Rosemary Opens Her Heart: Home at Cedar Creek, Book Two

by Naomi King

  And Barbara had insisted that because Sam would soon sit up front with the bishop, Preacher Abe, and Deacon Pete, it was time to replace his black church trousers, vests, and Mutze coat. And now that he was a preacher, he needed more than one suit, and new dress shirts to go with them.

  When would she have time to sew all of these items? Phoebe and Gail were learning the finer points of managing the store, but they had realized right off that running the Cedar Creek Mercantile was a bigger responsibility than baking at Mother Yutzy’s Oven.

  Abby looked up from her paperwork. Gail was patiently describing the different cheeses in the refrigerated section to Merle Graber, who had come to fetch some for Emma’s dinner casserole, while Phoebe was valiantly counting out the bolts Mervin Mast needed at his wooden pallet factory. Mervin, like a lot of fellows, preferred to deal with Sam when it came to supplies for his business—but wasn’t everyone in Cedar Creek having to be more patient while her brother did the homework that would enable him to serve them in a higher capacity?

  Abby began to mentally add up the amount of payment to send with the order, but about halfway down the long column of figures she felt someone gazing at her. She swallowed a sigh, wishing she’d used the adding machine. Yet when she saw Merle’s gentle expression, her exasperation vanished. He laid three different kinds of cheese on the counter.

  “You know, when I came over here I was missin’ my buddy Paul,” he murmured as he fished for his money. “And Eunice won’t let me go to the fishin’ hole by myself, you see. But what with Gail talkin’ so nice to me about these cheeses, and you and Phoebe bein’ so kind and perty, why, I might just take up shoppin’ as my new hobby!”

  Abby was so touched, she didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. Emma had probably told him exactly what kind of cheese she wanted when she’d sent him out half an hour ago, yet Merle was unconcerned about such details. He had focused on the silver lining rather than the cloud—paying her a compliment instead of bemoaning the loss of his longtime friend. “Denki for saying that about us, Merle. You come over and shop anytime you like. I’m sure it’s a big help to Emma.”

  “That poor girl needs to get out even more than I do—but not for shoppin’,” he added sadly. Then he brightened again. “But at least my James is socializin’ again, and I’m mighty happy it’s you he’s seein’, Abby. When he came home whistlin’ and grinnin’ the other night, why, I felt like a young fella again myself.”

  The heat rose in her cheeks as she totaled Merle’s order. Would James have his dat’s endearing smile and benevolent nature as he got older? Abby looked forward to finding out. “Give Emma and Eunice my best,” she said as she handed Merle his change. She winked at him as she put his purchase in a small sack. “Your dinner’s going to taste awfully gut with this cheese in it. You picked all my favorite kinds.”

  He winked back and patted her hand. “Jah, Abby, you and I have gut taste, ain’t so?”

  The bell above the door jingled as Merle left, a lighthearted sound that matched her mood now. Abby resumed adding up the amount for the order she’d been working on all morning. She wrote the check, signed the order form, and finally slipped all the paperwork into an envelope. “I’ll be back by one o’clock so you girls can take your lunch break,” she called over to her nieces. “Sam will surely be ready to come in by then.”

  Phoebe and Gail waved as she headed toward the door. And when Abby placed the order into the mailbox by the road, her smile found her again. Titus Yutzy and his driver were striding toward her, along the shoulder of the blacktop, while behind them Matt strolled beside Rosemary as Katie toddled between them, her hands holding theirs. Matt carried a picnic basket, as though they were a family ready to sit on a quilt beneath the trees and enjoy their lunch together.

  And isn’t that a picture, Lord? The worries and pressures of the morning faded away. No doubt there would be a wedding in their future, but it wasn’t her place to push for that.

  Then Abby’s eyes widened. “Rosemary! What a wonderful-gut surprise, to see you wearing green!” she called out. She hurried toward them, drinking in the sight and the meaning of the young widow’s new clothes.

  “Abby, hullo!” Rosemary shrugged modestly, keeping a grip on her toddler’s hand as a car went past them. “Emma and I found the pieces of this dress cut out amongst Alma’s fabric, and last night after dinner Beth Ann put it together in no time. She’s taught her best friends how to make rag rugs, so they’re having their own frolic today.”

