Rebecca's Rose (25 page)

After sniffling in his arms for a few minutes, she retrieved a handkerchief from her pocket and mopped her face. “You are not little Levi anymore. Luckily you did not inherit your height from your mutter’s side.”

They laughed through their tears.

“And where is Beth?”

“Away at school,” Mom said.

Mammi nodded. “She was always a smart girl, my Beth.” She gestured to the sofa. “Cum reu and sit. I have some whoopie pies in the fridge.”

“Nancy,” the bishop said, “we have come to ask you something.”

“Everybody sit,” Mammi said. “With the bishop’s approval, we can give you money, if you need. That other time you asked—”

“I did not think it wise,” the bishop said.

“I understood,” Mom said. She sat between Levi and Mammi on the sofa and took both of their hands before pausing to choose her words. “Mamm, I want to come back to the church.”

Mammi’s mouth fell open. Then there was another round of tears as she buried her face in Mom’s neck and couldn’t speak for a full minute. When she regained her composure, she patted Mom on the cheek. “I will fetch Alphy.” She jumped up from her place and disappeared into the other room, but they could still hear her voice. “He told me, ‘Prayer works, Nancy. Prayer works.’”

The bishop smiled. “I do not think this will be a problem.”

Whereas Mammi hadn’t changed a bit, Levi barely recognized
Dawdi
. His peppered-black beard had filled in snowy white, and a maze of wrinkles lined his face. Leaning heavily on a cane, he slowly shuffled into the room, stooped and arthritic. Mammi followed close behind with her hand on his back in case he stumbled.

“Look what we have here,” he said, his booming voice shaking the rafters. “A sight for sore eyes, I’d say.”

Mom stood to embrace him and then Levi took his turn. Dawdi had always been larger than life, but now his arms looked like matchsticks and he had shrunk at least three inches.

Dawdi shook his finger at Levi. “If I did not know better, I would say you is Isaac Stutzman alive and well. Only taller. You is the spitting image of your dat.”

Levi felt like his heart might swell right out of his chest.

“Mary wants to come home,” Mammi said. “Back to the church.”

Dawdi threw his head back and almost fell over. Mammi caught him by the arm. “Prayer works, Nancy,” he said.

They settled onto the two sofas, and Dawdi sank into his lumpy recliner.

“Mary is wondering if she and Levi could move into the dawdi house. At least until they can work out a place of their own,” Bishop Bender said.

Mammi’s eyes got as big as saucers. “You coming too, Levi?”

“Yeah. I want to be baptized.”

Dawdi pointed his finger at the ceiling. “Prayer works, Nancy.”

“Ruth and Ben want to move in when the new baby comes in the spring. Ben is Barbara’s oldest boy. But we can put them off if you need the apartment.”

“No,” Mom said, “just for a few months. We want to buy our own place once we get settled.”

“I’d just as soon you stay with us,” Mammi said. “I have missed out on fifteen years with you.”

“We will find something very close, Lord willing,” Mom said.

“Mary must still be shunned for six weeks before being accepted into full fellowship,” said the bishop, turning to Mom. “You cannot eat at the same table or associate with the community. This is done out of love for one who is baptized, and out of concern for your soul. To remind you of your sins and motivate you to repentance.”

“I understand the conditions,” Mom said.

The bishop inclined his head. “Levi has not been baptized and will not be shunned. He must take the baptism classes, and then, Lord willing, his baptism can take place after the new year.”

Blood raced through Levi’s veins. Is this what he wanted?

Yes. Rebecca’s love drove him forward.

“When do you want to move in?” Mammi asked. “The brothers can help move your things tomorrow if you like.”

“We need a few weeks to settle our affairs. Beth is coming for a visit next weekend, and we will tell her the news then. I must give notice at the hospital, and we need to work out payment with our landlord.” Mom looked at Levi. “And Levi wants to wait until the first snow.”

“An inconvenient time to move furniture,” Dawdi said.

“This is the hardest part,” Levi said, leaning closer to Dawdi. “We don’t want you to tell anybody until the day we move in.”

“But the family will be thrilled. I cannot keep the good news bottled up,” Mammi protested.

Levi reached across his mom and took Mammi’s hand. “This is very important to me. There is someone else who needs to hear the news first.”

