Chapter Seven
Clara Rose could hardly wait for Tuesday’s quilting circle to come back around again. There was something about sewing, especially quilting, that captured her mind and calmed her wayward thoughts. And right now she needed all the calming she could get.
All she could think about morning, noon, and night was Obie’s kiss. She had been so distracted she ran into the wall in the kitchen and now sported a huge purple bruise on her forehead.
She managed to avoid both Thomas and Obie for the entire weekend. It seemed the more time she spent with either one of them, the more confused she became. And she really needed to be able to avoid running into any more walls. Truth of the matter was, she needed to trust Thomas, love him unconditionally as God had intended, and bind their hearts together so they could go through the rest of their lives as one. But she also had to trust Obie. He was her best friend and had been for as long as she could remember. He always looked out for her, always had her best interests at heart. But after that kiss . . . It’d gone beyond that now. She had heard rumors flying around on Sunday that Obie had been seen running around with Ivy all weekend, driving in her Mustang car and going here and there and who knew where else. She needed to do something, and she needed to do it quickly before Obie found himself in more trouble than he could get out of. She needed to save him from himself. But how?
She looked up from the quilt squares that she was stitching together. They were almost done with the top. Soon they would add the batting and the backing; then they would edge it and quilt it all together. It would be a beautiful quilt to put up for the Clarita auction come next fall. She was sort of glad that this quilt was going off to help the school, not only because it would help others, but because if it had been her quilt, she didn’t know if she could look at it without remembering all this turmoil. This was supposed to be the happiest time of her life, and yet every night she prayed for peace and understanding and understanding and peace.
Lord, just help me be patient as we get through this crisis. Give us support and peace in our thoughts as we get through this time. And Lord, in Your infinite wisdom as we near the wedding day, please help us through to that bright patch on the other side. Amen.
“Verna,” Eileen started, “will you be able to sew the rest of these squares together?” Of the group, Mammi was the one with the least responsibilities to family and kin. So she was usually the one who sewed the final quilt squares together. Everyone at this quilting circle sewed as many squares together as they possibly could while there. Then Clara Rose’s grandmother took the six or so blocks to piece together into the final quilt top. After that, the true quilting would begin.
“Of course. Of course,” Mammi said.
“It’ll be so exciting to see it as a quilt top, don’t you think, Clara Rose?” Tess asked.
Clara Rose nodded. “Jah, that it will be.”
Everyone folded up the squares they were working on and gave them to her mammi before gathering up their things to go.
“What in the world?” Mariana said, pointing to the golden retriever puppy sitting in the middle of Eileen’s living room.
It was about the cutest thing Clara Rose had ever seen. Big brown eyes and fluffy golden fur. Her fingers longed to run themselves through that soft fur, and get a bunch of puppy kisses for her effort.
“Obie, come out here!” Eileen shouted.
Of course it was Obie. He was the only Amish golden retriever breeder in the area. And he had the prettiest and sweetest puppies that anyone could ever want to have.
He ducked out of the kitchen, half of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in one hand and a glass of milk in the other.
“Don’t they feed you at home, boy?” Eileen asked, though her eyes twinkled. It was so obvious she loved her nephew very much. Maybe even more so since his twin had decided to run off to Pinecraft and delay his joining the church by several months.
“Just thought I’d bring him to visit today.” He smiled and took a gulp of the milk.
“He better not pee on my clean floor,” Eileen said.
Obie shook his head. “Tater would never do that. He’s a good pup, and he’s already housebroken.”
“I am not taking a puppy from you,” Eileen said.
“Aw, Auntie, the kids are going to love it.”
“It’s going to be enough work with two little kids running around the house. We’re not accustomed to having children underfoot. The last thing we need is a puppy in here too.”
Obie looked crushed, and Clara Rose noticed that he never once turned his gaze to her. Did he feel as awkward as she did about the kiss they’d shared? Was she the only one who’d felt that tingle, that zing? Must be.
“But I saved him just for you. He was the best one of the litter.”
“Can I have him?” The words jumped from Clara Rose’s lips before she had time to think them through. Her mother would probably pull her hair out if she brought the puppy home, but with all the trouble she and Obie had been having lately, having that pup in the house would be like having a piece of Obie underfoot. A piece that wouldn’t tell her that she shouldn’t marry Thomas and not give her a good reason why. That was a piece she could definitely deal with.
Obie turned to face her for the first time since he’d come in. “Hi there, Clara Rose.”
She gave him a small nod. “He’s a great-looking pup.”
She hated that things were so awkward between them now. But what was a girl to do? It wasn’t every day her best friend tried to kiss her. Not every day at all. Her heart broke that things were so strained between them now. Was that her fault? Had she reacted badly to the kiss? Responded incorrectly? Was she the only one who felt that longing for more?
What she would give to go back to a time before all this happened, maybe even back as far as when Obie first came to the sewing circle and asked her not to marry Thomas. Maybe if she had handled things differently from that day until now, she and Obie would still be friends.
If she asked him, he would probably say that the two of them were still friends, but everything had definitely changed. It had changed so much that their relationship was hardly recognizable, and she and Thomas weren’t even married yet.
They had three more weeks before the actual wedding. Three more weeks of cooking and freezing and ironing and last-minute preparations before they said their vows. She could only pray that things would improve after that. But judging by the distant look in his green eyes, he didn’t have a lot of hope.
He gave a small nod. “Jah, he’s a good pup.” He swallowed hard and seemed to think about it a second. “Sure. You can have him. Consider him my wedding present.”
