“Rebekah,” Elnora called. “Come, seat your guests.”
Annie fell in step beside her. “Remember,” she whispered. “We have a plan.”
Rebekah nodded and strode immediately to Katie. “Hello, Katie Knepp,” she grinned. She looped her arm through one of Katie’s and Annie looped her arm through the other. “You can’t get away now,” Rebekah joked.
Annie kicked out a chair and the pair of them sat Katie down. “Your seat is here. And you can’t move from where the bride sits you, or it’s seen as disrespectful.”
“Rebekah St—” she began. Then, caught herself. “Rebekah Graber, what do you think you’re doing?”
“Annie, remind your sister about the Amish custom of matchmaking at wedding suppers while I go collect someone.”
Annie nodded at Katie and began to remind her that this is customary for unmarried people. When the bride sits you together, you’re considered matched.
Rebekah bounced off to find her brother. Thankfully, he was nearby. “Come on, Peter,” she demanded. She looped one arm through his, the same way she’d done Katie. “I’ll be back for you, Patty and Noah,” she called. “I have a bit of business to tend to first!”
“Rebekah, what are you—” he began, then stopped.
Annie had his chair, right next to Katie’s, pulled out and ready. “Sit,” she commanded.
He eased himself down in the chair. Like Lucas and Samuel had done, Rebekah joined their hands together atop the table. “It is finished!”
Joseph appeared beside her. “Come on,” he whispered into her ear. “Your job is done and we have gifts to tend to. Leave the rest to God.”
Rebekah consented to be pulled away, into the throng of well-wishers. “Up to God,” she repeated. “And Katie Knepp.”
***
Katie looked at Peter. Still, she felt so ashamed for her behavior. She’d apologized to Peter a thousand times a day, every day, but only in her mind. When she went to visit Peter, she spoke vaguely.
“Did you see Rebekah’s gift from Joseph?” Peter kept the conversation light, thankfully. “It was really something.”
“No, I didn’t. What was it?”
“He went all-out for it; it will hang in their bedroom. He had Mr. Williams help him fashion a shingle of sorts out of a chunk of a tulip tree.”
“Oh them and their tulip tree traditions,” Katie joshed. Inside, she almost smiled. Almost.
“On it,” Peter continued, “was carved: ‘The Grabers. Established December 3, 1889. Joseph and Rebekah. Because she said yes.’”
Katie’s eyes widened. “That’s truly beautiful. And not at all surprising, coming from Joseph.” She forced a smile. “What else did she receive?”
Peter toyed with the celery bundle on the table. It had a Thomas-sized bite taken out of it. He glanced down the table. Each celery bundle had an identical chunk bitten out of it. “Well, Samuel gave her Cream, Buttermilk’s calf. The one she saved last year. And Thomas, not at all surprisingly, did a needlepoint of a cat for her.”
They shared an easy laugh.
“You’re so easy to be around, Peter.” She tried to stem the flow of her words, but it was pointless. There was no stopping what she was going to say. “And that you want to be around me, after the way I’ve behaved, is well, a minor miracle in itself.”
“You know I love you, Katie.”
“I know.” She studied the celery bundle Peter had abandoned. “Especially since you didn’t think twice about going off across the country to find me, not to force me back, but just to make sure I was safe. And I wasn’t safe.”
The fresh memory of their brush with Jack the Ripper hung heavy in the air.
Katie continued. “I love that you love the Amish way of life, and love that you were baptized in the Church even though our love wasn’t a sure thing.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.”
Katie looked at him with wide, doe eyes. “Wrong?”
“Our love is a sure thing, Katie girl.”
Katie tears up. “I could have been somebody in the English world. I could have taken pictures and remembered where I’ve been. I could have traveled the world. I could have—”
Peter gave her hand a squeeze. “Katie, I’ve lived that world. Everything beautiful this world has to offer—as ostentatious as the English world is, it is empty—everything beautiful is here.”
The world around them ground to a halt. “You’re here Katie, and you make life beautiful. Remember that terror you felt? That was the terror I felt when faced with living life without you.”
Katie leaned into his shoulder, in a fruitless attempt to stem the flow of tears, or at least hide them.
“I know you love me too.”
“I do. I do love you, Peter Wagler.”
Peter spoke quietly. “Say you’ll marry me Katie and live out a beautiful life with me. Content in each other and not in the fleeting ways of the world.”
One of Katie’s tears dripped onto their clasped hands.
With one finger, Peter gently tilted up her chin.
