Rosemary Opens Her Heart: Home at Cedar Creek, Book Two (11 page)

The old Melmac dishes slipped from Rosemary’s hands and clattered noisily on the plank
floor. As she leaned against the stove to pull herself together, her heart raced.
Did Titus really mean what he had just said?

M
att polished off his plateful of meat loaf, mashed potatoes, and glazed carrots and
then accepted the warm pan of raspberry cobbler from his dat. He and the rest of his
family had spent Friday morning cleaning up after Zanna and Jonny’s wedding, and now
the newlyweds were on their way to see some cousins near Bowling Green, Missouri.
It was the first of their weekends collecting wedding gifts from kin, and they planned
to visit in three different households before they returned late on Sunday.

“Gut to get the greenhouse all put back to rights and the pew benches on their way
to Ezra’s place for preaching this Sunday,” Matt remarked as he spooned out a huge
helping of the cobbler. “Two hundred guests can make quite a mess!”

“Jah, but it was a gut sort of mess,” his mother remarked from across the table. “I’m
pleased so many folks were willing to come.”

“Zanna’s happier than I’ve ever seen her, and she’s got a gut start on her family
and her life with Jonny,” his father remarked. Sam wasn’t a man who carried on about
other people’s happiness, so he was in a fine mood today even with all the physical
work of taking down tables and hefting benches into the pew wagon. “I think I’ll
keep the mercantile closed this afternoon to catch up on some bookkeeping and inventory
work. How about you girls? What are your plans today?”

Gail and Phoebe were scraping the dirty dinner plates while the cobbler made its way
around the table. “Lois Yutzy wants us to bake rolls and sheet cakes for an English
reception she’s catering tomorrow,” Phoebe replied. She looked at their grandmother,
sitting next to Abby near the other end from their father. “Or do you need help at
your greenhouse? I saw a lot of our guests taking home potted hyacinths and tulips
when they saw how pretty they looked.”

“Jah, Treva’s Greenhouse did right well selling flowers yesterday, considering the
shop was closed.” Their grandmother chuckled. “If I wanted to branch out, I could
rent out that big space for other folks’ weddings, too—not that I’d want to face cleaning
up that sort of mess every time, let alone doing all those dishes.”

Phoebe smiled as though she were keeping a secret. “Maybe we can call Zanna’s wedding
gut practice and remember what all worked well and what we’d do differently next time,”
she hinted. “And it’s probably a gut idea to plant a big section of celery in the
garden this spring…if you know what I’m saying.”

“You and Owen are getting hitched?” Gail blurted, and then she grabbed her sister’s
hands. “So he asked you yesterday? Like you thought he might?”

Matt watched this little drama unfold while pouring milk over his cobbler. He wasn’t
one for listening to girlish notions and wedding plans…but then, he’d certainly had
Rosemary Yutzy on his mind all morning while he’d been cleaning up. He had called
Titus’s place earlier today, hoping she would answer the phone—but maybe their shanty
was too far from the house for her to hear it ring. He’d called a second time, just
in case she had been on her way down the lane or out planting in the garden.

Phoebe was blushing, nodding at them all. “Jah, Owen finally
popped the question during the supper. We were keepin’ quiet until we decided on a
date.”

“Well, congratulations!” Aunt Abby exclaimed. “You two have been looking cozy for
quite some time now.”

“You and James looked mighty cozy at supper, too, Aunt Abby,” Gail piped up. “Do tell!”

Abby’s face turned pink as she helped herself to the cobbler. “Puh! James and I were
saying how we remembered when most of you young folks were born,” she protested. “And
we were grateful that Zanna didn’t pair us up with guests from out of town.”

Matt watched a smile bloom on his mother’s face as the news of Phoebe’s engagement
sank in. “So this means you and Owen will be taking your instruction to join the church
soon,” she said, nodding at her eldest daughter in approval. “Unless I miss my guess,
we might see several young people in Cedar Creek get hitched in the next year or so.
That can only make us a stronger community, especially if we can keep our families
close.”

