A Joyful Break (Dreams of Plain Daughters) (14 page)

Rachel covered her legs with a beach towel. She felt refreshed from swimming but a bit chilled. “How’s Rose doing?”

Aunt Carrie stopped knitting for a moment. “She didn’t make it.”

“Mom started a prayer shawl ministry at our hospital back home.” Violet smeared sunblock on her exposed body. “The ministry is popular with the nurses. They told mom that they want to take care of the whole person−physically, emotionally and spiritually.”

Aunt Carrie said with pride, “Violet has knitted a few prayer shawls too.”

“That’s so wonderful you have this ministry.
Mamm
never mentioned it to me.”

“She probably didn’t because I had started it shortly before she passed on. We planned on getting together so I could give her my prayer shawl instructions. We were going to shop and get yarn on my next visit.”

I should help with this project. I can imagine hearing my mamm’s voice encouraging me to knit shawls for cancer patients.
Doing something her
mamm
had wanted to do would give a sense of unity and closeness with her. “I’d like to help and knit shawls. How long does it take to knit one?”

“Each shawl takes about fifteen hours.” Aunt Carrie tucked a stray lock of hair back into her knot. “You could even help me finish this one. We can together pray many blessings into this shawl.”

“That sounds
wunderbaar
,
Aenti
. I like that we can work on the shawl together.”
I should write Judith and tell her about the prayer shawls. I wonder how she’s doing in cooking the family’s breakfasts and suppers. Was Judith able to get the boys’ lunches packed in time each morning?
Her
daed
said he could fix his own lunch. It’d be nice to call Judith and see how they were doing without her. Maybe she’d call once on Violet’s phone while Judith was at school. They had a phone in a shanty outside the schoolhouse for emergencies.

As she watched Violet put the chair down and stretch out on it, her thoughts returned to Samuel. Leaning back on her own chair, she removed her sunglasses and closed her eyes. The sun’s rays felt soothing. Was Samuel able to get his orders filled? He worked hard and was a fine Amish man.
I bet while I’m away, Mary Zook will take him food.
At Sunday sings, she’d noticed Mary eyeballing Samuel with interest, but he’d never seemed to notice this attention. But would he while she wasn’t there?
I don’t like thinking about Mary trying to weasel her way into Samuel’s heart while I’m gone. Mary is pretty with her strawberry blond hair and she’s outgoing.

She knew one thing, for certain. She missed Samuel, more than she thought possible. And she hoped Mary Zook wasn’t a great pie maker. Samuel had a weak spot for butterscotch pie.

Chapter Twelve

Samuel looked up after finishing taking a phone order from a customer when he saw Matthew and Noah walk into his store. Both boys looked presentable in their neatly pressed black pants with blue shirts so Judith and Rachel’s father must be keeping these two in line. He grinned at them and asked, “Are you in the right store? Katie told me you’ve visited the bakery after school.”

“We’ve stopped in for a snack yesterday before going home,” Matthew said. “Rachel’s cookies are almost gone. But today we need to talk to you about something important.”

Noah said, “We’ve been studying dolphins in school−”

“And we worked hard on our reports.” Matthew continued, “So we’d like to see a dolphin in person.”

Samuel rubbed his chin. “I suppose you could go see dolphins at the Cincinnati Zoo. But I’m not sure they have any there.”

Noah shook his head. “I asked Judith and she said no sharks or dolphins are at the Cincinnati Zoo. But that’s okay, it’ll be better to see dolphins that jump out of the ocean water where Rachel is.”

“Are you going to see Rachel in Florida?” Matthew pleaded, “Please say yes. We want to go with you. We just have to see dolphins.”

“We want to ride a dolphin too,” Noah said. “We think Uncle Scott could arrange for us to do that.”

“I’m sorry but I’m not going to Florida. This is Rachel’s special time to relax and to enjoy spending time with your English relatives.” He smiled at them. “She might not appreciate seeing all three of us in Florida. But I agree it would be great to see real dolphins playing in the ocean water. I bet you’ll get a chance sometime. I’m sure that Aunt Carrie will be happy to have you visit in the future, but now isn’t a good time.”

Matthew rolled his eyes. “But we want to see Rachel now. She might forget us and not come home. She hasn’t sent us a postcard even. She said she would.”

