An Amish Country Christmas (12 page)

Nate could have watched her all day.

Chapter Twelve

Martha relaxed, yet her heart was pounding. Had the quiet, conservative Nate Kanagy
actually said he admired her for taking some business classes? She hadn’t even mentioned
this coursework to her
dat
, knowing how he would discourage her—or worse, tell her such classes were altogether
wrong for a Plain girl. While Mamma had an inkling that she and Mary would like to
run an inn someday, she had dismissed such a dream as something that must come after
they became wives and mothers—maybe in the distant future, when they’d finished with
wiping noses and packing lunchboxes and guiding the children God had given them.

Martha sat up taller then, paying closer attention to the countryside. “You know,
I’ve lived in Cedar Creek all my life, but I don’t recall ever being down this road,”
she remarked quietly.

“Same here,” Mary said from the backseat. “I’ve not been paying real close attention
these past several minutes—”

“Distracted by the company,” Bram teased.

“—but I’m not sure where we are.”

Nate pointed off into the distance. “If my sense of direction serves me, your place
is over that way, maybe twenty minutes from here,” he said. “I’ve been taking the
long way home, so to speak. Seems the right thing to do, so my brother and I can hold
you girls hostage for a while.”

Martha chuckled. She was indeed Nate’s willing victim on this winter’s afternoon,
and the more she talked and listened, the more she felt she was in exactly the right
place at the right time. “
Jah
, things have a way of working out if you give them a chance.”

She glanced back and saw that Mary hadn’t commented because she was caught up in a
kiss . . . and Martha knew firsthand that Bram was a fine kisser, just as she sensed
the younger Kanagy brother was the better fit for her more traditional sister, even
if he had some wild ideas. She leaned her head on Nate’s shoulder, gratified by the
way he nuzzled her temple.

Then Nate leaned forward. “Now what’s this sign say?” He tugged on the reins until
Clyde came to a stop beside a large wooden sign posted at the end of a farm lane.
“Looks like this acreage is to be auctioned off . . . sealed bids to be accepted through
December thirtieth.”

“That’s next Monday.” Martha looked beyond the fencerow, which pitched forward beneath
the weight of years and a topping of snow. “Pretty sad, ain’t so? The house and the
outbuildings need a lot of work.”

“But the land has a nice feel to it. And there’s space enough for corrals and a horse
barn or two,” Nate replied as he studied the place.

“And since it’s on a paved county road, it would be easily accessible for an auction
barn,” Bram joined in. “Plenty of room for holding pens and parking—”

“Total of a hundred and five acres . . . about two-thirds of it tillable,” Nate summarized
from the description on the sign. “Plenty enough to raise hay for our own livestock,
and maybe some crops to sell.”

“There’s most likely a
gut
water source, what with that creek running down there between the trees. Probably
groundwater for wells, too,” Bram said as he scooted forward to gaze at the place.
“And some big old walnut trees in those hills back there, which could be harvested
to bring in some start-up cash.”

Once again Martha’s heartbeat accelerated. Did these boys stop at every for sale sign
they saw, to discuss a potential place to live? Should she allow herself to believe
she and Mary might fit into this picture they were painting in their imaginations?

“So, why are they taking sealed bids instead of holding a regular auction? Or just
selling the place with a real estate agent?” Mary asked. “That’s kind of different,
ain’t so?”

“Well, by having an auction, the owner will have his place sold by a certain time,
instead of having to wait for the right buyer to come along,” Bram explained.

“And with a sealed bid auction, you only attract folks ready to put down some money.”
Nate turned in the sleigh’s seat to look at both girls. “Instead of dealing with a
couple hundred nosy folks tramping around your buildings and grounds, with maybe a
handful of serious bidders, you have those bidders making their best offers. It’s
a lot simpler.”

“If the owner doesn’t like any of those offers, he doesn’t have to go with them,”
Bram explained. “And if a few potential buyers go above his acceptable price, he can
invite those fellas to bid against each other again.”

“Ah.” Mary nodded and looked out over the snow-covered fields again. “That makes a
lot more sense. And then, this real estate agent on the sign is only showing the really
interested folks the house and buildings. Saves a lot of time and effort for everybody.”

