10

Chad stopped typing as Anna walked into his office with yet another cup of coffee. He’d always been a heavy coffee drinker, but since he’d started here, his consumption had probably doubled. As he looked up and thanked her, he pushed the coaster away from his mouse pad, already accustomed to her routine.

Very gently, she set the mug down onto the coaster when it was an acceptable distance from his keyboard. Of course, he’d move it back when she left.

“You are smiling again,” she said as she backed up a step.

After last night, it seemed he couldn’t stop smiling. “Yeah. I can’t believe this is real. It’s even legal.”

Anna’s brows knotted. “Why would this not be legal? Ted can do whatever he wants with his house. He has wanted to sell it to you.”

Chad felt his grin widen. Soon he would be the owner of his very own house, complete with his very own mortgage. He’d signed all the papers that Ted had brought with him at the airport. Since Chad had brought Anna along to give her a quick tour of the city before they headed back to Piney Meadows, she’d signed as a witness before Ted and Miranda needed to go into the boarding area.

On the way home he’d given Anna a quick tour of the downtown and the surrounding area, then headed back to Piney Meadows. They’d talked about the city for about half the trip, until Anna fell asleep, and he drove the rest of the way home in silence.

Home. This place was now his home. For the first three months, Chad would be paying Ted a very reasonable rent, and then after three months, after his probationary period at work was over, his rent turned into mortgage payments, with Ted holding the mortgage and no bank involved.

He stirred the coffee and looked back up at Anna, who had not moved from beside his desk. “Where I come from, when you get a mortgage from a person rather than the bank it’s typically called a ‘granny mortgage.’ Usually it’s a family member whose house is already paid for and they have enough disposable income to live comfortably, so they can afford to have the principle tied up while payments are made.”

“But that is the way of everyone here. Most of the time it is family who will help with the house and it is always people who live here who do the building, so the cost is very reasonable.”

He knew a few people back in Minneapolis who had subcontracted their own homes, although businesses, not friends and family, were hired to do the construction. In the end, every one of them had come up with more difficulties and costs than expected and said they’d never do it again. “That’s really good, but I can’t believe that Ted wouldn’t need the money from this house to buy another house in Seattle. Although I don’t know if the price he gave me on this house would even cover his down payment for a house in Seattle. Or Minneapolis, either.” As often as he could, he intended to double up on his payments, both to give Ted some extra money and to get it paid off sooner.

In some ways, he was going to miss the big city for all the amenities, but last night, signing the legal documents, everything changed. As he fell asleep he’d felt a contentment he’d never known before. Soon the home in which he now lived would be his castle, and in that castle, he was safe. Safe from lies, deceit, and the one-upmanship that had become so much a part of his daily life he didn’t know how miserable he’d been until he found himself at a distance, looking back.

Realistically, he would never be rich, but he could be comfortable. His salary here was lower, but his living expenses were less than half of what they’d been in Minneapolis. The mortgage payments for an entire house and a huge yard were significantly lower than what he’d been paying for rent. Also, he’d be saving a small fortune on the cost of gas, especially if he continued to walk to work and back with Anna.

He’d even thought of taking the insurance off the car and leaving it parked for a few months, but that seemed a little too extreme.

Still, with or without the car, he could be happy with this laid-back lifestyle.

Anna joined her hands in front of her tummy. “I wonder when they will come back for a visit.”

“I don’t know. I think whenever Ted can get some time off work they plan to go somewhere exciting for a real honeymoon. I saw both of them picking up brochures for Hawaii at the airport. When he thought we weren’t watching, I saw him kissing Miranda behind his hat.” Even now, the thought amused him. It wasn’t as if no one would know what they were doing, using Ted’s hat to hide from prying eyes as he kissed his new bride. Stuff like that didn’t matter in the middle of a busy airport. In fact, he’d seen a lot of things over the years at the airport that should have been done in private. But he’d learned quickly that Piney Meadows was a very reserved community of very old-fashioned values and would never approve of couples kissing in public, even married couples.

Anna nodded. “I saw them, too. I must return to my work.” Without any further comment she turned and disappeared through his office door and back to her desk.

Chad continued typing but had to stop when he needed more information to calculate some expenses. He stood, and leaning over his monitor, he looked through his office door at Anna, who was sitting at her desk, diligently typing.

She’d been trying so hard to improve her typing, he didn’t want to disturb her. Instead of calling for her to get the figures he needed, he walked to the filing cabinet and pulled open the drawer.

As he reached for the file he needed, a sniffle sounded behind him.

He spun around. “Anna? What’s wrong? Are you crying?”

She sniffled, then reached for a tissue to blow her nose. “It is nothing. I am fine.”

“Are you sure? Are you hurt?”

She shook her head.

He waited for her to say more, but she didn’t. She just kept typing.

“Okay. I’m going back into my office now.” But he didn’t move; instead he continued to watch her.

She nodded and resumed typing without turning.

With Brittany, he’d learned the hard way—when she said she didn’t want to talk about something, she really did. But with Anna, everything she said, she really meant. His gut burned to ask her what was wrong, but his brain said to listen to her words, so he went back to his own office as he’d said.

He’d barely finished his report when Anna returned. No evidence of tears marred her face. It was almost as if he’d imagined it, but he knew he hadn’t.

“Now you have signed papers to make you the owner of the house, does it mean you intend to become a permanent resident of Piney Meadows?”

He leaned back in the chair and folded his arms across his chest. This kind of lead-up to a conversation sounded ominous, and he wasn’t sure he was ready for it. He didn’t want to come down from the high he was currently feeling. He hadn’t felt this way in a long time, and he wasn’t ready for it to end. “Yes,” he muttered and waited.

She cleared her throat. “Please forgive me for saying this, but even more than Miranda, your ways are of the cities.”

