Rebecca's Rose (38 page)

Since the moment yesterday when there was no rose on her welcome mat, Rebecca determined that no matter what else befell her, she could not marry Marvin Yutzy. Marvin needed a companion who adored him and adored the dairy business. It was unfair to pretend to love him when he could have the real thing. Rebecca knew how the real thing felt, and Marvin deserved it.

Once Max and Marvin wolfed down the chicken, Rebecca pulled out the whoopie pies. Marvin loved whoopie pies, especially ones made with pumpkin cake. Max ate with gusto, but Marvin nibbled on his until half was gone. He wrapped the other half in a napkin and put it in his pocket. “Very gute,” he mumbled.

“I must get back to finish the milking,” Rebecca said. “But when the walls are done, I will help paint.”

“And clean,” said Max. “We need lots of cleaning.”

“I will carry your basket to the buggy,” Marvin said.

Perfect.

She gave Max a quick hug. “What time will you be home tonight?”

“Ach, late. Very late.”

“Not too late to make Fater angry.”

“I will do my best.”

Marvin scooped up the basket and took Rebecca by the elbow. “Cum,” he said.

She tightened the shawl around her as they walked outside.

“Could I talk to you about something?” Marvin said.

“Jah, I would like to talk to you too.”

They reached Rebecca’s buggy, and Marvin frowned. “I am afraid this will hurt your feelings,” he said. “I do not mean to make you unhappy. You are a wonderful-gute girl and very pretty. And a hard worker. But I am not interested in dating you anymore. I am sorry.”

Rebecca wanted to clap her hands and jump for joy. She opted for a slight nod.

He misinterpreted her restrained silence and took her hand. “I know this is very sudden. We have always been gute friends, and I know I am your fater’s choice. But Martha Zook works at the dairy store, and she loves cheese.”

Rebecca stifled a grin. Why hadn’t she seen it before? Martha barely put two words together in a conversation, and Marvin could chatter for hours without drawing breath. They were perfect for each other.

“I appreciate you telling me this. It is better to know how you feel now so that my fater’s hopes are not raised. Can you imagine if we had been published before you realized how you feel about Martha? All things work out according to the will of the Lord.”

He gazed at her sympathetically. “You are always so brave, Rebecca. I know you will find true love someday. Don’t give up hope.”

Rebecca put her hand to her chest and pressed down on the gaping hole there.

I won’t.

Until hope gives up on me.

Rebecca sat in an inconspicuous corner of the hospital lobby until she saw Levi’s mamm emerge from the elevator with Luke Miller and walk out the automatic doors. Mary was leaving Levi’s side to inspect the new house. Now was Rebecca’s chance to throw herself on Levi’s mercy. Her heart made so much noise, Levi’s mamm would surely hear it from the parking lot.

Quickly, she hopped into the elevator and held down the fourth-floor button until the doors closed. Once off the elevator, she practically tiptoed down the hall to Levi’s room, afraid of being captured but filled with dread at the reception she might receive. The fear squeezed her until she thought she might be sick, a fear worse than the roller coaster or the deep lake—the fear of rejection. It was almost unbearable.

She peeked through the window in Levi’s door. Levi lay in the bed awake, a peaceful expression on his whiskery face. His color was better, but there were still machines and tubes and bandages everywhere. He said something to someone else in the room before leaning back and closing his eyes.

To the right, where she could barely see them, Levi’s grandparents sat next to each other. His grandmother read a magazine. Rebecca cracked open the door and got Alphy Petersheim’s attention. She motioned for him to come to her. Puzzled, he stood up with some effort and came into the hall.

“Rebecca Miller?” he said.

“This is a great favor,” she said, “but could I speak with Levi alone for a minute?”

Alphy rubbed his gray beard. “You will be nice?” he said with a twinkle in his eyes.

Rebecca nodded.

“’Tain’t no problem. Me and Nancy will get something to eat. But this hospital food, ach—a gute Amish wife should come in and teach them a thing or two.”

He went back inside, whispered to Nancy, and took her hand. They helped each other out the door.

Levi’s mammi stared curiously at Rebecca. In amusement, Alphy winked at Rebecca and led Nancy down the hall.

Rebecca took several deep breaths. If she did pass out with fright, what better place to be than a hospital?

