Hopefully ever after, p.25
Hopefully Ever After, page 25
Eden’s heart sank as she wondered where she would sleep when she came to visit. Yvonne was all wrapped up in baby stuff and must not have thought about that. She’d said she hoped Eden would visit.
“But don’t worry,” Yvonne said as she made her way back along the narrow path and out to the hallway. She waited until Eden had crossed the threshold before she closed the door. “If you come to visit—and you better—I’ll have a twin bed put in the nursery for you to sleep on if Abraham hasn’t cleaned out the back room yet.”
Eden felt a small level of relief, but she was losing what she’d considered to be her bedroom—although it would be cool to get to sleep in the baby’s room when she did come to visit. She had two more years of school and no money, so she wasn’t sure when that would happen. Maybe during the summers. She couldn’t ask Emma to fly her back and forth because she loved it here so much. She’d get a job and save her money. Whatever it took to be a part of the only place that had ever felt like home.
* * *
Eden waited until after lunch before she told Yvonne that she was going to ride her bike to Samuel’s cottage.
“Take a bottle of water. It’s hot outside.” Yvonne walked to the refrigerator that they powered with propane and handed Eden a bottle.
“Thanks.” She opened it and took a big gulp.
“I hope your visit goes well. You only have a week left here. I’m sure that must be weighing on both your minds since you’ve become friends.”
It was weighing on Eden’s mind, but she wasn’t sure how much her leaving was on Samuel’s mind since he’d made little effort to spend time with her.
“Yeah, goodbyes are hard.” She thought about having to say bye to Yvonne and Abraham too. “But I have this last week.” Her heart ached, and she wanted to make the best of her time here, but she had to know what was going on with Samuel. “I’ll see you later.”
“Have fun. Be careful.”
You’re going to be such a great mom, Eden thought as she walked through the living room, then made her way to the bike. She placed her water in the big basket on the front of the bike, then headed toward the Peony Inn Bed-and-Breakfast with a nervous stomach.
She had no way to know if Samuel was there since he wouldn’t have a buggy parked outside the cottage. He’d told her he was walking back and forth to work. She’d asked him during their last visit if he wanted to use her bike, but he had declined, probably embarrassed to ride a bicycle that looked like it belonged to a twelve-year-old girl.
After she parked the bike, she tiptoed up the porch steps and saw movement inside through the window. She knocked on the door, and after heavy footsteps came closer, Samuel opened the door.
His mouth fell open as his eyes widened. “Eden. What are you doing here?” He stepped onto the porch and hurriedly closed the door behind him.
She wasn’t sure whether to be hurt, angry, or both. “Do you have company?”
“Nee,” he said as he shook his head. His blond hair was tousled, like maybe he’d just gotten up even though it was early afternoon. But she’d seen movement, which meant he hadn’t been sleeping. He wore his usual black slacks and a dark-blue short-sleeved shirt that was untucked, and he was barefoot.
She put a hand on her hip. “Did I do something wrong?”
“Nee.” His forehead crinkled. “Why would you ask that?”
She had one week left and nothing to lose—but Samuel—if she wasn’t honest. “I feel like you’ve been avoiding me, and we’ve only seen each other twice the past week. Samuel, I know I’m not your girlfriend, but we’ve sort of fallen into some sort of relationship that surpasses just friends.”
He looked down at his bare feet and didn’t say anything.
“I just don’t understand why you haven’t invited me over to see your new place and why it seems like you aren’t eager to spend time with me. I leave in a week. If you’re not comfortable being alone with me in the cottage, just tell me that, and we can sit on the porch, take a walk, or whatever.” Her voice began to crack.
“Nee, nee.” He stepped closer and pulled her into a hug. “I’m sorry.”
She eased away, her bottom lip trembling. “Then what is it?”
There were two small chairs on either side of a little table on the porch.
“Let’s sit down.” He sat and waited for her to do so as she wondered why he wasn’t inviting her in. She’d been right that he wasn’t comfortable being alone with her in his little house.
