“Do you want me to drive you in my buggy?” he asked. “I’ll wait outside while you talk to her, but at least you won’t have to worry about the ride and the hitching.”
“That would be very nice.”
More than nice. It would be a welcome relief.
“I’ll just go hitch up,” he said.
A few minutes later, Elias came down her drive in his buggy. He pulled up next to her and scooted over, then reached down, offering her his hand. She looked up at him and found his warm, friendly gaze locked on her.
Her heart skipped a beat, and before she could think better of it, she reached back, grasped his strong, warm hand, and he boosted her up into the seat next to him. He didn’t let go of her hand right away, and when she looked up at him again, the warm look in his eyes had softened to something like melted chocolate. At least that was what it reminded her of—the chocolate she melted to cover caramels.
“You seem like this news has really shaken you,” he said softly.
“It’s...it’s just that Mamm seems to be forgetting a lot—more than usual. She’s messing up recipes and buying huge quantities of flour because she forgets she bought it already, and...Joseph is worried. And if Joseph is worried, that worries me.”
Elias flicked the reins and the buggy started forward.
“I’m just going to go talk to her a bit, and hopefully convince her to go to a doctor’s appointment,” she said. “That’s all I can really do at the moment. I’m hoping she listens to me.”
Delia gave him the directions—out past the lake, west along the road that passed the old schoolhouse, and then down the first gravel drive by the third four-way stop. They fell into silence as Elias navigated the buggy up the drive and onto the road.
“It’s different when our parents get older, isn’t it?” she asked. “They need us in new ways.”
“Yah, mine are aging, too. My daet insists upon fixing things, even when it isn’t reasonable. And I help him do it, because...I suppose I want him to be happy.”
Delia nodded. “Yah...”
“But their health is strong, and that’s a blessing. One day I’ll be dealing with the same things, I’m sure. Everyone gets older.”
“How is Violet?” Delia asked.
“I had a talk with her,” he said.
“Yah? Did it go well?”
“I’m not sure...” He cast her a rueful look. “I think it will take more than one talk.”
She understood that well enough, too.
“All we can do is our best, Elias,” she said.
Elias reached over and took her hand in his, his warm fingers curling around hers. He seemed to have surprised himself, because he suddenly looked over at her, then down at their hands as if he hadn’t quite meant to do that. She didn’t mind, though. She gave his hand a gentle squeeze and a smile touched his lips.
“It helps to have a good friend, doesn’t it?” he asked quietly.
“It truly does.”
His hand was so reassuring in hers, reminding her of the comfort of having a man to lean on in difficult times. She’d been strong on her own for so long now, that she’d forgotten what it felt like to have a man’s support. And Elias, in particular, was very nice to sit next to.
“Can I ask you something?” Elias asked.
“Yah, of course.” She hoped that the heat in her cheeks didn’t mean she was blushing.
“Why didn’t you ride back with your stepfather?”
Delia sighed. “We don’t have that kind of relationship, Joseph and I. I don’t call him Daet, either. You see, I was fourteen when my mamm married him, and while he was never mean or anything, he was just...disinterested in us kinner. I called him Fadder until I got married, and then he told me that if I was more comfortable calling him Joseph, he didn’t mind. And that’s what I’ve called him ever since.”
“It sounds difficult,” Elias said.
“It isn’t...well, maybe it is,” she admitted. “I don’t want to ever do that to my boys, you see. I don’t want them to have a father in the home who only makes things harder for them.”
“And they know it,” Elias said.
“Yah, they know it,” she agreed. “That’s part of the problem, I suppose. They know that I don’t want them to experience feeling unloved or uncared for, and they know I won’t give them a stepfather who doesn’t love them like he should. But I suppose it’s difficult for any relationship to develop between my boys and another man while they fight every man who thinks I might make a good wife.”
This time Elias squeezed her hand. “I think you’ll figure it out. I really do. It might just take the right man.”
She shot him a smile.
“He’ll have to be quite the man—just about perfect, I’m afraid.”
Elias just chuckled, and somehow, deep in her heart, she realized that she’d started to hope that Elias might fit the bill. It was silly of her, because Elias was not looking for a wife currently, either! But if her boys would only settle down enough to consider having a new daet in their lives, a man like Elias—kind, strong, thoughtful—would be ever so nice to cook for.
But she had to check those fleeting hopes starting to flutter up inside her, and she slipped her hand out of his grip. Developing tender feelings for the man was not part of the plan! Elias looked over at her, and for a moment, she thought he almost looked hurt, but he took hold of the reins instead and put his eyes back on the road.
“Where are the boys tonight?” he asked.
Her hand felt so empty now.
