Love Inspired March 2015 - Box Set 1 of 2: A Wife for Jacob\The Forest Ranger's Rescue\Alaskan Homecoming (5 page)

BOOK: Love Inspired March 2015 - Box Set 1 of 2: A Wife for Jacob\The Forest Ranger's Rescue\Alaskan Homecoming
7.36Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

The wonderful scent of chicken and the lingering aroma of baked bread permeated the kitchen, smelling delicious. Annie set the bowl on the table and went back for the bread. She placed the basket next to the main course.

The meal was simple, but there was plenty to eat. Annie put a hefty amount on each plate while her mother passed around the chow-chow bowl.

“Bread?” Annie extended the basket toward Jacob. “There's butter and strawberry jam.”

Jacob smiled as he took a thick, crusty slice but he declined the toppings, apparently preferring to eat his bread plain.

“Where's Josiah?” her mother asked with a frown.

“He's coming. He's out in the fields,” Annie told her. She heard the front door open and footsteps as someone entered the house.

Joe smiled. “There he is now.”

Annie saw her brother walk into the kitchen and note Jacob's presence.

“How goes it in the shop?” Josiah asked pleasantly as he took a seat next to Annie, who sat across from Jacob.

“Just getting used to it again,” Jacob said, “but it's beginning to feel like home.”

Her brother looked relieved, and her father appeared pleased. “Let me know if you need anything,” Josiah said. He addressed his father. “It's nearly harvest time,
Dat
.”

Dat
nodded. “Find out when the others are bringing in their crops. See if anyone can help out here one day.”

Jacob spoke up, “Next week.” He tore his bread in half. “We're all planning to come here on Tuesday.”

“We'll need to cook and bake for the workers,” her mother addressed Annie.

Annie nodded. “All the men are planning to help each other with the harvest?” she asked Jacob.

“Ja.”
Jacob forked up some noodles. “Everyone decided it would be quicker that way.”

Annie silently agreed. Without help, it might take an Amish farmer and his sons several days to bring in their crops and properly store them. She had a feeling the community men had decided to pitch in at each farm because of her father, so that
Dat
would feel better about accepting help. “We should cook for the week.”

Her mother picked up the breadbasket and passed it to her eldest son. Josiah took a piece and handed it to Peter. “I'll make dried-corn casserole,”
Mam
said, “and macaroni salad to start.”

The topic of conversation became centered on the harvest and how each family would have help each day, depending on the size of their land and their crops, and the offerings that the women of the house would bring to share at the community food table.

Annie decided to talk with Josie Mast, their neighbor, who together with her husband, William, knew most of what was happening within the Happiness community. Josie and William were always ready to lend a hand.

Annie remained conscious of Jacob at their kitchen table, enjoying his food and the conversation with her family. Across from him, she was able to study him unobtrusively. He looked solid and strong in his burgundy broadcloth shirt and
triblend
denim pants. He had removed his leather apron, as was appropriate, before coming to the house. He must have washed up outside, for there was no sign of soot or dirt on his face or hands. He'd undoubtedly left his hat in the shop, for his dark hair looked clean and shiny in the sun filtering in through the kitchen window.

He raised an eyebrow. Embarrassed to be caught examining him, she blushed and looked away. “Did everyone have enough to eat?” she asked as she rose. “There is plenty more on the stove.”

When everyone claimed that they'd eaten enough of their meal, Annie left to retrieve dessert from the back room.

“Fresh apple pie,” she said as she reentered the room, “with homemade ice cream.”

While her family exclaimed their delight, it was Jacob's slow, appreciative smile that set her heart to racing. “I've been eager to taste your apple pie,” he said.

After preparing several servings, Annie watched Jacob enjoy his portion and experienced a rush of satisfaction. All too soon, he was done eating, and he rose.

“Back to work,” he said. “The meal was wonderful, topped off by a delicious dessert.”

He didn't meet Annie's eyes as he thanked her parents for having him at their table. Then he left, and Annie noticed that the house seemed different with him gone. She didn't want to think about it too closely as she worked to put away food and clean up. As she was washing dishes, she thought about Jacob Lapp again and smiled.

“Annie,” her mother said, “Preacher Levi will be coming for supper tomorrow night. What shall we make?”

Annie thought about it. The preacher was a frequent dinner guest. “Fried chicken?”

Mam
nodded approvingly. “And make something special for dessert.”

