Just Plain Sadie

Book 4: Wells Landing Romance

by Amy Lillard

Genres: Amish & Mennonite; Christian Romance

Synopsis

Everyone in Wells Landing has long expected Sadie Kauffman and Chris Flaud to marry, despite Sadie's telling them differently. While she loves Chris, she sees him more as a friend than a husband. Yet at twenty-two, the plainest girl in her group, Sadie is also the only one who is still single. Perhaps it's time to be practical and marry Chris, though he still has not asked. But when Sadie meets a kind, handsome Mennonite, it seems that her prayers have been answered . . .



With Ezra Hein, Sadie at last feels the joy she nearly gave up on. Unfortunately, others only feel shock that she would consider marrying an outsider. To complicate matters, Chris has finally begun talking to Sadie about their future. Distressed, Sadie will have to search her heart to recognize God's marvelous gifts to her and find the courage to accept them, challenges and all.

Release date: April 1, 2016

Publisher: Zebra Books

Print pages: 352

Sample

“I have something I need to talk to you about.”

At Chris’s words, Sadie’s heart pounded in her chest. Was this it? She had been waiting on this moment for a long, long time. Now it was about to happen on this cold but bright January day on his father’s farm. She had known something was up when he’d asked her to take a walk, but she hadn’t dreamed that today could be the day. Yet from the sound of his voice, Chris had something very important to say. As important as a marriage proposal? She could only hope.

Sure, she and Chris were nothing more than best friends who had been paired off in their buddy bunch like a true couple instead of just good pals. But what better person to marry than a best friend? She knew all his little habits, all his quirks and shortcomings. So she didn’t love him with that breathless wonder that the Englisch novelists talked about. There was more to a marriage—more to life—than that.

“Jah?” The one word was a mere whisper upon her lips. She had wanted to come across as strong and true, yet all she sounded was anxious and fretful. But she was anxious and fretful.

More than anything in the world, she wanted to get married. That wasn’t so much to ask, was it? Especially when everyone around them thought they were just being secretive when they claimed to be only friends.

A couple of years ago Sadie gave up defending their friendship and let people believe what they wanted. They were doing that anyway. But somewhere along the road, she had started to think about marriage. Not in a silly romantic way, but in a strong, steady kind of way. And she knew that one day Chris would be her husband. She just knew it.

Was today that day?

He took her hand into his, turning it over and tracing the creases on her palm. “This is kinda hard to say.” He glanced up at the sky, across the field where they sat next to a half-frozen pond. He looked at his lap, then back at their hands once again. “It’s no secret that you’re my best friend, right?”

“Of course.” She did her best to sound confident, but she feared she had failed miserably.

“Best friends should be able to say anything to each other, right?” He seemed to be asking himself rather than her, so Sadie kept quiet and waited for him to continue. “It’s just that . . .”

Her heart pounded even harder in her chest, so hard that she thought it might fly away on its own.

“What I’m about to tell you is between the two of us, okay?”

She nodded, breathless as she waited for him to continue.

“I’m going to Europe.”

Suddenly the world was swept out from underneath her. She took her hand from Chris’s, using it to steady herself though she was still sitting in the same place she had been before. Everything seemed tilted now, a little askew, not quite right. He was going to Europe?

Europe?

“Sadie? Are you okay?”

She cleared her throat and managed to nod. “Jah, of course.” Her voice didn’t sound like her own, and a sudden chill ran through her bones. She pulled her coat a little tighter around her. “I think my ears are playing tricks on me. I thought you said you were going to Europe. That can’t be right.” He was supposed to be proposing, stating his intentions of joining the church and making her his wife. Wasn’t that what everyone thought would happen?

“That’s what I said.” His voice seemed small, as if it was coming to her from down a long tunnel.

“Europe?” Thousands of thoughts flew through her head at once. Europe was so far away; was he asking her to go too? No, wait. He hadn’t said anything about getting married, about joining the church, about the future they would have. Just Europe.

Sadie pushed to her feet, though the world still seemed to be spinning, her emotions a strange mixture of disappointment and relief.

“I told you how I wanted to travel.” From behind her, Chris’s voice held a damaged edge, as if somehow her reaction had wounded him.

“Jah, you did.” She stifled a laugh and whirled back to face him. “A lot of us talk about the things that we want to do. But they’re not things that we are really going to do.”

