Plain Paradise (20 page)

Linda glanced around the room, anxious to enjoy a bath in this super fancy tub, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she had forgotten something.

“I’m glad I’m here too.”

“Okay. Yell if you need anything.”

Linda nodded, then Josie left the bathroom and closed the door behind her. A sweet aroma filled her senses and drew her to the basket of goodies on the counter. She fumbled through the items and chose more than was probably necessary, then set the bubble baths, gels, and shampoo on the platform beside the tub, alongside the channel changer.

She giggled as she pushed the button on the tub. Water started to bubble up like the brook behind her house after a hard rain. She hastily got out of her clothes, tossed them on the tile floor, and removed her
kapp
. Her brown hair fell to her waist, and she dipped her toe into the warm water, then climbed in. As she got comfortable in the tub, she reached for the channel changer and pushed the On button. She wondered what it would be like to take a bath in this tub every day. Hopefully, she’d be doing it for the next two weeks.

She twisted her mouth to one side. Despite the perfect moment, there was something bogging her down, that feeling like you’ve forgotten something.
What is it? What is it
?

Then she remembered.

12

S
TEPHEN PASSED THROUGH THE COVERED BRIDGE ON
his way to the furniture store on Tuesday evening, anxious to see what Linda’s response was to his written proposal. She’d said she would get the note on the way to Josephine’s, which would have been way before now since he’d worked late. His stomach swirled and his palms went damp as he pulled the buggy to a stop and reached for the coiled paper. But the swirling turned into a heavy knot in the pit of his belly when he unrolled it.

He sighed, then rolled the note back up and retied the ribbon around it. As he placed it back in between the supports on the bridge, he figured she must have forgotten to pick it up on her way, which irritated him probably more than it should have. She didn’t know it was a proposal.

Stephen motioned the horse into action and continued toward the store. He’d check again tomorrow on his way home from work.

He couldn’t seem to shake the worry he was feeling about Linda staying with her birth mother for two weeks. It was only natural that she’d want to get to know the woman, but that thought didn’t lessen his fear. Stephen saw the way Linda eyed fancy items when they were in town sometimes, and he wasn’t sure how strong her attraction to material things was. He shook his head, resolved to trust her. Linda was strong in her beliefs, and he’d keep the faith that she would stay in line with the
Ordnung
.

Still, it irritated him that she didn’t swing by the bridge earlier, when she knew there was a note waiting for her.

Linda dried herself off with a towel so plush it felt like silk against her skin. She glanced at the phone in the bathroom and thought about calling Stephen’s house and leaving a message on their phone in the barn, but she didn’t want someone other than Stephen to get the message, which was most likely what would happen. She’d have to go by the bridge tomorrow to get his note. She was glad she’d remembered what she’d forgotten.

Her suitcases were still across the hall in her room, so she bundled up in the towel, tiptoed out of the bathroom, and walked through Josie’s room toward the door. She paused and gazed at the beautiful pictures hanging on the wall, floral landscapes with cottages.

She passed by a large cherry wood dresser with a tall etched mirror. Pictures lined the top of the dresser, and her eyes were drawn to a photo that appeared older than the others and showed a sleeping baby dressed in pink.
Me
. She held the towel in place with one hand and picked up the framed photo with the other and wondered if the picture had always been on Josie’s dresser. She set it down and walked to her own room and breathed in the fresh scent from the roses.
This is paradise
.

She pulled a brown dress over her head, brushed out her wet hair, and started to go down the stairs, then she remembered something. Linda went back into Josie’s bathroom and reached for the blow-dryer and fumbled to turn it on. She’d never used one before, but she quickly found the On switch and aimed the warm air at her scalp as she raked a hand through her hair. When she was done, her hair was still damp, but it had a smoothness she didn’t get from air drying it at home, or when she dried it in front of the battery-operated fan in her room.

She hung the blow-dryer back on the hook beside the sink, then reached for a tube of perfumed lotion she must have missed earlier. She smeared it on her hands until they were soft and felt elegant. If Stephen could see—and smell—her now . . . Linda smiled, and then headed down the stairs.

Josie struggled to mash the potatoes. Her entire right hand was numb now and part of her arm. She knew all too well that she was supposed to call the doctor if she began to experience numbness on the right side of her body.
Not tonight
.

She bowed her head as visions of her youth came flooding back, a time when prayer was something she practiced daily. Now, it just felt awkward. But it had worked before, when she had her headache, and she was willing to try anything.
God, please help me to
stay well enough to enjoy this time with my daughter. Don’t let me get sick—or
die—while she’s here. Please
.

She raised her head in time to hear Linda coming through the den. Josie took a deep breath, forced a smile, and put the potatoes on the table in the dining room with her left hand.

“Josie, that bathroom is wonderful. That was the best bath I’ve ever had in my life!” Linda was glowing, and her daughter’s youthful zest sucked the fear and worry right out of Josie’s mind.

