Ella: An Amish Retelling 0f Cinderella (An Amish Fairytale Book 2)

by Sarah Price

  Hannes Clemens was not an object to be bartered for. He was a man. And yet Ella couldn’t help but feel disappointed in his decision to select a bride in such a manner. Her mother had always teased that the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach. Clearly she hadn’t been jesting.

  The only good news, Ella thought, was that Drusilla also hadn’t been joking. Neither one of them knew how to bake, never mind cook or clean or sew. If winning a man’s heart was done through a meal, there was little chance of either Drusilla or Anna claiming much of a victory. The only thing they would achieve was to give Hannes Clemens a good case of indigestion.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  On Saturday morning, Ella watched with bittersweet amusement as Drusilla and Anna practiced making the apple crisp pie. Several times, they asked Ella for help, but each request was met with a firm refusal. She merely shrugged her shoulders and pointed toward the cookbook on the counter.

  “Ella!” Anna whined.

  “Ja, Ella! You simply must help me!” Drusilla demanded.

  But Linda was at the store, busy preparing her records for Johannes to review. She couldn’t come to the rescue of her daughters.

  And so, for the first time, Ella stood her ground. “How many times have I offered to give you baking lessons? Now you wish to learn in one day? To claim a pie that wasn’t baked by your hand to begin with?” She shook her head and clicked her tongue. “For shame.”

  “Oh, Ella! Don’t be such a spoilsport!” Drusilla glared at her. “Just because he’s no longer interested in you!”

  Rather than continue listening to them alternate between arguing with each other and berating her, Ella walked out of the kitchen and headed toward the flower garden on the far side of the property. She sank down to her knees near the bluish-purple morning glories and said a silent prayer, begging God to forgive her for not being more willing to help her stepsisters.

  She just couldn’t.

  While she knew better than to question God, she couldn’t help but feel that all of this was unfair. After so many years of hardship and sorrow, Ella had hoped that everything was changing when Hannes had first appeared in her life. But her hope had quickly unraveled over the past week. First with Linda’s determination to keep her away from the charity event. Then with Hannes appearing so suddenly enthralled by Drusilla and Anna. Now with Linda having sold away the store and the house. In just seven days, her entire world had gone topsy-turvy.

  But none of that compared to the disappointment she felt that Hannes was not the man she’d thought he was. She couldn’t believe that he would throw away their special friendship to marry a woman—especially Drusilla or Anna!—based only on a pie that satisfied his taste buds.

  She could hardly make heads or tails of any of this.

  By the time the sun reached well overhead, Ella knew she had no choice but to return to the kitchen. She needed to begin preparing the evening meal. A promise was a promise, after all. But oh, how she dreaded having to do this!

  When she entered the room, she caught her breath at the mess that greeted her. Both Drusilla and Anna were covered in flour, a bitter reminder of the previous weekend, when Ella had been forced to clean up the basement. The counter was littered with bowls and pie pans, spoons and hand mixers.

  What on earth were they baking?

  As comical as the scene was, Ella could only sigh. One more thing for her to do: clean the kitchen before the Clemens men arrived.

  “Well, this recipe makes hardly any sense!” Anna complained as she squinted at the cookbook. “White sugar and brown sugar?” Exasperated, she looked up at her sister. “Is there a difference? Why can’t I just use one or the other? And where are my glasses? I can hardly read the tiny print in this book!”

  Ella bit her lower lip to stop herself from laughing.

  “Let me see that recipe!” Drusilla demanded, and snatched the cookbook from her sister. “My recipe calls for oats and only white sugar!”

  “Oats!” Anna pushed her way past Drusilla and stared at the open book on the counter. “I’ve never heard of oats in an apple crisp.”

  “Clearly there’re different variations of the recipe.”

  Wide-eyed, Anna stared at her sister.

  Suddenly, both of them turned toward Ella.

  “You must help us, Ella. Which recipe did you use?”

  Adamantly, Ella shook her head. Her mother had said to do good and be kind, but she hadn’t said to help other people cheat, and if she helped them, that would be what she was doing: cheating.

  “I’m afraid you must figure this out on your own,” Ella said, her voice firm.

