Huckleberry Summer

Book 2: Matchmakers of Huckleberry Hill

by Jennifer Beckstrand

Genres: Amish & Mennonite; Christian Romance; Religious & Inspirational; Clean & Wholesome Romance; Contemporary Romance

Synopsis

Cautious to a fault, Lily Eicher strives to live up to her dat's high standards. She's certainly not the kind of Amish girl who would make time for someone as impetuous as the Helmuths' grandson, Aden-even if his lively spirit and caring ways are showing her just how wonderful following her heart can be . . .



Recklessly doing the right thing got Aden into big trouble. A fresh start at his grandparents' is just what he needs. And shy, pretty Lily is turning his world upside down and making him want to prove he can do good within the rules. But now both must find enough faith and understanding to risk pursuing their dreams together.

Release date: June 3, 2014

Publisher: Zebra

Print pages: 353

Sample

Felty Helmuth took a hearty bite of the mushy concoction in his bowl. “Why, Annie Banannie. This soup is fit for a king. Is this another recipe from that new book of yours?”

Anna smiled and pushed her thick, round glasses over the bridge of her nose. “How kind of you to notice, dear. It’s called Indonesian beef stew.”

“It’s so tender, I can’t tell the beef from the potatoes.”

“There is no beef. It’s a vegetarian dish.”

Felty winked at his wife of sixty-two years. “The name ain’t quite right, don’t you think?”

“Well, the recipe calls for beef, but I didn’t add any beef, and I don’t think it’s my place to change the name of the recipe.”

“Right you are, Annie. Was they out of roast at the market yesterday?”

“No, I am learning to cook vegetarian. Aden is a vegetarian, and I don’t want him to starve.”

“Aden our grandson?”

Anna nodded and looked at Felty as if he were finally in on the secret.

“Banannie, Aden lives in Ohio. He don’t eat your cooking more than once a year or so, but I’m sure he’d be pleased to know you are thinking of him.”

“Now, Felty,” Anna said. “I want Aden to come and live with us, and he’s got to eat.”

“Us? Why would Aden want to live with us?”

“He’s going through a rough patch.”

Felty reached over and patted Anna’s wrinkled hand. “Don’t worry yourself. All boys his age go through a rough patch.”

“Jah, but most boys don’t get arrested three times.”

“He can get arrested just as easy in Wisconsin as Ohio.”

Anna pursed her lips and scolded Felty with her eyes. “Boys like Aden need a wife to settle them down. A girl like little Lily Eicher.”

Felty sputtered and coughed, and Anna stood up and thumped him on the back until he motioned for her to stop. “Not another one of your matchmaking schemes, Annie. I don’t think my weak heart can stand it.”

“Felty, your heart is fit as a fiddle. Your knees will give out long before your heart ever does.”

“Not these knees. They’re titanium alloy. The doctor said so.” Felty stood and waltzed around the table to prove his point.

“Now, Felty. Sit and finish your supper.” Anna served him another heaping helping of Indonesian beef stew, vegetarian style. “I was right about Moses and Lia, wasn’t I? Moses is so happy, he’s like to float off the ground. That does your heart good, doesn’t it?”

“I suppose so, but what it took to get him and Lia together almost gave me an ulcer.”

“Our grandchildren deserve our very best efforts. How will they ever find suitable mates if we don’t help them?”

Felty plopped into his chair and kissed his wife on the cheek. “Our grandchildren will get along fine without any help from us.”

“Of course they won’t. Look at Moses. If we hadn’t introduced him to Lia, he would still be pining over that Gingerich girl. And Aden can’t seem to stay out of jail long enough to court anyone. He needs to meet Lily.” Anna stuck a pat of butter on the top of a cornbread muffin and placed it on Felty’s plate. “He’s got to come to Huckleberry Hill, Felty.”

Felty propped his elbow on the table and rested his chin in his hand. “Little Lily Eicher probably doesn’t know how to cook vegetarian.”

“I can teach her.”

He sighed. “No doubt about that, Banannie. You are the best cook in Bonduel, Wisconsin.”

Aden clutched the seat belt strapped across his chest and tried to breathe normally. If there was one thing that made him edgy, it was going anywhere in a car with Jamal. Well, not edgy exactly—more like terrified out of his wits. The feel of the wind whipping through his hair and the sight of telephone poles whizzing past was only fun when you didn’t think you were going to die.

