CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Margot was already outside when I crossed the threshold and inhaled the sweet scent of hyacinths blooming in a planter just outside the front door of the café. Beyond the hyacinth planter and the sidewalk, on the other side of the street was the square.
The white gazebo had been freshly painted just before Easter. The needles on the pine trees around the square shone, and every blade of grass seemed to be pointed in the same direction. Not even the grass would have the nerve to do something other than Margot’s bidding. If I looked hard enough, I could almost see the sign on the front window of Swissmen Sweets on the opposite side of the square.
A white-bearded figure moved around the square, picking up bits of litter from the grass. I realized that it was Uriah Schrock. I looked away, but not before he spotted me, and his face broke into a wide smile.
I guessed that Lois was right and I was going to end up volunteering for fourteen different activities on the square.
However, Margot surprised me by saying, “I have heard what happened at the greenhouse and wanted to know how Edith is getting on.”
“Edith?” I asked dumbly. I didn’t know why I was surprised by the question. It’s one I should have anticipated since Margot was just as nosy as Raellen. “She is as well as can be expected.”
“Is she closing the greenhouse?” She cocked her head as if in concern.
I started. “Closing the greenhouse? Why?”
“I heard it wasn’t doing well financially.” She lowered voice. “There have been rumors.”
“She’s not closing.” I cleared my throat. “In fact, she has decided to bring back the Edy’s Greenhouse bonfire that her father used to host every year.”
Margot raised her eyebrows. “Really? I’m surprised, considering . . .” She waited as if she wanted me to fill in the blank. I stared back at her because I wasn’t going to do that. I wasn’t going to say anything that might reveal too much to Margot Rawlings about Edith’s life.
“Well, I’m happy, for one, to hear that Edith is making a comeback of sorts. We have missed her flowers at the farmers’ market. I was quite surprised when I heard she no longer wanted to participate.”
“She said that?” I asked.
“Zeke Miller did. I suppose now that he’s gone, she might want to do it again. Please tell her we would love to have her back. Her flowers were one of the best booths we had, and I haven’t been able to find another nursery to replace her that I like as much.”
My pulse quickened. “I will be sure to tell her. She’ll be happy to hear the news too, and I think you are right that she will want to come back.”
“Good.” She paused. “You know I could help Edith plan for the bonfire. I do have some experience planning big events.”
I smiled because I had been expecting this suggestion, and I knew it would be the last thing Edith would want. “That’s so very kind of you, but Edith would like to do this on her own. It’s important to her and she needs a project right now.”
Margot nodded. “I can understand the need of a project, probably more than most.”
“But we would love it if you could come. All the Amish and Englisch in Harvest are invited.”
“I will do that then.” She looked at the square. “I’m happy to see how much the village has grown in the last year. I promise you there will many more wonderful things to come. Not to mention Bailey’s Amish Sweets will be filming here in the summer, and the minister’s wedding is coming up too. It will be quite a summer for us all. I have so much to do.” She said good-bye and left.
I let out a giant sigh as she disappeared around the corner of the church. When I couldn’t see her any longer, I turned around to go back into the café and ran into Uriah Schrock’s chest with my nose.
“Oh, so sorry,” Uriah said, holding me at arm’s length. “I didn’t know you were going to turn that quickly. You are certainly still light on your feet.”
I rubbed my nose and felt relieved when he let go of my arms.
He smiled kindly at me. “I saw you standing there with Margot and thought you would like to see a friendly face after your conversation. She has a lot of energy.”
“She does,” I said. For some reason, I didn’t know what to do with my hands. I folded them, put them in my apron pockets, and then just dropped them to my sides as if they were useless things.
“Actually, I wasn’t telling the whole truth. For the most part, I came over just to say hello.” He blushed.
I found myself blushing too and wanted to pinch myself to make me stop.
Beyond me, Uriah looked into the window of the café and frowned.
“Is something wrong?” I asked and looked over my shoulder. Through the window, I saw Bryan watching us so intently that it made me feel ill at ease. I turned my attention back to Uriah.
“Nothing is wrong.” He shook his head. “It just seems odd to me that that young man can sit in this window day after day just . . . watching. He’s always watching. It’s unnerving.”
“What’s he watching?” I asked.
“It’s hard to say, but I know he’s had his eye on Darcy. Any man could tell you that by the way he watches her.”
I shivered.
“I’m so sorry. My wife used to say that I was given to an overactive imagination.”
“Imagination can be a gut thing,” I said.
He beamed at me. “I’m glad you think so, Millie, very glad.”
I felt as if I had a wad of cotton in my mouth. “Ya, well . . .”
“I should be getting back to the square. There is going to be a concert put on by the local school bands, and Margot wants everything to be perfect.”
I smiled.
He started to leave and then stopped. “Millie?”
My breath caught. “Ya.”
“I’m very glad our paths have crossed again.” With that, he left.
“I’m very glad too,” I whispered and then went back into the café.
Darcy let out a breath as soon as I stepped inside. “Oh my God.” She winced and glanced at me. “Sorry, Millie.”
I smiled.
“I just thought she would never leave. She was here for three hours and insisted on tasting everything. Thank goodness, I got that cheese I needed yesterday because she definitely ordered a grilled cheese. Two, in fact! She put them both away. I never knew that a tiny woman could eat so much.”
Lois patted Darcy on the back. “You did well.”
“Thanks, Grandma.” Her face fell as grief settled back down on her shoulders. Adrenaline had kept her moving while Margot was here, but now that the older woman was gone, she deflated.
“Are you all right, my girl?” Lois asked and hugged her.
“Not right now, but I know I will be. I just wish . . .”
“What do you wish?” Lois asked.
“I know it’s stupid. I just wish that Zeke was here to see it. We did a lot of this café together, and no matter how he treated me, he deserved to see how well received it has been so he could have been proud of this place too.”
I bit my lip, trying to hold back the words, but in the end I said them. “I don’t know if it’s much comfort, but I do believe that Zeke cared for you.”
She looked up at me with tears in her eyes. “How do you know?”
I told her about my last conversation with Edith, in which she’d said that Zeke almost seemed relieved she was calling off their wedding. “He felt that way because of you.” What I didn’t add was that it didn’t excuse the fact that Zeke had brought the greenhouse to the cusp of financial ruin. Nor that he’d been carrying on a relationship with two different women simultaneously. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Bryan was following our conversation very closely. I tried not to think about what Uriah had said concerning the young Englisch writer.
“Thank you. That makes this a little easier to bear. I thought I wasn’t worthy of being loved.”
“Everyone is,” I said. “Even Zeke.”
She smiled. “I did love him. Maybe I fell for him too quickly. I know I did, but that doesn’t make the feelings any less real.”
I shook my head. “It doesn’t.”
“I’d like to come to the bonfire if you think that would be okay with Edith. Grandma was just telling me about it. I think I need to have some closure over what happened with Zeke.”
“I think she would like to meet you.” I would have said more but Deputy Aiden and Deputy Little stepped into the café just then.
“Millie,” Deputy Aiden said. “I thought I would find you here.”
What had I done now? I wondered.