Sarasota Dreams (6 page)

Mary got out and turned to face Abe. “You don’t have to walk me inside. I know the way.”

“But I want—”

“No, I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.” She realized her tone was harsher than she intended, but she didn’t feel like apologizing. Seemed lately she spent a lot of time explaining herself, and she was getting tired of it.

“Yes, I’m sure you can, Mary, and you may have your way this time.” He tilted her head up to face him. “But remember that I don’t give up easily.”

Mary turned her back and walked toward the restaurant, knowing Abe watched her. As soon as she was inside, she heard the van door slam. Grandpa stood there waiting, but he didn’t say a word. All he did was nod as she breezed past to get her things.

She started to go out the back door to her three-wheeler, but then she decided to go ahead and get the discussion over with. She put her tote on the counter and plodded toward the front of the restaurant.

“We had a very nice time at the beach, Grandpa,” she said.

“Good.” He grinned and widened his stance. “So will you be going out with Abe again soon?”

“I doubt it.”

A frown replaced his smile. “Did he say anything inappropriate?”

“No, Grandpa. We’re just both very busy people with not enough time.”

“Don’t say that, Granddaughter. You have to make time for what is important in life. What are you, twenty-two?”

“Twenty-three,” she corrected.

“Old enough to fall in love, get married, and have children of your own.”

“I’m not ready for anything that serious, Grandpa. I’m comfortable living with you and Grandma, and working here makes me very happy. I get to serve people who appreciate it.”

“Ya. And you are very good at it. But this isn’t what your life should be about. The Lord blesses two people who fall in love, and that’s what I want for you.”

Who said anything about love? “Thank you, Grandpa. Maybe someday.”

“Ya, someday.” He nodded. “Maybe soon.”

“I’m going home to help Grandma with supper. See you at the house in a little while.”

“Ya. Eleanor can close the restaurant. Tell your grandmother I’m bringing home some pie for dessert so she won’t make more.”

Mary left out the back door, grabbing her tote off the counter on her way out. She tossed it into the basket and hopped on her three-wheeler.

David didn’t say much as they rode to the Glick farm. He apparently sensed that Abe needed some quiet time. However, right before they turned onto the long shell road leading to the house, he spoke up.

“So how was your walk on the beach with Mary?”

“It was good.”

They hit a bump as they turned, so David slowed down. “Don’t wanna talk about it, huh?”

“There’s nothing much to say.”

“Is this a relationship that may lead to something bigger?”

“Bigger? Are you asking if there’s romance?”

With one of his customary chuckles, David nodded. “Yeah, I guess that’s what I’m asking.”

Abe inhaled deeply then slowly exhaled. “That’s what I would like, but I’m not so sure about Mary. She seems to still be hurting from her past.”

“I take it you know something about her past that would bother her.”

“Ya, but mostly what I’ve heard from other people, and that was a long time ago. She can’t seem to let go of her past, and she thinks other people are holding it against her. I have to tread very lightly on that subject when I’m with her.”

“How long have you known this girl?”

“Nine years. I met her when she arrived to live with her grandparents. She wasn’t Mennonite before coming here. Her first day of school, she walked in looking so lost and scared.” Abe’s heart twisted at the memory. “She wore plain clothes, but everyone could tell she was uncomfortable in them, especially her kapp. She kept fidgeting with it.”

“I can understand someone having a tough time getting used to the customs,” David said. “No offense meant, though. All I’m saying is change is tough for most people.”

“No offense taken. Ya, I’m used to this, but I can see how someone who was never around the plain and simple way of life might be uncomfortable. But that’s not what bothered me.”

“Obviously, something did bother you.” David pulled to a stop in front of Abe’s house. “Wanna talk about it? I have a little time.”

“I thought you were in a hurry.”

“I can spare a few minutes.”

Abe pondered discussing something so personal with someone outside the faith and decided it had some advantages in this case. “Ya. I would like to talk.”

David turned off the ignition and turned around to face Abe. “So tell me what’s on your mind.”

“Most of the other girls didn’t understand all she’d been through. All they knew was what they’d heard, and they didn’t give her much of a chance. There was one girl, though, who tried to help her. That’s Shelley, who works for her grandfather at the restaurant.”

“Did the other girls make fun of her or say mean things?”

“Neh.” Abe shook his head and leaned against the door. “It might have been easier if they had. They didn’t say much of anything to her. I imagine Mary felt like an outcast.”

“How about you? Did you talk to her?”

“Ya. Mary and I became friends.”

“Friends, huh?” David nodded. “That’s how my wife and I started out, until I got the nerve to tell her how I really felt. I was so in love with that girl, I never knew which way was up.”

“I know what you mean,” Abe said. “I’ve felt that way around Mary since before I went off to college. I thought I would forget about her, but when I came back and saw her working for her grandfather, it felt like my world got brighter.” He cast his gaze downward. “I just don’t know what to do next.”

“Sounds like the real thing to me, Abe. So what’s stopping you from just coming right out and telling her what you told me?”

“It isn’t that easy. She’s very touchy about getting close. I think she still has problems trusting people.”

“That’s understandable, after the reception you said she got when she came here.”

“I think it’s even deeper than that. Something happened in her past that she has never told me about.”

“Do you know this for a fact?”

