“We sleep with this between us.” She tossed the skin in the middle of the bed.
“I can’t guarantee its bug free.”
“At this point, I don’t care.”
“And what will we tell Granny?” he asked.
“You seem to be good at coming up with all kinds of stories.” She sent him a hard look. “I’ll bet you can come up with something interesting.”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “I’ll get right to work on that. In the meantime, I’m exhausted.” He caught Sondra’s gaze. “I haven’t been sleeping well lately.”
She flounced on the bed. “And I suppose that’s my fault?”
He zipped his fingers over his lips.
“Fine.” She rolled her eyes. “I’ll just go change.”
When she walked into the bathroom, she found a bottle of bubble bath sitting on a shelf next to the porcelain claw-footed tub. “Sandalwood.” She opened the bottle and sniffed. “Oooo. I have to try this.”
“What did you say?” His muffled voice sounded through the door.
“Nothing. Just talking to myself.” She called.
“Great. I’m stuck with a nut job.” He laughed.
“I heard that.”
“What? I didn’t say anything.”
“Yeah. Right. Don’t wait up.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t.” The creak of the springs announced his rolling in the bed.
She stared at her bracelet a moment, the dazzling sparkles a momentary distraction. She hadn’t removed it since Zack had put it on Christmas day, but she hadn’t taken a soaking bath, either. The clasp looked complicated, and she had already undressed. Unwilling to re-robe to ask for his help, she decided to leave the bracelet on.
As the tub filled with water, steam filled the room and the mirrors fogged. She turned off the water when bubbles ran over the sides. Several minutes after the water had cooled, Sondra finally emerged.
The mirrors had long since cleared, and she didn’t hear any movement from the other side of the door. She shivered. Sitting in cold water probably wasn’t a good move this time of year. She toweled off her purple skin.
She pulled on her fleece pajamas and then her thick robe. When neither warmed her, she stepped out of the bathroom. From the light coming out the bathroom door, she found her luggage. Triumphantly, she pulled out a pair of wool socks. She’d bought them in the sporting goods section and the label had promised they would warm even in temperatures as low as thirty below. Since the room seemed to be hitting that, she was certain the only warm part of her body would be her feet. Too bad she hadn’t purchased an entire wardrobe from the same section.
Chapter Seventeen, Lancaster
When Sondra turned to the bed, she was horrified to see Zack’s inert form taking up the entire bed. She stared a moment. There was a little space on either side. Little being the operative word. She puzzled a moment. A shiver coursed through her. The air was arctic. No way was she sleeping on the hardwood floor.
The sheepskin she had insisted would fit between them was hanging off the side of the bed. She walked over and shook it, hoping any bugs Zack had mentioned would forget they had legs and go flying with the dust. It was a small hope, but she clung to it. She scrutinized the white fleece. Not seeing any movement, she shivered in the cold and thought, Maybe the temperature has killed any living creepy crawlies or at least put them in hibernation.
Determined to make some room, she shoved against Zack. The only result was a slight groan from the sleeping form. She stared another moment. She was standing in a freezing room and, despite the promises of the sock manufacturer, her feet were going numb. Zack’s deep breathing assured her he didn’t have any ulterior motives.
She turned off the bathroom light and then crawled in next to him and wiggled her frozen feet. The warmth coming from him tempted her to stick her icy feet on his legs, but she carefully kept her limbs to herself, pulling the sheepskin over the edge of the quilt she managed to wrestle from him.
After a few minutes, Zack’s body heat thawed her out enough that she could feel lethargy creep over her. She was emotionally and, due to the last couple of days of walking, physically drained.
Zack rolled over and flung a stray arm over the sheepskin. After a minute of trying to decide if she should race over to the other side of the bed, the welcome heat emanating from him convinced her she didn’t want to move.
Despite her determination to wake before anyone stirred, a loud pounding on the door was her alarm. Her eyes flew open. When she tried to sit up, Zack’s arm was still securely holding the sheepskin.
