AR01 - A Road Unknow

by Barbara Cameron

  “Don’t know. But I don’t want to leave before he does,” Waneta said.

  He looked at her nursing her cup of coffee. She hadn’t touched her own breakfast. When he simply gave her a direct look she smiled slightly. “I’ll eat in a minute.”

  “You’ll fall on your face if you don’t take care of yourself.”

  He buttered a piece of toast and dug strawberry jelly out of a little container to spread over it. The stuff tasted very much like chemicals—nothing like the jelly his mamm had made from the harvest.

  “I’ll be allrecht. I’ll go home after Samuel wakes up.” She set her coffee down and picked up her fork. “You think a lot of Elizabeth to have her watching the store.”

  He nodded.

  “I’m so grateful to her,” she said quietly. “I don’t know what we’d have done tonight without her. I was too panicked to do anything.”

  Saul glanced up from his breakfast and saw the tears rolling down her cheeks. Reaction had finally set in. He reached across the table and took one of her hands in his. “I think maybe God put her in just the right place, don’t you?”

  She smiled through her tears and nodded. “She’s such a sweet maedel. I hope she’s happier here than she was back home.”

  Was she? he wondered as he released her hand. He’d thought she was until the bishop had come to the store. But then it seemed to him she’d looked a little preoccupied and uncertain since then.

  After his father was out of the woods he’d have to ask her how she was doing. It wasn’t just because he and his family owed her a lot. He’d grown to care so much for her and her happiness was important to him.

  Very important.

  The key to the store didn’t work.

  Panicked, Elizabeth tried it again and this time it worked. She turned and waved to Paula who was sitting at the curb in her car and her roommate nodded and pulled out onto the road.

  Relieved, Elizabeth stepped inside and locked the door. She had about a half hour before opening and needed to store her jacket and purse. Start some coffee.

  Get her nerves under control.

  It was a big responsibility to be in charge of opening—maybe closing—the store until Saul felt he could leave his father at the hospital.

  She walked into the back room, put her things away and started coffee in the percolator. While it perked, she stepped back into the store, looked over the shelves and nodded. Everything looked neat and tidy. She knew some deliveries had come just before Thanksgiving and in the afternoon when the twins arrived, she’d see if they had time between customers to get them unpacked, tagged, and on the shelves.

  The approaching holiday season was an important one for this and other area stores. Not the best time to have its owner distracted by urgent family matters like illness. But then again, when was there one? She just hoped Samuel had gotten through the night and was recovering . . .

  She returned to fix herself a mug of coffee—her stomach had been jumping too much back home to have one—and her fingers itched to call Saul on his cell. She glanced at the wall clock and decided if she didn’t hear from him in a couple of hours she’d do so, if for no other reason than to reassure him the store was fine. She told herself no news was good news.

  As she sat behind the counter, she surveyed the store and drank her coffee. What would it be like to do this every day? She’d never opened or closed the fabric store back in Goshen. And really, this might just be for today, she told herself. So, she needed to stop with the mix of terror and elation she’d felt ever since she’d been given the key. She’d barely slept last night.

  Saul worked hard to have a good store and while Plain folk such as them didn’t believe in hochmut—in pride—she knew he cared very much about stewarding the shop successfully after his father turned it over to him.

  She found herself wondering about her own father. Although the man was the head of the home, the spiritual leader, her mother had always seemed more dominant to her. Maybe it was because she spent so much time with her helping with the house and with the kinner. And the latest boppli. Now she wondered how he was doing. Was he helping more with household matters? Was he making Mary, the next oldest, do more as she should have been doing all along?

  Someone rapped on the door. She set down her coffee and hurried to see who it was.

  Leah, the owner of Stitches in Time, stood smiling on the doorstep.

  “I heard about Samuel,” she said when Elizabeth opened the door and invited her inside. “I came by to see if there’s anything I can do to help.”

  “How very nice. Saul asked me to open the store and take care of things until he can leave his father.”

  Leah studied her and nodded. “It’s good he knew he could rely on you.”

  “Oh, I’m sure he thought about asking others,” Elizabeth said, shrugging. “He probably even called them from the hospital.”

  “Don’t say such a thing,” Leah chided her gently. “We’re discouraged from being prideful, but the opposite—thinking we aren’t worthy and good at what we do—well, it’s not our way either, is it?”

  “I haven’t done my job here long enough to know I’m any good at it.”

  Leah patted her cheek. “Dear one, Saul wouldn’t have you working here if you weren’t good at your job.”

  “Well, um, danki.” She stood there uncertainly for a moment. “Do you have time for some coffee? I just made it.”

  “Schur. Naomi and Jamie are working today. Which brings up something I’d like to talk to you about. “

  She glanced at the door as a customer walked up and rattled the door. “I’ll go get the coffee while you open up.”

  Elizabeth opened the door and greeted the woman who stood there. “Wilkuum. Come right in.”

  “You’re open, right?”

  She nodded. “You’re my first customer. Is there something special you’re looking for?”

  “No, just starting my Christmas shopping and looking around.”

  “Let me know if I can help you in any way.”

