Thankful

by Shelley Shepard Gray

  “Thank you for the compliment.”

  But of course, what she was really wondering was why he was bringing up her financial situation.

  “So why aren’t you enjoying yourself more?”

  The question caught her off guard. She’d been meaning to tell the kids about Ross, but so far she hadn’t gotten the nerve to do it.

  They’d had a hard enough time with her selling their childhood home—she had no idea how they’d react to her dating Ross. He was as different from their father as night and day. Their father had been bookish and a bit of an introvert.

  Ross wasn’t exactly gregarious, but he was a doer. He liked to go walking, hiking. Biking. He liked to talk to people. He liked to talk to her.

  “Mom, you hardly come over to see Dylan,” Nick continued. “And Melissa and Garrett said you haven’t seen them in weeks.”

  He’d called his siblings? “That isn’t all my fault. You’ve been too busy to come see me. When I talked to Melissa the other day, she was almost too busy to talk on the phone.”

  “Have you called Jay lately? She’s dating someone. Finally.”

  Jay, just one year older than Garrett, had actually been named Jaynilyn. Her little tomboy had famously claimed she’d rather be called plain old Jay when she was five years old. Harrison had thought that was the funniest thing he’d ever heard and had immediately started calling her Jay.

  In addition to being a tomboy, their Jay had also been famously single-minded. Instead of dating she’d studied. Instead of thinking about relationships, she’d thought about her next promotion. Now she was living out in California, working in San Francisco in the corporate offices of a fancy gift and jewelry store.

  But Jana sure hadn’t heard a thing about her being in a relationship. “Jay told you she was dating?”

  “Well, she told Melissa, who told Garrett, who told me.”

  Jana swallowed hard. Her four children had been calling one another. A lot. But though they had time for that, they had elected Nick to give her this call.

  Stacking some old magazines in a pile to take to the recycling bin, Jana struggled to keep her voice soft and easygoing. “My goodness. Jay hasn’t told me about that. Yet.”

  “Maybe she didn’t tell you because you haven’t been answering the phone.”

  “I’ve had my cell phone, Nick. I promise, I would have heard if it rang.”

  “Jay said she called you on Saturday night.”

  Which was when Ross had taken her to the movies. “Hmm.”

  “Hmm? Mom, I’m not trying to make you feel guilty. I’m just pointing out that you’re putting the restaurant in front of people who care about you.”

  “You’re doing pretty good at the guilt. . . .”

  “Mom, this isn’t about me or the other kids.”

  “What is it about then?” Her voice had turned tart. She hated that, but she was feeling guilty and a bit frustrated, too.

  “You.”

  “Me?”

  “Mom, when was the last time you took a vacation, or did something just for you?” He paused, then added, “When was the last time you went on a date of your own, Mom?”

  Well, here was her chance. “Actually, I . . . I have been dating someone.”

  For a good ten seconds, there was silence. “You have?” To say his voice was incredulous was an understatement.

  “Yes. It’s only happened recently.” She paused, then shrugged her shoulders. “On Saturday night, I didn’t hear my cell phone because I was at the movies with Ross.”

  “His name is Ross?”

  She couldn’t help notice that Nick skimmed right over the point of her statement—that she hadn’t been at work, she’d been at the movies. “Yes, his name is Ross. And before you ask, he’s a nice man. He’s a police officer right here in Sugarcreek. Isn’t that something?” she mused, maybe a little too offhandedly. “I never thought I’d date a policeman.”

  “Who have you told about this?”

  “Well, the girls at the restaurant know.”

  “But none of us? Why haven’t you told any of us?”

  “Nick, I thought I’d wait a bit. You know . . . see where things went.” She bit the inside of her cheek since she could only imagine how her oldest, type-A son was handling the news.

  “Mom, maybe I should come over to see you soon.”

  She smiled. She bet he wanted to come out! “I would love to see you. And Kara and Dylan, of course. You know how much I’d love that.”

  “I was thinking, maybe I could help you come up with a business plan, you know, a timeline so you could start thinking about selling the restaurant.”

  “Dear, I actually already have a plan. There’s the cutest new girl in town who was interested in eventually taking over the place. Her name is Pippa. We’ve already begun the paperwork to become partners. Actually, it’s working out really well.”

  “You did that without asking me? Wow.”

  He sounded hurt. And she felt bad about that. But not that bad. It was her restaurant, not his. “It just kind of happened, Nick. Kind of like Ross.”

  “Mom, you know what? I think it would be great if all of us came out to Sugarcreek to see you.”

  All four of them now! “I would like that very much,” she said as casually as possible. Thank goodness he couldn’t see her look of amusement. “Perhaps we could plan something at Christmas.”

  “No, I think I’ll see if we can do something a lot sooner than that.”

  “Nick, if you’re worried about me or my decisions, I’ll have you know that I do not appreciate you second-guessing me.”

  “I’m not second-guessing, Mom. But I am going to go ahead and call Garrett, Jay, and Melissa as soon as we get off the phone.”

  “You sound a little panicked, dear. I promise, I’m fine.”

  “When I talk to everybody, we’ll discuss everyone’s schedule. Then I’ll call you back when we come up with a date.”

