Naomi saw the worry on her face. “Nee. He’s not coming back anymore.”
Mary nodded. “Gut.” And with that she clambered back into her cart, clucked her tongue, and rode away.
Naomi sank back in her rocker. So Zach had been making her a sign. No wonder he’d reacted so strongly when Justin announced his gift of a sign. She grimaced. But why hadn’t Zach said anything about it to her? Was she supposed to read his mind? She gripped the arms of the rocker and shook her head. The man was beyond frustrating. One minute, he would act tender with her, and the next, he was like a cold brick walking away in silence.
She remembered her recent conversation with Mary when her friend had told her about Zach’s first love, Marcy. That girl had stomped on his heart but good. While Naomi listened to the story, she’d been angry at Marcy, wondering how anyone could be so cruel.
Now, she wondered whether Zach considered her cruel. But still, how was she supposed to know about his sign if he didn’t tell her. Making a quick decision, Naomi rose and walked down the steps and out to the barn. On the way, she scanned the fields, looking for Zach. It didn’t take long to spot him. He was out in the far right field, bending over the fence. It was hard to make out what he was doing from that distance, but she supposed the fence needed mending again. The posts were old and half-rotten, and Zach was always fussing with them. Naomi wondered why he bothered. It wasn’t as if a herd of wild cattle was going to trample through and crush his crops. But the previous owners had put the fences up, and Zach felt obliged to maintain them.
Naomi hesitated for a moment, watching him. He cut a fine figure out there. Tall and sturdy. She closed her eyes and visualized his stark blue eyes gazing at her. He had a way of looking into her as if he saw her very heart. It was unnerving to say the least. But she found herself seeking him out, wanting him to see her, hoping he would come by.
She shivered. All this was too much. She’d thought when she’d married Isaac that she was finished with all this courtship business. Courtship business? Was that what she was thinking? Was she falling for Zach? Did she think he was fixing to court her? She turned toward the barn and went inside. Whether she was falling for him or not, she wasn’t going to be the cause of his pain. She wasn’t going to add to the hurt Marcy had inflicted on him all those years ago.
She grabbed a shovel and carried it down the drive to the road. The sorry-looking Bed and Breakfast sign she and her eleven-year-old daughter Katy had made was still staunchly in place. Naomi began digging up the rocky dirt around its base. They’d planted it deep to ensure it wouldn’t fall over, something she regretted right then as she worked through the stony ground.
The late summer sun could still pack quite a sizzle, and it wasn’t long before she’d worked up a sweat. She was nearing the base of the sign now, and it was leaning precariously to the side. One more shovelful ought to do it. She was glad she wasn’t barefoot like usual. Using a shovel without shoes wasn’t a pleasant experience.
She shoveled the last clump of dirt from the hole, and the sign gently lay over onto the ground. The poor thing looked like a felled tree. She gave it a grateful smile.
“You may be ugly, but you did manage to bring in a few customers,” she said. She bent down and pulled it from the hole, wondering whether she should leave it lying there or take it back to the barn along with the shovel.
“What are you doing?”
Naomi spun around and faced Zachariah. He stood with his legs apart and a look of confusion on his face.
“I thought you were out in the field,” she exclaimed.
“I needed some wire for the fence.” He took a step closer, and she was deeply aware of his scent of work and fields and hot sun.
“Oh.” She swallowed.
“Won’t those sign people take care of this? Surely, that fancy place the Englischer hired doesn’t expect you to pull out the old sign yourself.” The disdain in his voice sounded unnatural coming from his lips.
She straightened her shoulders. “You don’t think so?” His sarcasm sparked something in her, and she found herself rankling under his gaze. “How would you know?”
His jaw twitched, and his eyes darkened. “I don’t know.”
“I thought I’d make things easier for them,” she snapped, wondering what in the world she was doing. Why didn’t she simply tell him that she’d refused the sign? That it wasn’t going to be delivered at all.
“Where’s your guest?” Zach asked, his voice stiff.
