A Season for Tending (40 page)

“Ah, yes.” Samuel took a step away from her and gave her a formal bow. “Your wish is my command, Rhodes.”

Rhoda giggled, and Catherine felt sick. What was going on?

Rhoda was supposed to be canning apple products for Kings’ Orchard at
her
place. Not here. Especially not in the home she thought Samuel was fixing up for the two of them.

Samuel set the drawing on a brand-new cookstove that sat between a large, shiny icebox and a deep sink—all much bigger than necessary for a two-person home.

Or a twenty-person home for that matter.

Catherine stared at their backs as they bent over the plans. All right. So Samuel wasn’t fixing up the place for them to live in. As disappointing as that was, she shouldn’t have raised her expectations in the first place. And she certainly wasn’t going to ask him to fix how she felt. She’d deal with it. She’d already decided Samuel was worth whatever she needed to do to keep his heart.

Such as not eavesdropping outside the window. Catherine set the insulated carrier on the ground and pulled out the pie. The top crust had shifted a bit during her race out here, and some of the blueberry filling had seeped over the edge of the pan. But no matter. She started for the front entrance, ready to knock on the door, surprise Samuel with the still-warm pie, make friendly conversation with his new coworker, and wait till they had a chance to renew their relationship in private.

“Now, about that bedroom …” Rhoda’s words brought Catherine back to the window.

“Did I alter those plans too without realizing it?”

Catherine’s knees felt weak. Rhoda was going to live here?

“Well, this wall …” Rhoda pointed to the paper, but then they left the plans on the stovetop and walked to a small entryway at the back of the room.

Samuel held back a curtain hanging from a rod at the top. Rhoda stepped inside, and Samuel waited at the door for her to pass through. A few moments later he entered too, leaving the curtain swaying and blocking Catherine’s view. She couldn’t hear anything else they said.

But their laughter made her stomach turn.

Catherine’s fingers tightened around the pie pan. What had Samuel been doing the days they’d been apart? While she’d been soul-searching, crying into her pillow, and sorting through all her thoughts and feelings, he’d been making plans to move another woman onto his property.

Sure, Rhoda was here to work—to do canning that would help save Kings’ Orchard. Supposedly so that Samuel would finally feel financially secure enough to ask Catherine to marry him. But he was clearly fine without her.

As a matter of fact, she had never seen him look and sound so happy.

Had he missed her at all while she was gone?

Look in the mirror, Catherine. Figure out what’s going on with you
.

Obviously while she’d been doing that, he’d discovered something new going on within his heart.

Catherine looked at the pie in her stiff-fingered hands. Part of her wanted to fling it at the stone house and let Samuel see the gooey mess when he opened the door. Instead she set it on the brick cooling shelf. When Samuel saw it, he’d know she’d been there. If he still wanted her, he’d come talk to her.

Her heart breaking, she picked up the insulated carrier and walked away.

She wouldn’t question Samuel. Wouldn’t force him to look her in the eye and give her an answer. She’d wait.

If he came back to her, she would accept him with open arms and an eager heart. If not …

She’d lose the only man she’d ever loved.

THIRTY-NINE

As soon as Leah finished her Saturday chore of sweeping all the floors, she headed for the old summer kitchen, eager to talk to Rhoda. She hoped to catch a few minutes with her.

Alone.

Although she’d spent a lot of time with Rhoda lately, helping to get the new kitchen set up, they were always in the company of others. It looked as if Rhoda’s new canning kitchen would be fully operational by the time the harvest began next week.

The herbal teas were helping her a lot. She’d been to the specialist and told him that the herbs were causing her stomach to hurt less and that her bouts of throwing up had almost stopped. He did some blood work, but he felt that if she was doing better on the herbs, she should give that a try for a few more weeks before they ran any further tests. His office called a few days later to say her blood work had come back clean.

The doctor gave her some dietary guidelines, and she had to be careful what she ate. She was weary of drinking licorice tea so often, but how could she argue with the results?

What she wanted to talk to Rhoda about had nothing to do with her recent stomach issues, though. She wanted to earn money so she could make some real plans for leaving here. She could be a strong helper, every bit as good as Landon. But what would Rhoda think about it, especially after the horrible first impression Leah had made on her?

Sure, Rhoda had been nice to her, but trusting Leah to work next to her during grueling days was different. Leah was nice to her little sisters, but she didn’t want them helping her bake cakes. They made the chore harder.

It’d be such a great feeling to know she was earning money that would help her leave one day. She appreciated that her family cared more about her than she’d realized. It made her feel better about herself. But she still wanted to be free of the Amish life. Parties hadn’t been difficult to give up, but she longed to be free to listen to music. Maybe, in time, she could learn to play an instrument like Arlan. If Rhoda would hire her and she worked six days a week, she’d save every penny for her departure.

Leah went up the path to the stone building. Through the screen door she saw Samuel and Jacob installing a generator-powered, commercial-sized dishwasher. She went inside. “Hey, when can we get one of those for the house?”

Jacob chuckled. “Good question.”

Samuel looked up from connecting a water hose, not a trace of a smile on his face. “When a government inspector requires it for a permit.”

Jacob stood and stretched. “Once this is in, Rhode Side Assistance should be ready for inspection on Monday.”

“What’s Rhode Side Assistance?” Leah looked around.

Jacob grinned. “Since Rhoda’s assisting us with our business, the nickname seemed to fit.” He put a Phillips screwdriver on the thick butcher-block table. “It’s also a reference to when I met her.”

