Made with Love

by Tricia Goyer

  Lovina’s stomach rumbled again, but her heart felt full as she entered her family’s house. For some reason she felt that it was.

  Caramel Corn

  2 cups brown sugar

  ½ cup light corn syrup

  1 cup butter

  1 teaspoon baking soda

  ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

  ½ teaspoon salt

  1 teaspoon vanilla

  6 quarts popped corn

  1 cup peanuts, lightly roasted (optional)

  Mix brown sugar, syrup, and butter in a heavy saucepan. Boil 4 minutes without stirring. Remove from heat and add baking soda, cream of tartar, salt, and vanilla. Immediately pour over popped corn and mix lightly but thoroughly. Add peanuts if desired. Place on large cookie sheets and bake at 250° for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Cool slightly and separate.

  Seven

  Enjoy today. It won’t come back.

  AMISH PROVERB

  Mem was standing next to the oven, watching the timer tick down as Lovina entered. The aroma of banana sour cream bread baking in the oven gave the kitchen a homey smell. Twenty-three-year-old Faith was sitting at the kitchen table sketching. Nineteen-year-old Grace was sitting next to her, reading the business section of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Both glanced up briefly as Lovina entered and then returned to their tasks. The tip of Faith’s tongue poked out from her lips as she sketched a scene that had captured her mind. Grace’s brow furrowed as she read. Lovina had seen that look before and knew her baby sister was plotting to turn Amish businesses into the next “big thing.”

  Lovina sniffed the air. “Banana sour cream bread?” She smiled at her mother. “One of Dat’s favorites. Is it a special occasion?”

  “Well, I hope so. I made some for your dat, of course, but I made extra to share.” The timer buzzed, and Mem used a toothpick to check on the bread in the oven. Seeing it was done, she removed it from the oven with her pot-holdered hand, placing the loaf pan on the trivet on the kitchen counter. Three loaves were lined up. The first loaf had cooled off enough to be sliced. Half of it was gone. Lovina noticed the slightest crumbs at the corner of Mem’s lips as she moved to her kitchen chair.

  “Share?” Lovina asked. “Will Dat let you?” she chuckled.

  “Ja. I already told him. When I was outside, putting a letter to Regina in the mailbox, Howard’s Vera came strolling by. She had a full grocery bag as if she was expecting company. I asked her about it, and she says that her brother-in-law, Thomas Chupp, has come to town. He has brought his dat and mem down to look at a house they hope to buy. You know how things are here. Places around here sell almost as soon as the sign is put in the yard. I thought my banana sour cream bread would be a nice welcome.”

  “Ah, that’s gut. Is Thomas’s wife here too?” Lovina asked. “Maybe she’d be interested in Joy’s sewing circle. Joy was just saying last night she wanted to plan a frolic to finish the quilt for the Haiti auction.”

  Mem lifted an envelope—a letter from Regina—from the table and fanned her face. Sweat beaded at her hairline. “Speaking of the Haiti auction, I need to remember to get my crocheting out.” Mem fanned harder. “It’s hard to think about knitting gloves and scarves when it’s so humid and hot outside, but if I don’t get busy I’ll have nothing to offer.”

  Faith shuffled in her chair, and Lovina thought she was going to say something, but she must have changed her mind.

  Mem stopped fanning and looked at something on the back of the envelope and sighed. “I talked to Vera yesterday at the park, and she didn’t mention Thomas having a wife.”

  “Thomas doesn’t have a wife,” Faith interjected, her words sounding more forceful than usual. Three heads turned her direction. She paused her sketching and glanced up. Her eyes widened as if saying, Why is everyone staring at me?

  Mem lifted an eyebrow. “You know Thomas Chupp?”

  Pink tinged Faith’s cheeks and she shrugged. “I don’t know him, but I met him. We had a nice talk…”

  Her voice trailed off, and she lifted up her sketchbook and studied the landscape of a creek winding through a meadow as if it was the most fascinating thing ever. Lovina wasn’t fooled.

  No one said a word. Instead they waited for Faith to elaborate. It was a tactic Mem often used and one the sisters had picked up on. When one wished to hear more about a subject it was better to wait silently for the person to continue. People often felt uncomfortable about the silence and spilled the beans in short order.

