By the time she’d reached the shop door, Kirsten had herself composed enough she could hide her reaction when Mark held the door, his arm brushing against her shoulder. Inside her, a brass marching band was playing an exultant tune.
She was saved from having to say much when the kids and Mark scattered through the store. She remained near the front while comforting Christmas music played from overhead speakers. Taking a deep breath, she walked in the direction of women’s clothing. Aenti Helga’s purse was falling apart. Maybe she could find one in excellent shape.
Kirsten looked down each row for purses. When she saw a familiar face, she smiled and went between the racks of clothing to greet her friend and coworker at Sea Gull Holiday Cottages, Gail Segal. While she and Gail had worked side by side in the half-dozen cottages during the summer, they’d talked about everything and anything. Kirsten suspected she knew more about Gail’s five kins-kinder than she did about her own cousins.
“Good morning, Gail,” she said.
Gail smiled. Her graying brown hair was in a bun that was far looser than Kirsten wore beneath her kapp. Her round face was the perfect complement to her round form. She was the epitome of a loving grossmammi. “Hi, Kirsten. How are things going with your new company?”
“Getting better.” She wasn’t going to fill Gail’s ears with the ups and downs of running a new company. “How are things with you?”
“Busy with the holidays coming up.” She paused, then said, “I was going to stop by your house to talk to you.”
“About what?”
Reaching into her purse, Gail pulled out a key ring with the familiar logo for the Sea Gull Holiday Cottages. “I was wrong when I told you that Lulu would open the cottages in the spring. Instead, she’s decided to sell the resort. She asked me to find someone to fix them up so she’ll get a better price. I can’t do it because we’re heading south for the winter.”
“You’re going to retire?” She tried to ignore the cramp in her stomach. She’d been depending on her job at the cottages in the spring to supplement her income from her cleaning business.
“I said I’d stay as long as Lulu needs me.” One side of her mouth tilted in an ironic smile. “I guess I’m not staying quite that long, but I was hoping you could oversee the repairs and find someone to help. I hear the Amish are great builders.”
Kirsten took the keys. “I’m sure I can find someone who has time over the winter to help. Do you have any idea what Lulu wants to spend?”
Gail smiled again as she named a generous figure. “I hope that helps you find someone.”
“It should.”
“It’s good seeing you. Are you with the other Amish folks who came in?”
“Ja. Two of the younger ones are my cousins, and the other two are friends.”
Friend seemed a peculiar word to use to describe Mark, but she wasn’t going to examine that closer. Instead she accepted Gail’s thanks and continued along the row. She wondered whom she should contact first about the job. It had to be someone she’d enjoy working with because it was clear that project was now completely in her hands. In addition, she knew what Lulu would expect. She would ask around to see who might be interested in taking on the job. She’d ask whoever it was to let Theo help. It would be a gut way for her cousin to learn some skills neither she nor his mamm could teach him.
Smiling again, Kirsten found purses hanging from a rack at the end of the row. A quick look told her there was nothing there she wanted for her aenti. Either the color or the fabric or the style was wrong.
“Look what I found.” Theo’s eyes glowed with excitement as he held up a pair of ice skates. “They’re brand-new, Kirsten.”
“In your size?”
“I’ll grow into them.”
She smiled. “And out of them as well, at the rate you’re growing.” She tilted the tag. “A gut price. They’re a great find, Theo.”
He beamed at her praise. “I can’t wait to skate on the bay.”
“The ice may be rippled from the tides.”
“My farm pond isn’t as big,” said Mark as he came to stand beside the boy, “but it might be smoother. You could set up a hockey rink there. Daryn will be glad to help. He loves hockey, too.”
“Everyone loves hockey,” Theo said before going to find Daryn who was looking at tools on the other side of the store.
“You’re right about finding bargains,” Mark said as he walked with her toward the kitchenware section. “He’s thrilled with those skates.”
“That’s the fun of thrift stores. You never know what you’ll find.” She paused in front of the sign painted red and green and splashed with glitter. The letters on it read, What Does Christmas Mean to You?
“Do you have an answer?” he asked.
“I do have one,” she said. “How about you?”
“I’ve got one, and I’ll tell you mine if you’ll tell me yours.”
She laughed. “On the count of three. One, two, three—”
Together, they said, “Family.”
His brows rose. “I didn’t think you’d say that.”
“Why not?”
“You don’t live with your own family.” His brow puckered. “I don’t even know if you have any brothers and sisters.”
