Gabriel's Bride (19 page)

She was young, Mrs. Murray, and as they talked, Rachel discovered that she was married to the son of the Mr. Murray who started the business. The couple was hoping to take over soon so the father could retire. Oh, to be so certain of one’s future. What Rachel wouldn’t give for
that
.

“That’s why we want to add a few new items to the menu,” Mrs. Murray was saying.

“I see.” Rachel nodded, the strings of her
kapp
dancing around her shoulders. She shuddered a little at their tickle but knew deep down that it was the eyes behind her, those green, green eyes that had made her so sensitive. “My cheese has been certified organic. There are a few other growers who have organic produce. For sure and for certain ’twould not be hard to find product to make an all-natural, organic pizza for your customers.”

Angela Murray clapped her hands together. “That’s a fantastic idea. Let me run it by Ed, and I’ll let you know. How do I reach you?”

“There’s a phone shanty out in front of my mother-in-law’s house. You can leave a message there, and I’ll get it.”

“All right, hon. Give me the number, and I’ll call you as soon as I convince the boys the idea for an organic pizza served with fresh goat’s cheese was all theirs.”

Rachel laughed though she didn’t quite understand what Angela Murray was talking about. But it seemed she should laugh, so she did. Then she printed the number to their phone line on the back of a business card that belonged to the pizzeria. She slipped one into her pocket, then grabbed her empty cooler and turned to go.

“Wait a second, hon.” Angela popped her gum as she opened the register and pulled out two twenties. “This is for the cheese you brought tonight.”

But Rachel started shaking her head.

Angela froze. “Is this not enough?”

“It’s too much.”

But Angela pressed the bills into her hand. “A quarter pound in the store is going on ten dollars. Don’t sell yourself short, hon.”

Rachel’s cheeks filled with heat once more as she pushed the money into the pocket on the front of her apron.
“Danki,”
she said, flashing a smile at Angela.

“You’re welcome. I’ll be calling you soon.”

Rachel nodded her head then raced to the door, anxious to tell Gabriel about the transaction.

Gabriel nodded as Rachel chatted on about selling cheese and making profits. Good thing the horses knew the way home by heart, for he was having trouble concentrating on anything except Rachel’s pink bow of a mouth and how he had almost kissed her on the way to town.

That was a direct violation of everything they had agreed to, and yet he could think of little else. Not her success with selling the cheese and the potential for her to make money selling to the pizzeria, nor the way she brushed her hair back from her face not bothering to tuck it back under her prayer covering and instead folding it behind her ear.

He smiled as one wayward curl popped free.

Wait, he was not supposed to like that. This was a marriage of convenience for the two of them. He’d do well to remember that.

“What do you think?”

Gabriel took his gaze from the road and fixed it on his wife.
“Jah?”

“What do you think about buying a couple of more goats?”

He blinked, then turned back to the road. “I suppose.”

“I still have some of the money from the sale of the furniture.”

There had been very little that she had been able to keep from the house she had shared with her aunt: the china clock her father had given her mother when they had announced their engagement to be married, the dishes that had belonged to her grandmother, and the wooden hutch some distant family member had built long ago. The rest hadn’t been needed and had been sold at an estate sale.

“Why not just let nature, ahem . . . take its course?” Even as he said the words he wished he could call them back. It seemed too intimate by far.

“Well . . .” He could almost hear her blush. She pleated her fingers in her skirt, then smoothed it back. “
That
takes a little more time than what I need. If I’m going to take on the pizza restaurant as a customer then I’ll need to increase my production by half.”

“Jah.”

“So I’ll need more goats.”

He nodded again, finally bringing his wayward thoughts back in. “We could go to the auction in Tulsa. I’m sure they have goats.”

“We could?”

His breath hitched in his throat at the sheer excitement sparkling in her eyes.
“Jah.”
He coughed. “If’n that’s what you want.”

“Oh, it is!” She flung her arms around him, pulling the reins to the right as she pulled him in and soundly kissed his cheek.
“Danki, danki,”
she said before quickly releasing him. She pushed her prayer
kapp
back into place and tucked her hair back under its band. “I mean, that would be
gut
.” She cleared her throat, winding her fingers through her skirt again. Her gaze trained on the road ahead, a dark pink coloring her cheeks.

Thankfully they were nearing the house. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could sit calmly beside Rachel and keep the promises that he had made to her. He wanted to pull the buggy over and pull her close, tell her that he would do anything for her. All she had to do was ask, and he would get it for her.

He briefly closed his eyes and sent up a small prayer for strength. This was just an adjustment, that was all. Their relationship was intimate and yet not, and he had no experience dealing with such feelings. There were bound to be a few bumps and missteps along the way.

