The heaven on earth coll.., p.82
The Heaven on Earth Collection,
p.82
Josiah swallowed hard. He wasn’t ready for this, but he weaved through the crowd in their direction anyway.
“Gut to see you, Josiah.”
Eli extended his hand and Josiah shook it. “Jah, you too.”
“This is mei sister Lindie.” Eli nudged her shoulder.
“Hello.” Her voice barely reached a whisper. She kept her head lowered and slightly lifted her eyes to meet his, but the moment she did, she glanced away.
“It’s nice to meet you.” He turned to Eli. “Was your trip gut?” Small talk. He hated every minute.
“It was a long ride, ain’t so, Lindie?” Eli nudged his sister but didn’t receive a response. He readdressed Josiah. “The wedder is much colder up here. Across the Ohio state line, we still have leaves on the trees.”
“We had a few flurries last night.” He lifted his gaze to the cloudy sky. “We’ll probably have another snowfall tonight.” That wasn’t unusual for November.
Eli shifted his feet. “So what time is the bishop expecting us?”
A raspy noise, something between a cough and a gasp, escaped Lindie’s mouth, but she continued to look down.
Josiah hadn’t anticipated Eli rushing the wedding when they had only just made introductions. He took a moment to settle the quiver in the back of his throat. “He’s probably expecting us anytime nau.” He wished Lindie would speak up. Josiah cleared his throat. “Lindie,” he said, hoping she would look him in the eye. She didn’t. “The bishop will wish to speak with you first.” Unless you say something and we end this now.
She nodded.
“If it’s okay, Eli, I would like to talk with her alone,” Josiah said.
“I’ll get her packages.”
She jerked up her head. Her blue-like-Lake-Superior eyes watched her brother, while Josiah tried to count the tiny freckles sprinkled across her nose.
“It’s okay,” Eli said to his sister. He waited a moment, then joined the throng of people waiting to claim their bags.
Josiah motioned to a bench in a less crowded area. “Let’s sit.”
She hesitated, peered over her shoulder in Eli’s direction, then, with her head lowered, shuffled to the far side of the concrete bench.
He sat on the opposite end. The space between them might indicate they weren’t a couple suited for one another. Josiah twiddled his thumbs, not sure where to begin. “You got mei letter, jah?”
She nodded.
Of course she had. He’d received a note stating she understood and accepted his terms, but he wouldn’t be satisfied until he heard it straight from her. For all he knew, Eli might have responded on his sister’s behalf.
“You probably know Eli’s fraa and my fraa were second cousins. The four of us attended many of the same weddings and became friends. After I got married, mei fraa and I moved up here with her family to start a lumber mill.” He paused, unsure why he was telling her this. If it was to ease his guilt for entering into an agreement he now wanted out of, it wasn’t working. “I met you once . . . I think you might have been ten. Do you remember?”
Lindie shook her head and a red spiral curl fell out from under her kapp. The loose hair dangled in front of her face. Her teeth chattered and white breaths escaped her mouth. She burrowed deeper into her cape.
The midmorning sun shimmered on the red ringlet. He forced himself to focus on his boots.
“I’m nett going to ask what kind of trouble you were in. Your bruder believes you need a fresh start . . . But I’m thirty-two. At least ten years older than you. Why are you willing to marry me under my stringent conditions?”
She looked him straight in the eye. But before she spoke, the pinkish color drained from her face. She covered her mouth and bolted to a trash can a few feet away.
He stood, pulled a hankie from his pocket, and walked up beside her. When Eli had hinted of his sister’s disgrace, Josiah had assumed the unthinkable and stopped Eli before he could share details. Her failure to come home one night led to repentance and that was what mattered. She finished vomiting and he handed her the cotton cloth.
“Denki.” She wiped her mouth.
“There’s a drinking fountain over there.” He motioned to the side of the building and she hurried in that direction.
