Huckleberry Christmas (7 page)

Toby rubbed his eyes with his little fists as Tyler placed him in Beth’s arms.

“He’s had a busy morning,” Beth said. “He’s earned his nap.”

Tyler planted a kiss on Toby’s forehead. There was nothing softer than a baby. “Are you coming to the Millers’ bonfire on Friday?”

“Jah. Mammi and Dawdi wouldn’t miss it.”

“Can I save you a spot?”

Beth blushed and caressed Toby’s cheek. “Okay.”

Their gazes locked until Toby made a fist and started knocking on Tyler’s shoulder. “Mommy,” he said.

Beth lost her smile and took a step away from Tyler. “Why don’t I find you a date to the bonfire? Lots of girls go.”

A lump of coal settled in the pit of Tyler’s stomach. Oh, yes. Beth wanted to find him a suitable wife. Beth, who had been crazy in love with her late husband, wanted nothing to do with Tyler Yoder’s marriage proposal.

He thought of Lily and Aden. He’d made a fool of himself once. He’d never make that same mistake again. All he wanted was a good woman to give him some companionship and a family. He didn’t need the teasing and the laughter and the butterflies in his stomach whenever he laid eyes on her.

And he certainly wasn’t going to let Beth Hostetler break his heart.

In the dusky light of sunset, Tyler looked as if he were waiting to greet a funeral procession, but then he was naturally of a solemn disposition. Never mind the fact that the last few times she had seen him, he had been playful and merry. Tyler Yoder’s normal state was serious and steady.

Still, Beth wished he would conjure up a smile so she knew he was happy to see her. But maybe she had no right to hope for a smile. He wasn’t her date tonight. Maybe he wanted to save all his charm for Lorene Zook.

When Dawdi set the brake, Tyler opened the door. He helped Mammi out of the buggy before reaching into the backseat for Toby. Beth handed Toby out and descended from the buggy without any help from anybody.

Toby patted Tyler’s cheek. “Mommy.”

There was the smile she wanted. Toby could summon a grin from the grumpiest of old men.

Beth zipped her coat and retrieved the extra blankets from the buggy. It would be chilly tonight. She handed a blanket to Tyler, who wrapped Toby up as tightly as Toby would allow.

Tyler pointed toward the massive pile of leaves and branches already burning brightly. “I spread out a blanket for you over there. And I brought some camp chairs for Anna and Felty.”

Why did her face feel so warm when the temperature was so cold? “You didn’t need to do that.”

He frowned. “I told you I’d save you a spot.”

As Tyler led them through the crowds of people to the blanket, Beth breathed in the heavenly scent of burning leaves and steaming hot chocolate. The air felt crisp and tart, like a cold Granny Smith apple fresh from the tree. The fire, which must have recently been lit, blazed with intense heat that would soon give way to crackling coals perfect for hot dog roasting.

The blanket sat close enough to the fire to enjoy some of its warmth, but not so close that they would feel like they were roasting. Seven young men stood guard around the perimeter of the fire making sure that no little ones got too close until it had burned itself down.

Toby refused to be contained inside the blanket. He struggled with Tyler until Tyler set him on his feet and fastened the coat around his tummy. Holding onto Toby’s hand, Tyler opened a shoebox and let a pile of colorful blocks tumble to the blanket. Toby clapped his hands and immediately began throwing the blocks in every direction.

Tyler glanced at Beth. “I hoped this would keep Toby occupied for a few minutes, at least. He’ll be wanting to charge the fire before too long.”

Beth glowed with gratitude. She’d never met anyone as thoughtful as Tyler Yoder. And she wasn’t even his date for the evening.

Dawdi and Mammi took Mammi’s potluck pasta salad to the food table. Mammi called it “Pimento Surprise.” Beth hoped somebody would eat it, mushy pasta and all, so Mammi’s feelings wouldn’t be hurt. Dawdi helped Mammi to her chair and sank into his. “Denki, Tyler. This chair will save my backside weeks of soreness.”

“Gute,” said Tyler, catching Toby’s blocks as they came at him. “I figured you’d have a much better time if you didn’t have to sit on the hard ground.”

Mammi reached into her bag and pulled out five vibrant scarves. She handed a yellow one to Dawdi and a blue one to Tyler. “We’re going to stay nice and warm. Come here, Toby.”

To Beth’s surprise, Toby obediently toddled to Mammi and let her wrap a fuzzy red scarf around his neck. He handed her a block as payment.

Beth’s scarf was a lovely lavender color that felt so soft, she closed her eyes and nuzzled it against her cheek. When she opened her eyes, Toby sat in Tyler’s lap while Tyler glued his eyes to Beth’s face. He quickly looked away and busied himself constructing a block tower for Toby to knock down.

