Amish White Christmas Pie (5 page)

“Has your daed come in from the store yet?” Mom asked as she hung her heavy shawl and dark outer bonnet on a wall peg.

“Not yet. Should I run out and get him?” Cindy asked.

“Jah, please do.” Mom flicked at the wisps of grayish blond hair on her forehead as she moved toward the bathroom door. “I’ll be back as soon as I wash up and fix my hair.”

“No problem. Take your time,” Karen called after her.

Cindy grabbed her shawl and scurried out the door. A few seconds later, Karen heard another buggy rumble into the yard. She figured it might be a store customer. As she lifted the lid on the kettle of soup, a curl of steam wafted toward the ceiling. The delicious aroma made her stomach rumble in anticipation.

The
clump, clump, clump
of boots on the back porch, followed by a
rap-rap
on the door, let Karen know that whoever had driven the buggy in wasn’t a customer. She replaced the lid on the kettle and hurried across the room. When she opened the door, Will stood on the porch.

“This is a surprise! I thought you had gone home.”

“I was halfway there when I decided to come back.” The warmth of his dimpled smile helped calm her anxieties. Maybe he wasn’t mad at her after all.

“I’m glad you did.” Karen opened the door wider. “Come on into the kitchen. I’m just about ready to serve up some soup.”

“That soup does smell good. Is it too late to change my mind and stay for lunch?”

“Of course not. We’d be glad to have you join us.”

Will glanced around the kitchen. “Where is everyone?”

“Cindy went to get Dad, and Mom’s down the hall washing up.” Karen motioned to the table. “If you’d like to have a seat, I’m sure everyone will be here soon.”

Will turned to face her. “I…uh…wanted to say I’m sorry for acting so moody when I was here earlier. I had a lot on my mind, and—”

Karen held up her hand. “It’s all right. There’s no need to explain.”

“But I want to explain.” He grimaced. “This morning’s newspaper carried an article about a little girl who was abandoned—left on a park bench with no identification or clue as to who her parents might be.”

“Oh, how terrible. I wonder what will become of the little girl if her folks don’t come back.”

“She’ll probably be put in a foster home.” Will leaned on the back of the nearest chair. “The article got me to thinking about how I was abandoned, and I guess it put me in a sour mood.”

“At least your daed didn’t drop you off in some park. He had the decency to find you a good home with Mark and Regina.”

“I realize that, and I appreciate them taking me in, but that doesn’t excuse my daed for leaving without telling me…or for not coming back.”

Karen touched Will’s arm. “I feel sad that I never got to meet your real daed. It would be nice if he could be here to see us get married.”

Will shrugged. “Mama Regina and Papa Mark are my parents. They’ll be at the wedding, so that’s all that counts.”

“I know they’ve been like parents to you, but it might be nice if—”

“Can we please change the subject? There’s something I’d like to ask you.”

“What is it?”

“I was wondering if you’d go out with me for supper next week.”

“What night next week?”

“Tuesday evening—on my birthday. I thought maybe the two of us could go to Das Dutchman in Middlebury for supper, and then afterwards we can go over to my place and have cake and ice cream with my folks.”

Karen shifted uneasily as she tried to formulate the best response. She couldn’t go out for supper with Will if she and Regina held a surprise party for him.

“Well, what do you say? Would you like to go out for supper on Tuesday?”

“I’m not sure I’ll be free that night, Will.”

“What do you mean you’re not sure? You’re either free or you’ve made other plans. Which is it?”

“Well, I—” Karen moistened her lips. “I’m going to be busy that night.”

“Doing what?”

“I…uh…really can’t say.”

Will frowned. “What do you mean you can’t say?”

“I can’t say what I’ll be busy doing.”

“Fine, then! If you don’t want to help celebrate my birthday, I’ll celebrate alone.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to help celebrate your birthday. I just—”

“Never mind; it’s not important.” He started for the door.

“Where are you going?”

“Home.”

“But I thought you were staying for lunch.”

He turned to face her. “I’ve changed my mind.”

Karen frowned. “You’re unpredictable, Will. One minute you say you’re going to do something, and then you change your mind for no good reason.”

“I do have a reason. You won’t be honest with me, so it’s time for me to go.”

She fixed him with a wordless stare.

He shrugged, blinked a couple of times, and tromped out the door.

Karen leaned heavily against the kitchen counter.
I couldn’t tell Will the truth. It would have ruined the surprise. I’ll need to speak to Regina as soon as possible. I can’t have Will upset with me because he thinks I don’t want to go out with him on his birthday
.

K
aren stepped outside and drew in a deep breath. The mist rolling over the farmlands surrounding Middlebury lifted the curtain on another day. She leaned her head back and looked at the sky. A small patch of sun peeked through the clouds, offering a promise to chase away the chill on this frosty Sunday morning. It was an off-Sunday in their district, so she and her family would be attending her aunt Jean’s church.

As Karen headed to the chicken coop to feed the chickens, she thought about Will and how strange he’d acted the day before. She felt bad about the way things had gone when he’d invited her to join him for supper.

