Lemon Tart Mystery

by Naomi Miller

  At the sound of her voice, they both looked over at Freida. Katie hadn't heard her freind push through the kitchen doors, but evidently she had heard enough of the conversation to be curious.

  Not that it takes much to pique Freida's curiosity.

  “I found the most wonderful site this morning. Those search engines really are helpful, aren't they?”

  Freida started to speak, but stopped herself and nodded her head a little instead, which set Katie's own curiosity humming.

  What does Freida know about the internet? Who would have showed her? And just when would she have found the time?

  “Katie, are you listening?”

  Katie shook her head and turned her attention back to Freida and Mrs. Simpkins. “Nee, I am sorry. Mei mind wandered for a moment. What did you say?”

  “Mrs. Simpkins was just saying that she hopes we can take care of things here for three weeks without her.”

  Katie looked from Freida... to Mrs. Simpkins... and back to Freida. The wide eyes and shocked expression on her freind told her she had missed something big.

  “And why would we be taking care of things here by ourselves for three weeks?”

  “Because I am going on a cruise!” The words came out in a half squeal and Katie realized it was the most excited she had seen her boss in quite some time.

  “A cruise—isn't that exciting, Katie?”

  “I'm guessing that is the website you found this morning that has you so excited.”

  “Yes, it is. I have always wanted to go on a cruise, but my dear Henry suffered from the worst seasickness, it felt cruel to even suggest such a thing.”

  Mrs. Simpkins' expression dimmed for a moment before she went on, “I know I could have gone years ago, but I didn't think of it at first. Then later, when I thought about going, I had the bakery to think of.”

  “And now? You still have the bakery.”

  Katie wanted to shush Freida, but at the same time she wanted to hear the answer, so she said nothing.

  “I know I do, but you girls handle most everything. Katie does the baking. You take care of the customers. I don't even place the orders. I just write checks and answer the phone now and then.”

  Katie started to speak, but Mrs. Simpkins held up a hand to stop her.

  “Now, now. I am not bothered by any of that. I like having you girls here. Truth be told, I don't know what I would do without the two of you. You keep this place going. That is why I figure you can handle a few weeks without me. And a trip in the fall, after the summer business has quieted down, but before Thanksgiving, seems like the perfect time.”

  “It sounds like a wonderful idea to me.”

  Katie looked over at Freida, surprised to hear such support where there had been panic only moments ago.

  “I think so, too.” Mrs. Simpkins looked at both girls, before going on. “So, you'll be all right for three weeks without me?”

  “Why three weeks? How long does a cruise take? I guess I was thinking a cruise wouldn't last more than a week.”

  “Well, it's actually a ten day cruise, but it leaves from New York. I've never been there and thought it would be a good idea to have some extra time to spend in the city.”

  “That sounds like a very gut idea... doesn't it Katie?”

  “It does, for sure and for certain.” Katie answered quietly. “ I have not been to New York in years. For sure, we only drove through the City and made only a few stops. Mei cousin Leah lives upstate in a small community.”

  Thinking of her sweet, sad cousin reminded Katie that it had been some time since she had written a letter. She made a mental note to write to Leah when she arrived home that evening.

  “I didn't know you had family there, Katie. I would be tempted to ask you to come with me...” Mrs. Simpkins trailed off a bit and Katie could see where her thoughts were headed, but she would need them both to stay and keep the bakery going in her absence.

  “Nee, you need us here. Besides which, you should have time to enjoy yourself without worrying over the bakery.”

  “You're right about that.” She started to turn, but stopped and looked at Katie and then Freida in turn. “So, this is okay with the two of you then?”

  Freida spoke up first. “Of course it is; it's fine with us. We want you to go and have a gut time—and tell us all about it when you get back.”

  “Jah, for sure and for certain we will want to hear all about it.” Katie wanted to add something about taking lots of pictures... she did like to look at pictures of exciting places, but she did not want to bring any more trouble down on her head with the church leaders, so she kept quiet.