“Not here.” Again, why didn’t she simply tell him that Justin Moore had left? For good.
Zach bent over and picked up the old sign. Without a word, he hoisted it onto his shoulder and headed back to the barn. Naomi scrambled to catch up, annoyed with both herself and him. Why couldn’t they have a civil conversation? Why must everything concerning Zachariah King be so hard?
He lumbered into the barn and tossed the sign against the wall. He turned and took the shovel from her hand and set it beside the rake and hoe. She regarded him and wondered at his obvious anger. Was it all about the sign? And just when did he plan to tell her about the one he was making?”
“For your information, Justin left,” she blurted.
Zach’s gaze settled on her face. She saw his lips tighten, and she knew he was trying to read her.
“Did you hear me?” she asked.
“I heard you.” He continued to assess her.
Her pulse was racing, and her throat went dry. Now. Now was the perfect time for him to say something, anything that might give her an idea of his intentions, but he didn’t speak. Naomi couldn’t take her eyes from his. It was as if he’d pulled her into some kind of vortex, and she was struggling to keep her head above water.
Finally, he spoke. “He coming back?”
She shook her head.
“When’s his sign coming?”
“It’s not.”
He stiffened, and his brow furrowed. “What?”
“It’s not coming,” she repeated.
“So, why’d you dig up that one?” he asked, motioning toward the old sign with a nod of his head.
Frustration surged through her. She wanted to shake him—shake him until he lost that dark curtain he wore over his face. Shake him until he admitted he was making a sign for her.
“You tell me,” she said, stretching up even taller.
He gaped at her, and she saw a dawning come over his face. “Mary,” he muttered. He let out his breath in a heavy sigh.
“Jah, Mary. And why not you? Why didn’t you tell me? Was it to be a surprise?”
He shook his head, staring at her. “Not a surprise.”
“So why not tell me?”
He blew out his breath. “It isn’t done.”
She closed her mouth, taken back. That made perfect sense. “So, you were going to tell me when it was done?”
“Nee.” He tapped his hat a bit lower on his forehead. “I was just going to set it up for you.”
“But why didn’t you say something about it yesterday when Justin told me about his sign?”
He frowned. “Really? You wanted me to say something then?”
She was glaring at him now. Did he care for her or not? And if he did, why didn’t he make any effort to make himself clear? Why did he just rumble about the farm, watching her when he thought she wasn’t looking?
Disgusted with the entire subject, she swirled on her heel and marched out of the barn back to the house. She had been married. She wasn’t used to this kind of bantering and maneuvering. She wasn’t a teenager anymore—she was a grown mother of two. She stomped up the steps of the porch and flung open the screen door. Striding inside, she went straight to the kitchen and dug out the ingredients for a massive batch of cookies.
She had a sudden hankering for something sweet.
Two
“Mamm!” Ben called as he raced into the front room. “How come the sign’s in the barn?”
Naomi looked up from her ledger. “I took it do
wn.”
“But how come?”
“Benjamin, look at the floor. You’ve done tracked in a barrelful of dirt!”
Ben looked down at his thick-soled shoes. Clumps of dirt clung to their sides, some of which had fallen to the floor. He gazed behind himself at the trail he’d left. “Sorry.”
“Get the broom.”
“But why’s the sign down.”
“Because Mr. King is making us a new one.” She set down her pencil, happy to take a break from her figuring.
Ben’s face lit up. “He is? Gut! He can do anything.”
A weariness settled over Naomi. “Jah, I suppose he can.”
“He gonna stay for supper again?”
“Nee,” she answered before he could go further with the idea. The very last thing she wanted was another confrontation with Zachariah King.
“Why not?”
“Ben, don’t question your elders. Now, go get that broom.”
“Okay.” He hung his head slightly and turned to go. Then he swirled back to face her. “But Mamm, Mr. Zach loves your cooking. He said so.”
Naomi sighed. “Ben? The broom?”