“It’s okay if you don’t want us to be alone. I know that’s how you were raised, and I respect that. But I can’t help but wonder if there’s more.”
He put his elbows on his knees, folded his hands together, and rested his head there. After he inhaled deeply and blew out a long breath, he said, “Eden, all I’ve thought about is sitting on mei couch and hanging out with you. I’d never take things further because you’re right—I believe a person should be married for that type of intimacy.” He grinned a little. “Even though I think about it.” He shrugged. “I’m a guy. But I’d never disrespect you that way. And you have no idea how much I’ve missed you, how much I want to spend time with you, and how much I’m aware that you leave in a week. Honestly, that thought rips at mei insides. I care about you a lot, in case you haven’t figured that out.”
Even though she was relieved, she raised her shoulders at the same time she lifted her palms. “Then what is it? Why haven’t you tried to spend more time with me? I know you wouldn’t try to take things further. I just don’t understand.” She sounded whiny, and that hadn’t been her intent.
“I considered lying to you and telling you that I was giving you time to grieve your mudder, but I don’t ever feel gut about lying, and I definitely don’t want to lie to you.” He raised his arms from his knees, then slumped into the chair, rubbing a hand through his messy hair, which only made it stand on end and look worse. Although it did nothing to deter from his amazing good looks. He locked eyes with her. “The truth is I don’t have any money. I can’t take you to a movie or out to eat or—”
“I don’t care about that, Samuel. I just want to be with you.”
“I didn’t have enough money for rent, so I’m doing some work for Lizzie and Esther to make up for being short. They’ve been great about it, but it hasn’t left me much time. And the reason I don’t want you coming in the cottage is because I’m embarrassed. By the time I walk home from work, I’m stinky and need a shower. I don’t have any way to wash mei clothes, nor do I know how to. I’ve watched mei mamm and schweschdere using the wringer, but it’s still foreign to me. Laundry isn’t something mei daed or me have ever done.”
He pointed over his shoulder. “The sink is filled with dishes because I haven’t had time to clean them. I don’t want you to see how I’m living right now.” He grinned when she did. “And I’m starving. You can get just about any kind of food in a box, and it’s all bad.”
Eden’s heart warmed as she began to shed her worries. She walked to him, squatted down in front of him, and reached for his hand. “Samuel, you don’t have to be embarrassed about anything. I know we haven’t known each other that long, but I care about you too. I hope we can stay in touch after I leave and that I’ll be able to come back and visit.” She thought about losing her bedroom she’d grown to love, despite the heat, but she was happy Yvonne had mentioned her visiting and making a place for her. “Now let’s get your new home cleaned up.”
“Really?” He raised his eyebrows. “But I don’t want you to do that. It’s not how I pictured it in mei mind. I wanted everything to be clean, to cook for you, and make it nice.”
“Well . . .” She grinned. “That hasn’t really worked out, has it? Let’s move on to plan B.”
“Ach . . .” Shaking his head, he slowly lifted himself from the chair.
He waited until they were inside before he kissed her the way she’d been longing for. She couldn’t imagine them staying just friends, but geography was going to make it impossible to be anything else.
After they’d made up for lost time, Eden looked around the cottage. She could see the kitchen and living room from where she stood. “Oh, my.” There were dishes on the counter and piled in the sink, glasses on the coffee table, a large pile of clothes near what she assumed must be the bedroom, and the heat was stifling.
“I told you.” Samuel hung his head.
“Do you even have all the windows open?” She looked around and quickly walked to one window that she could see was closed. After she lifted it up, she turned to him and playfully scowled. “You have no idea what you’re doing, do you? But I would have thought you knew plenty about creating cross breezes.”
He shrugged. “It’s a gut thing you showed up.”
“It really is.”
They both laughed but found time for another embrace and a quick kiss.
* * *
It was two o’clock on Saturday when Anna decided she couldn’t stand it any longer. “I’m going to go check on Samuel.” She lifted her chin, her black purse dangling from her arm, almost daring Leroy to argue.
