Return to Paradise

by Cameron, Barbara;

  If he had any reaction to her he didn’t show it. Instead, he kept his eyes on the road as he drove toward town.

  Mary Elizabeth chattered away about the weather, about the displays of fall pumpkins at roadside stands, about anything and everything.

  She’s nervous, Lavina realized, surprised. Mary Elizabeth was never nervous. Maybe she really had wanted someone to support her as she’d said. Feeling a little guilty at how she’d been suspicious, Lavina reached over and squeezed her schweschder’s hand.

  “Nervous?”

  “A little.” She took a deep breath. “Tell me where Sam’s been living. You two didn’t share a place?”

  He shook his head. “I moved out first and found a little attic apartment. When Sam needed a place there wasn’t room for him there. He found a small apartment, and when John decided to leave home he moved in with Sam.”

  “What if he’s not home?”

  “He’ll be home. There are football games on today.” He glanced at them. “On television. He and John never leave the apartment when they’re on.”

  “What about you?” Lavina asked him.

  The corner of his mouth quirked in a grin. “I was glued to the television when they were on, too,” he admitted.

  “Does Sam have a truck, too?”

  “Nee. He hasn’t saved up enough yet. A friend gives him a ride to work.”

  “How much longer?”

  “Not long.”

  A few minutes later, David pulled into the parking lot of a modern looking apartment complex. He shut off the engine and turned to look at Mary Elizabeth. “This is it. Apartment 3C, right over there.”

  Mary Elizabeth grabbed the door handle and opened it. She was halfway out of the truck before Lavina could grab her arm.

  “You want me to go with you?”

  “Nee, I’ll be fine.”

  “Mary Elizabeth?”

  She stopped and looked at David.

  “If he says he’ll talk to you we’ll go get some coffee and come back for you in half an hour, allrecht?”

  “Ya, David.” She hurried toward the apartment.

  “And here I thought she was nervous.” Lavina realized she was still sitting close to David. She moved to her right, over to where Mary Elizabeth had sat.

  They watched as she knocked on the door. Sam opened it and stared at her in shock. Then Mary Elizabeth went inside and the door closed.

  “She shouldn’t be in there by herself with him,” Lavina fretted. She reached for the door handle.

  Then she felt his hand on her arm. “She’ll be fine.”

  “If the bishop—”

  “He’s not around. Let’s give them a chance to talk.”

  Lavina looked down. He hadn’t removed his hand. She looked up, and their gazes locked. His eyes were warm, serious. She shivered and rubbed her arms. The truck had grown cool inside with the heater off.

  David started the truck and warm air rushed out the vents again.

  “Let’s go get that coffee.”

  “We shouldn’t leave her—”

  “I brought my cell. Sam can call me.”

  “Allrecht,” she said finally. If they went for coffee they wouldn’t be sitting so close together in his truck. It would be easier to guide the conversation to impersonal topics.

  He drove them to a coffee shop, and she saw that maybe being in a different location wasn’t going to make things so impersonal after all. Her heart sank. Why had he chosen this place? Didn’t he remember it had been their favorite place to get together when they dated? It wasn’t fancy but the coffee and pastries were gut and more important, less expensive than the places that attracted tourists. David didn’t have much money back then, and he wouldn’t hear of her paying sometimes.

  As she got out of the truck she wondered if he remembered that this was “their” place and that was why he’d chosen it. If it was why he’d chosen it to appeal to her memories of it, she wasn’t about to let him know that she remembered.

  But when they went inside, the memories came rushing back. There, in the corner, she saw the table they’d sat at so often. She could see them as they’d sat there talking endlessly, laughing together, him distracting her and sneaking bites of her favorite dessert, the pear tarts. They’d talked of getting married when they visited that last time.

  She blinked furiously so he wouldn’t see the tears that rushed into her eyes. No way could she let him slip into her cracked and broken heart.

  They got into the line of several people.

  “Do you want your usual?” he asked.

