Seasons in Paradise

by Cameron, Barbara;

“Your youngest is feeling competitive with Mary Elizabeth about her fried chicken,” Linda told him. “You can make yours next week, Rose Anna. I’m schur your dat will be happy to try it.”

  “Then we’ll see whose is best,” she said, shooting her schweschder a superior look.

  “I remember the first time your mamm made fried chicken for me,” Jacob said, giving his fraa a fond look.

  She smiled. “Was it the reason you married me?” she asked.

  “Nee, it was your chocolate cake,” he said, his eyes twinkling.

  “So the way to a man’s heart really is through his stomach?” Mary Elizabeth couldn’t resist teasing him.

  “Nee, it was knowing she was a farmer’s dochder and gut with a plow. And gut with a shovel.”

  “I’ll show you a shovel,” she said, chuckling.

  “Ach, now, you know it’s your beauty and grace that won my heart,” he said, his eyes twinkling.

  “Think you can dig your way out of this one, do you?”

  He reached for her hand and kissed it. “I know I can.”

  She shook her head and laughed. “I’m taking my coffee into the living room.”

  He stood and took his plate to the sink. “I’ll join you there.”

  “Be sure to bring your charm,” she said over her shoulder as she left the kitchen.

  “I take it with me wherever I go.” He winked at his dochders as he followed his fraa out of the room.

  Mary Elizabeth looked at Rose Anna. “I hope we get as lucky finding a mann such as Daed.”

  Rose Anna nodded. “Me, too.”

  She picked up a sponge and wiped the top of the stove. “Ben seems nice. I hope he enjoys the food you made. I tease you, but you are a gut cook.”

  “Danki. I said we could have a picnic after church. After all, he paid for the meal at the restaurant.”

  “Well, men should pay.”

  “Not always. It isn’t fair.”

  “Well, I expect them to pay.” She tossed the sponge into the sink. “I’m going to bed. See you in the morning.”

  Mary Elizabeth put the chicken in a plastic container and placed it in the refrigerator. Rose Anna might expect a man to pay for everything, but most of the Amish maedels they knew made food for picnics with the men they dated as a way of sharing costs. And showing the men that they were gut cooks. The old saying about the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach was often true.

  She washed up the dishes and cleaned the cast iron skillet from her cooking, wiped down the counters, and said good night to her parents sitting in the living room reading. Then she climbed the stairs to her room. As she undressed and changed into her nightgown, she thought about seeing Ben again.

  And wondered what he and other men thought was the way to a woman’s heart.

  8

  That is without a doubt the best fried chicken I’ve ever eaten.” Ben wiped his mouth with a paper napkin and smiled at Mary Elizabeth.

  “Danki, I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

  She was glad she’d remembered how he’d eaten three pieces at the restaurant and brought four pieces for him today. He’d eaten every one plus a big serving of potato salad. He schur had a big appetite for such a tall, lanky man.

  Mary Elizabeth pulled the container of buttermilk pound cake from the picnic basket and placed a slice on each paper plate, then spooned the sliced, sugared strawberries over the top. He took his plate from her, gazing at it appreciatively.

  She remembered how her dat had eaten the chicken wing the night before and talked about the first picnic he’d gone on with her mudder. It was a nice memory and gut to think that wunderbaar things could come from such simple beginnings.

  The day was warm but pleasantly so. A breeze blew over from the small pond at the park she’d directed him to. Butterflies danced among the wildflowers that surrounded the pond. Families sat at tables situated around the pond and enjoyed their lunches.

  Mary Elizabeth and Ben had spread a quilt on the soft grass and not missed sitting at a wooden picnic table at all. It was the perfect summer afternoon for a picnic. Even the fanciest of food in a restaurant couldn’t match sitting here and enjoying the outdoors. “More lemonade?”

  “Danki.” He held out his empty plastic cup. “So how has your volunteer work with the quilting class gone this week?”

  Surprised he’d remembered what she’d said about her work there, she told him about the wonderful progress the class was making to stock Leah’s new shop.