“Ja, Mam.” Maybe a cobbler
, she thought. She could use a jar of the peaches she'd canned this summer. She mentioned it to her mother.


Gut
idea, Annie. And let's make some sweet-and-vinegar green beans to go along with the chicken.”

Her thoughts returned to Jacob. The meal with him had been pleasant. In the midst of her family, she'd been able to relax and truly appreciate his company. He'd been polite, teasing at times, occasionally catching her glance with a look that made her feel warm inside. She recalled Jacob the boy and couldn't help comparing him to the attractive man he'd become. She felt an infusion of heat. He was like a brother to her, she reminded herself.

Or was he?

Chapter Five

T
he sun shone warm and bright in a clear azure sky, and there was barely a breeze on harvest day at her family's farm. Annie stood outside next to her brother Josiah, watching as gray buggies drove down the lane toward the house and parked in a row in the barnyard. Other families came in horse-drawn wagons, some of which pulled farm equipment behind them. It was Monday instead of Tuesday, the day Annie and her family had expected the help. On Sunday, the community had decided to harvest their farm first after learning about her
dat's
appointment with the doctor on Tuesday. When they were done with their farm, the workers would move from one neighbor's farm property to the next, until everyone's crops were harvested.

Annie, her sister Barbara and her mother had spent hours cooking and baking to prepare for this week. Today the food would be served on tables set in the yard between their house and the
dawdi haus
—their
grosseldre's
cottage. Josiah and Peter with William Mast and Abram Peachy had set up tables of plywood on wooden sawhorses. Eli Shrock, Amos and Mae King's son-in-law, had brought the church's bench wagon earlier. Amos had come with Eli, and the two men, with Peter's help, had unloaded benches for everyone to sit on while they ate.

Annie set the tables with the linens that
Mam
used for such occasions. As the men and their families got out of their vehicles and approached, she felt satisfied that the day would go well. Josiah left her side to speak with Noah Lapp and his brother Eli, who had ridden in with his older brother and sister-in-law.

“Annie!” Rachel Lapp approached with a smile. She carried a large platter covered with plastic wrap.

“Cupcakes,” Annie said with a grin. “The workers are going to love these.”

Rachel glanced toward the food table, where Annie and her
mam
had put out breakfast for the crew. “You've been busy.”

Annie gestured toward Rachel's cake dish. “So have you.”

“Annie!”
Dat
sat on the porch in his wheelchair.

“Coming,
Dat
,” she called back. She gave Rachel a half smile. “This is hard for him.”

Rachel nodded. “Maybe if you push him closer so that he can watch the workers?”

“That's a great idea.” Annie glanced toward her father. “I'll talk with you later.” Rachel's husband, Noah, came up behind his wife. “Noah,” she greeted him with a nod before she excused herself to help her father.


Dat?
You all right?” she asked as she climbed the porch steps.

“Ja.”
Her father watched as families exited their vehicles, and the workers moved toward the field. “I should be out there helping.”

She crouched before him, looked up. “
Dat
, you can't work, and everyone understands that. You need to stay here, and rest.”

“Annie. Joe.”

Annie turned and was startled to find Jacob Lapp on the stairs behind her. She rose quickly to her feet. “Jacob.” She felt suddenly breathless. He looked ready for a full day's work in his royal blue shirt, navy coat and black suspenders and navy
triblend
denim pants. Her study of him fell to his black work boots before lifting up to his golden eyes.

“I thought Joe might like to watch us,” Jacob said.

“I'd like that, Jake.” Her father looked pleased. “Can't see anything from here.”

Annie felt concerned, despite the fact that she thought the move a good idea. “What if you get tired?”

Her father smiled. “Then I'll have one of the boys bring me back.”

“Not to worry, Annie,” Jacob assured her. “I'll see that he rests if he needs it.”

Annie didn't answer as she watched while Jacob pushed her father's chair down the ramp. She sighed. Until today, she hadn't seen or spoken with Jacob since he'd eaten lunch with them on his first day of work in her
dat's
blacksmith shop. According to her father, Jacob came to the shop each day, completed his work, then spoke briefly with her father before heading home. He'd been coming for days, but he hadn't bothered to stop into the house and say hello.

Why should he seek her out?
He was helping her father, not her. It wasn't Jacob's fault that she couldn't stop thinking about him. Was it?

