Noah's Sweetheart (15 page)

Grandma Emma entered the kitchen. “I’ll play,” she said.

They played Dutch Blitz to while away the time until bed.

They heard pounding on the stairs. “John, stop running—” Aunt Mae began, but then she saw the boy’s face. “What’s wrong?”

“Come upstairs. Come see the fire!”

“Fire?” Aunt Mae hurried up the stairs behind her eldest son, followed by her daughters, niece and mother-in-law. There was a good view of the smoke from the windows in the boys’ room.

The dark smoke lifted despite the rain, and the wind threatened to spread the fire, wherever that might be.

“I think that’s Abram’s farm,” Charlotte said with concern.

The storm had started to move away. Thunder continued to rumble in the distance and they could see occasional flashes across the sky. The rain had stopped, and steam rose from the main road’s warm macadam as the water evaporated.

“We’d better see if Amos wants to head over to the Peachy farm,” Aunt Mae said. Turning from the window, she crossed the room and headed toward the stairs.

“Amos!” she called as she descended the stairs. “There’s a fire. We think it may be at Abram’s house.”

Amos came out of the parlor, followed closely by his father. He turned to Harley. “
Dat,
do you want to come?”

“
Ja,
of course. Abram is a
gut
man, and if it’s not Abram’s farm, then it must be another brother’s.”

“
Dat,
I want to go,” Charlotte said.

“Perhaps we should all go, in case we’re needed.”

No one could argue with that logic. They crowded into the family buggy and went on their way. The lane was wet, but the puddles were no obstacles.

“We should alert the Lapps,” Mae suggested as the buggy bumped its way toward the paved road. “We may need the boys’ help.”

“Ja,”
Amos said. “And Samuel’s. I pray that no one is injured.”

Mae’s gaze met Rachel’s. “I pray so, too.”

The Lapp buggy was at the edge of the road when Amos drove near. Samuel stuck his head out the side window. “You saw the fire?”

“Ja,”
Amos called back. “It looks like Abram’s.”

Samuel locked gazes with his friend. “Hope it’s not the house.”

Amos’s eyes widened. “Let’s go.” He worked the gelding into a fast trot as he drove the buggy toward the Peachy farm. Samuel and his sons followed behind them.

Rachel knew that Noah was in the vehicle with his father, but she didn’t turn around. As the buggy neared the farm, the rising tide of smoke brought fear to Rachel’s heart.
Dear Lord, please help them,
she prayed silently.

“It’s the barn!” Charlotte exclaimed as her father parked the buggy a safe distance away.

“The animals!” John shouted.

The scent of smoke was thick in the air as they climbed from the buggy and dispersed. Amos immediately ran toward the barn, as did the Lapp men. Abram was leading one of his horses as he came out of the burning structure. The horse was blindfolded, her face covered by one of Abram’s shirts. Still, the animal was skittish, perhaps sensing danger in the scent of smoke from the fire. Abram spoke softly to her as he led the horse away from the barn and fire toward the back of the house.

Charlotte, Mae, Rachel and Nancy headed toward the house, where the children stood eyeing the fire with frightened eyes. Charlotte immediately hugged the two younger girls.

“Ruthie. Mary Elizabeth,” she crooned. “It will be all right.”

Ruthie raised tear-filled eyes to Charlotte. “We saw a flash and heard a terrible bang, and then the barn was on fire.”

“
Dat
ran outside to get to the animals,” Mary Elizabeth explained. “He got our cows out, and we didn’t want him to go back inside, but he went in and brought out Mattie and Blackie, our horses. Nate and Jonas ran to help him. Jonas led the cows to pasture. Nate shooed the chickens away from the barn and across the yard.”

Rachel knew that Jonas was Abram’s oldest son, and she remembered Nate from his teasing escapade with his sister’s bonnet. Her gaze met her cousin’s over the children’s heads.

“Where’s Jacob?” Charlotte asked, glancing around with concern.

“He’s upstairs,” Mary Elizabeth said. “He wanted to go with
Dat,
but
Dat
wouldn’t let him. He ran up to his room. He was upset that
Dat
didn’t think him man enough to help.”

Rachel saw her cousin’s frown. “I’ll check on him.” She knew where the boys’ room was located from having cleaned the house before the Sunday church service that been held at Abram’s.

