Romancing Nadine Read online

  “I don’t see any others,” Jenna said with a pout.

  “This one—” Charlotte started, but Nadine cut her off.

  “We don’t have to decide today. We have plenty of time. I had to make three separate trips before I found the fabric I wanted. This is a big day and you want everything to be just right.”

  Jenna nodded. “I’m glad you understand.” Nadine didn’t miss the slight emphasis on the word you, and she was pretty sure Charlotte had heard it too. Jenna looked around the store and Nadine could tell that she’d had her heart set on finding the fabric today.

  “Why don’t you look for some fabric for a dress? Would you like for me to make you a new dress?”

  Jenna’s face lit up and her whole demeanor changed. “Would you?” She clapped her hands in excitement, then beelined for the shelves. In less than ten seconds, she had a bolt of fabric pulled and ready. “This one,” she said. “This one.”

  Once again it might not have been as dark as her mother would have liked, but Nadine knew it was fine for every day.

  They gathered up the rest of what they needed and headed out of the shop into the beautiful springtime sunshine.

  “Anyone up for a cookie?” Charlotte asked. She nodded toward Esther’s Bakery across the street.

  “Are you serious?” Nadine protested. “We still have twenty pounds of chocolate at home.”

  “Cookies and candies are two entirely different things,” Jenna said.

  “Jah.” Nadine shot her a look over her silver-rimmed glasses. “I am aware of that. But they both are sweet and—” She hadn’t finished the thought when Jenna and Charlotte started across the street and into the small, narrow park that bisected Main Street straight down the middle.

  The sun shone down from the cheery blue sky so there were more than a few children playing on the swing set and the monkey bars.

  Nadine loved the park, but she never got to spend enough time there.

  But today wasn’t going to be the day for that either. They crossed over the far side of Main and let themselves into the bakery.

  Nadine stopped dead in her tracks at the sight before her. She couldn’t believe her eyes.

  “Amos Fisher! What are you doing here?”

  * * *

  He had known that working at the bakery would put him front and center in Wells Landing. Just as he had known that, sooner or later—even working part-time—there would come a day when Nadine would come in. He just hadn’t expected that day to be today.

  She dropped her packages at her sides, her mouth open with shock.

  “I work here.”

  She shook her head. “Is Esther that desperate for help?”

  “Mammi!” Jenna bumped shoulders with her grandmother, then bent down to pick up the packages Nadine had dropped.

  “I can bake.” Amos tried to keep his voice from sounding defensive, and he almost succeeded. But sometimes a man got tired of being doubted.

  Nadine seemed not to know how to reply. “Jah. Okay.”

  “I made the banana nut bread I brought over to your house.”

  “It was so good,” Charlotte gushed.

  “We went to buy fabric today,” Jenna added. “For the wedding.”

  Amos nodded to Charlotte. “Thank you.” And to Jenna, “Is that so?”

  Her smile beamed as she nodded, and he thought it might be his favorite smile of all. “We didn’t find any though. But I got material for a new dress.”

  “Fantastic. So, what can I get you this afternoon?” he asked.

  “We came for cookies,” Jenna answered, stepping closer to the counter.

  “I just baked a batch of Christmas cookies,” he said.

  “Did you decorate them too?” Charlotte asked.

  He shook his head. “Jodie is in the back. She’s the icing slinger.”

  Jenna giggled. “I like Christmas cookies.”

  Amos nodded. “I think the teddy bears taste the best. It’s all that chocolate frosting.”

  “That’s what I want. A teddy bear cookie and a cup of coffee.”

  “Jenna Gail.”

  Jenna straightened and turned toward her mother. One moment, she was laughing and having a great time, and then the next she was stiff, her chin lifted and her teeth clenched. “Mamm.”

  It was Nadine’s turn to bump shoulders with Charlotte.

  He wasn’t sure what that was all about, but Charlotte nodded and Jenna returned to her loving self, with maybe a few angry flashes toward her mother. It was a power play as far as he could tell. He was sure Jenna was doing everything she could to be as independent as possible, and having a coffee was apparently part of that plan.

