Marrying Jonah Read online

  “Sarah? Are you okay? What’s wrong?” Ruthie moved close as Hannah continued to grab things out of cabinets for the big project.

  “Is it the baby?” Hannah asked.

  Sarah shook her head. “I’m fine.”

  “You don’t look fine,” Clara Rose said. Her blue eyes were filled with concern.

  “Danki,” Sarah quipped.

  “You are pale,” Hannah said.

  Sarah shook her head again. “Really. I’m fine. Just a touch of indigestion.”

  “I told Mark those meatballs were too spicy.”

  Sarah didn’t bother to tell her that the meatballs had nothing to do with it. But if she said that she would have to explain. How did a person tell their friends that she thought she was happy in her marriage? How ridiculous. “Maybe,” was all she said.

  Let them believe that Mark’s meatballs were too spicy for her pregnant constitution. It was better than letting them know that she might have fallen in love with her husband. For real this time.

  Chapter Thirteen

  They had just gotten everything measured and into the large mixing bowl when Abbie and Sadie joined them in the kitchen.

  “I guess it’s between Caroline and Emily.”

  Andrew and Elam were lumped in with their wives, most probably because Caroline and Emily had been best friends since Caroline had come to town three years ago.

  “Maybe we should go watch.” Clara Rose glanced toward the doorway that led back into the family room.

  “Oh, no,” Hannah said, with the quick shake of her head. “I’m not going to be the only one mixing this mess.”

  Sarah looked into the very large bowl Hannah had placed on the counter. Everything fit neatly inside. But there was only one way to mix the varied ingredients.

  Hannah washed her hands, then dried them on a paper towel. “Whoever is going next better wash up.”

  Clara Rose glanced back toward the family room and gave a quick shrug. “I mean, you’re already elbows deep in it. Why should we get our hands all covered in . . . cheese?”

  “Because if you don’t help, you don’t get to take any home.”

  “Fair enough.” Clara Rose moved to the sink and lathered up her hands as everyone laughed.

  “Are you sure this is going to be enough?” Sadie asked.

  Hannah rubbed her nose on the sleeve of her dress, her hands still buried in the cheese ball mixture. “I tripled it. So maybe.”

  “I was being sarcastic.” Sadie laughed. “That’s a lot of cheese ball.”

  “I wanted everyone to have one for the holidays. You can either take it with you if you are visiting or have it at home for a snack later in the day.”

  “It’s a wonderful gesture, Hannah,” Sarah said. “I really appreciate it.”

  A chorus of agreement went up around the room.

  “We do thank you,” Sadie added.

  Clara Rose sidled up next to her and bumped her from in front of the bowl. “Now clear out. It’s my turn to mix.”

  * * *

  Caroline and Andrew ended up winning the tournament with the promise of a pre-Christmas rematch from Emily and Elam. The grand prize was an edible fruit arrangement that Hannah had learned to make at the community center.

  Sarah had been friends with Hannah for years and never known her to be so obsessed with kitchen chores. But since she had gotten married, that seemed to have changed. Sarah was happy that her friend had found something that suited her so well.

  The other part of the prize was a cheese ball without having to do any of the work. Not that it was that hard, just time-consuming and a little messy to get everything mixed up properly.

  Sarah took her turn forming the mixture into softball-sized lumps and plopping them into the to-go containers. Tripling the recipe was more than enough. Each couple had two cheese balls to take home as well as a fun evening of friends and fellowship.

  It was after ten when the driver came to pick up Sarah and Jonah. All in all, it was the best evening she’d had in a long while. Her mother had said that it would take time for everyone to come around. It helped that Jonah was treating her more like a wife than a liability. She could barely tell any differences in her friends’ marriages and her own. Except tonight when she and Jonah got home, they would go to separate rooms. But perhaps one day . . .

  They pulled into the driveway and Sarah got out, unlocking the door while Jonah paid the driver. The house would be cool and they would need to get a fire started soon in order to warm it back up.

  “Brrrr . . .” Jonah was on the porch behind her almost before she could get the door open.

