“Aha! Now I know how to get what I want from you!” Katie Ann jumped from the bed and ripped the quilt and sheets off Rebecca. “I’ll start the coffee. Get dressed!”
Shaking her head, Rebecca rose and got ready for the day. This is what you got when you had siblings. She brushed her hair, wound it into a bun at the nape of her neck, and secured it before pinning on a fresh kapp.
The scent of coffee filled the kitchen when she went downstairs.
“What has you out and about so early this morning?”
Katie Ann gave her a mischievous grin as she handed her a cup of coffee. “Made my delivery to the restaurant where you ate supper with Samuel Miller last night.”
“So the Amish grapevine is alive and well.” Rebecca sat at the table and added sugar to the coffee.
“Of course it is.” She pushed a white bakery box toward Rebecca. “Donuts for details.”
“It was supper. With a friend.” When she lifted the lid on the box, Katie Ann slapped it shut.
“I said details.”
“I had the pot roast. He had the fried chicken. We both had apple pie for dessert.”
“Very funny.” Katie Ann sat at the table with her own cup of coffee, opened the box, and took out a fat homemade donut. She bit into it. “Details.”
Rebecca loved Katie Ann’s donuts. Everything she baked was wonderful. That was why several restaurants in town ordered her pies and cakes for their dessert menu.
It was tempting to tell her everything but Rebecca was cautious. “I’m not some young maedel.”
Katie Ann nodded and grinned. “Ya. Sometimes I forget you’re en alt maedel. Ya, such an old maid,” she teased.
“Nee. But I’m not a young one, either. Dating—if this is what it ends up being—is a private matter.”
Her schweschder sat back in her chair and pouted. “I’m not going to run around and blab it to everyone.”
Rebecca sighed as she watched Katie Ann pout. “I know. But we just went out to supper. I don’t know if it’s going to go anywhere. I’m too old to be sitting around daydreaming about him.”
She remembered how she’d daydreamed about Amos when she was a maedel. What a young, romantic girl she’d been.
“We’re never too old for that.” Katie Ann pushed the box of donuts toward her. “Samuel seems like a nice man.”
“He is.”
Rebecca chose a donut and took a big bite, relishing the rich cake-like texture and cinnamon sugar. “His dochder played matchmaker.” She told Katie Ann about how Lizzie had called her to take care of her dat’s finger when he got a splinter in it. “Samuel has told me that Lizzie wants a mudder. And a boppli.”
“That’s sweet.”
Rebecca nodded. “But we have to be careful that the kind doesn’t build up some expectation. She could be hurt if Samuel and I didn’t get married.”
“True.” Katie Ann rose, brought the percolator over to warm their cups. “I was just so surprised when I heard you’d gone out to supper with Samuel. He’s the first man you’ve dated since Amos died.”
Rebecca’s cellphone rang. When she saw the number on the display, she winced. She picked up the phone and answered. “Abe. How are you this morning?”
“Abigail’s having the boppli! Come quick! Please!” She heard a scream in the background and then the call disconnected.
Rebecca shoved the phone in her pocket and grabbed her jacket and her medical bag. “I have to go. Abigail Lapp’s having her boppli.”
Katie Ann grabbed her jacket. “I’ll drive you.”
The drive was mercifully short. All the while, Rebecca prayed Abe was just panicking as dats sometimes did.
She jumped out of the buggy the moment Katie Ann stopped it before the Lapp house and rushed inside.
“Abe?”
“In here,” he called from the front bedroom.
She ran into the room and then stopped and stared at him. He stood beside the bed, his face as white as death, and held out a squalling boppli.
“Abigail wouldn’t call you,” he said, his voice choked with emotion. “She kept insisting it was false labor again and she didn’t want to bother you.”
“Well, congratulations, Abigail and Abe,” she said, moving farther into the room. “You have a fine new dochder.”
“I need to sit down,” he said suddenly.
“Here, give her to me,” Abigail said. She wrapped her newborn in a corner of the sheet covering her.
