by Marta Perry
Caleb tried to close his ears to the noise made by what seemed like half the community, all crowded into his shop and Katie’s, all trying to help. He wanted to escape—to think about what had happened and try to process it all. But he couldn’t. For someone who’d considered himself outside the community, he seemed to have almost too many friends, too many brothers and sisters.
He needed to talk to Katie—that much was clear in his mind. But what he had to say to her couldn’t be said with an audience.
“We’re taking this up to the shop.” Aaron put his shoulder to the end of the blanket chest, while William grasped the other end. “The damage is all on the surface, so it won’t take any time to refinish it. We’ll be by tomorrow to help with that.”
“I can’t take you away from your own work,” Caleb protested, but Aaron was already halfway up the stairs.
“No problem.” His voice echoed down. “We can spare a few days to set things right.”
Set things right. The words echoed in Caleb’s mind. How did you set things right that had gone so far wrong?
A stir went through the workers as folks turned their heads toward the door. Chief Walker had come in. He beckoned to Caleb.
“Just wanted to fill you and Katie in on what’s happening.” He headed through the archway.
Caleb had no choice but to follow. He needed to see Katie, but not like this, under the eyes of the community, brought together by the law.
Chief Walker, looking a bit taken aback by the crowd that thronged Katie’s shop, ushered the two of them into the back hallway. As if by unspoken agreement, the other women clustered toward the front of the store or into the back room.
Katie was pale, her eyes shadowed, probably by a combination of a sleepless night and the devastation that had hit her. She tried to smile, and pain gripped Caleb’s chest at the sight.
“Well, now, I thought I should bring you folks up to date on the situation. Mike Franklin has been moved to the county jail, so you don’t have to worry about him.”
“Is he all right?” Katie’s voice was soft.
For an instant Chief Walker looked surprised, but Caleb wasn’t. That’s the kind of woman Katie was, always concerned about others.
Chief Walker nodded. “A public defender . . . a lawyer . . . has been appointed to help him.”
“And Melanie?” she persisted. “She is not in trouble with the law, is she?”
“No, no. Poor girl, she’s had enough to cope with. We’ve taken a statement from her, but I don’t think we’ll have to bother her anymore. I understand her parents are coming to bring her home with them.”
Katie took a deep breath. If anything, the strain on her face deepened. Was she thinking that her parents would want to do the same?
“Anyway, Mike has decided to plead guilty in exchange for a lighter sentence.” Chief Walker shook his head. “Seems he got it into his head that you ladies were influencing Melanie against him, so he decided to get back at you, figuring we’d blame it on the usual teenage vandalism.”
“What did he think he would gain by such a thing?” Caleb could only shake his head.
“Yeah, well, I know you folks will forgive him, but as for understanding what made his mind work that way . . .” Chief Walker shrugged. “It’s beyond me.” He glanced from Katie to Caleb. “Glad to see you’re getting the help you need, but it’s what I’d expect. Pleasant Valley’s a good place to live.”
He nodded and turned away, leaving Caleb alone with Katie for a moment, at least.
“The chief is right, you know,” he said, trying to find his way toward what he really wanted to say. “This is a gut place to live. I hope . . . Well, I hope this doesn’t change your mind about staying here.”
Katie didn’t respond. She just stood there, looking a little lost. Then she shook her head. “I don’t know,” she said, her words so soft he could barely hear them. “I just don’t know.”
Before he could say more, she’d walked off toward the women.
He stood looking after her, afraid of what his face must reveal at the thought of Katie going away. He’d told her he didn’t have a heart left to love again. So what was it that seemed to be breaking so painfully in his chest?
“Caleb.”
He blinked, hardly able to believe that Mattie Weaver’s mother was seeking him out.
“Ruth . . . I didn’t realize you were here helping.” Helping Katie, of course. Neither she nor Ephraim had been in his shop since Mattie had left.
Ruth didn’t respond to that. Instead, she nodded toward Katie, who was now surrounded by the other women. “You are not going to let her go away, are you?”
