The Bridesmaid (6 page)

J
oanna stirred until late that night, unable to sleep. She was excited about tomorrow, yet apprehensive, too. She offered a silent prayer to God, who alone saw her troubled heart. If only Cora Jane hadn't refused to understand the need to keep Eben's affection a secret. After all, this was Joanna's first and only love.
Why can't Cora Jane understand?

The moonlight crept under the dark shades, playing across the wide plank floor. Was Cora Jane restless tonight, as well? Joanna was too drained to go across the hall to see.

Eventually, Joanna fell asleep, although her rest was fitful.

Hours later, when it was finally time to get up, she tiptoed to Cora Jane's room, expecting her to just be waking. But the bed was neatly made, with no sign of her.
What's this?
Joanna clenched her hands. Where had her sister disappeared to at this early hour? Had she already made good on her threat to leave?

Nor was Cora Jane present at the breakfast table. And when Joanna asked Mamma where she might've gone, her mother shook her head in dismay. Dat raised his eyes fleetingly to meet Mamma's, then resumed eating his eggs and bacon.

She'll return once Eben goes home,
Joanna felt sure.

After dishes were done up and put away, Joanna dressed warmly and hurried outdoors to brush and curry both the driving horses, not knowing which one she and Eben might use later. She was anxious to show him around Hickory Hollow, hoping he, too, might fall for its winsome charms. She combed the horses' thick dark manes and tails till they were beautifully smooth.

When she was satisfied they looked exceptionally well groomed, she and her father oiled the harness, working together. While Dat remained mum on the subject of Eben's visit, she did catch him looking her way several times, wearing a thoughtful expression. He'd also taken time to clean up his work boots and was wearing one of his better black felt hats instead of the old gray knit one he usually wore around the farm this time of year.

Even though there was no way Eben would arrive before four o'clock, Joanna found herself keeping an eye out for him from midmorning on. She wanted to be completely prepared in every way. Once she was satisfied all was caught up, she went to bathe and dress in her best blue dress and matching cape apron. She dabbed some light perfume behind each ear and on each wrist. Then she went through the house, scrutinizing the downstairs rooms, trying to see them through Eben's eyes as best she could.

Mammi Sadie dropped in a few minutes later, mouth pursed. “It seems that Cora Jane's run away from home,” she muttered.

“I know,” Joanna said, offering her grandmother a chair near the heater stove. “She's peeved.”

“Joanna's beau's comin' from Indiana,” explained Mamma.

Mammi Sadie's eyes lit up. She looked quizzically at Joanna. “So then it's true, what Cora Jane said.”

“Cora Jane told?”

“Oh . . . lots of sisters slip up and spill the beans, 'specially about such exciting news, honey-girl.”

Joanna didn't know what to think.

Soon, Mammi Sadie had her talking again, and Joanna quickly filled her in about last summer at the beach.

“Well, praise be!” Mammi made over her like a mother cat tending to her kitten. “Today? Your beau's honestly comin' today?”

Joanna said he was, but she wanted to know more about Cora Jane. “Do you know where my sister's gone?”

“Why, sure I do. She's sittin' over in my kitchen eating me out of house and home.”

“Ach, now.” Mamma's shoulders visibly relaxed. “
Gut.
”

“Is she comin' back anytime soon?” Joanna asked.

“She's in a foul mood. So I didn't dare ask,” said Mammi Sadie.

“Well, better keep her over there, then.” Mamma gave Joanna a knowing look. “We sure don't want any fussing today.”

Mamma doesn't want to run Eben off is what!
Joanna had to smile at how much his visit seemed to mean to her mother and grandmother.

“Tell Cora Jane she's welcome to have supper with us, if she'd like,” Joanna offered.

Mamma shook her head. “Do ya really think that's a schmaert idea?”

Joanna wondered. “Well, I dislike excluding her.”

“Looks to me like she's doin' that herself, ain't so?” Mammi Sadie said, accepting the hot coffee Mamma offered.

“Jah, 'tis best to leave her be,” Mamma said firmly.

“All right, then.” Joanna looked out the window from sheer habit. “Keep Cora Jane occupied.”

“Oh, will I ever,” Mammi Sadie agreed. “There's plenty of patching and whatnot that needs done.”