Jacob stood at the window, blinking back tears as he watched the scene unfolding outside.

“Jacob.” Rachel approached to stand at the window beside him. “Your
dat
is fine. The animals are safe, and while the barn is lost, your house hasn’t been touched. It’s something to be thankful for.”

“But the barn…”

“They will put out the fire,” she murmured, watching the commotion outside. She caught a glimpse of Noah along with Uncle Amos and the other men carrying buckets of water, swatting at the fire with shovels, as they worked to quell the blaze. She said a silent prayer for a heavy downpour of rain.

Relief came in the form of the fire department from the nearest town. An English neighbor had seen the smoke and come over to help. He had placed a call to the fire department on his cell phone. Within minutes a fire truck entered the yard and the firefighters had their thick hoses trained on the burning structure with the water supply from a tanker truck.

“Let’s go downstairs and see your
vadder,
” Rachel suggested.

Jacob nodded and Rachel held out her hand. He accepted and they walked together down the steps to the main floor.

Charlotte was in the kitchen, fixing food and drink for those who had worked to put out the fire. She poured iced tea and set up a plate of muffins and biscuits with butter and jam.

“They’ll be hungry and thirsty,” she said softly, but Rachel could hear the tremor in her voice.

She saw that Charlotte had the help of her sister, who came out of a back room. “We should make more iced tea and perhaps lemonade,” Nancy suggested as she joined them.

Rachel addressed both sisters. “Jacob and I will be outside.”

Charlotte nodded. “Where’s
Mam?
”

“I’ll find out. She’s probably on the front porch.”

In the yard, Aunt Mae offered the men a basin of water and soap to clean the soot off their faces and hands.

Rachel called back to let her cousins know. She stood behind Jacob with her hands on his shoulders as he stared at the barn. She followed the direction of his gaze and noted the devastation.

“It’s all gone,” the young boy said brokenheartedly.

“Ja.”
Rachel gave his shoulders a little squeeze. “But no one was hurt, nor were the animals. We have much to thank the good Lord for. Barns can be rebuilt, but family or horses cannot.”

Jacob caught sight of Noah, who approached. “Have you seen my
dat?
” the little boy asked.

Noah hunkered down before the distraught boy. “Earlier. He’s fine, Jacob. The last I saw him he was talking with the man from the fire department—
after
the fire was put out.”

The headlights from the fire engines and the lanterns and lights that belonged to Amish church members lit up the yard in the front of the house.

Rachel’s gaze locked with Noah’s brown eyes briefly over Jacob’s head. Feeling a sudden jolt to her midsection, she broke eye contact to search the yard and the newly soaked, smoldering barn. Her heart raced wildly as she looked for signs of Abram. “Jacob, I see him!” She pointed in Abram’s direction.

Jacob caught sight of his
dat
and ran toward him. Rachel watched Jacob hug his father about the waist.

“Are you all right?” Noah asked her softly as he rose to his feet, drawing her attention.

She frowned as her eyes met his. “I should be asking you. You were the one near the fire.”

The corners of his lips curved slightly. “Were you worried?”

“And if I was?”

He looked pleased. “It would be
gut
to know.”

“I was worried. This is a terrible thing.” Her gaze left his to settle on the men gathered near Aunt Mae. Charlotte came out onto the porch with plates of food and a pitcher of lemonade with cups. She lifted a hand to wave. Rachel waved back and turned to see Noah lowering his arm.

Noah wiped his forehead with the back of his hand, leaving a streak of dirt on his skin. Rachel raised her fingers to wipe away the dirt and dropped them before making contact.
What am I doing? This isn’t appropriate behavior!

“Rachel!” Aunt Mae called. “Will you bring clean water and fresh towels?”

“Coming, Aunt Mae!” Rachel glanced down and saw a small red mark on the back of Noah’s hand. “You have a burn,” she said with sympathy. “I’ll get you some ointment.”

Rachel left before Noah could respond, running inside to find a pot to fill with fresh water and to look for clean towels and another bar of soap. While she was inside, she searched through kitchen cabinets until she found some B&W Ointment, an Amish remedy for burns and wounds.

