Amish Country Box Set: Restless Hearts\The Doctor's Blessing\Courting Ruth (47 page)

“That was Eli Lapp at the door just wanting to make
sure Ruth was all right. He was on his way home from the chair shop.” Anna cut her gaze at Ruth.

Miriam nearly choked on her chowder. “That was Eli Lapp from Belleville at the door?” She looked at their mother. “Dorcas said he rides a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Aunt Martha saw him.”

“He’s allowed to if he hasn’t joined the church yet,” Anna offered. “Dinah said he’s
rumspringa
. You know those Pennsylvania Amish are a lot more liberal with their young people than our church.”

Susanna’s eyes widened. “
Rump-spinga?
What’s that?”

“Rumspringa,”
Mam corrected gently. “Some Amish churches allow their teenage boys and girls a few years of freedom to experiment with worldly ways before they commit their lives to God. Anna is right. So long as Eli hasn’t yet been baptized, he can do what he wants, within reason.”

“Rumspringa,”
Susanna repeated.

“He’s wild is what he is.” Miriam’s eyes twinkled with mischief. “That’s what everyone is saying. Handsome and wild.”

Ruth’s throat tightened. She was just starting to feel calmer, and now here they were talking about that boy again. It was almost as bad as having him right here at the supper table! Why was Miriam teasing her like this? She knew very well Ruth wasn’t interested in Eli Lapp…not in any boy.

“Let us eat before everything is cold.” Mam didn’t raise her voice, but she didn’t have to. All eyes turned to their plates, and for several loud ticks of the mantel clock, there was no sound but the clink of forks and spoons against Mam’s blue-and-white ironstone plates and the loud purring of Susanna’s tabby cat under the table.

They were just clearing away the dishes when a knock came at the kitchen door. “Who can that be now?” Miriam asked. “Think it’s Eli Lapp again?”

Anna and Miriam exchanged glances and giggled. Ruth stepped into the hall, seriously considering marching straight up the stairs to an early bedtime.

“I’ll get it.” Anna bustled for the door.

“
Ne
. I’ll get it.” Mam straightened her
Kapp
before answering the door.

When Ruth peeked around the corner, she was relieved to see that it was Samuel Mast, their neighbor.

He plucked at his well-trimmed beard as he stepped into the kitchen. “You’re eating. I should have waited.”

“Ne, ne,”
Mam said. “You come in and have coffee and Anna’s rhubarb pudding with us. You know you are always welcome. Did Roman say how much the repairs on the school would cost?”

Anna carried a steaming mug of coffee to Dat’s place. Since Dat’s death, the seat was always reserved for company, and Samuel often filled it.

Ruth thought Samuel was sweet on Mam, but her mother would certainly deny it. Samuel was a God-fearing man with a big farm and a prize herd of milk cows; he was also eight years younger than Mam. Nevertheless, Ruth observed, he came often and stayed late, whenever someone could watch his children for the evening.

Samuel was a widower and Mam a widow. With Dat two years in the grave and Samuel’s wife nearly four, it was time they both remarried. Everyone said so. But Ruth didn’t believe her mother was ready to take that step, not even for solid and hardworking Samuel.

The trouble was, Ruth thought, Mam couldn’t discourage Samuel’s visits without hurting his feelings. They all valued his friendship. He was a deacon in their church, not
a bishop, as Dat had been, but a respected and good man. Everyone liked him. Ruth liked him, just not as a replacement for her father.

And now Samuel would be here all evening again, delaying Ruth’s plans for a serious conversation with Mam about Irwin Beachy running from the fire. She didn’t want to make accusations without proof, but she couldn’t keep this from her mother. If Irwin
had
started the blaze, something would have to be done. But now there would be no chance to get Mam alone before bedtime. Samuel had settled in Dat’s chair, where he would stay until the clock struck eleven and Mam began pulling down the window shades. Talking to her mother about Irwin would have to wait until tomorrow.

Maybe that was a better idea anyway. Ruth was still flustered. First the incident at the school with that Eli, and then him showing up at their door asking for her. This had been a terrible day, and that wild Pennsylvania boy hadn’t made it any better.

* * *

Every Friday, three of the Yoder girls took butter, eggs, flowers and seasonal produce to Spence’s Auction and Bazaar in Dover, where they rented a table and sold their wares to the English. They would rise early so that they could set up their stand before the first shoppers of the day came to buy food from the Amish Market and prowl through the aisles of antiques, vegetables and yard sale junk. If the girls were lucky, they would sell out before noon.