“You thought I was just talking?”

He had talked for hours and hours about seeing the world and what it would be like and traveling and how it would feel to be on a boat, to be on a plane, to be in a car in the remote places he’d read about on the computer at the library. But that was all she thought it was—talk. Reluctantly, she nodded and wondered how the day had turned so wrong.

Chris stood and came to stand by her side. He reached out as if he were going to touch her, then he seemed to change his mind and dropped his hands back to his sides once again. “I thought you would understand.”

“I do.” She wanted to. But how did she explain to him that searching for his dreams was killing hers? Was it so much to ask to want to be married? It was all she wanted from life. To work her job at the restaurant, get married to a nice man, have children, and live out her days in Wells Landing. They seemed like attainable dreams, but now they were as far away as the moon.

He expelled a heavy breath. “I’m not going yet,” he said. “This summer. I talked to a travel agent, and he can get me a good deal for June. Flights and all that.”

Travel agent? “You’re going to get on an airplane?” Of all the questions she had to ask, that one was perhaps the least important, but the one that jumped from her lips first. She turned to him then, searching his features for some sort of explanation as to what made him want to fly half the world away when as far as she could see, everything she needed was right there in Wells Landing.

“That part makes me a little nervous.” He chuckled. “But I’m looking forward to it. It’s an adventure out there, Sadie. Don’t you see?”

All she could see were her dreams slipping away, her best friend not joining the church, not staying in Wells Landing, and not being a part of her life for much longer.

“You’re not coming back.”

“Oh, Sadie, don’t be like that. Of course I’m coming back. Airplanes are safe now. It’s not like what you think.”

Sadie shook her head. “I’m not worried about the plane, it’s you.” Chris wasn’t the only Amish man who wanted to see the world, who wanted to taste the pleasures that lay beyond the boundaries of their district. And all too often the people who left never came back. Luke Lambright, her sister Lorie, to name a few. But Sadie had never understood the call of the Englisch world. She was happy being Amish. She was happy right where she was. That might be simplistic or naïve, but that’s just the way she was.

Chris was leaving; she was staying. It was as simple as that.

“I haven’t told anyone else,” he said.

“You told me.”

“That’s different. I knew you would understand.”

Do I?

“You can’t tell anyone,” Chris continued. “No one. Not even Ruthie, Hannah, or Melanie. Not until I tell my parents.”

“Okay,” she agreed, albeit reluctantly. The one person she would want to talk to was gone. Her sister Lorie had left Wells Landing three months ago to move to Tulsa. That had been a hard time for Sadie. Their father had just passed away, and Lorie had discovered he had a tattoo that no one else knew about. That made her search for more things. She uncovered a grandmother living in a nursing home in Tulsa and a whole secret life that her father had lived without anyone in Wells Landing knowing about it. Even worse, Henry Kauffman hadn’t been Amish, nor had his last name been Kauffman. Sadie had managed to keep all that to herself. What was one more secret?

Though she missed Lorie terribly, she knew her sister was happy now. She wasn’t having to hide her paintings or wonder about what her life would have been like had her father not made the choice to hide her out in the Amish community, pretending to be Amish himself as he raised her Plain.

It had been three months since Lorie had left. Three long months of waiting for her visits, waiting for phone calls at the restaurant, and envying the happiness that she had found. For not only was she living out her dream getting to know her grandmother and teaching painting to the senior citizens at the Sundale Assisted Living Center, she had met the handsome Englischer, Zach Calhoun. They were planning their wedding for some time this June. And now this.

June was going to be a very busy month.

“Chris, you should tell them.” She had been walking around with so many secrets inside, but this was different. It was one thing to hold her own secret from the community in order to not damage her father’s memory within the district and quite another to keep someone else’s secret from the people who loved him.

He nodded. “I know, I know. But I’m not ready to tell them yet. I don’t think they’ll handle it well.”

“What would give you such an idea?”

“Sadie, really?”

“I’m merely saying that their youngest son decides to travel off to Europe and not join the church. Why would they find any fault in that?” She wasn’t about to apologize for her sarcasm. Maybe it would shake some sense into Chris, make him see how his choices were going to affect everyone around him.