“Give me just a moment to wash my hands,” Rebecca told them and darted into the adjoining bathroom. When she returned, Abe was sitting on the side of the bed, looking a little steadier.
“How are you feeling?” she asked Abe.
“Surprised,” he admitted. “Everything happened so fast.”
Rebecca smiled. “I guess your dochder had enough of the false alarms and decided today was the day.” She pulled scissors from her bag, disinfected them, and handed them to Abe.
“Here you go, Daedi,” she said. “Cut the umbilical cord.”
“My hands are still kind of shaky,” he warned. But he did the job and used the back of one hand to wipe at the tears streaming down his face.
“We have a dochder, Abigail,” he said, still sounding dazed. “We have a dochder.”
* * *
Samuel drove by Hannah’s after he completed his chores the next morning.
He was delighted to see her mann sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee with her when he walked in the door.
“Samuel! Can I get you some coffee?” Hannah stood up and asked him.
“Sit. I can get it.” He poured a cup and, as he took a seat at the table, was happy to see a plate of cinnamon rolls.
“Help yourself,” she invited.
He took one and bit in. “Gut to see you, Levi. So, did you complete your business in Indiana?”
“Ya, farm’s sold. All the equipment as well. Got a nice check to deposit in the bank this morning.”
“So you’re here for gut?”
“If Hannah hasn’t changed her mind about letting me stay.” He winked at her.
“Don’t be silly,” she said, giving him a fond smile. “The kinner were so happy to see him this morning.”
“Did Lizzie behave for you?”
“She always behaves.”
Samuel chuckled. “That’s not true and you know it.”
“Well, she’s not the mischief maker that Jacob is.”
If only she knew what Lizzie had been up to with her matchmaking, Samuel thought.
Hannah eyed the plate of rolls. She hesitated, then took one. “I’m eating for two,” she said. “So, what did you do with yourself last night?”
He shrugged and sipped his coffee. “Not much.”
“Really? Lizzie seemed to think you were going out to supper with Rebecca.”
“Lizzie needs to mind her own business,” he muttered as he chose another roll. He wasn’t eating for two, but when he got an opportunity to have one of Hannah’s rolls, he might as well have two.
“So where did you go?”
“Hannah! Mind your business,” Levi chided gently.
“Samuel is my business,” she maintained, giving Samuel a look.
“It was just supper. Rebecca and I aren’t ready for anything serious.”
“Lizzie really likes her.”
“Lizzie wants a mudder and a boppli, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to rush into another marriage to get them for her.”
“Ruth would want you to be happy.”
“I am. But I’m not ready for marriage yet.”
“But—”
“Hannah!” Levi murmured.
She blew out a breath. “Fine. Just consider that if you wait around, someone else might snatch Rebecca up.”
“She’s not a thing to be snatched up.”
“You know what I mean.”
“If I’m supposed to be with Rebecca, it will happen.”
She sighed and shook her head. “He’s always been like t
his,” she complained to her mann. “Just too patient for his own gut.”
Levi gave her a bland look.
“Men!” Hannah rose and took her cup to the sink. Then she turned to look at Samuel. “Did you ever wonder why you moved here?”
“Because Onkel Isaiah left me the farm.”
“The timing was interesting, don’t you think?”
He finished the second roll and contemplated a third. Nee, that was too much. “What about the timing?”
“You’d been saying you needed a change,” she told him patiently. “And then not long after, he died and left us both a farm and land he owned here in Pennsylvania.” When he just continued to stare at her, she threw up her hands. “Maybe God meant for you to come here and meet Rebecca, Samuel. Did you ever think of that?”
He shook his head slowly. All he knew was that he’d needed to get away from their farm in Indiana where he kept seeing Ruth…where it felt like he would never say goodbye.
Hannah sighed in frustration. “I have to go get ready for my appointment with Rebecca,” she said and left the room shaking her head.
“She gets a little…emotional when she’s expecting,” Levi said quietly.
“I’ve noticed,” Samuel muttered.
