A Simple Vow by Charlotte Hubbard

Author:Charlotte Hubbard [Hubbard, Charlotte]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2016-06-01T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

As church let out over at the Wagler place, Luke watched out the window while kids rushed from the house with whoops and whistles to release their pent-up energy. He recalled those three-hour Old Order services that had seemed endless when he’d been young. He greatly preferred the more concise sermons and services at the Mennonite fellowship he and Nora now attended. He turned toward her, smiling at the way she sat in the recliner with her shoes kicked off, reading a craft magazine.

“Ready to head next door?” he asked. “I’m hoping Will Gingerich has arrived—and it’ll be interesting to see how Cornelius is reacting to Asa’s being here for the weekend. Never a dull moment in that family, it seems.”

Nora dropped her magazine to the floor. “And I’m looking forward to a lot of gut food I didn’t have to prepare myself—and to visiting with everybody. It was such a busy week, I’ve hardly seen my parents or the newlyweds.”

“We can guess where Ira and Millie have been hiding themselves,” Luke teased. “I’ll grab the lemon cake you made.”

“Hope it’s fit to eat. If it weren’t for box mixes, I wouldn’t bake.” Nora smoothed her apron over her colorful floral dress, chuckling. “The beauty of the common meal is that you don’t know who brought what unless they mention it. If folks make faces when they taste my cake, I’ll keep my mouth shut.”

As they walked down the hill to the Wagler place, Luke reveled in the brisk April morning. The lush green grass, cream-colored dogwood blooms, and the deep pink redbud trees made spring his favorite season. In a few more weeks the mid-Missouri heat would set in, and they’d be praying for rain. When they stepped inside the crowded Wagler house, Nora joined the ladies in the kitchen while Luke headed into the main room, which had been greatly expanded for church by taking down most of the interior walls.

The men were rearranging the wooden pew benches and setting up tables for the meal. Luke spotted Asa and made his way through the crowd, greeting everyone along the way. He noticed a shorter, compactly built fellow with sandy hair and observed the ease with which he maneuvered a long wooden bench. Was this Will? Even camouflaged by his white shirt sleeves, the muscles bunching in his shoulders suggested that this young man was well acquainted with physical labor.

“Hey there, Asa!” Luke spoke above the other men’s conversations. “Quick now! What were the sermons about this morning?”

Asa straightened to his full height, chuckling. “Bishop Tom preached on the parable of the prodigal son—about how God welcomes us all home when we see the error of our ways and ask His forgiveness,” he replied. “Your brother spoke on the virtues of being a gut Samaritan, helping folks who’re down on their luck.

“And this, by the way, is Will Gingerich,” Asa added as he gestured toward the sandy-haired fellow. “Will, this is your new boss and landlord, Luke Hooley.”

Luke stuck out his hand, sensing that Will hadn’t smiled so brightly in quite a while.

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