  “Okay, fine.” Faith tapped her pencil on the table, glancing up at them. “He was at Yoder’s last night when I was working. He’d gotten there early—he was meeting a cousin for dinner—and I was on break. I sat down for five minutes—nothing more—and we talked. He mostly asked questions. He was curious about our family. He asked about our move to Pinecraft. He asked if I taught school.” Faith chuckled and her eyes brightened. She blew out a soft sigh at the memory.

  “He said I looked like a schoolteacher.” Faith paused and then turned her attention back to her notebook. She picked up the green colored pencil and returned to her sketching. “Thomas said I reminded him of his favorite teacher, that’s all.” She shrugged. “I told him that Lovina was the teacher of the family, and then my break was over—”

  “Was Lovina ever the teacher of the family!” Grace chimed in, folding her newspaper and setting it down. “I had a busier school day during summer afternoons than those who went to school. When I finally was old enough to go, I can still remember Miss Patricia’s face when I started reading on the first day.”

  Lovina smiled at the memory. Hope was often in the garden, Joy behind the sewing machine, and Faith off pestering the teen boys hired to help with the farm or sketching “the scenery,” but Grace had been young enough to enjoy the full attention of her older sister.

  “Ja, Lovina always was a talented teacher,” Mem commented, turning to her. “Maybe you should ask if there is a position open at the school here in Pinecraft.” Mem clasped her hands together. “Wouldn’t that be lovely?”

  Lovina nodded, but she had no intention of following through with Mem’s suggestion. Teaching had been a good job—even one that she’d done well. But it wasn’t her passion. Yet what would Mem say when she discovered the truth? Lovina touched her fingertips to her own forehead, feeling moisture there too. The cool rain of the morning was just a memory. Summer’s heat had returned. The kitchen windows were still cracked open, and Mem had yet to turn on the air conditioning. Maybe her parents felt more justified in using the luxury only after they’d finished baking.

  Lovina went to the refrigerator and pulled out a block of cheese. The sound of Faith’s colored pencils on the paper brought a gentle peace to the room outwardly, but inwardly Lovina was a jumble of nerves. How would Mem respond to the idea of one of her daughters being a business owner?

  Lovina didn’t feel much like eating. Butterflies danced in her stomach—partly from the excitement of finding the warehouse, but also over the excitement of meeting Noah. She told herself it was because he believed in her dream, but when she couldn’t get his smiling greenish blue eyes off her mind she knew it had to be more.

  Lovina touched a warm hand to her cheek, wondering if all the emotions stirring inside showed outwardly. If so, her sisters gave it no mind. As she sketched, Faith hummed a tune she’d no doubt heard at the grocery store. Lovina knew the words had something to do with “everlasting love,” which was just what Faith always dreamed of. Grace flipped another page in the newspaper, absorbed.

  Lovina eyed her sisters, suddenly perturbed by how they were so caught up in their own hobbies. She wanted to run to them, to hug them and to tell them that her life had changed today—and that it would most likely continue to change for the better in the days to come. She knew they’d be happy for her. They’d want to know every detail. If she confessed, they’d follow her to Big Olaf’s and spy on her, trying to get a peek at Noah. But she couldn’t tell them, not yet. She couldn’t jump ah
ead of herself. She had to do things right.

  This was her only chance. If she couldn’t convince Dat and Mem that her dream was a good investment then none of it would matter. A pain shot through her chest at the thought of it not working out, as if it had been a few years, not a few hours, since she’d walked into the warehouse.

  Lovina made a simple cheese sandwich and poured a glass of lemonade for herself and one for Mem. Mem seemed distracted as she continued to fan herself with the envelope. Lovina sat down beside her, and Mem tucked the envelope into her Bible, pushing it in deep.

  Had there been bad news from back home? Lovina didn’t want to ask. She knew it all would come out when Mem was ready. Mem never was one to hold in her thoughts or opinions for long.

  Lovina ate half of her sandwich, enjoying the peace, and then turned to Mem. “Would you like me to drop off the banana sour cream bread? I’m meeting a friend at Big Olaf’s in a bit. I can swing by on the way.”

  Faith’s head jerked up.

