“Cum,” she said, picking up one of the towels Levi had dropped. “Let’s go meet your friends.”
He again grew serious as he walked beside her. “I still wish I hadn’t done those things,” he said.
Without looking at him, she whipped the towel up and popped him in the face.
Chapter Nine
Ryan took his girlfriend Ellie’s hand and helped her from the water. She squeaked and shivered, and Ryan quickly wrapped an oversized towel around her shoulders. “That was great,” she said, her chin already vibrating violently. “Did you see how I caught air off that wake?”
“Way sweet,” Ryan said. He hugged Ellie for a minute, rubbing his hands up and down her back to create friction. He guided her to a padded seat on one side of the boat and looked at her reassuringly. “You gonna be warm enough?”
Still shaking uncontrollably, Ellie nodded. “Give me a few minutes.”
Ryan turned to Rebecca, cinched up in her life jacket and standing at attention in the very center of the boat. “You ready?”
Rebecca breathed in and out as if she were preparing for a deep-sea dive without oxygen.
“You get used to the water once you’ve been in for a few minutes,” Ellie said.
“I’m good at getting skiers up,” Ryan said. “My brother, on the other hand, yanks you up so fast, he about pulls your arms off.”
Rebecca forced her grimace into a smile.
Levi came up behind her and stroked her arm gently. “You don’t have to do this,” he said, already knowing how she would respond to that suggestion.
“Right,” said Ryan. “We can give Levi a turn.”
Pasting on her cheerful face, Rebecca said, “No, I want to. It will be fun.” Her tone of voice could have been referring to some painful medical procedure, for all the enthusiasm it held.
Ryan shrugged. “Okay, then, get in.”
Levi guided her to the short ladder that hung over the side of the boat, and she stepped down it backward. When her foot touched the cold water, she squeaked in alarm, lost hold of the ladder, and plunged into the lake. She emerged, flailing her arms and blinking the water from her eyes. The panicked look, the labored breathing, the squeal she gave once her head surfaced from the water propelled Levi into action. He dove into the water, swam to Rebecca, and wrapped his arms firmly around her waist.
She threw her arms around his neck as if he were the only thing between her and a watery grave. “I can’t touch the bottom,” she said in breathless hysteria. “Don’t—don’t let go.”
Levi tightened his grip around her, if that were possible. “I won’t let go until you say. I promise.”
“Don’t let go.”
“Look at my face, kid,” Levi said. “Now take a slow, deep breath.”
She did as she was told, although she still held on to his neck for dear life.
In the calmest voice he knew, he said, “This life jacket is the best one made. You can’t drown when you’ve got this on. It’s impossible.” He kept eye contact with her so that she knew he was serious.
She nodded. “Okay.”
“Kick your legs,” Levi said.
She did.
“You see, just water below. No lake creatures to grab your feet and drag you under.”
Rebecca breathed out. “Don’t even mention creatures.”
Levi loved that her clutching his neck put her face barely inches from his. Good thing the water was cold. It kept his mind off the tantalizing urge to kiss her. “Being surrounded by all this water can make you feel like you’re going to be swallowed up. You’re doing really good.”
Levi glanced at the boat. Ellie and Ryan studied the two of them curiously but were doing their best not to gawk. Ryan was a good guy, patient and nonjudgmental. Levi didn’t think either of them would mind the delay.
“Don’t let go.”
“Believe me, I will not let go until you say.”
Still holding on for dear life, she gazed at him doubtfully until her breathing relaxed—a good two minutes. “Thank you for not letting go.”
“Of course. I’m very trustworthy.”
They bobbed up and down for a few more minutes. Her breathing returned to normal. “Okay, you can let go of me now,” she said.
She instinctively tightened her grip around his neck as he released his hands from around her. “I can do this,” she said.
Taking one serious look at him, she let her arms slip away. She half-sighed, half-squealed as she sank slightly before her life jacket buoyed her up.
