by Jo Ann Brown
“Who’s that?” Cherokee asked, and Micah pushed away from the wall, his easy pose vanishing.
Katie Kay stood. “Micah, we have company. Komm and let me introduce you.”
Micah walked toward her. She ignored the questions visible on his face because she couldn’t answer them while Cherokee and the boys were listening.
“This is my friend Cherokee,” she said, hoping her voice didn’t shake. “Cherokee Smith.”
If Micah was as shocked by the woman’s name as Katie Kay had been the first time she’d heard it, nothing showed in his smile. “Nice to meet you, Cherokee.”
“Nice to meet you.” Cherokee eyed him with candid admiration before giving him a slow, appreciative smile.
Katie Kay curled her fingers so tightly her fingernails cut into her palms. She almost gasped at the strength of her irritation at how Cherokee was flirting with him. Cherokee had a boyfriend. She didn’t need to intrude on...
Intrude on what? her rational mind demanded. It wasn’t as if she and Micah were a couple. Still, she couldn’t halt the jealousy searing her veins like liquid flame.
And the guilt. When she’d flirted with guys, had Katie Kay irritated other women as Cherokee was her? She’d never considered how other girls felt. Probably because she knew her flirting didn’t mean anything.
Maybe Cherokee’s didn’t either. Thinking that failed to ease the fire of jealousy within her. She had no idea how to douse it, and it made her uneasy. Only someone in love could be jealous, ain’t so? And she wasn’t in love.
She gulped as she glanced at Micah, and their gazes collided. The heat in his eyes urged her to melt right into his arms.
No! No! She couldn’t be in love with him. She’d told him twice she didn’t want to be involved with him. Twice! And now...
But she couldn’t ignore how quivers raced through her each time his hand brushed against her, even just in passing. And his eyes, which could alter from storm-blue to the crystalline of a summer sky, invited her to find out if her memory of his kiss was as wunderbaar as she remembered.
She was grateful when Cherokee spoke again, freeing Katie Kay from her thoughts.
“Are these your little boys, Micah?” Her friend’s grin broadened.
“No,” he said. “Their parents are at the hospital with their sister, who has pneumonia.”
Cherokee instantly grew serious. “Oh, I’m sorry. Is she going to be okay?”
“Ja,” Katie Kay said, aware of the little boys listening to every word.
Micah excused himself and the kinder, so he could put an end to the conversation. She was glad when they returned to the kitchen to grab pie squares before heading to the garage.
Cherokee walked to a window. She whistled. “I understand why you didn’t bother to come back, Katie Kay. Don’t tell Vinnie I said this, but you’ve traded up. Your buddy Micah is swinging a heavy tool belt into the van as if it doesn’t weigh anything. Nice muscles on that farm boy.”
Katie Kay sat on the rocker, hoping Cherokee would take the hint to return to her chair. As her friend sat across from her again, Katie Kay asked, “Why did you drive here by yourself? I’ve heard you say too many times to count the countryside gives you hives.”
“Why am I here?” Cherokee’s eyes widened. “I thought it was obvious.”
“It probably is to someone who’s had more than three hours sleep total for the past two nights. Micah’s keeping the boys busy in the hope they’ll sleep tonight and not wake up every few minutes calling for their parents.”
“Poor little kids.” Clasping her hands on the knees of her stylish jeans, she smiled as her bangles clattered together. “I came out here to see how you’re doing. Austin treated you really, really bad. I couldn’t believe it when I heard what he did to you. I didn’t think he would be low enough to abandon you in the middle of nowhere.”
“It actually wasn’t far from my family’s house.”
She waved aside Katie Kay’s words. “That doesn’t make any difference. Austin was a jerk. Vinnie thinks so, too.”
“Vinnie was with us that night.”
“I know.” Her mouth tightened into a straight line. “I didn’t talk to him for two days after I heard, but then I realized he was scared Austin would do something to him, too. If he gets kicked out of the apartment, he doesn’t have anywhere else to go except to his parents’ house and they won’t let him come back.”
