He stepped closer to where she stood, his eyes not leaving her face. “I didn’t ask, Mellie,” he repeated.
She blinked and grabbed up a package of cinnamon rolls. The plastic wrap crinkled when she placed them on the counter. “Here you are, then.” She looked at him, her eyes wide.
He picked up the rolls and held them loosely in his hand. “You make wonderful rolls, but I’m guessing you already know that.”
“It’s been mentioned a time or two.” Her cheeks were hot, and she wondered if they had turned scarlet.
He pulled his money out and handed it to her. His fingers brushed hers, and she only just kept herself from snatching her hand away in surprise. Her skin burned where he’d touched her. She stared at the money blankly.
“Isn’t it enough?” he asked, his voice low.
“Jah, jah. Of course.” She curled her fingers around the bills and then put them into her cash box. “Thank you, Caleb.”
“Did you enjoy the singing?”
She froze. Did he know Obadiah had taken her home? “Jah,” she said, her voice soft.
“I enjoy singing,” he said.
She nodded, knowing by his voice that it had to be true. “I heard you,” she said. She sucked in her lips, feeling ridiculous for having admitted such a thing. Would he think that she’d been listening for him? But then, if he knew she’d ridden home with Obadiah, he wouldn’t be thinking in that direction at all.
“Did you? I guess I need to temper my enthusiasm,” he said, chuckling.
“That’s not what I meant,” she said quickly.
He grinned at her, his smile just a bit lopsided. “Don’t worry, Mellie. I know you weren’t insulting me.” He laughed and tossed the rolls from one hand to the other. “I’ll see you around.”
“Jah,” she murmured. “See you around.”
She watched him leave—her cheeks still warm and her heart still beating erratically. He was so handsome, and the way his eyes seemed to look right through her created a sense of intimacy that she couldn’t shake.
The shop door closed behind him, and suddenly the small space felt dull and empty. She bent down to resume her cleaning, but her mind wasn’t on her work. It was on Caleb’s smile and the way his full lips curled up in that adorable crooked way of his.
The bell rang shrilly and the shop door burst open. “Mellie! Come quick! Ruthie’s hurt!” Faith hollered. Her sister didn’t wait for a response, but raced back out as quickly as she’d come.
Mellie threw down the cloth and tore after her. “Wait!” she cried. “What happened?”
But Faith was too far ahead. With Mellie’s long stride, it didn’t take long to catch up, and together, she and Faith ran into the front room of the big house. Ruthie was slumped on the couch, howling in pain.
“Ruthie!” Mellie cried. “What happened?”
“I fell,” she sputtered. “I fell down the stairs.”
Already her ankle had swollen to twice its normal size and an angry red color was spreading across her skin.
“We need a doctor,” Mellie said, rushing to kneel before Ruthie. “We need to get you to a doctor!”
Ruthie shook her head. “Ain’t that bad.”
But it was. Clearly, it was.
Mellie looked at Faith. “Does Dan know?”
“He’s hitching up the wagon.”
“Gut. Gut.” Mellie lightly touched the angry red injury and then turned again to Faith. “Run get some ice.”
Faith ran from the room. At that moment, all four of Ruthie’s children emerged on them.
“Mamm!” cried Ellen, the eldest. “Mamm! Are you all right?”
Walter rushed forward. “Mama.”
Mellie stood. “Your mamm is going to be just fine. She had a little spill down the steps is all. The doctor will fix her up right away.”
“Ain’t going to no Englisch doctor,” Ruthie said with a moan.
“Jah, you are,” Mellie said. “Aren’t any herbs going to help this. Old Mae doesn’t know about setting bones. I think it’s broken, Ruthie.”
“Mamm.” John grabbed his mother’s hand. “You hurting bad?”
Mellie rubbed John’s shoulder. “She’s going to be fine,” she repeated.
Dan rushed into the room as Faith hurried back with a plastic bag filled with ice.
“Here,” Faith said, gently laying the bag over Ruthie’s foot.
“Ow!” Ruthie hollered. “Dan, it hurts something fierce.”
“Mellie, help me get her into the wagon.”
