Chapter 9
Oh. No.
Daisy wanted to crawl into a hole. After supper tonight, she’d figured out the ultimate way she could placate Mamm , and it involved Perry, if he would help her. He did say he owed her one. Then when Kyle dropped by to visit Grace, and Mamm went with Aenti Rosella and Onkel Howard to the living room, Daisy took the opportunity to rush over and talk to him, excited that she didn’t have to wait
until tomorrow. She saw the doorknob on the porch, the door ajar. Without thinking, she barged on in... and got an eyeful
of Perry Bontrager. Good golly.
As soon as she saw him without his shirt on, she should have left. She shouldn’t have stayed and marveled at him the way she
did. But her feet wouldn’t move. She’d never seen a shirtless man before, and Perry was flawlessly proportioned. Wiry, muscular,
with perfect shoulders, biceps, chest—
“I thought you had a boyfriend.”
She blinked, his words expunging the image of his, um, assets from her mind and getting her back on track. “I do. Sort of.” Uh-oh, that made her sound fickle, and she could tell he thought so too. Her brain went into a tailspin as he crossed his arms over his chest. Sigh. Wait, why was she sighing? “I mean...”
Her jaw clenched as her anger returned. If only her parents hadn’t interfered with her and Maynard. She would be in Dover
right now, planning her future with him, like she was supposed to be.
“Daisy, are you okay?”
She nodded. Half shrugged. Then suddenly she was very, very tired. “Not really.”
He gestured to the chair in his makeshift living room. “Why don’t you sit down.”
As she did, he dragged one of the folding chairs by the table and sat across from her. He bent forward slightly and waited
for her to speak.
She gathered her thoughts, and it took a minute. A lot had happened in the past few hours. “Maynard and I are friends. Good
friends. And we’re ready to take our relationship to the next level.” She was, anyway. And he would be once they had “the
talk.”
Perry didn’t respond, and his face was blank. But not cold. She couldn’t imagine him being anything close to frosty. While
his blue eyes weren’t exactly warm right now, they were kind, despite his unreadable expression.
Ahem. She needed to focus. “My Mamm is here.”
“She’s the visitor who showed up earlier today?”
“ Ya . I thought the reason my parents wanted me to go to Marigold was to help plan Grace’s wedding. And I want to do that, but
it’s not until November and that’s months away. When Mamm showed up, I found out the real reason. They sent me here to get away from Maynard.”
“Why? Don’t they like him?”
“ Ya . Absolutely.” At least she thought they did. Her mother didn’t say that she didn’t like him, only that Daisy was moving too fast. “ Mamm thinks I’m rushing things. She said if we’re apart for a while, we’ll find out if we’re meant to be.”
He frowned. “I’m confused. If you like him, then why did you ask me out?”
Finally, she was at the point where she could tell him her perfect idea. “ Mamm wants me to consider going out with other people. Or at least open my mind to it, even though there’s nee point. But if I geh out with someone and it doesn’t work, she can’t say I didn’t try. Then when I geh back to Dover, Maynard and I—” She almost mentioned “the talk,” but she held back. She didn’t need to tell him everything.
“I figured since our mothers are interfering in our business and you already told your Mamm that you and I are—”
“ Friends ,” he supplied. “I see where you’re going with this. If we pretend to be together for a little while, then—”
“We can get both of them off our backs.” She sat up and grinned. “What do you think?”
He ran his fingers over his chin again, and she wished he’d stop because it made her notice his dark five o’clock shadow.
Maynard was so fair she could barely see his whiskers. Not that she’d been that close to him a whole lot. Just a couple of
times, like the other night when she handed him his scarf.
After several minutes of obvious deep thought, he muttered, “I think our mothers are ab im kopp . I don’t know why they can’t just let us make our own decisions. All right. We’ll make a pact. You help me with my mamm , I’ll help you with yours. By the end of two weeks—”
“Five and a half. Mamm wanted me to stay here for three months, but we settled on six weeks. I’ve been here three days already.”
With a nod, he thrust out his hand. “Do we have a deal, Daisy from Dover?”
“Deal.” She smiled. The nickname did have a nice ring to it. She slipped her hand into his to seal the pact. His skin was warm, strong, and a little rough, in a good way.
She recalled the one and only time she and Maynard had held hands. They were ice-skating with friends at a pond this past
winter. It had been excruciatingly cold and the ice was several inches thick. She coasted past him, hoping he would see how
gracefully she glided over the ice, having skated since she was three. Instead, she hit a rut, flipped up in the air, and
landed on her backside. He’d helped her to her feet and even skated with her to sit on the bank of the pond so she could get
her wind back. Once they both knew she was fine, he’d skated off. She savored holding his hand for those brief moments, despite
wearing mittens.
Perry dropped her hand and stood, then picked the doorknob off the table. “Guess this is faulty. I’ll get another new one
tomorrow.” He turned and looked at her. “I reckon we need to figure out how we’re going to, um...”
