“I—I guess so. I had hoped to maybe invite Annika over to make Christmas candies…”
Dad scratched his chin. “Well, we could get the tree Monday, if that works better for you.”
Mrs. Graber smiled. “You two have fun decorating your tree, whether it’s tomorrow or Monday.” She toyed with a string of popcorn. “I’ll be driving back to Meschke after service tomorrow, but I’ll be thinking of you.”
If Mrs. Graber wasn’t going to be around, then Katy didn’t need to worry about her intruding. She said quickly, “Annika and I can always make candy later in the week, Dad. If you want to hunt up a tree tomorrow afternoon, that’ll be fine.”
“Oh, good.” Dad pushed away from the table, and the other grown-ups stood too. “Then we can get this popcorn off the table and onto a tree, where it belongs.”
Grampa, Gramma, and Mrs. Graber put on their coats and headed for the back door. As they passed the sink, Gramma stopped and looked at Katy. “Katy-girl, should I stay and help you get those dishes out of the way? It’s late, and you need to get to bed soon.”
Katy flipped her hands to shoo the others toward the door. “I can take care of those dishes just fine by myself. And I won’t oversleep tomorrow—I promise.” She smiled. “Good-night. Thank you for the help stringing popcorn. I’ll see you in service tomorrow.”
Dad closed the door behind the others then turned to face Katy. “Hand me a dish towel, and I’ll dry for you.”
Katy stared at Dad. “Are you sure?” Dad hated drying dishes. He said it was more boring than counting cows.
“You’ll have to get up early to help with the milking. It’s only fair I stay up late with you and help with your chore.”
Katy decided not to argue. “Okay.” She grabbed a towel from a drawer. “Here you go.”
Outside the window, the black sky glittered with stars. Inside, the scents of popcorn and soap fragranced the room. The soft splash of her hands in the dishwater and the squeak of the towel on clean dishes created a homey mood. Katy giggled.
“What’s funny?” Dad placed a plate in the cupboard.
“Nothing’s funny. I’m just happy.”
“Oh?” Dad leaned his hip against the counter and picked up a bowl. “Why?”
“In a few more days, it’ll be Christmas. Tomorrow we get to put up our tree. And right now it’s just you and me in our house. I feel…” Katy searched for the right word. “Peaceful.”
Dad chuckled. “Peaceful is a good way to feel.”
Katy added, “It was fun to have Gramma and Grampa out, but I like it when it’s just us too.” Would he understand what she was trying to say?
Dad gave Katy’s shoulder a quick squeeze. “I like it too, Katy. You’re growing up so fast. It won’t be long and you’ll have a house and family of your own. But for now…” He grinned and picked up a handful of silverware from the drainer. “We can enjoy our time together.”
Katy smiled. Dad 3-Katy 4…The count didn’t matter nearly as much as the warm feelings filling her inside.
He looked at the remaining dishes in the drainer. “You know what? Those can dry on their own, and you can put them away in the morning. It’s late. Let’s go have our Bible reading, then we can go on up to bed.”
Katy took the towel from Dad and draped it across the dripping dishes. She followed him to the living room and sat at the opposite end of the sofa. He opened his timeworn Bible and began reading from Psalms, a familiar passage. She closed her eyes as she listened, Dad’s soft voice like a lullaby to her. When he finished the passage, he bowed his head and offered a short prayer. Katy echoed his “Amen.”
“Lights,” he said, and Katy flipped the switch on the lamp next to the sofa. Dad pulled the string for the overhead light, and then they moved up the stairs. When they reached the landing, Dad flashed a quick smile. “Good-night, Katy-girl. Remember to set your alarm so we don’t keep the cows waiting.”
“Yes, Dad. See you in the morning.” It felt so good to be relaxed and at peace with Dad. The good feeling followed her into her room where she changed into her nightgown and brushed out her hair for bed. But when she carried her dress to the closet to put it in the dirty clothes basket, the peace shattered.