The whole breathing thing wasn’t working. Why couldn’t he maintain his calm in Jamal’s car? He was Aden Helmuth, after all—the Amish guy who had no fear of chaining himself to a tree or staging a sit-in outside the mayor’s office. Aden was the person brave enough for anything.

Well, almost anything. Racing down the road with Jamal, hell-bent for destruction, seemed more like foolishness than courage.

Aden didn’t take his eyes from the road, just in case his steady gaze would keep the car from crashing. “Jamal, slow down.”

Jamal liked to look people in the eye when he talked to them, which was a bad thing when he drove. “Chill, man. I’ve driven this road hundreds of times. If we get there in time, we might get some pictures of them dumping stuff into the lake.”

Aden felt his stomach lurch as Jamal took a curve about a hundred miles an hour too fast. “I’d like to get there alive.”

Jamal smiled and again took his eyes off the road to look at Aden—a movement that set Aden’s heart racing. “You’re such a baby.”

“Go ahead,” Aden said, gripping the door handle until he couldn’t feel his fingers, “pretend I’m the one with the problem here.”

“Pilot likes the way I drive.”

Aden glanced into the backseat where Pilot, his golden doodle, was thoroughly enjoying the terrifying ordeal. He poked his head out the window so far that it seemed like he’d taken half his body with him. His ears flapped in the wind and his tongue hung out of his mouth as if he were trying to catch passing insects. Pilot didn’t seem to care in the least that his master would have to pry himself off the seat when they got to the lake.

Traitor.

Aden should have known better than to go anywhere with Jamal. Most of the time Jamal didn’t even use his hands to drive. He liked to steer with his knee. At this point, Aden didn’t care if they were on the verge of catching the idiots who’d been dumping chemicals into the lake. He’d rather be home mucking out the barn than in this car, taking his life into his own hands, or rather, putting his life in Jamal’s hands.

Big mistake.

The rain announced itself like a dump truck dropping a load of gravel on top of the car. Water pelted the windshield, and Jamal flipped on the wipers to their fastest speed. It didn’t matter. Neither of them could see a thing out of the windshield in the muted light of late afternoon. Even Jamal wouldn’t drive blind. He slowed down and placed both hands on the steering wheel.

Aden said a prayer of thanks for rain.

Pilot pulled his head inside the car, and with what Aden could swear was a grin, shook himself hard, catapulting water droplets in every direction.

With a groan, Jamal wiped the back of his neck. “I just treated these leather seats, you stupid dog.”

“At least he doesn’t complain about your driving.”

Jamal pushed the button and rolled up Pilot’s window. Pilot responded by balancing on the edge of the backseat and sticking his head between Jamal and Aden.

Jamal grimaced. “Ya gotta love the smell of wet dog.”

“Jamal, they’re not going to be up there when it’s pouring like this. Let’s turn around.”

“They probably think this is the best time to dump stuff in the lake. No one up there to catch them.”

Aden tried one more time, even though he knew it was beating a dead horse. “The roads are bad.”

“Pilot’s not complaining.”

Aden closed his mouth and held on to the door handle. Better shut up and not divert Jamal’s attention. The guy needed to concentrate on driving.

He negotiated a sharp curve, and they both gasped as an elk with an enormous rack of antlers appeared in the middle of the road. He stood as if he were carved from stone and certainly wasn’t going to be the one to move.

Jamal swerved hard to the right. The car lost traction on the wet road and slid out of control. Aden felt as if he were living the next few seconds in slow motion. His insides lurched as the car careened down a shallow embankment and splashed into the lake.

Aden’s seat belt snapped tight, and it felt like someone had smacked him in the chest with a two-by-four. “Pilot!” he yelled.

In the immediate calm after the crash, Aden took a labored breath and turned to find his dog. Pilot lay on the floor in the back and lifted his head as if Aden had awakened him from a long nap. Aden reached over with a trembling hand and patted Pilot’s head. “You okay, buddy?”

To Aden’s horror, the car made a sickening creak, tilted forward, and began to sink.

Jamal looked even more dazed than Aden felt. His hands still gripped the steering wheel as his eyes grew wide with every movement of the car. “We’re sinking.”

