A Wedding at the Orange Blossom Inn(32)

“I can’t imagine that Got would give William a nice lady like that without a gut reason. You should stop doubting everything, Daed.”

Perhaps that was the reason he was so worried, Jay reflected as he looked over at Emma, who was standing with a group of women near the women’s shuffleboard lane. He wasn’t doubting the Lord placing Emma and her girls in their lives as much as how he was handling their growing relationship. In fact, he was starting to think about Emma far too much.

As if she sensed his gaze on her, Emma smiled at him and started walking his way.

“Hi,” she said. “Are you having fun tonight?”

“The best. Ben and Mark reminded me today that it wasn’t healthy to never leave the farm. They were right. At home, I’m tempted to work around the clock.”

Her eyes sparkled. “You raised some mighty wise young men.”

“I think so, too.”

“And one of them is surely in love,” she murmured.

He whipped his head around to where he’d spied Ben and Tricia standing together a mere half an hour ago. Though they were still in the middle of a crowd of several young people, it looked as if they were hardly aware of anyone but each other.

“That boy of mine is truly smitten.” When he noticed Ben lean down to whisper something in Tricia’s ear and maybe—just maybe—brush his lips on her neck, he made a move to remind Ben of where they were. Ben wouldn’t do Tricia any favors if he embarrassed her publicly.

But before he could move more than a couple of inches, Emma reached out and grabbed his sleeve. “Let them be. They are just fine, Jay.”

“I don’t think so.” Lowering his voice, he said, “Ben is forgetting himself.”

“I don’t think he’s forgetting a single thing,” she said with a blush, then smiled as she quietly pointed to Lena and Mandy. “Look who else is keeping an eye on them.”

Jay grimaced as he watched the little girls giggle, their eyes never leaving Ben and Tricia for a second. “Uh-oh.”

“It’s okay.”

“I don’t want your girls to be shocked. Ben and Tricia are being entirely too free with their affection. I promise, I raised him to be more respectful and modest.”

She waved a hand. “Ben and Tricia are of age. And they aren’t doing anything out of the ordinary. Anyway, I think they look sweet.”

“Sweet?” She’d surprised him. Since she was a parent, too, he had thought she’d feel the same way he did.

“Jah. Sweet. They are simply being affectionate. They’re not doing anything shocking.” She swayed a bit, letting her shoulder nudge his arm. “Look around you. No one except the girls and us are giving them a bit of notice.”

As Jay scanned the area, he realized Emma was right. It wasn’t that the other people at the park didn’t see Ben and Tricia; it was that nobody was concerned by their behavior.

Maybe he was overreacting a bit?

“How did you get to be such an expert on kids courting?”

“I’m surely not an expert,” she said with a self-conscious chuckle. “I was, um, simply remembering Sanford and me.”

“Did you two act like that out in public?” He was a little shocked.

“Act so smitten?”

He nodded before thinking the better of it. “Actually, never mind. Forget I asked.” His question was too personal and vaguely insulting. After all, hadn’t he just acted like Ben and Tricia were making a spectacle of themselves?

She folded her arms across her chest. “Jay, why are you taking back your question?”

He noticed that she was looking at him in a direct way, too. Honestly, he hadn’t felt so awkward in months. Years. Somehow he was managing to sound like a stick-in-the-mud and judgmental, too. “Never mind. I’m embarrassing myself and no doubt you, too.”

“I’m not embarrassed. It’s actually kind of fun to think about happy times with me and Sanford. Our families either dwell on his illness or never bring up his name.” She glanced at Ben and Tricia again, then turned to face Jay. “I married Sanford when I was younger than Tricia. I was only eighteen but I had known him for years. Being with him was nice. Comfortable. I loved him.” Emma pressed her palms against the fence, then continued, “We were happy together, and I suppose we had our romantic moments. But, well, we were never the sort of couple that Tricia and Ben seem to be.”

“No?” She seemed to be circling around her past.

Emma shook her head. “Sanford and I were more like best friends.” She shrugged. “I’m sorry. I guess women are usually romantic at heart. It kind of makes me happy to see Tricia and Ben so sweet on each other. Let them enjoy their moment.”