Love Finds You in Poetry, Texas (22 page)

“I understand.” After getting her settled into a lawn chair near his mother, Georg went in search of punch. He went in search of something else, too. He had to find Belinda, had to get to the bottom of this. If he had hurt her, he needed to make it right. Somehow.

Off in the distance, he saw her talking to John and Greta. Perfect. He could slip through the crowd and get to her just in time....

No, just as she saw him coming, she slipped away, heading off to talk to Doc Klein and Cassie. Georg paused to talk to Greta, hoping she would offer a hint about Belinda’s strange behavior. Unfortunately, he found Greta and John engaged in an eye-to-eye chat about heartbreak. Unwilling to interfere, he backed off and continued his search for Belinda.

“Ah. There she is.” She glanced up and met his gaze. For a moment, he saw a hint of sadness in her eyes. He waved and then took a few steps in her direction. For whatever reason, she hiked her skirt to her ankles and began to sprint in the opposite direction.

Georg stopped in his tracks. No point in pursuing her if she didn’t want to talk to him. But what had he done to warrant such unusual behavior?

“Everything all right, son?”

Georg turned when he heard his father’s gentle voice.

“Oh, yes, sir. I...” His voice trailed off.

“I understand you’ve gone in search of punch for the ladies.” His father gave him a curious look. “Mighty odd, since the punch bowl is on the opposite side of the church lawn.”

“Oh, yes. Well, I was just trying to...” Again his words failed him. Georg gave his father a wistful look, hoping he would let it go. Fortunately, his father simply nodded and patted him on the back.

“You know, son, I’ve learned that some things are worth waiting for.”

“Sir?”

“It’s kind of like a cup of cold punch on a hot afternoon. The longer you have to wait for it, the more satisfying it is to finally get it. If you get my meaning.”

Though he wasn’t completely sure, Georg nodded. It would be better not to ask for a full explanation. Still, he couldn’t help but wonder if his father had somehow seen right through his skin into his very heart. How else could he know that Georg had been waiting not for Adeline, but for Belinda Bauer?

Turning in the direction of the punch bowl, Georg forced a smile. Suddenly, a cup of cold punch sounded mighty good.

Belinda spent much of Sunday afternoon dodging Georg Kaufman. If she stopped to talk to him, her heart would surely give her away, and that would never do. Not now, with Georg and Adeline so happily matched. She managed to chat with everyone in the congregation, bouncing her way from one spot on the church lawn to another. Finally, when exhaustion settled in, she decided to sneak into the church for a few minutes of peace and quiet.

Once inside, she settled into the back pew and reached for a hymnal. As always, the words of the songs brought comfort. She searched from page to page until she found exactly the right one, a hymn by Horatio Spafford—one of her favorites. She hummed as she read the familiar words.

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,

When sorrows like sea billows roll;

Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,

It is well, it is well, with my soul.

A noise at the back door startled her, and she dropped the hymnbook. In that moment, Georg slipped into the pew beside her.

“I’ve been looking for you.”

“O–oh?” She looked his way only for a second and then scrambled to pick up the hymnal, her hands trembling.

“Belinda, I’ve done something to hurt you. You’ve got to tell me what it is so I can make it right.”

“Hurt me?” She lifted the hymnal and put it back into its spot on the back of the pew. “Whatever do you mean?”

“Belinda.” He reached to take her hand. “Please.”

She closed her eyes and squeezed back the tears that threatened to erupt.

“You’re trembling.”

“I am?”

“Yes.” He gazed into her eyes. “Something has happened.”

She managed a nod.

“Something to do with me, or are you just upset about the way things are going with John and Cassie?”

Oh, if only she didn’t have to answer that question! If only she could avoid it altogether. After a lingering pause, she whispered, “Well, I am sorry to hear that Cassie broke John’s heart, to be sure. And I’m concerned about how I can make this right. But, beyond that...” Her heart thumped in her ears as she tried to work up the courage to tell him what was really bothering her.

She never had a chance to finish. The back door of the church swung open and Sarah Jo entered with Adeline on her arm.

“Well, there you are!” Adeline said, as she saw Georg. “I was getting worried.”

“Poor thing couldn’t find you, so I told her I’d help her look.” Sarah Jo glanced at Belinda, then back at Georg, clearly unsure of what to do next. “Well, I will leave you to your own devices, then. Er, I’ll leave you alone.” She headed out the door, leaving Adeline standing in the aisle of the church.

“Do—do you need me to leave?” she asked.

“No.” Belinda rose and scooted past Georg. “We were just finishing up. Georg and I...” She wasn’t sure what to say next, so instead she darted out the back door and ran toward home as fast as her legs could carry her.

Georg had a hard time sleeping on Sunday night. He rose from his bed around one in the morning and slipped on his shoes, convinced that a walk outside would settle his troubled thoughts. All day long he had wrestled with the Lord over what had happened with Belinda in the church earlier today. She’d started to tell him something, but what?

On top of this, Georg still found himself struggling over something else, too—his feelings toward Adeline Rose, or lack thereof. She was a remarkable woman, to be sure. And she’d been mighty patient with him these past couple of weeks, likely waiting for him to state his intentions. Oh, if only he knew what they were, then he would voice them. Until then, it made more sense to say nothing, even if his lack of response troubled her.

