by Naomi King
She shook her head, boggled by the sheer effort it would require to shift Perry Bontrager’s family out of their home. “I certainly wouldn’t want to tackle that move, if I were Salome.”
“Ah, but you’re not.” Titus gave her a sideways smile. “I could tell from the way Perry was talking that the decision to move would be his. As well it should be.”
Rosemary pressed her lips together. Titus’s attitude matched most men’s, as far as expecting women to say “jah” and go along with whatever their husbands decided. Joe would’ve responded the same way.
And what about Matt? Would he consult you about such a major move, or would he announce his decision and expect you to get everything packed by the date he set?
She had a lot to ponder. Yet surely by the time Perry and Salome found another place to go, their new baby would be here…With this being the end of April, figuring on at least a couple of months to pack up and deal with Paul’s carpentry equipment, she didn’t see how they could possibly be out of the house before August or September.
Truth be told, she didn’t see this sale taking place. Too many circumstances didn’t support Titus’s optimistic opinions about his future in Cedar Creek. He was caught up in his own form of wishful thinking, just as she had been, except that while he believed all these changes—all the pieces of this puzzle—would fall into place, she was still half hoping their lives would stay the same.
Maybe it wasn’t so far-fetched to think about building that house on her property. If Matt moved to Queen City and they found a place for his sheep, wouldn’t Titus be just as happy? And wouldn’t life be a whole lot easier for all of them?
Rosemary sat back against the buggy seat, hiding a smile. Maybe the partnership Titus wanted depended more upon her ownership of adjoining land—which could be converted easily enough into pasture for Matt’s sheep—and the construction of her new home than her father-in-law wanted to believe.
And wasn’t that something to think about?
Chapter 17
James got to the phone shanty early on Friday afternoon to lift its window and prop the door open. It was a beautiful first day of May, so while he hoped several friends would stop by for his interview with Lacey Piranelli, the magazine writer, he also realized the mercantile would be busy, as would Treva’s Greenhouse. English customers often ventured into Cedar Creek on Saturdays to shop and then eat at Mother Yutzy’s Oven or Mrs. Nissley’s Kitchen—a very good thing for everyone in town after a cold winter had limited the tourist traffic.
And here came Abby out the mercantile door, waving at him. “Are you ready for your interview, James?” she called over to him. “It’s a big day for you!”
“Jah, I don’t often tell Leon and Perry and Noah not to return after dinner,” he replied. “I gave them the afternoon off with pay because, with all those specialty orders, we’ll all be putting in some overtime.”
As Abby stopped in front of him, James allowed her confidence to settle his nerves. “It’ll be different, talking to a woman about the carriage business,” he admitted as he checked his handwritten list of questions for the dozenth time. “I hope I won’t bore her or stumble over my tongue while I talk to her.”
“James.” Abby reached for his hands. “I’ve never known anyone—especially women—to be bored with you. Your interview will fly by before you know it.”
“And Sam can spare you this afternoon?” he inquired as he glanced at the buggies and cars parked in the mercantile’s lot.
“Phoebe and Gail are working in my place. I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”
He wanted to hug her, but this was too public a place. “Jah, it would take two people to replace you, Abby. But I’m glad you’re here. If I stumble over my tongue, I can look at you and I won’t be so nervous.”
Within the next few minutes, Vernon Gingerich was hitching his horse to the post beside the mercantile, and Mervin and Bessie Mast pulled in, as well. Emma was stepping out the front door with their parents, too, as Mamm and Dat had been buzzing like bees all morning. Everyone exchanged greetings as they placed their lawn chairs or blankets close to the shanty. James’s heart swelled: where else on earth would folks be so excited for him?
“Here you go, Dat,” he said as he took a lawn chair from Emma and set it next to the door. “We’ll put you here with your better ear closer to the phone—”
“And don’t you be yackin’ with anybody or interruptin’ James while he’s talkin’ with that reporter lady,” his mother instructed with a shake of her finger. “If you start actin’ up, I’ve told Emma she’s to march you right back to the house, mister!”
