by Gail Sattler
25
Mutta? What are you doing here?”
Her mama stood in front of her desk, wringing her hands and looking around the office. “I have come so that we may go shopping when you get off from work.”
Anna’s hands froze over her keyboard. There was no reason for her mama to come to the office just so they could walk to the store together. Not only that, she had never come into the factory before, ever. She’d never had a reason to.
Anna’s stomach churned. Something was wrong.
She pushed herself out of her chair just as Chad came out of his office. “Mrs. Janzen? This is a pleasant surprise to see you. What can I do for you?”
“I have come for Anna, so that I would not miss her today. We will go shopping together.”
His brows knotted. From Chad’s expression Anna could see that he thought the exact same thing she had, and he was trying to make sense of it. Still sporting his stern expression, Chad stepped in front of her desk, beside her mama. “If you need to talk to Anna about something important, rather than going to a public place like the store, why don’t you two make yourself comfortable in my office? I’ve got to talk to Frank about something anyway. I figure I’ll be about half an hour. Is that enough time?”
Mama’s eyes widened, and she glanced back and forth between Anna and Chad.
Anna stood. “I am sure that will be enough time. Danke shoen, Chad. Come, Mutta. This is a better place to speak privately.”
Chad shuffled his feet. “Can I bring you two ladies some coffee?”
Mama’s eyes widened. “Oh my!” she gasped. “Why would you do that?”
If she hadn’t been so worried about what her mama needed to tell her so much she’d interrupted her at her job, Anna would have laughed. “Do not mind Chad, Mutta. He wants everyone to drink as much coffee as he does so he does not feel guilty about it.”
As if realizing his gaffe, Chad hurried out, and his footsteps faded down the hall until all was silent.
“This way, Mutta.”
Instead of sitting in Chad’s chair behind his desk, Anna sat in one of the visitor chairs and motioned for her mama to sit in the other. “Why are you here? What is wrong?”
Her mama looked down and again wrung her hands. “It is your papa. He is very displeased. After you and Chad went to see Henry’s new chicken plucker, he saw Chad with his arms around you while you were in his yard. It is a good thing I had seen that you had just arrived there and you were not in his house with him for more than a few minutes. But now that Chad has given his testimony that he has made a woman be with child when they are not married . . .” Her mama wrung her hands still more. “Your papa does not want you to be with Chad again, at all. Except he is your boss. I have tried to tell him that we should not make you quit this job that you enjoy so much. But it was not good.” Her mama shook her head. “He says that you should stay at home like all the other girls your age, until you and William will become married.”
Anna’s heart froze, and a million thoughts zinged through her head. “Mutta, at that moment, Chad was in much distress. He had just told me the story of what he said in his testimony, but what he told me was how much he was hurt, how he wanted to marry her, but his fiancée not only ran away so he could not find her but also stole most of his furniture. I have never seen a person so sad, and he needed a hug. That is all it was.”
Even though telling the recap of why Chad had embraced her brought back the sadness of his story, at the same time, Anna felt anger in her heart—not only had her parents watched her during a private time, they had also judged her and found her wanting when she had done nothing evil. She had done the opposite, showing comfort to a friend who needed someone to share his pain.
Yet at the same time, in addition to her anger, her thoughts swirled with confusion at calling Chad a friend. Of course they were friends, but the feelings she held for him were not like her feelings for William, who had been her friend since childhood. What she felt for Chad was different and changing every day. Even today, he had given her his office to use for as long as she needed it. Anna knew he only needed to speak to Frank for a minute. She also knew he was very busy and needed to be at his desk working or else he would have to stay late to get his work completed. Everything he did made her realize even more just how special he was.
“Are you sure this is only friendship? Your papa thinks there is much more, and with a man who has done what he has done, this would not be a good thing. We do not want him to take advantage of you as he has taken liberties with this other woman.”
Anna clenched her teeth. She knew she had been feeling more than simple friendship for Chad, but again, her anger burned at her parents’ accusation. “Mutta, it was not like that at all. Chad was very sad; his heart was breaking. He had wanted to get married, but she deserted him. He has been trying to find her and he wants to make it right. He has even hired a detective to help him.”
Her mama turned to the window, not looking at Anna as she spoke. Because of this, Anna’s heart sank, knowing she was not going to like what her mama was going to say.
“Your papa and I, we have decided that you will no longer be seeing Chad except for when you are at work. Also there will be no more long working hours for you. You are to leave at your assigned time. There especially will be no more working on Saturdays.”
Anna jumped to her feet. “But I am not working on Saturdays. I am using the Internet to do the classes I have told you I am taking because I cannot go away to college. Chad is allowing me to do this, and he is helping me to learn and study.”
Her mama turned to her. “That is why you can no longer do this. It is not good when there are just the two of you in the building.”
“But he is a good man! I trust him!”
Her mama also stood. “Your papa has spoken. This is the way it will be. You will be home on time today.”
“But there are so many things we do together, when there are other people with us, when it is not at work. Certainly Papa cannot forbid me to be in the same room with him when there are others with us. And certainly we can speak to each other outside when there are people watching.”
