Poppy broke her cookie in half and dunked it into the milk. “You can talk to Dan and Luke because you know they're in love with your sisters. Can you pretend that all boys are in love with me and Lily?”
“All the boys
are
in love with you and Lily,” Rose said.
Lily giggled. “Then it will be easy.”
“It should be easy,” Rose said, “but it still terrifies me.”
“Then start small,” Poppy said. “What would scare you only a little?”
Rose slumped her shoulders. “Going outside by myself.”
“You do that all the time,” Lily said. “See? You're making progress and you didn't even know it.”
“Josiah invited me to Suvie's house to see her butterfly garden.”
Lily's eyes sparkled merrily. “That's a good start. Suvie would love it if you went over.”
“But I don't want him to feel obligated to be nice to me just to prove what a
gute
Christian he is.”
“Let him feel obligated,” Poppy said, waving her hand in Rose's direction. “You'll be doing him a favor. Boys like to feel needed, even if we don't need them.”
Josiah was an orphan and Rose felt sorry for him, but couldn't someone with more courage help him feel needed? “I could make him a cake,” she said. “If one of you would deliver it.”
Lily scrunched her lips together and raised an eyebrow. “You're not seeing the big picture here, Rose. You've got to take Josiah the cake yourself.”
Aunt Bitsy crinkled her nose as if there were a bad smell in the kitchen. It was probably the lingering scum from her sink. “Josiah Yoder? Surely we can do better than that. What about starting with someone less frightening, like Freeman Beiler?”
Rose giggled. “He's a thirty-nine-year-old bachelor, Aunt Bitsy. He'd get the wrong idea. Besides, Freeman is more interested in you.”
Aunt Bitsy rolled her eyes and looked up at the ceiling. “Deliver us from evil and eager bachelors, Lord.” She propped her elbow on the table. “You shouldn't make Josiah a cake if you don't want him coming over. I suggest asparagus casserole.”
“B, Rose wants to show him she's brave, not poison him,” Poppy said.
Aunt Bitsy raised her eyebrows. “A hearty stomach flu would keep him away for weeks.”
Rose liked the asparagus casserole idea, except for the part about the stomach flu. Whenever Josiah Yoder was near, a whole flock of butterflies came to life inside her stomach. She dreaded every minute of it. Asparagus casserole would scare him away right quick.
But she wouldn't make Josiah a casserole or a cake.
She was perfectly content with her quiet life on the farm with nothing but paints and cats for company. Being lonely was better than being afraid.
Neither Josiah nor any other boy was worth the anxiety.
Chapter Four
Josiah stared helplessly at the display of paint tubes. He knew absolutely nothing about oil paints. He also knew nothing about acrylic or watercolors or tempura paint. Basically, his paint knowledge was abysmal. He'd be better off getting Rose a new paintbrush.
He shifted over to his right and tried to make sense of the paintbrush selection. Wood handles, plastic handles, rounded tips, sponge brushes. The options made his head spin. Chances were he'd pick the wrong brush, and Rose would hate him forever. The way things were going, she probably hated him already.
He shook his head. He'd better not let his thoughts stray in that direction or he'd sink into the depths of despair. Besides, Rose was too kindhearted to hate anybody. Griff Simons had tried to kiss her, and Dan said she had already forgiven him.
Josiah clenched his teeth. She was a better person than he was. He tried to be forgiving in his heart, but it was hard to want mercy for anyone who hurt Rose.
He shifted back to his left and studied the paints again. He'd carried Rose's bin of paints into her house. The paints in little tubes were the ones she used. He'd buy her one of those.
How in the world would he pick a color?
“You look like a deer in the headlights,” Luke Bontrager said, coming up beside him and stuffing his hands in his pockets. “Is it because of that nice bump on your forehead?”
“It's got to be perfect,” Josiah said, unwilling to let Luke discourage him. Luke had courted Poppy like a bulldozer. Josiah was going for the more subtle approach with Rose.
Lord willing, “subtle” was the right way to go about it. His heart nearly leaped out of his chest just thinking about her. He loved Rose to the moon and back and as deep as the water in Lake Michigan. He wouldn't give up until she told him to go away, and even then he might hold on to his love until the day he died.
Rose was timid, but yesterday, when she had seen a stranger at the window, she had been more concerned for Josiah's safety than her own. She even cared about the cats over herself. Josiah couldn't see loving anyone else.
He pulled one of the paint tubes from the display. It was a pretty petal pink like the dress Rose had worn yesterday, the most beautiful dress Josiah had ever seen. “Do you think she'll like this color?”
Luke smirked. “Pink says, âI love you,' for sure and certain.”
Josiah pressed his lips together and nodded. If Rose suspected he loved her, he'd scare her away. He'd been careful. For four years, she hadn't suspected that his thoughts were often on her or that she was everything he hoped for. He would never forget her kindness during his
mamm
's funeral and afterward. She had been the one who had gotten him through it allâan unexpected gift from God. “What about brown? She wants to paint a horse.”
