Lavinia checked the answering machine in the phone shanty and shook her head.
“Please call me, Lavinia. We need to talk.”
Abe had left messages for her three days in a row now. Her hand hovered over the erase button and then, with a heavy sigh, she hit it. She sat there for a moment in the chair beside the machine. Ya, she heard a note of apology in his voice. But she shook her head. She had to resist it. Her feelings had been hurt, and she just didn’t want to talk to him for a while.
She reminded herself that she’d been raised to forgive. Every fiber of her being called out to her to do so.
Maybe she would. Allrecht, she probably would.
Just not today.
But maybe some time apart would do them gut.
Her mudder looked up from the stove as Lavinia walked into the kitchen. “Any messages?”
Lavinia nodded and handed her the piece of paper she’d scribbled a message on.
Rachel read it and nodded. “I think I’ll go call her. I was about to mash the potatoes, and the meatloaf is nearly done. Can you—”
“Go!” Lavinia said with a smile. “I can finish supper.”
She busied herself draining the potatoes and worked the potato masher through them in the pot, then added butter and a little milk. Her mudder had already started a pan of butter browning, so she stirred it and kept it warm to top the potatoes at the last minute when she put the bowl on the supper table.
Her dat walked into the kitchen and sniffed the air. “Mmm, meatloaf. Where’s your mudder?”
“Returning a phone call.”
The oven timer dinged. Lavinia turned it off, then made schur the oven and all burners were off as well. Using pot holders, she set the pan with the meatloaf on the top of the stove. When her dat approached with a fork to get a taste, she shooed him aside.
“Just checking that it’s done,” he said with a chuckle. “After all, I might not have put it in the oven at the right time.”
Lavinia plucked the sticky note from the kitchen counter. “I don’t see how you could mess up with the note Mamm left on it this morning in the refrigerator. ‘Put in oven at 350 degrees for one hour fifteen minutes,’” she read. But she took the fork he held and used it to break off a bite for him to try. “There,” she said, offering it to him. “Taste done to you, Chef?”
Actually, he was pretty gut about helping occasionally in the kitchen, unlike some of the men his age who tended to avoid the room unless it was to eat. While he mostly put a casserole or other meal that just needed baking in the oven so they didn’t have to wait until Lavinia or her mudder got home from work, it often helped them eat supper on time.
“Tastes gut,” he said, and walked over to sit at the table.
Her mudder returned from making her phone call. “Sorry, that took a little longer than I thought it would.”
“Sit down. I have everything ready.” She handed her mudder the basket of sliced bread to put on the table.
Rachel sat as Lavinia sliced the meatloaf and arranged it on a platter. She piled the potatoes in a big bowl and drizzled the browned butter on top before setting it and the platter on the table. A bowl of chow chow was a nice cold addition with its tart, vinegary chopped vegetables.
As she retrieved the pitcher of cold tea from the refrigerator, Lavinia turned and saw her eldres chatting quietly, their attention totally on each other. There was such warmth in her dat’s eyes as he listened to her mudder. She wondered if they ever minded that their youngest chick hadn’t left the nest yet.
Her mudder glanced up. “Lavinia? Are you allrecht?”
She nodded and poured tea into glasses. “Just thinking you two must look forward to a time when you’ll have the house to yourselves.”
Her mudder stared at her. “What a thing to say. Your dat and I love having you. Used to be pretty noisy at suppertime. But sometimes I miss my two dochders gathered around this table.”
Lavinia sat and felt especially grateful for the meal with them.
They were just finishing up when there was a knock on the front door.
Rachel rose to see who it was, and Lavinia stared with disbelief as she welcomed Ben into the kitchen.
“Sorry to interrupt your supper,” he said. He looked uncomfortable as he stood there holding his straw hat in his hands.
“We just finished,” her dat said. He waved a hand at an empty chair. “Sit.”
“Have you eaten?” Rachel asked.
“Ya, danki.” He looked at Lavinia. “Hello.”
“Hi.”
“Amos, let’s take our tea and go watch the sunset on the front porch.” Rachel rose and stood next to his chair.
“Huh?” he said, and then understanding dawned as she gave him a look.
They took their glasses and walked out of the room.
