A Wedding for Julia (25 page)

The clatter of a buggy out in front of their home broke into their tender moment.

“That should be Gabe,” he said. “He offered to pick up the new menus and bring them to us.”

Julia’s excitement won out over her worry. They were opening the café the next day. She couldn’t control if anyone would show up, but she could check off the final items on her list. Number one was inspecting the menus to be sure they had been printed correctly before storing them in the cubbyhole in the front hallway.

“I’ll let him in,” Caleb murmured, planting a final kiss on the top of her head before releasing her.

Sharon had made it to the back door, so Julia hurried to help her inside with the large load of laundry. They arrived at their family table at the same time as Gabe, Miriam, and little Rachel.

“Miriam, I didn’t realize you were coming today!”

“I saw Grace off to school and finished my laundry early. I wanted to see the menus and the changes you have made to the house. Julia, this is amazing! I love the dining rooms.”

“
Danki
. The men did most of the work, and the tables are all from your
bruder
.”

“David was excited to sell them to you. Now he’s busy making more for tourists who may like what they’re sitting at and want to take a new table and chairs home.”

Gabe set a large cardboard box on the table.

Sharon stared back and forth as if she wasn’t sure what to do—stop at the table or walk upstairs to fold the laundry. Julia noticed her eyes linger on Rachel. Miriam’s daughter was younger than Sharon’s little sister, Ruthie, but perhaps the child still reminded her of home and better days. The letter from Caleb’s mother had said Sharon would likely miss her sister the most.

“Sharon, stay with us and look.” Julia patted the chair next to her.

“
Ya
, this is a big event in the Zook family!” Caleb laughed. “Tomorrow my
fraa
begins cooking all day.”

Sharon glanced around as if she was looking for a way to escape. “But I was—”

Rachel ran over to Sharon and held up a small wooden horse she’d brought inside with her. Sharon had met everyone at church the day before, though Julia had not seen the girl intermingle with any of the other teens. Sharon kept to herself and didn’t speak unless someone spoke to her directly.

Julia had noticed her helping with the younger children at one point, and apparently Rachel had spent some time with her then.

“The laundry will keep,” Julia assured her.

Caleb cut open the tape on the top of the box and removed the packaging stuffed around their order. Everyone stared down at the menus, but Miriam was the first to speak.

“Beautiful! These are absolutely beautiful.”

Julia reached in and pulled out a handful, taking one and passing the rest around. The menu listed Julia’s dishes and was surrounded by Grace’s artwork. The words “Plain Café” were written across the top in a simple script that looked remarkably similar to the board Wess had painted by the road. The entire page was bordered in a wavy scroll, which in the top left corner turned into a creek. Reeds grew up in front of it, and the words
Pebble Creek
were etched lightly below that. The creek symbol was repeated in the bottom right corner.

The menu was a single page, with printing on the front and back. The front had breakfast items and hours of operation. The back had lunch specials and take-out dinner items because they planned to close by six each day. This had been one of Julia’s biggest worries. She wanted to offer an evening meal, but she didn’t want to extend their hours into what should be family time. The idea of a take-out dinner was Caleb’s and seemed like a good compromise.

Turning the menu over, Julia set it down and clapped her hands.

“It’s
gut
. Don’t you think?” Gabe sounded like a proud father, and he should.

Sharon stepped closer to peer over her shoulder.

“Grace drew all of these,” Julia explained. She pointed to the small pictures of animals bordering the back of the menu—beaver, deer, and fox. Though the drawings were as small as a postage stamp, Grace had managed to pencil in an amazing amount of detail.

“
Ya
, and she only included animals she was certain visit Pebble Creek.” Miriam ran her finger over the mouse, muskrat, and opossum. “She double-checked each animal with her father and then with her teacher, Miss Bena.”

“Is that a big rat?” Sharon asked.

“Woodchuck.” Caleb laughed. “Some folks call it a groundhog or a whistle-pig. Your
bruders
would know what it is.”

“And they live near the creek?” Sharon’s eyes widened.

“No worries.” Gabe pulled out a chair and sat down. “They’re more afraid of you than…”

“Actually, they’re not,” Miriam interrupted, “but they hibernate in the winter. Chances are you won’t see one here unless you’re around in the spring.”

“I love being married to a former schoolmarm. She keeps me thinking.”

“And reading. Did you finish that book we borrowed from the library? The one on how to modify a donkey’s behavior?”

“They have a problem donkey,” Caleb explained.

“I was reading it last night while I was holding Rachel.”

“You both were sleeping.”

“
Ya
, later. But at first I was reading to her.”

Miriam shook her head and turned her attention back to the menu in her hand. “These are nicely done, Julia. They’re easy to read with a nice large font.”

“Jeanette helped. She googled menus—”

“She what?” Gabe pulled on his beard.

