A Wedding at the Orange Blossom Inn(47)
“That’s what you told me three years ago.”
“If you break it, I’m gonna make you pay to get it fixed.”
Mark smiled. “You told me that three years ago, too.”
“As long as you remember,” he warned.
“I’ll pay to get it fixed if I break the chair. Which I won’t.” He rocked back again. “Hey, Daed?”
“Jah?”
“Do you think Ben and Tricia are serious?”
“It sure looks that way.”
“Are you okay with that?”
“I think I need to be. Ben’s old enough to make his own decisions. He won’t thank me for interfering.”
Mark seemed to stew on that for a moment. Then he blurted, “So you think she’s the girl for him?”
Jay thought she might be, but he knew Ben wouldn’t appreciate his father speculating about his love life. “I don’t know if Tricia is or isn’t. Only Ben can answer that one.”
“She’s funny. Remember last week when she decided to make us supper?”
“I do. Macaroni and cheese and hamburger patties.” He smiled. It had been a simple meal, but tasty, too. William had asked for seconds.
“She made the mac and cheese from scratch. It was gut.”
“It was.” Unable to resist, he added, “Of course, our Ben made sure we knew that.”
“Oh, yeah, he did. Like eight times.”
“Mark, it wasn’t that many. Probably only seven.”
They were chuckling as the kitchen door opened and Ben stepped inside. Jay could tell Ben was startled to see them.
“Hey,” he said. “What are you two doing down here? I thought you’d be asleep.”
“I was just sipping a last cup of coffee when Mark came downstairs. We started talking.”
“Oh.” Ben’s eyes strayed to the doorway and the stairs beyond. Jay knew his eldest would like nothing better than to dart out of the kitchen and escape their company. But tomorrow’s focus would be the farm and all of the tasks that needed to be taken care of, and Jay knew he wasn’t going to be able to concentrate on any of that until he knew his eldest was all right.
“So . . . were you with Tricia this whole time?”
“Jah.” His cheeks flushed.
That took Jay by surprise. Ben was not a blusher. He was forthright and confident.
“Is she okay? I noticed she was a little upset with her aunt.”
“She’s fine.”
“Oh. Gut.” A dozen other questions were on the tip of his tongue, but for the life of him, he couldn’t imagine that any of them would be well received, especially not in front of Mark.
Luckily, Mark was not nearly so hesitant. “What did you two do? Where did you go?”
Ben sighed, pulled out a chair one-handed, and joined them. “I guess you two aren’t going to let me go up to my room without being grilled.”
“I was hardly grilling you, Ben,” Jay said. However, Ben was right. He did want some answers.
“It’s okay if you don’t want to share.” Mark’s grin turned sly.
Ben glared. “We went over by the river. To talk,” he said with a meaningful glare at his brother. “We did nothing to be embarrassed about.”
“Of course not,” Jay murmured.
After taking a deep breath, Ben added, “I asked Tricia to marry me tonight.”
“No way,” Mark said.
“Way.” Ben lifted his chin. “And just so you know, Tricia said yes. We’re engaged. Tricia Overholt is going to be my wife.”
Mark’s chair legs slammed to the floor and then, at last, one of the back legs cracked and gave way. With a bark of surprise, Mark jumped to his feet as the chair clattered to the floor.
Ben shook his head. “Looks like after three years of warnings, you finally broke that chair.”
“Sorry, Daed,” Mark said quickly. “I’ll, um, get it fixed.”
At the moment, Jay wouldn’t have cared if the chair had broken into a dozen pieces. All he could think about was Ben’s proposal . . . and the way he was so sure and certain about it. He was happy for his son but couldn’t help but be worried, too. The last thing he wanted was for Ben to be jumping feetfirst into a situation he wasn’t ready for.
Needing another second to gather his thoughts, he focused on the chair. “I’m not upset, Mark. I know you’ll get it fixed. As a matter of fact, I think Frank Kaufmann might be able to help you. He’s Zack Kauffman’s daed. I think you know Zack?”
“Jah, I know him. I’ll see him tomorrow,” Mark mumbled, staring at his brother. “Ben, did ya really propose?”
His brother waited a second, then nodded. “Jah. I can’t believe it.”