Katie Kay lowered her eyes. What if she returned home and Daed and her sisters and brother turned her away as Vinnie’s parents had him?
“Tell Vinnie not to bother arguing with Austin,” she said to her friend, so she could ignore her own thoughts. “He’d be wasting his breath. I’m done with Austin.”
“I’m glad you finally wised up.”
“Wised up? I thought you liked Austin.”
“I love Vinnie, and, unfortunately, Austin comes along as part of the package.” Her mouth twisted. “If I could think of a reason Vinnie would listen to, I’d convince him to dump Austin. Austin is a spoiled brat who thinks only of himself. A real user and a loser, but I don’t have to tell you that.”
Had Katie Kay been any better when she’d fled Paradise Springs and gone in search of everything she thought she was missing out on? She’d heard opposites attract, but she and Austin had been too much alike.
Had been.
She dared to believe that while he lived in his extended childhood, doing as he wished and wheedling others to do what he didn’t want to do, she’d grown up. Six months ago, she wouldn’t have been willing to take care of someone else’s kinder. She wouldn’t have felt satisfaction in putting a gut meal on the table or cleaning up after the family.
“So...” Cherokee leaned forward. “Are you and cute Amish guy an item?”
She hoped that explaining how Micah had found her walking along the road in the rain would satisfy her friend’s curiosity about him. But Cherokee kept asking questions. How long had Katie Kay known him? How had he gotten those great muscles? Had he asked Katie Kay out?
Katie Kay should have expected it, because her friend was obsessed with everyone’s relationships, including movie stars she’d never met. Any attempts to change the subject were fruitless until Katie Kay happened to mention the plans her daed and Wanda Stoltzfus had made.
“Your father is getting married to Mr. Cutie-Pie Amish Guy’s mother?” Cherokee sighed. “Does that mean he’s off-limits to you? That would be a shame.” Her grin returned. “You could grab him right now and find a justice of the peace and get married.”
“I’m not getting married now.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh? Because of the baby? Vinnie told me that Austin said you two agreed you were going to give it up for adoption.”
“I haven’t decided yet.” The words tasted like sawdust in her mouth, and her stomach twisted at the idea of abandoning her boppli.
“You’re going to need to. After all, the kid has got to be a complication when you’re in love with a man who’s not the baby’s father.”
“Who said anything about love?” she snapped and then wished she hadn’t.
Cherokee chuckled. “Nobody, but I’m not stupid, girl! You never looked at Austin—not once—like you look at Mr. Cutie-Pie Amish Guy.”
“His name is Micah!”
“I know, and you’re quick to jump to his defense. That’s proof you’re in love with him.”
Katie Kay hadn’t ever realized Cherokee was so perceptive. Usually she hung on to every word Vinnie spoke and didn’t seem to have a single thought in her head. There were depths to the young woman that Katie Kay hadn’t guessed existed.
“Is your dad having a big wedding? He’s some honcho, isn’t he?” Not giving her a chance to answer, Cherokee smiled and added, “Maybe you’ll catch the bouquet and your Cutie-P
ie Amish Guy will take the hint and propose.”
“We don’t throw a bouquet at an Amish wedding. There isn’t a bouquet, though sometimes there are flowers on the tables during the wedding meal. More often, there are vases filled with celery.” She smiled. “That’s one of our most cherished wedding traditions.”
When Cherokee asked about other traditions, Katie Kay was relieved. They talked a half hour longer before her friend had to leave so she could return to Lancaster at the time she’d told Vinnie.
“He gets worried if I’m late,” the redhead added. “Isn’t that sweet?”
Katie Kay made a sound Cherokee must have taken as an affirmative because her friend stood, gave Katie Kay a hug and went to the door. With a wave of her fingertips, she was gone.
Silence fell on the living room. Cherokee may not have intended them to, but her words reminded Katie Kay that Daed was getting married, and he would have a much bigger family to worry about. She didn’t need to cause him extra distress. It was time for her to face her mistakes.
