Heart in Hand: Stitches in Time Series #3 (9 page)

Lunch was over and Anna seldom lingered at the table in the back room, but something compelled her to sit there, thinking.

“Don’t worry about cleaning up,” she told her cousins. “I’ll take care of it.”

“What is it?” Mary Katherine wanted to know. “You seem distracted.”

Frowning, Anna shook her head. “Is it my imagination, or is there something different about Grandmother today?”

“I didn’t notice anything,” Naomi said. “What’s different? She’s not looking sick or losing weight, is she?”

“She seems a little distracted. Happier. Lighter. I just heard her humming.”

Naomi laughed. “That’s not a bad thing.”

Anna stood and began gathering the dishes. “I didn’t say it was. What do you suppose is making her look that way?”

“I’m the one who got accused of wanting everyone to be in love,” Naomi told Mary Katherine.

“Comes from being in love,” Mary Katherine told her. “I was like that before my wedding, too.”

She put the carton of potato salad back in the refrigerator. “And that’s why I’m looking that way,” she said quickly. “Not because I’m expecting.”

“We didn’t ask.”

“Yet today. Do you know how often the two of you’ve done it lately?”

Anna cast a guilty glance at Naomi, but she was staring at the ceiling.

“You two!” Mary Katherine shook her head and laughed. “I’m going back to work.”

They made quick work of cleaning up, and then Anna pulled out the order information and sat down to complete the paperwork.

“Need any help?” Leah asked when she walked into the room a short time later.

“No, I’m nearly done.” She glanced over when Leah poured herself a cup of coffee. “You don’t usually drink coffee in the afternoon. You say it keeps you awake.”

“I need it to stay awake this afternoon,” she said. “I was up later than usual.”

“Oh?”

“Mmmhmm,” she said noncommittally and walked out of the room, humming a hymn under her breath.

Maybe we’ve had a better month than usual with shop business
, Anna thought.
That might explain things
.

“Anna! Guess who’s here?”

She looked up and saw Naomi fairly dancing in the doorway. “Who?”

“Nick!”

“Okay,” she said slowly. She liked Nick but didn’t think a surprise visit was something to be so excited about. Maybe for Naomi, but not her.

“He has something to show us.”

She pulled Anna’s jacket off the nearby peg, thrust it at her, then grabbed one of her hands to draw her along toward the front of the shop. “Come on, Grandmother said we can go with him.”

“Where are we going?” Anna asked.

“It’s not
where
. It’s
how
.”

Leah gave them an indulgent smile, but Mary Katherine was nowhere to be seen. The minute they stepped out of the shop, however, Anna saw her cousin climbing into a buggy parked at the curb.

Nick had always dressed in a businesslike but unobtrusive way—simple dark slacks, a white dress shirt, and a black tie—for his work as a driver serving the Amish community and tourists.

Today, he wore a blue shirt and dark pants like the Amish men as well as a black wide-brimmed felt hat and a jacket.

Anna hung back and waited while Mary Katherine got in, watching Naomi look with pure adoration at Nick until she could climb inside.

This was more than seeing two people in love and so happy that their marriage was drawing near. Nick had been born
Englisch
, and this was the culmination of his work to become Naomi’s husband: classes in becoming a member of the church, with all the requisite learning of the
Ordnung
and the many rules that guided the community. He’d stepped up his study of German and Pennsylvania
Deitsch
that he’d picked up in his work with the Amish.

And most of all, he’d shown such eagerness to be the
mann
Naomi—and those close to her—had come to feel God had sent to her.

“I wanted to take you ladies out for one of my first official tours,” he said, grinning as he gestured grandly toward the buggy.

All Anna’s warm and fuzzy feelings as she’d watched him with Naomi plummeted. It was one thing to be supportive of Nick’s switch from driving a car to driving a buggy. While she knew there was more horsepower under the metal hood of Nick’s SUV, a horse was a challenge for anyone who didn’t have experience.

He must have sensed her ambivalence because his grin faded, and he took a step toward her. “I know you must be feeling a little anxious about riding with a beginner like me,” he said seriously. “But I’ve been working with Abe Harshberger
for weeks now. I wouldn’t take a chance with the woman I love and the family she loves.”

She felt the affection that had grown for him the longer she knew him—especially as she saw how he adored Naomi as much as she did him—and nodded. “I know. And I know that you realize that a horse isn’t a predictable machine as well.”

He glanced toward the cars that occasionally passed them. “Especially with tourists around here, right?”

“I always knew you were a smart man,” she told him and climbed into the backseat.

Nick helped Naomi into the front seat and walked around to climb into his own seat. He took the reins and called to Ike with authority, careful to check for traffic and guide the rig out onto the road.

He didn’t seem quite as comfortable as other men—Amish men she knew—driving the buggy, but then again, he hadn’t been doing this since he was a
kind
.

As they rode along, he talked easily about the area like Abe did. When Naomi turned to her, lifting her eyebrows, Anna nodded. When Nick gave up driving a car, he’d be giving up his livelihood. It was extremely important that the business of buggy tours do well.

“I’m picking up the brochures we designed this afternoon,” he told Naomi. “Right after I drop you ladies off at the shop.”

Anna had ridden in a buggy behind Ike before. She watched with admiration as Nick dealt with the horse’s little behavior quirks. Abe had told her his horse let little bother him—a wonderful trait for a horse that traveled so much around traffic—but let a paper take-out food bag or something similar blow across the road toward him and he’d become skittish as if someone had planted land mines in his path.

Anna relaxed and let herself enjoy the clip-clop of the horse’s hooves and the brisk air as they turned back to town. She
knew she should be thinking about getting back, but this ride was an unaccustomed pleasure in the middle of the afternoon.

