Lavinia kept a sharp eye out for Abe when the church service ended. She didn’t think he’d try to leave without talking to her, but his behavior hadn’t been typical the last day either.
Since her familye was hosting service today, she couldn’t go rushing over to talk to him. But it didn’t appear that Waneta and Faron, or anyone else for that matter, was leaving right away. Sunday service wasn’t just a time to seek religious comfort and inspiration but also a time for fellowship, especially in such a busy season as harvest.
So she went into the kitchen to see if there was anything special her mudder wanted her to do before she found Abe and made him talk to her.
She didn’t even have to ask. Rachel looked up from filling a carafe of coffee and smiled. “Take this out and start filling cups, will you?”
Lavinia nodded and took the carafe. It was the perfect way to approach Abe without looking like she was singling him out.
Abe’s mudder was sitting at a table the men of the church had set up after moving the benches that had been placed in the home. “Haven’t seen you since before the storm,” Waneta said. “How did your farm fare?”
“We had little damage compared to other farms. How did yours?”
Waneta looked surprised. “Abe didn’t tell you?”
She shook her head.
“Interesting.” Waneta shot a glance over at Abe, who was talking with a man on the other side of the room. She looked back at Lavinia. “It was bad. Really bad. We didn’t have any damage to the house, but a lot of the crop we grow to feed the cows was ruined. Abe is upset, because it means a lot more expense he wasn’t expecting.”
Lavinia had always felt that the expression about someone’s heart skipping a beat didn’t make sense. How could a heart skip a beat? It just kept beating or it stopped, didn’t it? Until now. “Oh no.”
Waneta nodded. “He’s been through so much lately. I know he’ll bounce back, but it’ll take a few days. And your loving support.”
She shook her head. “He obviously didn’t want my support, or he’d have called me.”
“Sounds like the two of you need to talk.”
“We will,” Lavinia said firmly. “We will.”
“My money’s on you,” Waneta told her. “You’re going to be gut for Abe. You have been gut for him.”
Lavinia felt tears rush into her eyes. “Danki, Waneta. That means a lot to me.” Now she felt mixed emotions that she and Abe hadn’t shared with Waneta and Faron that they were engaged. Well, who knew what her relationship with Abe was now?
She walked around and served coffee and bided her time. Finally, church members began saying their goodbyes.
When she saw Abe get up and stroll to the front door, she followed him. When he went outside, she followed him and found him standing on the front porch, staring out at the line of buggies leaving the property.
“I heard about the storm damage,” she said quietly. “I’m so sorry.”
“Danki.” He didn’t turn.
“Why didn’t you call me and tell me about it?”
“Didn’t want to dump more bad news on your shoulders,” he said as he shrugged. “You’ve had enough with me.”
He turned and started to say something but stopped when the front door opened. Several church members came out and walked down the steps.
“It’s not dumping, Abe. I love you, and I want to be there for you with the gut and the bad.”
Looking frustrated, he ran a hand through his hair, disordering it. “You have to see we can’t get married now. We have to wait and get married next year.”
“We’ve already talked about that. I don’t want to do that.”
“I could lose the farm,” he blurted out.
“Then we’ll find someplace else to live. I don’t care if it’s a one-room apartment, Abe.”
“I do. A man should provide for his fraa.”
“We might be Old Order, Abe, but that’s just outdated, and we’ve discussed it before.” She spun on her heel and turned away from him. She took a deep breath and then faced him. “I earn a salary from the shop and will contribute to the family expenses, just like my mudder does.”
But he stood there staring at her, looking stubborn.
“And you’ve forgotten something, Abraham Stoltzfus. God provides, not man!” Then, drained from the emotion he’d stirred up in her, she shook her head. “But have it your way, Abe. Feel sorry for yourself. Don’t marry me. But don’t expect me to sit around and wait until you think it’s a gut time to get married.”
She stormed off, going into the house and letting the door slam behind her—and nearly ran into Waneta and Faron. “Oh, sorry!” she said.
“I’m guessing your talk didn’t go so well,” Waneta said, taking her arm and drawing her aside.
“The man has such a hard head,” she fumed.
Waneta nodded. “Got it from his dat.”
“Hey!” Faron said, looking aggrieved.
She merely glanced at him. “You know you have a hard head. But I love you anyway.”
He looked a little mollified.
“I’m really sorry, my dear,” Waneta told her. “Give Abe a little time and he’ll come around.”
“That’s what he wants. Time,” Lavinia muttered. “Well, I’m not waiting another year to get married.”
“Married? You were going to marry after harvest?”
Lavinia sighed. “Ya. I’m sorry. We decided to wait a bit before telling you and Faron.”
Waneta’s eyes shone. “I’m so happy! Faron, did you hear what she said?”
He grinned. “Ya. That’s gut news, Lavinia. You know Waneta and I love you like a dochder.”
“Danki, Faron. But he wants to wait until next year.”
“What he wants and what he gets are two different things,” Waneta said with a smile, and she hugged Lavinia.
“I’ll have a talk with the bu,” Faron told them.
“Two hard heads,” Waneta commented as she watched him walk out the door. “We’re going to go home now. I think you’ll be hearing from Abe soon, dear.”
She walked out the door, leaving Lavinia staring after her.
* * *
Abe heard the door open and turned to see his dat walk out.
“Just saw Lavinia,” he began. “What’s this nonsense about putting off getting married?”
“It’s not nonsense. How can we marry when things are such a mess?”
Faron shook his head. “If I’d thought that way, we wouldn’t be talking now. You wouldn’t be here.”
