The Amish Widow's New Love (Love Inspired) Read online

  The line of customers stretched out the door, around the path, up the steps and into the parking lot. Naomi and the others inside would be busy. But he glanced up as a group of Amish women exited through the back door. And there Naomi was, in the middle of the bunch, a slight smile touching her lips as she reacted to whatever Rachel said.

  He averted his gaze. Bumping into her so much made being back in the district more difficult. Part of him still loved her as much as when he left. But another part of him ached at her hard-heartedness. Motherhood added a soft roundness to her face, color to her cheeks, straightness to her back. Though he had first thought she hadn’t changed, she was not the woman he left behind.

  “What are you doing there?”

  Elam sucked in a breath. Rachel peered over his shoulder as he screwed two pieces of wood together. “You want to scare a man to death?”

  “Ach, it’s not that easy to frighten you. If I had really wanted to, I would have snuck up even quieter.” Rachel stood with her arms crossed.

  “So you were trying to give me a heart attack. Isn’t it enough we’ve had an ambulance here once already today?”

  Naomi tugged on Rachel’s arm. “Come on, let’s have some lunch. The other girls are already sitting down to eat. It’s busy, and they’ll need us back soon. Especially with Sylvia not here.”

  Rachel nodded at Elam. “Why don’t you join us?”

  “Ja, I need a break.” Elam wiped his hands on his pants. “Let me wash up, and I’ll join you.”

  A scowl appeared on Naomi’s face. Well, she may not be happy about it, but that wouldn’t stop him from getting a bite to eat. More than anything, he wanted her forgiveness. Everyone’s forgiveness.

  After a stop in the washroom to scrub his hands and face, he joined the girls at a table away from where the customers ate their baked goods. Still the crowds stared, giggled and even pointed.

  The only spot available was on the end of the bench, right beside Naomi. He plopped down, and she scooted as far away from him as possible, knocking elbows with Rachel as she unwrapped her sandwich from the wax paper. Rachel scraped some dilly chicken salad onto a paper plate and handed it to Elam.

  He ate a few bites before turning to Naomi. “When would be a gut time to get together to work on the auction? I can speak to Sylvia when she returns from the hospital, find out what Simon has planned and what we still need to do. Maybe tomorrow night?”

  “I told you I’m not working with you. You volunteered for this. Take care of it on your own.” Her words were so icy, her breath should have puffed in small clouds in front of her.

  “Wait.” He grabbed her by the forearm. She winced and pulled away. Should he press the matter? Ja, what did he have to lose? He had promised Simon. “You haven’t heard the best part yet.”

  “There’s more?” She hugged herself.

  “We can make it the biggest, most successful auction yet if you tell your story about Daniel and Joseph to the newspapers across the state. The Englisch will flock here to buy quilts and furniture and baked goods, all to support a widow and her little son.”

  She clenched her fists and sat back, almost tilting off the bench. “You want me to do what?” She almost screeched by the end.

  He closed his eyes and grimaced. Once again, he had managed to anger her. He couldn’t seem to do anything else.

  * * *

  A cold sweat broke out all over Naomi. “Absolutely not.” She kept her voice low to avoid drawing attention from the bakery’s customers for the second time today but stern enough for Elam to be clear about her desires. “I will not help you with the auction. And I will not, under any circumstance, go to the papers.” She wadded up her sandwich wrapper and stuffed it into her bag.

  He opened his eyes, and a vein in his neck throbbed. “After all this time, are you still so angry?”

  Her thoughts scrambled in her brain like eggs in a frying pan. How did she identify this burning in her chest? Anger? Or something just the opposite? “So much has changed since the night of the accident. So much that can never be undone. Don’t you understand?”

  “I do. But you once claimed to love me. Didn’t that mean anything? Can’t you forgive me?”

  She breathed in and out, the back of her neck aching. “You ask too many difficult questions. Ones I don’t have the answers for, that I may never have the answers for. I’m dealing with my husband’s loss and my son’s serious illness and disability. Isn’t that enough?”

