Katie couldn’t help but laugh. “Now I know you’re seeing things. Your bruder isn’t interested in me. I thought he was at first, but then I realized he was more interested in my reading lessons to my students than he was in me.”
She flashed Rachel a knowing look.
“Ach, you know that he can’t read?”
Katie’s heart beat faster. “I suspected.”
“Ach, I’m such a blabbermaul. Caleb will never forgive me if he finds out I told his secret. Promise me you won’t tell him.”
She was practically begging.
“Nee, I won’t tell him you told me. But I think it’s only fair he knows that I know. I can help him. In Nappanee, I used to teach at the adult education center. I taught adults how to read. There are a lot of adults who don’t know how to read. There is no shame in that. The real shame is when their pride keeps them from ever learning.”
“It wasn’t pride that kept Caleb from learning. It was the responsibility of familye. I have a lot of respect for my bruder, but he lacks the confidence he will need to ask for help. Maybe if he doesn’t know you’re helping him it would be the best way to help.”
Katie was confused. “What do you mean?”
Rachel thought about it for a minute. “Is there anything else at the school that needs fixing?”
Katie could see where she was going with this line of thinking. “Jah, the entire building is practically falling apart. I’m not sure my aenti ever asked for a single thing to be fixed.”
Rachel nodded knowingly. “That’s because she would have had to ask my grossdaddi for help.”
The two of them giggled.
Rachel handed Katie the washed utensils for her to dry. “Make a list of things that need repairing and drop them in my grossdaddi’s mailbox on your way home. That way your aenti won’t see you talking to him. I’ll make sure that Caleb goes straight to the school in the morning instead of coming here to finish the porch. While he’s there, make sure you plan your lessons so he can pay attention. Before he finishes all the repairs, he should have enough lessons in him to be able to start reading.”
Katie liked the idea of helping Caleb while keeping his secret safe. Admittedly, she didn’t think any less of him. In fact, she had more respect for him for being able to make a living for himself despite his adversities. She would try her best to keep his secret even if it meant sneaking around behind her aenti’s back. She loved her aenti, but the woman had a few too many rules. It wasn’t that Katie was rebellious, but she was beginning to think she could be. Maybe she could even get up enough nerve to call off her engagement to the Widower King once and for all. But how was she going to do that when every other time she tried she’d failed?
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CHAPTER 11
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Caleb was caught between watching the beautiful school teacher and paying attention to her reading lessons. Her face would light up with a sparkling smile each time one of her students answered a question correctly, but she never let disappointment show when they got one wrong.
Trying really hard to pay attention to what he was doing, his concentration was too involved with Katie’s lesson, as he teetered on the ladder patching holes in the ceiling with plaster. He smoothed over the same spot with the trowel as he paid close attention to the lesson on vowel sounds. If he learned this, he would be able to spell his own name, and that was something that was suddenly very important to him. He’d never really given reading much thought. Occasionally it would become an issue if he was in town buying supplies for his job, but most of the workers in the lumber yard knew his standard orders, which made it easy. Half the time he didn’t even have to talk much.
Something felt different about this situation. He knew he didn’t stand a chance with the school teacher since she was betrothed, and he wasn’t one to break up a couple. But something about meeting her made him hopeful that he could have a future with someone, though he’d like it if it could be Katie. He was already smitten. He liked her feisty attitude, and even the snobbish front she put up. He knew already from talking to her that she had a sweet side to her. But for some reason, the snobbishness was a distraction from something that seemed to be bothering her deep down where she wouldn’t let anyone in. He hoped that even if only as a friend, he could break down that wall she’d built around herself.
****
Katie couldn’t help but notice Caleb patching the same hole in the ceiling for the past twenty minutes as he watched her lesson intently. She held a soft spot in her heart for him, knowing how difficult it must be for him to function in his every-day life without being able to read. He was a gut responsible mann, and wondered if his inability to read had kept him from pursuing marriage and a familye.
She knew she’d be honored if a mann like Caleb would want to marry her. She often wondered if there was something wrong with her that would cause her parents to think she needed to be promised to a mann instead of allowing her to find her own match. It saddened her to think that her future could be so final, especially when there was a handsome mann staring her right in the face.
Katie chided herself for wishing for things that could never be. It was obvious that he was only interested in learning to read, and not in her personally. But she wasn’t going to let that keep her from admiring his trim build, or the muscles she could see through his royal blue shirt. It was her favorite, she decided, since it brought out the blue in his eyes.
Deciding it was time to break for lunch, she dismissed the squirming kinner to the back room. The sun was shining today, and they would probably want the chance to play outside for a few minutes before returning to their work. When she announced it, they all cheered in unison. She would welcome a few moments of quiet time to go over the afternoon lessons while they played.
“Aren’t you hungry today?”
Katie looked up from her daydream to see Caleb standing in front of her desk. His brown hair was pushed back off his forehead; his chiseled jaw formed a friendly smile.
“I was just trying to decide if I should use this break to grade some papers. I didn’t really have time to pack much for myself since I was so worried about making sure I had enough to give the dogs.”
