Читать книгу Twice Blessed - Barbara Cameron - Страница 14

Chapter 6

6

It was gut to see Rosie looking well today.”

Katie nodded. “She looked a lot better than she did last time you saw her, huh?” She shivered, remembering how scared she’d been the night they’d walked into the house and found Rosie unconscious.

“Ya.” He glanced at her, then the road ahead. “’Bout time I got to see you.”

She frowned. “You could have stopped by. I didn’t want to leave Rosie any more than I had to.”

Daniel turned to look at her. “I know. I just missed you. That’s all.”

Silence stretched between them. “Guess I’ll believe you next time you say you feel something is wrong with Rosie,” he said finally, reminding her of how she’d experienced that terrible headache the night Rosie had fallen down the steps.

It was a sort of apology for his doubt that night. Katie studied him. Like many Amish men she knew, he didn’t say much, so this was really a surprise.

“This thing you have with Rosie. Do you know every time something happens?”

“Not every time. But if it’s something important we usually get a feeling.”

“It’s not like you know if something really . . . personal happens.”

“Like what?” When she saw him flush, she couldn’t help chuckling. “You mean, will she know when we kiss? I don’t know. Shall we find out?” She leaned over and smiled flirtatiously.

Daniel backed away. “Katie, it’s not funny.”

She reached over and patted his hand. “Nee, I’m sorry for teasing you.”

They rode in silence for a time. She found herself wondering if Rosie was enjoying being out with Jacob. The two of them shared so much, but Rosie had such trouble feeling comfortable around men. Things seemed different between her and Jacob. And Rosie had taken her advice and asked him out.

Surely this was a good sign. She loved her sister. She wanted both of them to marry and have kinner one day. That was part of God’s ultimate plan for His children, wasn’t it? To be married to someone who loved them and raise kinner together, to be part of a loving family here on earth? That’s why God set aside a mate for His kinner.

“Katie?”

“Hmm?” She dragged her attention away from her thoughts and realized he was pulling the buggy over to the side of the road.

“I’ve been wanting to talk to you about something for some time now. That night that we had to leave Rachel Ann and Abram’s home—well, I thought of talking to you about it then.”

She turned and stared at him. “What is it?” she asked when he seemed to be searching for words.

“Rachel Ann and Abram make a nice couple.”

“They do.”

“They seem very happy together.”

“Ya.” Katie wondered where he was going with this.

“They’ve known each other a long time.” He hesitated, then plunged ahead. “We’ve known each other for a long time.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“Katie, I have feelings for you,” he said at last. Turning to her, he looked into her eyes with an earnest expression. “I love you, Katie. It feels like I’ve always loved you.” He took a deep breath. “I think it’s time we got married, don’t you?”

She shouldn’t have been surprised—she truly shouldn’t have. They’d been friends for a long time. She’d flirted with other men now and then, but Daniel had always seemed to be patiently waiting in the wings for her.

“Tell me you care about me, Katie. Tell me I’m not the only one feeling this way.”

She stared at him, bemused, and found herself nodding. “I do have feelings for you as well. But I can’t say that I love you, Daniel.”

He reached for her hand lying on the seat of the buggy between them. “Are you sure you don’t love me a little, Katie?”

She gently, but firmly, pulled her hand back. “Don’t ask that. It’s not fair to pressure me.”

“You haven’t been dating anyone else. I’d know.”

“You’re right. I haven’t. But that doesn’t mean that I feel the way you want me to.”

Daniel took off his straw hat, tossed it onto the seat, and ran his hands through his hair in a frustrated gesture. “I really thought—” He sighed, shoved his hat on his head again.

“You thought it would be nice to have what Rachel Ann and Abram have.”

“Ya. Stupid of me.”

“Not stupid. Who wouldn’t want to have the kind of love those two have for each other? The home they’re creating?”

“You do, too?” He looked at her hopefully.

“Ya. But you know, it wasn’t just that they knew each other for a long time. Things weren’t smooth for them. They had to find out that they were supposed to be together. I know, I talked to Rachel Ann a lot about it before the two of them decided to get married.”

“Abram never told me.”

She smiled. “Girls talk.”

“Then maybe there’s hope for us?”