  He got a blueberry muffin and a hot chocolate for Charlotte and a piece of pecan pie and a glass of milk for Nadine.

  He helped a couple more customers while the Burkharts ate their snacks. One was an Englisch couple who seemed so much in love. Was it easier to court being Englisch? It had to be, he thought as he watched them sit side by side. They didn’t have to wait to join the church to date or go to singings as a way to meet a potential spouse. But it couldn’t be that easy either. How was he to know? He would never date as an Englischer or an Amish teenager.

  He looked over and caught Nadine watching him. She quickly looked away.

  What was he doing? He was too old to have a handle on what was new and modern in the love department. The candy hadn’t worked; asking his Englisch friends hadn’t helped, nor had asking his Amish friends. What was next? He had no idea. Give up?

  But when they rose to leave, he found himself on the front side of the counter.

  “Nadine.”

  She stopped, Jenna and Charlotte along with her.

  “I was wondering,” he started. Wondering how I get myself into these things. “I was wondering if maybe I could come by tomorrow. You know, visit a little while.”

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  As she said the words, Charlotte spoke up. “Of course you can.”

  Nadine shook her head. “No. That’s not a good idea at all.”

  “Around three?” Charlotte continued.

  Amos nodded, not sure if he was agreeing to come or to stay away.

  “See you then.”

  * * *

  Why was he doing this again?

  Oh, because he had some cockamamie idea that God wanted him and Nadine Burkhart to be together. The problem was God had forgotten to tell Nadine. And now she was resisting him tooth and nail. Not exactly how he thought he would find the love of his life.

  But despite all her grumpiness and resistance, there was something special about Nadine. The story she’d told him about marrying the first boy who had ever taken her home from a singing and how she believed that she would never have love again in her life had touched him. It was sad, so sad. Much worse than having to wait sixty years before your love came along.

  Jah, that was why he was here.

  But it had taken him a while to make up his mind about coming over. Such a while that it was a quarter after three.

  He shifted the stuffed elephant from one hand to the other. He had learned from his last mistake. He hadn’t bought the biggest one he could find. This time, he trimmed back, went for the subtle approach. That way, if she tossed him out on his ear—and that was a very likely outcome—he wouldn’t feel quite as ridiculous leaving behind a regular-sized stuffed animal instead of a life-sized one.

  He hopped up the porch steps and raised one hand to knock on the door. It was opened before his knuckles met wood.

  Charlotte stood on the other side of the threshold. “Amos. So good to see you.” She grabbed his arm and dragged him into the house. He tripped on the weather stripping but managed to keep from falling on his face. Which was double good seeing as how Nadine had suddenly appeared. Any face-falling he would have done would have put him nose to toe of her well-worn black walking shoes.

  “I didn’t think you were coming,” Nadine said.

&n
bsp; “What my mother-in-law means to say,” Charlotte interjected, “is that we were beginning to get worried.”

  He nodded. “Sorry I’m late.”

  “You didn’t have to come at all.”

  “Don’t mind her,” Charlotte said. “She’s always grumpy around this time.”

  “That is not true.”

  Amos loved how pink her cheeks turned. Imagine a woman her age, blushing. “What time is that?”

  “April.”

  “I’ve had it with the both of you. I’m going upstairs.”

  Amos held the plush animal out to her. “I brought this for you.”

  Her eyes lit up like a young girl’s and she almost smiled. But then she caught herself and her lips turned down into a disapproving frown. “Why?” But it was too late; he had already seen it. Maybe she wasn’t as immune to him as she wanted him to believe she was.

  He shrugged. “I guess it’s an Englisch thing.”

  “And what am I supposed to do with it?”

  “Keep it. I guess ... How am I supposed to know what women do with such things? I’ve been a bachelor my entire life.”

  “I’ll take it if you don’t want it.” Jenna picked that time to buzz through. He hadn’t noticed her tractor outside, but he hadn’t exactly been looking either. Romancing Nadine was proving to be almost more than his heart could take.

