Since the thought had occurred to her, she could think of nothing else. It was the perfect solution. He could move to Apple Grove and go through the baptism classes with her. They could be baptized at the same service in the fall. And then…
A tickle in her belly accompanied a myriad of tantalizing thoughts. Luke working alongside Papa on the farm. A wedding. Eventually, Papa would move into the dawdi haus, leaving her and Luke to live in the home where she’d been raised. And soon after, babies to cuddle and teach to love the Plain life, as she had been taught.
Beautiful images crowded her mind and drove the last possibility of sleep away. She raised up on her pallet and scooted out from beneath the wagon, careful not to wake Rebecca or Maummi. Perhaps a breath of night air and a view of the stars overhead would calm her enough to sleep.
When she stood, her gaze was drawn inevitably to Luke. Would he do that? Would he give up his cowboy life and embrace the life of a farmer?
Surely he would at least consider the possibility. That is, if he felt the same attraction, and she was pretty sure he did. She’d felt the weight of the looks he fixed on her, the way he leaped to her aid this afternoon when she fell from her horse. A blush threatened, hidden in the dark night. Not her finest moment, to be sure, but he had responded with chivalry and concern. Surely he cared for her as she had come to care for him. But what if the idea of living a Plain life had not occurred to him?
There was one way to find out. Emma snatched her kapp off the wagon and twisted her hair up as she crept quietly away from her sleeping family. She headed into the darkness, intending to make a wide arc around the herd and come up on Luke’s other side. The cows were sleeping, so they probably wouldn’t be startled, but she didn’t particularly want McCann or anyone else who happened to be awake to witness her approaching Luke.
With a guilty glance in the direction where Papa’s bedroll lay, she walked with quiet caution. His earlier question proved that he trusted her to make her own decision about the man she would marry. Amish parents were usually not privy to the romantic interests of their children. Often they were not informed of the intent to marry until a few weeks before the wedding. Of course, in a district as small as Apple Grove there were few secrets. Everyone knew of the attraction between Katie Beachy and Samuel Miller. As Papa was aware of the attraction between her and Luke.
And Papa liked Luke, she could tell. Wouldn’t he be thrilled to have Luke as a son-in-law, an Amish son-in-law?
When Emma was far enough from camp that her footsteps could not be overheard, she blew out a pent-up breath. A cluster of trees formed the perfect barrier where she could stand and not be easily overseen by anyone who happened to awaken and look around. Luke’s sentry path had reached the rear of the herd, a couple of hundred yards away. He would turn and head back this way, and she would be waiting for him. A nervous tickle erupted in her stomach. What would she say? She had no more than a few minutes to plan her speech.
But as she watched his hands rose to cup his mouth. A low whistle rode to her ears on the cool night air. He gestured, and then in another moment he turned and galloped away. Emma straightened and stepped away from the tree trunk, watching as the white hide of his horse diminished in the distance. Where was he going?
Something fell over her head and brushed her arms. She started to raise her hands to slap away whatever had fallen on her, but in the next instant she was jerked off her feet. She hit the ground with a thud that knocked the breath from her lungs. Stars exploded in the night, and it took a moment to realize they were not in the sky but inside her head.
When her vision cleared, she looked up into the face of a man on horseback, towering over her. He held a rope in his hand, the lariat at the other end pulled tight around her arms and across her chest.
A low, dreadfully familiar voice whispered in the night.