Their Pretend Courtship, page 1
“Oh, neh, I’m all thumbs,” Eliza said...
“I tied my basket on too tight, but I think it’s in a knot, so I can’t loosen it. Could you please help me with it, Jonas?”
But then it occurred to Jonas that she was flirting with him.
“Sure, I’ll give it a try,” he said. As he loosened the knot, he was close enough to lean forward and whisper in her ear, “I’m sorry I didn’t get to see you yesterday, but may I take you for a ride next Sunndaag after kurrich?”
“I’d like that a lot,” she whispered back, turning her head ever so slightly. Her face was so close to his that if they’d actually been courting and no one else had been around them, he might have been tempted to kiss her cheek.
The unbidden thought was so disquieting to him that Jonas stepped back and said to her brothers, “If your teeth are bloh when you kumme back, I’ll know what you’ve been eating!”
Carrie Lighte lives in Massachusetts next door to a Mennonite farming family, and she frequently spots deer, foxes, fisher cats, coyotes and turkeys in her backyard. Having enjoyed traveling to several Amish communities in the eastern United States, she looks forward to visiting settlements in the western states and in Canada. When she’s not reading, writing or researching, Carrie likes to hike, kayak, bake and play word games.
Books by Carrie Lighte
Love Inspired
The Amish of New Hope
Hiding Her Amish Secret
An Unexpected Amish Harvest
Caring for Her Amish Family
Their Pretend Courtship
Amish of Serenity Ridge
Courting the Amish Nanny
The Amish Nurse’s Suitor
Her Amish Suitor’s Secret
The Amish Widow’s Christmas Hope
Amish Country Courtships
Amish Triplets for Christmas
Anna’s Forgotten Fiancé
An Amish Holiday Wedding
Minding the Amish Baby
Her New Amish Family
Her Amish Holiday Suitor
Visit the Author Profile page at LoveInspired.com.
THEIR PRETEND COURTSHIP
Carrie Lighte
Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
—Colossians 3:13
For every reader who has encouraged me with generous, uplifting feedback—thank you!
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Epilogue
Dear Reader
Excerpt from Guarding His Secret by Jill Kemerer
Chapter One
“Sit down, Eliza. Your mamm and I have something important we want to discuss with you,” Uri Gehman announced.
Eliza Keim could guess what her stepfather was going to say. Every summer since Eliza turned eighteen, he’d given her a different version of the same lecture. “It’s time for you to get married and start a familye of your own in a haus of your own,” he’d say. “I should be planting extra celery in my garden by now.”
It was the beginning of July, more than two weeks past the time of year when young courting Amish couples in New Hope, Maine, informed their parents of their intentions to get married during the autumn wedding season. In turn, the couples’ families planted extra celery because the vegetable was an essential ingredient in traditional Amish wedding meals. But for the fifth year in a row, Eliza hadn’t approached her parents about increasing the size of their garden. Uri was aware that she’d been seeing her latest suitor, Petrus Kramer, since last July, so he undoubtedly wanted an update on the status of their relationship.
No one else I know is expected to discuss their courtships with their eldre, Eliza silently brooded.
In fact, most couples she knew went to great lengths to keep their romantic relationships a secret from their peers, as well as from their family members. There were exceptions, of course; some young people were pleased to make it known they were courting. But Eliza was not one of them and she resented having to discuss the subject with her stepfather. However, even though she was twenty-three years old and even though Uri wasn’t technically her father, Eliza respected the Biblical commandment that children honor their parents. She slid into a chair at the kitchen table.
“Aren’t you going to sit with us, too, Lior?” Uri asked Eliza’s mother, who was presterilizing jars in preparation for putting up strawberry preserves.
Can’t he see she’s busy? Eliza marveled to herself. Clearly, the timing of this discussion wasn’t her mother’s idea; she probably hadn’t wanted to discuss the subject at all. But Lior hesitantly wiped her hands on her apron and took a seat beside her husband. Uri didn’t waste any time getting to the point.
“We’ve been expecting you and Petrus to speak to us about your intention to marry,” he said, the gruff tone in his voice matching the expression on his face. “We understand that he’s up north in Fort Fairfield for the summer. Is that why you haven’t spoken to us yet?”
“Neh.” Eliza glanced down at her hands, folded atop the table, so she wouldn’t have to look Uri in the eye. “Petrus and I aren’t getting married. Our courtship ended before he left.”
Petrus had been deeply disappointed when she’d told him she didn’t want him as her suitor any longer. Like Eliza’s stepfather, he’d assumed that after almost a year of courting, they were on their way to marriage. But she’d been very clear from the beginning that accepting him as a suitor didn’t mean she was seeking to get married. She distinctly told him she’d like to get to know him better as a friend before they could even consider a romantic relationship.
During the entire time they’d courted, Eliza had only walked out with Petrus on three or four occasions per month at most. And when they had socialized together, she’d always made a point of suggesting they participate in group outings, such as hiking or bowling with their peers. The only time they’d ever been alone was during their travel time in his buggy.
