Today, he wore a blue shirt and dark pants like the Amish men as well as a black wide-brimmed felt hat and a jacket.
Anna hung back and waited while Mary Katherine got in, watching Naomi look with pure adoration at Nick until she could climb inside.
This was more than seeing two people in love and so happy that their marriage was drawing near. Nick had been born Englisch, and this was the culmination of his work to become Naomi’s husband: classes in becoming a member of the church, with all the requisite learning of the Ordnung and the many rules that guided the community. He’d stepped up his study of German and Pennsylvania Deitsch that he’d picked up in his work with the Amish.
And most of all, he’d shown such eagerness to be the mann Naomi—and those close to her—had come to feel God had sent to her.
“I wanted to take you ladies out for one of my first official tours,” he said, grinning as he gestured grandly toward the buggy.
All Anna’s warm and fuzzy feelings as she’d watched him with Naomi plummeted. It was one thing to be supportive of Nick’s switch from driving a car to driving a buggy. While she knew there was more horsepower under the metal hood of Nick’s SUV, a horse was a challenge for anyone who didn’t have experience.
He must have sensed her ambivalence because his grin faded, and he took a step toward her. “I know you must be feeling a little anxious about riding with a beginner like me,” he said seriously. “But I’ve been working with Abe Harshberger for weeks now. I wouldn’t take a chance with the woman I love and the family she loves.”
She felt the affection that had grown for him the longer she knew him—especially as she saw how he adored Naomi as much as she did him—and nodded. “I know. And I know that you realize that a horse isn’t a predictable machine as well.”
He glanced toward the cars that occasionally passed them. “Especially with tourists around here, right?”
“I always knew you were a smart man,” she told him and climbed into the backseat.
Nick helped Naomi into the front seat and walked around to climb into his own seat. He took the reins and called to Ike with authority, careful to check for traffic and guide the rig out onto the road.
He didn’t seem quite as comfortable as other men—Amish men she knew—driving the buggy, but then again, he hadn’t been doing this since he was a kind.
As they rode along, he talked easily about the area like Abe did. When Naomi turned to her, lifting her eyebrows, Anna nodded. When Nick gave up driving a car, he’d be giving up his livelihood. It was extremely important that the business of buggy tours do well.
“I’m picking up the brochures we designed this afternoon,” he told Naomi. “Right after I drop you ladies off at the shop.”
Anna had ridden in a buggy behind Ike before. She watched with admiration as Nick dealt with the horse’s little behavior quirks. Abe had told her his horse let little bother him—a wonderful trait for a horse that traveled so much around traffic—but let a paper take-out food bag or something similar blow across the road toward him and he’d become skittish as if someone had planted land mines in his path.
Anna relaxed and let herself enjoy the clip-clop of the horse’s hooves and the brisk air as they turned back to town. She knew she should be thinking about getting back, but this ride was an unaccustomed pleasure in the middle of the afternoon.
She was thinking about how Gideon and his daughter would be stopping by that afternoon for a knitting lesson when she became aware that a car was following too closely behind the buggy.
Nick had noticed it, too, and had commanded Ike to speed up a little and began looking to the right for a place to pull over to let the driver pass.
That wasn’t good enough for the driver, though. He drew even closer and, when Anna glanced behind, made an angry gesture at them.
“It’s not safe to pull over here,” Nick muttered. “The shoulder of the road isn’t wide enough.” He stuck his hand out his window and gestured for the driver to pass him.
The driver zoomed past, and Anna watched the way that Nick kept calm, even waved at the driver as he passed with an annoyed glance.
The buggy swayed a little as the backwash of air pushed out by the car hit it.
Nick sighed. “It’s going to take some getting used to.”
Naomi reached over to pat his hands on the reins. “You’re doing so well. Are you still certain this is what you want?”
He turned to look at her. “Please don’t ask me that again.” His tone was quiet but firm.
She bit her bottom lip and nodded. Nick transferred the reins to his left hand and lifted Naomi’s and brought it to his lips to kiss it. Anna looked away quickly, feeling his gesture too intimate for her to witness, and found Mary Katherine watching her.
Anna started to roll her eyes and make a joke the way she’d done when she saw Mary Katherine and Jacob do something romantic.
Then she stopped. Let them be, she told herself. They’re all so happy. Are you sure you’re not teasing them because you envy them for being in love right now when you aren’t?
It was a sobering thought. She’d have to think about it later. For now, the way the day was growing darker concerned her. She peered out her window.
“Looks like it’s going to rain soon, Nick. Maybe we should head back?”
Jamie stood cutting fabric for a customer when they returned to the shop.
Anna smiled with pleasure when she saw that the customer was Jenny Bontrager.
“Starting a quilt?” she asked after she hugged her friend.
Jenny laughed. “Not me. You know quilting isn’t among my skills.”
“You’re not required to be an award-winning quilter to just sew and enjoy,” Anna said gently. “Stop being so hard on yourself.”
“This is for Hannah,” Jenny told her. “She’s watching my kinner for me so I can run some errands. I said I’d pick up fabric for her.”
“If you have time, maybe you’d like to stay for a knitting class,” Anna said casually as she picked up a bolt of fabric and returned it to its display table.