  Fortunately, Mrs. Simpkins solved the problem for her. “I'll be sure to take lots of photos, too. I will take so many pictures, you'll both feel like you were right there with me.”

  Katie smiled, then laughed a little as Freida practically threw herself at Mrs. Simpkins, wrapping her arms around her in a tight hug.

  “Oh, danki, Mrs. Simpkins. Really, that would be wunderbaar gut!”

  “Excellent. Well, now that it's all settled, I'll just go make some more plans. There is so much to see in the city. I don't want to miss anything important.” With that, she turned and went back into her office. Katie and Freida looked at each other with nearly identical grins.

  “Do you think she is going just to get away from you know who?” Freida whispered loudly as she made a show of motioning toward the front of the bakery.

  Katie didn't even have to wonder who her freind meant. “I am thinking that is a part of it, but why would she wait so long if that were all there is to it?”

  “Gut point.” Freida chewed at her lower lip for a moment until the bell over the front door announced a customer. Quickly she rushed through the double doors to the front room.

  After she was gone, Katie thought over the conversation and the timing again.

  It cannot be that she would do such a drastic thing—just to get away from Mr. O'Neal. She said she has always wanted to take a cruise. I am certain that is all there is to it. But then, what is going on between her and Mr. O'Neal?

  Dear Gott, why does she get so upset with him? What could have happened between them? Please help them to work out their troubles. If they cannot be a couple, please help them to be freinden again, if it be your will.

  Katie's Triple Lemon Cookies

  Cookie Ingredients:

  1 cup butter

  1 cup white sugar

  2 eggs

  2 tsp lemon peel, grated

  1 tbsp evaporated milk

  2½-3 cups self-rising flour

  ½ cup sour lemon drops, crushed

  Frosting Ingredients:

  1 cup confectioner's sugar

  1 tsp lemon flavoring

  1 tsp water

  Instructions:

  Cream the butter and sugar together.

  Add beaten egg, evaporated milk, and lemon peel.

  Combine the flour and crushed lemon drops; mix with other ingredients.

  Spread on a greased baking sheet.

  Bake at 350°F for 20 minutes.

  Cool before removing to wire rack.

  — SEVEN —

  Travis reached up to wipe the sweat out of his eyes. For three days he and Jake had been working on the chicken coop—what seemed like an enormous chicken coop. Even after three days, it felt like they might never finish it.

  “Travis, you won't believe it. Levi let me drive their pony cart! It was great!”

  Just in time, Travis caught the bullet that was his youngest brother, looking at his flushed face and laughing at the excitement in his voice over something so seemingly small.

  “Looks like you had fun.”

  “I did! I really did. It was great. Levi was really nice, too. I've had so much fun. Can I come with you tomorrow? Levi said I was welcome anytime. So can I, please? Can I?”

  Knowing Bobby well, Travis waited for the questions to slow down. Once he got wound up about something, a person just ha
d to wait for him to get it all out.

  “Whoa there. Slow down, buddy. I don't know if you can come tomorrow yet or not. We need to ask mom about that.”

  Bobby didn't argue or fuss, something Travis really loved about his sweet, precocious baby brother—and something he wished his other brothers would pick up on. He just grinned and hugged Travis.

  “So, can I go help Levi in the barn until you're done?”

  Travis looked over toward the barn for Jake's younger brother, and sure enough, he stood just outside the barn doors watching them, bucket in hand.

  “I guess it's okay. Just don't be in the way, buddy.”

  “I won't. I promise!” And just like that, Bobby was twisting out of his brother's arms and racing across the yard.

  Travis watched until Bobby reached Levi—as he took Bobby's hand and led him around the side of the barn—before he went back to work, sending the nail home that he had already set in place.

  “He's really gut with the little ones. He will be a great dat some day.” Jake's voice took Travis by surprise, but it was his words that really got his attention.

