Rosemary Opens Her Heart: Home at Cedar Creek, Book Two (5 page)

“My dat’s mighty busy these days,” Matt agreed. “Folks from all the towns hereabouts
say they’d rather do business with him than go to a big discount store. That’s a fine
compliment, when you consider how those places can price a lot of their merchandise
lower because they handle so much more volume.”

Titus straightened to his full height, a thoughtful expression on his face. “I know
your dat has closed his store today on account of the wedding, but I bet Rosemary
would be tickled to stock up on baking supplies. She makes pies for the cafés in Bloomingdale
and Queen City, you see.”

“I’m sure Dat would be happy to sell her what she needs,” Matt replied. “Or Aunt Abby
could help. It wouldn’t surprise me if she goes over there anyway, to fetch whatever
else they might need for tonight’s supper.”

Was it Matt’s imagination, or did Titus have more color in his cheeks now? Once again
the old farmer was looking out over the pastures, letting his gaze wander across the
road to the Graber place, as though he had some ideas he wasn’t ready to talk about
yet. “Merle Graber’s not looking too steady,” he remarked quietly. “I suppose James
supports that family with his carriage making nowadays.”

“Jah. They raise enough hay to feed their horses, but Carl Byler does their farming
for them—same as he works Paul Bontrager’s
place next to it.” Matt waited to see where this thread of conversation might lead.

“Jah, but by golly, Paul’s still making cabinets and he preached a gut wedding sermon
this morning. Must be nearly ninety, don’t you think?”

“Getting close,” Matt agreed. “His boy Perry works at James Graber’s carriage shop.
He and Salome live in the main house now, so Paul’s got somebody looking after him.”

“All the more reason I need to give myself a gut swift kick when I think my troubles
are worse than anybody else’s.” Titus hooked his thumbs around his suspender buckles.
“My older kids are married, and Beth Ann helps Rosemary when she gets home from school.
And Rosemary—now, there’s a gal who can put a meal on the table even after she’s been
helping me with the sheep all day, or tending the laundry and the garden. I’ve got
no call to complain when I see how the fellas I used to run around with are slipping
a notch or two.”

“That’s a gut way to look at it.” Matt smiled at Titus as they turned toward the gate
again. “And for the rest of today, why—you can catch up with your old friends and
stay for supper and still make the drive home before it gets dark.”

“Jah, I think I will. Rosemary wanted to head back right after the wedding, but I’m
real glad we stayed.” He extended his hand. “I’ll get back with you in a day or so
about exchanging rams, all right? If we do this soon, they’ll be accustomed to their
new homes come time to turn them in with the ewes in the fall.”

Matt grasped Titus’s sturdy hand, pleased with the turn the conversation had taken.
After all, a trip to Queen City with a couple of rams would give him another chance
to see Rosemary. “Both of us can upgrade our flocks and it won’t cost us anything
but some travel time. Can’t beat a deal like that.”

Matt latched the gate behind them, signaling for the dogs to return to the pasture.
He scanned the clusters of folks who stood chatting in the yard between the greenhouse
and his home, but he
didn’t find a particular young woman dressed in black. “I’ll see that Rosemary gets
to shop in the mercantile, if she wants to. There’s Dat, right over there, so I’ll
go ask him.”

Titus focused in the direction Matt was pointing. “I’ll go with you and congratulate
the brother of the bride. Haven’t talked to Sam in a long while.”

As they strolled across the yard toward where Matt’s father was chatting with James
and Merle Graber, who were seated in lawn chairs, Matt felt a hopeful thrum all over
his body. He knew almost nothing about Rosemary Yutzy. Yet even in her stark black
clothing, the way she’d laughed and played with Katie had made him
want
to know her. The sooner he could talk with Rosemary alone, the better.

As Matt was planning how to arrange a chat, the kitchen door opened and Aunt Abby
stepped out with a young girl close behind her. Rosemary followed them, holding Katie
against her hip—and wearing a wide smile that made her face glow like a springtime
day. Abby’s expression told him she was on a mission, and when she waved at him, Matt
couldn’t help grinning. Was she helping his cause without even knowing it?

