“Not a chance,” Sally said, the amusement still in her expressive face. “Everyone knows I’m an old maid by this time, or so my sister-in-law says. And a schoolteacher besides. And no, Daad didn’t pick the animal. Star was a present from my onkel Simon.”
“That explains it,” he said, with half his mind still wondering how that skinny kid had grown into such a pretty woman. “Simon Stoltzfus never could seem to pick a decent buggy horse. So he passed this failure of his on to you, did he?”
It was pleasant standing here talking to Sally, letting the dialect fill his head and come more easily out of his mouth. And incidentally putting off the moment at which he’d have to face his family.
“Some things don’t improve with time,” she said. “Like Onkel Simon’s judgment of horseflesh. Too bad you weren’t around to save me from myself when I accepted Star.”
“You wouldn’t have taken my advice. The Sally I remember always went her own way.” The teasing came back to him, lightening his mood. “I don’t expect that has changed.”
“Probably not. Ach, what am I doing?” Her blue eyes turned serious, her smile slipping away. “I’m keeping you standing here talking when you must be eager to get home. And the family longing to greet you, I’m certain sure. I can get this beast home for myself now.”
“I’m not in that much of a hurry,” he said, and knew it to be true. “It’s gut to catch up a little.”
“But they’ll be looking for you, ain’t so? I’d guess Jessie has been baking half the day with you coming home.”
Jessie was his brother Caleb’s wife, and he’d never even met her. There were two young ones, his niece and nephew, that he hadn’t met either. And his brother Daniel was planning a wedding himself next month. Would there even be a place for him with the family so changed?
“Maybe so. If they knew I was coming.” He found he didn’t want to see her reaction to that.
“You didn’t tell them?” Sally’s eyes widened. “Aaron King, why ever not? Don’t you know anticipation is half the fun? Your onkel Zeb was just saying the other day how much he wanted to see you. Ever since Daniel visited with you in the spring, he’s been hoping to hear word you were coming.”
He might have known that folks would hear about his meeting up with Daniel at the racing stable where he’d been working. Nothing stayed secret long in the Amish community. Sally was a close neighbor, of course, but most likely the whole church district knew by now. They’d have had time to talk. To judge.
When he didn’t respond, Sally grasped his arm and gave it a shake. “Wake up, Aaron. Why didn’t you let them know you were coming? You are staying, aren’t you?”
He yanked away from her, suddenly irritated. He should have walked right past and let her manage that nervy horse on her own. Leave it to a woman to complicate matters.
“That’s between me and my family.” It came out as a snarl, but that was about how he felt...like a wounded animal ready to bite a helping hand.
She took a step back, her hand dropping to her side. “It is. And of course you wouldn’t want to say anything to me, knowing that I’ll spread it all over the community in the blink of an eye, being such a blabbermaul as I am.”
The tart tone and sharper sarcasm caught him off guard. This wasn’t the little Sally he’d known any longer. This was a grown woman whose clear eyes, showing every change of mood, were now sparkling with anger.
The realization startled him into a muttered apology. “Sorry. I didn’t mean...”
The ready laughter came back into her eyes again. “Yah, you did.”
Funny, that she could make him feel like smiling on a day when he’d thought he had nothing to smile about. “Were you always this annoying about being right?”
“I guess you’ll just have to strain yourself to remember that, won’t you?” She began turning the horse into the lane to the Stoltzfus place, across the road from the King farm. “Star will come along all right now that we’re moving toward home. And that’s where you need to be headed, as well. Go home, Aaron.” She hesitated as if wondering whether to say more. “It will be all right.” Her voice was soft. “Go home. You’ll see.”
* * *
Sally forced herself not to look back until she was halfway down the lane toward the farmhouse. Then a quick glance over her shoulder assured her that Aaron wasn’t looking her way.
Instead, with his backpack slung on one shoulder, he walked down the lane at the King place, headed for the house and whatever welcome awaited him. Here was the Prodigal Son returning, that was certain sure.
Sally took a deep, calming breath. It had shaken her, seeing Aaron after so many years. Not that she’d forgotten him. A girl never forgot her first crush.
She didn’t doubt that Aaron would be welcomed warmly, just as that prodigal had in the story Jesus told. The only reason Onkel Zeb wasn’t running down the lane to greet him, like the father in the parable, was that he didn’t know Aaron was coming.
Ach, how foolish Aaron was, not to realize they’d be eager to see him. After all, hadn’t Daniel traveled all that way out to Indiana just to talk to him once they’d found out where he was?
It was the same with most Amish families who’d had a child jump the fence to the Englisch world. They waited, they prayed and they longed for the time when their child came home. The happy ending they wanted didn’t always come, of course. But it looked as if the King family would have their prayers answered, at least for today.
Star nuzzled her as if to ask why they’d slowed down, and Sally patted him absently. Funny that she hadn’t seen Aaron for so many years, and yet she’d known him the instant she saw his way with the horse. Aaron had always had that gift—some said he must have been born with it.
That had been what she’d recognized, rather than his face. Her steps slowed again. He’d looked older, of course. She had to expect that. But she couldn’t have anticipated those deep lines in his face—lines of bitterness, she suspected. And the golden-brown eyes that once danced with amusement or flashed with lightning anger were now wary and watchful. The charm that had once had all the girls in a tizzy was gone. Aaron had looked braced as if ready for an attack. What had happened out there in the world to change him so?
Sally gave herself a shake. She couldn’t stand here dreaming. She had things to do, and even now she saw Elizabeth, her sister-in-law, peering from the window to see what was keeping her. Suppressing any negative thoughts about her brother’s wife and her endless curiosity, she hurried on toward the barn.
When Sally entered the kitchen after tending to the horse, Elizabeth was rolling out pie dough. And lying in wait for her, it seemed, as she instantly swung around, a question on her lips.
“Here you are at last. Who was that Englischer you were talking to out on the road?”
Sally had implied to Aaron that she wouldn’t spread any rumors about him, but she could hardly deny it was he. And little though she knew the Aaron who’d returned, she could be sure he wouldn’t imagine he could keep his being here secret.
“It wasn’t an Englischer at all. It was Aaron King, on his way home.”
“Aaron King!” Elizabeth’s round face flushed with excitement, probably at being one of the first to have the news. She swung round as Ben, Sally’s brother, came in the door. “Did you hear that, Ben? Aaron King has come home. With his tail between his legs, I’ve no doubt.”
As usual, Elizabeth managed to rouse Sally’s ire in a matter of minutes. Sally took firm control of her tongue, something she’d had to learn to do since her parents went to her sister’s for an extended visit and Elizabeth and Ben moved in. School days weren’t so bad, since