Jacob's Return (22 page)

Rachel sat in the nearest chair, because for the life of her, she did not believe she had ever been more shocked by anything. Simon Sauder had humbled himself before the district, and not the kind of humility from loud proclaiming, but the deep-in-the-soul kind from quiet acts.

Simon had humbled himself for
her
?

Jacob shrugged in confusion, but seemed less ready to believe.

But Rachel felt she owed her husband the benefit of her trust. “Thank you, Simon.”

Simon nodded and stood, smiled, almost. “I spoke to Esther early this morning.”

He knows about Jacob and Es, Rachel thought. And still he is kind.

“Bishop Zook,” Simon said. “As Deacon I am the
Schtecklimann
, and as such I have the proud honor to be the go-between in the arrangements for marriage.”

“A new couple wishes marriage?” her father asked. “Then they’d best settle things soon. The first Tuesday in November is only a week away and there are not many Tuesdays or Thursdays open next month without weddings. Have you secured the girl’s father’s permission yet?”

“Not yet.”

“Well then, it is too soon for you to come to me with the request.”

“Bishop Zook. Will you come and walk outside with me for a bit?”

“I want to go see Esther and my new grandson.”

“First, walk with me, then you can go see Esther.”

“Simon, I—”

“Please, Bishop Zook.”

“Very well,” her father said, a bit annoyed.

When they left, Rachel looked at Jacob. “You’d best tell your Datt. He was gone yesterday.”

“Tell me what? Simon did a good thing with the newspaper, ya?”

“Ya, Datt, Simon did a good thing,” Jacob said. “About the marriage Simon mentioned. Esther must have told him I asked her, yesterday—”

“Jacob Sauder!” the Bishop yelled as he came storming into the kitchen.

Jacob stood. “Sir, if you have an objection, I will respect your—”

Her father hugged Jacob with great exuberance. “Objection!
Nein. Nein
. I have no objection. Levi! Jacob will be my son too.”

Eyes wide, Levi looked at Rachel. “But you’re married to Simon.”

“Datt!” Jacob said. “This is no time for joking. The Bishop is saying he has accepted me to be Esther’s husband.”

“Esther’s husband?” He turned to Rachel. “Is this true?”

“I am happy for them, Levi,” Rachel said. “We all are.”

Simon stood by Rachel. “Yes. We are happy for Jacob and Esther. Jacob, you and Esther must decide which Tuesday or Thursday you wish to marry next month. I will give you a list of open dates and announce your wedding day on church Sunday two weeks prior. If you do not want to wait until the end of the month, you should choose before this Saturday. Harvest is already finished and you need to marry before winter brings new chores. Until the first or second week in December you can wait, maybe, but no later.”

When Jacob went up to visit Esther after her father left, he found Ruben sitting with her, holding little Daniel as if the boy were made of spun sugar. Jacob chuckled. “Be careful you don’t break him, Ruben.”

Ruben looked appalled.

Jacob all-out laughed.

Esther swatted him. “Stop teasing him, Jacob, you know he’s frightened silly. Ruben, pay him no mind. You can’t break him.”

“Just the same, I’d rather not chance it. Here, Es, you take him.” He kissed Esther on the forehead. “Rest. Jake, see you in the field. Your Pop’s hired me to help with the winter wheat.”

Jacob nodded as he watched Ruben leave.

“Honestly, Jacob. Take pity on your friend. He’s afraid of his own shadow around me and Daniel. I just got him calm enough to sit and hold the baby and you come in and ruin everything.”

Jacob frowned. “Sorry, Es. How do you feel?”

“All right, I guess.”

“You’re not sure? Should I try to find out if the doctor is back from Philadelphia?”

Esther smiled, which took away the niggling uneasiness Jacob felt since walking into the room. She would be his wife soon. Right now, he didn’t even have the kind of ‘need’ for her he’d had for Miriam, not to mention the kind of love he felt for Rachel, which he must deny. “We need to set a wedding date,” he said.

“I guess we do.”

Like a rope-line in a blizzard, he reacted to her doubt. “If you’re not ready ...” He sure in hell wasn’t.

“It doesn’t seem right, so soon after Mom’s funeral. And with just having the baby, I’m so tired, I don’t feel ready. Can we wait a few days, a week maybe, to talk about it?”

Such relief flooded Jacob, he was almost giddy with it.

