The Amish Christmas Cowboy

“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.