James winced. His poor father found few enough activities to enjoy these days, now that his close friend Paul had passed, and it seemed his mother’s tongue cut sharper with each passing week. He and Emma exchanged a knowing look, and as his sister settled between their parents on a folding stool, he was pleased that Abby stood behind her. Although she never complained, Emma didn’t get nearly enough time to chat with Abby or her other friends these days.
The ringing of the phone made everyone sit up in anticipation. James slipped into the chair and closed his eyes. Lord, let this be a chance to hold up our Plain ways so the outside world understands us better. And please don’t let me say anything stupid.
He picked up the phone and let out the breath he’d been holding. “Jah, hullo? This is James Graber speaking.”
“James, it’s such a pleasure to talk with you. This is Lacey Piranelli from Town and Country, and I can’t tell you how excited everyone here is that you’ve agreed to an interview.” She sounded young and energetic, but sincerely interested in whatever he might say.
“Everyone here in Cedar Creek’s excited, too,” he replied. “Several of them are gathered around to listen while I talk to you.”
“And is your bishop there? That was a very good idea, requesting the questions in advance, as it gives me a way to learn more about Amish ways without unwittingly offending you.”
“Vernon’s here, jah.”
“And who else is with you? I think it’s fascinating that your friends and family are sharing this experience with you, James,” she said with a lilt in her voice. “It speaks to a very special bond you Amish share.”
“Jah, there’s that,” he said, pleased at the direction this conversation was taking. “My parents, Merle and Eunice Graber, and my sister Emma are here, and our friends Mervin and Bessie Mast, and Vernon Gingerich, our bishop—”
“Sounds like you’ve got quite a group.”
“Jah, and here comes my gut friend Matt Lambright, who raises sheep across the road from our place, and his sister Abby is here, too,” he added, enjoying the way her face lit up when he mentioned her name. “Abby has a seamstress business in the loft of her brother Sam’s mercantile, and we’ve known each other all our lives. That’s how it is here in Cedar Creek, you see. Our roots go deep, on land that belonged to our dats and their dats before that.”
“So how did you get started building carriages, James?” Lacey went on. “You’ve told me you built that white princess carriage yourself, using very few factory-produced parts. You don’t sound old enough to have mastered such a craft.”
As James explained about his apprenticeship with Pete Beachey when he was fourteen, the words flowed like Cedar Creek, rippling along on their own easy current. His parents looked so tuned in and interested. Abby stood with her hands on Emma’s shoulders, silently cheering him on—just as older folks like Vernon and the Masts were. Noah Coblentz moseyed over and sat cross-legged in the grass and then Leon Mast joined his parents. Perry Bontrager arrived with his young son Eli riding on his shoulders.
As Lacey asked him about building his carriages and about everyday Plain life in Cedar Creek, James sensed that this reporter from New York City wasn’t really so different from the young women he’d grown up around. Sure, she had a job with a big-time magazine and she probably drove a fancy car. Yet she spoke of growing up wi
th siblings and the importance of going to church with her fiancé—the same Christian faith and traditions his family and friends honored, but in a different setting.
“Well, it’s been mighty nice talking to you,” he said as she wrapped up her remarks.
“I’ve enjoyed it, too, James. Can you believe an hour and a half has passed?”
James hung up, gazing at the friends and family gathered at the phone shanty. “Well, I wouldn’t want to give interviews every day, but it was gut to discuss our ways and the work of our hands with an English gal who respects them.”
His father chortled. “Can’t say as I ever talked to a woman for that long in my life,” he remarked. “But sometimes your mother carries on for that long, and I don’t get a word in edgewise. Does that count?”
“Merle Moses Graber!” his mamm retorted as she glared through her thick glasses. “We were goin’ along just fine without you sayin’ that!”
The Masts and the bishop said their good-byes, while Emma folded the lawn chairs. “I’ll be in for supper in a few,” James told his sister, and as most of the folks headed into the mercantile to shop, he gazed at Abby. “Did I do all right? I was too caught up in following her quick way of speaking to notice how folks were reacting.”
