Huckleberry Spring (16 page)

Secret meeting place, indeed.

It only took her ten minutes of vigorous hiking to reach the road where her buggy, Lizzie’s buggy, and Felty’s horse waited patiently for her appearance. Lizzie and Mahlon stood by her buggy as if expecting her and Ben to emerge from the woods at any moment. Emma rolled her eyes.

Lizzie ran to Emma and practically bowled her over with an embrace. “Emma! I thought I’d never see you again.”

“I’ll bet you did,” Emma said under her breath.

“We’re so glad you’re safe,” Mahlon added, looking more than a little uncomfortable. At least he knew enough to be ashamed.

Lizzie lifted both eyebrows and widened her eyes as a signal for Emma to play along. “Ben, you saved her. What would we do without you?”

Ben looked truly fatigued as he rubbed the hard muscles of his upper arm and trudged to Lizzie’s side. “You’ll have to get along, I suppose.”

They heard another vehicle make its way up the dirt road. Adam appeared from around the bend in his open-air buggy. He showed all his teeth when he caught sight of Emma.

Ben stepped back and let Adam drive his buggy between Ben and the others. “I came to help find you, Emma,” Adam said, “but I can see you’ve already been found, which is gute, because I don’t want to be late for fireworks tonight.”

Lizzie wrapped a firm arm around Emma’s shoulder. “Safe and sound.”

Adam brushed a leaf off his buggy seat. “Mamm thinks I should buy a bell to hang around your neck, Emma. That way we’ll always know exactly where you are and what kind of trouble you’re in.”

Mahlon frowned like a bullfrog. “A cowbell?”

Adam chuckled. “Sure, why not?”

Ben’s dark expression grew dark. “Maybe if you spent less time polishing that fancy buggy and more time watching out for Emma, she wouldn’t get into so many fixes.”

The weight of the world pressed down on Emma’s chest. To Ben, she was nothing but an incredible burden. And Lizzie and Mahlon had made it worse.

“I’m not Emma’s keeper,” Adam said, not the least bit offended by Ben’s censure.

“Somebody needs to be,” Ben said. He wiped the scowl off his face and wasted no time mounting his horse. “I’m glad you’re safe, Emma,” he said. He turned his horse in the direction of Huckleberry Hill and rode away in a cloud of dust.

Adam dropped the buggy reins and jumped from his seat. “I’m glad you’re safe too, Emma, but it’s becoming such a common occurrence, I don’t get lathered up anymore. Every day at lunch I entertain the guys at the sawmill with your adventures. We get to laughing mighty hard.”

Emma lowered her eyes. What girl wouldn’t love to be the butt of a lunch-hour joke?

“You shouldn’t have a laugh at Emma’s expense,” Mahlon said.

Adam’s grin widened. “It’s all in good fun. Emma doesn’t mind.” He reached out his hand to her. “Let’s get over to Shawano. I want a gute seat for the fireworks.”

Emma nodded. “I need a few minutes with Mahlon and Lizzie. Do you mind?”

“Make it quick. All the gute seats get taken by six o’clock.”

Emma motioned for Lizzie and Mahlon to follow her several steps into the thicket, far enough away that Adam wouldn’t overhear their conversation even if she raised her voice, which she planned on doing. Never mind that she never raised her voice. Lizzie would hear her displeasure now.

Mahlon folded his arms and stiffened as if expecting to be chastised. That was a good guess on his part.

Lizzie, on the other hand, looked as if Christmas had come to Bonduel six months early. She clasped her hands together. “That turned out perfect, Emma, just perfect. Did you see the look on Ben’s face when Adam pulled up in his buggy? If looks could curdle milk, he would have made butter for sure.”

Emma huffed out an indignant breath. “How could you, Lizzie? I’ve never seen you stoop so low.”

Lizzie’s mouth dropped open. “But didn’t you see how upset he acted with Adam? He’s the one who came to your rescue. Now that we’ve planted the seed, it’s bound to grow.”

“Nae. Ben’s not jealous. He wants me to date Adam.”

Lizzie caught her breath and lunged at Emma so quickly, Emma jumped out of her skin. Lizzie grabbed her wrist. “Somebody needs to break your heart.”

