The Matchmaker (23 page)
Paul stood among the men, rarely lifting his eyes to seek out his new bride. Emma noticed that fact right away and wondered whether or not Alice was as talkative with her husband as she was with the women in the room. Without doubt, Emma began to wonder at the attraction between Paul and Alice, for she was as different from her as night was to day. She also pondered the irony that Hannah would have been a far better match for Paul than this loud, boisterous, and overly conversant woman from Ohio! She was curious as to how such a match had possibly occurred. But her curiosity was soon to be satisfied.
“It was my
onkel
who introduced us,” Alice said in her raucous voice to the small gathering of young women who circled her. “He’s a bishop, you know, in one of the largest
g’mays
in the Dutch Valley.” The way she drew out the word
largest
hinted at pride, and Emma fought the urge to make a comment. Not that it would have mattered, she realized, for Alice Esh went on talking, apparently more interested in hearing herself speak than in engaging in an actual conversation with her unfortunate captive audience.
Emma quickly lost interest in the conversation, but she knew she could not leave the circle of young women around the guest of honor without appearing rude or, even worse, like a disgruntled jilted woman. After all, she had no idea who else, besides her
daed
and Anna, might have suspected Paul’s interest in her.
Instead, while Alice prattled on about her
onkel
, Bishop Kaufman, Emma pondered this new bit of information. Was it possible that Paul had sought out Alice Hetzler to not
only repair his self-esteem but to also build up his standing within the community? With his
daed
heading up their
g’may
and Alice the niece of another bishop, was this a marriage of true emotion or merely convenience and social suitability? She highly doubted the former, which therefore gave her cause to suspect the latter.
It wasn’t until after the meal when the singing commenced that Emma managed to break free from what she had begun to think of as Alice’s audience. The older women were washing the dishes and Emma slipped outside to cool off. With over two hundred people in the
haus
, it had grown increasingly warm, and Emma needed a moment of quiet to think.
She hadn’t expected to encounter Francis standing on the porch. Clearly he had the same idea. He grinned when he saw her and invited her to join him. He was leaning against the railing, his eyes scanning the farm fields that surrounded the Esh’s
haus
. While the bishop did not farm, per se, his wife and three
dochders
ran a small garden center from spring to autumn, while his sons planted hay which often yielded three or even sometimes four cuttings per season. The older boys helped grow plants and flowers in their greenhouse, and the Esh women sold them at the garden center. It was enough to keep the family living modestly without taking up too much of the bishop’s time so that he could minister to his flock.
“Have you enjoyed yourself so far today, Emma?” Francis asked.
“I always enjoy meeting new people and engaging in good fellowship,” she responded, trying to be as diplomatic as possible without telling a lie.
He must have seen through her for he laughed. “Good
fellowship, it seems to me, would require the participation of multiple people in a conversation and not just the ramblings of one.”
Emma was startled by his frankness and almost thought to say something. However, since she actually agreed with him and interpreted his candor to mean that there was a budding intimacy between them, one shared by friends, she kept her thoughts to herself. “I’m sure it’s overwhelming, given that you most likely don’t remember many of the people here.”
He gave a little grunt in agreement, nodding his head. “True, indeed! At least you have your friends nearby,” he added. “Hannah, Rachel, Jane . . . ”
“Jane?” Emma couldn’t help but interrupt him. “Why, I barely know Jane, I suppose. I’m not certain I would consider her a friend.” Then, to soften her words, she quickly added, “Yet, anyway.”
“There’s always time,” Francis observed.
“Ja vell
.” Emma shrugged. “But she is to return to Ohio in . . . what . . . another week or two? What is the point, really?”
“She seems pleasant enough,” he offered. “Although I do find her complexion a bit weathered for my taste.” He laughed when he said this and Emma smiled at his comment, which clearly hinted that Jane came from a farming background. While there was nothing vulgar about a young woman working on a farm, for many Amish women did it, there definitely was a different level of sophistication among children who grew up on farms as opposed to those who lived and worked among the
Englische
.
“I hadn’t noticed,” Emma said, surprised at the urge to defend Jane. “She still seems refined and proper. Her
manners are . . . ” She hesitated and looked for the appropriate word. “Respectable.”
Francis shrugged his shoulders. “
Mayhaps
I cannot separate her manners from her complexion.” He laughed again and Emma wasn’t certain whether or not he was teasing her.
“And how are you getting on working with Gideon King?” she asked, eager to change the subject. Her opinion of Francis was changing rather rapidly, for she had not appreciated his comments about Jane’s appearance. She hoped to divert his attention to a new topic to counter the negative feeling she began to feel from his rather unkind observation.
“Carpentry work is carpentry work,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders and bored look upon his face. “And storage sheds are easy enough, I reckon. Not much creativity in it. In fact, it’s rather dull.” He leaned forward and brushed at something on her shoulder. When she looked down, she saw a piece of lint upon her dress. While his gesture smacked of familiarity, she appreciated the thoughtfulness behind it. “And how have you been, Emma Weaver? We didn’t have time to talk after last Sunday’s service, and I noticed you were absent from the youth singing that evening.”
