Naomi’s Christmas (12 page)

Naomi reached for the quilt shop door, a list in her mind of what she needed. Making
a doll for Sadie was on the top of her priorities, so she’d best get the materials
for that project today.

She smiled, thinking of Sadie’s and Joshua’s enthusiasm for the presents they were
making to give their daad and grossdaadi and grossmammi. They’d had fun working on
those the past few days.

The bell jingled as she entered the shop. It had begun to get gray and chilly outside,
but inside the shop was all color and warmth. Quilts were stacked on the display bed
in the center of the room, with still more hung from the walls. Toward the rear of
the shop, row after row of fabrics lured the visitor to finger and compare and probably
start a new project.

Katie, as warm and welcoming as her shop, stood behind the counter waiting on an Englisch
customer. Katie glanced toward her, smiling in welcome, and Naomi nodded. She’d enjoy
chatting with Katie about her projects, but not while Katie was making a sale. She
could go and browse in the fabric section, where she spotted Katie’s sister, Rhoda,
holding up a bolt of fabric for another customer.

Even as Naomi started to move toward the back, the Englisch woman headed for the door,
nodding a pleasant greeting as she passed. Katie came out from behind the counter.

“Naomi, it is ser gut to see you. You’ve been busy lately, ain’t so?”

“Just a little, what with working in the bakery and also minding Nathan King’s kinder
several days a week.”

“Ja, I heard you were helping him out while Emma is away visiting her daughter and
the boppli. Will Emma be back in Pleasant Valley soon?”

“In another week or two, I think.” Naomi didn’t know for sure, but she did know the
time was passing quickly, too quickly. “I’ll miss Joshua and Sadie, that’s for sure.”

Nathan’s children had taken possession of her heart, as she’d known they must. The
inevitable parting would be difficult.

Still, given that foolish longing she’d felt for Nathan, it was for the best. Once
she wasn’t seeing him so often, she’d quickly forget, and things would go back to
normal between them.

“What can I help you with today? Or should I guess? Christmas gift making?” Katie’s
blue eyes twinkled, as if she’d had this conversation with a number of people.

“You’ve guessed right. I did start some things for my nephews months ago, but I still
have a few quilted place mats and such to finish. But first I must get materials to
make a doll for little Sadie.”

Katie nodded. “She’s about five, ain’t so? That’s a gut age for dolls for a little
girl.”

“Almost five,” Naomi said.

Katie hadn’t been in Pleasant Valley all that long—only since she’d come to help her
cousin with a new baby back in the winter, but she’d gotten to know folks quickly.
And now that she was married to Caleb Brand, she was probably related to half the
valley through either his family or hers.

“I have just the thing.” Katie knelt to pull a large box from under the table. She
cleared a space for it. “This is my remnant
box, and there are plenty of pieces of fabric that will be perfect for a small project
like a doll. What colors were you thinking of for the dress and apron?”

That was really the only choice to be made, since otherwise Amish dolls were alike,
down to the replica of Amish clothing and the lack of faces.

“I hadn’t really decided. Let’s have a look.” Naomi appreciated Katie’s enthusiasm,
which extended from the most expensive quilt in the shop to the smallest project.
She glanced at Katie’s face as she bent over the box, sorting the fabric into piles
on the counter. Katie’s enthusiasm was one of the first things Naomi had noticed about
her when she’d come to Pleasant Valley, and if anything, it had intensified since
her marriage to Caleb.

“This is a pretty pink.” Katie smoothed out a piece of fabric. “Or this blue shade.”

Naomi nodded, fingering the material and envisioning it made up into the doll. “The
blue, I think. Then I’ll need the fabric for the doll’s body, and a piece of black
for a coat and bonnet.”

“Very gut.” Katie folded the pieces Naomi had chosen. “I’ll just have to cut a piece
from the bolt for the black. About half a yard?”

Naomi nodded. “That sounds like plenty.”

The bell on the door jingled. Naomi’s throat caught as Jessie Miller entered. She
let out her breath slowly.
This is Ada’s little sister that you have known since she was born,
she lectured herself.

Unfortunately, the memory of that last encounter with Jessie hadn’t
faded yet. But surely Jessie was sensible enough not to say anything foolish in a
public place where others could hear.

“Jessie. Wie bist du heit?” Katie greeted her with a smile.