  “Oh, Ella!” Anna wailed, tossing her hands in the air and casting a piece of dough onto the floor. “I can’t do this.”

  To her surprise, Ella found the courage to reprimand Anna. “Maybe that’ll teach you not to take credit for other people’s work.”

  Drusilla narrowed her eyes and glared at Ella as she repeated her earlier insult. “Don’t listen to her, Anna. She’s just sore because Henry isn’t paying any attention to her anymore.” She smirked, her mouth twisting into an ugly mockery of a smile. “How easily his affection shifted . . .”

  Her words stung, but Ella refused to give Drusilla the satisfaction of knowing it. Instead, she merely gave Drusilla a cool look as she reminded her of the truth. “Mayhaps his affections shifted, but don’t forget that his change of heart is over a pie that neither of you baked. How satisfying that must be for both of you, knowing that you must resort to tricking a man in order to find one willing to marry you.”

  Upon hearing Ella’s surprisingly harsh rebuke, Drusilla gasped and Anna had started to respond when the kitchen door opened and Linda walked into the house. She quickly assessed the disaster.

  “Heaven help me! What happened in here?”

  Ella stood quietly, watching as Linda waited for an answer.

  “It was Ella!” Drusilla pointed at her.

  “Ja, Ella!” Anna chimed in. “She wouldn’t help us make the pie, and then”—Anna turned and looked around herself—“this happened.”

  “Well, this is unacceptable! We’ve guests arriving in a few hours and I don’t even smell supper cooking yet.” Slowly, Linda turned in a circle, her hawkish gaze taking in the disaster of the kitchen. “I want this kitchen cleaned and the table set immediately!”

  When no one made a move, Linda pressed her lips together. “Didn’t you hear me, Ella?”

  Stunned, Ella stood there, her hands at her sides. “Me? I didn’t make this mess!”

  “I don’t care who made it, but I’ve asked you to clean it.” Her voice boomed in the kitchen. Even Drusilla and Anna appeared taken aback by their mother’s forcefulness. As if sensing the rising tension in the air, Linda took a deep breath. “Besides, Drusilla and Anna need to get ready for tonight. I want no more arguing in here. I’ve been reviewing the proposal from the Clemenses all day, and frankly all of this excitement has given me quite a headache.”

  “And what happened, Maem?” Drusilla asked eagerly. “Are they going to buy the store?”

  “It’s already done, Drusilla. The only thing left is for Hannes to determine which of you he wants to marry.”

  Drusilla and Anna jumped up and down, squealing in delight.

  “Oh, tell us, Maem! What’s happened?” Anna begged.

  Ella felt her shoulders sag as she listened to Linda explain everything.

  “Henry’s father is more agreeable than I had hoped,” she said. “He was rather generous in his offer to buy everything—the store, the inventory, and this haus. I had him figured all wrong.” She gave a weary sigh of satisfaction. “And Hannes insisted that he will follow through with his promise. We even wrote that into the contract I signed.”

  Ella shut her eyes, hardly able to listen to one more word.

  “So it’s all settled?” Drusilla’s voice pierced Ella’s ears.

  “It’s all settled, indeed. We’ll be quite comfortable, I can as
sure you. Now, if you don’t have any other questions, I need to lie down. We’ve much work ahead of us, preparing for a wedding and all.” Linda started to cross the floor. But before she opened the door, she paused and looked back at Ella. “And use your mother’s china. It’s a quaint little pattern. I daresay that Henry will be rather charmed by how provincial it is.”

  After she disappeared into her bedroom, Drusilla and Anna cast a last look at the mess on the counter. The despair etched onto their faces made Ella feel a momentary wave of compassion for them. After all, it wasn’t their fault they were so self-centered, for their mother had trained them to be preoccupied with their own needs over everyone else’s.

  “Mayhaps you might want to peel the apples before Hannes comes,” Ella offered.

  Anna’s eyes widened at the suggestion, and she started to reach for the peeler on the counter.

  Drusilla, however, quickly stopped her. “Wait!” She narrowed her eyes and gave Ella a long, hard stare, evidently not trusting her advice. “It could be a trick,” she whispered to her sister.