He stiffened and frowned. “That’s right. I’ve only been outside of Minneapolis a couple of times.” Just like she’d only been outside of Piney Meadows a couple of times, and one of those times had been yesterday, with him.

“Then you will need to learn more about our people and living in Piney Meadows. You have been very kind to help me improve my typing. I would like to help you settle in to living in Piney Meadows.”

He sat back and considered Anna’s offer, and what she was really saying. Until Sunday, he’d been busy concentrating on his new job and enjoying the peace at night. He hadn’t really thought about day-to-day living once the snow melted and he would be interacting more with the people in this community. He didn’t know what they normally did when they could go outside without worrying about freezing to death.

Once, Anna had mentioned fishing. He’d never been fishing in his life. He went to the market to buy fresh fish with their innards scooped out and ready to season and throw on the barbecue. Every day, he realized a little more just how rural and isolated this community was. At the wedding reception he’d talked as much as he could to as many people as he could. He didn’t know how it happened, but by the end of the evening, he’d found himself surrounded by single women.

He’d done his best to be polite, but he hadn’t managed to escape to join the circle of men on the other side of the room.

Yesterday, at the church service, the enormity of his new situation had finally hit home. He’d realized he truly was one city mouse in a field of country mice. Monday to Friday, here at the factory he was the boss, and everyone respected him as such. But on the weekend, he was supposed to be just another resident of Piney Meadows, and he felt lost. Even though many had tried to include him in their conversations, he couldn’t relate to very much of what had been said.

In order to make this gentle community his home, he needed to learn their ways, with or without cable television, and participate in the lifestyle. After all, their lifestyle drew him to this place.

He leaned forward and folded his hands on the desktop. “I’m going to take you up on it, but I don’t think you realize how much you’re offering. I’ve got a lot to learn, both about living the rural life and about your Mennonite ways. If you can guide me through this, then I truly want to repay the favor. Instead of just helping you with your typing, I’m offering to tutor you through some online business courses. It will mean a couple of evenings a week and will have to be here at the office, where we can access the Internet and have two computers logged in at the same time.”

Her brows knotted, and he could see she was thinking very seriously about both his offer and what he needed from her.

“Ja. I think that would be of good benefit for both of us.”

He extended one hand to shake on their agreement, but all she did was stare at it, like shaking hands was a foreign concept.

He retracted his hand and again crossed his arms over his chest.

Of course. Here she was a woman in a man’s world. She wasn’t going to shake hands with a man to seal the deal. He had her word, and her word was enough.

He’d already learned something.

“I’ll find a good starter course to get you going, and we’ll go from there.”

“And I will help you meet people next Sunday, when everything is back to normal.”

The need to shake hands burned in him, but he didn’t move. “Great. Now let’s get back to work.”

Anna looked down at Chad’s Bible, which lay between them on the pew. He’d told her that he’d had it for years, yet when the congregation turned to the verses to follow along with Pastor Loewen’s sermon, she hadn’t seen any writing in the margins.

None. Not a single note. From the condition of the cover, she could see that his Bible was not new, yet the pages were pristine, with hardly a wrinkle or crumpled page. Most of all, not a page had handwriting or notes of any kind.

She’d never seen anything like it.

Yet, he did know where the books were, even if he did find verses faster in the New Testament than in the Old.

He sang well and he appeared to know most of the hymns; however, she also knew that he had taken guitar lessons and could read music.

After Pastor’s closing prayer, most of the congregation rose to begin exiting the sanctuary. Instead of rising at the same time, Chad rested one hand on hers to keep her seated with him.

“Let’s wait for a minute. On the way into the sanctuary, I noticed a lot of people watching me. Let’s give the place a chance to empty out a bit.”

Anna nodded. “Ja. I noticed the same thing.” She could only imagine how much more people would have stared at him if she hadn’t made him go back into his house when he came to pick her up this morning. All the men wore black suits on Sunday, with a white shirt and a dark tie. This morning Chad had arrived at her house wearing a gray suit. Beneath it, he wore a dark purple vest and lighter tone of purple shirt, and his tie was the same dark purple as the vest, but the fabric was shiny.

She’d sent him home to change.

Now that the service was over, it was time to stand and chat with the other church members, and perhaps some would invite them to their home for lunch.

After most of the congregation had exited, Chad stood and they made their way into the lobby.

She already knew that many of the single women wanted to meet him, but for today, the priority was to introduce him to the other men.

She nudged him, and taking her up on her nonverbal hint, he lowered his head, allowing her to speak softly. “We are going to find Leonard, and I will ask him to take you to the men.”

He stiffened. “Why can’t you introduce me around?”

“That is for Leonard to do, not me.”

He looked around, his eyes locking on each of the groups of women and men, but said nothing.

“I will join one of the groups of ladies, and Leonard will take you to meet the men whom you have not yet met.”

“I guess it would be too much to ask for everyone to wear name tags.”

Anna looked up into his face, unable to tell if he was joking. She had a feeling he wasn’t.

“Seriously, everyone knows my name before I tell them, but I’ve met so many people today, I’ll never remember even half of them.”

“That is okay. Not everyone expects you to remember. I will help you when I am with you. There is Leonard. Let us go.”

As she guided him toward Leonard, he stiffened his posture, and his demeanor changed to the same way he presented himself at work when meeting someone he’d never met before. He smiled and shook Leonard’s hand, gave her a quick glance over his shoulder, winked, then turned and let Leonard lead him to the group of men.

Anna stood, frozen, as she watched him introduce himself and shake hands with everyone in the group, smiling and making eye contact with everyone individually as he repeated their names.

He would be fine.

Yet still, a small piece of her heart went out to him. Only she knew how nervous he really was, beneath his charming smile.