“Matt, have you met these girls from Queen City?” Abby called to him. “We’re on our
way over to the store, to see the spring fabrics and baking utensils Sam just got
in.” As the four of them stopped in the lane, Abby placed her hand on the girl’s shoulder.
“Titus, I’ve had the nicest time getting to know your family. They’ve been such gut
help to us. Matt, this is Titus’s daughter, Beth Ann—”

“Nice to meet you, Beth Ann,” Matt said. She looked to be all legs and arms, like
a young foal, yet anyone could see she was excited about going to the mercantile.

“—and this is Rosemary Yutzy and her daughter, Katie,” Abby finished.

Matt’s heart was pounding, and he reminded himself not to say anything stupid. “Katie
came over to play with Panda and Pearl earlier,” he said, tweaking the toe of her
tiny shoe. “We’re glad you
came today, Rosemary. Titus was saying you’d probably like to see the mercantile,
and it’s just like Aunt Abby to make all the right things happen.”

Matt held Rosemary’s gaze until she lowered her eyes. Was that a blush on her cheeks,
or was that wishful thinking on his part?

“Abby’s been mighty nice to us,” Rosemary murmured. “Beth Ann loves to sew, and she
wants to see the nook where Abby runs her Stitch in Time business.”

Titus, who had been following this conversation with great interest, fished his money
clip from his pocket. “You girls get yourselves something you’ll enjoy,” he said as
he handed Rosemary some folded bills. “And if you see things you might want later—for
making us some clothes or stocking the kitchen—we’ll have Matt bring them. He’ll be
hauling a couple of rams to our place as soon as I pick out two of my yearlings for
him.”

Matt’s pulse surged. “If you need help loading your packages into the carriage, Rosemary,
let me know,” he said. All of a sudden, it seemed that everyone around him was making
his fondest wish come true. Who could have known Zanna and Jonny’s wedding day would
turn out so well for him, too?

A
bby opened the back door to the Cedar Creek Mercantile. “The sign out front says we’re
closed for the wedding, so if we come in this way, folks on the road won’t expect
us to let them in,” she explained as they stepped inside. “This is our workroom, where
we fill resealable plastic bags with spices and cookie sprinkles and whatnot. We store
our bulk nonperishables in the warehouse to our left. That door leads to the main
store.”

Beth Ann walked ahead of her and stopped in the doorway with a delighted gasp. “Oh,
Rosemary, look!” she said. “Two levels of shopping! And it’s so much homier than the
big discount store in Kirksville, ain’t so?”

Abby chuckled. She had known in an instant that Beth Ann would buzz like a honeybee
when she saw the new spring fabrics and all the craft supplies Sam kept in stock.
“Take your time,” she encouraged the girl. “The fabrics are to your right.”

“Jah! And look at those colors—like spring flowers!” Beth Ann exclaimed as she hurried
into the main room. “Oh, Rosemary, you would look so pretty in that shade of lavender
over there. It reminds me of wild thistles.”

Rosemary glanced apologetically at Abby. “You’re probably right, Beth Ann,” she called
after the girl, who was rushing down the aisle. “But that’s hardly a proper color
for me to wear. Pick out fabric for your own new dress, and we’ll get a length of
Triblend to make your dat some new work pants, too. Every pair he has is worn thin.”

Abby smiled to herself. It was just like an Old Order woman to put the rest of her
family’s needs before her own. But Beth Ann was right: the new poly-cotton crepe in
the color of a thistle would lift Rosemary’s spirits while it complemented her rosy
complexion. “What can I show you?” she asked. “We just got a shipment of glass pie
plates and paring knives, as well as fifty-pound bags of flour and buckets of lard.
And we carry scented soaps my friend Marian Byler makes and other things every woman
needs around her home.”

Balancing Katie on her hip, Rosemary discreetly counted the money in her hand. “Truth
be told, the metal pie pans in Alma’s kitchen are stained and beat-up, and I threw
away three rubber spatulas last week because the tops came off.”

