Return to Paradise

by Cameron, Barbara;

  So now she watched Samuel working in the fields she knew he loved but would leave after supper at day’s end. And she knew she had to stop yearning and find someone else. She didn’t feel like an old maid at twenty-three, but she wanted to make a home with a mann she loved, have kinner. Be loved and be happy.

  “Mary Elizabeth, kumm inside and have some iced tea with me.”

  She turned and smiled at Lavina. Her schweschder seemed to glow these days. She’d married David after the harvest in November and now, several months later, she was obviously enjoying being a new fraa and making a home.

  Mary Elizabeth wondered if there was a reason her schweschder glowed besides being a new bride . . . many Amish started their families early. And Lavina and David had lost a year of being together when he had lived away from the community.

  So far Lavina hadn’t said anything and with a voluminous apron tied over her dress, looked slim as ever.

  “See if Waneta would like to come have some iced tea with us,” Lavina said as she poured the tea over ice in tall glasses.

  Mary Elizabeth knocked on the door of the dawdi haus and Waneta opened it. “Would you like to have some iced tea with us?”

  “Danki, that would be nice.” The older woman smiled, walked into the kitchen and took a seat. “It’s gut to see you, Mary Elizabeth.”

  “You, too.”

  Had Waneta noticed how often she came to visit—and so often on the weekends? Mary Elizabeth wondered.

  The three of them chatted easily as they drank the tea and ate some chocolate chip cookies Lavina had baked earlier that day. Waneta talked about making some curtains for the dawdi haus and seemed happy to be living there, now that Lavina and David had taken over the main part of the haus.

  “Don’t you love the color of the kitchen paint Lavina chose?” she asked Mary Elizabeth. “Yellow is so cheerful. It reminds me of the daffodils that are blooming in front of the haus now that it’s spring.”

  Lavina smiled at her. “I’m glad you like it.” She looked at Mary Elizabeth. “We painted the kitchen in the dawdi haus the same color after Waneta saw how it looked in here.”

  Waneta took a sip of her tea. “Amos never thought we needed to paint in here, but it had been years since we did it, and it really brightens up the room.”

  Mary Elizabeth was glad to see how well her schweschder and Waneta got along. The two had always been close, and she knew Waneta was grateful that Lavina had talked David into returning when Amos was diagnosed with the cancer more than a year ago.

  Amos walked in a few minutes later, hung his wide-brimmed straw hat on a peg near the door, and washed his hands at the kitchen sink. Waneta jumped to her feet and hurried to pour him a glass of iced tea as he took a seat at the table.

  “It’s warm out there,” he said. “Warm but there’s a breeze.”

  “Maybe you should take a little rest. You don’t want to overdo.”

  He frowned as he took a long swallow of tea. “I’ll see how I feel after I have this.”

  “Is the planting going well?” Mary Elizabeth asked him.

  He nodded. “After all the arguing about trying new crops and fancy new methods, David’s planting exactly what I’d planned.” He looked smug.

  Mary Elizabeth exchanged glances with Lavina, and her schweschder warned her with a shake of the head not to say anything. But Mary Elizabeth knew better. David was planting what his dat had planned because the order had been placed months ago and because he was grateful that he’d been given the farm. Without that gift, without Amos softening, David would have had a very hard time buying a farm in Lancaster County.

  “Is David coming in for a break?” Lavina asked Amos as she pushed the plate closer to him.

  He picked up a cookie and bit into it. “Nee, no one wanted to stop yet. Rain’s coming later this afternoon, and they want to get as much done as possible.”

  Lavina looked at Mary Elizabeth. “I think I’ll take some cold drinks out to them.”

  “I’ll help,” Mary Elizabeth said.

  “Danki.”

  “I think I’ll take a rest after all,” Amos said. “Danki for the tea and cookies, Lavina.”

  “Ya, danki.” Waneta said. “I think I’ll go get supper started. Gut to see you again, Mary Elizabeth.”

  Amos nodded to her and the couple went into the dawdi haus and shut the door.

  Lavina and Mary Elizabeth filled glasses with ice and tea. “Are you sure you want to do this? Samuel’s out there.”

  Mary Elizabeth sighed. “I know. I want to talk to him.”

  “I see.”

  “I’m probably ab im kop, but I’m still in love with him.”

  “I know that feeling. I couldn’t forget David after he stayed away for a year.”

  “Don’t tell David what I said.”

  “You think he can’t guess after you and Samuel dated?”

  “Nee, I guess you’re right.”

  They put the glasses on a tray with a plate of cookies and carried them out to the edge of the field the men were working in. An old table had been placed there so trays could be set on it to serve workers in the field.

  Lavina waved to them and the men stopped working and walked over.

  David was the first to reach them. He took off his straw hat and wiped his forehead with a bandanna before he accepted a glass of iced tea. Mary Elizabeth saw the love in David’s eyes as he gazed at her schweschder and looked away, feeling it was a very private moment between the two of them.

