A VOW for ALWAYS (6 page)

“I sure wouldn’t want that.” He winked at Meredith.

“Where’s Jonah?” Laurie asked. “I thought he and his folks were coming to the wedding.”

“They were planning to,” Meredith replied. “Something must have happened.” It had
started snowing during the ceremony, and now the roads were covered. She didn’t voice
her concerns to Laurie, but she was worried about Jonah. It wasn’t like him to say
he was going to do something and not follow through. Maybe he and his folks had been
in an accident.

“We’d better go into the fellowship hall,” Kevin said, smiling at Laurie. “Everyone’s
gathered for the reception.”

Laurie giggled. “I think you’re just anxious to eat some of that good food the women
from your church have prepared.”

He gave his stomach a thump. “What can I say? I’m a hungry man.”

“Are you coming, Meredith?” Laurie asked. Meredith nodded. “I’ll be right behind you.”

As the newlyweds headed down the stairs to the fellowship hall, Meredith thought about
how different from an Amish wedding their wedding service had been. Besides the fact
that it had been held inside a church building, there would be just one meal following
the service, not three, like in most traditional Amish weddings. That meant the festivities
would be over much sooner.

Meredith was about to head down the stairs, when she caught sight of Merle Raber,
who often drove Jonah and his folks places when they couldn’t take their horse and
buggy. He hurried toward Meredith with a grim expression. “Jonah asked me to come.
He wanted me to tell you that he’s sorry he couldn’t make it to your sister’s wedding.”

“What’s wrong?” Meredith asked, alarm welling up in her chest. “Did something happen
to Jonah?”

Merle shook his head. “His dad got pinned under a buggy they’d been working on, and
he’s at the hospital getting checked over.”

Meredith gasped. “That’s terrible. I hope he isn’t seriously hurt.”

“I don’t think so,” Merle said, “but he was having a little trouble breathing, so
they wanted to check him over real good.”

“That makes sense,” Meredith said with a nod. “Thank you for letting me know. I hope
and pray that Raymond’s okay.”

Darby

“Are you going to come outside and help us build a snowman?” Susan asked Anne after
she and Luke returned from their shopping trip.

Anne’s curls bounced around her face as she shook her head. “You two go ahead. I just
got off work, and I’m gonna curl up in front of the fireplace and finish reading that
book I started last week.”

“Is it another Amish-themed novel?” Susan asked.

Anne nodded. “I don’t know why, but I’m fascinated with the Amish way of life.”

Susan smiled. “Maybe we should make another trip to Lancaster when the weather warms
in the spring. We can stop at one of the farmers’ markets and see what else we might
buy.”

Anne bobbed her head. “Luke, maybe you’d like to go with us. We could go for a buggy
ride, browse some of the shops, and eat shoofly pie.”

Luke’s eyebrows furrowed, and he rubbed his forehead. “I think I may have had shoofly
pie before, but I can’t remember where or what it tastes like.”

“It has a molasses base,” Susan said. “They sell it at the farmers’ market in Philly.
Maybe you had some there.”

Luke shrugged. “Guess that could be. I’m just not sure. Fact is, I’m not sure about
anything that took place before I woke up in the hospital and met you two.”

Susan’s heart ached for Luke. She could see by his pinched expression that he was
struggling hard to remember his past. Maybe what he needed was a distraction. She
pointed out the kitchen window, where the snow was coming down harder. “Why don’t
we head outside now and build that snowman before it gets too cold?”

“Sounds good to me. Let’s go!” Luke grabbed Susan’s hand, and they headed out the
back door.

Once outside, they began rolling a snowball. Soon they had three good-sized balls
and had formed a snowman. Then they put a carrot in for its nose, two matching rocks
for the eyes, and placed Luke’s red baseball cap on the snowman’s head.

“He looks pretty good, don’t you think?” Luke asked, standing back to admire their
creation.

Susan nodded. “Let’s make some snow angels now.”

Luke chuckled when she dropped to the ground, spread her arms and legs, and moved
them back and forth through the snow. When she hopped up, the place in the snow where
she’d been flapping her arms looked like a pair of angel’s wings.

Without warning, Susan scooped up a handful of snow and flung it at Luke. He shivered
when it landed on his neck. “Hey!”

Quickly, he leaned down and formed a snowball then tossed it at Susan. It landed on
her right arm. “No fair, I wasn’t ready for that!” She whirled around, but before
she could take a step, Luke threw another clump of snow. This one hit Susan’s shoulder.

Soon, there were snowballs flying back and forth, along with peals of laughter. Luke
was having such a great time, he forgot about his earlier frustrations. It felt good
to run around like a kid, enjoying the fresh-fallen snow while chasing Susan.

Luke watched slyly when Susan scooted behind a pine tree in one corner of the Baileys’
yard.
What is she up to now?
he wondered. The white pine’s soft needles were covered with snow, and several pinecones
still clung to a few of the branches.

Luke glanced up and noticed a low-hanging limb right above where Susan stood behind
the tree.
I’ll get her now
. Luke smirked and whipped around to the other side of the tree. On impulse, he jumped
up and shook the tree limb.

“Yikes!” Susan squealed as a wall of snow fell on her head. “I’ll get you for that!”
she warned, spitting snow from her mouth.

