Robin Lee Hatcher (14 page)

“Good morning, Mr. Bishop.”

Hiding a grin, he pretended surprise to see her. “Well, good mornin’, Miss White.”

Charlotte moved her parasol from her right shoulder to her left. “You must have come to town quite early.”

“Yes’m. Rode in with the Hirsch family.” He glanced around the park. “In fact, I was looking for Miss Breit. Have you seen her?”

“No.”

Her clipped reply was music to his ears. Imagine, he’d been trying for three years to make Charlotte look on him with favor, never knowing all he had to do was show interest in someone else! It wasn’t that he didn’t know this pretty coquette was spoiled, willful, and as changeable as the weather. He knew. Marriage to her wouldn’t be easy. But he remained convinced she was the wife God had picked for him. Of course, the Lord might not approve of his method of finally getting her attention, but it wasn’t as if he was doing it to harm her. That should count for something. Right?

He looked at Charlotte again and watched as she composed her features into a charming smile.

“I just dropped my boxed lunch off for the auction”—she motioned toward the booth behind her—“and I have no immediate plans. Perhaps I could help you find Miss Breit. I’m sure you’d like her to take charge of the child.”

“Oh, I don’t mind lookin’ after Aislinn.” He lifted the girl off his shoulders and set her feet on the ground. “I’m right fond of her. Aren’t I, princess?”

Aislinn giggled and started off in her choppy little run. Three quick strides, and Lance caught her, swinging her up again.

He turned to face Charlotte. “I’d enjoy your company, Miss White, if you’ve a mind to walk with me.”

Chapter Twenty-One

T
heodora Shrum stood at the front of the bunting-draped gazebo, the band seated behind her. “Now remember. The money raised in the auction today is going to the women’s guild, so you men don’t be stingy with your bids. You’ll be doing a good deed,
and
you’ll have a delicious lunch to eat. Not to mention the pleasant company of the delightful lady who prepared it. What more could you ask for?”

The crowd applauded.

“Of course,” Theodora continued, “this being a secret auction, you won’t know who your lovely companion will be until you win.”

Jakob heard the expected murmurs, as if people were surprised by this announcement even though it was the way it was done every year. Not that he’d participated before. While his wife had been living, he’d been a spectator at the auction, enjoying the spirit of the bidding, laughing and applauding as the winning bids were announced.

Last year, he’d been in mourning. He’d brought the children to town, though he’d wanted to be anywhere rather than where folks were having a good time. He couldn’t recall if he’d stood in the middle of a crowd like this one or not. Maybe he’d stayed at the wagon, lost in a haze of sorrow.

And this year? Well, this year things were different. He was going to participate in the auction, and he knew exactly with whom he meant to eat lunch. Luckily, he had an inside edge. Only half an hour ago he’d sought out Laura Gaffney, and she’d told him that Karola’s boxed lunch was the only one tied around with a single red ribbon.

Theodora Shrum waved an arm in the air. “Could I please have all of our ladies come forward at this time?”

Jakob glanced to his left where Karola stood. “That’s your cue.”

She looked as if she’d swallowed one of their chickens whole. Her eyes widened and her lips parted.

“Go on.” He placed his hand in the center of her back and gave her a nudge forward. “It’ll be fun.”

He half expected her to call him a liar, but instead, she wove her way through the crowd toward the gazebo, where she joined the other women whose lunches were up for auction.

Theodora waved her hand again and called for quiet. “Now if my handsome assistants will please bring out the boxes that are to be auctioned.”

From the booth on the east side of the gazebo came eight men, many of them fathers to the single women gathered there. They balanced identical white boxes on the palm of each hand— identical, that is, except for the ribbons and bows that decorated them. But only one box had a single red ribbon tied around it like a Christmas package.

Thanks, Laura.

Jakob scanned the crowd, looking for his accomplice. But he wasn’t exactly pleased when he found her. Laura was talking with Lance, and judging by the way Lance leaned toward her, Jakob guessed she was speaking softly so no one nearby would overhear. Was she, perhaps, also telling Lance about the red ribbon? Surely not. He’d gotten the distinct feeling Laura had been pleased when he asked her to help him, especially since she’d also volunteered to mind his children while he shared the boxed lunch with Karola—assuming he would have the winning bid.

