Katie's Way (7 page)

Rachel had a welcoming grin as they approached her stand, which was laden with flats of flower and herb seedlings. “Molly, Katie. It's gut to see you. Katie, this is your first Mud Sale here, ja?”

Katie nodded. She'd talked with Rachel several times after church, of course, but Rachel had always seemed busy with her young family. “You have so many plants. They look wonderful gut.”

“Rachel was born with a green thumb,” Molly teased. “And now that she has her greenhouse, her business is thriving.”

“It does all right.” Rachel flushed slightly at Molly's words. “I never thought I'd be running a business, that's certain-sure, but it has worked out just fine for me.”

Katie nodded. This wasn't the life she'd envisioned for herself, either. But Rachel had a loving husband and young children, in addition to her business, so she had the best of both, it seemed.

“This is a gut place for you to make sales?” she asked.

“Ja, I go to all the spring sales, and also to the farmers' market. It's worthwhile, I think. Even if folks don't buy from me on the day of the sale, they might remember my name and seek me out afterward.”

Katie nodded, considering Rachel's words. “That didn't occur to me. Maybe I should be following your example. I could take some things from the shop out to sales.”

“Gut idea,” Molly said, her face lighting up with her typical enthusiasm. “I'd think you could sell a lot of the smaller items at a sale like this, and once folks saw what you have, they'd want to visit the shop. Why, you could hit a sale every weekend, this time of year, if you didn't mind hiring a driver, and—”

“Ach, Molly, don't overwhelm her.” Rachel seemed to read Katie's reaction. She reached across the counter to pat her hand. “Not every sale, for sure. That would tire you out. But I am planning to go to the one in Fisherdale in two weeks. If you're interested, you could go with me and share my stand.”

The unexpected offer, coming when she had been feeling increasingly worried, nearly brought tears to Katie's eyes. “That is ser gut of you. But I don't want to impose.”

“It's not imposing. I would be glad of the company.” Rachel squeezed her hand. “Other people helped me when I was getting started. We businesswomen need to stick together, ja?”

“Ja. Denke, Rachel.” Rachel's words seemed to sweep away some of Katie's doubts. “I would like to do that, if you're sure.”

Rachel nodded briskly. “I'll stop by the shop this week, and we can make plans.”

An Englisch woman approached the stand. “Rachel, I see you have the best plants as always.” She included Molly and Katie in her smile.

Katie found it difficult, sometimes, to judge the age of an Englisch person, but the woman's gray hair, worn short and windblown, seemed to say she was middle-aged, at least. Smile lines crinkled around green eyes that seemed to match the shirt she wore with jeans and a corduroy jacket.

“Molly, it's so nice to see you. How is the baby?”

“Ach, he is thriving.” Molly beamed at the mention of little Jacob. “I don't think you have met my cousin, Katie Miller. She has the new quilt shop in town. Katie, this is Mrs. Macklin. Her gift shop is just down the street from your shop.”

“Lisa, please.” The woman's warm smile included Katie. “In Pleasant Valley we're all just down the street from each other, aren't we? I'm sorry I haven't been in to welcome you yet.”

Katie wasn't sure whether to respond to the introduction or to the woman's comment. “It is nice to meet you, Mrs. . . . Lisa,” she amended. “Are you interested in quilting?”

“Interested, but not very good. Still, I'd like to learn more about the lovely quilts the Amish make. I'll stop by sometime next week, okay? Main Street merchants have to support each other.”

It was a variation on what Rachel had said, and it warmed Katie still more, making her feel that she was not alone.

“I'll look forward to seeing you soon, then.”

Lisa Macklin nodded. “You know, you might be interested in a project I'm working on. I've been thinking that if all of the merchants got together, we might find ways of drawing more tourists into town. That would be good for everyone.”

Certainly good for her, Katie knew, but she couldn't jump into anything without considering it carefully, especially if it would cost money.

