Sweet as Honey (24 page)

Chapter Twenty-One

Paul dropped Lily off at the bridge like he usually did. “I don't want to get stung,” he said. “And driving you all over town today has put me behind on my chores.”

Lily climbed out of the buggy without complaint. She had enough to think about, and a short walk would help to clear her head. “Good-bye, Paul,” she said. “Lord willing, I will see you at
gmay
tomorrow.”

“And I hope you'll have an answer for me.”

She sighed inwardly. Barring a vision or a miracle, she wouldn't be ready to give Paul an answer. He'd have to learn to be patient.

Poppy and Rose were only a few steps ahead of her. They turned when they heard Paul's buggy and waited for Lily to join them. They linked elbows, with Lily in the middle, and strolled the rest of the way to the house.

Rose glanced at Lily. “Is everything okay?”

Lily looked back and watched Paul's buggy drive out of sight. “I don't know. Paul is so sure of himself. My worries seem so silly after I talk to him.”

Poppy grunted her disapproval. “I suppose he convinced you it was your fault.”

“Poppy,” Rose said. “That's not fair. You don't know what Paul said to her.”

Nae,
she didn't know, and after the scene at Dawdi's house, Lily wasn't about to tell them that Paul had proposed. Poppy might start trampling dandelions.

“He told me he was sorry,” Lily said feebly. Even she knew he hadn't truly meant it.

Rose gave her a half smile. “That's something. See, Poppy? He apologized. He's sorry for saying all those things about Aunt Bitsy.”

Poppy snorted. “I'll bet he is.”

Lily's heart flipped all over itself when she saw Dan's open-air buggy parked in its usual spot. She hadn't dared hope she'd see him today.

“How nice,” Rose said when she saw the buggy. The smile in her eyes lit up her entire face.

Even Poppy's mood brightened. “I'll win at Uno tonight for certain. He's too confident he can beat me.”

Lily didn't say anything, but she felt so light, she could have floated into the house. Dan had a way of making every smile wider, every room brighter, every day better. It was turning out to be a
gute
day after all.

* * *

Dan tightened the bit in his drill and stifled a yawn. He'd crawled into bed way too late last night, and he felt it today. The full days spent with the Honeybees had pared down what time he had for his own chores at home, and he'd stayed up late last night to finish them. As the animal expert at their organic dairy, he saw to the health of the cattle. It wasn't something he could put off while he spent his days courting Lily.

He didn't mind the fatigue. He would have gladly missed several nights' sleep to spend every waking hour with Lily Christner. Three weeks ago, he wouldn't have thought he could be any more in love with her than he already was. Now he knew two things. He'd underestimated how far and wide his love could reach, and if she ended up choosing Paul Glick, it would hurt something wonderful.

Bitsy smirked in his direction. “Do you need a nap? I don't want you falling asleep and drilling a hole through your finger.”

Dan chuckled. “
Nae.
I should be able to manage.”

Bitsy had seemed gloomy when Dan had arrived today with his supplies and his new idea for a mousetrap. She had told him that someone had pulled a wheel off their buggy in the middle of the night and that her girls had gone off with Paul Glick to visit their grandparents.

Of course, the girls' going off with Paul Glick probably didn't have anything to do with Bitsy's bad mood, but it sure took the wind out of Dan's sails.

Bitsy seemed to have perked up a bit since then. She only insulted, er, joked with him when she was in good humor. Her willingness to experiment with another mousetrap design seemed a good sign.

Dan glanced at her out of the corner of his eye as he wrote two
X
's on either side of the five-gallon bucket. He'd never seen someone wear a
kapp
and earrings together. Bitsy wore, not one, but three earrings in each ear. The top earrings were sparkly white studs. Dan suspected they were real diamonds. The middle pair was tiny yellow sunflowers with ten petals each. Large turquoise circles, as big as canning lids, dangled from the bottom holes.

Amish women didn't usually wear lipstick—well, never wore lipstick—but Bitsy's lips were a dark shade of pink to match the subtle pink highlights in her formerly blue hair.

She looked colorful, to say the least.