The blocks held Toby’s attention for nearly ten minutes. Then he decided he wanted to run in no particular direction. Toby always wanted to run.

Tyler jumped to his feet. “I’ll follow him. We’ll be back in a few minutes to roast hot dogs.” He dogged Toby’s every step as Toby toddled over other people’s blankets and into other people’s conversations. Beth watched as little old ladies and young mothers alike reached down to pat Toby on the head or pinch his cheek as he walked past. Everyone smiled at Tyler. Mammi said he was the community’s favorite bachelor—although at twenty-three, he could hardly be called a bachelor yet.

Beth stiffened as Toby tripped into a gaggle of girls standing near the food table. They cooed and sighed at Toby and took quite an interest in Tyler. Beth couldn’t hear what they said to him, but they were definitely flirting. Luckily, Tyler had Toby to look after, and Toby was in no disposition to wait while Tyler flirted with anybody.

A broad and balding man approached Beth’s blanket and after glancing quite pointedly at her, reached out a hand for Dawdi. “I hear you had gute huckleberries this year.”

Beth didn’t know the man, but he looked to be older than she by at least ten years. He had no beard.
This
was a true bachelor.

“Vernon,” Dawdi said. “I haven’t seen you since syrup time.”

Vernon didn’t wait for an invitation. He plopped himself down on the blanket next to Beth and stared at her while he talked to Dawdi. “I caught sight of you leaving the market last week with your granddaughter.” He pumped both eyebrows up and down vigorously as he regarded Beth. “They tell me you’re a widow.”

Beth had to hold her breath to keep a groan from escaping her throat. She could see that to an unmarried, older man, a young widow was like honey to a grizzly bear.

“I am available to come to dinner on Wednesday,” Vernon said. “I love pork chops and chowchow.”

She had to admire his audacity. His pushiness made her want to giggle. It also partly explained why Vernon hadn’t married yet.

Tyler seemed to come out of nowhere with Toby in his arms. He wasted no time in plopping himself between Beth and Vernon. It was a tight fit as Vernon was forced to scoot to the right to make way for him. “The fire is ready for hot dog roasting,” Tyler said, acting as if nothing were out of the ordinary, even though he had practically sat on Vernon’s lap.

Vernon opened and closed his mouth like a trout out of water before standing, giving Tyler a confused nod, and disappearing into the crowd.

Tyler, with Toby in his lap, didn’t move one inch from Beth, even though Vernon’s absence had opened up oodles of room to his right. He frowned in concern. “Are you okay? A pretty girl is never completely safe from wife-hunters. I’ll try to do a better job of keeping them away.”

Beth grinned in spite of herself. “I’m fine. He only said about three words to me.”

Tyler nodded solemnly. “Vernon Schmucker has asked out every girl between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five who lives within thirty miles of town. An unsuspecting widow like yourself would have gotten a marriage proposal before the fire burned itself out tonight. And I know how marriage proposals upset you.”

His closeness should have made her feel uncomfortable. Instead, she savored his warmth. “You’re very kind to watch out for me.”

“I was watching out for Vernon. To save him from getting pummeled by a sunflower. Or a roasting stick.”

Beth cuffed him playfully on the shoulder. “I didn’t bring any sunflowers.”

Tyler grimaced. “Then I’m glad I stepped in. I would hate to see what damage you could do with a roasting stick.”

The laughter burst from her lips. “Just hope you never find out.”

Tyler reached for one of the sticks he had brought and handed it to Toby. “
Cum
, Toby. Let’s roast a hot dog.” He stood and took Toby’s hand and helped him skewer a hot dog from the food table.

They went to the fire, now a toasty pile of glowing coals, and Toby attempted to get too close. Tyler squatted and wrapped both arms around Toby’s chest. Toby squeaked in protest and struggled against Tyler’s arms until Tyler leaned down and whispered something in his ear. Toby stopped fussing and stretched his stick toward the fire while Tyler softly spoke to him. Beth couldn’t imagine that they were close enough to the fire to even warm Toby’s hot dog, but she could see that Tyler was not about to let him get any closer and risk burning himself. He was careful like that.

The reflection of glowing coals danced in Toby’s wide eyes. Beth felt a little hitch in her throat. Toby wasn’t a baby anymore, and he looked more and more like Amos every day.

The dying fire lit Tyler’s features as he watched over her son. What kind of a father would Tyler be? Amos had never changed a diaper or gotten up in the middle of the night with Toby, and he had refused to lift a finger around the house. His contribution had been criticizing Beth for everything she did and telling her how she could have done it better. Being married to Amos had nearly crushed her spirit. She shuddered. That chapter of her life was over. She’d never have to answer to a husband again. And no matter how many times people told her that God wanted her to remarry, she would hold firm. He hadn’t protected her the first time. She wouldn’t put her happiness in His hands ever again.