“Googled. I don’t know what that is, but it’s something on a computer. Anyway, she said the three biggest complaints about menus were they were often dirty—”

“Which is why we chose to laminate them.” Caleb rubbed the plastic between his fingers. “Easier to clean.”

“The second complaint is that it’s too difficult to locate information—”

“You’ve certainly kept it simple,” Miriam said. “No one should have problems ordering.”

“And the third is that they are too hard to read because the print is often too small.”

“Some restaurants want that,” Caleb said. “They don’t want you to find the special or know the prices.”

“Not here.” Julia tapped the menu. “We’re customer friendly.”

Rachel had been playing on the floor, but now she walked to the table and peered over the top. “
Freinds?
”

“Yes, honey. We’re
freinden
.” Miriam kissed her daughter, and then she turned her attention back to the menu. “Whose idea was it to add the information about the tables and quilts?”

“Lydia’s,” Julia said.

“Julia’s,” Caleb said.

“Both?” Miriam asked, smiling.

“
Ya
, I suppose so.” Julia ran her finger along the short paragraph on the bottom of the back side. “We didn’t want to be obnoxious, like Amish Anthem, and we certainly didn’t want to hang prices around everything on the bottom floor of our home.” Julia peeked into the next room. The tables were beautiful in the afternoon sunshine pouring through the windows. They had also added a few handmade quilts from women in their district, tastefully draped over quilt stands.

“So instead we thought to add two short lines. Jeanette helped us with the wording.” Caleb ran a hand over his jaw where his beard was coming in. “She’s
gut
at this sort of thing.”

They all studied the menu and read the lines Caleb referred to:
Dining sets and quilts may be purchased from local artisans. Please ask if you’d like more information
.

“It’s a
gut
thing to do,” Gabe said. “It could help other families bring in a little extra income.”

“All we need now is a roomful of customers.” Julia slid her menu back into the box.

“Are you worried about it?” Miriam handed her menu to Julia as Rachel attempted to climb into her lap.

“
Nein
. As
mamm
says,
Gotte
will send who we are to serve. We’ve done all we can, including advertising every way we can think of.”

“Jeanette even posted an article about the opening on her computer. She has a blog, whatever that is.” Caleb beamed at Julia as he explained, “She says it’s like a newspaper, but not actually written on paper.”

They stared at each other a moment, considering that. Finally Miriam asked, “Is there anything left to do?”

“A little baking.”

As Julia pulled out her list, Caleb stepped closer to Gabe. “Speaking of things left to do, I could use your hand with a stall in the barn if you have a few minutes.”

Caleb raised his eyebrows in a way Julia was learning to read. No doubt they would stop by and repair something in the barn, but the trip would end at Pebble Creek with a fishing pole in someone’s hand.

Not that she minded.

Looking at her list, she saw that everything had been marked off except for making tomorrow’s desserts and putting in tonight’s dinner.

“I should take care of these clothes.” Sharon picked up the laundry basket and headed upstairs. Before she left the room, though, she walked into the kitchen, fetched the cookie jar, and brought it back to Rachel.

“Is it okay?” she asked Julia.

“If Miriam doesn’t mind. I should have thought of offering her something myself.”

Miriam knelt down in front of her daughter and whispered the question to her. “Rachel says she would love a cookie.
Danki
.”

Sharon set the little girl up with cookies and a glass of milk, and then she made her way upstairs to the sitting room. It occurred to Julia that she had a servant’s heart, but as she turned to go upstairs her shoulders slumped and it seemed she had hardly any energy at all. No wonder, between the lack of sleep and lack of food. If she could coax the girl into eating, and if the nightmares would stop, then perhaps they could help Sharon turn things around.

But in the meantime, they had a café to open.

Chapter 21

I
n the last several months, Caleb’s life had changed radically. Stepping into the barn and doing his nightly walk-through to check on Red and Missy, it wasn’t lost on him that he had been sleeping in a barn before he had married Julia. Of course, he could have found a nicer place to rent at the time, but why?

Staying in Aaron’s barn had suited him fine—then. Now he couldn’t imagine going back.

Aaron’s barn and Aaron’s cabins had been within sight of the creek. The creek had pulled him, called to him, and satisfied him in a way that few things could.

Until he’d met Julia.

Correction. He’d been acquainted with Julia for quite some time, but he’d never taken the time and effort to get to know her. Facing that shortcoming in himself honestly kept him awake some nights. If not for Ada’s decree, he might still be a single man, sleeping in Aaron’s barn and spending all his free time fishing on the banks of Pebble Creek. Not that he minded a free hour or two with a line in the water.

He’d found a few times to fish since the day in the garden with Julia. Like now—more often than not—he’d spent the hours thinking of his new wife. He would remember something she had done, the way the light caught her hair as she brushed it, or the sound of her voice.