Finding the Way (The Amish Millers Get Married Book 5) (10 page)

“
Jah
, of course.” At least that was
one question he had no hesitation in answering.

“I said I’d give you my advice, and this is
it; so you can take it or leave it. I don’t know what your problem
is, but you should’ve asked her on a buggy ride by now. It’s
obvious she really likes you; any fool can see that. So my advice
is to ask her on a buggy ride next time you see her, especially
with her
vadder
here to take her back.” With that, Jessie
looked him up and down, and then left.

Benjamin stood there, watching her walk away.
He felt like some sort of insect that had been examined and then
nearly squashed.

* * *

Nash Grayson was peeking through the curtains
at Jessie, and saw her walk over to Benjamin. He hurried down the
stairs but the two had vanished. He crept around the side of the
building until he saw them under the trees, their heads close
together. Whatever was going on? Was this some kind of tryst?
Surely they hadn’t been courting without him knowing.

Nash crept around some more but was unable to
get closer. When Jessie turned to leave, he hurried back to his
room to think things over. He was determined to get to the bottom
of this. Nash peeked through his window again and this time saw an
Amish man walking up the road carrying a suitcase. There was no one
else in sight; Benjamin had disappeared too.

Nash sneaked down the stairs to hear who the
Amish man was. Jessie was booking him in due to the fact that
Nash’s parents, the Flickingers, were away for the afternoon,
visiting. The man gave his name, and Nash lost interest. He was
about to return to his room when he heard the man ask to speak to
Benjamin Shetler.

Nash’s ears pricked up. Perhaps Benjamin had
gambling debts too, and this man was here to collect. Benjamin was
just too nice to be on the level; Nash was sure he was up to
something. If Nash could get some dirt on Benjamin, then he would
present it to Jessie, and she would see the type of man Benjamin
truly was.

Nash crouched behind the corner as Jessie
left, presumably in search of Benjamin. Nash peeped around the wall
to see the man sinking into the upholstery of a comfortable, oak
sleigh sofa.
Make yourself at home, why don’t you
, Nash
thought.

It seemed like forever before Benjamin
entered the B&B, but it was probably only three or so minutes.
There was no sign of Jessie; Nash assumed she had gone to clean or
to do laundry. At any rate, the man had said he wanted to speak to
Benjamin, so Jessie would of course make herself scarce.

Nash had taken up a good position around the
corner. He was not willing to peep, as Benjamin would likely be
facing him, so he set himself to overhear the conversation. He
fervently hoped that Benjamin was in some kind of trouble, and he
was already looking forward to telling Jessie all about it.

To Nash’s disappointment, the two men
appeared to greet each other amicably enough, although Nash managed
to overhear the older man telling Benjamin that he should have
reported back to him. What Nash heard was interesting, but provided
him with no ammunition against Benjamin, much to his
frustration.

Nash was dissatisfied.
Is that all there
is to it?
he thought.
The man just wanted Benjamin to report
to him, no big deal. I was hoping Benjamin was some sort of
criminal, so Jessie would turn her back on him
.

Nevertheless, Nash strained his ears to hear
more, and was delighted with what he heard.
Jessie won’t want
Benjamin after this
, he gloated to himself.

“What are you doing?”

Nash spun around to see Jessie regarding him
sternly, her hands on her hips.

He held his finger to his lips.
“
Shush
! What does it look like I’m doing?”

“Listening into someone else’s
conversation.”

Nash smirked at her. “That’s right. Well
since you already knew, why did you ask?”

Jessie sighed. She took Nash by the arm and
led him outside. “Haven’t you heard the old saying,
“
Eavesdroppers hear no good of themselves’
?”

Nash snorted rudely. “Ouch, that hurt.
Anyway, they weren’t talking about me. The man turns out to be
Sarah’s father, and Benjamin was telling him that he’s going to ask
Sarah to marry him.” Nash carefully watched Jessie’s face for any
sign of shock or disappointment.

“
Wunderbaar
!” she exclaimed.

Nash was taken aback. “You’re happy?”