“I never said anything about not joining the church. I can go to Europe. I’m still in my rumspringa. I can travel, come back, and take baptism classes next year. Bishop Treger let Lorie take his classes.”

Sadie didn’t point out that hadn’t gone over very well, and she didn’t think the bishop would allow that to happen again considering the fact that Lorie had dropped out of the classes and moved away. Besides, if Chris really wanted to join the church, he would only have to wait one more year. Bishop Ebersol might not be thrilled with him waiting until he was twenty-four, but she doubted Chris would be the oldest Amish man ever to join. If he joined.

“And my parents have Johnny,” Chris continued. “He’s taken over the farm. He’s going to run everything. They don’t need me for that. Why should I not live my life? Do the things I want to do?”

“Can you hear yourself? How selfish you sound? Does that not bother you?”

Chris shoved his fingers through his hair, knocking his hat to the cold ground. “This isn’t about being selfish or not. It’s about an opportunity. I’ve saved my money. I’ve worked hard. I don’t see why I shouldn’t be allowed to spend that money as I want. I can’t get this out of my system any other way, Sadie—” He growled in frustration. “I thought you would understand.”

Sadie blinked back tears. This was not how this conversation was supposed to turn out. Even if it hadn’t been a marriage proposal, the last thing she wanted to do was fight with Chris.

“I’m trying to. Really I am. But with Dat and Lorie . . .” She shook her head. “I’m sorry, Chris. I know you have to do what’s right for you.” Even if it meant giving up her dreams. He hadn’t tagged her for marriage, which was common for men who hadn’t joined the church to do for young ladies who had. It was like a promise, so to speak, that when he joined the church they would be officially engaged.

Even though Chris hadn’t made that promise to her, everyone assumed that Sadie was Chris’s girl, and no one came around courtin’. And so with Chris, all her dreams of marriage were flying off to Europe.

“Will you be happy for me?”

She nodded, her throat clogged with emotion. “I am.”

“Will you wait for me?”

Of course she would. He might not love her like that, but if they were to marry, they would make a fine couple. Even though crazy love would never be a big part of it, they would make a fine pair.

“You really are coming back?” She didn’t want him to promise to return, to promise to marry her, or to promise not to turn Englisch. If something happened and he couldn’t keep that promise . . . she would be even more heartbroken than she was right now.

“Of course I am.” He took her hands into his.

Despite his arguments otherwise, she knew that once he left, he’d never return.

She could only enjoy him for the time he would remain in Wells Landing, and after that . . . ? Well, she was glad that she had her job at the restaurant and her family. If nothing else, those two things gave meaning to her life.

And that was more than some people had.

“I think it’s over this way.” Chris pointed down the long aisle of booths set up for the weekly farmers’ market in Pryor.

Sadie looked down the walkway of vendors, shading her eyes against the noonday sun. “Are you sure?” Rows and rows of booths were set up, all looking so much alike that Sadie was quickly turned around. They had passed the stand a bit ago, but Sadie wanted to wait until it was time for them to leave before she made her purchase.

“Why do you need buffalo meat again?” Will asked.

They had all come out together, her little group of coupled-off friends: she and Chris, Will and Hannah, Mark and Ruthie.

“It’s bison meat,” Sadie corrected. “And it’s for Cora Ann.” She shook her head. “Mamm said she could pick out some new recipes for the restaurant, and she chose something with bison meat.”

Chris laughed. “What is she doing? Reading Food and Wine magazine again?”

Sadie returned his chuckle with one of her own. “What do you mean again? She never stopped.”

Of all her siblings, Cora Ann was the most like their father. She had a love of food and restaurant work that made Sadie a little envious. Oh, to know what you wanted out of life and to be able to get it.

Sadie loved her work at the restaurant, she really did. But not like Cora Ann. At thirteen, her youngest sister was constantly poring over food magazines and recipes. Sadie even caught her on the Internet checking out different recipes on the restaurant’s computer. Jah, Sadie was certain that one day Kauffman’s Family Restaurant would be in Cora Ann’s capable hands.

Mark took a couple of more steps in the direction that Chris had indicated. “I think I see it.” Then he grabbed Ruthie’s hand and together they started in the opposite direction.

Sadie whirled around. “Where are you going?”