  Jenna plucked the elephant from his outstretched hands, and in turn Nadine took it back from her. “I don’t think so. Have your own beau buy you one.”

  Wait ... had she just called him her beau?

  Nadine held the elephant out and studied it with sparkling eyes and a deepening frown. “What’s with all these Englisch customs?” she asked. “Are you thinking about jumping the fence?”

  “Not a chance. At my age, trying to jump a fence would end in a broken leg. Or two.”

  “Amos.” Charlotte chuckled. “You are too funny. Would you like a cup of coffee?”

  He looked around the room full of women, all of whom were looking back at him. “Jah. Sure.”

  Charlotte led the way with Jenna taking up the rear.

  “I thought you had to go home,” Nadine said to Jenna as they all sat down at the kitchen table.

  “No . . .” She dragged the one word out until it stretched halfway across the room. “I think I’ll stay for a bit longer.”

  “You just want coffee,” Nadine said.

  “Maybe.” She held up her cup for her mother to fill.

  Amos supposed they had gotten over their coffee disagreement from the day before.

  “I guess that’s where you’ve been keeping yourself,” Nadine said. He couldn’t read her tone but it sounded a little like she was disappointed. In him? What he had done but gotten a job to relieve some of the boredom of retirement? That and he had been a little busy lately. And maybe he had told himself not to bother Nadine Burkhart. So he hadn’t. For an entire week he had managed to stay away. Even with a non-church Sunday in the mix. Perhaps the most beautiful day they’d had since spring had sprung. A perfect day for a picnic and lounging about and getting to know one another.

  “So you got all the material for your wedding clothes?” Amos asked. He felt like he had to direct the conversation, lest it wander over to a topic that he didn’t want to talk about. Like Nadine. And he surely had to do something to stop his wayward thoughts.

  “Not yet.” Jenna frowned. “And the wedding is in just a few months.”

  Amos wasn’t exactly sure how to respond so he nodded and did his best to have his expression mirror Jenna’s.

  “What about afterward?” Surely that was a safe enough topic.

  “We’re staying with Abbie and Titus.”

  “There on the camel farm?” Amos asked.

  Jenna nodded. “We love it there. And we’ll keep working there. I take care of Abbie and Titus’s twins.”

  “I had heard something about that,” Amos murmured, but allowed Jenna to continue talking about the twins, the camels, Abbie, her parents, Titus, and of course, Buddy.

  Chapter Seven

  Nadine did her best not to notice how utterly kind Amos Fisher was. Sure, he had been kind in other places she had seen him. And he had brought her the biggest box of chocolates known to man and a stuffed elephant that she had no idea what she was going to do with, but she liked all the same.

  Not that she was going to admit that to Amos. Or anyone for that matter. She couldn’t. There was too much at stake. Her heart, her family, her life.

  How many times had she tried to get him to understand? Too many to recall and yet she found him constantly at her elbow. And the worst part of all, she was beginning to become accustomed to it. To him.

  And the way he was with Jenna. Most people talked to her and she was good in social situations, but when Amos talked to her, Nadine could tell he didn’t think any differently of Jenna than he did Emily Riehl or Caroline Fitch. To Amos, they were all the same. And she loved him for that.

  Her thoughts screeched to a halt. No, she appreciated it; that was all. There was no love involved here. None at all.

  “You should go,” Jenna said, touching her arm and bringing Nadine back to the conversation.

  “Jah?”

  “You weren’t listening.” Jenna scrunched up her face in a comic move to show her displeasure. “Amos was telling us about the next seniors’ meeting.”

  He cleared his throat and shifted in his seat. “We’re going over to Whispering Pines to paint with Lorie Kauffman. I mean, Calhoun. I think.”

  She wasn’t sure she knew what half of that meant, but one word was obvious. “Paint?” Most folks thought the use of tractors made Wells Landing a liberal district, but they were wrong. For the most part, they were a conservative community. Not Swartzentruber or anything but not so liberal as to add something like painting to their activities.