Mammi bit her lip then patted Levi’s hand. “Right as rain, then. I will not say a word, and neither will Alphy.”

“Jah,” Dawdi said. “Nancy has the loose tongue. Not me.”

“Alphy, don’t you talk about your wife that way,” Mammi said.

Levi nodded. Rebecca had to be the first to know.

He dialed her phone number several times a day even when he knew she wouldn’t have her phone on, just to hear her on the voice mail.

Even though being away from her made him feel as if an empty hole gaped right in the middle of his chest, he was determined to honor her father’s wishes.

“
We will see if you truly mean what you say.”

I do, Mr. Miller. Nothing will keep me from loving Rebecca.

Levi had his strategy planned to the last detail. He would take her skiing in the morning and then out to dinner at Chez Henrie in the evening. Sitting in the priciest café in town, he would tell her he was joining the Amish church.

He pictured her laughing with pure joy and throwing her arms around his neck—the best moment of his life, and it hadn’t even happened yet.

“We was planning to fix the plumbing in the old place,” Dawdi said. “I will get Titus to look at it right away.”

“But no spilling the beans,” Mammi said.

“I am not the gossip in this house.”

Levi grinned. He looked forward to knowing his grandparents again.

Dawdi clapped his hands together. “Let’s talk about what you have been doing for the last eight years.”

“Fifteen years, Alphy,” Mammi said.

“I know that,” Dawdi said.

“Oh, Alphy, dear, you did not.”

“Yes, I did, but maybe I only want to hear about the last eight.”

Oh, yes, Levi wanted to know his grandparents again. In the meantime, he waited impatiently for the first good skiing weather.

Rebecca stared out the window with her hands in the sink, unable to muster the energy to finish the dishes. She gazed at the exact spot where Levi and Danny had fixed the lawn mower, what seemed like three years ago. She thought of Linda’s reaction when she laid eyes on Levi—much the same as hers. Levi was good-looking, but Rebecca knew his heart. And she missed him mighty terrible, grieving for his loss as if it had already happened. Might as well have happened. She never saw him.

Slowly swishing the rag around the inside of a cup, Rebecca imagined Levi standing outside the window beckoning her to come and look at the barn or the garden or the apple trees.

The cup slipped from her fingers and into the soapy dishwater, where it cracked another cup. Rebecca growled.

Max lugged the full milk pails into the kitchen and set them on the floor. Rebecca washed with renewed vigor when Max came through the door.

“All done with the milking, then?” she said.

“Marvin did it,” Max said. “Levi never milked the cows for me. He tricked me into finishing the job myself. Don’t think for a minute that I didn’t know what he was doing. I let him trick me because I knew I should do the milking myself and not let a stranger take over the job.” He stared out the window at the barn. “I wish he was back.”

Rebecca concentrated on her dishwater. “Do you?”

Max grabbed an apple from the basket and took a monstrous bite.

“You will ruin your supper,” Rebecca said.

“My supper is ruined every Wednesday,” Max said. “All we do is sit and listen to Marvin talk about the dairy. I used to think working at the dairy sounded like fun. Not anymore. It wonders me how someone can make chocolate ice cream sound as dull as dishwater.” Max draped his arm around Rebecca’s shoulder. “Take my advice. On the day you marry him, buy some earplugs. You will be much happier.”

Reality crept up on Rebecca and squeezed the air out of her lungs. Even Max expected a wedding to come of this. Was there any use in fighting it?

The only groom she wanted was a boy she couldn’t marry. She should quit this childish pining for him and surrender to her fate.

But she needn’t be in a hurry. With Mamm feeling poorly and the work piling up, Rebecca could put off marriage for three or four more years. That thought cheered her considerably. Perhaps it would be enough time to get used to the idea of Marvin Yutzy as a husband.

If Fater thought that separating her from Levi would bring an end to her feelings for him, he was mistaken. Every day she didn’t see Levi only heightened her longing. Although he called every day, she hadn’t laid eyes on him for three weeks. Could she bear being away from him for the rest of her life?

What was the alternative?

Texting you isn’t near as good as seeing you. I wish I were there to chop firewood. The days are so cold.

Marvin chopped a whole cord yesterday.