  Lovina turned to her. “Did you want to go?”

  Faith lowered her head, returning to her sketch. “Well, I—”

  “No need for Faith to do it,” Mem butted in, straightening in her chair. “You’ll be out anyway.” Mem reached for her knitting basket on the floor against the wall. “Besides, I’m sure our potential new neighbors would like to be greeted by such a smiling face.” Mem pulled out a skein of navy blue yarn. “I don’t know what’s different about you, Lovina, but you haven’t stopped smiling since you walked in that door.”

  Lovina touched her fingertips to her lips. “Mmm. Well then, I’ll drop the bread off on the way to ice cream.”

  “Thomas will appreciate that, I’m sure.” Mem nodded with enthusiasm. And when Mem didn’t ask Lovina who she was meeting for ice cream, Lovina knew her mother’s thoughts were someplace else. Maybe on the letter from Regina? She’d been preoccupied with that envelope since Lovina had walked in the door.

  Lovina just hoped Mem wasn’t missing her dear friends in Ohio too awful bad. While all of them had left behind people they cared for, Lovina and her four sisters had carried their hobbies with them, discovering them anew in his balmy place. Mem, on the other hand, left most of her identity behind. She’d been the organizer of frolics and the first one to be called on when young mothers didn’t know what to do about a fever, tummy ache, or blister. She’d helped with weddings and had always pitched in to provide food for singings. Mem’s busy, bustling days had slowed, and the more she sat and thought the more she fretted about her daughters’ lack of love interests. The walls of their house were thin, and Lovina had heard more than one conversation as Mem and Dat talked into the night. Mem always worried. Dat always trying to calm her fears.

  Lovina finished her sandwich and dabbed the corners of her mouth with a napkin. Mem rose and removed the banana sour cream bread from the loaf pan, wrapping it in wax paper.

  “Oh, and did I mention that Thomas Chupp has a lovely farm?” Mem commented, returning the wax paper and closing the cupboard. “It’s his parents who are hoping to live here year-round. As the youngest, he’ll be returning to Pennsylvania to run the farm. Remember how much we enjoyed Somerset on that visit? You said you wouldn’t mind living there…”

  Snickers emerged in chorus from Grace’s lips, but Faith sat in stoney silence. Lovina directed a glare first to one, then to the other, but they refused to make eye contact. Grace because of the humor of it, and Faith…was she jealous? Lovina looked at the wind-up wall clock in the kitchen, making a mental note to talk to Faith later about Thomas Chupp.

  Lovina spun around and caught the mischievous look in Mem’s eyes. How had she missed it before? Mem wasn’t sad or forlorn, she was trying to be subtle. Mem was trying to set her up!

  Lovina cleared her throat. “Oh, I see now the reason for me being the one to make the delivery.”

  Mem shrugged and took another sip from her lemonade. “Well, you were the one who offered.”

  “That’s because you set it all up. You made it sound so innocent…” Frustration tinged the corners of her words, but then she blew out a breath and calmed down. Lovina reminded herself that Mem did all she did out of love. Out of a desire to see her daughters happy and provided for.

  “Are you saying you won’t help me now?” Mem’s gaze met hers. Her eyes grew round with worry.

  “I’m not saying that. I’ll go, but I’m not going to be offering up my heart as I pass over this banana sour cream bread.”

  “You can’t fault a mother for trying.”

  Lovina reached over and squeezed Mem’s hand. It was cool from the condensation on the glass. “I know. I have no doubt that you and Dat care. And that’s why I was hoping to talk to you…soon.”

  Mem looked up then, curiosity clear in her gaze. “Is it about a young man?”

  “Partly.” Lovina said, calmly. She was telling the truth since Noah was involved, but even as she said it she knew her answer was misleading.

  “You can talk to me anytime you want,” Mem said. “I’m listening.”

  “But Dat, well, I assume he’s napping, and I’d really like to talk to you both.”

  Lovina glanced at her sisters. Both sat as quiet as church mice, listening to every word intently. “And more than that, I’d like to do it without an audience.”

  “I already know what it’s about.” Grace smirked. “Faith and I saw you just before you got home. You were on your bicycle talking to a very handsome bachelor.”

