"Heidi, Derek told us how you hit your head. Are you all right?" She leaned over and kissed Heidi on the cheek, and then smiled at Michael, who was now fast asleep.
Heidi giggled. "I'm fine. He tends to overreact. I've just been to the doctor and he says I'm okay."
Faith kept staring at Michael. "That’s good. And here he is. Can I have a hold?"
"Sure." Heidi passed the baby over.
Faith cradled the baby in her arms and swayed her body to and fro, looking like she’d done that many times before. "You've just been to the doctors, just now?"
"Jah. We’ve just come from there now. Derek’s bringing toys in."
"Ah, good. I’ll just let Ben know he's coming in. How many boxes has he got?"
"He just said a few. I’m not sure how many that means." Heidi guessed her friend had married Derek's older brother.
Faith fetched Ben from the back room and on his way out, he nodded hello to Heidi. Then Derek appeared at the doorway carrying two boxes, one on top of the other. Derek passed the boxes to Ben and went back to the buggy for more.
"Where are the girls?" Faith asked Heidi.
"They’re at Mamm’s today. We’re fetching them later."
Derek came in with another box in time to overhear the conversation. "We're heading off to get them soon and then staying for dinner."
A cold shiver ran through Heidi. She was about to come face-to-face with the parents who’d cruelly cut her off as though she’d never existed. How could she face them? In this life, though, they hadn't disowned her because she’d done everything expected of her. She had married her childhood sweetheart, she kept a nice home, had babies and supported her husband in his work. In her opinion, the real test of a parent’s love was always being there no matter what. She was nervous about what she'd find when she saw them.
"How many more boxes have you got, Derek?" Ben asked him.
"Two more."
When customers came through the door, Faith passed the baby back to Heidi. Heidi wandered around at the back of the store looking at all the items. Christmas always used to be such a happy time and all the items she saw reminded her of the gifts she’d received as a child.
When the customers were gone, Faith said, “Heidi, how about you come for dinner tomorrow night?”
“That would be lovely, but I’ll have to check with Derek first.”
Derek walked into the room, again overhearing what Heidi said. “Check with me about what?”
“Dinner tomorrow night,” Faith said. “At our haus.”
“That’s fine with me.”
Heidi smiled at Faith. “We’d love to come.”
“Good. We’ll look forward to it.”
Just then a group of people filled the store. They looked like they were from a tour bus.
“Okay, are you ready?” Derek asked her.
She swung around to look at her husband. “Jah.”
They waved goodbye to Ben and Faith who were both busily preparing to serve all the customers.
“They look like they’re going to be run off their feet,” Heidi said.
“They get busier than that. That’s why they’re going to need me here.”
“I’m okay; you should help them now if you want.”
“I will, but not today. I just want to make sure you’re okay first. If you still don’t want to be left on your own tomorrow, they’ll find someone else.”
Don’t want to be left on my own? Was she having some kind of a breakdown? She shook her head. “I keep telling you I’m fine.”
They headed back to the buggy, and as they drove away, Derek said, "Do we need any food now that we’re so close to the markets?”
"I don't think so. We’ve got enough food for the time being." She felt smugly pleased with herself for checking the food situation earlier in the day. They didn’t have much meat, but perhaps the family preferred not to eat much. Then it dawned on her that they may not be able to afford much meat, and they might be on a strict budget.
"Should we take something to your mudder's for tonight?"
She swallowed hard. She wasn’t ready to see her parents again. "I suppose we could get a cake, or something."
"Cakes are always a good idea. And then we can get you one of your caramel lattes with the three shots of caramel for the drive home."
She giggled at the kind of coffee she liked. It sounded awful. "That sounds good." She liked caramel, but not in her coffee. Maybe she needed the energy from all that sugar in this life. It occurred to her that if this life was real, that meant she was able to cross between alternate universes, so why had she never done it before? Or, was there some other explanation?
Derek looked down at Michael in her arms. "Sleeping again? What a gut life he has."
Heidi giggled. "Eating, sleeping, and being carried around. It is indeed a gut life."
"You're sounding a lot brighter."
