The Amish Baker

by Marie E. Bast

  “Ah, Sarah, don’t blush. We are friends, talking. Jah?” His voice was smooth as whipped cream.

  Ezra had shared his hopes and dreams already, unlike Caleb, who often drove her the three miles from his farm to town and hardly said two words to her. She already knew what Ezra wanted but hadn’t yet discovered what Caleb saw for his future.

  In all fairness, though, Caleb was a typical farmer, who drove slowly, gawking at his neighbors’ fields and comparing them to his own. He measured his farm’s growing progress during the season against other farms around his. Ezra might do the same, but he also communicated well.

  “Sarah?”

  “Sorry. I was thinking about how much work you do. Danki for stopping in today.”

  He smiled. “Even a farmer has to take time off. That gives me an idea. Tomorrow, I’m taking my kinner to the Washington County Fair. I’d like for you to join us.”

  She’d never been to a fair before. Daed would grumble he was too busy for that kind of nonsense. She’d known others who visited the fair and raved about all the fun they had. “I’d like that very much, Ezra.” Then a twinge of regret pierced her, but it was too late to take her answer back.

  “See you at nine tomorrow morning, and wear comfortable shoes.” He grabbed his hat from the chair and flashed a broad smile before he nodded goodbye and walked out the bakery door.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Friday dawned with a cloudless blue sky, giving Sarah the inspiration to pack a light lunch for a picnic at the fair. At five minutes to nine o’clock, she carried her bag out to the porch and sat on the step to wait. The rented vehicle and driver arrived on time. Ezra opened the back door, and she slid in next to a couple of sandy-haired cuties who were the spitting image of their daed.

  Ezra hopped back in the front of the SUV next to the driver, turned around and looked at his kinner. “This is Beth and David.” He tilted his head toward Sarah. “This is Sarah Gingerich.”

  She smiled. “Nice to meet you both.”

  “Miss Sarah, are you excited about going to the fair?” Beth’s amber eyes sparkled as she spoke.

  “Very much so. I’ve never attended the fair before.” She pressed a hand to her stomach to stop the fluttering of a giant butterfly.

  “Really?” Ezra said. “Your folks never took you?”

  “Nein. They were always too busy in the bakery.”

  “You’ll have a gut time. I’m glad I’m the one who gets to show it to you,” Ezra said.

  Sarah swallowed a sigh. Was he getting interested in her already? Had she misled him?

  Ezra talked to her for a while, then started talking to the driver about farming. The kinner acted as if they had forgotten she was there and started discussing what they wanted to do and see first at the fair. She relaxed in her seat and enjoyed the scenery for the twenty-minute drive to the fairgrounds.

  They stepped out of the SUV, and Ezra arranged a time for the driver to pick them up. He swung his arm with a sweeping movement toward the midway. “Sarah, the fun awaits you.” Ezra stayed close beside her as the kinner walked ahead. After a short distance, the kinner stopped to look at a game of chance, but Ezra motioned them along.

  When they came to the cotton candy vendor, David gave Ezra a puppy-dog look. “Daed, please, can we have some?”

  Ezra paid and the man handed David and Beth each a stick of what looked like swirls of spun cotton wrapped around it. He held a stick out to Sarah. She shook her head. “I’ve never eaten it before. I don’t know if I’d like it.”

  Ezra took the stick. “You’ve never had cotton candy? Now’s your chance. We’ll share.” He grabbed a hunk, and pulled it off. “See, like this,” he said, and stuffed it in his mouth. “Your turn.”

  She pulled off a small, sticky amount and stuck it in her mouth. “Oh. It’s delicious and practically melts in your mouth.” She smiled. “That was fun to eat. What is it?”

  “Spun sugar.” Ezra’s tongue had a tinge of blue coloring. “Whenever we go to the fair, we buy it. It’s a once-a-year treat.”

  Sarah ate a couple more bites. “That’s really sweet. Think I’d better quit eating, or I’ll get sick.”

  “Let’s keep moving.” Ezra started walking down the midway, nibbling the cotton candy until they reached the end of the road. “Let’s head to the barns and see if the judging is over.”

  He offered Sarah the last bite of cotton candy. She shook her head.