The lake in late April was icy cold. Aden felt the water seep into his boots. Biting pain crawled up his legs. “We’ve got to get out of here.”

Jamal jiggled the latch of his seat belt. “It’s stuck.” He panted and groaned and strained at the latch. Aden, always calm in an emergency, quickly released both of their latches as the water rose to the level of his seat.

“Come on, buddy.” Aden got a firm hold of the collar around Pilot’s neck while lifting the door handle and pushing hard with his elbow. When the door wouldn’t budge, he put his whole back into it. He couldn’t open it. The frigid water bubbling at his waist matched the raw terror crawling up his spine. They would be underwater in a matter of seconds.

Jamal pounded on his door and screamed in panic. “It won’t open.”

“The water is pushing against it,” Aden yelled over the deafening roar of rushing water and shrinking air.

Jamal shoved his fists against the windshield. “We’re going to die, Aden. We’re going to die!”

Pilot struggled onto the backseat, keeping his head above the rising water, and barked as if that would keep the lake at bay.

As the water poured in, Aden propped his feet on the seat and crouched with his head against the ceiling. Jamal did the same. “Help us, Lord,” Aden cried. He took in great gulps of air with each breath in case they would be his last. His heart hammered against his chest as he repeated his desperate prayer over and over in his mind.

Aden, thou art careful and troubled about many things, but one thing is needful.

He was surely dying. Random scripture didn’t usually leap to his mind.

Probably a foot of air remained in the car.

Jamal became incoherent with fear. “We’re going to die. We’re going to die.”

Pilot whined and bumped his nose against the ceiling. Aden’s heart nearly broke. Pilot was an innocent victim of Jamal’s recklessness. “Please, Lord, could you save my dog?”

Open the door.

Open the door? It wouldn’t budge.

Lean not to thine own understanding. Open the door.

Even with his mind racing in terror, Aden was smart enough to recognize the source of that inaudible voice.

“Jamal, don’t let go,” he said. He grabbed Jamal’s hand, took a deep breath, and plunged beneath the water. Jamal struggled briefly as he probably wondered why Aden was pulling him to his death. Then his grip tightened, and he let Aden pull him down.

It was almost too dark to see, but Aden felt his way to the latch. He pulled it up while pushing on the door with both his feet. The door swung open so easily that he barely had to exert effort at all.

Using the open door as leverage, he pulled himself out of the car with his free hand and tugged Jamal out with him. His lungs burned with the need for air, but how far under the water were they?

Reaching his hand to the sky, he cried out silently for God.

But it was too much. He felt completely spent. He hadn’t the strength to get them to the surface, no matter how close it might be.

Just as Aden thought his lungs might explode, someone from above grabbed his hand and forcefully pulled him upward. He and Jamal were on the surface in a matter of seconds. He let go of Jamal’s hand so they could both tread water. The air tasted better than anything Aden had ever experienced. He filled his lungs with the sweet flavor and thought he would never want for another thing in his whole life.

Aden whipped his head around and looked for his rescuer. Not a soul to be seen either in the water or on the shore. They were alone. The rain beat a lonely cadence against the surface of the lake.

Someone had pulled them up. Aden had felt the touch of a warm hand as plainly as he had felt Jamal’s fingers in his grasp. He gasped for breath as pure astonishment overtook him. Who had saved him, and why was he worth such a miracle?

Jamal flailed about until Aden pulled Jamal’s arm around his neck and paddled to shore. Jamal, panting with exhaustion, crawled out of the water and lay down on the jagged rocks. Anything was more comfortable than a watery grave.

Aden turned and swam away from shore.

“Where are you going?” Jamal called.

“I’ve gotta get my dog.”

Jamal sat up and pointed a shaky finger. “Look.”

Pilot’s nose bobbed to the surface, and Aden watched in relief as his dog paddled to shore with those giant paws of his. Aden followed him out of the water and threw his arms around his best friend. Warm tears coursed down his icy cheeks as he buried his face in Pilot’s waterlogged fur. “Good boy, smart boy. Good, good boy.” A sob tore from his lips. “Thank you, Lord.”

Pilot wagged his tail, but otherwise stood at attention while Aden blubbered out his feelings.

It was still rainy and cold, but the temperature did nothing to calm Aden’s racing heart. It might as well have been a hundred degrees outside.