The income was important to the household. There were items that they needed that Mam’s salary couldn’t cover. And no matter how tight the budget, each girl who worked was allowed to take a portion of the profit for her marriage savings or to buy something that she wanted.
The sisters shared equally with Susanna, who always did her best to help.

Susanna loved the auction. She liked to watch the English tourists and she loved to poke through the dusty tables of glass dogs and plastic toys in the flea market. Today, Susanna had made a real find, an old Amish-style rag doll without a face. The doll had obviously had many adventures. Somewhere she’d lost her
Kapp
and apron, but Ruth promised that she would sew Dolly a new wardrobe and assured her sister that this doll was Plain enough to please even the bishop.

Today had been a slow day. They hadn’t sold everything, and it was long past lunchtime. Now it was clouding up in the west, and it looked to Ruth as if they might get an afternoon thunderstorm.

Across the way, Aunt Martha and Cousin Dorcas were already packing up their baked-goods stall. Ruth was just about to suggest to Miriam that they leave when, suddenly, there was a loud rumble.

Heads whipped around as Eli Lapp came roaring down the driveway between the lines of stalls on a battered old motorbike. Ruth almost laughed in spite of herself at the sight of him on the rickety contraption. Even she could see that it was no Harley motorcycle, as Aunt Martha had claimed. It was an ancient motorized scooter, hand-painted in awful shades of yellow, lime and black.

Susanna’s mouth opened in a wide
O
as she pointed at the motor scooter. Miriam called out and waved, and to Ruth’s horror, the Belleville boy braked his machine right in front of the Yoder stall.

“Hey!” he shouted, over the clatter of the bike. “Ruth, good to see you again.”

Ruth’s eyes narrowed as she felt a wash of hot blood rise up from her throat to scald her cheeks. Aunt Martha and
Dorcas were staring from their stall. Even the English were chuckling and ogling them. Or maybe they were looking at the ugly bike; she couldn’t tell.

“Want a ride?” Eli dared, grinning at Ruth.

She was mortified by the attention. Eli Lapp was not only riding a ridiculous motor scooter, he wasn’t dressed Plain. He was wearing motorcycle boots, tight Englisher blue jeans and a blue-and-white T-shirt, two sizes too small, that read “Nittany Lions.”

“
Ne
. I do not want a ride,” she retorted. “Go away.” She thought she spoke with authority, but her voice came out choked and squeaky, and Miriam giggled.

“It’s perfectly safe, teacher’s girl,” he said. “I’ve even got a helmet.” He held up a red one, almost as battered as the bike.

“Ne,”
Ruth repeated firmly, avoiding eye contact, even though he was staring right at her.

“If you won’t, I will,” Miriam cried, throwing up both hands.

And before Ruth could utter more than a feeble
“Ne,”
her sister scrambled around the table, hitched up her skirt and apron, and jumped on the back of the scooter.

“I want a ride, too!” Susanna declared, bouncing up and down.

Ruth cut her gaze to Miriam as she watched her boldly wrap her arms around Eli’s waist. “Miriam,” she ordered, “get off—”

Eli winked at Ruth, and the motorbike took off down the drive, out of the auction and onto the street, leaving her standing there looking foolish and Susanna jumping up and down for joy.

“Oh! Oh!” Susanna clapped her hands. “Did you see Miriam ride?”

“Help me load the rest of our things into the buggy. She’ll be back in a minute,” Ruth said, a lump in her throat.

She told herself she was upset that Miriam was doing something she shouldn’t be, but she knew in her heart of hearts it was that boy again. He was making her feel this way. And she didn’t like it. Not one bit.

As Ruth walked to the buggy, trying to look casual, she glanced in her aunt’s direction. Aunt Martha had her head close together with Dorcas, and the two were talking excitedly. That was definitely not good. Miriam’s poor decision would be all over Kent County by supper time. And there would be no doubt who would be held accountable. Ruth would.

She was the oldest left at home. Susanna and Miriam were her responsibility. They had not been baptized into the church yet, but she had. She should have known better than to let Miriam do something so foolish, so not Plain.