Annie sighed. There had to be an older man in the community who would make her a fine husband. Maybe if she prayed to the Lord He would show her her future husband.
Please, Lord, help and guide me. Help me to know Thy will.

Mam
came out of the house behind her. “Where's your
vadder
?”

Annie gestured toward the yard. “Jacob's taking
Dat
down for a better view.” Once the workers continued to the other side of the farm, her father would no longer be able to watch them.
Maybe by then, Dat will be ready for a nap.

Unbidden came a mental image of Jacob Lapp's smile. Annie pushed him from her mind as she went back into the house, where the women were preparing to set out more food.

* * *

“Will you be all right here?” Jacob asked Joe as he rolled the older man into a shady spot in the yard, with a good view.

“This is fine, Jacob.” Joe stared as the workers walked into the field with their farm tools.

“Horseshoe Joe!” William Mast called. “How
ya
feeling?”

“Not too bad,” Joe replied. “Doing as well as can be expected.”

“You take care of yourself, and don't
ya
be worrying about anything. Your boy Josiah knows what he's doing, planning which areas to be covered by whom.”

“I'm going to get to work, Joe,” Jacob said. “I'll check back later to see how you are.”

“I'd appreciate that.” Joe seemed settled as he waved and answered his neighbors' and friends' inquiries about his recovery.

Jacob felt satisfied that Joe would be fine as he left to join his brothers Isaac and Eli. Minutes later, he grabbed his corn hook and climbed onto a wagon drawn by a team of Belgian horses. They headed toward the field area they'd been assigned. Isaac drove the team while Jacob and Eli hand-husked corn. With each swipe of the hook, Jacob snagged a stalk, then cut off an ear, husked it quickly by hand and then he threw the cob into the back of the wagon. Jacob worked quickly, moving down the row, with Eli working beside him, to cut the crop from the stalks that Jacob missed. At the end of the row Isaac turned the wagon, and Jacob and Eli shifted to work the next row, cutting, husking and tossing the husked corn behind them.

In another area, workers shocked corn by using a horse-drawn binder that cut down the stalks to the ground. Men followed behind, gathering and then standing them on end, with their tops leaning together in tepee-like fashion. Still other community men worked with a corn picker that was pulled by horses. Cornstalks were pulled into the chain-driven machine, which mechanically removed the ears from the shoots and husks. The ears were tossed through a passageway into a wagon pulled behind the picker. Only a few knew how to work the equipment, which could jam and be dangerous, especially its chains, which gathered the crop.

Jacob preferred husking the corn by hand. It might seem time-consuming, but each ear that was tossed into the back was ready to be dried before it was stored. He had shocked corn, as well, and he felt satisfaction in seeing the tents of stalks, in rows along the fields.

“We should get this acreage done before the midday meal,” Eli commented as he bent to the work.


Ja
, but there is still the hay to bring in.” Jacob inspected the corn he'd just shocked and, satisfied, threw it in with the others before he reached for another. “Although we'll have plenty of help.”


Ja.
It won't take long, not with everyone pitching in.” Eli hand-husked from another stalk and tossed the clean ears in the back of the wagon.

They worked for a time, then decided to break for lunch. Jacob accompanied his twin brother back to the house and the food waiting there. Isaac stayed with the team and waited for them to return with food for him.

“How are things with Annie?” Eli asked.

“I barely see her,” Jacob replied, taking off his hat and wiping his brow with his shirtsleeve.

“Is staying away your doing or hers?”

Jacob shrugged. “I've been busy. Why would I seek her out?”

“Because you like her,” Eli said with quiet understanding.

“I'm keeping my distance and getting the job done. That's all I need to do until I'm finished at the smithy
.”

“That could be a long time, Jake.” Eli gestured toward Annie, who was arranging baked goods on the dessert table.

“I'll manage,” he said. Somehow he would work hard, keep his distance from Joe's daughter and, in so doing, protect his heart. Not a chance that he'd be disappointed again by Anna Marie Zook.

“If you say so, Jake,” his brother said, but he sounded unconvinced.

* * *

Annie stood by the dessert table, ready to slice a piece of cake or pie for a worker when she saw Jedidiah Lapp chatting with his wife, Sarah. She watched them a moment—she couldn't help herself. She'd been heartbroken when Jed had broken up with her years before, and she'd hurt from the loss when last year he'd courted and married Sarah Mast, William Mast's cousin from Delaware.