Her closet door, which she always kept closed, stood slightly ajar. Her heart doubled its tempo. Katy opened the door slowly, her eyes scanning every detail of the closet. Shoes side by side on the floor beside the wicker basket that held her dirty clothes, a box of discarded toys pushed into the far corner. Nothing disturbed on the floor. But then she scowled. Her dresses were crunched together. She always left a little space between them so they wouldn’t get wrinkled. Someone had been messing with her clothes!
Katy started to charge across the landing to ask Dad if he’d been in her closet, but a glance at the clock stopped her. It was after eleven already. Dad had been up since before five that morning. She shouldn’t bother him.
She closed the closet door with a soft click and crossed to her desk. If someone had peeked in her closet, had they looked through her drawers too? With shaking hands, she eased open the drawer that held the spiral notebook where she recorded her thoughts. Then she nearly sagged in relief. The journal was pressed in the corner with her pencil sticking out between pages, just the way she’d left it.
Katy pulled out the notebook and opened it flat on her desk. She picked up the pencil and wrote, “Someone got into my closet and rearranged my dresses. I bet it was Mrs. Graber. She’s nosy, finding out all kinds of details about me and then snooping through my room. I’m glad she’s going back to Meschke tomorrow, and I hope she decides not to come back. I don’t need a snoopy, nosy woman in MY house, going through MY things, and taking over MY dad’s attention and affection.”
Katy expended every angry thought she’d kept bottled inside all day. Then, when the page was full, she tore it loose and started to shred it. But her hands froze on the paper. No, she wouldn’t tear it up. She folded it in half and slipped it into the journal as a page holder.
She put the notebook back in the drawer and quickly crawled into bed. Tugging the blankets to her chin, she smiled. If Mrs. Graber snooped again, maybe she’d find that page. Then she’d know how Katy felt about her. And if she was smart, she’d walk out of Katy’s house and never come back.
Chapter Thirteen
Katy fidgeted on the bench as she waited for the Christmas Eve service to begin. Sometimes she battled boredom during the weekly worship with its hymns, long sermons, Bible reading, and prayers. But the Christmas Eve service was never boring.
Strange how much more interesting she found it when there was little difference between a Christmas Eve service and a regular worship service in content. The women sat on one side, men on the other, like always. The deacons read the Bible, the song leader directed a few hymns, and one of the deacons delivered a long sermon, just like a regular service.
But on Christmas Eve, instead of turning on the overhead electric lights, candles glowed on the windowsills. A towering Christmas tree, its branches heavy with strings of popcorn and cranberries, filled the room with the scent of pine. They sang Christmas hymns such as “Silent Night” and “O Little Town of Bethlehem” in German rather than English, and somehow the music made Katy’s chest feel both full and light as air.
She sat beside Gramma Ruthie and listened as one of the deacons opened his Bible and read the familiar Christmas story. Even though she’d heard it every year since she could remember, she never grew tired of it. She closed her eyes and imagined the scene in Bethlehem: the star, the stable, the little baby wrapped in tattered cloths. Tears pricked her eyes when she imagined the young mother cradling her newborn son, not knowing what the future would hold for this innocent, tiny babe.
When the deacon closed the Bible, the song leader went forward and led the congregation in “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing.” Katy wanted to sing at the top of her voice, from the very center of her soul. But she kept her volume even with the others rather than s
tand out. Singing louder than everyone would be interpreted as prideful, and she couldn’t be prideful. Especially at Christmas.
A deacon closed the service in prayer, then he smiled and held his arms wide. “Let us retire to the basement for a time of fellowship and refreshment.” Younger kids whooped and were immediately shushed by their parents, but then laughter rang, and everyone crowded toward the stairway that led to the large room beneath the church.
Tables and folding chairs filled the center of the floor, and tables along the back wall held homemade candies, cookies, and a variety of rich breads. People formed a line. Just like always, the fellowship’s eldest members went first, followed by families with small children, and finally everyone else. Since Katy was neither elderly nor a small child, she held back and ended up nearly at the end of the line. Gramma Ruthie could have been at the front with Grampa Ben, but she stayed with Katy.
A spicy fragrance reached Katy’s nose, and she nudged Gramma. “Did Mr. Plett bring apple cider?”
