“Ready?” Caleb asked as he held out his left hand. In his right, he held a tray of apple pie squares. It would claim the last empty spot in the display cases.
“Ready.” Annie smiled at him as she clasped his hand.
They walked together out of the kitchen and into the front room of the bakery. Everything glistened in the warm morning sunshine pouring through the pristine windows. The light danced on the quartet of black tables topped with containers of creamers and sugar, waiting for customers to sit and enjoy a cup of kaffi. It sparkled on the glass in the display cases and across the small refrigerator Caleb had installed the day before when they realized they wanted to have a place to store fresh milk, cream and whipped cream for the drinks and baked goods.
Yesterday, she’d joined him out front when he installed the sign that announced Hartz Bakery would soon be open for business. She treasured the memory of his smile when he finished patting down the dirt around the posts holding the sign in place. His dream was coming true, and so was hers.
She looked at the multicolored floorboards. A smile tilted her lips as it did each time she thought of the little boy and his mamm and daed, who had decided to remain in Harmony Creek Hollow. They were renting a small tenant house from the Bowmans, whose farm was about halfway between Caleb’s house and Miriam’s. Joey had been seen by a doktor who had several ideas for helping him see better. Elson had already begun work with her friend Sarah’s brothers at their sawmill, and he and Becky Sue were attending baptism classes. A happy ending to a difficult story...
And Annie was relieved that her grossmammi was going to see a cardiac specialist next week. She prayed the doktor would be able to diagnosis what was causing Grossmammi Inez to be so short of breath.
“You look happy,” Caleb said after placing the tray in the display case.
“How can I not be happy? Becky Sue and Joey are being taken care of and your bakery is opening today.”
“Our bakery.” He ran his fingers along her cheek. “I didn’t realize how much better a dream coming true could be when it was a dream shared.”
“As I didn’t know that once an idea is brought to life, it can belong to both of us.”
He glanced toward the window where a line snaked from the door all the way around the driveway. With a husky laugh, he pulled her to him and gave her a resounding kiss that sent delight racing from her lips to the very tips of her toes. He drew back enough to whisper, “We’ll finish the kiss later.”
“And start more.”
Chuckling, he squeezed her. “I love how you think.” He released her and walked to the door.
Annie positioned herself behind the counter where she’d take the orders from their customers. When he looked at her, she gave him a thumbs-up.
He threw the door open and said, with a flourish of his arm, “Welcome to the Hartz Bakery.”
A cheer rose from outside, and Annie almost shivered with glee. Their hard work had brought this day. Not just working on the bakery, but the tougher task of learning to trust each other after being betrayed in the past.
Checking that her kapp hadn’t shifted while she helped Caleb put the goods in the cases, she greeted their very first customer, “Gute mariye, Deputy Flanagan. What can I get for you today?”
The tall man selected two raspberry muffins and three oatmeal-raisin cookies. As Annie put them into a small box, she looked past the deputy to where Caleb was talking with some of his fellow firefighters who were waiting for their turn to place their orders. He smiled at her, and she wondered how her heart could hold so much happiness as his dream and her own came true. She had a lifetime with him to figure that out.
If you enjoyed this story,
don’t miss the first two books in the
Amish Spinster Club series
from Jo Ann Brown:
The Amish Suitor
The Amish Christmas Cowboy
And be sure to pick up
these other exciting books
by Jo Ann Brown:
Amish Homecoming
An Amish Match
His Amish Sweetheart
An Amish Reunion
A Ready-Made Amish Family
An Amish Proposal
An Amish Arrangement
Find more great reads at www.LoveInspired.com
Keep reading for an excerpt from The Amish Baker by Marie E. Bast.
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