"Jah, I’m feeling good." As they both looked at the road ahead, she worried about her older children. How easy would they be to look after? She reminded herself that most Amish children were well-behaved. They were always raised strictly.
When they walked into the markets, Heidi saw little had changed in the time she’d been gone. Even many of the stallholders were the same, except older. She stayed back a little, and followed Derek until he stopped at a cake stall. Heidi’s mouth watered as she looked over the varied assortment of frosted cakes and pies.
"I'll let you choose." Derek said, seeming to be just as lost in the array of cakes as she was.
"There's too much choice.”
“Hmm. It’ll have to be between the chocolate mud cake and the peach pie."
Heidi said, “What about apple? I say we should go with the apple pie because that’s Dat’s favorite."
“Don't you think that’ll make your mudder sad?"
"Why would it make her sad?"
She looked into Derek’s face and gasped. She realized that her father was no longer with them. It had never entered her head that one of them might have died. She could feel the tears welling behind her eyes.
Before the tears spilled down her cheeks, she handed Michael over to Derek. Then she remembered; the restrooms were on the other side of the markets. Without a further word, she hurried to find them. She walked on and on, trying to keep the tears contained. Finally, she reached her destination and pushed the door open.
As soon as she closed the stall door behind her, the tears ran down her face. She grabbed a handful of tissue to blot the tears. It’d been years since she’d seen her parents. and to learn that one of them had died seemed impossible. It didn’t seem real. This life was getting weirder by the minute and too far removed from her normal life to feel comfortable.
So many questions ran through her mind. Is that why her parents hadn't contacted her? Because her father had died and Mamm didn’t know how to tell her? And why hadn't anyone else told her? She didn’t even get the chance to go to his funeral.
After crying for a solid five minutes, she blew her nose, unlocked the door of the toilet cubicle, and looked in the mirror above the washbasin. Her face was flushed red and her eyes were swollen. It was obvious she'd been crying. After she washed her hands and splashed cold water on her face, she knew she’d have to leave the restroom and face Derek. He’d want to know why she didn’t know about her father.
She pushed the door open and was faced with Derek, holding the baby and a box.
She smiled at him.
"Better?" he asked.
She pressed her lips together and nodded.
He had the baby securely in one hand and with the other, he held up the white box by its string. "I got the chocolate cake."
She swallowed and nodded. "Good choice."
"Come on, let's go home."
She kept her head down as they walked out of the farmers market. On the way home Derek asked the question she’d been waiting for. "Why didn't you remember your vadder had died?"
With her head hung low, she said, "I can't answer that."
"But the doctor said you were okay, jah?"
"That's right."
He shook his head. "I don't know how that could be." He glanced over at her. "Did you tell him everything?"
"Jah."
"I should've come in with you."
"He mentioned I might have a slight concussion. That’s why he said if I feel nausea or get excessively sleepy, I should call the paramedics. I haven't felt like that at all apart from the general sleepiness, and that’s only because of the lack of sleep I've been getting lately." She glanced at Derek hoping she hadn’t been speaking too quickly.
"But he's been sleeping through the night for a couple of weeks now."
"I'm still catching up," she said. “Are we going to Mamm’s now?"
"I thought we’d go there at around five."
"Good idea." She would have a few hours to herself to figure out what was going on before she met her mother again. It wouldn't be the same without her father there.
“Oh, we didn’t get your coffee.”
“Don’t worry about that. That’s the last thing—”
“Nee, I know how much you enjoy them. We’ll stop at the little café you like on the way home.”
“Denke.” She glanced at him. No one had gone to that much trouble for her over anything. It was nice to have a man to look after her. Derek was just as attentive now as he’d been when they were courting so many years ago. If only she’d realized what she was walking away from. It was comforting to know that he hadn’t changed after marriage.
He parked the buggy and then hurried in to get her take-out coffee while she and Michael remained in the warmth of the buggy. She could get used to this life. It was nice to be free of the constant worry and pressures of the real estate business. There was always some drama unfolding or some pitfall to be avoided.
He climbed back into the buggy and put the drink in a little holder next to the heater.
“A cup holder!”
He glanced over at her. “Jah.”
“That’s such a convenience.”
He remained quiet and took hold of the reins.