“I know you have grand plans for Rachel’s husband,” Lia said. “She is, after all, so very pretty. But I deserve to be happy too.” She took Moses’s hand. His eyes brimmed with emotion as he squeezed her fingers in his.
Dad stroked his beard. “Rachel had her heart set on Moses. I did not know that you and Moses had feelings for each other, and I believed Rachel would be a more suitable wife.”
“Of course you did, Dat. Rachel is your favorite child. You want the best for her.”
Dat grunted in protest. “I do not have a favorite child, but Rachel has so much to offer a man.”
Lia ignored the sting of her fater’s indifference. She would never be able to talk him into loving her.
Moses knit his brows together and spoke sharply. “You are Lia’s fater and know so little about her. Certainly she is an excellent cook, but there is so much more.” His expression softened when he looked at her. “Not only is Lia beautiful, but she is tall and graceful and brave. Sarah often brags about Lia’s skill as a midwife, and I’ve seen it for myself. These are only a fraction of her gute qualities. Even though you think little of her, she is my greatest treasure, and I love her.”
Lia turned her face to Moses. His expression was a mix of love and concern as he caressed her bruised cheek with his warm fingers.
Lia pulled her gaze from Moses. “Dat, we ask your permission to marry.”
Dat looked to Rachel, who sat slumped on the stool sniffling pathetically. “And what of your sister? Don’t you care that she suffers?”
“I would be so pleased to have your permission, Dat, and your blessing, but I will marry Moses whether you give it or not.”
Rachel let out an exaggerated whimper.
Dat balled his hands into fists. “If you marry without my permission, I will not allow you in our home ever again.”
“At least you will still have the daughter you really care about.”
Outrage flashed in Dat’s eyes, and he paced the barn floor while holding on to his beard like a handle. His steps gradually slackened, and he stopped to study Lia’s face. “I love you as much as I love Rachel, but maybe I haven’t shown it as I should.” Regret traveled across his face. “I fretted over Rachel, but I never had to worry about you.” Dat sat on the stool next to Rachel and put his arm around her. “Rachel, I can see that you and Moses are not well suited, no matter how hard you try.”
“Nae, we’re not,” Moses said, lifting Lia’s hand to his lips and gifting her with a feather-soft kiss.
Rachel, her face red and shiny with tears, stood and glared at both of them. “You’re tall as a giraffe. Why would I ever want a man whose legs are like telephone poles and whose face is like, is like, a pig?” She spat out the word before turning on her heels and stomping to the house, whimpering and squeaking all the way.
Dat slowly rose to his feet. “Don’t judge her harshly. She is a gute girl.” He ambled to the door of the barn before turning to look at them. “You have my permission to marry,” he said and followed Rachel into the house.
With his hands around her waist and his cast firmly planted on the scooter, Moses picked up Lia and lifted her high in the air. She squealed in delight.
He set her on her feet and kissed her with so much passion, she didn’t know which way was up.
“When do we leave for Huckleberry Hill?” Lia asked, lacing her fingers around his neck.
“My driver will be back in an hour.”
“Can you join us for supper?”
“Do you think I can push my luck?”
Lia smiled mischievously. “As long as you compliment Rachel on all her cooking, she’ll be fine.”
“She got here after I did. She didn’t cook a thing.”
“Things will go more smoothly for all of us if you just pretend she did.”
Moses chuckled and kissed Lia again. “We should have been doing a lot more of this all summer. I can’t get enough of you, Lia.”
“I have a wonderful-gute surprise for you too. I brought some huckleberries from Anna and Felty’s and made a huckleberry pie for dessert tonight.”
Moses pulled her close and kissed her again. “And I thought this day couldn’t get any better.”
The back door swung open so hard that it banged against the side of the house. Rachel appeared with an armload of dresses and aprons, Lia’s dresses and aprons, and hurled them one by one into the flower beds, screaming and hissing with each swing of her arm. Rachel quickly dispatched of Lia’s entire wardrobe, stepped back into the house, and slammed the door.
Lia and Moses looked at each other in surprise and burst into laughter.
“Maybe you won’t have to pack after all,” Moses said.
The door opened again, and Rachel came out of the house carrying Lia’s freshly made huckleberry pie.
“No!” Moses cried.
But the words barely had time to escape his lips before Rachel turned the pie tin upside down and dumped the pie onto the sidewalk. With a smug glance in Lia’s direction, Rachel tossed the tin like a Frisbee, and it clattered onto the roof of the chicken coop. Rachel had a very good arm.
The corners of his lips drooped, and Moses looked as if he were going to cry.
Lia leaned in and kissed the frown right off his mouth. “There are lots of huckleberries still left on the hill.”
“And we’ll have many summers together to enjoy them.”
She nodded and kissed him again. “Take me home, Moses. I want to go home.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Moses jiggled the reins and prodded Sammy into an easy trot up Huckleberry Hill. He had never been so eager to get to the top. Riding horseback would have been faster, but he still couldn’t manage it with his bulky cast.
