“So...is that a yes?” he asked. “You’ll let me take you driving this evening?”
“Yah.” She nodded, and her eyes sparkled into a smile. “You have yourself a date, Elias. And you might not want to worry so much about what people will say about me... You’ll be fielding questions from everyone come Service Sunday!”
Elias chuckled. “You’re right. I probably will be.”
But all the same, he couldn’t help but feel a surge of victory. She’d agreed to go driving with him.
“How do you like your coffee?” Delia asked, and she nudged cream and a bottle of milk across the table toward him.
“Black,” he said, and he took a sip. He liked his coffee like he liked the rest of his life—uncomplicated and straightforward. But he was complicating everything, wasn’t he? “I won’t keep you long. I know you’ve got things to do, and I’ve promised your son that I’ll take a look at my daughter’s work.”
“Oh, don’t worry about Ezekiel,” she said.
“On the contrary,” he replied. “Ezekiel is the ringleader here. He knows what he wants for his mamm, and I doubt that the man who will please Ezekiel walks this green earth. If Ezekiel doesn’t make his peace with you moving on, you’ll never get your boys to relax.”
“You might be right,” she said.
“So I’m going to keep my word to that boy, and I’m going to talk to him. I have a feeling he’ll say more to me than he will to you right now. It’s a man thing.”
They finished their coffee, and then Delia mentioned that she had laundry to do, which was Elias’s cue to let her get to her housework.
“I’ll pick you up tonight at seven, if that’s okay,” he said.
“I’ll be ready.” She shot him a smile.
And he almost felt like a teenager again himself, planning a date that would cause nothing but drama behind their backs. And there was satisfaction in that.
If Violet wanted romance and drama, she was about to witness a doozy!
Once outside, Elias spotted Ezekiel coming out of the stable, pulling off his gloves and tucking them under one suspender. Elias waved at him, and Ezekiel came over.
“She’s watering some plants right now,” Ezekiel said, nodding in Violet’s direction.
“Yah, I noticed that,” Elias said. “And I’m sure she’ll be fine under your watch.”
Ezekiel straightened just a little at the implied compliment.
“I wanted to let you know that I’m taking your mamm out driving this evening,” Elias said.
“Yah?” Ezekiel’s tone cooled.
“Yah. I know your mamm from years ago, and we used to be friends,” he said. “It’s nice to get to know her again.”
“Getting to know her again can happen with that coffee inside, not in a buggy,” Ezekiel retorted. He sounded like a scolding father.
“We don’t need permission,” Elias said pointedly.
Ezekiel nodded twice and pressed his lips together. “My mamm isn’t just some woman in need of a man about the place, you know.”
“I know that.”
“This land will come to my brothers and me. It won’t be yours.”
“That’s fine by me.”
Ezekiel’s jaw rippled as he clenched his teeth, but he didn’t say anything. He kicked at a stone in the dirt, sending it skittering into the grass.
“Just say it,” Elias said. “You know you want to.”
Ezekiel looked like he might think better of it, but then he nodded curtly.
“Okay, then I will. She’s soft,” Ezekiel said, his quiet tone contrasting with the fire in his eyes. “Our mamm is gentle and kind and funny and... She’s special, and while she has it all under control, you could hurt her.”
“You think—” Elias started.
“No, listen,” Ezekiel snapped. “Mamm has been through a lot, and we’ve chased off better men than you.”
“I heard,” he replied. “But your mother is her own woman. And she deserves a future with another husband, if that’s what she chooses.”
“Our daet isn’t that easy to replace,” Ezekiel replied. “We know what our mamm is worth, and making her laugh for a little while isn’t enough. Not for us. You might charm our mother, but she won’t marry a man we don’t approve. And—” Ezekiel looked him up and down “—we don’t approve.”
“She’s your mother,” Elias said. “She deserves your respect.”
“She has my respect,” Ezekiel retorted. “So I’ll say this—if my mother sheds so much as one tear over you, I’ll make it my personal business to see you pay for it.”
Elias blinked at the young man. He’d hoped for honesty, but he hadn’t expected a threat.
“I won’t hurt her, Ezekiel,” Elias said. Far from it. Delia’s heart was safe from him—the kinner just didn’t know it.
