A Hope Springs Christmas Read online

  Sarah stared at Levi’s worn-out footwear. First things first, who did she know that might be ready for a husband?

  Several women came to mind. There was the current schoolteacher, Leah Belier, a sweet-tempered woman in her late twenties. But having had the twins in school until two years ago, would she be willing to take them on a permanent basis? It would take a brave woman to do that.

  It was too bad Susan Lapp had married Daniel Hershberger last month. While it was an excellent match for both of them, Susan would have been perfect for Levi. Big-boned and strong with a no-nonsense attitude, Susan was a woman who could keep Levi and the twins in line with one hand tied behind her back. Yes, it was too bad she was already taken.

  There was Joann Yoder, but she was a year older than Levi. Sarah couldn’t see them together. Joann was nearly as shy as he was.

  Mary Beth Zook was also a possibility. Sarah wondered how the bishop and his wife would feel about two of their children marrying into the Beachy family. Perhaps Mary Beth wasn’t the best choice, but Sarah didn’t rule her out.

  Another woman who came to mind was Fannie Nissley, the niece of David and Martha Nissley. She had come to Hope Springs to help the family when Martha had been injured by an overturned wagon a few years before. Martha was fully recovered, but Fannie stayed on because she liked the area.

  Sarah guessed her age to be twenty-five or -six. As far as she knew, Fannie wasn’t seeing anyone. This coming Sunday after the prayer service would be a good time to find out for sure. Aunt Emma would know if any of the single women in the area had already made a commitment.

  Sarah suddenly thought of Sally Yoder. Sally currently worked for Elam Sutter in his basket-weaving business. Sally was only in her early twenties, but she might be ready to settle down. She had a good head on her shoulders and could help Levi manage the business.

  Sarah looked around the building and remembered the many hours she and Jonas had spent poring over the company books and inventory, trying to stretch a nickel into a dollar to make ends meet. They hadn’t seemed like good times back then, but now she cherished every moment she and her husband had spent working and struggling together.

  God took him too soon.

  Memories, both good and not so good, filled her mind. As she looked around, it was easy to see traces of Jonas everywhere. The chair where he sat as he ordered supplies was still waiting at the counter, as though he might return at any minute. Of course, Levi used it now.

  The workbench Jonas made from scrap lumber had stood the test of time, but it had been shifted from its original position. So had the boxes of parts that once lined the wall above it. Now, they stood along the west wall, closer to where the bulk of the woodwork for the buggies took place. It was a better spot, and she could see why Levi had done it.

  She said, “You have made many changes in here. I see you moved the workbench to beneath the south windows. Was that for better light?”

  He didn’t answer. Sarah crossed to the workbench Jonas had fashioned and laid her hand on the worn wood. She could almost feel him here beside her. Looking out the window, she realized that Levi had an unobstructed view of the narrow street outside and of her kitchen window across the way.

  How many times had she sat at that table and cried, worried and prayed since Jonas’s passing. Had Levi seen it all?

  She glanced toward the buggy frame. He was no longer underneath it. He stood, wrenches in each hand, watching her with a guarded expression on his face.

  * * *

  Levi wondered if she realized how pretty she was with the early morning sunshine streaming through the window, bathing her face in golden light. Her features were as delicate as the frost that etched the corners of the glass behind her.

  Her white kapp glowed brightly, almost like a halo around her heart-shaped face. Her blond hair, carefully parted in the middle and all but hidden beneath her bonnet gave only a hint of the luxurious beauty her uncut tresses must hold. Only a husband and God should view a woman’s crowing glory. For a second, Levi envied Jonas’s right to behold Sarah’s hair flowing over her shoulders and down her back.

  The ribbons of her kapp were untied and drew Levi’s attention to the curve of her jaw and the slenderness of her neck. To his eyes, she grew more beautiful with each passing year. It was no wonder Jonas had fallen in love with her.

  Levi dropped his gaze to his feet, afraid what he was thinking would somehow show in his eyes. She was his best friend’s wife. It was wrong of him to think of her as beautiful.

  “Do you mind?” he asked.

  When she didn’t answer, he looked up. She glanced out the window and then at him.

  “Do I mind what?” she asked with an odd inflection in her tone.

  He waved his arm to indicate the shop. “The changes?”

  “Nee, it is your workspace,” she said quickly.

  “Goot.” He returned his tools to the wooden tray and carried it to the workbench, sliding it into its place on the end of the counter where Jonas had kept it.

  Levi hadn’t been much younger than the twins were now when the local sheriff brought word that their parents were dead. They had both drowned when their buggy was overturned and swept away while they had been trying to cross a flooded roadway.

  Jonas had come to the house and offered Levi a job when he was ready. Levi never forgot Jonas’s kindness in treating him like an adult, like a man with responsibilities instead of like a boy who needed someone to look after him and his siblings.

  As Jonas taught Levi the buggy-building trade, Levi had quickly realized Jonas would have been smarter to hire someone who already knew the business rather than an untried teenager.

  When he mentioned his thoughts on the subject, Jonas had laid a hand on Levi’s shoulder and said, “I want to work with someone I respect and enjoy being around. You and I are a good fit. Besides, if I teach you how to do a thing, I know it will be done right.”

