Seasons of Sugarcreek 02. Spring's Renewal

by Shelley Shepard Gray

“I’m not hungry. I try not to eat between meals.”

  “Would you like coffee? It’s fresh,” Lilly asked. Anything to move the conversation along.

  “Jah,” Tim said. “Ruby?”

  “Coffee would be fine.”

  “All right.” Then, feeling as if Gretta and Miriam were staring holes in her back, she tried to get a bit more information. “Are you liking Sugarcreek so far?”

  “It is just fine,” Ruby replied, her voice stiff. She directed a cool glare Lilly’s way. Obviously, she was ready for Lilly to go away.

  “I’ll be right back with your coffee,” Lilly murmured, turning away and practically racing back to the kitchen.

  “Well? What is she like?” Gretta asked as soon as Lilly strode through the door.

  “I don’t know. She seems kind of quiet.”

  “Really? What did she order?”

  “Water. And then, reluctantly, coffee. Tim wants a slice of blackberry and Anson wants peanut butter.”

  Gretta smiled. “That Anson, he could eat a whole peanut butter pie all by himself, I think. I’ll slice him a piece.”

  “And I’m already taking care of the blackberry,” Miriam said. “Though I have to say I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t come here for dessert.”

  “Lots of girls like to watch their figures, you know,” Lilly said. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”

  “I suppose,” Miriam answered with a frown. “But it doesn’t seem normal.”

  “Well, go bring these out and chat some more,” Gretta urged. “I want to know what they’re planning to do.”

  “You should just come out with me,” Lilly said.

  “Oh, I couldn’t. It would be too pushy.”

  “You’ve got me being pushy!”

  “You’re not about to be part of her family,” Gretta said. “Joshua told me he wouldn’t be surprised if they became engaged this coming week.”

  “Wow. All right. I’ll deliver this and see what else I can find out. But I feel ridiculous.”

  Miriam just shooed her out the door with a grin.

  With the plates and the cups of coffee on her tray, she wandered back over. “Here’s some pie. And two coffees, too.”

  Ruby took her mug with hardly a smile. “Danke.”

  “You’ll have to let me know what you think of the pie, Tim.”

  Anson shoveled a bite into his own mouth. “Mine is good.”

  “I’m glad.” She was just trying to think of something else to chat about when Ruby looked her over, then started speaking in Pennsylvania Dutch to Tim.

  Embarrassed, Lilly turned back to the kitchen once again.

  “Well?” Gretta asked eagerly.

  “I’ve nothing new to report. And don’t ask me to go see her again! Now she thinks I’m a pest, for sure.”

  “Hmm.”

  “I suppose she seems pleasant enough.” Lilly looked at Gretta curiously as she finished slicing the pies and wiping down the edge of a plate with a clean paper towel. “Who had you been thinking of for him, anyway?”

  Gretta turned to wrap up the pies. “Oh, no one special.”

  Lilly looked at Miriam who simply smiled. “Come on. There’s definitely something else going on. What is it?”

  “Tell, her, Gretta,” Miriam urged.

  A little sense of foreboding began to creep through her. Surely Gretta didn’t have her in mind? Was that what this was about?

  “It’s someone who lives here in Sugarcreek.”

  Oh, what was she going to say? “Yes?”

  “And this girl is a nice person. Really nice.”

  “Name?”

  “She’s speaking of Clara Slabaugh,” Miriam said impatiently. “Do you know her? She’s the schoolteacher. She’s, um, scarred.”

  “I know who she is,” Lilly replied, so relieved Gretta hadn’t been thinking of her. “I’ve met Clara.”

  “I’m surprised to hear that,” Gretta said. “She hardly goes anywhere.”

  “Clara and I met walking near the creek the other day.” Remembering the meaningful conversation they’d shared, she added, “I really liked her. We sat down and talked together for quite a while.”

  “Really? I’m surprised. She usually doesn’t say much to Englischers. And she usually doesn’t say much to anyone for very long.”

  “Unless it’s Tim. They went walking together the other night. It seemed like they’d got along real well, too.” Gretta peered back out at the threesome. “Oh, I was hoping they were a pair.”

