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“Just like that?”
“Seems a fair enough request.”
“I agree. That’s why I made it.”
“Gut day to you then.” With a quick smile, he turned and walked toward the lane. As if he’d just thought of something, he stopped, took off the hat, scratched his head and then turned back toward her. “Tell your parents gut evening, and danki again for the meal.”
Annie stared after him, wondering what had just happened.
Why had he agreed so readily?
Why was he smiling?
What was she missing here?
Those things didn’t matter. What mattered was that they could put this silly matter of Texas behind them, and she could go back to focusing on her business. Though it was only September, she’d already passed the previous year’s profit. Now if she could have a strong fall, she’d feel in a good position for starting the new year.
A new year in Goshen, Indiana, not on the wild plains of Texas.
Amish families tended to eat dinner early—that way they could go out and do the evening chores before things were too dark to see well. The sun had dipped toward the west and a pleasant coolness had settled in as Levi walked down the road, away from the Kauffmans’ and toward Old Simon’s.
He was thinking of how pretty and stubborn Annie was, how focused she was on that catering business—as if it were all that mattered—and the way her cheeks colored pink when she was angry. He was wondering what it was about himself that irked her so much, when an Amish man working on a fence line called out to him.
“You must be the fellow helping out my father-in-law.”
“I’m Levi. Levi Lapp. If your father-in-law is Alton Kauffmann, then ya. I’m helping him out two afternoons a week.”
“Thought so.”
“What gave me away?”
“You’re the only Amish person I’ve ever seen wearing a cowboy hat. By the way, I’m Jebediah. I’m married to Alton’s middle daughter, Nicole.”
“Nice to meet you.”
Jebediah didn’t seem in any hurry to finish mending the fence. Instead he leaned against one of the fence posts and started peppering him with questions. “Heard you’re from Texas. What was that like? Also heard you were going back. When do you expect to do that? And do you really think you’ll convince Alton to go with you?”
Levi laughed. “It doesn’t take long for word to get around.”
“You know how it is.”
“I do.” Levi scanned the horizon and wondered how best to address Jebediah’s questions. As usual, his enthusiasm for the subject won out over any instinct that might have told him to approach the subject slowly. “Texas was wunderbaar, and I’ve been trying to get back pretty much since we left, which was twelve years ago when I was fourteen. I hope to move down in the spring. Now that I have a church elder interested—”
“Old Simon?”
“Ya.”
“He’s not in the best of shape.”
“He’s not in the worst, either, and once we’re there, I think others will come.”
“Maybe.”
Jebediah’s comments were nothing like Annie’s. He didn’t sound critical of the idea so much as skeptical. A skeptic he could handle.
“You should think about going with us.”
“Can’t say as I’m interested myself, but if Alton goes, well that might be a different story. My wife is pretty attached to her family, which is gut because mine is in Ohio and we can’t afford land there.”
“Land in Texas is cheap.”
“Is it now?” Jebediah grinned as if he’d heard that one before. “Cheap doesn’t really matter if you don’t have any money, which I don’t. Married four years ago, and we have three boppli with another on the way. Every cent I makes gets plucked from my hand like a north wind snatched it away.”
“That doesn’t bother you?”
“Not really. We have what we need.”
Levi wasn’t sure how to answer that. It was a common sentiment among Amish men and women alike. He had a little trouble relating. It wasn’t that he wanted more. It was only that he wanted something different than what he had.
“I don’t want to keep you from mending that fence, and I best get on before Old Simon wonders what happened to me.”
“See you tomorrow then.”
“Tomorrow?” Levi had already turned away, but now he turned back to Jebediah. “Oh, I don’t work for Alton on Saturdays. That’s my day to stay and help Old Simon.”
He’d even started calling the old guy that, and he’d only learned the nickname recently.
“I mean that I’ll see you at the wedding.”
“Wedding?”
“Beth and Avery. Old Simon will be there for sure and certain—everyone will. It’ll be a gut time for you to meet folks.”
