His Amish Sweetheart (18 page)

“So I have nothing to say about this?”

“What do you mean?”

She stood on tiptoe and pressed her lips against his. When his arms came around her, they didn't enfold her. They drew her away but not before she saw the regret in his eyes.

“Stop it, Esther. My
daed
warned me I must be stronger than I was when I contracted cancer.” He groaned. “I never imagined I'd have to be this strong and push you away.”

“Your
daed
is wrong.” She took his hand again and folded it between her fingers as if in prayer. “I was wrong, Nathaniel, when I let myself believe it's a
gut
idea to hide from my adult pain by putting aside my childhood love of adventure. Remember what it was like then? We never questioned if something was worth the risk. We simply went with our hearts.”

“And ended up bruised and battered.”

“And happy.” She hesitated, then realized if she hoped for him to open his heart to her, she must be willing to do the same to him. With a tentative smile, she said, “Well, except for one time I've never forgotten.”

“Which time?”

“You don't remember?” She was astonished.

“I'm not sure what you're referring to. We got into a lot of scrapes together, so you'll need to be more specific.”

She looked down at their hands. “I'm talking about the day when you were visiting from Indiana and I came over to your grandparents' farm, and I took your hand...like this.”

He smiled as he put one finger under her chin and tipped it so her gaze met his. “I do remember. I thought you were the most
wunderbaar
girl I'd ever known.” He chuckled. “That hasn't changed.”

“I told you I was going to marry you as soon as we were old enough. Remember that?”

“
Ja
. I thought you were joking.”

“
I
thought I was going to die of embarrassment.”

He put his hands on her shoulders and smiled. “Never be embarrassed, Esther, to tell someone how you feel. You were brave enough to be honest. If more of us were like that, the world would be a better place.”

“It didn't feel like that at the time.” She took a deep breath, knowing if she backed away from risking her heart now, she'd never be able to risk it again. “I'm not going to be embarrassed now when I tell you I love you. I always have, and I always will. Get that through your thick head, Nathaniel Zook. I love you. Not some
kinder
we might be blessed with some day. You. I'm not saying this because of Jacob. I'm saying this because I can't keep the truth to myself any longer. If you don't love me, tell me, but don't push me away because you're trying to protect me from what God has planned for the future.”

She held her breath as he stared at her. Had she been too blunt? Had she pushed too hard?

“That was quite a speech,” he said with a grin.

“Don't ask me to repeat it.”

“Not even the part when you said you love me?” His arm around her waist drew her to him. As he bent toward her, he whispered, “I want to hear you repeat that every day of our lives, and I'll tell you how much I've always loved you, Esther Stoltzfus. I don't need to be like your brother and play the field.” He chuckled. “Actually I was in the outfield when you tumbled into my arms. From that moment, I knew it was where I wanted you always to be. But—”

She put her finger to his lips. “Let's leave our future in God's hands.”

“As long as you're in mine.” He captured her lips, and she softened against him.

Savoring his kiss and combing her fingers through his thick hair, letting its silk sift between her fingers, she wondered why she'd resisted telling him the truth until now. Some things were worth any amount of risk.

Epilogue

“H
urry, hurry!” called Chloe as she motioned for them to enter a small room beside one of the fancy courtrooms. “You should have been here ten minutes ago so we could review everything before we go before the judge.”

“We're sorry. We were delayed.” Nathaniel, dressed in his church Sunday
mutze
and white shirt, smiled at Esther. In fact, he hadn't stopped smiling the whole time they rode in Gerry's van from Paradise Springs into the city of Lancaster.

She put her hand on his arm, still a bit unsteady after her bout of sickness that morning. When it first had afflicted her last week, she'd thought she'd contracted some bug. However, the illness came only in the first couple of hours of each morning before easing to a general queasiness the rest of the day. It had continued day after day for nearly ten days now.

