Plain Perfect & Quaker Summer 2 in 1

by Beth Wiseman; Lisa Samson

  “Ya, much better. I told you that you’d get the feel of it.” Grandma accepted the bread and headed for the stove. “It’s a long walk to Intercourse and Bird-In-Hand. It would take you half a day on foot. You and Samuel didn’t plan another trip?”

  “Uh, I haven’t actually talked to them since Lilly died.”

  Grandma closed the door of the wooden stove and turned to face her. “I would take you myself, but it wonders me if Jonas would be doin’ well unattended.”

  “How far is it?”

  “It’s a good piece. You go up Black Horse Road, cross over Lincoln Highway into Beiler’s Bed and Breakfast drive. Use it as a throughway to get to Leacock Road. Just keep goin’. When Jonas is havin’ one of his better days, we’ll saddle up Jessie and you can practice driving the buggy.”

  “Really? That would be great! Jessie is a beautiful animal.” Lillian went to the barn every afternoon and lavished attention on the horse. And how fun it would be to drive the buggy to town.

  Grandma’s face twisted. Lillian knew exactly what was causing her displeasure.

  “Maybe you ought not ride the buggy dressed that way, Lillian.”

  She watched as her grandma scanned her attire from head to toe. It was the same as it was every day—blue jeans and a T-shirt. Today, a red T-shirt. And Lillian still didn’t see a problem.

  Oh, I see. You’ll let me drive the buggy if I wear one of the frumpy dresses on the peg upstairs. No deal.

  “Well, I’ll be walking today, anyway,” she said, turning away from the woman before she told her exactly what she thought of those dresses. All the Amish women wore them. There was no sense of style, little choice of color. And they hung halfway to the floor! It was the one Amish custom she was not going to partake in. Wasn’t the fact that she didn’t wear makeup or jewelry enough? The blue jeans stay.

  “Glad to see you have some better walking shoes.” She pointed to Lillian’s tennis shoes. “We can talk about learnin’ you how to handle Jessie on another day when Jonas is feeling better.” Her brows jutted upward as if wanting a commitment that Lillian would indeed wear the dress at some point in the future.

  Time for a change of subject. “I thought maybe I might plant some flowers in the flowerbeds and around the trees in the yard,” she said. “Is that okay with you?”

  Grandma lit up. “I think that would be gut. I’ve been telling myself to make time for tending to the yard. But with Jonas and all . . .” She shrugged and glanced upstairs. “We have accounts in town. You can charge the flowers, and there’s a scooter in the barn you better use. It was your mamm’s. The towns of Paradise, Bird-In-Hand, and Intercourse are close enough together to use a scooter. Lots of Amish use them. It’s much too far for walkin’ on foot.” Her tone indicated she was willing to forget the blue jeans for now.

  “That’ll be fun. I’ll use the scooter and get some flowery plants in town.”

  “You won’t be able to tote much back. There’s a basket on the front of the scooter, though, that you can use for carryin’ your buys.”

  “Maybe I’ll get a ride back from some nice Amish person, like I did on my way here.” She thought of Samuel, starting to regret avoiding him for the past couple of days.

  Grandma rubbed her hands on her apron, her mouth pursing in obvious indecision.

  “What, Grandma?”

  “Samuel came callin’ for you yesterday.”

  “Came calling? When?” And why didn’t you tell me?

  “He came to the door yesterday. Him and David both,” she said, sounding fearful she’d made a mistake by not telling Lillian. “You were resting upstairs.”

  “I was reading a book.” Her tone was indicative of her frustration at not being told she had a visitor.

  Grandma began to pace across the wooden slatted kitchen floor. “I was worried that you might have taken a fancy to him.” She shrugged. “I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

  Lillian chuckled. “Grandma, I can take care of myself. And, I assure you, if Samuel ‘came callin’, he was only being friendly. Maybe he wanted to apologize for not being able to take me to town,” she speculated. “Did you think he might have taken a fancy—so to speak—to me?”

  “Oh, ya!” Grandma belted. “Yes, I did. And it worried me too. The both of you are very different.” She shook her head.