He eyed her curiously for a moment. “Do you want me to go with you?”
She wagged her head. “Nee. But I’m not getting much sleep since I worry if our sohn is getting enough to eat and doing all right.”
“He’s not a boppli, Anna. I’m sure he is okay.”
“You don’t know that.” She picked up a pair of sunglasses from the end table. “I will be back soon.”
After she blew him a kiss, she rushed down the porch steps before he could say anything else to deter her visit.
When she arrived at the Peony Inn, she decided to go say hello to Esther and Lizzie and thank them for renting the cottage to her son.
“Wie bischt, Anna.” Esther pushed the screen door open and stepped aside.
“I can’t stay. I’m on mei way to visit Samuel, but I wanted to thank you for renting him the cottage. I know he’s a bit young to be a tenant, but he was craving some independence, and we agreed to this as part of his rumschpringe. I hope he is behaving himself.” Smiling, she wasn’t expecting the frown that filled Esther’s face.
“I feel terrible for the boy. When he didn’t have enough money for the rent and deposit, we waived the deposit, but he was still short. We told him that was all right, that he could pay us what he could afford. He was insistent that he work off the difference.” She looked past Anna toward the cottage. “He walks to work and walks home, then he does chores around here until almost dark. I don’t know when he finds time to cook and eat.”
Anna had always prided herself on being a good mother, but she could feel humiliation creeping up her neck and causing her cheeks to turn pink. She didn’t think Esther meant to sound accusatory about her role as a mother, but even to Anna, it sounded like bad parenting—allowing her son to rent a cottage that he didn’t have money for at his age. Esther was probably wondering why Anna hadn’t been by sooner.
“Lizzie took him a pie about an hour ago. There was a young maedel there scrubbing his floor when Lizzie arrived. She saw her through the window before she knocked. Normally, we would be suspicious of an outsider visiting a young man his age, but Lizzie said the girl was a relative of Yvonne’s.” Esther paused, grinning. “Lizzie said the maedel was delightful and that it was easy to tell that the two young people are smitten with each other”—she paused again when Anna’s jaw dropped—“Even though there was nothing affectionate going on. Just cleaning.”
Anna wanted to beg Esther not to encourage anything between Samuel and Eden. Everyone in the community knew that the two elderly sisters tried to play matchmaker anytime they saw the hint of a spark between two people. “Ya, they are friends. How nice of her to help him. I’m wondering . . .” She cleared her throat. “Does she visit often?”
“Nee. We haven’t seen her there before. But, of course, we aren’t home all the time.”
“I best go and visit him. Nice to see you, Esther.” She pointed over her shoulder. “I’ll just leave mei horse and buggy tethered to your fence while I walk over there, if that’s okay?”
“Ya, ya. Of course.”
Anna crossed the field between the Peony Inn and the cottage. There was another house on the property, but Anna didn’t see any activity. The only activity going on was between her son and Eden, who was supposedly there to help Samuel clean the house—clearly an excuse for them to spend time together.
She tried to let that fact overshadow her guilt for not knowing what a hard time her son was having in his new home. Tough love and insisting Samuel be a man and make it on his own had been a mistake. It wasn’t going to make him come home. All they’d done was provide a little love shack for him and Eden, even if only temporarily until the girl went back to Texas.
Anna picked up the pace, but when she reached the house, she didn’t go up the porch steps. She tiptoed around the side of the house to where she heard voices. Voices coming from the bedroom. Her heart raced as she planted her back flat against the siding and listened.
“No, not like that,” she heard Eden say. “Haven’t you ever made a bed? You tuck the corners in like this.”
“Ya, I’ve made a bed before.” Samuel chuckled.
Anna stiffened and wanted to put her face to the screen and say, “Samuel, when have you ever made a bed in your life?” but she stayed quiet. Guilt wasn’t going to pry her from this spot. She’d just caught her unmarried son with an English girl in his bedroom. If there was any hanky-panky going on, Anna was sure she couldn’t stop herself from storming the place.