“Dull,” Luke said. “She'll think you're boring. But you are boring, so it's probably a
gute
choice.”
“You're not funny, Luke.”
“I'm not trying to be funny. A true friend is always honest.”
“A true friend would help me pick out some paint. I should have brought Dan,” Josiah said.
“And I should be at Poppy's instead of wasting a perfectly good afternoon with you.” Luke grinned. “Dan wouldn't have thought to send you to the Honeybee Farm with a pocketful of catnip, would he?”
Josiah didn't even turn his head. “I caught on to what you'd done as soon as the kitten started climbing my leg.” He held out his arm. “You probably don't even feel guilty for these scratches, do you?”
Luke chuckled. “Not if Rose was the one who bandaged you up.”
With his eyes still glued to the paint, Josiah curled one side of his mouth. “I suppose she was.”
Luke hooted and hollered right in the middle of the paint aisle. “I'm not such a bad friend after all.”
“Only if you help me pick a paint color. Gray is definitely out. I don't even need your opinion about that.”
Luke smiled and slapped Josiah on the back. “You know I'm joking. I'm just trying to help you take this less seriously. The worry lines are piling up on your forehead next to that goose egg.”
“I can't take it less seriously. I love her, Luke, and I'm fighting for every smile she gives me.”
Luke grew serious and placed a firm arm on Josiah's shoulder. “Believe me, I understand. Poppy used to hate me. It was one of the worst times of my life. Regardless of what you may think, I care about you and Rose very much.”
“Then help me pick a color. It might be the one thing that softens Rose up.”
“Why don't you buy one of each? Then you're sure to get at least one she likes.”
Josiah rubbed the whiskers on his chin as he studied the display. “I don't want to seem too eager. It's got to be natural, like I'm not sneaking up on her. What about green? That farm scene needs grass.”
Luke sniffed loudly. Twice. “Green makes me think of phlegm.”
Josiah resisted the urge to roll his eyes.
Luke always made him appreciate a friend like Dan Kanagy.
* * *
Rose climbed down from the buggy with the quart of honey in her hand. It was past six o'clock, and Suvie Nelson's honey was her last errand before home. Her visit to Mammi and Dawdi had taken longer than Rose had anticipated. Her grandparents had wanted to talk about Paul Glick and Poppy, and the possibility of Aunt Bitsy getting shunned. Paul Glick, Lily's exboyfriend, had been threatening for weeks to have Aunt Bitsy and all the Honeybee
schwesters
shunned because, he claimed, they'd cheated him out of their honey. Plain and simple, Paul was mad that Lily had chosen Dan Kanagy over him, and he wanted to make Lily miserable because of it.
Some of the people in the community were siding with Paul even though the Honeybee sisters had done nothing wrong. A few members of the district thought Aunt Bitsy was odd, too odd to belong in the community. She tinted her hair pastel colors and prayed right out loud. Some of the neighbors wouldn't have been too sad to be rid of her. Rose didn't know why people were so concerned about it. If members got shunned for being odd, there would be no one left in church to preach the sermons.
Mammi and Dawdi seemed to think that Aunt Bitsy and her nieces would be shunned any day now. Rose was concerned about the possibility of being shunned, but someone had tried to burn down their honey house last week, and Leonard Nimoy and her sharp claws were in danger of being banished from the house, and Josiah Yoder wanted to make Rose his project. She had bigger worries than Paul Glick. Lily had immediately gotten engaged to Dan after she'd broken it off with Paul, and Paul's heart was surely in pieces. Rose could forgive him for taking out his heartbreak on the Christners.
She strolled up the short sidewalk to Suvie's house and looked to the west. The sun was more than two hours from setting. She'd easily be home before dark.
Suvie Nelson was Josiah's sister and the only immediate family he had left. She and her husband, Andrew, lived a short walk from Josiah's house on the same farm that Josiah and Andrew worked together. Rose looked down the road. Her heart tumbled about in her chest like a pebble in the river. Josiah's house was close, but there wasn't any chance she'd run into him today. She was delivering honey to his sister. Surely she'd be safe.
A child was crying inside the house. Make that two children. Suvie must be having a hard day. The door opened, amplifying the sound tenfold, and Rose's lungs collapsed when Josiah, not Suvie, stood at the threshold.
Despite the fact that Josiah had a screaming baby in his arms and a screaming toddler at his feet, he smiled as if he'd just seen his first sunrise. “Rose,” he said, so softly that Rose wasn't exactly sure she'd heard it over the screaming.
Suvie's two-year-old, Aaron, was clinging to Josiah's trouser leg much the way Leonard Nimoy had done two days ago. Aaron was screaming and crying at a pitch that might have summoned all the dogs in the neighborhood. His face was wet with tears, and his curly hair was matted to his head with sweat.