  “It’s okay, Grandma,” she said smugly, feeling a newfound sense of pleasure that Samuel had come looking for her. “It will be fine.”

  “Ach, I know that now. Katie Ann came by earlier to bring me some vegetables from her and Ivan’s garden. She explained to me that Samuel was courting Levina Esh. She saw them having lunch today.” She waved her hand. “It just feared me for a minute that he might be thinking of courting you. I saw you both laughing together the other day and my mind ran amuck about it. But now I know it was just silly thinkin’ on my part.”

  “Oh,” Lillian said softly. “That’s wonderful for him . . . and Levina.” She whipped around and headed toward the screen door. “I’m off to town.”

  As the door slammed, she bolted down the porch steps, feeling anything but wonderful.

  5

  SAMUEL WAS ADMIRING THE CRAFTSMANSHIP ON A FINE Amish table he hoped to purchase someday. Someday when he had a wife and more children. The shop was his favorite in Bird-In-Hand, and his friend Big Jake was a mighty fine woodworker. But the table was too big for just him and David. Maybe someday he would see fit to make the purchase.

  “Why don’t you just buy that table, Samuel?” Sadie Fisher asked as she approached Samuel. “You’ve been eyeing that thing for months.”

  “Hello, Sadie,” he said, not feeling up to making small talk. He’d done enough of that with Levina earlier in the day when she pinned him down for lunch. No more going shopping on Thursdays for him.

  “How’ve you been, Samuel?”

  “Gut, Sadie. And you?”

  “Gut, gut,” she said, taking a step backward and eyeing him up and down. “Samuel Stoltzfus! You are thinning up. Do I need to come over and fix you and David some of my special meatloaf? And maybe a lemon meringue pie for dessert?”

  “No need, Sadie,” he said, forcing a smile. “Me and the boy do just fine.”

  Looking only a tad defeated, she said, “Oh, I think my cookin’ would plump you right up. It’s just what you and David need.” She leaned closer to him and grinned.

  There couldn’t have been a better time for Lillian Miller to pull up on a scooter.

  “Hello, Samuel,” Lillian said, out of breath as she approached him and Sadie. He was glad to see her happy. Last time he’d seen her, she was a mess. “I don’t know what Grandma was thinking. It was a long way to get here, even on a scooter.” She curled her bottom lip, blew upward, and cleared a strand of wayward hair dangling across her face.

  He glanced at Sadie and then back at Lillian. The two women seemed to be waiting for an introduction. There was a tension in the air he couldn’t quite put his finger on. He should have never hesitated. He should have introduced them right off. Lillian beat him to the punch, though.

  “And you must be Levina?” Lillian asked. “I’m Lillian Miller.” She extended her hand to Sadie.

  Samuel cringed when he saw the fire blazing in Sadie’s eyes. He opened his mouth to make the correction, but Lillian wasn’t through. “My grandma told me how the two of you were a couple—or ‘courting’ I believe is what she said. And she also said—”

  “This is Sadie!” he quickly interrupted when he saw Sadie’s mouth draw up and her hands land on her hips.

  Lillian dropped her extended hand. “Oh . . .”

  What she was smiling about, Samuel would never know.

  “My grandma said you came to see me yesterday. I’m sorry I missed you. I was upstairs reading.” Lillian’s smile broadened. “Maybe you could come by later?”

  Sadie ripped him to shreds with her piercing eyes. And yet, for the first time since he’d known her, Sadie Fisher was speechless.

/>   Once again, his Englisch friend was not. “I just want to apologize again about the other night, the way I carried on when the cow died. How’s the little calf, though?” Her eyes lit up, and Samuel couldn’t help but smile.

  But venom was spewing from Sadie’s direction. Ignoring Lillian, she turned to Samuel. “Samuel Stoltzfus, exactly who are you courting these days?”

  “I’m not courting anyone,” he said cautiously, glancing back and forth between the two women. Although he kept his focus pretty much on Sadie. She was mad as fire and a mite scary looking.

  Lillian spoke up first. “Uh, I’m sorry if I caused a problem. I just—”

  “I best be gettin’ on,” Sadie interrupted, making sure her voice drowned out Lillian. She straightened her apron and held her chin high as she allowed herself a long hard look at Lillian. “Nice to meet you, Lillian,” she finally said and walked off. No, stomped off was more like it.