His smile grew wider. “I have fried chicken if you’d like to share with me.”
“I’m afraid I owe you for the ham and cheese already. I don’t want to get too far indebted to you.”
He raised an eyebrow to match his crooked smile. “I’ll be working here for a while. Perhaps you can bring enough to share with me tomorrow.”
Katie couldn’t help but smile in his company. “I could do that. But I’m afraid I’m not much of a cook.”
Caleb puffed out his muscular chest. “It just so happens that I’m an excellent cook. I made this fried chicken.”
Katie’s mouth watered as he pulled the chicken out of his insulated carrier. The aroma made her stomach growl, reminding her that she was very hungry. She accepted one of the five pieces he’d packed. Did it really take that much to feed a mann like Caleb?
Biting into the boneless chunk of breaded meat, her taste-buds did a little summersault.
He’s handy at fixing things, he can cook, and he certainly is nice to look at. He’s the perfect mann for me.
“Mmm…this is the best chicken I have ever tasted.”
Caleb’s face heated from her compliment.
“You should taste it when it’s fresh out of the frying pan.”
“I’d like that.” Now it was Katie’s turn to wear pink cheeks.
“Would you like to have dinner with my familye on Sunday? I could make a fresh batch of fried chicken, my famous potatoes, and Rachel could make biscuits and a sweet treat to go with the meal.”
“It sounds wunderbaar, but I should probably check with my aenti to be sure it would be alright.”
Caleb smiled. “Invite her too. I’ll invite my grossdaddi.”
Katie nudged him playfully. “That isn’t funny. You know sh
e would never agree to share a meal with your grossdaddi.”
“Jah, but I thought we were going to try to get them together?”
Katie agreed with him. “All I can do is ask.”
She knew exactly what her aenti would say, but she prayed that Gott would soften her heart and convince her to say yes.
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CHAPTER 12
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Katie tried to remind herself that dinner with Caleb’s familye was not a date—no matter how much she wished it could be. She would have to settle for being just friends with Caleb. But anytime people say they’re just friends with someone, it usually means it is more than friendship, or that they want it to be more. Katie couldn’t deny Caleb interested her and made her wish she was free to pursue more than friendship, but it was looking like he didn’t see her that way.
Caleb wished the invitation for dinner he’d extended to Katie could be a date with only him, but for now, he would have to settle for time spent with her in the company of others. He hoped that in time, she would reveal what he already suspected about her relationship with Jessup King. It wasn’t uncommon for parents to promise their daughter to someone if she was getting older and had no prospects, and he hoped that might be the case with Katie. At least then his suspicions that she didn’t want to marry Jessup would be true, and he might have a chance with her. But until he knew for certain, he would play it safe and pursue only friendship with her.
When they finished their lunch, Caleb invited her outside for a few minutes so they could get some fresh air. The kinner had been out playing for a few minutes already, and Caleb was eager for Katie to see the fun side of him.
Caleb reached for her hand to help her down the steps of the school haus, but she declined. He could only assume it was because when they stepped out the door, all eyes were on them. It was as if they had never seen the two of them before, the way the kinner stared. But Caleb refused to let it rattle him. He was determined to play in the snow with the lovely school teacher, and the watchful eyes of her students would not interrupt his fun.
Reaching down and grabbing a handful of snow, Caleb determined the snow was perfect for packing.
Katie eyed the snow in his hand. “If you throw that at me, I will be forced to defend myself. I’m warning you, I have five brothers, so I’m guessing I can dish it out better than you.”
Caleb laughed at her statement. How could he take someone as cute as her seriously?
Katie didn’t waste any time. Before he realized, she had a handful of snow aimed at him.
Caleb held up his hands, mocking her. “I wasn’t going to throw it. I was going to make a snowman is all.”
Katie watched him carefully as he bent down and started rolling the snowball along the deep snow. Bending down to do the same with the chunk of snow in her own hand, she decided she would make her own snowman—or snow-woman.
The kinner had gone back to their own snow-filled fun, leaving Katie and Caleb to compete for who had the best snowman built.
“Mine is taller,” Caleb boasted.
“That’s because mine is a girl.”
Caleb chuckled. “Are you sure? That kind of looks like a short buwe to me.”
Katie pulled off her light green knitted scarf and wrapped it around the neck of her snowman. “Is that better?”
Caleb unraveled his navy blue scarf and wrapped it around his snowman’s neck. Then he removed his black hat and placed it on top of the snow head.
Leaning his arm on the edge of his snowman, Caleb whispered in its ear. “I’ll need that hat back before I leave, but I have a feeling your head will be cold even with it on.”
Katie let a short giggle escape her lips as she watched Caleb talking to his snowman.
He smiled at her as he continued. “You see this beautiful maedel next to you? She might want to go for a buggy ride later. Don’t you be a fool and let her get away.”
Katie giggled again, this time allowing her head to tip back with delight over the conversation.
She looked at Caleb. “What if she isn’t ready to take a buggy ride with him? After all, they hardly know one another.”
Caleb pushed out his lower lip. “Look at him. How could she turn him down when he’s so obviously smitten with her?”
