Her Restless Heart Part 14

"You don't catch a cold just because you get cold."

"Ach, a few hours spent inside a college cla.s.sroom and you're so smart, eh?"

She laughed. "Ya."

"I made some coffee. Let's go inside and have a cup."

He watched her glance around. "We really shouldn't. It could cause talk."

"Then you go sit on the porch, and I'll bring it out."

"Sounds good." She climbed the stairs with him and sat in one of the rocking chairs on the porch.

When he brought out a tray with the coffee, he saw her eyes widen with pleasure.

"That looks good. Did one of your sisters make it?" she asked, pointing at the two squares of streusel-covered coffee cake. "Or your mother?"

"What makes you think I didn't?" he asked her as he handed her a plate.

He frowned when she laughed. "Oh schur. I've never known an Amish man to cook."

"Hannah's mann does." He set the tray down on the nearby table, took a seat, and picked up his own plate.

"Chris used to be Englisch. He learned how to cook before he went into the military and then came here."

She put a bite of coffee cake in her mouth and chewed. Then she raised her eyebrows. "Well, this is good."

"Try not to look so surprised."

"When did you start baking?"

"Well, this is my second attempt. The first one went into the trash. But I've been cooking for myself for a while now." He paused, then forged ahead, telling her what he'd said to his sister.

"I can't believe that," she said. "I've never known you to make an insensitive remark."

"Well, believe it. She invited me to use some salt and pepper on the foot I'd put in my mouth."

"And here I thought you were so wonderful for encouraging me about my talk today."

"Ya, well, I guess a guy is less sensitive with his sister than . . ." he hesitated-"his friend."

Jacob set his empty plate down and picked up his mug. He relaxed in his chair and with the heel of his boot set it rocking.

"What were you doing earlier? When I found you standing in the fields?"

He hesitated, wondering if she'd understand. "I remember my grandfather, then my father walking the fields nearly every day," he told her quietly. "He said the men in the family who took care of the land had always done it. It means a lot that I'm caring for the land that my ancestors settled so many years ago."

"It must be nice to know where you belong."

He glanced at her. "You belong here, too, Mary Katherine."

Jacob watched a shuttered expression come down over her face. He wasn't surprised when, a few minutes later, she asked if he'd give her a ride home.

He parked near the shop and helped Mary Katherine carry in the stuff she'd taken to the college. Naomi came to the door and opened it for them.

"Did you have a good time?"

"It was wonderful! I can't wait to tell you about it."

Naomi took a box from Mary Katherine's arms so she could shed her coat. "Jamie called right after you left. She asked if you were still coming over tonight." Naomi bit her lip. "Mary Katherine, she sounded really upset."

"I'll go give her a call."

"Pizza night?" Jacob asked.

She tilted her head. "Are you hoping you'll get an invitation to join us like last time?"

"Maybe."

"I'd have to ask Jamie."

"I could bring Ben. They seemed to enjoy talking."

Her eyes narrowed. "As long as you're not trying to make this into a date."

"Or a double date?" He held up his hands as she opened her mouth. "Friends. That's all. And good pizza."

"I need to get to work," she said quickly when several people walked past them and entered the shop. "I took time off today-"

"We'll be there at seven," he said. "So if you don't want us to join the two of you, that's fine." He grinned at her. "We won't pressure you to let us join you. Honest."

She laughed. "Okay. And you won't give us sulking looks from across the room?" she found herself teasing.

"I'll try not to. I make no promises for Ben."

9.

The shop was busy, so there wasn't a spare moment for talk about what had happened at the college for some time after she returned.

It was obviously driving curious Anna crazy. Every time a customer left, she'd turn to Mary Katherine and start to ask a question.

And then another customer would walk in. It was an interesting time, thought Mary Katherine. There was nothing better than a busy spell at the store, but Anna dearly loved being able to talk and the two didn't mix.

So it was a real relief for her when the crowd thinned and they got a few minutes to sit down and chat.

"You look happy," Leah noted as she picked up one of the little cloth Amish dolls she was making.

"It was such fun."

"So it went well, did it?" Anna asked with a smug smile. "I knew you'd do a good job." She sat and began knitting.

"Pride isn't our way," Naomi reminded her. "Mary Katherine might not be baptized, but she knows that."