  Did he remember what it was? He hadn’t called her in a year but he remembered what she liked here?

  “Nee, I’ll have the pumpkin coffee and a piece of spice cake, please. And I can pay for my own.” She dug into her purse for some bills and when the person in front of her moved aside to the pick-up counter, she gave her order.

  “Nice to see you,” the clerk said. “Haven’t seen either of you in a while. How have you both been?”

  “Good,” they said at the same time.

  Lavina didn’t know if David meant it, but she knew she’d just lied.

  9

  David took his coffee and slice of pumpkin pie and followed Lavina to a table. She chose one near the front window of the shop, not the table that had become their own most of the time when they used to come here.

  When she stirred a packet of sugar into her coffee, then took a sip he noticed she avoided looking at him.

  Maybe this idea of Mary Elizabeth’s wasn’t so good after all . . .

  He dumped two packets of sugar into his own coffee and started eating his pie while he figured out what to say. Conversation had always been so easy for them. He’d felt so close to her all his life, sharing his thoughts and dreams and despair with his relationship with his dat.

  Was that going to be a thing of the past? What if he couldn’t build a bridge over the angry words and bitterness she’d thrown at him the first time he’d tried to talk to her after returning?

  She sipped her coffee but didn’t immediately start eating her dessert.

  “You’re not eating your spice cake,” he said. “Do you want to get something else?”

  “This is fine.” She picked up her fork and took a bite.

  “The pie is great.” Wow. Sparkling conversation. “I love this time of year when there’s a lot of pumpkin pie.”

  “You never met a pie you didn’t like.”

  He grinned. “True.”

  “You’ll even eat rhubarb.” She shook her head. “I always felt it tasted like a mixture of strawberry and . . .” She appeared to search for the proper word.

  “Battery acid. That’s what you used to say.”

  “Right.”

  She smiled slightly. It was the first time he’d seen her smile since he’d left.

  “If you tried a piece of my Aenti Ruth’s rhubarb pie you might change your mind.”

  “You’re wrong. I’ve had it. She brought one to church this summer.” She took another bite of cake.

  He looked over her shoulder. “John just walked in.”

  Lavina turned to see, but as she did she put her hands protectively over her cake. “What’s he doing here?”

  “Maybe he didn’t want to play chaperone.” He waved to his bruder, then looked at her and grinned. “I wasn’t going to sneak a bite you know.”

  “That used to be your favorite way of getting some of my dessert. I’m on to your tricks.”

  Not all of them. It wasn’t looking easy, but he was determined to win her back.

  “Hi, Lavina.” John pulled out a chair at their table and sat down.

  “Thought I’d come grab some coffee and let Sam and Mary Elizabeth talk.”

  “Don’t let us keep you from it,” David said with a meaningful look.

  “David! Don’t be rude!” Lavina chided him. She turned her attention to his bruder. “Hi, John. How are you doing?”

  “Gut. You?”
<
br />   “Very well, danki.”

  He turned to David. “Hey, how about getting me a cup of coffee?”

  “How about you get it yourself?”

  “C’mon, I want to talk to Lavina for a minute.”

  Sighing, David got up and went to get him his coffee. When he returned John and Lavina were deep in conversation. For a moment, he felt jealous of his own bruder. Lavina looked animated, engaged in talking with John. Then he realized John was asking about Rose Anna, and he saw John hanging on to Lavina’s every word.

  He missed Rose Anna the way David had missed Lavina.

  David set the coffee down in front of his bruder and then went back to the counter and bought him a piece of pumpkin pie. John blinked in surprise when he returned to place it before him. He thanked him and then immediately turned back to talk to Lavina. David sat down and finished his coffee and waited him out.

  Lavina was the one who glanced at the nearby clock a little later and said apologetically that they had to leave and get Mary Elizabeth.

  David looked at John. “Do you want a ride back?”

