“About what?” Cevilla’s look turned sly.
Martha picked up a cloth and started dusting the glass case in front of her. They kept the most expensive items locked up there. “Neither of us thinks plan B is a gut idea. Seth has his own life, and I need to deal with unwanted suitors on mei own. Other than that, I’m not sure our conversation is any of yer business.” She stopped dusting, fearing she’d sounded a little harsh.
Cevilla sighed. “When you’re mei age, everything is yer business.” She looked at Martha and smiled. “I’m sorry for prying. And if you and Seth don’t want to follow through on plan B, that’s yer choice. May I ask you one more question, though? Just a quick one?”
Martha stopped wiping. Now she felt a little guilty. In a way Cevilla did deserve to know if anything was going on, since she had been so willing to help her solve the “man issue.” But she had to be careful not to reveal Seth’s secret. “Of course.”
“Will you let me know if you ever need a plan B?”
She nodded and smiled. “Ya. Danki, Cevilla, but I have everything under control.” And for once she thought she truly did. At least for the most part.
“Glad to hear it.” A horn honked outside the door. “That’s mei Richard,” she said. “See you later.”
“Just a second. Now it’s mei turn to ask you a question.”
Cevilla looked at her, her gray eyebrows lifting with curiosity. “Ask away.”
“Are you and Richard getting married anytime soon?”
Her wrinkled cheeks turned red. “Touché. Seems I’m not the only nosy one around here. But that’s for me to know and you to find out.” She lifted her chin and walked out the door.
Martha frowned. She hadn’t meant to upset Cevilla. She was genuinely curious about her and Richard. The whole community was. He had lived in Birch Creek for nearly a year, moving from California. He’d attended church a few times, and he always accompanied Cevilla to social gatherings. He was nice, and he clearly adored Cevilla. But now she had made it clear that the status of their relationship wasn’t Martha’s business, and probably not anyone else’s either.
A few minutes later, Onkel Hezekiah walked in. “Yer aenti Amanda made a delicious lunch,” he said, rubbing his round belly. “Her roast beef sandwiches can’t be beat. There’s plenty left if you want some.”
“Danki, but I brought mei lunch today. I thought I would eat it outside.”
“Suit yerself. It’s blazing hot, though.”
“But there’s also a breeze. It’s bearable as long as the air is moving.”
He lifted a bushy brow. “If you say so.”
Martha gathered her lunch and went out the front door. A large tree with a small picnic table a few feet from it sat in front of the shop. She sat down, said a silent prayer, and then opened her paper lunch bag and pulled out a turkey and mustard sandwich, carrot sticks, and a piece of banana bread.
As she finished up the last of the banana bread, a buggy pulled into the driveway. A man about her age jumped out and tethered his horse to the post. Martha froze for a moment before she realized she didn’t recognize him. Her instinct to flee settled down. She really needed to get a grip on that.
The man strolled toward the shop, pausing when he saw her. “Hello,” he said, pushing back his hat. He wore silver-rimmed glasses.
“Hi.” She balled up her bag and stood. “May I help you?” Technically she was still on her lunch break, but she would never ignore a customer.
“You work here?” He walked toward her as she made her way around the picnic table. Vibrant green eyes shone behind the lenses of his glasses.
Martha nodded. “This is mei onkel’s shop.”
The man looked at the sign her uncle had made a few months ago. “It says you’re an optics shop.”
“We are.”
“Do you repair glasses?” He took his off, squinting a bit as he showed her the break in the frame that held the right lens. “I probably need some new frames, but I don’t have time to geh to Barton to get them. Unless you know of some place closer?”
“Where do you live?”
“Here in Birch Creek.” He put his glasses back on. “Levi Stoll. Mei familye and I just moved here.”
Martha nodded. “You’re related to Nina and Delilah, ya? And you’re converting yer haus into an inn?”
Levi looked surprised. “Ya. Mei schwester and grossmutter. And we’re doing exactly that. How did you know?”
“I met them yesterday before church service.”
He chuckled. “I bet that was interesting. Mei grossmutter can be a bit . . . much.” He held out his hand. “And yer name is?”