Lavinia watched them leave, then just sat there. It was so quiet she could hear the kitchen clock ticking away the minutes.
“Can I get you something to drink?” she asked politely.
He shook his head. “Nee. I wanted to come by and apologize for my behavior the night I drove you home,” he said without meeting her eyes.
Lavinia wondered why she had to have the misfortune of two men who behaved badly in her life.
“That wasn’t very nice of you to do that,” she said.
“I know.”
She sighed. “I’m very upset with you.”
“I know I behaved badly, but it won’t happen again. Please say you’ll give me another chance. Let me take you to lunch.”
“Nee,” she said firmly. Even if she never went out with Abe again, she didn’t want to be with Ben.
He sighed. “It’s not like you not to forgive me.”
Lavinia gave him a level look. “This is not the same as the time you pulled my braids in schul when we were ten.”
He gave her a winning smile. “You forgave me then.”
Lavinia sat there and told herself she was supposed to forgive him. Her church taught her to forgive. She just didn’t think today was the day she was going to be able to forgive either Ben or Abe.
* * *
Abe settled himself in the buggy and took a deep breath as he used a bandanna to wipe his forehead.
“You schur you don’t want me to go with you?” Wayne asked.
He shook his head. It wouldn’t do to take another man with him when he was going to apologize to Lavinia. Wayne had looked curious when he’d asked for his assistance getting the buggy, helping him inside, and loading the wheelchair. But he hadn’t asked Abe where he was going. Abe suspected Wayne had figured it out for himself.
“Allrecht. You call if you need me,” Wayne told him as he loaded the wheelchair into the back of the buggy.
“I will. Danki.”
It felt gut to be the driver and not a passenger. To be going for a drive to see Lavinia and not a doctor. To be outdoors and feel the breeze and see how the crops were doing and wave as he passed someone he knew.
He hadn’t worked out what he was going to do yet when he got to Lavinia’s house if no one was in the yard to get her for him. It was the first impulsive thing he’d done in…he couldn’t remember. But he’d find a way to see her.
As he neared her house, he saw a buggy in her drive. It wasn’t the buggy Lavinia’s familye owned. He frowned, trying to identify it.
And then the front door opened and he watched Ben walk out of the house. Lavinia stood there in the doorway watching him walk to his buggy.
Abe called to Star and urged her to move faster so that Lavinia wouldn’t see him passing the house. What was Ben doing here? Had Lavinia already decided to move on? Was that why she wasn’t returning his calls or accepting his apology?
Discouraged, Abe slumped in his seat and debated going home. He sighed. Home. Another evening to sit by himself on the front porch or lie on his bed in his room or talk with his eldres, who surely must be sick of him by now. What did you do when you didn’t know what to do? If God had a plan for him, as he’d been told all his life, he schur wished He’d show him what it was.
Reluctant to go straight back home, he called to his horse to slow and let him meander his way along the road. They passed the farms of church members and friends of his. The community was a beehive of activity, as it was every day but Sunday. Farmers worked their fields. Women weeded and watered their kitchen gardens. Kinner who weren’t old enough for schul played in their yards.
Abe couldn’t help noticing how prosperous and well kept the farmhouses looked, and felt guilty that his own needed a fresh coat of paint and some work on the roof. So much of his time, energy, and money had gone into keeping his dairy farm afloat the past few years. And with his injuries, the work would wait even longer, since Wayne was taking on so many of his chores.
He sighed and told himself that he needed to focus on something positive. The day was warm and sunny, and he was out and about by himself for the first time in weeks. He’d need Wayne’s help getting out of the buggy when he got home, but for now he had an independence he’d lost since he fell off the roof, and that was something.
The bishop looked up from his work in his front yard and hailed him as he approached. Abe pulled over, and the older man walked over to lean in the window and grin at him.
“You’re looking well there, young Abraham,” he said. “Your dat brought the medical bills by. He said you were worried about them. You should know better. The community has always pulled together on such things.”
Abe ducked his head. “I know. Just wish it hadn’t happened.”
“We don’t know why such things do,” Leroy said. “I know it seems like it’s all bad right now. You can’t do for yourself. But maybe it’s time to let others help you and know that it’s all part of a plan we don’t always understand at the time.”