“Good, I’m so glad. I thought you might like taking a bath in my room, in that big tub.” Josie felt a bit guilty, knowing that Mary Ellen and Abe couldn’t—and wouldn’t—offer Linda the kind of luxuries that Josie had enjoyed for most of her life.

“Can I help you do something?” Linda folded her hands in front of her, and Josie didn’t think she’d ever seen a more beautiful image.
My daughter. In my home
.

“No.” Josie forced herself to look away from Linda. She felt like she could stare at her forever. She’d waited so long for this. “Everything is ready.” Josie motioned for Linda to take a seat across from her at the table where she’d arranged two place settings.

Linda hesitated, but slowly sat down. She stared at the china, stemware, and serving dishes on the table. Josie had wanted to set the perfect table, but this might be too much for Linda.

“Hey, I said this was going to be like a slumber party, right?” Josie cupped her hips with her hands. “Why don’t we take our plates into the den, curl up on the couch, and eat in our laps while we watch TV?”

“Really?” Linda smiled as Josie picked up her own plate with her left hand. “Let’s just fill them and take them to the living room.”

Josie set her plate on the table beside the meatloaf, and then picked up a spatula with her left hand to scoop out a small portion. “Help yourself.”

Linda didn’t move, though, and her brow creased with worry. “What’s wrong with your hand?”

Josie looked down at her arm, swallowed hard, and tried to control the panic she felt when she saw her right arm jerking like it had a mind of its own. “Oh, it’s just—oh, it’s nothing. It just happens sometimes.”

Linda stood up and rounded the table, then stared down at Josie’s twitching arm. “It’s not nothing. Does it hurt?”

“No. It doesn’t hurt at all. I’m just having some motor function issues. It’ll go away in a minute.” Josie piled some potatoes on her plate, more than she’d ever eat. “Here, sweetie. Fill your plate, and we’ll go pick out a movie.” She nodded toward the potatoes.

Linda didn’t move. “Does the doctor know?”

“Yes, it’s really no big deal.” Josie shrugged. “I take medicine for it. Sometimes it’s worse than others.”

“But it doesn’t hurt?”

Linda seemed unusually preoccupied with pain, and Josie wasn’t sure whether or not to question her about it or not. “No, it doesn’t hurt. I promise.”

Hesitantly, Linda went back to the other side of the table, picked up her plate, and began filling it.

“How do you stay so thin, eating like that?” Josie grinned, but she could feel her right hand starting to twitch even more.

Linda was focused on the salad Josie had prepared and helping herself to a nice-size portion. “I reckon it’s because we work a lot. There’s lots to do on a farm.”

“Oh my gosh!” Josie clamped her eyes closed for a moment. When she opened them, Linda had stopped serving herself salad and was staring at Josie. “I almost forgot. The doctor’s office left a message and changed an appointment I have from Thursday to tomorrow, so I have a doctor’s appointment at ten o’clock in the morning at Lancaster General.” She paused and offered Linda what she hoped was a comforting smile. “Just routine.” One more doctor confirming what she already knew to be true.
Mrs. Dronberger,
the lesion in your brain stem is inoperable, and since all other treatments have failed, we are sorry to tell you . . .
She’d heard it enough to recite it for them.

“Is it for that jerkiness in your hand?” Linda gazed up at her with such concern in her eyes, Josie swallowed a knot in her throat.

“Yes, but it’s not a big deal.” Josie lifted her plate with her left hand. “Let’s go sit on the couch and eat.”

“
Mei onkel
is a doctor. Do you want me to have him look at your hand, maybe you won’t have to go all the way to Lancaster General?
Mei onkel
has a clinic right here in Paradise.”

Josie knew Linda was referring to her husband’s friend, Noah Stoltzfus, but she didn’t mention it. “Actually, I’m going to see a specialist.” Josie nodded for Linda to follow her into the living room. She sat down and tucked her legs beneath her. Robert hated to eat anywhere but the dining room table, so this was a treat for Josie as well, watching television while eating. It angered her that her hand had picked this night to act up, but she’d ask Dr. Phillips about it in the morning.

“Is it serious?” Linda sat down on the opposite end of the couch, keeping her feet together on the floor while balancing her plate in her lap. She stared hard into Josie’s eyes.

Josie hated herself for lying, but she was not going to mess up these two weeks. “No, it’s not.”

“
Gut
.” Linda sighed with relief, then bowed her head.

Josie did the same, but she didn’t want to talk to God right now. She opened one eye and watched her right hand twitching. Maybe it wasn’t so much that she didn’t believe in God; maybe she was just madder than heck at him. The issue was becoming more and more confusing for her.

Mary Ellen tried to focus on the book she was reading in bed, but she couldn’t get her mind off of Linda.

“Mary Ellen, you’re tapping your feet together.” Abe gently nudged her foot with his. “You always do that when you’re upset or worried about something.” Her husband pulled off his reading glasses and set the book he was reading aside, the one with a motorcycle on the front. “Linda is fine.”