  He moved toward the woodstove while she went to the kitchen to put the cheese balls in the fridge.

  “It was a fun night, jah?” Jonah asked as she moved back into the family room.

  “It would have been even more fun if I could have concentrated more.” Sadie had done better than she had, and Sadie was much further along than Sarah.

  Jonah smiled. “We’ll get ’em next time.”

  Her heart soared. Next time. She loved the sound of that. Next time meant they would go out as a married couple again. They would have a good time, talk with friends, play Rook, and make cheese balls. Live their life together. But she only nodded. “Next time,” she managed to say without grinning from ear to ear. It wouldn’t do to have him know how exciting the prospect was to her. It wouldn’t do at all.

  * * *

  “Do you think it’s going to snow?” Andrew looked out the barn door and up at the cloud-heavy sky as he asked the question.

  It was all anyone could talk about today. Church was being held at Caroline and Andrew’s house. Thankfully, they had a large barn where they could set up the benches into tables for the after-church meal. And the thick wooden walls kept out the chilly Oklahoma wind.

  “They’re not calling for it,” Jonah said. And he hoped it held off until after the next weekend. Thanksgiving was Thursday, and starting on Friday, he and his father and brothers were building the new barn.

  “The girls are already talking rematch,” Andrew said. Jonah realized he’d missed the first part of what his friend had said, but it only took a minute for him to catch up. He was referring to the card game from the night before.

  “Jah?”

  “Week after next. Are you two up for it?”

  “I’ll have to get with Sarah, but I don’t see why not.”

  Andrew stared at him as if he’d suddenly sprouted tulips out his ears.

  “What?”

  Andrew shook his head. “Nothing. It just seems married life agrees with you.”

  “Agrees with who?” Elam Riehl picked that moment to saunter up.

  “With our friend here.” Andrew used his coffee cup to indicate Jonah.

  “Happens to the best of us.” Elam chuckled.

  “Why wouldn’t it?” Jonah asked. He hadn’t meant for his tone to be so stern, but that was exactly how it came out.

  Andrew and Elam shared a look and Jonah knew what they were thinking. He had been forced to marry Sarah and he hadn’t exactly kept it a secret that he wanted nothing to do with her. But that was before he had gotten to know her. She was just about the hardest-working person he knew. She had gotten their house together in record time. Even when he could tell she was about to fall asleep on her feet, she kept going. She hadn’t complained at all about his mother’s interfering and she got excited over the smallest gift from him. And when she got excited . . . her eyes sparkled like gems, her sweet lips curled upward into a smile, and he felt like the best man on earth.

  So, yes, maybe being married agreed with him. But it was more than that. It was being married to Sarah.

  There. He had admitted it. He was starting to fall for Sarah. But wasn’t that supposed to happen? Falling in love was best for all involved. He, Sarah, the community, the baby. Everyone.

  “There you are.” Buddy picked that moment to rush up in true Buddy fashion.

  Jonah was grat
eful because it kept him from having to answer. “What’s up, Buddy?”

  “Mamm and Dat are about to leave. They wanted me to come get you.”

  Jonah frowned. “Is everything okay?”

  Buddy nodded. “Jah. I think Mamm has something she wants to give you, and I heard them say something about Thanksgiving.”

  He nodded toward Andrew and Elam and moved away with this brother.

  His parents were waiting for him in the buggy.

  “Buddy said you wanted me?”

  His mother cleared her throat. “About Thursday. Dinner is at one.”

  “About that,” Jonah started. He rubbed the back of his neck, wishing he had put on his scarf before coming out here to talk with his eldra. This wasn’t going to go easy, and it was cold. “Sarah and I talked, and we’re having the meal with her folks. Then we’ll be over later for pie and coffee.”

  His mother’s cheeks reddened until they were nearly the color of pickled beets. “When did you decide this?”

  Jonah shook his head. “It’s . . . the other day. See, we’ve spent more time with my family. We thought this was only fair.”

  His mother harrumphed.

  He knew she wasn’t going to like the decision. His plan had been to tell her the day of. Once the holiday was upon them, she wouldn’t be nearly as quick to get angry as she was right now.