Katie raised an eyebrow at him. “Smitten? How could he be smitten so quickly?”
Caleb poked his head between the snowmen and put an arm around each of them. “Love at first sight is the best kind of love there is.”
“You really believe in love at first sight?”
Caleb winked at her. “I didn’t used to, but I’m beginning to think I could believe in such a thing.”
Katie scowled. “I’m not sure I believe in it, and neither does she.”
Caleb frowned. “How can you say such a thing? These two were meant for each other. Maybe she just doesn’t know it yet.”
Katie had to wonder why he was pulling her into such a conversation. If he was trying to make a point, he was confusing her more than she was before. Was he talking about the two of them? Or was he simply playing a game involving the snowmen?
Caleb tipped his hat sideways on his snowman’s head. “Either way, he’ll be patient with her. But in the meantime, she’s stuck with him.”
“What if she isn’t ready to be stuck with him yet?”
Caleb smiled, revealing dimples that made Katie swoon.
“I suppose he’ll have to wait for her to become ready. But you might want to tell her to hurry because he really likes her.”
Katie hoped he was talking about the two of them and not the snowmen. If only there was a way she could be sure.
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CHAPTER 13
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Katie paused before knocking on the Yoder’s door. “Be nice, Aenti Nettie. The Yoder’s were kind enough to extend the invitation to us, and the Bishop would not permit such discord if he knew the sour feelings you harbored for this familye. Bishop Troyer will be joining us, so you need to mind your manners.”
Katie had thought her aenti’s attitude had changed a little since she’d allowed Jonah Beiler to fix the buggy wheel yesterday. Today, it seemed the ornery woman was full of renewed anger. Katie and Caleb had decided to invite the Bishop and his fraa to dinner with them, knowing that her aenti would not be able to turn down the invitation. Katie secretly hoped that having the Bishop in attendance would open her aenti up to the idea of socializing more.
Nettie scowled at her niece, but decided to paste on a smile before entering the haus.
Rachel answered the door with a smile. “Kume, Katie, I’d like you to meet mei mamm.”
Lizzie Yoder stood by her husband, Jacob’s side. She extended a hand to Katie, while her husband nodded.
“Gut daag, you must be Katie, the new teacher. Gut daag, Miss Graber, so nice to see you up and about so soon after your fall.”
Nettie smiled, trying to keep her aggravation in check. She didn’t miss the look that passed between her niece and Caleb when he entered the large kitchen. She’d seen that same look in Hiram Miller’s eyes when they were young, and she wasn’t going to let her niece fall prey to the likes of Hiram’s grandkinner. She knew her niece was betrothed, and wondered why she was even getting involved with that buwe.
When Hiram stepped into the already crowded kitchen, Nettie wanted to bolt from the room. The walking cast on her right leg would slow her down too much to even attempt it. She wished she’d not been so easily convinced to attend this dinner. If not for the Bishop’s fraa standing between them, Nettie might have been tempted to have an unpleasant word with Hiram right there in front of everyone. Truth be told, a look from the mann still sent shivers up her spine, and it angered her that he could still have such an effect on her after so many years.
Feeling suddenly very vulnerable when he offered to pull out a chair for her, she knew she couldn’t do anything except succumb to feelings of defeat.
Unable to turn down the offer under the watchful eye of Mary Troyer, Nettie swallowed her anger and graciously accepted the chair. It didn’t matter that everyone else was still standing; the walk from the buggy to the haus had worn her out.
Mary sat next to her. “I think I’ll sit down too. All these young people in the room tend to make me feel tired.”
Nettie didn’t utter a word. She was fuming inside and worried she might say something she shouldn’t.
Before long, the menner sat across the table from Nettie and Mary, while the rest of the women brought food to the table.
“Rachel and Caleb made dinner tonight,” Lizzie said as she placed a large platter of fried chicken on the table in front of Nettie.
She turned to Katie. “How long will you be visiting in our community?”
Katie flashed a look toward Caleb that Nettie didn’t miss.
“I was thinking of staying through the summer.”
Nettie cleared her throat. “Is that alright with Jessup King? I would think your betrothed would miss you if you stayed here that long.”
Katie’s heart slammed against her chest wall at the mention of her estranged betrothed.
Rachel touched Katie’s arm and flashed an uncertain smile. “I didn’t know you were engaged to be married. How exciting for you.”
Katie forced a smile that was too weak to convince anyone of her happiness. Suddenly, all eyes were on her. She felt she might faint if she couldn’t distract them somehow.
“I love weddings. I hope you will invite all of us,” Mary Troyer said.
Katie’s face drained of all color, and she worried she might vomit in front of everyone. It was Rachel who saved her by spilling the pitcher of tea down the front of her.
“I’m so sorry, Katie. Kume, I’ll get you a clean dress to wear.”
Lizzie jumped up to mop up the puddle on the floor.
Before Katie realized, Rachel had whisked her upstairs to her bedroom. Once they were inside, Rachel shut the door and turned to Katie.
Amish Winter of Promises: Book Four Page 4