Josiah scanned the thinning crowd for Eli. He stood beside four reused apple boxes all tied closed with twine. If he noticed that his sister was sick, Eli didn’t appear worried.
After a long drink, Lindie lifted her head. Although some of the color had returned to her cheeks, she still looked pasty.
“If you like, I’ll buy you a return ticket home,” he said.
Josiah expected some hint of relief to wash over her, but instead, he noted quite the opposite. She looked terrified. And that added to his confusion. He tipped his head to one side so he could look her in the eye.
“Lindie, why are you here? Your bruder talked you into this, ain’t so?”
Eli joined them. “She’s here because I know you’ll take gut care of her.” He turned to Lindie. “Wipe your face and get ahold of yourself.”
“If you don’t mind, Eli”—Josiah’s voice hardened—“your sister and I have more to talk about.” He flicked his head at the boxes. “You should stay with the packages.” Josiah waited until Eli was out of earshot before asking, “Is he preventing you from marrying someone else?” Like the father of your unborn boppli?
“Nay.” He strained to hear her words. She glanced at him a half second. “There is no one else.”
He sighed. Prior to her arrival, he’d convinced himself this was a mistake, but in the half second that she acknowledged him, he saw hopelessness. “Are you sure you don’t want to go home?”
“I’d like to stay.” Her demeanor contradicted her words.
“I said in mei letter I would give you mei name, but nett mei heart.”
She nodded.
“I’m nett capable of falling in love again. Your bruder is mistaken if he’s told you otherwise. Even in time, I won’t.” He paused a moment. Though harsh, the truth needed to be spoken.
It was important for her to give some sign of acknowledging this.
She didn’t.
“Will you at least lift your head and look me in the eye?” The moment she did, he regretted being so direct. Her tearful blue eyes held a sorrow he wasn’t prepared for.
He scanned the area. Other than Eli standing beside the boxes and a handful of people still loitering, they were alone. He looked at her. “This isn’t something I would normally discuss . . . and I certainly don’t intend to embarrass you. Do you understand what a marriage of convenience means?”
She didn’t blink as tears welled.
He had to stress the final point. “That means I’ll give you a roof over your head and provide for you. Nothing more.”
She squared her shoulders. “And in return, what do you expect from me?”
“I told you in the letter.” Didn’t she say she read and agreed to the terms? “I have a young dochder who is deaf. I can’t have her running around the sawmill. In addition to caring for her, I expect you to cook, clean, and keep up the laundry. Things a fraa would handle. Also, Eli said you can do record keeping.”
“Jah. I kept track of the income from my sister-in-law’s vegetable stand.”
Her bottom lip trembled and he groaned under his breath.
“I want to be straightforward with you. The winters are long and hard. You don’t know loneliness until you’ve suffered through cabin fever.” This wasn’t the place for a woman in a weakened condition.
She bowed her head, wringing her hands.
“Lindie, will you please stop looking away?”
She met his gaze.
His chest expanded with a deep breath. “A loveless marriage might be unbearable. Going through the motions of marriage without—without love . . . You might grow to despise me.” He paused a moment. “If this isn’t what you expected . . . I’ll buy you a ticket home.”
The story continues in A Miracle of Hope by Ruth Reid.
Other Books by Ruth Reid
THE AMISH WONDERS NOVELS
A Miracle of Hope
A Woodland Miracle
A Dream of Miracles (Available April 2016)
THE HEAVEN ON EARTH NOVELS
The Promise of an Angel
Brush of Angel’s Wings
An Angel by Her Side
NOVELLA COLLECTIONS
An Amish Second Christmas
An Amish Miracle
An Amish Christmas Gift
About the Author
Ruth Reid is a full-time pharmacist who lives in Florida with her husband and three children. When attending the Ferris State University College of Pharmacy in Big Rapids, Michigan, she lived on the outskirts of an Amish community and had several occasions to visit the Amish farms. Her interest grew into love as she saw the beauty in living a simple life.
Ruth Reid, The Heaven on Earth Collection