He hadn’t seen Lia in four days, not since Saturday when Roy had driven them back to Bonduel after Moses proposed. A busted water pipe at the cheese factory had monopolized Moses’s time since he’d been back, and nothing short of a flood could have kept him from Lia’s side for so long. He felt as if he would starve if he couldn’t see her today. The distance from his house to Huckleberry Hill made him long for November when they would never have to be apart again.
The buggy came around the bend, and he saw her. She waved, and her smile set the trees ablaze and chased the clouds from the sky. Moses had never beheld a more beautiful sight.
She jogged to the buggy and slid the door open. Moses grinned, braced his hands against the sides of the opening, and hopped out. Not waiting for her approval, he swept her into his arms and planted a swift and decisive kiss on her lips. It must have been to her liking, because she kissed him back.
“Moses Zimmerman,” she scolded, as she pulled back, “your grandparents are just inside. They would be shocked.”
He showed her what he thought of her indignation by kissing her again. The feel of her soft, full lips made his heart pound ferociously. “You’re right. We wouldn’t want to give my dawdi a stroke,” he said breathlessly. But that wasn’t the reason he swiftly released her. He could get addicted to those kisses.
Lia straightened her crooked kapp. “So, you got my invitation for supper tonight.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t come sooner. We mopped up the rest of the water this afternoon.”
“I pined for you,” Lia said. “But it was bearable. I pined for you for weeks, but this time I knew you’d come for me.”
Moses decided he deserved another kiss for being smart enough to fall in love with Lia. He pulled her close and kissed her one more time. He shouldn’t get carried away.
Lia reached into the buggy and pulled out Moses’s scooter. “Cum. I will unhitch the buggy.”
“I can do it.”
Lia wrapped a fist around Sammy’s bridle. “Only if you want your supper to get cold. Anna made a surprise, and she won’t tell me what it is.”
“We wouldn’t want Mammi’s supper to get cold.”
Moses watched as Lia unhitched Sammy and led her to the barn, something that would have taken Moses three times as long on his crutches. While Lia stabled Sammy, Moses reached into his buggy and pulled out a stack of letters. Lia came from the barn, and he handed them to her. “I fetched the mail on my way up the hill. There’s one from Wautoma.”
Lia shuffled through the mail and pulled a tan envelope from the pile. “It’s from my dat.” She handed Moses the rest of the stack and tore open her letter. Her smile stretched even wider as she read. “Listen to this. ‘I know we’ve had our disagreements, but we want you to be married here at our home. What about November 17? Seeing as how Rachel is likely not getting married this winter, Mamm has plenty of celery for you. Rachel made a cake this morning. It turned out quite well, and she says she knows what she did wrong and will never mistake salt for sugar again. Maybe she can help wash celery for the wedding.’”
Lia’s eyes sparkled with emotion.
“Would you like to be married in Wautoma?” Moses asked.
“Jah, more than anything.”
Moses rolled to the house while Lia ambled beside him. “Then we will marry in Wautoma. But I think we should steer clear of Rachel’s desserts.”
“Agreed.”
Lia’s lips twitched upward as she opened the door. “I hope you like what I made for dessert.”
Moses gasped. Five whole pies sat on the kitchen table, while several tempting aromas wafted into the air. “Oh my.”
Mammi and Dawdi stood at the cookstove while Mammi stirred something in a steaming saucepan. She turned and squealed with delight. “Moses, just look at the pies!”
“I wanted to make sure I made at least one of your favorites,” Lia said. She pointed to each in turn. “I made butterscotch, apple, raisin, rhubarb, and of course, huckleberry.”
“I think I’ve died and gone to pie heaven.”
“And I promised Lia that we could have dessert first, no matter what,” Mammi said.
“I didn’t want anything to interfere with you getting your pie.” Lia pulled out a chair for Moses at the table and handed him a fork and a small plate. “What would you like?”
Moses shook his head and deposited the fork and plate on the table. Then he rolled behind the counter, kissed his mammi on the cheek, and pulled a large dinner plate from the cupboard. “Do you think I could have one of each?”
Lia giggled and nodded. Moses sat at the table letting his mouth water while Lia cut a slice from each pie and slid them onto his plate. Moses sank his fork into the rare huckleberry pie and took a bite. He sighed when the sweet, tangy combination touched his tongue. He had never tasted anything so delicious, and the sweetness of the moment made it the best meal he had ever eaten.
Lia studied his face. “Did I add the right amount of sugar?”
Moses took her hand and pulled her to sit next to him. She looked so worried that he brushed his lips lightly across hers, and in plain sight of Mammi and Dawdi.
Her cheeks turned a delicate shade of pink.
“I’ve never tasted anything so delicious, Lia. It makes me want to weep for all your other pies I never ate.”