  John nodded, bolted down the rest of the pie, and carried his coffee out to David’s truck. John caught his look and waved Lavina inside saying he’d be getting out first. Once again David enjoyed Lavina sitting next to him.

  When they arrived at Sam and John’s apartment John hopped out. “Danki for the coffee and pie, David. Lavina, tell Rose Anna I asked about her?”

  “I will.”

  “I’ll send Mary Elizabeth out.”

  He hurried into the apartment and several minutes later Mary Elizabeth and Sam emerged arguing with each other. David couldn’t hear what the argument was about without opening a window, and he didn’t think Lavina would approve.

  Mary Elizabeth held up her hands and shook her head, and then she stomped away from Sam. Lavina opened the door and she fairly jumped into the truck, slamming the door behind her. She turned her back on Sam, who was saying something they couldn’t hear.

  “Let’s go.”

  “You sure?” David asked.

  “Please, let’s go.” She fastened her seat belt and wrapped her arms around herself as if she hurt.

  “Oh, honey, it didn’t go the way you hoped?” Lavina asked her.

  “Nee,” Mary Elizabeth said, and David could hear the tears in her voice. “Men are such jerks!”

  David winced. “Not all men.”

  She sniffed. “Sam sure is.”

  David and Lavina exchanged glances. Lavina shook her head slightly. He nodded and started the truck.

  When he pulled into their driveway Mary Elizabeth thanked him quickly and bolted from the truck. Lavina started to move away, and David touched her hand.

  “I’m sorry she was upset by the visit.”

  Lavina sighed. “She was determined to go. I couldn’t talk her out of it.”

  “Did you tell her it hadn’t been a gut idea to contact me?”

  She turned horrified eyes on him. “She told you that?”

  He nodded.

  She looked away. “I’m feeling very . . . mixed up. I was angry at you while you were gone. Now you’re back, but things are a mess between us.” She stared at her hands folded in her lap. “But I’m not sorry that I talked to you as I promised your mudder. She needs you. Your dat does, too. He’s just not willing to admit it yet.”

  “He probably won’t ever do that.”

  “I’m sorry about that.”

  “Danki.”

  “Anyway, I do appreciate your driving Mary Elizabeth to see Sam.”

  “You’re wilkumm. I hope I didn’t make you unhappy taking you to that coffee shop today. I always had such a good time with you there.”

  She looked uncertain and didn’t speak at once. And then she shrugged. “It’s allrecht. I know you didn’t take me there to make me unhappy.”

  “Could we at least be friends, Lavina?”

  She met his gaze directly. “Maybe not today, David. But maybe one day.”

  He squeezed her hand. “I hope so.”

  She slipped from the truck and hurried into her house. David sighed and headed home.

  ***

  “Go ahead. I know you want to say it.”

  “Say what?”

  “You know you want to say I told you so.”

  Lavina stared at Mary Elizabeth. “I would never say that to you.”

  “But you’re thinking it.” Mary Elizabeth crossed her arms over her chest and stared at the wall in the sewing room.

  “I am not thinking it.” Lavina set down the quilt she was working on. “I only wish you hadn’t gone because you got hurt.”

  Mary Elizabeth shrugged and then her face contorted. “He doesn’t want me,” she cried as she dug in her pocket and pulled out a tissue. “He said he’s not coming back. Ever.” She blew her nose and then looked miserably at her. “I wish I’d listened to you.”

  Lavina patted her hand. “I wish you had. But you always have to find things out for yourself.”

  “Are you calling me hard-headed?”

  She bit her lip. “Well, you like to learn from your own experience.”

  Mary Elizabeth laughed and shook her head. She stuck the tissue in her pocket. “I guess that’s better than calling me hard-headed.”

  “Remember we’re going to the quilting class today. That’ll be fun.”

  Of course, Mary Elizabeth figured out how to turn a trip into town into something fun. Some would have said she used Lavina’s sympathy and “milked” things . . .

  “You remember what you promised,” she told Lavina later that morning as they carefully packed the quilt orders for Stitches in Time.