  The other women gathered the remains of their lunches and meandered inside to resume work. Naomi rose, as well. With a brush of his hand against hers, time stood still. Just like years ago, her knees went mushy, and she thumped into her seat. She nodded at Rachel to stay. Her friend shrugged and bit into a peanut butter cookie.

  Elam plowed ahead. “The auction is just a couple weeks away. If you’re going to tell your story to the papers, we have to contact the reporters soon. You want to give their readers enough notice so they can make plans to come here.”

  “It’s bad enough to have these people here, staring at us. We’re nothing more than a tourist attraction.” She motioned wide, her gesture sweeping over the lot packed with cars, one pulling up the gravel driveway every couple of minutes. “But to encourage even more of them to come, that’s not a gut idea.”

  “What are they going to do?”

  “Disrupt our lives. Mine has been stretched and changed until I don’t recognize it. I don’t need any further interference.” Couldn’t he go away and leave her alone? Just leave her in peace? “Why are you even back in the area? Do you want to bring the Englisch to us?”

  “Nein, not at all.”

  But he had abandoned her. When she’d gone to him for comfort, he had left. And hadn’t returned until now. “Don’t you miss the friends you made out there?”

  “I missed the Amish much more.”

  “And your family? How do they feel about you being back? Won’t they miss you when you leave again?”

  “I’m home to stay, Naomi.”

  She couldn’t help but be doubtful. Forever didn’t mean much to him.

  He stabbed his plastic fork on his plate. “Listen to me. The most important person to you in your life is your son, nein?”

  “Ja, that’s right.”

  “He’s beautiful, Naomi. Such a gift from the Lord. All you have left of Daniel.”

  Rachel stared straight ahead, her eyes filling with tears. “My brother would have done anything for his little boy.”

  “He would have been a wunderbaar daed.” Naomi patted Rachel’s hand.

  Elam nodded. “Parents are like that. They would make any sacrifice for their children. Even though I’m not a daed yet, I know I would walk to the moon if I thought it would help my children. Isn’t giving Joseph the best chance at a happy, healthy life worth anything you might have to do to make that happen?”

  Tears now clouded Naomi’s eyes. The way Elam had of putting things... “Of course. That’s why I’m working here. That’s why I take him to the doctor, why I walk the floor with him at night, sing to him, love him. But there are things I can think of that I wouldn’t do.”

  “Wouldn’t you do anything that was legal, moral and ethical?”

  “Maybe.” Every time Elam came near her, she couldn’t think straight. He spoke with pretty words and was very convincing. If he were Englisch, perhaps he would be a lawyer.

  “All you would have to do is sit down with a couple of reporters and tell your story. Tell them how much you love Joseph. What he means to you. And the good the auction does, not only for your son, but for people like Aaron and Simon and my daed.”

  All of her muscles tensed. She couldn’t cry. Wouldn’t let him see how much he affected her. But the back of her throat burned.

  Why did God have to take Daniel? Why did He have to make Joseph so sick? And why had H
e brought Elam back?

  “Fine, I’ll think about it.”

  Chapter Four

  Naomi lifted her face to the sun and breathed in the scent of warming earth. Mamm, about to make an oatmeal pie, had found herself out of brown sugar. With Joseph down for a nap and the weather this warm and beautiful, Naomi offered to walk to the bulk food store. What she didn’t tell Mamm was how perfect the timing was. She and Elam had a meeting with Sylvia to pick up the information Simon had put together for the auction.

  She hadn’t found the courage yet to tell her parents she was working with Elam. Forcing the words through her lips shouldn’t be this hard. But she held back. They would not approve of her spending time with him, though they had no basis for worry. She would never let him worm his way into her life again. Once this auction was over, she would steer clear of him for the rest of her life. She would have to tell them sooner or later. Nothing stayed secret for very long here. But she would hold off as long as she could.

