Chapter 27
Saturday the fifteenth of August dawned bright and breezy, with a brisk breakfast business at the Sweet Seasons. Rachel smiled at the familiar scene: while Mamma decorated two sheet cakes for a wedding in Morning Star, Naomi turned bacon on the griddle and Rhoda plated orders for the day’s breakfast casserole special. Big signs on the outside of the café announced that they’d be closed, come ten o’clock, and that the birthday party began at two.
“Guess we’ll be seein’ ya later for cake,” Nate Kanagy remarked as Rachel set his plate of pancakes in front of him.
“
Jah
, and ice cream, too! Four flavors!”
“And you’ve gotta go next door to see what Micah’s been doin’ in his
spare
time,” her sister remarked as she placed heaping plates of smothered hash browns in front of Bram and the three Brenneman boys. Rhoda tweaked Micah’s nose and then giggled when he blushed. “Not like any other place you’ve ever seen. Or so they tell me.”
“Gonna make everybody ooh and aah,” Rachel confirmed. She couldn’t wait to see Mamma’s and Rhoda’s faces when they viewed their new rooms in a couple of hours. Yesterday she’d made up the Murphy beds with new sheets and quilts from her own cedar chest so the apartment would look homey and complete—ready for whenever the two of them wanted to stay there. Again she grinned, because this event marked one more milestone on the way to her own days as Micah’s bride, starting out in the home they would soon repaint and freshen for their new life together.
The bell above the door jangled, and she went to the front counter to welcome a young woman alone. Rachel paused and then grinned. “Tiffany? I—well, I hardly knew ya! Happy birthday, Sister!”
Tiffany grinned shyly. Her blue eyes sparkled in a face that looked sweet and natural, like the one Rachel saw in her own little mirror each morning. “Happy birthday back atcha!” she replied. “Felt a little funny, leaving the house this way—”
“But don’t ya look perty!” Rhoda crowed as she rushed over. “Come to the kitchen! Mamma’ll be real glad to see ya! So how’s it feelin’ to be twenty-one?”
The young woman between them chuckled. “Perty
gut
,” she replied with an exaggerated accent. “I—I won’t look and sound like you, but it’s awesome to be celebrating my real birthday for the first time, with sisters I didn’t know I had until now.”
“Well, now, would ya looky here, Miriam!” Naomi called out. She set her pan of hash browns on the granite countertop. “Ya just gave your mamma the best present of all, I’m thinkin’.
Gut
to have ya here for the big day, Tiffany.”
“
Jah
, I should say so!” Mamma laid down her pastry tube to wipe her sugary hands on her apron. “And would ya look at this girl, so fresh and perty today! Happy birthday, honey-bug. It’s so
gut
to have ya home with us!”
Rachel swallowed hard. Except for the low purr of the exhaust fan, the kitchen went quiet. Their mother had wrapped her arms around Tiffany and then her shining brown eyes beckoned for her and Rhoda to join in ... an expanded version of the hug the three of them had shared ever since Dat had passed. Mamma looked so happy, why—the strings of her kapp quivered with her excitement as she gazed at Tiffany’s pale blue top and white jeans ... at the short brown hair now combed back from her face in soft, feathery layers.
“Um, Dad’ll be along later for the party,” she said in a hesitant voice. “He—he’s really excited about coming—to meet Rachel and Rhoda, and to ...”
What wasn’t she saying? Rachel joined in the final squeeze they all shared before they separated, curious yet excited as she hadn’t been for a long time. “Gonna be a real special day, Tiffany, with the both of ya here—”
“Can I—can I dress like you? Just for the day, I mean?” she blurted. “I don’t think I could ever live Plain, but—if you won’t take it the wrong way—I thought it might be fun for us all to look like sisters.”
“Oh, that’s the best idea!” Mamma replied with a clap of her hands. “So I’ll tell ya your surprise now! For your birthday, girls, I sewed up new dresses, and it just so happens there’s three alike! And nice new kapps to go with them. What do ya think of that?”
“Won’t that be a sight!” Naomi hurried over to sling an arm around Mamma’s shoulders. “The Lantz triplets, all together again. Can’t wait to see it myself.”