Mary Katherine glanced over from her loom. "That's right." Calmly, she set her shuttle down. Then she grinned at Annie. "But I have to say that the professor thought I did a good job."

Her smile faded when the bishop walked in. He was dressed in the same black hat and long coat that he'd worn the day they had talked at church. His expression was no less forbidding than it had been on that day.

He glanced over at Mary Katherine, and she started to get up but her grandmother shook her head.

"I'll talk to him," she said.

After exchanging a few words, she indicated with a gesture that said without words that he should look around the shop. She followed behind him as he walked around, pausing to peer over his gla.s.ses at each person's work, stopping to frown over Mary Katherine's display.

He turned and said something to Leah, and she straightened and turned to walk toward the door to the back room. He followed her inside, and she shut the door with a snap.

Naomi, Anna, and Mary Katherine exchanged glances.

"What do you suppose that's about?"

"Me," said Mary Katherine.

"You? Why do you say that?"

"He talked to me after church the other day. Wanted to know when I was going to get baptized."

Naomi came over to touch her shoulder. "Did you tell him that you need time to make your decision?"

"Ya, he shouldn't be pressuring you about a thing like that!" Anna told her, walking up to stand beside Naomi.

Mary Katherine nodded. "Of course. But he just wanted to pressure me." She glanced at the closed door. "Why is he in there talking to our grandmother? My decision has nothing to do with her."

"I didn't like the way he was walking around glaring at the things we've made," Anna said, frowning.

She stiffened when the back room door opened and the bishop walked out, gave them a sparing glance, then proceeded out the front shop door.

As one, they hurried to find out what had been spoken of behind closed doors.

They found their grandmother sitting at the table, her arms folded across her chest, a mutinous expression on her face.

"Grossmudder, I've never seen you look like that," Naomi ventured a bit carefully.

"You sound like Little Red Riding Hood," Anna said.

Mary Katherine ignored her. "Why did the bishop come here today?"

Leah got to her feet. "It was nothing important."

"If it was nothing important, you'd just tell us," Mary Katherine said slowly. "Why was he looking at the things in the shop?"

She watched her grandmother walk to the sink and fill the teakettle. "What makes you think that he wasn't asking when you were going to join the church?" Leah asked her.

"Because he did that after church last week."

Leah nodded. "I know."

"Then what was it?" Anna, always curious and impatient, demanded.

"It doesn't matter since he's not going to influence me."

"Influence you?" Naomi looked at her cousins. "He's trying to make you pressure Mary Katherine?"

"I'm not letting him do that," Mary Katherine began. "I'll go speak to him myself." She reached for her jacket hanging on the peg.

Leah sighed. "No, dear one. He didn't come here to talk about you. Not exactly."

The teakettle whistled. She turned and shut off the flame under it, then poured the hot water into mugs she set in front of them.

When Leah finally sat down, Mary Katherine tensed, and felt her cousins lean forward, waiting to hear their grandmother speak.

Leah took a sip of tea. "The bishop wanted to talk to me about the things we're making," she told them. "He feels we're straying from producing what is traditional for Amish handiwork."

"What?" Anna stared at her, looking incredulous.

Shrugging, Leah took another sip of her tea. "Apparently some of our work is too . . . different."

"He's talking about me. About my weaving," Mary Katherine said. "It's an old craft but I have very new ideas for my patterns."

"Tradition is good," said Leah. "Our lives are full of it. We create something traditional like an old standard quilt pattern or a knitted baby cap that's from the past-started at some point from a new idea by some woman."

"Is he saying he wants us to stop?" Naomi asked.

"I think he was . . . encouraging us to return to the type of goods that used to sell in shops like ours."

"Go back. We're supposed to go back?" Mary Katherine said flatly.

Leah nodded. "He feels we should. We're a symbol of our Plain community to the Englischers. His words, not mine," she added quickly when she saw Mary Katherine jump to her feet.

"We're a business, just like so many other businesses run by our community," Mary Katherine told her. "I bet he doesn't try that with some of the men. Does he tell them what to make and what to sell?"

She stopped and took a deep breath. "Okay, that was a dumb question. I know there are rules. But we have both the traditional Amish goods here and some wonderful things like some of Naomi's newer quilt designs and Anna's baby caps."

Picking up one of the caps, she shook her head. "How can you be against a cupcake cap, for goodness sake?"