  He popped the rest in his mouth and threw the stick into a garbage barrel sitting along the midway.

  Sarah walked alongside Ezra as they entered the first barn and sauntered over to a pigpen. She wrinkled her nose at the barn’s odor and swatted at a fly that buzzed near her face.

  Ezra leaned over a fence. “The fair judge looks for leanness and muscling.” He pointed to the hog and glanced at Sarah and David. “The back-fat depth of a show hog is ideally less than for a commercial hog.” He patted the animal. “They want to see deep loin muscle.”

  Ezra explained the strict regimen it took to raise the animals. His kinner nodded. David asked a couple of questions and Ezra patiently answered. Sarah smiled as she listened to him teach his bu. He was a good daed, a kind man, and he’d make some woman a wunderbaar ehemann. She just wasn’t sure that woman was her.

  Sarah watched a couple of buwe who she guessed hadn’t shown their animals yet. They scrubbed the hogs with a brush and water, rinsed and repeated. When water splashed her way, she stepped back and onto the foot of the person standing directly behind her.

  She whirled around, swishing her hands over her dress to brush the water off. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know...” She stopped in her tracks and gazed into Caleb’s eyes.

  Caleb’s gut clenched as he gawked at Sarah, and Ezra Smith standing next to her. The shock of seeing them together sent his heart racing until he gained control.

  Ezra held out his hand. “Nice to see you, Caleb. Are you enjoying the fair?”

  He swallowed hard. “Jah. Very much.” Until now.

  “Why didn’t you come to the fair with us?” Jacob ran to Sarah and hugged her.

  “She is with another friend, Jacob.” Caleb gently pulled his sohn to his side.

  “But, Daed...”

  “Hush, Jacob. Adults are talking.” Jacob pressed his lips in a straight line.

  Ezra’s gaze bounced from Caleb to Sarah. “Do you two know each other?”

  Caleb noticed the blush rising on Sarah’s cheeks. “Jah, from the bakery. Mornin’, Sarah.”

  “She’s a wunderbaar baker.” Ezra smiled down at Sarah with a twinkle in his eye.

  “Jah, she is indeed. I promised Jacob and Mary we’d head to the horse barn next. Have a gut time at the fair, Sarah.”

  Mary glanced from Sarah to Ezra, turned to Caleb and raised a questioning brow.

  “But, Daed, I want to stay with Sarah.”

  “Sorry, Jacob, but we have a tight schedule to keep before our driver returns.” He gave a firm tug on Jacob’s arm and headed toward the horse barn. When they were finally out of sight, he released Jacob’s arm.

  “Why didn’t we ask Sarah to come with us to the fair?” Jacob sniffled. “I want her to have fun with us.”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t think of it.” Sarah had been honest with him. Yet he hadn’t imagined seeing them together would hurt so much, as though a bull were goring him and ripping his heart out. He gulped a breath of air.

  He hurried his kinner along until they were safely in the horse barn. They visited every stall. Usually, this was the best part of the fair for Caleb, but today the joy of the judging had gone flat, like a popped bubble. “It’s getting late. We need to move on.”

  They entered the 4-H building and walked around, viewing the project winners of horticulture, gardening, crafts and baking. Ugh. The cakes reminded Caleb of Sarah and all the me
mories they’d made together. Heat crept up his neck and onto his cheeks. His face burned at the thought...of her...with Ezra.

  Caleb put a hand on Jacob’s back and tried to push him along. The bu sulked, with his arms crossed in front, and dragged his feet in the dirt as he walked. Occasionally, he’d kick a rock or stick in his path. He’d let Jacob down. “Jacob, how about some saltwater taffy? Jah?”

  A smile played at the corners of the bu’s mouth as if he might be fighting it, but the charm of the soft, tasty candy was too much to resist.

  He allowed Jacob to select the flavor—a bag of assortments: vanilla, banana, peppermint, strawberry, orange and licorice. After he paid, Caleb whirled around just in time to catch a glimpse of Ezra and Sarah heading their way. He quickly steered Jacob and Mary in the opposite direction. His heart was shredded to pieces.

  When they neared a food stand, his stomach growled at the greasy aroma. “How about a burger and some lemonade?” Mary nodded and Jacob’s smile reached from ear to ear.