“Ummm… I can’t move.” She whispered as she tried to wriggle out of his grasp. The door burst open.
“Breakfast is ready.” Granny beamed at them. “I see you’re enjoying the benefits of grandpa’s rug. It is a bit nippy, isn’t it?”
Talk about privacy. Sondra thought. She could feel the fire on her face. She hadn’t intended for anyone to find them curled up together as if… and then she caught Zack’s eyes, which had finally opened. His disarming dimple was showing, and she realized this was exactly what he had in mind. If there had been any doubt to the reality of their marriage, this would settle any.
“Waffles are hot and ready. I have real maple syrup heated on the table. It won’t keep.” Granny walked over to the heavy green drapes and pulled them open. Weak winter light filtered through lacy white panels.
“We’ll be right down. Give us a minute.” Zack sat up and was moving to the opposite side of the bed. His white cotton shirt felt intimate.
Sondra searched for her robe and was dismayed to see that she had thrown it over the rocking chair that had been occupied by the sheepskin. Her pajamas were modest, but she didn’t feel comfortable walking across the room in them.
Granny glanced at her watch. “I’ll give you five minutes. Then I’m coming back up here with horns blasting.”
“Okay. Okay.” Zack was out of bed and heading for the bathroom. He hadn’t bothered to grab a robe. Sondra couldn’t resist a peek and was relieved to see he was wearing pajama bottoms.
As Zack’s heat receded from the bed, Sondra shivered. Granny’s furnace hadn’t woken up yet or maybe she hadn’t turned it on. She could imagine the heated syrup congealing in the pitcher.
As Granny shut the door, Sondra raced to grab her robe. She was tying it when Zack stepped out of the bathroom, shrugged on his robe and headed to the closed door. “Coming?”
Sondra nodded while she tried to pat her hair into place. It was a useless gesture. Since they had both witnessed her bed hair, it wasn’t worth fixing. “Did Granny grow up in Alaska?”
“You’d think, wouldn’t you?” Zack grinned. “I’m guessing it’s more of a holdover from her childhood. She usually lets the house heat up during the day.”
“I didn’t notice icicles yesterday, that’s for sure.”
Sondra tried to hide her shivers, but she was blowing into her hands when Granny walked into the dining room with a covered platter. The table had miraculously reappeared sometime during the night. Sondra wondered what had happened to the stacks of items that had been there the night before. She had a sneaking suspicion one of the closed doors probably hid the loot.
“I just turned up the thermostat. I got busy and forgot.” Granny apologized.
As she spoke, Sondra could hear the furnace kick in. She was distracted by Zack, who announced the prayer. They passed around the waffles. She shouldn’t have worried about the syrup. The small pitcher was hot enough to require a pad to pass it around.
“This is delicious. Thanks for serving us.” Sondra said as she patted her lips with a white napkin. “I’ve never had the genuine article. Where do you get your syrup?”
“I’d like to say I make it myself, but that would be a lie.” Granny grinned. “The farm just up the road makes the best syrup in the state. Did you know it takes forty to fifty gallons of sap to produce one gallon of the stuff?”
Sondra’s eyes we
nt big. “I had no idea. Thanks for sharing.”
“Speaking of farms, I thought we’d do some driving today. There are a lot of farms on the way to Lancaster, and there’s an Amish market there I’d like you to see. It’s about an hour and a half from here.” Granny glanced at Zack. “Do you feel like traveling today?”
“Sure. Sounds like fun.”
“Give me a few minutes.” Sondra interjected. “I’m still in my pajamas.”
“Take all the time you need, dear. Zack and I need to get ready too. Don’t worry about the dishes. He knows how to do them.”
Sondra hurried up the stairs to the accompaniment of Zack’s whistle and Granny’s hum. It sounded like a hymn, but she couldn’t remember which one. Mitchell might not have ever joined the church, but his mother seemed to understand Mormon culture. She wondered if he had been raised in a mixed Mormon family just like Zack. Maybe that’s what had drawn Mitchell to Laurie in the first place. She’d have to remember to ask Zack.
