An Unexpected Match Read online

  Wait a minute! The driver’s seat? Rachel knew how to drive a car? Johnny almost swallowed his tongue.

  The Camry began to move and the SUV followed to the exit. There Rachel turned one way and Rob turned another.

  Johnny was torn. Who should he follow? The guy. He knew where Rachel would end up. He could tackle her any day. Rob was another story.

  They drove to an apartment complex not too far from Wexford College. Rob climbed out, pulling a backpack out behind him. He walked to a unit and unlocked the door. Immediately a large brown dog of indeterminate parentage raced out and squatted. Rob laughed and disappeared inside, leaving the door open. The dog finished his business and ran inside. Both man and dog reappeared, and Rob cleaned up the dog’s mess. He walked to the complex’s trash area and disposed of the little baggie. The dog pranced happily at his side.

  The pair circled the complex twice, the dog running ahead, then circling back, running ahead, circling back. By the time they went inside, Johnny figured the dog had run a mini-marathon.

  He drove slowly toward the Irish Shamrock. It wasn’t Corner Bob’s, but Mr. Sherman didn’t sit at the back table with Mick on a chain beside him. He thought as he drove. He knew where this Rob guy lived. Knew he had a dog. Knew his sister dressed Englisch to be with him.

  What he didn’t know was what it all meant.

  Chapter 23

  Rachel lay in bed long after midnight, staring at the ceiling. Something had changed between her and Rob tonight. Hints of the developing tension had shown themselves Friday at his rescue in the rain. They had become more than hints tonight. Neither she nor Rob had said anything, but the air had become thick with possibilities.

  And that was the problem. There were no possibilities. There couldn’t be possibilities. She was Amish. He was Englisch. She had taken her vows. He hadn’t. Woudn’t. Couldn’t. He was an Army veteran and she believed in non-violence. They were totally incompatible.

  And yet…

  When he had leaned in and let his shoulder settle against hers as they ate, she’d made believe nothing of note had happened, but she hadn’t moved away. Instead she’d gotten a funny yet wonderful feeling in her stomach. It had been so long since a man had touched her. She’d forgotten how unsettling and how exciting it was. When his arm settled around her shoulders, she’d felt the affection in it. When his hand found hers under the table, she’d turned hers palm up so he could hold it. Even when he walked her to her car with his hand on the small of her back, she’d tingled. Tingled!

  Then he suggested they go to a movie, just the two of them. She hadn’t known what to do. On one hand she wanted to yell, “Yes!” On the other, how could she possibly do such a thing? It was one thing to go to class. There was purpose there. A goal.

  But a movie? Talk about letting the world invade your life! She knew Sally and Ruthie had gone during their running around. In fact Ruthie still went though she was talking about taking her vows, and that would put an end to such activities. But she’d never gone until Amy coaxed her into that first transgression just a couple of weeks ago.

  She’d seen movies on television at Max and Buddy’s when she was younger. When she and Ashley were friends, they sat together watching the Disney movies on rainy summer afternoons. Cartoons or real life, she loved them.

  So, really, a movie was just a big TV.

  But this movie would be quite something more. This would be an official date with Rob. What scared her most was how much she wanted to say yes. She had to say no.

  Then Rob had said, “My last few years have been hard and lonely. Only the Lord has gotten me through. Say yes, Rachel. I need a relaxing night with someone who has no agenda, someone I can enjoy.” He gave her that wonderful smile of his. “Someone sweet like you.”

  And as he tucked her into her car, she found herself giving him Max’s address. His pleasure at her acceptance had brightened her heart and twisted her conscience.

  Now staring into the night, she desperately tried to recall Aaron. His face refused to come into focus, and she was forced to face a truth she had always denied. She hadn’t loved Aaron, not really loved him as he deserved. She’d liked him, respected him, enjoyed him, but she already had stronger feelings for Rob than she ever did for her husband.

