Rosemary Opens Her Heart: Home at Cedar Creek, Book Two (27 page)

Where had that sentiment come from? And why had she felt compelled to share it in
this roomful of women she barely knew? Rosemary wasn’t sure about those answers, and
yet…most of the gals around her were nodding.

“You said a mouthful, Rosemary,” Abby remarked. “A new friend’s voice can refresh
us like a breath of springtime.”

“Jah.” Beulah Mae Nissley spoke up. “Sometimes we don’t realize how we gripe about
the same worries day in and day out—not that it improves our lives any. With Titus
taking over the Bontrager
place, bringing you three girls along, why, we’ll not be missing Preacher Paul’s family
nearly so much.”

“Gettin’ an old friend back amongst us, too,” Bessie Mast joined in with an enthusiastic
nod. “We’ll not be concerned about the new folks in town being somebody we don’t know,
or English snapping up our land. It’s a blessing all around, your coming to Cedar
Creek, Rosemary.”

“Matt could’ve told you that, Bessie!” Ruthie piped up from her corner.

Rosemary felt the heat rising into her face, yet it seemed everyone gazed at her with
a whole new interest. How long had it been since she’d felt so welcome—even if these
women seemed to know a lot more about her situation than she knew about theirs? True
enough, they assumed she would be coming along with Titus and probably didn’t realize
she had the option to build her own house. Yet once again she didn’t feel like bringing
up that subject.

“Seems to me we’ve got another frolic or two in our futures,” Barbara said from the
kitchen doorway. “What with the Yutzys moving into a different home, wouldn’t it be
nice if they had fresh curtains and quilts and rugs?”

“What a gut idea! I’ll hold a sewing frolic,” Zanna offered. “It’ll be a chance for
all of you to come see our new house.”

“I’m thinking a bunch of us could make quick work of painting over there, too, once
Salome and Perry have moved out,” Phoebe said, grinning in Rosemary’s direction. “It’ll
be a snap with all the furniture gone. And Owen’s got the ladders and tools we’d need,
too.”

“I love to paint,” her sister Gail chimed in. “It’ll be a painting party!”

“I’m in on that one,” one of the redheaded Coblentz twins volunteered, and her sister
beside her said, “Jah. I’d rather be rolling paint on a wall than trying to keep itty-bitty
quilting stitches looking the way they’re supposed to.”

“And if we do these frolics after the lot falls to the new preacher, think about what
all we’ll have to talk about,” Eunice Graber remarked in her reedy voice. “I can’t
climb a paintin’ ladder no more, just like I can’t see gut enough to quilt. But I
can chat with the best of ya.”

Friendly laughter filled the big room, and it seemed to Rosemary that within the last
few moments her attitude, and maybe her whole future, had shifted in a wonderful way.
How had that happened? While Abby had set up today’s frolic out of the kindness of
her heart, she couldn’t possibly have planned the generous suggestions that would
transform the house on the Bontrager place into the Yutzys’ new home.

“Come fill your plates,” Barbara suggested, waving them all toward the kitchen. “What
with Salome feeding the men as thanks for helping Perry today, we’ve got ourselves
an all-day hen party. Denki to all of you who brought dishes to share.”

As they surged toward the door, where heavenly aromas of chicken and cheese and hot
rolls welcomed them, Rosemary suddenly became the center of attention. Every woman
present asked if she needed help packing and moving—or unpacking when their furniture
got to Cedar Creek. Who would have dreamed that women she’d met only at a wedding
and a funeral would offer to travel all the way to Queen City with boxes Sam had emptied
in his store? As she took helpings from a variety of casseroles, salads, and goody
trays, Rosemary couldn’t recall the last time she’d felt so singled out for so many
blessings.

Beth Ann, too, was having a fine time with Ruthie, Zanna, and Mary and Martha Coblentz—so
caught up in their chitchat that she’d forgotten her qualms about leaving her school
friends in Queen City. It was a sure sign she would do just fine in her new hometown
when she scooped Katie to her hip and loaded her plate, talking to the younger girls
without once sending a desperate look in Rosemary’s direction.

They ate in the front room, everyone visiting back and forth while exclaiming over
the chicken-potpie casserole, the cheesy hash browns with ham, and of course the sweet
rolls with pineapple and cream cheese filling and the turtle brownies oozing with
caramel and crunchy pecans. While Rosemary had enjoyed Zanna’s wedding feast, this
informal lunch with her new friends, seated around Barbara Lambright’s front room,
tasted better than anything she’d eaten in years.