“Martha Detweiler.” She shook his hand. He had a firm handshake and a friendly expression. She could see a bit of a resemblance between him and his sister, Nina—the dark eyebrows and large nose in particular. “May I see yer glasses again?” When he handed them to her, she examined them more closely. The frames did look like they’d seen better days, but maybe he could do something with these. “Come inside and mei onkel will take a look. He can fix pretty much anything.”
Levi followed her inside. After she introduced Levi, her uncle looked at the frames and gave him a nod. “It will take me a bit of time to repair them. Probably an hour. I can tighten up the screws on the frames. It also looks like one of yer nosepieces is about to fall off, so I’ll take care of that too. Can you leave them here with me?”
Levi shook his head. “I can’t see much without them. Could I make an appointment instead? Then I can come back and wait while you work on them.”
“Sounds gut.” He handed the glasses back to Levi. “Martha will set you up. Welcome to Birch Creek.” He turned and went back to his workroom.
He put the glasses back on. After Martha and Levi had settled on a date and she recorded it in the appointment calendar, she gave him a reminder card. “I’m sorry we couldn’t help you today.”
“That’s all right. I’ll be careful with them until next Monday. It was nice to meet you, Martha. I’m sure I’ll see you around.”
She nodded, and Levi left. Hmm. That was the first easy conversation she’d had with a man her age in quite a while. Levi Stoll seemed like a nice man, and it was a relief not to have a knot of dread or frustration appear in her stomach for once.
Martha had just closed the calendar and put it under the counter when the bell over the door rung. She looked up to see Ira Yoder walk in. Uh-oh. Her pleasant feeling disappeared. Why had she thought she’d see her suitors only at church? Ira had asked her to two singings so far, plus to the ice cream shop in Barton, a popular date-night place for the English. At least she didn’t feel bad telling him no to the ice cream, since she was lactose intolerant. That hadn’t deterred him, though. Hopefully he was just here for a watch repair or to buy some binoculars. Or to see if his mother’s clock was ready? Maybe he wanted to talk to her uncle for some reason. Hezekiah was so friendly that sometimes people just stopped by to visit with him, if he wasn’t too busy.
Ira’s normally open expression held a scowl. Dread filled her. Maybe she should have run back to the office when she saw him come in. “Hi, Ira,” she said, giving him a smile. “How may I help you?”
Ira placed both of his beefy hands on the counter and leaned forward until he was too close for comfort. “Martha, we need to talk.”
Chapter 6
In Martha’s experience, the words need to talk were never good ones. Her mind whirred, trying to figure out what she had done to make Ira upset—other than turn him down for the singings and ice cream. She’d done it nicely too. At least she thought she had. Then again, she’d thought she’d been nice to Paul. She took a step back from the counter. “Now?” she said, letting out a shaky chuckle. “I’m working. Can we talk later?”
He glanced around the empty shop. “You don’t look that busy,” he grumbled.
She threaded her fingers together. He seemed really upset. “Is there something wrong?”
“You tell me.
”
That set her nerves on edge. Paul had been like this too. She always had to guess how he felt, and most of the time she was wrong. “I can’t tell you anything. You’re the one who wanted to talk to me, ya?”
He nodded, his expression unmoving. “Ya.” He crossed his arms over his broad chest. “What’s going on between you and Seth?”
Martha pressed her lips together. Was Ira jealous? “Nix is going on, Ira.”
“Then why did you invite him to supper?”
Had Seth told him about that? A better question was . . . Why? Her mind scrambled, trying to come up with a reason that wouldn’t require her to fib, outright lie, or reveal Seth’s woodshop or Delilah’s matchmaking.
“Seth said you wanted to thank him for helping you.” Ira’s expression softened a bit. “If you needed help, why didn’t you come to me?”
“It just sort of happened,” she said, which was the truth. “He was there at the right time.”
A look of hurt crossed his face. “You know I like you, Martha. A lot. I had hoped we could geh on a date sometime. But you keep turning me down.”
