Where Love Dwells (10 page)

Judging by the grins on their faces, Emma had no doubt that they had all been part of this plot to surprise her.

Laughing, Zachary handed her the reins to the chestnut mare. “Since you already knew about the surprise I'd planned for you, we thought it only fitting to make sure we salvaged a bit of it. Have I assumed correctly that this is the horse you prefer?”

Blinking back tears, she swallowed hard, held tight to the reins,
and stroked the length of the mare's forehead. “She's absolutely beautiful. Thank you,” she murmured and hoped her heart would fall back into a normal rhythm before she fainted.

He caught her gaze and held it, then whispered so only she could hear him, “If you'll allow me, pleasing you is but one way I plan to spend my life. I've arranged to have your horse boarded with mine at the livery so we can ride whenever we like.”

“Surprised?” Mother Garrett asked, unaware from her vantage point a good fifteen feet away that she had interrupted a tender moment for Emma and Zachary.

Emma readily forgave her, if only to unravel the mystery of how these three people had cooked up their conspiracy against her. “In all truth, I'm completely surprised. Exactly how did you manage to keep this a secret from me?” she asked, realizing that in order to make this happen today, her mother-in-law must have gone to Zachary and admitted she had unintentionally revealed his secret.

Mother Garrett grinned again. “I knew I'd get the opportunity to talk to Mr. Breckenwith on Sunday. After services, you were so busy showing off those grandsons of yours, you didn't even notice we were chatting together for a good while. And this time, I didn't blab a word about this new secret of ours.”

Zachary nodded. “After your mother-in-law's most heartfelt confession that she had divulged most of the secret we had shared, I thought I owed her the opportunity to make good. And that she did, for which I am very grateful,” he said and tipped his hat to Mother Garrett. “Well done!”

Beaming, Mother Garrett actually blushed.

“So you're responsible for dreaming up this whole scheme today?” Emma asked her mother-in-law.

“I am, although I couldn't have done it without Mr. Kirk's
help. He's promised to take the horse you don't want back to the livery on our way out to the farm so you two can just head off for a nice ride together.”

“After all the kindnesses you've shown for me and mine, I was pleased to be able to help,” Mr. Kirk added, sitting up just as straight as his seventy-odd years would allow.

“Then you really are going to the farm to get those chickens. That wasn't part of the ruse?” Emma asked.

Her mother-in-law rolled her eyes. “No, I'm afraid not, but if those chickens aren't crated up good before they're even put into the back of this wagon, I'm walking home.”

Emma chuckled. “I don't imagine Mr. Kirk would let that happen.”

“I surely won't, although there still might be a surprise or two left to the day,” he suggested, clearly hoping Mother Garrett would surprise him by accepting yet another proposal of marriage he planned to make today.

Mother Garrett cast him a withering glance before catching Emma's gaze again. “With the weather as fair as it is now, I doubt you'll find much mud today, but be careful anyway,” she cautioned.

Zachary nodded. “I promise. I'll take good care of her.”

“And well you should, young man. Emma is a precious woman, especially to me.”

“And to me,” he whispered to Emma. “Are you certain of your choice? No second thoughts?” he asked as he held up the reins to the bay mare.

Emma's heart swelled, but her gaze was focused only on the man standing before her. She had known him and worked with him now for five years, but she had only truly come to know the man he was during their courtship. True, he was a strikingly handsome
man, but he was also kind and generous and thoughtful, as well. They were well matched in both intellect and wit, and his fortune was at least equal to her own, as far as she could tell.

Both of them could be persistent, if not stubborn, to a fault. Both of them were also strong-willed. But more importantly, both of them valued family and placed God at the center of their lives.

And at that very moment, blessed with the gift of faith-filled certainty, she knew exactly how she wanted to spend the rest of her life—and with whom.

Always decisive and straightforward in business, she could be no less in her personal life and plunged straight ahead. With her heart pounding, she locked her gaze with his and held out her hand to him. “I am very certain of my choice,” she began, “and I have no second thoughts at all. You're the one man whose name I want to carry for the rest of my days. You're the one man I want to care for and love and cherish, and I would be most honored and most blessed if you would allow me to accept your proposal and become your wife.”