  The woman, a prosperous-looking Englischer, glanced around. “I will. Thank you. Danki,” she added. “That’s right, isn’t it?”

  Elizabeth smiled. “It certainly is. Do you know much Pennsylvania Dietsch?”

  “I know two words,” the woman confessed with a laugh. “Danki and ya—yes. I’m just on vacation here.”

  “I know just a few more than you,” Elizabeth admitted. She saw Leah take a seat on a stool behind the counter at the back of the store. “Please let me know if there’s anything I can help you with.”

  She walked back to Leah, took a seat on another stool and picked up her own coffee.

  “I came by to tell you we’d be happy to help you in any way while Saul’s out,” Leah began without preamble. She pulled a card from her pocket and pressed it into Elizabeth’s hand. “I know Katie and Rosie will be in later today, but if you should need one of us to run over and help with anything I want you to promise you’ll call.”

  “I will.”

  “I heard you were eating Thanksgiving dinner with Saul and Samuel and Waneta when Samuel had his heart attack.”

  Elizabeth nodded.

  “It’s interesting how God works, don’t you think?” Leah asked her.

  She frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “You were there to help Samuel when he needed you. Not so long ago you didn’t even know him.”

  “Saul would have helped his dat.”

  “Undoubtedly. But it sounds like you jumped right in and knew exactly what to do.”

  She shrugged. “It was something I learned in a class last summer, then my roommate was watching a video on it for a class and I joined her.”

  “There are no coincidences,” Leah said sagely. “I’d say not just Saul is glad you came here.”

  “Well, I’m happy to help Saul—”

  Leah chuckled. “Saul may be grateful for the help at the store, but it’s not what I was referring to. I hear thing
s.” She slid from the stool. “Well, I’d best be getting back to Stitches. Stop by sometime after things settle down. I’d love to talk with you some more.”

  With that, she took their empty mugs to the back room, then waved as she left the store.

  The customer who’d been browsing approached with a question. The door opened and another walked in.

  The day had begun.

  15

  What time is it?”

  Saul blinked and sat up. His father was awake and staring at him, looking a little bleary. He glanced at the clock. “Nine a.m.”

  “Why aren’t you at the store?”

  He shoved aside the blanket someone had covered him with as he sat beside his father’s bed. “I thought it was more important to be here.”

  Samuel shook his gray head. “People depend on you to be open.”

  “Didn’t say we weren’t open.” He shoved his hands through his hair and stared down at his wrinkled clothes. “I gave Elizabeth a key and told her I’d be stopping in later.”

  “Elizabeth, huh?”

  Saul tilted his head and studied his father. “You have a problem with her doing it? She saved your life. She knew CPR and started it before I could think what to do.”

  Waneta walked in, and when she saw Samuel was awake she brightened and hurried over to kiss his cheek. “How are you feeling?”

  “Weak. Chest hurts.”

  She nodded and patted his arm. “Stay quiet. I’ll ring for the nurse.”

  “Let Saul get her. I just want to look at you.”

  Tears sprang to her eyes. “Oh, you!” she cried. “Don’t get me started.”

  Saul decided to walk to the nurse’s station so they could have a private moment. When he returned from talking to a nurse, his mother was helping his father take a sip of water from a cup with a straw. The effort clearly cost him. He lay back against his pillow, wan and a little winded.

  The nurse entered the room a few minutes later and checked her patient’s vital signs. When she finished, she was smiling.

  “He’s doing very well but he’s asleep again and he’ll doze most of the day. It’s a good time to go home, get a little rest and something to eat. When you come back this afternoon he should be more alert.”

  His mother glanced back at the door, clearly torn. “She makes sense. Let’s go home for a little while and we’ll come back. Daed wouldn’t want you to make yourself sick worrying.”

  When she continued to stand there, he touched her arm. “Sitting there and watching his every breath won’t keep him with us. We have to trust.”

  She choked up for a moment, and then she nodded. “We’ll see you later,” she told the nurse.

  The woman patted her arm. “We’ll take good care of him. I promise.”

  They stopped by the cafeteria and Saul convinced his mother they should order a sandwich while they waited for his driver to come for them.

  It was tempting to stop by the store on the way home, yet Saul was determined to get his mother home to rest. But he gave Elizabeth a quick call and felt some relief when she answered the store phone quickly and with confidence in her tone.

  “It’s Saul. How are things going?”

  “Very well. Leah stopped in this morning to see if I needed anything and the twins came in a little early. News spreads fast. A number of people have come by to ask how your father is doing.”

  “You can tell them he continues to improve. I’m taking my mother home to rest and we’ll be going back again in a few hours.”

  “Good. Hold on for a moment, please.”

  Saul heard Katie ask a question and Elizabeth answered it, then came back on the phone. “Sales have been good.”

  They talked for a few minutes more about what she should do with the day’s deposit. He couldn’t help wishing he could be there at the store to talk to her. He was a grown man; he didn’t need reassurance. But somehow her presence, her words, had been so comforting as she rode with him to the hospital . . . he longed for it again. With reluctance he said good-bye.

  “Saul?” she said quickly before he could hang up. “Call me later if you’d like to talk?”

  He felt himself smile. “I will. Danki for everything.”