  “He can't be more that fifteen. You really start thinking about that kind of stuff so early?”

  Jake looked at him with an odd expression. “Why shouldn't he?” When Travis said nothing, Jake went on. “Do you mean to tell me you never think about meeting a nice maedel... a nice girl... and settling down, having a family of your own?”

  Travis started to laugh until he looked at his friend and realized that Jake was serious.

  “You're serious?”

  “Jah, we take family very serious.” He laughed as he gestured toward the field, where several of his brothers were working. “Don't try to tell me you have never noticed.”

  “Yeah, well...” Travis trailed off as he joined Jake in laughing.

  “It's one thing to have a big family...” Travis laughed again when he realized that almost every Amish family he had worked with over the last few months had between four and ten children. “... and quite another to start thinking seriously about having a family at our age.”

  “I started thinking about having a family at Levi's age.” After a moment, Jake added, “Well, maybe a bit older.”

  Travis stood there a moment, looking at his friend—who he was pretty sure was the same age as he—and started to see just how different the two of them were.

  And then, completely unbidden, an image of little Katie Chupp floated into his mind and he found himself thinking about Christmas—when he had held the ladder for her while she'd painted the front window of the bakery.

  He thought about the times she had sat quietly in the passenger seat of his car as he sped along in the early morning, taking her to work.

  Then he thought about her standing on his front porch with her mom, holding an enormous basket full of food and treats—and a real Amish quilt for his mother, who had always wanted one, but had never been able to afford to buy one.

  He thought about all the times he teased her when he came to pick up the morning deliveries at the back door of the bakery, about her sweet, shy smile and her big, expressive eyes—and he realized maybe Jake wasn't so different after all.

  “You know, you should kumme to one of our singings.” Jake's voice interrupted his thoughts—and Travis was surprised at how much he wanted to snap at his friend for it. Instead, he forced his voice to be calm as he turned his attention back to the board in front of him.

  “Is that even allowed?”

  “Jah, we have visitors at the singings a lot. It's the church services we are hesitant about—though that is mostly because they are in Dietsch.”

  “Yeah, I don't think I would enjoy sitting through a church service if I can't understand a word of what anyone is saying.”

  Jake smiled before he answered. “You never know. You might start to pick it up.”

  He has a point.

  Travis thought about all the words Jake used in their conversations that used to sound so foreign to him. Jake tried at times to use the English word as an explanation, but he didn't always remember. It came as a surprise to Travis to realize that he understood quite a few of the Dietsch words.

  “So, how often do you have these singings?” Travis worked to keep his voice nonchalant, but inside he was wondering how he could ask if Katie came to the singings without raising Jake's suspicions.

  Fortunately, he didn't have to worry about figuring it out.

  “We are having one here at our haus tonight. You should kumme. Katie and Freida are bringing cookies.”

  Travis smiled as he swung the hammer. “I just might do that.”

  “I know you eat the cookies that Katie bakes. You probably get to sample her baking every day! Anyway I heard she is bringing some lemon cookies—a new recipe she just made up. You don't want to miss those. We get to be her penny pigs.”

  “Wait! What? By any chance do you mean guinea pigs?”

  “Jah, that's it—I think. If that means we get to sample her new cookies.”

  Travis laughed and nodded. Then, because he couldn't pass up the opportunity to tease his friend, he added, “Yeah, that's a tough job.”

  “Somebody has got to do it.” Jake laughed—even as he answered. “Seriously, Travis, you should kumme.”

  “Okay, I will. What time does it start?”

  “The youth start arriving at six. Of course, you will want to go home and clean up when we are done here.”

  “Yeah, definitely. When should I be here?”

  “Anytime after five. I should be done with chores by then.” Jake smiled as he answered.

  “Great, I'll see you then.”

  * * *

  “Katie, did you hear about the cafe?” Hannah was nearly as loud as the bells over the door as she rushed into the bakery that afternoon.

