Rosemary Opens Her Heart: Home at Cedar Creek, Book Two (34 page)

“Puh! Your
age
!” he protested as he turned in the swing to face her. “The way I see it, other fellas
have never tried hard enough—never realized what a fine woman you are, Abby. Me included,
for a long while. I hope I haven’t blown my chances, considering how I’ve upset you
twice now.”

Abby’s dark eyes glimmered as she took another bite of her muffin. Was she being coy?
Or was she seriously considering whether she would see him again? James agonized as
she raised her glass to her lips…Had he unwittingly said something else that had struck
her wrong? It was so hard to figure out what went through a woman’s mind. He’d found
that out when he was courting Abby’s younger sister, hadn’t he?

Ah, but Abby is nothing like Zanna. Thank you, God!

James relaxed. He slipped his arm along the back edge of the swing as she took her
time replying.

“You’re an easy fella to forgive, James,” she whispered. “I’d be foolish to send you
packing just because you took on more work than you bargained for, ain’t so? Your
heart has always been in the right place, and that’s what counts.”

Oh, but he wanted to place his heart in her keeping, for now and for always, when
Abby gazed at him this way. Did he dare tell her he loved her?

Better not to push his luck. He’d said enough for one evening.

James savored the final bite of his muffin, thankful for small pleasures that made
life worth living. “Next time I get all cranky about being overworked, will you tell
me straight out that I’m being a pain?”

Abby laughed and set the tray on the porch floor. “I will, if you’ll do the same for
me,” she said as she scooted closer to him. “We’re all in this together. With Sam
working at his new calling, I’m already—”

“Let’s not talk about Sam.” James kissed her softly. Abby’s forgiveness tasted sweeter
than the banana muffins she had shared with him, so he kissed her again. He lingered
over this moment,
deepening the kiss as she sighed with him…and responded with a fervor he hadn’t anticipated.
Oh, but he’d waited too long to share Abby’s affection.

As she rested her head on his shoulder, James thanked the Lord for making Abby such
a wise, wonderful woman. He felt like a man who’d been wandering lost but had found
his way home again.

M
onday morning, after Beth Ann had left for a day with the Schlabach girls and Titus
had gone to tend his sheep, Rosemary started emptying the kitchen cabinets. Matt would
soon arrive with a few women from Cedar Creek who had volunteered to help her pack,
and she wanted to be ready for them. Mamm and Malinda clomped up the porch steps,
carrying a roaster full of sausage-and-bean casserole for their noon meal. After they’d
made over Katie’s new dress, the color of sunflowers, they began the enormous task
of emptying Titus’s home of more than forty years.

“Oh my goodness.” Her mother stared at the stacks of cookbooks, musty tablecloths,
and plastic food containers. “You said Alma was a pack rat, but I had no idea.”

“No sense in filling up your new cabinets with this old stuff,” Malinda declared as
she threw open the doors of more crammed cabinets. “Titus will be none the wiser if
we take these items to the recycling center.”

“The Mennonite gals over in Memphis are collecting for another overseas relief project,”
Mamm added, “and they need clothes and books and kitchen utensils. Nothing will go
to waste.”

The clatter of wheels announced the arrival of their helpers from Cedar Creek. Rosemary
swung Katie to her hip and went outside to greet them. She didn’t foresee any problems
with the women getting along…but would her mother and sister approve of Matt Lambright?
Here came a high-sided wagon, which Matt was driving, followed by an open carriage
full of women who called out to her and waved excitedly.

“Many hands will make light work of this huge job, Rosemary,” her mother remarked
as she and Malinda came outside. “Don’t you worry about—”

“Matt! Where’s the puppies?” Katie called out when she saw him. She squirmed frantically,
and when Rosemary set her on the ground, she scrambled toward him. “Matt, play with
me
!”

Rosemary’s heart fluttered at the sight of the sturdy, broad-shouldered man in the
straw hat who crouched and opened his arms. At the moment Katie threw herself into
his embrace, Rosemary closed her eyes, hoping…

“Well, now,” Mamm said softly. “That pretty much tells the tale. If you want to run
out there the way your daughter did, you don’t need my permission, you know.”

