She smiled and pointed up to the sign. Those few seconds waiting for Daniel’s response seemed to take forever.
Daniel stared at the sign and then looked at Marianna. “It’s amazing. Danke.”
He turned and walked back into the bakery.
Marianna looked at Joshua panicked. He held up a hand, “Daniel likes the sign. Just give him a minute.”
“But...” Marianna started.
“I know Daniel. He processes things a little differently.”
The door opened again and this time it was Daniel pushing Naomi out the door. “What is going on? First Joshua drags you out here, now you’ve got me out here.” Naomi looked around and saw her. “Marianna, what’s going on?”
Marianna pointed up to the sign again.
“Isn’t it beautiful?” Daniel asked Naomi.
Naomi nodded. “Jah!”
“You really like it?” Marianna finally asked.
“Of course! It’s perfect. Better than perfect!”
“I’m so glad.”
Joshua came to stand beside Marianna. “I told you they’d like it.”
She looked up at him and smiled. “Are you always right?”
He thought for a moment and said, “Jah, most of the time.”
They both laughed.
* * *
“I don’t think I’m going to go to the party.” Marianna told Joshua as they were riding away from town.
“What? Why not?” Joshua asked her.
“I just want to go home.” Marianna had seen her father walking towards the carriage shed. When he left, he didn’t turn the buggy towards home but went in the other direction farther into town. The doctor’s office was in that same direction. If she hadn’t been expected at the bakery she would have followed him.
“You should really come to the party,” Joshua told Marianna. “It’ll be fun.”
Marianna looked away. “I want to be home when my daed gets there.”
“You said yourself that you didn’t know where your daed was going or when he will get home.”
“I know.” Marianna sighed. “I just think it would be better.”
Joshua turned to face her. “How about this? I can see your barn from our backyard. I’ll keep an eye out for your daed. As soon as I see his buggy, I’ll get you home.”
“I suppose that would work,” she said slowly.
“Come to the party. It’s a much better plan than you sitting at home by yourself just waiting for your daed to show up.”
She gave him a faint smile. “Jah, okay.”
She liked being with Joshua. He made her feel more calm inside, as though she could handle anything that God put before her.
A little while later they had pulled in front of his house. Joshua jumped down from the buggy and went to her side to help her down. He waited next to the buggy. “I think Lucinda said they were setting everything up behind the house.”
Marianna was still thinking about her father as she followed Joshua around the house. She was completely shocked when everyone called out, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARIANNA!”
“What’s going on?” She looked up to see so many smiling faces.
Naomi came over to her. “Happy Birthday!”
Marianna couldn’t believe it. Birthdays were normally small family gatherings.
Naomi shrugged. “We normally get together when the weather starts warming up. I thought your birthday was a great excuse to move it up a few weeks. Don’t you?”
“Jah!” Marianna agreed.
“I’m surprised that you didn’t find out about it.” Naomi laughed and looked at Lucinda. “We’ve been planning the last two weeks.”
All of a sudden, Marianna figured it out. “Is that what all of the whispering was about?”
“Jah.” Naomi nodded. “We’re not good at this at all.”
“So that means Daed’s not sick?” Marianna asked her sister.
“What? Daed sick? Nee!”
Marianna nearly cried. “Ach, danke, Gott!”
A voice behind her asked, “did we miss anything?”
Marianna turned around and saw her father walking into the backyard.
“Daed!” Marianna exclaimed, giving him a big hug.
Taken by surprise, he said, “Marianna, what’s wrong?”
She stepped back, and then saw who was with him. “Gloria!” She hugged her aunt too. What are you doing here?”
Gloria laughed. “I just came in on the train.”
Marianna couldn’t believe it. Gloria was her father’s sister; she and Marianna had always been very close. “How long are you staying?”
“Until you get tired of me,” Gloria said with a laugh.
It took Marianna a few moments to understand. “You’re staying? For good?”
Gloria looked at her closely. “Is that alright?”
“Jah!” Marianna said with a big smile.
“I was lonely living by myself and most of your cousins have moved nearer to here. I would rather keep house and do my sewing with people around.”
“That’s wonderful!” She turned to Naomi. “Is this the secret that you said Daed didn’t want me to know?”
Naomi sighed. “Jah, Gloria was already coming in on the train today and then we planned the party so it seemed like a great idea to surprise you. Apparently we could have handled it a little better.”
“Nee, it’s alright,” Marianna tried to comfort her sister. “It was my fault I became so upset.”
“Naomi, what do you mean?” their father asked.
Naomi winced. “Marianna thought all of the whispering and planning we were doing was because you were sick.”
“What?” her father looked at Marianna. “Why would you think I was sick?”
She looked down at her hands. “Everyone would stop talking when I walked into the room or give me awkward smiles. It was the same thing everyone did when mamm’s health was getting worse.”
“Ach, Marianna, I’m so sorry,” her father said sadly.
“I was already feeling bad for being gone during the day. Then you had appointments that you were being secretive about, people were whispering and then I heard Naomi say on the phone that you didn’t want me to know. So then I couldn’t even ask if you were sick because as far as I knew, you didn’t want me to know about your illness.”
