Tears coursed down the bride’s cheeks. The groom looked only slightly more composed. Ultimate joy, it seemed, was difficult to contain.
Levi let his gaze return to Rebecca. He would have to thank the groom profusely for inviting him, for giving him a chance to stare at the girl he loved without her hiding her face in disgust. Being new to the community, Levi hadn’t expected to attend the wedding, but the groom had insisted he come. The groom, Nathaniel King, was Levi’s new employer.
Another prayer and a song. The large room, built with a temporary addition for the occasion, echoed with the music of hundreds of voices. Levi estimated there must have been over three hundred people stuffed into the limited space.
As soon as the last strains of the song floated up to the rafters, the place exploded into action. Everyone jumped to their feet. Levi saw Rebecca lead her mamm to a padded chair then bustle out of the room with the other women. Her mother looked as frail as ever, moving slowly and painfully to her seat.
Some of the men began setting up tables between the benches. The whole operation ran like a well-oiled machine, but Levi couldn’t discover anyone in particular to be in charge.
He approached a middle-aged man and offered his help with the tables. The man looked doubtful for a fraction of a second then smiled and motioned for Levi to follow. The man’s hesitation wasn’t unexpected. Levi had encountered it many times in the last five weeks, mostly at gmay. Understandably, some of the community regarded him with suspicion as an outsider. Some in the district had other misgivings. Surely many of them knew about his part in the accident. Did they forgive him or hold him in contempt like Rebecca did?
Anger at his father reared its ugly head, as it did every time Levi thought of that night. He pushed the feeling aside and squared his shoulders. The Lord had forgiven him, and he had forgiven himself. He could only hope that the others would offer mercy and that Rebecca would offer her heart. He would show her, prove his worth. He could not bear if she, in the end, condemned him. Hope was the only thread he had left.
In the meantime, he would endure whatever rejection she chose to heap upon him. What else could he do? He loved her.
Levi and another man grabbed either end of a table leaning against the wall. Levi looked up to see Marvin Yutzy sharing his table.
Marvin frowned, averted his eyes, and acted as if he were setting up the table by himself. As soon as they placed the table, Marvin disappeared into the crowd. Levi almost smiled. There was absolutely no hope for a friendly relationship with Marvin. Not when Levi was trying to steal Marvin’s girl.
The bride and groom sat at one of the tables surrounded by family and friends. About eighty people fit around the tables. They would have to eat in shifts. Levi guessed that was already part of the plan.
Once people settled onto the seats, teenage girls and young couples brought out heavenly smelling dishes of turkey and stuffing, cooked celery, mashed potatoes, and cabbage rolls. Levi leaned against the wall and never took his eyes from Rebecca as she dished up mashed potatoes from a huge serving bowl that Linda carried. He sighed in exasperation and admiration. Rebecca would never let something as trivial as one hand stop her from thrusting in her sickle. Could she not betray the slightest weakness?
She must have felt his gaze upon her because she glanced up and locked eyes with him. Only for a second. Then, frowning, she looked away and never let her eyes stray to his side of the room again. She liked to pretend he didn’t exist.
The ache overpowered him, and he couldn’t resist. He strode forward and tapped Linda on the shoulder.
“Levi,” Linda said, glancing at Rebecca and blushing.
Rebecca scowled but didn’t let his closeness distract her. She dished up potatoes with determined efficiency. But was she holding her breath?
“Do you know who you are coupled-up with for the singing?” Linda said.
Levi shook his head.
“Mamm says you are joining the church. I am very glad.”
“That looks like a heavy bowl. Aren’t your arms tired?” Levi said.
“Ach, sure are. But Rebecca cannot do it by herself.”
“Here,” he said, lifting the bowl out of Linda’s arms. “I will help Rebecca.”
Linda flashed a perplexed expression. “Okay, I guess. I don’t like serving.” She skipped off in the direction of three boys standing by the window.
Rebecca glared at him with hooded eyes. “What do you think you are doing?”
Even though the ache was deep, he still felt elation at standing so close to her. “I’m helping the poor, one-armed girl since she won’t let people with two arms carry their weight.”
“Everyone around here pulls his weight.”
“This way, you can’t run and hide. I’ll hold your potatoes hostage.”
