Last Bride, The (Home to Hickory Hollow Book #5) (5 page)

Mandy felt her courage dwindling.
Maybe it would be best for
the conversation to wait.
Till just when, though, she wasn’t sure.

Marcus held Tessie’s hand across the table once they were seated at the restaurant.
Husband and
wife!
Tessie thought. And as if to make up for the lack of a prayer of blessing at the courthouse, Marcus prayed over their union prior to eating, offering their lives as a married couple to God’s bidding all the days of their lives. “We will look to Thee, O Lord, for every blessing.”

“Denki,” she said after his amen, fighting back tears. “That means a lot to me . . . to us.”

Marcus nodded. “I also felt the absence of the church today.”

She hoped he was not regretting the way they’d started their marriage, but his cheerful demeanor during the meal put her mind at ease.

Later, as they rode back to Hickory Hollow in the van, she enjoyed his sweet kiss. “We’re married now, Tessie Ann,” he said quietly as they passed his rental house with its graceful poplar trees lining the entire north side. She peered out the window at what would ultimately be her home, too, and he whispered, “Meet me there tomorrow, my love . . . after dusk.”

She understood and happily agreed, smiling into his alluring eyes.

A few minutes later, when Tessie arrived home, she was relieved to find Mamma had not yet returned. In fact, she looked on it as providential as she hurried upstairs to change clothes. There must be no evidence of the highly unusual step she and Marcus had taken this day.

W
hat sort of wares are you thinkin’ of selling at our little gift shop?” Mandy asked when Emmalyn stopped by that afternoon.

“I say we should offer embroidered linens and other handiwork. My mother’s aunt who lives in Mount Hope, Ohio, does this sort of thing, too—says those are hot items with tourists.” Emmalyn’s plump face had a liveliness to it today.

“Sounds like a great idea.”

Emmalyn tilted her head. “Does Sylvan know yet?”

“I came that close to telling him but then changed my mind. I’d really just like to surprise him with some extra money, ya know.” Oh, she wished she and Sylvan could talk more freely about things.
And not just this . . .
She glanced out the window toward the stable. “We sure could use another good road horse.”

“Ach, you’ll have enough money for that soon enough, trust me.”

“Trust ya?” Mandy laughed. “That’s just what I’m doin’.” She didn’t say she needed to get out amongst other folk, rub shoulders with Amish and Mennonites alike. Oh, how wonderful it would be to have the opportunity to leave the house more, instead of being alone with her desperate waiting to find out if she was finally expecting a baby.

Later, when Cousin Emmalyn headed for home, Mandy felt melancholy, and she indulged herself by entertaining the exciting dream of setting up the little shop.
I need to figure
out a way to talk to Sylvan about it . . . and
soon!

She stood in the doorway to the back porch, where she could see her husband over near the woodshed, talking with her father, who’d dropped by as he often did. Dat had gone over to help make homemade sauerkraut with the firefighters and their families at the Kinzer Fire Company firehouse, in preparation for the New Year’s Day fundraiser, a pork-and-sauerkraut dinner featuring the homemade treat. Her mouth watered at the thought of the delicious meal.

Staring out at her father and Sylvan talking, she tried to imagine Dat making over her and Sylvan’s firstborn son. Or baby daughter. Surely Dat—and Mamma—looked forward to that day almost as much as she and Sylvan did.

If and when almighty God sees fit to bless
us with a child,
Mandy thought, so discouraged she fought back tears.

The fragrant blend of fresh-cut hay and new silage permeated the Saturday evening air as Tessie Ann waited in the shadow of the small copse of trees along Hickory Lane. In
the waning light, she spotted Marcus walking toward her and quickly stepped into view. It was his idea to meet there to escort her to the home that was to become theirs. She wished they could hold hands as they leisurely walked. Soon, though, they would be in each other’s arms, and she felt the tingle of anticipation as they exchanged knowing smiles.

At the back door of the small home, her playful husband took her off guard and scooped her up to carry her across the threshold, where he kissed her soundly once he’d closed the door. She’d heard of Englischer newlyweds and some of her more progressive cousins in other parts of the country doing this, as well. Nevertheless, she felt a bit breathless, being held so close she could smell a hint of the cologne he must have dabbed on before meeting her.

