by Amy Clipston
“Saul?” she asked.
“Hmm?” He glanced over his shoulder at her. “I’m sorry. Did you say something?”
“Yes, I did.” She laughed, and he gave her a sheepish smile. “I asked you how your day went.”
“Oh.” He paused as if puzzled by the question. “It went fine. I finished up a small job, so I can start on yours.” He shrugged. “The usual—woodworking, sanding, and staining. And how was your day?”
“It was pretty good. I cleaned at the hotel and then, obviously, stopped at the grocery store.” She carried a carton of eggs to the refrigerator.
“You know I have chickens, right?” Saul asked.
“You do?” she asked. Now that she thought about it, she realized she had seen Emma out feeding some chickens next to one of their barns.
“I can have Emma bring you some eggs.” He pointed toward the carton in her hand. “Just save the boxes, and we’ll refill them for you. We have more eggs than we know what to do with. We could eat scrambled eggs three meals a day and still have eggs left over.”
“Oh.” She was surprised by his thoughtful offer. “Danki. I’d love that.”
He nodded and turned back toward the cabinets. She put away a few more items—a carton of milk, a package of cheese, and a package of ground beef—while waiting for him to say something else. He was very quiet, but he wasn’t rude. How can I bring him out of his shell? Last week he loved talking about his work while he gave me the tour of his shop. Would asking about his woodworking help him open up to me? Maybe asking about cabinets is the key to becoming his friend.
“How long have you done woodworking?” she asked.
“I’ve created things with wood since I was a bu. Mei daadi taught me in his shop. He mostly tinkered in wood since he was a farmer by trade, but he and my onkel taught me almost everything I know.” He continued to measure and write. “I became an apprentice to my onkel for cabinetmaking when I was fifteen. I opened my own business right before I was married.”
“Oh.” She silently admired his confidence. He wasn’t arrogant, but he was comfortable with his skill. “Do you like working alone?”
Saul shrugged. “I prefer working alone, but I’d like to grow my business. I haven’t had the money to do it, but I believe God will give me the means when the time is right. I’d like to be able to take more orders and not have to ask customers to wait too long for their cabinets.”
“That makes sense.” Madeleine put a bag of chips and a box of noodles in the pantry. “Emma is a great girl. Thank you for allowing her to spend time with me.”
“I know she enjoys cooking with you,” he said. “It will still be awhile before she gets home from school, but I told her to come here when she does. I thought she could keep me company while I work. It takes me awhile because I always measure everything at least twice, and I take pretty detailed notes. She was surprised but excited too.”
“That’s great. I’m looking forward to seeing her.” Madeleine had finished putting her groceries away. “I’m going to go in the spare room to pay some bills.”
Madeleine disappeared into the room she’d made into an office, a storage place for a pile of random boxes she hadn’t yet unpacked, and a place for her crocheting supplies. She paid a couple of bills and then moved to the rocking chair to start working on the afghan she’d been crocheting for a couple of months.
But her eyes moved to the unpacked boxes, and she’d moved to sort through some of them when she heard Emma’s voice in the kitchen. She longed to go and visit with her, but she thought she should wait for Emma to seek her out just in case the father and daughter wanted to talk privately first.
She’d just opened a box and found it was full of old photo albums and yearbooks when she heard Emma’s voice in the hallway.
“Maddie?” Emma called. “Are you back here?”
“I’m in the spare room,” Madeleine called. “Come on in.”
Emma appeared in the doorway. “Hi. What are you doing?”
“I just started going through a few boxes I hadn’t unpacked yet.” Madeleine pulled out a stack of yearbooks from her elementary school. “I guess I need to put a bookshelf in here. Does your dad make bookshelves?”
“He can make them. He does special orders.” Emma crossed the room and craned her neck to see the books. “Willard School?”
“That’s my elementary school.” Madeleine held up a yearbook. “I think this was when I was in third grade.”
“What is it?” Emma asked.