He stuck his hand into his pocket and withdrew the money he’d brought with him. He hoped he wouldn’t have to bid more than a dollar, but if Lance were bidding against him …

“All right, gentlemen,” Theodora called. “Let’s begin with this box with the lovely yellow rosette, shall we?” She lifted the lid and looked inside. “Oh, my. What a feast!”

“Fifteen cents,” shouted a voice from the back of the crowd.

“I have fifteen cents. Who’ll make it a quarter? I promise you, this is exceptional cooking.”

“Twenty-five cents,” a man on Jakob’s left called.

It turned out the box belonged to Emma Shrum, and it went for forty cents to Kevin Cooper, Dr. Cooper’s nephew. Kevin had come to work in his uncle’s pharmacy while on summer break from his studies at an eastern university. Judging by his expression, he was more than a little pleased when he discovered who his luncheon companion would be.

The auction continued.

Nadzia Denys’s boxed lunch went to the doctor. As far as Jakob knew, Andrew Cooper had never bid on a boxed lunch before. Perhaps he’d been inspired by his nephew.

Rick Joki had the winning bid for Aida Gallo’s lunch.

Lance bid ten cents on the next box, but it went to a fellow Jakob didn’t know.

Several more boxes were sold before Theodora held up the one with the red ribbon. “Who’ll start the bidding?”

“Two bits,” Jakob said in a firm, loud voice.

Lance immediately shouted, “Forty cents.”

“Do you hear that, folks?” Theodora crowed. “We’re already up to forty cents, and we’ve only just begun. Do I hear fifty cents?”

“Yes, ma’am,” a man at the back of the crowd replied. “I’ll give you four bits.”

Panic thumped in Jakob’s chest. “Sixty cents.” He felt in his pocket again.

“Seventy-five cents.”

Who was that guy and why didn’t he shut up? He didn’t know Karola, and he didn’t need to know her. How dare he drive the price so high?

“Eighty cents.”

That bid came from Lance, and it didn’t make Jakob feel any better.

Jakob closed his eyes. “One dollar.”

“Well, bless my soul.” Theodora held the box a little higher. “Gentlemen, we have a dollar for this lunch and the company of the lovely lady who prepared it. Do I hear a dollar ten?”

Jakob waited. No voice came from the back of the crowd. He looked toward Lance and found Lance looking at him. The younger man grinned, shrugged, then shook his head.

“I was only trying to put a little spice in this auction,” Lance said, and folks laughed. “But I reckon things’re gettin’ a bit rich for my blood. You win, Jakob.”

Theodora declared, “Going once, twice, sold to Jakob Hirsch. And your lovely companion is”—she checked the label on the back of the box—“Miss Breit.”

As he made his way toward the gazebo, Jakob felt as if he’d won a million bucks instead of spending the one in his pocket.

Karola wasn’t at all sure how she felt about this auction business. It seemed a bit insulting, as if she were a prize hog. It was also somewhat frightful. What if a total stranger had won? Or worse, what if Lance had won? The two of them eating together would have fueled the rumors, and Karola was more than ready for them to stop. She didn’t like deceiving people, not even for a good cause. It only made matters worse that
she
was the guilty party who had started the gossip in the first place.

But if truth be told, she would have to confess the auction had been exciting, too. She’d found herself pretending Jakob knew exactly whose box he was bidding for. She’d pretended he’d spent a dollar of his hard-earned money especially for the pleasure of her company.

I have not changed at all. I still have my head in the clouds,
no matter how hard I try to keep my feet firmly on the ground.

Having paid his money to the ever-disapproving Dorotea, then collected the boxed lunch from Theodora, Jakob made his way to where Karola was standing.

“Miss Breit,” he said with a tip of his head, “I believe you’re stuck with me for another meal.”

Was he disappointed? Or was he teasing her? She couldn’t tell.

“
Ja,
I believe you are right, Mr. Hirsch.”

He moved the box to the crook of his left arm, then he offered her his right. “We’ll get one of the blankets from the wagon and go sit in the shade by the creek. It’ll be cooler there.”

“And the children?” She sought their faces in the crowd.

“Laura’s going to look after them.”

She couldn’t help smiling a little. “Oh.” She took his arm and he escorted her away.

Smiling, Lance watched Jakob and Karola leave, then turned back to the auction—and leaned forward suddenly. There it was. The box he’d been waiting for. He’d convinced Laura to reveal the identifying decoration on Charlotte’s boxed lunch, not that it had been all that hard to extract the information. Laura was a matchmaker at heart, and Lance knew it.

