Patricia Davids - Plain Admirer

As Joann came up beside the terrier mix, he looked her way. She stopped to pat his head. “I know just how you feel. So close and yet so far. Take my word for it, you wouldn’t have liked the outcome if you had caught him.” The cat was almost as big as the dog.

Joann walked on, wondering if there was a similar reason why she couldn’t obtain the prize she had been working so hard to secure. Would the outcome have been worse than what she had now? Only the Lord knew. She had to trust in His will, but it was hard to see the good through her disappointment.

After a few more minutes, she reached the buggy shop of Levi Beachy at the edge of town. She passed it every day on her way to and from work. Across the street from the shop stood the house that had almost been hers.

Sarah Wyse, a young Amish widow, had lived there until shortly after Christmas when she married Levi. For a time they had rented the house to a young Amish couple, but they had moved away a month ago and the small, two-story house was vacant again.

Vacant and waiting for someone to move in who would love and cherish it.

Joann stopped with her hands on the gate. The picket fence needed a coat of paint. She itched to take a paintbrush to it. The lawn was well-kept, but if the home belonged to her, she would plant a row of pansies below the front porch railing and add a birdhouse in the corner of the yard. She loved to watch birds. They always seemed so happy.

She would be happy, too, if all it took to build a snug home for herself was bits of straw and twigs. However, it took more. Much more.

She gazed at the windows of the upper story. She’d been a guest in Sarah’s home several times. She knew the upstairs held two bedrooms. One for her and one for visitors. Downstairs there was a cozy sitting room with a wide brick fireplace. Off the kitchen was a room just the right size to set up a quilt frame. Joann longed for a quilt frame of her own, but she didn’t have a place to keep one.

“Joann, how nice to see you,” Sarah Beachy said as she came out of the shop with her arms full of upholstery material. She did all the sewing for the business, covering the buggy seats and door panels her husband made in whatever fabric the customer ordered.

“Hello, Sarah,” Joann returned the greeting but couldn’t manage a cheerful face for her friend.

“Joann, what’s wrong?” Sarah laid her bundle on a bench outside the door and quickly crossed the narrow roadway.

Unexpected tears blurred Joann’s vision. She didn’t cry. She never cried. She rubbed the moisture away with her hands and folded her arms across her chest. “Nothing,” she said, gazing at the ground.

“Something is definitely wrong. You’re scaring me.” Sarah cupped Joann’s chin, lifting gently until Joann had no choice but to meet her gaze.

She swallowed and said, “I’ve come to tell you that you don’t have to wait until September to put your house on the market. You can do it right away.”

“You mean you’ve decided that you don’t want it?”

“I’m afraid I can’t afford it now.”

“I don’t understand. Just two weeks ago you told us you were sure you could earn the amount we agreed upon by that time.”

“I was fired today.”

“Fired? Why on earth would Otis Miller do that?”

“To give the job to someone who needs it more. He’s keeping me on as a part-time cleaning woman, and I can have my old job at the bookstore back, but I won’t earn nearly enough to pay you what you need by the end of the summer. It was really nice of you and Levi to offer to let me make payments over time, but I know how much you want to make improvements to the business before winter.”

“Levi would like to get the holes in the roof fixed and a new generator for the lathe, but I would rather see you happy. If you want, I can talk to him about giving you more time. Perhaps, instead of selling it we could rent it to you. We would both be delighted to have you as our neighbor.”

“Danki, but that isn’t fair to you. Selling your house outright makes much more sense. Besides, with only a part-time job, I wouldn’t be able to afford the rent, either. There will be another house for me when the time is right.”

She said as much, but she wasn’t sure she believed it. Her brothers didn’t feel she should live alone and they weren’t willing to cover the cost of another house. The local bank had already turned her down for a home loan. She didn’t have enough money saved to make a substantial down payment and her employment record wasn’t long enough. Only Levi and Sarah had been willing to take a chance on her.

Another home might come along in the distant future, but would it have such a sunny kitchen? Or such an ample back porch with a well-tended garden that backed up to the woods, and a fine sturdy barn for a horse and buggy? This house was perfect. It wasn’t too large or too small, and it was close to work.

To the job she didn’t have anymore. Her shoulders slumped.

“Come in and have a cup of tea,” Sarah said. “There must be something we can do. Perhaps you can find a different job.”

The wind kicked up and blew the ribbons of Joann’s white prayer kapp across her face. She glanced toward the west. “Danki, but I should get going. It looks like rain is coming this way.”

“I’ll have one of the boys hitch up the cart and drive you.”

Joann managed to smile at that. “I’m not about to get in a cart with Atlee or Moses. People still talk about how they rigged the seats to tip over backward in Daniel Hershberger’s buggy and sent him and his new wife down the street, bottoms up.”

Sarah tried not to laugh but lost the struggle. She giggled and pressed her hand to her lips. “It was funny, but my poor Levi was so upset. You will be safe with either one of the twins. Levi’s mischief-making brothers have been a changed pair since our wedding.”

“How did you manage that?”

Sarah leaned close. “I only feed them when they behave. They do like my cooking.”

Joann laughed and felt better. “Ah, Sarah, your friendship is good for my soul.”

“I cherish your friendship, as well. Who did Otis give your job to?”

“Roman Weaver. I’m to teach him everything I know about the business.”

“I see.” A thoughtful expression came over Sarah’s face. “So you will be working with Roman. Interesting.”

“Only until he has learned enough to do my job. What’s so interesting about it?”

A gleam entered Sarah’s eyes. “Roman is single. You are single.”

Joann held up her hand and shook her head. “Oh, no! Don’t start matchmaking for me. Roman doesn’t know I exist, and it wouldn’t matter if he did. I’m not the marrying kind.”

“You will be when God sends the right man your way. I’m the perfect example of that. I didn’t think I would marry again after my first husband died, but Levi changed my mind. Roman’s a nice fellow. Don’t let the disappointment of losing your job color your opinion of him.”

“I’ll try. Just promise me you won’t try any of your matchmaking tricks on me.”

“No tricks, I promise.”

After refusing a ride once more, Joann bid Sarah farewell and glanced again at the lovely little house on the edge of town before heading toward her brother’s farm two miles away. Her steps were quicker, but her heart was still heavy.

* * *

Roman left his uncle’s publishing house and stopped on the narrow sidewalk outside. The realization that he couldn’t do the job he loved left him hollow and angry.

He’d never once wanted to work anywhere except in the sawmill alongside his father. The business had been handed down in his family for generations. His mother used to say that he and his father had sawdust in their veins instead of blood. It was close to the truth. Now he was being asked to give it up. The thought was unbearable. He’d already lost so much. He tried not to be bitter, but it was hard.