A Change of Heart

Chapter Seventeen

JAMES WAITED ON THE FRONT PORCH FOR MARIAN AND the girls to gather up the dishes they’d brought to the Lantzes’ for the Sunday meal. What a good day it was. A fine worship service, a wonderful meal, and plenty of good company. He waved as several buggies pulled out to head for home, as he was hoping to do soon. The heavy meal had settled on him, and he was ready to relax at his own home before bedtime, perhaps take in the sunset from the front porch. Tomorrow would be a busy day, but Sundays were a day of rest, and that was exactly how James planned to spend the remainder of this one.

The screen door slammed, and James turned to see Ruth joining him on the porch, toting a plastic bag. She’d shed her bright red shoes, and as she walked barefoot toward him, still dressed in the red polka dot dress, he couldn’t help but smile. She didn’t smile back.

“This is for you.” She thrust the plastic bag at him, almost hitting him in the stomach. “Read it. Think about it. Pray about it.”

“What?” James peeked into the bag. Dozens, or hundreds, of notebook-sized papers were bound with three rubber bands. “What is this?” He flipped through the pages for a moment, then looked up at Ruth.

“Leah has a gift from the Lord, James. Don’t keep the girl from being who she really is by stifling her dreams.” Ruth waved her hand in the air. “There’s plenty of women around here who can cook, clean, tend gardens, and the like—but I don’t know any who have the ability to touch another person through words on a page like your Leah. She is special, James. And someone is gonna read this book and be changed by it.”

“This is Leah’s?” He looked in the bag again. “Why are you giving it to me?”

Ruth grinned. “’Cause I think you’re gonna be the first one to be changed by it.” She slapped him on the arm. “Now, go store that in your buggy. No need to mention this to the others, but you take yourself home and you read that girl’s story. Quit trying to mold her into something she ain’t. She has a far greater purpose.”

Then she actually gave James a little push on the shoulder. He just wanted her to go away, so he marched to the buggy, stashed the bag under the seat, and stalled a bit until he saw her go back inside. Glad she’s not my aunt.

It wasn’t long before Marian, Edna, Mary Carol, and Kathleen joined him, and they all squeezed into the buggy. Without Leah in between him and Marian, the ride was much more comfortable, even though his daughters were somewhat cramped in the back. But it was a short ride, and the entire way he thought about what Ruth said and about the bag under his seat.

Leah flung her hands into the air and held her head back, the wind whipping her cheeks into a rosy shade of pink, and Aaron didn’t think he’d ever seen a more beautiful vision. Her brown dress brought out the color of her eyes, which flickered like gold in the sunlight. He picked up the pace even more, until his horse was in a comfortable gallop.

“I love to go fast!” She dropped her hands and turned toward him, and Aaron smiled in her direction. “I hardly ever get to drive our buggy. We have two, the family-sized covered buggy and the spring buggy. But if Mamm and Daed aren’t using one, Edna gets the first chance to travel in it. Since she’s the oldest and all.”

Aaron slowed the horse to a trot, glad that he was fortunate enough to own a topless buggy. Unlike a spring buggy, which wasn’t enclosed and held four comfortably, his courting buggy only had one seat—just room enough for two. A cozy arrangement for those of dating age. “You wanna drive?”

“Ya!” She twisted toward him. “I sure do!”

“Whoa, boy,” he said, bringing the buggy to a complete stop. “There aren’t too many cars on this road, but watch that curve up ahead in front of the Miller place. Sometimes the Englisch come barreling around that corner in their cars.”

“I will.”

Aaron walked around to the other side of the buggy, and Leah slid over to his side and picked up the reins. He was just getting ready to give her some simple instructions when she whistled and slapped the horse into action. Aaron grabbed his hat just as it began to lift off his head. He pushed it down tighter around his forehead as Leah brought the horse to a faster run than he had a few moments ago.

I hope this wasn’t a mistake. She seems fearless.

But as he watched her slow the horse and ease around the sharp corner, his heart rate returned to normal. Then she picked it up again, and they flew down a long stretch of wide-open road. Her smile was eager and alive, and Aaron slid an arm around her shoulder. She slowed down almost instantly, and the perk in her mood seemed to deflate. Aaron pulled his arm back, realizing he’d gone too far.

“That’s enough for me,” she said. She brought the buggy to a halt and wasted no time jumping from the seat. Aaron exited his side and met her up front where she was rubbing Pete’s snout. “He’s tired. We probably ran him too hard.”

Aaron knew that wasn’t what caused her to jump out of his buggy.

“Why are we going to Bird-in-Hand?” She tilted her head to one side, still stroking the horse. “It’s mostly for tourists.”

Aaron shrugged. “Just somethin’ to do. We can go anywhere you want.”

