Chapter Ten
Sadie felt wonderfully carefree as Frederick helped her step into his buggy. Sure enough, as she glanced around, she caught sight of a wicker basket and a red plaid blanket sitting on the back seat. Clearly Frederick had planned this excursion, and that thought alone made her feel warm inside, despite the cool weather.
He climbed into the other side of the buggy and sat beside her. “Ready?” he asked as he released the foot brake and reached for the reins.
Nodding, Sadie leaned back against the seat, feeling the buggy jolt forward. The wheels crunched over the gravel driveway, and when they turned onto the road, there was a creaking noise as one of them hit the rub iron, the piece of metal on the side of the buggy that helped keep it from overturning.
“So . . .” Frederick started. but didn’t finish the sentence.
“So?”
“So where is a nice place to go sit a spell? As you know, I’m not very familiar with Echo Creek. This part, anyway.”
Sadie pursed her lips and thought about it for a bit. The only place she could think of was the swimming hole on the edge of town. The creek that fed it was the same one that meandered behind town and led to her own father’s farm.
She pointed toward a narrow dirt lane. “Turn there if you can, but be careful. I’ve never seen a buggy travel on the track before.”
Frederick leaned forward as if assessing the lane. “Looks wide enough. Is there a turnaround?”
“Ja, near the swimming hole.”
“Perfect,” he said cheerfully. “Once again, we shall head toward the water.”
The buggy rolled down the lane and, except for a few small rocks in the path, it barely jostled at all. Upon reaching the clearing, Frederick pulled back on the reins and pressed the foot brake.
Without being asked, Sadie climbed out and held the horse by the bridle until Frederick could secure the tether to the low branch of a nearby tree.
“There!” He wiped his hands on his pants as he finished up. “This is a wunderbarr spot, Sadie Whitaker. Do you come here often?”
“Nee, not often. It’s too far from my own haus. But sometimes Belle, Ella, and I come here in the summer when we visit Ella. Her haus is just on the other side of the road.”
“It does get rather busy during the autumn on a farm, doesn’t it?” He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked around. His eyes fell upon a large flat rock. “Ah, there’s the perfect spot. Let me fetch the basket and blanket.”
She watched as he jogged back to the buggy, half of his body disappearing through the open door. When he reemerged, he had the blanket over his arm and was carrying the basket with his other hand.
Eyeing him suspiciously, Sadie couldn’t help but ask, “Do you always come prepared to picnic?”
Laughing, he walked past her and set down the basket on the flat part of the rock. Sadie joined him, and then they each took one end of the blanket and spread it out on the ground. “Nee, I do not, Sadie. Except when I’m hopeful of meeting up with a particular young woman.”
“Does that happen often?”
“This is the first time.”
Sadie didn’t know how to react to his words. She looked over at the water, feeling flustered, nervous, and happy all at once.
Frederick knelt on the blanket and lifted the lid of the wicker basket. “Let’s see what Anna Rose packed in here for us.”
“I feel a little guilty for not having stayed at the wedding reception,” Sadie confessed. “Poor Belle.”
At her words, Frederick looked up at her. “Why poor Belle?”
His question startled her. Hadn’t he been present when Adam left right after the ceremony? Perhaps he had arrived after the bishop had ordained the marriage with his final blessing? But then she remembered that he had been the one who had pointed out that the wedding was rather unusual. “Unconventional” had been his exact word.
“Why, you know that her new husband left just moments after the ceremony ended!”
He took a deep breath. “I suppose I don’t blame him.”
Sadie gasped.
“Now hear me out,” Frederick said quickly, raising his hand as if to stop her from judging him and his words. “From what little I know about him, Adam Hershberger has not been treated kindly by the good people of Echo Creek. I suppose he could have opted for a small, private wedding, but it appears that he did not. I’d imagine that was because of your friend, Belle. Doesn’t every young woman want to have a large wedding with her family and friends around her? And”—he paused as he lifted a plate from the basket—“from the looks of it, Adam provided quite a feast.”
When Frederick set down the plate, Sadie was surprised by the variety of food that Anna Rose had packed for them: fried chicken, mashed potatoes, glazed carrots, fresh biscuits, green beans, and sliced ham.
“It seems to me,” Frederick continued, “that Belle’s new husband went to great lengths to take care of his new wife, even if he chose to not stay and enjoy the wedding feast. Mayhaps he simply didn’t want to be the focus of whispered discussions.”
Sadie hadn’t thought of it that way. “You certainly are looking at both sides of the question.”
While she had never been one to participate in the spreading of rumors, she knew that she had not stopped others from doing so. She said a silent prayer to God, asking him to forgive her for not having stood up to the wagging tongues of people in Echo Creek.
And then she said a silent prayer thanking God for having put Frederick into her life. He had just taught her a very valuable lesson. Surely, she had needed that reminder.
While she was focused on her thoughts Frederick continued unpacking their little feast. “Mmm, apple pie for dessert.”
Sadie froze. “Oh no!”
He paused. “Something wrong?”
“I’m allergic to apples.”
Quickly, he slid the plate of pie back into the basket. “So. No apple pie for us today.”
“I’m not that allergic that you can’t enjoy it.”
He gave a little shrug. “How could I possibly enjoy something, knowing it’s harmful to you? That would take away the joy in it for me.”
She laughed. “I suppose that’s one way to look at it.”
After they bowed their heads for a silent prayer of thanks, they began eating their fried chicken and biscuits.
“How long have you known Adam?” Sadie asked before taking a bite of chicken.
“I don’t really.”
Startled by his response, Sadie coughed and had to take a sip of water to clear her throat.
“You okay?”