“It’s a yearbook. It has photos of my classmates.”
Emma sank to the floor and crossed her legs. “May I look at it?”
“Sure.” Madeleine opened the book to her class’s page. “Can you find me?”
Emma giggled. “Those are funny clothes.”
“That was a long time ago.” Madeleine laughed. “Do you see me?”
Emma pointed to a few different girls and laughed each time Madeleine said she was wrong. Finally Madeleine pointed out where she was in the photo, and they both laughed.
Saul heard his daughter laughing down the hallway and found himself smiling while he worked. He loved the sound of Emma’s laughter. It was light and airy—like the song of a little bird. He had decided it was okay for Emma to come to Madeleine’s house only because he’d be working there, but he would have to restrict her contact with Madeleine after he finished the cabinet job. Meanwhile, he worked in the kitchen with the sound of Emma’s and Madeleine’s chatter and laughter as background noise.
“Dat!” Emma ran into the kitchen nearly thirty minutes later and shoved a large book into his line of sight. The book was open to a page of small portraits of young people. “Look at this photo! It’s from when Maddie was a senior in high school.” She pointed to a girl dressed in what appeared to be a formal-looking blouse with her hair down. “Wasn’t she beautiful?”
Saul hesitated for a moment, uncomfortable because it was against Amish beliefs to make a graven image of a person. Emma’s interest in the photographs reminded him of the risk of Madeleine’s Englisher influence. But he gave in to his curiosity and studied the photo. Madeleine was beautiful, but he didn’t feel comfortable commenting on the photograph. Words agreeing with Emma were stuck in his throat.
“I’m sorry.” Madeleine appeared in the doorway and grimaced while her porcelain-colored cheeks flushed a bright hue of pink. “I told her you wouldn’t want to see the photo, but she insisted. We’ve been perusing my yearbooks. Emma likes hearing about my childhood, moving from school to school while my mother was in the air force. That was my life until she married my stepfather when I was twelve.”
Madeleine was apparently embarrassed, and he couldn’t help thinking she looked adorable with her pink cheeks. He quickly pushed the thought away. She was an Englisher, and she was his client. Any thoughts about her otherwise were inappropriate and destructive.
“It’s a nice photograph,” Saul muttered before returning to his cabinet sketches.
“I’m hungry,” Emma announced. “What should we make for supper?”
“Emma, Maddie may not want us to stay for supper,” Saul said gently. “We shouldn’t invite ourselves.”
“It’s no problem.” Madeleine stepped into the kitchen. “What would you like, Emma?” She opened the freezer. “Let me see what I have in here.”
“Pizza!” Emma pointed toward a frozen pizza. “Pepperoni sounds good.”
“Frozen pizza?” Madeleine turned toward Saul. “Do you like pizza? It’s not a very Amish meal.”
He shrugged. “That sounds fine to me. Do you mind sharing your food with us again? It seems like you always get stuck with the cooking.”
“We can cook at our house sometime soon too,” Emma offered.
“That sounds like a plan.” Madeleine read the back of the box and then preheated the oven.
Saul had finished up his measurements, sketches, and notes by the time the pizza was ready. Emma talked about school while they ate,
and Saul watched Madeleine’s reaction to his daughter’s stories. She smiled and listened intently while Emma talked. Madeleine seemed like a genuine woman with a warm heart. He was grateful for her friendship, but she was English. Any relationship between them was forbidden.
When supper was over, Emma helped Madeleine clean up the kitchen and Saul sat drinking the cup of coffee Madeleine had insisted on making for him.
“Could I please go see the kittens in your barn?” Emma asked while she dried a dish. “I’ll run out there quickly and then come back. I just want to see how big they’ve gotten since the last time I was here.”
Madeleine glanced at Saul as if to ask permission. “It’s okay with me if it’s okay with your dat. I’ll finish cleaning up if you want to go now.”
Saul nodded. “Ya, you can go see the cats, but make it quick. It’s getting late.”
