The Amish Christmas Cowboy

She looked forward to talking with a trained physical therapist, but she wasn’t sure how Toby would feel about her involvement.

As she opened the door into the firehouse, she pushed that concern aside. She was attending the festive dinner with her friends, and she didn’t want her mind mired in thoughts of the injured man.

Inside the new fire station, which had been dedicated the previous year, tables were set end to end in three rows. Folding chairs were occupied by neighbors who were enjoying barbecued chicken and salads before the volunteer firefighters served them generous slabs of berry pie. A kitchen could be seen beyond a wide pass-through window where urns held kaffi and rows of cups of lemonade and iced tea waited to be claimed. Faint strains of country music came from a speaker in one corner, but it was drowned out by the dozens of conversations in the open space.

A few months ago, heads would have turned when Sarah and her three best friends walked in. However, the residents of the small village had become accustomed to their new plain neighbors among them.

She wondered what the reaction would be if they learned Sarah’s friends had jokingly named themselves the Harmony Creek Spinsters’ Club. They were too old to belong to a youth group but weren’t married, so they didn’t fit in anywhere except with each other. As a group, they enjoyed shopping in the village or attending events like the Berry-fest Dinner.

“Where do you want to sit?” asked Annie Wagler, the more talkative of the Wagler twins. She and her sister, Leanna, were at least two inches shorter than Sarah. Their lustrous black hair glowed with a bluish sheen in the station’s bright lights.

“Do you see four chairs together?” Sarah scanned the room, seeing many familiar faces. People she’d met in the village as well as those living in the new settlement along Harmony Creek.

“There.” Miriam Hartz, a tall blonde, pointed to the right. “Two empty chairs facing two empty chairs.”

“Perfect.” Sarah led the way. When she sat facing the twins, she smiled as Miriam took the chair next to her.

She was delighted. She hadn’t had a chance to talk to Miriam in the past couple of weeks because her friend was busy making preparations for the new school year, which would begin at the end of August. As the Amish school opened two weeks before the private school the Summerhays kinder went to, she was hoping to arrange for a visit. Her charges had so many questions about their plain neighbors, and it would be a gut way to introduce them to kinder their own ages.

“What a wunderbaar idea!” Miriam exclaimed when Sarah brought up the subject. “It’ll help my scholars, too, by letting them meet younger Englisch neighbors. For the most part, their interactions have been with Englisch who work in the stores in Salem.”

“When do you start school?”

“The last full week of this month.”

“The same week as the Washington County fair?”

Miriam gave her a wry smile. “It was either that, or we’d be in session when it was time for next spring’s planting. However, we’ll be doing half days at the end of the first week, so the scholars and their families can go to the fair later in the day. The days count toward our total, and to be honest, the kids have too much summer on their minds to get much work done.”

“Especially as they had to make up days in June and July.”

With the disruption of moving into the new settlement in Harmony Creek Hollow, many of the school-age kinder hadn’t attended the minimum number of days required by the state, so a short session had been necessary. Miriam had held school in her home until the new building had been completed after the Fourth of July.

“I’m hoping they’ll be eager to get back to work,” Miriam replied, “instead of thinking about playing ball. Some would be happy to do that all day, every day.”

The Summerhays kids didn’t play ball other than in video games. A basketball court behind the house hadn’t been used except for storage of supplies for the house renovation. Other than Natalie, who took every opportunity to be with the horses, the kinder preferred to stay indoors. Each time Sarah had insisted on them joining her for a walk, they complained as if being sent to the North Pole in the middle of winter, instead of enjoying the chance to pick fresh berries from the bushes along the road and edging the farm’s fields.

“Sarah!”

She stiffened at her older brother’s voice, which seemed to silence everyone else. She wondered if Menno’s hearing was being damaged by their sawmill. He usually had sawdust clinging to his hair, but tonight it was neat.

Her brothers stopped by where she sat. Menno was short, only an inch or two taller than Sarah. Benjamin’s head reached several inches higher than their older brother’s. Both were built wide and thick like the stumps they left behind when they felled trees on the wood lot. Benjamin worked at the sawmill, but he’d spent most of his time for the past month planting apple trees.