“We’ve got what you need right here in aisle five.” While Abby wasn’t surprised by
Rosemary’s thrift, it touched her that this young woman still referred to the kitchen
as Alma’s. “Did you move to Titus’s place from the house you and Joe lived in, then?”

Rosemary smiled ruefully. “Joe and Katie and I were living with my mamm and my sister—which
worked out fine because my dat’s been gone for several years. Joe was farming his
land,” she explained. “We’d bought the acreage between my folks’ farm and the Yutzy
place. Had it all paid off. A local carpenter was drawing up plans for a house, but…”

Abby squeezed Rosemary’s shoulder. “It has to be hard, having all your hopes and dreams
go by the wayside. And it’s not the same, moving into another woman’s home.”

“Jah, and Titus refuses to change anything. He wants the place left the way it was
when Alma was alive.” Rosemary shifted her toddler on her hip, as though deciding
how much to reveal. “Alma was
about four inches taller than I am, so I needed a stepstool to reach the ingredients
for my pies and even the dishes we eat from every day.”

“That sounds inconvenient,” Abby remarked as she led Rosemary to the display of kitchenware.

“Dangerous, too. One day I nearly brought a stack of glass bowls down on my head,”
she continued in a low voice. “I ducked in time, but I wasn’t happy about those bowls
shattering on the floor. I changed things around in that kitchen right then and there—and
thank goodness Titus is none the wiser.”

Rosemary’s expression lightened as she reached for a stack of disposable foil pie
plates. “These are perfect for the pies I take over to the cafés in Bloomingdale and
Queen City,” she said as she took two bundles. “And Alma’s old egg beater hardly cranks
anymore,” she added as she reached for a new one. She turned to look at Abby in wide-eyed
exasperation. “You must think I sound ungrateful for the home Titus has provided me,
or that I want everything to be my own way, or—”

“Not at all.” A real liking for Rosemary welled up inside Abby. “It’s only natural
for a woman who bakes so much to want her kitchen gadgets to work and to rearrange
the cabinets for everyone’s safety. Let me get you a shopping cart.”

As Abby walked up the aisle toward the checkout counter, she glanced over to where
Beth Ann was fingering the fabrics. The girl looked totally enthralled, as though
she could imagine herself wearing a new cape dress in each of the fresh colors, even
though she had to limit herself to one or two. “When you’ve picked out all your yard
goods, let me know,” Abby called across the tops of the shelves. “And whenever you’re
ready to see my Stitch in Time corner, we can head upstairs.”

Beth Ann’s head bobbed up. “Oh, I’d love to look around in your shop and see what
all you’ve made, Abby!”

What a compliment, coming before the girl had seen any of the
quilted jackets, placemats, or pleated white kapps displayed on Sam’s shelves. Abby
grabbed the handle of the nearest cart. “On the pegboard to your right, Beth Ann,
you’ll see one of the rag rugs Zanna has crocheted, as a sample for folks to order
from,” she said. “My sister’s doing a real gut business at that. We never figured
her for a rug maker, but it’s perfect for her while she starts a family.”

“Oh, Rosemary, this rug would look wonderful-gut in the kitchen!” Beth Ann exclaimed.
“That poor old thing we have now has been on the floor since before I was born.”

Dismay flickered over Rosemary’s face. She handed her supplies to Abby and went to
see what Beth Ann was looking at.

Abby placed the items in the cart. How could she convince Titus Yutzy to allow for
a few new things in the kitchen? Men had no idea how minor changes could make a woman’s
work easier…and how much better a homemaker felt surrounded with fresh colors. Surely
a new rug wouldn’t be a betrayal of his wife’s memory…

“Jah, this rug’s a gut size for in front of the sink, Beth Ann. Such cheerful colors
in it, too,” Rosemary agreed, but then she hesitated. “We’ll ask your dat before we
buy one, though. He likes to keep the house the way your mamm had it—”

“But Mamm was ready to make a new rug!” Beth Ann protested. “She had the strips torn
and the ends sewn together, but she got to feeling so puny from her chemo that she
didn’t have the patience for it.”