Seth watched Miriam as she stood in the middle of the pasture and ran her fingers up and down the colt’s long nose. She had her other arm wrapped around the colt’s neck while she whispered and cooed at him. “You’re such a pretty, pretty boy.”
His silky chestnut ear twitched as if he understood every word.
It had been three weeks since Ephraim had made the biggest mistake Seth had ever seen in the history of mistakes by settling for Sarah Schwartz when he could have had Miriam Bontrager. But even though Ephraim had wounded Miriam deeply, Seth couldn’t be sad that Ephraim and Miriam were no longer together. Ephraim didn’t deserve her.
Funny how he used to think that Ephraim and Miriam were perfectly suited for each other.
She had come to see the foals almost every day after work since then except Sundays. She seemed better today. Or maybe Seth was wishing she seemed better today and his wishes made it so. He might be imagining that there was more color to her cheeks or that the corners of her mouth didn’t constantly turn down into a frown.
Not that any of it marred her beauty. She was still as pretty as ever, with her lavender-blue eyes and hair the color of wheat fields in the glow of sunset. Seth could have stared at her all the day long and never grown tired. He felt his face get hot, quickly averted his eyes, and turned off the hose before it filled his boots with water. He mustn’t ever let his mind wander in that direction. That kind of foolish daydreaming would only get him into trouble. He tried not to look in her direction as he wound the hose onto the large spool hanging on the wall of his stable.
She came to see the horses. He was just the stable boy.
Before he knew she was coming, she stood by him. He couldn’t resist the urge to breathe in her scent. She smelled of vanilla and honey.
“The foals are growing so fast,” she said.
“They look forward to your visit every day.”
“I think I might choose the colt. He’s feisty, and he seems to like me.”
“Jah, he does.”
Miriam took her canvas bag off a hook on the side of the stable. “I am off to your house to help Laura finish her quilt top.”
“She’s been working every spare hour on that thing.”
“It is going to be beautiful. I didn’t know whether the green and pink would go well together, but they complement each other perfectly. I am glad she will have something from home at college.”
“Thank you for helping her.”
“No thanks necessary. Working on Laura’s quilt has helped me take my mind off my own troubles.”
Seth gave her a half smile. “I’m glad. I wish there was something more I could do.”
Miriam placed a hand on his arm.
He ignored his surging heartbeat.
“You listen to me even when I whine. And you don’t scold or tell me what I’m doing wrong. You are a true friend—one of the few I have.”
Seth tried not to burst with happiness. “You don’t whine.”
“Only a true friend would say that.”
Seth returned her grin. “Cum, I will walk with you to the road before I leave for my shift at the mill.”
Seth pointed to a spot near the main road close to the entrance to his property. “I am going to build a house right there, under the trees.”
“When?”
“As soon as I do the last summer cut of alfalfa, I will pour the foundation. There is a man in Madison who can give me a gute price, and Junior Herschberger says his work is quality. But I do not know how big to build it.”
“You will want room enough for a family. Even though it would be extra money, in a few years, you will be glad you spent it.”
Seth’s entire midsection did somersaults when Miriam talked about a family. He couldn’t help but think of the joy of having a family with a beautiful wife by his side.
Sunflowers and black-eyed Susans bloomed up against the fence that separated the alfalfa fields from the lane. Some sunflowers stretched almost six feet high. Seth reached up, snipped a large blossom from one of the stems, and handed it to Miriam. Her eyes danced, and she twirled the flower in her hand as they strolled down the path.
“I wish I could spend all day with the horses. They don’t have any problems that need fixing,” Miriam said.
“Trouble at home?”
Miriam threw back her head and growled. “Ach, Susie frets over what to do with her baby, and Yost can’t find a kind word for anybody. I thought that once house arrest ended he would cheer up—that things would go back to the way they were—but he is angrier than ever. What do you think I should do? I am at my wits’ end, and so are Mamm and Dat.”
She gave him that look of confidence that Seth always found unnerving. It boggled his mind that she trusted his judgment, when he didn’t feel like he knew anything about anything. He kept up a steady pace so she wouldn’t guess that his thoughts were a jumble.
Miriam failed to mention the thing that caused her the deepest personal pain, but Ephraim Neuenschwander was probably never far from her mind.