“Of course; why wouldn’t I be?” Jessie
scowled at Nash.

“I thought you liked Benjamin,” he blurted
out. “I saw the two of you taking earlier.”

Jessie smirked at him. “We were talking about
Sarah, not that it’s any of your concern.”

“Sarah?” Nash took a moment to process the
information. “So you don’t like Benjamin?”

Jessie shook her head in frustration. “Of
course I don’t like Benjamin Shetler. He’s not my type; I
like…”

“Who?” Nash prompted. “Who? Who do you like?”
When Jessie didn’t answer, he continued. “You like me, don’t you?”
He held his breath, anxiously awaiting her answer.

“
Jah
.” Jessie stuck out her bottom
lip. “I don’t know why.”

Nash was overjoyed, but tried not to show it.
“Then will you go on that buggy ride with me?” He kept his tone
even, and tried to look as if he didn’t care about the answer.

Jessie raised one eyebrow. “You don’t have a
buggy.” Before Nash could continue, she added, “
Jah
, I will
go on a buggy ride with you, but only if you agree to come back to
the community and get baptized.”

Nash scratched his head and pretended to
think it over. “You drive a hard bargain,” he said after a few
moments. “But I will agree on one condition; that you give up
smoking.”

Jessie rubbed her chin and covered her mouth
with her hand. Finally she looked up at him. “You drive a hard
bargain too. Okay, I agree to give up smoking; that’s only
fair.”

Nash could barely contain his excitement. He
knew that Jessie was the woman of his dreams. He considered himself
blessed by
Gott
, and also blessed in that, as clever as
Jessie was, he was able to outsmart her. He congratulated himself
on tricking her into giving up smoking. Not only that, he had
already decided to go back to the community and be baptized. Why,
he’d even spoken to the bishop about it earlier that week. Best to
let Jessie think he was doing it because she asked him to, he
figured. He knew how to handle women.

* * *

Jessie walked away, elated, and she sent up a
silent prayer of thanks to
Gott
.
I know how to handle
menner
, she thought.
Nash is a pushover. He didn’t even know
I’d already given up smoking, but best to let him think I gave up
because he asked me to
.

Jessie was beside herself with happiness.
Clearly Nash was the
mann
of her dreams; she had known that
from the first moment she had laid eyes on him. Only he wasn’t as
clever as he thought he was; he had easily given in when she asked
him to go back to the Amish and be baptized. Jessie chuckled aloud,
pleased with the thought that she would be able to outsmart her
future husband.

Psalm 127:3-5.

Behold, children are a heritage from the
Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the
children of one’s youth.

Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with
them!

He shall not be put to shame when he speaks
with his enemies in the gate.

Chapter
19

Sarah was at a loss. Whatever was she to do?
Sure, her
vadder
had gone for the moment, but he was likely
to come back at any time. She could not go home with him; she just
couldn’t. Yet would he make a scene when she refused to go? Sarah
did not like unpleasantness. She paced up and down until a
frustrated Mrs. Miller told her to keep herself busy by preparing
food.

It was only three hours before Samuel Beachy
returned to the Miller
haus
, but even so, Sarah had already
made a pile of
Faasnachtkuche
, potato-based donuts, as well
as several whoopie pies and an apple cake. She had just taken a
baking dish of John Cope’s Corn, nicely browned, from the oven. The
backs of two kitchen chairs were covered with rolled dough hanging
in strips to dry before cutting for a large pot pie.

Sarah wrung her hands anxiously when Mrs.
Miller let Sarah’s
vadder
, Samuel Beachy, into the
haus
and showed him to the living room and insisted he sit
down. “I’ll fetch Abraham,” Mrs. Miller said.

Samuel Beachy held up his hand. “
Nee
,
that won’t be necessary. Sarah, I’ve just come to say that, after a
long talk with Benjamin, I’ve decided that I will not insist that
you come home.”

Sarah could scarcely believe her ears. What
did Benjamin have to do with it? Whatever did he say to convince
her
vadder
to let her stay?

