A Man of His Word (36 page)

The door to the wood shop opened, and Gabe turned to his right in time to see Tobias come outside. His light-blue shirt and dark pants were covered in sawdust. When he saw Gabe, he held up his hand and waved.

Gabe shoved his hands in his pockets and walked over to him. Tobias brushed off some of the dust from his black suspenders, but he was still covered in the fine wood powder. “Hello, Tobias.”

“Nice to see you, Gabe.”

“
Wie geht’s
?”

“Fine, everything’s fine. Just taking a break. You here to see Moriah?”

“
Ya
. Is she home?”

Tobias nodded, his welcoming expression growing sober. “She is. I don’t know if she’ll want to see you, though.”

Gabe had expected as much. “Are you saying I should leave?”

“
Nee
. I’m not saying that at all. In fact, I’d be happy if you could talk to her. Maybe you can cheer her up a bit.”

“I don’t know. I really messed things up.”

“Gabe, you didn’t abandon her. You’re still here. I don’t think you’re messing up at all.” Tobias started toward the house, then motioned for Gabe to follow. “I’ll tell her you want to see her.”

“
Danki
,” Gabe said, grateful to have Tobias in his corner. He stood by the back door while Tobias walked into the kitchen. A few moments later he came outside, shaking his head. “She doesn’t want to talk right now. I’m sorry.”

Gabe nodded, drawing in his lips. “I’m not surprised.”

Tobias looked irritated. “For the life of me, I’ll never understand women. They do the opposite of what’s good for them.”

Suspecting he wasn’t just referring to Moriah, Gabe said, “Having some lady troubles yourself ?”

“Am I ever. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother.”

“Because they’re worth it.” He said the words not only to convince Tobias but also to convince himself. “Listen, I don’t know what you’re up against, but let me give you a little advice. If love is within your reach, do everything you can to grab it. Don’t let her get away.” He looked up at the Bylers’ house. “You’ll only live to regret it.”

Tobias cocked his head to the side. “That is good advice.”

“Given from experience.”

“I know.” He smiled. “It’s gonna take Moriah some time, Gabe, but I think she’ll eventually realize she needs you. Don’t give up on her.”

Gabe looked at him. “I don’t intend to.”

“I think your wedding dress is coming along very well.” Sarah carefully folded a small pleat in the waist of the dress and stitched it in place. “Don’t you think so?”

Rachel stared at the dress in progress. They had cut the dress out of a lovely light-blue fabric a few days ago, and with both of them working on it, it was almost completed. She pushed her needle through the hem of the dress, only to stab her finger. “Ow.”

“I told you to use a thimble.” Sarah continued to sew, a shiny silver thimble on the middle finger of her left hand.

“They always slip off.”

“That’s because you’re not used to using them. I’m afraid I waited too long to teach you to sew.”

“I wasn’t exactly eager to learn.”

“True. You took to sewing like you took to cooking.”

“Not very well.” Rachel put her injured finger to her mouth.

“I wouldn’t say that. You’re adequate.” Sarah smiled. “You’ll have lots of practice after you and Christian are married. Good heavens, I can’t believe the wedding is only six weeks away. We have so much more to do!” Sarah sighed with contentment and folded another pleat.

Rachel wished she could share her mother’s enthusiasm about her upcoming nuptials. She also wished she could share her future husband’s. Christian’s excitement had yet to wane, and all their conversations now centered on their marriage. He had already decided where they would live, in his parents’
dawdi haus
until they found a home of their own. There were a couple of houses for sale in West Farmington, which wasn’t too far from their families. They had already looked at one together. Rachel had hated it.

More than once they talked about children. Christian wanted a large family, at least eight kids. Rachel wasn’t sure how practical that would be, considering how expensive it was to raise so many children. When she pointed that out, he gave his standard reply: God will provide. While she truly believed this, she still worried how they would make ends meet once they were married.

She was starting to think they had rushed things. As the wedding date neared, she became more and more anxious, and not in a good way. She’d even started dreaming about the ceremony. More than once she had awakened in a cold sweat when the groom in her dreams hadn’t been Christian. It had been Tobias.

“Is Christian coming by today?” Sarah asked, snipping the blue thread.

“
Ya
.”

Sarah put down her needle. “You don’t sound very excited.”

“I see him almost every day now,” Rachel said. “I guess the excitement has worn off.”

Her mother gave her a dubious look, then picked up a spool of thread. “It’s normal for brides to be nervous, Rachel. I was terrified when I married your father.”

“You were?” She’d never heard her mother admit this before.

“
Ach
, I was. Like you and Christian, we didn’t court long. And though I knew I loved him, I was still scared.”

“How did you know you loved him?”

“Let’s see. I’ll have to think about that. We’ve been married almost thirty years now.” She fingered one of the ribbons on her white
kapp
, and Rachel could suddenly imagine her mother as a young girl newly in love. “I thought your father was one of the most exciting men I’d ever met.”

