Chapter One
The door of Swissmen Sweets swung inward, causing the large display window to rattle in its frame. I stood alone in the front room of the shop and jumped at the sudden movement. It was late afternoon, and the shop would close soon. I looked forward to locking the front door for the night. My boyfriend, Aiden Brody, had promised me a date night that evening. They were hard to come by for us. We both had crazy work schedules. He was second in command at the sheriff’s department, and I was constantly juggling Swissmen Sweets, the Amish candy shop I ran with my grandmother in Harvest, Ohio, with my cable television show, Bailey’s Amish Sweets, filmed in New York City. It was rare that neither one of us had an obligation. Sadly, I had a feeling my night off was about to be a thing of the past when I saw who stood in the shop doorway.
Aiden’s mother, Juliet Brook, stood on the other side of the domed-glass counter, beaming from ear to ear. From past experience, I took the giant smile as a bad sign.
On this mild May evening, she wore a green-and-blue, polka-dotted blouse over black trousers and black-and-white high heels. Polka dots were her signature, from her clothes to the black-and-white, polka-dotted potbellied pig under her arm. Jethro stared at me in bewilderment as if to ask how he’d got there and what on earth was happening. Granted, the little bacon bundle had the same expression on his pudgy face ninety percent of the time. Until recently, Juliet had toted Jethro, who was roughly the size of a toaster, just about everywhere she went.
In the last several months since she had married Reverend Brook, the pastor of the large white church on the other side of the village square from Swissmen Sweets, she had been carrying Jethro around a lot less often. At least when it came to church functions at which she had to appear in her capacity as the pastor’s wife. Those times when she needed to concentrate on her church duties and spend less time making sure Jethro wasn’t knocking over the church alter, she dropped Jethro off at her favorite pig sitter . . . me. Now, I had not asked for nor wanted the title of go-to pig sitter for Jethro, or for any other pig, but Juliet had got it in her head that I was the person for the job, ever since I had saved the little pig from an untimely death a couple of years back. Ever since that event, she believed the little oinker and I had a special bond. I wasn’t nearly as convinced. So, when she stormed into Swissmen Sweets late that afternoon, I had every reason to believe that Jethro was being pawned off on me again.
“Bailey! Bailey! Is it true? Is it true?” Juliet cried in a breathless voice.
I placed the stack of receipts I was checking against my accounts on the counter. “Is what true, Juliet?”
“Emily!” she cried.
“What about Emily?”
“Oh, for goodness sake, Bailey, you know what I mean. Emily is having a baby! A baby! Can you believe it? It’s a miracle. I love babies so much.” She gave me a quick glance. “You know I have great dreams of being a grandmother. Can you imagine me as a grandma? I would be the very best.” She held Jethro up above the counter so that I had a better view of his face. “Think of how well I treat Jethro.”
I wasn’t sure how I felt about Juliet comparing a future grandchild to her comfort pig.
She lowered the pig when he began grunting. “Jethro is a good comfort to me as I wait for that happy day, if it ever comes at all.” She stared at me from under her lashes.
It took all my willpower not to grunt back in frustration. Over the last several years, Juliet had made it no secret that she would love to see her only child, Aiden, settled down with a wife and family. Since I was Aiden’s girlfriend, I was certain she saw me as part of the holdup. The thing was, Aiden and I weren’t married, and we had only been officially dating for a year and a half. I thought our relationship was progressing at a natural pace. Juliet begged to differ, and despite the lack of proposal or ring, Juliet considered us engaged. She had great hopes for a summer wedding this year, but, seeing as it was May and we weren’t engaged, those hopes would go unfulfilled.
The truth was that both Aiden and I wanted to get married, and we had been talking about it privately with more and more frequency, but our schedules made it difficult. I just didn’t know how I would plan a wedding with all of my other responsibilities at Swissmen Sweets and Bailey’s Amish Sweets. The show had me flying to New York to do promo or film every three months. And my calendar wasn’t the only problem. Aiden worked long hours as a sheriff’s deputy. As the second in command to a grumpy and disengaged sheriff, much of the workload required to keep the department running smoothly fell on his broad shoulders.
A little part of me . . . okay, a giant part, wanted to elope, but I knew Juliet would never forgive us if we did that. Aiden was her only son and her golden boy. She wanted to be there for the wedding. I was pretty sure she wanted Jethro to walk me down the aisle too.
“Yes, I know Emily’s expecting,” I said. “The baby is due next month. It’s not a secret. Everyone at Swissmen Sweets is so happy for her.”
Emily Keim was one of my shop assistants. She was a young Amish wife who’d married a Christmas tree farmer, Daniel Keim, a year ago. The young couple was expecting their first child in July. Actually, it would be Daniel’s first child, but not Emily’s. I was certain that Juliet knew nothing about Emily’s history as an unwed mother, and I planned to keep it that way.
“I can’t believe that I am just hearing about the baby. I know I have been very caught up in the church. You would not believe everything I have to do as the pastor’s wife, and I am determined to be the very best and make Reverend Brook proud.”
