Plain Promise (31 page)

Kade picked up his cell phone from the coffee table, the flashing red light indicating a message. He’d been avoiding the link to his previous life for days—but he knew that to move forward, he had to take care of what was behind him. He dialed his voice mail. Forty-two new messages. His heart raced, not from anticipation but from dread. To go back to his house, his money, his friends—a term he now used loosely—seemed like a prison sentence. He couldn’t go on living the way he had been. Something had been so amiss in his life, and that something was God.

The heart of the people in Lancaster County was unlike anything Kade had known, and he clung to their beliefs like a drowning man to a life preserver, clutching the one thing that could carry him to safety—a relationship with God and His Son, Jesus Christ. And yet the logical side of his brain continued to reprimand his choices, begging him to rethink this absurd behavior.

Seventeen voice mails were from Monica’s mother, checking on Tyler. He owed Andrea a call and regreted not calling her before now. Plus, he’d never returned Val’s first batch of messages, and now there were eight more from him, all pleading with Kade to call him—once stating that he had something important to talk with Kade about. The rest of the messages were from board members, business contacts, and people representing Kade’s interests on various fronts. He knew he’d shown the irresponsibility of a young teenager, off on a
rumpschpringe
, as Jonas would call it. And yet, he listened to all the messages, placed the phone back on the table, and chose to talk to no one.

No one on that phone list anyway. He wanted to talk with someone else. “Dear heavenly Father . . .” he began.

Jonas knocked at Lizzie’s door for the third time—resolved that if she didn’t answer, he was going in anyway. To worry was a sin, but it pulled at Jonas like a weight, dragging his spirit down. He needed to know if Lizzie’s current state was his fault. He’d thought he was doing right by Irma Rose not to act on his feelings for Lizzie, but when Lillian said Lizzie wasn’t doing so good, he knew he’d been wrong to abandon her the way he had.

Finally, the door opened, and Jonas was shocked at what he saw. Lizzie’s long gray hair cascaded down around her shoulders. So silky and smooth, Jonas resisted the urge to stroke it with his hand. She looked like she’d been in her blue dress for more than a day or two, and as Lillian had said—the place was a mess. As improper as it was to behold Lizzie’s hair, unbound and flowing freely without the confines of her prayer covering, Jonas suspected there might be bigger issues at hand.

“Lizzie, you all right?” he asked hesitantly from the front porch.

Lizzie stepped back and motioned for Jonas to come in. “
Ya
, I’m
gut
, Jonas. Just a bit tired, that’s all.” She sat down on the bench at the kitchen table. “Please, sit down, Jonas.”

Jonas removed his straw hat and hung it on the rack inside the door and studied her for a moment. Didn’t she realize she was missing something? He tugged on the full length of his beard, clamped his lips tight. Then he asked, “Lizzie, do you know that you don’t have your
kapp
on?” Right away, he wished he hadn’t mentioned it.

She jumped up, bumped her knee on the table, and brought both hands frantically to her head. “
Ach
, no.” Tears welled in the corner of her eyes. “I’m so embarrassed. I’m so—How could I not know that?”

Jonas wasted no time moving around the table. He placed his hands firmly on each arm and gazed into her eyes. “We won’t tell a livin’ soul ’bout this, Lizzie. I reckon it is just fine.”

“It’s not fine.” She cradled her face in her hands, and Jonas could feel her trembling.

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. “Lizzie, don’t cry.” She felt so tiny pressed against his lanky, thin build. What a pair they made. “I’ve missed you, Lizzie. I’m sorry that—”

She eased him away, turned, and walked out of the room. When she returned, her hair was tucked beneath her prayer covering, her head held high. Jonas wanted to take her in his arms again, but her expression was solemn, and Lizzie didn’t seem excited to see him, the way he’d hoped. But Jonas knew something that would cheer her up. He cumbersomely dropped to one knee and balanced his weight by holding on to the kitchen table.

“Jonas, I think I’ve had a stroke,” she said matter-of-factly, with no regard for Jonas’s obvious intentions. “Maybe you ought not be thinking what you’re thinking, and stand up,” she said in a bossy tone he hadn’t heard from her before. Jonas wasn’t sure he could stand up. His old joints had had one too many trips to the bended-knee position today. “Get up, now,” she demanded.

He eyed her with amusement. Lizzie was trying her best to look tough, but she looked downright silly to him. “Lizzie, what do you think you’re doing?” he said, still on bended knee, one hand resting on the kitchen table.

“What do you mean?” She cupped her small hips with her hands.

“Why are you trying to be all tough and mean when you ain’t got a mean bone in that tiny body of yours?” He grinned.

“Did you hear what I said, Jonas? I think I’ve had a stroke. I’m not sure, but somethin’ ain’t right in my mind.” She took a deep breath, then lifted her head a little higher. “I reckon that’s what happens when a person has a stroke. I remember when it happened to Anna Mae last year. She got all crazy in the head.”

“What’s all that got to do with me being down here on this floor like this, and you trying to be all . . . whatever it is you’re trying to be?” He groaned a bit, but kept himself in proposal position.

She shook her head. “I never want to be a burden on anyone.” Jonas bellowed out a hearty laugh.

“Do you find this funny?” She pressed her thin lips together.

“Lizzie,” he began, “I don’t know what’s goin’ on half the time, so I reckon it’d be a fair shake as to who’d be a burden to who. Don’tcha think?” He groaned.

“Jonas, maybe you should get up from there.”

“I’ll get up when I’m
gut
and ready, when I’ve tended to my business,” he grumbled.

Jonas straightened his back as best he could and gazed into her eyes. “Lizzie, I want you to marry me, move in over with me and Sarah Jane, where we can tend to ya.”