And although Eliza was a warmhearted person by nature, she’d been careful to never voice any special sentiments toward Petrus. And she’d certainly never allowed him to hold her hand, much less kiss her. In essence, she’d treated him as if he was a brother. A favorite brother, perhaps, but nothing more. So he’d had no reason to believe marriage was on the horizon for the two of them.
Still, when he’d brought up the topic a few weeks ago, Eliza was pained to discover how optimistic he’d been about sharing a future with her. That was why she’d broken up with him; she didn’t want to give him false hope that if they continued courting long enough, she’d develop romantic feelings for him and eventually agree to become his wife.
Uri was drumming his fingers against the table, signaling he was impatiently awaiting an explanation, so she elaborated, “I didn’t believe we were a gut match.”
“In what way?” her stepfather asked, causing Eliza to draw back her head in surprise. Even for him, the question was intrusive.
“Uri, if she says they weren’t a gut match, we should trust her judgment. Eliza’s almost twenty-four. She doesn’t have to ex—” Lior began to defend her daughter’s privacy, but her husband cut her off.
“That’s right. She’s almost twenty-four. She should be married by now. She should be raising her own family in her own home. And if she doesn’t intend to get married, she ought to find a full-time job and contribute to our familye’s expenses.”
“But she already contributes to our expenses and I need her help here,” Lior objected.
“Three of the buwe will be in schul all day once it begins in September,” Uri pointed out to his wife. “So you’ll only have two at home with you.”
Eliza’s five half brothers were three, four, six, eight and nine. While it was true that it might be a little easier for her mother to manage because six-year-old Samuel would start attending school in the fall, Uri clearly had no appreciation for all the effort it took to keep their household running smoothly. Especially since the youngest boys were also the most active of the bunch. And Lior struggled with low energy, which her doctor attributed to having a baby when she was forty-two and then another at forty-three, in addition to the three sons she was already raising.
“I could increase the number of rugs I make. Or increase their size so I could charge more for them,” Eliza suggested. She consigned handmade rag rugs at the local Amish hardware store and then gave seventy-five percent of what she earned to her family’s needs, ten percent to the needs of the church and the other fifteen percent she kept for herself. Her stepfather had never complained about this financial arrangement before now.
He ignored her offer and continued to harp on the topic of her courtships. “Every time you break up with a suitor, you give the same reason—you don’t believe you’re a gut match. It seems like it’s a matter of hochmut for you to reject one suitor after the next.”
Hochmut meant pride, and to be fair, Eliza could understand why Uri thought she was acting as if she was somehow superior to her suitors. But she honestly hadn’t been rejecting any of them; she’d been rejecting their hopes of marrying her.
Why would I want to get married? she asked herself. So I can be as overworked and underloved as my mamm is? No, she’d much rather stay single. Besides, her mother needed help raising the five boys. If Eliza hadn’t been trying to appease her stepfather, she never would have accepted an offer of courtship in the first place.
“I understand it might seem as if I think more highly of myself than of my suitors, but I truly believe Petrus would be better off with someone else. I couldn’t agree to marry him simply because he wanted me to or because I’m almost twenty-four and it’s expected of me.” Eliza wanted to add, Or because you want another mann in the familye to help you in the workshop.
Uri made crates and pallets for local farmers to use for storing and transporting potatoes and other produce. Over the last few years, his business had become so successful that he’d had a difficult time keeping up with the demand. Eliza’s mother had suggested he hire a couple of teenage boys to help him on the weekends, but Uri insisted that a family business should stay strictly within the family. The more orders he received, the more Uri pressured Eliza to get married.
“You still haven’t said precisely why Petrus isn’t a gut match for you.”
Eliza stalled, trying to think of a convincing reason why she wouldn’t want to marry Petrus, other than she had no interest in getting married at all. She didn’t want to belittle Petrus, since she genuinely liked him as a friend. So she appealed to her stepfather’s interests instead, and said, “It’s not just that Petrus wouldn’t be a gut match for me. He wouldn’t be a gut match for our familye. You’ve indicated how much you’d like to have a son-in-law who could help you with the business, but Petrus’s daed expects him to continue working on the dairy bauerei after he gets married.”
“What about his older bruder?”
“He’s moving to Minnesota, so he can help his wife’s daed on the bauerei there.”
Uri pulled on his long, white beard as he mulled over this information. Eliza’s stepfather was sixteen years older than her mother, who was forty-six. She, too, was graying, which her daughter attributed to stress, rather than to genetics. Her mother’s ashen appearance served as a visual reminder of how much Lior needed Eliza’s help at home.
“If you didn’t believe you were a gut match for Petrus, maybe it’s best that you ended your courtship with him after all,” Uri finally conceded and Eliza breathed a sigh of relief. Until he added, “Especially since I’ve recently been approached by someone else who is interested in courting you.”