“And how is your new little niece?” Naomi asked quickly, hoping that Jessie would
be deflected from dwelling on Nathan’s refusal to let her watch the children.

“Mamm says they named her after Ada.” A trace of discontent crossed Jessie’s face
and as quickly vanished. “Everyone is well, Mamm says, and John’s mother is helping
out, too.”

Naturally both new grandmothers would want to have their time with the baby, but Naomi
hoped Elizabeth was not feeling overwhelmed with help.

“Are you getting along all right with your mamm away?” Katie asked. “If you need anything—”

Jessie cut her off with a quick shake of her head. “I don’t know why everyone keeps
asking that same question.” Her tone was pettish. “I can manage perfectly well on
my own.”

Naomi was embarrassed for Jessie, speaking so in front of Katie, who didn’t know her
as well as most people. “I’m sure the offers are kindly meant,” she said.

The frown that marred Jessie’s oval face, otherwise so like Ada’s, seemed to say she
didn’t appreciate Naomi’s comment. “It’s not needed. Mamm wouldn’t believe it, but
I like having a bit of freedom now and then.”

On the contrary, that was probably what worried Emma the most.

Katie had been putting the material into a bag while they talked, and she placed the
bag on the counter in front of
Naomi. “That will just be two dollars for the fabric I had to cut,” she said. “There’s
no charge for the remnants. I hope little Sadie enjoys her doll.”

“Doll?” Jessie pounced on the word, her eyes sharp on the package.

“A Christmas gift for Sadie.” Naomi picked up the bag, hoping to make a quick retreat.

“You’ll be gone from Nathan’s long before Christmas.” A triumphant note rang in Jessie’s
voice, and it was loud enough to turn heads in the store. “Mamm says she’s so worried
about them that she’s coming home early. So you don’t need to bother with making any
gifts for them.”

Coming home early? Naomi’s heart twisted a bit at that comment, but perhaps Jessie
was just making it up.

“I always give Joshua and Sadie a little remembrance for Christmas.” Naomi pitched
her voice low, hoping Jessie might follow suit. “I know I won’t still be there at
Christmas.”

“But that’s what you were hoping, ja?” Jessie’s voice was still too loud for comfort.
“You thought with Mamm away you could take Ada’s place. That Nathan and the kinder
would love you, but they won’t.” She emphasized the final word with a gesture that
sent the package flying from Naomi’s hand.

For an instant the entire shop and everyone in it seemed to freeze. Then Katie moved
to take Jessie’s arm, while Naomi bent to pick up the bag, trying to pretend it had
fallen accidentally.

“I want to show you something, Jessie.” Katie tugged gently, turning her away from
Naomi. “I got some new fabric in that’s such a pretty shade of pink. It would be perfect
for a dress for you. Komm and see.”

For the space of a heartbeat Jessie didn’t respond. Then she turned toward the fabric
section. “Ja, I’d like to see it,” she said, as normally as if she hadn’t been in
a fury a moment before.

Katie caught Naomi’s eye as she led Jessie toward the back.
Leave quickly.
Her gaze telegraphed the words as surely as if she’d spoken them.

Naomi stood, clutching the bag with fingers that weren’t steady. Humiliation made
her cheeks as hot as fire. She put two dollars on the counter and slipped toward the
door.

Katie was right. With her out of sight, perhaps Jessie would behave herself. They
could pretend the ugly scene hadn’t happened.

But her rational mind insisted that too many people had overheard for this to go away.
The story would be all over the Amish community before nightfall.

“Don’t you want to guess the secret, Daadi?” Sadie wiggled her way under the covers
after her bedtime prayers that night, her brown eyes alight with mischief, her long
braids hanging down the back of her white nightgown.

Nathan tucked the quilt around her closely. Ada had made the quilt for her daughter,
and when he settled Sadie under it, he fancied Ada was putting her arms around Sadie.

“If I guess right,” he said, “that would spoil the secret, ain’t so?”

Sadie pursed her lips. “Well, I s’pose. But I wouldn’t have to tell you that you guessed
right.”

Joshua groaned from the other twin bed. “You are such a
blabbermaul, Sadie. You will never keep the secret until Christmas. You’ll spoil it
by telling.”

“She’s not going to tell.” Nathan tried to sound sure of that fact, even though he,
like Joshua, didn’t think Sadie was capable of keeping a secret.

