Something Old (42 page)

Breathless, she touched his cheek. She wanted him, too. And he knew it. And she didn’t care if he was smug. His self-assurance was part of what she loved about him.

“Yes, I’ll marry you.”

“I love you,” he breathed. He slipped his arm around her shoulders, leaned his head against hers, and whispered, “I don’t have much to offer you.”

Heads bent together, peace and contentment settled over her as they whispered their most intimate thoughts. After assuring him that he was more than enough to meet all her dreams, she asked, “Are you sorry you turned down the job in Texas?”

“Not at all. This is exactly where I want to be.”

I
n Katy’s mind, one couldn’t have spring without doing some spring-cleaning, and she’d enlisted Lil and Megan to help her prepare the doddy house for her upcoming marriage. The wedding would be just before Megan left on her mission trip in June. Katy and Jake would live in the doddy house. The three friends had set up a tentative plan that by September, Lil and Megan would take over the doddy house. They hoped that was enough time for Katy and Jake to find a place of their own, for Megan to find a job, and for Lil’s mom to recuperate.

Now Katy stood on a small ladder she’d borrowed from Jake and handed dishes down out of the cupboards while Lil and Megan stacked them on the counters, the green sink hutch, and the kitchen table.

As Lil restacked plates, she announced, “I have news.”

“What?” Katy asked.

“I complained to my mom that I didn’t know how I was going to manage your wedding cake, that it was more than I should have agreed to do, and that I was worried about it.”

Katy’s jaw dropped. “But I didn’t know you felt that way. I would never—”

“Ah!” Lil lifted her hand to interrupt Katy. “I don’t really feel that way. I just had this hunch, and it worked. Mom’s mothering instincts took over, and she told me she’d help me. We’d get through it together. That maybe we should sign up for those cake-decorating classes I had mentioned, after all.”

Katy paused from wiping down the cupboard. She turned and perched on the top rung of the ladder. “So you want to do my cake?”

“Yes, silly. And Mom’s agreed to help me with it. This is going to be so good for her.”

“And she even suggested it? That’s great.” Katy shook her head, thinking how great Lil was at helping others to move in positive directions. “You’re amazing.”

“And our first class is next Tuesday.”

Megan put a bucket in the sink and ran some water. Once she’d turned the faucet off, she said, “Things are coming together, aren’t they? Hey, Katy, you’re not still scared at night, are you?”

“Not scared. Just lonely.” Katy pointed at the cupboard under the sink. “Can you add a little vinegar to that?”

Megan opened the green cupboard door and found the vinegar.

“I do still use my night-light. But something amazing happened. When I trusted God for Jake and my job, my terror of the dark fled.” She tilted her head, thoughtfully. “I don’t think I’d ever choose to live alone. Nights aren’t exactly pleasant. But I can make it a few more weeks.”

Megan lifted the bucket up to Katy and filled a second one to wash the baseboard and windowsills.

“This place really isn’t that dirty,” Lil stated. “It hasn’t been that long since we moved in.”

Considering that remark came from someone who didn’t make her bed or pick up after herself, Katy couldn’t help but protest, “I think some of that construction dust settled after we moved in.”

Lil shrugged and started on the baseboards. “Jake told me you guys had decided on your honeymoon, but he wouldn’t tell me where you’re going.”

Megan turned from where she was working at the sill to listen. “Sarasota, Florida. I want to thank Mrs. Beverly in person.”

“That’s awesome,” Megan replied. “You’ll love it.”

Katy knew that Megan’s family often drove down over the Christmas break during her school years. They had extended family in Sarasota, and there was a Mennonite community there.

“Jake’s going to do some research on the Internet to find us a place to stay.”

“The Internet?” Lil asked, drawing out and exaggerating the word
Internet.

Needing to move her ladder, Katy came down. She got herself a cold drink and couldn’t resist placing the cold glass against the back of Lil’s neck.

“Ah! Stop!”

“Actually, Jake was willing to get rid of the computer, knowing my reservations. But I suggested we keep it for business only, and that any other use should be discussed between the two of us first. That way, it won’t be so easy to use it for frivolity and get pulled into the world.”

