His Love Endures Forever (21 page)

They were quiet again, the only sound the crackling of the fire. He snuggled up close to her, wrapped an arm around her, and kissed her lightly on the mouth. “I love you, Danielle.”

“I love you too.” She leaned forward and kissed him this time, and each kiss came more naturally and with a passion that Levi had only imagined. Danielle was as tender and loving as he knew she would be, but he gently eased her away and yawned.

“Are you sleepy?” Danielle grinned, as if she expected him to say no.

“
Ya
. You ready to go to sleep?”

“Uh . . . okay.” She bit her bottom lip, and Levi turned and lay on his back before there could be any more talk about it. A thought needled at him, so tonight he would be content just cuddled next to his wife.

S
UNDAY MORNING WORSHIP
was held at Jacob and Beth Ann’s house, but when Vera didn’t see Levi there, worry filled her heart. Levi never missed worship service unless he was ill, and she knew that yesterday had been a hard day for him. She managed to stay through the entire church service, but convinced Elam that they needed to skip the meal. He’d grumbled a bit, but Vera promised to make him a meal after she went to check on Levi, so she took Elam and Betsy home before she headed to Levi’s.

Vera made her way up the porch steps of her son’s new home, noticing a few boards had recently been replaced.
So
much work to do
. She eyed the chipped paint, cracked pane of glass, and cobwebs hanging in the corners. Their people were all about hard work, but it was going to take a team effort and many long hours to get this place in order. She hoped the inside was better.

Vera couldn’t stand the thought of Levi living here alone with no one to tend to him. She’d take inventory when she got inside and see what all she could do to lend a hand.

She peered through one of the cracked windows and let out a small gasp. Her poor boy was curled beneath a blanket in front of the fireplace, with only a few embers still glowing at his feet. In a beam of sunlight, she could see one of Levi’s feet poking from beneath the covers. She’d never known him to sleep this late.

Shaking her head, she tapped on the door, which wasn’t entirely closed. It appeared stuck. “Levi?” she said, shoving it farther open.

“Levi?
Sohn?
” Vera pinched her lips together in a frown as a musty smell wafted up her nostrils. She shook her head. Men didn’t know a thing about cleaning. “Levi?” She squeezed through and stepped into the warmth of the living room. At least he hadn’t been cold during the night. She took a few more steps toward the bundled mass in front of the fireplace and gently tapped him with her black leather shoe. “Levi?”

When Danielle’s head popped out from beneath the covers, Vera brought a hand to her mouth and gasped. Then Levi raised his head too.
“Mamm?”

“What is going
on
here?” Vera kept her eyes on her son as he sat up and ran a hand through tousled hair before rubbing his eyes. Try as she might not to look, her eyes veered
to Danielle, whose long blond hair was a tattered mess. They were both dressed, and for that, Vera thanked the Lord.

“
Mamm
, what are you doing here?” Levi stood up, dressed in black slacks, white undershirt, and black socks. Danielle stood up beside him, pushing back loose strands of hair from her face. Her white blouse was wrinkled, and she was wearing
Englisch
britches.

Vera could feel her face turning three shades of red, unsure which emotion was in the lead—embarrassment or anger at finding her son in this position. “You don’t get married, but you have a sleepover?” She pressed a palm against her chest.

“We
are
married.” Danielle actually smiled as she spoke.

Vera’s heart stopped for a moment, then painfully pounded. “Is—is this true, Levi?” She took a step backward, hoping she didn’t fall.

“
Ya
. We got married late yesterday afternoon.”

Vera swallowed hard and blinked back the tears that threatened to spill as Levi latched on to Danielle’s hand. She glanced at Danielle again, trying not to look at her stomach. The deed was done. They were married. And Vera had lost.

“I—I was worried because you weren’t at worship service this morning.”

Levi hung his head. “
Ya
. I feel badly about that, but I didn’t think to bring any towels to use for bathing, and Danielle doesn’t have her toiletries here. I think we’ll probably go shopping for things we need and groceries today.”

“On a Sunday?” Vera swallowed hard. It was already starting, his slow departure from their world. “I suppose you will be going in luxury, taking Danielle’s car?”

“I don’t know how luxurious my old clunker is,” Danielle
said with a smile, and even with her hair in such a tangled mass, Vera had to admit that she was a pretty girl. But Danielle had used her beauty from the first day to woo Levi into a friendship, and now this entrapment.

“
Ya
, we’ll go in her car,” Levi said, avoiding Vera’s eyes. Then he smiled. “But no electricity.” He waved his arm around the room. “Maybe some solar panels, though, when I can afford it. I guess I’m still part-Amish.”

Uh, no, my son, you’re most definitely not
. “I must go.”

“Don’t you want to see the rest of the
haus
?” Levi stepped forward, still holding Danielle’s hand.

“I will see it another day.” She moved toward the door, knowing her son expected her to say or do something, but she simply waved as she hurried toward her buggy.

It was everything she could do to hold her tears until she’d made her way out of the driveway.

“S
HE HATES ME
.” Danielle watched from the window as Vera turned the corner in her buggy.

Levi came up behind her and put his arms around her waist, which felt strangely familiar, but weird at the same time. “She doesn’t hate you. It’s just going to take her some time to get used to the idea of us together. Forever.”

Danielle twisted to face him. “Do you really think she will come around? Because I don’t. She will always see me as the girl who pulled you from your Amish roots.”

He kissed her on the nose. “She will grow to know you and love you like I do.”

