Joyful (23 page)

When he left the room, it was as if all the air had been sucked out of the room. Elizabeth sat down with a sigh. “That Junior is a force of nature. I've known him for years, of course. But until now, I've never really noticed how hard he works to keep his family running smoothly.”

Mommi's eyes narrowed. “You do realize that you and him aren't that different, don't you?”

“Of course we're not alike. He has seven brothers and sisters to look after.”

“You have me.”

“Mommi, it's not like that. We have each other.”

Her lips pursed. “I don't feel good about watching you take that money.”

“I earned it honestly. We earned it.”

“Child, you and I both know that you would have done the exact same thing as a favor for them. It's in your nature to want to help others.”

Afraid their voices would carry, Elizabeth lowered hers. “It's also in my nature to pay my bills. This will allow me to do so. And I have to admit that I am going to feel mighty proud when I pay the bills on time this month.”

“Of course, dear. Forgive me. I seem to be always saying the wrong thing these days.”

Feeling more uncomfortable than ever, Elizabeth stood up. “There's nothing to forgive. I love you, Mommi.” She clapped her hands together. “Now, how about we make a chocolate cake before we leave? I've yet to meet a group of men who like desserts as much as these Beilers.”

“I'll get out the eggs, butter, and sugar.”

As the tension between them eased, Elizabeth got busy measuring flour and baking chocolate. And finally admitted to herself that her grandmother hadn't said the wrong things at all.

Actually, she'd been exactly right.

T
he buzzer on the top of Pippa's stove went off at the same time that Bud knocked at her apartment's front door.

“Just a minute,” she called out as she reached for the timer and turned it off.

On her way to the door, she couldn't resist pausing to look at her reflection in the antique mirror that hung in her entryway.

Yet again.

She'd bought a new dress for the dinner. It was blue cotton and had short sleeves. It was deceptively modest, though it fit her like a glove, showing off her figure.

Of course, she'd already taken it off two times that afternoon, switching to her usual uniform of jeans and a T-shirt. But in the end, she decided to err on the side of dressing up too much instead of too little.

The worst thing that could happen was that Bud would think she went to a lot of trouble for him. Which she had. Looking at herself critically, she smoothed back her long black hair and wished, as always, it had a bit less curl. But of course there was nothing she could do about it.

Just as she couldn't help her giddiness when she prepared to open the door. Tonight she was cooking for Bud. It was a real date, just the two of them.

Bud knocked on the door again. “Pippa?”

After unlocking the deadbolt, she pulled the door open wide. And there was Bud, dressed in a blue button-down and a pair of khakis. “Hi,” she said, her smile growing wider when she saw he held a bouquet of tulips.

“Hi. You look really pretty, Pippa.”

“Thanks.” Gesturing to his outfit, she said, “I guess we both decided to dress up a little.”

“Yeah.” Looking adorably bashful, he kind of thrust the flowers at her. “Here.”

She took them as she led the way inside. “What a nice surprise, Bud,” she said as she started opening cupboards, hoping she still had that glass vase she'd picked up at a yard sale a couple of months ago.

“I thought I should have something for you. You know, to mark the occasion.”

Holding the vase she'd just filled with water, she set it slowly on the countertop. “It feels that way for you, too?”

“Very much so. I feel like we've come a long way to reach this point, Pippa.”

As she looked at the dozen pink and yellow tulips in the vase, each one in a different stage of bloom, she couldn't believe how far they had come.

“I thought we were through when you showed up at the restaurant with Miguel.”

His gaze softened. “Maybe I shouldn't have done that, but after everything you went through with Miguel, I didn't want there to be any questions or secrets between us.”

She gestured to the table, set with crisp white place mats and napkins. Just two hours earlier, she'd stared at it in doubt, wondering if she'd done too much. Now she thought the new place mats and carefully arranged silverware looked pretty perfect.

“Please, sit down,” she said, feeling a bit like a hostess out of a Hallmark movie. “I made chicken enchiladas. I hope you like Mexican food?”

