Heart in Hand: Stitches in Time Series #3 (14 page)

“That’s how my kids say it, too.”

Gideon jerked his head toward Chris’s buggy parked in front of the house. “You’re leaving?”

“Hannah’s not feeling well. We’re going home.”

The front door opened and their son poked his blond head out. “
Mamm
says she’ll be out in a minute. She’s getting the dish she brought.”

He mirrored Sarah Rose’s behavior of a little while ago with his shoulders slumped and his chin tucked down.

“Someone isn’t happy,” Gideon murmured. “Why don’t you leave him, and I’ll bring him home later?”

“You sure?”

“Of course.”

Hannah walked out carrying an empty serving dish. Chris held out his hand to her, and she took it, smiling at Gideon.

“Gideon here says he’ll bring Jonah home later. That way he can stay and have fun.”

“Why, that’s nice of you,” Hannah said.

“Saw him out here talking quite a while with Anna,” Chris told Hannah. “Wonder if there’s going to be another wedding?”

“Chris! You know that’s private! Don’t be a gossip!” she chided. Looking at Gideon, she shook her head. “Don’t feel you have to tell this former
Englischman
about your plans.” She bit her lip and then gave him a mischievous smile. “Unless of course you want to tell me.”

“There’s nothing to tell,” he said.

And regretted having to say that.

Anna felt herself hugged from behind as she walked down the front hall to the room that had been set up for the reception.

For a split second she wondered if was Gideon, but he wouldn’t do something like that and besides, the person was a woman and she was laughing.

Turning, she saw that it was Naomi. “I’m so happy!”

Anna grinned. “Really?”

“Giving away another hug?” Nick asked, coming up to join them. “Save some for me.”

Naomi blushed. “Nick!”

His eyebrows went up. “Too much? Sorry, love.” He wrapped his arms around her waist. “I’m trying to be more circumspect now that I’ve joined the church.”

“Really?” she asked, glancing down at his arms.

“It’s our wedding reception,” he told her. “You’re not saying a
mann
can’t show his love and affection for his
fraa
, are you?”

“There’s appropriate and there’s . . . not,” she said sternly.

But Anna saw her cousin’s lips curve in a smile.

“Keep working with him,” Anna advised. “He’ll make a good Amish
mann
.”

“I’ve already shown her that, or she wouldn’t have married me,” Nick said with a grin.

She’d never seen him so happy and lighthearted.

“What a day!” he said, looking around him. “Look, it’s time to eat again.”

Naomi rolled her eyes. “It’s Nick’s kind of day. Two all-you-can-eat meals and snacks and desserts as well.”

He took her by the hand. “C’mon, people will expect us to be at the—what’s it called? The neck of the table?”

Laughing, shaking her head, she let him lead her away. “You know very well that it’s the
eck
. You just have to tease.”

“Nick! Can I pull you away from your bride for a moment?”

Naomi let him go with a smile and took a seat next to Anna. “Did you hear the news about Daniel in Florida?”

“No, what?”

“I just heard he’s getting married. Isn’t that a wonderful surprise? I can’t wait to tell Nick. They got to be friends when we were in Florida.”

“You’re just happy someone else you know is getting married.”

Naomi smiled and nodded. “I’m working on you next.”

“I’m invited to three weddings this week. That’s enough for me. I don’t need my own.”

Gideon looked directly at Anna as he reentered the room.

“Oh,” Naomi whispered. “Oh, my. I had no idea.”

“Don’t start getting them,” Anna hissed. “Stop looking at him.”

“How long have you been dating him?”

“I haven’t,” Anna told her, giving her a quelling glance.

Naomi made a humming noise. “Well, I’d say he’s sure interested in dating you.”

Anna opened her mouth to say she knew that, but then she shut it. She didn’t need to give Naomi any more information. Naomi wouldn’t gossip, but she didn’t want any questions.

“Nick’s waiting for you.”

Naomi laughed. “He’s waiting for me so he can eat again.” But she joined him, and they exchanged such a look of love Anna knew that Naomi was very sure of his feelings for her.

Later that night, Anna lay on her side, thinking about meeting Gideon for coffee the next day as she looked up at the stars through her bedroom window.

She pressed a hand to her stomach. Butterflies were competing with the food she’d eaten at the evening meal at the wedding reception. It was so silly to be feeling like a
maedel
about to go out on her first date. My goodness, she was in her midtwenties, and she was a widow.

But she’d dated only one man—loved only one man—since they were youngsters at school. Only one.

And Gideon had been giving her those . . . looks that reminded her that she was a woman and he was a handsome and—dare she say it to herself—sexy man attracted to her.

It was enough to make any woman have butterflies just thinking about it.

Reminding herself that it was just coffee didn’t seem to be helping. Sleep just wasn’t coming.