Dan suspected the earrings and the lipstick and the hair all had something to do with Bitsy's bad mood. His
mamm
always wore her mint-green dress when she felt low and wanted to cheer herself up. Someone was doing some serious vandalism on Bitsy's farm. If earrings and lipstick helped Bitsy forget her troubles, who was he to judge?

He pressed his drill bit to the
X
and drilled a hole through the side of the bucket. The soda bottle mousetrap hadn't worked. The mouse had taken the cheese, tripped the mechanism, and escaped through the slit in the bottle, just as Bitsy had said it would.

Bitsy rolled the bucket over and Dan drilled a hole on the other side. This new mousetrap seemed even less likely to work than the first one, but the materials were cheap and Dan wanted to give it a try. At the very least, a failed mousetrap would mean Dan would have an excuse to come back another day.

The door opened, and the Honeybee Schwesters burst into the room like three brilliant rays of morning sunshine. Dan's gaze immediately flew to Lily's face. Her brilliant smile nearly blinded him. He wouldn't have thought it possible, but she grew prettier with every passing day. His lips curled automatically.

Although all three girls were smiling, Dan couldn't be sure they weren't trying to put on a brave face. Immediately tempering his grin, he made straight for Rose and laid his hands on her shoulders. “Bitsy told me about the buggy wheel. Are you okay?” He looked at Lily. “Is everybody okay?”

With Dan's hands still on her shoulders, Rose haltingly wrapped her arms around her waist. “It's just some teenagers playing pranks,” she said, sounding as if she wanted to convince herself more than anyone else.

Dan certainly wasn't convinced. He squeezed Rose's shoulders reassuringly. “Don't you worry. I'm determined to find out who's making mischief. I'll keep an eye on things here, and I've asked my friends Luke and Josiah to watch for anything suspicious around town.”

Rose nodded. “I'm sure it's teenagers playing tricks.”

“I'm sure it is,” Dan said. “But Luke, Josiah, and I are going to do everything we can to make them stop.”

“Okay,” Rose said.

“Do you know my friend Josiah Yoder?” Dan asked, glancing at Lily and giving her a secret wink. The unmistakable tenderness in her eyes made him feel light-headed. “He's a wonderful-
gute
farmer. Careful and responsible with his land. He's been working it on his own since his parents died.”

Did a soft blush color Rose's cheeks? “
Jah,
I know Josiah. He seems very nice.”

Bitsy tapped on the bucket with the palm of her hand. “Dan Kanagy, if you're going to start a job, you might as well finish it.”

Dan grinned and returned to his bucket and drill. “Do you want to see our new mousetrap?” The girls gathered around the island. “We drilled two holes in the bucket.” He threaded the wire through the holes in the can and then through the holes in the bucket and suspended the can over the bucket. “Then we spread peanut butter on the can.” He held out his hand. “Bitsy, if you'll be so kind as to hand me the jar of peanut butter.”

Bitsy looked at him sideways. “I'm not your lovely assistant, Dan. You can get your own peanut butter.”

Poppy laughed and pulled the peanut butter out of the cupboard. “Here you go.”

Dan grinned at her. “You can be my lovely assistant.” He spread the peanut butter all around the can, then took a pitcher and filled the bucket about a third of the way full of water. “Supposedly, the mouse tries to eat the peanut butter on the can, the can spins, and the mouse falls into the water and drowns.”

“Poor mouse,” Rose said.

“You should feel sorry for the honey, Rose,” Bitsy said. “The mice eat it without mercy.”

“Luke Bontrager gave me the idea for this one.” Dan winked at Lily a second time. “Poppy, do you know my friend Luke? He's a carpenter. Wonderful-
gute
with his hands.”

Dan nearly laughed out loud at the look of surprised disgust on Poppy's face. Poppy and Luke were like oil and vinegar. They might go good together if someone shook them up a bit.

“Of course I know Luke Bontrager,” Poppy said, as if she were talking about fresh horse manure. “He and his family are our nearest neighbors.”

“And Poppy hates him,” Rose said, burying a giggle in her hand.