  “Sorry,” Lillian mumbled when Sadie was out of earshot.

  “For what?”

  “Uh, for messing things up with your lady friend.”

  “Sadie and Levina are both widows in our district. And I am a widower. Need I say more?”

  Of course he needed to say more.

  “So, which one is it? Sadie or Levina?”

  “Neither,” he answered. “Why does it interest you so much?”

  He reached up and stroked his beard, sporting a curious smile. He was dallying with her. Her insides flipped, and her cheeks took on a tingly sensation, which she knew meant they were red as her T-shirt. “It doesn’t,” she snapped in a much too defensive tone.

  “Coulda fooled me.”

  “Well, aren’t you a little full of yourself, Samuel! I believe you are the one who came to see me yesterday.” She shot him a catty smile.

  “David wanted to make sure you were doin’ okay. You were so upset when Lilly died.” His expression shifted to a look of concern, and he leaned down toward her as if to see if she really was all right.

  “I’m fine. And, as I said, I’m sorry for my emotional display.”

  “No apology necessary.” He tipped his hat. “Well, we’re in town. Want me to show you around?”

  “I guess,” she said, unsure what she wanted from the handsome Samuel Stoltzfus. “I actually want to buy some flowers. Grandma said she didn’t have time to do much gardening with Grandpa so sick. I thought it might be nice to brighten the place up.”

  “Do you know anything about planting flowers?”

  “How hard can it be? Dig a hole and put them in.”

  He shook his head. “It’s May. Do you know what kind of flowers to plant this time of year?”

  “Uh . . . I guess not.”

  “Come on. I’ll help you.”

  Two hours later, Samuel helped Lillian load flats of colorful foliage into his buggy.

  “How exactly were you going to get all this home, since you scooted all the way here?” He lifted the scooter up and placed it in the backseat.

  “I knew you’d come around and give me a ride,” she said in a playful tone. Her eyes flashed alongside her smile.

  Something twisted in Samuel’s gut. He shook his head as she handed him a flat of flowers to store in the back of the buggy.

  “What?” she asked.

  “Nothing,” he mumbled, suddenly reticent.

  “Oh, come on,” she said, poking him lightly on the arm. “Must be something on your mind.”

  He shook his head. “No, nothing.” After loading the last of the flowers, he walked around and opened the buggy door on her side.

  “Danki!” she said as she hopped in. There was that childlike enthusiasm again—a quality he found mighty attractive.

  Which was the whole problem. Lillian Miller stirred things in him better left alone. She was beautiful. She was interesting. And she was off limits.

  It was almost four-thirty. He better pick up the pace to get her home and pick up David.

  “Jonas, the three of them are still sittin’ out by the barn,” Irma Rose said as she peeped out the window. “They’ve been out there almost three hours. Since right after supper. For goodness sakes, what could they have to talk about for so long?”

  “Irma Rose, you might be gettin’ thick around the midsection, but I didn’t think you were gettin’ thick in your head too.” He chuckled. “Our young kinskind is being courted by Samuel. Now quit your spying.”

  She was glad Jonas was having a good day, but his sharp tongue was about to get him in a mess of trouble.

  “Ouch, Irma Rose.” Jonas snickered. “You’re hurtin’ me with that look you be givin’ me.”

  “This is serious, Jonas. Samuel is courting Levina Esh. Katie Ann saw them having lunch today. It isn’t proper for him to be spending so much time with Lillian.” Their Englisch granddaughter didn’t even go to church. And she couldn’t see fit to wear a more appropriate outfit either. Lillian was a high-spirited, lovely child. Irma Rose wanted nothing more than for her to be happy. But she had seen Samuel and the boy suffer. This just had trouble written all over it.

  “Are you sure Samuel is courting Levina? Both those widows—Levina and Sadie— have been chasin’ that Samuel for a long time.” Jonas chuckled. “He don’t seem to want to be caught by neither of ’em.”

  “Katie Ann sure saw fit to tell me about their lunch today.”