“You’re going to cramp up if you tighten your muscles,” Levi said. “Try to relax. Think of sitting in a tub and reading your favorite book. Relax.”
“The hot water is not working in this tub,” Rebecca said, shivering.
Levi waited until she seemed accustomed to being in the vast body of water. “Are you ready to ski?”
“Jah, I am ready.”
Levi motioned to Ryan, who slipped the water skis into the water next to Rebecca. Levi helped her get them on her feet, which they managed to do without dunking her under once. He retrieved the towrope and handed it to Rebecca. “Okay, kid. You remember how we showed you to sit with your knees bent and let the boat pull you up?”
“Yes, buster,” she said.
Levi laughed. She was going to be all right.
Levi looked at Ryan. “She’s ready.”
“You’d better get in!” Ryan yelled back.
Levi glanced at Rebecca. “You okay?”
“It will be fun.”
“Fun,” Levi murmured as he swam back to the boat. “Fun like a root canal.”
Once Levi settled into the boat, Ryan gave the signal to Rebecca who, with her fingers still wrapped around the towrope, gave him a thumbs-up to indicate that she was ready. No way was she releasing either hand from her lifeline.
The engine rumbled to life, and Ryan pulled the throttle slowly. The rope went taut and Rebecca slowly rose from the water but then quickly fell over the top of her skis and back into the water, keeping the towrope firmly in her fists. The boat dragged her, water pounding her face, until she got wise and let go of the rope. She came up sputtering and spitting but seemed no worse for the wear.
“If you fall, let go of the rope,” Levi called.
“Thanks for the advice.”
“Sit in the water and bend your knees right up to your chest.” Ryan yelled. “Hold your arms out in front of you. Then relax and don’t try to pull yourself up. Let me do that with the boat.”
Rebecca dog-paddled back to her lost skis with the towrope in her fist. She put the skis back on her feet and signaled for Ryan to go again.
“You can do it, kid!” Levi yelled. He hated to see her so distressed. Why was she so dead-set on this?
Amazingly enough, she managed to stand on the skis for almost thirty seconds before falling spectacularly into the foamy water. This time she let go of the rope as soon as she hit the surface.
Ryan barked a few more instructions to Rebecca as she once again retrieved her skis.
The third time, with a look of complete concentration on her face, she managed to get on top of the water. Stiff as a board, but staying afloat, she plowed through the water tenaciously. Her ride lasted almost three minutes before she glanced up at Levi with a look of satisfaction and promptly wiped out.
She once again came up sputtering but this time smiling. Levi flexed his arm and realized he had been clutching the side of the boat as he watched her. Did she want to go up again? He didn’t think his nerves could take it.
Ryan pulled the boat around to her. “Had enough?” he yelled.
Yes, Levi wanted to say. At least I’ve had enough. It was all he could do to sit still and not reach into the water and pull her out. What was she trying to do? Kill him?
“One more time, please,” Rebecca said, shivering violently as she reattached the skis to her feet.
The last run, Rebecca popped out of the water like an expert and Ryan towed he
r around for almost ten minutes before she let go of the rope and glided into the water. She raised her arms in triumph just before she went down.
When he finally pulled her into the boat, Levi breathed normally for the first time in almost an hour.
She would be the death of him.
Chapter Ten
They sat together on the double-seated beach chair close to the fire. Levi had a towel wrapped casually around his shoulders while Rebecca leaned into the heat and held her hands out to the flames. She still shook hard enough to rattle her very bones, even with the thick gray robe wrapped around her. She sat as far away from Levi as she could in the wide chair, but she brushed against him now and then in her search for more heat.
Levi put his arm around her shoulder and tried to pull her close. She resisted. “I want to keep you from freezing to death, kid,” he said. “You’re going to crack your teeth, they’re chattering so hard.”
