The Tinderbox by Beverly Lewis

Author:Beverly Lewis [Lewis, Beverly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2019-04-17T16:00:00+00:00

“It’s wunnerbaar to be with ya again,” Titus said as he winked at Sylvia before picking up the driving lines. She was impressed to see he wore the attire normally reserved for Sundays—black broadfall trousers and black vest, his long-sleeved white shirt crisp and pressed. “I’ve sure missed ya this week, Sylvie.”

She smiled to hear it. “I missed ya, too. Your letter was a nice surprise.”

The horse turned the corner, and they headed up a back road. As they approached Preacher Zook’s former home, Sylvia spotted her mother walking briskly, a basket over her arm. “Looks like Mamma’s goin’ to see Mamie.”

Titus glanced over with a nod. “No one’s friendlier than Mamie, ain’t?” he said. “And I’ve heard my Mamm say she can work rings around her daughters and granddaughters, even at her age.”

“Seventy-six ain’t so old,” Sylvia countered. “Lots of folk round here live well into their nineties and older.”

“True, but losin’ a spouse can take the wind out of a person.” Titus mentioned that he’d observed this happen to his own Dawdi Kauffman.

“Jah, people in love are bonded to each other,” she said softly. Or should be … She sniffled a little and looked away.

He reached for her hand. “Say there … are ya all right, Sylvie?”

She wasn’t feeling so good at the moment, but she didn’t dare spoil the evening by acknowledging it. “I just don’t want anything to come between us,” she said, thinking of Dat and Mamma and whatever hardship they were going through. It was all so perplexing—and frustrating, too.

Titus jerked his head back. “Puh! How could that ever happen to us?”

“I don’t know.” Sometimes people fall out of love… .

Titus adamantly shook his head. “Nothin’ short of death will separate us,” he assured her, squeezing her hand. “I’ll always love ya … be right by your side if you become sick or whatever as we grow old together. But that’s a long, long time away.”

That wasn’t at all what she meant, but Titus’s comments were ever so dear, and she loved him all the more for them.

Riding alongside him in his father’s gray carriage, she felt as if they were alone in the world, just the two of them, her hand in his. Is it true that we’ll never part? She tried not to think of the sadness that had so recently claimed Mamma’s face.

They passed the pond on the far side of Zooks’ property; the way the sun shone against it, the pond looked like a mirror, glossy and bright. She pointed it out to Titus, who nodded. “I can’t wait till winter to take ya skatin’ there,” he said. “It’ll be fun playin’ crack the whip with the other Youngie.”

“Just so I’m not at the tail end, like the time I went flyin’ and landed against the bank.”

“When was this?” Titus asked.

“Oh, before we were dating.”

“Who were ya seein’ then?” he asked with a grin.

“No one special.”

He chuckled. “Glad to hear it.”

Everyone before you is hazy, she thought fondly.

They talked about

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