He wanted to kiss her again, and it took all of his self-control not to. Besides, he was here for Violet, and if that fact didn’t sober him, nothing would. There was no future with Delia, no matter how much he wanted one.
The clop of hooves sounded at the top of the drive, and Elias turned to see the bobbing headlamps of Ezekiel’s buggy coming down the drive.
“There they are,” Delia said.
“I feel a little foolish,” he admitted, casting her a rueful smile, but he also felt a rush of relief. They’d be home, and his worry would be for nothing.
Delia nodded. “I do understand. You’re a good father, you know.”
The compliment was sweet coming from her, and somehow it landed a little deeper, too. He hoped he was a good enough father to keep his daughter both safe and on the right side of the fence. And at the same time, he found himself wishing he’d gotten just a few more moments alone with Delia. They’d be stolen moments, and they wouldn’t contribute to any kind of future together, but they’d have been a balm to his aching heart all the same.
Maybe it was better not to have that time with her. It wouldn’t make letting her go any easier, would it?
Ezekiel pulled his buggy up next to Elias’s, and Elias tried to school his features so that he looked calmer than he felt. He was feeling downright ridiculous now, having come out here in a fluster, worried about his daughter who had probably arrived home just as he left.
“Evening, Elias,” Ezekiel said, hopping down.
“Good evening,” Elias said. “Did you have a good time?”
“Yah, it was good—” Ezekiel glanced back at his brothers, then winced. “I’m sorry I didn’t bring Violet back. I understand that it was my responsibility to bring her, but—”
Elias’s heart thundered in his own ears.
“You didn’t bring her back?” Elias cut in, his voice harsher than he intended.
“She wouldn’t come back with us,” Moses piped up, hopping down from the back of the buggy. “And we tried!”
“What do you mean, she wouldn’t come back?” he demanded, and his voice must have been more intimidating than he’d intended, because Moses took a step back and Ezekiel squared his shoulders. He felt a gentle hand on his arm, and he looked down to find Delia at his side.
“Let them explain,” she said.
“Sorry.” He swallowed. “What happened? Where is she?”
“She went off with Liam—the Englisher boy,” Ezekiel said. “I didn’t see her go, but Aaron and Thomas did.”
“I didn’t see her go, either,” Moses piped in.
“Where did they go?” Elias turned to Aaron and Thomas.
“In Liam Speicher’s car,” Thomas said. “They were going off for a drive together. I told them that you wouldn’t like it.”
“In his car?” Elias erupted.
“Yah, he came in a red car. And everyone was looking at it.”
“And what did they say when you said I wouldn’t like it?” Elias demanded.
“Violet said you wouldn’t mind,” Thomas said, and his ears turned red. “And Liam said they wouldn’t be long, but they didn’t come back, and everyone else was leaving, so we came home. We didn’t want our mamm to worry.”
Violet said he wouldn’t mind! That was some impudence there!
“I’m sorry,” Ezekiel said. “I take full responsibility for it. It’s not my brothers’ fault. I probably should have kept a better eye on where she was.”
“It’s not your fault, Ezekiel—she’s old enough to make better choices than that,” Elias said. “So she’s off in a car with some Englisher boy? Where would they have gone?”
“I have an idea, actually,” Ezekiel said. “There’s a spot by a stream where young people like to park and...talk...”
Right. The very stream he’d stopped at to comfort Delia. He knew it well, and he rubbed his hands over his face.
“That would be my best guess,” Ezekiel said. “If not there, they could have gone into town for fast food or something...”
“I’ll go see if I can find her,” Elias said. “Danke for telling me what you know.”
“Actually—” Delia’s voice was firm, but quiet. “I don’t think you should do that.”
Elias turned around and shot Delia a look of surprise. “You do know what Englisher boys want to do in their cars, don’t you?”
Something quite close to what he and Delia had been doing in the same spot—although he and Delia had been much more chaste and well-meaning than that boy would be.
“I do,” she said with a nod. “But I think you should let my boys go out there to find her. If you go out there, find her and march her back, she’ll be angry at you for years. Fairly? No. But angry. However, if you let the boys go and fetch her home, it gives her a chance to make the right choice on her own. If she chooses the right thing, then you’re miles ahead with her. I promise you that.”
“And you don’t mind your boys doing this for me?” he asked.
“Are you willing, boys?” Delia asked, turning her attention over his shoulder.
“Yah, I’ll go,” Ezekiel said. “I should have brought her home, and I’ll make this right.”
He was a responsible young man, and Elias was grateful for him.
