The Amish Christmas Matchmaker

“Joseph. You can tell because he has a little strawberry mark on the back of his neck.”

Annie snuggled the baby against her neck and sat down at the picnic table that had been positioned under the trees. “Where’s the older bruder?”

“Stephen has a little cold, so Kathy took him inside to see if he’d nap. I was already watching over the others, so two more didn’t seem like a problem.”

There were six children of various ages running around, some falling in the leaves, some sitting on the ground and crushing the brittle red, yellow and orange leaves in their fists. Off to the side sat Martha’s brother.

Annie had known Thomas all of her life. She didn’t see him as disabled so much as she saw her best friend’s twin brother. Sometimes, though, when they were in town shopping or splurging on ice cream, she’d notice the way strangers looked at Thomas. In those moments she’d have a tiny inkling of what it was like for Martha and why she was so fiercely protective of him.

Tommy, or Big Tom as he liked to be called, had a flat nose and small ears. He had been diagnosed with Down syndrome the day after his birth. At twenty-two, his body had grown to that of a man, but he still acted like a child in many ways.

Amish families have the highest incidence of twins of any demographic group—a teacher had mentioned that in class one day and Annie had looked around the room to spot no less than six pairs of twins. Annie understood that the bond between twins was strong, but the bond between Martha and Thomas exceeded even that. It was as if they were tethered together by some invisible line—a spiritual cord stronger than any rope made by man.

Martha seemed content to watch the children and her brother. She was mature for her age and bore an air of complete contentment. She wore glasses—blue frames she’d found on sale at the local optometrist office—had beautiful white-blond hair and blue eyes.

Those eyes were now studying her, brows slightly arched, a smile playing on her lips.

Annie jumped up, still snuggling baby Joseph and pacing back and forth in front of Martha. Another glance at her friend confirmed that she’d have a higher chance of success if she got straight to the point.

“Levi Lapp would like to step out with you.”

Martha’s mouth fell open, and she looked over her shoulder as if Annie might be talking to someone else.

“How do you know Levi?” Martha asked. “He just moved here...”

Annie blushed. “He was at our house last week, talking to my dat about Texas.”

A toddler ran over to Martha and held up his arms. She shifted Jeremiah to her left arm and pulled the toddler into her lap. “Why would Levi Lapp want to step out with me?”

“Why wouldn’t he? You’re a pleasant person, Martha, and very eligible. Let’s not forget that.”

“I rarely do.”

“You’re pretty, and you have a good head on your shoulders.”

“He couldn’t possibly know what kind of head I have on my shoulders. So stop trying to butter me up and just tell me what’s really going on.”

Annie groaned. She should have known Martha wouldn’t make this easy.

“He wants to move to Texas.”

“Why do you care about that?”

“He wants to start a community there, and he’s targeting our community to pull families from.”

“Targeting?”

“Whatever.” She waved away Martha’s concern about her word choice. “He’s been bending my dat’s ear, and now Dat is stirred up.”

“Ahh. Now your concern makes sense. But what does this have to do with me?”

“I need to distract him.”

“That’s what you want me to do?”

“Nein. Ya. Maybe.” Baby Joseph had fallen asleep in her arms, so Annie sat on the ground in front of the picnic table, crossed her legs and placed him in the crook of her knee. She quickly explained that Levi was working at their house two days a week and that he had set his sights on recruiting her father and brother.

“Jebediah and Nicole might move to Texas?”

“I don’t know. Anything is possible, I guess.”

“Wow.”

“I know.”

“Texas?”

“You should hear him talk about it. Actually, you will hear him talk about it if you go out on a date with him because it’s his only topic of conversation.”

“Hmm. You make him sound more attractive all the time.”

Annie snorted. “He’s good-looking enough, I’ll give you that, but that’s not the point. I just want you to agree to go out with him a few times.”

“Again...why? You know I’m taking a six-month break from dating.”

“Ya.”

“After what happened with David—”

“It wasn’t your fault he left the faith. He would have been willing to move to Alaska if they’d let him keep that cell phone.”

They shared a smile, both remembering the way that David had carried it around, glancing at it every few minutes, tapping on it constantly with his fingers.

“That relationship was never going to work anyway,” Martha admitted. “But the fact remains that I’m on a roll of bad relationships.”

“Only three.”

“Four if you count Meno.”

“Years ago, and he was never right for you.”

“None of them are.” Instead of looking as if that thought depressed her, Martha smiled. “I’m on a break.”

“Okay. All right. So don’t call it a date. Call it being a friend to someone new in our community.”

“It doesn’t have to be romantic?”

“Nein. Levi thinks...”

“Uh-oh. What did you tell him?”

“I might have mentioned that you need practice dating.”

“We both know that isn’t the case.”

“You need practice dating someone new.”

“Let me get this straight. I’m supposed to go out with him and distract him...”

“Maybe mention the gut points about Goshen. You know this place as well as I do, and it’s a fine community. He doesn’t have to go to Texas to find a place to settle down.”

