A Change of Heart

Chapter Fifteen

AARON BRACED HIMSELF FOR WHATEVER RUTH WAS ABOUT to show them, and wondered if using her as an excuse to see Leah was really going to be worth it. No telling what she might pull out of that bag of hers.

He glanced at Leah. Her smile stretched across her face, and somehow Aaron knew that whatever it was, Leah wouldn’t be offended or embarrassed. She seemed in awe of Aaron’s crazy aunt.

Ruth eased her hand into the bag and, as if to build tension, glanced back and forth between Aaron and Leah. “Are you ready?” She batted long black eyelashes at them. Then she took a deep breath and pulled her hand from the bag with a jerk.

Aaron thought he might fall out of his chair. He put a hand across his eyes and shook his head. But when he heard Leah giggle, he spread his fingers and viewed the object again.

“Ain’t this the darnedest thing?” Ruth held up a stuffed pink cat as long as her arm. “I found this little critter at a shop in town. If you push this button, he sings and dances up a storm.” Ruth fumbled around the back of the pink cat.

“Auntie Ruth, don’t push that button.” Aaron pulled his hand from his eyes and glared at her with enough of a warning that Ruth stopped her search for the switch.

“Well, all right.” Ruth shrugged and stuffed the cat back into her oversized pink bag. “I’ll show it to you later, Leah, when Mister Stuffy Pants isn’t around.”

Leah put one hand to her mouth, clearly holding back a giggle.

The manicotti arrived a few minutes later, and it was good, as Ruth had predicted. For the next forty-five minutes, Leah hung on Ruth’s every word as she detailed her travels and odd adventures. Aaron didn’t think Leah had ever looked more beautiful. Twice she’d looked at him with a twinkle in her eye and smiled.

“Now, I reckon I best get to the ladies’ room before we get back on the road.” Ruth pushed her chair back.

“Me too,” Leah said. “Be right back.”

As Leah followed Ruth to the women’s restroom, Aaron smiled. The two women were different in so many ways, but both had a spirited way of looking at life. He took a sip of his tea and thought about how he might be able to set up another date with Leah . . . without referring to it as a date, of course.

Paradiso was clearing out, but Leah’s two friends were still in the booth nearby. He could hear them chatting quietly, and he didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but when he heard Leah’s name mentioned, he couldn’t help but tune in. He smiled when he heard one of the girls say what a sweet person Leah was.

“But I wish she wouldn’t force all this religious stuff on us,” Aaron heard the other girl say. “I mean, she’s fun to hang out with when she’s not preaching. And now she wants us to read her Amish book? I don’t think so.”

But it’s not an Amish book. It’s about love, kindness, special friendships, and a relationship with the Lord.

“I agree. Leah is nice enough, but I’m not buying into all this religious junk.”

Aaron cut his eyes briefly in their direction, long enough to see them stepping away from the booth and heading to the exit door.

Leah’s book.

They’d left it in the plastic bag, pushed up against the wall, as if it weren’t anything special at all. It’s her only copy, and it’s very special.

Aaron acted quickly. He grabbed the bag filled with handwritten lined white pages—words Leah had toiled over until a perfect tale of love and God’s blessings had spilled onto the pages. He scurried back to his seat, and he could hear Ruth’s voice around the corner.

His urge to protect Leah overwhelmed him. It’s a good book. He stood up, leaned over, and stuffed the plastic bag as far down in Ruth’s giant bag as he could get it, amid items he was sure he didn’t want to see. Aaron threw himself back into his chair right before the two women entered the room.

“I just love your aunt,” Leah whispered when she sat down. “She’s delightful.”

“You’re delightful.” It just slipped out, and Aaron silently blasted himself for being so forward. But Leah’s dimples shone with approval.

James peered out his bedroom window, straining to see into the darkness.

“Are you spying on our maedel?” Marian wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned her head around him to see. “They were gone for a good bit.”

“Ya.” James watched Aaron walk Leah to the door, but once they hit the porch, James could no longer see them from the upstairs window. The car headlights lit up the front yard, and James thought about what an entertaining supper it must have been with Ruth.

“Perhaps they are becoming more than friends, no?” Marian pulled away from him and moved toward the bed. James followed her, rubbed his beard, and waited for his wife to pull back the covers.

He grinned. “I hope so.”