“Somebody already has,” Emma said, the frustration rising with every breath as she pulled her arm out of Lizzie’s grasp.

Lizzie leaned forward and lowered her voice just in case Adam had sneaked into the bushes and listened in on their conversation. “Don’t you see? It’s perfect. You and Adam date for a few more weeks and then Adam can break up with you in a very public way.”

“No.”

“He could break your heart at a gathering somewhere Ben is sure to see it. He’ll feel so bad for you that he’ll want to get back together.”

Mahlon’s brows inched together. “You want him to take her back out of pity?”

“Whatever works,” Lizzie said.

“Listen to yourself,” Emma said, planting her fists firmly on her hips. “This is your brother. You purposefully upset him when he didn’t need to be upset.”

Mahlon nudged Lizzie with his elbow. “I told you we shouldn’t do it.”

Lizzie turned on Mahlon like a river of water interrupted in its course. “You agreed to this. You said it was a good way to make sure Emma wouldn’t get injured and that Ben would still have a chance to rescue her.”

Mahlon glared at her. “How can you expect me to think straight when you flash those blue eyes at me? Emma’s right. It was a bad idea.”

Those blue eyes that so captivated Mahlon flashed with anger. “Don’t you dare turn on me, Mahlon Nelson. You’ve got eyes of your own, you know.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? This was your idea.”

“But you smiled at me and led me to believe you thought it was a good idea,” Lizzie protested.

Mahlon softened and burst into a grin. “My smile convinced you of that? What do you like about my smile? My dimple?”

“I like your straight white teeth. They dazzle me.”

“And your cute little button nose,” Mahlon cooed.

Emma growled louder this time. “I don’t care which one of you got hoodwinked into doing this. We’re talking about Ben, remember?”

“But, Emma, he loves you.”

“You’re wrong, Lizzie. He wants me to marry and settle down with somebody else. That is what will truly make him happy. If you care about Ben at all, you’ll leave him alone to live his life the way he wants to live it.”

Lizzie slumped her shoulders. “I hate to see him so miserable.”

“He might be miserable because he has a girl in Florida waiting for him, but he doesn’t want to go back to her until his ex-fiancée is married to someone else.”

She had stunned Lizzie into silence. But only momentarily. She looked as if she’d swallowed a bitter walnut. “He has a girlfriend in Florida?”

Emma ignored the stabbing ache in her gut. “I don’t know.”

Lizzie frowned and shook her head. “I don’t think so. He’d tell me something as important as that.”

“But you said yourself that he is hiding something.”

“Not that. It couldn’t be that.”

Emma took a deep breath and let the pain and frustration flow out of her body. If only Ben had never come back. “I want both of you to promise me that you won’t interfere with Ben’s life or mine ever again.”

“Fine,” Mahlon said.

Lizzie pressed her lips together and glanced at Mahlon. “Okay. I promise, but I’m not happy about it. I feel like I’m giving him permission to ruin his life.”

“Keep your promise. That’s all I ask.”

They both nodded. “We’ll stay out of it,” Mahlon said. “A plan this elaborate takes a lot of time, and it’s too risky when we’re talking about Emma.”

Emma twitched her lips sarcastically. “Thanks a lot.”

Mahlon draped his arm around Lizzie and led her out of the thicket. “I told you we shouldn’t have meddled.”

Lizzie snapped her head up to glower at him. “No, you didn’t. Don’t even think about feeding me that line.”

“Your brother would make it easier if he went back to Florida and left us alone.”

Lizzie cuffed him on the shoulder. “Mahlon, how can you say such a thing?”

When they returned to the road, Adam sat in his buggy fingering the rim of his hat. He plopped it back on his head when Emma appeared. “You ready to go? We’ve got to get gute seats.”

Emma handed her lonely shoe to Lizzie. “See that this gets back to my house, will you?”

Lizzie’s face drooped. “I thought I was clever how I made it so easy to find. It led him right to you,” she whispered.

“Leave it be, Liz.” Emma let Adam pull her up onto the buggy seat.

Adam jiggled the reins to get his horse moving. “Don’t worry, Mahlon. I’ll see that I keep all matches, sparklers, and sharp objects out of Emma’s reach.” He laughed at his own joke, poked Emma with his elbow, and prodded his horse into a trot.

