Rosemary Opens Her Heart: Home at Cedar Creek, Book Two (21 page)

As Matt continued to search for Rosemary, Preacher Abe’s phrases lingered with him:
gladness of heart…generosity of spirit. Were these qualities Joe Yutzy had possessed?
Would he have big shoes to fill if he convinced Rosemary to court and marry him? Could
he be a good father for Katie?

Mighty soon to be concerned about those details
.
One slice of apple pie and a few smiles aren’t enough reason to hitch up with any
woman.

When he found Rosemary in the crowd, his heart stilled. She was wiping away a tear—not
unusual at a funeral—yet the sight of her sorrow made Matt realize she had a lot more
at stake than he did if she agreed that he could court her. While no one doubted that
Rosemary could keep a home running and be a loving parent while she baked pies to
earn money, he could offer little proof that he would make a good husband.

Had Rosemary been happy with Joe?

“We now commend our brother Paul Bontrager into the Lord’s eternal care,” Preacher
Abe was saying, “with the assurance that he has gone to his reward in Glory, to serve
God in the hereafter just as he served us here in Cedar Creek.”

Matt shifted on the hard wooden bench. He glanced to his left at Jonny Ropp, who sat
close enough that their shoulders touched. On his right, Mose Hartzler looked ready
to nod off, maybe because he’d been up late with his wife, Hannah, who was due to
deliver their third child any day. It struck him then that these fellows, along with
a good many of his friends, had married and started families while he was still living
at home and keeping his sheep.

Would Rosemary wonder why he was twenty-two and uncommitted? Would it concern her
that he hadn’t yet taken his instruction to join the church?

You’d better be speaking to Vernon about that
, he thought as the bishop rose to read the words of a hymn. Funeral services, being
more solemn, included no singing—and he wished they didn’t have to sit through a second,
longer sermon without the musical relief of raising their voices. All he could think
about was Rosemary…where he might take her to enjoy another slice or two of that apple
pie…what he might say to win a “yes” from her.

Matt closed his eyes, recalling her expression when he’d offered her that forkful
of pie. He had definitely surprised her with that
move, so how could he keep coming up with ways to impress her as no other fellow ever
had? Rosemary’s deep green eyes fascinated him, and as she had gazed up at him with
the fork still in her mouth, accepting what he’d fed her, he had yearned to share
more moments of such closeness today. Would it be wrong to kiss her? Would she think
he was too bold and presumptuous if he held her close? Surely she was as hungry for
affection as he was…

“Oh!” Matt gasped when Jonny elbowed him. On his right, Mose was trying not to snicker,
and Carl Byler turned around to see what the commotion was. Even the bishop looked
his way as he kept speaking about the true measure of a man.

You’ve gone and done it now. Got so caught up in your thoughts of Rosemary that you
must’ve made a telltale noise.

Then he realized that Rosemary was looking right at him from across the crowded barn.
Had he attracted everyone’s attention? Made a fool of himself? Matt returned her gaze,
and after a moment she lowered her eyes.

For the rest of the long, somber service, Matt sat up and paid attention even as he
longed to be outside in the fresh air. His stomach rumbled. He tried not to think
about those seven remaining pieces of apple pie…

At last Bishop Gingerich pronounced the benediction, and the men filed out one side
of the barn while the women exited through the other door. Because the Cedar Creek
cemetery was just down the hill, below the Bontrager place, Paul’s wooden coffin would
ride in the horse-drawn black hearse but everyone else would walk to the graveside
service. Beulah Mae Nissley, Matt’s mamm, and other neighbor ladies would stay behind
to make the final meal preparations so the Bontrager family would be greeted with
a hot dinner when they returned from laying Paul to rest.

As soon as he stepped out the door, Matt followed a hunch. Sure enough, he saw Rosemary
enter the greenhouse with Abby and his grandmother. It didn’t surprise him that she
would help serve the
meal rather than attend the burial of a fellow she hadn’t known—especially so soon
after her husband’s death. Into the greenhouse he went, and despite curious glances
from Eunice Graber and Adah Ropp, he walked directly over to Rosemary.

“May I have a word?” he whispered, gesturing toward the front room of the shop.

Rosemary looked startled, yet she followed him through the swinging door and into
the area where his grandmother displayed her potted plants and the woven baskets some
of the local ladies made to sell. “Jah? What’s on your mind?”