Was this a ploy to take advantage of her in a moment of weakness? Even though he was Englisch, he had proven himself trustworthy thus far. She relaxed against him and let him envelop her in his arms.
“Better?”
“Hmm,” she admitted. “But do not kiss me.”
He rested his chin against her forehead. “Kid,” he said, “I want to kiss you every moment I’m with you. But, as you can see, I know how to control myself.”
She patted him on the hand. “More like, I know how to make you behave yourself.”
Slowly he traced the back of her hand with his thumb. “I want you to feel safe with me. I haven’t always treated girls the way I should, but I want you to know that I would never do anything to hurt you or make you feel uncomfortable.”
“I know,” she said quietly.
Levi held her tighter.
Out on the water, she knew—knew—she could trust him. She had insisted on going out on the lake in the first place. He wasn’t obligated to come to her rescue when she’d gotten herself into her own mess, but he jumped in and held on to her when he could have let go. She hadn’t deserved his help, but he’d offered it anyway.
She looked at Levi—really looked at his face. His strong jawline revealed a determination to do anything he set his mind to, and his chocolate-brown eyes danced in the firelight with an intelligence and a warmth she hadn’t really appreciated before. Had he changed that much since she first met him?
No. She had changed the way she looked at herself through him.
“Why that look on your face?” Rebecca said.
Levi rubbed his hand up and down her fleecy sleeve. “I’m thinking how lucky I am that you fell on that skateboard in front of my store. If you had fallen in front of the drugstore, Rex Gillis would be cuddling with you in this very seat and I’d probably be out on the boat with some girl who isn’t you.”
“You are using another line on me, Levi Cooper.”
“I swear I’m not.”
The sun slowly disappeared below the trees surrounding the lake. Two dozen boys and girls were on their little section of beach, some around the fire, some still messing around in the water. One girl had a guitar, and she strummed a few chords as two or three people helped her sing. All things considered, Levi said, a mellow party.
Rebecca wondered how much longer she could justify sitting here with the warmth of Levi’s arms around her. She would be up late tonight, filling lamps and cleaning floors. And probably mucking out, unless Max decided for the first time in his life to do something without being told.
Levi shifted in his seat to get his arms farther around Rebecca. “You’re not shivering anymore.”
“Toasty warm.”
“Did you like the waterskiing? You were pretty good.”
Rebecca leaned her head against his shoulder. “I never have to do it again.”
“I’ve heard that before. I wonder if there will ever be anything we do together that you’ll want to do again.”
“Don’t you like to water-ski?” Rebecca said.
“I love to water-ski.”
“But you didn’t,” Rebecca said.
“I had to be focused to keep you safe.”
She went silent.
“But it was probably a good preparation for baptism. So you don’t hyperventilate when you’re dunked into the water,” Levi said.
“There’s not that much water. It gets poured onto your head.”
“Oh. Sounds fun.”
Rebecca sat up straighter and folded her arms. “Not really.”
“You don’t want to get baptized?”
She pulled her knees to her chin and wrapped her arms around her legs. “I do want to get baptized. I—I am simply not looking forward to it.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“The bishop preaches that baptism represents a rebirth. We become new creatures in Christ.” Rebecca glanced at him. “Ach, never mind.”
“No, Rebecca, I want to hear.”
Rebecca shook her head. “I am too selfish.”
“This coming from the girl who hangs wash at midnight so her brothers will have something to wear the next day?”
Rebecca took a deep breath. He held on to her when he could have let go. “It is…. I feel in some ways, baptism will be like dying. When I am baptized, the walls of my house will close in on me while I watch my mother die and my fater drift further from the family. After baptism, I will be stuck in that life forever.”
“Then why be baptized?”
“I want to pledge my life to God.”
Levi leaned forward to look into her eyes. “That doesn’t sound like the way God would want you to live the rest of your life, like you’re stuck in prison.”