She sat up and reached for the basket with her knitting that she kept by the bed, hoping that it would soothe her. Maybe she just hadn’t allowed herself enough time to slow down and relax from the excitement and busyness of the wedding before she got into bed . . .

Of course, she knew that wasn’t it. The long day and the physical work of helping to serve and wash up had made her so tired she’d found climbing the stairs to the bedroom a chore.

It was meeting Gideon for coffee. And it didn’t help to remind herself that it was just coffee.

So she told herself if she wasn’t ready to date yet or if she decided Gideon wasn’t the man God had set aside for her, well, then she didn’t have to see him again.

Dating was, at least, a little easier than what Jamie had told her it was like in the
Englisch
community. Couples who dated here almost always knew each other from childhood, and dating was kept private, which took some of the pressure off. Dating itself consisted of attending singings and other structured, often chaperoned activities that were still fun.

Less “drama” as Jamie called it, and Anna liked that she and Samuel had known each other so well by the time they got married.

As for Gideon, there was so much she already knew about him. It should have made it easier. But it didn’t. He’d been a friend before, but now that he was asking to date, it changed everything.

She rubbed at her forehead, feeling a bit of a headache coming on.

No, this was getting way too worked up. It was just coffee. And a relationship wasn’t supposed to be something you stressed over. Hers with Samuel had been loving and deep, but it had been so much fun, a partnership of working together to build a marriage and a home. She’d never lain awake and found herself stressing about things—not even the first date.

You were so young then, though
, she reminded herself. Dating then—the older people in the community still sometimes called it courting—was just an innocent evening at a singing or a drive with Samuel, and a starry-eyed hope they’d get married one day.

Now she and Gideon were widowed. They both were at a stage where they knew life could be short, that the person that they built all their hopes and dreams on could be called away. That they could be left alone, so very alone.

Her knitting needles stilled. She stared at the baby hat that she was knitting. Neither of them would have children without getting married. Gideon was fortunate—he had a
kind
already, but if he wanted more—she had no doubt he wanted more.
Kinner
were God’s gift to couples. Large families were encouraged . . . expected. If Mary had lived, it was likely that she and Gideon would have had at least another
kind
or two by now.

Just as she and Samuel would have had a baby or two. She’d so hoped that she would get pregnant quickly, but it hadn’t happened and then before they knew it, Samuel became so sick, his disease draining the life from him before the chemo weakened him. Pneumonia had swept in, and he was gone.

Anna looked down at the baby hat in her hands and dumped it into the basket beside the bed. Even if she failed to get to sleep the rest of the night, she didn’t want to think
about the
kind
she’d never had with Samuel and now would never have.

She lay down again and placed her hand on the empty side of the bed. This was the time of day she always missed Samuel the most. She felt warmth flood into her cheeks as the thought came to her that Gideon could change that. It was best for a widow not to think of that part of life when she didn’t have a
mann
 . . .

Drawing the quilt up over her shoulders, she felt her body warming, relaxing, and her eyelids drifted shut. She’d sleep now and maybe she’d dream.

Gideon pulled up in front of Anna’s house.

The place looked neat as a pin, the walk neatly swept with nary a leaf blowing across it. Bright orange and yellow mums gave a last hurrah to the season from planters on the porch. A wreath decorated with bittersweet hung on the front door.

All of it looked more welcoming than his own. Mary had been better at that kind of thing than he was. He raised the crops on the farm and raised their daughter and helped Mary where he could when she was alive, just as she’d done with him.

He climbed the stairs, knocked on the front door, and waited.

A woman was the heart of a home, and Mary wasn’t there anymore. He’d tried to make it a home for Sarah Rose and himself, but he didn’t think he’d done all that good of a job. Maybe when his daughter got old enough, she’d do some of the things that her mother had done that made a house a home. That wasn’t fair to her, though. And it wasn’t fair to him as a man who wanted to love and be loved again. He’d had a good
marriage and hoped it was God’s will that another
fraa
had been set aside for him.

Mary had believed there would be. She’d told him he was a good
mann
and made him promise that he would marry again. He’d been in too much pain to even think about it, but Mary had insisted. It hadn’t been just to ease his loneliness, she’d assured him. Sarah Rose deserved to have a
mamm
, and she also deserved to have
bruders
and
schweschders
. Mary had grown agitated, and he’d finally promised to ease her mind.

The door opened, startling him from his thoughts.

“I’m so sorry,” Anna said quickly. “I was taking care of something.” She dabbed at her hands with a damp dish towel that was spotted with drops of blood.

He reached out and took her hand, studying her scraped knuckles. “You hurt your hand again?”

“A little plumbing emergency,” she said, shrugging. “I fixed it. For now.”

“What kind of plumbing emergency?”

Anna stepped outside, pulling her coat on and turning to lock the door behind her. “The pipe under the kitchen sink again. It was leaking.”