This morning, she'd told Nathaniel she believed she was pregnant. His shock had been endearing. She'd warned him that she must go to the midwife and have a test to confirm her pregnancy tomorrow, but she was certain what the test would show. They'd been married only three months, taking their vows barely a month after Ezra and Leah had, and already God had blessed them with a
boppli
.

“As long as you're here now.” Chloe smiled at them. “Any questions before we go in?”

Jacob tugged on Nathaniel's sleeve. When Nathaniel bent down, the boy whispered frantically in his ear.

The social worker smiled and answered before Nathaniel spoke. “Down the hall on your right. Don't forget to wash your hands, Jacob. The judge will want to shake your hand when she finalizes your adoption.”

As the boy scurried away, Nathaniel put his arm around Esther. They listened while Chloe explained again what would happen when they went into the courtroom. Official paperwork and recommendations from social services would be presented to the judge, who'd already reviewed copies of them. The judge might ask Jacob a few questions, but the procedure was simple and quick.

Jacob rushed into the room as another door opened, and a woman invited them into the courtroom. As they walked in, Jacob took Nathaniel's hand and then Esther's. They went together to a table where they sat facing a lady judge on her high seat behind a sign that read Judge Eloise Probert.

The paperwork was placed in front of the judge who barely glanced at it. She smiled at Jacob and asked him if he understood what was going on.

“
Ja
... I mean, yes, your honor,” he replied as he'd been instructed. “Once you say so, I won't be Jacob Fisher any longer. I'll be Jacob Zook, and Nathaniel and Esther will be my new
daed
and
mamm
.” He gulped. “I mean, dad and mom.”

“That's right, Jacob.” Judge Probert had a nice smile and a gentle voice. “So this is what you want? To be Nathaniel and Esther's son?”

Jacob nodded so hard Esther had to bite her lip not to laugh. She heard a smothered sound from either side of her and saw Nathaniel and Chloe trying not to laugh, too.

“More than anything else in the whole world,” Jacob answered. “Except maybe a couple more alpacas for our herd.”

This time, nobody restrained their laughter, including the judge. “Well, I'll leave that decision to your new parents. Congratulations, Zook family. From this day forward, you
are
a forever family. All three of you.”

Esther hugged Jacob and Nathaniel at the same time. She felt so happy and blessed.

After the paperwork was checked and they signed a few more papers and shook the judge's hand as well as Chloe's, Esther walked out of the courtroom with her husband and their son. They smiled at other families awaiting their turn to go before the judge. Congratulations were called to them, and her face hurt from smiling so widely.

They stepped through the doors and walked toward the tall columns edging the front of the courthouse, Nathaniel said, “You know, the judge got almost everything right.”

“Almost?” she asked.

“She said the three of us are a forever family. It's the
four
of us.”

Tapping his nose, she said, “So far. Who knows how often God will bless us?”

With a laugh, he spun her into his arms and kissed her soundly. Then, each of them grabbing one of Jacob's hands, they walked toward where the white van was parked. The van that would take their family home.

* * * * *

Don't miss these other
AMISH HEARTS
stories
from Jo Ann Brown:

AMISH HOMECOMING

AN AMISH MATCH

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THE RANCHER'S HOMECOMING
by Arlene James.

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Life is busy. It pulls us this way and that. Sometimes it pulls us away from the people who are very important in our lives. If those people's paths intersect with ours again, it's a special blessing. The story of two people who reconnect after ten years apart and have a second chance at love—a grown-up chance, this time—was a story I wanted to explore in this book. It was fun to discover how much these people still had in common and how much they needed to learn about each other. I hope you agree their happy-ever-after was worth the effort.

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. Look for my next story in the Amish Hearts series, “A Christmas to Remember” coming in this year's Christmas anthology
Amish Christmas Blessings
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Jo Ann Brown

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The Rancher's Homecoming

by Arlene James

Chapter One

N
ever let it be said that God did not answer prayers. Callie Deviner's answer walked into the War Bonnet Café on the morning of the last Thursday in May, ordered breakfast, which he wolfed down with three cups of black coffee, then calmly announced to all within hearing distance that he was looking for a live-in cook and housekeeper.