A week later, when he brought the subject up again, Esther still wasn’t ready. Jacob was so glad, he decided to wait until she mentioned setting a date.

He would be happier to forget about it. At least for now. Maybe next November would be better. It certainly seemed so.

Simon asked Jacob every other day what date in November he and Esther wanted, but Jacob guessed November was too soon.

Ruben visited Esther every morning before chores, sometimes after chores too.

When little Daniel was two weeks old, it was Ruben who came to get Esther and bring her to her father’s house.

Jacob wondered why she’d not asked him to do it. Maybe he wasn’t visiting as often as he should. But the
Chalkboard
was taking a lot of time.

* * * *

When the wedding month was half over, Simon’s impatience for the date to be set so he could announce it was out of proportion for the Deacon. To Jacob, his impatience seemed more in keeping with the old Simon, rather than the new.

As they milked side-by-side one morning in late November, Simon cleared his throat. “Tomorrow is the last Sunday I can announce your wedding to Esther. If you do not give me a date tonight, you won’t be getting married for another year.”

“Well, then we don’t have anything to worry about for another year, now do we?” Jacob stood and left the milk parlor.

The next day at service, when Jacob and Ruben sat in the front row of the men’s section, Jacob knew his course was set for another year, and he wouldn’t have to take the step he’d dreaded since the day he proposed to Esther. If God ordained marriage between them, they would marry next year. If not, they wouldn’t. That was that. Esther didn’t seem any more ready than him right now.

Even her father had stopped asking him, so he figured Esther must have told her Pop she wasn’t ready.

Jacob smiled and nodded at Esther across from him, Daniel on her lap, then at Rachel beside her. He winked at Emma sitting on Rachel’s lap. Datt sat Aaron with him in the back row and Jacob could hear the both of them. That boy of his was getting plenty noisy at service these days and Datt was shushing him to beat all.

After the break, Simon got up, as he’d done every church Sunday since the second week in October, to announce the weddings to take place within the next two weeks. He read his list, “Hannah Bieler, daughter of Joshua and Lena Stoltz Bieler on November the 23rd to Jacob Stoltzfus; Mary Miller, daughter of Samuel and Anna-May Lentz Miller on November the 25th to Adam Schmidt; Esther Zook Lapp, daughter of Ezra and Mary—”

‘Do something,’ Esther mouthed.

Ruben jumped to his feet. “Esther Zook Lapp is going to marry Ruben Miller.” He jabbed his finger into his chest. “Me.” His smile grew. To Jacob, it looked a little forced at first, then it sort of blossomed to fit his whole face. Ruben had made his announcement in a manner that brought laughter.

But Jacob did not know who was more stunned, him, Simon, or Esther.

Bishop Zook looked furious, and Rachel smiled.

After service, when it was time for the fellowship meal, Esther bundled up little Daniel, passed them without saying a word, and continued out the door.

“Now, what d’you suppose is wrong with her?” Ruben asked.

Jacob shook his head. “I expect she didn’t know she was marrying you. Maybe you should have asked her first.”

“Well, I didn’t know either. And how could I ask her if you already did?”

Jacob nodded. “Exactly.”

Ruben slapped his knee with his hat and turned to Rachel. “Mudpie?”

“You’d best go after her, Ruben.”

* * * *

Rachel always seemed to know what needed to be done, Ruben thought. He wasn’t sure why he was chasing Esther, but he damned well knew that for the life of him, he’d better catch her. Boy she was fast too. She passed the last row of carriages as he caught up to her.

He took her by the arm. “What do you think you’re gonna do, walk all the way back home? It’s November, you know. Too cold to keep that baby outside so long. At least wait until I get my horse hitched to my carriage and I’ll take you.

“And why would I get into a carriage with you, Ruben Miller?”

“Don’t know why you’re so mad. You told me to do something, and I did.”

“I told Jacob to do something.”

“Oh. Well I did, instead. And now we’re gonna get married.”

“Hah! And why would I marry you?”

“Ach, Es. You know we’re perfect for each other.”

Her face softened. He thought for a minute she might smile. “How are we perfect for each other, Ruben?” Her voice sounded sweeter too.

“Well, gee. Isn’t that obvious? You need a husband to help you raise little Daniel. And I can get a baby on you, and you won’t die.”

“Ruben Miller,” Esther cried. “You are a horse’s hind end!”