“Naomi, I told you and your daed that not telling Marianna was a bad idea,” Gloria said. “I was thinking she might be upset that I was moving in and no one told her.”
Naomi grabbed her hand. “I’m so sorry, Marianna. Will you forgive me?”
“Of course. It was all my fault, really.” She frowned. “I was so sure that if I stayed home and did everything just right then everything would be okay.”
Naomi nodded. “I was like that when Mamm was sick. I thought that if I could help her bake, or fix dinner, or keep the house clean that she would feel better.”
“Now I’m here and you both can do what you need to do,” Gloria said, touching them each on the tip of their nose like she used to do when they were little. “Now go have fun with your friends and eat some of that food that looks so good.”
* * *
“I’m glad you were surprised, but I’m sorry that you were so worried before,” Joshua said as he walked with her after the party.
“That was completely my fault. I should have asked some questions at the very beginning. Naomi would have told me the truth. All of my worrying was for nothing. I should have trusted that Gott was there for me, for all of us.”
“You’ve been through a lot, it’s easy to forget.”
She stopped and turned to him. “Danke, Joshua.”
“For what?”
“For being there for me these last two weeks. I would have quit the bakery and stopped going into the gift shop in the mornings.” She looked up at him. “It would have been for nothing.”
“That was easy. I knew you had really started to enjoy your days in town. I didn’t know why you were upset th
ough, but I knew staying home all day wouldn’t help.”
Joshua didn’t mention that he had been thinking of himself a little when he had talked to her. He realized how much he had enjoyed the last two weeks as well. The thought of not seeing her every day had made him realize how important she was to him. He didn’t want to go days without seeing her.
She took a deep breath. “I’m so glad that we were able to get to know each other again. I have really enjoyed talking to you and hearing your ideas for the delivery service.”
“I wouldn’t have gotten so far with it without your ideas.” His heart warmed and he couldn’t stop himself from asking, “would you like to go for a buggy ride tomorrow? Around 2 o’clock?”
A huge smile spread across Marianna’s face. “Jah, I would. I was afraid you wouldn’t ask again.”
“Nee, I was going to keep asking until you agreed.”
Marianna looked at him in surprise. “You were?”
“Jah. Of course.” He smiled down at her. “Besides, there’s something I want to talk to you about.”
“There is? If you—”
“Shh…” he interrupted, then held his finger near her lips. “Tomorrow.” With that he turned and headed back home.
Walking up to the porch, Marianna couldn’t help but to say a prayer to God. Dear God, thank You for watching over me. I was so anxious and worried, plus I carried a bad attitude, but yet You are always so faithful. I thank You for working everything out and even for Joshua to ask me to ride with him tomorrow. I feel so at peace right now, and I thank you for bringing him back into my life in a new way.
That evening, she fell asleep with a smile on her face and had sweet dreams of Joshua asking her to court him, then marrying soon after, and filling their house with lots of kinner.
THE END
Book 3
(Lucinda’s Wish)
Chapter 1
“Ach! My goodness!” Lucinda Yoder exclaimed, as she walked into the kitchen of the Sunshine Bakery.
“Pretty busy today, isn’t it?” Kathryn Hochstetler asked.
“Jah. It’s been busier today than I have ever seen it.”
“It’s just going to get busier as we get farther into summer,” Kathryn reminded her.
Lucinda looked out into the small seating area at the front of the bakery. “What we really need is more seating. It would be helpful if we had more seating. We even had quite a breakfast crowd this morning.”
Kathryn smiled. “That’s great! I heard Daniel ordering more of the small bottles of milk this morning.”
“Gut. I sell so many of them in the mornings, especially with your cinnamon rolls.” Lucinda leaned against the counter. “The bakery has really turned around since Daniel bought it.”
“It really has. I’m so happy my sohn has found Gott’s plan for his life. Daniel is a much happier person now.” She smiled at Lucinda. “We’re all grateful for your help too. You’ve had some wonderful ideas.”
Lucinda was very grateful to be working at the bakery. Cooking and baking was something she really enjoyed doing. She’d been very pleased when Daniel had asked her to come work for him when he took over the bakery. One of the first changes he made was adding a lunch menu. They had started serving soup, rolls and some simple sandwiches. Daniel had wanted to add more to the menu, but they were already so busy.
“How did the lunch rush go?” Daniel asked, walking out of the office.
Lucinda sighed. “It was very busy.”
He frowned. “Was there a problem with it being so busy?”
“It gets so crowded and some folks get cranky. I wish we could add some seating somehow. I wonder if we couldn’t add some tables out in front?”
“Hmm, I don’t know,” Daniel answered. “Let’s go out and take a look.”
Lucinda followed him out through the front door. She was a little surprised that he was so willing to think about it so quickly. Usually Daniel liked to mull things over.
Daniel kept walking until he was about twenty feet from the store. Lucinda stopped next to him and they both surveyed the front of the store.
“What do you think?” She couldn’t tell if he was against the idea or just thinking. Daniel had a tendency to be quiet, and that made him hard to read.