Lia glowed from the inside, and her brown eyes became deep pools of chocolate. Moses resisted the urge to kiss her again. There was no limit to his love for her, but there was a limit to Mammi and Dawdi’s patience.
Moses motioned for his grandparents to come to the table. “Mammi and Dawdi, bring a plate and come share my pie.”
Mammi brought a plate for Lia too, and they each ate at least one slice from all five pies.
“I’ve always liked rhubarb pie,” Mammi said. “My dat used to boil rhubarb in sugar water and eat it like a bowl of soup.”
“I love them all,” Moses said, taking Lia’s hand and caressing her soft skin with his thumb. “But huckleberry pie reminds me of the wonderful girl I met on Huckleberry Hill and the love that fills my life because of her. Huckleberry pie will always be my favorite.”
Lia’s eyes glistened with tears. “Mine too.”
Moses smiled. He would never grow tired of gazing at her.
Mammi scooted her chair from under the table. “I hope this won’t spoil our dinner. I’ve made something special in celebration of your engagement.”
Moses winked at Lia. “I always have room for something special.”
“Gute,” said Mammi, standing up and bustling to the cookstove, “because you are in for a treat.”
After donning oven mitts, she took the saucepan from the stove and brought it to the table. Dawdi lifted the lid to reveal a soupy mixture of vegetables and meat that didn’t smell particularly appetizing but looked hearty.
“What is it, Mammi?”
“Beef tongue stew.”
Moses didn’t alter his expression as he leaned close to Lia’s ear and whispered, “Run!”
Please turn the page for an exciting sneak peek of
Jennifer Beckstrand’s
next Matchmakers of Huckleberry Hill romance,
HUCKLEBERRY SUMMER,
coming in June 2014!
Felty Helmuth took a hearty bite of the mushy concoction in his bowl. “Why, Annie Banannie. This soup is fit for a king. Is this another recipe from that new book of yours?”
Anna smiled and pushed her thick, round glasses over the bridge of her nose. “How kind of you to notice, dear. It’s called Indonesian beef stew.”
“It’s so tender, I can’t tell the beef from the potatoes.”
“There is no beef. It’s a vegetarian dish.”
Felty winked at his wife of sixty-two years. “The name ain’t quite right, don’t you think?”
“Well, the recipe calls for beef, but I didn’t add any beef, and I don’t think it’s my place to change the name of the recipe.”
“Right you are, Annie. Was they out of roast at the market yesterday?”
“No, I am learning to cook vegetarian. Aden is a vegetarian, and I don’t want him to starve.”
“Aden our grandson?”
Anna nodded and looked at Felty as if he were finally in on the secret.
“Banannie, Aden lives in Ohio. He don’t eat your cooking more than once a year or so, but I’m sure he’d be pleased to know you are thinking of him.”
“Now, Felty,” Anna said. “I want Aden to come and live with us, and he’s got to eat.”
“Us? Why would Aden want to live with us?”
“He’s going through a rough patch.”
Felty reached over and patted Anna’s wrinkled hand. “Don’t worry yourself. All boys his age go through a rough patch.”
“
Jah
, but most boys don’t get arrested three times.”
“He can get arrested just as easy in Wisconsin as Ohio.”
Anna pursed her lips and scolded Felty with her eyes. “Boys like Aden need a wife to settle them down. A girl like little Lily Eicher.”
Felty sputtered and coughed, and Anna stood up and thumped him on the back until he motioned for her to stop. “Not another one of your matchmaking schemes, Annie. I don’t think my weak heart can stand it.”
“Felty, your heart is fit as a fiddle. Your knees will give out long before your heart ever does.”
“Not these knees. They’re titanium alloy. The doctor said so.” Felty stood and waltzed around the table to prove his point.
“Now, Felty. Sit and finish your supper.” Anna served him another heaping helping of Indonesian beef stew, vegetarian style. “I was right about Moses and Lia, wasn’t I? Moses is so happy, he’s like to float off the ground. That does your heart good, doesn’t it?”
“I suppose so, but what it took to get him and Lia together almost gave me an ulcer.”
“Our grandchildren deserve our very best efforts. How will they ever find suitable mates if we don’t help them?”
Felty plopped into his chair and kissed his wife on the cheek. “Our grandchildren will get along fine without any help from us.”
“Of course they won’t. Look at Moses. If we hadn’t introduced him to Lia, he would still be pining over that Gingerich girl. And Aden can’t seem to stay out of jail long enough to court a girl. He needs to meet Lily.” Anna stuck a pat of butter on the top of a corn bread muffin and placed it on Felty’s plate. “He’s got to come to Huckleberry Hill, Felty.”
Felty propped his elbow on the table and rested his chin in his hand. “Little Lily Eicher probably doesn’t know how to cook vegetarian.”
“I can teach her.”
He sighed. “No doubt about that, Banannie. You are the best cook in Bonduel, Wisconsin.”