Elam came in the back door, dusting off his feet and pushing his leather work gloves into the back pocket of his pants. He was a big man, the kind of guy that made a girl feel safe and secure. And suddenly Sadie envied Sallie Mae for having her father.
“Next time,” Sadie said. “I promise.”
Bishop Ebersol took that time to come out of the kitchen, where he had no doubt been sitting at the table talking to Joy and perhaps the other Riehl children. It was a fun and happy household, filled with so much love that it nearly brought tears to Sadie's eyes.
“Did I hear my name?” the bishop asked. He glanced around at the faces staring back at him from the living room.
Sadie could only nod. “I was hoping to have a word.”
The bishop tilted his head to one side, unanswered questions lighting his eyes. He gave her a quick nod and said, “Would you like to take a walk?”
Sadie swallowed hard and nodded. “That would be good,
jah
.”
She felt all eyes on her as she turned and headed to the front door. She waited on the front porch for the bishop to don his coat and join her.
Without a word, they made their way down the porch steps and across the yard to the milking barn. It was much cooler inside so they stayed out, allowing the sun to warm their faces.
“You have a serious look on your face, Sadie Kauffman.”
“I've got something serious to talk to you about.”
The bishop nodded. “Whenever you're ready.”
Was she ready? In so many ways she was and in so many ways she wasn't. She didn't know where to start. “I . . . ?”
“Take your time,” he encouraged.
“Why do we hold such animosity toward the Mennonites?”
The bishop blinked as if her question had been the very last one he thought she would ask. “I do not have any animosity toward the Mennonites.”
“Then why can't I date one?” Sadie cried.
The bishop led her over to the fence and propped his arms up on the rail, turning them away from the house. Sadie wasn't sure if he did that so she would be faced with the calming scene of the cows munching hay in the field or if he didn't want her voice to carry to those in the house.
“You want to date a Mennonite?”
“There's a boy,
jah
.”
“What about Chris? I thought you and Chris Flaud were a couple. In fact, I've been waiting on him to come to me and talk about you for a while.”
Sadie shook her head. “That's not going to happen.”
He nodded. “Okay, then. Who is this Mennonite boy?”
“He lives over in Taylor Creek. He's this really nice guy, and I don't know . . .” She trailed off, uncomfortable telling the bishop how much she truly liked Ezra Hein. She might even be in love with him. Maybe she was in love if she was willing to sneak around and date him against everybody's wishes. “Why is it not okay?”
“There's a lot to think about, Sadie. You know the differences.”
“But are they really that different from us?” she asked.
“
Nay
.” He shook his head. “The Mennonites are not very different from us at all. We drive tractors. They drive cars. We wear solid colors. They allow prints. They have electricity. We don't. Those things can all be overcome. But to date a Mennonite . . . Well, that's not the real problem, now is it? The real problem is we have different churches. If a Mennonite boy comes to court you, one day that might lead to something else. He's going to want to get married. You're going to want to get married. Then comes the matter of the church. One of you will have to give up their church. You have to ask yourself, Sadie Kauffman, are you willing to give up your church for him?”
Chapter Fourteen
Was she willing to give up her church for Ezra Hein?
The words haunted her on her way back home. And the worst part of it all? She didn't know. Didn't even want to think about it. Didn't want that hanging like a cloud over her time with Ezra. If they continued to see each other, fell in love, and wanted to join their lives, surely they could find a solution to that problem. It wasn't anything she should have to decide for herself.
Mind made up, she unhitched her horse and thought only about her upcoming date with Ezra.
* * *
She called Ezra Thursday afternoon. He answered on the first ring, his voice breathless as if he had hurried to answer it. She knew that was silly. He'd most likely had it in his pocket. But she liked to think of him rushing to the phone because he thought it might be her.
“Are we still going out tonight?” She hated to ask because the answer could be no, and her heart wasn't prepared for that.
“Of course.”
She smiled. “Do me a favor?”
“Anything.”
She felt that hitch in her breath. “Pick me up at the library.”
“The library?” The confusion in his voice was evident.
“It's just that . . .” She traced the outline of the phone where it hung on the restaurant wall. She had taken a moment to come call him, hoping and praying the whole while that no one would realize who she was talking to. “I think we should keep things low-key. Don't you agree?”
“Yeah, you're right. The library it is. Six o'clock?”
“Six o'clock.” She smiled, counting down the minutes until she could see him again.
* * *
Pryor was only about fifteen minutes from both Taylor Creek and Wells Landing. Sadie thought the idea of them going there for dinner was about as brilliant as they could get. Close and yet far enough away that they wouldn't completely stand out. They could blend in without having to change a thing. And no one there would care about whose church they were going to join and all the other stuff that was giving everyone around them such grief.
