Noah's Sweetheart (11 page)

“Where are you riding today?” Rachel asked.

“Going to visit my cousin John.”

“Tell your aunt Sarah that I will be by to see her soon.”

“I will.” With a push of one bare foot, Thomas was off, riding down the road toward Rachel’s cousin Sarah’s house.

As Rachel drove by the schoolhouse on her way to the King farm, she saw Noah and Jedidiah outside the teacher’s cottage working to trim the bottoms off several wooden interior doors lined up on sawhorses. She waved as they looked up.

“Rachel!” Noah greeted, and Rachel could see his surprise in finding her alone in the buggy. With saw in hand, he approached. “It’s nice to see you out and about.”

“Your house is almost finished,” Jedidiah said with a smile as he joined Noah. “Would you like to come see?”

“I would,” Rachel said, “but I have to pick up a few baking supplies and get back to Abram Peachy’s.”

Noah nodded. “This Sunday’s church services are at Abram’s.”

“
Ja,
which is why Charlotte is waiting for me to bring her unsweetened cocoa powder and vanilla.”

“Will you stop by later?” Noah asked.

“Tomorrow if not today,” Rachel said.

“You’ll be able to move in the week after next,” Jedidiah informed her.

“I’ll try to come after I’m finished at Abram’s. I’d like to see the house. It’s been some time since I’ve visited. Charlotte and Nancy will want to see it, too.”

Noah pushed back his hat with his free hand. “
Mam
is making you window curtains.”

They would be plain white window coverings, nothing fancy, as was the Amish way, but useful for privacy. “That is kind of Katie.” The mare danced lightly, and Rachel calmed her.

“She wants to know when you’ll stop by to visit.”

“Tell her I’ll be by as soon as I can. We’ve kept busy in Aunt Mae’s vegetable garden. It’s coming along nicely. We’ve been picking weeds brought on by last week’s rain.” She wanted to stay and chat, especially with Noah, but she had to go. “I will try to come back, but if I don’t make it, I will see you on Sunday.”

“Be mindful of the traffic on this road, Rachel Hostetler,” Noah said softly.

“I will.” Then she was off again with a light toss of the leathers until the vehicle reached the dirt lane that ran to the King home. Swallowing the nervous lump in her throat, she gently tugged on the reins, guiding the horse toward the farmhouse. The gentle animal responded and Rachel found herself even enjoying her return to independence. But as her fears receded, thoughts of Noah lingered, and she tried to force them away.

There was no time for Rachel or either King cousin to see the teacher’s cottage that day. The next afternoon the three young women decided to walk to the schoolyard and cottage.

“Jedidiah said I can move in the week after next,” Rachel said as they walked.

“I don’t think I like you leaving us,” Nancy replied.

“I’ll miss you, too, but I won’t be far, and you can come visit, and even stay the night when you can.”

That seemed to cheer Nancy. “Charlotte, was Abram happy with how the house looked?”

Charlotte had been the last one to leave the Peachy farm. Abram and the children had brought her home after she’d made their supper. “He seemed pleased. The girls enjoyed helping us.”

“Ruthie likes chocolate pudding as much as vanilla,” Rachel said with a smile.

Charlotte’s gaze held a look of fondness for the child. “She had chocolate all around her mouth before she was finished helping.”

“Mary Elizabeth had fudge icing around hers. She did well with cake baking. She’ll be a good cook someday.”

“As long as she has someone to teach her,” Rachel said. “Such a shame that the children have no mother.”

“I imagine he’ll marry one day soon,” Nancy commented.

A strange look passed over Charlotte’s face. “What makes you think that?”

“It’s what Alta Hershberger believes. She said Abram suffered the death of his wife hard, but he seems to be less burdened now. Once a man is less burdened, then it’s only a matter of time before he can open his heart and home to a new wife.”

“Alta Hershberger thinks a lot of things, but that doesn’t make them true,” Charlotte pointed out.

“Ja,”
Nancy agreed as she ran fingers over a honeysuckle bush as she walked.

“Has she decided who this new wife will be?” Charlotte stopped to pick a wildflower.

“
Nay.
She said Abram will decide when the time is right and he has made his choice.”

* * *

Sunday came and went with church services at Abram’s, but with the singing back at the Kings’. As he had the last time, Noah asked to walk Rachel to the house, and she accepted.