Malinda laughed. “You didn’t say he was nice
and
gut-looking, sister. Does he have a brother?”

As Rosemary turned to introduce the women, Barbara and Treva Lambright greeted her
mamm and sister, as did Eunice and Emma Graber. They were all talking at once, picking
up the pans of sticky buns and bars they’d brought.

“We’ve got empty boxes from the store,” Treva said, pointing to a big supply of flattened
cardboard crates. “And I brought along some strapping tape.”

“Went over and took a look,” Eunice declared as she adjusted her pointy-cornered glasses.
“The young folks did a fine job of painting your rooms—”

“And the kitchen cabinets got three coats of white enamel,” Emma added. “It’ll be
like moving into a new house.”

“Your cookstove and oven from Lehman’s got delivered on Saturday.” Barbara climbed
down from the driver’s seat of the carriage. “Abby’s already called Jonny Ropp to
put them together for you. He’ll deliver them by week’s end, so you’ll be baking those
pies for Lois Yutzy in short order.”

“Sounds like you’re taking gut care of my girls.” Mamm’s voice was higher than usual,
but she didn’t waver as she accepted the pans of food they handed her. “I feel better
already, seeing what all you’re doing to help my daughter settle in.”

“Lois has nothing but gut things to say about your Rosemary,” Eunice said with a decisive
nod. “We’re glad to see her and Titus moving next door instead of not knowin’ who
might buy it.”

Rosemary’s cheeks tingled as Matt stepped toward her with Katie riding atop his shoulders.
“Mamm and Malinda, this is Matt Lambright, Titus’s new partner with the sheep—”

“Puh!” Malinda exclaimed. “Looks to me like the sheep are just a way for him to pass
the time whenever Katie’s not got him wrapped around her little finger.”

“Jah, just one more female making me toe the line,” Matt agreed as they all chuckled.
“I’ll get on over to the barn and help Titus load his hay and equipment. Seems safer
than going into the house, where you gals might put me in a box and tape it shut.”

Rosemary’s helpers started toward the house with their moving supplies, chatting like
they’d been friends for years. Katie fussed when Matt peeled her arms from around
his neck, but when he whispered something in her ear, she nodded and kissed him loudly
on the cheek. “See you at dinner,” he reassured her as he handed her to Rosemary.

“Jah. You can sit by
me
!” Katie exclaimed.

Rosemary situated her toddler on her hip and grabbed a picnic hamper sitting beside
the carriage. She walked quickly to catch up with the other women, who were making
their way to the house with Mamm in the lead. “And what did Matt whisper in your ear?”
Rosemary asked her daughter.

Katie giggled. “A secret.”

“Ah, and what sort of secret was it?” A few steps away from the kitchen door, Rosemary
caught up to Emma…hoping that since she’d come here with Matt and his mother, her
opinion of him—and her mood—had improved.

“Matt says he loves me. And he loves you, too, Mama!”

Rosemary’s face prickled with heat as she glanced at Emma. “You just never know what
Katie will say next.”

Emma shrugged, looking rueful. “It’s easy to see she speaks the truth, though. I—I
wish you all the best with Matt, Rosemary,” she murmured. “Tried real hard to catch
him for myself, but it wasn’t meant to be. And I’m real sorry about the way I talked
to you at the frolic. It scared me when I realized I was sounding as snippy as Mamm,
so I’ve made my peace with Matt, too.”

What could she say to make her future neighbor feel better? Rosemary wondered. It
had taken some courage to come here under such circumstances…had cost Emma some pride
to admit that her affection hadn’t been returned.

“It’s never easy to predict how our lives will work out, Emma,” Rosemary replied.
“It came as a complete surprise that Matt noticed me, when I wasn’t ready to give
up loving my husband, Joe. Katie’s made things happen faster, and most folks can’t
help but go along with her.”

“Jah, Katie has that way about her.”