“I don’t know.” He pointed along the front of the store. “I don’t think we can block the sidewalk, which leaves that one little strip between the sidewalk and the edge of the square. We could add a few small tables, or maybe a couple of long picnic tables.”
Lucinda stepped back a few more steps. She was trying to figure out if picnic tables would add enough seating to help with the lunch rush.
She looked at the front of the building again and at the store next to the bakery. “It’s a shame that we don’t have a side area like Martha has at the candle shop. If we had space like that we could add quite a few more tables.”
Daniel nodded as he continued to look at the front of the bakery. “Maybe we could stretch the tables out across the front of both stores.”
It wasn’t until just then that she realized that the other store was empty. “I thought Mervin was going to reopen the store?”
“He was going to reopen at the beginning of spring, but he decided to sell at the farmer’s market in East Hawthorne.”
“So the store is empty now?” Lucinda asked. A sudden thought popped into her head. It could solve their problems, but it would it work?
“I suppose so.” Daniel turned to her. “Why?”
Lucinda held up a finger; she wanted to think it through a little before she continued. “I think I might have an idea.”
“What is it?” Daniel smiled. “You always come up with good ideas, so I really want to hear this.”
Lucinda nodded, appreciative of his kinds words but still a little worried that he wouldn’t like her idea. “I’ll need some time to figure it all out, but what if we could expand the bakery into the empty store? It could be a café, perhaps.”
“Hmm.” He looked at the store for a moment.
“We could serve breakfast and lunch at the beginning. If nothing else, it would be a seating area for the breakfast and lunch crowd that we already have.”
Daniel walked to the empty store and peered in the window. She went to stand next to him cupping her hands on the glass to get a better look.
The store was mostly bare except for a few pieces of furniture. A square table stood in the middle of the room and some bookcases and cabinets were towards the back. She turned and saw that two wooden chairs had been haphazardly shoved into the front corner.
Lucinda looked at Daniel. He was thinking again…
“I’ll need to find out if the store is available—either for rent or for sale. Then we’d have to do a lot of remodeling.”
Lucinda stepped back to look at Daniel. “Then you think it’s a possibility?”
Jah, I think it’s a great idea.” Daniel looked thoughtful again. “I wonder if we could get it done in time for the crowds at the end of summer.”
Lucinda could hardly believe it. What a joy it would be to cook even more, with a possibility of having an even wider variety of menu items. “It would take some hard work. I don’t think the remodel would take that long. If it all goes well, I don’t see why we couldn’t open in a few weeks.”
“What are you two doing out of the bakery?”
Lucinda turned from the window to see their friend, Isaac Weaver walking across the square towards the bakery.
Lucinda laughed. “We were just looking at the empty store. I’ve been so busy with the bakery I just realized that Mervin didn’t reopen in the spring.”
“Do you know who owns the store?” Daniel asked. “Mervin has worked out of it for so long, but I only recently found out that he just rented the space.”
“Jah.” Isaac walked over to them. “I was surprised to hear that Mervin was selling at the East Hawthorne farmer’s market now. You should talk to Aaron Heiser.”
Daniel nodded
. “That’s a good idea. Since Aaron works here in town, he might know who owns it.”
“Nee. You should talk to Aaron because I believe the Heisers still own the store.” Isaac told him.
“Really?” Lucinda asked. “I had no idea.”
Isaac nodded. “Jah. Years ago Anna Heiser sold her preserves and canned goods there.”
“I remember that. She stopped and then Mervin started using it,” Daniel said.
“Do you think they would let us makes changes to the interior?” Lucinda was already picturing how it might look inside.
“You can talk to them about that too. Anything that you need built, I’m sure Aaron or John can take care of it.”
“Great. Danke, Isaac.” Daniel said. “We’ll head over there now.”
“I’m glad I could help.” He waved and went into the bakery.
Lucinda wasn’t sure what to do. She was really excited about the chance to expand into the store, but she didn’t want to go to the Heiser’s store. For a couple years she had been avoiding John Heiser, not that he had done anything wrong, but seeing each other was a little uncomfortable. “Daniel, I should probably stay here and get things ready for tomorrow. Why don’t you go on ahead.”
“That’s a gut idea. I’ll be back soon.”
* * *
“How are the chairs coming along?” Aaron asked good naturedly, as he walked into the woodworking shop.
John Heiser stood back from the chair he was working on. He glanced over at the four identical chairs lined up along the wall before answering his cousin. “Gut. I just started adding the rest of the spindles to this chair back.”
When the project was finished, the set would include six chairs and a dinner table. It was a special order for an Englisch family that lived just outside of town.
Aaron looked up at the calendar above one of the tables. “At this pace, you’ll have the entire project done early.”
“Jah. Turning the spindles has gone much quicker than I had anticipated.” He gestured toward the pile of finished spindles on the worktable beside him. “I think it was due to the lumber I got from East Hawthorne. It’s much better quality and it took the turning very easily.”
“That’s good to know,” Aaron said. “It’s a little farther, but worth it if it will save us time and some frustration in the workshop.”
AMISH ROMANCE: The Amish Bakery Boxed Set: 4-Book Clean Inspirational Box Set - Includes Bonus Book Page 8