Still focused on his dessert, Matt was taking in all this talk…especially his mother’s
views on joining the church and staying around town to raise a family. Everyone hereabouts
considered it a miracle that Jonny and Gideon Ropp had returned to Cedar Creek after
the way they’d left their dat’s dairy farm a few years ago to start other businesses
outside the Amish community. It was mostly Zanna’s doing, Jonny had confessed, that
he realized he needed to live closer to his parents again and that he should give
up his cars, his motorcycle, and his driving business to support his young family
in a way that honored the
Ordnung
.

And what does this mean for you, if Rosemary lives clear over past Queen City?

Matt wasn’t sure why that question had popped into his mind. After all, he’d met Rosemary
only yesterday—and he had gotten better acquainted with Titus and Katie than he had
with the young widow who clung to memories of her husband.

But maybe it was the way Rosemary had devoted herself to her man and was now taking
care of Joe’s father and Beth Ann that appealed to Matt. Sure, he had noticed Rosemary’s
pretty skin and he had already imagined how long and soft her glossy brown hair would
be when she unpinned it, but he wanted to spend time just talking with her, getting
to know her, too. She seemed to be just the right height and size, and more than once
yesterday he had wanted to put his arms around her and comfort her. He imagined himself
as the man who could coax a smile back to her face.

And when had he ever considered such notions before?

When laughter erupted at the table, Matt blinked and looked around him. His dat and
mamm, his two sisters, Aunt Abby, and his grandmother were all looking at him as though
they’d said something funny and he’d been so lost in his thoughts of Rosemary that
he’d missed it.

“Matt’s mind is miiiles away,” Phoebe teased.

“Jah, about as far from here as it is to Queen City.” Gail giggled over her first
bite of cobbler. “Katie was pretty excited about meeting your dogs, Matt.”

“Too bad Rosemary didn’t feel the same way,” Phoebe joined in. “And poor Emma’s probably
wondering if you even knew she was sitting beside you, the way you kept gawking out
the window.”

Matt’s face went hot. He hadn’t intended to ignore Emma. She’d brought him a lot of
brownies lately, as though she liked him a lot, but why should he pretend he had special
feelings for her? “I didn’t mean to make her feel bad,” he mumbled, “but it wasn’t
my doing that she got paired up with me. Why do I suspect you girls and Ruthie had
a hand in making out Zanna’s list of matches?”

“We men don’t stand a chance, outnumbered by women the way we are,” his dat remarked
with a shake of his head. “I haven’t seen a wedding supper yet where girls didn’t
get their hopes up and their feelings hurt. We all have to learn how to handle disappointment.”

For a few moments everyone ate in silence. Matt had the urge to
excuse himself to see to his sheep chores, as he didn’t care much for having his romantic
notions discussed by all the women in his family. But if he left now, his sisters
would only tease him more.

“Rosemary’s a very nice young woman,” Aunt Abby finally said. “I really enjoyed getting
to know her and Beth Ann. It’s not an easy row to hoe, living with Titus after his
wife and son have died,” she pointed out. “I suspect Rosemary’s having a tougher time
of it than she lets on.”

“And from what I could tell while she was putting Katie down for a nap,” Barbara joined
in, “Rosemary needs time to figure out what comes next. She and Joe had bought a piece
of land between her mamm’s place and Titus’s, and they were having plans drawn up
for their new home when Joe died. She has a lot on her mind right now.”

Rosemary owned a piece of land? Matt considered this as he scraped the last of the
sweet raspberry filling from his bowl. What if she planned to go ahead and build that
house? Did that mean she intended to live out her life as a widow, raising Katie in
Queen City?

It was awfully soon to be wondering about such details, since he’d only exchanged
a few words with her yesterday, hardly the basis for making any long-range plans.
And her response to him had been anything but encouraging. Maybe he should take the
hint and forget about her…

But Matt couldn’t get her pretty face out of his mind. Despite the way she had laughed
and played with Katie, he had sensed a deep loneliness in her…a need for the same
warmth and caring she was so good at giving to others but didn’t know how to accept
for herself.