“I never dreamed I’d be moving away from Queen City,” Rosemary went on as they stepped
into the kitchen. She noticed that the other women were listening to her, too, so
she included them in what she wanted to say. “But now that I’ve met my new neighbors—and
such helpful, cheerful ladies you are, too—the move isn’t so scary. It was gut of
you all to come today.”

“I left Sam studying the assignments Bishop Gingerich gave him, while Abby and the
girls are running the mercantile,” Barbara remarked.

“I can’t imagine what it must be like, movin’ your mother-in-law’s belongings out
and startin’ fresh in a whole new town,” Eunice chimed in. “Been livin’ in the same
house we built when Merle and I hitched up more than fifty years ago.”

Treva placed her roaster in the oven. “I came along because it’s a lot more fun to
clear out somebody else’s closets than to work on my own!”

“Jah, I know all about that,” Mamm agreed. “Malinda and I have filled up a house where
a family of nine used to live. I pity the poor soul who cleans it out after we’re
gone.”

For the rest of the morning, they worked and chatted in a way that made Rosemary very
grateful. How many weeks would it have taken her to complete such a daunting job?
Even with Beth Ann’s help, it would have been an overwhelming challenge to decide
the fate of Alma Yutzy’s belongings. But these ladies knew of benefit projects sponsored
by other church groups or places to donate items.

Zanna Ropp had asked for fabric and old clothing for making her rag rugs, so Rosemary
and Emma tackled the closets upstairs where Alma had kept her craft supplies. They
tugged boxes and plastic bags of all sizes into the room that had been Joe’s.

“Beth Ann doesn’t want these lengths of fabric?” Emma asked as she emptied a box onto
the bed. “Abby says she’s a gut seamstress.”

“Jah,” Rosemary replied as they sorted through the musty twills and cottons. “But
most of these fabrics have to be ironed, and she’s not one for doing that when polyester
blends can be hung on hangers straight from the washer.”

“Gut point.” Emma emptied another bag of fabric onto the bed. “Oh, now these look
promising—dresses that were cut out but never sewn together, and they’re a nice summer-weight
crepe. Abby’s made Mamm and me a slew of dresses from this fabric, and you can’t find
anything easier to care for.”

As Rosemary held up the cut-out pieces, something about the shade of green whispered
to her heart…and the purple made her
soul sing. Wouldn’t it be perfect timing, to wear these dresses when she moved to
the new house? The one color reminded her of the cedar trees growing at the bottom
of Matt’s pasture, while the other—well, the iris along the side of the house were
this same shade of purple. “Wouldn’t take Beth Ann but a couple of hours to whip up
these dresses, fast as she sews,” she said. “Why donate such nice pieces when one
of us can surely wear them?”

“That’s what I was thinking.” Emma held the back of the green dress against Rosemary’s
shoulder blades. “This is just the shade of your eyes, you know. And it’s big enough
that you can cut it to your size.”

“Jah, Alma was heavier than I am…at least before the cancer caught her,” Rosemary
added sadly. It tugged at her heart to be handling Alma’s unfinished dresses, yet
wouldn’t it be a tribute to Joe’s mamm to wear them as she came out of mourning? She
put a determined smile on her face and neatly folded all the purple pieces together,
and all the green. Then she and Emma headed downstairs to see how the kitchen crew
was doing.

The rich aroma of Mamm’s sausage-and-bean casserole made Rosemary realize how hungry
she was. Malinda and Barbara were carting loaded boxes to their rigs while Mamm and
Treva were setting cookies and sticky buns on plates.

“Would you look at this?” her mother said as she opened the lower cabinets. “We did
right well this morning.”

“My stars, Mamm! They’re clean as a whistle—and I’ve never seen this set of dishes,”
Rosemary remarked as she looked at the table, which was set for their noon meal. “What
a pretty pattern of pink roses.”

“Found them tucked away behind a bunch of old cottage cheese cartons.” She smiled
ruefully. “This gives me the bug to clear out my own cabinets. No telling what treasures
I might find.”

“Same here,” Matt’s grandmother replied. “We figured to work in the cellar after dinner.
The men won’t have patience enough to
pack those crocks and canning jars right, let alone wash them so’s they’re ready to
use again.”