“I’m going,” he mumbled, heading off to the washroom.
Naomi looked at her page of figures. She needed to buy a calculator; all this adding and subtracting was giving her a headache. Lots of Amish folk used calculators that ran on batteries. She’d even heard tell of calculators that used the sun to work. She never could figure why her dat opposed it so. Maybe because ciphering came easy to him, but it surely didn’t come easily to her. She picked up her pencil and squared her shoulders to tackle it again.
She glanced out the front window and saw a billow of dust accompany a light green car coming up the drive. She set the pencil back down and went out to greet whomever it was. More guests, perhaps?
The car came to a stop, and a young man got out.
“Howdy, ma’am,” he said with a wide smile. “We’re looking for Byler’s Bed and Breakfast. We stopped a ways back and someone directed us here.”
“You’ve come to the right place,” she said, excitement stirring in her chest. She wondered how this young couple even knew of her Bed and Breakfast, especially since she’d taken down the sign. But that didn’t matter. They were there. “How can I help you?”
“We’re wanting to stay a couple of nights.” His voice carried a heavy drawl, reminding her of Justin’s way of speaking. “The missus and me.”
The passenger window came down and a lovely young woman with glistening red hair poked her head through the opening. “I’m Gladys,” she said with the same drawl, only softer. “Please no jokes about my name. My mother seemed to think it amusing to slap an ancient-style name on me.”
Naomi’s brows rose, and she shook her head. “Gladys is a fine name.” How odd for someone to jump right into such talk after introducing themselves. Naomi would have thought such comments would be reserved for dear friends.
“So, you know Justin Moore?” the man asked, coming around his car.
At the mention of Justin’s name, Naomi’s heart skipped a beat. Justin had told her that he would send guests her way, but she never truly expected it. She thought he was being kind, trying to encourage her. And after their parting of ways, she assumed he would put her out of his mind forever.
“Jah,” she murmured. “I know Justin Moore.”
“He can’t stop raving about your place,” Gladys said. Her eyes roamed the area. “It is lovely here. He certainly got that right.”
She opened her door and stepped out. Her long tanned legs were thin, and she had on a pair of orange slip-on shoes. She wore a snug short dress with geometric shapes printed all over it. She tossed her fiery hair back over her shoulders and gave a contented sigh.
“I’m simply going to love it here,” she said. “Please tell us you have a vacancy.”
Naomi nodded. “Jah, we have a vacancy. Two nights did you say?”
The man offered her his hand, and she shook it. Would she ever get used to touching strangers?
“I’m Scott,” he said. “Is it true that you have no electricity?”
“Jah, that’s true. Do you still want to stay?”
Gladys laughed, a joyous tinkling sound. “It will do us good to unplug,” she said, nudging Scott. “Won’t it, honey?”
“If you say so.” He smiled at Naomi. “No, she’s right. We’ve been working way too hard. Both of us. This will do us good.”
“If you’d like to get your bags, I’ll show you to your room.”
“Will we stay in the same little house where Justin stayed? He said it was the coziest place he’s ever slept in.”
Naomi’s heart warmed. “Jah. The same place.”
When they entered the daadi haus, Gladys threw out her arms and practically squealed. “Yes! It truly is cozy. Where do we sleep?”
Taking a breath, Naomi took them to the bedroom she used to share with Isaac. She braced herself for the onslaught of emotions as she offered them her former bed, but when she opened the bedroom door, she felt nothing. She blinked rapidly, and her brow creased. She paused, her hand on the doorknob, waiting. She hadn’t opened this door without a rush of grief and longing since the accident had happened that took her husband’s life. But right then, she felt as if she were opening any other bedroom door. She was so taken back, she could hardly focus on the matter at hand.
Gladys moved past her. “This is a charming room,” she said. She went to the lantern sitting on a bedside table. “Here’s our light, honey!”
Scott joined her. “The old-fashioned kind,” he said with a chuckle. “I’m looking forward to this.”
