The Saddle Maker's Son Part 20

"Nee. We're capable of taking care of things." He was a full-grown man. He could handle it. "With the farm and the shop and the kinner, I just want to make sure everything goes well."

"Your daed knows that."

"I want him home." Was it wrong to admit such a thing? "I want him well."

"Any suh would."

"You lost your daed."

"It seems a long time ago, but jah, I still remember. Your daed's coming back, though."

"I know." He did know, so why did he let it worry him? Worry showed a lack of faith. "Lupe! Diego! Come out. We want to talk to you. It's okay."

"Lupe, come on, it's me, Rebekah."

As if they wouldn't recognize her voice. "It's about to storm. Come on, you'll get wet."

The kinner probably suffered much worse during their sojourn from Central America. The rain went from a mist to big drops that splatted on his hat and face.

Rebekah wiped at her face as rain soaked her dress and ap.r.o.n. "Here we go."

"Lupe, por favor, let us talk to you."

Rebekah grinned. "You learned a Spanish word."

"Several words. She taught us all at the supper table."

"That's gut."

The scattered raindrops turned into a deluge. Rebekah laughed. Her ap.r.o.n was soaked, her kapp hung low on the back of her head, and mud sullied the hem of her dress. Yet she laughed.

"What's so funny?"

"We're always wanting rain. Now, when we have it, it's inconvenient."

Mud sucked at the soles of his boots, making it hard to lift his feet. "I don't mind getting wet."

"Me neither."

Lightning crackled overhead. Thunder boomed. Rebekah ducked. Giggling, she clapped a hand over her mouth.

"Are you still laughing?"

"I'm so silly. Like ducking will help."

This time the lightning sizzled. A tree branch buckled and smashed to the ground.

"Ach, that is a little too close." Tobias grabbed her arm and steered her toward a shack on the tree line. He hadn't had a chance to investigate its purpose yet. It looked as if it might crash to the ground in a heap at any moment, but it had to be drier-and safer-than out in the middle of the elements. "Let's get inside until it lets up a little."

Rebekah tugged away. "Lupe and Diego are out there."

"They're not addled. They'll find shelter too."

Thunder boomed again. Rebekah's hands went to her head. "Fine."

"Fine."

The shed smelled of rotted wood, but it was dry. Tobias longed for a kerosene lamp. Even a candle would do. He held the door open long enough to survey the interior. A wagon wheel, empty egg crates, a broken chair. Junk. The floor was dirt but dry. "Have a seat."

"I'll stand. There might be mice in here." Her teeth chattered. He hadn't been south long enough to find a summer rain cold. "Or snakes."

He opened the door and took another quick look in the dim light of a stormy exterior. Nothing scurried or slithered. "I think we're safe."

"I suppose."

"Are you always so contrary?"

"Depends on who you ask."

Her light breathing was the only sound besides the patter of rain against the roof. He inhaled and tried to let the air out quietly. Rustling told him she'd decided to take his advice and sit. He started to lean against the wall, but thought better of it. The whole shack might tumble down under his weight. His eyes began to adjust to the dark. She sat scrunched up in one corner, her knees up, arms around them. "I reckon that's true of everyone. Daed would say I have a stubborn streak a mile long and a tendency to get myself into trouble."

"Really? I wouldn't have thought you were the trouble type."

"I hope I've grown up a little and learned from my mistakes. You?"

"What mistakes?"

He chuckled. To his surprise, she joined him.

He crossed his arms over his chest and tried to imagine what was going through her mind. She was stuck in a shack with a man with whom she spent most of her time arguing. She disliked him for telling Susan about her secret meeting with Leila. They'd gotten off on the wrong foot.

He didn't want her to be mad. It bothered him. The fact that it bothered him served to irritate him even more. He cleared his throat. She was just a girl. He didn't need girl trouble. He'd had that kind of trouble.

She would be another person about whom he would have to worry.

Someone to lose.

"Maybe we should start again."