  “We’re still coming by for pie.”

  “So you said.”

  The last thing he wanted to do was hurt his family, but there seemed to be no other way. He wondered what his other married friends did to balance the holidays between families. He had never thought to ask.

  “We’re planning on coming at Christmas, though.”

  Her eyes brightened, but only a little. “For the meal?”

  “Yes, Mamm.”

  She stiffened her spine, but he thought he saw a smile play at her lips. “Very well, then. See you on Thursday for pie.”

  Jonah stepped back and gave his mother a small wave. This marriage thing was turning out to be a lot trickier than he had planned.

  * * *

  Gertie sat back in her seat as Eli set the buggy into motion.

  “What’s on your mind, Mudder?”

  She inhaled, trying to get a grip on her raging emotions. Jonah had been forced to marry Sarah Yoder, and Gertie was doing her best to accept that. But she would have much rather he married someone more down-to-earth. Some of those fancy Amish might as well be English with all their gadgets and trinkets.

  “I worry about him,” she finally said.

  Eli clicked his tongue like he did when he was thinking. “I think he’s doing just fine.”

  Gertie harrumphed. It seemed she made that noise far too much these days. “How can he be fine when his wife can’t even run a wringer washer?”

  Eli paused, and she knew her quiet husband was measuring his words carefully. “It doesn’t really matter if she doesn’t have one.”

  “That’s just it. I worry that he married into fancy Amish.” She shook her head. “They are going to be the downfall of our district. Those Yoders and the Lapps.” Thomas Lapp’s family was the worst, driving around town in a tractor that had never met a field.

  Eli cleared his throat. “Seems to me that Hannah married pretty fancy.”

  She folded her hands in her lap as they rode along. “That’s different.”

  “How so?” Her husband took one hand from the reins and scratched his chin whiskers.

  “It just is. Hannah was raised right. She can cook on a woodstove and run a wringer washer. She doesn’t have to have fancy appliances in order to cook a meal.”

  “But her house is fancier than the one Jonah bought Sarah.”

  She turned in her seat to get a better look at his expression. Was he serious? Could he not see the dangers that had befallen their eldest son? “You just wait. By this time next year, it’ll be fancier than anything we’ve ever seen. Just wait. Why, I wouldn’t be surprised if she wasn’t using the electricity from the outlets.”

  Eli sighed, and she hated the sound. It meant he disagreed with her no matter what words followed it. “You don’t really mean that.”

  “I do.” She folded her hands in her lap once again, her piece being said.

  He pressed his lips together, then gave his head a small shake. “If you feel this strongly about it, then I guess all we can do is pray.”

  * * *

  Thanksgiving dawned bright and cold. Sarah looked out at the blue sky and knew today was one of those deceptive days. From inside the house, the weather looked like a pretty summer day, but if she touched the window she could feel how cold it really was.

  “Are you ready to go?” Jonah came up behind her, his coat already on.

  Sarah nodded. “Let me get the food.” She had a box of offerings for dinner at her mother’s house, including cinnamon pudding and sausage and noodles. She had packed a peanut butter pie to take to Jonah’s family. She figured it could stay out with the tractor while they were at her parents’ house and be nice and cold by the afternoon.

  They would have to take the tractor since it was a holiday and there weren’t many drivers willing to take time away from their family in order to cart the Amish around, but Sarah didn’t mind. Yes, it was cold and the wind stung her cheeks, but it felt good to ride along beside Jonah.

  Their relationship was changing. She could feel it. They were becoming increasingly comfortable around each other. The simple fact gave her hope that one day they might even have a normal marriage.

  There were no other tractors parked outside her parents’ house when they pulled up. Sarah had two older brothers, but it seemed that they were spending the holiday with their wives’ families.

  Jonah parked the tractor and hopped down, pulling the box from its storage place behind the seat. He had rigged up a wooden crate and a bungee cord to provide a stable place to haul small items.

  “Leave the peanut butter pie here,” Sarah instructed.