Gramma’s eyes crinkled with her grin. “Doesn’t he always bring it for Christmas?”
Katy licked her lips in anticipation. Mr. Plett made the best apple cider she’d ever tasted. Everyone speculated about what he put in it to give it such a sweet yet tart flavor, but no one knew the secret. “Ohhhh, I can’t wait! Christmas isn’t Christmas without it.”
Gramma nodded her head in agreement. “But he’s getting older—he’s almost eighty already. He needs to teach one of his sons how to make it, or when he’s gone no one will taste it again.”
Katy didn’t like to think about people being gone. She changed the subject. “Are you and Grampa Ben opening your presents tonight after the service, or are you waiting until tomorrow?”
Gramma laughed softly. “Now, Katy-girl, your grandpa and I gave up gift-buying for each other a long time ago. What do a couple of old folks like us need, anyway?”
Katy and Gramma Ruthie continued chatting while the line inched forward, and they finally reached the food table. Just as Katy’s hands closed around a plate, someone tapped her shoulder. She glanced back to find Annika.
“The young people are sitting on the stairs. So after you get your plate, join us there, okay?” Annika’s eyes sparkled beneath her cap.
Katy could never figure out why Annika, who spent her days in a big family with lots of people around, was always so ready to join a group. Katy would have preferred a quiet corner with just her friend, but she wouldn’t spoil Annika’s fun. “Okay. I’ll be there in a minute.”
She filled her white ceramic plate with all the goodies it could hold, accepted a tin cup of apple cider, then worked her way through the crowded basement room to the staircase. Annika had saved her a few inches of space on a lower step, so Katy wiggled into position with the others. The knees of the person behind her pressed between her shoulder blades, and Annika’s elbow squashed her into the corner. Katy decided standing would be more comfortable, so she moved to the floor.
Leaning against the wall, she faced the young people from the congregation. Caleb’s red hair glowed like a beacon, but she tried to avoid making eye contact with him. When her gaze skittered sideways to avoid Caleb, it collided with Annika’s sister Taryn and her beau. The pair snuggled as close as they could get, teasingly feeding each other small pieces of pumpkin bread. Their behavior reminded Katy of Dad and Mrs. Graber, and she quickly looked away only to find Caleb staring right at her.
“Hey, Katydid, did your dad let you open that package already?” Caleb’s voice carried over the others.
Katy frowned. “What package?”
“The one that came in the mail. I saw him pick it up at the post office when I was getting my family’s mail.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Katy lifted a square of sticky fudge between her finger and thumb and nibbled the edge.
Caleb grinned. “It was a good-sized one. Mailed from out of town.”
Katy nearly rolled her eyes. Of course, it was mailed from out of town. Anyone who lived in town would just hand a package to her rather than waste postage mailing it.
“It had Christmas stickers all over it,” Caleb went on, his voice growing louder.
The other conversations seemed to lose steam. Everyone looked from Caleb to Katy. One of the other boys said, “What had Christmas stickers all over it?”
“The package that came for Katy.” Caleb pointed at her with a stick of peppermint. “A big one from out of town.”
“Oh, yeah?” Lori, Katy’s cousin, perked up. “Who was it from, Caleb?”
“I don’t think it had a name or return address on it,” Caleb said. “I didn’t see one.”
Lori looked at her twin sister, Lola. “Did we get any Christmas packages from out of town?”
Lola shook her head.
Lori pursed her lips. “Then it can’t be from a relative, or we would’ve gotten something too. Who else would send Katy a Christmas package?”
Annika shot a defensive look at the twins. “Lots of people. Katy has friends in Salina. Probably one of them sent a Christmas gift to her.”
Katy’s ears started to heat up. She hoped the package hadn’t come from Shelby or one of the other girls from school. She hadn’t gotten anything for them. It would be too embarrassing to receive something without giving something in return.
Lola made a face. “Don’t be silly. If they were going to give Katy a present, they’d have done it before they left school. They wouldn’t mail it.”