He saw her take a deep breath, and she avoided his eyes when she spoke. “Maybe back to your cousin’s pond. It’s pretty there.”

And private. “Sure. We can go there.” It wasn’t in his plan. He’d wanted to buy her something at the market in Bird-in-Hand, sip root beer at the small stand on the way there, and make sure she knew he wasn’t boring. But this was a far greater plan.

Less than five minutes later, Aaron parked the buggy, and he and Leah walked down to the water’s edge. He followed her out onto the pier. She pulled off her black leather shoes and socks, sat down, and dangled her feet in the water below. Aaron followed her lead, careful not to sit too close to her.

“Remember when we were younger, how everyone used to go to the river? The girls would all sit on the bank and watch all you boys swim.” She turned toward him with an expression of fond recollections.

“Ya.” Aaron remembered that he was always looking at Leah to see if she was watching him when he took his turn on the tire swing. “Those were fun times.”

They sat quietly for a few moments.

“I can’t wait to hear what Donna and Clare think of my book,” she said out of the clear blue.

Aaron took a deep breath, knowing he was about to kill the mood and the moment.

“Leah, I need to tell you something about that.”

“What?” She was still splashing her feet in the water, but she looked up.

“Your Englisch friends left the book on the table, and I picked it up, and—”

“What?” Her feet grew still in the water, and her eyes searched his.

“I’m sure they didn’t mean to. I saw them leave, and they must have just—”

“But that’s my only copy. What if you hadn’t picked it up?”

Aaron didn’t have the heart to tell her what he’d overheard the girls saying. He wanted so badly to take her in his arms, comfort her, and tell her that those girls were not the ones meant to read her book. They weren’t ready.

She bolted upright. “Where’s the book now?”

“I didn’t want to upset you that night, so I stuffed it into Auntie Ruth’s purse. I meant to bring it to you, but I forgot to get it back.” He paused. “Ach, and I hope it’s okay, but Auntie Ruth asked if she could read it.”

This brightened her face. “Really?”

“Ya. Is that all right?”

“Ya. Ya. I can’t wait to hear what she thinks of it.”

“I’m sure that Donna and Clare want to read it too.” It was a lie, and Aaron wished he hadn’t said it, but he felt compelled to make her happy.

She shook her head, then turned to him and smiled. “Maybe they just aren’t ready.”

He smiled back at her, and then without warning, she cut her foot to the side and splashed water all over him. “You were sweating like our pig!” she said, laughing.

Aaron wiped the water from his face, cut his eyes in her direction, and then returned the gesture, covering her with water. “You looked pretty sweaty yourself!”

She screamed when the cool water doused her, and immediately kicked water back at him. “Take that, Aaron Lantz!”

Laughter erupted from way down deep. Aaron wasn’t sure what came over him, but he suddenly grabbed her around the waist and threw her in.

Leah bobbed up, soaking wet, bobbed back under again, then bobbed up, gasped for air, and said, “I can’t swim!”

Aaron’s heart leaped from his chest as he jumped into the water to rescue her. He wrapped his arms around her, pulled her close to him, and then stood up in the four feet of water. Leah stood up then, too, laughing so hard she could hardly speak. “Gotcha!”

But Aaron still had his arms tightly around her waist. “Who’s got who?”

She stopped laughing, and fear stretched across her face as her eyes met with his. He could feel her trembling. The honorable thing to do would have been to let her go and help her out of the water and back onto the pier. Instead he pulled her closer and kissed her gently on the lips. Then he kissed her again, and this time she closed her eyes and kissed him back.

“Leah,” he whispered. He pushed a strand of wet hair from her cheek and attempted to tuck it back beneath her wet prayer covering. “I’ve wanted to do that for a long time.”

“Aaron, I—I—” She pushed away from him. “I’d make a terrible choice for courtship.” She crinkled her face as if she’d bitten into something sour.

He stepped closer to her in the water and gently put his hands on her waist and turned her so that her back was against the pier. She was still trembling. With ease, he lifted her up and onto the pier. He stayed in the water facing her. “Is this the part where you’re gonna tell me what a terrible cook you are, and how you can’t sew?”

She hung her head, then looked back up at him. “Not only is it true, it doesn’t even bother me much that I can’t do these things. I’d rather be writing and doing things that matter to me.”

Aaron grabbed his straw hat, floating nearby. Then he lifted himself onto the pier. He set the wet hat down beside him, pushed back his soaked hair, and turned to face her. “Why don’t we just see how it goes?”

Leah nodded. “Okay.” Then she pointed a finger in his direction. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you. I’ll never be one of those women who cooks and cleans and waits on a man constantly, without any other outside interests, and I also will not—”

Aaron kissed her again, and she stopped talking and fell willingly into his arms.