Emma turned back to see a black look growing on Mahlon’s face like a thundercloud.

Would Adam bring a high chair for her to sit in and give her a rattle to play with?

She was so looking forward to the fireworks.

Chapter 12

It was difficult to make cookies with nine fingers. Well, the cookies didn’t have fingers. Emma only had nine gute fingers at the moment. Stirring thick dough was hard when she couldn’t grip the spoon tightly. Nearly two weeks since the fireworks and her index finger still had a scab on it where the blister used to be. She had no idea sparklers could get so hot. She hadn’t told anybody, not even Mahlon, about the burn. Adam would have laughed at her, and Ben would have tried to take her to the hospital. She hadn’t required a tetanus shot, nor had she fainted. All in all, a minor injury.

“Anna, where are the chocolate chips?”

Anna pointed to an impossibly high cupboard above the window. “You’ll need a stool.”

Emma did her best to remain calm when she heard Ben’s voice behind her. She didn’t even look up from her stirring.

“Can I help?” Ben stood practically tall enough to reach the weather vane on top of the barn. He slipped past Emma and took the chocolate chips from the tall cupboard. He didn’t even need to stand on his tiptoes.

Grinning, he handed the chocolate chips to Emma.

“Show-off,” she said.

Things with Ben had been much better lately, maybe because she felt like she had finally given him up. Or perhaps he felt better about leaving her now that she and Adam were dating.

Anna straightened her glasses and gazed at Ben as if he were her guardian angel. “We’re so glad to have you around.”

“That’s about all I’m good for,” Ben said. “Reaching high things from high cupboards. It wonders me how you got them all the way up there, Mammi. You’re a tiny little thing.”

Anna’s eyes sparkled. “Stop your teasing. I’m tall enough for kissing my sweetheart. That’s all I care about.”

“Mammi!” Ben teased. “I am shocked you would talk about such things in the presence of young, innocent ears.”

Mammi waved her hand dismissively. “You young folks know a lot more about kissing than you pretend.”

Ben took the liberty of opening the package of chocolate chips and popping a handful into his mouth. “What are you making?”

Anna poured the chocolate chips into the batter while Emma concentrated on stirring. She tucked her finger around the handle so Ben wouldn’t see it.

“Remember how I told you I want to try out some pumpkin recipes since I’ll have all this pumpkin to cook with?” Mammi said. “Emma is showing me her recipe for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. And so far, she’s doing a very gute job.”

Ben smiled weakly as a memory flashed in his eyes. “I love Emma’s pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.”

Emma concentrated hard on her bowl of batter and stirred as if everything depended on mixing these cookies into submission. The first night Ben had driven her home from a singeon, they had made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies together at Emma’s house. He’d stayed until midnight, eating cookies and singing songs. She had known she loved him that night.

Felty came in from outside toting a small basket of brown eggs and humming one of his many tunes. “It’s wonderful gute to get outside and work in the yard. I feel as if I’ve been cooped up for years.”

Anna pinned him with a stern eye. “Well, don’t get used to it. You’re getting your new tooth on Friday.”

“No need to worry, Annie Banannie. I’ll be off my feet in no time.” He placed the eggs on the table and gazed out the window. “Looks like it’s going to make down hard.”

Emma hadn’t even noticed how dark the sky had grown. “I hope the tomatoes don’t get waterlogged.”

“Will my pumpkin be okay?” Anna said.

“We’ve planted it on a mound, so the water should give it a good soak, but not puddle.” Emma scooped batter by the spoonful onto the cookie sheets while Anna and Felty stood at the window, waiting excitedly for the storm to strike.

Ben grabbed a spoon from the drawer and scooped batter with her. He always saw the need.

A faint rumble of thunder announced the rain. It fell hard and heavy, as if it were giving the whole world a shower. Emma frowned. The sound of pelting rain on the roof gave way to the hard, rat-a-tat roar of hailstones.

Emma came around the counter and peered out the window. Hailstones the size of peas bombarded the ground. The lawn looked like a sea of popping popcorn as hailstones fell, bounced, and finally came to rest.

