Jo Brown - The Amish Suitor

His stomach rumbled at the thought and tightened with anxiety. He hesitated while the men began lifting plywood on top of sawhorses. From where he sat, he could see Miriam working with a half dozen other women to arrange chairs around the makeshift tables.

He groaned, wishing he had some excuse not to join the communal meal. Unlike on church Sundays, he couldn’t slip away. He was needed to oversee the afternoon’s work. A quick glance at the ground warned he couldn’t use needing to get more supplies as an excuse for why he couldn’t sit with the rest of the workers while they ate.

Taking a deep breath, he climbed down. He took his time switching off the nail gun and the air compressor. Without its low rumble, he caught staccato hints of voices and laughter. No specific words, but he guessed the atmosphere was casual and cordial. He wished he could feel that way, too.

Pausing to wash his hands at the hand pump set between the barn and the dilapidated house, Eli walked to where a generous assortment of food was arranged on planks that would be used on the school’s roof and walls. Drawing in a deep breath of the aromas, he helped himself to a variety of casseroles, a couple rolls and apple butter. Conversation buzzed like a swarm of maddened bees, and he picked out a few words. Enough to let him know most of the discussion was about the progress on the school.

He smiled. That he could talk about, though he wished Kyle was there. His nephew was gut about clueing him in to the specifics of anyone’s comment.

Taking a seat at the end of one makeshift table, he said silent grace before digging into his food. It was as tasty as it smelled. He’d learned that bending over his plate and appearing completely focused on his meal kept others from trying to draw him into the conversation.

He couldn’t keep himself from looking at where Miriam sat at a nearby “table.” She was chatting with her friends, and they laughed with an ease that suggested they’d known each other their whole lives. He remembered when it’d been simple to be around people and enjoy their company, but that seemed as if it were part of someone else’s life.

Suddenly, she looked in his direction.

And caught him watching her.

A piece of roll stuck in his throat, and he fought not to cough. It would draw everyone’s attention.

Miriam will help you learn to understand others better .

He couldn’t deny the truth, but spending time with her might only increase how often she invaded his thoughts. A bad idea. He couldn’t see any outcome other than her dumping him as Betty Ann had or her trying to shower him with compassion. He didn’t want either, especially the latter because he’d come to equate compassion with pity.

When Caleb called out what must have been a jesting comment because everyone laughed, Eli chuckled, too, though he had no idea what Caleb had said. He relaxed when he realized the topic was how he was looking to establish himself as a carpenter. Questions were fired at him, and he kept nodding, hoping he wasn’t committing himself to something he didn’t have the skills to do.

“...more pie?” asked Miriam as she held a plate out in front of him.

The aroma of baked apples flavored with cinnamon and nutmeg made his mouth water. He took the plate. “Danki.”

“You...doing well.”

“ Ja , you’ll be moving the scholars into the school before you end your summer term.”

Her smile wavered as it did whenever he mentioned her teaching the kinder . Curiosity tugged at his tongue, urging him to ask the obvious questions.

He didn’t.

If he started probing into why she acted as she did, she might do the same to him. He didn’t want to talk about the tragedy...again and again as he’d had to in Delaware.

“You...rest doing a gut job,” she said before she put another piece of pie in front of a man who’d been cutting two-by-fours.

In spite of himself, Eli’s hand paused between the plate and his mouth while he watched the other men’s gazes following Miriam. That wasn’t any surprise, because she was lovely. What was a surprise was the swell of something distasteful when she wore a brilliant smile as she answered a man on the other side of the table.

Jealousy.

For the time she was spending with the others? Or for how easy it was for them to talk with her?

Or both?

Lord, help me focus on what’s important for me and for Kyle.

It was a prayer he needed to keep in his heart every hour of every day.

Yet, it was impossible to look away when Miriam set a plate in front of LaVon, who was sitting across from him. She said something to the other man, but her gaze locked again with Eli’s.

This time she didn’t look away like a frightened rabbit. She met his eyes. The bits of voices he could discern faded as he became lost in the connection between them. Every instinct told him to tear his gaze away. He didn’t.

Was it confusion he saw on her face? Was she as baffled and uncertain about this invisible bridge that spanned the distance between them?

Eli had no time to puzzle that out because she looked toward the other end of the tables. Just as everyone else did. Belatedly, he copied the others’ motions.

Caleb had risen to his feet. He was smiling as he spoke, but Eli caught only two words.

“Fire department...”

He didn’t know what else Caleb had said. Whatever it was must have been important because the other men were sitting back, considering Caleb’s words. Eli waited for one or more of them to ask questions so he could discover why Caleb had mentioned a fire department.

“Volunteers...?” asked LaVon.

“Ja.” Caleb smiled as he sat again and folded his arms on the table. When Eli strained, he picked out the words, “With more houses...Harmony Creek...more volunteers. We’re here during the day. That... gut for the department.”

Eli understood. Or hoped he did. The local fire department was looking for more volunteers, especially those who were at home during the day. From what he’d learned about Salem, most people worked in other towns, some driving more than thirty miles each way. A fire during the day would get out of control without enough volunteers to fight it. The arrival of the Amish who worked on their farms was the perfect solution to the quandary.

“Interested?” asked Caleb as he looked in Eli’s direction.

“ Ja . I volunteered in Delaware.” He wished he hadn’t jumped on the chance when he saw Miriam frown in his direction.

He understood what she didn’t say. Kyle had told him about the sirens that had sped past on the main road, the ones Eli hadn’t heard when he went to talk to Miriam about the schoolhouse plans. No wonder she looked puzzled that he was volunteering to be a firefighter.

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