Georg grabbed a lantern and headed outside, deep in thought. He went to the one place he always found solace when troubled—the barn. His family didn’t own much of a farm, just a few acres and a couple of dairy cows, but he always managed to find the barn a place to voice his thoughts to the Lord. And the cows. Daisy and Milly didn’t seem to mind. They always heard him out without complaint. Surely tonight would be no different.

Georg eased his way across the yard, careful not to wake his parents. Unfortunately, Buster, the family’s coonhound, got spooked and let out a howl. Georg quieted him right away then kept walking. “C’mon, boy,” he whispered. “We’ve got some business to do.”

He entered the barn and hung the lantern, his eyes adjusting to the space. Then he began to pace, as always. His mind went several directions at once, but he finally managed to collect his thoughts into a sensible prayer.

“Lord, I don’t want to get ahead of You. You know me, Lord. I’m sensible. Practical. I’m not the sort to jump ahead of the pack. I’m more calculated than that.”

Suddenly the barn door swung open and a voice rang out. “Son, do you mind if I ask what you’re doing out here in the middle of the night?”

Surprised, Georg turned to face his father, who stood in the doorway bleary-eyed with a lantern in hand and his thin wisps of hair askew. “I’m sorry I woke you,” Georg said. “I’ve just got a lot on my mind and needed to clear my head.”

“Female troubles?” Thomas Kaufman asked, taking a seat on a bale of hay and running his fingers through his hair to tame it.

“I guess you could call it that.” Georg sat next to him with a shrug. “Strange how I lived my whole life without giving much thought to women, and now...”

“Now you’re having to give the fairer sex some thought?” His father laughed. “Son, let me tell you something. They’re worth giving thought to. In fact, the more thoughtful you are about any decisions you might make, the better. I’ve known many a man to marry impulsively and then regret it later. I would only ask that you move thoughtfully and carefully.”

“I am. No doubt about that. I just have to wonder if I’m ready to marry at all.”

“Well, I can tell you from experience—having married the best woman in the world—that getting the right one is the key thing. To be mismatched while courting is one thing. To be mismatched for fifty years as husband and wife is another altogether. I’ve known a few of those couples in my day. Not a pretty picture, for any involved.”

“So you think Adeline and I are mismatched?” Georg asked. “You can be honest with me. I’d be grateful.”

His father paused before responding. “I’m not saying that. It’s not my place. I’m simply saying that you don’t need to rush into a decision because you’re feeling pressured in some way. It’s better to take your time and choose wisely than to act impulsively and find yourself married to someone before you’re sure it’s
God’s
someone. Does that make sense?”

“Perfect sense.” Georg rose and began to pace once more. “I just don’t want to lead Adeline on if I’m not going to ask her to be my wife. That would be cruel.”

“You’re not leading her on. You’re getting to know her. There’s a difference. And who knows... She could very well turn out to be God’s best for you. So don’t discount the possibility.” His father paused. “On the other hand, my heart tells me that you’re torn because you are interested in someone else. Am I right about that?”

Georg groaned. “I didn’t mean for this to happen. To be honest, I didn’t even know until recently that I was—” He stopped short of saying “in love with Belinda.”

His father gave him a sympathetic look. “Son, the Lord knows your heart. And He alone knows the future. You can trust Him with this.”

Georg continued to pace. “Adeline is a wonderful young woman. She’s come such a great distance and has plans for the future. She also has a younger sister who needs a home. A good home. I could give them that. I would build her a house by the creek, and we could live out our days there together.”

“Live them out as a match made in heaven, or live them out as a match conceived on earth?” His father’s voice was gentle but firm.

Georg had no answer for that one. The match had been conceived on earth, no doubt about that. And conceived by someone who... Georg sighed as he thought about Belinda. Conceived by someone with the kindest, sweetest heart of anyone he’d ever known. Someone who still caused his heart to flip whenever she walked in the room. Someone who had taken a piece of his heart with him when she fled from the church earlier in the day.

He sighed, trying to make sense of it all. Maybe he’d better wait before declaring his intentions to Adeline. Looked like he had a little more thinking to do before then.

“I’m just saying to pray it through before deciding.” His father rose and stretched then reached for his lantern. “That’s the only way to know for sure.”

“That’s what I’m doing in the barn at one in the morning.”

“Well then, I’ll leave you to it.” He slapped Georg on the back. “You’re a good man, Georg. You come from a long line of good men. And you will do the right thing, no doubt about that. Just listen to the voice of the Lord, and don’t take a step until He’s given the word.”

“Yes, sir.”

Georg spent the next half hour praying things through then sat on the bale of hay and waited. For what, he wasn’t sure. For the Lord to speak in an audible voice? For the jumbled thoughts in his head to cease? For his twisted heart to rest easy?

After some time, he drew in a deep breath and released it, finally ready to head back to the house. Really, there was only one sensible thing to do. Stay the course. Pray it through, day by day, minute by minute. The Lord had an answer, and it would surely come. Georg decided he was willing to wait, even if waiting meant causing discomfort between himself and Adeline. It would be better, as his father had said, to hurt her feelings than to marry her if she wasn’t the one God had for him.

With a heavy heart, Georg made his way back to the house. Once there, he tumbled into bed and fell into a deep sleep.