She nodded and set down the bottle of water. “You showed up at his wedding without ever having met him?” Such an idea surprised her.
Frederick shook his head from side to side. “Well, maybe that’s not true entirely.”
“So you do know him?”
“I suppose you could say that. I met Adam several times at the livestock auction in Liberty Falls. He seemed like a congenial fellow.”
Sadie gawked at him. “You met Adam at an auction? Why, I heard he was so reclusive he never left his farm but a few times a year to get supplies in town.”
“Ja.” He reached for a spoonful of his mashed potatoes. “I sat next to him at the last auction. Daed and I were looking for a new bull for our herd. Seems that Adam was, too.” He took a bite of mashed potatoes and a forkful of carrots. “We got to talking and all. Once you get past the scars on his face, he’s a right gut fellow.” He paused. “In an odd sort of way.”
Sadie was more than curious. “What do you mean?”
“Well, it seems to me that Jesus taught us quite a bit about not judging people. We’re all his children, ja?”
She nodded.
“And while Adam might not be comfortable to look at on the outside, there are many attractive people who wear their ugliness on the inside.” He took a deep breath. “We’re all sinners, Sadie.” He held up his hand in an exaggerated way. “Ja, even you and me, shocking as that might be to consider.”
She laughed.
“In my short life, I’ve learned that outer appearances mean nothing. It’s what’s in here”—he placed his hand over his heart—“that matters the most.”
For a split second, Sadie thought about Rachel. For so many years, Sadie had thought she was a beautiful woman. But when she began noticing how much time Rachel spent caring for her appearance, and harboring jealousy toward others for their youthfulness, Sadie realized that her stepmother cared more about her looks than about what bloomed in her heart. Now, with Rachel being so erratic and moody of late, Sadie realized that what her stepmother carried in her heart did not match the reflection that intrigued her so much in the mirror.
“Is it possible,” Sadie began to ask slowly, “for a person to mask their true self for a long time?”
Frederick picked up a drumstick. “I sure reckon so. Why! Look at all the people in the Bible who did just that. Judas Iscariot is a perfect example. He walked with Jesus, but he was still quick to betray him for bits of silver.”
“Thirty pieces.”
His eyes widened. “Excuse me?”
Sadie tried not to smile at the surprised expression that covered his face. “Thirty pieces of silver.” And then she quoted from the Book of Matthew:
“Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, ‘What will you give me if I deliver him to you?’ And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him.”
Frederick chuckled. “My, my. A woman after my own heart. Not only does she sing like a beautiful little songbird, she knows her Scripture, too.”
She sat up straighter.
Frederick narrowed his eyes in a mischievous sort of way. “Did you know that Joseph was sold to Egypt as a slave for twenty pieces of silver?”
Sadie hid her smile. “And did you know that Eve sold mankind for one bite of an apple?”
“Ah!” Frederick slapped his hand on his knee. “Got you on that one.”
“How so?”
Frederick cleared his throat dramatically before he, too, began quoting Scripture:
“The woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, “You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.”’”
Laughing, Sadie covered her mouth. “Ach! You’re right. It never said an apple. Why, it could have been any fruit, couldn’t it?”
He took another bite of his chicken. “How do you know so much about the Bible?”
She raised an eyebrow and pursed her lips. “How do you know so much about the Bible?”
He shrugged. “I enjoy reading Scripture in my spare time. And, when I was younger, my maem and I always played a game repeating Bible verses to each other.” He paused and looked at Sadie. “I think my maem will like you very much.”
Will. He hadn’t said “would” like you but “will” like you. Did he intend to introduce her to his parents? She could hardly imagine how that would be possible, as they lived too far away to make a one-day trip.
Feeling shy upon this statement, Sadie focused on her plate. However, she found that she no longer had much of an appetite. She didn’t want to make any presumptions about Frederick Keim and his intentions, but she couldn’t help imagining becoming his fraa. Oh, how much she enjoyed his company! She’d never imagined feeling this way, at least not with any of the other young men she knew from Echo Creek.
But she didn’t know much about the rituals of courting and wasn’t sure how everything worked. Without having siblings and with Rachel’s limited experience, Sadie felt as if she were drowning in a sea of uncertainty. Most of her friends, being a bit younger, hadn’t really courted, either, so Sadie couldn’t even turn to them for guidance.
“Sadie.”
Upon hearing Frederick say her name, she looked up to find him staring at her, his green eyes holding hers. “I haven’t done this before, either.”
Had he read her mind? She pressed her lips together and was quiet.
“It’s okay. You don’t have to say anything. But I can see your fears in your eyes.” He gave her a soft smile. “The eye is the lamp of the body.”
“I think Jesus meant that we should keep our eye on God.”
“Good point. But still, our eyes speak volumes about what we are feeling inside. And I know that I feel as if God led me to that stream the day we first met. Had I traveled another route, and if you hadn’t been singing, I never would have known you were there.” He took a deep breath. “God led me to you, Sadie Whitaker,” he repeated. “And I’m glad that he did.”
She bit her lower lip. “Me, too, Frederick.”
“So.”
“So.”
His lips twitched, and she knew that he was trying to hide his smile. “I reckon it’s okay with you if”—he paused for a moment—“well, if I keep calling on you, Sadie?”
She felt goose bumps on her arms. Oh, the irony that on this very day, one of her oldest and dearest friends had married a man she did not know or love while she, Sadie Whitaker, was in the company of a man who had just asked permission to court her, the very final step before a proposal. While her heart broke for Belle, everything in her rejoiced for herself.
“You may keep calling on me,” she whispered, hoping that her voice didn’t give away her true feelings. “Frederick Keim.”