Madeleine nodded toward the pantry. “I bought a big bag of cat food, and there’s a dish in the cabinet by the back door. You can take them some food if you want.”
“Danki!” Emma filled the dish before pulling on her cloak, grabbing a lantern, and rushing out the storm door.
“I remember being quite excited about the barn cats, too, when I was her age,” Madeleine said while scrubbing the pizza pan. “I would sit out in the barn for hours and talk to the kittens. Well, I only was allowed to do that after my chores were done.” She glanced back at Saul and smiled.
He admired her smile and realized he needed a distraction. He stood, grabbed a dish towel, and picked up a plate.
“You don’t have to help,” she said. “I can put the dishes away.”
“I don’t mind.” He busied himself with drying.
“Danki,” she said. After a moment, she said, “I really love it here in Lancaster County. It feels like home. I moved a lot when I was a child, but I always came back here for the summers. Sometimes my grandparents were the only consistent part of my life.”
He nodded and dried another dish.
“I guess that’s difficult for you to relate to, right? You probably lived in the same house the whole time you were growing up.”
“Ya, I did, but I went through some changes too.”
“You did?” she asked. “What changes did you have?”
“My parents both passed away before I was married.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” Her eyes were sad. “May I ask what happened?”
“Mei dat had kidney disease.” Saul placed the dishes in a cabinet. “He was on dialysis for a long time. He succumbed to the disease when I was eighteen. Mei mamm had cancer. She died when I was twenty.”
She reached out as if she were going to touch Saul’s arm but then pulled her arm back. “That had to be very difficult for you.”
“It was.” He took the pizza pan from the drain board and began to dry it.
“Do you have any siblings?”
“I have an older bruder.”
“You do? Does he live nearby?”
“No, he left the community when he was eighteen.”
“Oh. Why did he leave?”
“He wanted to go to college. He was certain he was meant to be a doctor. He became a pediatrician, and he lives out in Oregon.”
“Really?” She faced him. “Do you hear from him at all?”
Saul shrugged. “He sends a Christmas card every year with a picture of his family. He and his wife have four children. We talked about a year ago, and he mentioned coming out to visit. The plans fell through, though. I don’t know what we’d talk about if we ever got together, but I would like for Emma to meet her cousins someday.”
“Wow.” Madeleine’s eyes sparkled. “That’s interesting that you have a brother who is a doctor. I had no idea.”
“He went after his dream, and he’s very froh.” He held up the dry pan. “Does this go under the oven?”
“Yes.” She pointed toward the drawer. “You’ve lost your parents, and your brother moved away. Do you miss your brother?”
He nodded and avoided her sympathetic eyes by stowing the pan.
“I’m very sorry.” Madeleine was silent for a moment while she washed the utensils. “When I decided to leave the air force, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. My mammi had left me a good amount of money and also this property. My mother convinced me to move here.”
“She had to convince you?” Saul gave her a sideways glance. “I thought you said you loved it here.”
“I do love it here, but it was more complicated than that.”
He suddenly felt rude for being nosy. “You don’t have to share it with me.”
“No, it’s okay.” She pulled the stopper out of the sink, and the water gurgled and belched as it swirled down the drain. She grabbed a wet rag and began to wipe down the table. “I was supposed to get married, but after my fiancé passed away unexpectedly, my world sort of fell apart.”
Saul turned and faced her. “Your fiancé?”
“Yes, I was engaged.” She continued to wipe the table, even though it looked already clean to Saul. “Travis was also in the air force.”
“That must’ve been so difficult for you.” Saul suddenly related to Madeleine on a deeper level. She, too, had experienced heartache and loss when her fiancé passed away. Her beautiful dark, sad eyes mesmerized him, and the strong emotion made him nervous. He couldn’t allow himself to be attracted to this woman. He didn’t want to experience the same temptation that had taken Annie away from the community he cherished.
She finished wiping the table and then tossed the rag into the sink. “I’ve talked your ear off, haven’t I? I’m sorry.”