Her mama bowed her head. “I do not disagree with you, but I cannot disagree with your papa.”
Before she could think of a response that would still be respectful, her mama turned and walked out.
Anna sank into the chair and stared blankly out the window.
Her papa had always been a fair man. He’d always used wisdom and good judgment. But in this, he was wrong.
At a loss for what to do, her mind drained of thought and her body drained of energy. She was not good at cooking, and all her sewing looked like the work of a child. Once a house was clean, she would not do the work again until it was needed. Without this job, this is what she would be doing most of her days—staring at the trees outside, looking out the window, watching the leaves and flowers grow.
“Anna? What happened? What’s wrong?”
She turned to Chad and looked up at him.
He sank into the chair beside her and cupped her hands in his. “I saw your mother leave, and she was crying as she walked. What’s the matter?”
Feeling numb inside, she recapped the conversation, including her mama’s words and her papa’s ultimatum, then stared down at their joined hands. Before he’d come into the room, she’d felt so alone and defeated, but now, even though nothing had changed, Chad’s presence and the comfort of his simple gesture made her feel that things weren’t quite as bad.
“This is my fault. First we need to pray about this, and then you need to leave it with me.” He gave her hands a gentle squeeze. “Most of all, don’t do anything rash or without thinking real hard first.”
She looked up into his eyes. “But what about you? Would you not say leaving your job as you did was a foolish thing?”
One side of his mouth twitched up. “Probably. But I had options. I have no doubt that I wouldn’t have had any problem finding ano
ther job once I got back. But I really believe God wanted me here. Let’s pray first, and then we’ll trust that God also has a plan for you.”
He led her in a short prayer, finishing just as the clock hit her regular finish time, without banking overtime.
“It’s time for you to leave. Don’t worry about falling behind, I’ll help you. We’ll work this out. Now pack up your stuff and go home. I’ll see you later.”
Chad carefully lifted the baking sheet out of the oven and set it on the stovetop. He’d just picked up the spatula when the doorbell rang.
He sucked in a deep breath and pressed his hands to his stomach to calm his nerves, then went to answer the door. He didn’t know if Anna had spoken to her mother, but since arrangements for the evening had already been made, and since Brian was the one who actually went to her house to get her, she said she was still coming.
They’d both prayed that her mother could talk some sense into her father, and since they didn’t have an answer either way, Anna said she would keep seeing him, as long as there was another adult present, or they were out in public. Techni-cally, this wasn’t really any different than what they’d already been doing, so he wasn’t sure this was the right solution. All he could do was to continue on, and pray hard.
With Anna beside him, Brian stood at the door grinning like a cat who had just eaten a canary, probably because he was going to be eating something much better, at least in human terms.
Anna’s eyes opened wide. “What is that I smell? What are you cooking?”
“A bunch of stuff, actually. Have a seat. I’ll be right back.” He hurried back into the kitchen and lifted the buns from the baking sheet onto the cooling rack, then returned to the living room to be with his guests.
He found Brian checking out his CDs, and Anna checking out the bookshelf.
As Anna turned around, a flicker of gold at her throat reflected the light.
He smiled. She was still wearing the necklace with the little gold heart that he’d given her a week ago. That had to be a good sign. Now, if she enjoyed his cooking, that would be another good one.
“Everything is ready. We should eat now, so we don’t have to rush. I don’t want to be late.”
Brian made a sound almost like a snort. “We will not be late. If we take too long to eat what you have cooked us, we will simply take your car.”
Anna groaned. “But we cannot. If we do, every woman there will ask him to take her for a ride.”
Chad nearly groaned along with her. If they had been simply going to an adult Bible study meeting, there would be mostly married couples attending and most of the married women were not interested in his car. Or at least, not many dared to admit it in front of their husbands. However, the young adult group was different. Everyone attending, except for the leaders, was single, and the women outnumbered the men.
“I’m with Anna on this one, sorry,” said Chad. “Besides, knowing you, you’re going to gobble down supper and either be ready to run out the door to eat whatever snacks they’ll have, or you’ll want to roll over and fall asleep on the couch because of your full stomach.”
Brian grinned and rubbed his stomach with one hand. “You may test me on this.”
Chad rolled his eyes. One day, when Brian decided to start looking for a wife, the woman he chose had better like cooking, because she was destined to spend a lot of time in the kitchen feeding him. But then, Brian would truly appreciate everything she did, so he supposed that would make it even.
Fortunately for Chad, this meant Brian would never have his eye out for Anna. Unlike her mother, Anna was not a star in the kitchen, and in all likelihood, never would be. Therefore, he hoped that he could charm her with his cooking. It probably wasn’t a typical way for a man to woo the woman of his dreams, but here, the usual rules didn’t apply. Here, a woman didn’t have to worry about her waistline to the point of starving herself. If a woman enjoyed food, it was normal to eat portions that could actually sustain life. Therefore, he’d decided to pull out all the stops, and hopefully, when he let Anna have it with everything he thought would open her heart to him, she wouldn’t know what hit her, except for Cupid’s arrow.