She rode beside Ezra all the way there, the anticipation building. Their first real date, not a hangout session with friends, but a real date like she'd heard the
Englisch
go on. They'd eat, then who knew what they'd do after that. Maybe they could go for a walk or to a movie. The idea was exciting.
The Amish didn't normally go to movies, but neither did they sneak out to eat dinner with Mennonite boys. What was one more transgression on her record?
Ezra pulled his truck into the large parking lot filled with cars. The restaurant was busy for a Thursday night, but it was one of the most popular in the area. Of course, they didn't serve traditional home-cooked meals and Amish food like Kauffman's Family Restaurant did, but they had wonderful steaks and the best pumpernickel bread she had ever tasted.
The hostess seated them and brought water and bread as they looked at the menu. Sadie was so excited she could barely concentrate on the words. “Will you order for me? Please?”
Ezra looked up and caught her gaze, a small chuckle escaping him. “I was about to ask you the same thing. What sounds good?”
“I don't know. Everything. Anything.” As long as she was with him, the world was a perfect place. She didn't care if she ate dirt or the most expensive meal the two of them could find.
The waitress came back, order pad in hand. “Have you decided?”
Ezra laughed. “Bring us two specials.”
“How you want those cooked?”
They looked at each other and smiled and turned back to her. “Medium,” they said together.
The waitress finished jotting down the order, then looked up at both of them in turn. She smiled. “Y'all make a cute couple,” she said, then tucked her pencil behind her ear. “I'll have your salads right out.”
They made a cute couple. Sadie loved those words. She had never heard anybody say that about her and Chris. But with Ezra she felt happier than she ever had with Chris. Her whole life she had thought Chris Flaud was the one God made for her. Now she was beginning to think that special someone was Ezra.
* * *
Worst bowling night ever. Chris pulled his tractor into the driveway and chugged over to its parking spot. It simply wasn't any fun without Sadie.
She had called him that afternoon to let him know that she wouldn't be able to come, and he really couldn't blame her. Their relationship had changed, but he still wanted to spend time with her. She was his best friend.
He swung himself down from the tractor and headed across the dark yard. He had taken his time getting home, not really caring, too much on his mind to make the trip speedy.
“I didn't think you were ever going to get here.” His brother Joshua was sitting on the front porch.
“What are you doing out here?” Chris asked.
“Waiting on you.” Joshua stood and stretched, smoothing down his pant legs back over the top of his black boots.
“Aren't you cold?”
“Nah, the fresh air does me good sometimes.”
Joshua worked in an office all day on a computer. Not the most Amish sort of job, but he said he enjoyed his work. Chris supposed that a dose of fresh air every now and then was just what Joshua needed.
“Maybe I should ask why you are out here.”
Joshua settled himself down in the seat again and patted the bench next to him. “Come here. I have something I need to show you.”
Chris tromped up the porch steps and took the seat his brother indicated. He waited as Joshua pulled his cell phone from his coat pocket and started tapping on it with his thumbs.
“Does the bishop know you have that?”
“You know full well that it is for my job.”
Chris nodded.
“Well, mostly it is.” He sat back and handed his phone to Chris. “See the screen there?”
Chris nodded. His brother had his Facebook page pulled up. He was certain the bishop didn't know about that.
“That man in the picture works for the shed company. He's my friend on there.”
“That's great.” Chris started to hand the phone back to his brother. “Still not sure why you're showing that to me.”
“Look what's behind them. Or should I say who?”
Chris looked at the picture again, more closely this time. The guy in the foreground was smiling, standing close to a girl with the same happy look on her face. It looked like they were in some sort of restaurant. There were tables behind them and other things that indicated they had gone out to eat. But at one of those tables . . . “Sadie.”
“
Jah
, that's what I thought too. But who's that she's with?”
“The Mennonite.” Chris knew that they had been seeing each other. But he didn't know it was serious. “I wish I could see this better.”
Joshua took the phone from him and made some sort of pinching motion on the screen. Suddenly what had been in the background now filled the screen. It was grainy and hard to make out a few of the details, but the happy look on her face as she gazed at Ezra Hein was unmistakable. As was their clasped hands resting on the table.
“That was taken in Pryor,” Joshua said.
She hadn't given him an exact excuse as to why she couldn't come bowling tonight. She had left a curt message on the phone shanty recorder about how she couldn't make it. He figured she didn't feel very good, or maybe trying to keep up appearances had taken its toll. But he had never in a million years dreamed that she had been sneaking off with the Mennonite.
He handed the phone back to his brother, unable to find any words to express how he felt. Betrayed, jealous, sad, angry, the list went on and on.
Joshua stood, stretching once again and pocketing his phone. “I really didn't want to be the bearer of bad news, but I thought you should know.”