  Abby quickly assessed the dress. It appeared to be as well made as the clothing she sewed in her shop, perfectly proportioned to Rosemary’s body even though it had been originally intended for a taller, larger-boned woman, from what she recalled about Alma Yutzy. “I figured right, when I suggested to Beth Ann that she might sew for me,” Abby said. “And my stars, do I have as much work as that girl would care to take on.”

  As they opened the kitchen door, the aroma of pot roast baked with potatoes and carrots greeted them, as did Barbara and Treva. “Gut to see you girls again so soon,” Abby’s mother said as she placed silverware around the places at the extended table.

  “And gut to see you in such a fresh color, too,” Barbara chimed in. “You fellows get washed up, and we’ll be ready to sit down in a few. Meanwhile, I’ll just have to tickle this Katie girl, won’t I?”

  As the toddler giggled in anticipation, it occurred to Abby that Barbara was looking forward to having a grandchild to play with. What a fine sight, to see her chasing Katie around the kitchen table as Mamm stepped out of their path—and then lo and behold, her mother started around the table in the other direction to ambush the child with a hug. Laughter filled the kitchen as the three of them came together, with Katie the filling in a sandwich made of grandmotherly love.

  Abby noticed then that Sam had come in from the downstairs bedroom, which they had set up as his study. As he paused in the door to watch the merriment, his face lit up.

  Oh, but he needed this moment, Abby thought. And she hoped they’d have many more like it as they helped Sam toward his new calling.

  As Titus introduced Dylan to everyone and the men took their places at the table, Abby placed Rosemary’s sandwiches on a platter and set her pie alongside an angel food cake. They bowed for a moment of silent grace, and then Sam passed the platter of pot roast to Titus.

  As Abby looked around the table, it seemed Rosemary, Titus, and little Katie were already adding a welcome new dimension to their family. She wished that Phoebe and Gail could have been here to share this gathering. Rosemary glowed as she cut up roast and vegetables for her daughter’s smaller plate. No doubt they would soon need a second high chair for meals when Zanna, Jonny, and little Harley joined them. This growth in their family meant a fresh start in ways they hadn’t been thinking of lately as they’d focused on the responsibilities Sam’s new position had added to their lives.

  As Rosemary received the basket of fresh, warm bread, she inhaled its aroma with her eyes closed. “What a treat. While I can make pie crust in my sleep, a gut, chewy-soft loaf of bread doesn’t come so easy for me.”

  “Treva’s the one we beg to bake the bread and rolls,” Barbara said with a smile for her mother-in-law. “It’s another reason we’re pleased she’s living in the dawdi haus, close to the kitchen.”

  “It’s a treat to be here amongst all of you Lambrights, too,” Rosemary continued in her low, compelling voice. “Makes for more interesting conversation than Titus, Beth Ann, and I have at our table.”

  “Jah, you betcha!” Katie piped up.

  As everyone laughed, Dylan McGrew grew pink in the cheeks. “You know, I said that a time or two on the way over here, and it seems someone has picked up on it.”

  “She doesn’t miss much,” Titus agreed. “And I can tell you she keeps us all on our toes, too, now that she’s walking so gut. Won’t be long before she’ll outrun us.”

  “Jah, Zanna’s Harley already reminds us of how busy we were whe
n Matt was a tyke,” Sam said as he sopped up gravy with his bread. “Keeps you young and alert, having the little ones around.”

  “And you know,” Rosemary said in a thoughtful tone, “I’m thinking you will keep us young, too, Sam, with your preaching. One of the reasons I’m glad we’re coming to Cedar Creek is the way you considered all sides of the situation when Zanna was having a baby before she was married. I was impressed as I listened to the stories about that when I came to her wedding.”

  The kitchen got quiet as Rosemary gazed directly at Sam, smiling with sincere respect. Abby had seldom seen her brother appear utterly speechless, yet he had stopped eating to gape at their guest.