  “Cephas knows,” he said, referring to the bishop. Cephas Ebersol was nothing if not a fair man, but painting . . . ?

  “Isn’t that ... prideful?” Nadine couldn’t think of the word she really wanted, but prideful would do.

  “Lorie explained to him how it helps as we get older. Hand-eye coordination and creativity. It helps to keep the brain healthy and working right.”

  “I think it sounds like a lot of fun.” Charlotte’s eyes twinkled. Nadine wasn’t sure what she was up to, but her daughter-in-law had definitely switched sides to promote Amos. Maybe she did want the house all to herself. But even in her own thoughts, the idea wasn’t funny.

  “I don’t know,” she finally said. “It just seems . . . not Amish.”

  Amos shrugged. “Things are changing all over.”

  Wasn’t that the truth.

  “Lorie grew up Amish,” Amos continued. “She left a few years ago and married a nice Englisch boy. She knows what’s accepted and what is not. So she came up with something for us to paint that we can have in our houses.”

  Nadine still wasn’t convinced that the project was within the Ordnung, but if Cephas was okay with it then who was she to say otherwise? Besides, Charlotte was right. It did sound like a lot of fun. It had been years since she had painted anything other than the bathroom. It would be like going back in time to their school days, when they would draw and color and not as much seemed to be against the rules. Or maybe that was just about perception. Whatever it was, she found herself wanting to go. Not with Amos, mind. But to experience the painting. And to meet this Lorie Calhoun that everyone talked about so fondly.

  “I’ve heard of her,” Jenna said. “Lorie Calhoun. How was it that she met this Englisch boy?”

  Amos shook his head and checked the clock that hung over the sink. “It’s a great story, but I’ll have to tell it some other time.” He rose to his feet. “Danki for the coffee.”

  “Danki for the candy,” Charlotte said. “Or rather for giving it to Nadine. It’s been kind of fun to have sweets around.”

  As if they hadn’t had cake every day since Jenna had moved
out.

  “I guess I should go too.” Jenna rose to her feet. “I’ll walk out with you, Amos.”

  Nadine stood and followed them to the door. “Do you need any help getting your things?” Jenna was always coming by and getting canned goods of one kind or another, or half of whatever her mother had baked in a stress fit. She was a good baker, but after tasting Amos’s banana nut bread ...

  “Oh, I got it.” She smiled, then thrust one of the boxes toward Amos. “Help me.”

  He had no choice but to take it. Together, they walked out. Charlotte stood in the doorway, almost blocking Nadine from seeing them, much less being able to follow behind them. She had wanted to talk to Jenna alone for a moment, but she supposed now was not going to be the time.

  She sighed, called out her farewells, and made her way back into the kitchen, where a silly stuffed elephant waited.

  * * *

  “That was good,” Jenna whispered. “Bringing her a stuffed elephant. She loves elephants.”

  “She does?” Amos frowned. He had gone into the drug store for shampoo and had come out with a plush toy instead. But when he had seen it, something about it had made him think of Nadine. But since elephants were the largest animals on the earth, he didn’t think telling her that would come out right.

  “She does.”

  He thought Jenna might be making that up, but the deed was done. He had seen the elephant and knew that he had to give it to Nadine. And not just because his friends had told him to. He was about ready to give up on courting Nadine. As much as he believed they belonged together, he felt as though all his efforts were pushing her away.

  But that was an easy thought to have when he wasn’t around her. Once he was in her presence, he knew that he had to marry her. It was what he had been made for. To erase those years of sadness in thinking that true love could only come once in a lifetime.

  “And I like the idea of painting. I wanna do that.”

  Amos tried not to laugh. “I think you have enough on your plate right now without adding the rebellion of painting.”

  “Maybe.” She tilted her head from side to side in a gesture he took to mean she agreed. “Plus I’m not old enough.”

  This time, Amos did chuckle. “Maybe I can get Lorie to give you and Buddy a lesson.”