Seth stuffed his hands into his pockets. “You take care of so many other people. I hope you take care of yourself.”
She didn’t even have to think about that. “I come to see the horses every day when I should be tending to things at home. I am plenty selfish.”
“It doesn’t count if you feel guilty about it.”
“But I should feel guilty. I ought to spend more time with Yost. I ought to sit with Susie and help her decide what to do.”
“Does Yost want you to spend more time with him?”
Miriam breathed out a long sigh. “No.”
“It hurts when someone pushes you away. Yost must feel very unlovable.”
“When you train a horse, you don’t run at him to gain his trust,” Miriam said. “I try to hold back, to let him come to me. And I feed him good food. But I’m sure I am doing everything wrong.”
“Not likely.” Seth caught himself staring, redirected his eyes down the lane, and cleared his throat. Why did her skin have to be so flawless? “You are doing more good than you know. Like as not, Yost will have a rough time of it yet. Is he still friends with Joe Bieler?”
“Nae. The officer at the detention center said they could not see each other anymore, and Mamm and Dat talked to Joe’s parents about it. They all agreed it would be better to keep them apart. Dat keeps Yost closer to home now, although he still spends time with a few boys after work. I hope he finds new friends in the district, although I don’t know who would let their son associate with him. It is impossible to force anyone to be friends with him.”
“It doesn’t mean you love him more if you give yourself an ulcer worrying about him. Anxiety is not the same as love.”
Miriam slowed her step. “I suppose I think that if I worry myself to death, I can prove how much I love my family. I wish I were smart like you.”
“You are much smarter than me. Some days, I sleep in a barn.”
Smiling weakly, Miriam shook her head. “Ach, here I am, whining to you again. Have you grown tired of me yet?”
“I do not think that is possible.”
Out of the corners of his eyes, Seth saw three boys, two Amish and one Englisch, jump his fence at one end of the pasture and trample his alfalfa as they tromped through the field. His heart sank. He knew exactly who those boys were, and Miriam would be very unhappy if she caught sight of them. Seth didn’t mind people taking shortcuts across his land, but when they purposefully leveled his crops on more than one occasion, he knew they were doing more than looking for the shortest distance between two places.
Miriam didn’t notice them until she heard their loud laughter as they made their way across Seth’s field. She looked up and furrowed her brow. Seth couldn’t do anything to divert her attention. The damage had been done. She frowned as recognition registered on her face. “Is that Yost? Who…who is that Englisch boy?”
Seth remained mute and let her draw her own conclusions. Hopefully her assumptions wouldn’t be as unpleasant as the truth.
“Yost!” she called, but the boys either didn’t hear her or ignored her. She stared after them, her frown deepening as they stomped away. “That is Yost,” she murmured, “and Jonas, Mary Shetler’s boy.” Seth saw the distress grow on her expression as she watched them hop over the far fence and disappear into the Millers’ orchard.
She stood like a statue, her eyes riveted to the spot where Yost had passed through the trees. “They shouldn’t step through the alfalfa like that. They’ll damage your crop. Why would they want to damage your crop?”
Without warning, Miriam threw her arms around Seth’s neck and dissolved into a flood of tears. Tentatively, he wrapped his hands around her waist, his only thought to comfort her.
Ephraim Neuenschwander and Bishop Schwartz and even Miriam’s fater might have considered their touch improper, but when Miriam needed a shoulder so desperately, Seth couldn’t bring himself to pull away.
* * * * *
“No bark! Pookie, stop that barking!”
Pookie barked and barked at the door until Laura opened it and shooed the dog back. He gave up the fight when faced with opposition and padded his little feet to the kitchen before Miriam even stepped over the threshold.
Miriam smiled to herself. There were so few certainties in life, but she could always count on Pookie to bark at her no matter how many times she had been to the Lambright house. She felt honored, actually. Pookie still barked at Seth, and he had been a member of the family longer then Pookie had.
Laura’s smile faded as she studied Miriam’s face. “Oh Miriam. If this is a bad day, we can do it another time.”
Miriam couldn’t do anything about the red, puffy eyes that proclaimed she had been crying, but she forced the corners of her lips to curve up. “Nae, this is a gute time. You leave in a month, and we are so close.”
