by Jo Ann Brown
“Be careful, brother,” he said without any other greeting. “Don’t forget you broke her heart once already.”
Gabriel tore his gaze from the porch and met his brother’s eyes. “I can’t ever forget that. Not ever.”
Chapter Eight
The farmers market was held every Saturday morning during the summer in a small park at the center of the village of Salem. People still talked about the night the building that had stood there burned. It had held four shops and two apartments, and the fire began at 6:45 p.m. on a Tuesday. Because the fire siren was tested every Tuesday at 6:50 p.m., too few of the volunteer firefighters had realized there was an actual fire until the alarm was activated for a second time. By then, the fire had gained control of the old Victorian building, sending the residents fleeing with the clothes on their backs. The next morning a charred foundation and puddles filled with ashes were all that remained.
When it became obvious nobody was going to rebuild, the village took over the property. A gazebo was set in the center, and trees and flower beds planted. Narrow sidewalks crisscrossed the park. Many of the village kinder had learned to roller skate there, safe from vehicle traffic and pedestrians.
During the week, the benches were empty, but on Saturday mornings from May until September when the farmers market was held, no empty seats could be found.
Along with shoppers and those who’d come to talk and browse, kinder and dogs on leashes had gathered for a contest. They wore costumes, and Leanna wasn’t sure who was fidgeting more: the kinder or the dogs, which came in a wide variety of shapes, sizes and colors. She guessed the dogs were supposed to be other types of animals. One was a black-and-white cow, because she could see a pink udder hanging down. Another one, a black pug, was showing off her rabbit ears and a tail made out of cotton balls.
Leanna couldn’t wait for the market to close for the day. Each time she spoke with a stranger, it was a strain. She couldn’t be like the other vendors who called out to neighbors, urging them to come and check out their wares. Instead, she sat behind the table she’d covered with a white cloth. Stacked on it were the bars of soap she’d made during the winter. A single hand-lettered sign listed what she had to sell and for how much. Since she didn’t have an awning as many of the other sellers did, she’d been relieved to discover her spot was in the shade of the neighboring building.
A blonde stopped in front of the table. She looked close to Leanna’s twenty-five years, but it wasn’t always easy to tell with Englischers who wore makeup. Her close-cropped curls framed her round face, and she smiled as she asked, “Is this right? You made soap out of goats’ milk?”
“That and other things like oatmeal and scents.”
The woman picked up the bar and held it to her nose. “Oh, lavender. That’s my favorite.”
“I think it’s a relaxing scent for enjoying a bath after a long day’s work.”
“Exactly.” The woman grinned. “I’ll take three bars.”
Leanna told her the total price while putting the bars into one of the paper bags she’d collected during the winter. Handing the bag to the woman, she made change.
“Are you here every week?” the woman asked.
“I hope to be, but it depends on how my goats cooperate.”
The woman laughed. “I can see how that could be a problem.” Her eyes widened as she glanced past Leanna. “Your family is here to help, I see.”
Looking over her shoulder, Leanna’s greeting to her siblings vanished when she saw Gabriel pulling the twins in the wagon she’d given him.
He surveyed the market booths with the same curiosity his daughter did.
“Good morning,” he said to the blonde, then switched to Deitsch. “Gute mariye, Leanna.”
The blonde grinned broadly before she walked to the next booth, but turned and winked.
Had it been aimed at her or Gabriel? Had he noticed as he bent to settle Harley in the wagon?
“What are you doing here?” she asked, horrified by how anxiety heightened her voice.
* * *
Gabriel chucked Harley under the chin before facing Leanna. He suspected she was doing well at the market. Only a few bars of soap remained on top of the table, and the pair of baskets by her black sneakers were empty. Her hands were clasped in her lap, making her look ill at ease while other sellers and customers bustled through the space between the small square and the road.
“I decided to see what all the talk about the farmers market is about,” he said.
“And what do you think?”
He glanced around the score of tables and the people milling between them, stopping to talk with vendors and other shoppers. “I think,” he said, realizing Leanna was waiting for him to answer, “I need to find the place where they’re selling the fudge I see some kids eating.”
“Third table to the left.” She pointed.
“I’ll make sure I don’t miss it while we’re walking around.” He glanced at the wagon. “This design is truly clever.”
“I thought they’d enjoy it.”
“No question about that.” He gave a wave and pulled the wagon up a cut in the curb.
As he wandered around the tables, talking with people he recognized and answering questions about the twins from people whom he hadn’t met, he kept glancing at Leanna. He was pulled to her like a yo-yo, dancing on its string. No matter how interesting the articles were on the other tables, his thoughts returned to her.
He gave in to those thoughts and returned to her table. When Leanna asked how he’d liked the fudge, he realized he’d forgotten to sample any.
Rather than admit that, he asked, “Would you like some ice cream?”
When she smiled and nodded, he was glad she wasn’t thinking about the last time he’d invited her to join him for ice cream. His heart lurched as he couldn’t keep from wondering what she would have said that day if he’d asked her—as he’d planned—to become his wife.