Her big, brown eyes went wild with fury—almost rabid, like his old hound dog years ago. She was as frightful a woman as he’d ever seen. “Is that a yes?” He cowered backward a smidgen. “I don’t need no one tending to me!” she hollered. “Why would I want to marry a man just so he could
tend
to me? That’s as wrong a reason as I can think of, and—”

“Lizzie!” he snapped.

She closed her mouth and waited for him to speak.

Jonas drew in a deep breath. “Woman, don’t you know how much I love you? After Irma Rose died, I never expected to love another, Lizzie.” He paused, seeing her eyes soften. “But I do, Lizzie. I love you. I love the time we spend together. I’m at my best when I’m with you. And you’d do this old man an honor by becoming
mei fraa
and growing old with me.”

“We’re already old,” she said smugly. “And what if I’ve had a stroke? What if my mind is going? What if it’s something else?” Jonas snickered. “Lizzie, I’m not even sure I can get up off this floor of yours, and who knows if I’ll drop dead tomorrow. I got the cancer, ya know. And we already know I don’t be remembering things so
gut
these days. But I say we go nuts together and make the best of it.”

It warmed his heart to hear Lizzie laugh. “You’re a silly old man, huggy bear.”

“That’s what they tell me, that daughter and granddaughter of mine. So what do you say? Wanta get married to this silly old man?”

“Oh, Jonas. Yes.” Her voice bubbled with joy.

He was tickled by her reaction, but there was another issue at hand. “Lizzie.”

“
Ya
?”

“I can’t get up.” Jonas tried to push his weight upward, but the pain in his legs was unbearable.

“Here, let me.” Lizzie wrapped her arms underneath his and pulled with all her tiny might.

Slowly, Jonas rose to his feet, amid all the crackling in his joints and bones. “And I don’t see no reason to wait until November to get married either.”

“Folks will expect us to wait till after the fall harvest,” she said.

Jonas grinned. “I don’t know ’bout you, but I ain’t got a fall harvest.”

“Oh, Jonas,” she said again, her eyes twinkling.

“Now, that’s my Lizzie,” he said, and then wrapped his arms around her.

“And you’re my huggy bear.”

She pulled back a little and looked up at him. “Who will you have to stand with you?”

Jonas thought for only a moment. “I reckon it should be Samuel.”

“That’s lovely, because I am going to ask Lillian to stand with me. How sweet to have husband and wife!”

He couldn’t help but smile at Lizzie’s girlish enthusiasm. He was feeling a tad giddy himself. “Not one of your kin?” he asked after a moment.

“They are
gut
girls, my nieces, but I hardly ever see them. Your granddaughter has always checked on me regularly, her and Sadie both.” She paused. “I hope Sadie finds happiness in Texas, but I’ll sure miss having her here in Lancaster County. Such a
gut
girl.”

“Sadie is special,” Jonas said fondly.

“Jonas?” Lizzie’s enthusiasm floundered a bit. “Do you reckon I’m losing my mind? I’ve never forgotten to wear
mei kapp
.” She lowered her head.

Jonas lifted her chin gently with his hand. “Lizzie, there ain’t no shame in gettin’ old, and I don’t think you’re losin’ your mind.” He chuckled. “No more than I am. But I do think we need to have Noah take a look at you. If you be forgettin’ things, might be easy to fix.”

Lizzie glanced around at her house, and Jonas felt sorry for her, knowing she was embarrassed, but not wanting to say anything.

“I’ve been so tired, Jonas,” she said softly as she eyed the dishes in the sink.

He pressed his palm to her cheek. “We’ll help each other grow old. We’ll do it together.”

Lizzie smiled and molded herself into his arms.

Kade looked at the calendar hanging on the kitchen wall. One more week. That’s all he’d signed on for—three months. Jonas told him that Bishop Ebersol sold Sadie’s farm right away to Lester Lapp, who’d agreed not to take possession until Sadie returned to collect her things, which wouldn’t be until he and Tyler were gone.

Sadie loves this place
, Kade thought, as he stood staring at the calendar.
But she must love Milo more.
He fought the bitterness that continued to creep into his soul when he thought of Sadie playing house with Milo in Texas.

Tyler was on the floor, playing with his letters, so Kade allowed his mind to drift into a world where his thoughts were clean and pure, a place with no worry, no deadlines, no distrust, fear of failure, fear of death, fear in general—a world where God sat beside him as a good friend and mentor. A world like he’d found here in Lancaster County.

But he had a home, and soon he’d be leaving to go there. Somehow, he needed to bottle up everything he felt here and take it with him. He and Tyler were certain to have great challenges when they returned. Tyler seemed to have settled into the routine of life here. His tantrums were still a daily occurrence, but Kade was learning, and together they would make it through the transition. Guilt at his own absence from the boy’s life still stabbed at his heart, but that was slowly being replaced by a love that Kade had never known.

His thoughts were interrupted by a pounding on the door. Tyler beat him to the door and wrapped his arms around Jonas’s legs.

“Here’s
mei
boy,” Jonas exclaimed like a proud grandfather. Kade knew Jonas was going to miss Tyler.

Jonas walked in the door, the way any good friend does, and helped himself to a seat on the tan chair next to the couch. A light jazzy mix resounded from the small radio. “Sounds like craziness, that music.” He removed his hat and looped his thumbs through his suspenders.

Tyler resumed his position on the floor, and Kade sat down on the couch and propped his white socks on the coffee table. “It’s jazz,” Kade said. Then he shook his head. “That’s one thing that would be difficult to give up if I stayed here.”