  A slight breeze tugged at her dress. She shouldn’t enjoy this taste of freedom as much as she did, but every now and again, it was nice to not be Naomi the widow, Naomi the mother of a child with special needs, Naomi the bakery employee, but just Naomi. As a small blue car whizzed by, she jumped to the side of the road.

  In a few days, the early daffodils would be in full bloom. Tulips’ leaves peeked above the ground. The buds lining the tree’s twigs were about to burst open. Spring.

  Amid the back-and-forth calls of the cardinals in the trees came the clip-clop of a horse’s hooves. Which of her neighbors was out and about? She turned and groaned. Nein. Not him.

  Elam held the horse’s reins in one hand and waved at her, a smile deepening the creases around his mouth. “Gut morgan, Naomi. I’m glad I found you.” He slowed Prancer, his shiny black buggy horse, to keep pace with her. “I stopped at your house to pick you up, and your mamm told me you had left already. She said you were on your way to the store, but she didn’t know about the meeting.”

  Naomi sucked in her breath. “You told Mamm about it? You had no right to do that.”

  He pushed back his straw hat. “How was I supposed to know you didn’t tell her?”

  “Well, I mean, you should have, it’s just that...” She sighed. Elam was right. She shouldn’t have kept that information from her parents. But when she got home, she would have to see the double disappointment on their faces. “Fine. You weren’t at fault. But I didn’t ask for a ride.”

  “I know you didn’t, but I thought it might be nice.”

  She kept walking.

  “Naomi.”

  The clicking of the horse’s hooves behind her halted. Elam’s footsteps approached. “Come on. You can’t stop talking to me forever.”

  “Ja, I can.”

  “See, you already spoke three words.”

  Despite herself, the corners of her mouth turned up. He always did have this way of making her smile, of keeping her from being too serious. That’s one of the things she loved about him. Had loved. Didn’t love anymore. But he did have a point. She stopped. “Fine. You win this time. It would be silly of me to walk when you’re going that way.”

  Once they were both settled in the closed buggy, Elam clicked to the horse, and they trotted off. Several times, she caught him glancing at her from the corner of his eyes. Finally, she had to say something. “What do you keep looking at?”

  “Can we agree to be civil to each other? At least while we work on the auction.”

  “I’m always polite.”

  “Glad to hear that.” His words were clipped and short. Had she offended him? How, by being cordial?

  She didn’t have time to mull over the thought as they arrived at the bakery. They slipped around to the back, went up the stairs and knocked on the door. Sylvia answered, a few salt-and-pepper hairs escaping from under her kapp. “Ach, how gut to see both of you. I was just dozing off, so forgive how I look. Let me put the kettle on for some tea.”

  Even though Elam entered, Naomi stood firm in the doorway. “We’re sorry to disturb you. Please, go back to your nap. You must be exhausted.”

  Sylvia waved her in. “Nonsense. The place is too quiet without Simon. I just sat down with my sewing to give my old bones a rest, and I can’t keep my eyes open.”

  “How is he doing?” Naomi brushed shoulders with Elam as she entered, a shiver racing through her. Once inside, she stood a few feet away from him.

  “Grumbling that the hospital meals aren’t as good as mine and that the nurses don’t let him sleep. In other words, he’s much like his old self.” A twinkle sparkled in Sylvia’s blue eyes. “Another few days there, and then he’ll be my problem. Now, Simon had something he wanted me to give the two of you. Sit at the table, and I’ll be right back.”

  She hustled out of the room as Elam and Naomi took their seats, Sylvia’s basket of needles and thread on the table, small scissors and a pair of pants beside it. Naomi shifted her feet. “We shouldn’t be bothering her.”

  “She told us to come. We won’t stay long, just enough to get Simon’s notes. I do have another surprise for you, though.” He winked, and her cheeks burned. Why did her insides flutter when he played so coy with her? Daniel had been gone only a little over a year.