Grinning at her, he nodded. “To be honest, I like anything Mexican. Especially pretty girls named Pippa who wear amazing blue dresses.”

Meeting his gaze, she stilled. Yes, they had definitely moved forward. And she had a pretty good idea that from now on, there would be no turning back.

He'd suffered through a lot of complaints and more than a couple snide comments. But in the end, Randall had gotten his way. He was now dressed in flannel pajama bottoms, one sock, and a blue shirt. He was also attempting to rest on the couch in the keeping room.

His leg was propped on a pillow and he almost felt like himself.

Kaylene had positioned herself on the opposite end of the couch and was currently writing her name on his cast with a thick black permanent marker. “Am I supposed to write anything besides my name on your leg, Randall?”

“What else would you write?”

“I don't know.” She chewed on her bottom lip for a moment. “Something like ‘have a nice day'?”

Levi scoffed. “You don't write things like that, silly. You write something like ‘hope you feel better.'”

“Or just write your name. Don't forget, you've already told me that you hope I feel better,” Randall said in his most helpful voice. Honestly, if he didn't attempt to put some parameters around it she was going to be perched next to his foot all day.

“I think I'm going to just write ‘Kaylene Beiler.'”

“He already knows who you are, Kay,” Levi said with a smile. “You are goofy.”

“I'm not. I'm not goofy am I, Randall?”

Eager to gain some peace, he said, “Levi was only teasin' ya, Kay. He wasn't being mean. But I don't think you're goofy at all.”

“See?” She glared at Levi.

Randall looked toward Elizabeth in the kitchen. She was carefully wiping down the counters. When she met his gaze, he called out, “Elizabeth, come in here and help me out.”

“I'm afraid I don't know if I'll be able to do that, Randall. I'm cleaning the kitchen, you see.”

Her voice was light, and it was obvious that she was only pretending to be teasing. But there was an edge to her voice as well. “Elizabeth, all you've been doing all night is cleaning. Isn't it time to take a break?”

“I will. I'm simply trying to get everything done before I go.”

“Go? Where are you going?”

“I'm going home tomorrow.”

“What?” He looked around the room, at Levi, who was glaring at him, to Micah, who'd been reading one of his textbooks in the far corner, to Kaylene, who was making the tail of her
y
into a fancy curlicue. Not a one of them looked surprised. “Did all of you already know this?”

Kaylene nodded. “Uh-huh.”

“We talked about it at supper,” Micah said absently. “While you were in your room.”

“But don't you think we need to talk about this?”

“I already talked about things with Junior,” Elizabeth said after a lengthy pause. “He paid me, too, so I'm all taken care of.”

She'd been paid. She'd been taken care of. Her voice was brisk and businesslike. And her expression? Carefully composed, just as if cooking and cleaning for them had been nothing but another job for her.

Just as if she hadn't had the same reaction he'd had when she'd visited him in his room.

His temper flared. “Kay, enough. And would you all give Elizabeth and me some privacy?”

All at once, Kaylene, Levi, Elizabeth, and Micah stopped what they were doing and stared at him in disbelief. Honestly, it was like he'd suddenly stood up and started singing and dancing at the top of his lungs.

“Why do you need privacy?” Levi asked.

“It's none of your business.”

It used to be, he'd been able to stop Levi in his tracks by using just this tone of voice.

Now his sixteen-year-old brother merely looked bored. “I kind of think it is, seeing how I'm the one who invited her over here in the first place.”

This seemed like an especially snarky comment, even for Levi. Lifting a brow, Randall glanced Micah's way.

But instead of backing him up, Micah merely shut his book and stood up. “Elizabeth, is this what you want? If not, I'll stay here with you.”

To have one brother go against him was one thing. But now he had two of them? That was too much. “Hey, now—”

Micah glared at him. “Enough,
bruder
.” Softening his tone, he walked toward Elizabeth. “I do agree that it's time you stopped cleaning. I promise, this kitchen has never been so spotless, not even when Claire was at her most industrious. But if you'd rather go to your room, I'd understand.”