Obie ducked back into the kitchen, and Clara Rose picked up Tater the pup. She held him close to her, inhaling that sweet puppy scent even as her tears fell into that soft fur. Nothing would ever be the same again.
* * *
“Clara Rose!” Mamm shouted. “Come get this pup!”
Clara Rose hustled down the stairs to rescue Tater from yet another mischievous disaster. Or rather to rescue her mamm’s knitting from the ornery canine.
She snatched him up and held him close, quickly noting that she had arrived just in time. The sweater Mamm was knitting was safe once again. At least for a time.
Her mother shook her head and disappeared into the kitchen, her look of disapproval sticking around long after she had left.
Clara Rose kissed the puppy on the top of his head and received a sweet puppy kiss in return.
There were times when he reminded her so much of Obie that her heart hurt. She hadn’t seen him since he had given her the puppy. Not even at church. She had heard through the talk at the quilting circle that he had gone over to Clarita to help his cousin, but secretly she feared that he had gone off to Pinecraft with his brother. If that was the case, she wondered if he’d ever come back.
“What does Thomas think about the dog?” Anamaria asked as she came through the house carrying a basket of towels to the upstairs bathroom.
“He uh . . . thinks Tater is staying here.”
Once they were married, she and Thomas were moving into the main Lapp house until they built their own house in the lot across the street.
Anamaria looked around to see if their mother was listening in. “Does Mamm know this?”
So far, Tater had chewed up two and a half pairs of shoes, the hallway rug, several baskets, and the lunchbox Clara Rose used when she needed to take food to work with her.
Clara Rose shook her head. “He’s not staying here. He’s coming with me.”
Her sister propped the basket on one hip and eyed her skeptically. “When are you going to tell Thomas?”
She shrugged and placed the pup back on his too-big feet. “Soon, I guess.”
Anamaria snorted. “I would hope so. The wedding is in less than five days.”
A pain shot through her heart at the thought. In less than five days, she would be a married woman. She and Thomas would go to live in the family house until they got their own place built. Surely Thomas would get used to having Tater underfoot. Sure, the beast was an ornery puppy now, a ball of fur with entirely too much energy for such a small creature. But he wouldn’t be so small for long. And when he was a seventy-pound faithful companion and watchdog, Thomas would be thankful to have him.
She shook her head at her own thoughts. Maybe then Thomas wouldn’t care that it was her last and final gift from Obie. She didn’t know if she would ever see Obie again. Tater was her last piece of her best friend.
“Clara Rose?”
She shifted her attention from the floor to her sister.
“Are you all right?”
Clara Rose nodded. “Jah, I’m fine. Just nerves,” she said, but she and Anamaria both knew that it was not the truth. Yet she had said it so many times in the last two weeks, she had almost started to believe it.
“Is Thomas coming to pick you up soon?”
“Huh?” she asked.
“Isn’t it buddy bunch night?”
“Jah, of course.” Clara Rose shifted in place and immediately ran through the list of things she needed to do to get ready to play cards with her friends.
Anamaria took a deep breath and immediately Clara Rose knew. “He deserves better, you know.”
“I love Thomas,” she said. And she did. What was not to love? He was just about perfect in every way, and she was the luckiest girl alive to be marrying him next week.
“He needs someone who won’t forget they have a date with him and will give all their attention to him.”
“Are you saying I shouldn’t marry him?” Clara Rose’s throat clogged with unshed tears. She had made her share of mistakes in the last few weeks, but she would do right by Thomas. Always and forever, she would do right by him.
“No, just appreciate him,” Anamaria advised before tromping upstairs to finish her chores.
A knock sounded on the door. Clara Rose jumped, and Tater let out a vicious bark. Well, a vicious puppy bark. He growled like a big dog, all the while wagging his tail.
Clara Rose let out a chuckle at the puppy’s antics and went to answer the door.
“Hi. Sorry I’m late. Are you ready to go?” Thomas asked.
One hand flew to her prayer kapp. “Can I have a few minutes? I got sidetracked with the puppy.”
“Jah, jah.”
She stepped aside for him to enter. “Make yourself at home and I’ll be right back down.”
“Try to hurry,” Thomas said as he removed his hat. “We’re already running behind.”
“Okay,” she said, then flew up the stairs to change her dress.
“What are you doing?” Anamaria asked as Clara Rose rushed into their bedroom, barely waiting until she had cleared the threshold before unpinning her prayer kapp and shucking off her apron.
“Gotta . . .” she started, her words muffled by the fabric of her dress. “Gotta change.” In more ways than one. She had been out of sorts lately. She had let Obie’s worries get to her. She had let his kiss affect her even more. Too many nights, she had stared at the ceiling, reliving every minute of his lips on hers, when she should have been sleeping.
Well, no more.
She was marrying Thomas in just a few more days. He deserved her entire attention, all of her love, everything. And that was exactly what he’d be getting from her from here on out.
She pulled her favorite purple dress over her head and tied on a clean apron. As quickly as possible, she smoothed her hair down using a dab of baby lotion and the palms of her hands. She didn’t have time to brush it out and put it back up so that would have to do. She pinned her hair back into place and gave her reflection a last once-over.
“You look good,” Anamaria said.
“I was going for amazing.”
“Then you look amazing,” Anamaria corrected with a smile.
Clara Rose crossed the room in a heartbeat and wrapped her sister in a tight hug. “Thanks,” she whispered.
“What for?” Anamaria asked returning the embrace.
“For helping me see the truth.”
Clara Rose released her sister and raced back down the stairs to where Thomas waited.