Won't she just love that?
Joanna grimaced for her sister, then poured herself some hot water for tea and wandered into the front room, letting Mammi and Mamma talk alone for now. She stood at the window facing the road and peered out. Heavy gray clouds had moved in, and delicate flakes drifted in the air like bits of onion skin. She hoped the snow slowed by the time Eben arrived so they could have a ride around Hickory Hollow, but she didn't want to dictate their activities. Whatever they did was up to him, even though he was their guest.

Now, if only Cora Jane would behave herself and quit causing a silent rumpus!

By five o'clock, Joanna had almost given up on Eben's arrival in time for her delicious meal. She was warming the potato rolls she and Mamma had taken great care to make when she heard her mother let out a little gasp.

Turning, Joanna saw a bright yellow cab pull up to the end of the lane. “Ach, he's here . . . Eben's here!”

Mamma rose and went to the window, smoothing her apron. “He certainly is.”

“Are ya nervous, too, Mamma?”

They laughed, acknowledging their shared anxiety, and Joanna's eyes locked with hers.

“Oh, Mamma, pray nothin' goes awry.” Joanna fussed with her hair, smoothing the middle part.

“
Puh
, what could go wrong?”

Joanna dared not ponder that. Instead, she asked, “Do I look presentable?”

“You're fine, dear. You look just fine.” Her mother smiled and waved her toward the door. “Go on now. Meet your beau.”

Reminding herself to breathe, Joanna went to the door, her heart beating double-time. Only in the pages of her stories had she ever experienced a moment like this before. Mere romantic imaginings . . .

Joanna spotted Eben strolling up the lane, carrying a dark duffel bag. He wore a black frock coat and black felt hat, as though for Sunday go-to-meeting. By all indications, he was coming around the back of the house, the way everyone else did in Hickory Hollow. And oh, did he ever look handsome!

Joanna made herself move slowly to greet him, glad to see the lineup of coats and boots was still tidy from her morning redding up.
A marvel!
Now, standing a few feet from the closed door, she stared at it, nearly boring a hole with her anticipation as she waited for the knock to come.

———

A thickening band of clouds had blown in with the afternoon, depriving the area of color. The change in weather had occurred just since Eben had arrived in Lancaster city. Joanna's Hickory Hollow looked pale gray beneath the gloomy sky as he paid the cabbie, then walked toward the Kurtz home. He'd checked the address twice for good measure. At long last, the day he'd waited for had come.

Eben took note of the well-kept older farmhouse, similar to his own father's abode. The horse fences had been newly whitewashed, and someone had just recently swept off the long walkway around to the back door, where he assumed he ought to go and knock. Would Joanna herself open the door? If so, how would she greet him?

Relax,
Eben told himself.
This is the girl who writes you every single week.

The reminder was encouraging. And now the moment had come. He stood tall, pushed his feet together, and took a deep breath.
O Lord, bless this time with my sweetheart-girl
, he prayed.

He raised his hand and knocked on the back door with what sounded like confidence, even to him.

J
oanna opened the back door, and there stood her beau, a broad smile on his face.

“
Willkumm
, Eben.” She'd never meant anything more.

“Hullo, Joanna . . . it's wonderful to see you again.”

“You too.” Her cheeks warmed at his words. “Come inside.” She opened the door wider.

“Mighty cold here, ain't?” he commented as he removed his boots.

“Jah, 'tis,” she said. “Was it this wintry in Shipshewana this morning?”

“Not nearly, and it was mighty early when I left.” He shook his head, still smiling. “Driver said you might be getting a big snowstorm here.”

Joanna led him through the outer room to the kitchen. Just seeing him again, sensing the lovely feeling of attachment between them, she wished he might get snowed in here for days on end.

Then, remembering her mother was sitting nearby, Joanna introduced her. “Eben, this is my mother, Rhoda Kurtz.”

Eben set down his duffel bag and shook her hand. “Denki for allowing me to visit your daughter.”

Mamma's eyes glinted her approval. “I daresay you've had yourself a long day.” She rose and went to the stove. “Would ya like something hot to drink? Coffee, tea . . . some cocoa?”

