A Home for Lydia (The Pebble Creek Amish Series) (28 page)

“Soon to be six,” Nathan reminded him.

“
Ya
.” David slumped forward on the table.

“Might want to bring him some
kaffi
as well.”

Aaron nodded and carried his plate over to the dish tubs outside the kitchen door. Setting his utensils in one tub and his plate in the other, he wiped his hands on his pants before moving down the line to where Lydia stood.

She looked up in surprise when he approached her table.

“Hello, Lydia.” He tried to remember what he had decided to say to her, but suddenly his mind went blank. Something about pie and how she looked. “You’re looking as
gut
as that apple pie today.”

Lydia smoothed her apron over her dark green dress, looked left and then right, and finally stared at him as if he’d stepped into Nathan’s fields and splattered mud all over his Sunday clothing.

“That is…what I meant to say was…uh…nice dress.”

“Oh.” Lydia gazed down at the table as her cheeks turned a rosy pink. “
Danki
.”

As if she finally understood why he was standing in front of her table, she added, “Did you want some of the apple pie?”

“
Nein
. I already had dessert—twice, while you were refilling drinks.” He patted his stomach uncomfortably. “Couldn’t fit another bite.”

She pulled her
kapp
strings to the front, her brow furrowed, and finally asked, “Then why are you here?”

“
Ya
, well, David wanted me to pick him up some coal…I mean, cookies.” He glanced down at the cookie plate, which held only crumbs, and shook his head.

This wasn’t going well. Why did he feel so awkward? They worked well together at the cabins, but now he was tripping over words and forgetting what he meant to say. “Also…I was wondering if you’d like to go for a walk and see Nathan’s new calves.”

He thought she would say no. She was still gawking at him as if he’d sprouted red hair, but at that moment her mother walked up. “What a
gut
suggestion, Aaron. I was just saying to Lydia that she should get away from this table. She even stood here as she ate her lunch. A little exercise would be a
wunderbaar
idea.”

Lydia stared at them both in disbelief, but she didn’t argue with Ella Fisher. Aaron smiled his thanks as they walked off toward the pasture behind Nathan’s barn.

“I apologize if I embarrassed you in front of your
mamm
. I thought it would be nice to talk, you know…when we’re away from work.”

“It’s okay.
Mamm
jumps at any chance to throw me into a buggy ride with an eligible Amish male. You’ll have to be careful around her, or she’ll be having you over for dinner and plying you with shoofly pie.”

“I wouldn’t mind that. I love shoofly pie, and pumpkin pie, and even peach cream pie. I have something of a weakness for dessert—or dinner, for that matter. Truth is, I’ve been missing my
mamm
’s cooking since I’ve been here.”

“Don’t say yes if she invites you over to eat. It would be better if I smuggled you food. Coming to dinner would encourage her matchmaking tendencies. She’ll think you’re interested, and that’s a road you don’t want to start down with her.”

Aaron laughed out loud, causing some of the young
kinner
to turn and stare at them. “Your
mamm
loves you. She’s no different than any other parent.”

“Is that how you see it?” Lydia threw her arms over the fence and stared down at the week-old spotted calves.

“
Ya
. How do you see it?”

Lydia took her time answering, focusing instead on choosing the right weed to pull from the grasses growing by the fence.

“Lydia?”

“It’s not as if I think they want to be rid of me. It’s only that…” She turned away from the calves, leaned back against the metal fencing, and wrapped her arms around her stomach as she studied the group of adults still assembled under the stand of trees. “They worry I’ll be an old maid.”

“How old are you?”

“Twenty-two, but you know how it is with Plain folk. Don’t pretend you don’t understand.” She pierced him with those brown eyes he thought about first thing when he woke each morning, and while he was chopping wood for the cabins, and after she’d gone home at night.

“
Ya
. I know what you mean, but your parents seem reasonable.”

“They are, but my family situation is—different.”

“Because of your
daed
.”

She frowned, turned around, and began to walk the length of the pasture, as if she was suddenly interested in following the calves, who were following the cows. “I don’t believe you know much about my family situation, Aaron Troyer.”

“I met your father before the service this morning. I can tell that people respect him and like him.” When Lydia didn’t say anything, only crouched so that she could put her hand through the fence railing and reach to pet one of the calves, Aaron squatted with her. “Why didn’t you tell me, Lydia? Why didn’t you explain to me that he’s ill?”

She jumped up faster than a bull bolting when he’d been spooked by a snake. “I don’t need your pity, Aaron. If that’s why you asked me to take a walk, you can go back to your table and back to your apple pie.”

He hesitated, and then he allowed a smile to slowly spread across his face. “I told you. I asked you because you look pretty in that dress…pretty as apple pie.”