  “I don’t know, Gretta. I think Tim and this girl are a pair already.” Lilly looked through the window again. The three of them seemed to be having a pleasant time.

  Miriam nodded. “Yes. By the looks of things, I think he’s already taken.”

  “Perhaps you are right,” Gretta frowned. “But still, I think it’s a shame that Tim and Clara won’t ever be together. They seemed so perfect for each other.”

  “Girls, you’re here to work, not peer out the window like peeping Toms,” Mrs. Kent called out.

  “Sorry,” Lilly called out. Quickly, she rushed back into the dining room and picked up the coffeepot. Then she slowed down, refilling coffee for some, refilling iced tea glasses for others.

  When she arrived at the Grabers’ table, she smiled Anson’s way. “Your pie’s all gone! That was fast.”

  Looking glumly at his plate, Anson mumbled, “It was too good. It ended too fast.”

  “I’m sorry for that. Would you like another piece? I could go get you one, if you’d like. Any flavor. My treat.”

  Anson stared at her with wide eyes. “You’d do that, Lilly?”

  “Of course. I mean, if it’s okay with you all.”

  “Can I get more pie?” Anson asked Tim.

  Just as Tim nodded, Ruby shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I’d rather you didn’t. I’ve been traveling all day and would like to get to your aunt and uncle’s house. Besides, they may not like to hear that you’ve eaten so much.”

  “They wouldn’t have to know.”

  “Of course they would,” Ruby said briskly. “I’d tell them.”

  As Anson looked crushed, Tim hurriedly said, “Lilly, if you could hand me the check, then.”

  “I’ll be right back,” she said. For a moment, Lilly considered sticking a piece of pie in a plastic holder for Anson to take with him, but she ultimately decided against that. She might be friends with the ten-year-old, but it wasn’t her place to step into their business.

  When they eventually left, and the restaurant thinned a little bit, she sat down at one of the tables and wrapped knives, spoons, and forks in white napkins, restocking for the next day.

  Gretta came out to join her with a cup of fresh, hot coffee. “I still can’t believe she was in such a rush to get to home,” she said. “Poor Anson.”

  “It’s nothing, I suppose. Though I was tempted to give him some pie to go.”

  “It’s just as well you didn’t. He would have shown Carrie and then there would have been hurt feelings all around.”

  “She didn’t look like she trusted me at all,” Lilly said. “Do you think it’s because I’m English?”

  “My guess is it’s because you’re pretty.” With an embarrassed smile, Gretta said, “That’s why I didn’t trust you months ago.”

  “I wonder how long she’s going to be here?”

  “It’s just a guess…but I have a feeling that Joshua’s family is going to say a little too long,” Gretta murmured.

  When the door opened with a chime, her eyes turned merry again. “It’s your cranky customer again.”

  Lilly wondered what he was going to be like today. Happy? Sullen?

  Well, there was only one way to find out. Picking up a menu, she crossed the dining room and greeted him. “Hello, Robert. How are you today?”

  “Fine, Danke.”

  “Any place special you’d like to sit?”

  “By the window is fine.”

  “Coffee again?”
<
br />   “Jah. And a slice of buttermilk pie, if you have it.”

  “We do. Miriam made it fresh this morning.”

  He didn’t smile, but of course, she didn’t expect him to.

  Moments later, when she placed everything in front of him, he looked her over. “Are you feeling better?”

  “What?”

  To her amazement, his cheeks reddened. “You seem to be working a lot now. And, well, I heard that you are almost back to working full-time. I was just wondering if you were feeling better.”

  “I am. Thank you.”

  He said nothing, simply nodded. But after she’d served his pie and the rest of the restaurant emptied, she felt his eyes continually rest on her.

  She was almost tempted to stare at him, too.

  Chapter 16

  “She’s here,” Clara’s mother said on Sunday morning when they were packing the buggy to go to church. “Timothy’s sweetheart Ruby arrived yesterday.”

  “Oh. Well, I hope she enjoys her stay,” she murmured as casually as she could manage.