“Neh, but I sense it. I can imagine how she feels about people ignoring her, but she shuts me out when anything comes up about what happened before she came to Sarasota.”

“Why do you care so much?” David asked. “It’s not like there aren’t more than enough Mennonite girls to go around.”

Abe’s lips twitched into a smile. He’d heard this before from his father, who kept after him to find a wife when he first returned from college. “I don’t want just any girl. She has to be special.”

David nodded his understanding. “I getcha, and I agree. You deserve someone special.”

“I don’t know about deserve. I’m happy with whatever the Lord provides, but I can’t help but think He brought Mary into my life for a reason.”

David’s forehead crinkled, and he grew silent for a few seconds before he asked, “Any way you can find out what’s bugging her?”

Abe thought for a moment, then shook his head. “I don’t know.” He opened the door and got out. “Thank you for listening. Have fun with your wife tonight.”

David lifted his hand in a wave. “I intend to. Take care, Abe.”

After Abe went inside, he fixed himself a grilled cheese and ham sandwich to keep his stomach from rumbling later. If David had more time, Abe would have ordered something from Penner’s, where the food was filling and delicious.

If he hadn’t set his mind and heart on winning Mary over, he could be married by now, and dinner would be a feast, no matter what she prepared. Like David had said, there were plenty of unmarried girls who would be happy to find a husband with land and a good future.

“Mary Penner, you haven’t said more than five words since you got home.” Grandma stood at Mary’s bedroom door glaring at her. “You can at least tell me what you and Abe talked about.”

“We didn’t say much, Grandma. We mostly just walked on the beach and looked at the water.”

“Did he tell you why he asked you out on a date?”

Mary stiffened. “It wasn’t a date.”

“In my book, when a man asks a woman to go somewhere with him, it’s a date. What do you call it then?”

“Just a walk on the beach.”

Grandma placed her hands on her wide hips, closed her eyes, and slowly turned her head from side to side before looking directly at Mary. “Walking on the beach with a man is the same as going out to eat with a man. Either one is a date. What’s wrong with you, Granddaughter?”

The same sensation she’d always felt when her mother used to shame her into conceding flooded Mary. “Nothing is wrong with me, Grandma. I don’t know what all this fuss is about me going to the beach with Abe.”

Grandma lifted a finger and shook it. “I tell you what’s wrong, Mary. You’re a woman now. A twenty-three-year-old woman who should start considering her future. Abe obviously cares enough about you to go out of his way to be with you.”

Mary pursed her lips. Nothing she could say would make a difference in what her grandparents thought.

“Mark my words, Granddaughter, Abe is not going to wait around for you forever. I just happen to know several young women who think he would make a good husband.”

Mary gasped. “I’m not even thinking about getting married.”

“Maybe it’s time you started thinking about it. I don’t want you to become a lonely old woman with no one to love you. Your grandpa and I are all you have. If we could have had more children, you would have aunts, uncles, and cousins. As it is, after we’re gone there will be no one left but you.”

“Yes, Grandma, I realize that. But you and Grandpa are very healthy, and I expect the two of you to be around for a very long time.”

“Only the Lord knows, Mary. Just remember that.”

Yes, and only the Lord knew what Mary should do. Now if He’d only find a way to let her know how to handle Grandma and Grandpa’s nudges toward what she wasn’t sure of. She’d seen plenty of successful relationships since being in Sarasota, but images of the past her mother had tried unsuccessfully to shelter her from continued to haunt her.

“I made some beef stew, and it will be ready when your grandpa comes home from the restaurant.”

“I’ll help you get it on the table,” Mary said. “Just let me know when.”

After Grandma left, Mary bowed her head and prayed.
Lord, I am so confused. I like Abe very much, and he makes me feel things no one else does. But does that mean I should do something different from what I’m doing? I want to do Your will, but I don’t know what that is
. She opened her eyes then slammed them shut again.
I don’t want Abe to feel sorry for me or pity my past. I do care for him, but not enough to complicate his life or mine. I would be such a burden to him, and I would never feel worthy of his name
.

Mary repositioned the kapp on her head and carefully pinned it to prevent more hair from escaping. It was almost summer, when the Florida humidity created stray frizz that would form a halo around her face. After she pulled herself together, she went to the kitchen to help Grandma get dinner on the table. Grandpa walked in with a big smile on his face.

“After you left, I heard from some people who saw you and Abe this afternoon.” He turned to Grandma. “I suspect we might be planning a wedding soon.”

“According to our granddaughter, that isn’t likely.”

Grandpa cut his glance back and forth between Mary and Grandma and finally settled on Mary. “Then you best not be cavorting with Abe anymore, or you risk ruining your reputation.”

Grandma spun around and faced Mary. “Cavorting? What did you and Abe do?”

M
ary was temporarily tongue-tied. Grandpa plopped down in his chair and picked up his fork. “It isn’t a good idea to show affection for someone in such a public place, Mary.”

“Grandpa, I didn’t do anything wrong. Abe and I walked on the beach. H–he took my hand and—”

“You don’t need to make excuses,” Grandma said. “If you did something wrong, the Lord knows about it. If not, then you have nothing to worry about or explain.”

With her emotional stirrings already creating confusion, Mary couldn’t argue. She tightened her lips and nodded.