She slowly opened the door and shut it loudly enough that Levi would notice. He opened his eyes and looked at her. Was he happy to see her? Or miserable? She had always been able to read him like a book, but today his feelings were a mystery to her.

“Hey, kid,” he said.

“Hey, Gimpy.”

His smile sent her reeling. “Gimpy. I like it. Very appropriate to my situation at the moment.” He studied her face. “That bad, huh? And Mom says I’m looking better.”

Even lying there, Levi looked so handsome that her heart broke all over again. And as frightening as it was, honesty was her new policy. “You look so wonderful.”

He looked at her in puzzlement then gave her an uncertain grin. He held out his hand, and Rebecca watched the pain flit across his face. “Would you like to sit down?” He lightly patted the edge of his bed.

When she got close enough, he grabbed her hand. He closed his eyes for a second and smiled. “I love how this feels. Do you mind? It’s my therapy.”

Rebecca’s heart did a somersault. He had the uncanny ability to send her twirling to the ceiling.

“I’ve come to register a complaint,” she said, unable to keep her voice steady.

His face clouded over. “Okay.”

“I have not received my promised rose for three days, and I want an explanation.”

He cracked a smile. “I’m being held hostage by the doctors, and I begged and begged my mom to take you roses, but she doesn’t see the big picture.”

“Excuses, excuses. If a boy says he loves me and then doesn’t show it, I start to worry that I’ll get my heart broken. Especially by this one. Because I really love this boy.”

She couldn’t help herself. The emotion overpowered her, and she promptly burst into tears.

The heart monitor went crazy. “I’ve never seen you cry before,” Levi said.

“I cry all the time now. At singeons, grand openings, cow milkings…”

“You’ve gone weak, huh?”

“As a baby. I’m giving my whole heart to you, Levi Cooper. Do what you want with it.”

His warm hand squeezed hers. “So does this mean you’ll marry me?”

She laughed through her tears. “With all my heart.”

When he smiled, it was as if light radiated from his entire body. “It’s shameful to profess my undying love in a hospital gown,” he said. “But I have no pride left, and I do love you, Rebecca. From now on, my only desire is to make you deliriously happy. You’ll have no reason to ever cry again.”

Rebecca caught her breath as the thrill engulfed her. Was this much joy even possible?

She rested her palm gently on his chest and stared at his lips. He got the message and slowly pulled her into him so she could feel his breath on her cheek. They sat like that for a few breathless seconds. She ached for a kiss and leaned closer.

“Don’t kiss me,” he said, so near that his lips almost touched hers.

She heard the amusement in his voice and didn’t back away. “Why not?”

“I’ve got three broken ribs and a newly inflated lung, and you expect a kiss?”

“I don’t see any blood. How serious can it be?”

“If you kiss me, I’ll forever associate kissing with hospitals and pain medication. How could you do that to my future wife?”

She leaned a fraction of an inch forward and kissed his jawline. He trembled. “Perhaps you could forever associate kissing with the moment your future wife told you how deeply she loves you and how she can’t bear to live another day without you.”

Even with all the tubes and needles, he wrapped his arms all the way around her and held her so tightly that she couldn’t possibly pull away. “That’s a great idea.”

And suddenly, his lips were on top of hers with a gentleness Rebecca had never expected and never knew existed. The exhilaration spread down her arms and hands, legs and feet, saturating her with warmth. This was surely what heaven felt like.

She sighed. “
Now
I’ve done everything on the list.”

“Kissing me was on Dottie Mae’s list?”

Rebecca laughed.

“I’m glad that list is done,” Levi said. “Because I think my health would suffer if we had to do any more dangerous things.”

He kept his gaze on her mouth. “Do you know what I was thinking just before I passed out in that grain elevator?”

Rebecca shook her head.

“It was like quicksand, pulling me under. I couldn’t do anything but scream my guts out and hope I wouldn’t die before the weight crushed my lungs and I stopped breathing.”

Rebecca ceased breathing at the thought of it.

“I kept thinking, I’ll never get to kiss Rebecca Miller. That was the only thing on my list of things to do before I died.”

A sympathetic moan escaped her lips before he stopped it with another feather-soft kiss. Rebecca wanted to shout in elation. She would never want for another thing in her entire life.

She leaned more heavily on his chest and felt him flinch. “Does it hurt?”

“Like crazy. But don’t stop,” he said.