The wedding that Annie had been preparing for. He suddenly realized that he’d like to see her in action, serving the masses from her tiny trailer. “I don’t even know them.”
“You’re invited nonetheless. You’re a part of our community now. Everyone’s invited.”
Those words echoed through Levi’s mind as he walked the last half mile to Old Simon’s house. You’re a part of our community now. It was a simple yet common sentiment among Plain folks. You moved in; you were accepted.
So why had he never felt at home in Lancaster?
Why did he have such terrible memories of his time here in Goshen?
Maybe because he’d resented his community’s decision from the day they’d abandoned the Texas community. Maybe because the move had been difficult for his parents, not to mention his siblings. The old ache twisted in his gut, but he chose to ignore it.
That was his past.
His future was to the south and moving closer every day.
He arrived home to find Simon sitting on the back porch, an open Bible in his lap. He barely seemed to look down at the well-worn pages. In fact, Levi had surmised that the old guy’s eyesight had weakened to the point that he couldn’t read the words printed there, but it seemed to soothe him to hold the open Bible.
He also was a terrible driver. It was a good thing that the buggy horse practically drove itself, or they would have been killed on Levi’s first day in town.
“Preparing for your sermon?”
“Ya.” Simon looked up in surprise, so apparently, he hadn’t heard Levi enter through the front door or the banging of the back screen door as he’d come outside. Maybe his hearing was going too, but a smile spread across his face.
He was a nice old guy, terribly lonely since his wife had died the year before. Their children were in Kentucky. Levi had written to both sons before he had accepted Old Simon’s invitation to move to Goshen. He didn’t want to be the source of hard feelings in the family. The eldest son had explained that they were trying to convince Simon to move, but that so far he’d resisted. Levi didn’t share with Jonah his hopes that Simon would move to Texas with him. He didn’t lie about it. The subject just didn’t come up.
Old Simon patted the Bible. “Gotte’sword—it’s a lamp for my feet and a light for my path.”
“Is that what your sermon will be on?” Levi eased onto the floor of the porch, bracing his back against the porch column.
“Maybe,” Simon said. “As the Lord leads.”
“I met Jebediah this afternoon.”
“He’s a gut man and about your age, if I remember right.”
“Told me about the wedding tomorrow.”
Simon’s expression turned to one of concern, but then he tapped his forefinger against the arm of the rocker and said, “I knew there was something I was forgetting. We have a wedding tomorrow.”
“He said I was welcome to attend, even though I don’t know Beth and Avery.”
“Who?”
“The couple getting married.”
“Oh. That’s right. It is a gut idea for you to go. I assumed you would. Weddings are a gut place to meet people, and maybe a young lady will catch your eye.” Simon grinned and then turned his attention out to the family garden. He hadn’t put that in himself. A neighbor must have done it for him. He didn’t seem to see the last of the vegetables that waited to be gathered, though. Instead he spoke of the past. “Did I ever tell you where I met my fraa, Tabitha?”
“You didn’t.”
“It was at a local wedding. I knew the minute I saw her that she was the one.” He pressed his fingertips against his chest. “Something in my heart...just told me.”
Levi didn’t know how to answer that, so he stood and said, “I ate with the Kauffmanns. Have you had anything yet?”
Simon shook his head and turned his eyes back to the pages of his Bible. “Can’t say as I’m hungry.”
“I’ll go and fix you an egg with some of that ham we had left over. You need to eat.”
“Ya. Okay.”
Levi walked into the kitchen and set about putting together a simple meal for the old man. Working in the kitchen reminded him of Annie’s lecture about women entrepreneurs. Levi was fine with that. He didn’t see any problem with women starting businesses. In his experience, they often had excellent perspectives on what customers wanted to purchase.
He actually admired her for starting an Amish catering business, but he sensed that her passion might become a roadblock for his own plans. Alton wouldn’t want to leave unless his entire family was behind the idea. And Annie obviously was dead set against it. It wasn’t absolutely necessary to have Alton in his group, but it would help. And it might mean that Jebediah and his family would come, as well.
All he had to do was win Annie over to the idea.