  Levi never forgot that moment. He became determined to learn everything Jonas had to teach so that his respect was not misplaced. In that, Levi believed he had succeeded.

  Sarah had followed Levi to the counter. She asked, “Do you mind my helping out until Grace returns?”

  “Not much choice,” he conceded gruffly.

  “I’m sorry that my advice to Grace sent her racing off so quickly. I honestly thought she would talk it over with you and the two of you could decide when a good time for her visit would be. I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

  “Grace can be impulsive.” To his surprise, it wasn’t all that difficult to talk to Sarah. His throat didn’t close around the words and keep them prisoner as it usually did.

  She laughed aloud at his comment. “That’s an understatement.”

  Levi cringed and felt the heat rush to his face. Was she laughing at him or with him? Did it matter?

  Sarah said, “I’m at your beck and call, so put me to work. What needs doing in here today that Grace would normally do?”

  What he wanted was for her to go home. The workshop was his sanctuary. How could it be a place of peace with Sarah in it? She disrupted everything, including his thinking.

  He said, “Nothing I can’t handle.” Now maybe she would leave.

  “I can at least clean up.” She turned around, grabbed a red rag from the box he kept them in and began straightening his workbench, moving his tools around and brushing at the bits of loose wood on the countertop.

  He didn’t like people touching his stuff. “Don’t mess with my tools.”

  She paid him no mind. “I’m not messing with them, I’m cleaning off your workspace.”

  “Stop,” he pleaded.

  She held up a lone drill bit. “Where does this go?”

  “Take it home with you,” he snapped abruptly.

  He shut his mouth in hor
ror. He’d never spoken harshly to anyone.

  Sarah stared at him for the longest moment and then chuckled with delight. “You are so amusing, Levi. And Grace told me you don’t have a sense of humor. Take it home with me, how funny. I’ll find where it goes. You get back to work and pretend I’m not even here.”

  Like that was possible. He turned away before he said something he would surely regret.

  She kept dusting. “I’ll have this cleaned up in no time. I remember how to do inventory, too. It won’t be long before the end of the year. Might as well get a jump on it. I’ll start on that when I’m done with this.”

  “No need.” Inventory would take days. Days with Sarah underfoot wasn’t something he wanted to endure. He needed to be able to concentrate. She didn’t take the hint.

  “I don’t mind. I’d forgotten how much I enjoy being out here. Don’t you love the smell of leather and wood? It’s comforting knowing that each piece on the walls around me has a place and a function. I’m glad I told Grace I would help. This place could use some sprucing up, though.”

  Jonas had often said that Sarah had a one-track mind when she wanted to do something. Levi didn’t know how true that statement was until three hours later when she was using a long-handled broom and an overturned bucket to reach cobwebs that had hung from the rafters longer than she had been alive.

  Unless he took her by the arm, led her to the door and locked it behind her, he was going to be stuck with Sarah until Grace returned.

  Please, Lord, let Grace’s visit be a short one.

  Levi drew a deep breath. It was almost lunchtime, and he hadn’t gotten nearly enough done. His eyes were constantly drawn to where Sarah was working.

  He had orders to fill and much to do in the coming weeks. When there was snow on the ground, many Amish families brought their farm wagons and buggies in to be repaired while they used their sleighs. With Christmas less than a month away, he was sure to get swamped with work soon.

  Moving to the carriage body he was working on, he studied the list of accessories Grace had written out for him to add. The buggy was for Daniel Hershberger’s new bride. The well-to-do businessman was sparing no expense for his wife’s buggy. As Levi marked out the wood for the extra-sturdy seats to be added, Sarah began humming a hymn. After a few bars, she began singing softly. She had a lovely voice, soothing and sweet.

  Levi gripped his handsaw and drew it back and forth across the board. The sound blocked Sarah’s voice and he stopped.

  She must have noticed because she asked, “Does my singing bother you?”

  He looked toward her and found her watching him intently. “Nee, it’s nice.”

  She gave him a sweet smile and went back to work, humming as she did so. Maybe having her around for a few weeks wouldn’t be so bad after all.

  The outside door opened and Henry Zook walked in. He nodded to Sarah and crossed the room to stand in front of Levi. “I must speak with Grace. Is she about?”

  Levi could feel his throat growing tight. This was not a conversation he wanted to have. He cast a speaking glance at Sarah. This was her doing. She would have to make it right.

  Chapter Four

  Sarah caught the look Levi darted at her. It was imploring, half-accusing. He clearly wanted her to take over the conversation with Henry. Instead, she retreated to his small office to give the men some privacy.

  Yes, it was her fault that Grace had left town so quickly, but Levi needed his eyes opened to exactly how serious Henry was about Grace.

  The office had four walls but no ceiling to separate it from the rest of the building. She had no trouble hearing their conversation.

  “Please, Levi, I must to speak to Grace. It’s important.”

  “You can’t.” Levi’s reply was barely audible.

  “What do you mean, I can’t?”

  “She’s gone.”

  “Gone? Gone where?” Henry demanded.