  She was careful not to go on too much about it though. She doubted any man really wanted to hear a woman go on about such. So she turned the conversation to his reaction to his new job and his living arrangement with his onkel’s family.

  “I’ve been saving to build a home of my own for a long time,” he told her. “With what I’m making here and saving on expenses living with my onkel, I’ll be adding to that.”

  “Land’s gotten scarcer and more expensive in Lancaster County,” she told him. “Many couples spend the first year living with her parents before they get their own place.”

  He frowned. “I’ve heard that about land here. I’m hoping that won’t be necessary to live with my fraa’s family. It’s nicer to just be alone together, have some privacy, don’t you think?”

  Mary Elizabeth thought about how her schweschder Lavina had married David after he’d inherited his family’s farm, and his parents moved into the dawdi haus there. They’d been a lucky couple—they and his parents got along well now. But Sam and John were going to have to find a way to afford their own homes when they married.

  “Something the matter?”

  “Hmm?”

  “You’re frowning.”

  “Oh, nee, sorry. My schweschder and her mann were lucky to have his dat decide to retire and give him the farm.”

  “My family’s always been farmers or carpenters,” he told her as he ate his cake and strawberries. “Land is cheaper in Indiana than here.”

  “My dat’s family has been farmers for generations,” she told him.

  “But you have no bruders to inherit?”

  She shook her head. Her dat had never made his dochders feel he regretted not having sohns. She and her two schweschders helped him as much as they could around their own work. Two of their neighbor’s sohns helped him part-time.

  But Ben’s comment made her think. If she or Rose Anna married a mann who wanted to farm when her dat was ready to retire, they could take it over. By then her grosseldres probably would no longer be living, and her parents would move into the dawdi haus.

  The last part saddened her. Her mamm’s parents—were the only ones she had left and each day it seemed they grew more frail and stayed to themselves in the dawdi haus.

  And the thought of her dat, so hale and hearty, not working out in the fields . . . why, that was a long, long way away. He was only in his early fifties and strong as an ox.

  “I think I told you my family’s been farming in Indiana for a long time as well,” Ben was saying. “I have three bruders, so the rest of us went into other lines of work after my bruder Marvin inherited.”

  “This pound cake is very gut,” he said as he finished it. “Reminds me of my grossmudder’s pound cake.”

  There could be no higher compliment than to bake as well as someone’s grossmudder, she thought as she brushed crumbs from the folds of her skirts. “Do you want to finish mine?”

  “Schur.”

  He finished her serving and sighed happily. “Gut meal. Danki, Mary Elizabeth.”

  “Do people go on picnics in Indiana?”

  “Ya, they’re popular when it’s warm.” He cast a glance at the sky. “It’s going to rain soon.”

  Mary Elizabeth looked up. The sky had been bright blue and cloudless just minutes before. Now the clouds were gray and blocking out the sun. Well, it was summer in Pennsylvania. Such was to be expected.

  She packed up the picnic basket and stood. He helped her fold the quilt they’d sat on, an
d they walked to the buggy.

  Raindrops began pattering down on them as they walked. Ben grabbed her hand and they ran to the buggy and climbed inside. Mary Elizabeth shook the drops from her skirt, and Ben took his straw hat off and slapped it against his arm. They watched the rain slide in a silvery sheet down the windshield and the side windows, seeming to enclose them in a world of their own.

  “Summer rain is the best,” she murmured and when she glanced at him she saw that he was watching her, not bothering to lift the reins and get the buggy moving.

  “Have I told you how pretty you look today?” he asked quietly, his gaze intense.

  “Nee.” The unexpected compliment made her feel shy and she never felt shy. “Danki,” she managed.

  “I’ve enjoyed seeing you, Mary Elizabeth. When can I see you again?”

  “Would you like to come to supper one night this week?”

  “I would love that. Just tell me what night and I’ll be there.” He lifted the reins and called to his horse. “So, Mary Elizabeth, what is the longest way home?”

  She laughed and her shyness vanished. “Let me tell you.”

  * * *

  “It’s coming along.”