“Why didn’t you tell us you were coming tonight?” asked Menno. “You could have come with us. I don’t like the idea of you driving alone after dark.”

Heat rose along Sarah’s cheeks as eyes turned toward them. Why did her older brother, who was ten years older than she was, treat her as if she were Mia’s age? Her brothers had always been protective of her, but since their move to the new settlement, they didn’t seem to believe she could breathe without supervision.

“I came with my friends,” she said, irritated that her brother’s sharp voice had drawn attention to them. “We hired Hank Puente to bring us in his van.” She couldn’t keep from raising her chin in defiance. “I mentioned that to you at least twice in the past week.”

Benjamin nodded with an apologetic smile, but Menno didn’t crack his stern facade. For a long moment, her older brother stared at her. She met his gaze, refusing to let him daunt her. At last, he clapped Benjamin on the shoulder and walked away.

“Whew,” Annie breathed. “Is it my imagination, or are your brothers keeping an eye on you more closely every day?”

“It’s not your imagination.”

Leanna reached across the table and patted Sarah’s hand in silent consolation.

“That’s ridiculous,” Miriam said at the same time. “You’re a grown woman, not a boppli.”

With a smile she hoped conveyed her appreciation for her friends coming to her defense, Sarah said, “I’ve tried to tell them that, but they don’t want to listen.”

“But they’re okay with you working for the Summerhays family?” Annie asked.

“They haven’t said otherwise.” She didn’t add her brothers knew—as she did—how important her wages were while they worked to establish their sawmill as a viable business.

In the past few weeks, Benjamin and Menno had been discussing the pine trees in their steep fields. A Christmas tree farm is what Benjamin called it, and she guessed that they hoped to sell fresh trees as the holidays approached. Plain families wouldn’t buy them, but Englischers might. However, until the harvest was in and the holiday season rolled around, the household depended on what she was paid each week. That her pay from Mr. Summerhays was always on time was a blessing she never took for granted.

“Guten owed, ladies,” came a deep voice, silencing her thoughts.

A look over her shoulder wasn’t necessary when Sarah saw the soft smile blossoming on Miriam’s face. Even if Sarah hadn’t recognized the voice as Eli Troyer’s, her friend’s expression announced how happy Miriam was to see the carpenter who lived at the far end of the hollow. The two had been walking out together for the past few weeks, a fact Sarah had guessed, though neither Miriam nor Eli had said a word.

Setting plates in front of them with a flourish worthy of the finest restaurant, Eli reminded them the dinner was all-you-can-eat.

Sarah chuckled when she looked at her plate heaped with chicken, french fries, and potato, macaroni and green salads. “I can’t eat all this.”

“Not if we want pie,” added Annie with a laugh.

“You definitely want pie.” Eli motioned toward the counter. “Help yourself to something to drink, too.” He hurried away to serve more food.

“Miriam, how did you arrange for Eli to be our waiter?” Sarah asked with a wink to her friends.

Miriam’s face grew as red as the filling in the slices of berry pie arranged on a nearby table, then she smiled. “I didn’t, but I’m grateful for small favors.”

“I wish more of those handsome firefighters would stop by,” said Leanna.

Sarah put her arm around her friend as they went to get their choice of drinks from the counter. She didn’t know what to say to Leanna, who was eager to get married since the man she’d fallen for wed someone else.

When she saw how Miriam glowed as Eli spoke to her, Sarah was sure this fall would be Miriam’s last as a schoolteacher. Would she marry Eli before Christmas? Though such matters were kept quiet, the small size of the community settled along Harmony Creek made it impossible not to notice who was spending time together.

She wished Miriam every happiness, because Eli seemed like a gut man. She prayed the Wagler twins would find such wunderbaar matches, too. As for herself, she needed to sort out her future before she could commit the rest of her life to someone. She must not make the same mistake she had when opening her heart to Wilbur Eash and having him assume he could make every decision for her.

“So what trouble did your kinder get into today?” Annie asked after they’d shared a silent prayer of thanks for the food in front of them.