Levi, are you there?

Does he come every week?

Yes. So far four times.

I’m glad you have help.

I can also tell you how much milk every cow at Eicher’s Dairy gives. To the gallon. LOL

Yesterday I watched a video on YouTube about how to milk a cow so I could feel close to you.

You don’t have to suffer. I will ride the bus to town and come to your work.

No, I want to do this right. I want your dad to approve.

My fater will never approve.

Levi, are you there?

When Levi didn’t answer her text after a few minutes, Rebecca reluctantly left her phone in her room and went to the kitchen to fetch Mamm’s food. It had been almost six weeks since she had seen Levi. Thanksgiving was next week. Perhaps the extra work would take her mind off him. She could only hope.

She marched into Mamm’s room with a tray of food. “Supper,” she trilled.

“Ah, Rebecca, you are too gute to me.”

Mamm slowly sat up and fixed the pillow at her back. “Two plates?” she said. “You must think I am very hungry.”

“I thought I would eat with you tonight,” Rebecca said. “We can talk.”

Mamm’s eyes twinkled, and she nodded slowly. “Marvin is still here, isn’t he?”

Rebecca sighed. “Some days I am afraid I will be unkind and say something I should not. Better to hide in here than to be rude to Marvin.”

“It is good of him to help with the chores.”

“Jah. I am so wicked to have these feelings against him.”

“Feelings are not wicked. It is how we express those feelings that is important.”

“So, it is gute I am sitting here with you while Marvin is at the table with Max and Danny and Linda, telling them how records are kept on dairy cows.”

“Jah, very gute. I would hate to have you insult Marvin’s cows.”

“I wish he would not come,” Rebecca said. “It is too cold for him to stay outside all afternoon, and when he is in the house, I cannot get any work done for his talking.”

“Levi came to work on the farm,” Mamm said. “Marvin, it seems, comes to work on you.”

“Levi let me be.” Rebecca’s voice broke. “Marvin loves the sound of his own voice.”

Mamm did not take her eyes from Rebecca’s face. “You seem so blue. I have St. John’s wort if you want to take some.”

“Nae, I am fine. Do not worry about me.”

Mamm pursed her lips. “I saw this coming. I should have done more to stop it. But he made you so happy.”

“My feelings do not matter. I will do my duty.”

“Your happiness matters very much.”

“Enough for you to see me marry an Englischer and leave the community?”

Mamm didn’t answer.

“You see, my happiness is not that important.”

“I do not think marrying this Englischer will make you happy in the long run,” Mamm said.

“Of course you are right, but it does not matter what will make me happy. I will always care for you, Mamm.” Rebecca decided she might like the conversation in the kitchen better. “I will go to see if Linda has started the dishes and come fetch your plate when you are done.”

She bent over and kissed her mamm on the forehead then trudged out of the room, leaving her plate with the food untouched.

She opened the door before he knocked. There he stood, as if summoned from her store of good memories, with a rose in his hand and an irresistible smile on his face.

“You’re even more beautiful than I remember,” Levi said.

Rebecca leaped forward and almost bowled him over when she threw her arms around his neck. Let Fater chastise and Max tease her. She didn’t care. She could have tucked herself right next to his heart and died there.

“Hey, kid,” he said softly as he wrapped his arms as far around her as they would go.

She melted into his warm embrace.

“We don’t even have to go skiing,” Levi said. “I would rather just stand like this all day.” He stroked the braid that she had fashioned under her white beanie. She breathed in his clean scent as they stood holding each other.

“Me too.” She didn’t want to face the inevitable end.

After a few glorious minutes, Levi broke contact. He handed her the rose and took her hand. “Let’s get going,” he said. “This is what we’ve both been waiting for.”

Encased in a white ski suit that Levi had borrowed from…she couldn’t remember who, Rebecca felt as if she were made of marshmallows—roly-poly with lots of padding. The boots, skis, and poles were rentals, which she had insisted on paying for. She hadn’t saved up all that money for nothing. Besides, Levi usually paid for everything.

With her hands buried in thick gloves, she clutched her ski poles in case they decided to leap out of her hands and leave her defenseless against the formidable hill. The bunny hill, Levi called it, but there was nothing cute and cuddly about it.