On Monday morning, after a sleepless night, Matt was having more regrets about his plans. He was putting Jane through a lot of trouble for nothing. She was taking choosing a wife for him far too seriously. He’d never pictured the whole thing playing out like this. The whole thing seemed awkward now he was in the midst of it. He was starting to wish all the women hadn’t agreed to helping him.
In truth, he had hoped in the middle of telling Jane about his plan, she’d reveal her own feelings for him. That certainly hadn’t happened. Maybe Lanie would be right, and Jane’s feelings for him would surface during the process of finding him a bride. The only bride he wanted her to find for him was herself.
The problem was, now Jane was distant to him, cold even. She’d never been like that and she’d put up a wall the moment she learned why she was here. That was how it seemed.
He arrived at Lanie’s haus just as she was washing up the breakfast dishes. She made him a cup of coffee and he drank it at the kitchen table while she fussed around the kitchen.
“Lanie, I’m not sure I’m comfortable with all this deception with Jane.”
“You’re looking at it the wrong way. You want to marry Jane, right?” She pulled out the plug in the sink allowing the water to drain.
“Jah, it’s true, but only if she feels the same about me. I was hoping she might.”
“Then like I said at the start, if she’s in love with you she’ll forgive you when the truth comes out.” She wiped her hands on a small towel. “And, she’ll even see the funny side if she’s anything like you … and you’ve told me she has a sense of humor.”
“She has.”
“Well, you’re safe then.” She sat down in front of him, and Mary-Lee came running out.
“More toast please, Mamm?”
“Nee. You’ve already had enough and I’ve washed the dishes. I’ll give you more in an hour or so. Now run along and play with your toys while I talk to Mr. Yoder.”
“I’m tired of my toys. I want the special ones. Please?”
Lanie got up and retrieved some brightly colored wooden blocks from the top shelf of the cupboard and passed them to Mary-Lee. “Now, make a haus and I’ll be out to look at it soon.”
“Denke.” Mary-Lee took the small box of blocks from her and scurried out of the room.
Matt chuckled at the cute girl with her chubby cheeks and bright smile.
“I’m sorry about that. What were you saying?”
“I was talking about Jane and how I’m not comfortable with all this.”
Lanie sat down again. “Don’t worry. Somewhere along the way in this whole process, she’ll realize she’s the best woman for you. If she says nothing, you’ll know she’s not in love with you and that way she’ll never know you were in love with her.” If there was one thing Lanie knew it was that he had to get Jane out of his system once and for all if Matt and she herself were ever to have a future together. If Jane was in love with him, she’d certainly be upset by his request. She didn’t want anyone hurt in all this, but as far as she saw it, it was either her being upset or Jane. She had a child to look out for—one that desperately needed a father—and Jane didn’t.
Matt felt like a coward. Too scared he'd be rejected. Was that being unmanly? Or was it saving both Jane and him from embarrassment if she had no love for him?
Lanie continued, “She’ll think she was helping out a good friend and she’ll go back home feeling she’s done a good deed.” When he didn’t say anything, she added, “It is the perfect plan. We thought it through and planned every detail of it.”
He ran a hand through his hair. “Remind me what happens when I marry no one at the end of all this.”
Lanie breathed in sharply. “Telling Jane, you mean, that you’ve chosen no one?”
“Jah.”
Lanie didn’t even want to think about that. She wanted to be the one he chose. Even if it was all make-believe to him, she hoped he might fall in love with her at the end of it. “Just make some excuse. Think about it when and if it ever comes to that.”
“Ach. I said I wanted to marry by Christmas.” He shook his head.
“Jah, you had to, remember? Otherwise, this whole thing wouldn’t have worked. There had to be a time limit and you had to sound urgent or she wouldn’t have come.”
He rubbed the side of his face. “I’m deceiving Jane and my mudder. Two of the most important people in the world.”
“And they’ll both forgive you if they ever find out.”
“Did we really need five women? It seems a bit extreme.”
“We had to make you seem desirable. Trust me, I’m a woman. She’ll wonder what she’s missing out on if five women want you, and it’ll cause her to stop and take another look at you.”
“Okay. I’ll take your word on that. I guess you’re right. She’ll have to be curious as to what these women see in me.”
That was how Lanie had wanted it. It would make Jane think of him differently. Lanie was certain that Jane had always been in love with Matt and she suspected that was why she’d distanced herself from him all those years ago. Lanie's own plan was that after Matt got Jane out of his system, he’d finally truly ‘see’ her for the first time.
And, if nothing worked out with Jane, she’d be right there for Matt giving him her shoulder to cry on.
“Just relax, Matt. We’ve got a good plan going. If she loves you, she won’t be able to stop herself telling you so. That’s mainly why I thought there should be five so she sees you’re not attached to any one particular woman.”
He slowly nodded. “I guess I’m okay with the five now. I’ll trust your judgement.”
Lanie smiled. Everything was going nicely so far. The only thing that would ruin her future was if Jane was still in love with Matt.
Lanie couldn’t wait to see what her future would hold. She had to visit Jane and find out straight from her lips how she felt about Matt. Matt had told her Jane’s plans for the day, and for Tuesday. “When you see Jane on Tuesday, why don’t you suggest she spends some time with me on Wednesday? I’ll collect her and bring her back to my haus. Better still, I could leave Mary-Lee with my mudder, and I could take Jane out somewhere.”
“Jah, I think she’d like that. Denke, Lanie. You’re a gut friend.”
Lanie smiled. One day she hoped to be much, much more.