Forgotten was his comment about Jane’s complexion. “I had such a long week,” she admitted. “Between helping my
schwester
Irene and her
kinner
, then tending to market, I needed to rest Sunday evening.”
“Your friend Hannah was there,” he mentioned.
Emma brightened at that news. It was a right
gut
sign that Hannah was fitting into the community and especially the youth group if she attended a singing without Emma. While they had not seen much of each other this week, Hannah had whispered to her earlier that very day that she had some exciting news to tell her. Based on what Francis had just
informed her, she wondered if it had to do with someone asking to take her home after the singing.
“As it were, without you there, I felt obliged to offer both her and Jane a ride home.” This additional information caused her heart to swell at the insinuation that he would have rather offered her a ride home. But her stomach sank as she realized that Hannah’s exciting news did not involve a new beau on the horizon. At least not from the previous week’s singing, she assumed.
When the door opened and several young men emerged from the house, Emma was quick to excuse herself and return inside before her presence was missed. Once inside she searched the room, eager to find Hannah. To her surprise, Hannah was talking with Gideon and Samuel in the back of the kitchen, so as not to disturb those singing in the larger gathering room. Eager to find out Hannah’s news, Emma wasted no time to hurry over there.
“There she is!” Samuel called out jovially when Emma approached. “I had some of your schnitzel pie. Delicious as always.”
She bowed her head at his compliment. “No more so than any other, I presume.”
Gideon’s amused look at her attempt at humility did not go unnoticed, and her thoughts flickered back to the previous weekend when they had shared words. She chose to ignore him.
Turning her attention to Hannah, she gently laid her hand upon her friend’s arm. “I thought that I would see if you wanted to visit afterward at our house,” she asked. “When the gathering breaks up.”
To Emma’s surprise, Hannah glanced at Gideon then looked back at Emma. “I . . . I . . . ” The way that she
stammered over her response indicated that she wanted to accept Emma’s offer, but something, perhaps another commitment, was hindering her from being able to do so. Clearly whatever it was made her uncomfortable.
Gideon saved Hannah from having to answer. “I’ve already volunteered to take Hannah home afterward. Gladys left already, and there is a threat of rain.”
The proper recourse would have been to invite both of them to visit. However, Emma was still smarting from Gideon’s perceived injury to her ego the previous Sunday. With her chin tilted stoically in the air, Emma feigned disappointment. “What a shame,” she replied. “Perhaps over the weekend then?
Mayhaps
this off-Sunday?”
Hannah cast another furtive glance at Gideon.
“Am I missing something?” Emma asked, half in jest, half in annoyance. She felt like there was a secret among the group, one that she was not privy to, and that did not sit well with her.
“I meant to speak to you about this, but I haven’t had the chance,” Gideon said, addressing Emma directly. “If the weather holds up, we’ve planned a picnic at the Yoder’s pond this Sunday to get to know Alice Esh in a less formal setting.”
Emma could only imagine who was included in this “we” that had taken care to plan such an excursion without including her in the planning process. “I see,” she managed to say.
The stiffness of her reply seemed to amuse Gideon. He leaned forward and lowered his voice. “Don’t fret. You
are
invited, Emma,” he said in her ear, his breath warming her neck and causing her to blush; whether it was his close
proximity to her or the fact that her reaction had been so transparent, she wasn’t certain.
Frowning, she leaned away from him and gave him a disapproving look, one that caused him to chuckle to himself as he returned to an upright position.
It took another fifteen minutes for Emma to finally have Hannah’s undivided attention. The older people had begun to leave while the younger, unmarried adults lingered around Paul and Alice, singing. It was the perfect opportunity for Emma and Hannah to catch up without fear of being interrupted.
“What was this news?” Emma ventured to ask.
Hannah’s face lit up and she smiled shyly at Emma. “You’ll never guess whom I ran into at market this week?”
So that was where Hannah had been! Emma tilted her head and held her breath, waiting to hear this big revelation that caused her friend to glow from head to toe. “I’m sure that I can hardly imagine!”
“Elizabeth Martin!”
Not being familiar with the name, it took Emma a few seconds to realize that Hannah was referring to Ralph Martin’s sister. “Oh!”
Hannah nodded. “And they’ve invited me to visit!”
“They?”
Hannah averted her eyes. “She was not alone.”
Of course she wasn’t. Strasburg was far enough away from the market where Hannah was working that it would not make sense for her to travel such a distance by herself. Certainly Ralph would have accompanied her, eager to run his own errands rather than make a separate trip at a later date.
True to the promise that she had made to herself about
meddling in other people’s affairs, Emma did not respond, not wanting to sway Hannah one way or the other. After all, she reasoned, it was up to Hannah to decide whether she wanted to encourage that courtship or possibly pursue what was looking like a potential interest in her from Gideon. She didn’t quite understand why, but the thought of Gideon actually wishing to court Jane or Hannah did not sit well with Emma. It was as though she had always presumed that they were both going to remain single forever, bickering and arguing well into their old age.
Mayhaps
, she told herself, there is, indeed, someone for everyone. After all, who was she to question God’s plans?