  “That don’t mean they’re courtin’.” Jonas shook his head.

  “It just scares me, Jonas. I don’t want to see our Lillian or Samuel and the boy get hurt.” She took another peek out the window.

  “Irma Rose,” Jonas said in a softer tone. “It ain’t up to you.”

  “I know.” She walked away from the window. “But I’m still going to worry.”

  Lillian was impressed with how little it seemed to take for Samuel and David to be happy. Their Plain, uncomplicated lifestyle provided them with everything they needed. Despite her worldly ways, she’d never been able to achieve the one thing they seemed to possess in abundance: peace.

  The one thing both father and son talked about with pride was their love of the land and sense of stewardship to care for God’s creation.

  “Tilling God’s earth and providing plentiful crops is an important part of our lives,” Samuel said now. “With more of our farmers having to venture out into the Englisch workplace, some of us are still blessed to harvest our land and enjoy the fruits of our labor.”

  Lillian thought hard about what he was saying. “Tomorrow, I’m going to plant all those flowers I got in town today,” she said.

  “It’ll be nice to see some flowers here again.”

  “What are we going to do tomorrow, Pop?” David enthusiastically asked, as if assuming the three of them would spend time together.

  Evidently, that was not Samuel’s plan. “David, you’ve already missed today’s chores. I think it’d be best if we headed home tomorrow after your work is finished here.” Samuel lifted himself from the tree stump he was sitting on. “As a matter of fact, maybe we can salvage some chores tonight.”

  “But, Pop—” David protested, only to have Samuel interrupt him.

  “Lillian, please thank Irma Rose again for that fine meal.”

  She stood up from the wooden chair she had placed in the front yard earlier. “I will,” she said softly, trying to mask her disappointment.

  Hot and cold. One minute Samuel was warm and kind and seemed pleased by her presence. The next minute, he was formal and withdrawn. Just like earlier today, in town. Yet despite his quiet demeanor on the ride home, they’d had a good evening, laughing and talking about all sorts of things. She felt like after tonight she knew him and David much better.

  And yet . . . hot and cold. Samuel could turn on a dime.

  “Ya, we best be on our way, David,” he said as he extended his hand to Lillian. “Bye, Lillian.”

  His tone was curt, as if forcing distance between them. But as she latched onto his hand, she thought she felt him hold it longer t
han normal. Maybe she was just imagining that.

  Samuel could sense that something was on David’s mind. He hadn’t said a word since they left Lillian. He pulled back on the reins and slowed Pete to a trot. “It was a mighty fine meal, ya?” he asked.

  The boy nodded but kept staring ahead.

  “Something on your mind?” He slowed Pete even more, to allow a chance for the two of them to talk. Once at home, they’d need to work on the chores they had let go to spend time at the Millers’ farm.

  David shrugged. “Nothing, I guess.”

  Samuel wasn’t convinced. “You like Lillian, don’t you?” He suspected whatever was on David’s mind had to do with her.

  “You like her too!” The boy’s tone was defensive and bordering on angry.

  “Of course I like her. She’s a very nice person, and—”

  “No, I mean you like her, and you don’t want to admit it!”

  “Whoa, boy,” Samuel instructed Pete as they pulled into the yard. He turned to David, surprised at his son’s tone of voice. “Boy, what is goin’ on in that head of yours?”

  Children start getting rebellious at this age—he remembered his own temperament at that period. But David had never taken such a sharp tone with him before.

  “I think you should court Lillian.” He turned and faced Samuel with a look that almost demanded he consider the notion.

  Samuel opened his mouth to reprimand the boy for thinking he could choose a courting partner for his pop. But seeing the look in David’s glassy eyes stopped him short. Clearly the boy had taken a hard fancy to Lillian.

  Another reason they should stop spending time with the woman.

  “David,” he began slowly, “it wouldn’t be proper. She’s from a worldly place, and it just wouldn’t be right.” He shook his head.

  The boy instantly cheered up, obviously sensing Samuel’s defenses were down. “She’s gonna come around, Pop. You’ll see. It’s just gonna take her some time to learn about our ways. She wants to make a change. Maybe we can help her.”