She twisted her hands in her lap. “I wouldn’t want to lead you on. I don’t know where things might go between us. If they even go. Well, if they happen, I mean. Maybe you should think about going out with some other women.”

He shook his head firmly and pulled the buggy back onto the road. “I don’t want anyone else.”

“But—”

“I don’t want anyone else, Katie.”

She watched him, saw how stiff his shoulders were, how his knuckles showed white as they clenched the reins.

As the miles grew, as silence stretched between them, Katie felt miserable at hurting his feelings.

“Daniel? If you’d rather not go out to lunch, I’ll understand.”

For a long moment, she thought he’d refuse and say they should go to the restaurant. Instead, with a nod and heavy sigh, he checked traffic and made a U-turn.

A few minutes later, he pulled into her drive. Katie got out and climbed the steps to her house. She sat down in a rocking chair on the front porch and watched Daniel’s buggy roll on toward town.

Well, that was interesting. She watched other buggies pass by, others out for a drive after church. Occasionally, someone waved and she waved back. Finally, hunger drove her inside to fix herself a sandwich and a cup of tea.

How had she not seen it coming? she asked herself as she bit into the sandwich. She should have noticed that Daniel had feelings for her. He was two years older than her, and his youngest bruder had gotten married last year. Maybe he was thinking it was past time he married and started a family.

Summer and a man’s mind turned to the upcoming harvest and then the weddings.

Well, she was sorry, but she didn’t feel that he was the man God had set aside for her. She finished her lunch and then, restless, got her journal from her bedroom and went outside to sit on the porch and write in its pages.

But first, she flipped to the section where she’d made her wish list, where she’d written what she wanted in a mann.

***

Why had she ordered spaghetti and meatballs? Rosie asked herself.

Here she was sitting in the restaurant on her first ever big date with a man, trying to look calm and confident, and she’d ordered something that was so messy to eat.

She twirled the pasta around her fork and managed to get the bite into her mouth without having to slurp a long strand of spaghetti that slipped from the fork or dripping sauce all down the front of her cape dress. Success!

Then, just as she stabbed a meatball, Jacob asked her a question, and her concentration wavered. He laughed, and she looked in the direction of his glance. The meatball was rolling toward him like a little snowball down a hill.

“Runaway meatball!” he said, laughing.

She blushed, but then, seeing how lines crinkled around his eyes, she joined in, chuckling as the meatball came to rest against his plate.

“It’s not easy eating movable food,” he said, cutting into his own lasagna. “I ended up with spaghetti in my lap last time I ordered it. Never again. I’ll eat it in the privacy of my own home next time. Besides, my mamm gave me her recipe for spaghetti and meatballs when I moved here, and I think I do a pretty good job making it. I’ll make it some time for you, and we’ll see if you like it as much as what you’re eating.”

“That would be nice.” She liked how what he said implied he wanted to see her again although she didn’t know how they’d work out her going to his house for supper. The two of them couldn’t be alone together unchaperoned.

They talked about his growing up in Ohio in a family of five bruders and schweschders, and how he’d visited Lancaster County last year to see a cousin who introduced him to Abram. Together they’d found the perfect small farm.

Rosie chose a breadstick from the basket on the table and took a bite. “I found a recipe for sourdough bread that’s gluten-free. That’s something people are very interested in these days. I got to wondering about Amish friendship bread and whether it’s gluten-free and how this might be something gut to offer our customers. Of Two Peas in a Pod, I mean”

“I thought you did jams and jellies and preserves, that sort of thing.”

“I want to have a bigger garden, do a home-based business at some point, offer meals and have a small shop to sell Two Peas in a Pod products at home. I mean, we could still sell at Elizabeth and Saul’s store, but it would be nice to do it right from home.”

She stopped and looked down at her plate. “It probably seems like a wild idea to you.”

“It doesn’t sound wild at all,” he said, looking surprised. “Not any wilder than my wanting to move away from Ohio to Lancaster and buy my own farm.”

Fascinated, she listened to him tell her about how there had been carpenters for generations in his family. He was the first to want to farm, something he learned doing an apprenticeship with an uncle.