“I don’t.”
“Are your parents living?”
“Ja.”
“You’re in Prince Edward Island, and they’re in Ontario, or so I assume.”
“I offered to help my onkel and his family get settled. When he died, I stayed on to help.” It was the story she’d told everyone who’d asked. Everyone had accepted it.
Mark seemed to as well because he changed the subject as they continued to shop. A half hour later, they came out of the shop with several bags. In addition to Theo’s skates, he and Daryn had found hockey sticks in gut condition, and Janelle had stocked up on the romance novels she loved. While Kirsten hadn’t found a purse for her aenti, she’d picked up practically new cookie sheets and found a large Dutch oven. Aenti Helga would be pleased because it had a glass lid. Even Mark had bought something. He’d discovered a pair of work boots that looked as if they’d never been worn.
A diner across the street seemed convenient for lunch. While they waited for the traffic to clear, the kids talked about what they planned to eat. Kirsten gave Mark a grin when Theo acted as if he hadn’t eaten a huge breakfast that morning after chores. Her grin broadened into a smile when Mark squeezed her hand and winked. The warmth spreading through her had nothing to do with the sun overhead.
They had to wait a few minutes for a table, but soon were seated in a booth near the back. Sitting between Mark and Theo gave Kirsten a view of the interior of the diner and the cars going by outside. Under her feet, a low nap carpet had given up its original color, but the dark wood top of the table was immaculate. Pictures of the Island decorated the walls covered with blue and green striped wallpaper. A Canadian flag with its scarlet maple leaf hung over the curved lunch counter next to a provincial flag displaying oak trees and an elongated lion.
The dark-haired waitress wore a red-and-white checkered apron. Whether it was intended to match the colors along the edges of the Prince Edward Island flag or not, the brightly colored apron accented the woman’s cheery smile as she handed them menus.
When Theo ordered the largest burger along with poutine and onion rings and an extra-large chocolate shake, Kirsten hoped she had enough to pay for it along with her smaller burger and regular fries and Janelle’s chicken sandwich. She reached for her purse to check while the waitress took the Yutzys’ orders.
She must not have been as surreptitious as she’d hoped because Mark said, “Go ahead and order what you want, Daryn. Everyone’s meal is on me today.”
Beneath Daryn’s eager order that matched Theo’s but added an order of mozzarella sticks, Kirsten said, “You don’t have to pay for us.”
“I’m glad to treat everyone. My potato money came in yesterday.”
She was about to remonstrate further, but then saw the gleam in his eyes. Not pride, but satisfaction at having tackled a tough job and seen it through to the end.
“Danki,” she said as her cousins echoed her after the waitress took their orders to the kitchen that was visible through a doorway.
Mark waved aside their words. “I should be the one thanking you. I had no idea going to a used junk shop was so much fun.”
“A thrift shop,” she corrected with a laugh she was glad didn’t sound strained. “Some people in Ontario call them ‘charity shops,’ but it doesn’t matter what you call them as long as you don’t label them junk shops. That sounds rude.”
Daryn folded his arms on the table and grinned. “That’s because my big brother is a snob.”
Mark heard a sharp intake of breath. His? As he glanced around the table, he saw he wasn’t the only one shocked by how his youngest brother had described him.
Kirsten put a hand on his hand balanced on his knee. She gave it a gentle squeeze. To console him in the wake of his brother’s outburst? Or was she reminding him not to retort to Daryn?
Slipping his other hand atop hers, he didn’t let her slide it away. He appreciated her gentle touch more than he could explain.
Daryn’s eyes were wide. “I didn’t mean it as an insult, Mark.”
“Just as a fact?”
“Well...ja.” His brother shifted on the bench. “You know you want things exactly as you want them. You can’t be shaken from your opinions. I’m sixteen, and if I want to buy a buggy with my share of the potato profits, I should be able to.”
“That’s not a conversation we should be having now.” He didn’t want to accuse Daryn of bringing up the subject that had strained their dinner conversation last night after Mark had told his brother that the potato payment had come in. Daryn had been thrilled his share of the money was more than he’d ever possessed in his life, and he announced he was going to use most of it to buy a refurbished buggy he’d heard was for sale on the other side of Shushan.
“Why not?”
“This is a lunch with our friends. We shouldn’t be talking money.”