He startled despite himself. Her voice sounded high and breathless. As if she'd been running. "What?"

"I'm Rebekah Lantz. I was new around here about three years ago, so I know how it feels. To be new, I mean. So welcome to Bee County."

He breathed in and out. A peace offering. A white flag. He couldn't be so mean as to reject her attempt at patching up the rift between them. After all, he'd tattled on her, not the other way around. "I'm Tobias Byler, your new neighbor. Pleased to meet you."

"h.e.l.lo, Tobias." She giggled. A sweet sound in the darkness. "We have lots of mosquitoes, huge horseflies, rattlesnakes, wild pigs, chiggers, many bees, and oh, don't forget the alligators up at Choke Canyon Lake. If you like interesting pets, there are plenty to choose from."

Her sense of humor was showing. He liked it. Gott help him, he liked it. "Can you forgive me?"

"Forgive you for what?"

"For being a stickler for the rules and telling Susan about your meeting with Leila."

"You shouldn't apologize for doing what's right." Her tart tone said he should know better. "It's a sign of weakness."

"I didn't apologize. I only asked to be forgiven."

"So you're not sorry?"

"Nee."

Her sigh was exaggerated. "A fine new beginning this is."

"It's gut."

"What's gut about it?"

"I wondered if you'd come out for a ride with me one night-after my daed is better."

Her breathing quickened. Seconds ticked by. Tobias's chest tightened and his own breathing seemed to stop.

"I reckon I might. I'd give it some thought."

He exhaled.

She giggled.

"What?"

"You were holding your breath."

"Nee."

"You were."

"The rain needs to stop." He opened the door a crack. Thunder boomed. He closed it. "I hope Lupe and Diego found a dry spot to wait this out."

"You said they would." She sounded wistful somehow. "Besides, they made it here all the way from El Salvador."

"A long journey."

"How long did it take you to get here from Ohio?"

"A couple of days. We took it slow."

"Did you stop in Dallas?"

Where was she going with this? "Nee. We drove around it. Too much traffic."

She sighed, a sad sound after her earlier giggles.

"Why do you ask?"

"Leila and Jesse are moving to Dallas so he can finish college and go to seminary."

"And that makes you sad?"

"Would you like Martha to move away?"

"Bruders and schweschders do that sometimes."

"Jah, but when they're Plain, you get to see them at weddings and on holidays. When Leila goes, we'll never see her again."

"You don't know that."

"Don't tell me Gott has a plan."

"You don't think He does?"

"I reckon He does. I just don't like it."

Tobias waited a beat or two. Not really expecting a bolt of lightning to hit the shed, but giving it time should Gott deem it necessary. "You think you know better than Gott how your life should go?"

She sniffed, her expression hidden in the dark. "I'm being punished for something I didn't do. It's not fair."

His mudder dying before she could see her kinner grow up. That was unfair. Life was unfair. "With each new trial, Gott teaches us something new. We learn to see the blessings in what we have. We learn to be content in what we have. We learn to step out in faith, knowing He has our best interests at heart."

"I try to be content."

"Try harder." He was one to talk. "I'll do the same."

"Why?"

The plaintive note in her voice said she really did want to know. Yet he couldn't tell her. He wasn't ready. Not yet. "Because it's the right thing to do. You know it is.

"No matter what happens, you have work to do. Leila is gone. You're here. You're committed to your faith. Wait on Gott's timing."

Wait on me. That's what he really meant. Wait on him to have the courage to let another person into his heart. A person he would have to protect. Who might be ripped from him in a single second.

Rain battered the shed roof. Thunder rumbled like a grumpy old man clearing his throat. Her sigh was nearly lost in the cacophony. "Do you have your picture ID card?"

He shook his head, a silly thing to do in the dusk. "Nee, but I will get one if you will."

Step out in faith, Tobias; step out.

"We'll see how it goes then."

See how it goes. Was that an admission that their journeys might take the same path? "You sound uncertain. Like you're sitting on the fence."