Ruth was just checking the horse’s harness when she heard the growl of the motorbike as it grew closer again. Stroking the old mare’s broad neck, she turned to see Eli and Miriam riding straight at her. A moment later, her sister was holding three ice-cream cones in the air and trying to get off the scooter without showing too much bare leg. Eli was laughing and talking to her as if they were old friends.

“He bought us ice cream.” Miriam licked a big drip of chocolate off her cone and handed the vanilla one to Susanna. “What do you say, Susanna?”

“Danke,”
Susanna chirped.

“And here’s one for you.” Miriam had a twinkle in her eye as she held out the ice cream to Ruth. “I know you like strawberry.”

“No, thank you,” Ruth said stiffly. “I don’t want any.”

Miriam shoved the cone into her hand. “Don’t be such
a prune,” she whispered. “Eat it. Mam wouldn’t want you to waste food.”

Ruth glared at Eli as she felt the cold cream run down her fingers.

“I see Miriam got back in one piece,” Dorcas called as she hurried across the driveway toward Ruth. “Mam saw her and—”

“Here.” Flustered, Ruth handed her cousin the ice-cream cone. “You like ice cream. You eat it.”

Eli looked right at Ruth, laughed and roared away on his noisy machine.

Chapter Three

R
uth glanced at Mam and then turned her attention back to Blackie, their driving gelding, and eased him onto the shoulder of the busy road to allow a line of cars to pass. Blackie was a young horse, and Ruth didn’t completely trust him yet, not like she did old Molly, so she liked to keep a sharp eye out for traffic.

“So why did you wait so long to tell me about Irwin?” Her mother’s soft voice carried easily over the regular clip-clop of Blackie’s hooves on the road and the rumble of the buggy wheels. The rain, which had held off all day, was coming down in a spattering of large drops.

Miriam had gone ahead with Anna, Susanna and Johanna and her children to the quilting frolic at Lydia Beachy’s house in the big buggy, leaving her and Mam to follow in the smaller courting buggy. Dat had brought this single-seat carriage from Pennsylvania with him twenty-six years ago. It was just the right size for two, perfect for private conversation. Ruth had counted on being able to voice her concerns about Irwin, and she wanted to tell Mam about this afternoon’s incident with Eli Lapp and his ridiculous motorbike before anyone else did.

“Ruth?” Mam pressed.

“I meant to, but…” An ominous roll of thunder sounded off to the west, and she flicked the reins to urge Blackie into a trot as she pulled back onto the road. “But Samuel came last night and then there was no chance to talk with you alone and today we were both gone all day.”

“I see. Well, Irwin wasn’t in school today.”

“He wasn’t?”

“I asked three of Irwin’s cousins why he wasn’t there and got three different excuses,” Mam said.

Ruth sighed. “I don’t want to accuse him. I just thought it was strange that he’d run away like that. I suppose he could have seen the fire and been trying to put it out.” She hesitated. “But since Irwin is always making mischief…”

“Losing his whole family in a fire, coming to Delaware to live with people he hardly knows, it’s no wonder he acts out.” Mam folded her arms in a gesture that meant no nonsense. “I won’t judge him until we know the truth, and neither should you.”

Ruth didn’t want to argue with Mam, but neither was she going to hold her tongue when she had something to say. “He did set Samuel’s outhouse on fire last month. He gave Toby a black eye and you sent him home twice from school for fighting this month.”

Mam frowned. “The boy has a lot of anger inside. He needs love, not accusations and false judgments.”

“But if he makes a habit of playing with matches…”

“Where’s your charity? In my experience, the wildest boys turn out to be the most dependable men.”

Ruth winced. “You know I don’t mean to be uncharitable. I just thought you should know what I saw with my own eyes.”

“And rightly so.” Mam nodded. “Now that I do know, I’ll handle it.”

When Ruth didn’t comment, Mam continued. “The
school can be repaired, but if people start talking about Irwin, the damage to a child’s soul may not be so easy to mend.”

“You’re right, but what if he’s a danger to others?”

“Have faith, Ruth. I’ll do my part, the Beachys will do theirs, and God will do the rest.”

“What will you do?” Her heart went out to the boy, as unlikable as he was, but they had to think of the other children’s safety, too. As much as she valued her mother’s judgment, she had to be satisfied that they weren’t taking unnecessary chances to protect Irwin.

“I’ll talk to him privately.” Mam pursed her mouth. “Last night, Samuel confided that he suspects his twins know something about the fire, something they were afraid to tell.”