“We're not a couple, you know.” He wasn't sure if word had gotten back to his brother. And if nothing else, those words served as a reminder to him.
“I'd wondered if those rumors were true.” Joshua nodded.
“I'm leaving this summer.” Chris wasn't sure what possessed him to make such a confession; maybe it was a pride issue. Sadie wanted nothing to do with him. She said she wouldn't wait. But that didn't mean their feelings for each other had died in that instant.
“I was wondering how long it was going to take you. Is that what happened between you and Sadie?”
“
Jah
,” Chris said. “I told her I loved her and asked her to wait for me. But she doesn't think I'm coming back.”
Joshua chuckled, but the sound lacked humor. “You told her that you loved her, you want her to wait, and then you told her you are headed off to who knows where.”
“Europe,” Chris admitted.
Joshua sat back in his seat. His eyes wide. “That's some trip.”
“
Jah.
It is. But I've waited my whole life.” And Sadie had waited her whole life too, a little voice inside him whispered, but what was a couple to do when their dreams just didn't mesh? “No one else knows. Just you and Sadie.”
He nodded. “I won't say anything.”
“I appreciate that.”
“I guess I better get back home,” Joshua said. He loped down the stairs, then stopped and turned back around to face Chris. “You really are coming back?”
He nodded quietly, but felt a pang of guilt in his chest. He had been thinking more and more about Greece and Turkey and all the other little countries over there. How exciting would it be to explore the whole continent?
Maybe this was best. He couldn't imagine staying away from Wells Landing forever, nor could he imagine not seeing everything that Europe and the Mediterranean had to offer when he had the opportunity.
Now if he could figure out how to tell his parents and find a way to get over Sadie Kauffman.
* * *
Sadie felt as if she were walking in a dream, like her feet weren't even touching the ground, as Ezra led her back to his pickup truck. They'd had a wonderful dinner sitting and talking.
They had made the rule that they couldn't talk about their families or the problems that they faced. They could only talk about happy things, and she was glad they had decided that. It was so refreshing to not worry about what her mother thought or his mother thought, or any of the other people around them who didn't want them to be together at all. It was only about her and Ezra, and it could not have been more special.
Ezra opened the truck door for her, then went around to his side of the vehicle. He slid behind the steering wheel and they were off again. “Where to now?”
Sadie smiled. There was so much she wanted to do that being in Pryor just made it harder. Because there was so much to do.
“Well,” she started. “If it was a little warmer outside I'd say miniature golf.”
Ezra chuckled.
“How about a movie?”
He shook his head. “How about an ice cream instead.”
“Braum's?”
“Is there any place else?”
“Not as far as I'm concerned.” Sadie smiled.
Five minutes later Ezra pulled his truck into the parking lot at Braum's Ice Cream and Dairy Store. It was locally owned and arguably the best ice cream in Oklahoma.
They went inside and over to the ice cream counter, looking through the glass shield at the available flavors.
“What'll you have?” Ezra asked, as the girl approached.
“That banana split sure looks good.”
“After the big meal we just ate, you think you can eat a banana split?” Ezra asked.
The girl behind the counter smiled and patiently waited.
“How about we share one?” Sadie suggested. Ezra was right. She could be completely empty and not be able to eat the entire banana split. Sharing one was the perfect solution.
“Banana split?” the Braum's worker asked, looking from her to Ezra.
Sadie nodded, and they moved down the line to wait for their ice cream to be made.
“I call the chocolate side,” Ezra said.
“You can't call it yet,” Sadie said. “We're sharing, remember?”
“This is chocolate we're talking about,” he said. “You can have the pineapple part.”
“I don't like the pineapple part.”
“No one likes the pineapple part,” Ezra said.
“And I want my share of the chocolate part,” Sadie said. “And the strawberry part.”
The young girl behind the counter stopped scooping ice cream and looked at them both. “So no pineapple. How about I add chocolate ice cream with marshmallow sauce?”
“Can you add chocolate ice cream with chocolate sauce?” Sadie asked.
“Of course,” the girl said. She moved down to get the chocolate ice cream.
Sadie looked at Ezra. “That's my part.”
They ended up sharing all the parts, like she had known they would. But it was fun playing with him, pretending to bicker back and forth about who got the chocolate. All in all the whole evening was the perfect date.
“Coming to Pryor was a really good idea,” Sadie said as they approached the sign that said they were back in Wells Landing. It wasn't like she could do that all the time, especially not if she was dating someone who was Amish too. They didn't have cars to take them all the way to Pryor, and each trip would require a driver, which she didn't think would be quite as much fun as sitting next to Ezra, putting along in his pickup truck.
But they had been right. Pryor was far enough away that their families didn't haunt them there, and their differences weren't so obvious to the average onlooker.