“Are you planning to share with the bopplin?” she asked as she stood and began to fold the white tablecloth.
“A bite or two at least.”
“Then we should get sorbet. It’ll be less likely to bother their stomachs.”
“I didn’t think of that,” he said before he could halt himself. He must sound like the world’s worst daed.
She smiled. “It’s hard to remember everything that contains cows’ milch.”
“Ice cream should be easy to remember.”
The wrong words, because her smile wavered, and he knew she was thinking of how they had been going to meet in Strasburg on what should have been a special day for them.
“Maybe someone makes ice cream out of the milch from goats,” he said, unable to bear the silence between them.
“Unlikely.”
“You can’t make ice cream from it?”
“You can, but it’s thinner than regular ice cream. If you put it in the freezer, it becomes like a slab of granite.” A smile flitted across her face. “I know, because I tried a few times until my family begged me to stop using them as guinea pigs for my experiments.”
He was about to ask another question, but halted. The twins were getting antsy and ready to climb out of the wagon. At least Heidi was, and it seemed to Gabriel as if Harley was egging her on. He didn’t dare to turn his back on the twins while helping Leanna pack up her empty baskets and put them in the Waglers’ buggy, parked in front of the grocery store up the street. It took longer than he’d expected to walk the short distance because vendors kept stopping Leanna to ask if she’d be there next week.
“Your soap is such a hit!” exclaimed an Englisch woman whose black braid hung past her waist. “People stop there and then at my table to look at my jewelry. Maybe we should consider a cross-promotion.”
“It’s something to think about, Iris.” With a wave, Leanna crossed Main Stre
et during a break in the Saturday morning traffic.
“Do you think the bishop will be okay with you doing promotion for your products?” Gabriel asked while she stored her supplies in the buggy.
“No, but Iris is a nice woman, and I didn’t want to say no without checking.”
“You’re a nice woman, too, Leanna Wagler.”
A blush rose up her cheeks, and she bowed her head to hide her face. He wanted to tell her such a motion was useless. After hours of re-creating her expressions while he stared at the ceiling, he could imagine how lovely the color looked against her black hair.
She checked to make sure her horse was all right. When she walked with him to the sidewalk, she began to talk about the farmers market as if it were the most important subject on the planet.
He listened as they strolled past the bank in a grand Victorian house and toward the hardware store, knowing this was her way of dealing with his compliment. Thinking back to when they’d been walking out together, he knew he must have praised her at least once.
Hadn’t he?
He realized he had...though only in his mind. He hadn’t wanted to embarrass her. It shocked him to discover that, before Aden asked him to save his daughter’s reputation, Gabriel hadn’t been honest with Leanna. He’d thought she was the loveliest, kindest, most fun girl he’d ever spent time with; yet he’d never hinted that to her.
No wonder she’d thought the worst of him when she learned he was marrying Freda. How could he fault Leanna for not responding to his earnest letter when he’d never told her how he felt about her?
He hadn’t changed his mind about Leanna, and, as he listened to her lilting voice and saw her smile when she paused to speak with vendors packing up after the farmers market, he knew he must be careful. If he spoke the truth to her about anything, he might slip and reveal everything.
The twins crowed with delight as two large dogs walked past them. He slowed the wagon, after asking the dog owners’ permission to pet the dogs.
“They’re fascinated with dogs,” Leanna said. “You should get them one.”
He shook his head. “No.”
“Kinder love dogs.”
“I know.”
Her smile vanished at his clipped tone. “What is it, Gabriel?”
“What do you mean?”
“I know that expression. You wear it when you’re thinking about when you were young and everything in your life changed. Did you and Michael have a dog?”
“Ja.” He should have guessed he couldn’t hide from her keen eyes. He might as well tell her, so he could stave off her curiosity with more recent events. “We had a dog before we moved in with Aden. Red didn’t get along with the Girods’ dog, so he was given to another family. We never saw him again.”
“I’m sorry. You must have been heartbroken.”
“We were. It’d seemed, at the time, a sorrow as great as losing our parents.” He took a deep breath and released it. “That’s why I think the twins are better off without a dog.”
“It’s not a decision you have to make today.”
Smiling in response to her kind words seemed the most natural response. When she stared at him, astonished, before she returned his smile, he knew why he hadn’t given in to his yearning to smile before. The emotion arcing between them was invisible but as powerful as the sunlight burning through his straw hat.
His fingers tingled in a silent plea to reach them out and take her hand. He tried to ignore them. Such a public display on the street busy with Englischers and a few plain folk would reflect poorly on Leanna. He couldn’t risk that.
Gabriel stopped before they reached the intersection at the heart of the village. “Here we are.”
The building was three stories high. The upper floors were painted pale gray. The dark red trim around the windows matched the color of the ground floor. Rolled red-and-white-striped awnings hung over the two sets of storefronts. Large windows flanked the doors. A third door between the stores led to the apartments on the top two floors.
The left-hand shop sold fabrics, and the other was their destination. Gold letters arched in the windows announced the shop sold candy and ice cream and other treats. Double screen doors at the top of three steps were open to catch the late-spring breezes and invite passersby in to enjoy a snack.