  Katie waited until her freind had kumme to a stop beside the front counter before she answered. “Nee, I didn't.”

  “Ada Mueller stopped in for lunch and there were rodents inside.”

  “Wait, what?” Katie shook her head as Hannah's words truly began to sink in. “Oh no! Why would there be rodents in the cafe?”

  “I don't know.”

  “Was Mr. O'Neal there?”

  “Jah, he was there. She said he was trying to set a trap for them.”

  “What else did she say?” Katie was leaning across the counter now, eager for more of the intriguing story.

  “She said...” Hannah stopped mid-sentence—and it took no more than a moment for Katie to figure out why.

  Mrs. Simpkins stepped up to the counter beside Katie.

  “Hello, Hannah. How are you today?”

  Hannah smiled sweetly. “I am wunderbaar gut, Mrs. Simpkins. How are you?”

  “I am just fine, dear.”

  Hannah said nothing else, but waited there, nervously looking from Katie to Mrs. Simpkins, and back to Katie, as Mrs. Simpkins busied herself with the cash drawer from the register.

  Katie made a show of arranging the muffins she had brought out just before Hannah had burst through the door. Hannah stepped over to the large display case and pretended she was looking over the selection.

  “Have you made a decision yet, Hannah?”

  Katie nearly yelped in surprise at the nearness of Mrs. Simpkin's voice. Fortunately, Hannah chose that moment to answer Mrs. Simpkins, covering any noise that might have escaped Katie.

  “No ma'am, I haven't. Not yet.”

  “All right, then. Well, I'm certain Katie can take care of you from here.” She turned toward the swinging doors, tossing one last comment over her shoulder as she moved through them. “You can go back to gossiping about the cafe now.”

  When the kitchen doors closed, Katie and Hannah looked at each other for a full ten seconds before they burst into laughter.

  — EIGHT —

  Katie looked around for Freida when she walked into the crowded barn. She did not see her freind, but she did see a lot of young people she had never
met before at the singing tonight.

  She had a moment to think how glad she was that she had made a double batch of cookies to bring tonight since there was quite a crowd around her. Thanks at least in part to the generous space in the Yoder's barn, for sure and for certain.

  After dropping off her cookies on one of the tables piled high with snacks and deserts, she wandered over to where one of the Yoder buwes stood stirring an enormous pitcher of lemonade.

  “Hullo Katie Chupp. How are you this fine evening?” Levi Yoder stood beside his bruder, handing out plastic cups of lemonade.

  “I am wunderbaar gut Levi... and you?”

  “I'm great. Excited to be here.”

  She turned to his younger bruder then. “And young Samuel—how are you this evening?”

  There was an excitement in his eyes that she recognized from her own initial singings. She had plagued her own bruder with questions for months before their parents had finally decided she was old enough to go and see for herself.

  “I am gut, Katie.” He leaned closer when she stepped toward him to make room for others who stepped up behind them for lemonade. “This is mei first singing.”

  His wide eyes had told her that, but she returned his whisper, as if the two of them shared some delicious secret.

  “Exciting, isn't it?”

  “Jah, it most certainly is that.”

  As more young people crowded around the table, Katie moved away. “Have fun tonight, young Samuel.”

  “I'll see you later then, Katie?”

  “Jah, I will be around.” And with that, she stepped away from the table, taking the first sip of her lemonade.

  It took no more than that sip for her to know that Mary Zook had made it. Her lemonade had been well-known as the best in the district for as long as Katie could remember.

  Katie made her way around the edges of the barn, watching for Freida, nodding her head across the crowded room to a few other freinden—and smiling as she caught small snatches of conversations.

  Quite a few of the young people were talking about the ruckus that happened this afternoon at Mr. O'Neal's cafe. Several people stopped her as she went by them to ask if she knew more about the situation, to which she replied honestly that she knew even less than the others.