The Wonder of Your Love - By Beth Wiseman Page 0,67
on the cheek. Katie Ann made no effort to leave the safety of his strong arms.
Finally he eased away and gazed into her eyes. “You look beautiful.”
She covered her eyes with her hands. “I do not.”
Eli gently pulled her hands away. “Trust me, you do.”
Trust. Not so long ago, the word would have stung, been a reminder of all she’d lost.
As their eyes stayed locked together, Katie Ann wished she knew what was going on in Eli’s mind and in his heart. They’d gotten so close that under normal circumstances, it would have seemed normal for them to take the next step past friendship. But they both knew that they were not going to make that leap.
“Do Vera and Elam know you’re here?” Katie Ann walked to Jonas’s swing and cranked the handle so that the swing would keep going.
“They do now. I asked the cabdriver to stop by there on my way here.” He laughed. “I had to make sure I had a place to stay tonight.”
By now everyone knew that the two of them talked on a regular basis. But Katie Ann wondered what Vera must be thinking about Eli’s spontaneous trip to Canaan—by plane, no less.
Eli gently eased Jonas out of the swing. Katie Ann would have reprimanded anyone else for waking him up like that, but as Eli held Jonas up and gazed into his eyes, it was a precious sight that she knew she would cherish.
“How is mei little man?” Eli talked in the familiar baby talk to Jonas, and Katie Ann knew that Eli’s arrival was by far the best Christmas gift she’d ever received.
They sat on the couch talking and drinking hot tea until the early morning hours, then Eli kissed her tenderly on the mouth and went to Vera’s, telling her that he would be leaving early in the morning to catch a plane back to Middlefield. Katie Ann still couldn’t believe he’d made the trip. Just to see her.
He’d even sought permission from his bishop to do so, since air travel was normally frowned upon unless it was an emergency.
“It was an emergency,” Eli had told her earlier in the evening. Although he admitted that the bishop in his district didn’t have a stiff rule against flying.
She held her tears until the door closed behind him. And for the first time, she admitted to herself—she was in love with Eli Detweiler. In love with a man who wasn’t available.
ELI HAD PLENTY of time to think on the plane. He thought back to yesterday morning when he realized he had to see Katie Ann. It was an unfamiliar sensation that he knew wouldn’t go away until he laid eyes on her. He admitted to himself at that moment that he had fallen in love with Katie Ann Stoltzfus.
And now that he’d spent more time with her, his feelings were confirmed.
He closed his eyes, the vision of her clouding his senses, blocking the roar of the engine and the light chatter around him. His heart ached, and for a few minutes he allowed himself to visualize a life with Katie Ann and Jonas. He was happiest when he was with her. But he’d made plans. And he’d had those plans a lot longer than he’d known her.
Fearing he’d taken too much of a risk with his heart—and possibly hers—he wondered if it might not be best to pull back some. She had to know they were in a dangerous place, to be as close as they were and not be able to move forward. Or maybe she was happy like this. Eli had thought it was the perfect arrangement. Best friends with a beautiful woman whom he was not responsible for.
Funny thing was—he felt as responsible for her and Jonas as he did any other member of his family.
He unzipped the backpack he’d carried onto the plane and pulled out a brochure about Florida, resolved that he would go there right after Christmas. He was going to need something to distract his heart, and what better way than to pursue the life he’d planned out. Flipping through the pages, he forced Katie Ann out of his mind.
Fourteen
CHRISTMAS CAME AND WENT, AND AMID THE FESTIVITIES Katie Ann missed Eli more than ever. It was a blessing to be able to share her first Christmas with Jonas, but she found herself quietly weeping at times. Sometimes because she missed Eli, and other times . . . because she still missed Ivan. Not so much the