Katie's Forever Promise (27 page)

Pies soon followed: cherry, apple, and blueberry. Added to that were big bowls of date pudding and sliced fruit. Mabel had gone all out, Katie thought. But that was only natural. A girl usually only had one wedding day in her lifetime so the most should be made of it. She continued to eat in silence. There were cousins sitting on both sides of her, but they seemed more interested in taking in the sights and sounds of the wedding than chatting with her, which suited her dark mood just fine. Food was the only thing cheering her spirits right now.

Bishop Miller stood and led the closing prayer. After that, the crowd spilled into the yard. Katie knew she should get in line to shake hands with Norman and Mabel and wish them well, but she didn't feel like it in the least. She almost left for the house but forced herself to stay. Once the line had thinned out, Katie approached the new couple. The greeting turned out easier than she'd imagined. She didn't even have to paste on a smile—it came on all by itself once she arrived in front of them. Katie offered her hand to Norman. “Congratulations to the two of you. And best wishes on your wedding day. It sure was a nice one.”

Norman actually managed a decent smile back. “Thanks for coming, Katie.” He bent low to whisper, “I'm sorry about the problem with the bridesmaid thing. I hope you're not too sore.”

“I'm fine,” Katie assured him. She then turned to Mabel, who
reached out to squeeze her hand. Mabel was still glowing with happiness.

Katie moved on and found her way outside. All was forgiven and forgotten now. And there was actually a
gut
feeling inside of her. Mabel would move on with her life, and the bad things from this day would soon be forgotten. Only the
gut
would remain, just as it should be.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

The upstairs bedroom of Bishop Miller's house was filled with teenaged girls whiling away the afternoon of Mabel's wedding. They sat on the bed, along the floor, and leaned against the walls with their feet tucked under. Their low chatter had fallen silent as soon as the red-haired Stephen Graber stuck his head through the doorway. A grin spread over his face, and the rest of his short, stocky frame soon came into view. He was holding a clipboard in one hand and a pen in the other.

“What do you want?” one of the younger girls, Claudia Glick, snapped.

Stephen didn't say anything as his grin grew wider.

They all knew perfectly well what Stephen wanted, Katie thought from her place on the floor in the back of the room. But acting disinterested was part of the game. In fact, most of the girls in this room had been gathering here for the last hour in anticipation of Stephen's appearance. Well, they didn't know it would be Stephen, but they knew some boy, along with a sidekick, would
come marching up the stairs looking for them. The two were assigned the gleeful task—from the boys' point of view—of making sure every unmarried male and female at the wedding was paired up for the evening's festivities.

“Hi, there!” Alvin Hochstetler joined Stephen in the doorway. He gave them all a little wave. “How are you all doing? Ready for the big night?”

He was a regular tease, Katie thought, smiling in spite of herself. He was also a natural for this assignment. At least the powers that be hadn't assigned some boy so nervous he couldn't look the girls in the eye. That always produced painful moments above and beyond the one that lay ahead of them. And today Katie was back in the game.

She knew none of the boys wanted to pick her. She'd already come to terms with that. It was common sense, what with how tattered her reputation was right now. She'd be left till the very end, when the leftovers were paired at random—usually by the two boys in charge, since no one cared much by that time. Right now, though, the interest level crackled. Every eye inside the room was fixed on Stephen and Alvin.

“So let's see,” Alvin said as he peered over Stephen's shoulder. “We have the steadies all taken care of.” Alvin rattled off a long list of names that had nothing to do with the occasion. He was dragging things out and obviously enjoying it. There were no steadies in the room. Most of them were either chatting with their boyfriends out in the yard or helping with the lunch cleanup. The only girls here were the ones whose fates hung in the balance.

“Just get to the point!” Claudia snapped again.

“Oh?” Alvin raised his eyebrows. “In a rush, are we?”

“Let's see, Alvin, we have Claudia down as your choice, don't we?” Stephen deadpanned.

A nervous twitter ran through the room. Some of Alvin's teasing was rubbing off on Stephen.

“Just pay attention to what's written down,” Alvin countered without cracking a smile. Apparently he couldn't take a joke as well as he dished them out.

“Okay…” Stephen grinned. “Let's begin with Esther Gingerich. We have a request from Joseph Yoder.”

A squeal came from the bed where Esther was sitting, which was followed by bright red streaks running up and down her neck. Apparently Esther had been hoping for that choice. Katie smiled with amusement. It was nice when things worked out that way—but they didn't always. And from the smug looks on Alvin and Stephen's faces, someone had pulled strings on that one. Likely Joseph had done something to make sure his request was read off before everyone else's. Katie imagined Joseph had held a private conversation with either Alvin or Stephen. Otherwise some other boy's request for Esther could have come first, and requests were turned down by the girls only in exceptionally onerous situations.

“I'll take that as a
yah
.” Stephen moved on with a grin. “Next is Anna Hochstetler, who has a request from Leland Graber.”

This one was greeted with a groan, but none of the girls were fooled. Anna too had been waiting on that one.

“So far so
gut
. Another
yah
.” Stephen looked pleased. “And now we have Katie Raber, with a request from Mahlon Bontrager.”

Katie froze.
Mahlon?
Why would he do that? Did he feel sorry for her? That must be what it was. And she couldn't say
nee.
Not that she wanted to, but this was so early on the list…and so unexpected.

Alvin was looking around. “Katie?”

“Here!” Katie squeaked out.

“I'll take that as a
yah
then.” Stephen moved on, reciting the
names and going faster as the excitement level dropped. Soon it was simply a matter of pairing off the girls and boys who were left over.