  He sounded very sure that he was going to be able to convince them all to drop what they were doing and to zip out her way very soon. Obviously, her eldest was extremely concerned that his usual stuck-in-the-mud mother had started actually doing something with her life.

  But instead of arguing, she gave in gracefully. After all, she did want to see all the kids, and it was probably a good idea for them to meet Ross sooner rather than later.

  “All right,” she said in a breezy way that probably didn’t fool her son for a second. “Just let me know when all of you would like to come out this way. You know how much I love to see you.”

  “Okay, I’m going to call everyone. I’ll call again soon. Love you.”

  “All right, dear.” She smiled broadly. “Talk to you soon.”

  When she hung up, she found herself both bemused and more than a little bit amused.

  It seemed that the best way to connect with four grown children was actually not to call them often or complain about not seeing them enough.

  And in her case?

  All she’d had to do was move on with her life.

  It only took fifteen minutes for Aden to wish he’d never taken Martha with him to visit his new apartment.

  Martha Kempf was a generous and very kind woman. But she also was not happy about him moving out into a run-down apartment above an empty hardware store. From the moment she walked through the door with its three locks, her posture changed.

  And then her expression did, too.

  All the while, it was obvious she was trying her best to keep her opinions about his new home to herself. And that, Aden feared, made the tour all the worse.

  “How much did you say the rent was again?”

  Though she’d already asked him three times, he repeated the amount.

  “And that is per month, you say?”

  “Jah, Martha, that is right. And we also know you heard it correctly the first time, too.”

  If she was ashamed that he caught on to her game so quickly, she didn’t show it. Instead,
she lifted her chin a little, attempting to look down at him from her diminutive height of five-foot-two. “All I’m saying is that it seems mighty expensive for a place such as this.”

  “I think you’re forgetting that it’s a pretty good size.” He waved a hand around the place, just like he’d suddenly become a real estate agent. “It’s got this generous living room, a bedroom big enough for a king-sized bed, and lots of closets, too.”

  “Jah, this is true. But it doesn’t have much else.”

  Aden decided to refrain from asking what else Martha thought it needed.

  Taking a turn around the place—yet again—she wrinkled her nose at the stain on the floor in the living room. “It is also in need of a real good cleanin’.”

  “It hasn’t been lived in for a few months.” Not since Miriam’s friend Mary Kate had gotten attacked by her ex-boyfriend, he knew. Of course, he wasn’t going to share that one. He sincerely hoped Martha wouldn’t make that connection anytime soon.

  “The bedroom is rather dark, don’t you think?”

  With a tug, he pulled the shade up. “It looks better now. Like I said, it’s a good size.”

  “Perhaps.” She shrugged, obviously not ready to give an inch. “Aden, I am sorry, but I fail to see how this place is an improvement over your current situation. You have a nice bedroom at our haus. And it is on the side of the house, away from the kinner. You’ve got some space to yourself, too.”

  But that was the point. He didn’t have enough privacy. And he certainly needed more than a couple of hallways separating him and Christina. “It is time, Martha. We both knew that I couldn’t live with you forever.”

  “I agree with you, to be sure. But I never imagined you would be in such a hurry. And especially not to go to a place such as this.”

  Her voice was more than a bit critical. One of her fingers was held up like a trophy, the dust decorating it seeming to be a symbol representing everything that was wrong with the tiny place above an abandoned hardware store.

  It occurred to him that he should be a little bit offended. After all, Martha could have at least pretended to find something good about his new home.

  But Aden was just trying to get through this. “It is simply time for me to move. Everyone grows up, you know. And this place has promise.”

  “Hmph. That’s about all it has.” With a bit of a dramatic sigh, she led the way toward the kitchen, perhaps better described as a tiny kitchenette. “This isna much. You’ll barely be able to boil water here.’

  “I think you’re exaggerating a bit.” He waited a moment, then looked her square in the eye. “Maybe a little bit more than that. What is wrong, Martha?”

  “I’m not ready for you to move away. I didn’t think we’d have to go through this until you were getting married. And then it would be to a real house. Not a dreary place like this.”

  “Not everyone gets married young. I needed to move out on my own.” Reaching out, he squeezed her hand. That soft hand with the faint smattering of freckles across the knuckles. Keeping her hand in his for a little longer, he looked at how their hands looked together. He’d always thought his adoptive mother had pretty hands. They were capable and strong, but also had the pale skin of the rest of the family. He’d always imagined Martha as a time machine, giving him a glimpse of how Christina would look in twenty years’ time.

  Which made him realize how he would always think that Christina was the prettiest girl in the world.

  “Please try to be at least a little happy for me. It would make it easier for me.”

  A new awareness settled into her eyes. “There’s more going on than I realized. Does it have to do with the nurse who took you home?”

  “Janice and I are merely friends.”

  “But maybe you’re hoping for something more?” She raised a brow. It was obvious that she was feeling pleased with herself, thinking that she’d solved the mystery of why he’d decided to move out.

  “I didn’t say that.”

  She tapped her temple like she’d just solved a case. “You didn’t have to, Aden.”

