Zach happened to be in the barn and ambled out of the tack room to help her hitch up Hester. “Where are you headed off to? You could have gone with Cord earlier.”
“Neh, denki. A little of Cord goes a long way. I’m taking some more quilts to Rose.” She couldn’t help a smile. “I shouldn’t be so hard on our star boarder. He came upstairs to tell me the Amish Diamond quilt sold. Which was nice of him.”
Zach’s eyebrows rose in appreciation. “Gut news. Now I see why you want to take her another one … or twelve.”
“I only have these three to spare. They might not sell for months.”
“I wouldn’t be so quick to assume that.” He patted Hester on the neck and walked her forward. “Hop in.”
The five miles to town seemed to go by in moments. Malena actually had to quiet her thoughts—whirling with designs and time calculations and wondering if she had enough blue and purple on hand for Montana Lupine—to concentrate on driving. Hester might know the way well enough, but she’d have plenty of apologizing to do to the horse if she drove her right into the ditch, like Cord and his big truck.
There were no empty parking spaces in front of the shop, or in front of the bookstore or the dress shop, either. Without a hitching rail on this side closer than the bank, she made a left turn into the tiny parking lot of the smithy, where at least the rail was empty, even if the car spots were occupied. She hoped Alden wouldn’t mind, but she’d only be a minute.
It was a bit of a struggle to wrestle the bulky bags plus her handbag across the highway. When she pushed into the quilt shop, a bead of sweat ran down from her hairline to her chin.
“Malena,” Rose said in surprise, looking up from the cutting table, where a customer stood. “Did Cord tell you the Amish Diamond sold?”
“That’s why I’m here.” She heaved the bags onto the sales counter. “I brought more.” Then a thought struck her like a blast of cold wind. “Oh—I’m sorry—I should have asked first.” Heat burned into her cheeks as the customer’s curious gaze fell on the bags. “I shouldn’t have assumed—the other quilts should have their time in the window.”
Rose was already shaking her head. “If you hadn’t, I might have asked Alden to drive out to the Circle M tonight and sweet-talk you out of them. Here you go,” she said to her customer. “Two and a half yards of the strawberry polka dot. The thread is right over there, and you might pick out some white bias tape to make trim. Your little girl will look wonderful on her first day of school.”
The lady took the fabric absentmindedly. “Are you going to take those out of the bags? Can I see?”
“Of course,” Rose said easily. “Maybe you could help us choose the one to go in the window.”
“Me? Oh, I’d love to. I’m so glad I talked my husband into buying the kids those big cookies at the café so I could get some time to myself. What do you call those?”
“Whoopie pies,” Malena supplied. “My favorite are the pumpkin cream cheese. But Ellie, the café owner, says I have to wait until October.”
“My kids are probably cleaning them out of the chocolate ones and…” Her voice trailed away as Rose shook out Roses and put it on the display bed, then did the same with Amish Chain. “Oh my. Is this your work?” she asked Malena. She touched the stitching with reverence.
“The piecing is,” she said honestly. “It’s a traditional pattern. My mother and sister, and my brother’s fiancée help with the quilting.”
“Look at that.” With her finger, the woman traced the feathered border, then the wheels of feathers on the plain black blocks between the chains. “It’s beautiful. How much are you asking for it?”
Rose glanced up at Malena, who had lost the power of speech. “There is more piecing than the Diamond, but less quilt stitching overall. Shall I split the difference, and ask the same?”
Malena could only nod.
“Eight hundred,” Rose told the customer, in the same pleasant tone as she’d recommended bias tape. “We take cash or checks, but not credit cards, I’m afraid. We’re not online here.”
Malena braced herself against the counter to keep from falling over. Eight hundred dollars! How could Rose say it straight out like that and not stammer at her own daring?
The woman nodded. “I’ll just run across the road and check with my husband. It’s either this or some fancy rifle for our Montana souvenir, and I’ll tell you which one I want the most in our bedroom.”
She laid the polka dots on the counter next to the cash register and hurried out.
Malena had to breathe deeply before she could speak. “You got eight hundred dollars for the Amish Diamond?”