I smiled. There was something endearing and old fashioned to me about the fact that Juliet still called her husband Reverend Brook even though they were married. “No one would doubt for a second that you aren’t the perfect pastor’s wife.”
She blushed, and then asked in a breathless voice, “What are you going to do about Emily’s baby?”
“What am I going to do about it?” I asked. As far as I knew there was nothing I could or should do about Emily’s baby.
“Aren’t you going to have a baby shower? She needs a baby shower! You have to host a baby shower.”
I held up my hand to stop her. I thought if she said “baby shower” one more time, my head might explode.
Juliet didn’t take the hint. “You’re the perfect person to put it on. You’re so organized and do such a good job planning events. Why, we can’t think of a better person.”
I wrinkled my brow. Juliet was putting the compliments on a little thick, and for her, that was saying something. “We?” I asked.
“Well, the village of course, but mostly Margot and me. We were discussing it this afternoon when we were tending the church garden. Springtime does mean flowers, don’t you know.”
I did know.
She set Jethro on the floor. As soon as she did, the shop’s orange cat, Nutmeg, crawled out from under the candy shelves next to the café tables. It was his favorite place to hide when he needed a little alone time. The pig and cat touched noses and then started to walk around the front room like the old friends they were.
“So, are you going to do it?” Juliet asked.
“Juliet, I’m pretty sure the Amish don’t have baby showers. At least not in the way you’re imagining. I would have to ask my grandmother to be sure. Emily and the Keim family would not want to do anything or have any party that was against Amish customs.”
“How could a baby shower be against Amish customs?”
It was a fair question, but what I had learned since moving to Ohio’s Amish Country was that not all the Plain People’s rules made sense. At least they didn’t make sense to my New Yorker mind.
“This is the twenty-first century.” Juliet waved her arms. “Even the Amish have changed with the times. Goodness, do you know how many Amish have cell phones nowadays or know how to use a computer? Surely, Bishop Yoder would be open to her having a baby shower. I mean, it only seems right to me. There is no harm in it.”
“The Amish who are allowed to use those pieces of technology are able to do so because it pertains to their work. It would be very difficult for them to continue their business without access to a cell phone or a computer in some cases. That’s just what it takes to run a business these days. We can’t make the claim that a baby shower is work related.”
She put her hands on her hips. “We have to do something for Emily. Goodness knows, her sister won’t do anything.”
I winced at this comment, mostly because it was all too true. Emily and her older sister, Esther, hadn’t spoken since Emily got married and stopped working at the family’s pretzel shop. The especially awkward part of it was they saw each other every day. Emily worked part-time for me at the candy shop, which just happened to be next door to Esh Family Pretzels, where Esther spent every waking moment of her day.
Jethro put his snout to the floor and followed the scent until he found my large white rabbit, Puff, sleeping curled up in the corner of the front room. He snuffled the rabbit, and Nutmeg swatted him away. Puff yawned and scooted over, making room for the small pig, which wasn’t much bigger than the rabbit. It seemed to me that I would have to put Puff on a diet. Who knew a bunny could get so big just eating vegetables?
“Honestly, Juliet, I do like your idea. Emily and her new baby should be celebrated, but it’s really up to Emily whether she would like such a party. I don’t want to do anything that might embarrass her in front of her Amish district.”
“It could be a surprise.”
I wrinkled my nose. I knew from experience that Emily wasn’t one for surprises. “Let me ask her, and then we can take it from there.”
“Ask her now!” She clasped her hands in front of her chest. There was nothing that Juliet loved more than a party. I knew she had hoped to celebrate a wedding this year. Maybe this baby shower would fill that void.
“She’s already gone home for the day. I promise to ask her at the first opportunity tomorrow.”
“Well, we can go to the Christmas tree farm and ask.”
“Let’s not be too hasty. If you and I roll up to the farm, she will think something is wrong. Give me one day, and I promise to get you an answer.”
She pressed her lips together as if she wasn’t keen on this idea.
“You have my word.”
“It seems to me that I have no other choice,” she said. Her Carolina drawl was more pronounced than usual, demonstrating her disappointment. “You’ll need to ask her quickly because Margot has already reserved the square for the shower this Saturday. We thought two in the afternoon would be the perfect time.”
“She’s already reserved the square?”
“She had to. You know how busy the square can be this time of year.” She clapped her hands. “Jethro, it’s time to go.”
The pig lifted his head but didn’t move from the spot where he was cuddled up with the cat and rabbit. My best friend, Cass Calbera, who was the head chocolatier at JP Chocolates in New York, insisted that the three animals needed their own social media platform because they made an odd trio. I hoped that she never mentioned the idea to Juliet, because Juliet would be all over it.
Juliet marched over to the pig and scooped him up. She walked to the door and said, “Don’t delay about asking Emily, Bailey. She needs a shower.” With that, she went out the door.
After Juliet and Jethro had gone out the door, I closed it and locked it behind them. I looked down at the cat and rabbit still snuggled together in the corner of the room. “Dollars to donuts we are hosting another party.”
Nutmeg meowed as if to say, “You sure are!”