As she joined those who were carrying their dirty plates and silverware toward the
kitchen, Rosemary felt a hand on her elbow. “Emma!” she said. “I’m glad to finally
meet you and chat a bit, since it seems we’ll be neighbors before the summer’s out.”

Emma stepped out of the stream of women with her, to stand back beside the sewing
machine where it was quieter. She studied Rosemary’s face for a moment. “So—you’re
Matt’s new girlfriend, are you?”

Emma’s tone and question sounded rather abrupt, after hearing all the other women
welcome her and offer to hold frolics. “Might be a little soon for saying that,” Rosemary
hedged. “You know how girls Ruthie and Beth Ann’s age like to carry on when there’s
the least hint of a romance—”

“Just thought I’d give fair warning about what you might be letting yourself in for.”
Emma stood slightly taller than Rosemary, and she was taking advantage of every inch
as she gazed down her nose. “You see, with Matt the grass is always greener on the
other side of the fence. He’s got an eye for gals who live anywhere other than Cedar
Creek, so once you move here with Titus—well, things might change once you’re on
my
side of the fence, Rosemary.”

As Emma stepped toward the kitchen again, Rosemary had the feeling she’d just been
taken down a peg or two by a young woman who’d wanted to win Matt’s affections and
now felt rejected. Was it true, what she’d hinted about Matt? Or had that been Emma’s
disappointment talking? As Rosemary listened to the cheerful chatter
all around her, she decided not to let the old adage about greener grass and fences
dampen the rest of her day. If Emma had a problem with Matt, well, it was
her
problem.

While Eunice Graber and Aunt Lois redded up the kitchen, Barbara mixed the punch and
arranged plates of cookies for Salome’s shower. The rest of them cut border strips
from a bright fuchsia twill Abby had brought over from the mercantile, while Rosemary
pressed the finished blocks of the Friendship Star quilt top so Treva could stitch
them into rows. By two o’clock, the rows had all been joined and the outer border
was sewn on. An entire top for a queen-sized quilt had been completed in a single
morning.

As Phoebe and Gail held the upper corners high to display their project, Rosemary’s
heart beat joyfully. “What a beautiful gift!” she exclaimed. When Beth Ann looked
up from her rag rug, she sprang from her chair to see the quilt top from a better
distance.

“Oh, Rosemary,” the girl murmured, grabbing her hand, “that mix of bright colors is
like nothing we’ve ever had at our house. Mamm and her sisters always used up the
old clothes for quilts and rugs.”

Abby came up beside them, a sly smile lighting her face as she lifted the rug in Beth
Ann’s hand. It was rectangular, already more than a foot wide and two feet long. “Jah,
and look at how far you’ve come with your mamm’s fabric strips, too. And you just
learned how to crochet them this morning!”

As all the other women complimented Beth Ann on her rug, Abby leaned toward Rosemary.
“If you’ll let me know which colors she likes best, I’ll pick out the border fabric
and the brightest of our remnants at the mercantile,” she murmured. “It’ll make the
move easier if her new room has a fresh quilt and—”

“Oh, Abby,” Rosemary exclaimed, “everyone’s already done so much by setting up another
sewing frolic, offering to help us pack, and organizing a painting party.” Rosemary
couldn’t swallow the lump in her throat. “How can I ever repay you for so much kindness
and—”

“You can accept our gifts in the spirit they’re given.”

“But at least let me buy the fabric for Beth Ann’s quilt,” she pleaded. “You’ve been
such a gut friend to the both of us.”

Abby shrugged. “Sam just got in a big shipment of cotton prints, so I have to clear
out some of our older stock to make room. And besides,” she added as she slung her
arm around Rosemary’s shoulder, “you’ve already given us a gift of yourself by focusing
on the positive points of serving God. You’re an inspiration to us all, you know—the
way you took on Titus’s household and raising his daughter.”

Rosemary blinked. “I did what somebody had to do for Joe’s family.”

“You opened your heart where a lot of daughters-in-law wouldn’t have,” Abby pointed
out. “You could’ve stayed with your mamm and your sister. Or you could’ve caved in
to your grief. But you chose to
serve
,” she insisted. “And meanwhile, because Beth Ann didn’t have to run her dat’s household
at the age of twelve, she has a chance to be a young girl yet. That’s quite a gift
you’ve given her, Rosemary.”