The bidding against Jakob had been for show and nothing more, although he’d taken a bit of a risk, going as high as he had. If Jakob had backed out …

“And now we have this box with the lovely silver bows.” Theodora held it high.

Lance resisted the temptation to offer the first bid. He would bide his time.

Jakob hadn’t intended to go far before he settled on the perfect picnic spot. But by the time he stopped and spread the quilt on the ground, the sounds of the crowd in the town park had grown faint.

“It’s turned into a real scorcher,” he said, glancing through the tree branches at the cloudless sky. When he looked at Karola, he saw her cheeks were flushed from the heat. “Let’s stick our feet in the creek so we can cool off a bit before we eat.”

She hesitated a moment before she smiled and nodded. “
Ja,
that sounds good.”

Within minutes, they’d both shed their shoes and stockings and were seated on the bank of Shadow Creek, feet in the water. Jakob had rolled his pant legs up above his knees. Karola didn’t pull her striped skirt quite so high; she kept the fabric mere inches above the surface of the water, hiding her knees from view.

They looked at one another and, in unison said, “Ahhhh.” Then they laughed.

Karola tucked the hem of her skirt between her knees so it wouldn’t fall into the creek. Then she reached up to remove her straw bonnet and toss it over her shoulder onto the blanket. She braced the heels of her hands on the ground behind her, leaned back, and lifted her face toward the sky, eyes closed. “This is heavenly.”

Jakob had to agree, for it seemed he was seated beside an angel.

“So peaceful,” she whispered.

Her throat formed a gentle arc, creamy smooth, and very kissable.

Jakob suddenly felt warmer than he had before he’d put his feet in the water.

“I am glad you won my boxed lunch. I can relax with you, Jakob. If that man I did not know had won instead …”

“Lance was bidding, too. He could’ve won. He almost did.”

She lifted her head and looked at him, a tentative smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. “But I am glad he did not.”

Jakob was completely confused now. He’d thought Karola and Lance …

Looking away from her, he plucked pebbles from the edge of the stream and tossed them, one by one, into the water. For a brief moment, he could see distinct rings on the surface, but then those rings were erased by the current, and it was as if nothing had happened.

It would be nice if life were like that, he thought, if mistakes could be swept away as easily as ripples on the water. It would be nice if he could go back and do things right.

“Jakob?” Karola’s hand briefly touched his forearm. “Why do you look so troubled?”

He answered her question with a question. “Do you remember what I asked you on the ride into town?” He met her inquisitive gaze. “If you were angry at me for what I did, for leaving you behind and never sending for you.”

She nodded.

“I guess the more important question is, can you forgive me?”

She didn’t answer. She simply watched him with those beautiful blue eyes of hers, her thoughts unfathomable to him.

He remembered the day they were to have wed. He remembered the look in her eyes then, too, and he remembered the quiet resolve in her voice as she’d said,
“I didn’t love you when I left
Germany, and I don’t love you now. I don’t know you, and I don’t
love you.”

Strange, the way the memory hurt more than the words themselves had when spoken.

“Karola, I never meant my promises to be lies.”

“I know.”

“When I came to America, I was full of dreams and full of hope for our future. I believed I could do everything I’d ever promised you, and I thought it wouldn’t take very long.” He dropped his gaze to the surface of the water. “But at some point, it got too difficult to believe any longer.”

“When did you stop trusting God?”

He didn’t care for her question. “I don’t know what you mean.” But he did. He just didn’t want to answer her. Besides, this was not the direction he’d meant for their conversation to go.

As if sensing his thoughts, Karola drew her feet out of the water. “Shall we eat?”

“Yes.” Jakob was glad for the reprieve. Surely he could find something less personal and more pleasant to talk about as they shared their meal.

If Jakob was irritated by Karola’s question about his lack of trust in God, he didn’t let on. As they shared their meal, he entertained her with stories about the children and the folks around Shadow Creek and even made her laugh over some of his experiences when he’d first arrived in America. He also peppered her with questions about the old country; about people they’d both known as children, especially her parents; and about the life she’d led in the years after he left Steigerhausen. When she answered his questions, he listened intently, smiling sometimes, shaking his head with a look of sorrow or understanding at others. It reminded her of the long talks they’d had years ago, and her heart was gladdened. Before Karola knew it, more than an hour had passed.

“Guess we’d better go,” Jakob said, “before somebody sends out a search party for us.”