“I appreciate all the help you gave her while I was finishing up in Indiana.”
“That’s what family does.” He got up and put his mug in the sink. “Well, I’ll be getting back home. I got some orders for furniture for a store in town. Rebecca introduced me to a couple who run a furniture store while we were at a wedding, and he’s already got me busy.”
“Let me know if you need help with anything.”
“Levi? It’s time to be hitching up the buggy for me,” Hannah called down the stairs.
Samuel chuckled. “I think my dear schweschder will be keeping you plenty busy. Guder mariye.”
As he drove home, Samuel sent up a prayer of thanks that he wouldn’t have to be worrying about Hannah delivering while Levi was out of town.
He passed Rebecca’s house on the way home and saw several buggies parked in her drive. It was obviously one of her appointment mornings.
He drove on, pulled into his drive, and unhitched the buggy. After he led Tom into the barn, he divided an apple and gave him the treat. Then he turned to the orders he’d set on the old desk and got to work. He had a lot to get accomplished today.
Thinking about when he’d see Rebecca again wasn’t going to help him get anything done.
Chapter Fourteen
The kitchen table was set for three.
Samuel and Lizzie were coming for supper. Rebecca had made their favorites. She knew them now, courtesy of Lizzie. When Samuel had driven Hannah to her appointment, Lizzie and Jacob had come along and sat in the waiting room reading books.
“Daedi likes meatloaf,” she’d informed Rebecca after she’d seen Hannah. “With ketchup on top. And mashed potatoes and gravy. And I like macaroni and cheese.”
So they were having meatloaf and mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese. It had been hard to pin Lizzie down on her favorite vegetables. Lizzie had finally admitted she and her dat would eat green beans. It didn’t sound like the two of them ate a lot of vegetables. Rebecca had a package of spinach she’d frozen after the harvest. She was going to serve it and see if she could get Lizzie to try it. Kinner needed to eat vegetables to have strong bones.
Rebecca was getting to know so much about this man and his dochder and not just his food preferences. At first it had felt so different dating a man she hadn’t known all her life like she had Amos. She knew the Englisch did it all the time. Conversations with Cassie through the years had made her aware of that. So she’d told herself this was an adventure, a journey of discovery.
Aided by one little girl who so obviously wanted her to be her new mudder.
It was a scary thought.
She knew about boppli, but she didn’t feel she knew much about raising kinner. From what Samuel had told her, his fraa had been a wunderbaar mudder. What if she couldn’t measure up?
What if she couldn’t give Samuel more kinner?
She stood at the kitchen window, staring out at the gray, drizzly day. It had been a day like this when she had miscarried after years of praying for a boppli. Already crushed with grief over Amos dying, it had seemed like the last straw. At least she hadn’t had to tell him there would be no boppli. She shook her head. A freund had tried to comfort her by saying they were together in heaven.
That had been no comfort at all.
The oven timer buzzed, jerking her from her thoughts. She turned it off, then used mitts to pull an apple pie out and set it to cool on a rack on the counter. The meatloaf was already being kept warm on the back of the stove along with the potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and spinach.
There—everything was ready. Rebecca glanced at the clock and frowned. Where were Samuel and Lizzie? They were due twenty minutes ago. She bit her lip as she walked to the kitchen door and looked out. No buggy.
She went to the front of the house and looked out the window even though Samuel pulled around to the back and came in through the kitchen door. Cars were driving past at the usual speed even though the drizzle had turned into a downpour. Why did people never slow down when the weather was bad? she thought crossly. Why did they have to be in such a hurry? Didn’t they care about being safe?
Sighing, she walked back to the kitchen. There was no need to worry. They could be late for any number of reasons.
She sipped her tea and couldn’t help smiling at the vase of bittersweet Lizzie had brought her one day. Lizzie had handed it to her shyly. Dating a man with a kind was so different from what she’d experienced before. If they went out just the two of them, arrangements had to be made for Lizzie to be cared for. Samuel couldn’t just suddenly do what he wanted like a single man could. The fact that he didn’t just assume Hannah wouldn’t mind watching her showed his respect for her and for his dochder. And his wanting to include Lizzie in some of their outings pleased Rebecca. She needed to get to know both of them and feel Lizzie was comfortable with their relationship.
