A Wedding for Julia (19 page)

The work could begin next week.

His life would be different now, but surely he would still find the occasional hour to fish along the creek’s banks.

He turned to Seth and asked how his wedding plans were coming along.

Within two shifts, everyone had been fed. Their guest list had grown, but it was still small by Amish wedding standards. There were certainly less than two hundred in attendance, though Caleb was happy to see everyone looked as if they planned on staying the entire day.

Already the young people were spreading out across the yard for games of volleyball. The women were passing buckets down the tables—one for silverware, another that plates were scraped into, and a final for stacking the dishes. Some of the mothers and older sisters had placed blankets on the ground under the shade of the trees—babies were going down for naps.

The wedding cake had been set up on a table near the garden, but on the side near the house where it was situated in the shade and protected from the breeze. They would share it after everyone had taken a break from the large meal.

Caleb reached over and intertwined his fingers with Julia’s. “Let’s go take a walk.”

“Walk?”

“Sure. I see our cake has been set out on the table.”

“
Ya
. Ella did a
wunderbaar
job. I peeked at it in the kitchen.”

“You peeked but didn’t taste?”

“Caleb! Of course I didn’t—” She stopped and shook her head as a smile spread across his face. “I never knew you were such a teaser.”

“
Ya
. My family always said so.” They had made it to the cake table. Ella’s baking was delicious. Caleb knew that from the items she sent for customers to purchase at the cabins. He thought he knew what she was capable of making, but he wasn’t prepared for the large, two-layer cake in front of him. It looked more like something he’d seen in the
Englisch
magazines the cashiers at the grocer sometimes flipped through when they weren’t busy.

“Do you like it?” Julia asked.

“Hmm…” Caleb glanced left and right. “I’m not sure. Let’s see.”

He reached forward as if he were going to run a finger through the frosting, and then he pulled back when Julia gasped in shock.

“You did that on purpose.”

“Guilty.”

Because no one was near them, he kissed her lightly on the lips. It wasn’t their first kiss, but it was their first as man and wife. Julia froze, as if she didn’t know how to respond, but then she reached up and cupped her hand around the right side of his face.

“
Danki
, Caleb.”

“For marrying you?”

“
Nein
. For everything.” She turned away, suddenly interested in the gift table, which was overflowing with many things they would be able to use—both homemade and store bought. All were practical items—a coffeepot for the stove, a set of sheets, a buggy blanket. He realized their friends had thought of everything and probably shared what they would bring, as it didn’t seem any item had been duplicated.

“Oh, my.” Julia trailed a hand along the table. “I hadn’t expected all the—”

“Gifts?”

“
Ya
.”

“People are kind here in Pebble Creek, same as in Monroe.” Caleb glanced out across the lawn and saw the couple he’d been meaning to talk to.

“Let’s go visit with our neighbors.”

“Our neighbors?”

“Timothy and Jeanette.”

“Oh. Sure, but I should check on my
mamm
.”

“She’s sitting with Miriam’s mother. You can relax for today, Julia. I believe others will make sure she’s taken care of.”

Julia nodded. “You’re right. It’s just that I’ve grown used to watching after her all the time.”

“Like a
mamm
with a
boppli
.”

Julia’s cheeks pinked instantly.

Was she thinking about the same thing he was? His thoughts had turned several times to the evening ahead, something he didn’t want her to worry about, but he didn’t think it was proper to broach the topic. So instead he squeezed her hand and said, “Tim’s youngest is waiting in line for one of the balloon animals.”

“I don’t know them well,” Julia confessed.

“You sold your land to them.”

“
Ya
, but I haven’t had much time to visit since then.”

“Timothy is the one who is a little shorter than I am and nearly bald.”

Julia gave him a don’t-be-a-wise-guy look.

“The redhead is his
fraa
, Jeanette.” He ducked out of the way in time to miss her playful slap.

“And how do you know so much about our neighbors?”

“Aaron has been helping Tim. He wants to learn our ways, and the
mamm
and
kinner
come into the grocery once a week.” He delivered this last piece of information as they reached the
Englisch
family.

The youngest girl had received a pink balloon and was holding it up to her mother. “It’s a giraffe, just like I asked for. Did you watch him? Did you see how he did that?”

“I did. It was amazing.” Jeanette had bent down to straighten her little girl’s dress, and that was when she noticed Caleb and Julia.

Everyone introduced themselves, and Timothy insisted they call him Tim. “Feels less formal.”

A look passed between Tim and Jeanette, something that made her smile before she added, “I’m not sure you met our children when we bought the place. Our youngest is Zoey.”

“Hello, Zoey.” Julia squatted down so she could be on eye level with the girl. She wore her hair in two long braids on each side of her head, with purple ribbons woven into the brown tresses. “I love your hair.”