“My mamm and the bride’s mamm are sisters. I have to be here. Or believe me, the minute I saw you come strutting in here, I would have been headed to the next county.” Rebecca plopped a dollop of potatoes onto the next plate.
Levi gave her a weak smile. “Thank goodness for cousins, then.”
“Why do you bother me? There are plenty of girls here who want a try with you—all staring at you like you were the archangel himself. It’s sickening.”
“I hadn’t noticed.”
“You never do.” Using her spoon as a pointer, she motioned to his clothes. “What game do you think you are playing?”
“I’m not playing a game, Rebecca. As soon as I finish baptism classes, I’ll be baptized.”
“And leave the Englisch world for this dull existence?”
“You think it’s dull?”
“Don’t you?”
“It’s not frantic like Englisch life, if that’s what you mean. But peaceful is not the same thing as dull. It’s basic living. And people here are happy.”
He gazed at her until she looked away.
“You do not have to bring a rose every day,” she said.
“Would you prefer every other day?”
“I would prefer not at all.”
“You deserve a thousand roses.”
“I deserve nothing,” she said, so quietly Levi had to strain to hear.
“Are you kidding? You are the reason I’m here, kid. I’m making myself better for you. I want to be with you.”
“I can never forget Dottie Mae,” she said, her voice cracking.
His hand brushed hers as she reached for another spoonful of potatoes. Her touch felt heavenly. “I don’t want you to forget, but I’m begging you to forgive,” he said.
“I’m dating Marvin,” she said, pulling from his touch. “I’m not interested.”
Trying to quell the sting of jealousy, Levi took the spoon from her fingers and placed it in the now-empty bowl. “I love you like no one is capable of loving you, Rebecca. So until you marry Marvin or some other guy you don’t really love, there will be a rose at your doorstep every morning. Because you deserve it and I still have hope.”
The urge to kiss her attacked all five senses and two or three he didn’t know he had. Levi turned on his heels and walked away with her empty bowl and spoon.
He looked like an idiot. He felt like one too.
Rebecca marched back to the kitchen to get another plate of—anything. And another spoon. Levi had stolen her spoon too. Why didn’t he go back where he belonged, to Tara and his old car and the alcohol? He didn’t deserve to be here, where people treated him kindly and acted as if nothing had happened.
She tripped past her cousin Kate, who was the bride, and Miriam Bontrager, another cousin, deep in conversation. Rebecca forced a smile. This was a wedding, for heaven’s sake. She’d better put on a happy face for the happy couple. Kate and Miriam made a beeline toward Rebecca the minute they saw her.
“Rebecca, wait,” Kate said.
Being careful of her injured arm, first Miriam and then Kate gave Rebecca hugs.
Rebecca’s sour mood softened in Kate’s embrace. Her cousin accepted and loved everyone freely. “Oh, Kate, I am so happy for you.”
“I never imagined that anyone could be this happy,” Kate said, her eyes shining. She gazed at Nathaniel, who stood a few feet away visiting with two of his relatives. “The Almighty has blessed me beyond measure.” Kate took Rebecca’s good hand. “But I am worried for you.”
“Jah,” Miriam said. “Has your mamm taken a turn for the worse?”
“Nae. Considering it is wintertime, Mamm has been doing very well.”
“I am glad to hear that,” Miriam said.
Kate was not put off so easily. “You seemed upset just now, Rebecca. Can I do something to help you?”
“I am fine,” Rebecca said. She had said that phrase so many times, she was thinking of embroidering it onto a pillow.
Kate withdrew her hand and managed a half smile. “Oh. Gute.”
Miriam furrowed her brow. “You look so gloomy for such a happy occasion.”
Rebecca cleared her throat. She couldn’t close out her favorite cousins like this. “There is a certain young man at the wedding who is making a pest of himself.”
“So many young men are flighty these days,” Miriam said.
Kate studied Rebecca’s face and frowned. “By the look on your face, I’d say that whoever he is, he has done something cruel.” She gasped. “We shouldn’t have coupled you up with Marvin.”
“It is not Marvin Yutzy.”
“Then who?” Kate said. “Shall I have Nathaniel speak to him?”
“Goodness gracious, no,” Miriam said. “What would people think?”
Rebecca blanched at the thought. “I can take care of myself.”
“I know you can,” Kate said. “But if you have trouble, go right to Nathaniel. He will help you any way he can.”
