Katie's Way (2 page)

The walls and shelves had been painted white, as had the counters. Against the white, every color possible glowed in bolts of fabric and spools of thread. It looked like a huge flower garden in full bloom.

And that was saying nothing of the quilts, draped on a fourposter maple bed that had been placed in the center of the space. Another quilt, in shades of blue and yellow and white, sagged between Molly, Katie's cousin and the reason Katie had come to the valley in the first place, and Sarah Mast, Pleasant Valley's midwife. Both stood on chairs, obviously trying to hang the quilt from a rod that Harvey had used to support coils of rope.

“That looks like a dangerous thing to be doing.” Bishop Mose was quick to steady the chair on which Molly teetered. “Especially for a new mammi.”

Dimples appeared in Molly's cheeks. “Ach, you sound just like my Jacob. Anyone would think I was made of glass to hear him. After all, our little boy is over four months old now.”

“Ja, well, komm down anyway,” Katie said, going quickly to grasp the quilt from them. “This one I'll put on the bed. I have some quilted table runners that can hang from the rod instead.”

Molly and Sarah climbed down, looking a little relieved, Caleb thought.

Sarah took the quilt back from Katie, her normally serious face lighting with a smile. Sarah had been a newcomer to the valley herself not that long ago, when she'd arrived to take over the midwife practice from her elderly aunt. Maybe that explained the connection she seemed to have with Katie.

“We'll put the quilt in place,” Sarah said. “You have guests to show around.”

Katie nodded. She spread her arms wide in a gesture that took in the whole space.

“Here it is, as you can see. My new quilt shop.” A smile blossomed on her face, touching her eyes and bringing a glow to her cheeks.

Happiness. Hope. They radiated from Katie like heat from a stove. Caleb couldn't help but be touched.

But that didn't change anything, he reminded himself. Having the woman's business right next door was going to be a nuisance.

And if she'd heard what folks in Pleasant Valley said about him, it wondered him that she'd want to be near him at all.

“Are
you certain sure I can't stay and help you a bit longer?” Cousin Molly hovered at the door of the shop. “Jacob doesn't mind watching the boppli.”

“Get along home.” Katie gave her a quick hug. “That little one will be wanting to eat soon, and that's one thing Jacob can't do.”

Molly giggled, her face alight with mischief, as if she were a child again herself. “He does get desperate when little Jacob cries. I think it makes him appreciate me more.”

“Jacob appreciates you fine, especially after all the months you were apart when he was working out west.” Katie gave her cousin a gentle shove. “It is ser kind of you to spend so much time helping me, but now you should get on home to them.”

Molly paused again, glancing around the shop. “The place does look wonderful gut, Katie. Who would have thought the old hardware store could change so much?”

“I just hope people like the change.” She suspected she already knew of one person who didn't.

Molly gave her a quick, impulsive hug. “I'm so glad you're here. And glad, too, that your parents were willing to part with you.” She kissed Katie's cheek and went out, the shop door bell jingling.

Katie had been grateful for all the help today. Still, it was gut to be alone in the place that was everything she had hoped it would be. She touched the end bolt of a row of fabric, feeling the soft cotton slip through her fingers.

Denke, Father.
The prayer formed in her thoughts.
Thank you for giving me useful work to do here.

Molly's parting words echoed in her mind. It wasn't quite true that her parents had been willing to part with her . . . not entirely, anyway.

She'd explained to Mamm and Daad why, after her visit to help when Molly had her baby, she wanted to start a shop here in Pleasant Valley. Her mamm hadn't been convinced. Mamm wanted the same thing for all five of her girls . . . that they get married, have babies, and settle down close to her.

Unfortunately, her eldest daughter was disappointing her on all counts.

Katie crossed her arms, rubbing them, and moved to the display of quilts in the center of the shop. It was lucky that she'd had a number of her own works to put out, since the quilts she expected to sell on consignment from other Amish women had been slow to show up.

It will get better,
she assured herself.
Once people see that the shop is open, they'll be more willing.

As for Mammi ... well, in the end she'd given way, due in large part to Daadi's persuading. Katie's heart warmed. She owed this venture to him.

She traced the tiny squares of a postage-stamp quilt with her finger. The sign of a patient quilter, that one was, requiring the time to fit together all those small pieces.

She had made that quilt during the long winter after Eli married her best friend. Nearly four years ago now, but she hadn't forgotten. In one brief summer, she had lost both the man she'd expected to spend her life with and her closest friend.

A scrape sounded from the shop next door, reminding her that she was not really alone. Caleb Brand was there, and Caleb was not very pleased with his new neighbor, it seemed. Bishop Mose hadn't said much about the man when he'd brought her to see the shop he had for rent. Only that Caleb's woodworking business was in the other half of the storefront, and the bishop was sure they'd be good neighbors.

Funny that Molly hadn't said much of anything about Caleb Brand, either. Not that Molly was a blabbermaul, but she'd spent most of her life in Pleasant Valley. She must know him. She knew everybody. If . . .

The thought trailed off as the front door opened. Katie turned, ready to say that the shop wouldn't be open until tomorrow, but the words died on her lips.

“Mammi! What are you doing here?” And not just her mother. Two of her sisters, twenty-one-year-old Louise and sixteen-year-old Rhoda, crowded in behind her.

“We've komm for your opening, ain't so?” Mamm untied her bonnet and took it off, revealing brown hair tinged slightly with gray. “Ach, that's better. That bus bumped us around so much I thought we'd never get here in one piece.” Her gaze sharpened on Katie. “Well? Aren't you happy to see us?”