They started on I-76. Shortly after they turned onto Route 30, a couple of horse-drawn carriages were moving down the road. Sondra watched them with interest. “I can’t imagine travelling so slowly in this day and age.”
“They don’t seem to mind. They don’t travel as far as we do. They keep all their interactions local.” Zack said.
Sondra shook her head. “Still, they have to wonder when they watch the world zip by.”
“Most of them have had some kind of experience in the world. After their wild time, ninety percent of them choose to go back to their basic lifestyle.” Zack replied.
Sondra turned to Zack. “What do you mean wild time?”
“Before they become adults, they’re allowed some freedoms. The teens sew their wild oats.”
“I think I saw some kind of reality show once, but I thought it was all made up.” Sondra’s brows drew together in a puzzled frown.
Granny shook her head. “I heard it’s for real. Like a mission of sorts, but kinda backward.”
Sondra turned to Granny, wondering again about her religious background, and observed, “I’m amazed they choose to go back.”
“It seems to work for them.” Zack answered.
They passed the procession and stopped at a local restaurant, where they were served a simple meal. Attached to the restaurant was a small shop where homemade items were displayed. Sondra eyed a quilt with purple, green, and white patches. “This is beautiful.” She whistled at the price tag, “and they seem to know the value of their own work.”
“They know their market, that’s for sure,” Zack agreed. “Tourists don’t mind paying.”
“What do they use the money for?” Sondra asked.
“There are some things they can’t make on their own. They pay for them with the money they get from selling their products. It’s ingenious, if you ask me.” Zack replied.
Sondra put the price tag back. “I had no idea. It’s like an industry.”
“Of course it is.” Granny nodded. “If you’re interested in quilts, though, you need to wait and see the ones in Lancaster. There’s a whole shop dedicated to them, and you won’t be disappointed.”
Reluctantly, Sondra turned from the brilliant colors and headed back to the car. “I’ll take your word for it.”
After driving through small towns and past farms, they arrived at Lancaster. The shops were everything Granny had promised. They spent a couple of hours walking through them, and Sondra bought two quilts. One shared the color scheme of the quilt she had admired at their previous stop, but it had star-shaped patches instead of square ones. The other quilt was colored with greens and oranges. “This one matches Nikki’s room,” she explained. She turned to Zack while trying to hide her tears. She couldn’t bring back the twins, but she could bring a part of the Amish with her.
Wordlessly, he caught an escaping tear with his thumb and then put his arm around her as they moved to the next shop. Figures were carved out of beeswax, and small jars of golden honey were stacked next to the intricate carvings. One of the figures was a carefully-detailed lab chewing on a bone. Even the rug he was on looked like the one back home. When she gasped, Zack turned to look at the figure. “Dewk.” They said together, and this time Sondra’s tears wouldn’t stop. The reality of his loss was too deep.
“Did you want that?”
At Sondra’s nod, Zack asked to have it wrapped. It was carefully placed in a box and Zack carried it to the car.
Granny noticed Sondra’s tears. “Are you alright, dear?”
Sondra nodded, unable to talk. Zack answered for her. “Her dog died a couple of days ago. It’s been a rough week.”
Sondra felt a sudden urge to laugh. Rough week. It was either laugh or cry. If she laughed, she’d end up doing both, so she choked on her laugh and climbed into the car.
Sondra slept the first hour of the trip. The snow-covered hills and occasional horse-drawn carriage weren’t enough to keep her interest. Her body was still recovering from the miscarriage, and she was emotionally spent. They stopped at a different Amish restaurant on the way home. Zack and Granny enjoyed their food, but Sondra could do little more than push it around her plate.
She stared out the window for the last part of the trip and wished Nikki would call with the results of the autopsy. The twins weren’t something she could control. They had died for some unknown reason like millions of babies had died before. As much as her heart ached for their loss, there was nothing she could’ve done.