  The thought filled her with shame.

  She threw back the bedding and stood, groping for her flashlight. By its beam she made her way downstairs. In the kitchen she filled the kettle and put it on the propane stove to heat. She got a mug and a bag of chamomile tea. The clock on the wall read 12:35. She was going to be so tired tomorrow at school!

  She considered her twenty-four students, all from families she’d known her whole life. They were obedient children, trained at home and at church where they sat through the three-hour service from the time they were babies, yet they were full of mischief and adventure. Teaching them was such a privilege.

  But was it enough?

  She thought of Dr. Dyson, who clearly loved teaching too. What was it like to teach more than rhymes and arithmetic and geography? What was it like to read papers that had new ideas and even ideas you thought were wrong?

  She stilled. Maybe it wasn’t the simple subject matter she taught that was bothering her. Maybe it was the homogeneity of the thinking. Certainly the Amish way of thought had great value, but what about the way the rest of the world thought? Was everyone wrong but her People?

  The churning in her stomach intensified, and she knew it would take more than a cup of tea to still it.

  The kettle whistled, and she rose to fill her mug. Her bare feet were cold, so she carried her tea up to the bedroom and climbed in bed, resting her back against the headboard. As she drank her tea and warmed her feet beneath her colorful quilt, her mind whirled.

  She was caught between two worlds, and it was her own fault. Her pride and arrogance led her to reach beyond.

  She held out her hand and studied it in the flashlight’s beam. Surely there should be something different about it. After all, as part of that reaching beyond, Rob had held it.

  It looked just as it always did.

  So why did she feel so different?

  She remembered when Aaron singled her out. She was twenty and it seemed all her friends were getting engaged and married. She worried about being unmarried maybe for life, but she didn’t know how to make the boys like her. She was quiet around them, unable to think of clever things to say. When one did begin a conversation, he soon drifted away because she asked thought questions: What did he think about the safety of buggies on high-speed roads? Should there be an option for more education if a student wanted it? Had he ever thought about learning Spanish since more and more Hispanic people were moving to the area? Did he ever worry about the damage rumspringa did to some like Johnny?

  Aaron started talking to her at sings and volleyball socials. When the youth had a huge gathering at the park, he’d asked if he could pick her up and take her. She hadn’t even realized it was a date until Miriam told her.

  “I thought he was just taking me so you and Jonah could be together,” Rachel said.

  “It does have that effect, but he’s coming for you,” Miriam answered.

  When she asked her thought questions of Aaron, he turned them to her. “What do you think, Rachel? You’re a very smart girl. Should rumspringa be outlawed?”

  When she told him her opinions, he just nodded and asked her to next week’s social.

  Maybe she married him because he accepted her, prickly mind and all. When he told her he loved her, she believed him. When he asked her to marry him, she agreed. He wasn’t threatened by her, and she was threatened by a life alone.

  Poor Aaron. He gave everything he had, and she only gave some, though she hadn’t realized it until Rob. From the first night when he walked into class grumpy and damp, she had been drawn to him. It was ridiculous. It was scary. It was impossible.

  How did you know if you loved someone? It was easy to know how to love one another in
the community sense. Treat them well. Help them when needed. Pray for them. But affection between a man and a woman had always baffled her. How did you know? She thought she knew with Aaron.

  Her brother Jonah loved his Miriam and she loved him back. You could see it in the way they looked at each other. There were also surreptitious touches as if they needed that physical contact for all to be well.

  Mom and Datt didn’t touch in public, even at home, but they were older, married for almost thirty years. Showing overt affection wasn’t the Amish thing to do. Aaron had followed the same custom, touching her only in private. She had been happy with that. He had kissed her, made love to her, and she had been compliant. But she hadn’t yearned.

  She’d thought that was fine, maybe even good. No temptation.

  But now there was Rob and there was yearning. There was temptation. There was strong emotion that grew stronger every time she saw him and even when she only thought of him. How strange that Amy could see right away that he liked her. Now she knew too, and she was more confused than ever.