He brushed his hand along Pilot’s fur as he willed his breathing to slow down. What had just happened? He’d heard a voice. There was no doubt in his mind where that voice came from. The question now was, what was he going to do about the message he’d received?

Bowing his head, Aden breathed out a silent prayer of immense gratitude and longing. His life had been on one path, and he sensed God trying to make some adjustments. The accident was his wake-up call. But what did the Lord want him to awaken to?

One thing is needful. Open the door.

He released Pilot, and the dog immediately began running up and down the shoreline exploring interesting smells as if nothing traumatic had happened.

Aden looked at Jamal, who sat on a boulder with his arms wrapped around his knees.

“You okay?” Aden asked.

Jamal stared at the spot underneath the surface where his car was buried. “I’m sure glad I spent three hours oiling the leather seats.”

“They’re vinyl.”

“I know, but still, it was nice vinyl.”

After their terrible ordeal, the relief was palpable, almost euphoric. They burst into laughter.

“At least you didn’t hit the elk. You never would have forgiven yourself,” Aden said.

“But technically, I have polluted the lake.”

Aden chuckled. “On the bright side, you don’t have a car anymore, so I never have to ride with you again. Walking is a much safer form of transportation.”

“Cars are plenty safe.”

“Said the guy who almost killed me.”

Jamal grinned and nudged Aden with his elbow. “You’re such a baby.”

“Said the guy who almost killed me.”

“Said the guy who saved my life.”

Aden shrugged off the mention of it. He knew who really saved Jamal’s life today, and it wasn’t Aden Helmuth. “I’m never riding in a car again.”

“That could be a real problem for you, seeing as it’s a long way back and we’ll freeze to death if we have to walk all the way. It would be better to flag down a ride.”

“After tonight, I’m never riding in a car again.”

“Said the Amish guy,” Jamal added.

“How appropriate.”

Lily Eicher held tightly to the reins and carefully guided the horse up the steep drive of Huckleberry Hill. Her family’s buggy wasn’t as new as it used to be, and she didn’t want to risk a mishap. She didn’t come up to Huckleberry Hill often, only on the few Sundays a year when the Helmuths hosted gmay, or church, at their house, but Lily thought that Huckleberry Hill was the most beautiful spot in Bonduel, especially this time of year. It was mid June, and thick stands of maples and a variety of other trees stood at attention on the hill sporting brilliant leaves of every imaginable shade of green. In autumn, the plentiful huckleberry bushes glowed flaming red, almost hurting Lily’s eyes to look at.

She crested the hill and brought her buggy to a stop in front of Anna and Felty Helmuth’s house. The white railing that enclosed their porch had been painted recently, and a tidy row of purple petunias bordered the foundation. The dirt looked freshly turned. They must have planted this week.

Lily set the brake and picked up the plate of sugar cookies for the Helmuths. She’d used a heart-shaped cutter and decorated them with pink frosting and red sprinkles. They looked quite charming on her white plate.

Holding the plate with both hands, Lily tiptoed across the grass, which still felt a bit soggy from last night’s rain. She heard a dog bark and frowned at how her heart jumped into her throat. No need to panic. The Helmuths’ dog, Sparky, was a little white poodle that wouldn’t even nip at her heels.

Hearing the barking again, she glanced behind her and thought she might faint. An enormous tan bear loped toward her, barking enthusiastically. She gasped and threw caution to the wind. Balancing her plate in one hand, she picked up her skirts and scaled the porch steps in a single bound.

But it was too late. She turned to face her attacker as the bear jumped. Since she wasn’t tall, the animal easily planted his front paws on her shoulders, knocking the cookies out of her hand and pinning her back against the Helmuths’ front door. She cried out in alarm and tried to shield her face from those razor-sharp teeth as the beast opened his mouth. Her heart pounded in her throat.

The animal licked her face and nudged her cheek with his moist nose. Not a bear. It wasn’t a bear.

It was a dog. A big, humongous, slobbery dog.

It might not be a bear, but she was still going to die.

“Pilot, get down!” A young man jogged across the yard and stomped up the porch steps. He grabbed the animal firmly by the collar and yanked him away from Lily. Smiling as if he were about to burst into laughter, he vigorously scratched the dog’s head. “Sorry. He’s a real frisky dog. Wants to be friends with everybody.”