“Mom always does it this way when she has time. I like the ribbons.”

“I do too.”

“She’s six and wants to put ribbons on my workhorses.” Tim Elliott rubbed his hand back and forth over his head and smiled at his daughter.

“They like it, Dad.”

Jeanette snagged another little girl who had walked up with a yellow balloon turtle. “And this is Victoria. She turned ten last summer.”

Victoria had red hair like her mother, which she wore in a single ponytail pulled to the back. She looked from her balloon to Julia and finally blurted out, “That was a long wedding!”

“Victoria—” Tim stepped closer to the young girl, leaned forward, and whispered something in her ear.

“Sorry. I love the games, though. I remember going to a wedding before, but I don’t remember games.”

“Wess said I couldn’t play.” Zoey’s bottom lip came out in a pout. “He said I was too little.”

Julia glanced at Caleb. “Wess is—”

“Our third child,” Jeanette explained. “He’s seventeen, and I’m not sure where he went.”

“Probably to join the volleyball game next to the front porch.” Caleb turned the little girl and pointed her in the opposite direction, toward the far side of the garden. “Younger ones are playing that way if you want to join them.”

The two girls looked to their parents for permission and then took off running, animal balloons clutched in their hands.

“Thank you so much for inviting us to your wedding.” Jeanette stepped closer to her husband. “I know we haven’t been very good neighbors this last year.”

“
Nein
. I should have been over to visit. My
mamm
has been ill, and my
dat
—”

“Yes, I know. I’m so sorry.”

Tim put his arm around his wife. “We will get to know each other better now.”

“That would be
gut
,” Julia said.

“Aaron has told me about your attempt to farm using our methods.” Caleb pulled Julia out of the path of two small children chasing a ball past where they stood. “How are you adjusting to Plain ways?”

“This year has gone better. I was an engineer in my old life. It’s taken some time for me to learn how to do things the simple way, but I like it.”

“You were an engineer?” Caleb remembered Lydia’s admonition about talking business, but he couldn’t stop himself from broaching the subject. “Aaron mentioned you might have some ideas to help us in building a bridge across the creek.”

He managed to keep the conversation brief. They had other guests to speak with, but it seemed to him that perhaps having this
Englisch
neighbor next door was a blessing.

“Nice couple,” Julia murmured as they walked away. Miriam had called out to her, so they were walking back toward the house. She was needed to match up the single guests, anyone over sixteen, to sit together for the evening meal.

Caleb wanted to make sure everything was ready for the young people to have their singing in the barn, which was scheduled to take place later in the afternoon.

As they moved in separate directions, it occurred to him that the day could not have gone more smoothly.

Chapter 16

W
hen Julia woke the next day, Caleb was already dressing. By the time she puzzled through several different emotions—joy, longing, excitement, worry, and embarrassment—he was bending over her and kissing her cheek.

“Off to the barn. Back in an hour.” His fingers caressing her face and lingering in her hair drove out all her worries. Perhaps yesterday and last night had gone as well as she thought it had.

Oh, how she wished Miriam or Lydia lived next door so she could run over and have a word with them. It was rare that Julia ever wished for any of the
Englisch
conveniences, but at that moment she would have gladly picked up a telephone to call one of her friends.

Instead she slipped from the bed, took her turn in the bathroom before Ada needed it, and returned to her room to dress quickly. She intended to go downstairs straight away, but her eyes fell on the letter from Indiana, the one Caleb had handed her as soon as they had walked into their room together the evening before.

Her fingers traced her name on the envelope—Julia Zook.

Unable to resist, she pulled out the single sheet and sat in the rocker beside her bed. She remembered well enough what was written on the plain paper. She had read it twice already—once while Caleb stepped into the bathroom to give her a few moments alone and then again, while he sat beside her on the bed.

He’d described his parents to her then. Jebediah, his father, had recently turned sixty-five but still worked in the fields a portion of each day. Caleb’s brothers—three older, two younger—took care of the bulk of the farm work, but Jebediah enjoyed the time outside and claimed it kept him youthful.

“Do you look like your
dat
?” Julia had asked.

“
Ya
. I suppose I do—same height and same build. Though his hair is much whiter.”

He’d touched at the place on his scalp that was graying. She’d wondered if he was aware of it. Apparently he was, and it didn’t matter to him at all.

“And your
mamm
?”

“Betsy.” Caleb’s smile said more than his words possibly could. “She’s a
gut
cook, Julia. You two will have a lot to talk about. All that cooking, though, for us boys…it’s taken its toll.
Mamm
, she never was tall, and she’s put on a few pounds over the years.”