Daryn glanced at Janelle and got an encouraging smile in return. Did his brother want the buggy to bring her home from youth events? Kirsten wouldn’t be happy about that. Her cousin was too young to get serious about any boy. Daryn wasn’t old enough to have a relationship either.
“It’s my money,” his brother retorted. “You told me not to waste it, and I’m not going to. I’m investing in my future. I thought you’d be happy that I’m doing the best I can. How many times have you said that the only standards worth having are high ones?”
“That doesn’t mean I’m a snob. It means I’m dedicated to doing my best.”
“When that dedication means you think nobody else can do as well as you can, that’s being a snob.”
This time, Daryn didn’t shift his gaze. His brother was speaking from the heart. Had he been too tough on the boy? Every time that question had popped into his head, he’d silenced it by reminding himself he didn’t ask more of Daryn than of himself.
Theo broke the tense silence when he said, “Here comes our food!”
Mark reached for the dispenser to pass around napkins to each of them. As Kirsten accepted one, he saw the sympathy in her eyes. He let the conversation flow around him as if he were a rock in a sparkling stream. Kirsten didn’t say much either, and he felt awful that his disagreement with Daryn had ruined her day. When, after they’d eaten and he’d paid, Janelle suggested they visit the other thrift store in Shushan, Kirsten’s nod showed a lack of interest.
As soon as the others were hurrying along the street toward the second thrift store, Mark said, “I’m sorry about what happened in the diner.”
“You don’t have to apologize. I’ve had similar discussions with Janelle. Daryn will come around to understanding that buying a buggy is silly when he plans to return to Ontario.”
“If he goes...”
Her eyes widened as wisps of her dark hair were whipped about by the wind coming over the bridge ahead of them. “He’s not going home?”
“I get the feeling he doesn’t want to. Last night, he said he’d never earn so much money if he works in the woodshop.” He stepped around a puddle of slush and onto the bridge. “He doesn’t know where he wants to be.” Shaking his head, he added, “He’s one mixed-up kid.”
“Most of us are at sixteen. Our futures lay in front of us, and we could do or be anything we wanted to be. With infinite choices, it’s not easy to see the path God has already created for us. We don’t want to accept that the easy path—the one with God’s blessings—is what we should choose when there are so many other ways and things calling to us.”
“I’ve tried talking to him about things that interest him, as you suggested.”
“How’s that going? Have you seen changes in him?”
“Tiny ones. He’s showing his sense of humor more, and he’s not rushing out of the house after supper every night. Some nights, he doesn’t go out at all.”
“That’s odd.”
He paused and faced her. “What’s odd?”
“Theo’s been going out every evening. I’ve assumed he was with Daryn and his friends.”
“He may be with the other boys even when Daryn’s not.”
She put one hand on the rail not far from his. As a car went over the bridge, the metal vibrated beneath his palm. He looked at where her gloved hand was less than a finger’s breadth from his. The sensations that had spiraled through him when she put her hand on his in sympathy came awake again. If he took a half step forward, his arms could enfold her and draw her to him. A frisson that had nothing to do with the cold went shimmying down his spine. Until his farm’s future was secure, he couldn’t include anyone else.
“I guess I should be grateful,” she said, drawing her hand away as if privy to his thoughts. She clasped her hands together. “Theo is no longer dragging himself around the house, and his steps have gotten lighter in the past few weeks.” As she continued along the bridge, he hurried to keep up, though it took it all his strength not to sweep her into his arms. She added as he caught up with her, “Aenti Helga isn’t happy when Theo heads out to meet the other boys after dark. He’s twelve. She’s concerned he may not paying enough attention at school.”
“Theo’s old enough to know the importance about being in bed early on a school night, ain’t so?”
He could see that his comment had astonished her, and he understood when she said, “You are right, and I want Theo to make gut decisions for himself, not to follow blindly after his friends.”
“But he’s twelve.”
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
“At twelve, every boy believes he could become a superhero if the situation demanded it, and at the same time, he’s afraid he’ll be the only one who won’t grow up to have an adult’s superpowers.”
She laughed. “Adult superpowers?”
“Look at it from his point of view. Adults make decisions. They have jobs that pay them. Theo is dependent upon you. I doubt there’s a time in a boy’s life more baffling than when he’s twelve.”
“And in a man’s life?”
He chuckled. “That is a whole other subject. Let’s stick to the current problem.”
“The best idea I’ve heard.” She smiled, and that warmth enveloped him again.
He savored it while he could.