Callie set aside the heavy metal spatula she was holding and pushed a wisp of fine blond hair from her forehead with the back of her wrist before speaking to the freckle-faced teenager at the grill beside her.

“Fill this next order. I have to go out front.”

The teen boy gaped at her. Johnny had been working at the café for more than six months and knew his way around a grill, but the regular cook, Chet, who was out with a toothache and as set in his ways as her father, still hadn't trusted the kid to do more than dish up fries and make toast. Callie ignored the youngster's sputtered assurances and moved toward the swinging metal door that separated the kitchen from the dining room, sweeping the hated net from her short hair as she did so.

Tucking the hairnet into the pocket of her apron with one hand and fluffing her bangs with the other, she moved swiftly behind the counter, past the middle-aged waitress, Jenny, and came to stand directly behind the tall, brown-haired man in the worn plaid shirt.

“Did I hear you say you were looking for a cook and housekeeper?”

His elbows slipped from the counter, and he spun on the stool to face her, his pale blue gaze quickly sweeping over her. He looked oddly polished despite that worn shirt. Without it, she'd have pegged him for a city boy, though she judged him to be in his thirties.

“That's right. For my father. We need someone live-in, as soon as possible. Dad's ill, and I've come to help out. My sisters will be along as soon as they can arrange it, but that could be several weeks, and until then, we've got to have help.”

“Who is your dad?”

“Wes Billings.”

“Oh. Out at Straight Arrow Ranch.”

“That's right.”

“I had heard that Wes was ill.”

“Very ill, I'm afraid.”

A murmur of condolence went around the room. Wes was well thought of around War Bonnet, Oklahoma. He was known to be a fair, honest, upright Christian man willing to help a neighbor in need. This had to be Rex Billings, Wes's son. He was quite a bit older than Callie, eight or ten years, so she didn't really know him. Even in a town as small as War Bonnet, that many years apart in school practically guaranteed they'd be strangers unless they both stayed in town, and to her knowledge Rex had never returned after leaving for college, except perhaps to visit.

He swept the room with his gaze, sending curious diners back to their own business. Callie inched closer, lowering her voice.

“I'll certainly do all I can for Wes. As for the position, how much are you thinking of paying?”

Rex quietly named a weekly figure that made Callie's heart leap with joy. Even two or three weeks at that rate would help her and her daughter, Bodie, get out of her father's house at last. She motioned to the empty plate on the counter in front of him.

“You might be interested in knowing that I cooked your breakfast. Two eggs over easy, bacon, very crisp, and flapjacks. Right? How'd I do?”

Billings grinned and parked both elbows on the counter again, one on either side of his plate. “Eggs were perfect. Flapjacks nearly floated off the plate. I like my bacon crisp to the edge of burnt, but that's just me. When can you start?”

“That depends,” she said, sending up a silent prayer. “I have a six-month-old daughter. Will that be a problem?”

Rex Billings tilted his head. His thick, medium-brown hair, she noticed, had been expertly cut and styled. He wore it without a part and, even mussed, it looked adorable. Pretty much everything about him made a woman look twice, from his straight nose to his square jaw and chin. He had recently shaved; she could still smell the shaving cream. But already she could see the dark shadow of his beard beneath his evenly tanned skin. It was his eyes that did it, though. Pale blue and gem bright, as if backlit by tiny lightbulbs from within.

“Women with babies have been cooking and cleaning for millennia,” he said from behind a smile. “We have space for the both of you, especially if you don't mind sharing a room.”

“Not at all.”

“I can't imagine Dad would object. He knows you, doesn't he?”

“He does. He's known me my whole life.” Callie reached around behind her and started untying her apron. “I can start right now, if you want.”