He smiled tenderly, took hold of her hand, and clasped it tight.

9

S
TILL FLUSHED FROM THE EXCITEMENT
of her day, Emma pulled a chair over from the table in front of Jonas and Paul, who were seated in their high chairs waiting for their supper.

Holding any meaningful conversation was a bit of a challenge with Liesel and Ditty scurrying back and forth between the kitchen and the dining room, Mother Garrett giving orders, and the twins babbling as they gnawed on heels of pumpernickel bread slathered with butter.

Emma positioned her chair sideways so she could keep an eye on the twins and continue talking with Mother Garrett and Catherine, who were fixing platters of roasted potatoes and mashed turnips. Zachary was due back momentarily for supper. Mark and Mr. Kirk were outside taking care of one of this afternoon's developments while Emma tried to settle another.

“Mercy is a perfectly wonderful name,” she argued without bothering to hide her grin.

Mother Garrett sniffed. “Not for a horse.”

“But this is a special horse, with special memories attached to it. If I name her Mercy, then I'll always be reminded of how hard
you worked to keep your secret and how successful you were. If you're that unhappy about it, I can try to think of another,” Emma said.

“Star would be a good name,” Catherine suggested as she layered slices of cold ham on a platter. “Mark and I didn't get to spend much time with you when you stopped us along Main Street to tell us your news, but the moment I saw how the horse had that dab of white on its face, I thought it looked just like a falling star.”

Emma tugged on the heel of bread little Paul had stuck too far into his mouth until she was certain he wouldn't choke. “That's one possibility, but the horse is a mare. Since I never had a daughter, I was hoping to pick out a girl's name for once,” she said as Ditty hurried into the kitchen and took the platter of ham from Catherine.

Emma took one look at the young woman's pale face, bolted from her seat, swiped her hands on her apron, and took the platter of ham away. “I'll take care of this. I want you to go upstairs right now and rest,” she insisted. She studied the row of four black stitches in the girl's chin, as well as the angry red blotches on her cheek where the doctor had removed several wooden splinters, and shook her head. “You took a good fall today on that sidewalk, and you shouldn't be rushing around like this.”

Liesel came into the room while Emma was talking to Ditty and nodded. “Dr. Jeffers told you to lay down for the rest of the day. If you won't listen to him and you won't listen to me, you'll have to listen to Widow Garrett,” she said firmly and took the platter from Emma.

Emma cocked her head, reached out to grab hold of the bread Jonas was dangling over the side of his chair before he dropped it, and frowned. “You didn't tell me what Dr. Jeffers told you to do.”

Ditty's eyes filled with tears. “I didn't want you to be mad at me. With your family here, I know how much you need my help, but I didn't mean to trip up the steps to the sidewalk and I didn't mean to hurt myself and I didn't mean to start feeling so queasy and I don't know how I'm going to pay Dr. Jeffers because my family needs my wages. . . .” Quaking, she dissolved into tears and covered her face with her hands.

Emma dropped the greasy bread onto Jonas' tray, wiped her hands on her apron again, and put her arm around Ditty's shoulders. “Accidents happen, Ditty, and all I want you to worry about right now is getting some rest so you can help me tomorrow. Can you do that?”

Ditty nodded and winced as she wiped her tears from her cheeks.

“Good,” Emma murmured, took the platter back from Liesel, and nodded to her. “I'll set this on the table if you'll see that Ditty gets back to your room and into bed. I don't want her going up all those steps to the garret by herself.”

Liesel took Ditty by the arm. “Widow Garrett's right. You'll feel better in the morning,” she said soothingly as she led Ditty toward the staircase that led to the hallway on the second floor. “I'll bring you up some food later.”

“I'll take that to the dining room for you,” Catherine said and took the platter from Emma's hands. “I need to go upstairs anyway to get something. I'll be right back,” she promised and slipped into the dining room.

Mother Garrett shook her head. “I don't believe I ever saw so many hands on a single platter of ham before it reached the table. Then again, I haven't been proven wrong twice in the same day, either.”