“I’m sure she sent you a postcard. It’s too soon to receive one from her. I haven’t received one either, but I know it’ll take a few days to get here. Florida’s mighty far. It took them probably around fourteen hours of driving to get there,” Samuel explained, hoping that would convince them why they shouldn’t expect to get mail yet from Rachel.

With intense frustration in his voice, Noah said, “Don’t you miss Rachel? She’s going to be there for a long time. We miss her a lot.”

Matthew nodded vigorously in agreement. “It’s been hard not seeing Rachel every day. We need to see her.”

Samuel nodded. “I do miss Rachel but I’m still not going to Florida. She hasn’t been gone long. And I don’t think your father would want you two to go even if I did get a ride to Florida. Cocoa Beach is miles away from here. It would take hours and hours to get there.”

Matthew shrugged. “
Daed
won’t care if we go. He says all the time we wear him out. I think he needs a break from us.”

“You’d be doing him a big favor,” Noah said.

He crossed his arms. “I’m sure he won’t want you to leave right now. He won’t want you to miss any school.”

“Well, if you change your mind,” Matthew said, “let us know.”

“
Ya
, you know where to find us,” Noah said over his shoulder.

He stood and said, “Bye, boys. Sorry I couldn’t help you but I’m sure Rachel’s thinking about you both and will bring something home for you. Maybe seashells or some kind of a souvenir.” He watched them hop on their scooters outside his shop. He shook his head, thinking how the boys thought it’d be simple to get a ride to Florida. Must be nice to be young enough to think it was possible to drop everything and get a ride to see dolphins.
But I do wish I could go to Florida and see Rachel. I wonder when she’ll get my letter.

After the boys left, he walked to an unfinished headboard that needed to be painted white. The customer loved white furniture and she wanted him to paint all their bedroom pieces white. He’d probably stay tonight and do the painting after he closed the store.

At the sound of his sister Katie’s voice, he turned around to greet her. “I’m getting all kinds of visitors today. Rachel’s brothers were just here.”

“They mentioned they needed to see you before they started for home. Something about dolphins.” Katie briefly touched the piece of bed furniture. “I’ll probably never need one of your lovely headboards.”

His poor sister. She loved Tim but he didn’t think a marriage between those two would happen now. He’d seen Tim himself with the non-Amish young woman, and they looked happy together. “Have you talked with Tim lately?”

“Tim’s definitely interested in the English woman. He came to see me today during lunch to tell me he was becoming serious about her.” Katie’s lower lip trembled and her blue eyes glistened with tears. “It’s definitely over between us. I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets married in the month I thought we would.”

Samuel patted her shoulder. “I’m sorry, Katie. I know it hurts. Tim wasn’t the right man for you. It’s best to know it now before a marriage took place. God has someone else in mind for you.”

“Maybe I put too much pressure on Tim to get married to me this fall and I pushed him into another relationship. I just don’t see how he could already be serious about someone else.”

“I don’t think he’s going to get married this year. He has to decide if he can marry a non- Amish woman. He’s going to need time to decide if he loves her enough to leave his faith. He’s accepted the rules of the
Ordnung
when he was baptized.”

She frowned. “If he does leave our church, I hope he doesn’t regret it later. He’ll be shunned by his family.”

“Have you heard from Rachel?”

“No, I haven’t. Could I use your phone to call Rachel? I need to talk to my best friend. I’ll give you money for the call. I don’t want to use the phone in the bakery. I’m afraid Mary Zook will listen to my conversation.” She smoothed her white apron. “Actually I’m sure she would. Samuel, don’t be surprised if she tries to get you to take her home from work.”

Mary had already been in his store a few times since Rachel left. She made him feel uncomfortable. His lunch time had even been intruded by Mary. He’d always closed the shop during his lunch time so he could eat at the bakery. Why in the world couldn’t a man eat his lunch in private without Mary standing next to his table and chatting constantly? He might have to start packing his lunch so he wouldn’t have to deal with Mary. He didn’t want to be rude to her, but he wasn’t going to court her. Rachel would be back soon or he hoped she would be.

“Thanks for the warning about Mary. She’s been buzzing around me like a fly.”

Katie smiled. “Except you can’t swat her like you can a fly.”

“I’m planning on leaving later tonight and paint that headboard, so I have an excuse ready for Mary.”

“Hopefully, she won’t offer to work late at the bakery, but I’m sure our mother won’t allow it.”