“Yeah, that might be fun,” said Jamie, folding a fat quarter of fabric and placing it atop the stack of others she’d just cut. “You just never know who might show up.”
Anna reached over and pulled at one of Jamie’s long pigtails. It was tied with lavender ribbon today.
“I liked it when you dyed your hair this color.”
Jamie grinned. “Am I getting too tame?” She glanced down at her outfit of scarlet shirt and short black skirt worn with black boots. Mismatched polka-dot knee-high socks showed above her black boots.
She turned to Jenny. “But Anna’s changing the subject. She doesn’t want to talk about who’s coming to the class.”
Jenny straightened. “Who?”
“She just wants to gossip,” Anna told Jenny.
“It’s not gossip. It’s keeping up with community news.”
“Matthew calls it the Amish grapevine. Now you’ve got my curiosity up. You know I used to be a reporter.”
Anna gathered up the remaining bolts of fabric and walked off to put them on their tables. She didn’t have to turn to know that Jenny followed. Her friend might look unassuming in her gray Plain dress that matched her eyes and her serious manner, but Anna knew that she was as stubborn and determined as a person could be. If she hadn’t been, she’d never have survived the bomb blast in a war zone overseas or the grueling surgeries and physical therapy that had left her with only a mild limp.
It wasn’t easy to be accepted as a convert to the Amish faith, either, but years after she married the boy-next-to-grandmother’s house, Anna didn’t think most people even thought of her life before she’d returned to stay here forever.
The shop door opened, and Gideon walked in with Sarah Rose.
Who didn’t look particularly happy.
Jenny glanced at Anna and raised her eyebrows. Anna gave her a shrug and went to greet her students.
Ev
eryone seemed to stream in the door at the same time.
“Whoa,” said Jamie. “Did the school bus just let out?”
Maybe it was Anna’s imagination, but the scowl on Sarah Rose’s face grew darker. She threw herself in a chair and crossed her arms over her chest.
Anna glanced at Gideon, who’d taken the chair next to his daughter. He shook his head in a subtle message that it was best not to ask any questions right now.
“Sarah Rose, would you like some hot chocolate?”
She stuck her bottom lip out and then must have thought better of it. Straightening, she looked at him hopefully. “Can I have some?”
“May I?” he corrected.
She frowned but then amended her question, smiling when he nodded.
“Schur. Remember to thank Anna.”
“Hot chocolate sounds good,” Jenny said. “Could I have some?”
“Oh, sorry, I should have asked you if you’d like something warm to drink on a rainy day like today.” Anna gestured at the back room. “You can come with me if you want or stay here by the fire.”
They both followed her and took seats at the table.
“So, Sarah Rose, how is schul?”
Anna held up the packet of hot chocolate mix to Jenny. “This or coffee?”
“You have the kind with marshmallows!” Jenny cried. “That goes so fast at our house I hardly ever get it.”
“A cup of hot chocolate then.” The teakettle had just been used to boil water so it only took a few minutes to get the water boiling again and make the two cups of chocolate.
Anna set the cups before Jenny and Sarah Rose, then took a seat at the table.
“So, how’s schul?”
Sarah Rose glared into her cup. “Fine.” She looked up. “Why do people always ask that?”
“Because it’s a kid’s job.” Jenny blew on her chocolate and then carefully took a sip. “People ask me the same kind of question, only about what I do for my job.”
“What do you do?”
“I’m a writer.”
Sarah Rose didn’t look impressed. “I hate writing. Teacher makes us write things all the time, and it’s hard.”
Jenny nodded. “Sometimes it’s not easy even for a person who writes for a job.”
“Then why do you do it?”
“Because I like it when something’s a challenge.”
“Schul is hard.”
“Tell me what your hardest subject is.”
“I’m going to go out and get the class started,” Anna said, rising. “Sarah Rose, take your time with the hot chocolate, and I’ll help you when you’re ready.”
She left them talking and as she reached the doorway, she glanced back and smiled when she saw how easily Jenny chatted with the child. Jenny had four kinner now—three widower Matthew had shared with her when they married, and a little boy she hadn’t expected to become pregnant with after her internal injuries from the bombing.
Gideon gave her a questioning look when she walked up to the knitting class. Anna told him that Sarah Rose was finishing her hot chocolate with Jenny, and he nodded. She noted that he seemed more comfortable holding the knitting needles in his big hands.
“I’ve been practicing,” he said in a low voice as she looked at the muffler he was knitting.
Once again several of the ladies watched their interaction with interest. Anna saw them exchanging looks. They’d obviously decided a romance might be brewing. They lived locally, so she would have thought they’d be more aware that such things weren’t conducted out in public, but she knew they meant no harm.
Sarah Rose came out a few minutes later, her canvas tote bag filled with knitting stuff on her thin little shoulder. She climbed up into a rocking chair, got out her materials, and began knitting.
“Why, Sarah Rose, you look like you’ve been doing this forever,” Thelma remarked. “Pretty soon you’ll be able to help Anna teach.”