“You’ve been very kind to help me with this quilt, and I’ve been selfish,” Laura said. “I know how unhappy you are.”
Miriam took a deep breath and pushed the pain deeper into her heart. She didn’t need a reminder of the shambles that was her miserable life, and she wished Laura didn’t think that talking about Ephraim made her feel better.
Because it didn’t.
It poured salt into an open, festering wound.
“My mind is carefree when I’m quilting,” Miriam said, adding extra lilt to her voice so Laura would believe her sincerity.
“You
are helping me.”
That answer satisfied Laura. “Cum, I have a surprise for you.”
Ellie appeared in the front hall, tying her black bonnet under her chin. “Miriam, welcome to our home. I am sorry the floors are a mess, but Laura promised to mop later.”
Miriam smiled to herself. In all her visits to Lambrights’ home, she had never seen so much as a pin out of place. The sofa in the front room was brushed every time, and the propane lamps shone with a spit-shine polish.
The only room that seemed lived-in at all was Laura’s. Occasionally untidy but homey and comfortable, it felt like a haven in a sea of order, where Miriam could rest a hand on the table without worrying about leaving a smudge.
Priscilla darted through the back door, slamming it, as she ran into Miriam’s arms.
“Priscilla,” Ellie scolded. “Go back and show me how to close a door properly.”
Miriam lowered Priscilla to the floor. Contritely, Priscilla shuffled to the back door, cracked it open, and closed it carefully and quietly.
“Twenty times,” Ellie said. “So that I know you’ve learned your lesson.”
Priscilla pressed her lips together and began opening and closing the door.
Feeling uncomfortable, Miriam stood next to Laura and silently counted to twenty as Scilla did what Ellie asked.
Ellie nodded curtly when she was satisfied. “I am going to my dieters’ meeting. The boys are out back. Keep a strict eye on them, Laura. I won’t have them tracking dirt onto the rugs.”
“I will,” Laura said as she shut the door behind Ellie.
Miriam spread her arms wide, an invitation for Priscilla to return to her embrace. Priscilla wrapped her arms around Miriam’s neck.
“Do you know why I feel so gute today?” Miriam asked Priscilla.
“Why?”
“Because Lady Dancing sat on my pillow and smiled at me when I woke up.”
Scilla burst into a grin and nibbled on her fingernail. “Do you like her?”
Miriam gave Priscilla an extra squeeze. “More than anything. Thank you.”
“I told Seth it would make you happy, but he didn’t want me to be sad for losing Lady Dancing.”
“Do you miss her?” Miriam said.
“I am glad you like her.”
“Cum,” said Laura. “Let’s show Miriam the quilt upstairs.” The sisters led Miriam to Laura’s attic room, where she had spread the completed quilt top on the bed.
Miriam clapped her hands in genuine delight. “You finished it?”
Priscilla clapped her hands. “Isn’t it pretty, Miriam?”
“It’s not near as good as if you had helped me,” Laura said, “but I wanted to surprise you.”
“Of course it is good.” Miriam ran her hands over the fabric. They had chosen a simple pattern of squares and rectangles, easy to piece together and easier to quilt. The pink-and-green patches reminded Miriam of a plate of sliced watermelon on a hot summer day. “It turned out so cute. And your corners match nicely.”
Laura blushed. “I did a lot of unpicking last night. I wanted it to be good.”
“It is wonderful-gute. It will look nice in your college room.”
“Do you want to see what Seth got for Laura?” Priscilla said, her little legs already taking her to the stairs.
“What did he get?”
Holding on tightly to the rope, Priscilla stepped down the ladder. “I will bring it.”
Miriam loved Priscilla’s contagious enthusiasm. She grinned at Laura. “Let’s organize a quilting circle for next Tuesday.”
Laura’s smile sagged. “No one will come. Why would they help a girl like me finish my quilt?”
“That doesn’t matter one little bit, and don’t you ever believe it does. Leave everything to me. I’ll have a dozen ladies here, no doubt about it. You need to buy the batting. Do you still have the dark green for the back?”
“Jah.” Laura pulled three boxes of her mother’s fabric from under her bed.
The green they had decided on lay at the top of the first box. “You need to sew two pieces together or the back won’t be wide enough. I’ll show you how.”