A Dream for Hannah (27 page)

“It’s the one on the first hook. The big leather one.”

Jake headed toward the barn as Hannah followed with Prince. Expertly he threw the saddle on, fastened the cinches, mounted, and was off. “I’ll be back in an hour,” he called over his shoulder.

Hannah watched him ride up the trail, but Jake didn’t look back. His hands expertly handled Prince’s reins, and his body gently flowed with the rhythm of Prince’s trot. Hannah was impressed. Jake did know how to ride a horse.

Just then Hannah became aware of Betty’s presence behind her.

“What on earth is Jake Byler doing here on a Saturday afternoon?”

Hannah turned, her heart in her throat, and hoped Betty wouldn’t notice.

“I don’t know. He was just dropped off by his ride and then walked up to me and asked for a horse to ride.”

Betty didn’t look convinced.

“He’s paying just like the rest,” Hannah offered in an effort to make her case.

“He is?” Betty said but was still skeptical. “An Amish boy? He’d pay?”

“Jake said he needed to be around horses and that he wanted the exercise.” Hannah put on her best smile. “He’s paying for an hour.”

Betty raised her eyebrows. “And there’s nothing else? You know how your mother would feel if you were to quit Sam over another boy.”

“I’m not doing that,” Hannah replied, “and don’t go telling Jake that I’m writing Sam. It would just insult him. He’s not after me. I’m sure of that.”

“Well, you might best let others be the judge of that,” Betty said. Then, as an afterthought, she added, “Are you after
him?”

“No, of course not!” Hannah said, her heart determined.

Betty seemed satisfied. “Well, it looked funny to me, is all.” Then she changed subjects. “How did your day go?”

Hannah let out a breath of relief. “Not too well, actually.”

“Really?” Betty seemed surprised.

Hannah started with Jared and then Louise until Betty had the whole story. Betty listened and nodded. “We all have days like that once in a while. Just be thankful, as I am, that God has given us protection for another day. Be extra careful with the children, though. Take whatever time it takes.”

“Yes, I will,” Hannah said. “And I
am
thankful. Louise’s mother had me scared.”

“God helped us,” Betty was quick to say, “but we must also do our part—whatever way we can. I wouldn’t let the children play with the pets anymore.

Hannah nodded.

With that, Betty returned to the house. The last riders had returned and had just driven away when Jake came down the trail. “That’s quite some horse you have here.”

“He’s wonderful,” Hannah agreed, her joy overwhelming her caution. Prince had that effect on her.

“That he is,” Jake said as he dismounted. He handed Hannah the reins, undid the cinches, and carried the saddle back into the barn. With a grin and a flourish, he pulled his wallet out to pay her.

“I’ll have to do this more often,” he declared as he handed her the money. “Oh, by the way, when are you returning to Indiana?”

“At the end of the summer—maybe the end of August,” Hannah said. “What about you?”

“I don’t know yet,” he answered. “The fire season needs to end first. I guess that varies from year to year with how dry it is. When that’s done, I’ll be going back.”

Jake cleared his throat and glanced at her.

Hannah stiffened.
Don’t do it. The answer will be no.

“I thought maybe the young people from the community could come up some Saturday morning for a hike past my station. It’s quite a view from up there.” Jake smiled sheepishly. “If it’s on the Saturday when I come down, I could go back with you.”

Hannah cleared her throat and avoided his eyes. The request seemed harmless enough, but she didn’t trust herself. “I guess so. You would have to ask some of the others. I just do what they do.”

“I suppose so,” Jake allowed. “I’ll see what Bishop Nisley says about the plan. He should know how to schedule something like that and if they would even be interested.”

Hannah nodded, and then Jake was gone, his steps taking him quickly down the road. Apparently he planned to walk over to the Nisley’s to get more exercise.

“There’s a letter from Hannah on the living room table,” Sam’s mother said when he walked in for supper.

Sam headed for the letter, but his mom stopped him. “Clean up first, and if your father is still not in, you can look at it then.”

He hesitated, offering a frown before heading for the sink in the laundry entrance.

Laura watched him go.
My, they all grow up so fast, especially the last ones.
She sighed, and her eyes misted over.
This one is going to be hard to let go of. And this Hannah thing
—
is she really right for my son?

Getting jumpy, like Enos said, in my old age. Maybe that’s why I’m worrying about him so much. What if he gets the wrong girl, though? The
question made her catch her breath. Surely Sam would have better sense than that. But it worried her. Once married there was no longer any question of whether it was wrong or not. Now was the time to ask questions.

When Sam returned, cleaner now, she asked, “How’s it going with Hannah?”

After stepping back to toss the towel into the laundry room, he turned toward her. The glow on his face said it all.

“She writes wonderful letters,” he said.

“When’s she coming home?”

“She hasn’t said,” he replied and headed for the living room to read the letter since there was no sign of his father yet.

Laura heard Sam tear open the envelope as Enos slammed the door.

“Supper ready?” he shouted from the laundry room.

“As soon as you wash up,” she said.

Sam was in his place at the kitchen table before his father had finished cleaning up, and the smile on his face lasted all through suppertime.

I sure hope he knows what he’s doing.
Laura thought as supper proceeded in silence.