Mark turned and walked backward, not bothering to let go of Ruthie’s hand as they continued. “Just because you want to buy buffalo meat doesn’t mean we do.” He gave them a grin. “We’ll meet you at the van.”

“Bison meat,” she corrected once again, then turned around just in time to see Will and Hannah head off down another aisle. She didn’t even bother to ask them where they were going. It was like that these days. Since she and Chris were the only couple in their bunch who hadn’t gotten married, she felt like a third wheel, even when they were together.

That wasn’t exactly true. Lorie and Jonah had been a part of their group once upon a time, and they hadn’t gotten married. And she and Chris weren’t a couple. Just best friends, sidekicks. Even with all his promises to marry her once he returned from his trip to Europe.

“I guess it’s just me and you.” Sadie sighed. The six of them had hired a driver to come to the market so they could shop and spend time together. So much for that.

Chris smiled. “Just the way I like it.”

Last week, those words would have made her heart pound in her chest, but today they only made her sad. Her time with Chris was growing smaller each day.

Together they made their way through the milling shoppers. The market was a great place to find fresh produce and other ingredients for the restaurant. Normally, Sadie loved coming and wandering through the stalls and stands, learning of new foods and tools. A little of anything and everything could be found at the market.

“Are you serious about Europe?” She hadn’t meant to ask the question, but it had been building inside her for days. Ever since Chris had told her about his plans.

“Jah. Of course.”

She nodded.

“You haven’t told anyone, have you?”

“No.” And she wouldn’t. Not until he broke the news to his parents.

Chris pointed up ahead. “There it is.”

Sadie recognized the sign. “Hein Ranch,” it read. “Exotic Meats and Animals.” But the man standing at the booth was not the one who had been there earlier.

This man was . . .

She stumbled as he turned to face her.

The most handsome man she had ever seen.

A Mennonite.

“Can I help you?” he asked. His voice was smooth, not too deep. Just right. In fact, everything about him was just right, from his sun-streaked blond hair to his dark brown eyes.

He wore faded blue jeans like she had seen Zach Calhoun wear, an orange and white checkered shirt, and black suspenders. Suddenly she felt more than plain in her mourning black. Not that it mattered.

“Jah, I was here earlier talking to a guy about some bison meat.”

“That was my cousin. He was watching the booth for me. Ezra Hein,” he said with a nod.

“Sadie Kauffman. Nice to meet you,” she returned. “He gave me some quotes when we stopped by earlier. I have them here.” She reached into her bag and pulled out the piece of paper with the price per pound that the cousin had written down for her. Her hands were trembling as she handed it to Ezra.

“That’s a lot of meat,” he said.

“My family owns a restaurant in Wells Landing.”

He nodded.

Was it her or was this conversation awkward? Probably because instead of talking about meat and restaurants, she’d rather be talking about anything else with him.

He had to be the most intriguing man she had ever seen. Attractive, polite . . .

She pushed those thoughts away. He was a Mennonite, and she was Amish. He was handsome, and she was plain. What would a guy like him want with a girl like her?

“Do you get the meat locally?” she asked, trying to remember all the things Mamm had wanted her to ask.

“You could say that. We raise them ourselves, then send them to a butcher in Tulsa. He packages everything there and we pick it up when it’s ready.”

“Really?”

He smiled. “Yes. We also have ostriches and deer, if you’re interested. All of our stock is organically fed. Even the camels.”

“Camels? You don’t eat them, do you?” She tried to not make a face. But camel meat?

Ezra laughed. “No, we keep them for brush control.”

“Camels, ostriches, bison, and deer? That sounds like quite a farm.”

“It’s a ranch, really. You should come out and see it sometime.”

She would like nothing more. And suddenly Chris going to Europe didn’t seem like the end of her world. “I would like that.” She smiled. “So can you supply us with that much bison?”

He nodded. “Of course. When would you like delivery?”

She waited as he worked out the details of the order. Then she signed the papers, handed him a business card for the restaurant, and shook his hand, loving the feel of his strong grip and his warm, calloused fingers.

What was wrong with her? She must have been out in the heat too long, though it was the prettiest day in January that she could ever remember. Seventy degrees couldn’t really be described as hot.

“Well, Sadie Kauffman. I’ll be seeing you.”

She smiled at his words. Was that promise she heard in his voice, or merely wishful thinking on her part?