Poppy folded her arms. “He's too big for his britches and thinks boys are better at everything. Just once I'd like to get him to agree to a footrace. I'd show him who's better.”

“I'm glad he's your nearest neighbor,” Dan said. “He can help keep an eye on things better than I can from four miles away.”

Lily leaned her elbow on the counter. “Dawdi thinks we should leave our teenage pranksters a note.”

Bitsy looked up from her wire cutters. “A note?”

“And tell them that we bear them no ill will and that they are welcome to ruin anything they want on our farm if it will make them feel better.”

“How did your visit to the grandparents go?” Dan said, with a casual lilt to his voice. If he asked about the grandparents, no one would suspect how curious he was about Paul.

Poppy groaned, plopped into one of the kitchen chairs, and blew out a puff of air that vibrated her lips. “
Ach
. Between Mammi's criticism, Dawdi's lectures, and Paul's accusations, we had a wonderful-
gute
time.”

Dan frowned. “I didn't mean to bring up a sore subject.”

Lily joined Poppy at the table and slumped her shoulders as if she hadn't any energy left to fight. “We've gotten used to it.”

Rose sat next to Lily. In unison, she and Poppy each took hold of Lily's hands. Dan's heart sank. Something had happened at the Kiems' to upset Lily. He didn't like it.

Bitsy must have sensed the same thing. “Did Paul do something bad, little sister? Or was it my
dat?
” She looked up at the ceiling. “Lord, I know You felt You needed to give Dat a mouth, but did You have to give him such a sharp tongue, especially when my girls go to visit?”

Lily tried to treat it lightly, but Dan could see that something weighed heavily on her. “
Ach,
it was nothing really. Paul wanted to poke a wasp's nest, and Dawdi lent him a stick.”

“He told Dawdi we were being led astray because you let us wear jeans for beekeeping,” Poppy said.

Bitsy sat down at the table next to her girls. Dan stood at the counter, gripping his drill so tightly, his knuckles turned white. Half of him wished Paul Glick would keep his mouth shut. The other half secretly hoped Paul would never stop talking. Every time Paul said something, he wedged his foot more firmly into his mouth.

Bitsy sighed. “It wonders me why my
dat
wouldn't put Paul in his place. He knows the bishop approves.”

“He did, Aunt Bitsy,” Rose said. “Dawdi told Paul that he had already talked to the bishop. He defended us.”

A hint of a smile played at Bitsy's lips. “I would have liked to see the look on Paul's face.”

Dan eyed Lily. She seemed more than a little distressed.

Bitsy cleared her throat. “I mean . . . I wouldn't have wanted to see it. I never enjoy witnessing someone else's humiliation.”

Lily cracked a half smile. “I enjoyed it.”

Rose's mouth fell open. “Lily!”

Lily lifted her chin. “Well, I was annoyed with him. He should never speak badly of the people I love.”

Bitsy leaned an elbow on the table and propped her chin in her hand. Her dangly earrings leaned in with her. “Paul thinks I'm corrupting you, and your
dawdi
agreed.”

Lily looked at her aunt, her eyes full of compassion, and gave a reluctant nod.

Bitsy didn't seem a bit offended. She glanced at each of the sisters and smirked. “It's about time someone noticed what a bad influence I am.”

“Aunt Bitsy, don't say that,” Rose protested.

Bitsy drummed her fingers on the table. “What's the use of working so hard to lead you girls astray if no one notices?”

Poppy and Lily joined Rose in protest. “That's not true,” Lily said.

“You are the best substitute mother anyone could hope for,” Poppy added.

Dan didn't know how, but he recognized real pain beneath Bitsy's good-natured teasing, and he felt like an intruder in a very personal family moment. “I should probably go now,” he said, showing more dejection than he meant to.

Lily reached out a hand and motioned for him to join them at the table. “We don't mind if you know our family secrets, Dan. You're like a big brother to us.”

Dan mentally smacked his palm to his forehead. The only thing worse than Lily considering Dan
just
a friend was her thinking of him as a big brother.

Luke would mock him mercilessly if he found out.

Dan would definitely have to do something about that. As soon as possible.