I wish I felt free to tell Will about the party, but if I do, it won’t be a surprise. Maybe after we get home from church, I’ll go over to the Stoltzfuses’ and see if I can get Regina alone for a few minutes to discuss this problem
.

Karen opened the chicken coop door and stepped inside. She bent to pick up one of the watering dishes and was startled by Herman, their biggest and meanest rooster. He flapped his wings, stretched his neck, and charged across the coop.

Karen jumped back and waved her hands, but the ornery rooster pointed his beak right at her ankle and
—peck, peck, peck!

“Ouch!
Absatz
—stop that!” The water dish slipped from Karen’s hands, splashing water all over her dress.

The rooster backed up a few steps, ruffled his feathers, and charged again. Quickly Karen bent down, lifted the lid off the chicken feed container, and threw some on the floor. Herman rushed for it, as did the other chickens. While they clucked around the coop, fighting for food, Karen hurried through the watering process. The job done, she headed back to the house.

Stepping onto the porch, she tripped on a loose board and fell on her knees. Gritting her teeth, she limped into the house, mumbling, “I think I should have stayed in bed this morning.”

“Daughter, what’s wrong?” Mom asked when she saw Karen.

“Our
nixnutzich haahne
is responsible for my wet dress and bleeding leg.”

“Which naughty rooster?”

“Herman. As soon as I reached for the water dish, he charged across the chicken coop and pecked my ankle.”

“Dad ought to take that rooster’s head off.” Cindy spoke up from where she was setting the breakfast table. “That ornery critter’s always causing some kind of trouble.”

Karen limped over to the sink to wash her hands. “Herman was fine once I put food out for the chickens.”

Cindy let out an undignified grunt. “He pecked your ankle and made you limp; I don’t call that fine.”

Karen turned to face her sister. “I’m not limping because Herman pecked my ankle.”

“Why are you limping?”

“When I was coming to the house, I tripped on a loose board on the back porch and fell.”

“I’ll speak to your daed about getting that board fixed as soon as possible, and if Herman keeps up with his antics, he might end up in my stew pot.” Mom went to the cupboard where she kept medicinal supplies. “You’d better have a seat and let me clean up those bloody spots on your ankle. Then I’ll look at your knees.”

“If you’ll give me some antiseptic and a couple of bandages, I can tend to my own injuries,” Karen said as she dried her hands on a towel.

Mom handed Karen a bottle of peroxide and some cotton balls. “If you’d like to take these over to the table, I’ll bring the antibiotic ointment and bandages.”

Karen started across the room but had only made it halfway to the table when the bottle slipped out of her hands. The lid popped off, and all the peroxide spilled out. “Now I know I should have stayed in bed this morning,” she said with a groan.

“Cindy, please clean the floor while I help Karen with her knees, and then she’ll need to go upstairs and change out of her wet dress.”

“I’m not a
boppli
, and I don’t need help with my knees!”

Mom blinked a couple of times. “I’m sorry, Karen. I didn’t mean to imply that you were a baby.”

The heat of shame burned Karen’s cheeks, and tears pricked the back of her eyes. “It’s me who should apologize. I seem to be a ball of nerves this morning.” She dropped the cotton balls on the table and sank into a chair.

Mom rushed to her side. “Karen, what’s wrong? Is what happened in the chicken coop making you act so
naerfich?
”

Karen lifted her head. “I’m not really nervous, more anxious than anything. I’m concerned about Will.”

“Has something happened to Will?”

Cindy spoke up. “Will was here yesterday, and he was in a sour mood.”

Mom looked at Karen. “How come?”

Karen swallowed around the lump in her throat. “He’d seen a newspaper article about a little girl who’d been abandoned, but he didn’t tell me that until he came back the second time.”

“He was here twice?”

“Jah, that’s right,” Cindy said. “He was acting kind of strange when he first showed up, too. But then Leroy came in, and Will got even weirder.” She looked over at Karen. “Sister, are you sure you want to marry him?”

“Of course I do.”

“What about the second time Will came over?” Mom asked.

“He came back to apologize, but we had a misunderstanding.”

Cindy wrinkled her nose. “I’ll bet you argued because he was acting weird again.”

Mom shot Cindy a disapproving look. “You’d best keep your opinions about Will to yourself and finish getting that floor cleaned up.”

“I’m almost done.”

“Good. Then you can start scrambling those eggs I never got started.” Mom turned back to Karen. “What was the problem between you and Will?”

Karen told Mom about the surprise party and explained that Will had wanted to take her to supper. “Will was really upset when I said I had other plans on Tuesday evening.” She massaged her forehead. “If I’d been thinking, I would have told Will that even though I wasn’t free to go out with him on Tuesday night, I could go later in the week.”

Mom patted Karen’s shoulder. “I’m sure everything will be fine once Will finds out about the party.”

“I doubt things will ever be fine as long as Will keeps acting so jealous,” Cindy said. “He acts jealous every time he sees Leroy in the same room with Karen.”

“A bit of jealousy isn’t always a bad thing,” Mom said. “When a man acts jealous, it means he cares for you.”

“I’m sure I can make Will see that I have no interest in Leroy,” Karen said. “Right now I’m more worried about what I should do about him thinking I don’t want to have supper with him on his birthday.”