“I know you said the farm’s had its ups and downs—”
“They weren’t all after your mudder and I got married,” Faron interrupted. “The farm wasn’t doing all that well when the two of us got hitched. But we didn’t let that stop us.”
The door opened again and his mudder stepped out. She took one look at Abe, shook her head, and made a tsking sound.
“I’ll go get the buggy,” Faron said, and headed down the porch steps. “We’ll talk on the way home.”
Abe watched his dat move faster than he’d seen him move in a long time. He looked at his mudder and saw what his dat had: there was a lecture coming.
“I’m walking home,” he told her.
She folded her arms across her chest. “I’ll see you there.”
He sighed. Was there no escape? He started down the walkway and headed down the road, taking his time. A few minutes later, a buggy pulled up beside him.
“Sohn, want a lift?” Faron called out.
Abe heard the laughter in his dat’s voice and frowned. “Nee, danki.”
“Faron, let him walk off some of that stubbornness,” he heard his mudder say, and then the buggy began rolling on down the road.
Great. So his eldres were on Lavinia’s side.
He’d walked another couple blocks when he heard another buggy approaching. He looked over and saw Wayne and Katie Ann.
“I thought you were riding home with your eldres,” Wayne said.
“So did I,” he muttered. “I decided I’d get some exercise.”
“We can give you a ride if you’ve changed your mind,” Katie Ann told him. “It’s awfully warm today to be walking.”
“Feels gut,” he lied.
The last thing he wanted was to be riding in a buggy with two lovebirds. Then he chided himself for such an ungenerous thought.
“You two have a gut afternoon,” he said, and summoned a smile.
“You too,” Katie Ann said.
The buggy rolled away.
Abe wasn’t as tired as he was the last time he walked over to Lavinia’s, but he was pulling out a handkerchief and wiping sweat from his face by the time he climbed the stairs to his house. When he walked inside, he could hear his eldres talking in the kitchen. He stopped and thought about going into his bedroom, but he smelled something delicious wafting from the kitchen. His stomach chose that moment to growl and remind him he was hungerich.
Still, he hesitated. He could go into his room and wait until his eldres ate their meal and then forage for leftovers when they’d gone into the dawdi haus for their usual Sunday afternoon nap.
His stomach growled again. Knowing his mudder, he was just putting off the inevitable. And he was a grown man. He could tell her it was his business what he did or didn’t do with his life. Politely, of course. Otherwise he’d get his ear cuffed like when he’d been a teenager and smarted off to her.
With a sigh, he walked into the kitchen and greeted them. He hung his hat on a peg near the door, washed his hands, and sat at the table.
“Took you long enough to get here,” his mudder said tartly. “Your dat was ready to eat your share.”
Abe didn’t doubt that for a minute. For a skinny guy, he schur could pack away food the way he’d always claimed Abe could do as a teenager.
“About Lavinia,” his mudder began.
“Waneta, let the bu eat,” his dat said. “Remember, you’re the one who’s always saying no arguing at the table.”
“I’m not arguing. I’m discussing.”
“Don’t want to upset the digestion,” Faron said calmly.
Waneta subsided.
Abe ate as quickly as he could and escaped into his room. Sundays were supposed to be a day of rest, but cows still had to be milked and fed and watered. But he had some time before Wayne would be back to do most of the work. Seemed to be a gut time for a nap. But he tossed and turned, and his dreams were filled with happier times with Lavinia. He woke restless and confused. The fan barely stirred the warm air in the room.
Giving up, he left the room and went into the kitchen for something cold to drink. Then he walked outside. Wayne was walking to the cow barn, so he joined him. They moved the cows into position and hooked up milking equipment. But Wayne still had to do more of the work, with Abe’s arm being in a cast.
It took only a few minutes to realize that Wayne was in an unusually gut mood.
“You’re whistling,” said Abe.
Wayne looked at him and grinned. “Ya. Had a gut time having lunch and a drive with Katie Ann. How about you?”
“How about me what?”
“Did you spend time with Lavinia?”
“A little,” he said, not elaborating.
Wayne nodded as he worked. “We’ve got us two wunderbaar maedels.”
Abe grunted and Wayne resumed whistling. Then he stopped and looked at Abe. “I’m thinking of asking Katie Ann to marry me.”
Abe stared at him. “Really?”
“Ya. I don’t have enough saved up for our own place yet, so we’ll be living with her eldres for a while.” He shrugged. “But that’s fine with me.”
“Have you talked about that with her?”
“Schur. She’s fine with it, too. Why wouldn’t she be? Lots of couples do it. Not everyone inherits, and land’s expensive in Lancaster County these days.” Wayne spoke to one of the cows and then turned to him. “Katie Ann’s bakery is doing well, so she’ll be able to help contribute to buying our own place when we’re married.”
Abe remembered what Lavinia had said about how she didn’t want to wait. How she called him old-fashioned and said she had a job and would be contributing to household expenses.
Wayne began disconnecting the milking equipment, and Abe led the cows back out to pasture. Shadows lengthened on the property as Wayne returned.
“Gonna head home unless you need something else.”
“Nee. Danki for the help. And listen, I’m glad to hear about you and Katie Ann.”
Wayne grinned and nodded. “Just gotta figure out the right time and place to ask her.”
As Wayne walked away whistling, Abe found himself thinking about how Lavinia had asked him to marry her. And what she’d said about how she wanted to be with him whether things were gut or bad. Was he being old-fashioned and stubborn to want things to be gut when they got married?
He sighed and shook his head. He didn’t know what to do.