Ira was a nice guy—a bit pushy, she was realizing—but still nice. Yet there was no spark when she looked at him. No desire to get to know him other than as an acquaintance. That wasn’t his fault; it was just how she felt. For the first time she felt sorry for him and for the other men in the community. Who else was there to pursue? Nina Stoll had newly arrived, but Martha hoped they wouldn’t pounce on her. Birch Creek really needed more single females.
“Is it because of mei bruder?” he asked.
“Nee.”
“Is it Zeb? Owen? Zeke?”
“It’s not any of them either,” she said quietly, looking down at her shoes.
“I see.” His voice was icy cold. The way Paul’s had been that day.
“Ira,” she said, measuring her words. “I—”
Two English customers entered the shop. Martha recognized them from last week. They had both dropped off watches to be repaired. “Excuse me,” she said, relieved she’d been interrupted. As she was talking with the first customer, three more walked in the door and started looking around the shop. When Martha looked back to Ira, she saw him disappearing out the door.
Even though she didn’t have any feelings toward him, she didn’t want there to be strife between them.
An hour later she had helped all the customers—all of them English, which surprised her. Yet the other day Carolyn Yoder had told Mamm she was noticing more English customers in her bakery. Word about Birch Creek was starting to spread.
Martha put away the calendar and filed the orders in the small flexible folder her uncle insisted on using to keep track of his work. But her mind wasn’t thinking about work. What was she going to do about Ira? He was mad at her, she was sure of it. That was the exact thing she’d been trying to avoid.
She put her pencil back in the mug near the adding machine. The slogan on the mug read Keep It Simple. She faced it away from her. I’m trying, Lord. I really am. But lately her life had become far from simple.
* * *
That evening, Nina placed a bowl of macaroni salad on the table as her father and brother sat down. Grossmammi was already seated. Nina had made tonight’s meal, at Grossmammi’s insistence. She didn’t mind meal preparation too much, but tonight’s meal, like the others, was cold and sparse—sandwiches, macaroni salad, sweet pickles, the last of the bread from the bakery, and lemonade. She sat down, and they bowed their heads in silent prayer. Then she passed the sandwiches to Daed.
“Did you find someone to fix glasses?” Grossmammi asked Levi.
He put a pile of sweet pickles, one of his favorite foods, on his plate. He could go through a jar of them in one sitting. “I did. Hezekiah Detweiler, the man who runs that optics shop we saw, said he’d fix them for me. I’ll still have to get new frames in Barton, but I can do that once things settle around here.”
Nina looked around the kitchen. On Wednesday the men who were installing the floors were coming, and she couldn’t wait. She’d already tripped over two of the buckled boards. The new stove had been delivered today, but they hadn’t finished installing it until after six. Tomorrow they would have their first homemade hot meal since they’d left Wisconsin. Nina was looking forward to it.
“I met someone else today too.” Levi picked up his sandwich. “Martha Detweiler. She said she met you and Nina at church on Sunday. She works at the optics shop. Hezekiah is her onkel.”
“Oh?” Grossmammi perked up as she put her napkin in her lap. “How interesting.”
Levi gave her a sideways glance. “Not that interesting, Grossmammi. She is nice, though.” He looked at Nina. “Maybe you can be friends.”
Before Nina could answer, Grossmammi said, “Did she happen to mention Seth Yoder, by any chance?” She opened her sandwich and put several slices of pickles on it.
Levi looked perplexed. “Nee. Why would she? We were talking about mei glasses the whole time.”
“Just wondering.” She put the bread back on the sandwich, then paused, looking at her grandchildren. “Ya, this is all very interesting.”
“Mamm,” Daed said as he picked up his glass of lemonade. “I don’t like that look in yer eye.”
“What look?”
“The scheming look.” Daed glanced at Levi and Nina before turning his attention back to his mother. “We’re in the middle of a big project, trying to get our haus built and the inn in order. I don’t need you meddling in Nina and Levi’s personal lives.”
“Me?” Grossmammi put her hand over her heart. “Meddle?” She sniffed. “I don’t meddle.”
“Interfere, then.” Levi pushed a large scoop of macaroni salad into his mouth and kept his head down.