During the week that followed, members of the Amish community in Happiness came to furnish and finish the teacher’s house. Rachel was pleased with the way the cottage looked and felt. It would be another week or so until her bed, table and chairs were finished.

Rachel joined the others in whitewashing the interior walls and sweeping the construction dust from the floors and counters.

“You should do well here,” Aunt Mae said as she picked up a dust cloth.

“I will. I will miss living with you and Uncle Amos,” Rachel said as she swept the kitchen floor. “I will miss my cousins.”

“You’re welcome to stay with us as long as you like and to come back anytime. You may not want to move in until right before school starts. I don’t know if I like the idea of you living here alone.” Mae dusted the kitchen-cabinet doors.

“I’m not far from the farm,” Rachel reminded her, “and the Lapps are just a few acres away.”

“
Ja,
I suppose so.” But Aunt Mae looked unconvinced. “You will let Charlotte or Nancy come and stay for a time?”

“Of course.” Rachel paused in the act of sweeping an area near the base of a cabinet. “We’re all family.”

Aunt Mae’s expression softened with a smile as the woman patted her niece’s cheek. “You are a
gut
girl, Rachel Hostetler.”

“It must be the blood we share,” Rachel teased as she raised the broom again, and her aunt chuckled.

Charlotte appeared at the open back door. “Look what he’s brought!” she cried excitedly before she hurried back outside.

Noah entered the kitchen carrying one end of a trestle table, his brother Jedidiah holding the other end. Behind him, brothers Elijah, Jacob and Daniel each brought in a matching chair.

“Thought you might like this now,” Noah said as he set his end of the table down.

“I bet you didn’t expect this today,” Jedidiah added with a grin. He had the handsome Lapp male face, much like Samuel’s and Noah’s, but his hair was dark, and his chin had a slightly different set than Noah’s. His eyes twinkled as he met her gaze before he turned to instruct his younger brothers on where to put the chairs. Elijah, Jacob and Daniel resembled both Katie and Samuel to varying degrees.

“There are more chairs in the wagon,” Noah said, and Rachel followed him outside with broom in hand. There were three more chairs, six in all.

“You made these?” Rachel asked Noah as she watched him hand down another chair to each brother.

“
Ja.
I would have had them done sooner, but I thought it important to finish the house first,” he said.

Rachel nodded as she leaned against the broom handle. “You do fine work.”

“The furniture is serviceable.” He grabbed a step stool and carried it inside the house. He set it beside a cabinet. “For reaching the top shelf.”

Smiling, she’d followed him back inside and set the broom against the wall. She was surprised to see Abram inside the house talking with Charlotte.

“Rachel, Abram brought you a rocking chair and a sewing box,” Charlotte said, looking pleased.

“They are not new. The chair and box belonged to Elizabeth.”

“I will need these, Abram.” Elizabeth was Abram’s late wife. Rachel realized how difficult it must have been for the deacon to lose someone so young. She caught a look between him and Charlotte, and her eyes widened.

She turned, her gaze settling on Noah, who was setting all the chairs in place around the table. Did it bother him to see Charlotte with Abram? Or was she seeing something that simply wasn’t there?

She had thought that Charlotte’s excitement had been in seeing Noah arrive with the furniture he’d made for the teacher’s cottage. Had it been Abram who had drawn her attention and excitement and not Noah?

Studying Noah, she couldn’t help but notice the difference between the two men. Noah was younger, with twinkling eyes and a ready smile. Abram was older, solid, and with kind eyes and a steady yet shy gaze.

Rachel watched her cousin. Charlotte stared at Abram, gazing at him particularly when he wasn’t looking. Rachel frowned. What of Charlotte’s relationship with Noah? Should she ask Charlotte?
The Lord will want me to mind my own business.

The teacher’s house was coming together. It wasn’t ready for her to move in yet. She needed a bed, a stove and linens, as well as other essentials.

“You have all been kind,” she told everyone who had come to help.

As they left, one by one, to return home for supper, Noah stopped before her and said, “It is easy to be kind to you, Rachel Hostetler.”

His words gave her a lot to ponder on the way home.

That night Rachel thought of Noah as she lay, staring at the ceiling. The house was still. All was dark and quiet. Suddenly, she heard a double rumble of thunder.