Lily put her hand to her throat and tried to catch her breath. She swallowed hard, pushing the tears back with every breath. No need to cry.

The young man seemed unconcerned about Lily’s distress even though she’d probably have nightmares for weeks. Not only did she have dog slobber all over her face, but wispy strands of her hair had escaped from her kapp and tickled the nape of her neck.

To add to her embarrassment, the young man fell silent and stared at her as if she were a sweet roll in a bakery. What exactly did he think he was doing? Could he see the trembling she tried so hard to subdue?

Lily lowered her eyes self-consciously. Her cookies lay in a pathetic heap on the porch floor.

The dog lunged for a cookie, but the young man held him back. “No, Pilot. Those aren’t yours.” The young man pointed to the floor. “Sit. Sit.” The dog immediately sat on his haunches, cocked his head to one side, and studied Lily’s face as if waiting for her approval.

Or deciding whether to give his.

The young man bent down, gathered up Lily’s cookies, and arranged them on the plate. He stood and handed her the sorry-looking baked goods. The frosting was smashed every which way and most of the sprinkles had stayed behind on the porch. Bits of dirt and leaf fragments clung tenaciously to the frosting. She wanted to cry.

“I’m really, really sorry about that. Sometimes Pilot doesn’t realize how big he is. He probably terrifies someone as petite as you.”

She would not melt into a puddle of quivering nerves right there on the porch.

Would not.

Holding tightly to her plate, Lily willed her hands to stop shaking.

The young man’s striking green eyes momentarily distracted her. They were the color of maple leaves at the height of summertime. Green eyes and a light dusting of freckles across his nose—a fascinating combination on his face. A jagged scar cut a path through his left eyebrow, succeeding in making him look more rugged. And handsome.

Too handsome. How did he expect a girl to keep her wits about her?

His imposing height didn’t help. He stood well over six feet. His height made him seem powerful, like a man in charge of his own life.

Lily shook her head to clear her thoughts. Her near-death experience with that bear-dog must have addled her brain.

How long had she been staring?

The corners of the young man’s lips turned down. “I’m really sorry. But please don’t be mad at my dog. He’s just a puppy at heart, and he would never bite anyone.”

Trying to salvage what was left of her pride, Lily cleared her throat and straightened her apron.

The young man’s face relaxed into a smile. “Go ahead. You can pet him. He won’t bite.”

The last thing Lily wanted to do was pet that beast, but the young man seemed so eager, she couldn’t refuse. She held her breath as the dog sniffed her hand and then licked it with his germy tongue. Where was the hand sanitizer when she needed it? Keeping her plate of ruined cookies out of reach of that mouth, she patted the dog exactly three times on the head before pulling her hand back to the safety of her apron pocket.

The young man looked a little disappointed at her obvious lack of affection for his dog, but he soon returned to his good humor. He reached past Lily and opened the front door for her. “My name’s Aden. Don’t be mad, okay?” The dog twitched his ears. “Stay out here, Pilot.”

The Helmuths’ front door opened into their kitchen and great room. The kitchen smelled of cinnamon and some exotic spice Lily couldn’t begin to identify. She stepped into the room with Aden right behind her. The dog stayed on the porch as if the thought of misbehaving was the furthest thing from his mind.

Sparky, the Helmuths’ dog, rose from a rug in the great room and waddled to Aden. Aden cooed and scratched behind Sparky’s ears before Sparky padded out the door, sat down next to Pilot, and stared into the house. Lily cocked an eyebrow. It looked as if she were protesting Pilot’s banishment.

Although she didn’t see him, Lily could hear Felty Helmuth’s booming singing voice floating in the air.

“I need no mansions here below for Jesus said that I could go to a home beyond the sky not made with hands.”

“Dawdi,” Aden called.

Dawdi? Felty was Aden’s grandfather? That explained the height. The Helmuths had always been a tall family.

The singing stopped, and Felty shuffled down the hall. He flashed Lily a bright smile. “Well, my goodness, Aden. What a beautiful young lady you have brought for us!”

“I think she’s here to see Mammi, but I don’t know. She doesn’t say much.”

To her dismay, Lily realized she hadn’t said a word since she had set foot on Huckleberry Hill.

“Pilot scared her.”

Her profound embarrassment gave her a voice. “Anna asked me to stop by.” Lily cringed when the words came out of her mouth. Squeaking was not her usual mode of communication.