  “Our preachers in Queen City would have shipped her off without considering anything but the Old Ways,” Rosemary insisted. “Your response—the way your whole family took up Zanna’s cause—makes me think you’ll breathe fresh ideas into the church here and you’ll keep some of the young people from jumping the fence, too. It’s a real talent, a true gift from God, to stand firm in the Old Amish beliefs while allowing love to lead us into the future.”

  “You said a mouthful there,” Abby murmured. And wasn’t it a fine thing to see Sam blush as he soaked up Rosemary’s compliment?

  “Couldn’t have said it at a better time, either,” Mamm chimed in gratefully. “Sometimes we get so weighted down carrying our crosses, it takes an outsider to see us for who we are. I’m mighty glad you’re not an outsider anymore, Rosemary.”

  “Jah, so am I,” Abby added as she rose to fetch a knife. There was no doubt in her mind that Rosemary’s rhubarb pie would be as much of a treat as the company of the delightful young woman who had baked it.

  Chapter 27

  Early the next morning, Rosemary drove to Mamm’s by the sun’s first light. What with moving the furniture and spending the night in their new place, Titus’s house would be swarming with neighbors and emotions would be running high. Beth Ann was keeping Katie for her while she made this final trip to her mother’s house to say her farewell.

  Lord, help me be strong, she prayed as she pulled in. The buggy wasn’t halfway up the lane before her mother and Malinda stepped out on the porch to greet her.

  “And would you look at that perty purple dress?” her sister called out.

  “Jah, that’s a sight for sore eyes,” her mamm agreed. “It tells me you’re ready to move on, Rosemary, so there’s to be no tears or saying good-bye this morning. Hear me? Do you think we’ll not come to Cedar Creek to see your new place—and Katie, of course?”

  “We’d be helping you move, you know,” Malinda added, “except you’ve told us a dozen times to stay put.”

  Rosemary clambered down, grateful for their positive attitudes. “Titus has Dylan and a few other fellows driving trucks for him, so I’ll let them do the heavy lifting—and meanwhile I’m saving your backs, too. Beth Ann and I are taking Katie with the first load and staying over there so we can point out where all the furniture’s to go.”

  “As long as you stay out of Titus’s way—and let him think he’s in charge—everybody’ll be happy,” her mother agreed.

  When Rosemary reached the porch, there was a moment of awkward silence as the three of them looked at one another. “Well,” she murmured, “I’ll go upstairs for a moment, and then I’m off. No tears,” she agreed, echoing her mother. “No reason to act like it’s the last time we’ll see one another.”

  Rosemary entered the house where she’d spent most of her life and took a slow, sentimental journey. She’d been born in the downstairs bedroom…had eaten her meals and learned to cook in this kitchen…had listened to countless Bible readings in the front room…had shared the north-corner bedroom first with Malinda and then with Joe—and had given birth to Katie there, too. As she entered the room, the morning light glowed on the butter-colored walls and she drew in a deep breath.

  “Joe?” she whispered.

  She waited, gazing out the window toward the land that was no longer hers…And that felt all right, didn’t it? No regrets about selling it, no what-ifs about the house she wouldn’t build there. Her pulse thrummed in spite of the finality she felt while standing in this room. You were taken from me too soon, Joe, but your love made me strong enough that I can stand on my own now. She ran her hand over the quilt Mamm had made for her wedding gift, content to leave it here with other mementos of her marriage and childhood.

  Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.

  Rosemary let out the breath she’d been holding. It seemed to her Joe had murmured these words from the gospel in her ear as a blessing—a benediction. No matter where life took her, she would never be alone.

  When a little sob escaped her, she blinked away her tears. Hadn’t she just received the highest promise that everything would work out if she believed it would? Rosemary smoothed the purple dress with a sense that the best was yet to be. It was as Abby had told her weeks ago. If she opened her heart, all things were possible because she loved the Lord.

  And I love Matt, too!

  Finally, after everyone around her had told her how she should feel about him, the words rang true. Rosemary turned and went downstairs. “Don’t be strangers,” she said as she passed through the kitchen where her mamm and Malinda were washing the peas they’d picked earlier. “I’ll let you know when we’re ready for a visit.”