Gladys faced Naomi. “Do you have hot water for a shower? I should have asked in the beginning.”
“We do,” Naomi said, blinking hard and bringing herself back into the moment.
Gladys’s shoulders relaxed. “I hate to be prudish, but I do like a hot shower.”
Scott rubbed his hands together. “Justin told us it was one hundred fifty a night because you add in meals.”
One hundred fifty? Naomi blanched. Justin knew full well it was only one hundred dollars a night.
“Nee. It’s only—”
Scott was already peeling three one hundred dollar bills from his wallet. He handed them to her. “This will cover two nights. I can get a receipt from you at dinner.”
Naomi stepped back, but he pressed the money into her palm.
“But this is too much,” she said.
“Hardly,” Scott replied. “Not if meals are included. We want to hole up here for the next couple days. Not having to go out for meals is a real plus.”
Naomi stood dumbfounded. Even when he wasn’t around, Justin was making his mark.
“What time is dinner?” Gladys asked. “We don’t want to be late.”
“Six o’clock. But really, this is too much money.”
“Nonsense. We’ll see you at six,” Scott said, placing their compact suitcase on the end of the bed.
Naomi was being dismissed from her own daadi haus, which was a switch, but she found she didn’t mind. Three hundred dollars. Was this Justin’s way of telling her she was charging too little? No, she didn’t think so. This was Justin’s way of thanking her once again. She held the money to her chest as she went back to the big house, grateful that Justin Moore was still her friend even though she’d never see him again.
“Thank you, Gott,” she whispered as she went in to prepare supper. She took the green beans out of the refrigerator and set about snapping them. As she worked, her mind rested on Justin. She realized that thinking of him wasn’t painful anymore. There was no yearning, no wishing things could be different. Instead, she felt a contentment at knowing him, a gentle gratitude for their time together.
And that was all.
Humming now, she set on a pot of water. Beans took quite a bit of boiling to become tender and tasty.
****
Katy wandered into the kitchen an hour
before supper was to be served. “On my way back from Liz’s house, I stopped by the mailbox. You got a letter from Uncle Marvin.”
Naomi sighed. She already knew what was in the letter. Marvin would be pressuring her once again to move back to Pennsylvania. That was his standard fare.
“Set it on the counter. I’ll get to it later.” She handed Naomi the bread knife. “Would you cut the loaf and put some slices on a plate?”
“Sure, Mamm. Do we have guests? There’s a car out front. And what happened to our sign on the road?”
“Mr. Zach is making us a new sign. And yes, we do have guests. For two nights. A nice young couple.”
Katy grinned. “We’re doing gut, aren’t we? We’re getting money?”
Naomi regarded her. “I don’t want you worrying about money, daughter. Things are fine.”
Katy’s face flushed. “I’m not little anymore.”
Naomi stepped closer. “I know that.”
“I heard you talking to Mrs. Mary once. You told her we needed the money. You’ve said the same thing to Ben and me, too.”
Naomi blew out her breath. “Katy, you leave those concerns to me. The Good Lord has taken care of us so far, hasn’t He?”
Katy pressed her lips together and nodded.
“And He’ll continue to take care of us.” She squeezed Katy’s shoulders. “Now, that bread isn’t going to slice itself.”
Katy grinned and starting cutting the bread.
****
Supper was ready a few minutes before six. Ben had skipped in and washed up and was already waiting on the long bench, his legs swinging beneath the heavy table. Naomi and Katy set out the creamed potatoes, green beans, bread, fried chicken, and sliced carrots.
“This is more like dinner than supper,” Katy said.
“Smells good,” Ben exclaimed with an appreciative sniff.
“They’re paying well,” Naomi said, “so I want to make sure they eat well.”
“Hello!” Scott called through the door. “Are you ready for us?”
Naomi went to let them in. “Gut afternoon. Come straight in.”
Scott and Gladys entered the dining area and both of them let out an exclamation of pleasure. “Oh, this looks wonderful,” Gladys said.
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