Courting Emily (A Wells Landing Book 2) (27 page)

“But this looks interesting,” Susannah protested.

Mary grabbed her by the arm and tugged her inside.

Rose and Bea finally caught up. “
Guder mariye,
” they called as they bounded up the steps.

“
Guder mariye,
” he repeated, though his gaze never left Emily.

Her sisters giggled, then slammed into the house.

Emily was left alone with Elam.

His expression was unreadable. “I don’t think we’ve ever met,” he started. “My name is Elam Riehl. I’ve seen you at church and in town.” He cleared his throat.

Hope rose inside Emily. Hope for the future and the promise of second chances. “My name is Emily,” she returned. “Emily Ebersol. I’m the bishop’s daughter.”

He smiled. “I know. I asked around about you.”

“You did?”

“
Jah
. See, I think you’re real pretty and word is you are sweet and funny. Caring, I believe came up several times.”

Is that how he saw her? She didn’t need to go inside against the cold. His compliment warmed her straight through. “I’m the bishop’s daughter. I’m supposed to set a
gut
example for others.”

“
Ach,
it is more than that. I heard of this family whose
vatter
was injured. Folks say you helped him regain a lot of his life back. He was unable to feed himself at times and now he’s back to being a husband and father. He’s even working on his dairy farm again.”

Tears welled in her eyes and blurred her vision as he spoke. “I only did what needed to be done.”

“That may be,” he continued. “But that family is mighty grateful. So grateful that they told their son to come over here and ask to marry you.”

“Is that so?” Happiness burst inside her. How could she have ever thought she loved Luke? Not when what she really wanted—what she really
needed
—was standing in front of her now.

“He told them he needed some time first.”

“Oh?” Her heart stopped.

“
Jah,
he wants a little time to court you. Get to know you. See, he missed out on a lot, and he wants to share that with you. Are you willing to court him for a while and perhaps marry him next November?”

“
Jah,
” she said, somehow managing not to throw herself at him in joy. “But only if he’s you.”

 

 

Saturday night racing was always a good time. Luke was happy for the first time in a while. He loved the mixed smells of the track: burnt rubber, burnt popcorn, and oil. The hum of the engines was like a mother’s lullaby. He had gotten the sponsorship, paid his friend for the damage to his car, and gone to work in one of Gus Hardin’s fried chicken restaurants. Life was good.

Sissy sashayed up next to him. She stood close enough that he could breathe in the sweet scent of her hair and the honeysuckle body lotion she preferred. But she did not touch him. He found it refreshing, this do-over they now shared.

He knew she was used to
Englisch
boys and their dating habits, but he was bound and determined to court her the same as he would if she were Amish. They were taking things slow, but he enjoyed taking the time to get to know her.

She leaned in a bit closer to be heard over the roar of the engines. “Let’s get something to eat.”

The track wouldn’t officially be open for a couple more months, but Johnny was good to let them practice whenever they wanted.

“Okay.” He wasn’t scheduled on the track for another hour. Plenty of time to get a bite to eat and get ready to race.

He turned, placing his hand at the small of Sissy’s back to escort her to the break room.

Behind them, tires screeched. He turned as metal crunched, scraped the side wall of the track, and then there was fire.

Luke didn’t think twice. He let go of Sissy and raced down the stairs and into the arena.

Car number thirty-two. His friend Justin’s car.

He wasn’t the first one on the scene. The guys who worked the pits were there, each one holding a spewing fire extinguisher. Why wasn’t Justin out of the car?

Luke ripped off his jacket and raced toward the burning vehicle. He could hear the shouts around him, but he couldn’t tell if they were yelling for him to stop or to keep going. But he knew what he had to do.

He stuck his head into the car’s window hole. Justin was slumped over the steering wheel unconscious. Luke wrapped his coat around Justin’s body and used it to drag his friend from the car.

The fire roared in his ears, the heat burned his face. The smell of burnt hair and fabric permeated his senses. But he had to get Justin to safety.