Lil had turned away from the baseboard and now sat cross-legged on the floor. Her expression turned dreamy. “That sounds like a great plan.”

Megan poured two more glasses of water, handed Lil one, and joined them. “While we’re on the subject of computers …” Her voice became tentative. “There’s something I wanted to give you for a wedding gift if you don’t think it’s too worldly.”

Katy tilted her head. “It sounds like you’re up to something. Let me guess. A computer cam so that we can talk to you in Bangladesh?”

Megan scowled, looking beautiful as ever. “How did you know about those?”

“Jessie explained them to me.”

“Oh. I knew you wouldn’t agree to that. Anyway, you’ll be on your honeymoon. But one of my friends at school is great at photography. He does his photos on the computer. I’d like to arrange for him to shoot your wedding.”

Katy smiled with pleasure. “I’d love it. As long as we keep it simple.”

“Great. You won’t even know what he’s up to, I promise. I think my parents will chip in. We’ll definitely keep it simple.”

“I’m so blessed,” Katy whispered. “I wish your photographer was here today. This is a day I always want to remember…with the three of us together.”

“Don’t worry,” Lil said. “We won’t let you forget anything.” She reached out to give Katy a hug and knocked her covering askew.

With her heart swelling with fondness for her friends, Katy reached up to straighten it, suddenly realizing that neither of her friends wore theirs, and it didn’t hurt her any longer. She said with choking emotion, “Once Jake and I find another place and you guys live here, if Jake ever has to take an out-of-town job, I’m joining you for a sleepover.”

Lil scowled. “Duh? That’s just a given.”

K
aty and Jake faced each other for the first time as husband and wife. She drank in the masculine planes of his clean-shaven face, his fresh haircut, the softening of his dark eyes, and three things struck her at once: the intensity of his love for her, its sincerity, and that it was hers for the taking. She stood on tiptoe. His head lowered to give her the traditional wedding kiss. When she heard clapping, she drew away blushing.

“I love you,” he whispered.

“Love you, too,” she replied.

A white rose petal drifted down and landed on the grass at their feet.

Their kissing tree had become their wedding tree. Katy’s idea of placing satin bows of purest white and sprinkling white primroses throughout the weeping willow branches made it a lovely altar for their vows. Since they’d had their first kiss beneath it, and since Jake had proposed there, the Byler farm had been deemed the perfect place for their June wedding.

They turned and looked out over their guests. Jake had made benches for the ceremony, and together they had painted them white. The picturesque white sparkled clean against the lush summer lawn and the more distant green cornfields. Their friends and family brightened the benches with color and laughter.

Holding hands, they moved down the center aisle, greeting guests as they moved along. Her gown swished over the freshly mowed grass, but for once, Katy wasn’t worried about stains.

Her gown was everything she’d ever dreamed it could be. Her mother had sewn the satin dress in a simple, yet elegant style with a high neck and quarter-length sleeves. She had embroidered the neck and the hem. Now it glistened in the late afternoon sunlight.

The mothers of the bride and groom had conspired to find a stringed head covering that Minnie had once made—when she designed and sewed bonnets for extra income. Mrs. Yoder had removed the strings and added longer, wider satin ribbons that now streamed down Katy’s back, serving as her wedding veil.

Katy’s hair was twisted and pinned up beneath the covering. Before the wedding, when she’d fixed her hair, she daydreamed of her new groom removing the pins. For once, she wouldn’t slap his hands away, like she had so many times before when he was just a mischievous little boy who took pleasure in yanking her ponytail.

Now as they edged forward, Katy’s left arm held her bouquet so that the white roses nestled in the hollow of her skirt, adding the perfect adornment to her plain gown. From her tiny cinched waist, the fabric draped elegantly over the slim curve of her hips to the ground. Having taken a good look at herself in the full-length mirror Lil had purchased for the doddy house closet, she’d felt more of a Cinderella than she had the night of the ballet.

She blushed now to remember the silk white negligee that was packed in her suitcase. It had not been cut with such modesty. Thankfully, it was not being captured on film. It had been a gift from Lil. And Katy had wondered if Jake had put his cousin up to it.