“I did,” Rose said. “And you owe me a cupcake. You didn’t think the Glacier Lily would sell for fifteen, and it fetched two thousand.”
“Don’t remind me,” Malena groaned. “Poor Alden is never going to hear the end of it.”
“He has broad shoulders,” Rose said with a smile. “If that customer comes back with her husband’s approval, maybe I can pay you for both.”
The lady did, beaming broadly, and with cash to boot. “You can buy a wrought-iron quilt rack at the blacksmith’s shop across the way,” Rose said. “My son makes them.”
“Oh no,” the customer said happily. “This is going on our bed. Thank you so much.” The large bag filling her arms, she headed back to the café, where presumably the family car was parked.
Other than her share of the cattle money in the autumn, Malena had never in her life earned this much money in so short a time. Rose carefully counted out the bills and handed them over. “Sixty percent of eight hundred, twice.”
“You take the sixty on this one,” Malena begged. “Please. I don’t feel right taking so much.”
“You reap what you sew,” Rose told her with a grin. “And I’d like a red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting, bidde.”
Malena didn’t dare walk down the street with so much money. She went to the bank and deposited it, saving out a little to buy Rose and her family half a dozen cupcakes, as well as some fabric for herself. And by the time all her transactions were completed, Roses was hanging in the shop window, Christmas Time was set to take its place on the first of November, and Mountain Home’s stores and the Bitterroot Dutch Café were closing up.
“Come home with us for dinner,” Rose urged. “This calls for a celebration.”
She hadn’t seen Alden all afternoon. And maybe there was a teensy part of her that had driven to town for just that purpose. That had been waiting for him to walk across the highway every minute since she’d so blatantly tied up her horse in his parking lot.
“I’d like that,” she said. “Can I use your phone? Someone will hear it ring in the barn.”
Zach, true to form, was still there. She asked him to tell Mamm she wouldn’t be back for dinner. “We want to celebrate tonight, Bruder—I hadn’t even got the Amish Chain in the window when an Englisch lady bought it.”
“Well done.” She could practically hear his smile. “I’ll share the news, and take special care to let Cord know you’re eating with your boyfriend’s family.”
“You do that. Denki.”
Dat didn’t like his Kinner being on the phone too long. If it wasn’t ranch business, any topic of conversation could be dealt with in five minutes or less. And she had better not tie up Rose’s business phone, either. She hung up, and waited outside for Rose to close the shop.
Alden’s smile broadened into a grin when he turned from locking up the smithy to see her and his mother crossing the little parking lot together.
“Hallo,” he said. “I’d say this was a nice surprise, except that Hester gave it away.”
“Here’s the surprise,” Rose said. “She’s coming home with us for dinner.”
“Neh, you’re going home with me,” Malena teased. “Alden, why don’t you ask Hester if she minds you driving?”
Hester had no objections, and even if she had, it was a drive of only two minutes to their little house. The scent of hamburgers sizzling on the barbecue grill wafted across the backyard as Alden unhitched Hester and took her to their small barn.
“Oh my,” Malena said. “Such a treat.” She loved hamburgers—loaded up with cheese, lettuce and tomatoes from the garden, and fried onions and bacon. And gobs of blue cheese dressing.
Beth waved the spatula in greeting. “Onions?”
“The works,” Malena called cheerfully. “And hi to you, too.”
“Gut to see you, Malena. We got the white cheddar the Zook brothers made in the spring,” Julie added. “Cheddarburgers!”
“Wunderbaar!”
It had been a fair while since Malena had been out for dinner on her own, without the entire family—or at least her brothers and twin—and outside of church or singing. It was something that courting couples did. Things hadn’t ever progressed to that point with the other boys she’d dated. She didn’t have an older sister to confirm it, but she’d heard that a girl might have to field a few discreet questions to see if she would be a good match for son and brother, casual inquiries and hints about hope chests included.
Not so at the Stolzfus backyard picnic table. Because nothing said family like blue cheese dressing dripping down your chin, or waving a home fry covered in ketchup to make a point in lively conversation. It was so tempting to take refuge in talking about quilts with Rose. Quilts were Malena’s safe place. But she was learning that Alden’s home could be that, too.