“That’s why I am making my own life right now. I want to feel feelings and have experiences before giving in. Then in the future when I am weighed down by my dull life or pain so severe that I can’t crawl out of bed, I can say, I really lived once. Then it won’t be so bad.”
Levi looked at her with something akin to compassion. She didn’t want his pity. She didn’t want anything from him, did she? Except his skiing abilities.
A boy came near and offered them a can of beer. Levi shook his head. “No, thanks.” Then he turned to Rebecca. “Unless you want to.”
“Nae,” she said.
“Not on your list of things to do before you die?”
“Eating mud is also not on my list,” Rebecca said.
“You’ll get no argument from me on that one,” Levi said. “Most definitely not worth the headache in the morning.”
She looked up at him. “You’ve done a lot of drinking in your life, haven’t you?”
“I’ve done a lot of things I regret.” Levi stared at the fire. “Drinking helps to dull my guilty conscience, I guess.”
She couldn’t resist. She ran the back of her fingers along the stubble of his jaw. “You are holding a lot of pain in there,” she said.
“I’m responsible for my own mistakes. Nobody else.”
“You don’t have to carry it. Jesus will carry it if you give it to Him.”
“It’s my burden, not His, Rebecca.”
“Everything is His burden. You are one of His sheep.”
“I’m a lost cause,” Levi said.
Rebecca didn’t want him to believe that for one more minute. “There are no lost causes.”
Levi shook his head.
In alarm, she took his face between her hands. “There are no lost causes.”
Their faces were inches apart, and Rebecca felt the intensity in his eyes to her very bones. How could anyone go so low as to think they were lost to God?
Levi put his hands over hers, smiled, and made light of her comment. “Don’t kiss me,” he said.
The spell broke, and she withdrew her hands. “No kissing,” she said, growling in exasperation.
As the sky darkened, the bright fire obscured their surroundings, but Rebecca didn’t miss Levi’s dumbstruck expression when a thin blond stepped into the light of the flames and cam
e right up to them. Levi recovered and glued an indifferent frown on his face.
“Hey, Levi,” the girl said, smiling like the cat who ate the canary while keeping her eyes glued to Rebecca.
Rebecca could feel the muscles in Levi’s arm tense. “Hey, Tara,” he said.
Tara held hands with a tall boy with hair so black that it shimmered in the firelight. He wore a substantial diamond stud earring in his left ear. Tara pulled her boyfriend closer and whispered something into his ear.
By the set of her jaw and the way she opened her eyes too wide when she spoke, Rebecca could tell that Tara was not pleased with what she saw. An old girlfriend? Rebecca did her best to smile.
Tara motioned to the boy next to her. “This is Shadow,” she said. “He’s from Chicago.”
“Hey,” Levi said, his manner discouraging any sort of conversation.
Tara stared at Levi as if she were expecting something from him. “Well,” she said, “who’s your new girl?”
Rebecca couldn’t help but detect the nastiness in her voice. Definitely an old girlfriend. Very pretty. Just the kind of girl Rebecca imagined Levi would be with. Rebecca folded her arms tightly around her waist.
“This is Rebecca. Rebecca, this is Tara.”
“You didn’t go to our high school,” Tara said.
“No,” Levi said.
Rebecca and Levi had already discussed it. If they could avoid revealing to anyone that she was Amish, they would do it. If the knowledge of any of her outings got back to Fater, that would be the end of them. Rebecca had insisted that they not lie to anyone, but they didn’t have to volunteer any information, either.
Tara plopped on the ground in front of Rebecca and pulled Shadow with her. Then she scrutinized Rebecca’s face.
“Where’re you from?” Tara said.
“She’s from around here,” Levi said.
Undeterred, Tara turned to face Levi so her body language completely shut Rebecca out of the conversation. “Oh, she’s a deaf mute who can’t speak for herself?”
“I can talk,” Rebecca said.
“Oh, good,” Tara said, returning her attention to Rebecca, “I thought maybe you were too shy. What’s your name again?”