Sarah was relieved by Annie’s question, which gave her an excuse to shove aside her uncomfortable thoughts. “The high point was when I had to get them off those tall columns in the entry.” She stabbed a piece of green salad. “I don’t know how you deal with a dozen, Miriam, when I’m on my toes with four.”

“The kinder didn’t get hurt, ain’t so?” asked Miriam.

“No.” She explained how she’d gotten to the two younger ones before they fell.

“I’m glad to hear that after Caleb mentioned the ambulance went out to the stables this afternoon.”

Sarah nodded. Like her brothers, Miriam’s brother, who was the founder of the new settlement along Harmony Creek, was a volunteer firefighter. They wore beepers to alert them about emergencies.

“Is everyone okay?” asked Leanna.

Again, Sarah nodded. “Horses were being delivered, and one was startled by a barn cat. When Toby tried to control it, he got hurt. We were worried his ankle was broken, which was why I had Alexander call 911.”

“Toby? I think you may have mentioned the name before.” Annie glanced at the others as she arched her brows.

Sarah ignored her teasing. “He delivered the three horses to Mr. Summerhays from Texas.”

“A cowboy?” Annie asked with a chuckle.

Again Sarah acted as if she hadn’t heard the silly question. “Toby was examining the horse when it spooked. He needed to go to the emergency room, but he’s at the house now. He’ll stay there while his sprain heals.” She shook her head. “I’m not sure who’s going to give me more trouble, the kinder or Toby.”

“You’ll be taking care of him?” Miriam asked.

“Mr. Summerhays wants me to oversee his physical therapy.” She took a bite of the delicious macaroni salad, which tasted like the one served at the last church Sunday. She guessed an Amish volunteer had shared the recipe with the other firefighters. “It was such a bizarre accident. Watching Toby, it’s obvious he’s skilled with handling horses. If he hadn’t been, Mr. Summerhays would have insisted on his grooms checking the horses. It’s too bad he was hurt.”

Expecting her friends to show sympathy for Toby’s situation, Sarah was astonished when the others began laughing.

“What’s funny?” she asked.

“You and your Amish cowboy.” Annie put her hand to her lips as she giggled again.

“He’s not my cowboy.”

“Not yet.”

Turning to Leanna, Sarah said, “Maybe you can talk sense into your twin. She’s not listening to me.”

“Annie doesn’t listen to anyone.” With a warm smile for her sister, Leanna added, “This time I’ve got to agree with her. You seem pretty taken with this cowboy. You’ve known him for a few hours, and you’ve talked more about him this evening than anything else.”

“I—”

“Don’t deny it, Sarah!” Annie winked at her twin and Miriam. “Isn’t it true?”

Sarah waited while they laughed again, then, smiling, asked her friends about what they were busy with. Miriam had school plans, and Leanna had recently purchased some goats and hoped to sell their milk and homemade soap at the farmers market in the center of the village.

When the topic didn’t shift again to Toby, she was grateful. It wasn’t easy to keep the man out of her thoughts. Several times, she found her mind wandering to him and had to focus on the conversation. It’d been a stressful day, and she was thankful God had put her in a place where she’d been able to help.

Eli came to the table, and Sarah was surprised to see she’d eaten the rest of her meal without tasting a bite, including the pie. Hearing the others commenting on how wunderbaar the dessert had been, Sarah wished she’d taken notice of it.

She felt a pang of something she didn’t want to examine when she saw how Eli smiled at Miriam at the same time his young nephew gave her a hug. She was happy the three were becoming a family. Why the pang? Maybe she was more like Leanna than she wanted to admit. No, that was silly. Sarah didn’t need another man telling her what to do in an unnecessary attempt to shield her from her own choices.

In spite of herself, her eyes cut to where her brothers waited to deliver food to the tables. Her brothers laughed and chatted with plain and Englisch firefighters. She frowned when she saw Benjamin say something to two women in T-shirts and jeans that were identical to what the other Englischer volunteers wore. He seemed okay with those women being firefighters, but he had agreed with Menno that Sarah must not take EMT training.

There must be something she could do to persuade them she deserved the same respect.

God, please help me discover what.

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