10

S
imon crouched next to Joseph, making himself as small as possible in order to look out the upstairs window and remain unseen. Down in the yard below, his father and Rachel had just pulled into the drive.

“What are they doing?” Joseph whispered.

“I don’t know.” He scooched to the side to keep his brother’s pointy elbow out of his ribs. “Quit crowding.”

“Where do you suppose they’ve been all afternoon?”

Simon shrugged. “Matthew said they were going into town to take some cheese samples to someone.”

Joseph smacked his lips. “She sure does make good cheese.”

“Cut it out.” Simon sent his elbow into his brother’s side. He didn’t want to talk about Rachel’s cheese. He didn’t care how good it tasted. They needed to remember all of the things she did wrong. Like not being their mother and burning every pan of cookies she had baked since coming to their farm. Why couldn’t she have just stayed wherever it was she had been before?

“You like her cheese too.”

“So what if I do?” Simon gritted. “That still don’t mean that I want her to be our
mudder
.”

“I’m just sayin’ is all. We like her cheese and her cookies.”

“She burns the cookies.” He put a hard, big
bruder
edge in his voice. Couldn’t Joseph see that cheese and cookies were not important? That the sacred memories of their mother were?

“Only because we turn up the oven when she’s not looking.”

“She burns them plenty of times without our help.” He looked back down at his father and Rachel. She did have pretty brown eyes . . . He shook the thought away.

“Samuel seems to like her.”

“Samuel’s dumb.” He said the words and hated them. Samuel was precious to them all, but that still wasn’t a reason to keep around a woman who should have never been on their farm.

“I’m going to tell
Dat
you said that.” Joseph started to get to his feet, but Simon held him back.

“Don’t,” he said, scrambling around for an excuse as to why. “You know I didn’t mean it.”

“I guess.” Joseph slowly relaxed back next to him as Simon formulated their next prank.

His father grabbed Rachel’s elbow the same why his uncle Gideon did for their
aenti
Annie. One thing was for certain: they were going to have to increase their plans to break up this marriage. After seeing the way his father looked at Rachel, it wouldn’t be long before the two of them were deep in love.

The rest of the week passed with no more such encounters like the one in the buggy. Maybe because Rachel avoided being alone with Gabriel as if he had some kind of disease. It felt strange to avoid him when he was quickly becoming such an important and special person to her.

She set the pan of biscuits on the table and propped her hands on her hips. She had been extra careful this morning not to burn them and she had finally succeeded. Almost. The bottoms had browned to the color of dirt. But the tops were okay. And the bacon. Well, the bacon got a little done as well, but if she crumbled it up into their gravy, she was certain no one would know the difference.

Strange though. She thought she had turned the stove off before she went out to check on her goats for the morning. Yet somehow the oven and the burner on which the bacon sat were burning when she returned to the house. She was going to have to be more careful. It would never do to burn down the house, and Gabriel surely wouldn’t appreciate it if she did.

“Is it time to eat?”

She had been so busy thinking about the meal she hadn’t heard Matthew come into the house. He hung his straw hat by the door and studied her. She wished she could figure him out. He was so quiet and grownup, not quite a child but not yet an adult, he always seemed to be working. Even more than most Amish kids. He did his chores, doing the more labor intensive work in the barn with his father. Then he rode over to his
onkel’s
house and helped there, most likely doing a fair amount of work to help Gideon so he could be closer to the house as Annie’s time neared. Annie was just so small, her belly protruding to unbelievable proportions as the baby grew within her delicate frame.

“I’m about to start the gravy,” she said. “Call your brothers so they can get here before it all turns cold. We’ve got a-ways to go to get to the church service this morning.”

This week church was being held clear across the district from them at Betty and Dan Lapp’s house. The Fishers had a long piece to travel before they would get there and would need to leave a bit earlier than usual.

“
Jah
.” Matthew gave a swift nod then re-donned his hat to go in search of his brothers.

She sighed as she watched him go. The other
buwe
were not so hard to figure out. She had discovered long ago that they did not approve of their father marrying her. Not that their opinions could carry any weight. The deed was done, and she hoped that eventually they could come to accept her.

That’s why she hadn’t told Gabriel about their antics. How she had found that frog under the bed or that she suspected they were bringing in extra dirt to coat the floors so it looked like she never did her household duties. Why, this morning she had gone into her room to get dressed only to find that every
frack
she owned had some sort of stain on the front. She had taken the lightest looking one and rinsed the area out in the sink while she prayed it would dry before the service started. Thankfully the dress was a deep green and one of her favorites so even if the stain refused to budge before the next washday it wouldn’t be so noticed at church.