“I would like to hear about it,” she said politely. “But now I must go. I told my sister I would be back to take over the shop so that she can come and enjoy the sale.”

“We'll talk about it when I stop by your shop, then.” Lisa nodded, turning to Rachel's plants.

Katie moved away, her spirits a bit lighter. She hadn't come to the sale today with any particular hopes, but in a short time she'd gained a friend or two and lost some of the apprehension that had been dogging her. She'd been praying for guidance, and perhaps those two very different women were God's answer.

Molly caught up with her. “I'll walk along with you as far as the auction tent. The boppli might be getting hungry.”

“You just can't bear to be away from him, that's all,” Katie teased.

Molly glanced toward the tent, maybe looking for Jacob. “There is Naomi Brand with her family. I'm glad to see her out and about.”

Katie looked in the direction Molly indicated. Naomi seemed to be surrounded by her entire family, except for one person.

“Caleb isn't there,” she pointed out. “He must be keeping his shop open today, too. So I'm not the only one who didn't close.”

“Caleb doesn't go out to events like this very often.” Molly closed her lips, as if she'd said something she shouldn't.

“Why is that?”

“Why what?” Molly tried unsuccessfully to look as if she didn't know what Katie was talking about.

Katie gave her arm a little shake. “You said Caleb doesn't go out to events like this. What did you mean?”

“Nothing. I—nothing.”

Katie tightened her grip on her cousin's elbow. If Molly held the key to unraveling the puzzle that was Caleb Brand, she wanted to know it.

“Molly,” she said warningly.

“Oh, all right.” Molly took a quick look around, as if to ensure that no other Amish were within earshot. “You must have noticed already how Caleb would rather stay away from people.”

Katie considered. He did seem to keep to himself, but she'd thought maybe that was just with her. It was unusual among the Amish, to whom family and community meant so much.

Molly took a deep breath and blew it out. “He's a bit older than me, so I don't know as much as some might. Maybe you should talk to Aaron.”

Katie recognized an evasion when she saw it. “I'm talking to you.”

“Ja. Well, when he was younger Caleb and Mattie Weaver were going to make a match of it. Everyone said so, and they were together all the time. The wedding date was set, even. And then one day Mattie was just gone.”

“Gone?” Startled into immobility, Katie let a group of Englisch flow around her. “What do you mean?”

Tears sparkled in Molly's eyes. She wasn't enjoying telling the story. “She ran away, without a word to anyone.”

“That ... That's terrible.” For Caleb, and for Mattie's family.

“But that wasn't all.” Having started, Molly seemed intent on getting the whole story out. “A few months later, the community learned that she was living in Harrisburg. And she was pregnant.”

Katie tried to absorb that. “But if she was going to have his baby, why didn't she come back?”

“That's what nobody knows. You can imagine the fuss it caused. Caleb went before the bishop and the ministers. He said he still wanted to marry Mattie, but she wouldn't have him. Bishop Mose even went to Harrisburg and talked to her, and she said the same. No explanation, but she wouldn't come back.”

It was a painfully unfinished story. “That's all?”

Molly shrugged. “What could anyone do, when she had left and wouldn't return?”

Katie grappled with it. “But Caleb stayed here.”

“Ja. He stayed. I think he might have been under the bann for a short time, but then . . . well, it should have wiped the slate clean.”

“But it didn't,” Katie said, knowing that must be the case. “People didn't understand, and so they remember.”

“Ja. Folks don't forget. If Caleb had married, gone on with his life, maybe they would have. But he didn't, and he just stays away from people when he has a choice.”

Maybe Caleb couldn't go on with his life. And maybe Katie understood just a little of what he felt.

“What about Mattie's family? Did they leave, too?”

Molly shook her head. “They're still here . . . in fact, they're here today—the older couple we passed when we were going to Rachel's stand.” Molly let out a sigh. “I always feel so sorry for Ruth. I'm sure she would forgive what her daughter did, but her husband, Ephraim, is so strict. He'll never have their daughter spoken of, even though she hadn't been baptized yet when she left.”