  “Several people saw Tim and Ruby at the Sugarcreek Inn. I heard he looked very smitten.”

  Clara fought to keep her expression neutral. “That is gut. She traveled a long way to see him.”

  Her mother narrowed her eyes as she grabbed her cape from the hook by the door and fastened the hook and eye closure. “Perhaps they will declare themselves while she is here. That would be exciting.”

  “Yes.” Clara knew her mother was saying those things just to get her feelings in knots.

  “If your paths cross, make sure you don’t say too much to him after church. We don’t want her to feel jealous.”

  “Muddah, I will be fine. Stop acting like I’m a child.”

  “I just don’t want you to embarrass yourself.”

  “I won’t. Let’s go.”

  Silence filled the buggy as they left the driveway and began the trip to the Millers’ home, the place for church that week. After they’d only ridden half a mile, small drops of rain began peppering the windshield.

  Daisy, their buggy horse, shook her head a bit as she continued on.

  “It’s supposed to rain all day,” her mother said gloomily.

  As if on cue, the drops became bigger. “I think you’re right.”

  “We need the rain, though. Did you notice the peppers and the zucchinis? They’re not near as big as they usually are by April.”

  “Yes, the rain will help them.”

  Forty-five minutes later, they pulled into the Millers’ yard. Clara yanked on Daisy’s reins, then raised the brake so her mother could get out in front of their barn. After her mother alighted, she directed Daisy over to an area where the rest of the buggies were parked. Once settled, she got out as well and made sure Daisy was securely tied to the hitching post.

  By now the rain was falling harder. The sudden storm was creating an ocean of mud around the Millers’ farm. Red dirt and clay mixed in with the gravel to create an oozing mess. Clara shook her head in irritation. Now she would have quite a chore that afternoon, cleaning up her boots, Daisy’s hooves and legs, and the buggy’s wheels.

  As the raindrops continued to fall, she picked up her pace, keeping her eyes to the ground in an effort to dodge the puddles.

  “Clara, hold on,” Gretta called out. “I’ve got an umbrella. Come here and get underneath it with me.”

  “Gladly!”

  Once they were under the umbrella, Gretta hooked Clara’s arm and started chatting. “I’m so glad to see you. I’ve been worried about you.”

  “Why?”

  “Once Ruby arrived…well, I wondered how you’d take it.”

  “I haven’t seen them together. But it’s okay. We’re simply friends, you know.”

  “I know. But still…” Her voice drifted off as they reached the covered area in front of the barn’s main entrance. After shaking her umbrella, Gretta set it along the wall with the dozen others, then faced Clara again. “I guess we better not talk about Tim anymore.”

  “There’s no need to talk of him at all. Really,” Clara said, “Tim means nothing to me.”

  Gretta narrowed her eyes. “I see.”

  Clara looked away, realizing that her adamant protests did just the opposite of what she’d intended. Now it seemed like Tim meant a whole lot more to her than ever.

  Which was probably the truth.

  The barn’s vast interior was a fine place to gather. Though, as usual, it was terribly noisy. Scattered about were groups of adults and their children, anxiously catching up on two weeks’ worth of news and gossip.

  After Gretta walked to her husband’s side, Clara walked to some of her students who’d been waving her over. They all hugged her like she was a long lost-friend. One of her first-graders had lost a tooth. Another’s cat had a litter of kittens.

  As she always did, Clara found herself caught up in their excitement. “Perhaps your mother could bring the kittens at the end of school one day,” she offered. “I’d love to see them.”

  Just as two of the little girls clapped with glee, Anson tapped her on the shoulder. “Teacher, look who I brought to meet you. Ruby Lee.”

  She barely had time to school her features into polite interest before Ruby was holding out her hand and greeting her.

  “Hello,” she said in response. “I’m glad to know you.”

  “Danke.” Ruby Lee nodded politely. “I understand you are the schoolteacher.”

  “I am.”

  “Anson here says you know his family well.”

  As Anson looked up at her and grinned, Clara looked at him fondly. “That is true. I went to school with Joshua and Judith, and now I teach Anson, Carrie, and Maggie.”