  “She took off with her handsome English boyfriend early this morning.” A new voice entered the conversation.

  “Ja, he was driving a fine red car.”

  Sarah was so startled to hear the voices of the twins that she leaned around the doorway to see where they were. She hadn’t heard them come in. How long had they been inside?

  “Yup, bright red his car was,” Atlee agreed with his brother. “Took off with the tires throwing gravel every which way. Grace didn’t look none too sad to be leaving this place.”

  They both sat on the seat of a wagon waiting for repairs with identical smirks on their faces. They elbowed each other with mirth.

  Poor Henry. He looked from Levi to the twins with growing disbelief. “Grace would not do such a thing.”

  The boys hooted with laughter. Moses said, “Proves you don’t know our sister as well as you think.”

  Why didn’t Levi say something? Sarah was ready to intervene when Levi spoke at last. “Enough!”

  The twins fell silent, but didn’t wipe the smiles off their faces. It was clear they didn’t think much of their sister’s suitor.

  “Grace went to visit our grandmother.” Levi walked away from Henry as if the conversation was over.

  Henry wasn’t about to leave without more of an explanation. He followed Levi into the office, forcing Sarah to back into the corner. “Grace never mentioned going out of town for a visit. Has your grandmother taken ill?”

  “Nee,” Levi replied and pulled open a drawer to search for something. Sarah found herself stuck in the small room with both men for there wasn’t enough room to get past them. They both ignored her.

  Henry raked a hand through his thick blond hair. “Then I don’t understand. Why would she suddenly leave without letting me know? We had a disagreement, but I didn’t think she was that upset.”

  Levi jerked a thumb in Sarah’s direction. “Ask her.”

  Levi found the sheet of paper he was looking for and walked out of the office, leaving Sarah to face Henry alone. He waited for her to speak, confusion written across his face.

  Sarah squared her shoulders and indicated the empty chair beside the desk. “Henry, sit down.”

  He took a seat. “When is Grace coming back?”

  “I’m not sure when she’ll be back.”

  “But she will be back, right?” His eyes pleaded for confirmation.

  “Of course. She needs some time to think things over without feeling pressured.”

  He blew out a long breath. “I’m a nah. I shouldn’t have pushed so hard.”

  Sarah smiled gently. “You are not a fool, Henry. You’re in love. You are impatient to be with her as a husband. That is only natural. Grace has many concerns, but she says that she loves you. If she is the woman God has chosen for you she is worth waiting for.”

  “I could accept that if I knew how long she wants me to wait. She won’t set a date.”

  He glanced over his shoulder and lowered his voice.

  “I know she is worried that her family can’t manage without her. Can you convince her she has to start thinking about what is best for her?”

  “That’s exactly what she is doing. If you love her, you must trust her. I suggest you write her and tell her how you feel.”

  “I feel confused.”

  Sarah gave him a sympathetic smile. “Do not fret. Things will work out. Now, go home and write Grace a long letter telling her how much you miss her, how sorry you are for your impatience and how you look forward to seeing her again.”

  “I’m not all that good with words, Frau Wyse.”

  “They are in your heart, Henry. Look for them there.”

  He nodded and rose to his feet. “Danki. I will do that.”

  When he left, she walked out into the area where Levi and the twins were putting the top on a buggy. When they had it
set in place and bolted on, she said, “I have chicken stew simmering at my house. Levi, if you don’t have other plans you are welcome to eat with me for I know Grace usually does all the cooking.”

  The twins rushed toward her. “We’re starving,” they said, together.

  She held up a hand to stop them. “Psalm 101:7. He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house: he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight.”

  The boys looked at each other. “What does that mean?” Moses asked.

  Levi walked by with a small grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. “It means you’re on your own for lunch. Danki, Sarah. I’ll be happy to break bread in your home.”

  “But we were only teasing Henry,” Atlee insisted.

  “Ja, it was a joke,” Moses added.

  “It was cruel, and you took pleasure in his discomfort. But I forgive you, and I’m sure Henry will, too, when you ask him.” She turned to follow Levi out the door.

  “So we can eat with you?” Moses called after her.

  Sarah paused at the door and looked back at their hopeful faces. She smiled at them. “No.”

  Their shocked expressions were priceless. She softly closed the door behind her.

  * * *

  Levi opened Sarah’s front door and allowed her to go in ahead of him. The mouthwatering smell of stewing chicken and vegetables made his stomach grumble. His poor breakfast had been hours ago.

  Sarah said, “You can wash up at the sink. It will only take a few minutes to get things ready. Are you upset that I refused to feed the twins?”

  His family never asked him if their actions were upsetting. He wasn’t sure what answer Sarah wanted to hear. He chose, hoping for the best. “Nee.”

  “I’m glad. I don’t want you to think that I intended to discipline them without asking your permission. I simply wanted to make it clear to them that actions have consequences. They were intentionally unkind to Henry.”

  He turned on the water and picked up a bar of soap from the dish. As he washed his hands, the scent of lavender mingled with the delicious smell of the cooking meal. He held the bar close to his nose. It smelled like Sarah, clean, fresh, springlike.