  Sam stood with Peter at the entrance to Leah’s new shop and assessed the work they’d been doing.

  All the shelving and fixtures that hadn’t worked for her new shop had been demolished and cleared out. New display tables and shelving were nearly done. It had been a good month’s work—not easy work adding on time after the day job and working long Saturdays but worth every sweaty, backbreaking hour.

  He’d enjoyed working with Peter more than he’d anticipated. They’d been friends for years and worked for the same company during the day, but they were usually in different areas of a worksite. Sam did mostly windows and interior carpentry and such, and Peter was up on the roof.

  “Hi!”

  They turned and saw Mary Elizabeth standing in the open doorway, a cardboard box in her arms.

  “Let me help you with that.” Sam walked over to take the box.

  “It’s not heavy. I can manage,” she said, her eyes cool. “Leah said we could put some things in the storage room. I don’t want to interrupt your work.”

  “We’re taking a break.”

  For a long moment she held onto the box, and he wondered if they’d have a tug of war. Then with some reluctance she released it. Rose Anna walked in with a box and Peter rushed to take it from her.

  “Danki, Peter,” she said, giving him a flirtatious smile. “We’ve got more in the buggy.”

  Sam registered the smile, shot a glance at Mary Elizabeth, and saw she was looking at him, unsmiling.

  He carried the box in his arms into the storeroom, setting it on a newly built shelf, and watched Peter do the same.

  “So why’s Mary Elizabeth being cool to you?” Peter asked.

  He shrugged. “Guess she doesn’t want to be friends anymore.”

  “I know she’s seeing someone, but I didn’t think I’d see her behave like that.”

  “Me neither. But you sure got the friendly treatment from Rose Anna.”

  Peter grinned. “Ya. I noticed.” He ran his hands through his hair. “Do I look allrecht?”

  “Fine.”

  “You didn’t even look at me,” Peter complained.

  Sam met his gaze. “All right, you’re real pretty.”

  Peter smacked his arm, but he chuckled as the two of them left the store room.

  “C’mon, let’s go help them.”

  “The boxes aren’t heavy.”

  Peter gave him a look over his shoulder. Sam sighed. His friend and partner was right. They were women, and men were supposed to help them with such things.

  Who’d have known the next boxes were indeed heavy?

  “It’s so kind of you to help,” Rose Anna chirped as she followed them inside the store. “Right, Mary Elizabeth?”

  Mary Elizabeth didn’t respond for a moment. When Sam heard an odd noise come from her, he glanced over his shoulder and saw her nod and quickly say, “Ya, danki, Peter and Sam.”

  A moment later he heard Mary Elizabeth hiss, “You didn’t have to elbow me.”

  Sam glanced back, and Rose Anna gave him a big smile. Mary Elizabeth was frowning until she realized he was looking at her. She pasted a smile on her face.

  He couldn’t help grinning as he followed Peter into the store room.

  “Well, we’ll be going now so you men can get back to work,” Rose Anna told them. “Unless . . .” she stopped and smiled at Peter.

  “Unless?” he asked.

  “Unless you can stop for a cup of coffee. You did say you were on a break.”

  “Really, Rose Anna, we’ve taken up enough of their time,” Mary Elizabeth said quickly.

  “Yes, we do have to get back to work,” Sam said.

  “Of course we can stop,” Peter told her.

  Sam gave him a disbelieving look. This was Peter who was all business and all about staying on task.

  “C’mon, Sam, let’s go.” Peter jiggled the keys to the shop in his hand. “There’s a great coffee shop right down the street.”

  “It’s our treat, right, Mary Elizabeth?” Rose Anna said. She turned to her. “Kumm, these are busy men.” She smiled at Peter. “They have the best fruit tarts there this time of year.”

  Sam looked at Mary Elizabeth. She shrugged and looked resigned before following Peter and her schweschder out of the shop. Sam gave up and did the same. Peter locked the door, and the four of them walked the short distance to the coffee shop.

  “Rose Anna is something else,” he whispered to Mary Elizabeth.

  “Ya, but I’m not sure exactly what,” she responded in the same low tone. “Is it my imagination or is she flirting with Peter?”