Baby Arie in Josiah's arms was also screaming. She would occasionally find her fingers and suck on them for a few brief seconds and then wail again. Josiah bounced her up and down, but the bouncing only seemed to make things worse. It would have made Rose motion sick.
“Is everything okay?” Rose asked, and it was probably the stupidest question Josiah had ever heard.
Josiah bounced and bounced, and his smile bounced with him. “I'm babysitting. Suvie said there was an emergency, and she and Andrew ran out of here like the house was on fire. I can't get the baby to take a bottle, and Aaron has a stinky diaper. But we're doing okay.” He smiled wider, which, considering the situation, was quite an accomplishment. “It's just so nice to see you. How are the cats?”
Rose peeked around Josiah and into the house. A strand of toilet paper stretched from under a closed door across the living room and around Josiah's ankle. A puddle of water seeped from under the closed door and looked to be spreading by the minute. In the kitchen, a pot was boiling over on the stove, and something was definitely burning. Three-year-old Alvin sat quietly on the sofa in the front room with his hands clasped in his lap as if Josiah and the babies were his entertainment for the evening.
“Hello, Alvin,” Rose said.
Alvin grinned and waved at her.
Rose hesitated and looked up at the sky. Much as she wanted to be home before dark, she couldn't abandon Josiah or Suvie's poor, temporarily motherless children. Josiah might very well manage to burn down Suvie's house or at least cause a major flood before Suvie got home. Josiah seemed to have a strained relationship with water in general.
Rose pressed her lips together. Her own selfish fears didn't matter. The babies needed her. Josiah needed her. She would push aside her misgivings to help them out and deal with the consequences later.
“Would you like some help?” she said, trying valiantly to ignore the thumping of her heart against her ribs.
He looked like a dying man who'd just been granted a few more hours of life. He didn't even try to pretend he didn't need her. “I would be so grateful.”
Rose gave him a half smile and marched past him into the living room. With Aaron clinging to him like a burr, Josiah shut the door and shuffled a few steps toward her.
The most urgent problem first. Rose pulled the bubbling pan from the burner and turned off the LP gas stove. She lifted the lid, and steam ascended to the ceiling. A mushy glob of what used to be noodles sat in the bottom of the pan. The bottom was burned black, the pan ruined. She'd come just in time.
Still bouncing his crying niece on his hip, Josiah twitched his lips sheepishly. “Mac and cheese,” he said.
Rose tried to be encouraging. “It would have been delicious.”
Still sniffling and fussing, Aaron let go of Josiah's leg and headed straight for Rose with his arms outstretched. “Hold you,” he said.
Rose picked up Aaron and propped him on her hip. She pulled a tissue from the box on Suvie's kitchen cupboard and mopped up Aaron's face. He wasn't screaming anymore, but Josiah was right. He was definitely stinky. Even the dirty diaper wasn't the most pressing problem. With Aaron in her arms, Rose went to the closed door. Water was still seeping out from under it, threatening a fuzzy pink blanket on the floor. The door was locked.
Josiah seemed to notice the water for the first time. “
Ach
. It's leaking. Aaron threw something in the toilet, and it clogged. I locked the door so he couldn't throw anything else in there.”
“Do you have a key?”
He grimaced. “I didn't think that far ahead.”
Rose pointed to the top of the door frame. “We leave our bathroom keys on that little ledge,” she said, loud enough to be heard over the screaming baby. The poor thing. She was obviously starving.
Rose was too short to reach, but Josiah was plenty tall. With the baby, he tiptoed through the puddle of water and felt along the top of the frame until he burst into a smile. “Here it is.”
Rose kissed Aaron on the cheek and set him on the sofa next to Alvin. He started screaming again, but Rose needed both hands. She quickly unlocked the door, handed the key to Josiah, and splashed into the bathroom. Water trickled out of the overflowing bowl as the toilet ran and ran without shutting itself off. Rose jiggled the handle, then lifted the lid to the tank and pulled up the float. The toilet stopped humming, and the water stopped running. She opened the cupboard above the toilet and said a prayer of thanks when she found a stack of fluffy bath towels. Suvie probably wouldn't be too happy about her nice towels being used to wipe up toilet water, but she wouldn't be too happy about her living room flooding either. Rose would have wanted a dry floor.
Rose spread four towels around the toilet and sopped up the water. The fuzzy pink blanket was safe.
Josiah drew his brows together. “I didn't even notice the water. I should unclog the toilet before Suvie gets home. I did Bitsy's sink. How hard can a toilet be?”
Rose wasn't sure what Suvie would want, but under no circumstances was Josiah to get near that toilet. “We should see to the
kinner
first,” she said.
He looked at her as if she were a gift left on his doorstep.
Rose eyed Aaron and Alvin, who were wrestling on the sofa. In an attempt to get on top of his brother, Alvin kicked his foot and made a nice black smudge on the wall. “Do you know how to change a diaper?”
Josiah nodded. “
Jah.
I change Aaron's diaper all the time. I've just never had to babysit all three of them at once. It's hard.”