Their server came to clear their plates and returned to tempt them with a tray of the restaurant’s dessert specialties. Rosie bit her lip and hesitated, but Jacob saw her looking at the tiramisu and insisted she order it.

“What about your family?” he asked as he sampled his slice of lemon cake.

She savored the creamy mixture of chocolate, coffee, and lady fingers. Tiramisu must be Italian for heaven. “Katie and I have five brothers and sisters. We were a surprise, born five years after the last of them. Our parents were killed in a buggy accident two years ago.”

He touched her hand. “I’m sorry. I lost my dat two years ago. He was only in his forties, had a heart attack. I hesitated about moving away, because I felt I had to stay and look out for my mamm, but my two sisters encouraged me to follow my dream here.”

It seemed that they had a lot in common. Rosie thought about how grateful she and Katie had been that their schwesders and bruders had supported their parents’ wish that they inherit the farm.

They were talking so easily, and she was enjoying herself so much she was sorry when the meal was over and Jacob paid the check.

“Do you have time to show me around some more?” he asked as they walked outside.

“I’d love to.”

She took him on a tour of some of her favorite places: her favorite park where she’d picnicked many times, the schul she and Katie had attended, the homes of some of the people he’d met. And when he pulled into the drive of her home she smiled. This was her favorite place of all, the one she loved and hated to leave sometimes for work in town—however much she liked her job at Elizabeth and Saul’s store. She happily worked in her garden as many hours as she could and always wished for more.

“I really enjoyed today, Rosie,” Jacob said. “If you have an evening free this week, I’d like to take you out to supper.”

Her heart lifted. This hadn’t been hard at all . . . as a matter of fact, she couldn’t remember a time when she’d enjoyed herself so much.

A buggy pulled into the drive behind them, then another pulled in behind it. Four kinner spilled out of the buggies and raced up to Rosie’s side of the buggy.

“Aenti Rosie!” they cried in unison.

Two of Rosie and Katie’s schweschders walked up and looked startled when they saw Jacob. “Oh, we thought this was Katie and Rosie’s buggy!”

“I’m Jacob,” he said, introducing himself.

“These are two of my schweschders, Sarah and Lavinia and their kinner,” Rosie told him. “They live in the next church district, so you didn’t meet them this morning.”

“We thought we’d drop by and see you,” Sarah said brightly. “We figured you’d be home not doing anything.”

“We were hoping you could watch the kinner so we could go visit Aenti Naomi. She’s not feeling well, so we didn’t want to take the kinner.”

She paused and looked behind her. “Ike, did you do something to your bruder?”

“Nee.”

“Ya,” said Joshua, tears welling up in his eyes. “He punched me in the arm.”

“Boppli,” Ike muttered. “Tattletale.”

“Enough,” said their mamm. “Jacob is going to think you’re a bad boy.”

“I can watch them,” Rosie said quickly, trying to sound like she didn’t mind. She was enjoying talking to Jacob, but they had been about to part. It wouldn’t hurt to watch her nieces and nephews even though it hadn’t been considerate of them to just drop and expect her to babysit.

She felt a little embarrassed, too, to have Sarah make that comment that let Jacob think that she sat around with nothing to do on a Sunday afternoon. Even thought she rarely had plans—especially with men.

“Go on up on the porch, and I’ll be there in a minute,” she told the kinner.

“Danki,” chorused her schweschders, and they rushed off quickly.

Rosie glanced back and them and shook her head. “I think they’re getting out of here before I can change my mind.”

Jacob grinned. “Don’t look now but Joshua just punched Ike.”

She rolled her eyes. “Seems like it’s going to be an interesting afternoon.”

“Too bad I have to leave,” he said, not sounding sorry at all.

“Chicken,” she muttered.

“True. Men weren’t made with eyes in the back of their heads. My mamm was able to see me doing things when I was behind her just like those two.”

“They’ll behave for me,” she told him. “They like the cookies we bake when they visit.”

“Cookies?” He straightened.

“Too bad you have to go,” she said as she slipped out of the buggy. “Danki again for lunch.”

Looking disappointed, he nodded and called to his horse.

Rosie climbed the steps to the porch and glanced over her shoulder to watch him leaving. She didn’t have eyes in the back of her head. She supposed you had to be a mamm before you grew them.