“What was that?” Nancy said, sitting upright.

“I don’t know,” Charlotte replied. “I don’t think it’s a storm.”

The rumble started again.

“I think it’s the front door,” Rachel whispered.

Charlotte sprang out of bed and into the hall. Mae stood on the landing with a flashlight.

“
Mam,
what is it?”

“Someone is at our door,” Mae said. “Your
dat
went down to see.”

“I hope no one is in trouble,” Rachel said as she joined the other two at the top of the stairs.

Nancy padded out afterward. “What—”

“Shh!” her mother scolded. “I think it’s Abram Peachy.”

“Oh, no! I wonder what he wants.”

“Amos.” Abram stood at his friend’s front door, looking distraught. “Jacob is missing.”

Amos frowned as he stood back and gestured his friend inside. “How long?”

“I don’t know. I thought he had gone to spend the night at your daughter Sarah’s.”

“Dat.”
Amos’s son-in-law, Eli, followed Abram inside.

“Eli,” Amos greeted. “You’ve not seen Jacob?”

“
Nay.
He was to spend the night with us, but the Zooks treated a group of youngsters to ice cream. I thought Jacob went, too, but then John came home alone. We’ve searched everywhere on Abram’s farm, but not here.”

“We should check here, then—and the Zooks’.” Amos turned toward his wife, who was descending the stairs. “Jacob Peachy is missing.”

“We will find him,” Mae said firmly. She addressed her son-in-law. “Sarah and the children?”

“They are at home.” Eli fidgeted as if he was eager to get on with the search. “They are upset and still looking, but she will stay home in case Jacob shows. Abram’s other four are with them. We think it’s best if they remain with Sarah while we look. We searched our property before we came here.”

The cousins and Rachel, overhearing from upstairs, rushed to dress and join the others.

“We’ll help,” Charlotte said.

Rachel nodded. “I’ll check Joshua’s room,” she offered.

Aunt Mae’s eyes lit up. “
Ja,
do that.”

Nancy said, “I’ll go with Eli to the barnyard.”

“I’ll take Abram about the property. There are many places a little boy might hide, and I know them,” Charlotte said.

“I’ll head over to the Lapps’.” Amos hurried upstairs and returned in less than a minute, dressed. He grabbed his hat and settled it on his head. “Abram, Samuel and his sons will help us find him.”

“Danki,”
Abram whispered to Charlotte as they headed out into the night, their path lit by the flashlight Abram carried.

“He’ll be found alive and well soon, Abram.” Charlotte caught and squeezed his hand before releasing it quickly. “Jacob is a
gut
boy, but he is easily distracted.”

“
Ja.
The last time he disappeared, I found him in the barn, sleeping in the hayloft.” He hesitated. “But not this time.”

“Let’s check the north field.” She gestured in that direction. “There is an old lean-to there. Maybe he ran after an animal and took shelter there because he didn’t know how to get home.”

“I hope you are right, Charlotte.” Abram trained the beam of the flashlight across the path before them. “I pray to the dear Lord that he isn’t injured or hurt.”

“I pray, too,” Charlotte whispered as she stepped carefully over a rock.

Back at the house, Rachel waited with Aunt Mae. Jacob wasn’t with Joshua, nor had Joshua seen his friend. Nancy had decided to search with Eli. Amos would return shortly with the Lapp men.

Rachel stood at the window, her heart filled with fear for a frightened little boy. He had been a joy to spend time with when she and Charlotte had watched Jacob and little Ruth earlier in the week. The boy had a lively sense of humor, and she looked forward to having him in her class. He was bright far beyond his young years.

She spied Amos’s buggy and another that followed. “Uncle Amos and the Lapps are here.” She went out onto the porch to meet them.

Amos climbed down from the buggy and approached. “Did ya find him?” he asked. He held his hat in his hands, and his hair looked as if he’d run his hands through it many times.

“
Nay.
Nancy and Eli are checking the barnyard and barn. Charlotte and Abram have gone looking over to the north field.”

Amos looked worried. “We’ll search all of our property before heading back over to the Lapps’. Samuel’s boys are searching there.

“Samuel, you can come with me.” He headed back to his buggy with Samuel following.

“I’ll look with Rachel,” someone said.

Rachel’s breath caught as Noah stepped out of the darkness and onto the porch, his eyes glistening.