  “Are you saying I have to wait until this afternoon before I get to eat any of it?” His eyes twinkled as he said the words.

  Sarah smiled, happy that he liked her kitchen efforts. “You can have some cinnamon pudding.”

  He made a face. “Not even close.”

  Sarah laughed. “Sorry.”

  “You’re not. I think you did this just to torture me.”

  “Hey! I made the pie, didn’t I?”

  He nodded. “Okay. I’ll give you that. But next time, let’s have it for breakfast.”

  Sarah laughed and followed her husband inside.

  * * *

  The Yoder family Thanksgiving celebration was warm and inviting, if not extremely traditional. Bowls and platters covered the long dining table. Chicken and filling, rolls and beans.

  Jonah felt blessed to be a part of such a celebration. Plus, it was a little quieter. Only Annie, Hilde, and Otto had joined him and Sarah at the table.

  “Would you like more corn, Jonah?”

  Jonah sat back and patted his stomach. “Danki, Hilde, but I couldn’t hold another bite.”

  “I hear your dat and brothers are building you a barn tomorrow,” Otto said.

  “Jah. We’re starting one. Since the house belonged to the English, there’s not a place for us to keep the horse out of the weather.”

  Otto nodded. “If you need more help, let me know. I’d be happy to lend a hand.”

  “Danki.”

  “Coffee, anyone?” Annie came back in from the kitchen with a large coffeepot.

  Jonah turned his cup over near his plate and leaned back so Annie could pour him a portion. “Danki.”

  Sarah and Hilde got up and went into the kitchen only to return with the cinnamon pudding Sarah had made and a pecan pie.

  “Dessert,” Sarah said. “Which one would you like?” She smiled prettily at Jonah, and he felt like a king.

  “What? No pumpkin?”

  Hilde laughed as Annie came up from behind cradling a
beautiful pumpkin pie in her hands.

  “A slice of each?” Sarah asked.

  “Oh, no.” Jonah shook his head. There was no way he could eat that much, then turn around and eat more at his parents’ house.

  “Just a little one,” Annie said in a singsong voice.

  “Pecan,” he said, feeling quite spoiled by the Yoder women.

  Their household was so calm and loving. Dinner had been a quiet affair, giving everyone a chance to reflect on all the things they were thankful for.

  He was thankful for so much. No, the year hadn’t turned out exactly like he thought it would. Nowhere near, actually. But he had a fresh start. He could have gotten into so much trouble in the English world, and yet God had looked out for him. He hadn’t discovered what Lorie had found there and he might not ever, but he had found Sarah instead. He couldn’t say that she would have been his first choice in a wife, but he was thankful for her all the same. She had been a good wife to him in the weeks since they had married. And they were having a baby. He was about to start a family. For that he was doubly grateful. They had a nice house and supportive families. Two people couldn’t ask for much else. All that was left to do was to praise God for their blessings.

  Hilde served him a way-too-big piece of pecan pie, then offered ice cream. Despite his protests, he ended up with a large scoop at the side of his pie. It was delicious, but he was sure if he ate one more bite they would have to roll him out to the tractor when it was time to go.

  “When are you going to start decorating the nursery?” Annie asked as she devoured a large bowl of cinnamon pudding.

  Sarah’s gaze jerked to his. They hadn’t really talked about it. In fact, it seemed as if they constantly avoided discussing the baby at all. Which was strange considering that it was the very reason why they got married.

  “We haven’t talked about it,” Sarah finally answered.

  “We have the cutest fabric in at the store. I think it would make the sweetest sheets and blanket. It’s yellow with little giraffes on it. Adorable.”

  Annie chattered on in that Annie way of hers while Sarah and Jonah continued to simply look at one another. He had put it off long enough. They needed to get to the store and start gathering things for their new arrival. Up until now, he’d sort of ignored the fact that they were having a baby. It was ridiculous, he knew. He needed to take her to buy material to sew curtains and bedding. Everyone said the time flew by. How many of his friends had gotten married, then had a baby, stating that time seemed to fly by? All of them, as a matter of fact.