He wouldn't! With effort, Randall kept his mouth shut. But he had now moved on from being irritated to very confused. His brothers were treating Elizabeth as if she were the person injured.

Actually, as if he had hurt her feelings!

“I'll be happy to chat with Randall for a few minutes before I head to bed,” she said as she carefully folded the dishcloth and walked into the keeping room. Then, at last, she looked his way. “As a matter of fact, I think Randall and I have much to discuss.”

“I'll be in the workshop if you need me,” Micah said. “Kaylene, you can come with me or go with Levi to the basement or to your room.”

“Couldn't I stay here if I stayed real quiet?”

“
Nee
,” Randall said. “Go on with you, Kay.”

With the speed of snails, his siblings at last eased out of the room, leaving him lying on the couch and Elizabeth perched on the chair across from him.

When they were at last alone, she raised a brow. “Well? What was it you wanted to talk about?”

Whether it was the shock of the news, the sight of Micah looking after her, almost trying to save her from him, or the frustration that had been building up from injuring himself doing something he'd been doing for years without a single mishap, he didn't know.

But he'd reached his boiling point.

“Elizabeth, no more skating around the issue,” he blurted, all the tension and frustration and loneliness in his heart flying up to the forefront. “What in the world is going on with us?”

He felt no small measure of satisfaction when he noticed that now she looked just as flustered as he felt.

He couldn't have been happier about that.

Elizabeth's mouth went dry as Randall's words sank in. She didn't know whether to be disappointed, intrigued, or simply really, really irritated.

“Randall, you have the worst timing on the planet. This is neither the time nor the place to talk about our relationship.”

“Why isn't it? I don't have any place else to go. Do you?”

“I can think of a lot of other things I'd rather be doing instead of rehashing our relationship.”

Randall tilted his head. “Did we ever discuss our relationship in the first place?”

She felt a little stumped. Not until just that moment had she ever stopped to consider that maybe they never really had discussed their feelings or their future. “Do you mean while we were dating or when we broke up?” she asked, mainly to stall for time.

“I mean either.” He shifted a bit. It was obvious that he was uncomfortable. Almost as uncomfortable with his sitting position as he was with the conversation. “Elizabeth, I know we courted for years. And that there were many unspoken expectations on both of our ends. But I can't really think of a time that I asked you how you felt about me.”

“You didn't need to. You had to know I liked you. You were the one who never felt like sharing your feelings.”

“Elizabeth, I've always thought you were pretty. And I liked your temperament. You were easy to get along with.”

“We never fought. You were always in a good mood.” She thought about it a little more. “And you never made me think too much. I started seeing you just as my
mamm
fell in love and moved away.”

“I knew that happened and assumed it was difficult for you.” He wrinkled his brow. “But did I ever actually ask you about how you felt about that?”

“I was glad you didn't. I didn't want to talk to you about how sad I was that Mamm found another person and was perfectly okay with leaving me.”

Shocked at herself, she pressed her palm to her mouth. “Randall, I can't believe I just said that.”

“I can't believe we never talked about it in the first place.” He exhaled. “Elizabeth, no wonder we broke up so easily. We broke apart because we had so little keeping us together.”

“That's not true. We had a lot. We were friends.”

“And we liked the same people. Being with you was easy. Comfortable. I never had to try too hard.”

“I see.” She couldn't help feeling a bit hurt by his words. It sounded as if he'd purposely courted her because he didn't have to try hard to please her. She didn't especially like how that sounded . . . or how it made her feel.

He rubbed a hand over his cheek. “Look, I know I am making a mess of this. I know I am making things between us sound bad.”

“That is true.”

“What I'm trying to tell you is that I'm different now. Elizabeth, it's only been since we broke up that I've been trying harder. Something about taking the responsibility for my family helped me learn to really listen to people. To ask the right questions. To not take them for granted. And it's only been since you've been coming here that I feel like we've gotten close. And now you're leaving.”