So instead of covering up her shyness by being boisterous, laughing and cracking jokes, she helped the conversation flow instead to the family’s move out here. To asking Rose about differences in communities and adjusting to a new Ordnung. To gently discovering why Julie loved hockey: “It reminds me of my grandfather before he died. He loved it, too. Played in goal, right up until he was seventy.” And why Beth liked to experiment in the kitchen: “In Colorado they put together a cookbook for the tourists to buy, every woman contributing a favorite. Rexford did the same. I wondered if we might do that here, since we’re getting more tourists every year.”
“Gut idea, Schweschder,” Alden said. “Every Amish shop could sell them, and you could have a table at the auction next year.”
He was so smart. “All the proceeds could go to the school, or into the medical fund,” Malena suggested.
She was almost sorry when the food was gone, the conversation had been so interesting. Rose and her daughters told her she was their guest and they’d clear up, and to sit herself down while they brought out dessert.
Which left her alone with Alden for a few minutes.
“I think they did that on purpose.” He smiled across the table. “My family is not known for being subtle.”
“Neither is mine,” she said with a twinkle. “But you have to admit, plain speaking gets the job done. By the way, denki for letting Hester and me take up space in your parking lot today.”
The smile broadened, that long dimple creasing his cheek. “I was glad. It meant that you’d have to come back, and then I could spring out of my lair and catch you.”
Before she could decide if he was teasing or serious, her mouth ran away with her. “Rumor has it you did that already.”
Instead of the laugh she expected, that dimple faded. “I told Mamm and the girls that this is just temporary.”
“You did right. I don’t want to lie to our families.”
“Even if we’re lying to the Gmee?”
She was silent, trying to put the right words in order on her tongue. But to her own dismay, she lost control of that unruly member and out it came. “What if we … weren’t?” Then she blushed scarlet. Oh dear, she should never have said that out loud. “I mean—that is—”
What on earth was wrong with her tonight?
“Are you saying … that you want a real courtship?”
His eyes had widened. His face had gone slack.
And she realized the magnitude of her mistake.
Before she could get out a single word, the door opened and Rose and his sisters trooped down the stairs with a round three-layer cake, plates, and a tub of ice cream.
“Hallich Geburtsdaag, Alden!”
Beth and Julie sang the birthday song in Englisch while Malena did her best to sing along. She had not known it was his birthday today. But then, before this week, she hadn’t known much about him at all. And now, he knew the worst about her.
That she spoke without thinking.
That she was forward and unwomanly, asking a man to date her instead of waiting to be asked—and not just once, either. Twice.
That she was the last girl a man like him would want for a special friend, never mind a wife.
“Our Bruder is twenty-four today,” Julie announced. “German chocolate is his favorite.”
She served him a luscious slice of cake, glistening with caramel coconut pecan frosting on top and between the layers, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It was one of Malena’s favorites, too—a girl with a waistline like hers obviously had quite a few favorites. If she hadn’t just asked the most embarrassing question in the world, she would have savored every mouthful. As it was, she focused on the cake and let Alden’s family reminisce about birthdays past.
Maybe he’d forget what she said, under all the talk and banter. Maybe she could go in and start on the dishes. Maybe he’d been so shocked by her asking him to court her for real that he’d never want to see her again.
The dishes. Ja. That was the best plan.
She scooped up her empty plate and Julie’s, too.
“Malena, you don’t have to do that. You’re our guest.”
“I’m just saying denki,” she said with her best impression of a smile, and escaped into the house.
She managed to stay in the kitchen, up to her elbows in soapsuds, despite the protests of Beth and Julie. It was easier when you were the one doing the washing—once you were wet, sensible people let you stay there and finish the job. Sadly, hamburgers meant there weren’t big pots or casserole dishes to scrub, which would have given her a good reason to stay longer at the sink.
To her enormous relief, Alden had gone somewhere when darkness fell and she said her good-byes and thank-yous to his family. She escaped across the lawn to the barn and slipped inside, where some considerate person had left a Coleman lamp burning.
“Come on, Hester, time to run away.”
Hester whickered, and one ear swiveled to the left.
“Run away from what?” Alden stepped out of the darkness and into the pool of light.