“That is so sad. Families can be torn apart over things like that.” It was heartbreaking for everyone concerned. Did Caleb still love Mattie, despite what she'd done?

Small wonder that people still talked. What could have been so bad that the woman refused to marry the father of her baby?

 

 

Katie
couldn't seem to let go of the revelation about Caleb. She walked back toward the shop along the village's main street, her thoughts churning as she passed under trees leafing out in their pale green colors.

Certainly it wasn't unheard of for a young couple to become pregnant before the wedding. Nobody wanted that to happen, but young people could be heedless, swept up in the emotion of the moment.

Normally, the couple made a confession to the bishop and ministers, and a hurried-up wedding would be arranged. A source of embarrassment to the parents, maybe, but beyond that it would be quickly forgiven and forgotten. A situation like this one Katie had never heard before.

She passed Paula's bakery, then the tiny shop that sold everything from paper clips to drain cleaner. Like many of the stores, including hers, it was located in what had once been someone's home. The only new building in town was the bank, and even that had been built of a faded brick so that it didn't stand out for its newness.

Was it possible that Caleb's love—Mattie, her name was—had wanted to leave while Caleb wanted to stay?

Maybe so. But Katie thought they could have come to a compromise when a baby's future was at stake.

She stopped at the corner. Pleasant Valley boasted one traffic light, where the state route crossed Main Street. She waited obediently at the curb, even though no traffic appeared in either direction. Molly had been right—everyone was at the fire hall for the Mud Sale on this fine, sunny Saturday.

But not Caleb. As she approached, she could see that his door stood open. Another few steps, and she glimpsed him bending over the counter in his shop.

Averting her gaze, she hurried past toward her own shop. How could she face him with this knowledge so fresh in her mind?

She couldn't. She'd just have to avoid him until she could talk to him without her knowing being written all over her face for him to see.

Katie scurried to her door, reaching out to open it, and stopped, staring. CLOSED. The sign on the window had been flipped to read CLOSED.

Surely not. Maybe she'd forgotten to switch it when she opened up this morning. She grasped the knob and twisted. It didn't turn. The shop was dark and locked. And Rhoda was supposed to be here.

Panic grabbed her, shook her. She was responsible for her little sister, and something had happened to her.

Common sense asserted itself. That was foolishness. Nothing could happen to Rhoda in broad daylight on a quiet street. Not with Caleb barely twenty feet away in his shop.

Katie yanked out her key and unlocked the door, sweeping inside to the jangle of the bell. “Rhoda?”

Her voice echoed through the silent shop. The back room? She hurried across the floor. Nothing. It was empty.

Rhoda must have gone up to the apartment—maybe to the bathroom or to get something to eat. In that case she'd probably close the shop. It was silly to imagine anything else.

Katie trotted up the stairs, calling her sister's name. It took no time at all to check out the four rooms. Rhoda was nowhere to be found . . . her bed made, her closet door closed, everything as neat as a pin.

Beating back the worry that ate at her, Katie returned to the shop. No note lay on the counter. The cash register was locked.

She stood for a moment, staring at the counter, biting her lip. There was no helping it. Evading Caleb was now out of the question. She had to ask if he knew where Rhoda was.

Walking to the archway, she paused for a second before continuing into the shop. Caleb was working on a small chest, running a polishing cloth along its surface. When he saw Katie he stood up, watching without a word as she approached.

“Caleb.” She forced herself to meet his eyes. “I just got back from the Mud Sale.”
Where I learned something shocking about you.
“I thought Rhoda was here. Did you see her leave?”

An expression of distaste appeared in Caleb's face and was as quickly gone. Who did he disapprove of? Her? Rhoda? Both of them?

“Ja, I saw her.” His face was as wooden as the chest. “She closed up and went out about half an hour ago.”

“Did she say where she was going?” Katie hated to pursue it in the teeth of his obvious reluctance, but she had to.