Persuaded – Chapter XXXIV

Mindy

Recap: Chani visits Leah again, coming home to find Yerucham and Mrs. Rosner visiting her home. Yerucham says such nice things about Chani that Mrs. Rosner believes he’s interested in pursuing a shidduch. Now back to Brooklyn…

With the scare of Lieba’s accident in Deal behind everyone, it felt good to be back in the regular summer routine in Brooklyn. Mindy’s boys were in day camp during the day, giving her space to run errands, start supper, and occasionally take a nap or relax with a book when the pregnancy tired her. Chani, now in Jersey, wasn’t around to bail her out whenever she felt overwhelmed, but her nausea had subsided, and Chani had arranged to sleep over on Wednesday nights when she was in Brooklyn for work. Mindy knew Chani was probably bored silly hanging around Toms River with nobody but her father, older sister, and Rikki Klein for company.

Now she closed the door to her boys’ room, heaving a sigh of relief. Why did it take two hours to get those little rascals to settle down and sleep every night? Chezky was never home to help her, always claiming evenings were his only chance to learn, but her little darlings wore her down.

She plopped down on the sofa and scrolled through her phone, but there weren’t any new and interesting Insta posts to look at. Not even any WhatsApp messages from her friends. How annoying was it that the rest of her family was off in Toms River while she was stuck in humid, sweaty, boring Brooklyn? It wasn’t fair that she always got left out of all the fun, even if Chani had told her that meeting Rebbetzin Dinnerstein and Yerucham Elman had been no big shpritz, and that Yerucham had made no signs of being interested in dating Zahava.

Although, honestly, Brooklyn life hadn’t been all that boring. Hennie had begun dating Chaim Haber in earnest. It was supposed to be a state secret, but Mindy had seen him park his car on the block, dressed in an atypically spotless suit and black hat, and stride towards her in-laws’ home. Mindy had never found Chaim particularly appealing—too earnest, too yeshivishe—but Chezky loved him like an older brother. It sounded like Chaim and Hennie were planning to make it official soon. Well, that would be fun. A good excuse to get out and buy herself a new dress for the engagement. And then there would be all the planning for the wedding and trips to find a gown, and sheva brachos to arrange.

Baruch Hashem, Lieba had been declared fit to travel, and had left the Hararis’ home to return to her parents. What a relief it had been for everyone to see her walking and talking! Sure, she was unusually subdued, and was still supposed to rest as much as possible, but she didn’t seem, like, brain damaged or anything, baruch Hashem. She got dressed every day and was eating normally, and between this yeshua and Hennie’s impending engagement (possibly next week, shhhh…) the Moskowitz parents were riding high on twin waves of relief and nachas.

Did Hennie have another date tonight? It was only 8:00, so there was still a chance he might show. Mindy walked surreptitiously to the window. The street was quiet. Okay, maybe it was a little late to start an evening. If they were planning to make an engagement official she would have been apprised in advance to show up for a l’chaim.

Then, as if on cue, a car began inching down the block, as if looking for an address. This wasn’t the rather beat-up navy Accord she knew belonged to the Haber family. This was an Acura in a discreet shade of gray. Mindy did a mental tally of the families on her block. The Schwartzes had girls in the parsha—could it be for one of them? Ditto the Applebaums. She was determined to stand right there, hidden by the curtains, until she could determine if a) the driver of the car was actually a young man here for a date, and b) exactly which neighborhood girl he would be picking up. Such fun! She giggled. It reminded her of the few times, when she was a little girl, that Zahava went on dates and she and Chani would peer under closed doors to get a glimpse of the prospective shidduch. Most of the time they didn’t manage to see much more than the young man’s shoes.

Aha! Her instincts hadn’t failed her. It was a young man in the car! She could see him adjusting his hat and checking its angle in the car’s mirror. He then paused for a minute, as if collecting himself, and exited the car.

Mindy caught her breath. She knew this boy! He was…what was his name again? Yes, he was that guy who had been engaged to Ralph Harari’s sister…Beyda! That was it! Ezra Beyda! The one whose kallah had died so tragically in an accident right before their wedding. The one who had raved about Chani!

And now he was walking down the block to…oh my…to her in-law’s house! Hennie was practically engaged now, so that could mean only one thing: He was going to go on a date with Lieba!

What in heaven’s name?... It seemed beyond comprehension!

The how of it seemed clear enough: Lieba had spent two weeks in Deal, including staying in the Harari home, where Beyda was a constant presence. They had surely gotten to know each other that way. Beyda had accompanied Ralph on his visits to Lieba in the hospital. He had probably given her some of those tiresome books on emunah and bitachon that Chani had recommended and insisted on discussing them with her ad nauseum.

Chezky had been convinced that Beyda might try to pursue a shidduch with Chani, not Lieba, as they seemed to share similar literary tastes. Beyda had spoken so highly of her. But Mindy herself had been skeptical it was a match, and now look: She’d been right and Chezky was wrong. Men just didn’t have the same social instincts as women, nothing to talk about.

But a Sephardi boy? Her in-laws were willing to consider a boy from a Syrian family? Upon reflection, Beyda was otherwise a decent catch. He was a serious yeshiva guy with a family reputed to have some means. Lieba was more lively and open-minded than Hennie, so maybe it wouldn’t bother her to sign herself up to a lifetime of lachemagine and kibbeh. It just was not what she would ever have imagined for Lieba.

Nevertheless, she liked Beyda better than Hennie’s prospective chassan. Chaim Haber would always seem too impecunious and pious for her. The guy didn’t have a fun bone in his body.

And what had happened to Effi Weinberg? He had just vanished into thin air. But Mindy had never thought he was a viable option for Lieba. He was way too old for her, and after Lieba’s stupid stunt in Deal, he’d probably concluded she was way too immature. He just stuck around long enough to make sure their date hadn’t damaged her permanently.

She pulled a chair over to the window and sat down, figuring she might have to wait some time while her father-in-law chatted Beyda up. But they didn’t schlep too long, and Mindy realized that they’d probably already met each other at the hospital, or perhaps the Harari home. Pretty soon the couple emerged from the house, Lieba wearing makeup, a pretty dress, and flats (banished were the ridiculous four-inch heels that had caused her accident). She walked slowly, however, and Beyda slowed his pace to match hers, opening the car door for her and watching solicitously to make sure she didn’t have trouble lowering herself into the seat.

This was way too rich to keep for herself! She grabbed her phone and dialed Chani to let her know this juicy news.

To be continued.