For a moment he could only stare at Ruth, not certain he’d heard her right. “I can’t tell Katie what to do.”
Ruth came closer, putting her hand on his arm and looking up at him. There were lines on her face . . . lines of sorrow and pain. She’d aged twenty years since her daughter had run away, he thought.
“You can tell her what you feel,” Ruth said softly. “You must not let what happened with Mattie keep you from loving someone else.”
He should not talk to Mattie’s mother, of all people, about this. “I don’t think . . .”
“Hush.” She shook his arm, her fingers tight. “Listen to me, Caleb Brand. I know full well that you are not the father of Mattie’s little boy.”
“You know?” His feelings seemed to be tumbling around inside him. “How can you know?”
Ruth’s thin lips tightened. “Ephraim is unforgiving. But I am not.” Tears shone suddenly in her eyes. “We write now. She sends me pictures of her little Jamie . . . so handsome and smart he is. If only I could hold him in my arms—” She stopped, as if she could not say more.
“Mattie ...” Caleb found he could say her name without bitterness. “Is she happy?”
“Ja, I think so. She is married to Jamie’s father, and they live in Ohio, where he works.”
“I’m glad for her.” He was glad. Mattie had found whatever it was she’d been looking for.
“You need to be glad for you.” Ruth shook his arm again. “Half the township knows that you are in love with Katie Miller. Don’t let her go away. If it would help you for me to tell the church—”
“No, no.” He might not be sure of anything else, but he knew that he could not subject Ruth to more pain. “I don’t want that.”
Ruth gave the slightest possible smile. “Then live your life, Caleb. Don’t waste it.” She spun and was gone as quickly as she’d appeared, leaving him standing there feeling oddly disoriented. His world had turned upside down in the past twenty-four hours, and he wasn’t sure how to go about righting it.
Somehow Katie managed to get through the day. Each time she wanted to give in to tears, someone would distract her, or ask her a question, or bully her into tackling the next task. Donna, of course, did much of the bullying, but Katie had to admit that might be what she needed. At least it kept her from thinking too much.
“It’s really coming along.” Lisa paused, holding the broom with which she’d been sweeping up scraps from the floor. “You’ll see. It’ll soon be back to the way it should be.”
Katie gave her a searching look. “And what about your shop? Are we able to get in to help yet?” She held her breath, half expecting Lisa to say she was accepting her loss and closing.
“Another day or two at most,” Lisa said, looking exasperated. “Honestly, sometimes I think the insurance is more trouble than it’s worth. I have to wait for another adjuster, who’s supposed to come tomorrow. Then I’ll be able to clear up the mess and see what can be salvaged. But at least, eventually, I’ll get a check so I can replace the ruined stock.”
Katie’s breath caught. “You’re reopening, then?”
“I was ready to give up. I really was. And then I thought about what Mark would say. And Donna started pushing me on it.” Lisa smiled. “You know how she can be. She just wouldn’t let me give up.”
“Ja. She�
��s proved to be a gut friend.” Despite her faults, Donna was just like all of them, Amish and Englisch. Not saints, just ordinary people trying to do their best.
“Fact is, we’ve decided that she’s going into business with me.” Lisa met Katie’s surprised gaze and laughed. “Yes, I know. We’ll fight all the time and drive each other crazy, but it’ll be nice, even so. I like the idea of not going it alone.”
“I’m glad.” Katie was. The town wouldn’t be the same without Lisa’s energetic presence.
And would it be the same without Katie Miller’s? Maybe. Or maybe she hadn’t been here long enough to make a ripple in Pleasant Valley if she left.
The bell over the door jingled, and she was thankful for the interruption to those thoughts. Doubly thankful, when she saw who it was.
“Melanie.” She went forward, holding out both hands toward the young woman, who hovered just inside the door as if unsure of her welcome. “I am so glad to see you.”
Melanie clasped her hands, her anxious look dissolving into a smile. “I didn’t know whether you’d want to see me or not, but I had to come and say I’m sorry. And to say good-bye.”