  He eyed them chatting as they preceded them. “I believe she is. I thought she was interested in my brother John.”

  Her expression turned cool. “Well, the Stoltzfus men have shown they’re not interested in the Zook women—at least, two of them have,” she said pointedly. “So we’re moving on.”

  Rose Anna gazed up at Peter as he opened the door to the coffee shop. She appeared to have something in her eye. No, she was fluttering her eyelashes. Sam didn’t think he’d ever seen Rose Anna doing that. Certainly Mary Elizabeth hadn’t ever. He glanced at her and saw that she was watching her sister with an expression of disbelief.

  They entered the coffee shop, and Rose Anna immediately walked over to the case where pastries were displayed and exclaimed over the fruit tarts. Peter stood there with her nodding and smiling. Sam didn’t think he’d ever seen Peter looking so interested in someone.

  Sam was grateful that there were only two people ahead of them as he stood in line with Mary Elizabeth. He didn’t know what to say to her.

  Then, as she stood there stiffly, not looking at him, he started feeling defensive. Why did he need to say anything? And why should he apologize to her? He was sorry that she’d been hurt when he moved away, but he didn’t know she’d continued to wait for him to return.

  And besides, what did he have to offer her? And why should he have to be made to feel badly for it?

  “May I help you?”

  Mary Elizabeth stepped up to the counter and ordered iced tea. He waited for her to order a cream horn—she had a weakness for them—but she stepped aside, and the clerk looked at Sam.

  “The same,” he said. “It’s too hot for coffee. And I’ll have a cream horn.” He turned to Mary Elizabeth. “You sure you don’t want one?”

  “Nee,” she said very definitely. “Danki,” she added as if she realized she sounded abrupt. She pulled her wallet from her purse, but Sam stepped closer to the counter and beat her to handing bills to the clerk.

  “It’s our treat,” she insisted, but Sam gave the clerk a big smile, and she was already tucking the bills into the cash register and handing him the change.

  “Have a seat and we’ll bring your order to the
table.” She looked past them to the customers in line behind them.

  “How about the table by the window?” he suggested, and she nodded. They took seats at the small table, and Mary Elizabeth took the one furthest from him and looked uncomfortable.

  “Look, I’m sorry the two of us got roped into coming along,” he said.

  “It’s allrecht.”

  She watched her sister place her order and engage in a laughing, flirtatious play at paying for Peter’s drink and pastry. The cashier rolled her eyes but smiled politely as Rose Anna finally gave in prettily and Peter paid for both of them.

  “I said we were treating you,” she told him as they approached the table where Mary Elizabeth and Sam sat. “Didn’t I say that, Mary Elizabeth?”

  “Yes, you said that.” She glanced at Sam. He’d gotten his way in paying, but she hadn’t done the flirtatious struggle over who paid.

  “The women at the shelter are getting so excited about having their work displayed,” Rose Anna told Peter. “I can’t believe how much you’ve gotten done since the last time we visited the shop.”

  “It won’t be much longer,” Peter said, leaning back in his chair as their drinks and pastries were served.

  Rose Anna chattered as if oblivious to the tension between her sister and Sam. “How is John?” their server, an Amish woman they’d attended schul with, asked Sam. “Is he helping you work at the shop today?”

  He looked up at her. “He’s good. He’s helping David at the farm.”

  “Tell him I asked about him, will you?”

  “I will.” He poured sugar into his iced tea. John had women asking about him. He sat at a table with one whose gaze was as cool as his iced tea.

  Not all the Stoltzfus men were popular with women. He bit back a sigh and wondered how quickly he could excuse himself from this little party and get back to work.

  * * *

  “What was that all about?” Mary Elizabeth asked as she got into the buggy for the ride home.

  “Hmm?” Rose Anna glanced over at her as she settled into the passenger side seat. “What was all what about?”

  “Flirting with Peter.”

  Rose Anna’s smile was very female . . . and very smug. “You and I talked about moving on since the Stoltzfus men don’t want us, remember?”