Aden seemed to want to help her out. “She brought cookies.”

Felty took a good look at the smashed cookies, picked one off the plate, and bit into it.

“Oh,” Lily managed to say before the entire cookie disappeared into Felty’s mouth. That one had a dead ant half-buried in the frosting.

Felty licked his fingers and smacked his lips. “Delicious. The president of Hawaii never ate a cookie that good. And the ants give it extra protein.”

He winked and teased a smile onto Lily’s lips.

“Look who’s here.”

Lily turned to see Anna Helmuth enter the kitchen like a fresh spring breeze. Anna, who moved like someone much younger than eighty-one, had a perpetual twinkle in her eye, as if she would burst into laughter at the slightest provocation. She threw out her arms and gave Lily a sort of sideways hug so that she didn’t disturb the plate of cookies still in Lily’s hand.

“How nice of you to come today,” Anna said, looking at Aden and nodding. “Have you met our grandson?”

“She’s only met Pilot,” Aden said. “He made an impression on her.”

Anna waved her hand in the direction of the open door. Pilot still sat on the front porch, twitching his tail, probably hoping to be invited in. “Oh, that dog. He is a bit of a handful, but I know you will fall in love with him, by and by.” Anna grinned as if she weren’t saying what she truly meant.

It seemed Aden felt bad about the cookies after all. “She brought cookies.”

Lily held out the plate for Anna to see. “I dropped them.”

“Pilot knocked them out of her hand,” Aden said.

Anna shook her finger at Pilot in mock scolding. “That dog is a troublemaker, to be sure, but he has a heart of gold. You’ll never, ever know a better dog.”

“Uh-huh,” Lily murmured, unconvinced. The Helmuths could adore that dog if they wanted to, but Lily would be perfectly content to never lay eyes on it again.

Anna took the plate from Lily and set it on the table. “Cum, sit down,” she said, motioning to a chair at the table. “Let’s have a talk.” Anna closed the door. Lily felt almost sorry for the dogs. They looked so lonely.

Aden leaned over and kissed his mammi on the cheek. “I’d better get busy on those poles or you won’t have any beans this year.”

“Nae, Aden, sit down. You work too hard, and we won’t be but a minute. Cum, Felty. You can sit next to me.”

Aden shrugged good-naturedly and sauntered around the table.

Felty pulled the chair out for Anna to sit. Lily was surprised when Aden did the same for her. Amish men weren’t usually so accommodating. It appeared Aden had learned a few things from his grandfather.

After Felty sat down, he took Anna’s hand and squeezed it. Lily glanced at Aden and folded her arms tightly around her waist. She wasn’t taking any chances.

Anna leaned forward and smiled sweetly. “Now, dear, as you might have guessed, Felty and I are not getting any younger. We need a girl like you to help us around the house and pick tomatoes and such. I can’t tend to vegetables like I used to. Would you like to work for us this summer? Three days a week.”

Lily gave Anna a half smile. She knew she should be grateful for such an offer, but her nerves always seemed to get the better of her. She wasn’t used to venturing out of her comfort zone, even in something so small as a job away from home. Of course it was a good thing. Of course Dat would want her to be brave. She sat up straight and tried to look plucky.

“Oh, I think that would be nice,” Lily said. “But I don’t know how you like things done. What if I don’t do a gute job?”

Anna didn’t seem discouraged. “You will do fine. Your mother says you are a hard worker, and I remember the day of Bielers’ barn raising. You stuck with the dishes after everyone else had done, and you picked up nails and construction trash until it got too dark to see.”

Lily shook her head. “I didn’t want anyone who drove by to get a flat tire, and garbage should never be left on the ground.”

Aden hadn’t taken his gaze from her face since they sat down at the table. His staring proved the most uncomfortable thing of all.

“And you’ve befriended Schrock’s special daughter too. Such a thoughtful girl,” Anna said, reaching over the table and taking Lily’s hand. “I know you are the best girl for this job, and I’m never mistaken about such things.”

Lily’s uneasiness grew as she worried that Anna’s expectations were too high. “I don’t know if I can be the best girl for the job, but I promise to do my best.”

“You will do just fine, dear.”

“I do need money for my wedding.”

Anna’s eyes danced with amusement. “Your wedding? Any boy. . .