Long past time.
But how? She bowed her head and began to pray, hoping God would listen to her heart, which was confused about everything in her life. About going home. About having the boppli on her own. And about what she was going to do, because Cherokee was right. She was falling in love with Micah.
Chapter Fourteen
Micah grabbed DJ and Jayden by the hands as Gemma’s familiar van turned into the driveway later that afternoon. The boys yelled in their excitement at seeing their parents after two long nights apart, but Micah didn’t release them until the van had stopped and the doors opened.
He smiled as Sean stepped between the boys and their mamm so they didn’t hurt Gemma or the boppli in their enthusiasm. Hugging them both, Sean listened as they tried to tell him everything at once.
“We’ll talk inside,” Sean said, ruffling their hair. “Go with Mommy while I get Olivia.”
Stepping forward to help, Micah waited until Sean lifted a swaddled Olivia out of her car seat. Micah shut the van’s doors as the family surged as one toward the house. His hope to catch a glimpse of Olivia’s face to see how she’d improved was foiled by the blanket.
The front door opened. Katie Kay’s face was as bright with elation as the autumnal sunshine. She ushered everyone inside and then moved out of the way to let Sean carry Olivia to the couch.
The little girl looked weak, and she rasped as she breathed, but she gave a weak smile at her brothers and Katie Kay and Micah.
While Sean set her down as if she were made of flower petals ready to blow away at the slightest breeze, Katie Kay assisted Gemma with her coat and getting to a comfortable chair. Katie Kay picked up another afghan as Sean covered Olivia with the one on the sofa. Draping the afghan over Gemma, she tucked it around her from waist to toes.
Feeling useless, Micah went into the kitchen and made kaffi. He brought two cups in and gave them to Sean and Gemma.
“Hope it tastes okay,” he said with a weary smile.
“You made this?” asked his partner, not trying to hide his astonishment.
“Ja.”
“Things have changed a lot since we’ve been gone, honey.” Sean winked at his wife. “Who would have guessed we’d ever see an Amish man working in the kitchen? Katie Kay, how did you convince him to do that?”
Micah became uneasy when Katie Kay didn’t answer.
To fill the silence that seemed oppressive to him, he said, “She made it clear if I wanted kaffi, I could make it myself while she was getting DJ off to school.”
“I’m going to have to try that with Sean.” Gemma laughed, but fatigue tainted the sound.
Katie Kay smiled but didn’t speak while she watched the little boys go back and forth between their sister and their parents, happy to have them home again. When Sean put out his arms to keep Jayden from patting Olivia’s cheek for the third time, Katie Kay wrapped her arms around herself and bit her lower lip.
What was she thinking? She’d been happy when Gemma and Sean had arrived with Olivia. Now Micah sensed a barrier like the one she’d thrown up the night she’d decided not to walk out with him any longer. That night, he’d been hurt and angry at how she shut herself off from him.
She was doing it again, and he had no idea why. This time would be different. He was going to find out the truth.
Just not today. He’d have to be patient, he told himself as he listened to the happily reunited family and thanked God that Olivia was alive and home.
As he sent up that prayer, he glanced toward Katie Kay. She was gone. After everything she’d done to help this family, why wasn’t she celebrating with them?
Another question he didn’t have an answer to. But Micah’s plan got turned inside out, because just before dark, Katie Kay walked into the garage, where he was touching up the paint around the dent on Gemma’s van. He rested the paintbrush on top of the open can and stood.
Without a greeting, she said, “Micah, I believe it’s time.”
Time? For the boppli? How could that be? Her stomach was so barely rounded that anyone who didn’t know she was pregnant wouldn’t suspect it. It couldn’t be time for the boppli to be born.
“What?” He couldn’t manage more than a single word as he wondered if he needed to call 911. Swallowing hard, he tried again. “The boppli—”
“It’s not time for that.” Her smile appeared and fled so quickly that it might have been his imagination. “It’s time for me to go home.”
