“Is this only a temporary stay?” I was afraid to hear his answer. “Or are you planning to live with your parents and join the church?”
“I haven’t gotten that far. I’ll probably stay at least long enough to find out if Dat makes it. He could croak, you know.”
“What a horrible thing to say.”
“Well, it’s the truth.”
“Says who?”
“The neurologist at the trauma center. He warned Mamm not to bring him home. But Mamm just crossed her arms and said, ‘If he’s going to die, I want him at the farm with me.’ ” Jake tapped the steering wheel as if replaying the rock song in his mind. “Even if he lives, he’ll never be able to work again. Not like he did before.”
“Meaning you’ll stay?”
“Yah. If he can’t work the farm, what would happen to Mamm? She can’t keep the farm going or even do her chores if she’s tending to his needs. Maybe Brandy will stay and help her for room and board.”
I wondered if he and Brandy had already agreed upon a scheme.
“With a boppli, Brandy will need help herself.”
“Let’s leave Brandy out of this discussion, Evie. You’d be my real motivation for staying. If you’d take me for your husband over all your other suitors.” He pulled off to the side and rolled to a stop. “But you don’t seem to care for me anymore.”
I still adored Jake with all my heart. But trusting him was another subject. He’d believed all the gossip about me. And now he’d just proposed and then retracted the invitation? Despite his many attributes, he was as unstable as ever.
He turned toward me and said, “If you won’t wed me, I might marry Brandy to give her child a father. No child should grow up without one.”
“What? You’d marry a woman you don’t even love?” A searing pain stretched from my throat to my stomach.
“Well, you won’t marry me, will you?” he said, his voice turning acidic.
“How could I marry an Englischer, Jake? You’re not even Amish anymore.”
“And you are? If you ask me, you’ve used me as an excuse to not join the church.”
“How dare you? You think I’d forsake Gott for you?”
As we neared the nursery, the sky turned dark. We passed a buggy coming from the other direction. Mark was driving and had a young lady nestled at his side. Was it Olivia?” It was hard to tell in Jake’s headlamps. No, it was her younger sister, Emma, almost Olivia’s spitting image. She was giggling and clinging to Mark’s arm. His gaze zeroed in on me, and his jaw dropped. His arms straightened, and his torso lifted from his seat, but he offered no salutation. He’d gone to the singing after all and found himself a date. Not necessarily a date, but a girl to escort home. He wasn’t moping over me. Which was good.
Maybe Mark would keep what he saw to himself. But Emma would tell Olivia, and then the whole county would hear about me. Again.
Wait. Olivia said she was leaving with her boyfriend last night. Why was Emma at a singing if her sister ran off? Didn’t she care? Or maybe Olivia changed her mind. I didn’t know how to find out without risking getting her into more trouble.
“Better drop me off somewhere,” I told Jake as we closed in on the nursery.
“Nee, I can’t leave you alone.”
I recalled Ralph and decided I did want an escort after all. The man could be prowling around and harbor a grudge against me.
“Jake, maybe you could park in that used car lot and walk with me the rest of the way. It looks closed.” The interior lights of the brick one-story building had been dimmed, leaving only a few exterior lamps.
He slapped the turn indicator. “Okay. This clunker will fit right in.”
“When I saw you driving Brandy the other day, you looked in your element,” I said.
He shot me a look of skepticism. “You mean because I was using the buggy? No sooner did we get here than she started pestering me to give her a ride in ours.”
“And how did it feel driving the horse?”
“What are you getting at?”
“Could you ever live without a car again?”
“I doubt it. But I’ll need to return this one to Jeff and then take the bus or train back—if I return. Or buy another. I was earning good money up there. And I’ve been saving it. When I go, you should come with me. We could take a side trip to Niagara Falls.”
“Or Florida?”
“Isn’t that the wrong direction?”
“Yah, but really, if you could go anywhere, where would you pick?” I knew we were playing in the Land of Make-Believe, as we had as teens. “I’d choose Italy.” I could hardly believe what I’d declared. “I’m reading a novel Beatrice lent me.”
He chuckled. “That’s more than a bit out of the way.”
“Then how about the Grand Canyon?”
“It’s out of the way too, but maybe someday we could go there. You never know.” He shot me a fleeting glance. “You could help me drive.”
I guffawed. “I don’t have a clue how to drive a car, and you know it.”
“Well, then, let’s change that right now.” Jake came to a halt in the far end of the car lot, next to a squat building with a sign that said Auto Parts. All customers and staff had left hours ago, I assured myself.
He swiveled in his seat to speak to me. “Have you never driven a car? Not even once?”
“Nee. Never.”
“Not even in your running-around time?”
Technically, I still was in rumspringa because I hadn’t yet committed to a lifetime as a church member. “I’m not capable of driving an automobile.”
“I bet you’re more capable than you know. Why don’t you give it a try?” His voice was tinged with amusement. Or maybe he was teasing all