He pulled out a chair so she could sit down, then began removing the covers from all the serving dishes, which he had already set on the table.
“This is so strange,” she said, not meeting his eyes as she spoke. “It should be me who is serving the meal and you who is sitting.”
“My house, my rules. I’m not really serving, I’m just taking the lids off.” As he spoke, he removed the last lid and piled all of them on the stovetop. “There. All ready.” He sat and folded his hands on the table in front of him. “Brian, would you like to say the blessing?”
In less than a nanosecond, Brian closed his eyes and folded his hands in front of him on the tabletop. He gave an enthusiastic prayer of thanks for the food and their time together and immediately started helping himself.
“What is all this?” Anna asked, scanning all the food without yet taking anything.
“This is my granny’s special meatloaf—the recipe has been handed down through the generations in my family, regardless of gender—accompanied by mashed potatoes with another of my special secret ingredients. I made the gravy myself—it’s not from a mix. Next to it is a nice fresh salad, and tender steamed broccoli. On the side, here’s some fresh bread. I cheated and used a bread making machine, because after all, I had to work today. Then for dessert, cinnamon buns, which unfortunately were made with baking powder, not good old-fashioned yeast, because the bread was in the machine all day and I didn’t have time to make them the right way. I just thought I’d mention that the cheese sauce for the broccoli is, of course, my mother’s special secret recipe that no one knows outside of our immediate family.”
“I can barely believe that you have made all this. Just how many secret ingredients do you have?”
He grinned. “It’s a secret.”
Brian reached enthusiastically for the bowl of mashed potatoes. “I do not usually like secrets, but I am liking yours.”
Hopefully, the plan would work. Today, Chad had put together this stately meal in order to have Anna over as his guest—first, so he could impress her with his cooking; but second and equally important, he needed to say he had something special planned. Today it would have been extremely awkward to eat at her home, with her parents, and especially her father.
Yesterday, he’d had quite a conversation with Peter. The man had no idea how stifled and unhappy his daughter was, and Chad hadn’t told him. That wasn’t his place. When Anna decided the time was right, then it was up to her to tell him. Chad only hoped she wouldn’t wait until the day her suitcases were packed and she had one foot out the door.
Actually, starting today, Chad’s plan for Anna had changed. He’d already planned to try to convince her to stay, but now he planned to be more specific. He wanted her to stay with him.
He watched as she took her first nibble of his prized meatloaf. Her eyes widened, and she stopped chewing for just a second. “This is zehr gut. Amazing. Everything you have done is just right.” Her eyes narrowed. “This is not from a package, like the Shake ’N Bake that Miranda used to make her famous chicken recipe, is it?”
“Nope. I slaved for hours over a hot stove to make this for you.”
“You are teasing me. You have not been home from work that long.”
He hadn’t. But he’d had just enough time to throw the ingredients together and let the meatloaf bake for an hour while he got everything else together and ready within minutes of their arrival.
The trick today hadn’t been any complicated cooking skill. It had been timing.
Just like he’d done his best on his timing to talk to Anna’s father.
He’d gone yesterday, when all the ladies were at their women’s Bible study meeting and he should have gone to the men’s group meeting. Instead, he’d stood at his door, peeking through the curtains, watching and waiting fo
r Anna and her mother to leave. Then, the second David left for the youth group meeting, Chad ran to their door to talk to Peter, before he left as well.
He wouldn’t have called it a pleasant welcome, but considering Peter’s thoughts, the man was gracious to have let him in. After all, Peter had thought Chad was going to tarnish his daughter.
Really, Peter had no idea of the inner strength of his lovely daughter. Anna’s sweet and gentle spirit was truly her biggest asset, but at the same time, when she had a plan, everyone knew who was in charge.
All Chad could do was promise Peter he would honor his daughter, keep her safe—not just from the evil world out there, but from himself as well. And he’d do everything he could to make her happy.
Because if she was happy, maybe, hopefully, he could get her to stay in Piney Meadows with him.
So now, here he was, trying to show Anna the person he was—that he really wasn’t a bad guy and could make her happy, if she’d just give him a chance. He could make her happier here, with him, than she’d be alone in Minneapolis. And maybe, just maybe, if she fell half as in love with him as he was with her, they would both be happier together.
How different his life would have been if he’d met Anna first, before he’d met Brittany.
“Chad? Why are you not eating your own food? Everything is zehr gut. Brian has already taken a second helping of everything, and you have not finished your first.”
He put on his most charming smile and gazed what he hoped was lovingly into her eyes. In the background, he heard Brian choke. “I was distracted, thinking of what I’m going to make, just special for you, next time, that’s even better than this.”
All her movements froze. “Next time?”
He raised an eyebrow. “Oh, yeah. Next time. I plan to have a lot of next times.” Before she could argue, he helped himself to more potatoes, putting more on her plate as well. He spooned a generous serving of gravy over both and winked.
Anna’s eyes widened. She gasped and raised one hand to her throat, pressing her fingers into the tiny gold heart he’d given her.