  “I know what I promised. We’re going to have the fancy lunch out like you want.”

  “Your treat.”

  “My treat.”

  The man who married her schweschder was certainly going to be led down a merry path. Mary Elizabeth knew what she wanted, and she went after it. Her quilt had been completed in record time because she wanted to go for her fancy lunch.

  Lavina had watched her in the days after Mary Elizabeth had insisted on visiting Sam. She’d moped and been a little tearful for two days, and then she seemed to brighten up a bit. Lavina had seen her writing furiously in her journal. Somehow it must have helped because Mary Elizabeth had returned to being her usual cheerful self.

  Until her crying spell today, that is.

  “Wish we could go to lunch first,” Mary Elizabeth said, almost bouncing with excitement as they rode to the quilting class.

  “We ate breakfast two hours ago. You can’t possibly be hungry already.”

  “I’m not. I just can’t wait to go to the restaurant.”

  Lavina was glad to see she was enthusiastic about something again. “You had fun at the class last time.”

  “I know. I’m sure it’ll be fun again.” She smoothed the skirt of her best dress. “Think we’re dressy enough for the restaurant?”

  “You look very pretty.”

  “You, too,” Mary Elizabeth said generously. “That shade of dark green is good on you. I haven’t seen you wear it in a long time.”

  It had been David’s favorite color on her. So the dress had been shoved into the back of her closet for quite a while. She didn’t know why she’d chosen to pull it out and wear it today.

  They stopped at Stitches in Time first to drop off the quilt orders, then proceeded on to the class.

  All the regulars were there, including Ellie and her mother. And a sullen Carrie who barely returned Mary Elizabeth’s greeting. She accepted the new quilt block, setting it aside without looking at it, then, looking bored, sewed on last week’s block for a few minutes before getting up and leaving the room.

  Lavina glanced at Kate who shrugged. After a few minutes, Kate slipped out. When she returned a few minutes later, she placed the blocks in Carrie’s project box and set it on a shelf.

  Ellie walked up to Kate and shyly showed her the small quilt
she was making with her mother’s help. “It’s almost big enough for my doll baby.”

  “It sure is. And you’re doing such good work. Maybe when you get done with this one you and your mom can make one for your bed.”

  Ellie grinned, revealing two missing teeth. She ran back to her mother and clung to her side as they worked on their quilts.

  “I’m so glad you got the quilt kit,” Kate said quietly. “She seems happier today, don’t you think?”

  Lavina nodded. It was a world she’d never known about, this place full of women who were very different but who shared a time when they were forced by circumstances to be together for shelter, for food, for friendship and emotional support.

  After the class was over, she and Mary Elizabeth drove to the restaurant.

  “You’re quiet,” Mary Elizabeth said.

  “Just thinking about something Kate said today.”

  “I tried to talk to Carrie, but she wouldn’t have anything to do with me. Something must be bothering her.”

  “It’s not hard to figure out. Imagine having to stay in a shelter with strangers, because you have no place else to go because your husband beats you.”

  Mary Elizabeth nodded. “Remember when John Troyer hit Mary and the bishop talked to him? That stopped that.”

  “We have to hope so.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Sometimes the bruises don’t show. And sometimes, they hurt you with the words they say.”

  “Lavina, you’re not saying David—”

  “He never hit me. But his leaving without telling me was like a slap . . . ” she trailed off and squinted. A familiar figure was walking on the right side of the road ahead of them. “Is that Carrie?”

  As they came abreast of the woman she turned and they recognized each other.

  Lavina pulled over. “Can we give you a ride?”

  Carrie eyed the horse dubiously. “I’ve never been in a buggy before.”

  “Hop in. You’ll like it,” Mary Elizabeth said. She climbed into the back so Carrie could take her place in the front seat.

  “So where are you going?” Lavina asked as she checked for traffic and they got back on the road.

  “I’m allowed to leave the shelter for a walk,” Carrie responded belligerently.