  Caleb took a bite of his burger, but could barely get it down. He had little appetite, but Jacob seemed to have completely forgotten about Sarah. He wished he could do the same.

  He glanced at his pocket watch and relief washed over him. “It’s time to meet our driver.” Weaving through the crowd on the midway, Caleb led the way around people entering through the front gate as they maneuvered to get out.

  On the way home in the car, he heard Mary and Jacob in the back seat, crinkling the saltwater taffy paper and reminiscing about the fair with candy stuffed in their mouths, muffling their speech. The driver had his country music station cranked up, listening to the top one hundred songs in the country. Danki, Lord. The loud music meant he didn’t have to hold a conversation. That suited Caleb just fine. His heart was still turning cartwheels at the sight of Sarah and Ezra together.

  If he couldn’t offer her a proposal of marriage, he had to step aside. Yet losing her gnawed at the edges of his soul.

  When they finally arrived back at the farm, the kinner raced for the house, and Caleb traipsed to the barn to do chores. As he started preparations for milking, Tiger and her kittens scurried around underfoot.

  “Shoo, Tiger. You’re not getting any milk.” He waved his hand in a swishing movement. They scattered, no doubt sensing the agitation brewing in his gut.

  Lord, why did You put Sarah in my life if You were only going to take her away again? He didn’t know what his future held, but it appeared that Sarah wasn’t part of God’s plan for his life.

  * * *

  The next morning, Caleb forced himself awake from a nightmare he was having about losing Sarah. He jumped out of bed, ate and stayed busy weeding vegetables, repairing farm equipment and preparing his numb heart for a life without Sarah. When he finished his chores, he hung the tools on a hook in the barn and headed for the house. He stopped and gazed around the farm, at the haus, barn, garden and out across the field. This was his world, and he’d started envisioning Sarah sitting with him on the porch in a rocker someday, sipping lemonade and making plans for the future. A lump lodged in his throat.

  He tromped across the grass, toward the porch.

  He glanced over his shoulder at Tiger and her kittens following behind.

  Jacob ran out of the house and skidded to a stop in front of him. “Daed, when is Sarah coming to visit again? I want to show her how much the kittens have grown.”

  “Sarah is very busy running her bakery.”

  Jacob’s eyes widened and a smile stretched across his mouth and lit up his face. “Jah. Can we go to Kalona and visit her? I’d like a brownie.”

  “I’m busy today—maybe another day.”

  The happy glow slid from Jacob’s face. He crossed the barnyard, his shoulders slumped and the cats parading behind him all the way to the barn.

  He hated to disappoint Jacob again, but he couldn’t face Sarah just yet. What would he say to her?

  As he reached the house, he felt guilty that he hadn’t asked Sarah to the fair, and likewise that he’d refused to take Jacob to see his friend.

  Maybe a cupcake would taste gut right about now...

  * * *

  Sarah peered up as the door opened, sending a blast of warm air throughout the bakery. “Ach, it’s gut to see you all.”

  Ezra and his two kinner strolled to the counter. He motioned to the baked goods. “You can have one treat each.”

  They each pointed to a cookie and Sarah placed them in separate bags. She handed David the chocolate chip and Beth the sugar cookie.

  Hannah teased the kinner by holding out a tray of candy to them. They looked at their daed frowning at them, then back at Hannah and shook their heads.

  When Ezra wasn’t looking, Hannah took two pieces of candy and plopped one in each of their sacks. “Would you like a glass of fresh lemonade to drink at the table?” she asked loudly, to cover the sound of rustling sacks.

  They smiled and nodded.

  Sarah got a kick out of watching her friend interact with the kinner. She’d make a wunderbaar mamm. Hopefully, someday, a gut man would sweep Hannah off her feet.

  “I think I can get two more cookies to go along with the drinks,” Hannah whispered.

  David’s eyes widened.

  Ezra stood at the opposite end of the display case, looking at the pie, but kept stealing glances at Hannah. He looked up at Sarah and pointed to a piece of cherry pie. “And a glass of lemonade.”