  “Oh, please, Drusilla!” Ella almost laughed. Perhaps if she hadn’t so much work ahead of her to prepare for the supper—and with no help from her stepsisters—she would have found the energy to do just that! “If you prep your ingredients beforehand, you simply have to mix them and bake them. Why, it won’t even take much more than an hour in the oven if you listen to me.”

  Clearly, Drusilla was not quite convinced.

  “Just make certain you put the apples in water so they don’t brown.”

  Anna leaned over and whispered, “It’s true, Drusilla. I think I remember Maem doing that once.”

  “Really?” Drusilla looked as surprised as Ella felt. “I don’t remember her ever making apple crisp pie,” she whispered back to her sister.

  “Ja, once when we first moved here.” Anna freed her arm from Drusilla’s grasp and grabbed the peeler. Immediately, she began attacking a bag of apples, scraping the peels off the fruit and dunking the apples into a bowl.

  Not to be outdone, Drusilla tried to wrestle the peeler away from her sister. “Give me that!”

  Within seconds, the two sisters were fighting over the peeler, their feet sliding on the linoleum floor and making an even bigger mess for Ella to clean.

  Knowing that this argument would not end well, Ella took a deep breath and tried to separate the two of them. “Stop it. Both of you!” She managed to separate the two women and gave them each a stern look. “One at a time, ja? It only takes a few minutes to peel an apple anyway.”

  For the next few minutes, the kitchen remained quiet as Anna focused on peeling her apples and Drusilla stood nearby, drumming her fingers against the counter as she waited for her turn. While the tap-tap-tap was grating on Ella’s nerves, it was far better than the earlier fighting.

  She took advantage of the momentary peace to begin cleaning the kitchen. Whenever she cooked, she needed organization and cleanliness in her surroundings. She couldn’t understand how women cooked when their kitchens were already messy.

  “Finished!” Anna said triumphantly.

  Drusilla didn’t waste a minute before snatching the peeler out of her sister’s hand and beginning on her own apples.

  “Ouch! You cut me!”

  Taking a deep breath, Ella counted to ten. Quickly.

  Twenty minutes later, both girls had finished peeling their apples. Taking advantage of their momentary joy in having accomplished something in the kitchen with nothing more than a cut finger and bruised egos, Ella suggested that they both start getting ready.

  While there were still three hours until the Clemens arrived, Ella needed that time without her stepsisters in her way. After all, she had to wash the floor, set the table, and prepare the food . . . all so that Drusilla and Anna could attempt to ensnare Hannes into proposing to one of them.

  Narrish, she thought. The whole situation seemed crazy to her indeed. When she had first met Hannes, she had harbored hope that she might develop a special friendship with him. Clearly that was not going to happen. While it distressed her to think that she had misjudged him so, she knew better than to question God’s will.

  Simply put, she knew that it was the Amish way to forgive, forget, and move on.

  And that’s what she intended to do.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  When Johannes and Hannes arrived at the house, promptly at five o’clock, the kitchen smelled as if it were a holiday meal. Linda had spared no expense on the food for that evening. And Ella had somehow found the fortitude to actually cook it—with no help from anyone else, of course.

  “How good to see you,” Linda said as she welcomed the two gentlemen into the kitchen. She gestured toward the table, which was set with a brand-new white linen cloth and the china from Ella’s mother.

  Johannes removed his straw hat and set it on the counter. Hannes, however, kept ahold of his.

  “Why, it smells wunderbarr gut in here!” Johannes gave Linda an approving look.

  Linda clasped her hands together before her. “It isn’t very often we have visitors for supper.”

  Fussing with his hat, Hannes looked at the table and frowned.

  Blinking her eyes, Linda leaned forward to catch his attention. “Is something wrong, Hannes?”

  He made a point of using his finger to count each of the plates. And then he frowned. “I see only five place settings.”

  His observation practically bounced off of Linda. But Ella felt a moment of excitement. Hannes had noticed that there were not enough place settings. Did he realize that Linda had not included her in the evening’s meal?