  “Jah, and we’ll be there, too,” her sister replied.

  “Have a gut moving day!” her mother chimed in.

  As Rosemary climbed back into the buggy, her mother and sister were putting on a cheerful front—too cheerful—yet it had gotten them all through a potentially difficult visit that could have left her feeling blue all day.

  Hadn’t they given her the best gift of all? The gift of their acceptance and best wishes as she moved on?

  Rosemary drove off with hope riding high in her heart.

  A few hours later, Rosemary pointed toward the longest wall in the freshly painted front room as Matt and Mose Hartzler carried the couch inside. “Right there will be fine,” she said. The room was stacked high with boxes and the chairs weren’t placed just right, but all the main furnishings were accounted for. “That’s the last of this truckload, ain’t so?”

  “Jah, we’ll take a breather and help Dylan when he gets here with the stock trailer.” After he and Mose scooted the long sofa into place, Matt grinned at Katie, who was climbing on each piece of furniture to check it out. “Did I see a plate of fried pies in the kitchen before we piled so much stuff in there?”

  “Jah. Abby brought them over before she opened the store, bless her. Your family’s been so gut to us, Matt.”

  “Fried pies?” Katie piped up with a hopeful expression.

  “Jah, you can share one with me, punkin.” Rosemary slipped between the stacked boxes into the kitchen, which was an obstacle course of opened crates and tables covered with unpacked dishes. “We’ll set you in your high chair—”

  “Big chair!” her daughter exclaimed. “I’s a big girl now, in the new house.”

  Rosemary offered the tray of fried pies to Mose and Matt. “We’ve been talking all week about how, at the new house, big girls pick up their toys and eat with a fork and spoon. So far, she’s doing pretty gut at it.”

  Matt took a bite of a pineapple-lemon pie, and then he placed a small box on a chair and lifted Katie onto it as though accommodating her was second nature to him. “We’ll find the booster chair and bring it over,” he said as she smacked her hands happily on the tabletop. “It’s held a gut many little Lambrights up to the table, so it’ll work just fine for you, too, Katie.”

  Rosemary felt another flutter inside. What with all the details of getting out of one house and into another, it hadn’t occurred to her that her daughter might be ready to advance to the table, yet Matt had seen that immediately.

  “Jah, won’t be long before you’ll be scurryin’ around with my little ones and the Detweiler girls after church,” Mose remarked
as he chose a cherry pie. Then he glanced toward the road. “I hear that big red truck pullin’ in out front.”

  “Titus said he was loading the bedroom sets this go-round,” Matt remarked, “so you might want to point us toward which rooms each piece goes in, Rosemary.”

  “Beth Ann’s upstairs hanging her curtains, so I’ll let her help you with that.” She led the two men between the boxes in the front room, where Dylan and Titus were coming in with a headboard.

  “This walnut set’s going to the rooms in the back,” her father-in-law was saying as he walked backward in that direction. “Decided I was done with going up and down the stairs to eat and get myself to bed. Preacher Paul had the right idea about that.”

  “Fine by me,” Dylan agreed. “This set’s by far the heaviest.”

  Rosemary blinked. This was the first she’d heard that the stairs were becoming a problem, as Titus still got around quite well.

  “We’ll be right behind you with the dresser,” Matt said as he and Mose headed out the front door.

  Was that a secretive smile she’d seen on Matt’s face? Or was she keeping track of so many men moving so many pieces of furniture, asking her so many questions about where to put it all, that she was imagining that part? Rosemary climbed the steps and headed toward the farthest bedroom down the hall. “How’s it going, Beth Ann?”

  “I’m as far as I can go until my bed gets here.”

  Rosemary smiled. Beth Ann was so excited about her new room, ready to use the colorful new Friendship Star quilt she’d gotten for her birthday as well as the rag rug she’d finished. As she stepped into the room, Rosemary couldn’t help but throw her arms out and spin in a circle. “What a fine room! Look at those curtains—and your dresses are in place already,” she exclaimed. “How about if you point the fellows toward where all the bedroom pieces go up here? It seems your dat is taking his set to the dawdi haus.”