James turned on the small battery-operated fan on his night table and sat down on the bed. He stretched his legs atop the covers, crossed his ankles, and yawned. Marian dimmed the lantern and snuggled up next to him, kissed him on the cheek, and then moved to her side of the bed. They both bowed their heads in silent prayer.

James thanked the Lord for the many blessings in his life, and once he was done with his usual prayers, he added a special request.

Please, dear Father, help Leah to master the skills necessary for her to be a gut fraa. Help her to realize her place and to stop wasting her time with these silly stories she writes. Guide her, Lord, and help her to be a responsible young Amish woman. In Jesus’ name, I pray.

“Good night, my love.” Marian extinguished the lantern.

James locked his hands behind his head and faced the small fan, the gentle breeze a small relief from the stifling heat. “Good night.”

Aaron climbed into the front seat with Ruth after he walked Leah to the door. There was an awkward but wonderful moment when Leah’s eyes had fused with his in a way that made him think that they were becoming more than just friends.

“So did you ask her out again?” Ruth peeled down the driveway.

“Ya, I did. Worship service is at our haus this Sunday. I asked her if she’d like to take a buggy ride to Bird-in-Hand after the meal.” He paused, checked his seat belt, and grabbed the dash as Ruth rounded the corner.

“She’s a fine girl. Spunky.” Ruth turned toward Aaron. He wished she’d keep her eyes on the road. “But Aaron, Leah isn’t your ordinary Amish girl. As a matter of fact, I’m not seeing where you two have much in common.” She stared straight ahead again. “You’re rather boring compared to her.”

“What?” Aaron twisted in his seat to face her. “How can you say that to me?”

Ruth shrugged. “I love ya, Aaron.” She hesitated. “Actually, you’re my favorite, but don’t tell the others. Anyway, you just strike me as the kind of young man who is gonna want a woman to cook for ya, sew, tend to your house, and be, well—traditional.” Ruth chuckled. “I didn’t have to spend much time with Leah to realize that she ain’t real traditional. And I’ve heard your sisters speak of her. When they heard we were all going out to supper, I heard Annie telling Mary that the two of you weren’t a very good match.”

How dare they? “Leah and I would make a fine match.” Aaron sat taller and looped his thumbs in his suspenders. “And I’m not boring.”

“Maybe that was a bad choice of words. But you ain’t spunky like she is. And there’s nothing wrong with that.”

“It’s one of the things I like about Leah, her free spirit.”

Ruth pulled into the Lantz driveway. “From what she said tonight, I don’t think that father of hers encourages that free spirit. And Leah don’t strike me as someone who’s gonna be tamed into something she’s not.”

Aaron thought about what Ruth was saying, surprised at how much sense his aunt was trying to make, even if she was wrong about him. “I wouldn’t try to change her, Auntie Ruth.”

Ruth turned the car off and grabbed her big pink bag, then Aaron remembered.

“Ach, Auntie Ruth. I stuffed something in your purse when you were in the bathroom with Leah.”

She pushed open her car door, draped one foot out the door, but turned to look at him, her nose crinkling with displeasure. “Like the silverware, or what?”

Aaron grunted. “No.” He pointed to her purse. “There’s a plastic bag filled with papers. It’s one of Leah’s stories. Her Englisch friends left it on the table at Paradiso. I’ll give it to her on Sunday, but I didn’t want to make the night bad by telling her that her friends left something so important behind.”

Ruth dug around to the bottom of the bag and pulled out the plastic bag. “I thought this purse felt heavier.” She glanced at Aaron. “Have you read this?”

“Ya. It’s gut.”

They sat quietly in the dark for a moment. “Think Leah would mind if I read it?”

Aaron shrugged. “She seems to want people to read it. I reckon it’d be all right.”

Ruth put the bag back in her purse, then groaned as she lifted herself to a standing position. Aaron eased out of his seat, and they both closed the car doors and began walking toward the house.

“I’ll read it tonight. I might be dead tomorrow or the next day.”

“Why do you keep saying things like that, Auntie Ruth?” Aaron shook his head, then latched onto her arm as she walked up the porch steps. He thought about Leah lying in the meadow and how ridiculously he’d acted.

He reached for the matches on the shelf inside the kitchen door, pulled the lantern from the same place, and lit it. He held it out so Auntie Ruth could see her way into the kitchen.

She dropped the big purse on the kitchen table, put her hands on her hips, and stared hard at Aaron. “I say it because it’s the truth.”