Return to Paradise. Barbara Cameron
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and saw a woman in Amish dress entering the restaurant.
For months after he’d left the Amish community he’d thought he’d seen her so many times. But it always turned out to be another woman.
Just like all those other times, the woman turned and he saw it wasn’t Lavina but another Amish woman.
“David? You gonna order?”
He blinked. “Oh, sorry. I’ll have the double cheeseburger and fries. Well done on the burger.”
They ate their lunch, and David didn’t look toward the door again.
***
“Beautiful work,” Leah said as she stroked the quilt. “Just like always.”
Lavina smiled. “Danki. I hope your customer who ordered it is happy with it.”
“I’m sure she will be.” Leah folded the quilt, put it in one of the Stitches in Time bags and set it under the counter. She went through the rest of the quilts Lavina and her sisters had sewn and approved all of them. “Let me write you a check.”
The bell over the shop window rang. Several women walked in. Leah glanced around. All of her granddaughters were busy helping customers. “Excuse me for just a moment, Lavina.”
“You don’t have to worry about the check right now,” Lavina said quickly.
“I’ll be just a moment,” Leah assured her. “Why don’t you take a look at the new fabric we just got in?”
New fabric. Lavina couldn’t resist. She had several bolts in her arms when Leah found her a few minutes later.
“I see you found the new fabric,” Leah said with a smile. “Let me help you with those.” She took several of the bolts and carried them to the cutting table. “How are you doing, Lavina?”
“Gut. Danki.” Lavina set her bolts down and stroked the material on one of them, avoiding Leah’s gaze. When Leah didn’t say anything, Lavina looked up.
Leah’s faded blue eyes were kind. “Really, kind?”
“You know it’s not easy to miss someone. Your first husband died.”
“David isn’t dead,” she reminded Lavina.
“He has to be to me. He’s gone, Leah. He’s been gone a year. He’s not coming back.”
Leah sighed. “I don’t know what to say. But I know this: God has a plan for each of us, timing that doesn’t always please us, but he always knows what He’s doing.”
“I know.”
“Do you, kind? Can you find the faith to believe it?”
“I’ve tried.”
“Remember, ‘we live by faith, not by sight.’”
“I know.” Lavina sighed.
Leah unrolled a bolt of fabric. “So, how many yards?”
“Four of each.”
Working competently, Leah cut the fabric, folded it and pinned a slip of paper with the amount to charge on each. She walked to the counter, and Lavina followed her. “Oh, I almost forgot your check.” She pulled a checkbook from the drawer, made out the check, and handed it to Lavina.
“Waneta was in yesterday,” she said as she tucked the fabric into a shopping bag. “She’s worried about her mann. Maybe David will come back to help take care of him.”
“I don’t think he will. They didn’t get along, remember?”
Leah handed her the shopping bag. “Maybe someone should let David know about his father.”
“I don’t know anyone who knows where he moved.”
“There must be a way.” Leah reached inside the cash register for a list. “Can you and your schwesders handle a few more orders before Christmas?”
“Schur. We appreciate the work, you know that.”
Leah patted her hand. “I appreciate what you do for us. We can’t possibly handle all the demand for quilts with just Naomi sewing them.”
Lavina tucked the check in her purse and picked up her shopping bag. “Have a gut day!”
“You, too,” Leah said. “And think about what I said.”
She waved at Naomi as she left the shop. The temperature had gotten a little bit cooler, but the sun felt warm on her shoulders as she stepped outside. She stopped to look in the display window—she hadn’t taken the time when she was carrying in the boxes of quilts to deliver—and smiled when she saw that one of her quilts was displayed next to Naomi’s. Little leaves cut from fabric scattered on the floor of the window announced the season. Anna’s hand-knit baby caps covered the heads of little dolls seated on one of Mary Katherine’s beautiful woven throws. Leah’s little cloth Amish dolls rode in a hand-carved buggy carved by Ben and Mark, twin cousins of the three Stoltzfus bruders.
The wind picked up, swirling her skirt. She hurried to her buggy parked behind the shop and began the ride home. She felt tired from the last-minute rush the past week, finishing the quilt order, but happy with the check tucked in her purse. And how nice to have new fabric to work with. A quilter always loved having a big stash of fabric waiting to be worked into a quilt. Her dat pretended to complain about how much fabric the women in his house accumulated but he’d converted the den in the house into their sewing room and lined the walls with shelves for fabric and supplies.
Her stomach growled. She’d left in a hurry that morning, taking time for only a cup of coffee. Up ahead was a restaurant/bakery that was a favorite of locals. She glanced at her purse and debated treating herself to a sandwich and taking home some baked goodies for her schweschders. The three of them deserved something special after their long hours.
She parked, entered the restaurant, and inhaled the delicious aromas. The door opened behind her as she stood waiting to be shown to a table.
“Lavina! I’ve been hoping to talk to you!”
She turned and found herself staring at Officer Kate Kraft. “Oh, did I do something wrong? Did I park in the handicapped spot or something?” The parking lot had been crowded and she’d been a little close to a pickup truck, but she thought she’d parked the buggy legally.
The other woman laughed. “Not at all. I’m looking for some fellow quilters to help me with a project. Are you having lunch? Maybe we could talk about it.”
“Sure.” Everyone liked Officer Kate. She had earned the respect of the Amish community by being deferential to their beliefs.
Here in Lancaster, the Amish and Englisch associated with each other more than they did in other areas. Lavina supposed that was because Lancaster Amish were involved in business and commerce more than farming because land had become so expensive. Tourism had changed Lancaster County, but so far both groups had made it work.
They settled into a booth, and the server handed them menus then left to get their drinks.
“No need for me to look at the menu,” Kate said without opening it. “I know it by heart. I try to pack a healthy lunch, but I don’t always have time before I leave the house in the morning.”
Lavina smiled. “It never changes. I want a cheeseburger and French fries. That’s not something we cook often at home.”
Her soft drink and Kate’s coffee came. They gave their orders and then Kate leaned forward. “So, I wanted to ask you if you’d be interested in helping teach quilting in a program we’ve started at a domestic abuse shelter in town. It’s based on a program a friend of mine started at a prison in Ohio.”
“She teaches quilting in a prison?”
Kate nodded enthusiastically, barely noticing when their server put her lunch down