Tyler helped Toby put his hot dog in a bun and squeeze ketchup on it. They walked back to the blanket together, with Tyler carrying both the stick and the hot dog. Better not to take any chances with Toby’s dinner.

Tyler sat and put Toby between him and Beth. “Can he eat the hot dog like this or do we need to cut it into small pieces?”

Beth smiled. “I’ll make sure he takes small bites.”

“I blew on it.”

“Denki,” Beth said. Tyler was a more attentive mother hen than she was.

He got up on his knees. “Felty and Anna, would you like me to roast a hot dog for each of you?”

“What a nice young man,” Mammi said.

Tyler opened a small cooler that sat next to the camp chairs. “Felty, I brought something for you. And for Anna and Beth, too, if you’d like.” He pulled a package from the cooler and opened it. “Do any of you like bratwurst?”

Dawdi leaned forward to get a better look. “Fresh?”

Tyler nodded. “From the sausage shop.”

Dawdi sighed. “I think I’ve died and gone to Heaven. Bratwurst is one smell my nose recognizes.” Because of an accident as a child, Dawdi had almost completely lost his senses of smell and taste.

Tyler pulled a bottle of stone-ground mustard from the cooler. “And we can’t eat it without this.” He went to the food table and found a four-pronged hot-dog roaster. “What about you, Anna? Do you want a bratwurst?”

Mammi tapped a finger to her chest. “Not gute for my digestion.”

“Beth?”

Why did Tyler have to make himself so completely irresistible, when she was trying so hard to find him a wife? “Jah, I would love one, thank you.”

Tyler threaded three bratwursts and one hot dog onto his roasting stick and tromped to the fire. If she hadn’t been occupied with Toby, she would have gone to stand by him. A person so thoughtful should never have to cook bratwurst all by himself.

In between feeding Toby bites of hot dog, she studied Tyler’s profile by the light of the fire. She was quite taken with his dark lashes and square jaw. He stared into the glowing embers and held the stick completely still, looking like a man at peace with himself. Would he ever berate his wife for burning the stew or missing a stain on his favorite shirt?

Beth looked away. She would never know if he was a good husband or not.

Toby ate his entire hot dog and drank a full cup of milk. He pointed at the fire and Tyler several times and said, “Hot, hot,” over and over again. His eyes drooped and his head swayed, and Beth made a pillow out of her scarf and lowered his head to it. She pulled his pacifier from her coat pocket and gave it to him. He rubbed his eyes, rolled onto his tummy, and fell fast asleep.

Tyler returned with the bratwursts. He pulled another package out of his cooler. “Brat buns,” he said. “It’s a crime to eat a brat without one.”

Beth went to the food table and filled two plates with an assortment of salads and desserts. Dawdi and Mammi shared one plate, and Beth and Tyler shared the other.

Tyler handed Beth her perfectly cooked bratwurst in a bun. “Denki, Tyler.”

He shrugged and sat next to her. “Toby finally conked out.”

“Thanks to you, he got to run all his energy out.”

“He ran all my energy out. I don’t know how you keep up with him. I’ll bet you’re exhausted by the end of the day.”

Beth felt like she had spent the evening thanking Tyler for one thing or another. “This is delicious, Tyler. Amos’s mother used to make bratwurst every Friday night.”

Tyler pressed his lips together. “Did she?”

Beth lowered her eyes. She hadn’t meant to say anything about Treva. There were too many bad memories associated with her.

“Tell me about her.”

“What?”

“Tell me about your mother-in-law. What is she like? I can imagine she was devastated when her son passed away.”

“Jah. Her boys mean everything to her.” Beth didn’t know what else to say.

“She had cancer,” Mammi volunteered.

Tyler gazed at Beth with deep concern flickering in his eyes. “Oh, I’m sorry.”

Beth fiddled with a curly lock of Toby’s hair. “Colon cancer. She was diagnosed just weeks before Amos died.”

Mammi was more eager to talk about Treva than Beth was. “Beth cared for her from sunup to sundown for over a year.”

Tyler regarded Beth with awe. “How did you manage with Toby?”

How had she managed? The cancer had given Treva immense power over Beth’s life. Beth had felt so sorry for Treva that she had felt obligated to obey her demands. Treva’s other children hadn’t lifted a finger to help her because she was so unpleasant. Beth had been the only one willing to endure her, because she’d already felt so guilty that Treva had lost a son. Once Amos passed, Treva had treated Beth like a servant. Beth had longed to return to Bonduel, to the comfort of family who loved her. After several months, Treva had started feeling better, and Beth had gotten up the courage to tell Treva she wanted to move back to Wisconsin.