The Sound of Sleigh Bells (23 page)
Read The Sound of Sleigh Bells Online
Authors: Cindy Woodsmall
“Happy birthday, Ryan.” She closed her notebook and set it aside.
“Mattie!” Dorothy lifted it off the wood stove. “Think … please.”
“Oh, yes. Thanks.” She thought in English and used it easily these days, a result of having regular contact with her non-Amish customers and friends. She turned to the little boy. He was so cute in his blue jeans and cowboy hat. “How old are you today?”
Ryan held up four fingers. “I’m this many!”
Mattie stepped out from behind the counter. “You are so big!” She turned to Mrs. Carter, who was jamming her car keys into her bright red purse. “How are you today?”
“Frazzled.” She unbuttoned her plaid coat. “I forgot this place sat so far back from the other stores, and I parked halfway down the block.”
Dorothy shifted her stroller out of the center of the floor. “We’d better go.”
Mattie grabbed a small dessert box and moved to the case of cupcakes, where her niece stood. “Did you decide which one you want?”
Esther pointed one out, and Mattie boxed it up. “Here you go.”
“You eat the lunch we brought,” Dorothy whispered.
“Okay.” Mattie mocked a loud whisper in return.
Esther shook her little forefinger at Mattie. “I’m comin’ back to check after I have my cupcake and milk.”
“You do that.” Mattie held the door for them before returning her attention to Ryan. “Come.” She went to the refrigerator, and as she removed the plastic cover from the cake, the smell of chocolate wafted out. She carried the cake over to Ryan.
Ryan gasped. “Mommy, look!”
A smiling teddy bear stared up at them. The three-dimensional bear had come out just as she’d hoped, and the look in Ryan’s eyes made every hour of effort worth it. This wasn’t her first time to create a bear cake, but she’d used the new specialty tips that had arrived earlier in the week, and the results looked even better than she’d imagined. The bear’s claws, paws, and facial features nearly jumped out of the box.
“It’s perfect, Mattie.” Mrs. Carter’s smile reflected appreciation. “When my girlfriend told me about your shop, I never expected such excellent work.”
The pleasure of this moment would linger with Mattie for a long time. “Thank you.”
“I have a daughter turning thirteen next month. She ice-skates, does ballet, and plays basketball. Think you could design a cake around one of her activities?”
“Sure.” Mattie grabbed her scrapbook and flipped it open. “Or I could do one that showcases all three.” She showed her several pages.
Mrs. Carter pointed at a triple-tier cake. “That one.”
“I can put a different sport on each tier.”
“She’ll love that!” Mrs. Carter turned away quickly, scooping up Ryan, who had begun to race around the small store.
Mattie jotted down a few notes, feeling exuberant, then set the book aside. “I’ll call you next week, and we’ll make specific plans. Let me help you with this cake.” Since Mrs. Carter was parked so far away, Mattie moved Ryan’s cake to a stainless steel utility cart and grabbed her coat.
Mrs. Carter secured the squirming boy in one arm and pulled out a check she’d already written.
Without glancing at it, Mattie slid it into her coat pocket and wheeled the cart toward the front of the store.
“I hate asking you to leave the store unattended, but he is so wound up.”
“I don’t have anything baking in the oven, so it’ll be fine.”
Sol sat in the front passenger seat, half listening to the conversation between Amish Henry, his brother Daniel, and the driver, Eric. All were a little younger than he and eager to be on this trip.
Eric turned down the radio. “So my neighbor, the one with two hundred acres who hasn’t let anyone hunt on it for more than thirty years …”
That caught Sol’s attention. “Thirty years?”
“Yeah, he’s always been real picky about who he lets on his property, but he said we could hunt it. Says the deer have really been ripping up his cornfields the last few years.”
“Let’s do it!” Amish Henry said.
“There’s a catch,” Eric said. “His mother is elderly and doesn’t want to hear gunshots or have hunters stomping around on the land, so we’d be limited to Christmas Eve and Day, because they’ll be away visiting relatives then.”
Reality overtook Sol’s moment of excitement. “I’m out. I can’t go on Christmas Eve. That’s Mattie’s birthday, and she’s got a thing about us attending the Christmas singing.”