  He didn’t like her thinking he was interested in courting an English nurse. But he supposed it was better for her to think that he liked Janice than to go back to dwelling on the way he’d held Christina’s hand.

  Now that he’d gotten a taste of what it felt like to be in the middle of everyone’s speculating, he decided that there was no way he going to admit his real reason for leaving. But he was tired of saying the same thing, so he kept silent.

  After another long look, Martha nodded at last. “Joe and I will gather everyone and help you move. Just tell us the date and we’ll help you.”

  “There’s no need to go to so much trouble. I don’t have much, anyway.”

  Martha raised her brows. “You have enough. Definitely too much for one person to try to carry up those rickety steps.”

  He wasn’t quite sure what she was talking about, since he’d come to the Kempf house with nothing but his clothes and a few personal items. “I can manage a couple of duffel bags of clothes, Martha.”

  “You have much more than that, Aden! You have your bed and dresser. You have the kitchen table that’s up in storage in the barn.” Finally warming up to the topic, she added, “I’ll look around some other places, too. I seem to remember that we might have a pair of chairs in the basement that I’ve been anxious to replace.”

  “I can’t take those things.”

  “Why on earth not?”

  “They’re yours, not mine.”

  “We’re giving them to you, Aden.”

  “But don’t you think they should go to your own kinner instead of me?”

  Looking over him carefully, her usually melodic voice turned snippy. “Well, my goodness. I must say I’m mighty disappointed in you, Aden Reese.”

  “Why?”

  Still frowning and looking put-upon, she continued. “After everything I’ve done for you, I never thought I’d hear you talk like this.” She waved a hand in front of her chest. Practically acting like she was about to have a heart attack.

  “I think you’re being a little dramatic there, Martha.”

  “Not hardly. Here for ten years, Joe and I have done everything we could think of to make sure you knew you were an important part of this family.”

  “I know you have—”

  Her voice turned a little more strained. A little more plaintive. “Why, we gave you that bed when you came to us. You always said you slept gut on it.”

  “I did. I mean, I have.”

  “Then you must understand that there’s no way I would ever let you continue on your way without it.” She waved a hand in the direction of the dark bedroom’s doorway. “If you are going to insist on sleeping in this place, I certainly am not going to let you sleep on the floor.”

  “I wasn’t going to sleep on the floor. I was going to go to Millers and order a bed.”

  “You were going to buy one? I think not.”

  “All right, Martha. I hear you. Danke.”

  “And you will accept the other things, too.”

  “You’re not worried that Nate or Henry will want those things?”

  “Nee. I am not. Don’t make me argue with you, Aden.”

  “I don’t want to argue with you, either.”

  “Gut.” Looking a bit mollified now that she’d gotten her way, Martha clasped her hands together. “Now, all this brings us to another thing. All of us girls will come over here tomorrow and help you clean.”

  Not only would he feel horrible about bringing them extra work, there was something about the thought of Christina washing out his shower or kitchen sink that gave him the willies. “That is not necessary.”

  She sighed dramatically. “Aden, must we go through this all over again?“

  Looking into her eyes, he realized that his adoptive mother was determined to get her way. “Of course not. I will be thankful for your help.”

  “Gut. That’s more like it. No
w, walk me down the stairs. I never thought I’d say this, but I just don’t think I’m brave enough to go down those narrow, rickety stairs by myself.”

  “Of course. I had intended to help you.” As he took her arm, he guided her down the steep and rickety wooden steps. His new landlord had promised that the steps would be repaired shortly. But in the meantime they were one step away from being blown down by a fierce wind.

  After they got downstairs, they walked down the narrow alley that led to Main Street. “What are you doing now?”

  “I’m going to head over to the Grabers’ store. I saw Joshua Graber at church and he told me they got a new shipment of fabric in last week. I thought I’d take a look at it while I wait for Christina to get done with her walk.”

  “Walk? You mean work, right?”

  “Nee, I mean walk. Christina was asked to take a walk after work.”

  “It’s freezing outside. Who would want to do that?”

  “A man who wants to go courting, I imagine,” she retorted.

  “Wait a minute. She’s being courted?”

  “Well, now, I don’t know if that is quite what is happening. She met a man at work, you see. Today he asked her to take a walk with him. When I stopped over to see her while you were in the bank she told me about it.”

  “He’s a stranger and you’re letting her spend time with him?”

  “It’s not like I have a lot of choice. You know Christina. She’s a woman who knows her mind.”

  “But she doesn’t always make the best decisions.”

  “No, she seems to have a pretty level head.” She looked at him curiously. “Aden, why are you so upset about this? There’s nothing wrong with going for a little walk in the afternoon. And Christina is of age. It had to happen sooner or later.”

  “I’m not upset. Just concerned.” Aden knew he was acting a bit proprietary. The right thing to do was to not say another word about this. As it was, he was making his adoptive mother very amused. And he was sure that looking back on things in a few hours he was going to be embarrassed about his runaway mouth. But some things couldn’t be helped.

  “It’s sweet of you to be so concerned, but I think you’re worrying over nothing. Christina said they spoke a time or two at the restaurant.”