“Home?” He sounded like he was half-asleep, repeating her words without understanding what they meant.
“Ja. I want to go home to my family.”
He wasn’t certain if she or he was more shocked when he asked, “Are you sure?”
“You’ve been insisting I need to reconcile with Daed and the rest of my family. Why are you hesitating?”
“Because I want you to be sure you’re ready for what may happen.”
“I’m not. I can’t be, but it’s time. I saw the expressions on Sean’s and Gemma’s faces when they came home to their boys, and I knew how much they’d hated being apart from their kinder. How painful it was for them!” Her voice lowered almost to a whisper. “And how painful it was for DJ and Jayden to be without them.” She shook herself and squared her shoulders. “I’ve put my family through enough. I figured I’d go over there tomorrow and let them know I’m nearby.”
“You don’t plan to return home for gut?”
“I don’t know.” A faint smile eased her taut lips. “You asked me to make a decision, and so far all I’ve decided is I need to tell them where I am. I haven’t thought beyond that.”
“Why?” He’d thought the toughest choice would be deciding to go home, not whether she’d stay or not.
“The problems I left behind are still there.”
He was delving into what wasn’t his business. Or was it? Her family was soon to be attached to his. “Problems?”
“Mainly one. The fact I’ll never meet the standards set by Priscilla, something she reminds me every time we’ve talked since my mamm died.”
“Priscilla? Is she the reason you left?”
“One of them. I got tired of her lambasting me about everything I did or didn’t do.”
Taking her by the shoulders, he looked into her sorrowful eyes. “Do you think you’re the only one who’s been the target of your sister’s judgmental comments?”
Her head jerked up, the sadness replaced by amazement. “You, too?”
“Ja, and half the people our age in the district. She’s careful to say nothing when Reuben’s around, but she acts as if she’s the sole authority on how everything should be done.”
“I didn’t realize that.” Tears glistened on her lashes. “I thought I was the only one—”
“Trust me. You’re not.” He laughed. “Remember that when we go to Reuben’s house.”
“You’re going with me?”
He brushed her soft golden hair from her face and framed her cheeks with his hands as he leaned toward her. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world, Katie Kay. I always enjoyed taking you home.”
Her lips parted to speak, but he silenced her with his mouth on hers. Maybe it was the right time to kiss her. Maybe it wasn’t. Either way, he wasn’t going to allow the moment to escape him again.
He thought she’d push him away, but she softened against him, and everything disappeared but her fingers sliding up his arms to encircle his shoulders. Time eclipsed to the last time he’d kissed her; yet it was as if he held her for the very first time as happiness enveloped him. She fit perfectly in his arms, as if she’d been made just for him.
She drew herself back, letting her fingers glide down to entwine with his. They stood face-to-face for a moment, and then she stood on tiptoe and kissed him on the cheek.
“I always enjoyed you taking me home, Micah,” she whispered.
“Then—?”
She gave him no time to ask the obvious question: Why had she stopped walking out with him if she felt that way? She slipped her hands out of his and hurried out of the garage, leaving him more confused than ever.
* * *
Micah said nothing as Katie Kay worked hard to take care of the Donnelly family the next day. She’d spent the early part of the morning getting DJ off to school and making sure breakfast was ready for the rest of the family. Both Sean and Gemma stayed close to their daughter, checking her constantly until she got cranky at their smothering attention. At that point, Katie Kay insisted that they eat a sturdy breakfast before they sickened, too. She’d guessed, quite rightly, that neither Sean nor Gemma had eaten much at the hospital. Both of them looked almost as wan as their daughter.
While the hours unfurled and she prepared the midday meal and served it, Micah wondered if Katie Kay was using Olivia’s homecoming as an excuse to defer her own. He hid his surprise—and his relief—when Katie Kay asked, late in the afternoon, if he’d be ready to leave in a half hour. When he assured her that Rascal and the buggy would be set whenever she wanted to go, she went upstairs.