With her heart beating wildly, she reluctantly pulled from his grasp. “People will be shocked if Rebecca Miller puts Levi Cooper back in intensive care by kissing.”

“Yeah, but what a way to go.”

“You need time to heal.”

He fell back onto his pillow. “The day the pain in these ribs is bearable is the day I marry you.”

“Most Amish couples don’t get married until winter.”

“I won’t wait that long. April is a great month for a wedding.” He looked at her doubtfully. “Unless you want to wait. You just agreed to marry me. I’ll do anything you want.”

“I want to be with you every hour of every day starting now.”

Levi smacked his forehead with his palm and immediately recoiled in pain. “
Oh, sis yuscht!
I can’t take my bride home to a dawdi house.” He took both her hands. “Look, Rebecca, I bought a piece of property with some money my dad gave me.”

“Your dad?”

“It’s good pastureland with room for a huge garden. But it’s a pathetic little house. I promise, I’ll work like a crazy man to get it ready for you, but with all the stuff that needs doing, we probably won’t be married for another three years.”

Rebecca did her best to wipe the smile off her face and to appear sufficiently troubled.

“I think if I provide a sturdy roof over your head, your fater might give his permission to marry you. Unless he’s still hanging his hopes on Marvin Yutzy.”

“Marvin is not interested anymore,” Rebecca said. “Fater will have to settle for you or risk having an old-maid daughter. He couldn’t bear the shame.”

“Marvin gave up? So I’m your second choice?”

“You have always been my first choice.”

“I don’t care if I’m your twenty-seventh choice, as long as you choose me.” He sighed. “How can I be in so much pain and be so happy at the same time?”

“Must be the medication.”

“There is no drug or drink that can make me feel this way.” He pulled her to him again. “The only thing better will be when I finish that house and I never have to let you go.”

His lips found hers once more, and she thought she could die quite happily in that exact position. Being careful not to bump any tubes, she put her hands on his shoulders.

“I’ve changed my mind,” he said between kisses. “I’ll bet there’s a hospital chaplain who’ll marry us right now.”

She heard the door open behind her and pulled away from Levi with blinding speed. Her sudden movement left him groaning in pain.

Levi’s grandparents stood in the doorway, staring at the two of them with jaws almost to the floor. Alphy was the first to recover.

“See, I told you, Nancy. From the look of things, she’s doing him a world of good.”

Nancy nudged his elbow. “Oh, hush now, Alphy. Don’t embarrass him.”

“If he don’t want to be embarrassed, he should not do his kissing in public.”

Rebecca covered her mouth with her hand and tried not to giggle.

“Sorry,” Levi said. “We didn’t mean to embarrass you.”

“Embarrass me?” Alphy shrugged off that suggestion. “I seen plenty of kissing in my day, young man. I done plenty of kissing in my day.”

“Alphy, you hush,” Nancy said.

“It takes more than a little spooning to ruffle my feathers.”

Nancy helped Alphy to his chair. “Pay no never mind to my husband, Rebecca. He is an old man.”

“And you are an old woman, last time I looked,” Alphy said.

“Hush.”

Alphy leaned forward in his chair and pointed his cane at Levi. “Do I hear wedding bells for you two?”

Nancy put her hands on her hips. “Alphy, if you don’t quiet this minute, I will call Titus to come fetch us home.”

Levi put his hand over Rebecca’s and squeezed tight. “Jah, Dawdi. Rebecca says she’ll marry me.”

Levi’s mammi clapped her hands in delight and didn’t hesitate to give Rebecca a hearty embrace. “Such a handsome couple you’ll be.”

“But,” Levi said, pinning Alphy with a look of mock sternness, “no one must know. I haven’t talked to her fater.”

“Jah, you must get permission yet,” Alphy said.

“I will not say anything to anyone,” Nancy said. “And you won’t either, will you, Alphy?”

“I can keep a secret ’til the cows come home,” said Alphy. “Nancy is the tattletale in the family.”

Nancy shook her finger at her husband. “Don’t you talk about your wife that way.”

With the sun playing at the tops of the trees, Rebecca stood on her porch and watched as the Petersheims’ buggy slowly made its way up the driveway. Levi had promised Rebecca that on the very day of his release from the hospital, he would ask for permission to marry her. Rebecca had come home from the hospital only an hour earlier to put the house in some semblance of order for Levi’s arrival.