Ruthie slapped at Mellie’s hands. “I’m not going.”
“Ruthie!” Dan snapped. “This ain’t open to discussion. I’m your husband. You’re going.”
Between him and Mellie, they got Ruthie into the bed of the wagon. Faith jumped into the back with her, insisting that Ruthie lay her head on her lap.
Ruthie’s face had turned white, and she had quit arguing. Mellie could see that it took all her concentration to keep from hollering further with pain. She knew Ruthie didn’t want to alarm the children. Mellie opened her arms, and all four of them rushed to her side.
“We’ll be fine,” she called out as Dan drove the wagon from the porch.
The two youngest started crying, and Mellie knelt before them. “Now, that’s enough of that. You know your mama wouldn’t want you sniffling. She’d want you to get back at your chores.”
“Aenti is right,” Ellen said, standing tall. “Come on.”
Mellie gave her a look of pride and gratitude, and Ellen herded the children off. Mellie shook her head and looked down the drive again, but the wagon was out of sight. Poor Ruthie.
She went round back of the big house to let Mamm know what had happened. She opened the screen door and glanced around for Daadi. He wasn’t there. She assumed he was out in the barn with Gabe.
“Mamm?” she said. “You in bed?”
“I’m in here,” came the answer.
Mellie walked into the smaller second bedroom. “How are you doing?” she asked.
Mamm was in bed, propped up on two fluffy white pillows. Her face was pinched in what Mellie now considered her normal expression. Even though she was in bed, she was fully dressed, and her hair was pinned to her head with her head covering in place. It was a sloppy job, and Mellie noted the loose strands of hair that poked out from under the kapp. The fact that her hair was in a bun at all surprised her. She didn’t know how her mother managed to put it up at all with the pain in her limbs. Her mother’s hands could barely grasp a fork, let alone a hairbrush. Faith came in most mornings and did her mother’s hair for her. But Mellie knew she hadn’t been in that day.
Mellie picked up the hairbrush that sat on the bedside table. She stepped to the bed and gently removed the pins holding her mother’s kapp in place. Then she pulled the rest of the pins from her hair. The light brown hair was streaked with gray, but not so much that it was highly noticeable. In all truth, Mellie’s mother wasn’t very old, but her arthritis had aged her well beyond her years. Her body shrank into itself, and her hands had a claw-like appearance. When she walked, it was with a stoop, and she shuffled her feet without raising them far from the floor.
A flash of sorrow flashed through Mellie as she began to brush out her mother’s long hair.
“I had it done,” Mamm said, but without the usual snap to her voice.
“Let me do this for you, Mamm. I like to brush your hair.”
“Why are you out here right now, anyway? Shouldn’t you be at your shop?”
Mellie nodded. “Jah, but Ruthie’s hurt.”
Mamm’s thin body tensed. “What?”
“Dan’s taken her to the hospital. She fell down the steps.”
Her mother struggled a bit to sit up taller. “Where’s she hurt?”
“We think she’s broken her ankle.”
“Mamm’s lips thinned, and she blew out her breath. “You call on Old Mae?”
“She doesn’t know how to set a bone, Mamm. Dan’s taki
ng Ruthie directly to the hospital.”
Mamm shook her head. “You don’t know it’s broke.”
Mellie stopped brushing her mother’s hair and set the brush in her lap. She studied her mother’s face. “I don’t understand you sometimes,” she murmured, hoping her mother wouldn’t think her words disrespectful.
Her mother’s watery eyes rested on her, but she said nothing.
Mellie gulped in air and continued. “I know that we have our own ways of doctoring, and you know I love Old Mae. She’s helped us plenty of times.”
“She brought you into the world,” Mamm interjected, a stiffness in her voice.
“I know. And all the rest of us, too. I know, Mamm. But there are limits to what she can do.” Mellie fiddled with the brush in her lap, turning it over and over in her hands. “Even the bishop would go to the hospital for a broken bone.”
Mamm’s head jerked to the side, and she stared out the window.
Mellie put her hand on her mother’s arm. “Why do you fight it so? And why won’t you let us take you to an Englisch doctor? I know you don’t want to spend the rest of your days in bed.”