Rebecca hugged her cousins again and retreated to the kitchen.
Nathaniel was a gute man who would do anything for anybody, but he couldn’t do the one thing she needed. He couldn’t pluck the ice-cold pain from her heart.
Nathaniel hovered around his bride, Kate, like a moon in orbit.
The young people coupled up after lunch and sat in the large front room singing song after song. Levi was coupled with a girl named Priscilla, whom he couldn’t coax to say one word. Priscilla smiled at him shyly but blushed profusely when he asked her any questions. Thank goodness the singing meant they didn’t have to converse very much.
The newlyweds might as well have been the only people at the wedding, for all they paid attention to anyone else. They sat together on a bench in the corner exchanging whispers and meaningful looks. Levi’s heart swelled so large, he thought it might pop out of his chest as he watched them. His longing for Rebecca grew with every moment he spent at the other man’s wedding.
Emma Weaver, Kate’s mamm, interrupted the singing when she and two of her daughters came into the room bearing trays of fruit and bread, soft pretzels, and chocolate for the singers. Someone handed Levi a cup and proceeded to pour him a helping of warm apple cider. Rebecca sat next to Marvin, who grinned smugly in Levi’s direction whenever he thought Levi was watching. Levi tried not to look at either of them. The sight of Rebecca pretending to be happy with Marvin felt like someone stabbing a dull pencil right between Levi’s shoulder blades.
He felt a firm hand on his shoulder and turned to see Nathaniel King smiling at him. “Are you enjoying the gathering?” he said.
“Someone pried you away from your wife?”
“My mother-in-law stole her,” Nathaniel said. “But if she’s not back in five minutes, I’ll go searching.”
Priscilla jumped up from her seat and moved to the safety of three friends across the room. Levi had just been dumped.
Nathaniel grabbed the arms of two young men behind him. “Adam, William, you remember Levi Cooper, don’t you.”
“Oh, jah,” Adam said, “the new man at the shop.”
Levi stood up and shook hands with both young men. “I’ve only worked there three days,” he said. “It might take me a little time to learn all the names.”
“He is very gute with his hands,” Nathaniel said. “He came in the shop just as my nail gun jammed and fixed it, no problem. I hired him on the spot.”
Levi smiled. Going into the shop five days before the boss’s wedding turned out to be a terrific idea. Levi would do a good job for Nathaniel, but he wasn’t sure if he got the job because of his skills or because Nathaniel’s lovesick stupor compelled him to do good to the whole world—to offer a poor, fatherless outsider a much-needed job.
“You got moved in okay?” William said.
“My mom’s family came by the buggyload. It only took us about an hour to move everything out and another hour to clean the old place. You Amish sure know how to do a job right.”
“Don’t say ‘You Amish,’” Nathaniel said, putting a brotherly arm around Levi’s shoulders. “You’re one of us now.”
“Even if your accent is a little rusty,” William said. “But we promise not to tease you about your speech impediment.”
Levi grinned. Maybe he could make a few friends among his neighbors.
“Is where you are staying a gute place?” Adam asked.
“Yeah, it’s the perfect size for me and my mamm. But we want to move into our own house as soon as we get some money.” He nodded to Nathaniel. “I am grateful for the job.”
“Do not thank me yet. The work is hard. You’ll earn your money.”
“I’m not afraid of hard work.”
“Jah, I can tell. That is why I hired you.” Nathaniel looked around the room. “Where is your mamm?”
“She is probably in the kitchen watching them prepare the evening meal,” Levi said. She was still not allowed to help because of the shunning, but it did not seem to bother her. “She is very, very happy to be back.”
Two girls diverted Adam and William’s attention and left Levi and Nathaniel standing alone.
To Levi’s surprise, Nathaniel pointed to Rebecca. “That is Rebecca Miller, my wife’s cousin. Would you like me to introduce you? You were staring at her like a piece of butterscotch pie. She
is
pretty.”
“She’s beautiful,” Levi said, hoping his despair didn’t make him sound like a slobbering puppy. “And I’m in love with her.”
Nathaniel laughed at what he thought was Levi’s teasing. “What? You have been to the wedding half a day and you already love my wife’s cousin?” He nudged Levi with his elbow. “She’s with Marvin Yutzy.”