  Her eyes met Samuel’s. He reached for a glass of tea, and he gulped down half of it. She watched the muscles move in the long column of his tanned throat as he swallowed.

  “It’s warm today,” she said as she held out the plate of cookies to him.

  “Hey, do I get some tea?” John demanded as he stepped up to the table.

  “Schur,” Mary Elizabeth said, handing him a glass with barely a glance.

  “Talk about making a guy feel welcome,” he muttered when she continued to look at Samuel.

  “What?” Mary Elizabeth turned to John.

  “Nothing.”

  The three bruders looked so much alike they could have been triplets—tall, square-jawed, with dark blue eyes so often serious. Samuel and John wore their brown, almost black hair in an Englisch cut because they still lived in that world.

  “Where’s Rose Anna?” John asked.

  Mary Elizabeth tore her gaze from Samuel and gave John a chilly glance. “She wasn’t feeling well,” she said shortly.

  He set the empty glass down on the tray. “Well, that was cooling,” he said. He picked up one of the cookies and walked over to sit on the back porch.

  Mary Elizabeth couldn’t help it. The three Zook schweschders had always loved the three Stoltzfus bruders. So far only one of the schweschders had married one of them.

  When she glanced back at Samuel, she was surprised by a look of sadness in his eyes before he set the glass down. “Danki.”

  He glanced up at the sky, beginning to cloud over and turned to David. “Ready?”

  David nodded. “I’ll be in soon,” he told Lavina and set his glass on the tray.

  Lavina glanced at the sky. “Watch for lightning.”

  “I will.”

  Lavina picked up the tray and they walked back to the haus. “Do you want to stay for supper? Samuel and John are eating with us before they go home. It’s the least I can do when they’re helping David.”

  Mary Elizabeth bit her lip. “It might give me a chance to talk to him for a few minutes afterward.” She took a deep breath. “I’m just thinking that it’s time we either got back together or . . .” she trailed off.

  “Or?”

  “Or I need to move on and find someone else. I want what you have, Lavina. Oh, I’m not coveting what you have,” she rushed to say. “You know that. I just want to be with a man I love. Make a home, a family.”

  “I know. And I understand. Maybe we can find a way for the two of you to hav
e a moment alone to talk.”

  Mary Elizabeth grinned at her. “Playing matchmaker?”

  Lavina returned her grin. “Just returning the favor, dear schweschder. Just returning the favor.”

  She set the tray on the kitchen table. “Why don’t you help me make supper?”

  “Schur. What do you need me to do?”

  “The men will be hot from working in the field. Let’s find something that will be lighter. I already made a pie for dessert. Peach.”

  “Samuel’s favorite.”

  “David’s, too.”

  Mary Elizabeth walked over to the refrigerator and perused its contents, perfectly at home in her schweschder’s kitchen.

  “We could make a big bowl of potato salad and add cubes of this leftover ham, and maybe some cheddar cheese,” she said. “Add some rolls and the pie, and that’s a nice meal.”

  “You’re right. Get the potatoes and we’ll start boiling them.”

  The two of them made fast work of chopping celery, onion, ham, and cheese. Lavina swayed when she turned from washing the potatoes at the sink. Mary Elizabeth grasped her shoulders and pushed her down into a chair.

  “Are you allrecht?”

  “Fine, fine.” Lavina took a deep breath. “Just moved too quickly.”

  “Maybe I should get David.”

  “Nee, it’s nothing. I mean it, I don’t want him to worry.”

  “You stay put,” Mary Elizabeth insisted when Lavina started to rise. “If you don’t sit and rest for a few minutes I’ll call David.”

  “Allrecht, allrecht. Get the potatoes and let’s get them peeled.”

  They peeled the potatoes and cubed them. Mary Elizabeth put them in a pan filled with water and set it on the stove.

  She sat down at the table. “Lavina?”

  “Ya?”

  “Are you—?”

  “Am I what?”

  “You know.”

  “Nee, I don’t know.” She looked innocently at Mary Elizabeth.

  “Having a boppli!” Mary Elizabeth hissed. Honestly, how dense could someone be?

  “Sssh,” Lavina said, glancing at the door of the dawdi haus. She frowned and looked thoughtful. “Oh my, do you think . . . ?” she trailed off.

  “I don’t know. Do you think?”

  A smile bloomed on Lavina’s face. “Oh my,” she breathed. “Maybe.”

  They sat there for a long time grinning at each other until they heard the rumble of thunder. Mary Elizabeth jumped up and poked at the potatoes. Done. She drained them, threw some ice in the pan to quickly cool them, then put the cubes in a bowl. Once they were cool enough, she added mayonnaise, the chopped vegetables, ham, and cheese. A quick stir and it went into the refrigerator to chill.

  She looked out the kitchen window. The men were making their way in from the fields. She set the table, sliced some bread, and filled glasses with iced tea.

  She couldn’t wait until supper was finished and she could talk to Samuel.

  One way or another, she’d know what to do after this evening.

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