“You sounded real gut, James,” Matt replied. “Made me proud to be living in Cedar Creek, the way you talked about us.”
Abby beamed at him. “I thought it was a wonderful-gut chat, James. Bless them, your parents were hanging on every word. I hope that reporter sends us a copy of the article she writes.”
“She said she would, jah.” James relaxed, satisfied by the way his unusual afternoon had gone. “Denki for taking a break from your work to listen in. You could’ve sewn up a couple of dresses in that time, no doubt.”
Abby shrugged. “And who amongst us couldn’t go a couple of hours without a new dress? I will get back to the store, though, as it looks like Sam and the girls might be awfully busy now.”
James watched her walk toward the entry to the Cedar Creek Mercantile, gratified because Abby wouldn’t give him anything but her honest opinion. This being Saturday, and with tomorrow being a non-preaching Sunday, he tried to think of someplace he and Abby might enjoy themselves this evening. It seemed like a chance to celebrate his recent orders and today’s interview, because, after all, hadn’t God provided such opportunities for him?
“James, might I have a word?” a familiar voice behind him asked.
He turned, smiling at Perry Bontrager. The lanky fellow with the bushy black beard had been in his class at school, had apprenticed in Pete Beachey’s shop with him, and had then come to work in Graber’s Custom Carriages when James had started up nearly ten years ago. “It was nice of you and Eli to spend your afternoon off listening to me rattle on about the rigs we build,” he said. “I should’ve handed you the phone. You’re every bit the carriage maker I am.”
Perry’s expression wavered. “I—well, that’s partly what I wanted to talk about,” he said in a tight voice. “After all the years of working for you, it’s—it’s not an easy thing for me to say, James, but I’ve gotten an offer on Dat’s land. Salome’s always had a hankering to live closer to her family over toward Clearwater, so now we’ve got our chance to go.”
James’s heart thudded like an anvil being whacked with a mallet. “You—you’d leave Cedar Creek?” he rasped, glancing at Matt for support. “But how will you make your living there, Perry?”
Matt’s eyes lit up with surprised interest, while Perry’s smile went sideways. “Well, you just said I’m a pretty gut carriage maker, ain’t so? Always a call for that kind of work in Plain settlements, and the fella there’s about ready to hang up his hammer,” he explained in a low rush. “I can take over his shop, equipment and all, he says. And selling off Dat’s land will pay for that place and leave enough money to build us a bigger house.”
James blinked, reeling as this information sank in. “So—where’ll you live in the meantime? What with Salome nearly ready to deliver—”
“Her mamm and dat are ready to shift into their dawdi haus, so it’ll be a lot like living here with Dat. Except I’ll have my own shop.” Perry’s smile wanted to break out like the sun from behind clouds, for what man didn’t want to own his own business? Yet he glanced at the ground and shifted young Eli to his other hip. “I feel bad about leavin’ when you’ve taken on all that new business, James. But it’d be best to get Salome settled in with her folks before this baby comes.”
“Jah, I understand that, Perry.”
“And what with these details comin’ together so quick-like, with a few phone calls, I feel like it’s the hand of God movin’ us forward,” Perry continued earnestly. “Before now, I wasn’t even considerin’ a move, but—well, it’s too gut an opportunity, close to family, to pass it up.”
James felt the blood was draining from his head. Yet what could he say? Perry sounded like he’d made all the right decisions…had a new life falling into place just days after he’d buried his dat. “Well, then, gut luck to you and may God bless.”
“Denki, James. I’ll stay on for another couple weeks, if that’s all right.”
“Jah, that would be gut.” James gazed down the county blacktop toward the rolling hills of the Bontrager place. “So who’s to be our new neighbors?”