Protect him,
whispered through him as he dragged Justin away from the wreckage. A sixth sense kicked in. Luke doubled his efforts to get Justin to safety. Then he shielded his friend, throwing his body over Justin’s just in time. All the air was sucked from the arena. A whoosh followed. Then the world slowed down. The explosion rocked the ground beneath him and everything went black.

“I like this new heater,” Emily said. The battery-powered warmth heated the air around their feet and legs and made today’s buggy ride possible.

“Now I know why we court in the spring and summer and marry when it gets cold,” Elam groused.

She laughed. “Having second thoughts?”

“About you? Never. About the weather? Definitely.”

“How about this?” She scooted a little closer to him.

“Better.”

It had been just over a week since she and Elam had decided to start over. He had yet to kiss her, instead taking things slow as they learned to trust each other again. Luke’s name had not been brought up once.

Emily had gone over to Elam’s house every day of the week. She played cards, dice, and board games with James and Johanna, loving the time she spent with this
wunderbaar
family. She could hardly believe James was the same man she had seen just a few months before. She could hardly believe that in another few months, she and Elam would be married.

Her father had already granted them the
zeugnis,
the contract they needed to get married. A small part of Emily wished Elam would break tradition as her friend Caroline had, to get married out of season, but the two of them didn’t have the same excuse to go against the way things were done. Caroline’s family had to travel all the way from Tennessee to attend the wedding. Andrew had been worried about his future in-laws running into bad weather to prevent their travel to and from Wells Landing. Who could have known that Caroline’s
dat
would announce that his family was moving out to be closer to their
dochder
and
grosskind?

“Where are we going again?” she asked.

“I told you, it’s a surprise.”

“And I told you I don’t like surprises.”

“You’re going to like this one.” Elam smiled. “Well, the truth is, it’s more of a surprise for
Dat
than you. But I still wanted you to come along.”

“Now I’m really intrigued.”

Elam pulled on the reins, and the horses made the turn down a familiar driveway.

“Why are we going to Caroline and Andrew’s?” she asked.

Elam braked the buggy and switched off the heater. “I’m going to get
Dat
a dog.”

Emily smiled and slid from the buggy. “Did you bring me along to help you pick one out or so I could hold him on the way home?”

He returned her grin. “Both.”

“
Goedemiddag,
” Andrew called from the front porch. He wrapped his scarf around his face and ducked his head against the wind.

“Perhaps I should have picked a warmer day to choose a pup,” Elam said.

Emily pulled her coat a little tighter around her. “
Jah,
maybe.”

They followed Andrew into the barn where the puppies scampered in the hay.

“They’re all good dogs,” Andrew said. “Esther and my
onkle
Abe got one from the first litter.”

Emily was well acquainted with Moxie. He had been intended for Caroline and Emma and somehow wound up staying in town with Abe and Esther. They now lived behind the bakery Esther owned with Moxie serving as guard dog and companion. Abe Fitch still ran his furniture store and produced some of the finest handcrafted pieces around. Though these days he was more apt to be snacking with Esther while his other nephew, Danny, worked the cash register.

“Are you keeping one?” Elam asked.

Andrew pointed to the smallest one in the litter. A tiny female dog that seemed a little more timid than the rest. “Caroline wants that one.” He shook his head. “She is always for the underdog.”

Considering what all Caroline had been through, moving to Wells Landing alone and pregnant with an
Englischer
’s child, it was no wonder she rooted for those who fell behind.

The puppies rolled and tumbled, playing in the hay without a care in the world. One in particular caught Emily’s attention. She had one black ear and one white one as if God had drawn a line down her face and only painted one half. She was a bit smaller than the others, though not as small as Caroline’s choice, and she gave as good as she got.

Emily laughed as the puppy crouched down on her front paws, her rear sticking up in the air as she barked at her litter mates.

“She’s the one,” Elam said, pointing to her as he chuckled.

“I think so, too.”