  Naomi rose, drew an old, stained mug from the cabinet and set about making tea. Even if they wouldn’t stay to enjoy it, Sylvia would benefit from a cup.

  Before the kettle whistled, Sylvia lumbered in, a large cardboard box in her hands. “Oh dear, I didn’t realize how heavy this was.” She plunked it on the table, worn from many family and community meals.

  Elam stood and peered inside. “What is all this?”

  “Everything Simon says you’ll need to finish the preparations for the auction. You’ll find his contacts for the auction house, the list of donated items and whatever else you might have to have. I don’t know exactly the full contents. He always handled every little detail, so you might have quite a job on your hands figuring out what is what and what you need to do.”

  Naomi brought over the steaming cup of tea. The sweet fragrance of chamomile was homey. Her muscles, tense since Elam had driven up behind her, relaxed. She set the mug in front of Sylvia. “Elam will get it straight. Don’t you or Simon worry about a thing. Enjoy your tea, and we’ll leave you in peace.”

  “You’ve only just come.”

  “And now we must go. We have Aaron’s old wheelchair, the one he used before he got the motorized version, so if your husband needs it, let us know.”

  “Denki. You really are too good to an old woman like me. And you, too, Elam, for doing this.”

  “I’m grateful to Simon for giving me a chance to get back into the district’s good graces.”

  They said their goodbyes, Elam carried the box out and Naomi started down the driveway so she could get to the grocery store.

  “Hey, where are you going?” Elam made his way around the Englisch in their usual long line for baked goods.

  “I told you. Mamm needs brown sugar.”

  “But I’m going to take you to see a surprise. Have you already forgotten?”

  In the same way the women ogled the new baby in church, the Englisch watched Elam and Naomi. She squirmed under the intense scrutiny. This is why she didn’t really want to speak with the papers. She didn’t want to be any more of a spectacle to the Englisch.

  With no other choice, she marched to where Elam waited with his buggy. When she got close enough, she hissed at him. “In the future, please refrain from shouting at me in public. Or anytime at all. I have to be on my way. Joseph will wake from his nap and be ready to eat.”

  “I won’t keep you long, I promise. When we’re finished, I’ll run you to the store and then home. You’ll be back sooner than you would have been had you walked everywhere.”

  Maybe if she gave him what he wanted,
she could be rid of him faster.

  Probably not.

  With a sigh, she climbed into the buggy.

  * * *

  After a short ride from the bakery, Elam reined Prancer to a halt near a tree on the far side of the parking lot in front of the large, rectangular red-and-silver metal pole barn used for auctions. Most of the time, the Englisch used it to sell their produce.

  Naomi hadn’t cracked a smile since they left the Herschbergers’. And she pulled her frown down farther as they sat in the buggy and stared at the building. What could he do to get her to grin? “What do you think of my surprise?”

  “I’m supposed to be surprised?”

  “You didn’t think I’d bring you here, did you?”

  “As far as surprises go, it’s about as good as an unplanned root canal.”

  A hearty chuckle burst from Elam, and even Naomi gave a soft laugh. Ach, so much more like it. “Point taken. Next time I surprise you with something, it will be better. I promise.”

  “Why are we here?”

  “Because my mind has been whirring since Simon asked us to finish the plans for the auction. I have so many ideas, but I need your help.” He jumped from the buggy.

  Naomi climbed down before he could assist her. “There’s not much to do. We set up the bakery items over there, the plants and such here, the tools there and everything else inside. Like it’s always been done.”

  “That’s fine, as far as it goes, but we have to think bigger and grander if we want to raise more money. Like maybe having one of those shaved ice trucks I’ve seen at the county fairs. If it’s a hot, sunny day, that should bring in an extra boost of cash.”

  “I’m not sure. Shouldn’t we limit our offerings to Amish-produced items? Isn’t that why the Englisch come? They can get shaved ice everywhere.”

  “But it would be a big seller. We have to continue to add new offerings and change things around, or we won’t get repeat customers from year to year.”