“But I hope you’ll come visit me often,” her
vadder
continued, and then turned to Mrs. Miller. “And if I
may, Rachel, I’d like to stay at the Flickingers’ B&B for a
week and visit with Sarah while I’m here.”

Mrs. Miller was clearly delighted. “That
would be
wunderbaar
, Samuel.
Denki
for this. Yes, you
are
wilkum
to visit us, not just this week, but Abraham and
I would like you to visit us often in the future. Also, please
visit with us for dinner tonight.”

“
Denki
.” Samuel smiled.

Sarah had rarely seen her
vadder
smile, and she realized only now that he must have been carrying a
burden for many years, the burden of keeping, at his
fraa’s
instance, the secret of Sarah’s true
vadder
. She realized at
that moment that it is not wise to judge people’s actions without a
full understanding of their circumstances.

Samuel stood up from the chair where he had
been so briefly sitting. “Sarah, can we go for a walk so we can
talk?”

Sarah looked nervously at Mrs. Miller, who
smiled encouragingly. “Sure,
Datt
,” she said.

The two walked outside the Miller
haus
. Samuel stopped at the gate. “Sarah, you’re at the age
where you will be getting married soon, so I want to reconnect with
you and repair our relationship.”

Sarah had no idea what to say, so simply
said, “
Jah
,
Datt
, that would be
gut
.”

They walked down the lane, at first in
silence, but then Samuel spoke. “Sarah, I’m sorry I deceived you
all these years.”

Sarah hurried to reassure him. “I know you
had no choice; it was
Mamm’s
wishes.”

Samuel nodded, and after they had wandered
down the winding lane for a while, he indicated they should sit on
a fallen tree branch, which was nestled amongst a tangle of
rhododendron and laurel thickets. It was a Box Elder maple, and the
fallen branch, which had obviously fallen some time ago, was still
sprouting leaves and green branches. Sarah sat on the smooth bark
and looked at the young branches. It was then that she had a
thought. She was like a young, green shoot, and her
daed
was
the branch, strong and stout. He may not have been her biological
vadder
, but he was her
vadder
just the same, equally
so.

“Sarah,” her father began, in a faltering
voice, “I had two reasons for not telling you the truth after your
mudder
died.”

Sarah turned to look at him expectantly.

“The first reason was that I was afraid of
your reaction when you found out that I’d been deceiving you all
these years, and the second reason was that I was afraid you
wouldn’t love me any more when you found out that I was not your
real
vadder
.”

“You
are
my real
vadder
,” Sarah
said quietly.

“
Denki
.” Samuel looked at Sarah and
smiled.

Sarah smiled too. She wanted to hug him, but
her parents had never been demonstrative with their feelings.

“Do you hear that?”

Sarah put her head to one side. “It sounds
like someone playing a flute. What is it?”

“It’s the male wood thrush,” Samuel said. “He
makes the most beautiful sound of all birds.”

Sarah had to agree. “It is such a melodic
sound. But
Datt
, I didn’t know that you knew anything about
birds?”

Samuel chuckled, and a rare grin spread
across his face. “Birding was my hobby as a child and a young man,
but your
mudder
said it was a waste of time. Oh, I don’t
mean to criticize your
mudder
.”

“Oh no, I understand.” Sarah watched as a
pretty, cinnamon brown bird with brown spotting against a cream
background on its chest flew into the tree above her with a large
worm dangling from its mouth.

“That must be the mother wood thrush,” Samuel
explained. “The females do not sing.”

Sarah thought how parents care for the
kinner
; even the parent birds looked after their young. She
thought of the Scripture from the Gospel of Matthew that the
ministers often read:
Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow
not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly
Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

Sarah truly understood that Scripture for the
first time.

A small stream meandered beside the road, and
obedient ducklings were following their mother along the bank.
Sarah looked out over the gently rolling hills, over the lush,
green fields with contented cows grazing on them, to the
white-painted, red-roofed barns in the distance.

Sitting there with her
daed
, was a
treasure. Being with
familye
was one of the simple pleasures
of life, and one of the most important.