There, she’d broached it again. Mellie nearly cringed, waiting for her mother’s retort. But it didn’t come. Her mother hadn’t moved, and she could see that her lips were pressed firmly together as she continued staring out the window. “Mamm?” Mellie said gently.
Mamm’s eyes shifted and without moving her head, the woman glared at her daughter. “I’m right tired of you bringing this up.”
“I know you are. But just think … what if the doctors could help you? Wouldn’t that be wonderful gut?”
The air seeped out of her mother, and her body seemed to grow even smaller on the pillows. Mellie held her breath. Silence echoed through the bedroom as she waited. After a long moment, she gave up and returned to brushing her mother’s hair, knowing the subject was closed.
Once again.
Mellie didn’t reopen her shop that day, regretting the fresh baked goods that hadn’t sold before Ruthie’s accident. She supposed she could sell them the next day at a discount, but she hated to do that. If they tasted day-old, she might lose a customer. Or the customers might get used to reduced prices which wouldn’t do her family any favors. The money she brought in helped run the household. Not hugely, farming provided most everything, but still, her shop profits were a definite help. What with Dan and Ruthie and the kinner coming to live with them, there were more mouths to feed and more expenses in general.
She only ran back out to her shop to pick up two remaining packages of cinnamon rolls. She planned to serve them for supper, hoping they might cheer up her nieces and nephews. The children had hung about the porch all afternoon, waiting for their mother to return.
Mellie got supper on the table, setting places for Faith, Ruthie, and Dan. They would be hungry when they got back. She wondered at their long absence, thinking they should have returned by then.
Daadi presided over the table, leading them in silent prayer. Mellie fixed a plate for Mamm, and Ellen ran it out to the daadi haus. The meal was quieter than usual. When the sound of the horse’s clip clop resounded from the drive, everyone shot up from the table and rushed outside.
Faith was in the back of the wagon with Ruthie. Ruthie’s leg was plastered with a cast nearly reaching her knee.
“Mamm!” the children all cried together. Before Dan even had the wagon stopped, they were climbing in.
“Children, don’t get too close!” Faith said, shooing them back with her hand. “You’ll get your chance to hug her. Let your dat get her into the house.”
Ruthie looked beyond exhausted. She smiled at the children, but the lines around her mouth were etched deep.
“So, it was broken then?” Mellie asked Faith.
Faith nodded. “She fractured it. She’s to have the cast on for six or seven weeks.”
Mellie drooped. That was a long time to have Ruthie off her feet. She wondered whether she’d have to give up her shop for the next couple months. She couldn’t see how Faith could run the household by herself, and someone had to watch the children.
It was going to be a very long six or seven weeks.
Chapter Three
Mellie snapped the reins on the back of Missie as she pulled into the lot of the Feed & Supply. The family had agreed that Mellie would open the shop during the afternoons, but in the morning, she was to help Faith with the household duties. Mellie was glad to help Faith out. Although, she worried about what staying closed every morning would do to her sweet shop’s business.
Nevertheless, being open in the afternoons was better than nothing. She was at the Feed & Supply to pick up three more fifty-pound sacks of flour. She was nearing the last of what she had at home. She halted the cart and jumped down to loop the reins over the hitching post, and then she entered the shop and went directly to the counter.
“Why Mellie Fisher, I heard about poor, poor Ruthie. How’s she faring?” Mrs. Troyer asked in her high-pitched warble.
“She’s doing as well as can be expected,” Mellie answered. In truth, Ruthie was frustrated, impatient, and even looser with her scalding observations than usual, but Mellie wasn’t about to share that with the Troyers.
“We were so sorry about her fall. Hope she’s up and about soon.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Troyer,” Mellie said. “I’ll tell her you said so.”
“Do that, child. Now, what can I do for you?”
“I’m needing three more bags of flour. I thought I might pick up a couple twenty-pound bags of sugar while I’m here, too,” Mellie said, deciding that her sugar supply was also low.