“For certain sure I am.” Katie hurried to her mother for a hug and then turned to Louise, her next-younger sister. “I'm just surprised, is all. How could Louise tear herself away from Jonas?”

Something that might have been a snort came from Rhoda, but Louise acted as if she didn't hear it. “Jonas agreed that it was my duty to help Mammi on the trip,” she said. “He'd never object to that, even if he doesn't understand why you had to go so far away.”

Katie bit back the tart words on her tongue about Louise's intended's opinion. Jonas, the youngest son of a bishop, had a bit too much self-importance for Katie's taste, but that was Louise's concern, not hers.

“I'm sure Katie doesn't care what Jonas—”

Katie interrupted whatever unwise words Rhoda was about to say with a quick, strong hug and a murmured hush in her ear. “It is ser gut to see all of you.”

She drew back, waving her hand to encompass the whole of her shop. “What do you think of it?”

Mamm took a few steps around, studying the layout as if comparing it to her own quilt shop back in Columbia County. “It's not as big as I thought it would be.”

“There's another room at the back that I can expand into,” Katie said. “This is enough for starting off, I think.”

“You could be right. The less you have, the easier it will be to . . .” Her mother stopped and then started again. “. . . to take care of.”

That wasn't what she'd intended to say, Katie felt sure.
The less there will be to get rid of when you come home again.
That was the thought in her mother's mind, wasn't it?

Katie found she was clutching her arms around herself again and deliberately relaxed.

One year. That was how long she had to prove herself. Daadi had paid Bishop Mose for one year's rent on the shop. At the end of that year, she should be able to sign her own lease.

Or go home in defeat and spend her life next door to Eli and Jessica, watching their growing family.

She cleared her throat. “How long are you . . . will you be able to stay?”

“Ach, chust 'til Friday. Louise is supposed to go to dinner with Jonas's family on Saturday, so we must get back.” Mamm nodded toward the stairway that led up to the second floor. “Will you have room for us in your apartment?”

“We'll make room.” Katie thought rapidly. Mamm would have her room, of course, and Louise and Rhoda could share the second bedroom. She'd sleep on the couch. “If you're not comfortable, I'm sure Molly would be glad to have you stay with her.”

“No, no, this will be fine.” Mamm made shooing motions toward the other two. “Take your bags up now. Get settled. I want to speak to Katie.”

Mamm's words sounded serious. If something was wrong at home—

Her sisters vanished up the stairs. Katie studied her mother's face, trying to read the expression. Mammi, for some reason, was avoiding her eyes.

“Is something wrong?” she asked finally, when it seemed her mother wouldn't speak.

“No, no, why would you think that?” Mammi made little sweeping gestures with her hands. “I chust think . . . that is, your daad and I have decided that Rhoda will stay here with you for a time.”

“Rhoda?” There was a faint squeak in Katie's voice, and she tried to control it. “But why would you want Rhoda to do that? She has her job at the restaurant, and you'll need her help with Louise getting married in the fall.”

And just as important, why would Mammi think Katie should take on the responsibility for a lively sixteen-year-old when she was trying to get a new business started on her own?

Her mother studied a row of spools with concentrated care. “She can be more help to you. As for that restaurant . . .” Mammi's voice seemed to tighten. “We think it better that she not work there anymore.”

“I see.”

But Katie didn't, not really. It was so unlike Mammi to let one of her chicks leave home without a fight, and Rhoda was only sixteen, just beginning her rumspringa.

Light began to dawn.

“Does this have something to do with Rhoda's rumspringa?” Rhoda, with her quick mind and daring disposition, was probably destined to have a more tumultuous running-around time than either Katie or Louise had had.

Her mother turned toward her, fingers to her lips. “I'm not saying there's anything really wrong. But Rhoda has got herself in some trouble.”

“Trouble?” Mamm surely didn't mean—

“No, no, not anything serious.” Color stained Mamm's cheekbones. “Staying out later than she should, going off with some of the older girls to an Englisch party.”

“That's not so bad,” Katie said, going a little weak at the knees at the thought of taking on the supervision of Rhoda.

Mamm pressed her lips together for an instant. “Never did I think a daughter of mine would be so rebellious. You and Louise were nothing like that when you were sixteen. Of course, Louise has always been serious, a perfect fit for Jonas. And you weren't running around a lot because you and . . .”

Mamm let that trail off, but Katie knew the end of that sentence, too.
You and Eli Hershberger were going to marry.
Only it hadn't turned out that way, and she'd had to watch while Eli married Jessica Stoltzfus.

She pushed those thoughts aside hurriedly. Best to concentrate on the current problem. “If Rhoda is misbehaving, wouldn't it be best to have her at home, under your eye?”

Mamm shook her head decisively. “There's Louise to think of. How will it look if Rhoda gets into trouble with her sister marrying the bishop's son? Anyway, your daad and I agree that Rhoda is better off here, and you can use her help. I never thought you should live above the shop on your own, anyway. This way you'll have company.”

She certainly would.

“Maybe we should talk about this some more,” she began. “If—”

“There's nothing more to be said.” Mamm turned away, examining a bolt of fabric. “Anyway, least said, soonest mended. I had to tell you, but no one else needs to know why Rhoda is here.”

Katie leaned against a box of quilt batting, trying to settle her mind, and her ears caught a sound through the archway . . . the creak of a rocking chair.