Watching the affection between them, the way he placed a hand on her arm, the soft smiles they exchanged, Annie felt pain. Seeing the two of them together was a reminder of what she didn't have. She wasn't jealous. She understood now that Sarah and Jed's marriage was God ordained.

Annie wanted a husband—and a family. As
Mam
had pointed out, she wasn't getting any younger. But how could she marry when no one showed an interest in her? She blinked back tears. She'd work hard to be a wife whom a husband would appreciate. She wanted children, to hold a baby in her arms, a child to nurture and love.

She sniffed, looked down and straightened the plates. The drinks were on one end—pitchers and jugs of iced tea and lemonade, and there were bottles of birch beer and cola.

“May I have some lemonade?” a deep, familiar voice said.

Annie felt a jolt and looked up. “Jacob.” His expression was serious as he eyed her. She glanced down and noticed the fine dusting of corn residue on his dark jacket. “Lemonade?” she echoed self-consciously.


Ja.
Lemonade,” he said with amusement.

She nodded and quickly reached for the pitcher. She kept her eyes on the task as she poured his drink into a plastic cup, only chancing a glance at him when she handed it to him.

“How is the work going?” she asked conversationally.

“We are nearly finished with the corn. We'll be cutting hay next.” He lifted the cup to his lips and took a swallow.

Warmth pooled in her stomach as she watched the movement of his throat. “How's
Dat
?” she asked. She had seen him chatting with her father earlier.

With a small smile, Jacob glanced toward her
dat
. “He says he's not tired. He claims he's enjoying the view too much.” His smile dissipated. “He'll be exhausted later.”

Annie agreed. “I'll check on him in a while.” She hesitated. “Are you hungry? I can fix you a plate—”

His striking golden eyes met hers for several heartbeats. “
Nay
,
I'll fix one myself.” He finished his drink and held out his cup to her. “May I?”

Heart pumping hard, she hurried to refill it. With a crooked smile and a nod of thanks, Jacob accepted the refreshment and left. The warm flutter in her stomach became a painful burning as she watched him walk away, stopping briefly to chat with Noah and Rachel, his brother and sister-in-law, at another table.

She thought about their conversation. He seemed different, but then she hadn't seen much of him since that first day. She had stayed away from the shop. She didn't want to interrupt him when he was hard at work. Her sister Barbara had been the one to offer him meals lately, and Barbara had informed them that he'd accepted a snack, but that he'd been bringing a packed lunch from home.

Annie followed his progress as he headed toward the food table, grabbed a plate and talked with Josie Mast, who stood behind the table and served up his supper.

“Annie.” Rachel smiled at her as she approached. “You look thoughtful.”

Annie nodded. “Rachel, have you ever felt like you've done something wrong and don't know how to make it right?”


Ja
, years ago when I was hospitalized after Abraham Beiler's courting buggy slipped off an icy road, and I was thrown into a ditch.”

Annie had heard about the accident not long after Rachel, the new schoolteacher, had arrived in Happiness. “Why did you feel as if you'd done something wrong?”

“After the accident, Abraham never came to visit me in the hospital—not once, even though we were sweethearts. I wondered what I had done to ruin his affection for me. And I mistakenly felt as if I was being punished.”

Annie felt sympathy for what Rachel had suffered. “That must have been awful.”

Rachel nodded. “But then God brought me Noah. Things happen to us that we can't control,” she continued. “I believe that the Lord has a plan for us. He watches over us and gives us strength when we most need it. I know now that Abraham and I were not meant to be together. It is Noah who God chose for me, and I am grateful to the Lord for giving him to me.”


Ja
, you and Noah are meant to be,” Annie said with a smile. “As Sarah and Jed are.”

Rachel grinned. “As there is someone God has chosen for you. You just don't know who yet.”

Annie glanced toward the food table, where several men were having plates of meat, vegetables and sides dished up for them. “I pray the Lord finds me someone soon,” she confessed softly. She felt Rachel's sympathetic touch on her arm.

BOOK: Love Inspired March 2015 - Box Set 1 of 2: A Wife for Jacob\The Forest Ranger's Rescue\Alaskan Homecoming
7.36Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

Heart Breaths by Hendin, KK
Open Dissent by Mike Soden
The Whole Truth by Kit Pearson
Monkeys Wearing Pants by Jon Waldrep