“It’s fun to make things for people,” Sadie announced. “And to give presents.”

“And to get presents, ja, little bug?”

Nathan tickled her, reducing her to giggles. He could almost hear Ada’s voice in his
mind, telling him not to rile the children up when they were supposed to be getting
ready to sleep. He stroked Sadie’s hair instead. “Ja, it is wonderful gut to make
a gift for someone. And to keep it a secret.”

When Ada was alive, the house had been filled with secrets and laughter this time
of the year. Sadie probably remembered very little of those days.

“Close your eyes now.” He bent to kiss her cheek. “The sooner you go to sleep, the
sooner it will be a new day.”

Sadie squeezed her eyes shut, making him smile and shake his head as he crossed the
hooked rug to sit on Joshua’s bed.

“You are having a gut time making things with Naomi, too, ja?”

Joshua nodded, but his thoughts seemed to be elsewhere.

That strange expression he’d caught on his son’s face earlier when Jessie was mentioned—what
had caused him to look that way? He longed to ask the boy, but he hesitated. Joshua
was a deep thinker, and it wasn’t easy to know what troubled him.

Nathan smoothed the quilt over his son’s small body. “You had a fine day today, too?”

Joshua nodded, frowning a little. “I like having Naomi here.” He paused for so long
that Nathan thought he wouldn’t say anything else. Then he looked up at Nathan, his
hazel eyes very serious. “But I like for Grossmammi to be here, too. I wouldn’t want
her to think…” He let the sentence fade away, but his face was anxious.

Nathan breathed a prayer for the right words. “Grossmammi knows you love her very
much. She would say that it is fine for you to love Naomi, too.”

Joshua held his gaze for a long moment. Then he let out a little sigh and closed his
eyes, relaxing against the pillow. “Denke, Daadi.”

“Sleep well,” Nathan said softly, bending to kiss Joshua’s forehead. Every day he
prayed that he was raising their children the way Ada would want. He felt sure he’d
said what Ada would have, this time, at least.

Nathan went quietly out of the room, leaving the door ajar so that he could hear the
children if they called. Or, more likely, if they started chattering instead of going
to sleep.

But all was quiet by the time he reached the bottom of the stairs, and he headed into
the kitchen. He’d no sooner lifted the coffeepot from the stove than he heard a soft
knock at the back door, followed by footsteps. Isaiah poked his head into the kitchen
and grinned.

“Sorry I walked in. I thought maybe you were in the middle of putting the kinder to
bed.”

“Just finished.” He held up the pot. “Coffee? And there’s some of your sister’s apple
pie left.”

“I would never say no to a piece of Naomi’s apple pie.” He shrugged off his jacket,
hanging it on the back of the chair.

Nathan poured two mugs of coffee and set the pie and a couple of forks on the table.
No sense making more dishes to wash.

Isaiah didn’t seem to mind the sloppy serving method. He cut a wedge of pie, lifting
it to his lips for a bite and catching with practiced ease the apple slice that slipped
out. “Gut,” he said thickly. “Don’t tell my Libby I said this, but no one makes apple
pie like my sister.”

Nathan grinned, cutting his own generous piece. “What will you give me for keeping
your secret?”

“How about your mail?” Isaiah stopped eating long enough to search under the jacket,
coming up with a folded newspaper and an envelope. He tossed them to Nathan. “No,
I guess you’d best have it. I saw you hadn’t picked up your mail when I was getting
ours, so I brought it along.”

The two mailboxes were side by side out along the road. Nathan got so little mail
he often didn’t check the box for several days in a row.

“
The Budget
.” He unfolded the newspaper that kept Amish in various settlements in touch with
each other. “I’ll read that tonight. And a letter from Emma.” He looked at the envelope,
wondering why Emma would find it necessary to write to him. But maybe it was messages
for the kinder.

Since Isaiah was absorbed in eating, Nathan didn’t hesitate to rip the envelope open
and scan the page.

“What does Emma have to say?” Isaiah asked around a bite of pie. “Everything all right?”

“Ja. The boppli is a little sweetheart, eating and sleeping just as she should. Elizabeth
sends her love to the kinder.” He read a
little farther, frowning. “Emma says she is coming back on Monday, so she’ll be here
Tuesday.”