Raindrops were relatively harmless to a pumpkin plant. Hail was an entirely different matter on those giant fanlike leaves.

Emma gasped. “The pumpkin will be shredded to bits.”

Anna brought her hand to her mouth. “Oh, dear. I haven’t finished knitting my pumpkin cover.”

“We’ve got to protect that pumpkin.” Emma snatched her bonnet from the hook and raced out the door.

“Emma, wait,” Ben called after her.

Not pausing for anyone, she ran to the barn, shielding her face from the shower of rock-hard ice. Once inside, she located a large plastic tarp. If she suspended it over the pumpkin plant, she could protect it from the worst damage and salvage her hopes for a giant pumpkin.

Leaving the safety of the barn, she sloshed to the pumpkin mound and unfolded the tarp over the pumpkin, now the size of a small tire. She wouldn’t be able to spread the tarp wide enough with her two short arms. This was a two-person job.

Okay, she should have waited for Ben.

Praise the Lord, Ben had long legs and a determined stride. Carrying an umbrella, he jogged to the vegetable patch. When he got close, he raised the umbrella and held it over her head. “Put it down,” she yelled over the din of the hail. “We’ll need both hands to hold the tarp.”

“You’re going to get hurt,” he yelled back.

“I don’t care. We’ve got to save Anna’s pumpkin.”

He frowned, collapsed the umbrella, and tossed it onto the ground. Holding out his hands, he grabbed two corners of the tarp. “Stand under the tarp while we hold it over the pumpkin.”

“Okay.” She wouldn’t argue with that. The hail fell harder, and she felt as if a hundred idiotic boys snapped rubber band after rubber band at her head.

Being as careful as they could not to flatten leaves or vines, they spread the tarp above the pumpkin and ducked underneath it. It provided meager shelter, but at least their heads would be protected. Most of the pumpkin vines stretched past the protection of the tarp. The hail pelted the leaves until many of them looked as holey as Swiss cheese. Some of the leaves were stripped clear off the vines. That couldn’t be helped. At least the pumpkin and surrounding foliage would be safe. Hopefully they hadn’t already sustained too much damage.

Ben’s heavy breathing matched hers, and being on the underside of the tarp seemed to magnify it, even as a dump truck of hailstones rained down on them. Ben quirked up the corners of his lips. “Your face glows blue under this tarp.”

She shook her head and smiled. “Denki for following me out here. I couldn’t have done it by myself.”

“I couldn’t let you come out here alone.”

The hail slid off the tarp and rolled down Emma’s back, completely soaking her dress.

“Oh, no,” Ben said. He knelt down in the mud so that Emma’s side of the tarp sat higher than his. The hail and water found a new path down his back.

She gasped. “No, you don’t. You’re going to be a mess.” She bent her knees so that the tarp paralleled the ground, but that was no good either. The hail piled in the middle of the tarp and made it sag.

“Ben, stand up.”

“You stand up. I’m already muddy, and I don’t want you to get sick.”

She squatted to make her side lower than Ben’s. The hail that had collected on the tarp tumbled in an avalanche down her back. She caught her breath as several hailstones sneaked down the back of her dress.

Ben bent so low that his cheek nearly touched the ground. The hail seesawed back to his side and dribbled down his back. He chuckled and cocked an eyebrow. “I can always go lower.”

Seeing she wasn’t going to win, Emma growled and stood all the way up. Ben returned to his knees. “This is my project. You shouldn’t have to suffer for it.”

“I want to save Mammi’s pumpkin as much as you do.”

After five long minutes and a song about raindrops and tarps courtesy of Ben, the hail gave way to a gentle rain. Ben stuck his head out from under the tarp. “It looks safe to come out.”

Emma held out her hand to catch some rain and then lowered the tarp. Light rain like this would be good for the plants. She tugged at the tarp, and Ben let go. “We should let this dry flat in the barn and fold it later.”

He nodded.

“Denki for your help.”

He smiled. “Mammi must not go without a giant pumpkin.” He grabbed the umbrella off the ground and opened it. Stepping close to her, he held it over both of them to shield them from what was left of the rain. It wouldn’t do much good now. They were both soaked to the bone like two waterlogged cats.