Before she could get the snow wiped from her face, Luke turned in the other direction,
hoping to get out of the line of fire.

“You can’t get away from me,” Susan yelled with excitement in her voice.

Whap!
Another snowball made its mark, sending icy cold fragments of snow down Luke’s neck.
He whirled around and raced after Susan, quickly grabbing her around the waist.

Panting and laughing, they fell to the ground in a heap of cold snow. As Luke lay
there beside her, huffing and puffing, his gaze went to her rosy-red lips. Seeing
the merriment in Susan’s eyes, he leaned closer as the urge to kiss her became strong.
His lips were mere inches from hers, when the back door opened and Anne shouted, “Hey,
you two! Why don’t you come inside and warm up with a cup of hot chocolate and some
of Grandma’s melt-in-your-mouth banana bread?”

Luke looked at Susan to get her reaction. Was that a look of disappointment on her
face? Had she been hoping he would kiss her? Did she want it as much as he did?

Maybe it’s best that we were interrupted
, he
thought. Since I haven’t put the pieces of my past together yet, I really can’t commit
to Susan right now
.

Luke’s growing attraction to her made him even more anxious to know his past. If he
could just find the key to unlock the memories hidden away in his head, he might feel
free to express his feelings.

I
’m glad your daed wasn’t seriously hurt,” Meredith told Jonah as they sat on the sofa
together in her parents’ living room.

He nodded solemnly. “It about scared me to death when I found him pinned under the
buggy like that. Fortunately the only injuries involved some bruising.”

“God was watching over him,” Meredith said.

Jonah nodded. “I would say so.”

“When you didn’t show up for Laurie and Kevin’s wedding yesterday, I was worried—especially
after seeing the snow come down as hard as it did.”

“Well, it wasn’t because of the weather, but we did feel bad about missing the wedding.”
He glanced around. “Where is everyone this evening? I expected to see your sisters
and brothers running around like they usually do when I drop by.”

“They’re upstairs in their rooms,” Meredith replied. “Dad thought it would be nice
if we had some time alone, without the little ones climbing all over you.”

Jonah chuckled. “They do seem to like me for some reason.”

“That’s because you’re such a nice man, and they like those twisty animal balloons
you make for them.” Meredith smiled. “You’re good with Levi, too. He lights up whenever
you’re in the room.”

“He’s a special little guy. I have a fondness for him, just like I do his mamm.”

Meredith’s cheeks warmed. “I have a fondness for you, too, Jonah.”

“Enough to marry me in the spring?” he blurted unexpectedly.

She flinched and sucked in her breath, unsure of how to respond.

Jonah took her hand and gave her fingers a gentle squeeze. “I’m sorry for blurting
that out. I’d planned to wait till you’d been widowed a year before I said anything
about marriage, but the words just popped out of my mouth. Did I speak out of turn?”
he asked.

She shook her head. “It’s not that. I just need some time to think about it. Can you
wait until Christmas for my answer?”

Slowly, he nodded.

Darby

“Where’s Luke?” Susan asked when she entered the kitchen and found her grandmother
fixing lunch.

“He and your grandpa are outside, shoveling snow off the driveway so you and Anne
can get your cars out of the garage. It’s a good thing you both have afternoon shifts,
because the roads should be cleared by then.”

Susan smiled. “Luke’s thoughtful, isn’t he, Grandma?”

Grandma nodded and reached for the loaf of bread sitting on the counter. “I heard
him tell your grandpa the other day that he feels like he’s imposing on us.”

“What’d Grandpa say in response?”

“He told Luke in no uncertain terms that it’s been a blessing to us having him here,
and he should quit worrying so much.”

“I hope Luke listened to him,” Susan said. “I wouldn’t want him to leave and go out
on the streets.”

Grandma tipped her head. “What makes you think he used to live on the streets?”

“I’m not sure if he did or not, but if he were to leave here, I’d be concerned about
where he would go.”

Grandma gave Susan’s shoulder a squeeze. “Don’t worry, honey, we won’t let him leave.
At least not until he gets his memory fully back and we find out where he came from.”

Susan swallowed around the lump in her throat. “I’ll miss him when that happens.”

“You’ve fallen in love with Luke, haven’t you, dear?”

Susan nodded slowly, her eyes filling with tears. She turned and looked out the window
toward the pine tree in the far end of the yard. The tracks in the snow were still
there, where she had hid from Luke when they’d played around in the snow. She smiled,
despite her tears, remembering the cold bath she’d gotten when Luke snuck up from
behind and knocked all the snow off the branch above her head. “Last night, when Luke
and I were romping in the snow, I think he was on the verge of kissing me,” she said.

“Why didn’t he?” Grandma questioned.

“Anne came out and called us in for hot chocolate.” Susan sniffed, hoping to keep
her tears from spilling over. “Maybe it’s a good thing we were interrupted. If Luke
had kissed me, it would have strengthened our relationship even more, and I really
don’t want that right now. At least not until I know more about him.”

“Is it because you fear he might already have a girlfriend, or maybe a wife?”

“Yeah. If I allow myself to think about a future between me and Luke, and then he
remembers his life before and it includes someone else, I’d be devastated.”

Grandma slipped her arm around Susan’s waist and gave her a hug. “Just pray about
it, honey. God will work it all out.”