Twenty-four

Bishop Nisley agreed readily with Jake that the youth would have a great time hiking into the mountains. He said such a thing could be arranged for the young people in the near future. On Sunday morning he would ask several of the men about the matter. Elizabeth would make inquires among the women, and he would let Jake know.

The next time Jake came down, Bishop Nisley had his answer. There had been no negative reactions, and the announcement was to be made that Sunday during his youth Sunday school class. The news was greeted with enthusiasm, and Jake congratulated himself. After all, it had been his idea.

“When will it be?” Ben Stoll asked.

“How about the first Saturday in July?” Bishop Nisley said. “If it doesn’t suit someone, let me know today after church, and maybe we can move the date.”

That was not necessary, it turned out, and so at eight o’clock on the first Saturday in July, Hannah waited for her ride into the mountains. Originally, they had talked about using the buggies to get to the Cabinet Mountains, which were within sight of the Amish community. That was until Ben Stoll received an offer from the English boy he worked with on the logging crew. The boy offered his driving services and his pickup truck on the condition he could go along.

“It’s an Amish youth group,” Ben told him.

“No problem,” Scott said. “Hey, I work with the Amish, right?”

“You’re not after one of our girls, are you?” Ben teased.

Scott laughed. “Like I would do that? They’re
Amish.
Besides, I already have a girlfriend.”

“Well, then bring her along,” Ben suggested.

“We’ll see,” Scott told him. “I’ll have to ask.”

Hannah watched from the living room window and saw the pickup truck pull into the driveway. An English boy, who she assumed was Scott, drove with a girl in the seat beside him.

“There are only Amish boys in the back,” Hannah protested to Betty. “I don’t want to be the only girl!”

“John and Elizabeth are going along,” Betty said. “They probably haven’t picked them up yet.”

“Are you sure about that?” Hannah asked.

“I’m sure,” Betty said.

Bales of hay were stacked in the bed of the pickup to be used as make-do seats. Hannah was offered a comfortable spot toward the back as well as nods of “good morning” from the seated boys.

Settled in, Hannah hung on tightly as Scott turned left at the end of the driveway toward Bishop Nisley’s place. Not used to riding in the back of trucks, she soon learned to face backward. The wind took her breath away once Scott got up to his cruising speed.

John and Elizabeth waited at the end of their driveway, and Hannah made room for them beside her on the straw bale.

Scott made a U-turn, headed back to Troy, and then turned south in town toward the Cabinet Mountains. When he came to where the road started to climb, he stopped and hollered out of his window, “How far are we driving up?”

“To Jake’s cabin,” John said. “We’ll get out and hike the rest of the way from there.”

“You know where the cabin is?” Scott called back. The truck jerked as he found the low gear.

“Jake said it was about three quarters of the way up. It’s the only outpost on this side, so we should be able to find it easily.”

“Good enough,” Scott nodded.

They drove slowly. The pickup started to groan under its load as the grade became steeper.

“Going to make it?” John hollered forward.

Scott didn’t hear him or else decided to keep his mind on his driving.

The truck made its way with deep groans up another grade to where the road leveled off, a steep bank on the right. Here the view opened up to the sweep of the valley below. Scott hugged the cliff’s edge for a few hundred yards before the road turned and went up again.

Hannah barely had time to enjoy the view or catch her breath. Still the sight below them was the first good view of the valley and the town of Libby in the background.

“Beautiful,” John said, his hands tightly gripping the truck’s sides.

“It is nice,” Elizabeth agreed, turning on the straw bale for a better view. “I’d enjoy it more, though, if I didn’t think we’d fall off this mountain.”

John laughed. “It’s a good truck, and Scott’s a good driver. Just enjoy God’s handiwork. He really did some of His best work in these mountains.”

Hannah looked when she could stand it. At the next turn, the scene was repeated, only higher up and enhanced by the freshness of the morning mountain air.
This view makes my senses come alive,
Hannah thought,
that and the thrill of danger.
They rode on in silence, watching for fresh views of the valley until a cabin and an obvious lookout tower came into sight.

“We’re here,” Scott announced as he pulled the truck into the designated parking space.

John unlatched the tailgate before he jumped down and then offered to help the others. Hannah brushed straw from her dress as Elizabeth did the same.

Hannah tried not to appear too eager to see Jake. After all, he only caused her trouble with the way he made her feel.

The door to the cabin opened, and Jake stepped out. He grinned, waved, and asked John, “Are you driving all the way to the top?”

“No,” John told him, “we want to hike from here.”

“You want to climb the tower first?” he asked.

Hannah found this agreeable as did the others. She could stay with the group, sort of out of sight, as Jake led the way to the tower. There was a momentary wait until another group came back down.

“I am off work all day,” Jake said. “Another ranger will take my place. I guess they don’t have this many friends come up every day.”

Hannah watched Jake’s face and thought she saw more than he had explained. Likely this gave him a chance to avoid the English uniform she heard he wore. Bishop Nisley had approved it, but Jake might not want to take the chance of letting them actually see him in it.

Jake seemed intense as he waited for the younger couple to make their way down the winding staircase, past the Amish group that waited to enter the observation platform.

“Girls first,” Jake announced when they were past. He motioned with his hand, and Elizabeth and John went first.