She was leaving, then. Well, who could blame her?
“You have nothing to be sorry for,” Katie said firmly. “Don’t ever think that folks blame you for what Mike did.”
Melanie’s smile wobbled a little, but she kept it pinned to her face. “I know. But I blame myself. I should have been smart enough to see what was going on.”
Lisa let the broom drop so she could put her arm around Melanie and give her something between a hug and a shake. “You’re a smart person . . . smart enough to learn from your mistake. You’re going to be all right.”
Melanie nodded. “I think so. My folks have been great. They didn’t say a word about Mike, just came to pick me up. They’re waiting out in the car now.”
“So you will go home with them,” Katie said. That was natural enough, wasn’t it? Melanie didn’t have family or a business here. She could walk away and start over.
“Not for good,” Melanie said. “Just until I can figure out what I want to do with myself. Anyway, I wanted to say thank you for all you did for me. All of you.” A tear spilled over, and she wiped it away. “If not for you, I don’t know what would have happened.”
“It is our pleasure to have you for a friend,” Katie said. She put her arms around Melanie for a last hug. “Don’t forget about us, will you?”
“I won’t. I’ll write. Really I will.” Stepping away, she glanced toward the street. “I have to go, but I’ll stay in touch.”
She went out, the bell jingling again.
Lisa shook her head. “She means that, but I suspect she’s going to forget us as soon as she gets on with her life.”
“Maybe that’s for the best,” Katie said. “We wouldn’t want her to brood on the past, would we?”
“No, I guess not.” Lisa picked up her broom. “I’d better finish this. I’m supposed to go to supper with Donna and her husband tonight.”
Katie stood motionless for a moment as Lisa went back to work.
Endings. Beginnings. That was what made up life, wasn’t it? She’d just like to know whether she was at an ending or a beginning.
CHAPTER TWENTY
The moment she and Molly reached the Miller farmhouse, Katie realized that something was different. She heard voices, familiar voices. She took one step into the kitchen, saw her father move toward her, and flung herself into his arms.
They closed around her, warm and strong and comforting, and she felt like a small child rushing to Daadi with a scraped knee and receiving the same unconditional love.
But she wasn’t a child, and she shouldn’t unload her troubles on him. She kissed his cheek, feeling the familiar softness of his beard, which was nearly all gray now. “Daadi, I am wonderful glad to see you.”
“And I to see you.” He kissed her forehead. “And here is your mamm, as well.”
Mamm rose from the table, setting down her coffee cup. Glancing from Mamm’s face to Rhoda’s, Katie found it easy to see that they had been at odds already.
“Mamm, it is so gut of you to come.” She hugged her, and Mamm pressed her cheek against Katie’s.
Then she drew back and patted her cheek. “Of course we would come when our child is in trouble. Even if . . .” She broke off with a glance at Daadi. “We would have come straight to the shop, but we thought you’d be here.”
Molly turned from greeting Katie’s daad to give her mother a quick embrace. “Ach, I think half the church was at the shop today, helping to clean up. And a fine number of our Englisch friends, as well, ain’t so, Katie?”
Molly sent an appealing glance toward her, and Katie suspected she was trying to think what she would make for supper in a hurry.
“Ja, lots of folks wanted to help.” Sarah came in from the pantry carrying what looked like a chicken potpie. “You should see the pantry and the refrigerator, full with the food folks have been bringing.”
Relief washed over Molly’s face. “That is ser kind of them. Sarah, can you stay for supper?”
“Denke, but I must get back to Aunt Emma. She has a potpie cooking for us and has sent this one for you. It will just need to be heated up for your supper.” She set it on the stove and went out the kitchen door.
A moment later Katie glimpsed her through the window, seeing Aaron meet her and walk her to her buggy, his head bent toward hers, his arm around her waist. A pang went through Katie . . . not envy of Sarah, surely, but maybe a sense of loss for herself. She would not have that closeness with a loved one, it seemed.
