A Wedding at the Orange Blossom Inn(3)

While the girls groaned, Emma fought against taking a seat at the table and silently hoping for some stranger to come along and take over her life for the next four hours. If they attempted to move him, he was liable to throw up. Unfortunately, she knew this from experience.

The man looked like he was trying hard not to laugh. “I’m starting to get the sense that he’s done this before.”

“All the time,” Lena whispered, obviously trying not to wake up Frankie. “He can’t help himself, though. Pizza is his weakness.”

“I really am sorry,” Emma said, looking at each of the boys and the man. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Why don’t you tell me your name instead?” he asked.

Suddenly, a whole other feeling came over her as she noticed again just how attractive he was.

“My name is Emma. Emma Keim. And these, here, are my daughters Lena, Mandy, and Annie.”

“Where do you live?” the eldest boy, who wasn’t actually a boy, asked. No, he was more a young man, at least seventeen or eighteen.

“Just down the way,” she said evasively.

“We have a white house and lots and lots of orange and cherry trees,” Mandy said.

“We’re living here at the inn while my daed gets our new haus fixed up,” another boy added.

“Oh?”

“I’m Jay,” the handsome man said, “and these are my sons Ben, Mark, and William.” Pointing to the youngest, he said, “I believe you and William already met.”

She smiled at them and couldn’t help but notice that all three had their father’s light blue eyes and muscular, lanky build. In fact, the only big difference, besides their ages, was their varying shades of blond hair. Ben’s was dark blond, Mark’s matched his father’s, and William’s was by far the lightest. “Pleased to meet you. I am sorry about the pizza. If you could wait a minute, I’ll run home and get my purse and give you some money to pay for a new one.”

“That’s not necessary.”

“But I’m sure your wife won’t like your boys missing a meal.” The moment she said it, Emma wished she could take back every single intrusive word.

All four males looked mighty uncomfortable.

“We don’t got a mamm,” William said quietly. “She’s up in Himmel.”

“I am mighty sorry to hear she’s in heaven,” Emma said. “It’s hard to lose a parent.”

William looked at her curiously. “How do you know? Is your mamm up in Himmel, too?”

“No, but, um, my husband is.”

A new awareness crackled in the air. The man—Jay—lost his smile but he seemed to be examining her more closely. “I’m sorry for your loss, too.”

“Daed, how about me and Tricia take William and Mark to Village Pizza?” Ben, the eldest boy, asked.

“Tricia?”

“She’s the girl who works here, remember? You met her yesterday.”

“Oh. Well . . .”

“They need to eat, Daed.”

After giving him a long look, he nodded. “Jah, sure. Go ahead.”

“Can the girls come, too?”

“Nee. We don’t really know them,” Jay said before Emma could say the same thing.

Ben looked tempted to argue, then shrugged. “Let’s go,” he said to his brothers.

“Ben. Manners.”

“What? Oh, sorry. Nice to meet you,” he mumbled before shuttling his brothers back inside the inn.

Emma noticed all three of her girls staring at the boys’ retreating backs. She wondered if it was because they were new, because they’d been rather nice, or because they were boys.

She stood up. “Well, um, I think it’s time to grab my beagle and be on our way.”

“How will you get him home?”

“I’ll carry Frankie,” she said. Though there was a fairly good chance he might get sick, she certainly didn’t want him messing up Beverly’s pretty patio, either.

Jay looked extremely doubtful. “Is it far?”

“Nee, just a couple of houses down.”

Mandy lifted two hands and showed off eight fingers. “Eight of ’em.”

“That’s too far for you to carry a heavy dog,” Jay said. “I’ll carry Frankie for you.”

“I couldn’t let you do that.”

But before she could protest any further, he bent down and, with a grunt, lifted the snoring beagle into his arms. Emma had to believe that any man who would carry a dog so gently must be a good person.

And with that, she decided to go ahead and let him carry Frankie home.

Feeling good about her decision, Emma led him through the inn’s back gate and up the side yard to the street.