  “Have a seat. I’ll bring it to the table.” Sarah cut a slice of pie and fixed a plate of assorted cookies while Hannah put five glasses of lemonade on a tray. They carried the refreshments to the table for a much-deserved break.

  When Sarah finished her lemonade, she walked toward the open window. “The breeze feels like a kiss of fall. I could stand here all day.”

  When the kinner were finished, Hannah coaxed them to the counter to try cookie samples.

  “Ezra.” Sarah brushed the crumbs from her cookie onto her napkin and placed it in her empty paper cup. “I’m sorry, but I only want a platonic relationship.”

  He looked away, then back at her. “Jah. Okay.”

  Ezra didn’t seem too upset. Maybe that explained his stolen looks at her friend. Hannah was a lovely woman.

  The sound of hooves on the pavement drew Sarah’s attention to a buggy pulling up out front. “Time for us to get back to work. Have a gut day, Ezra.”

  “Jah. You, too.” His kinner followed Ezra out the door just as an older Amish couple entered.

  Sarah waited on the customers. When they left, she started to clean up while Hannah packaged day-old cookies a dozen to a bag. “You didn’t even snitch a cookie to eat.”

  “Nein.” Hannah shook her head. “I’m faithful to my diet. I’ve lost twenty pounds and two dress sizes, and plan to lose twenty more.”

  “I think Ezra noticed. He was stealing glances at you.”

  “Nein. He’s here to see you.”

  “We are only friends. I’ve made that very clear to him.”

  “You didn’t do that with Alvin.”

  “Alvin was different. I don’t think it would have made any difference with him. But Ezra is a kind man, with sweet kinner.”

  The door burst open and Jacob ran in ahead of Caleb and Mary. He enveloped Sarah in a hug, then Hannah. “Why don’t you come out to the farm anymore? Tiger and her kittens miss you.”

  “I bet the kittens are getting big.” She measured out a distance with her hands.

  He shook his head. “Bigger.”

  “Jacob.” Caleb flashed his warning expression. Apparently he wasn’t supposed to have asked her to visit.

  The bu nodded, then scampered to the front of the display case. “Tiger is teaching them to be gut mousers like her.”

  “Ah. Datt is wunderbaar,” Hannah chimed in.

  Ca
leb quietly browsed the display case, his back stiff and his shoulders squared. Jah, Jacob must have pestered him to come.

  “Everything smells so gut.” Jacob looked around and his eyes locked onto his favorite. “Mmm. Chocolate chip cookies.”

  “I will get you all a cookie and lemonade.” Hannah filled plastic cups with the ice-cold beverage and dotted a plate with an assortment of cookies.

  Sarah meandered over by Mary. “Let me know when you’re ready to can again, and I’ll help.”

  “Danki but Aent Lillia said she’d help me next time.” Mary kept her gaze focused on the shelves of sweets.

  “That’s nice.” Only, Sarah wanted to be the one to help her. She was hurt by the rejection, but a thought occurred to her. Maybe Caleb felt rejected when he saw her with Ezra at the fair, and that was the reason for his standoffish attitude.

  Hannah set the tray with the lemonade on a table. The kinner sat down and each took a cookie.

  Sarah waited while Caleb stared at the baked goods, but the silence stretched into awkwardness. Jah, his feelings must be hurt. She’d tried to spare him by telling him about Ezra, but obviously she’d handled that badly. She shouldn’t have gone to the fair with Ezra and his kinner.

  “The cinnamon-raisin bread looks gut.” His words almost sounded like he choked them out.

  “It is. Very gut. Hannah made it.”

  He lifted his eyes and met her gaze. She leaned over the counter. “Caleb, I’m sorry if I made things difficult between us. I told you the bishop had his matchmaking hat on. Ezra and I are just friends.” The thought of sitting next to Caleb in the buggy flashed through her mind, followed by the horrific idea that if he believed their relationship was threatened, he might abandon it.

  Caleb shuffled his feet a step closer to the counter and swiped a hand down his beard. “Sarah, I understand. You should accept invitations. We don’t have a commitment. When I saw you there with Ezra, it took me by surprise, that’s all. I hadn’t planned to bump into you at the fair.”

  She walked around the counter and stood next to him. Her heart drummed wildly in her chest at his nearness.