Demut—humility—was practiced in the Amish community, but Sarah Rose reacted as any kind would: she glowed. “Daedi and I have been practicing,” she said, echoing his words.
Jenny came out and sat in a chair in the circle of students. She watched for a few minutes. When Anna walked past her a few minutes later to check the progress of her knitting, she looked up. “This looks relaxing,” she said. “Maybe I should try it. If I can do something simple to start out with.”
Gideon looked up and grinned. “Can’t get any simpler than this,” he said, holding up the long muffler he was knitting. “I recommend it.”
“I’ll try it,” Jenny said. “As long as I don’t have to go around with Smurf blue hands.”
Gideon grimaced. “How long will it take me to live that down?”
“Let’s get you some supplies,” Anna said.
“Said the spider to the fly,” Jenny murmured. “How much is this going to cost me?”
“I’ll give you the class discount,” Anna said with a smile.
“So who did you fall for first?”
“Excuse me?”
“Who’d you fall for first: the daughter or the father?” Jenny asked as they stood in front of the display of yarn.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Sarah Rose and her father are just taking knitting lessons to do something together.”
“Uh-huh,” Jenny said, nodding. She picked up a skein of yarn. “This would look good made into a muffler for Matthew, don’t you think?”
Anna nodded. “And you could get it done by Christmas.”
“Perfect.”
Anna chose a pair of knitting needles for her, and they walked to the cash register.
“I think I’ll join you next week for my first lesson,” Jenny told her as she pulled money from her purse. “I still have another errand to run. But I’ll ask Hannah if she can babysit for me this time next week.”
Anna handed her the bag with her supplies and her change. “That would be wonderful. I’ll enjoy having you in the class.”
“Looks like fun.” Jenny started to walk toward the door, then turned back. “And just for the record, I fell for the daughter first. Sarah Rose is a challenge, not like Matthew’s sweet little Annie was when I met her. But she needs you just as much, maybe more.”
She smiled. “And I suspect you’re like me, and you don’t mind a challenge.”
The bell jangled over the door as she left the shop, making Anna stare after her.
7
He saw her before she saw him.
She walked separate from the other kinner, and his heart ached when he saw the way her shoulders slumped and her feet dragged. Something was wrong with his little girl lately, and he just didn’t know what to do about it.
Had he been so busy with the farm and getting through the past year and a half that he hadn’t paid enough attention to her? Mary had been ill for months before she died, and even though Sarah Rose had been surrounded and cared for by a large and loving family, it hadn’t been her mother and father. In a way, with all the time her mother spent at the hospital with treatment, Sarah Rose had begun losing her before she was actually gone.
It had rained earlier, and the minute Sarah Rose saw the puddle on the side of the road he saw her expression brighten and her shoulders straighten. She glanced at the others, but they were already walking on and turning down their drive.
She bit her lip and stared at it, clearly torn.
Gideon felt the corners of his mouth twitch. He found himself moving forward, calling her name, and tried not to feel hurt that her expression wavered—she obviously felt disappointed that he’d shown up when she wanted to jump in the puddle.
So he beat her to it.
He jumped in and splashed and laughed when she squealed as the muddy water sprayed over her shoes.
“Daedi! What are you doing?” she cried, staring at him as if he’d grown two heads.
“Jumping in a puddle. What does it look like?”
“Daedis don’t do that!”
“Well
, maybe they should,” he said, giving it one more big jump and splash. “You should do it.”
She tilted her head and studied him. “Really?”
“Really,” he said.
He took her books from her and stood back. “Go for it. Clothes can be washed.”
Sarah Rose didn’t wait for a further invitation. She jumped; she splashed; she stomped around in circles until nearly all the water was gone.
The sound of a buggy approached. Gideon turned and saw Anna in the front seat. He got a feeling in his chest not unlike what Sarah Rose must have felt when she stomped in the puddle. Well, okay, it had been fun for him, too.
She stopped and looked at his muddy legs. “Having fun?”
“Ya. Aren’t we, Sarah Rose?”
She nodded vigorously. “He did it first,” his daughter informed her with wonder in her voice.
Gideon loved seeing the sparkle in her eyes. He held out his hand to Anna. “Want to join us? There’s still some water in the puddle.”
A laugh slipped out. “No,” she said, shaking her head. “I have on my favorite shoes. Maybe next time.”
Gideon elbowed his daughter. “Says she wants a rain check.”
“What’s a rain check?”
“She can have another chance later.”
“Oh.” Sarah Rose considered that. “Can I?”
“May I?”
“Schur you can,” she said grandly, as if she were a queen granting a royal favor.
Anna laughed. “I think he meant you should say, ‘May I?’ ”
“Oh. May I?” she said with great emphasis.
“We’ll see. Depends on if we get the mud out of those sneakers.”
“I’ll go take them off right now and put them in a bucket of water.”
“Good idea.” He handed her the books he’d been holding. “Put yourself in a big tub of water and see if you can get the mud off you, too. Then—”
“I know. I know. Chores.”
“Chores. I’ll be inside in a minute.”
He debated asking Anna if she wanted a cup of coffee. It had been years since he’d dated. How did he get restarted?
Heart in Hand: Stitches in Time Series #3 Page 7
