Read The Only Way (The Amish Millers Get Married Book 4) for Free Online Page A

meal, nodding
a hurried greeting to the Ecktender , wedding-corner
attendants , who were likewise hurrying. The Ecktenders were her onkels and aentis . While
some couples in the community now had the wedding party’s dining
table in the center of the room, there was no way that Mrs. Miller
would tolerate what she called such a blatant and deplorable break
from tradition, so this wedding party would be seated in the
traditional Eck , the corner, of the room. In the Eck ,
two long rows of benches and tables met at a right angle.
    Rebecca joined Elijah in supervising the
setting up of the benches and the tables for the meals to come. The
meals would be served in shifts given the few hundred people
present. Elijah suddenly smiled at Rebecca which set her stomach
off into flutters. Rebecca felt slightly nauseous and allowed
herself a brief moment to wonder how being in love could make
someone feel physically sick.
    It took three of the church benches to make
up one table. Elijah, guided by the careful chalk marks of the
previous day, helped Rebecca slip the legs of the benches into the
plywood trusses, his shoulder momentarily brushing hers as he did
so. This set off tingles coursing through Rebecca, right down to
her toes. She sighed aloud.
    Elijah looked at her with concern and she
nodded to say she was all right. She loved the way they could
communicate without words. In fact, there were many things she
loved about Elijah; if only he felt the same way.
    Now that the three benches were flat and
parallel with each other, and at table height, Elijah then clamped
them into place. He and Rebecca then hurried away in different
directions to make sure that all tables were now set up, and they
directed the people who had agreed to help the ushers to place all
tables in the prearranged spots. Now the only job which remained
was to place the remaining benches at each table and to place a
white cloth on each table.
    Although this had only taken a few minutes,
Rebecca was flushed with heat, and she wiped a few tiny beads of
sweat from her forehead. She should not have been flustered by the
activity, as it had gone smoothly, so she could only assume that
her reaction was to Elijah’s close presence.
    Now that the tables and benches were set up
in the correct places, Rebecca hurried out to the mobile kitchen to
help with the food preparation. Her stomach rumbled at the enticing
aroma of freshly brewed kaffi and roasted chicken.
Everywhere she looked, there was food: mountains of mashed potatoes
and gravy, hot, creamed celery with real cream, roasted chicken,
various salads, cheeses, bread, tapioca pudding, home-canned fruit,
pudding, doughnuts, cakes, pies, and copious amounts of ice
cream.
    “Rebecca!” Mrs. Miller’s summons was shrill
and demanding.
    Rebecca hurried over to her mudder .
    Mrs. Miller leaned over and whispered to
Rebecca in a conspiratorial tone. “Please go and check on the Ecktenders for me. You know your Aenti Irene is
sometimes ab im kopp !” Her whisper rose to a high
shrill.
    Rebecca nodded and hurried out of the mobile
kitchen, smiling to herself as she went. Her Aenti Irene, a
lovely woman, was her daed’s schweschder , and so considered
far too liberal by Mrs. Miller. Still, she had never heard her mudder refer to her as ab im kopp , “not right in the
head,” before; this was no doubt to the pressure of the wedding. Perhaps Mamm thinks Aenti Irene is going to do something
horribly non traditional , she thought with amusement.
    Rebecca walked back in the barn and surveyed
the tables set up around the outskirts of the barn. The bridal
party’s Eck table was still set up correctly in the
corner.
    Aenti Irene was busy setting Martha’s
new china set on display. This was the traditional gift from the
groom to the bride. Rebecca did not think her mudder would
quite approve of the china set either. While it was functional, it
was no doubt a little too pretty for her mudder’s liking.
Mrs. Miller approved of