Perhaps sensing her surprise, Marcus set her down and reached for her hand. “Let me show you around the place,” he said. “Just think, very soon you’ll be moving your things in here with me.” He turned to look down into her face, smiling broadly. “I can hardly wait till we can declare our love to the whole world.”

She laughed softly, taken by his enthusiasm. How she adored this darling man of hers! “Well, at least to Hickory Hollow, jah?”

He nodded and led her into the kitchen, where he suggested she decide where she wanted her dishes and utensils and whatnot. “I’m making do for now,” he added casually. Tessie wondered how Marcus was managing to cook for himself and quickly discovered that he was mostly making sandwiches, and eating cold cereal and toast for breakfast.

He mentioned having borrowed some odds and ends of
kitchenware from his mother and older sisters. “They’re all so eager to help out.” Marcus grinned. “Of course, they suspect somethin’s up.”

They sat together at his table and talked of the near future, how lovely it would be for Marcus to welcome her there for good. “We’ll have to share our story with our children and grandchildren someday,” Tessie said, noting their offspring might not believe what they’d had to do for love.

“Ain’t that the truth.” He moved her chair over next to his and cupped her face in his hands. “I love you more than I can put into words, dearest Tessie,” he whispered, then leaned closer to kiss her. This time, his lips felt softer.

Can it be we
’re truly husband and wife?
she thought, captured by his loving gaze.

Tessie felt truly strange staring at the back of Marcus’s head during the first and second sermons at Preaching service Sunday. She was seated on the long bench between Mamma and Miriam, her oldest sister, who held her toddler son, Yonnie, on her lap. Right or wrong, Tessie could not erase the sweet memory of her husband’s tenderness last evening . . . and the lovely things they’d said to each other, too.

They had been quite mindful of the hour, and in the end Marcus had managed to return her home before too late. They did not want her father to suspect anything, hoping he would just assume she was out on a date and not nestled away in her new husband’s house.

Tessie could hardly wait to see Marcus again as his loving
bride, instead of this playacting. The pretense would encompass the entire morning and afternoon, even the shared meal where the young married couples sat together during the second seating. It was all Tessie could do to go along with it. She loved Marcus so and could not stop daydreaming during the final silent prayer, when the People knelt at their benches in contrition and respect before the Lord.

How many
days before Marcus tells Dat our news?
she wondered, and in turn asked God the selfsame thing.

Dat stayed behind to fellowship a bit longer, but Mamma decided not to wait around, delaying the trip home with Tessie. Three-year-old niece Anna, one of Miriam’s girls, had asked to return home with them for the afternoon, and the little one sat on Tessie’s lap, already droopy eyed well before the horse had taken them even a half mile.

“I wasn’t goin’ to bring this up,” Mamma said quietly, glancing at petite Anna while holding the reins. “But I feel I ought to now that we’re alone, Tessie, dear.”

She bristled, sensing what was next.

“I presume you were out with Marcus King again last evening.” Mamma frowned. “He’s still courting you against our wishes, ain’t so?”

“We’re no longer dating, Mamma.”

We
’re married!
she thought, her heart heavy at her mother’s words.

“Well, ’tis
gut
to hear. You had me . . . well,
us
, mighty worried.”

Tessie kept still. Thank goodness Mamma hadn’t pressed in a different direction.
Best to just
let things be.

Even so, she was now deliberately misleading her mother, and this new deception piled on top of everything else. And looking down at lovable Anna, she yearned for things to be ever so different. Why couldn’t Dat and Mamma accept Marcus, when Tessie herself loved him as she did?

A full week came and went, and Tessie slipped over to see Marcus twice, once for a short time the first Wednesday in October, when her chores were done and supper was in the oven, and then for another few hours the following Sunday evening, when the youth were expected to be out late anyway.

She felt nearly breathless to know if Marcus might be working alongside her father, or perhaps have some interaction with him over at Paul Hostetler’s place, where Marcus helped out several times each week. Anything at all to understand where things stood between the two men in her life. But Marcus was completely mum on the topic, and though it was ever so hard, Tessie held her peace, as well.

They waited till dark to sit out on the front porch, enjoying the starlight. Tessie said how happy she felt when she was with him. “I can hardly wait to sit here each and every night, till winter comes.”

“Ain’t the right time just yet,” Marcus said, reaching for her hand. “Bear with me a bit longer, love.”

She nodded and said she would while crickets chirped and courting buggies rolled up and down Hickory Lane.