“Have to admit, Rhode Side Assistance is a catchy name.” Samuel groaned as he twisted a wrench.

Leah had no idea what first encounter Jacob was talking about. “Is she around?”

Samuel fastened a clamp. “She and Landon had a long shopping list. Assuming this place passes inspection on Monday, we need to be operational on Tuesday. That’ll be our first day of picking.”

Leah just stood there, disappointed that she wouldn’t be able to talk to Rhoda. Dogs growled and yapped from somewhere outside, so she went to check it out. A few steps to the side of the summer kitchen, she saw Hope and a few other dogs fighting over something. After shooing away the neighborhood dogs, Leah picked up Hope.

The poor thing had a few scratches on her face and ears. As Leah tried to assess the damage, Hope whimpered and tried to squirm out of her grasp. She set the pup down, and Hope immediately went for a mangled aluminum pie tin. “So that’s what you were all fussing over.” She picked it up. It smelled faintly of blueberry, but there wasn’t a speck of filling or piecrust. The dogs had licked it clean. “Silly things.”

Leah took the disposable tin to the Dumpster that Jacob had been using while remodeling the summer kitchen. Hope stayed on her heels, probably looking for more pie. “Where’d you get that anyway? Have you been digging in Mamm’s trash near the house?” She picked up the puppy, whose stomach felt a little engorged. “Mamm won’t be happy if you’ve made a big mess of the trash.” She scuffed the fluffy ears as she went back toward the summer kitchen.

Samuel came up behind her. “Hey, would you mind helping me for a minute? I need to get a couple of loads of dirty dishes to test that thing out.”

Leah had washed the breakfast dishes that morning, but with all the baking Mamm was doing for church tomorrow, there’d be more dishes by now. She fell into step with her brother. “Where’s Catherine been lately?”

“Busy, I imagine. I haven’t talked to her in a while.” Sadness clouded his eyes, and Leah wished she hadn’t asked.

The two of them went into the kitchen, and Mamm was more than happy to donate two large basins of dirty dishes for the trial run of Rhoda’s new dishwasher. “Don’t put them away when you bring them back, though. I want to inspect them first to make sure they’re as clean as I’d get them.”

They agreed and headed out the door with the basins.

Samuel nudged her with his elbow. “You know, Leah, I have to say, you’ve really changed in the last few weeks.”

“Think so?” She shifted her basin from one hip to the other.

“When I brought you home from Rhoda’s last month, I wasn’t sure you’d keep your side of the bargain and stay away from the parties. Your restriction ended this weekend, starting last night, and you didn’t even mention wanting to go anywhere.”

At first she didn’t want to go back to Brad’s or anywhere else her friends hung out, because she was so embarrassed by Michael’s treatment of her. But the longer she stayed away, the more she realized she hated those parties. Besides, she was busy helping the family get the summer kitchen set up.

“I’m really proud of you, Leah.”

He didn’t know about her pregnancy scare, and if he did, he’d probably feel different. But he was right. She had changed. She wasn’t the same girl who’d been intoxicated and had passed out in Rhoda’s berry patch. She’d learned a bit about life and herself, and even though she wouldn’t remain Amish, she hoped she never acted like a fool again.

They went inside the summer kitchen. Mamm’s two basins of dishes didn’t fill half of the cavernous machine. Samuel turned on the generator, and Jacob ceremoniously closed the lid to the dishwasher and turned the dial, but nothing happened. “Are you sure you hooked it up?”

“Of course I hooked it up.” Samuel checked the connections anyway.

Jacob studied the installation manual. “Says here there’s a little green light on the front panel that’s supposed to come on when it’s running.” He bent down and checked more closely. “I don’t see anything.” He looked up at Leah. “Do you?”

“What does this do?” She grasped a small black knob and turned it from left to right. It clicked into place. And a little green light came on.

“Well, what do you know?” Jacob slapped her back. “I had no idea we had an engineer in the family.”

“Ya,” Leah said. “Leave it to a manual dishwasher to figure out how to operate an automatic one.”

She helped them for a while, but when Rhoda didn’t show up, she walked back home in the waning light. She so wanted to help Rhoda with the very first canned goods made. This venture was the beginning of something huge and maybe lasting, and she wanted to be a part of the start-up.

FORTY

The summer kitchen smelled of cooked apples, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and an array of other spices. Rhoda surveyed the mess inside the new canning house. Her first full day of work, and the room looked as if she’d thrown a tantrum.

Her favorite apple product to can was apple butter because of the pungent aromas that filled the room. So that’s all she’d made today. She’d work on something else tomorrow … if she could get this disaster cleaned up by then.

Leah sank into the chair under the window, wiping her sweaty forehead with the edge of her apron. “I can’t believe we canned thirty-six bushels on the first day of the harvesting season.”

Landon leaned against the doorframe, apparently enjoying the slight breeze. “You’ve never done nearly that many, Rhodes. Then again, a bushel of blueberries is a lot more pieces of fruit than a bushel of apples.” He brushed at spatters of apple butter on his shirt.

Rhoda didn’t know how she would’ve gotten through the day without her two helpers, but they were exhausted. She had begun the day by walking the orchard with Samuel before sunup, going over procedures and plans. While they walked, he told her of the trouble between Catherine and him. He vacillated between going to see her and keeping the situation as it was, but he didn’t know why he couldn’t decide which direction to take.