“Denki,” she whispered as his closeness engulfed her. She breathed in his manly scent and sighed as his breath caressed her cheek. The tarp slipped from her fingers.

He turned to stone.

Emma did her best to divert her thoughts. Holding her breath so she wouldn’t be tempted to sniff at him, she thought of Adam and tried to remember what he smelled like. Not one thought came to mind.

What about his teeth? Adam had nice teeth, didn’t he? She couldn’t recall. What did Adam even look like?

She remembered they were standing under an umbrella before her voice failed her completely. “I am probably as wet as I’m going to get.”

With an unreadable expression, he brushed a lock of soggy hair from her forehead. “Do you like Adam Wengerd?”

She swallowed hard. “I . . . I don’t know. He has good teeth.”

“I don’t think you should date him anymore.”

“You don’t?” Through the fog, she latched on to one thought. Had Lizzie’s plan worked? Was he jealous enough to get back together with her?

Nae, of course not. How could she dare open her heart to such a possibility?

Instead of pulling away like he absolutely, positively should have, Ben traced his finger down the side of her cheek and rubbed his thumb along her jawline. If several hailstones hadn’t rolled down her back during the storm, she would have thought that maybe she shivered from something other than the cold.

“Adam can’t take care of you the way you need to be taken care of,” he said in a low, rumbly tone that might have made her swoon if she had been prone to fainting. A girl who saw as much blood as she did tried to avoid fainting. As much as possible.

“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered.

She couldn’t read the emotion in his eyes as he grew breathlessly still and stared at her mouth.

Whatever she did, she mustn’t lose her composure. Ben was just performing his normal check of her injuries, making sure her eyebrows, nose, and lips were in good working condition.

Without warning, he wrapped his free hand around her waist, pulled her closer than she would ever have dared hope, and kissed her hungrily. She was glad she made that resolution not to faint. His kiss was glorious, as if heaven had emptied itself of all the angels, and they now floated over Emma’s little corner of the world.

That boy she went to the bonfire with, what was his name again?

Diligently, she kissed Ben back with all the fervor of months of heartache and waiting. Her love for him multiplied sevenfold just standing there. He was so strong and kind and brave, and she couldn’t see loving anyone else for as long as she lived.

Did this mean Ben still loved her, that Lizzie had been right all along? Had he just needed a push? Her heart soared to the sky, and she blessed the hailstorm that had brought them together again.

The umbrella fell from his hand, and he wrapped both arms around her until she was doubly secure in his embrace. He kissed her as if he needed to drink his fill of her lips before an impossibly long journey. She wrapped her arms around his neck and abandoned herself to the raw emotions of love and longing.

At that moment she opened her heart to him as she hadn’t dared do for nearly a year. She gave it to him freely, trusting him to protect it as his own. It was no longer hers. She would let Ben do what he wanted with it.

Tears of joy ran down her face, and the saltiness mingled with their kisses, tasting sweeter because of all they’d been through together. It took her a moment to realize that his tears mixed with hers.

She pulled her face mere inches away from his. “Ben,” she whispered. “Oh, Ben, I love you so much. So much.”

He closed his eyes and flinched as if she had slapped him. Tears rained down his cheeks and dripped onto her face.

“What is it? How can I help you?”

His arms tightened around her in a vise-like grip. When he opened his eyes, she saw suffering of exquisite intensity.

Dread grew in her heart like mold. “Ben, what’s wrong?”

“Emma, I’m so sorry.”

She pulled him closer even as she felt him slipping from her grasp. “Sorry for what?”

He released her, took a step away, and pressed his hands to his face. “I should never,
never
have lost control that way.”

“It’s okay, Ben. I love you. I never want to be without you again.” She reached for him, and he stepped back as if touching her would be deadly. Fearing a single puff of air might shatter her entire world, she held her breath and waited for him to speak.

“I can’t. I can’t do this to you.” He swiped the back of his hand across his face. “There is no hope for you and me, Emma. You must understand that. You mustn’t have any hope.”

A sob would have broken from her throat if she had been able to breathe. Why did her heart still beat in her chest when she felt so dead inside?

“I want you to have a happy, long life with a husband who loves you and your children. Lots of children. I want the time we spent together to be a happy memory instead of one that causes you pain.”