Dewk was something else. He had been healthy and vital as they were leaving. She could still see his bobbing head as they had pulled out of the driveway. What could possibly have happened?
* * *
“Tonight we are watching the episode of ‘Why We Never Made it to the Moon.’” Granny announced as they walked through the door.
“Really?” Zack pulled a face. “I think I’ve watched that five times now.”
“It never gets old, does it?” Granny didn’t seem to hear his dissatisfaction with the night’s plans.
“No, Ma’am.” He wasn’t going to fight with his grandmother.
Sondra wasn’t in much of a mood for anything, and watching an episode of “Why We Never Made it to the Moon” was about as high on her list as getting bitten by a rattlesnake, but she managed to sit through the episode and make polite comments at Granny’s enthusiastic support of the whole idea.
“See? See? That comment, right there. That’s why I believe we never made it to the moon.”
Across the screen was flashing the words: “The number one reason why we know we never made it? We aren’t there now.”
“Hmmm. Interesting.” Sondra had to concede the possibility. She couldn’t imagine the country was in any better financial condition in 1969 than it was now. But she didn’t want to involve Granny in any long-winded discussion on the subject. She’d rather think about it on her own time. She doubted it would take much of that. Did it really matter?
Granny stood up and stretched, sending a wink to Zack. “I’m tired. I’m going to bed. Help yourself to anything in the fridge if you want a snack.”
Sondra stopped a shudder. If the fridge looked anything like the table she’d seen on the first day, she doubted she wanted a peek. In this case, ignorance was bliss. She hadn’t taken a tour of the kitchen yet, and she wasn’t going to start now.
* * *
Zack fixed them both a snack. The leftover waffles with maple syrup were just as good the second time around. Since she hadn’t eaten her supper, Sondra was hungry enough to eat three.
Despite her earlier misgivings, she followed him into the kitchen and was impressed with the gleaming stainless steel appliances. She’d been expecting a nightmare, but Granny’s table stacking seemed to have been limited to the table. The granite counters reflected the bright artificial light. They worked together to clean up and then headed to their room.
“I’ll try to stay on my side of the bed tonight, but no promises.” Zack headed into the bathro
om to change and then came out wearing the same pajama bottoms she’d noticed that morning. She averted her gaze and pulled out her own change. After her experience of freezing the night before, she decided to opt out of a bath. Her only aim was to get in bed and warm it up.
After her quick change, she was relieved to see the rolled up sheepskin in the middle of the bed. Zack looked up but didn’t comment on her attire. The air was already turning frigid, and she had her wool socks, sweat bottoms, long-sleeved shirt and her robe. He returned to his reading, the book illuminated by a lamp next to the bed. She shut off the bathroom light and crawled into the side he’d left open.
“Thanks for sharing the bed. You didn’t leave much room last night.”
He looked up from his book. “I told you I was tired. Sorry. I’m not used to sharing bed space.”
Sondra pursed her lips. “Happy to hear that. We wouldn’t want to make a habit of this, that’s for sure.”
Zack raised his brows but didn’t comment.
Sondra realized she’d been babbling. This was the first time she’d settled into a bed next to a guy who wasn’t sleeping, and she wasn’t quite sure what her routine should be. After a moment of silence, she said, “I didn’t know you were a reader.”
He smiled. “There’s a lot about me you don’t know.”
“Good or bad?”
“Hmm. A bit of both, I’m afraid.”
Not wanting to continue that thread, she asked, “What are you reading?”
“Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand.”
“I planned to watch the movie.”
“I prefer reading, but I’ve heard good things about it. Maybe we can rent the movie sometime.”
“Would Granny want to watch?”
“I don’t know. She doesn’t watch a lot of movies, but I can ask.”
Sondra giggled. “I guess her watching is limited to conspiracy stuff.”
“Mostly.” Zack grinned. “She does have interesting taste in entertainment, doesn’t she?”
“She’s an interesting person, and you were right, Granny is the only name that fits her.”
“I’m glad you like her.”
Lined With Silver Page 17