“How do you know?” Annika glared at the younger girl. “Maybe they’d mail something—especially if they didn’t have it ready before school let out. You don’t know those kids, so you don’t know what they’d do.”
“Well, you don’t know them either,” Lori said.
Lola folded her arms over her chest and huffed. “I think it’s silly. Nobody mails a Christmas package unless they can’t see the person for the holiday. Unless…” Suddenly Lola’s eyebrows flew high. She giggled.
“What?” Lori asked.
Lola sent her twin a sly look. “Unless it’s like a secret admirer kind of thing. Someone who likes her but wants to be anonymous.” The twins put their heads together and giggled.
A horrible thought entered Katy’s head. What if Caleb had mailed her a present? It was just the sort of thing he’d do—send it through the mail rather than hand it to her and risk having it rejected. And then bring it up to see how she’d react.
“You’re being ridiculous now,” Annika said, and for a moment Katy wondered if she’d spoken her thought out loud.
Then one of the older kids leaned forward and joined the conversation. “No, think about it: Katy goes to that school in Salina. Maybe there’s a kid there who decided he or she wanted to give Katy a present. But the kid didn’t know whether she was allowed to accept one. So instead of making her uncomfortable by giving it to her there, they mailed it instead.”
Caleb snorted. “How funny! Katydid with a secret admirer! “ She hoped that meant Caleb wasn’t the gift-sender. He laughed loudly, and a few others snickered.
Could Bryce have sent her a Christmas present? Katy’s stomach swirled in a funny way—part apprehension, part anticipation.
“So who do you think it is, Katy?” Caleb called, still chuckling. “Do you have any guesses?”
As if she’d tell Caleb about Bryce! Katy pushed off from the wall, ready to tell Caleb and everybody else to mind their own business. But Dad came around the corner, interrupting.
“Katy, are you ready to go?”
Although Katy usually wanted to be one of the last ones to leave the Christmas Eve fellowship, she discovered she was ready. “Yes, Dad.” She handed Annika her empty plate. “Would you put that in the kitchen for me?”
“Sure, Katy,” Annika agreed. She lowered her voice to a whisper. “Be sure to tell me who that package is from!”
The kids scooted to the edges of the staircase to allow Katy and her dad through. Their whispers and l
aughter followed Katy around the corner to the cloakrooms. When Katy and Dad were in the truck, she said, “Dad, Caleb said you picked up a package at the post office that had Christmas stickers all over it.”
Dad rubbed his lips together. “Yes, I did.”
“Was it addressed to me?”
The cab of the truck was dark, but Katy thought she saw her dad grimace. “Yes, it was.”
“Why didn’t you give it to me?”
Dad turned the steering wheel and angled the truck onto the road that led home. He gave her a lopsided grin. “Well, Katy-girl, it’s a Christmas package. So I was saving it for Christmas.”
“Are we going to open our packages tonight?”
Dad’s grin grew. “Don’t we always open our packages on Christmas Eve night?”
Yes, they did, because Christmas morning they had to see to the cows. The cows didn’t stop producing milk just because it was a holiday. Katy settled back in the seat, her stomach whirling in eagerness. Oh, how she hoped the gift was from Bryce!
Chapter Fourteen
Katy came around the corner from hanging up her coat and caught Dad peeking under the tree. “What are you doing?”
He straightened and grinned sheepishly. “There isn’t anything under here with my name on it.”
She laughed. “As if I’d put anything for you out early! You snoop.”
“I do not.”
“Yes, you do. I’ve caught you shaking boxes before.”
Dad gave her an innocent look. “I only did that once.”
Katy laughed again. “Stay here.” She started back toward the staircase. “I’ll go get your present.” She clattered up the stairs, pulled both of Dad’s presents from underneath the bed, then raced back down in time to see Dad slide a brown paper-wrapped gift decorated with bright wreath, star, and holly stickers under the tree. Her hands shook as she knelt to put Dad’s gifts beside the mysterious package. Although she wanted to snatch up that package and tear off the paper, she told Dad, “You first. Which one do you want?”
Katy's Debate (Katy Lambright Series, The) Page 9