  “She’s very special, isn’t she?” his mother asked quietly.

  Saul had forgotten she sat beside him while he talked on his cell phone. He nodded.

  “More than a friend?”

  Their gazes met. “Ya.”

  “You feel God’s chosen her for you?”

  “I do. I think He sent her all the way here from Indiana for me.”

  She sighed and smiled. “I am so happy for you, sohn.” She gazed out the window, then back at him. “Sometimes when we let go and stop trying to tell Him what’s best for us we find it, eh?”

  “We do,” he said. “We do.”

  He’d gotten on the bus to go home, unhappy at realizing it wasn’t going to work out with Lavina and walked right up to Elizabeth. What a perfect outworking of God’s invisible, mysterious plan.

  The van pulled into the driveway of their home. They went inside. The house seemed so quiet without Samuel’s large presence and booming voice. Waneta took off her jacket and hung it on a peg. She touched Samuel’s jacket beside hers, and Saul watched her shoulders sag.

  “He’ll be home before we know it.”

  She nodded. “I know. I’m going to go lie down now. You should, too.”

  “I’m headed there now.”

  He went into his room, lay down, and was asleep the second his head hit the pillow.

  One day turned into two.

  Things had gone well at the store and while she’d have liked to see Saul, she understood he’d gone back to the hospital and sat with his father some more yesterday afternoon.

  Samuel had suffered a bit of a setback then, so Saul sounded a bit distracted when Elizabeth called at closing time. She quickly asked him what to do with the day’s deposit, he told her, and then he hung up so quickly, she was left holding the receiver and staring at it.

  Elizabeth felt more settled when she opened the store the next morning. Taking care of the shop the day before hadn’t been as hard as she’d thought it would be.

  Leah stopped in at lunchtime and glanced around. “Saul in?”

  Elizabeth shook her head. “He’s still at the hospital. Did you need to talk to him? Can I help you with anything?”

  She smiled. “No, I came to see if you need any help. Things going allrecht?”

  “Very well.” She bit her lip. “Well, it sounds like he had a hard night. Samuel, I mean. So Saul and his mother are at the hospital today.”

  “Two men in the community had the same surgery. One of them recovered quickly and the other took twice as long to get over it.”

  Elizabeth straightened a shelf of quilts and sighed. “Samuel sounds like the second man.”

  “He might be. Before I go back to the shop we can say a prayer. I wanted to talk with you a few minutes. Do you have the time?”

  The store was empty as it often was during the noon hour. Tourists enjoyed the Amish specialties at local restaurants before returning to shop the stores.

  “Of course. Do you want some coffee or tea?”

  Leah held up a tote. “I brought lunch. Sandwiches and iced tea.”

  “Katie and Rosie aren’t due in for a while so if you don’t mind eating at the counter.”

  “That’s fine.”

  They walked back to the counter and Leah pulled the sandwiches from the tote. Elizabeth brought paper plates and cups from the back room and they settled on the high stools to eat.

  “The new dress came out well.”

  Elizabeth glanced down at it and smiled. “Danki. I love the color. I’m hoping to visit the shop and get more fabric soon. I was wondering. Do you know anywhere I could buy a sewing machine at a reasonable price? I can’t afford a new one—I’d have to get a nice used one.”

  “I know someone who sells them. I’ll contact hi
m for you.”

  “I appreciate it.” She bit into her sandwich. “And I appreciate the sandwich. I packed peanut butter and jelly today. I haven’t had time to shop the last few days.”

  “About the fabric,” Leah said as she unscrewed the top of the thermos of iced tea and poured it into the cups. “You could get an employee’s discount.”

  “Really? But I don’t work there.”

  Leah looked at her directly. “I know when you came here you were supposed to fill in for Miriam for her maternity leave. Do you know when she’ll be back?”

  “First of the year. Why?”

  “I wouldn’t want anyone to think I would try to steal you away from Saul,” Leah said carefully. “But Jamie is leaving for a wonderful opportunity in New York City after the first of the year. I thought you might like to join us at Stitches in Time. If you’ve decided to stay here in Paradise for a while.”

  Elizabeth had tried not to think about what would happen after Miriam returned. Now it seemed she would be able to walk from one job to another.

  “It would be wunderbaar,” she breathed. “I mean, I’m sorry Jamie’s leaving, but I love the shop. And yes, I intend to stay in Paradise. At least, I’d like to.”

  She didn’t know where things might go with Saul but she was hopeful. And she liked it here.

  Leah nodded. “You seem to love sewing. Maybe you can experiment with it around your work there.”

  “I can’t do anything like the cousins,” she said doubtfully. “They’re all so creative.”

  “They started somewhere, too,” Leah said. “And they became better at what they do. But the main thing is we all help run the shop. We wouldn’t make any money if all we did was sit around and create. You think about it. Come visit again. There’s time.”

  She folded the waxed paper from her sandwich, put it in the tote, and finished her tea. “I have one more question for you. It’s kind of personal.”

  Elizabeth braced herself for a question about Saul. Each community was different. It was possible such things were considered less personal and more open for discussion here . . .

  “We missed you at church last Sunday.”