Matt knew better than to elaborate on the thoughts he’d had during the service. Instead,
he reached for Rosemary’s hand. “With so many older folks here and Bontrager kin from
out of town, it’ll be a long while before it’s our shift to eat,” he murmured. “How
about if we take my pie and slip into the house to fill a couple of plates after the
burial? Then we could sit out back in the swing together.”

Matt wasn’t sure where that idea had come from on the spur of the moment, yet Rosemary’s
expression made his heart pound.

“I—I don’t see why not. We’d be outside, in plain sight, and, well—truth be told,
Abby said they have a gut many helpers for the meal and…” Rosemary’s voice trailed
off, and she glanced toward the door.

Matt held his breath. Was she having second thoughts?

“If I eat with you early on, I can be washing the dishes from the first shift,” she
said resolutely. “And while your mamm and sisters are eating, I can help at the tables,
if need be. How’s that sound?”

Matt squeezed her hands, keenly aware of how small yet sturdy they felt. “Perfect.
It sounds just perfect, Rosemary.”

The next forty-five minutes flew by in a flurry of preparations for the funeral meal.
Rosemary got into the flow quickly, slicing hams and cutting up baked chickens that
Beulah Mae Nissley had prepared at her café. As Rosemary put the meat back into its
large
metal catering pans to keep it warm, Abby and her mother were setting plates of pie
at each place on the long tables, while Barbara and her girls poured water into glasses.
Large covered pans of hash-brown casserole and mixed vegetables waited on the serving
table, too, so folks could help themselves as they came in. Aunt Lois had baked dozens
of loaves of bread, and as Bessie Mast sliced them, Eunice and Emma Graber filled
baskets and set them on the tables beside the butter plates. Rosemary had discovered
that no matter where she went among Plain folks, the church services were the same—and
so were the basic tasks that went into serving food for a large crowd of hungry people.

“The first folks are coming down the road from the cemetery now,” Treva announced
as she glanced out the window.

Beulah Mae began removing the lids from the pans, while Barbara set out serving spoons.
Rosemary was brushing crumbs from the table when a familiar face greeted her from
the swinging door of the shop.

“I jogged ahead of the crowd,” Matt said breathlessly. “Looks like if we fill our
plates real quick-like and I grab my pie, we’ll be on our way to a picnic, jah?”

How could she refuse? It might not be entirely proper to eat before the Bontrager
family, but when Abby waved them on, Rosemary followed Matt down the length of the
serving table, filling her plate. The two of them were walking across the yard toward
the Lambright home as the others were entering the greenhouse to go through the line.

“Was this a gut plan, or what?” Matt held his pie in one hand and a piled plate in
the other. “I thought Vernon would never finish the service. And it seemed Preacher
Abe spent nearly as long giving Paul’s send-off as it took Gideon Ropp and me to dig
the grave yesterday.”

Rosemary willed herself not to recall the gaping hole in the ground where they had
laid Joe to rest. “We women stayed busy, believe me. Made it handy that Beulah Mae
Nissley and Aunt Lois
could cook most of the meal in their restaurants and keep it hot in their big catering
pans.”

Matt led her past the side of his white house, around to a double swing in the backyard.
Made of white wooden slats and suspended by chains on a freestanding A-frame, it sat
facing out over the pastures. He wiped the wet seat with napkins he’d grabbed in the
serving line and nodded for her to be seated first. “What I was trying to say,” he
continued in a softer voice, “was that I couldn’t wait for all the formalities to
be finished so I could spend time with
you
, Rosemary. It was a fine surprise this morning to see that you’d come with Titus.”

As he slid onto the wooden seat, careful not to jostle her, Rosemary felt her cheeks
flush. Now that she was alone with Matt, she would have to respond to his pleasant
chitchat. “Jah, well,” she began, feeling suddenly tongue-tied, “when Titus said he
planned to speak with Perry Bontrager about buying that land across the road, I…I
wanted a chance to look things over firsthand.”

Matt’s dimples winked at her. “You can look me over all you want, Rosemary,” he said
before he took a big bite of ham.

The way he chewed made her watch his lips—until she caught herself. She focused on
her forkful of cheesy hash-brown casserole. “If Paul’s land does come up for sale,
I won’t necessarily move to Cedar Creek with Titus, you know. I have a lot of decisions,
now that he wants to be your partner in the sheep business.”