Lydia rolled her eyes, but her anger evaporated. “
Ya
. If I remember right you also asked for some coal—”

“Cookies.”

“Whatever.”

She turned her back to him and continued walking down the fence line, but not before he saw a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. He couldn’t leave it like that, though, with the barest hint of a smile. He wanted to chase that worried look completely off Lydia’s face. He enjoyed making her happy. Enjoyed it more than apple or shoofly pie.

“I know you don’t need my pity, Lydia. I’m
not
offering pity, but you’re practically the first person I met when I came here. We work together every day. I’m trying to figure why you never mentioned that your father is so ill he’s not able to work. Why did you never mention that you’re having to carry the burden of helping to bring home the money to raise four other children?”

“Five.”

“There are five?”

Lydia ticked them off on her fingers. “Clara, Martha, Amanda, Sally Ann, and Stephen.”

“I missed Stephen. Hard to keep all these Amish kids straight. They all look the same.”

Lydia threw the handful of weeds she’d pulled at him, but Aaron dodged right and most of them dropped to the ground.

“Got you.”

“You did?”

“
Ya
.” She stepped closer, reached up and pulled a piece of timothy grass from his hair.

Aaron thought to touch her face. He was about to raise his hand and tuck the strings to her prayer
kapp
back out of the way when she turned. “We should go back. My
dat
will be tired and needing to go home.”

He put his hands in his pockets and fell into step beside her.

On the way back they talked of Menno’s condition. Aaron had heard of farmer’s lung, but he’d never known anyone who actually had it. Lydia spoke matter-of-factly, as if she were describing the breakfast of muffins and fruit she’d left in the cabins for their guests.

He wasn’t fooled, though. He’d seen the way she’d stared at her father during the church service. Her expression of concern had drawn his attention from the sermon, or maybe it had focused him more on the pastor’s words. “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.” The words from the book of Romans were barely out of the pastor’s mouth when Aaron had noticed the worry on Lydia’s face and seen her eyes locked on Menno.

Aaron didn’t owe anyone anything, so that part of the Scripture he’d followed, but had he loved others as the Bible taught? He wasn’t so sure.

And what of Lydia?

She kept herself apart, and he wanted to know why.

As she explained about her father’s condition, he began to understand some. Who had time to socialize when she was working a job, taking care of her siblings, and caring for her parents?

And to think he’d popped out of bed that morning, patting himself on the back for what he’d accomplished.

Lydia’s problems outweighed his by more than a bushel. Not that he didn’t have problems of his own. His hands were full taking care of Elizabeth and all his cousins.

Still, he and Lydia were friends, and friends loved one another.

Not to mention, she did look pretty in that dress.

Chapter 24

L
ydia could tell right away that Tuesday morning was not going to go as smoothly as Monday had.

On Monday morning the last of their guests had left after promising to encourage their friends to come and visit the new and improved cabins along the banks of Pebble Creek. Aaron had agreed to continue with Ervin’s policy of not accepting reservations on Monday evening. This allowed them time to do any repairs to cabins and also gave everyone a break from tripping over
Englischers
.

Lydia had spent the day cleaning the four cabins while Aaron and Seth finished the Plain Shop. The day had been quiet and productive. Finally their work had found a steady, easy rhythm.

And then Aaron had asked her if Clara could come in to work for a few days. He was probably trying to be helpful. Or perhaps her mother had mentioned it to him on Sunday.

Regardless how the topic came to his attention, Lydia couldn’t actually lie about it, not that she would have. So she went home Monday night with the blessed news. Her sister had jumped at the chance, and so Lydia’s quiet morning ride to work had been ruined. That was the first thing to go wrong on Tuesday. Things didn’t improve once they were settled in the office.

“I have to write the same thing on every card?” Clara stared at the boxes stacked next to her chair. “There must be thousands of them.”

“Two thousand five hundred to be exact. And Aaron isn’t paying you to stare at them, so get started.” Lydia was already twenty minutes later than she liked to be, thanks to Clara’s need to primp in front of their one mirror. You’d think she was going to a singing instead of to work.

“How did he have these printed so fast?” Clara ran her finger over the penciled drawing of the office on the front of the card. “I thought Grace drew it on Saturday.”

“
Ya
, she did. There’s a place in Cashton that is open on Sunday. Aaron dropped it off on Saturday before they closed, and it was ready yesterday afternoon. They call it their forty-eight-hour guarantee.”

“But why didn’t he have both sides printed?”

“Because it would have cost twice as much,” Aaron said, stepping inside the office. “Also, I think a handwritten note is a nice personal touch. Don’t you, Lydia?”

“Nice touch if it gets done.”

“What a
wunderbaar
idea, Aaron.” Clara stood and ran her hand down the length of her apron. “I wish my
schweschder
had taken the time to explain your reasoning to me. I totally understand what you want now.”