too. I hope telling you this doesn’t swell yourhead.” Her eyes smiled along with her lips. “It must be very exciting for you. When do you plan to leave?”
“My father asked me to stay on until the seeding of the barley, oats, and wheat is completed, so I’ll be here at least another three weeks, perhaps as long as a month.”
“Oh, will that have you champing at the bit?”
“Four months ago, three months ago, even a few days ago, yes. Now I’m content to leave when my timing is God’s timing. You know, I thought it would be a good idea to see how another Amish community lived out its faith, one that was far away from Lancaster County, and to find out if I feel the same way about my beliefs in Indiana as I do in Pennsylvania. In addition, I thought I might…meet someone…”
He paused and Lyndel felt a sharp pang run through her. The sensation was annoying and she frowned. What did it matter to her if Nathaniel King found an Amish woman to marry in Indiana? Up until a day or two ago the only thing the two of them had had in common was her brother Levi. Nathaniel caught her frown and wished he could retract his words.
“I’m sorry,” he said and watched her blue eyes darken to black in response.
“What on earth do you have to be sorry about?” she snapped.
“I didn’t mean you to think I’ve never noticed you.”
She stopped walking. “Really, Nathaniel, what are you talking about? Notice me in what way? Haven’t I always simply been your friend’s sister?”
“That’s true, but—”
“So why should I care if you run off to find yourself a bride west of the Ohio River?”
Her vehemence startled herself as well as Nathaniel. Confused at the strength of the reaction storming up inside her at his words, she stood and watched while he started and stopped a sentence three or four times, the words always dying on his lips. Abruptly she turned around and began striding back the way they had come.
“This whole thing is ridiculous!” she called back over her shoulder. “Talking to each other at all was a mistake! Please don’t come callingtomorrow evening! You stay Levi’s dearest friend and I’ll stay his sister and that’s the best we can hope for!”
“It’s just that I never knew how to tell my best friend’s sister how beautiful she was!” Nathaniel blurted as she strode away. “How do you do that with someone you’ve always teased and called ‘Tomatoes’?”
Lyndel stopped and turned around, her mouth open. “What?”
Nathaniel’s face was flushed again. “How do you…how do you tell someone who was always the red-haired nuisance that she is a woman now—and a remarkably beautiful woman at that?”
Lyndel felt the blood come into her own face.
“I can’t even tell you when it started—this change in how I thought of you—but on Tuesday, when I saw Lyndel Keim take charge of the situation surrounding Charlie and Moses, when I saw the risks she took—” Nathaniel shrugged and smiled in a weak, lopsided way. “Was there ever anything on God’s green earth more beautiful than you with your eyes ablaze? And not just your eyes—your whole face and body were on fire. How do you talk to someone nicknamed ‘Tomatoes’ about things like that?”
Lyndel felt like ice, then flame, then ice again. Her mind had stopped. Nothing came to her so she continued to stare at him and dared not speak. He bent down, picked some hay, and rolled it around in his fingers.
“So I thought the hanging, the funeral, the pain, that it would cool everything down and put all my feelings in their proper place.” He kept looking at the stalks of hay in his fingers. “But it’s just getting worse. So maybe now I’m running to Indiana to get away from this…sudden beauty…who is my closest friend’s sister. At the same time, I want to call on her. What do you think I should do, Lyndel Keim? What would you do if you were in my shoes?”
Lyndel found that she was finally able to
“My father asked me to stay on until the seeding of the barley, oats, and wheat is completed, so I’ll be here at least another three weeks, perhaps as long as a month.”
“Oh, will that have you champing at the bit?”
“Four months ago, three months ago, even a few days ago, yes. Now I’m content to leave when my timing is God’s timing. You know, I thought it would be a good idea to see how another Amish community lived out its faith, one that was far away from Lancaster County, and to find out if I feel the same way about my beliefs in Indiana as I do in Pennsylvania. In addition, I thought I might…meet someone…”
He paused and Lyndel felt a sharp pang run through her. The sensation was annoying and she frowned. What did it matter to her if Nathaniel King found an Amish woman to marry in Indiana? Up until a day or two ago the only thing the two of them had had in common was her brother Levi. Nathaniel caught her frown and wished he could retract his words.
“I’m sorry,” he said and watched her blue eyes darken to black in response.
“What on earth do you have to be sorry about?” she snapped.
“I didn’t mean you to think I’ve never noticed you.”
She stopped walking. “Really, Nathaniel, what are you talking about? Notice me in what way? Haven’t I always simply been your friend’s sister?”
“That’s true, but—”
“So why should I care if you run off to find yourself a bride west of the Ohio River?”
Her vehemence startled herself as well as Nathaniel. Confused at the strength of the reaction storming up inside her at his words, she stood and watched while he started and stopped a sentence three or four times, the words always dying on his lips. Abruptly she turned around and began striding back the way they had come.
“This whole thing is ridiculous!” she called back over her shoulder. “Talking to each other at all was a mistake! Please don’t come callingtomorrow evening! You stay Levi’s dearest friend and I’ll stay his sister and that’s the best we can hope for!”
“It’s just that I never knew how to tell my best friend’s sister how beautiful she was!” Nathaniel blurted as she strode away. “How do you do that with someone you’ve always teased and called ‘Tomatoes’?”
Lyndel stopped and turned around, her mouth open. “What?”
Nathaniel’s face was flushed again. “How do you…how do you tell someone who was always the red-haired nuisance that she is a woman now—and a remarkably beautiful woman at that?”
Lyndel felt the blood come into her own face.
“I can’t even tell you when it started—this change in how I thought of you—but on Tuesday, when I saw Lyndel Keim take charge of the situation surrounding Charlie and Moses, when I saw the risks she took—” Nathaniel shrugged and smiled in a weak, lopsided way. “Was there ever anything on God’s green earth more beautiful than you with your eyes ablaze? And not just your eyes—your whole face and body were on fire. How do you talk to someone nicknamed ‘Tomatoes’ about things like that?”
Lyndel felt like ice, then flame, then ice again. Her mind had stopped. Nothing came to her so she continued to stare at him and dared not speak. He bent down, picked some hay, and rolled it around in his fingers.
“So I thought the hanging, the funeral, the pain, that it would cool everything down and put all my feelings in their proper place.” He kept looking at the stalks of hay in his fingers. “But it’s just getting worse. So maybe now I’m running to Indiana to get away from this…sudden beauty…who is my closest friend’s sister. At the same time, I want to call on her. What do you think I should do, Lyndel Keim? What would you do if you were in my shoes?”
Lyndel found that she was finally able to
Similar Books