When he pulled the wagon to one side of the steps where it wouldn’t be in anyone’s way, he wasn’t surprised Leanna picked up Harley at the same time he reached for Heidi, who held her tiny arms up to him. He and Leanna had learned how to work in concert to take care of the twins. Would he develop the same easy rapport with Juanita as he had with Leanna?
Impossible!
Though in some ways it would be much simpler to have the teenager around his house. He almost snickered as he wondered if he were the first adult ever to have such a thought.
Juanita would do a gut job for him, and the drama that annoyed Michael would be gone. It was for the best.
It was!
If that was the truth, why couldn’t he think of anything but how he’d miss the sound of Leanna’s voice? He’d be sorry not to view the brightness of the bopplin’s eyes when they saw her and the scent of her floral shampoo and the twinkle in her own eyes before she said something outrageous and... The list went on and on.
“All set?” Leanna asked.
Relieved to be freed from his thoughts, he settled Heidi against him so she could look past his shoulder and not miss anything. “All set.”
Gabriel let Leanna precede him up the steps. Inside the shop, the wood floors might once have been polished or painted, but any hint of finish had been worn away. On one side, two great glass cases displayed wares the store would have sold when it first opened its doors. He glanced at boxes for candies that were no longer produced, and then his gaze was caught by the magnificent soda fountain.
A marble slab was set atop a carved bar more than ten feet long. Six cast-iron stools with bright red vinyl seats marched in front of it. Beyond the bar were the goosenecked dispensers for soda water and flavored drinks. The preparation area ran the full length of the bar, large folding doors on top of the freezer for the containers of ice cream. Smaller compartments must hold toppings and other supplies. Fluted dishes for sundaes were arranged before a huge mirror that reached to the ceiling. One corner of the mirror had a crack about as long as his hand, but the rest looked as pristine as the day it’d been put up, which he guessed must be close to a century before.
“This is amazing,” he said in a whisper.
“Isn’t it?” Leanna laughed. “You’d never guess this was in here if you drove past. Who’d imagine a little farm town would have such a fancy ice cream parlor?”
A cheerful man behind the counter gave them a big grin. “What can I do for you today?” He wiped the counter with a cloth though it looked clean. “Maybe an ice-cream soda? A banana split? An egg cream?”
“What’s that?” Gabriel asked.
“It’s soda water and cream and flavoring. I can make chocolate, vanilla or strawberry for you.”
“No eggs?”
The man laughed. “Not a one. And don’t ask me why they’re called egg creams. Nobody seems to know, but they’re good.”
“It does sound gut, but we’ve got two lactose-intolerant twins here, so we need to skip anything with cream in it.”
“We were thinking sorbet would be okay for them,” Leanna added.
The man nodded. “It’s your best bet.” He pointed to a list over his right shoulder. “Those are the flavors we have.”
Gabriel scanned the list. “I’ll have raspberry. A medium. What about you, Leanna?”
“Strawberry. Small for me.”
“A cone or a dish?” asked the man behind the counter.
“A dish for me.” She smiled at the twins. “I think it’ll make it easier to share.”
“For me, too,” Gabriel said.
The man grinned and went to fill the order. The servings were more generous than Gabriel had expected, so he was glad he hadn’t ordered a large bowl. He paid for their treat, then led the way to a small metal table and pulled out two of the metal chairs. The metal backs had been twisted to match the heart shape of Leanna’s kapp. Setting his dish on the white tabletop, he sat and settled Heidi on his lap. She quivered with excitement when she saw the colorful sorbet in front of him.
He gave her a little bit on a spoon, and her nose wrinkled. “Don’t you like it?”
“Give her another bite.” Leanna was offering a bit of her own to Harley. “That’s not her ‘I don’t like it’ face. It’s her ‘I don’t know what it is because I’ve never had it before’ face.”
When he held up the spoon to Heidi again, she opened her mouth. She giggled when the sweet flavor rushed down her throat.
“You’re right,” he said.
“I’ve learned most of her expressions. Heidi doesn’t hide anything about the way she feels. She wants the world to know. Harley is more circumspect, like you.”
He took a bite of the sorbet to hide his reaction. It was simple with everyone else, even his brother, to hide the truth, but it was difficult not to share it with her. If only Aden hadn’t asked him not to reveal the truth about his daughter...
“Da-da-da-da,” Heidi said, patting his chest with each impatient repetition.
“Ja.” Leanna smiled. “That’s your daed. Aren’t you going to answer her, Gabriel?”
“She’s making nonsense sounds,” he argued, holding out the spoon to Heidi again so he didn’t have to look across the table. “She does that all the time.”
“She does, but not that sound. She’s talking to you, daed.”
He readied a curt retort, but the sound wouldn’t emerge past his lips as he stared at the kind. She believed he should understand what she was saying.
His throat filled with emotions, too many to examine a single one, as he wondered if she really was trying to say “daed.” Once the bopplin began making sounds, he had been curious when one would come out with a real word. He never once allowed himself to imagine that word would be a boppli’s version of daed.