“I guess.” Abe met his gaze.
“So you’re out for a drive by yourself. How’s that feel?”
“Pretty gut. When I get home, Wayne will have to help me out, but for now it’s just Star here and me.”
Leroy stepped back. “I’ll let you get back to it.” He tilted his head and studied Abe. “Maybe you should stop by a certain maedel’s house and see if she’d like to go along for a drive.”
Abe felt his spirits fall. But he wasn’t about to share with Leroy what he’d just seen. “Maybe.”
“Giddyap,” he called to Star, and he waved to the bishop as they got rolling.
They passed more farmhouses, more fields. Abe felt himself relaxing. Star didn’t need much guidance, so he let the reins rest in his lap.
Naomi Zook was taking down the sign in front of her house and glanced out at the road as he approached. She smiled and waved at him.
Abe pulled over and stopped. “Done for the day?”
She nodded. “Did real gut. Sold all the vegetables we had for sale.” Then she grinned. “Well, had a few zucchinis left. There’s always too much zucchini.”
“Maybe your mudder will sneak it into cake or muffins the way mine does.”
Naomi laughed. “She’s already been doing that. So, are you out for a drive?”
“Ya. Can’t do a whole lot else right now.”
“You will soon,” she said kindly. “Nothing better than a drive on a day like this.”
He felt his spirits lifting in response to her friendly, open face. Naomi had always been friendly to him when they attended schul and church.
“Would you like to join me?” he found himself asking impulsively.
“I’d love to. Just let me tell Mamm where I’m going.”
She rushed off, and when she returned, she climbed into the buggy and turned to him with a smile. “So, did you have someplace special you were going, or are you just moseying along?”
“Moseying?”
Naomi laughed. “That’s what Daniel and I call it when we don’t have any particular destination in mind.”
“I guess we’ll just mosey then.” He checked for traffic and decided to make a U-turn and go back the way he’d come. “How’s Daniel doing?”
“Gut.” She took in a deep breath and let it out in a satisfied sigh. “Such a nice time of year. It’s not too hot just yet.”
She chattered as they rode along—most of it gossip—and now he remembered how much she’d always liked that sort of thing. He listened with half an ear and then realized that he was coming up on Lavinia’s house. She was standing out in front by her mailbox chatting with a neighbor, and as Abe passed, she glanced over and their gazes locked. Then she looked over and saw Naomi, and she stiffened.
The buggy rolled on and he frowned. He suddenly realized she might misunderstand seeing Naomi in the buggy. Lavinia had been his whole world after he was injured, and he didn’t want that to change.
“Are you allrecht?”
“Hmm?”
“Is everything allrecht? You’re being awfully quiet.”
Her pretty face was marred with a frown as she stared at him. “I know I talk a lot. Mamm says a maedel shouldn’t talk so much. That she should get the man to talk about himself. So, Abe, talk to me. Tell me what you’ve been doing since you fell off the roof.” She clapped a hand over her mouth and looked repentant. “Sorry, that didn’t sound nice.”
“It’s allrecht. I did fall off the roof.” He told her about his physical therapy sessions and how he hoped he’d be back to normal soon. She plied him with questions as they rode along, and he realized they were all about the farm and how well it was doing.
“Daniel’s taking over the farm, you know,” she said.
Daniel had been a year ahead of them in schul, and the two had not made a secret of their attraction to each other.
“So I’m looking forward to after harvest,” she said, sounding happier than he’d ever heard her. “Like I’m schur you and Lavinia are, right?”
Abe didn’t know what to say. Even if things were going well with Lavinia, he wouldn’t have felt right telling anyone else their plans.
“It’s allrecht, you don’t have to answer,” she told him, and she laughed. “I had a lovely time,” she told him when he pulled up in front of her house. “I hope to see you out more soon.”
“I’m not getting out much right now,” he admitted, holding up his arm in a cast. “Lots of doctor appointments, physical therapy. And trying to do more around the farm as I heal.”
She nodded. “You take care and say hello to Lavinia for me. Bye!”
He drove home, taking the long way so he wouldn’t pass by Lavinia’s house again.