Joseph nodded.
“Instead of going to services?” Her hand fluttered to her chest and grasped at her nightgown.
His voice was soft and warm. “Sometimes, the best way to love God is through action, not through talking.”
“Anyway, where else would we go?” Joseph’s tender voice was a whisper through her covering.
Katie coughed.
As he turned back toward the sitting room, he bumped Rebekah’s tender toe.
Stars filled her vision and doubled her over.
Worried creases pinched his eyebrows together. “What’s this?” His sapphire-blue eyes searched her face with such scrutiny that a sudden sense of self-consciousness forced her to hug her arms to her chest.
Joseph’s breath was warm on her ear. “Why can’t you walk?”
You’re not alone, Rebekah. You’re on display.
Rebekah’s gaze flickered to the ever-silent Katie. “I, well, I sort of—”
The contender for Joseph’s affections sat stock still, her hands clasped neatly in her lap as she took in the scene unfolding before her.
The burgundy color of Katie’s dress is remarkably similar to one that is folded in my own drawer upstairs.
Joseph’s fingers fell lightly on the crook of her arm as she wrung her hands at her waist. The brief, deliberate touch brought knots to her stomach. Rebekah let her sheepish gaze meet his and the world around them melted down, down, down until nothing remained except the angular, dimpled face of the man who had stolen her heart.
In that moment, only the two of them remained, their eyes locked together and his fingers still resting on her arm. She drew in a shuddering breath as Joseph wet his full lips with the tip of his tongue.
The overwhelming urge to seize the unanticipated moment and pull him close surged through her and left her feeling weak inside. And guilty.
Stop it, Rebekah.
She swallowed hard.
Save these urges for your husband. When you’re married. Not for brief moments such as these.
“Rebekah.” His voice bubbled into her daydream.
“Hmmm?”
“What did you do to your leg?”
“Oh, that.” Rebekah lifted them hem of her gown and revealed her bare, swollen foot. “It’s nothing.”
Joseph’s blue eyes widened.
She shrugged. “When I heard something outside last night, I dashed to the window. I realized later my foot must’ve caught the dresser.”
“Rebekah, why didn’t you tell me?” His voice was hard. “You shouldn’t walk on that.”
As the front door swung open again, he bent and swooped her into his arms. Lean, muscled arms from all the heaving and hauling that came with being an Amish man.
Katie’s mouth formed a perfect ‘o.’ “Why, that’s not fittin’ at all.”
The heat that burned in Rebekah’s neck crept up to color her face, but the warmth from Joseph’s closeness and his fresh, woodsy scent made it hard to focus on anything else, even embarrassment.
The door slammed shut as Heloise Graber stopped inside the house. A tiny gasp escaped her lips as she stared at her only son as he stood in the middle of the room with the delicate Stoll daughter wrapped in his embrace.
“What’s all this?”
“I was about to ask the same question.” The hurt in Katie’s voice was almost tangible. “My ma says such behavior should be saved for marriage and no man should—” Her eyes flickered to Rebekah. “No man should go around touching just any old girl.”
Heloise raised a hand. “Katie, let Joseph speak.” She shifted her patient gaze to her son. “Joseph? You must know how this looks.”
He gave Rebekah a tiny squeeze. The embarrassment made her insides quake. “I understand how this might look inappropriate,” he began. “But I also know how this looks. Rebekah, show my mother your foot.”
With a tiny kick, she revealed her mottled and swollen ankle to the anxious onlookers.
“You don’t need to walk on that foot, Rebekah.” Joseph’s voice was stern as he turned his attention back to her. “I’m taking you up to bed.”
Happy crinkles creased the corners of Heloise’s eyes. “I knew there would be an explanation. Rest well Rebekah and do as Joseph tells you. He’s good at doctor’n.”
Rebekah soaked up his closeness and blotted out the rest of the room. She inhaled and closed her eyes. His scent was woodsy, like he’d traipsed through a pine forest.
“And you’re gonna rest.” His breezy voice, meant to reassure, stoked the gentle heat that smoldered in her chest.
She watched Joseph’s angular jaw flex as he ascended the stairs. Katie’s high-pitched words, like “inappropriate” and “shameless” caught her attention, but a genial laugh from Heloise quelled any anxiety before it had the chance to bloom.
***
“I’ll take care of things. You just get well.” Joseph laid the cool rag on her puffy foot. The purple mottling now creeped up her leg, and her entire foot was a deep-green hue.
“That toe is broke,” Joseph observed. “I’m sure Ma’ll be in here to check on you later. After she checks on Elnora, I reckon.”
Rebekah spread her hands over her quilt. A sudden tiredness tugged at her eyelids. “I’ll close my eyes a minute, then get up to start dinner.” A yawn interrupted her planning.
“Dinner, pshaw.” Joseph shook his head and waved both hands as if to dismiss her. “I’ll take care of dinner.”
“Are you sure?”
“You do trust me, don’t you?”
A note in his voice gave her pause. “Trust you?”
He offered her a sly wink that transformed her insides into hopeless mush. “You can trust me, Rebekah.”
Surely he doesn’t know, er, think, I went downstairs to check up on him and Katie?