For a moment Matt looked like a puppy who’d been punished, but he recovered quickly.
“Jah, you have a lot more to consider than I do,” he replied. “But let me tell you
this. I’ve never before met a woman who made me feel like I’d have a great big hole
in my life if I didn’t see her again. It was love at first sight, for sure and for
certain,” he continued earnestly, “and I’m not saying this to make you nervous, Rosemary,
or to get you to say the same thing back to me.”

Rosemary had a hard time swallowing her hash browns. Her heart was pounding so hard
she couldn’t think straight. Matt had
cut right to the chase, hadn’t he? And even if he didn’t expect her to love him right
now, he obviously wanted her feelings to catch up to his as soon as possible.

She focused on the rolling green pastures dotted with woolly white sheep…the bursts
of pink redbud blossoms and white dogwood blooms set off against the dark green cedar
trees growing along the creek. The Lambright land made a peaceful scene, and it was
a view she could grow to love. Still…

“I don’t know a thing about you, Matt,” she blurted out, gripping her plate so it
didn’t slip off her lap. “We haven’t spent any time together, or—”

“Which is why I invited you to eat with me,” he pointed out. “Maybe you know more
than you think, Rosemary. You’ve seen my flock, and you’re already aware of what goes
into keeping sheep. You’ve been inside my home and met my family. And you know how
Katie already loves my dogs and isn’t the least bit afraid of me. Those things are
important, jah?”

Rosemary took a bite of ham, stalling, because Matt’s answer made perfectly good sense.
“So—what do you know about
me
?” she asked, mostly because she couldn’t think of anything else to keep her side
of the conversation going. Her pulse pounded with that reaction they had called “fight
or flight” in school. She certainly wasn’t a fighter and she didn’t want to run from
this conversation, but it made her uncomfortable to talk so seriously so soon.

“Well, besides the fact that the proof of your pie is in the eating, I admire the
way you chose to look after Titus and Beth Ann. Titus has told me you could just as
easily have stayed at your mamm’s.” Matt lifted a crispy chicken leg to his lips,
chewed a bite, and then swallowed. “And you’ve taken on all the work his wife, Alma,
once did, plus you’re raising a child and baking pies—and you’re seeing to Beth Ann’s
growing up at a tough time in her life. I’ve got a lot of respect for a woman who
voluntarily cares for her husband’s family, Rosemary.”

Matt glanced at her over a forkful of broccoli and cauliflower. “So—even without getting
into how your smile does crazy things to me and how pretty you are—I’ve touched on
some important traits. You’re a gut woman, and I hope I can win your trust and love.
I’ve decided to take my instruction to join the church, so you’ll know I’m a solid
fellow with the best of intentions for taking care of you and Katie.”

Rosemary gripped her fork. Matt sounded sincere and steadfast. And those were traits
she had treasured about Joe. “I—I need time to think about—”

“You need a man to make you laugh and to hold you when you cry,” Matt said softly.
“And seeing how you love little Katie, I’m thinking you’ll want more children someday.
I want to be the husband who helps you raise them.”

Rosemary’s fork clattered to her plate. “I—I—”

Matt slipped a hand gently behind her head, leaned toward her, and kissed her on the
lips. It was a soft, sweet kiss, and for a few moments Rosemary wanted it to last
longer. She had forgotten the pleasure of sharing a man’s affection…

Then she grabbed her plate and sprang from the swing. “This is happening way too fast!”
she cried out. “If I say the least little thing to encourage you, or agree with everything
you’ve just said, you’ll think I’m all set to marry you! And that’s not going to happen!”

Rosemary hurried around the frame of the swing, toward the back door that led into
the Lambrights’ kitchen. Her throat was so tight she could hardly breathe. Matt called
her name, but she stepped into the house without a backward glance. Once inside, she
fell against the door to close it, desperately trying to rein in her galloping doubts.

Thank goodness the kitchen was empty while the other women assisted with the meal
in the greenhouse. It wouldn’t do for them to see how agitated she was. Their questions
would lead her to reveal what Matt had done to put her in such a state. She inhaled
the
aromas of chicken, ham, and hash-brown casserole left warming in the ovens for the
next shift of guests.