Free Rebecca's Choice by Jerry S. Eicher

We just have to trust Him.” John pulled the reins in and slowed his horse down, preparing to turn into his parents’ driveway. Today they would spend the afternoon here. Then he would drive Rebecca home after the singing.
    Rebecca helped unhitch the horse from her side and then waited for him, as he took the horse to its stall. They walked together across the lawn, taking a shortcut because the grass was dry and no rain had softened the ground recently.
    He held the door open for her. Miriam and Isaac wouldn’t be home for a while yet, he knew, and now would be the time to show her the letter. Yet John’s heart wasn’t in the action. His gentle probe on the way home was all the answer he needed. Rebecca’s look expressed her obvious lack of knowledge. His parents would just have to be satisfied with his conclusion and with his trust of Rebecca.
    “I’ve got something to show you,” he said and shut the door behind her. “Just give me a minute. It’s upstairs.”
    “Okay,” Rebecca said. She took her bonnet and shawl off and lay them on the couch.
    John went upstairs to his room and found what he wanted. His shoes made an even beat on the hardwood stairs on the way down.
    “Over here,” he said, teasing her by hiding the roll of papers behind his back. “The sewing room.” That Rebecca already suspected what he had in his hands was evident to him, as he grinned sheepishly.
    “It’s a Sunday,” she said.
    “We’re not working. Not really.”
    He unfolded the papers and spread them out on the sewing room table.
    “Your house,” she said.
    “Ours,” he said making her blush. “I thought a drawing of the place would make it easier to visualize because the renters are still in it. The sketches are kind of rough, I know—just hand drawn.”
    “They look fine to me.”
    “You’re just saying that.” John made a face, but Rebecca didn’t see him because her eyes were focused on the papers.
    “It’s hard to tell from the outside just how things look.”
    “That’s why I made these,” he said. “The tenants leave late this summer.”
    “You’re not remodeling anything?” She glanced at him, her cheeks still red. “Nothing major hopefully?”
    “Not to the house structure,” he said. “Maybe a wall or two, if you want.” The moment caught him up in a joyous emotion. Rebecca was the one who would make the house beautiful, he thought, not the makeover they planned.
    “I don’t know,” she said and seemed uncertain. “I’d almost have to see the house. Sometimes you have to live in houses before you know what needs to be done. That’s what Mom would say.”
    Rebecca’s matter of fact reference to their life in the house made John glad he hadn’t brought down the letter that lay on his dresser upstairs. There simply was no way this girl had plans to marry him for money. Even the thought seemed profane and unseemly. If he had brought it up, he would certainly have spoiled this beautiful afternoon.
    “So I can’t draw too well,” he said, partly to hide his thoughts. “That’s probably why you can’t envision things.”
    “It’s not that. It’s just a woman thing. I can start planning, though, with this,” she said smiling.
    “We can repaint everything,” he said, his mood now expansive. “And the kitchen is a little small. Perhaps enlarge that…new cabinets maybe.”
    “That costs money,” she said, her face showing alarm. “Maybe we’d better just use it as it is for now. I’d be happy.”
    “I want the house to be nice,” he said and meant the words.
    “It’ll be nice with you,” she said and took his arm. “That’s enough for me.”
    “I’d still like to do the work.” He felt happiness swell up in him and hoped it didn’t show too much on his face. “At least this gives us some ideas, so we don’t have to start from scratch. That is once the renters are out.”
    “I’ll think about it.” She smiled again and released his arm as Isaac and Miriam’s