  “You saw me? Why didn’t you say something?”

  Faith tapped a green colored pencil on her chin. “We were waiting for you to bring it up. So who is he? I don’t think we’ve met him before.” A smile filled her face, and she returned to her sketch. “I would know. I’d never forget that face.”

  So much for her interest in Thomas Chupp.

  “I want to talk to Dat and Mem first.” Lovina rose and threw away her napkin. “Don’t worry,” she said, tossing the words back over her shoulder. “If things work out like I hope they will, then I’ll be able to fill you in with all the details soon.”

  Lovina looked back to her mem before she rounded the corner to her bedroom. Mem’s jaw dropped, and excitement flashed in her eyes.

  “When would you like to talk?” Mem asked.

  Lovina paused her steps. She shrugged as if it was no big thing. As if her heart wasn’t hammering in her chest. “I’d like to take you and Dat out to dinner. Maybe at Yoder’s?”

  “Ja.” Mem nodded. “I’m sure we can make it work. I’ll talk to your dat and let you know the time.”

  “Gut. I’d like that.”

  Lovina went to her room and moved to her hope chest. She lifted the creaky lid and rested it against the wall. At twenty-five, she’d had plenty of time to fill her chest with items she’d need after marriage, and it was overflowing. Yet out of all of the things she’d sewn or collected over the years, nothing meant as much to Lovina as her notebook. She moved her embroidered pillowcases to the side and lifted the notebook from its nest of blankets. Then she took a cloth book bag, tucked the notebook inside, and put the bag’s straps over her shoulder. She hadn’t shared it with her sisters or Mem yet, but she would when the time was right. Something warmed inside—even warmer than the Florida sun beaming through the windows.

  All eyes were on her as she returned to the kitchen and picked up the loaf of banana sour cream bread. It was still warm through the wax paper. “I’d better go deliver this. Time to be neighborly and all.”

  “Especially to single and eligible bachelors who are in need of a friend,” Grace called out.

  “A friend? Yes, that’s what she’s thinking…just being a friend,” Faith added, a hint of sarcasm in her voice. Yet Lovina didn’t have time to worry about that now. For even as Lovina stepped out the door into the muggy heat of the midday, she wasn’t thinking of Thomas but of another bachelor. Noah was also new in Pinecraft, and he most likely needed a friend too.

  She placed
the book bag and bread into her bike’s front basket and then got on, riding down the street. A new thought hit her.

  Mem, more than anyone, knew every new person in town. She knew nearly every visitor too. Why hadn’t she baked a special treat on Noah’s arrival? Tension tightened Lovina’s shoulders as she rode. Noah had also been to the house. He’d visited to give Dat a bid on the roof. Yet Mem hadn’t said a thing. She hadn’t invited Noah to dinner. She hadn’t made him banana sour cream bread. She hadn’t even mentioned his visit at dinner. A handsome bachelor had been to their home, and not one word had been mentioned about it.

  Suddenly all the good feelings about Noah Yoder dissipated like the small puddles on the roadway, evaporating in the sun.

  There had to be something wrong with Noah Yoder. Something big. Otherwise all of them would have gotten an earful about the handsome bachelor.

  Worries bubbled up inside of Lovina, and she slowed her pedaling.

  Who was Noah Yoder, and just what did Mem know?

  Lovina glanced at her notebook tucked inside the bag on her handle bars. Was Noah Yoder worthy to be trusted with her dreams?

  Banana Sour Cream Bread

  3¼ cups sugar, divided

  3 teaspoons cinnamon, divided

  ¾ cup butter

  3 eggs

  6 ripe bananas

  16 ounces sour cream

  2 teaspoons vanilla

  ½ teaspoon salt

  3 teaspoons baking soda

  4½ cups flour

  1 cup chopped nuts

  Preheat oven to 325°. Grease four small or two large loaf pans. In a small bowl, combine ¼ cup sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Use cinnamon-sugar mixture to dust pans. In large bowl, cream butter, three cups of sugar, eggs, bananas, sour cream, vanilla, and remaining 2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix in salt, baking soda, and flour. Stir in nuts. Bake 1 hour, covering loaves with foil for the last 15 minutes of baking time.