“Go ahead and call Rachel. You don’t need to pay me. I’d like to talk with her after you’re finished. Her Aunt Carrie’s cell phone number is right on my desk by the phone.” He wished he’d thought to call Rachel while the boys were here so they could talk to her.

“Thanks, Samuel.” She took another glance at the headboard. “You do beautiful work.”

“
Danki
.”

He wondered what Rachel would think of Tim and Katie’s breakup. If Tim hadn’t met this other woman, would things have been different for Katie? It was for the best that it happened now instead later. Obviously, Tim’s feelings were not deep enough to marry Katie. But he knew, for sure, that his were for his beautiful Rachel.

Glancing toward the back of the room, he saw Katie speaking on the phone. She must have gotten a hold of Rachel. While waiting his turn to talk, he glanced at a copy of the Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper. A customer had left it because of an entertainment center they liked was shown in an ad and wanted him to build one just like it. He chuckled to himself when he saw a story about dolphins in the paper. That was something how Matthew and Noah mentioned wanting to see dolphins in Florida, and now there was an article about them in this paper. He’d have to ask Rachel if this was a sign he should visit Florida.

“Samuel, I’m done.”

Quickly, he walked to his mammoth desk where he kept all his business papers, orders and phone. Katie stood, leaving his chair empty for him. “Hi, Rachel.”

“Hi. It’s
wunderbaar
to hear your voice.”

“Your brothers were here this afternoon. They want to go to Florida to see dolphins and to see you. They asked me to go with them and arrange the ride.”

“I miss those two. I’ll call them sometime soon.”

He heard a lot of voices in the background. “I guess you aren’t at the beach house. I hear men talking.”

“You hear Uncle Scott and Adam.” Rachel paused for a moment. “And Adam’s friend, Nick Foster. They just got here.”

“I’ve heard Adam speak about his friend, Nick, but I didn’t know he was going to the beach.”

“I didn’t know it until Adam asked Aunt Carrie if it was okay. They both came together because Nick flew his dad’s plane.”

He’d asked Adam to look out for Rachel. Instead, his friend Nick was there with Rachel. He didn’t like the sound of this new development in Cocoa Beach. “It sounds like it’ll be hard for you to make important decisions about your life with all these people there.”

“Uncle Scott’s leaving on Monday morning. I’m not sure how long Adam and Nick are staying. I think Nick wants to spend a little time with his father during spring break. His mother passed away a couple of months ago.”

“Does he have any siblings?”

“No, he was an only child. It was sudden. His mother died in an automobile accident.”

He decided to change the subject. “Has that photographer bothered you again?”

“No, but Aunt Carrie thinks he came here for the purpose of taking pictures of them. Uncle Scott’s going to talk to Mr. Sullivan. He’s going to tell him that he can have a couple of exclusive shots of him with Aunt Carrie, but only if Mr. Sullivan agrees that he won’t take any unauthorized ones.”

“That sounds like a good way to handle it.” He cleared his throat. “I miss you, Rachel.”

“I miss you too.”

He heard someone call Rachel’s name.

“I have to go. They want to play volleyball,” she gave a short laugh, “and you know, I’m pretty good at it.”

He didn’t want to sound jealous but he had to know if she was playing volleyball with Nick. “You’re an excellent player. Are the girls playing against the boys?”

“It’s me, Violet and Nick against Aunt Carrie, Uncle Scott and Adam.”

When he heard Nick was on Rachel’s team, he was sorry he asked.

Chapter Thirteen

Rachel’s escape to the heated pool refreshed her as she swam with deep strokes. She had been overjoyed to see Adam again, but uncomfortable about meeting Nick Foster.

There was no doubt in her mind how crazy Violet was about Nick. Her cousin’s brown eyes lit up like the neighbors’ Christmas tree with hundreds of lights on it. Violet’s glowing eyes went unnoticed by Nick. He talked mostly to her, or rather tried to involve her in a conversation. Fortunately, Uncle Scott arrived shortly after they did, so Nick’s attention to her was diverted.

Maybe she could stay out here until they went to bed. It was peaceful swimming by herself. It was rather nice not to be around people and to enjoy the quiet. Right now, Adam, Nick and Aunt Carrie went to watch a movie together, while Uncle Scott said he needed to talk with Violet about her summer job in his office. He thought it’d be a great experience for her to work for him. After several minutes of swimming, she decided to get out of the pool to enjoy the quiet of the night and spend time thanking God for his many blessings to her.