“Respect yer elders,” Grossmammi said sharply.
Levi smirked and kept eating.
Nina added a few slices of pickle to her plate. Normally she was hungry and had a healthy appetite, something she’d inherited from Grossmammi. Her father and Levi were both wiry thin. But she hadn’t had much of an appetite lately. She understood what both her grandmother and brother were trying to do—encouraging her to become part of the community. Levi wanted her to be more social, and Grossmammi wanted her to be married. Their motives were well-intentioned, but what she really wanted was to be left alone. Thankfully her father always stayed out of her business, or she’d have three people trying to orchestrate her life.
“Anyway, Nina,” Levi said, after he’d swallowed, “I thought maybe you could geh with me to the shop next week and talk to Martha while I get mei glasses fixed. It would be gut for you to have a friend here.”
Nina poked at her sandwich. She didn’t want a friend. She had friends back home. That’s where she wanted to be.
“I have a better idea.” Grossmammi clapped her hands together. “What if we invite her to supper? Seth is already coming over. We could have them both over for a meal.”
Nina met her brother’s horrified gaze. Now it was her turn to smile. Her grandmother was about as subtle as a string of cowbells. Nina wasn’t the only victim of her machinations. It was Levi’s turn to be uncomfortable. “Seth never agreed to come over,” she reminded Grossmammi.
“That’s because we didn’t settle on a date. Leave the details to me. Oh, I’m so looking forward to you two meeting new friends.” She batted her eyelashes.
Nina looked at her father, silently pleading for him to intervene. But he shook his head. “Leave me out of this. Someone’s got to focus on the job around here.”
One of the drawbacks of her father staying out of his children’s business was that he didn’t spend a lot of time intervening, either, despite what he’d just said to Grossmammi about scheming. Nina and Levi were mostly left to deal with her on their own, the way they always had.
Levi brought up the subject of further expanding the back of the house to accommodate one more guest room, and soon he and Daed were discussing the prospect. Nina took a
bite of her sandwich while her grandmother finished eating with gusto, not only enjoying the meal but pleased with herself. Nina sighed.
After supper she and Grossmammi cleaned up the kitchen while Levi and Daed took care of the horse and other outside chores. For some strange reason Grossmammi always enjoyed kitchen cleanup, and she cheerfully washed the dishes while Nina dried them. When Nina hung up the damp dishcloth to dry, Grossmammi put her hand on Nina’s arm.
“I love you, lieb. I love you and Levi so much, and I’ve raised you both like mei own since yer mamm died.”
Nina nodded, and guilt washed over her like dirty dishwater. Mamm had passed away from complications of pneumonia when Nina was three, and she barely remembered her. The only mother she’d ever known was her grandmother, and although she could be difficult to deal with at times, she had always taken care of her and Levi. “I know.”
“Just remember that everything I do is because of love. I want what’s best for you and Levi. I always have.” She patted Nina’s arm again. “I think I’ll head to bed early tonight. I’ve got a touch of a headache. That means rain, of course, and the gut Lord knows we need it. Gute nacht.”
“Gute nacht.” Nina watched Grossmammi walk out of the kitchen. It was true that her grandmother usually got headaches before weather changes, although she couldn’t predict them 100 percent. Hopefully she was right this time. They could use some rain. Even her father said so, which was something, since the dry weather had made it easier for him and Levi to work outside.
She swept the floor and returned the broom to the small closet near the kitchen. She did like some things about this house. The new stove was large and the nicest one she’d seen, and the rooms upstairs were spacious. The staircase banister had beautiful woodwork that thankfully her father wasn’t going to replace. But none of that was enough to make her stop longing for home.
Maybe Levi would talk to Grossmammi later about the supper invitations. He could persuade her more than Nina could. The last thing she wanted was to have supper with Seth and Martha. She was sure they were fine people, and eventually she would get to know them, but she wanted to do it in her own way. Besides, nothing was worse than having her grandmother play matchmaker. She feared disaster was looming around the corner. She grimaced. Perhaps her grandmother wasn’t the only overly dramatic member of the family.
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