Eben kindly accepted some coffee, and Joanna offered to take his coat and hat, which he gave her. She turned toward the utility room but thought better of it. Eben's outer clothes ought to be hung elsewhere. They looked so nice . . . and new. Surely he hadn't put himself out just for her!

Joanna slipped into the sitting room and hung Eben's coat in there, then, returning, she found Eben and Mamma talking quite freely, and she felt momentarily sad that Cora Jane wasn't around to meet him, too.

“My husband's still in the barn, but he'll be along soon,” Mamma was saying.

Joanna eventually showed Eben into the sitting room, knowing Mamma wouldn't mind setting the table and putting supper on for the four of them. Joanna had so enjoyed preparing the special meal, delicious recipes in the family for generations: dinner in a dish and Hickory Hollow salad. Dessert was lemon sponge pie, which she dearly loved to make and eat.

“I'm eager for you to meet my father,” Joanna said as they sat down. “Just a little warning, though—he's quiet. Rarely says much.”

“Ah, I have uncles like that.” He laughed a little. “You kinda get to know what they're thinkin' after a while.”

“That's exactly right.”

Eben smiled at her and leaned forward slightly. “You're even prettier than when I first met ya, Joanna.”

She lowered her head. “Ach, Eben . . .”

“You truly are,” he said, reaching for her hand. “After supper, I say we go riding . . . just the two of us.”

She agreed, unable to pull her eyes away from his.

“We'll have us a nice time,” he said.

She knew they would. Goodness, she knew it as well as her own name!

Then, hearing Mamma in the kitchen, she let go of his hand and settled back in the chair.

Eben winked at her before looking around, resting his hands on the upholstered arms of the chair—Mamma's favorite. “A pleasant spot, jah?” He glanced toward the corner windows.

“Mamma likes to read her devotional books and the Bible here where the light streams in.”

He picked up a magazine with the title
Ladies Journal: Inspiration and Encouragement by Women of Faith.
He thumbed through and stopped at a particular page. “Well, look at this—an article on natural homesteading.”

Joanna leaned over to see.

“It mentions the bugs folks need in a healthy garden. How 'bout that?”

This brought a fond chuckle; then he began to read from the article. “Listen to this: ‘Hoverflies and chalcids will consume aphids, white flies, and stinkbugs' . . . oh, and even grasshoppers in alyssum.” He looked at her. “Do you plant alyssum?”

“In the late spring, jah.” She found it interesting how casual and familiar they were together. “May I see that article?”

He handed her the magazine, holding it open. “Looks like men might even enjoy some of these columns. My father would, I think,” he added. “He's not much for reading, though. Mostly the Bible.”

“Same with mine. But he does faithfully read
The Budget
and the
Farmers' Almanac
—just not in that order.”

In a few minutes, Mamma softly called them for supper, though without coming into the room, honoring their privacy. They rose and walked into the kitchen just as Joanna's father was entering the back door.

May this supper go well
, prayed Joanna.

She could hardly wait to share her meal with Eben. But then the back door opened once again, and Cora Jane stepped inside, as if she'd never gone anywhere at all.

Suddenly realizing that Mamma had set the table with only four plates, Joanna scrambled quickly to the cupboard and pulled out another for Cora Jane. It would never do for her sister to think she wasn't wanted, not after spending all day with Mammi Sadie next door, undoubtedly stewing.

But Cora Jane caught her eye just then and saw what Joanna was doing. She raised an eyebrow as Joanna placed the plate and an extra set of utensils on the table.
This is sure to set her off again!

By the time Dat came into the kitchen after washing up, Joanna didn't know whom to introduce to Eben first. But it was her sister who looked the most interested, standing in the middle of the room and trying not to be conspicuous in her scrutiny of Joanna's beau.

“Cora Jane, I'd like you to meet Eben Troyer from Shipshewana,” Joanna said, finding her voice. “Eben, this is my sister Cora Jane.”

“Hullo.” Eben offered to shake her hand, which she did with a pleasant enough smile. “It's nice to finally meet you and your family . . . put faces to names, ya know.”

“Willkumm to Hickory Hollow,” Cora Jane said, eyeing the table again. She went to her regular spot to the left of Dat, who'd dried his hands and was moseying around Eben's duffel bag to the head of the table now without stopping to speak.

“Dat, this is my friend . . . Eben Troyer,” Joanna said, holding her breath for what he might say.