She was thinking about how Gideon and his daughter would be stopping by that afternoon for a knitting lesson when she became aware that a car was following too closely behind the buggy.

Nick had noticed it, too, and had commanded Ike to speed up a little and began looking to the right for a place to pull over to let the driver pass.

That wasn’t good enough for the driver, though. He drew even closer and, when Anna glanced behind, made an angry gesture at them.

“It’s not safe to pull over here,” Nick muttered. “The shoulder of the road isn’t wide enough.” He stuck his hand out his window and gestured for the driver to pass him.

The driver zoomed past, and Anna watched the way that Nick kept calm, even waved at the driver as he passed with an annoyed glance.

The buggy swayed a little as the backwash of air pushed out by the car hit it.

Nick sighed. “It’s going to take some getting used to.”

Naomi reached over to pat his hands on the reins. “You’re doing so well. Are you still certain this is what you want?”

He turned to look at her. “Please don’t ask me that again.” His tone was quiet but firm.

She bit her bottom lip and nodded. Nick transferred the reins to his left hand and lifted Naomi’s and brought it to his lips to kiss it. Anna looked away quickly, feeling his gesture too intimate for her to witness, and found Mary Katherine watching her.

Anna started to roll her eyes and make a joke the way she’d done when she saw Mary Katherine and Jacob do something romantic.

Then she stopped.
Let them be
, she told herself.
They’re all so happy. Are you sure you’re not teasing them because you envy them for being in love right now when you aren’t
?

It was a sobering thought. She’d have to think about it later. For now, the way the day was growing darker concerned her. She peered out her window.

“Looks like it’s going to rain soon, Nick. Maybe we should head back?”

Jamie stood cutting fabric for a customer when they returned to the shop.

Anna smiled with pleasure when she saw that the customer was Jenny Bontrager.

“Starting a quilt?” she asked after she hugged her friend.

Jenny laughed. “Not me. You know quilting isn’t among my skills.”

“You’re not required to be an award-winning quilter to just sew and enjoy,” Anna said gently. “Stop being so hard on yourself.”

“This is for Hannah,” Jenny told her. “She’s watching my
kinner
for me so I can run some errands. I said I’d pick up fabric for her.”

“If you have time, maybe you’d like to stay for a knitting class,” Anna said casually as she picked up a bolt of fabric and returned it to its display table.

“Yeah, that might be fun,” said Jamie, folding a fat quarter of fabric and placing it atop the stack of others she’d just cut. “You just never know who might show up.”

Anna reached over and pulled at one of Jamie’s long pigtails. It was tied with lavender ribbon today.

“I liked it when you dyed your hair this color.”

Jamie grinned. “Am I getting too tame?” She glanced down at her outfit of scarlet shirt and short black skirt worn with black boots. Mismatched polka-dot knee-high socks showed above her black boots.

She turned to Jenny. “But Anna’s changing the subject. She doesn’t want to talk about who’s coming to the class.”

Jenny straightened. “Who?”

“She just wants to gossip,” Anna told Jenny.

“It’s not gossip. It’s keeping up with community news.”

“Matthew calls it the Amish grapevine. Now you’ve got my curiosity up. You know I used to be a reporter.”

Anna gathered up the remaining bolts of fabric and walked off to put them on their tables. She didn’t have to turn to know that Jenny followed. Her friend might look unassuming in her gray Plain dress that matched her eyes and her serious manner, but Anna knew that she was as stubborn and determined as a person could be. If she hadn’t been, she’d never have survived the bomb blast in a war zone overseas or the grueling surgeries and physical therapy that had left her with only a mild limp.

It wasn’t easy to be accepted as a convert to the Amish faith, either, but years after she married the boy-next-to-grandmother’s house, Anna didn’t think most people even thought of her life before she’d returned to stay here forever.

The shop door opened, and Gideon walked in with Sarah Rose.

Who didn’t look particularly happy.

Jenny glanced at Anna and raised her eyebrows. Anna gave her a shrug and went to greet her students.

Everyone seemed to stream in the door at the same time.

“Whoa,” said Jamie. “Did the school bus just let out?”

Maybe it was Anna’s imagination, but the scowl on Sarah Rose’s face grew darker. She threw herself in a chair and crossed her arms over her chest.

Anna glanced at Gideon, who’d taken the chair next to his daughter. He shook his head in a subtle message that it was best not to ask any questions right now.

“Sarah Rose, would you like some hot chocolate?”

She stuck her bottom lip out and then must have thought better of it. Straightening, she looked at him hopefully. “Can I have some?”

“May I?” he corrected.

She frowned but then amended her question, smiling when he nodded.

“
Schur
. Remember to thank Anna.”

“Hot chocolate sounds good,” Jenny said. “Could I have some?”

“Oh, sorry, I should have asked you if you’d like something warm to drink on a rainy day like today.” Anna gestured at the back room. “You can come with me if you want or stay here by the fire.”

They both followed her and took seats at the table.

“So, Sarah Rose, how is
schul
?”

Anna held up the packet of hot chocolate mix to Jenny. “This or coffee?”

“You have the kind with marshmallows!” Jenny cried. “That goes so fast at our house I hardly ever get it.”

“A cup of hot chocolate then.” The teakettle had just been used to boil water so it only took a few minutes to get the water boiling again and make the two cups of chocolate.

Anna set the cups before Jenny and Sarah Rose, then took a seat at the table.

“So, how’s
schul
?”

Sarah Rose glared into her cup. “Fine.” She looked up. “Why do people always ask that?”

“Because it’s a kid’s job.” Jenny blew on her chocolate and then carefully took a sip. “People ask me the same kind of question, only about what I do for my job.”

“What do you do?”

“I’m a writer.”

Sarah Rose didn’t look impressed. “I hate writing. Teacher makes us write things all the time, and it’s hard.”