“I’m not falling in love with Levi Lapp.”

“Of course not.”

“I don’t want to move to Texas any more than you do.”

“Exactly.”

“He’s bound to figure that out sooner than later.”

“Later would be better. Just buy me some time for Dat to simmer down about the idea.”

“Why don’t you do it? Why don’t you date him?”

Annie shook her head so hard that her kapp strings bounced back and forth. “Oh no. That would only encourage him to get closer to my family. Plus, fall and spring are the busiest seasons for my business. I have no time to waste on dating.”

“Oh, but I should...”

“You know what I mean. It’s fine for other people. I want other people to date.”

“If they didn’t, you’d be out of business.”

“Exactly.”

Martha placed the toddler on the ground and baby Jeremiah in his baby carrier. She stood, stretched and cast a look toward Big Tom who was still playing in the leaves, though now he was lying on his back and making a snow angel—or maybe a leaf angel. Martha smiled, and Annie was struck again by how close the two were.

Annie handed Joseph back to Martha, stood and brushed off the back of her dress.

“Will you do it?”

“Ya, ya, I’ll do it.”

“Danki.”

“But only because you’re my best friend.”

“I owe you.”

“Ya. You do.” Martha walked over to her bruder, who held up a hand and allowed her to pull him to his feet.

Annie glanced up in time to see Levi driving away in Old Simon’s buggy. She’d missed talking to him today, but that was okay. She’d tell him the good news first thing Wednesday.

By the time Levi showed up at the Kauffmann place on Wednesday, he’d completely forgotten Annie’s plan to find him a girl. He’d been focused on other things. He’d talked with several of the local families at the wedding, and three had come back to ask him questions after the church service. At this rate, he might get to Texas earlier than he’d thought. He might have enough interest to send down a scouting group before fall turned into winter.

He was mucking out the horse stalls early Wednesday morning, before they’d even had breakfast, when Annie showed up in the barn.

“Gude mariye, Levi.”

He wiped the sweat out of his eyes and squinted at her.

As usual, she looked fresh and energetic. Normally she seemed aggravated when she saw him, as if she’d swallowed unsweetened lemonade. Today she was smiling broadly. Why the change in attitude?

Then he remembered their deal and literally slapped himself on the forehead.

“Problem?”

“Just remembering what you talked me into.”

“I didn’t talk you into anything. I simply made a suggestion and you agreed.”

She grinned at him as she had on Saturday. He could still feel her hand in his, the way her eyes had widened as she’d glanced up into his eyes, and then how she’d snatched her hand away as if she’d been stung by a bee. What was that about?

She didn’t waste any time ruining his morning. She pulled a folded sheet of paper from her apron pocket and waved it at him. “I wrote down the information you need for your date.”

“My date...”

Her plan was bound to be a trap. He didn’t know how, but he was sure that it must be designed to ruin his goal of moving to Texas.

“Her name is Martha Weaver. Here are directions to her house as well as the number for the nearest phone shack.”

He took the piece of paper and stared down at her tidy handwriting. “Guess I’m stuck doing this.”

“You’re lucky to date Martha, actually. She’s levelheaded, nice looking—”

“Then why isn’t she courting or married? There must be something wrong with her.”

“And she’s my best friend.”

“Oops. Sorry if what I said sounded rude.”

“It did, but I’m not surprised. Men your age only want to step out with the prettiest, thinnest girls.”

“That’s not true.”

Instead of arguing, Annie walked into the stall and around the perimeter. “Martha has a sweet tooth. You might think about taking her to the pie pantry.”

“I have dated before, you know.”

“Oh, you have?”

“Don’t look so surprised.”

“I’m not surprised.”

He could tell that she was holding in her laughter, which irritated him more than it probably should have.

“I wonder if your mamm has breakfast ready.”

“Oh, ya. That’s what I came out to tell you.”

“You could have led with that.”

“And miss the chance to tease you?”

“Is that what you’re doing? And why are you in such a chipper mood this morning?”

“Who wouldn’t be in a good mood on such a beautiful morning?”

He had been too—until Annie showed up with her dating instructions. He hadn’t fully thought this through when he’d agreed to her dating scheme. His few attempts to date back in Lancaster had been a disaster. The women he’d met were only interested in settling down and having babies. He had nothing against either, but they’d had no patience for his talk of moving to Texas, especially when they’d heard that he was saving every dime in order to make the move possible.

Dreamer.

Naive.

Immature.

He’d been called all sorts of things, always with a smile, a touch on the shoulder, and a look of pity. Well, he didn’t need anyone’s approval or sympathy, and he didn’t need another woman who was going to try and set him straight.

“What are you frowning about?”

Instead of answering, he carried the pitchfork into the main room of the barn, then returned to pick up the muck bucket. Annie was still there, leaning against the wall, a smile on her pretty face, arms crossed, studying him.

“You don’t have to look at me that way.”

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