“I don’t know why you don’t just go home,” Eden said. “I know you want to be independent and do things outside of your community, but I’ve told you before, the outside world isn’t what it’s cracked up to be. You have a loving family, wonderful parents, and your mother cooks for you, cleans your clothes, and takes care of her family. That’s the way a family unit is supposed to work. Or so I’m told. I haven’t ever had that until my visit here. Emma is great, but she has her own friends and a life. And, as I told you, she’s older. We just don’t have a lot in common. With Yvonne and Abraham, it feels like a real family. They kind of treat me like an adult, but they also keep me grounded too. It makes me not want to do anything to disappoint them. I’d do anything to stay here forever.”
“Then stay,” Samuel said in a smooth voice that raised Anna’s antenna.
“I can’t. I’ll go back to school soon. And I’ve thought a lot about my mom. No matter how awful she was at being a parent, I want to get at least some of her ashes and, in my own way, do something for her. I have no idea what, but I feel like something should be done. She lived a life, and if I think back really far, there was a time when she cared for me the way a mother should.”
“I wish you could stay, but I understand. Part of me wants to go home, but mei parents are just too strict. I’d end up running away or something eventually.”
Anna cringed, thinking again about the parenting mistakes they’d made all around.
“Then I’ll trade places with you,” Eden said. “You go to Texas and deal with all the chaos, and I’ll move in with your family, work at the bookstore, and pretend your parents are mine. Although . . .” She paused. “There is a flaw in that plan because your mother doesn’t like me.”
“Nee, it’s not that. She just sees you as a threat, the wild Englisch maedel who is going to whisk me away into a life of sin.”
Anna was taking mental notes of all the changes she would make when her girls each turned sixteen. Maybe you were expected to mess up with your oldest child, then learn and do better with the others.
“What I want is for you to be happy. I’m leaving in a week. Are you going to be happy here when I’m gone? I know you envisioned us spending time together here, but it really doesn’t look good for you to have an unmarried girl at your house. What will those two older ladies who run the inn think? What would other people think? Believe me, people make judgments based on rumors or without really knowing a person. I believe you and respect you for not wanting things to get physical with us, for believing stuff like that should be reserved for marriage. I feel the same way. But other people won’t know that. And they won’t know that when I saw the state of this cottage on my very first visit today, I knew you needed some help.” She laughed. “Not only can’t you cook or wash clothes, but I’m also not sure you would have ever gotten this bed made correctly.”
“Gut thing Lizzie brought me that pie.” Samuel chuckled. “It might be mei supper tonight.”
Anna bolted around the corner and up the porch steps as adrenaline flushed out her tainted system. Surely there was a better mother inside her somewhere.
“Samuel, it’s Mamm,” she said through the screen as she rapped.
Both teenagers came out of the bedroom together with stricken expressions on their faces.
“Mamm, this isn’t what you think,” Samuel said with wide eyes.
Anna pointed to the cleaning bucket filled with supplies and the sweeper nearby. “What it looks like to me is that Eden is helping you tidy up this place.” She smiled at her. “Hello, Eden.”
The poor girl looked as scared as her son and sounded even worse when she barely squeaked out a hello.
“It looks like you could use another hand.” Anna walked to the sweeper and picked it up. “If it’s all right, I’d like to help, then take you out to supper.” Smiling wider, she said, “Both of you.”
The children exchanged glances, confusion on their faces.
“I thought maybe we could enjoy a meal together, then discuss a few things, ways we can make this situation work and run more smoothly for all of us.”
Samuel frowned as if Anna had underlying intentions. But Anna was going to make things right. For all of them.
Chapter 23
Yvonne had their driver stop at the bookstore on the way to take Eden to the airport. Her young cousin wanted to tell Jake goodbye, and Jake had already planned to meet an architect there to discuss renovations on the building. Since it was a historic building, he wanted to use care when they started the teardown, especially since he’d be doing it himself, along with Yvonne’s help, and probably some others in the community. Word would spread.