Beside her, Jake looked handsome in his new black suit. He wore a white shirt and a vest made from the same material as Katy’s wedding dress. But it was the possessive look in his eyes that made Katy’s heart turn somersaults. She hoped the photographer would catch that look as well as the lopsided grin sometime before the day was over.

Their attendants trailed behind them. Lil was paired with Cal, and Megan with Chad Penner. Karen walked with their oldest brother, and Erin with David. The bridesmaids wore simple lavender dresses, hand-sewn from a Butterick pattern Katy had found at the discount fabric store.

When they reached the last row, Jessie stood beside the Brooks, holding Addison’s hand. When Jessie gave Jake a hug. Katy didn’t resent it one bit. In fact she took pleasure in seeing the rare occasion of Jake’s blush.

“I didn’t initiate that,” he whispered, his voice thick with his Dutch accent, as they moved toward the table that had been set up for the wedding party.

“We’ll discuss it later,” Katy replied, feigning displeasure.

He glanced at her to see how much trouble he was in, and she affectionately squeezed his hand.

When it came time to cut the wedding cake, Katy and Jake took their places to do the traditional first bites. Their arms interlocked, Katy stared at the piece of cake that hovered in front of her face. He pushed it closer, and she closed her lips, teasing him. He had already licked his bite greedily clean. His mouth quirked in a grin, then his lips grew serious, and he gave her a most sincere gaze, one she’d come to love of late.

“I’ll never force you to do anything, Katy. I’m not that kind of guy.” Forgetting about their enraptured audience for a few seconds, she touched his cheek, inadvertently getting frosting in his black hair. She opened her mouth and accepted the creamy confection. Maybe the
S
word woouldn’t be so bad after all. “You’re getting more tolerable all the time.”

“And you haven’t seen anything yet.”

When they stepped away from the table, Katy pointed toward his sparkling truck. “Did you see what David did?” When she had enlisted David to wash it, she forgot how easy that would make it for him to tie a string of cans from its hitch.

Jake gave her a sideways frown. “I saw. He’s after Erin, you know. I mean to have a frank talk with him when we get back from our honeymoon.”

“But he’s such a nice guy,” Katy couldn’t resist saying, thinking of her mother. Just before the wedding, her mom had predicted again,
I know marriage will make you happy.
And although she hadn’t added that Jake was
such a nice boy,
Katy knew that Jake had won her mother over the day he took her little brothers fishing so that Mrs. Yoder could run some wedding errands.

With fondness, she also remembered how her dad had called her
dumpling
when he walked her down the aisle. Although he’d given his blessing on the marriage weeks earlier, he’d also given Jake a private talk, a rather stern one if evidenced by the pale expression Jake had worn afterward.

She blinked out of her reverie. “I need to talk to Mrs. Landis before the cake table is inaccessible.”

“All right. I’m going to go see what damage David did to my truck.”

Katy praised Mrs. Landis for her work on the triple-layer cake. “I’m so glad you took care of finding servers for me.”

“Oh, it’s nothing. I enjoy doing this,” Mrs. Landis replied. The woman seemed happier than Katy had seen her in months.

A few minutes later, Jake returned and drew her off to the side.

“Everything all right?” she asked.

“Elizabeth went into labor. David went with their family to the hospital.”

“How exciting!”

Jake glanced around the milling crowd. “How much longer do we need to stay here?”

Everyone was having fun, but now that the cake had been served, the party would soon wind down, and they wished to make their exit before that happened. “Why—” She cut her comment short when Minnie marched up to them.

The older woman stopped, toe to toe with Katy, her eyes squinting at Katy’s covering, staring far longer than normal or polite. Katy began to feel uneasy. She’d seen that look in Minnie’s eyes before. And when Minnie stretched forth her arm, Katy squeezed Jake’s hand, hoping he saw what was happening, too. Minnie was going to make a move for her covering again!

But the old woman was too quick for Katy or Jake, and her hand flashed out and up, nabbing one of the satin ribbons. She wound it around her age-worn fingers, cracked from hours of quilting. Katy froze, waiting for her to yank it off her head. This time, she determined, she wasn’t going to make a fuss. Yet she had envisioned allowing Jake to remove it. It was her wedding veil, and it symbolized so much for her. She sucked in her breath, afraid to move.