  To her surprise, Johannes also studied the table. “Ah, dear me. I must have been remiss.” He raised his hand and playfully knocked at his head. “The old thinker must not have been working properly. Did I fail to mention that I invited my sister and her husband?”

  Dumbfounded, Ella’s mouth dropped. Not only at the fact that Hannes and his father had invited two more people, but that Hannes had not remembered her at all.

  For once, Linda appeared equally stunned. “Your sister?”

  “Ach! I did forget.” Johannes made an apologetic face and sighed. “How terrible. I do apologize.”

  Hannes rolled his eyes and shook his head. He leaned toward Linda as if conspiring with her as he said, “Daed ’s grown a bit forgetful in his old age, I fear.” Then Hannes bestowed a charming smile on Linda. “Fortunately, I see from all of the food you’ve prepared that it shouldn’t be a hardship to include them, ja? Perhaps if Drusilla or Anna would just add two . . .” He paused, quickly counting the plates and chairs. “No, wait, three more settings.”

  “Three?” Linda practically choked. “Have you invited another family member, then?”

  “Oh, no.” Hannes laughed politely. “I believe one blunder is enough for an evening, ja? But I do believe you forgot to include a spot for yourself.” He pointed at the table. “. . . Unless, of course, you forgot to include Ella?”

  For the first time since he entered the kitchen, Hannes looked directly at her. He wore a look of triumph as he stared at her, just for a split second. But it was enough. If moments earlier Ella had been crestfallen, believing that Hannes had completely forgotten about her, Ella suddenly realized that she had, indeed, been mistaken.

  Delightfully mistaken.

  And she had to press her lips together to suppress a smile.

  Linda had just opened her mouth to respond to Hannes, most likely to defend herself, when their conversation was interrupted by the opening of the kitchen door. Everyone turned, and before anyone could speak, Johannes spread his arms to greet the newcomers. “Ah, there you are!”

  With wide eyes, a startled Ella found herself staring as John and Miriam King walked into the kitchen.

  Apparently Ella wasn’t the only stunned person in the house. “What on earth . . . ?” Linda couldn’t even finish her sentence.

  Miriam gave Johannes a quick embrace before gr
eeting Linda. “How kind of you to invite us for supper! It’s not often we get to spend time with my bruder. Blue Springs is too far for frequent visits, so this is such a delightful treat.” She glanced around the kitchen. “Good friends, good food, and good family. That’s the recipe for a wunderbarr evening, don’t you think?”

  Her husband nodded. “For sure and certain, Miriam.”

  Miriam crossed the room and eyed the platters on the counter. “Oh help! Look at all this food.” She looked up at Linda, who had not moved from where she stood. “I can scarce believe this feast, Linda! And everything looks most delicious.”

  Since Drusilla and Anna had not moved, either, Ella slipped away from the shadows and made her way to the cabinet where her mother’s old china was stored. She carried three more plates and set them on the table.

  “Why, there you are!” Miriam gave her a big smile. “You were missed last weekend at the charity event. I hope you weren’t ill, Ella.”

  Ella didn’t have a chance to respond.

  Somehow Linda found her voice and addressed her daughters. “Girls, go fetch more chairs.”

  Drusilla and Anna started to move, each in a different direction. And then, realizing their mistake, they turned to look at Linda. It was Anna who asked the question.

  “Uh . . .” She lowered her voice. “Where do we keep them, Maem?”

  Linda paused, the color draining from her cheeks. “Oh . . .” She turned to look at Ella and, with a strained look in her eyes, silently implored her for help.

  “The basement,” Ella said quietly. “The extra chairs are kept in the basement.”

  While Drusilla and Anna disappeared downstairs, Johannes and John sat down at the table, each taking one end. Hannes joined them by sitting in the middle on the side facing the kitchen counter.

  “Now, Linda,” Miriam said. “It’s not like me to come empty-handed, but when Hannes told me about the apple crisp pies and how your dochders were making them tonight for dessert, I knew I couldn’t compete. Why, Hannes has done nothing but rave about that apple crisp pie since last week! And to think, both of your dochders baked it together? I simply cannot wait to see who wins this contest tonight!”