“Get together?”
“ Ya . That.”
“We can talk tomorrow after supper. Or the next day. It doesn’t have to happen right away.”
“All right.”
He seemed ill at ease, and she was getting that way herself. Maybe her plan wasn’t as perfect as she thought. But they already
shook on it, so they were committed. “I should head back to Grace’s,” she said.
“I’ve got an early job tomorrow.”
For some reason, him mentioning work didn’t bother her as much as when Maynard did. He walked her to the door. “ Gute nacht .”
She stepped onto the porch, then turned around. “ Danki , Perry. I really appreciate your help.” Not waiting for a response, she hurried back to her cousin’s before she got cold feet and tried to go back on her word.
Since Kyle’s buggy wasn’t there, she assumed he’d gone home. Tonight was the first time she’d met him, and despite their brief
interaction, she could see how much he and her cousin loved each other. Daisy couldn’t wait for Maynard to look at her the
way Kyle looked at Grace.
She entered the kitchen and intended to get a drink of water before going straight to bed, only to halt when she saw Grace
sitting at the table. “Where have you been?” she said. “I thought you went upstairs after Kyle got here. But after he left,
I couldn’t find you.”
She’d been gone longer than she thought. “Sorry. I should have told you I was going to Perry’s.”
“Perry’s?” Her eyebrow arched. “Why?”
“We had something to talk about.”
“Which would be?”
Daisy sat down at the table, unsure of what to say. Grace thought she and Maynard were an actual couple, and if Daisy told
her she and Perry were going out on a date, she would think she was cheating on Maynard. Ach , she hadn’t thought about that when she was formulating her plan. She never should have lied to Grace in the first place.
Time to tell the truth. “I have a confession to make. Maynard and I...” Her fingers twisted around each other. “We’re not exactly dating.” She
launched into her explanation, telling Grace why she was in Marigold and the motive behind her mother’s visit.
As she talked, Grace’s frown deepened. “I can’t believe you lied to me.” Hurt flashed across her face.
“I didn’t mean to.” She had let her envy over Grace and Kyle’s happy relationship color her judgment. “Maynard and I will be dating soon, after we talk.”
Grace’s light brown eyebrows furrowed. “Are you sure he even likes you?”
“Of course he does.”
“I mean in a romantic way.”
Daisy pressed her lips together. Why was Grace sounding like her mother all of a sudden? “He’s shy and waiting on me to make
the first move.”
“Oh, Daisy.”
When she saw the pity in Grace’s eyes, she became frustrated again. She didn’t need more discouragement. “Clearly you’re on
Mamm ’s side.”
“I’m on your side, Daisy. I always will be. If you say Maynard loves you, I believe you.”
Daisy nodded, relieved and feeling foolish that she’d jumped to the wrong conclusion. “ Danki . I needed to hear that.”
She smiled. “Your mamm wants you to date other people, ya ?” At Daisy’s nod, she shook her head. “And you chose Perry?”
“He’s, um, convenient.”
“But he’s so...”
Wonderful . And he was, helping Daisy out like this. “So what?”
She lowered her voice. “I don’t think he’s ever had a girlfriend. Or even a date.”
“Does it matter?”
“ Nee ,” Grace said. “I guess not. He’s a nice mann , but he’s aloof.”
So was Maynard. “Not everyone is a social butterfly, Grace.”
“I know.” She sighed. “And I guess I’m being judgmental, aren’t I?”
“A little.”
Grace shrugged. “You could do worse.”
Mamm already thinks I have. “Don’t tell anyone about Maynard, okay?” Daisy asked. “It will complicate things.”
“Your secret is safe with me.” She got up from the table. “Do you really need to wait until you get back to Dover to talk
to him?”
“What do you mean?”
“You could call him now. If he wants to start dating, then you don’t have to go out with Perry because you two will officially
be together.”
It sounded like a simple solution. But getting him on the phone was always a challenge, and his mother wouldn’t help even
if Daisy begged her. Then there was Perry. She was committed to helping him, but she couldn’t tell Grace why. That was his
business, and he wouldn’t appreciate Daisy telling everyone that his mother was desperate to marry him off. Lastly, she really
wanted to have that conversation in his presence. “Something that important should be discussed in person, don’t you think?”
“You’re right. Then I guess you’ll just have to geh out with Perry Bontrager. Ooh, how about a double date with me and Kyle?”
While that sounded like fun, she shook her head. “I think it would be best if we went out by ourselves. And it won’t be an
actual date, just something to make Mamm happy.”
“Does he know that?”
Daisy nodded. “He agreed to help me.”
“Huh. That’s a surprise. Perry’s the last guy I thought would get involved in something like this.”
Daisy blew out a breath as Grace turned off the lamp in the kitchen. “I know this is all so convoluted, and I’m sorry I lied
about Maynard in my letters. I was feeling so left out.”