The sound of dishes being stacked brought him out of his thoughts. “Guess I’d better
see to my bottle babies,” he said, referring to twin lambs whose mother had died.
“And I need to figure out which wagon to use for hauling those two yearlings over
to Titus.”

As Matt stepped into the afternoon sunlight, he smiled at the perfect springtime day.
Robins were hopping in the yard, gathering
dried grass for nests, while overhead he heard wrens warbling. A thick border of bright
red and yellow tulips swayed in the breeze in front of the house, and as he walked
toward the sheep barn, his horse, Cecil, nickered at him from the corral. It would
soon be time to sharpen the blades on the rotary mower and clip the lawn—just as it
was almost time to wean this crop of spring lambs from their mothers.

Even as his flock’s needs were foremost on his mind, Matt glanced at the phone shanty
by the road and headed in that direction first. Maybe Titus had left him a message.
He had a feeling the fellow from Queen City wouldn’t let much time get by before he
prepared a place for his two new rams…and just maybe he would phone the Yutzy place
again. It was silly, hoping to hear Rosemary’s voice, yet Matt grinned. He was twenty-two
and he’d lived happily at home all his life, but maybe it was time to change that
situation.

His heart skittered when he saw the red message light blinking on the phone. He slipped
into the small white building and sat in the old wooden chair at the table supplied
with a notepad and pens. He reminded himself that customers might have left orders
for the Cedar Creek Mercantile, Treva’s Greenhouse, Graber Custom Carriages—or someone
might have called any of the Lambrights or the Grabers. Yet in his heart, he hoped…

Matt pushed the Play button. Sure enough, the first two messages were for James Graber
from companies in Kansas City and Orlando, inquiring about his prices for special
touring carriages. A lady had called from Clearwater to see if his dat had any bulk
pectin in the mercantile for making jelly from the grape juice she’d kept in her deep
freeze over the winter.

Then a familiar voice came on with a chuckle. “This is for Matt Lambright, and this
is Titus Yutzy calling from Queen City,” he said as Matt listened eagerly. “I’m gonna
ask you to keep those two young rams for now, son—”

Matt’s hopes plummeted. What had made Titus change his mind when he had sounded so
excited about the exchange yesterday?

“—on account of how I’m thinking to move to Cedar Creek. With my kids scattered around,
it’ll put me closer to my brother, Ezra, you see,” the old farmer continued. “Will
you ask around town and find out if any land’s up for sale? The sooner I know about
this, the sooner I can make my plans.”

Matt stared at the phone, his thoughts spinning wildly. If Titus moved to Cedar Creek—if,
indeed, there was a place for him to move to—would Rosemary come along? Or would she
build that house she and Joe had been planning and stay behind?

He replayed the message, hanging on every word, and then he stepped out of the phone
shanty. The
CLOSED FOR WEDDING
sign still hung inside the front door of the mercantile, so Matt went around to the
back door. Through the workroom he hurried, fighting a grin as he looked around the
store’s huge main room. His father sat at the checkout counter, bent intently over
the order he was filling out.

“Dat!” Matt called out as he strode past the shelves lined with bags of bulk flour
and yellow cornmeal. “Do you know of any farms for sale hereabouts? Is anything posted
on the bulletin board?”

His father looked up, raising his thick eyebrows. “Does this mean you’re looking for
a place of your own?” he asked, only half teasing.

“Not anytime soon.” Matt stopped at the counter, careful not to scatter his dat’s
inventory lists. He laughed, still in disbelief at what he’d heard over the phone.
“Titus just called me, asking about property so he can move back to Cedar Creek. Says
he wants to be closer to his brother,” he explained. “Since all the news gets talked
about here at the store, I figured you might’ve heard if anybody was looking to sell
out.”