Perry gave James another lopsided smile and then he gazed at Matt. “I’m guessin’ neither of you have heard the latest. Titus Yutzy made me this offer after Dat’s funeral, and I gave him my answer this morning. He’ll be bringin’ his flock here to Cedar Creek—partnering with you, Matt, the way I understand it.”
“So we’re gut to go?” Matt threw his straw hat up in the air, letting out a yell of pure joy. “This means that— Well, I hope Rosemary’ll come with him, but either way I’ve got my work cut out for me, ain’t so? Wait till the folks hear this!”
Off he ran, up Lambright Lane toward the house, as excited as James had ever seen him. And rightly so. It seemed that for Matt, a lot of hopes and dreams had just come true. Little Eli kicked and laughed in his dat’s arms, as though he wanted to get down and race Matt up the driveway.
“Well, I’d best get along home to supper,” Perry said as he held more tightly to his wiggly son. “Lots to talk about. Lots to do in a little bit of time.”
“Jah, you’ve got that right.” As James watched Perry hike home with his young son riding high on his shoulders, he felt like a deflated balloon. All the fine energy from the successful interview had fizzled out, and the excitement Matt and Perry felt was lost on him as he made his way across the road toward home.
At least Mamm and Dat weren’t here to hear this news, but it’ll get out soon enough. If I’d known about Perry’s move a few days ago…
James gazed at the sign that said GRABER’S CUSTOM CARRIAGES across the top of his shop. What a joy it had been to declare himself his own boss at the age of twenty. As his parents’ only son, he’d been pleased to support his family with the skills he’d learned and the abilities God had given him.
He prayed now for help in meeting the challenges ahead of him and for some insight into what special plan God had in mind for him.
Chapter 18
After a few moments of silent thanks before their evening meal on Friday, Titus reached eagerly for the platter of hamburger steaks. “Well, it’s official! Perry Bontrager’s sellin’ me his dat’s land. They’ll be moved out by the first of June—well before Salome has her baby.”
Rosemary’s jaw dropped. Today was May 1, so did that mean Titus planned to be out of this house in just four weeks? So much for her second-guessing about why this sale would never go through.
Beth Ann’s fork clattered to her plate and she burst into tears. “But, Dat, that means I have to leave all my friends and—and I won’t know anybody in—”
“But you get to finish out the school year here, daughter. We’ll not be moving until the new place is ready for the sheep, after all,” Titus repli
ed.
Wasn’t it just like a man to put his livestock before his daughter’s feelings? Rosemary took a thick onion-studded hamburger steak and then handed the platter across to Beth Ann. “Well, this way you’ll have the summer to meet new friends around Cedar Creek before school starts in the fall,” she said gently. “And Ruthie Lambright will be glad you’re moving across the road from her, too. Didn’t seem to be a lot of girls her age in that community.”
“Seems to me your wish about living closer to the mercantile has just come true,” Titus added as he piled mashed potatoes on his plate. “Busy as that store is, you might even get hired on someday.”
Beth Ann’s chin quivered, but she knew better than to do any more crying at the table. She cut a piece of meat in half, leaving the other half on the platter, and took only a small spoonful of potatoes. “So…what’s to happen to this house, then? And to Rosemary’s land?”
Rosemary silently thanked her young sister-in-law for asking that question. While it was good to see Joe’s dat looking so pleased with the way his plans were coming together, she and Beth Ann would have to handle all the practical details, such as packing and redding up this big old house for the final time—and, of course, getting the Bontrager house ready to move into. Right now, those tasks seemed overwhelming. She spooned some mashed potatoes onto Katie’s plate and put the little fork into her daughter’s hand with a purposeful look.
“I’ve got some visiting to do tomorrow,” Titus continued with a mysterious lift to his eyebrows. “At my age, I don’t want to take on a mortgage, so I’m selling out. Starting fresh—but the new place will be paid for in full.”
He looked pointedly at Rosemary as he handed her the bowl of peas and carrots. “Do what you want to with your property, but whoever buys this place might offer you a fair price for your land, as well. Or do you really figure on staying behind, building that house you and Joe got the blueprints for?”