Again her heart thudded in her chest. When had anyone ever told her she’d made an
important difference in someone’s life? “Denki, Abby,” she whispered. “And many thanks
for making Beth Ann your special project, too.”

Abby winked. “Just maybe I have an idea about how she can spend her summer, once she
gets settled in her new home.”

And what might that mean? Rosemary looked again at the beautiful quilt top as Phoebe
and her sister draped it carefully over one of the long tables. Wasn’t it a fine thing,
what they had accomplished with the work of their hands?

When Salome Bontrager arrived with her young son and daughter, she couldn’t say enough
in praise of the quilt. Her gratitude and bittersweet tears struck a chord with Rosemary.
She, too, felt caught between going and coming, standing with a foot still in the
life she knew while stepping into an unknown future whether she was ready or not.

She knew now that she was moving to Cedar Creek. Just as the triangles and squares
formed the blocks of that Friendship Star quilt—and just as the rows fit together
with a balance of dark and bright colors, framed by a border the color of the redbuds
in Matt’s pasture—Rosemary’s heart and soul had pieced together her decision before
her mind could resist again. Abby and the other women had shown her a new vision of
home, and she now believed she could live here quite happily, no matter how Emma Graber
had tried to warn her away from Matt.

Rosemary wasn’t going to tell Matt she’d made up her mind, though. How long would
it take him to figure it out?

As the buggy headed down the county blacktop toward Queen City, Matt glanced over
to where Katie had fallen asleep in Rosemary’s lap, and then behind him, where Beth
Ann was stretched out on the backseat with her eyes closed. He scooted closer to the
woman who was making his pulse pound with curiosity and hope.

“You must’ve had a gut time at the frolic,” he murmured near her ear. “Beth Ann has
a nice chunk of rug to show for her day, but you…well, your face has a glow to it,
like you know something now that you didn’t realize when you came this morning.”

Rosemary’s lashes fluttered and she glanced away, confirming his impression that she
was keeping a secret. “Must have been the turtle brownies,” she hedged. “They were
huge, but I had to have two…all that gushy caramel and nuts over that moist, chewy
chocolate, you know?”

“I don’t suppose you brought me one,” Matt teased. “Even if you women left any, Dat
will gobble them down before I get back.”

“Too bad for you, ain’t so?” When she widened her eyes at him, Matt’s heart turned
handsprings.

“Give me a taste, Rosemary. Katie and Beth Ann won’t know.”

Her breath caught when she realized his meaning. She glanced back at Beth Ann, who
was now breathing deeply, and then cradled
her daughter more closely. Even in her stark black kapp and dress, Rosemary was still
the prettiest young woman he’d ever seen, yet she was a conscientious mother first
and foremost. And he liked that about her, a lot. Matt checked to see that no cars
were coming, wrapping the reins securely in one hand even though Cecil would hold
his gait steady. Then, when Rosemary’s eyes found his again, he didn’t wait to be
invited twice.

Matt eased his face closer to hers, holding his breath as her lips parted. He closed
his eyes…got so caught up in the sweet softness of her mouth that all thoughts of
chocolate and caramel left him. Rosemary wasn’t just letting him kiss her, like some
girls he’d dated; she was kissing him back.

A screech of tires and the blare of a horn made them spring apart. With the revving
of its engine and a loud
whoosh
, a low-slung black car sped around them, honking again and again. It was all Matt
could do to rein in his spooked horse, and as Cecil raced down the highway, Katie
began to wail.

“What was
that
? What happened?” Beth Ann cried out as she sat up behind them.

Amid this chaos, however, it was Rosemary’s expression that stabbed at Matt’s heart.
“Of all the nerve, to be going so fast—to get so close he nearly ran into us.” She
was clutching Katie, desperate to quiet the toddler’s cries against her shoulder.
She looked around the slowing carriage, wide-eyed with fear, and then focused on him.
“My word, I lost track of what time it must be, and—well, it’s nearly dark. Do you
have your lights on, Matt?”

How had dusk fallen and he hadn’t noticed? The answer, of course, was Rosemary…the
woman with the softest, warmest lips he’d ever kissed. Matt flipped the toggle switch
beneath the windshield, his pulse pounding with fear and guilt as the headlights beamed
on. While that car had been traveling well above the speed limit for this stretch
of blacktop, he knew better than to lose track of the road—and the light—that way.
It went without saying that they all might have been killed…