose to the back of her throat the more she rehashed the snippets of their conversation. Walking away from a marriage proposal—the possibility of never having a husband, a home, and a family of her own—was the hardest and yet easiest decision she’d ever made. Zach was the wrong man for her, or maybe she was just the wrong woman for him. Either way, God had given her wisdom to see the truth and the courage to walk away.
Catherine reached down, picked up her tote bag, and removed a ball of yarn and crochet hook. Living in Florida, she wouldn’t need scarves and mittens, but she could get started on next year’s Christmas gifts for her two nieces and nephew. Hopefully one day Julie would forgive her for not coming back to Posen.
Elijah opened his eyes as the bus slowed to turn off the road. The sign over the worn building read Buck’s Truck Stop and Restaurant. Home-Cooked Food. He had closed his eyes to avoid saying more than he should about Zach and ended up falling asleep. Now his neck was kinked. He rolled his right shoulder, then his left.
Catherine stopped working on her yarn project. “Are you okay?”
“Just stiff.” He repeated the stretches without much relief. “I’ll be better once I get outside to walk around.”
“I’d better put this away if we’re getting off the bus.” She picked up her tote bag and tucked her handiwork inside.
The overhead speaker squawked. “This route will resume in twenty minutes, folks. Please have your tickets with you for reboarding. We will leave at ten o’clock.”
Someone’s purse bumped Elijah’s shoulder as people stood in the aisle waiting for the driver to open the door. He leaned toward Catherine. “We’d better wait until the crowd clears so we don’t get trampled in the stampede.”
She followed a few passengers with her gaze, then turned her attention back to him. “People do seem eager to get off the bus.”
“It’ll clear in another minute or two.” He settled his shoulders against the seat and yawned.
“Do you want to stay on the bus and sleep longer?”
“Nay, I wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep.” Elijah wasn’t about to let her get off the bus alone at a truck stop. Places like this weren’t safe for someone as trusting and naive as Catherine.
“How late did the get-together last for your grandmother?”
“It ended sometime around nine, but I stayed up late talking with mei relatives. Mei parents want mei grandmother to move in with them in Metz. Their place is only a few miles away, but Mammi is resistant. It seems the older she gets, the more stubborn in her ways she becomes.” He shrugged. “It’ll be a challenge to get her to change her mind. According to her, she took her first breath in that haus and plans to take her last breath in it as well.”
“That does make for a difficult decision. On one hand it makes sense why your mammi is attached to her home, and on the other I’m surprised she’s lived alone for this many years.”
“Things were working out fine with mei aenti watching over her, but Aenti Agnes is in her late seventies, and it’s getting more difficult for her to cross the pasture dividing their hauses. Besides, she has her hands full since Onkle Silas had a stroke. As it is, the neighbors do most of the grocery shopping and errands and make the necessary arrangements with a nearby Englisch driver to take them to their doctors’ appointments.” He stood when the aisle cleared, and motioned for Catherine to go in front of him.
Once outside, Catherine resumed their conversation as they followed the other travelers meandering toward the building. “Maybe you should consider moving back to Posen. Your mammi’s farm is large enough to train horses like you always said you wanted to do.”
He opened the door. “Maybe I will.”