  She set her mug on the bedside table and got up again. In the bathroom she opened the medicine cabinet. A bottle of aspirin sat beside a tube of ointment for sore muscles. She poured out two aspirin and swallowed them with a glass of water. She went back to bed and finished her tea.

  Finally about 1:30 she fell asleep, her heart as conflicted as ever.

  Rob stood at his bedroom window and stared out at the dark commons area between the buildings. Hope nibbled at his heart, and it scared him badly. Too many things had gone wrong in his life and made him afraid to hope. The disappointment when dreams didn’t come true was too painful.

  But she hadn’t squirmed away when he leaned into her. She hadn’t pulled away when he put his arm around her. She’d held his hand, spearing her fingers between his. Hope kept rising in spite of his fear.

  She was exactly what he’d been looking for. Not only was she beautiful; she was kind and warm and smart, whip smart. He’d about given up thoughts of finding such a perfect woman, at least perfect for him.

  Lord, protect me if I’m not reading things right here.

  There was a wonderful freshness to Rachel, an innocence that was such a contrast to her keen mind. She fascinated him. No artifice. Openness. Honesty. And she loved God.

  What more could he ask?

  Chapter 24

  Wednesday night Rachel stood in line with Rob as he bought tickets for the movie. She felt a twinge of guilt about being there but more a thrill of anticipation. All the people, all the color, all the excitement made it hard for her to keep still. She felt like Abner in church, struggling to keep his little boy’s inclination to activity in check.

  She couldn’t resist a little bounce on her toes. “I think I could become a movie buff without any trouble.”

  He laughed at her enthusiasm as he took her hand and led her inside. “You’d think this was your first movie.”

  “You would,” she agreed. “You would.” How about her second?

  It was a totally different kind of movie than the one Amy took her to. There were scenes where she could hardly breathe with the tension of the adventure and scenes where she laughed along with everyone else. But there were scenes where people got shot and she seemed to be the only one who flinched. Blood poured and bodies jerked, and she thought she’d be sick.

  The world, she thought. The world, the flesh, and the devil. What was she doing here?

  Then Rob put the empty tub of popcorn on the floor, took her hand, and threaded their fingers, and she knew.

  “Did you enjoy it?” he asked as they walked back to his car.

  “Did you?”

  “Fun. Great action flick.”

  “Didn’t all the violence bother you?” Maybe it didn’t. He had been a soldier after all.

  He looked thoughtful, then shook his head. “It was so cartoonish it didn’t.”

  “It seemed real to me.” She’d never seen anything so graphic in her life. In truth she’d never seen a handgun in her life, just hunting guns and she couldn’t even name them.

  “Maybe it’s because I’ve seen real violence, real blood, but the movie was so over the top it didn’t resemble real.” He looked at her, his face shadowed in the dim parking lot. “There are movies I couldn’t go to anymore. They would be too accurate, too real life for me to tolerate after what I’ve seen.” He looked away, lost for a moment.

  What terrible things had he witnessed? Her heart broke for him, and she gave his hand a squeeze.

  He blinked and returned to the moment. “Next time I’ll take you to a rom com.”

  “A what?”

  He laughed as he drove from the lot. “A romantic comedy.”

  “I think I’d like that better.” And she liked that there would be a next time.

  They went to the Star for something to eat though how he thought they could eat anything after that huge tub of popcorn was a mystery. But they managed to down a pair of hamburgers. Rob even had a piece of pie for dessert.

  Conversation swirled from topic to topic, landing on his experiences in the Army. Rachel listened, watching his face as he talked. If there was anything about this man that made her uncomfortable—aside from the fact he was Englisch—it was his military service. Sometimes he’d start to tell a story about some Army buddy and he’d stop, his eyes moving to some middle distance where he saw things he clearly found painful.