Danielle sighed. “I don’t know about that.” She nudged
him playfully when she heard his stomach growling. “I bet you’re going to miss your mother’s cooking, especially the homemade bread. Katie Ann would bring us bread, and it was always so good.”

Levi smiled. “Well, uh . . . maybe you could make bread for us?”

Danielle chuckled. “I can make a mean piece of toast. But I’ve told you, I don’t really know how to cook anything that doesn’t come out of a box with specific instructions.” She poked him on the arm. “And Martha said it’s hard to make bread. She grew up watching her grandmother do it. You have to smash it over and over again, let it rise, then smash it some more.”

“I think you mean
knead
. You knead the bread.” Levi licked his upper lip. “If there was one thing I could have every day from my parents’ house . . . it would be
Mamm’s
bread.”

Danielle watched him, thinking,
Someday I’m going to make
him a loaf of bread that will make him forget about his mother’s
.

V
ERA TRUDGED UP
her porch steps with the weight of the wedding news causing her to feel two inches shorter. She reached a hand to her left shoulder blade and rubbed before she opened the door.

After crossing through the living room, she found Elam in the kitchen with Betsy, each eating a piece of shoofly pie. She waited until Betsy had taken her last bite before asking her young daughter to go play upstairs.

“They did it.” Vera slid into a chair at the table, propped her elbows on it, and covered her face with her hands. “Levi and Danielle got married late yesterday afternoon. Danielle
was there when I arrived.” She clenched her jaw to kill the sob in her throat, then looked up to gauge Elam’s reaction. He finished chewing a bite of pie and sat back against his chair as his brows lowered. Vera held her breath as she waited for any words of comfort her husband might share.

Elam pushed his plate forward on the table, then stroked his beard. “Vera . . .”

She let out the breath she was holding and folded her hands on the table. Elam was about to tell her that she had to accept this marriage. She knew him well enough to know his thoughts. She tapped a finger on the table and waited.

“This isn’t what either of us wanted,
mei lieb
, but if you want to have a relationship with your
sohn
, you’re going to have to find some way to make peace with this. God is in control. Not us. If Levi felt called to marry Danielle, then who are we to question it?”

Vera couldn’t bear the thought of not having Levi as a part of their lives, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that Danielle had tricked him somehow. Pushed him into a corner. Until he believed it was God telling him to marry her.

“It’s not right for you to practice your own personal shunning, Vera, when the boy hasn’t been baptized. We’ve always known this was a possibility with any of our
kinner
.”

Maybe Elam had thought it was a possibility, but Vera never had. It was a distant fear, but never a real possibility. She remained quiet, blinking back tears as she drummed her fingers on the table.

“I suggest you get to know this girl. Whether you like it or not, she is now the number one person in Levi’s life, after God.” Elam pushed back his chair and carried his plate to
the sink. He turned to face her, leaning against the counter. His eyes warmed, a slight smile on his face. “You will do the right thing.” He walked to her, leaned down, and kissed her on the cheek.

  
Fourteen

D
ANIELLE PULLED BOTH LOAVES OF BREAD FROM
the oven, slammed them down on the top of the stove, and stared at the mounds that had refused to rise—for the third time.

Today was Sisters Day, and Levi had been insistent that Danielle accept the invitation from his sister Emily, who was hosting it at her home, so Danielle had taken the day off from work. Danielle had been around the Amish long enough to know that a Sisters Day was a monthly gathering when all the women got together to do quilting, canning, or some other sort of project. Sometimes they cleaned house for an elderly person or shut-in. Everyone brought food. Danielle had known not to count on bringing bread following her first two failed attempts, so she’d bought some cookies from the grocery store the day before.

She dreaded going to the event, and the only saving factor was that it was being held at Emily and David’s house. Her sister-in-law and her husband had always been kind to her, and when Emily showed up and asked Danielle to come, Danielle knew she wouldn’t be able to get out of it.

It had been over two weeks since their wedding, and she and Levi weren’t living any more like husband and wife than when they first got married. They’d moved from the floor in front of the fireplace and to the bed on the second night, but there wasn’t anything physical going on. Twice she’d tried to initiate more than just a few kisses with Levi, and both times he’d said he was tired. Danielle wondered if maybe Levi wasn’t attracted to her. She reached down and touched her belly, knowing it protruded a little more than she’d like. She wasn’t even four months pregnant yet, but the way she’d been eating lately, the pounds were coming on quickly.

They hadn’t gone to the Amish worship service yesterday because Danielle had been sick to her stomach. She’d told Levi to go without her, but he’d insisted on staying home with her. Danielle figured Levi might be nervous to face his family, even though Danielle knew that he’d always be welcomed at church. Either way, she’d been relieved to get out of it herself.

She dumped the loaves of bread into the garbage. Again. Levi had left for work hours ago. He never said anything about her not getting up to make him breakfast, even though she knew that Amish women did that . . . rising at four or four thirty to send their men off with a full stomach. Best she’d likely ever be able to do for Levi would be to pour him a bowl of cereal, and she doubted he needed her to do that. She’d been working the afternoon shift, but her hours had been cut. Both she and Sue suspected a layoff was coming. Business had declined since the new owners took over a few months ago and changed the menu.

She looked around her simple kitchen. Levi had purchased a small oak kitchen table with four chairs, promising to get a
bigger one when they could afford it. They hardly had any furniture—two rockers in the living room and a queen-size bed in their bedroom. She wondered how they would afford all the things necessary for a baby. Thankfully, Martha would make sure the baby had everything he or she needed. She’d said so plenty of times. Levi was insistent that Danielle keep her little bit of savings for now, something in case of an emergency.