The Wonder of Your Love - By Beth Wiseman Page 0,41

was my everything, and replacing her just seemed so . . . so wrong.” He leaned back against the couch. “I didn’t even really try. I mean, everyone in the community was trying to fix me up with someone, but I just wasn’t interested. And not only that, I didn’t have time for dating. I had six kinner.”

“It must have been so hard for you.” Katie Ann couldn’t remember having such a deep conversation with Ivan. Ever.

This was nice.

“Looking back, I should have tried harder. I’m sure Sarah was right. It would have been better for the kinner to have had a mudder, and it was selfish of me not to have tried harder to find them one.” He took a sip of his coffee. “There were babysitters and family members who helped, but I was young, and I thought I could do everything myself. Prove to Sarah that I didn’t need anyone else.” He put his coffee on the coffee table, then reached over and touched her hand. “I’m sorry.

I’ve mostly been talking about me. Tell me about you.”

Katie Ann told Eli about her childhood . . . and even told him about Annie. “Mei sister was only four months old when she just went to sleep and didn’t wake up.”

Eli’s eyes never left hers as she spoke, and even though he didn’t seem to have any words for her loss, his eyes blinked with sadness and compassion. She also told him how she and Ivan tried for years to have a baby, but she skimmed quickly over the part about Lucy and how Ivan eventually left her.

“That must have been so hard for you.”

She wasn’t sure if Eli meant when Ivan left or when he died. In some ways, it was as if he died the day he walked out the door.

It had been a surprisingly good evening. They’d taken turns getting coffee refills and even shared a piece of shoofly pie. But it was getting late. She glanced at the clock as she stifled a yawn.

“I saw that.” Eli grinned. “I remember how it is to have a little one. You’re probably already thinking about how many times you will be getting up with him during the night. I’m going to go. It’s almost nine o’clock.”

Katie Ann stood up, tired, but not anxious for him to leave. “I’ve enjoyed tonight.”

“Me too.”

She followed him to the door and waited as he got bundled up. “I’m sure Elam and Vera have a heavy blanket in the buggy. You’ll need it.” She handed him his hat. “How is your head? And your back?”

He grimaced a bit as he put his hat on. “I might be a little sore, but I’ll think of you fondly.” He laughed before he leaned down and hugged her. Then he kissed her on the cheek. “Danki. For everything.”

“You’re welcome. See you at church on Sunday?”

“If not sooner.” He winked as he headed out the door.

Katie Ann picked up Jonas and carried him to his bedroom. As she dressed for bed, she realized that this had been the best night she’d had in years. And for the first time since she’d met Eli Detweiler, she regretted that all they would ever be is friends.

AS ELI DROVE home, he thought about the way Katie Ann always seemed to have one eye on Jonas, especially when the baby was in Eli’s arms. But hearing her story about Annie explained why she might be unusually jumpy and protective about the child. He was glad that she’d shared some intimate details about her life and wondered when he would see her again. Then he remembered that he had left Elam’s toolbox up on her roof and smiled to himself.

If only he’d met Katie Ann sixteen or seventeen years ago, right after Sarah had died. But no sooner had he had the thought than he wondered if he would have felt the same way about her.

His grief for Sarah probably would have kept him from seeing Katie Ann. Not only that, but Eli knew that he was not the same person he was seventeen years ago. He tried to speculate what Katie Ann must have been like as a younger woman.

Why, Lord, is she in my path now? Eli was not going to veer from the plans he’d made, but he found himself caring about Katie Ann in a way he never anticipated. But he would be leaving on Tuesday, and once he was back in his surroundings, he’d work for