“Then she’s yours.” Andrew scooped up the puppy, depositing her into Emily’s arms.

The pup immediately starting licking her face and neck above the scarf she wore to ward off the chill.

“She’s perfect.” Emily cradled the dog in her arms as the three of them made their way out of the barn.

The rattle of a buggy rig met her ears.

“That’s Jonah Miller,” Andrew said.

“He’s driving real fast,” Elam added.

Jonah was going a bit faster than necessary, but not enough to be dangerous. He pulled over when he saw the three of them and jumped out. He ran to them, breathless with the effort.

“It’s Luke,” he wheezed. “He’s hurt.”

Fear squeezed her heart. “What?”

“Someone from the racetrack called Joseph. Luke’s in the hospital. In Intensive Care.”

“Where is he?” Andrew asked.

Jonah sucked in another gulp of air. “He’s in Tulsa. Joseph is already on his way there.”

Emily turned to Elam. “I have to go to him.”

All she could think about was Luke alone with the
Englisch,
lying injured in a hospital bed with no one to care for him.

If only he had stayed . . .

Elam’s mouth pressed into a hard thin line. “
Jah,
” was all he said.

She thrust the squirming puppy into Andrew’s arms. She couldn’t handle all that unbridled joy when she felt as if she was coming undone.

This was all her fault. If somehow she could have talked him into staying. She should have tried harder. And now he could die.

She turned her eyes to Elam, silently begging him to understand. She and Jonah were among Luke’s best
freinden
. She couldn’t abandon him in his time of need.

“I’ll go call Ben Smith.”

 

 

They rode in silence all the way to Tulsa. The drive wasn’t extremely long, but with each pounding of her heart she feared for Luke.
What if . . . what if . . . what if . . .
kept hammering through her brain.

She glanced over to Elam who sat next to her in the backseat of Ben Smith’s car. The Mennonite driver knew Luke as well and didn’t charge them anything for the trip. Emily decided to bake him some cookies or a cake in appreciation for his generosity.

Elam faced the front, his eyes on the road ahead. His hands rested in his lap, but there was a tension about him that fairly hummed.

She was afraid she had hurt him once again. And she was afraid this time the gap between them could not be bridged.

“I’m not sure if they’ll let us all in to see him,” Ben said, glancing in the rearview mirror at them. “But we can try.”

They didn’t even know how badly he’d been hurt. Only that there had been a wreck and an explosion and now Luke was in the hospital.

“
Jah
.” It was the first word Elam had uttered since they’d gotten into the car.

“I’ll drop you two off at the door and find a parking space.”

Emily nodded gratefully. The last thing she wanted to do was trudge through a sea of cars to get to the hospital doors. She just had to see Luke and know that her lifelong friend was going to be okay.

Emily did her best not to race into the automatic doors of the hospital and over to the elevators. She took a deep breath to calm herself. They were there. And about to see Luke. There was no sense losing her head at this point.

She and Elam garnered several curious stares as they made their way across the lobby. Emily hated the squeak of her rubber-soled walking shoes against the overwaxed tiles. The sound was obnoxious in the hushed solitude of the hospital lobby.

Elam walked directly to the elevators.

“Shouldn’t we check the map to know what floor?”

“I know what floor.” His words were somber and heavy.

Emily bit her lip. She stepped into the elevator cautiously. It seemed to shift under her feet. She reached out for Elam to steady herself, but given the dark look clouding his expression she grabbed the handrail instead. “Is this where they brought your
dat?
”

He gave one small nod and pushed the button to take them to the sixth floor.

The elevator ride seemed to take the longest time. Her own nervousness mixed with Elam’s withdrawn behavior and the blatant stare from their riding companions set Emily’s teeth on edge. Finally they reached their floor, and she raced to the waiting room.

Joseph sat slumped in a chair, his head at an odd angle, a cup of coffee on the table next to him. Others waited for their loved ones, but he was the only person there for Luke.

Her decision to come solidified in her mind as she knelt before Luke’s uncle.