“Really?”

“
Ya
. He was so charming, quick with a joke, but very kind. I remember one afternoon he came by to help my
daed
with the harvest, and one of my cats had just died. He stopped working to sit with me. I cried like a baby over that pet, and when I was done I felt foolish. I was eighteen years old at the time, a year younger than you, and I was far too old to be crying like that. But Emmanuel never teased me about that. Instead he put his arm around my shoulders and I leaned against him. That’s when I knew I would love this man for the rest of my life.”

Rachel’s sighed. “What a romantic story. I never knew
Daed
had it in him.”

Sarah chuckled. “Your
daed
has a side he never shows you
kinder
.” She reached out and touched Rachel’s hand. “Marriage isn’t easy, Rachel. It takes hard work. But the rewards and blessings are many. We couldn’t be prouder of our
kinder
.”

“Even Aaron?”

“Even Aaron.” Tears sprang to her eyes. “Aaron has had a rough time of it, to be sure. But he’s changed. God is doing a
gut
work in him, I can see that. Hopefully one day you’ll see that too.”

Her father suddenly came in the kitchen, covered in dirt from working in the barn. Sarah held up her hand and stopped him from taking another step. “Emmanuel! Off with those boots.”

He grumbled as he pulled them off and set them outside the door. “Can I come in now?” he said, pulling off his hat, revealing the bald spot on the top of his head that had grown larger with age.

“
Ya
. Now you can come in.” Sarah turned back to her sewing as he went to the cabinet to get a plastic cup. He took it to the sink and filled it with water from the tap.

Rachel regarded her parents for a moment. They weren’t overly demonstrative with their affections, as was the Amish way. But she had never doubted that they loved each other. For the first time she thought about how their relationship had weathered raising six children, especially Aaron’s drug abuse. She tried to imagine herself and Christian thirty years from now.

For some reason, she couldn’t.

“Christian’s coming,” her father said, looking out the window. “That boy’s like clockwork with his visits, isn’t he?”

“
Ya
,” Rachel said, still unsettled by her lack of clarity regarding her future with Christian.

“There’s someone coming behind him too. You expecting someone else?”

Rachel rose from her chair and started toward the window. “
Nee
. Only Christian.”

“Then who’s that?”

She recognized the vehicle right away.

Tobias.

Tobias wanted to throw up. Never had his stomach been so twisted up. For the past two days he thought about his conversation with Gabe Miller. He watched as Gabe stopped by their house and kept trying to visit Moriah, even though she refused to see him. The man said he wasn’t giving up on her, and he was as good as his word.

But Gabe’s visits weren’t the only thing that had gotten Tobias thinking. Gabe’s admonishment to grab love when it’s right in front of you had echoed in Tobias’s mind. He could see how miserable both Gabe and his sister were. How her marriage to Levi had been a mistake, and how both of them were living with regrets.

Tobias didn’t want to live that way. He didn’t want to regret letting Rachel go, even if he wasn’t sure he ever had her in the first place.

He’d never been a man of risk, always playing things safe. Today, he would take the biggest risk of his life. If he didn’t vomit first.

He pulled his buggy beside Christian’s. He’d been hoping Christian wouldn’t be here, but now he had second thoughts. Now he could talk to them both at the same time and hopefully make them both understand why he had to do this.

Christian jumped out of the buggy and walked toward Tobias. “Hello,” he said, sporting that crazy lovesick grin he’d had on his face since returning from Charm. “What brings you by?”

His stomach coiled into another knot. He truly understood what Gabe had gone through, being in love with Moriah but not wanting to hurt his brother Levi. Tobias didn’t want to hurt Christian, and for a split second, he thought about turning around and going straight back home. But he had come this far. There was no turning back now.

“I’m here to see Rachel,” he said to Christian.

“Oh? What about?”

Tobias didn’t like the possessive way Christian asked the question, as if Rachel were already his wife. “I just need to talk to her.”

“Can it wait ’til later? We were planning to go look at another house this afternoon. I think she’ll like this one, and the price is right.”

“
Nee
. It can’t wait.” He looked past Christian to see Rachel coming out of the house. His stomach twisted again, but not with nerves this time. Good heavens, she was so beautiful. Fair-haired Rachel, with sharp blue eyes and tongue to match, along with a fiery temper that he loved to spark. He couldn’t let her marry Christian. Not without a fight first.

“Tobias, what do you want?”

He could see she was annoyed with him, probably over the way he had treated her at the singing in August, where he had purposely flirted with Carol Mullet in front of her. Looking back on that now, he realized how immature he’d been. If he had only been honest with himself, and honest with Christian, then maybe Rachel would be his right now. Instead someone’s heart would soon be broken.

He hoped it wouldn’t be his.

“I need to talk to you, Rachel.” He looked at Christian. “There’s something you both need to hear.”