“Works for me,” he said, pushing up to his full height, which she judged to be at least a couple inches over six feet. His jeans, in contrast to his shirt, looked to be brand-new. “I suppose I ought to least get your name, though.”

“Oh! I'm sorry!” Callie laughed, lifting the apron's neck piece off over her head. “It's Callie Deviner. Everyone just calls me Callie.”

“Callie Deviner. Pleased to meet you.” He put out his big hand. She quickly shook hands with him. “I'm Rex Billings.”

“Yes, I figured that, since Wes has just the one son.”

He tilted his head again, those pale blue eyes holding her gaze. “Shouldn't I know you, too?”

“I went to school with your sisters. You were long gone when I came on the scene.”

“Ah. I suppose that's true. Meredith is ten years younger than me, so...”

“I'm Ann's age,” Callie supplied. “Twenty-eight.”

“Still, that's eight years,” he said. “I was already practicing law by the time you graduated high school.”

A lawyer. Wes must be very proud. She frowned then, wondering what ailed Wes. The sooner she got to the ranch, the sooner she'd know.

“Just let me get my things so we can go,” she said.

He glanced around. “You sure it's all right to leave like this?”

“I'm just filling in. Off-the-books. It's fine.”

“Okay, then.” He nodded decisively, and she carried her apron toward Jenny.

The blocky, chatty waitress looked around in surprise when Callie thrust the thick, white apron into her hands, saying, “I'm leaving now, Jenny.”

“Leaving?” Jenny echoed. “Who's gonna cook?”

“Johnny can handle it.”

“But—”

“I don't actually work here,” Callie reminded the woman, who followed her into the back room. “I'm not even being paid. It isn't as if you can fire me. I'm just helping out.”

“Your daddy—”

“Will get over it,” Callie said softly. Or not. Either way, she was going with Rex Billings. “You let me worry about that.”

“Chet will be beside himself,” Jenny hissed.

Callie ignored her, taking her handbag from the locked cabinet and tossing Jenny the key. “I won't be needing this again.”

One more thing she wouldn't need to do again was put up with Ben Dolent and her father's heavy-handed matchmaking. Ben wasn't a bad man, just a dull, unattractive one who happened to be the manager of her father's grain silo, a willing pawn of her father's, doing whatever he was told without question. Sometimes Callie thought that if she had to endure one more evening of his company she would explode.

“Stuart is not going to be happy about this,” Jenny warned, but Callie couldn't remember when her father had last been happy about anything, especially not where she was concerned. She knew he meant well, but financial security was not the only important thing in life, and her father had no right to decide whom she would marry and where she would live. Still, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't seem to make him understand that. The more she talked, the more he restricted her access to funds and threw Ben Dolent at her.

“Do me a favor, Jenny,” she said softly. “Don't call my father yet.”

“I have to, girl! He owns this place.”

“Just give me a couple hours then. That's not too much to ask, is it? How often have I helped you out?”

Jenny's lips, red with her favorite lipstick, flattened, but then she nodded, muttering, “It's about to get real busy around here.” She glared at Callie. “You couldn't have picked a worse time to up and leave. I don't know where all these folks are coming from. It's a phenomenal, is what it is, a phenomenal.”

“Phenomenon,” Callie corrected gently. Smiling, she patted Jenny's arm as she left the small room. “Thanks, Jenny. I appreciate it.”

Callie walked out into the dining room, the strap of her roomy handbag slung over one shoulder, and smiled at Rex Billings, the tall, handsome lawyer.

“I'm all yours.”

The way his pale blue gaze raked over her, from the top of her shaggy blond head to the toes of her cheap athletic shoes, suddenly made her wish that she'd phrased that differently, but then he smiled and lifted an arm in invitation.

“After you.”

* * *

It didn't hit Rex until she pointed to the tall, redbrick house in the center of the block exactly whom he had hired.

“You're Stuart Crowsen's daughter.”

She turned wide, glade-green eyes on him, seeming almost frightened. “Is that a problem?”