Her father said hullo agreeably, then stuck out his hand to shake Eben's.

“Gut to meet ya.”

“Please call me Nate,” Dat said as he took his seat. “That'll be just fine.”

Cora Jane attempted to squelch the smirk that appeared at this but failed. Joanna was on pins and needles as she went around the table to the right of Mamma, where she sat with Eben on her opposite side.

So the suppertime setting was lopsided, instead of the way Joanna had envisioned things earlier, without her sister present. At least Cora Jane had shown some respect and come home to meet Eben. Yet Joanna still wasn't convinced that was such a good thing.

———

Eben found the unspoken interplay between Joanna and her younger sister curious. There was certainly an undercurrent of tension between them, yet Joanna hadn't referred much in her letters to Cora Jane or to her older, married siblings, all of whom had two or more children of their own. She had written mostly about the sister named Salina and her
three S's
, as Joanna liked to call her young nephew and two nieces. And Joanna had also told of an English friend named Amelia, who played the fiddle, as well as an elderly woman nicknamed the Wise Woman and other folk who lived there in the hollow.

Eben listened as Rhoda Kurtz praised Joanna's cooking skills, finding it somewhat humorous. After all, his taste buds were definitely in the know, and right this very minute, too.

“Joanna cooks and bakes near everything from scratch,” Rhoda added.

“ 'Cept for her pizzas,” Cora Jane said, leaping into the conversation, her eyes sparkling mischief.

Eben felt Joanna stiffen on the wooden bench next to him.

“Oh jah, the store-bought tomato sauce,” Rhoda defended Joanna. “Well, all the womenfolk use it.”

Eben glanced at Nate Kurtz, a seeming caricature with a healthy appetite. His graying beard had somehow managed to grow in the shape of a V, something Eben hadn't seen before. It almost looked as though someone had taken a scissors and trimmed it, and in a droll way, it complemented the man's reserved demeanor.

“Is this your first visit to Lancaster County?” asked Joanna's mother, obviously changing the subject, and abruptly at that.

“Sure is,” Eben said as he turned to smile at Joanna.

“Had ya thought of comin' sooner . . . to meet us, I mean?” Cora Jane said, her eyes fixed on her sister.

Eben had to laugh. “Oh, many times.”

Dear Joanna fidgeted next to him.

“Couldn't get away before now,” he explained. “Bein' my father's right hand, so to speak.” He thought now was as good a time as any to let Joanna and her family know about his dilemma. “You see, my younger brother's away from the fold . . . left us two years ago. My father had him pegged to be his partner in running the farm, which hasn't happened. Not just yet.”

Cora Jane's eyes widened, as did Nate's. Eben didn't look at Joanna or her mother just now.

“Is that why you didn't come to court my sister right away?” Cora Jane asked.

Her father looked at her, face vexed. “Daughter . . .” he said softly, though the warning in his tone was clear enough. Then, turning toward Eben, he said, “You do plan to move here in time, ain't?”

Eben nodded. “That's my intention.” He drew a long breath. “Once my brother returns home.”

Cora Jane was looking at Joanna now, no doubt sending messages with her big eyes. It reminded Eben of Leroy, who'd always sat across from him at the table, pulling faces.

“Well, you must know by now that Joanna's already made her baptismal vow to God and the church here,” Rhoda remarked. “In accordance with
our
bishop.”

“So how's this ever goin' to work, then?” Cora Jane blurted.

“Sister, please!” Joanna said, nearly coming up off the bench.

Cora Jane's head went down and Nate's shot up. Rhoda quickly rose and hurried to the stove, where she reached for the coffeepot. She returned to the table and began to pour it rather shakily into everyone's cups, whether they'd asked for more or not.

Eben felt it was on him to say something to calm things down. “All of my family, and many others in our community, are prayin' for my brother Leroy to return to his senses, to join church.”

“The Lord God is sovereign,” Rhoda said firmly, turning to carry the coffeepot back to the stove.

“He certainly is,” agreed Eben.

“In all His ways,” Nate Kurtz added.

Eben made a mental note to privately ask Joanna's father his permission to court her on Hickory Hollow soil. Given the concerned reaction at the table just now, that seemed like the wisest approach.
Best to stick with my original plan.