Page 70 of Still My Forever

Gil couldn’t make sense of Ralph’s comment. “Herman isn’t in the band.”

“He doesn’t play an instrument, but he leads the goat cart with Earl in it.” Ralph scratched his head, making his red-brown hair stand up. “Won’t it look funny if he doesn’t have a coat, too?”

Joseph patted the jackets draped over his arm. “Before Ma sewed a new one for Earl, she considered remaking one of my old coats. I’ll ask her about doing it for Herman instead.”

Ralph nodded and hurried off.

Gil sighed. “Thank you for talking to Taunte Dorcas about another coat. I should have thought of it myself.”

Joseph winked at Gil, reminding him of the way they used to tease with each other. “You have bigger things to worry about. Good luck.”

Gil waved goodbye, then scuffed to the empty wheelbarrow. He’d put the sling back on after practice because his wrist was aching. Now he glared at the thick cloth. How would he push the wheelbarrow one-handed? He grabbed hold of a handle and lunged the wheelbarrow forward. It turned itself in a circle on the boardwalk.

“Are you practicing for the circus, Gil?” The teasing comment came from inside the barber’s shop.

Gil shot a tight grin at Mr. Rempel and his customer. “Nä, I have enough to do without joining a circus.”

The men laughed, and Gil wrestled the wheelbarrow into the right direction. After a few moments of contemplation, he grasped one handle close to where it met the barrow’s tray and pushed with his knees. The conveyance rolled straight. The tactic was ungainly but effective, and he managed to push it all the way to Ava’s barn and put it away.

Then he knocked on the connecting door. Taunte Maria answered. By the expression on her face, he knew Ava had told her mother what she’d overheard. “May I come in?”

She moved aside and gestured him into the house. “Ava and I were just sitting down for our lunch. Are you hungry?”

He wasn’t. The worry that he’d upset Ava had chased away his appetite. “Thank you, but I only came to talk to Ava. Will she speak to me?”

Taunte Maria gave an uncertain shrug and led him up the hallway to the kitchen. As he entered, Ava was settling into one of the chairs at the little table in the center of the room.

She glanced up, spotted Gil, and shot to her feet. She scuttled behind the chair and gripped its stamped back, glaring at him. “How could you share that song with the band? Does it mean nothing to you?”

Taunte Maria clicked her tongue on her teeth. “Ava, Ava, is that any way to speak to a guest?”

Ava sent a brief glower in her mother’s direction. “He is not a guest right now. He is an unwelcome intruder.” She jerked her scowl to him. “Joseph tried to tell me the only thing that mattered to you was music. That you would stop at nothing to become successful. I didn’t believe him, though. Not until this morning when I heard…when I heard…” She pressed her fistto her mouth for a moment. “You told me that was our song, Gil. But now it’s the band’s song. The competition’s song. The song you’re laying out before strangers as part of your fleece.”

The tears swimming in her eyes pained Gil worse than Joseph’s fist to his jaw had. He longed to take her in his arms and assure her his intentions were honorable. He took a hesitant step forward, but she raised her hand in the air, palm outward, and he automatically froze in place.

“You told me a win or loss at the competition will determine what you do next with your life. I presumed I would be part of your ‘next,’ but I never dreamed you would take something so precious to me and selfishly use it.” The tears spilled down her face, and she swished them away with both palms. Her chin quivered, but she held her head high. “I should have listened to Joseph. He was right. Music will always come first.” She darted through the opening to the dining room, and moments later the front door slammed.

Gil started after her, but Taunte Maria caught his sleeve. “Let her go, Gil.”

He flapped his hand in the direction of the door. “But she doesn’t understand. I need to tell her—”

“She isn’t ready to listen.” Ava’s mother offered a soft smile. “She is hurting right now. And she isstoakoppijch,like her Mutta.”

Gil almost chuckled. “You aren’t stubborn, Taunte Maria.”

“Ach, jo, I am, and I am proving it by making you stay here right now.” She gave his arm a gentle pat. “I’m sure you have a reason for choosing to teach the boys the song you wrote for Ava, but until she has calmed enough to release her anger, she won’t hear anything you say. Let her be for now.” She pulled out the chair Ava had vacated. “Sit and have lunch with me. Wait for Ava to return on her own.”

Gil swallowed. “And if she doesn’t?”

“Then we’ll pray together for this rift to find a quick resolution.” A frown pinched her brow. “And you might consider finding a different song for the boys to play at the competition.”

Gil sank onto the chair’s seat, his spirits lagging. The competition was only nine days away. Was there time to learn a different song?

—

Gil remained atthe Flamings’ house until almost two o’clock, waiting for Ava to return. But when Taunte Maria confessed she needed to rest, he left. He wished Onkel Bernard was at the post office instead of on a mail route. He needed someone to talk to. Someone who wasn’t, as Taunte Maria had said,stoakoppijchand would listen to reason. He walked to the post office thinking he might talk to Roald, but customers were in the little building, so he went on past. He found himself leaving town and following the dirt road to Onkel Hosea and Taunte Dorcas’s place.

Louisa, Timmy, and Herman were chasing each other around the yard. They dashed up to him, gave him a quick greeting, then ran off again, laughing and squealing. He watched them for a few minutes, remembering the days he and Joseph played such chasing games in the yard. The memories seemed a lifetime ago.

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