“Well, that solves the mystery of what we’re having for supper.” Molly hustled to the stove. “And here is dessert ready for us. Someone else has sent an apple crumb pie, as well. I wonder who it was.”
Molly was chattering, Katie realized, because she sensed as well as Katie did that Rhoda looked on the verge of an explosion, while Mamm seemed to be controlling the lecture she wished to give both her daughters with a great effort.
“I’ll get vegetables and applesauce to go with supper,” Katie said, grasping Rhoda’s wrist. “Komm, help me.”
After one surprised tug, Rhoda went along quietly enough, following her around the corner and into the pantry. They’d no sooner entered the tiny room than the younger girl began to sputter like a teakettle about to whistle. “Katie, she . . .”
Katie put her hand over Rhoda’s lips. “Hush, now. Do you want Mamm and Daadi to hear you?”
“I don’t care,” Rhoda said, but she lowered her voice to a whisper. “You don’t know what she’s been saying since she got here. Mamm said that you must give up the shop and come home, and me, too. And when Daadi said that was up to you, she said that I had to come anyway, and that you would if Daadi said so on account of him signing the lease, and then Daadi said to hush and he’d talk to you, and . . .” Rhoda finally seemed to run out of steam. Or breath, maybe, since she’d said all that on a breathless rush. Now she gripped Katie’s hands. “You’re not giving up, are you, Katie? Please say you’re not.”
Katie closed her eyes for a second. Whatever she said to Rhoda had to be the truth, if only she knew it. How strange that she had left home to get away from the situation with Eli, only to find herself in the same place again. Could she go on running the shop, being so close to Caleb, and knowing they could never be together?
“I don’t know,” she murmured finally. She cupped Rhoda’s face in her palms before her little sister could erupt again. “But I will do my best for you. Can you trust me for that?”
Rhoda looked as if she would explode in a wave of pleading and anger, but somehow she managed to control it. She pressed her lips together firmly. Then she nodded.
“I trust you,” she said softly. “Always.”
“Gut.” Katie gave her a quick hug. She scooped some jars from the shelves at random and put them in Rhoda’s hands. “We’d best get in there before Mamm comes looking for u
s.”
When they returned to the kitchen, it was obvious to Katie that Mamm and Daadi had probably had a whispered conversation of their own. Mamm’s cheeks were flushed, and her lips formed a thin line.
Daadi stood and held out his hand to Katie. “Komm, Katie. Let’s take a little walk.”
They went out the back door and down the porch steps. Again she had to remind herself that she wasn’t a little girl any longer.
Daadi had something white in one hand ... a paper of some sort. The lease he’d signed with Bishop Mose, maybe? Her throat tightened.
“Aaron has a nice place here, for sure,” Daad said. “I hear he and Sarah will move in with her aunt once they are married, while his brothers stay here with Molly and Jacob. It’s gut to have them all close.”
Katie stopped, looking up at him. “Does that mean that you want Rhoda and me to come home and be close to you and Mamm?”
He smiled, shaking his head. “Always jumping to conclusions, my Katie. You did that when you were a little girl. I meant only that you have family here, too, if you decide to stay.”
If. For a moment she couldn’t breathe. “The cousins have been ser kind to us. But as for staying . . . is that up to me?”
He touched her cheek gently. “This thing that happened has been a bad blow, but it has not changed my mind about backing your business for a year. The decision is yours. If everything has been too hard, and you want to come home, that is gut. And if you want to stay, that is gut also. I . . . We will support you either way.”
Her decision, and she didn’t know what it should be. In a way, it would have been a relief to have Daadi make it for her, but she knew that she couldn’t have been happy with that for long.
“What about Rhoda?”
Daad studied her face. “I never thought that was such a gut idea, but your mamm insisted it would be better for Rhoda, as well as Louise. And I knew you would be gut for her. But is she truly a help to you? Or is the responsibility too much?”
That question, at least, Katie had an answer for.