When she shoved him, one armed, because little Daniel took up her other one, he knew she was really mad, because she was awfully strong all of a sudden. When the force of her shove landed him in a pile of horse shit, he knew he was right. Esther Zook Lapp was plenty damned mad.

He sat up, laughing. And stinking.

Esther, frowning and fuming, kicked him a good one, right in his big clunky shoe, just for good measure.

And wasn’t she just the prettiest darn thing he ever saw.

Chapter 14

After service, both during and after the fellowship meal, people talked about Ruben Miller’s announcement.

Outside, Aaron was trying to break the ice over a puddle near his Pa-pop’s buggy. “How do you feel about Ruben and Es?” Rachel asked Jacob.

He lifted his mischievous son and put him in the buggy, then he needed to take the reins from his hands so he wouldn’t set Caliope to trotting. “Aaron, stop. Give Pa-pop the reins, now, and go sit in the back to wait for Emma. Good. He put Emma inside. There you go, Pumpkin.” And he turned to Rachel. “Come home with us.”

“I should go with Simon.”

“He has to stay to meet with the Elders, Datt said. If you want to catch up to Es and Ruben, I’m your man.”

Rachel accepted Jacob’s hand and climbed inside. As soon as she got settled, Caliope began moving.

“You didn’t answer me,” she said after a while. “How do you feel about what Ruben did?”

After a quiet minute, Jacob turned to her and his smile was just about the nicest she’d ever seen. “I think it’s what they both want. I’m happy for them. And oh, Mudpie, I am happy for me. It would have been all wrong for me and Esther.”

Rachel thought she was probably happier than any of them. But should it matter so much that Jacob remain free, when she was not? Selfish of her, she knew, but she just could not help rejoicing that he and Esther would not marry. “You’re right, and I think Esther knew it too.”

“I wish she’d told me.”

“I expect she did not want to hurt your feelings.”

“Well, she scared me half to death. Do you think Ruben will win her?”

Rachel shook her head. “I don’t know, Ruben can be pretty thick sometimes. He might not see how easy it could be.”

“Ya. I think that’s what I like best about him. Big and dumb and lovable. The
dumpkoff
.”

“Boob!” Emma said.

Jacob chuckled. “See Em knows who we’re talking about.”

“There’s Ruben’s carriage,” Rachel said. “In Pop’s yard.”

Jacob pulled the team in behind Ruben’s. A minute later, they saw Esther, Daniel cradled in her arms, come from the barn.

Ruben trailed behind her. “Well gee, Es,” he said, a pleading note in his voice. How can I be both a mule’s and horse’s behind? What kind of animal am I, exactly?”

“Ya,” Jacob said, “big and dumb.”

“The kind that slithers along the ground on its belly,” Esther said.

Ruben laughed and backed her up against the closed barn door.

“I don’t think they heard us when we drove in,” Rachel said. “And they can’t see us now. We should say something.”

“Judging from the kiss Ruben’s giving Esther right now, I think you’re right. Should I jump from the carriage to protect her virtue?”

“Jacob Sauder, don’t you dare.”

“I think one of them might suffocate.”

Esther pushed Ruben away with surprising strength. “You stink, Ruben Miller!”

Ruben chuckled when he regained his balance. “Your fault, Esther Zook Lapp soon-to-be-Miller. When we’re married, you can help me take a bath every night.”

“Jacob, Es’ll die when she realizes we heard that.”

“I think they’re too busy kissing again to hear us if we leave.”

“No, wait.” Rachel scrambled from the carriage and ran over to her sister.

It looked to him as if it took some doing for Rachel to get their attention. Then Esther, red faced, looked over at the carriage. Jacob waved. Ruben, smiling widely, waved back. Esther handed Rachel little Daniel, then swatted Ruben’s arm.

Rachel came back to the carriage and handed Daniel over to Jacob, then she went around to the other side to climb in. “Give him to me,” she said. When he did, she nodded. “We can go now.”

Jacob watched Ruben and Esther go into the house, Ruben’s hand on her arm, Es’s head lowered, probably in embarrassment. Then he turned and looked at Rachel.

“I said, we can go now, Jacob.”

Beautiful. So beautiful, his Rachel, with a baby in her arms, it almost hurt watching her. He started Caliope going and cleared his throat. “We’re taking Daniel? Es didn’t mind?”