“Of course not. I just didn't realize, that's all.”

“Because of my married name,” she concluded, nodding.

He turned the six-year-old pickup truck into the drive and brought it to a stop. His own silver, two-seater sports car sat under a protective cloth cover beneath a tree behind his dad's house. “I take it you're divorced.”

“No.” The sadness in that one word said it all.

“I'm sorry,” he told her, killing the engine and letting out the clutch. “Divorced is no picnic, but widowed has to be worse.”

“You're divorced, then?”

“Yeah.” He sighed and rubbed a finger over his eyebrow. “No kids, so at least we didn't mess up innocent lives.”

It turned out that catching the boss's daughter cheating on him had an upside, even if she was your own wife. Rex had ended his relationship with his former law firm, not to mention his marriage with the senior partner's daughter, over eight months ago. Given the situation, Rex had been offered a very generous severance package. That had given him the freedom to come back to War Bonnet and help out with the ranch while his dad fought to recover his health.

“I'd just found out I was pregnant when Bo died,” Callie told Rex softly. “Bodie will never know him, and he never saw her, but I thank God that I have her.”

“Sounds like you've had a rough time of it.”

“Mmm, well, no one's sick. Mind if I ask what's wrong with your dad?”

“Cancer. They removed a piece of his liver and some lymph glands, but at least it wasn't in his pancreas or bile ducts. He'll have to undergo chemotherapy when he's stronger, which is why my sisters and I are coming home for a while. This is a busy season at the ranch, and he just can't manage on his own. With Mom gone, it's up to us.”

“I remember when your mom died,” Callie said. “It was a big shock. I don't think anyone realized she had a heart condition.”

“No one,” Rex confirmed. “It was a birth defect. All us kids had to be tested for it afterward. Thankfully, none of us have the problem, but I think that's why Meredith became a nurse.”

“I wondered about that. Meri never said anything about wanting to be a nurse when we were girls.”

“I didn't know you were that close.”

“We hung out some.”

Callie reached for the door handle. “I'll be as quick as I can. There's a portable crib in the garage. Also some boxes and tape. I used them when Bodie and I moved in a few months back. If you want to help out, you can put the crib in the truck while I tape up the boxes. Then we'll go inside.”

“That'll work.”

They walked into the garage via a side door. Callie pulled out the crib and Rex carried it out to the truck. When he returned to the garage, she had four midsize moving boxes put together. She handed him two and took two in her hands before leading the way through the side door.

“Most of my clothes are on hangers,” she said, stepping up into a pristine kitchen. “Bodie's things will fit in two boxes.”

“You been keeping house for your dad?” he asked, glancing around.

“Almost my whole life,” she confirmed. He nodded to himself. Okay, she could cook
and
clean. “Don't worry,” she added. “He can afford to hire help.”

That worked for Rex. “Just take what you need for now. We can come back later for anything else.”

She turned and faced him. “I'd rather take it all if you don't mind. There really isn't that much.” Nervously, she sifted her fingers through her short, silky bangs.

He'd always preferred women with long hair, but Callie's wispy, chin-length blond hair suited her oval face. He liked her somewhat pointy chin. It looked good on her, as did the form-hugging jeans and the simple, short-sleeved T-shirt that she wore. She looked strong and fit, curving in all the right places. Everything about her felt completely genuine.

Rex realized that he was staring and, to cover his lapse, blurted out, “What color is that shirt?”

She looked down at her shirt. “What?”

“I can't figure out if it's orange or pink,” he said with a chuckle.

Her green eyes—the color of leafy trees sparkling in the sunlight—rolled upward, and pink lips without a trace of lipstick widened in a smile. “It's
melon
.”

He grinned. “Whatever you say.”

Smiling, she crooked a finger at him. “Come with me.”

“Lead on.”

They walked through a formal dining room and into an entry hall, where a staircase led up to the second floor. A plump, grandmotherly woman with tightly curled, iron gray hair appeared on the landing above them.