Katie's head was still spinning when Stephen and Alvin finished. Would anyone think this strange? Mahlon taking her to the supper table? Most probably didn't know about the
kafuffle
with the bridesmaid issue. They might not realize why Mahlon was taking pity on her. And what if Ben found out? He probably wouldn't understand either. Well, she would just have to explain. And Ben would understand after all, she decided. He knew how people were paired for meals after a wedding. And their love had gone through so much already. It could handle a little thing like this. Before long they would have their lives straightened out, and Ben would be here at her side. Katie stood and stretched her legs. The room began to empty of girls, and Stephen and Alvin were long gone now, apparently ending their matchmaking list on a satisfactory basis. Following the girls downstairs, Katie veered off and went into the kitchen. A few women were working at the sink. They gave her smiles as she went past. They seemed friendly enough, just as everyone had been to her all day, which was strange, considering what was going on underneath the surface. But maybe things weren't quite as bad as Enos made them out to be. He might be blowing things out of proportion. Katie walked outside where the men were sitting on benches under some oak trees and then passed an area where more people were visiting. No one paid Katie any attention as she went by, especially the couples who were engrossed in each other's company. At least she had someone to sit with her tonight at dinner, even if it couldn't be Ben. That was better than being left to the last pick or, even worse, having no one. That was what she'd expected would happen.

Mahlon was a decent man. He really was. And thoughtful
and considerate too. He hadn't said anything the other night about wanting to spend more time with her, so he must be trying to make her feel better after Mabel's rejection. That's all it was, and the least she could do was make this a pleasant evening for him.

Katie arrived at the tables in the pole barn and busied herself with straightening out the tablecloths and other small chores that needed doing before supper. Bishop Miller soon appeared, obviously ready to begin the evening. Katie scurried back to the house. Since she had a man taking her to the table, it wouldn't be proper to meet with him before the official time. Arriving at the house, Katie mingled with the other girls who were peering out of the windows as the unmarried gathered. Bishop Miller was hollering something, and they were hollering back. Both parties soon dissolved into laughter.

Katie smiled as she watched the scene. These were her people, and their traditions warmed her all the way down to her toes. How nice of Mahlon to ease her mind about the dinner so she could enjoy the evening fully. Now that she thought of it, the Kuntz family was probably hoping to see her in disgrace tonight. Maybe Mahlon even knew that and had set out to foil their plans. Katie almost laughed out loud. She really had an imagination the size of the Empire State Building! Likely the Kuntzs were overjoyed today with the addition of Mabel to their family, and they weren't even thinking about her. But it was still nice of Mahlon—taking her to the table and all.

Moments later Stephen and Alvin came up the walk and opened the front door. Alvin was smiling. “Are all of my girls ready to go?”

“Shut up!” Claudia told him as she brushed past him. The rest of them followed her down the sidewalk and out to the pole barn. As each girl arrived, her steady date or partner of the evening positioned himself to fall in beside her.

Katie gave Mahlon a warm smile when he arrived next to her. “Hi, Mahlon. This is nice of you.”

“I didn't want you lonely and crying all night.”

“I wasn't doing anything of the sort, but thank you.”

He chuckled. “Just making sure, that's all.”

“I hope the
kafuffle
about this morning didn't bother you too much. Mabel has her ideas. Well, actually, it's probably more the Kuntz family that has their ways.”

Mahlon smiled. “I guess we all do. But I understood—once Norman explained.”

Katie glanced at him as they sat down. “Did Norman mention Ben?”

“
Yah
. I find your loyalty a
gut
thing, really. Regardless of what Norman says.”

“You do?” Katie straightened her dress “That's not what everyone else seems to think.”

Mahlon shrugged. “So how is Ben doing? I hear he's living in town now by the ministry's orders. I'm sorry to hear that.”

“Hopefully that will all be straightened out soon.” Katie smiled. “Ben told me the other day that he was going to Bishop Miller. One of the ministry's concerns is Ben has been asked to testify at the trial of the man who shot him. Ben said he's not going to do that, but he wants to tell the bishop that he's serious about not doing it. He testified at a trial last year, and that was a big problem, of course.”

Before Mahlon could respond, Bishop Miller cleared his throat. “Now that we have gathered here tonight, let us pray and give thanks once more for this food which has been prepared for our bodies.”

They all bowed while Bishop Miller led out in prayer. The buzz of conversation picked up quickly once he finished. Katie noticed that a few of the younger couples were still silently sitting
and watching. Conversation wasn't coming easy for them. In their nervousness, a few words might be all they managed most of the evening. Thankfully she wasn't having that problem.

Mahlon leaned toward her. “It may not be that easy, Ben not testifying.”

“Why not?” Katie was looking at him intently.

“The police or court might, well, you know—
make
him testify. I think the law can do that with a subpoena.”

“Are you sure?”

Mahlon shrugged. “
Nee
. I'm not a lawyer, but that's something I've heard
Englisha
people talk about. They have more experience with these matters since they seem to do things they shouldn't sometimes and end up having to go to court.”

“What would happen if Ben refuses to testify?”

“The judge can put him in jail, maybe even for a long time. But don't let me scare you. I could be wrong. I'm not sure how the justice system works out there in the world.”

“That's just what I need,” Katie muttered, as the first plate of pork chops came around.

“I'm sorry I mentioned it.” Mahlon held the meat plate for Katie before taking a pork chop for himself.

“Let's not make this a conversation about me tonight.” Katie said with a smile. “I'm tired of thinking about my troubles. Tell me what's happening in your life.”