“But even from here, it’s easy to see that the barns and outbuildings need some major
renovation—not to mention the house. Might be better to knock them down and start
fresh.” Nate sighed. “That would take a lot of time. And a major chunk of change.”

“
Jah
. Not sure Dat would be so keen on that,” came his brother’s response.

Nate pulled himself out of his musing then to look at Martha. “Our place in Willow
Ridge is mostly pastureland, where Dat’s sheep graze, or else it’s been cultivated
in garden plots for Mamm’s vegetable business. We boys have known all along we’ll
have to find our own places and ways to make our livings,” he said. “Dat’s offered
to pitch in on land for us, when the right place came available.”

“It would be a long while before we could live here, though,” Bram said sadly. “We’d
have to get my auction barn and your stables up and runnin’ first, generatin’ more
income, before we could even think of affordin’ houses.”

Oh, but her thoughts were thrumming as she drank in this information! Martha turned
and shared a long look with her sister. “Just so happens our
dat
and older brother are master carpenters,” she reminded the boys.

Mary’s secretive grin said she knew exactly what Martha was hinting at. “And while
we’re not supposed to talk it up amongst the fellows we run with,” she continued in
a conspiratorial tone, “our
dat
has promised us both new houses as wedding presents. But he and Mamma want us close
by—like, in Cedar Creek. Not nearly so far away as Willow Ridge.”

“But then, maybe that’s neither here nor there, far as the plans you fellows are making
for yourselves,” Martha added with a nonchalant shrug.

“
Jah
, too much information, no doubt.” Mary looked out over the property again, playfully
lifting her nose in the air. “Sounds like you boys have things all figured out, without
us telling you what to do.”

“Like we’ll ever figure
you
out,” Bram teased.

“
Jah
, if we were to talk up the way we could provide our husbands with houses, why, we’d
have fellows lined up from here until next Christmas, wanting to court us.” Martha
gazed straight-on into Nate’s wide eyes, noting how bottomless and brown they looked
. . . liking the way she saw herself reflected in them.

“Not that either of
you
fellows would fall for a girl just to get a new house. Ain’t so?” Mary, too, was
drilling into Bram’s eyes with hers, daring him to reply.

“You’re right, Martha. A lot of men would think they had it made in the shade, hooking
up with you.” Nate slung his arm across the sleigh seat. “But I went down that road
with a well-dowried gal before, so I know better this time.”

“And, hey—what’s so hard about movin’ a house trailer onto this place?” Bram asked
as he bit back a grin. “A couple of bachelors like Nate and me could get by just fine,
parking a pre-fabricated—”

“House trailer?” Mary cried. “Oh, please.”

“Now I get the picture,” Martha chimed in. “And I’m not sketching myself into it as
the missus, either. Nope, what with my plans for a bed and breakfast, I’ll be asking
Dat for a lot of bedrooms in my place. He’ll be fine with that, figuring I’ll fill
them with grandkids.” She turned toward Mary then, as though Nate and Bram had vanished
into thin air. “And Sister, you’ve always said you wanted to cook for our inn if I’d
run the business end—”

“So,
jah
, that means we’d have to live across the lane from each other in our new houses,”
Mary said with a nod.

“Or even at opposite ends of the same really big house, with our guest rooms in the
middle,” Martha continued, suddenly inspired by this teasing talk. The boys were playing
along, so it seemed a good time to sound out her ideas . . . to let the Kanagy brothers
know where she and her twin were coming from. “We’ve always been a package, you and
I.”

“We’ve never lived apart and I don’t want to start any time soon. So your idea of
a double-type house with central guest rooms—and a big area for holding church on
the main floor—now, that sounds perfect to me!” Mary clapped her gloved hands together.
“And you know, if the right fellows come along, they can have their own shops or—”

“Long as we had space for a big garden—”

“And a few milk cows, and chickens for eggs—”

Nate playfully hooked Martha’s neck in the crook of his elbow to muffle her next remark
against his coat. His chest vibrated with laughter. “Well, at least we’re not short
on
gut
ideas. Amongst the four of us, I think we’d figure a way to get by.”

