Seasons in Paradise. Barbara Cameron
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for you in two days,” Peter promised.
“Remember I need to be open by September 1.”
Sam felt his stomach clench. How would they get everything she wanted done by then if they were working part-time? But when he glanced at Peter and got a warning look, he kept his mouth shut.
“Allrecht, I know what you’re thinking,” Peter said as they climbed into Sam’s truck.
“So now you read minds as well as think you’re Superman and can work two jobs?”
Peter fastened his seat belt and leaned back in his seat. He tapped his notebook on his knee. “How about we go for a pizza and work up a bid and a work schedule?”
“Pizza?” It was days before the next payday.
“I’ll buy. You can get the next one.”
“ ’Cause we’ll be rich then, right?”
Peter laughed. “Ya.” He opened his notebook and started jotting something down.
Sam drove, concentrating on the traffic, a mixture of people heading home after work and tourists who weren’t always paying attention to driving but were instead checking out the scenery.
And all the while he drove he wondered if they got the job how he was going to handle coming into contact with Mary Elizabeth at the new shop.
* * *
“You’re up early,” Linda said when Mary Elizabeth walked into the kitchen the next morning.
She went straight for the percolator on the stove. “I spent a lot of time at the quilting class yesterday, then with Leah at the new shop. I don’t want to get behind in my work.”
Her mudder flipped pancakes onto a plate then set it in front of her. “You won’t. You sew quickly.”
“Ya, but I’m working on making my stitches smaller. That takes time.”
Linda sat down at the table with a cup of coffee. “You always were impatient. Why, you were even born a month early.”
Mary Elizabeth grinned as she cut into a pancake. She’d heard that many times. “Mmm, these are gut.”
“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” her mudder said automatically. But she smiled.
The back door opened and Lavina walked in.
“Two early birds.”
Lavina clapped a hand over her mouth and ran for the bathroom. When she emerged a few minutes later her face had a slight greenish tinge. “You had to mention . . . well, let’s just say you mentioned early birds and I thought of what they eat.”
A funny expression flashed over her face and she bolted for the bathroom again.
When she returned to the kitchen a second time she had a damp washcloth in her hand. She sat and held the cloth to the back of her neck.
“Is there anything I can get you?” Linda murmured, reaching over to rub her back. “Maybe some crackers and a glass of ginger ale.”
“You have ginger ale?”
“I bought some right after you told us you were going to have a boppli.” She rose, filled a glass with ice, and brought it and the bottle of ginger ale to the table.
“If I’m half the mudder you are, I’ll be happy,” Lavina told her fervently.
“You’ll be a gut mudder. You always helped me with your schweschders. Some other mudders warned me sometimes the oldest kind can be jealous of the other kinner, but not you. Once I found you giving Rose Anna her bottle when I walked into her room. She’d woken from her nap, you saw she was awake and got her bottle out of the refrigerator.” She smiled at the memory. “Well, time to wake Rose Anna,” she said, and she got up.
“Do you want me to take her a bottle?” Mary Elizabeth asked, grinning.
“You know she’d stay in bed all morning if she could,” Linda said. “If you took her some food, she’d stay there longer.” She walked to the stairs and called up.
Mary Elizabeth and Lavina winced. Their mudder had quite a carrying voice when she called up the stairs.
“She must have a pillow over her head,” Linda muttered as she started up the stairs.
“So, you’ll never guess who Leah’s getting to do the renovation on the new shop.”
Lavina stared at her. “Sam? Really?”
“Who told you?”
“No one. I could just tell by the look on your face. Does that mean you’ll see more of him since you’re helping with the things the shelter ladies are sewing?”
Mary Elizabeth nodded.
“Well, well.” Lavina took another sip of her ginger ale, then picked up a cracker and bit into it. She looked thoughtful. “This is interesting. David left the community and didn’t intend to return, but then he did when his dat got sick and we got back together and got married. Sam refused to return and said he didn’t want to get back with you and now the two of you are going to be tossed together—”
“We’re not going to be tossed together,” Mary Elizabeth said flatly. “I don’t want him anymore.” She ate the last bite of her pancakes and set her fork down on her plate with a snap. “You and Rose Anna are welcome to the Stoltzfus men. I’ve had enough of Sam.”
Lavina reached to touch her hand. “I’m sorry he hurt you so much. I know how that feels.”
“I know you do. David hurt you a lot. I’m glad the two of you got back together, but I don’t have as forgiving a heart as you do.”
“If you love him, you find a way to forgive him,” Lavina said simply. She touched her abdomen and smiled. “And if you do, there’s a lovely reward.”
Mary Elizabeth felt a lump form in her throat. She’d never seen Lavina look so happy.
“Sam’s not interested in me, so I have to move on.” She got to her feet and set her plate in the sink. “I think I should start looking for someone else. I’m not wasting any more time. I want a mann and kinner.”
“I felt that way, too. But then you remember what happened. God had other ideas.”
“Well, He hasn’t had them this time with Sam and me.”
“Nee? Then why do you suppose He’s got Sam working on Leah’s shop and you’re helping coordinate the crafts she’ll sell there?”
They heard footsteps descending the stairs. Their mudder entered the kitchen followed by a grumpy looking Rose Anna still in her house robe.
“Someone decided to get up for pancakes,” Linda said cheerfully as she walked to the stove and turned the gas flame up under the cast iron skillet.
Rose Anna sank into a chair and yawned. She frowned at her plate and appeared half-asleep. Mary Elizabeth took pity on her and rose to get her a cup of coffee. She set it in front of her schweschder, stirred in two teaspoons of sugar then sat again. Rose Anna thanked her. At least Mary Elizabeth thought her grunt was a thank-you.
She perked up some when their mudder placed a plate of pancakes in front of her.
“Lavina, how are you feeling? Want to try a pancake?”
Mary Elizabeth studied her face. Lavina had lost the greenish tinge.
“Maybe a small one.”
“See you upstairs,” Mary Elizabeth said as she rose and left the room. She couldn’t wait to get sewing. Working on a quilt settled her as nothing else did. She sat in her favorite chair and began working.
Lavina came upstairs a few minutes later.
“How’d the pancake do?”