  “You were a soldier, but you don’t like war,” she said, surprised by that realization.

  “Of course not. No soldier likes war.”

  “Then why?” She wanted to understand how a fine Christian man like Rob could participate in something she believed was against Jesus’s admonition to turn the other cheek when struck. Instead of shooting the enemy, shouldn’t he be offering him a cloak?

  “When I first joined, the only reason was to get away from the mess my father had made.” His smile was rueful. “A theology or philosophy of war came much later.”

  “You have a theology of war?” Why was she surprised? She had one against war.

  He leaned toward her, his arms resting on the table. “I believe there are things worth defending, worth fighting for, Rachel. Things no one should be able to take from you without your permission. Country, honor, freedom. Faith.”

  She would say it differently. “Certainly there are things worth dying for.”

  “Exactly.” He settled back in his seat, looking pleased she agreed.

  She’d thought her different viewpoint had been clearly stated, but it was obvious she shouldn’t join the debate team any time soon. She tried again. “What about ‘Love your enemies’?”

  “I’m perfectly willing to love any of those against whom I fought if they would be willing not to fight against me. If they would be willing to let me and my countrymen alone.” Rob signaled for another cup of coffee.

  “The Bible doesn’t say love them only if they love you back. We’re talking enemies here.” Rachel shook her head at the waitress. “No more for me, thanks.”

  “I’m willing to love someone who doesn’t love me.” He added cream to his coffee. “I’m willing to help someone who doesn’t love me—if he’ll let me. But if he comes at me wearing a vest of explosives? I’m not willing to die so that he with his destructive goal might win. That isn’t turning the other cheek. That’s letting evil triumph.”

  There had to be flaws in his thinking; she just wasn’t finding them. “I need to think about this some more.”

  “I’m dating a budding pacifist?” He laughed. “If my Army buddies could see me now.”

  She couldn’t help but smile back. It was obvious he was proud of having served. Rob and the chaplain who introduced him to Jesus—two godly men involved in something her People considered ungodly. Her mind whirled with all the conflicting thoughts and ideas.

  Rob’s eyes followed someone behind Rachel, and she turned to see what he was looking at. It was an Amish girl serving tea to people a
couple of tables over. Sitting here in her skirt and knit top, Rachel tried to see the girl as the world did. Was she merely a curiosity to people, or did they see someone who had hopes and dreams like any Englisch person, who yearned for her own home and people to love and to love her in return?

  Rob frowned as at a puzzle. “Do you ever wonder what they think?” He looked as if he couldn’t comprehend the girl and her culture. Rachel’s culture.

  Rachel blinked. “What do you mean, what they think?” She hated that he’d said “they” as if he were speaking of alien beings.

  “The Amish. They live so differently. They must think differently, mustn’t they? Buggies, no electricity, restricted dress.”

  She forced a smile. They did think differently about many things, but they were just people. “They probably think about crops and horses more than the typical Englisch person—unless the Englisch person is a farmer.”

  “And weather. Farmers have to think about weather. Do they watch the Weather Channel for information or have a weather app on their cells? No, wait. They can’t watch TV because there’s no electricity. What about cell phones? Do they use cells?”

  “Most of the farmers have weather radios in their barns to track the weather, so they do know what’s going on. And some use cells for business though as a rule they aren’t allowed in private life.”

  He studied her with interest. “What about all the ones who aren’t farmers? Why aren’t they farmers?”

  “There’s not enough land to go around.” Rachel thought of Jonah, who seemed happy with his nursery business. And Aaron hadn’t wanted to farm. “And some don’t like farming. It’s hard work.”

  “Think of all the money tied up in their farms. All that land.” Rob shook his head. “My father always wanted to get his hands on Amish money, but they were wise enough to avoid his wheeling and dealing.”

  Rachel frowned. “I don’t understand someone like your father. It takes a lot of nerve or arrogance to think you can manage someone else’s money.”