Emma chuckled as she sat down with her grandsons again.
“Did you hear that, little ones? Big Grams admitted she was wrong not once, but twice today, and if you're good little boys, she might tell us all why,” she crooned as she wiped first one mouth and then the other. Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced at Mother Garrett to see if the name the twins had given to her was sitting any better.

“Big Grams,” Mother Garrett mumbled. “If the two of those boys weren't my great-grandsons, I might have a word or two to say about what they're calling me,” she said in a whisper, as if making sure Catherine would not overhear her.

Emma smiled at the twins and their innocence as they continued to babble to each other while smearing their trays with the slobbery bread. At two, although they were becoming quite verbal, they had quickly given up on trying to say Great-Grandmother and Grandmother. Instead, relying on the physical difference between Mother Garrett, who wore a wide girth, and Emma, who was slender, they had substituted Big Grams and Little Grams all on their own.

“I think it's adorable and very clever of them. I also think they're finished eating for now,” she added, watching the two of them playing with the remnants of their snack. At this point, both of the boys had butter and bits of gooey bread smeared from their foreheads to their chins and from their hands to their elbows, but they were happy and content, which was all Emma needed to see.

“Maybe you're right,” Mother Garrett said as she hefted a tray of pickled condiments from the table. “It'll just take some getting used to, although I might ask you to reconsider naming your horse for me. And while you're at it, you might want to come up with some names for those three new nanny goats. After I set this out, I'm going to the patio to call the menfolk in to eat. Let's hope Mr.
Breckenwith gets here by then,” she added with a twinkle in her eye before turning to head into the dining room.

Emma groaned, thinking of her return from her afternoon ride. Instead of finding two new chickens in the winter coop next to the house, she had found three young nanny goats in the summer pen, where she intended to move her chickens any day now.

“You can't leave yet!” Emma argued.

Her mother-in-law looked back at her over her shoulder. “Why can't I?”

“You said you were proven wrong twice today. I was wondering how.”

“First, I was wrong to trust Anson Kirk. He fooled me into thinking we were going out to the farm for chickens when he knew well and good he was going to fetch those goats. Not that it wasn't a good idea,” she admitted. “Those goats will keep the grass trimmed around the gazebo just fine, and we won't have to worry about hiring some strapping young man to come out here to cut it back. He'd likely have one eye on Liesel and Ditty while he was working and wind up hurting himself like that Anderson boy did last spring. I can't imagine what might happen if Wryn stays to join them.”

“Neither can I,” Emma replied. She also did not want to think about her dream birthday celebration and how it might end up more of a nightmare if that young woman did not change her ways. “What's the second way you were proven wrong?” she prompted, anxious to distract herself from her thoughts.

“Ditty. I've said all along that the poor clumsy girl would grow into her feet someday, but I was wrong. She was just born clumsy and she'll die clumsy. In between, let's hope she finds a man who can keep her safe from herself,” she said and left the room.

Laughing, Emma turned her attention to her two grandsons.
“Come on, babies. We've got to think of some names. Ridiculous, outrageous, and silly come to mind. Do you like those names for the goats Mr. Kirk brought to Little Grams?” she crooned.

Jonas' eyes widened and he grinned, showing off his baby teeth. “Goats! Goats!” he exclaimed.

Paul clapped his hands, splattering Emma with bits of buttered bread. “Goats! See goats!”

Emma chuckled. “Not now, boys. Maybe tomorrow. Your father and Mr. Kirk are busy making the pen stronger so the goats don't run away,” she said, although the prospect of finding the goats gone in the morning was rather appealing. When both boys puckered their lips, she tapped on their trays. “Look! You still have bread. M-m-m-m-m. Good,” she said and pretended to take a nibble.

Giggling, both boys picked up their smashed bread and began decorating their trays again.

“Jonas! Paul! What are you doing?” Catherine asked as she returned to the kitchen and set a small package on the table. “You mustn't ever, ever play with your food.” Although her voice was soft, her frown was stern. Both boys cried when she reached in front of Emma to take the remains of their snack away.