Grace slipped her arm around Daisy’s waist as they walked to the living room. “I was pretty gushy about Kyle. I shouldn’t have been so inconsiderate.” They stopped at the foot of the stairs. “When you and Maynard get together, you can be just as gushy about him.”
Gushy and Maynard didn’t seem to go together. Not now, anyway.
After they went upstairs to their separate rooms, Daisy sat at the edge of the bed. She was still tired but too uptight to
go to sleep just yet. While she was glad to have Grace in her corner, she felt foolish about lying to her. She also had no
idea how everything had gotten so out of hand so fast. Only three days ago she had decided to make the first move with Maynard,
and now she was pledged to go out with Perry. What a tangled web.
It would all be sorted out, though. After Mamm and Miriam found out about the date , Daisy could proceed with Maynard.
For the first time since she arrived in Marigold, she was able to fully relax, relieved that Grace knew the truth and they
no longer had that lie between them. She was also grateful Perry was willing to help her, and in return she could help him.
This was just a little bump in the road. Before long, everything would be back to normal.
***
Early the next morning, Perry gripped the reins as he drove to pick up Ferman. Before he left the house, he jammed the doorknob
back into the hole in the door, expecting it not to work. To his shock, the knob and the lock were secure, even after he jiggled
it several times. It didn’t make sense, but at least he didn’t have to get a new one anymore. He made sure to lock it, just
in case Daisy stopped by.
As he headed to Ferman’s, he tried to focus on the three jobs they had today. They probably wouldn’t be back until after dusk, or possibly even later, depending on how cooperative the horses were. But all he could think about was Daisy’s proposition and wondering if he had lost his mind. Why else would he have agreed to do something so nonsensical?
Except it did make sense in a way. She had presented a solution to their meddling mother problem, and he was the one who had
set it in motion by leading his mamm to believe there was something between him and Daisy in the first place. She’d just taken the ball and run with it. Still,
he was bothered by the deception, even though neither of their mothers would know their date was fake. But he and Daisy would
know, and that didn’t sit well.
Then there was the fact she was smitten with Maynard, although when she talked about their relationship, he got the impression
it was rather one-sided. But he didn’t have the right to doubt her words, and he believed that she believed there was something
more between them than friendship.
Grimacing, he wished he’d told her no when she asked for his help. He should have stuck to his plan of fessing up to his mother
about stretching the truth. Then he wouldn’t be entangled in Daisy’s problem. He barely even knew her, although he did think
she was nice. Like her ankles.
He tightened his grip on the reins. He had to stop thinking about that, and about the way she’d looked at him yesterday when
she barged in unannounced. But just like he was having trouble getting his mind off his and Daisy’s pact, he couldn’t forget
the admiration in her eyes as she stared at him... or how much he liked it.
Maynard. Perry had to remember she only had eyes for her boyfriend back home. He also couldn’t forget his own vow of keeping to himself.
He turned into Ferman’s driveway and frowned at the totally dark house. Ferman wasn’t on the front porch waiting for him either. Maybe he liked sitting in the dark. Perry got out of the buggy and walked to the front door to get him. But when he knocked on the door, there was no answer.
Alarm shot through him. “Ferman?” He grabbed the doorknob and turned it. Locked.
“Ferman!”
A weak voice came from the other side of the door. “The key is in the bushes.”
Perry glanced around. There were no streetlights, and the sun wouldn’t rise for another two hours. “Hang on.” He ran to his
buggy and grabbed one of his battery-powered buggy lanterns. Switching it on, he saw two groups of shrubbery flanking the
porch. “Which side?”
“On the right. Under the flat brick.”
He quickly spotted it since the brick wasn’t exactly hidden. Perry grabbed the key and opened the door. “Ferman?” He held
up the lamp and looked around.
“Over here.”
Turning, he saw the old man crumpled on the floor a few feet from the door. He hurried to him. “Are you all right?”
“ Ya ,” Ferman snapped, but his tone didn’t have much force behind it.
Perry put the lantern on the floor, and it illuminated part of the room. “When did you fall?”
Ferman scowled. “An hour ago or so. Help me up already.”
Perry complied, sliding his hand underneath Ferman’s armpit and hoisting him to his feet. “Do you need to sit down?”
“ Nee . Let’s geh . We got work to do today.” But his knees started to buckle, and he fell against Perry.
This wasn’t good. “I’m calling an ambulance,” Perry said.
“Don’t you dare.” Ferman glared at him. “I just need a minute.”
“You need to sit down before you fall again.”
“I ain’t gonna fall!” He yanked his arm from Perry’s and regained his balance. “See? I just had a little accident, that’s all.”
Perry shook his head. “If you won’t let me call an ambulance, at least give me Junior’s number—”
“Nee!” Ferman took three wobbly steps. “We’re wasting time, boss. Let’s get moving.”
He took a step forward and sank to the ground.