“He’s flirty,” Chris commented as they turned to go. He wore a frown on his face, his brow wrinkled with disapproval.

Sadie had almost forgotten he was with her. “He’s just nice,” she said.

“If you say so.”

“I do.” As they walked back down the aisle to find their friends, Sadie looked back at the stand.

Ezra was looking after them, her business card in one hand and a smile on his face. He caught her gaze and gave her a little wave.

Sadie returned it, then faced front, trying not to count down the days until she would see Ezra again.

Ezra packed up the last of his stand and closed the tailgate of his ranch truck. The card that Sadie Kauffman gave him burned in his pocket somewhere over his chest. How a tiny piece of paper could feel so heavy and warm was a mystery he was sure to never uncover. But he was intrigued. It was that simple.

He went around to the driver side and slid onto the bench seat. His cousin, Logan, slipped into the passenger side as Ezra started the engine.

“It was a pretty good day, don’t you think?” Logan asked as they pulled the truck from the parking lot.

“Yeah,” Ezra said as he eased onto the street that would take them to the highway and back to the Mennonite community of Taylor Creek.

“Did that girl come back?”

“Which girl?” Ezra asked, though he knew. Logan was talking about the Amish girl, Sadie. The one Ezra couldn’t get out of his head.

“The Amish girl looking for bison meat. Kinda plain. A little on the quiet side.”

Quiet Ezra could agree with, but plain? Not a word he would use to describe her. He supposed if a person took all of her features and examined them, she might be considered on the ordinary side. Her smile maybe. Or it could be her eyes. Though they were merely hazel and not anything traditionally unusual. Still, there was something about Sadie Kauffman. An energy that hummed around her like electricity during a thunderstorm.

“Yeah,” Ezra finally managed. “She came back.” He turned on his blinker and changed lanes. “She said her family owns a restaurant in Wells Landing.”

“That one on Main Street?” Logan asked.

Ezra shrugged. “I guess so.” Unlike his friends and cousins, Ezra rarely made it out of Taylor Creek. He had work to do. And a lot of it. His mother depended on him. He couldn’t be running all over the county. That was why he hired others to deliver his exotic meats. That was one thing he could trust others with. But his animals . . . they were like family members. He didn’t trust them with anyone. He couldn’t walk down the street and randomly pick out people who could take care of his exotics. That responsibility was his and his alone.

“You, cousin, need to get out more.” Logan smiled at him in that rascally way that he had. Ezra knew the look well. A few years back he would have returned the grin with one of his own, equally mischievous. But that was before . . .

“Yeah, yeah,” he said, hoping his cousin would drop the matter. He was tired of defending himself. Tired of having to explain why he worked so hard. None of them seemed to understand. Of course, none of them had come home to find their father gone and their mother weeping on the floor.

He shook his head, releasing those thoughts. They led nowhere good. No sense looking back. Only to remember and know what not to do.

“So are you in?” Logan tapped his hand against the seat between them, shaking Ezra from his thoughts.

“In?”

Logan sighed. “The volleyball game tonight. Michael got the rec center and everything.”

“I don’t—”

“Before you finish that, remember, you promised to play tonight.”

He had, but somehow his heart wasn’t in it. He sighed. “Right. Volleyball.”

Logan nodded. “You’ll be there?”

“I’ll be there,” he replied. In body. But he had a feeling his mind would be someplace else.

“Ezra, is that you?”

“Yeah, Mom.” He tossed his truck keys onto the table by the front door and ran a hand over the back of his neck. He felt antsy and strange, like he was waiting for something to happen but he didn’t know what.

“Did you have a good day at the market?” she called again, most likely from the kitchen. It seemed she spent a lot of time these days looking out the back window over the small table just off from the breakfast nook. She said she liked to watch the animals play and walk about in the bright winter sun, but he had a feeling it was more than that. From her favorite perch she could see half the ranch and the road that ran in front of it. Was she expecting someone to come?

He shook his head as she rolled her wheelchair into the living room. She caught sight of him and he stopped. “What?” she asked.

“Nothing.” He bent to kiss her cheek. He never went a day without showing his affection. She was everything to him. All he had left in this world.

Sort of.

“Michael called,” she said. “He wanted to remind you about the volleyball game tonight.”

He was going to get. . .