“You don’t need to apologize for talking.” He dried the utensils and slipped them into a drawer.
“What’s next with the cabinets?” she asked. “I assume you still need to design them before making and installing them, right?”
“That’s right.” He pulled the notepad from his pocket. “I’m going to take these notes and sketches and draw formal designs from them. I’ll bring them over to show you once they’re done. It will take me a few days. I’ll also contact the plumber and get on his schedule.”
“Great.” She pushed a thick lock of dark hair back behind her shoulder. “I can’t wait to see them.”
“All done!” Emma burst through the storm door, her cheeks rosy from the cold. “I fed the kittens and talked to them for a few minutes. They’re doing well.”
“Thank you.” Madeleine touched Emma’s nose and smiled. “You’re cold. You need to get home and take a nice, warm bath.”
“That’s a gut idea.” Emma hugged Madeleine. “Danki for a fun evening.”
The tender moment between his daughter and Madeleine caused Saul to shift his weight from one foot to the other. The hug affected him deeply, his heart warming at the sight. He walked to the mudroom and pulled on his coat, hoping to make a quick exit.
Emma and Madeleine had followed, and Emma started for the door. “Let’s go, Dat.”
He turned to Madeleine and held out his hand. “Danki for supper.”
“Gern gschehne.” She shook his hand. “See you soon.”
As Saul followed Emma to their house, he tried to sort through his confusing feelings. Madeleine was only a neighbor and a customer, but he couldn’t stop remembering her pretty smile and the way his daughter had hugged her.
FIFTEEN
Madeleine clipped the last pair of jeans to the clothesline with two clothespins and then pushed the line forward. She shivered in the brisk air, and her hands were numb from the cold fabric. She was thankful the laundry was finally done. Now she could go do what she’d been longing to do—crochet.
The nightmare that plagued her last night had been lingering at the back of her mind all day, and she needed to find some peace. When running didn’t help clear her mind, she crocheted. It was the only way to escape the pain surging through her soul.
She padded into the spare room, sat in the rocking chair, and began to work on the afghan. She lost herself
in the rhythm of the work, hoping to erase the dream that had stolen her satisfying sleep. After a while, she heard the back door bang. She’d seen Saul earlier and told him to just come on in when he came over with the designs he had ready. She knew she’d be in the spare room crocheting, and she didn’t want to risk not hearing him knock.
After a moment, she heard him call out for her.
“Maddie? Are you in here?”
“I’m in the spare room,” Madeleine called. “Come on back.”
The sound of his work boots echoed in the hallway, and he appeared in the doorway holding a clipboard. He pointed toward the back of the house. “I see you figured out the wringer washer.”
“Hi, Saul,” Madeleine said. “Yes, I did figure out the wringer washer. My mammi would be very disappointed if she knew how much money I was spending at the Laundromat.”
Saul smiled as he hugged the clipboard to his chest. “Ya, you’re probably right.”
He had a nice smile, and she hoped to see it more often.
“What are you working on?” He stepped into the room and peered at the afghan.
“It’s an afghan.” She held it out for him to see. “My mammi taught me how to crochet when I was around Emma’s age. I’ve found it’s the only activity besides running that helps me when my nightmares get really bad.”
“Nightmares?” His handsome face was full of concern. “Why do you have nightmares?”
Madeleine paused and silently debated what to share with her friend.
“I didn’t mean to intrude.” He stepped backward in the direction of the door. “I have your designs to show you.” He held up the clipboard. “I wanted to get your approval and show you the final price before I get started. If this isn’t a gut time, I can leave them on the kitchen table.”
She didn’t want him to leave. Instead, she was overwhelmed with the inclination to share her story with him. “Please stay.” She pointed toward the desk chair. “Pull up a seat.”
Saul paused for a moment and then steered the desk chair toward her and sat beside her. He shucked his coat and set it on the floor next to him before placing the clipboard on top of it.