“Joseph.” She touched his shoulder, and he jerked awake. Blinking several times, he rubbed his eyes and yawned. “Emily.”

“We came as soon as we heard. What happened?”

Joseph pushed himself up in his seat. “I’m not going to lie. It’s bad. We almost lost him a couple of times in the night. But he’s stable now.”

Emily blinked back her tears. She might not hold a romantic love for Luke any longer, but she couldn’t imagine the world without him and his bright smile.

“A friend of his crashed his car. Luke went out to help him. The car exploded. Luke shielded his friend’s body with his own.” Joseph’s eyes filled with tears. “His back was burned from the fire.” He shuddered. “A piece of the car fell on him. His legs are shattered. His hips, too. They say he’ll walk again, but only after he relearns how.”

But he was alive, and that was the main thing.

Joseph squeezed her hand where it lay on his shoulder. “It’s in God’s hands now.”

 

 

“When I told you I would pray for you, this wasn’t exactly what I meant.”

Luke’s eyes cracked open just a bit, but enough to see the tears sparkling in Emily’s deep blue eyes.

He smiled or at least one side of his mouth did. The other was too swollen to do anything but stay in place. He couldn’t see it of course, but he could sure feel it.

Every nerve ending in his body was on fire, shooting sparks that could only be assuaged by the massive painkillers they had been giving him. The pills made him sleepy and jumbled his thoughts so he waited until he couldn’t stand it any longer before finally giving in and taking them.

“Emily.” His voice was like sandpaper on wool, rough and full of snags. From what he had been told, he was lucky to be alive, so he couldn’t very well complain.

She sat down in the chair next to him.

“Where’s Sissy?” he asked. She had been in the chair when he had fallen asleep, but now she was gone. Which was strange considering she hadn’t left his side since he’d been admitted.

“Who’s Sissy?”

The bathroom door squeaked open, then clicked back closed. “I am.”

“Sissy,” he rasped. His throat was so dry. They said it was from the medication, but he knew the fire had sucked the moisture right out of him. “Drink.”

She had been such a
gut
nurse to him and now was no exception. She moved to his bedside and held the straw while he wet his throat.

“This is my friend, Emily.” His lids were getting heavy, so heavy he couldn’t keep them open.

“Hi, Emily. I’m Sissy, Luke’s girlfriend.”

He smiled and drifted back to sleep.

 

 

Emily sat in the waiting room next to Elam, her thoughts as topsy-turvy as a crazy quilt pattern. Joseph had come by to tell them that he would be moving into the city until Luke recovered. No one blamed him. Luke was going to need constant care over the next few months.

The doctor said Luke was stable and should be able to be moved out of Intensive Care once they knew they held the infections at bay.

The racetrack was covering the hospital bills and all of the rehabilitation that Luke would need.

Emily was glad that Luke had met some
gut Englisch
people to help him through. Ben Smith had gone in to see Luke and give his regards, then the three of them—Emily, Elam, and Ben—would head back to Wells Landing. All should be well in the world, but it wasn’t.

She could feel the tension in Elam and feared the worst for the two of them. They had such a fragile bond, recently repaired and so very delicate. She would do nothing—
nothing
—to endanger it, and yet somehow she felt as if she had.

“I had to come. You know that, right?”

He stared at her as if he didn’t speak the language.

“I mean, I’m Luke’s friend. I’m the bishop’s daughter.”

She pushed to her feet and started pacing, hating her anxiousness, hating her squeaky shoes, hating that she had messed up once again.

“Emily, sit down.”

“I can’t,” she cried, the day, the stress, and the worry getting the better of her.

“There’s no need to cry. The doctors all say Luke will be fine, eventually. It’s going to take a while to heal, but God was watching over him.”

Emily stopped and turned to face him. “What about us, Elam? Was God watching out for us?”

His brow puckered into a familiar frown. “What are you talking about?”

“I did it again.” She collapsed into her seat, her energy draining away with her admission. “I messed up.”