  “But Tim’s talked of you, too. I’m not quite sure how your paths have crossed as much as they have.”

  “He’s come to my classroom to help some.”

  Ruby’s eyes narrowed, then obviously not seeing any need to be jealous, her face transformed into a more genuine smile. “Tim has always been bamhatsich—kind. That’s really nice that he’s become your friend.”

  Ruby had a way of talking that made it sound as if Tim had been feeling sorry for her. Pitying her. Clara was taken aback. “Yes. He is a nice person.”

  “My community asked me to consider teaching, but I told them I couldn’t possibly do that. Not with a wedding to plan.”

  “You’re gettin’ married? When?”

  Clara was appalled. “Anson, that was rude.”

  “Oh, I don’t mind you asking me about that, Anson,” Ruby murmured as a gleam of warmth appeared in her eyes. “Nothing’s set yet, but of course Tim and I will be saying our vows soon.”

  “I didn’t realize you two were so close to being married,” Clara murmured.

  Ruby looked at Clara. “Tim’s so shy, I don’t think he wanted to tell everyone. But it will happen.”

  “Congratulations.”

  “Danke.” Ruby looked around with a frown. “Services are about to begin. I best go take my seat near Judith.”

  Clara stood motionless for a moment, watching her walk away. After a good, long moment, Anson tapped her arm again. “Yes?”

  “Lean down,” he instructed. When she did, he whispered, “I don’t think she’s telling the truth.”

  Ruby Lee definitely seemed more sure of things than Tim. But of course, it wasn’t her place to judge. “Let’s not worry about that. It’s none of our business.”

  “But, teacher—”

  “Let’s go sit down, Anson, before we cause a scene.”

  She looked around. Her mother was already sitting in the first row. Clara had no desire to sit so far up front. With a smile, she scooted next to Miriam and her mother and tried to relax. It was important to listen to God’s word and count her blessings.

  But it was difficult to do. No matter how hard she tried, all she could think about was Ruby’s knowing looks…and the news that Tim was most definitely taken.

  Gossip b
eing what it was, several other girls were looking her way. Some were even whispering about Ruby.

  Clara had no desire to join in the discussions. In fact she was so rattled by Ruby’s words that she hoped she wouldn’t have to converse with anyone anytime soon.

  As she sat with the other women, Clara hoped the day’s church service would be the longest one ever.

  Chapter 17

  There was an uproar in her classroom. “Kinner!” Clara called out, clapping her hands for emphasis. “Kinner, it is time to take your seats and be quiet.”

  Like molasses, each student grudgingly went to his or her desk. One by one, they sat. But that was where their obedience ended. No spirals were getting pulled out. Neither were pencils.

  She cleared her throat and did her best to look intimidating. “Shoolahs, it is time to start our day, yes? Get your desks organized.”

  After a moment, they complied, but not before staring at each other. Some of the students were grinning, too.

  Clara looked from one to the other with a growing sense of concern. Something was going on. Something mighty strange, indeed.

  Perhaps it was the rain outside? Maybe it was making them especially squirrelly. Well, that couldn’t be helped. “Let’s begin our day.” She pointed to the calendar on the back wall. “Now, who would like to tell us today’s date and weather?”

  But instead of raising their hands, the children only stared at her with expectant eyes. Waiting and watching.

  But waiting for what? She had no earthly idea.

  Clara looked from one child to the other. What was going on?

  Anson finally solved the mystery. “Miss Slabaugh, aren’t ya going to ask James if any postcards came to his mailbox on Saturday?”

  Clara relaxed. Ah. They were excited about their postcard project. “How many did we receive in the mail on Saturday, James?”

  “Four.”

  “Four? Well, isn’t that something. Please bring them up. And, children, let’s all gather around our United States map, shall we?”

  Far more quickly, the children moved to the other side of the classroom and sat.

  Silently, they watched James as he pulled the cards out of a folder and walked to her side. When he handed them to her, his expressive face raged with emotion. She read embarrassment and a bit of excitement there.