“And we’d be close to our families—but not
too
close,” Bram added. “I like that part. But meanwhile, I’m for taking down the Realtor’s
phone number so we can do more than just jaw about our future. Lots of details to
consider before any of us set our hearts on havin’ this place.”

“Might be several other fellows with plans for this acreage, too, considering how
land doesn’t come up for sale all that often,” Nate observed. “It appears to be mostly
English in this area, with Amish sprinkled along the back roads until you get into
Plain settlements like Cedar Creek or Bloomingdale.”

Martha heard her sister opening the cookie bin, and when she glanced back, Bram was
writing the phone number on a napkin Mary had handed him. “How about treats all around,
to celebrate our . . . interesting talk?” she suggested.

“I’m for that! It’ll hold us until we get some of that chocolate coconut cake later.”
Nate lifted Martha’s chin with his finger. His smile looked a little nervous, but
he seemed really happy. “And it
is
interesting talk, because you girls shared your plans and listened to ours, too.”

Bram chuckled as he finished writing. “
Jah
, gives us a better idea what we have to aim for and what we have to prove, if you
twins are to take us seriously. And who ever thought I’d be concerned about such a
thing?”

 

 

Mary was holding her breath as the four of them stepped onto their back porch about
half an hour later. Oh, how the ideas were flying through her mind now! It was too
early to think her future was all tucked up as neatly as a crimped piecrust—certainly
too soon to mention their ideas about that run-down farm to her family. Yet she felt
her face lighting up with a smile like she hadn’t known since she was a kid celebrating
single-digit birthdays. She didn’t let go of Bram’s hand as they preceded Nate and
Martha into the kitchen, either. “We made it back in time to help set on supper,”
she announced as the wind blew fresh snowflakes inside with them.

“And look who we ran across!” Martha chimed in. “We told the boys we could scrape
up enough leftovers to fill their plates, too, most likely.”

Their mother turned toward them as she kept stirring a bowl of biscuit batter, her
eyebrows rising. “Well, now. After I found your note this morning, I didn’t figure
on seeing you girls again for a while. Welcome back, boys,” she said. “Why do I suspect
you had a hand in corralling these daughters of mine before they got lost or found
trouble on the roads? It’s not like they’ve ventured far beyond Cedar Creek—that I
know of, anyway.”

Mary glanced at Martha and decided to come clean. She could see Noah, Dat, and Jacob
in the front room working a jigsaw puzzle, so she spoke loudly enough that their brother
could hear. “Truth be told, we did have a little trouble,” she admitted, “but Nate
and Bram got us—and the buggy—back here in
gut
shape.”

“
Jah
, I’ll pay James to fix the wheel and we’ll be squared away,” Martha said. “We’ll
fetch Taffy after supper.”

Noah had come up out of his chair like his backside was afire. “Wheel?” he demanded
as he stopped in the kitchen doorway. “And what did you do to my wheel?”

“Ah, but you share that rig with Mary and Martha until you’re ready for your own courtin’
buggy,” Joanna pointed out as she set plates around the table.

“That doesn’t mean I like it when they take my ride without tellin’ me!” their brother
retorted. He raked his hand through his collar-length red hair. “And now they’ve done
enough damage that I might not be drivin’ it for
days
yet! Not what I wanted to hear!”

“Could be, if you mind your mouth and your manners, you might have your pick of the
other rigs, son.” Their
dat
gave Noah a warning look and then stepped past him, extending his hand. “Nate, Bram—
gut
to see you fellows again. Looks like the four of you young folks patched things up,
and I’m glad for that.”

“Kissed and made up is more like it!” Joanna said with a giggle.

Mary raised an eyebrow at her little sister. “Keep talking like that, and you won’t
have to worry about any boys kissing
you
.”

“Puh! Boys’re a nuisance.”

“They’re not half so bad as know-it-all girls,” Jacob stated. He went to the stove
to see what his
mamm
was cooking and got his hand smacked for trying to stab a chunk of beef from the
stew pot with a fork.