Not that there had been any doubt that Lizzie liked her, and the feeling was mutual. Sometimes she wondered if Samuel would have given her a second look if his dochder hadn’t been so obviously trying to interest him in her.
Rebecca shook her head. Now where had that thought come from?
It didn’t matter. Once Samuel had taken that second look at her at the wedding reception, that had been it. She had seen Samuel nearly every day since then. Oh, they hadn’t dated every day. But he found an excuse to stop by to say hello or bring her something since her unpredictable schedule made it difficult to shop sometimes.
“I bought too many apples,” he’d say as he brought her a basket from a farm stand. Or he’d pick up feed for her horse or a bale of hay so she wouldn’t run short.
Lizzie had noticed Rebecca’s bird feeders that hung from the back porch and she’d beamed as she’d helped deliver a bag of seed for them one day.
The two of them were slowly invading the chambers of her heart that had felt closed off for a long time. It felt a little like waking up after a long sleep. She’d thought that she had gotten through the worst of her grieving, but she wondered if maybe she had just been sleepwalking for some time. She got up every day with hope now, with an eagerness she realized she hadn’t had for a long time. The sun seemed brighter; food tasted better. She breezed through chores and went out of her way to find joy in simple things.
She found herself constantly thinking of Samuel, wondering what he was doing, what he was thinking. Wondering when she’d see him again.
She was no young maedel in body but she felt it in spirit. Restless, she rose and walked to the kitchen window to look out again. There was no use in trying to force herself to deal with paperwork or a chore to take her mind off them. Her emotions were churning and she needed to do something active. Samuel and Lizzie had done so many thoughtful things
for her lately but she hadn’t really had time to do anything in return. Not that they expected it, but she told herself that it was selfish to always be the recipient.
When she finally heard a buggy pull into her drive, she let out a sigh of relief. She threw open the door and smiled as Lizzie ran inside, scattering raindrops.
“We had to stop and help at a ax— accident,” she told Rebecca as she took off her jacket.
“Oh no! Was anyone hurt?” She looked past Lizzie to see Samuel putting his horse in the barn.
Lizzie nodded vigorously. “The lady hurt her arm. It was bleeding all over. Daedi wrapped it up and put our buggy blanket on her. He called for an ambulance. It was soooo loud.”
“Your hands are cold. Sit down at the table and I’ll make you some hot chocolate.”
“With marshmallows?”
“Of course.” Rebecca moved to the stove to make the drink and by the time she set the mug in front of Lizzie, the door opened and Samuel walked in.
“I’m sorry we ran late,” he said as he took off his jacket.
“I was getting worried.”
He took her hand. “I’m sorry. I should have called.”
“It’s allrecht. You’re here now safe and sound.” She took his jacket from him. “Let me put your jackets before the fire and get you a towel to dry your hair. The coffee’s fresh. Pour yourself a cup.”
When she returned to the kitchen, the two of them were sipping their drinks. She handed Samuel a towel and then set about putting supper on the table.
Lizzie’s eyes lit up the moment she saw the casserole dish of macaroni and cheese. Samuel helped himself to two slices of meatloaf and a large serving of mashed potatoes and gravy.
“I told her what our favorites are,” Lizzie informed her dat happily. She spooned up a large scoop of macaroni and cheese onto her plate and would have added another but she caught the look from her father and changed her mind.
“Spinach?” he asked as Rebecca handed him the bowl.
She smiled. “I froze some of the spinach from my kitchen garden at the end of summer.”
Lizzie hesitated, then put a small spoonful on her plate.
Rebecca sat watching them fill their plates and then begin eating enthusiastically. Just minutes before she’d been worrying about these two she’d come to care for so much. Now they sat here, safe and warm in her kitchen filled with homey scents.
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