“Mister Troyer!” Mrs. Troyer hollered over her shoulder into the warehouse area. “Three bags of summer flour and two of sugar! And Mellie here will need help loading her cart.”
“I’ll help her,” came a voice at Mellie’s elbow.
Mellie looked up to see Obadiah standing there, giving her a smile. She winced, remembering well their last interaction. She quickly searched his face for any sign of resentment, but she found none.
“Why, Obadiah, that’d be right nice.” Mrs. Troyer rocked back and forth on her boot-like shoes as if she was well-pleased, indeed.
Mellie rolled her eyes. Before the day was out, Mrs. Troyer would have the two of them courting and married. Obadiah must have had the same thought, for his face suddenly went red.
He hustled through the wide opening to the warehouse, avoiding both Mellie’s and Mrs. Troyer’s eyes.
“Can you put it on my tab, please?” Mellie asked.
“Why, of course I can.” Mrs. Troyer pulled a ledger book from under the counter. She flipped through the pages and picked up a pencil, licking the tip of the lead before writing something on the Fisher page.
“Thank you. I’ll be seeing you later,” Mellie said, hurrying from the shop, not in the mood for further chit chat. The sun was poking through thick winter clouds when she went outside. She paused for a moment, her face toward the sky. She closed her eyes and soaked up the bit of warmth offered by the sun’s rays. When she opened her eyes, she saw that Obadiah was already loading her cart for her.
She scurried down the steps and over to him. “Thank you,” she said, feeling appreciative of his friendly attitude. He had every right to be annoyed with her, but he wasn’t.
“My pleasure,” he said, going back into the warehouse for another load.
Mellie untied Missie and climbed onto the seat. It creaked a bit as she sat. Obadiah quickly brought out the rest of her order.
“Here you go,” he said.
She nodded her head at him. “Thank you, again.”
“How’s Ruthie?”
“Oh, you’ve heard about her accident, too?”
“Everyone has.” He chuckled. “You aren’t surprised, are you?”
She joined his laughter. “Nee. Not really. Fact is, everyone probably knew before she even got to the hospital.”
“I saw your sho
p was closed.” He looked at the load of flour and sugar. “But I guess you’ll be opening again soon.”
“I’m open just during the afternoons till Ruthie is better.” She shrugged. “With Beth gone, there’s a lot to be done.”
He nodded, stepping closer to the bed of her cart. He put his hands on the railing and looked at her. “You okay?”
She flushed, unaccustomed to such a personal inquiry. “Of course,” she said quickly. “I’m fine.”
“Then I guess I’ll be seeing you.” His brown eyes searched hers, and he stepped away, raising his hands from the rail.
She clicked her tongue at Missie, pulling back on the reins to back up and out of the lot. She felt Obadiah’s eyes on her as she turned onto the road.
He was nice. So very nice. Why couldn’t she like him? It would be much easier than trying to capture Caleb’s interest. Maybe she’d made a mistake in discouraging Obadiah’s attention. Maybe she should let it be known that there was hope for them after all.
The cold air pinched at her cheeks. And just how was she going to do that? Take out an ad in the local Englisch newspaper? Or gossip about herself to her friends? She shook her head. Such foolishness. She grimaced as she imagined Caleb’s face if he heard such stirrings. Oh, what will he care anyway? she thought. Honestly, she needed to get herself in hand.
The trip home didn’t take long. When she drove up to the barn, Dan met her at the door.
“You back already, Mellie?”
“Jah. Can you help me with the bags?”
“Don’t you want them in the washroom off the kitchen? You know the mice might get into them out here.”
“Maybe. But the cats keep it pretty safe, don’t they?” She laughed, remembering the last offering one of the barn cats had left on the front porch only one week earlier.
“Still. I think I’ll put them in the washroom.” Dan climbed into the cart with her and drove the cart close to the side door. “Thank you, Mellie.”
“What for?”
“For changing your schedule to help with everything.”
Mellie looked at her tall, lanky brother. His eyes were on hers, and she saw a rare moment of understanding in them. He knows how difficult his wife can be, she thought. And for some reason, the realization comforted her.
Amish Romance Box Set: Finding Home Page 15