“You’ve been approached?” Eliza repeated, unable to keep the scorn from her voice. Any man who would ask her stepfather’s permission to court her, instead of asking her directly, was no man she’d ever accept as a suitor.
“Jah. Initially, I told him neh because I thought you and Petrus were still courting. But since you’ve ended your relationship with him, you should consider accepting Willis Mullet as a suitor.”
Willis Mullet? He’s closer to Mamm’s age than to mine! The tall, overweight man had been a widow for eight years. He’d lived with his mother, who’d helped him raise his three sons, now eleven, ten and nine, until she died last winter. While Eliza could appreciate why he urgently wanted to remarry, she was alarmed to discover he was interested in courting her. Panicking, Eliza blurted out, “Willis is way too old for me.”
“He might provide the maturity you need from a suitor. Besides, he’s only thirty-six. That’s thirteen years’ difference between your ages. There’s sixteen years separating your mamm and me.”
That was exactly Eliza’s point; she didn’t want to follow in her mother’s footsteps and marry an older man. She didn’t want to marry any man. Or court any man. Especially not one who seemed as dull and needy as Willis Mullet. But since her stepfather wouldn’t be satisfied unless she was walking out with someone, she figured the least she should be allowed to do was choose a suitor for herself. “I—I know, but... But lately another mann has been paying special attention to me and I—I think he’s on the brink of asking to be my suitor.”
Uri raised an eyebrow. “What young mann?”
Lior again tried to intercede. “Maybe she’d rather not say, Uri.”
But he persisted. “Is it the Yoder bu?” he asked and Eliza shook her head. “One of the Kanagy breider?”
Eliza nodded. Two Sundays ago after church, Freeman Kanagy had offered to give her a ride home. And in New Hope, when a man invited a woman to ride in his buggy, it was almost always either because he was courting her or he wanted to court her. Thankfully, Eliza had had the perfect excuse to turn him down; two of her brothers had gotten sick to their stomachs during lunch, so she’d had to dash home to help her mother get them bathed and into bed. However, Eliza was relatively certain that with a little playful banter, she could encourage Freeman to offer her a ride again this Sunday.
Her stepfather looked skeptical. “Don’t the Kanagy breider own a blohbier bauerei?”
Eliza realized Uri was worried that if she eventually married Freeman, he wouldn’t want to abandon the blueberry farm that he and his brother Jonas owned and come work with Uri. Of course, she had no intention of ever marrying Freeman, but since she couldn’t tell her stepfather that, she addressed his concern, as she reminded him, “Jah, but that’s not their main vocation—it’s only a seasonal occupation. They both work as independent carpenters.”
Her stepfather slowly nodded. Eliza could almost hear him thinking that a carpenter would be the perfect match for him as a business owner. Granted, Willis Mullet was employed by an Englisch construction company and he undoubtedly would welcome the opportunity to earn a living by working within the Amish community instead. But Freeman was much younger than Willis, so Uri probably assumed that meant he’d be more compliant with Uri’s way of doing things.
“Okay. If the Kanagy bu asks to walk out with you before Willis does, I’ll respect your decision. Otherwise, I expect you to honor my request and accept Willis as your suitor...at least for a few months.”
Eliza stole a glance at her mother for support. But Lior was nervously eyeing the pot of water boiling atop the gas stove. They both knew they had to get back to work in order to finish everything there was to do before taking a day of rest on the Sabbath tomorrow.
Walking out with Freeman is better than walking out with Willis, she mused, rationalizing. And it’s definitely better than working away from home full-time, which would mean leaving Mamm alone during the day. Her other consolation was that blueberry season was only a week or two away, so hopefully Freeman would be too tired to take her out very often. Or at least, not until later in the summer, and maybe by then, Willis Mullet would be interested in someone else.
“Jah, okay,” she agreed.
But even before Uri had pushed back his chair and stood, Eliza was silently praying something she never thought she’d pray. Please, Lord, please, please, please let Freeman ask to be my suitor.
* * *
Jonas Kanagy couldn’t sleep. Right before he’d gone to his room, his brother Freeman had informed him that he was taking his own buggy to church the next morning instead of accompanying Jonas in his. That confirms it, he thought, brooding. Freeman intends to give Eliza Keim a ride home. He wants privacy so he can ask to be her suitor.
When the district members had met together for worship services two weeks ago, Freeman had announced he’d wanted to travel alone to church then, too. Jonas hadn’t needed to ask him why: it was implicitly understood that when a young man or woman didn’t ride with their family to or from church and didn’t offer an explanation, it was because they intended to ride with one of their peers, usually of the opposite gender.
Not that Jonas would have questioned his brother, anyway—Freeman was twenty-three and he was free to go where he pleased. Besides, Jonas considered courting to be a private matter. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t deeply troubled by the likelihood that his younger brother was about to make a huge mistake.