“Must be nice to have a girl,” Daniel said. “I might give up hunting altogether if I had one.”
“Not hunt at all?” Sol laughed. “If that’s what she wants, you’ve got the wrong girl.”
Eric clicked on the turn signal. “Why don’t you hunt just in the morning on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day? You could probably tag your quota and still be back before noon. Come on, man. It’ll be great.”
“Ya, maybe.” Sol tapped the dessert box that held the cupcakes. “I want to talk to Mattie before I agree to anything.”
Eric pulled into the parking lot of a fish-and-wildlife store. “I need to get a few things.”
They all piled out with him. Sol didn’t need anything, but it never hurt to look around. He went to the knife case to see if they had anything new.
“Can I show you a particular knife?” the man behind the counter asked.
“Nah, I’m just looking. Thanks.”
A girl stopped beside him, and his peripheral vision told him she was Amish. She pointed at various knives. “He’d like one of every kind he doesn’t already have.” He recognized the voice. Katie King.
Sol’s insides knotted, and he stepped away from her. Their eyes met, and she smiled. She had dark hair and even darker eyes. He’d always thought she was pretty. But looks weren’t what mattered to him. It was the way two people fit into each other’s lives that really meant something.
His gut twisted with nerves, and he wished she’d leave. Mattie had never once made him uncomfortable, even when they first talked after the singings. She was the one who had approached him each time, but she did it in a reserved way—not staring or saying anything that he didn’t know how to respond to. He’d never asked to take a girl home from a singing. Mattie, in her quiet, self-assured way, had asked him.
Katie put one hand on her hip. “I sure see you out with your friends a lot. I guess you shy guys have to stick together. It’s a shame though, ya?”
Sol shrugged, not at all sure what answer she was fishing for. He never knew how to carry on a conversation with someone like Katie—all bubbly and blabbering about nothing at all. Mattie said what needed to be said and talked about things that made sense.
Amish Henry stepped out from an aisle, looking as if he wanted to rescue Sol but wasn’t sure how. “You about ready?”
“Ya.” Sol nodded. “Bye.” He started to leave.
Katie stepped in front of him. “I think it’d be neat to climb a tree stand in the early morning hours and wait for dawn.”
Sol wished Mattie would suddenly appear. He didn’t understand women at all. Was Katie just being silly? He took another step back, studying her shoes, which were half covered in mud.
Katie angled her head, catching Sol’s eye. “I hope you have a good trip.” She turned and walked off.
Sol drew a deep breath, wondering if he’d ever get over some people making him feel as if he had a ten-pound block of ice in his gut.
Amish Henry adjusted his black felt hat. “I think she was hoping you’d ask her for a date.”
The words jolted Sol. Her small talk and mannerisms made no sense to him, but maybe Amish Henry was right. He watched her leave. “Nah. She just wants to sit in somebody’s tree stand.”
“If that’s what she wants from you, she’ll never get it. Climbing into your tree stand? No way.”
Sol laughed. “
Kumm
on. Let’s find Daniel and Eric. We’ve got a long way to go before we can set up camp.”
About the Author
C
INDY
W
OODSMALL
is a
New York Times
best-selling author. Her ability to authentically capture the heart of her characters comes from her friendships among the Old Order Amish. Cindy is the mother of three sons and two daughters-in-law, and she and her husband reside in Georgia.
T
HE
S
OUND OF
S
LEIGH
B
ELLS
P
UBLISHED BY
W
ATER
B
ROOK
P
RESS
12265 Oracle Boulevard, Suite 200
Colorado Springs, Colorado 80921
The scripture quoted is taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. The scripture quoted is taken from the King James Version.
The characters and events in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to actual persons or events is coincidental.
Copyright © 2009 by Cindy Woodsmall
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Published in the United States by WaterBrook Multnomah, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc., New York.
W
ATER
B
ROOK
and its deer colophon are registered trademarks of Random House Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Woodsmall, Cindy.
The sound of sleigh bells / Cindy Woodsmall. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-0-307-45835-3
1. Amish women—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3623.O678S68 2009
813’.6—dc22
2009018239
v3.0_r1
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