Which, he knew, would be no simple task.
As he heated the cast-iron pan, fried an egg and put it on the plate with fresh bread and a slice of ham, he thought of the words of his daddi.
No dream comes true unless you wake up and go to work.
He’d known it wouldn’t be easy to start a community in Texas, but he was willing to work. He only had to convince ten more families and then they could send two men down to look for land. Goshen was a big community. Regardless what Annie said, he thought that Alton would follow through on this dream. Indiana Amish weren’t as set in their ways like Pennsylvania Amish, or at least that was how it seemed so far.
Then again, he could be merely seeing what he wanted to see. Time would tell—though he didn’t have much of that. They needed to form a group, decide on some basic rules and then send down scouts. They needed to do all of those things in the next few months. After all, planting season in Texas started early.
Chapter Three (#u2fe8c5c2-ef56-5ce4-8c52-e4235d894fbe)
Levi didn’t have a chance to talk to many people before the wedding. Amish weddings started rather early in the day—on account of they were long and they needed to be finished in time for lunch. Then there were games for the young adults and children, and after that, most of the teens and young married folk stayed for dinner.
Beth and Avery’s ceremony was taking place outside, so it was fortunate that the day dawned mild and sunny. In fact, it was a perfect fall day. He watched families assemble across the benches that had been set out in the backyard of the Stutzman farm, but his mind was on Annie Kauffmann. He’d had only one glimpse of her when he and Old Simon were walking from their buggy to the house. He was thinking of how he hoped to have time to talk to Alton again when he spied Annie darting from her trailer toward the back porch.
How did she manage to move that trailer there?
When did she find the time to cook enough food for all of these people?
Did she enjoy cooking that much?
And why wasn’t she married? She was a nice-enough-looking woman and pleasant, other than her dislike of Texas. Or maybe it was him that she disliked. It was hard to tell.
He was chasing that line of thought when the hymn singing started. Old Simon led the congregation in a prayer, then there was more singing, a short sermon, and finally, the soon-to-be-married couple stood in front of everyone.
It seemed to him like they’d only been there a few minutes. He was surprised when he glanced at his watch and saw that ninety minutes had already passed.
As he watched the couple exchange their vows, his mind slipped back to Annie. Did she need help readying the wedding lunch? Probably not. No doubt she’d catered many weddings before without his help, but then again, perhaps volunteering would soften her up a little.
Before he could properly think that through, they were singing again and then the bishop—an older guy named Marcus with a beard that was more salt than pepper—reminded everyone to stay for the meal and led them in a time of silent blessing. The next thing Levi knew, Jebediah appeared at his side holding two babies in his arms and introduced him to at least a dozen people. It would take him a while to get all the names straight, but he tried to look as if he were paying attention. The names were common Amish names—Joel, Matthew, Silas, Eli, Martha, Tabitha, Naomi. He wondered how he would ever remember who was who, but then he realized he wasn’t staying in Goshen. It didn’t really matter if he remembered everyone’s name. So he smiled politely and said hello.
Finally, a woman and a young girl moved beside Jebediah. The woman said something softly to him, as the young girl clung to her dress. Jebediah laughed and turned to Levi.
“This is my wife, Nicole.”
“Oh, ya? Gut to meet you.”
“Jebediah told me all about you.”
He could see the family resemblance, now that he studied her closely. She had the same warm eyes as Annie, but her hair was blonder and she had her father’s height. Annie was shorter with hair that reminded him of the color of autumn wheat. The word prettier popped into his mind, but he brushed it away. Annie Kauffmann might be pretty, but she had a lot of strong opinions that she didn’t mind sharing. It might be funny except for the fact that she was standing in the way of his plans.
“I think we lost him for a minute,” Nicole said.
“He drifts off every now and then.” Jebediah jostled the two babies in his arms.
“I can hear you. I was thinking of how much you look like your sister Annie.”
“You look exactly like Annie described. She’s talked about you a fair amount.” Nicole reached out and wiped some drool off one of the babes in Jebediah’s arms. “As has Dat.”