She handed Aunt Mae the supplies she needed and a man from the local fire department came up to the group with a first-aid kit. He offered to check anyone’s injuries.

Rachel saw Noah and then hurried toward him, unscrewing the cap from the ointment as she ran. “Let me see your hand,” she urged as she reached him. She held his hand within her fingers and carefully spread the burn ointment onto the tender, red skin.

She heard a sharp intake of breath and her gaze shot up to lock with his. But it wasn’t pain in his eyes that she saw. It was something else…something she didn’t recognize but that made her feel strange and tingly inside.

“That should help,” she said as she put the cap back on the ointment.

“I appreciate it.” He looked satisfied as he studied his hand.

“Keep it clean,” she warned without meeting his gaze. She didn’t hear his answer as she turned and hurried back toward the house. She caught a glimpse of her cousin Charlotte talking with Abram. Rachel noticed the way Charlotte leaned closer to the widower as they spoke, and she frowned.

What about Noah?

She glanced back, but Noah now stood with his father and brothers as they spoke with the English firefighters.

She had to speak with Charlotte and soon. Was Noah going to court Charlotte?

* * *

The next morning Rachel went downstairs to find Charlotte alone in the kitchen, pulling muffins out of the gas oven.

“Would you like a blueberry muffin?” she greeted Rachel with a quick smile in her direction.

“
Ja,
I would.” Rachel went to a kitchen cabinet and took out plates. She reached for a glass. “Would you like something to drink?”

“Orange juice.” Charlotte began to loosen the muffins from the tin and place them onto a porcelain platter.

“Where is everyone?” Rachel set plates and knives on the table.

“
Mam
and Nancy went to visit Grandma Emma.
Dat,
John and Joshua are out in the fields.” She placed a muffin on each dish. “It’s just you and me for breakfast. The others ate earlier.”

Have I overslept?
Rachel wondered.

“
Dat
asked the boys to get up earlier this morning as they had a lot to do today.
Mam
and Nancy got up to feed them.”

Rachel took the pitcher of juice out of the refrigerator, returning to pour each of them a glass. “Charlotte, may I ask you something?”

Charlotte sat down, broke apart her muffin and spread fresh, homemade butter over each piece. “
Ja,
of course.”

“Alta Hershberger mentioned that you and Noah would be courting soon.” Rachel hesitated as she carefully, methodically buttered her muffin. “But I saw you with Abram. It looked like you are more interested in him.”

Charlotte paused in the act of taking a second bite. “I am,” she said softly, almost as if she was embarrassed.

Rachel took a bite and chewed it thoroughly. She blinked, startled, as her cousin’s words registered. “You are?”

“I like Abram Peachy,” she confessed. “I like Noah, too, but as a friend and a brother. Not as someone to court or marry.”

Rachel felt her jaw drop. “But what about Noah? What if he feels differently?”

Charlotte shrugged. “Noah will be fine. You don’t need to worry about him. He is a
gut
man who will find someone to court and marry.”

Rachel couldn’t stop thinking about her cousin’s words all that day and into the next. Was Charlotte right? Or would Noah be upset to learn that Charlotte liked Abram?

And why did
she
care? She and Noah were friends…nothing more. She liked him—it was true. She wasn’t ready to have a sweetheart. Or was she?

Abraham Beiler. She fell asleep that night thinking of the man she’d thought she’d marry…recalling the accident and the pain of her recovery in the hospital…and afterward.

The next morning when she woke up, she had a headache. Thinking about the past made her sick to her stomach. Her injuries from the accident had been extensive. The doctor had told her it was possible that she might not be able to give birth.

How could she ever marry when she wasn’t able to have children?

Straightening the bed linens in her cousins’ room, Rachel blinked back tears.

She must be content to be a teacher, to enjoy children other than her own, to take joy in teaching them English, writing and mathematics.

She heard talking in the kitchen as she headed downstairs and entered the room.

“The barn raising will be held on Thursday. We’ve put an order in for the lumber, and it will be delivered Wednesday.” Uncle Amos sat at the kitchen table, jotting down notes with a pencil.

“Rachel!” Aunt Mae smiled at her. “We need to prepare food for the workers who will be at the Peachy barn raising. I know you wanted to move into the cottage this weekend…”