The rest of the morning flew by: Naomi fixed a plate so Tiffany could eat in the kitchen, watching while Mamma finished decorating her cakes. Rachel bused tables and invited all the locals to come back later, while Rhoda ran the check-out and welcomed incoming customers. Even when Hiram sat down with Tom Hostetler, Gabe Glick, and Reuben Reihl, Rachel felt bubbly with energy. What a party it would be, with she and her two sisters dressed alike for the first time since—well, since that day they’d worn those little pink dresses Mamma had tucked away in the trunk. And wouldn’t
that
give folks something to talk about?
“
Gut
mornin’, Bishop. And what’ll ya have today?” she asked cheerily.
Not even Hiram’s speculative gaze dampened her mood. He stroked his beard, long and dark with spangles of gray like tinsel. “Bring me the special with a side of ham. My friends here’ll have the same—and bring me the check. With a pot of fresh coffee.”
“
Jah
, I can do that. Back in a few.” As Rachel strode toward the coffeemaker she noted the surprised looks on the other three men’s faces, as though they, too, wondered what the occasion was. Two or three of them ate with Hiram probably four mornings each week, but the bishop usually nodded cordially when one of the other elders offered to buy his meal.
“Ready for the big party?” Tom asked as she poured their first cups of coffee. “Nearly wore out my crankin’ arm the past few afternoons, makin’ all four kinds of ice cream your mamma wanted.”
“
Jah
, and we hope you fellas’ll join us for some, too. We’re mighty pleased that Tiffany, our sister, has come early,” she replied. “Gonna be a big day.”
“No doubt,” Hiram replied with a nod.
“Wouldn’t miss it,” Tom agreed. He looked perkier than he had for days, smiling quietly over his first sip of coffee.
And what was all this mysterious talk? As though each man had his own ... secret. Rachel smiled to herself. No matter what happened today, she sensed it would mark a point in time they’d not soon forget. She glanced at the clock, eager for the hands to circle it: nearly nine. Almost time for the breakfast shift to end so the celebration could begin!
“Tiffany, look at ya! Why, except for the shorter hair in front, ya could pass for one of us!” Rhoda offered her the hand mirror as they finished dressing in her room. What a treat, to giggle like schoolgirls and outfit their sister in a crisp new cape dress and apron exactly like their own: its V-shaped cape of matching blue fit at her shoulders and tucked down into the belt of her white apron, front and back, to display a figure that was identical to theirs, as well.
“She
is
one of us,” Rachel chirped. “And this shade of dusty blue’s the pertiest I’ve ever seen—and it’ll dry on a hanger without needin’ ironin’! Quite a nice surprise Mamma’s pulled on us. What I can’t figure is when she had the time to sew them!”
Rhoda’s heart swelled. The way their newfound sister held the mirror this way and that, to see how her kapp looked ... how her dress and matching apron draped around her body, well—it was a treat to watch Tiffany seeming so pleased about it all. She was going to college, specializing in computers and other newfangled technology Plain folk knew little about, yet her eyes had a real shine to them.
“Ya look like a whole new you,” Rhoda murmured. “And don’t be takin’ that all wrong—”
“I know I was a huge shock to you when I showed up in my Goth makeup and clothes,” she replied. “I—I didn’t come that first day to insult you or make fun of you, but I was pretty, um ... what’s that word that means confused, like your world’s gone wonky?”
“Ferhoodled?”
“Ferhoodled! Jah!”
Tiffany grinned. They turned when the bedroom door creaked open and Mamma poked her head in. “And—just for today—would you call me Rebecca? To my friends I’ll always be Tiffany or Tiff, but—well, Rebecca goes with Rachel and Rhoda, and here in Willow Ridge ... it’s a different world.”
“It’s family,” Mamma answered with a happy nod. “And I just wish your
dat
could be here to see the three of ya all together again. You girls’re a sight for sore eyes.”
A fiercely sweet sadness hovered in the room, but then Mamma brightened again. “Shall we get on back to the café? Gotta clear the tables where the cakes and goodies go, on account of it’s almost one fifteen. Micah promised Rhoda and me a private tour of the upstairs before everybody else gets here.”
As their mother turned toward the door, Rhoda’s jaw dropped. “Mamma! You’re wearin’ a new dress, too!”
“And if that’s not the pertiest shade of purple!” Rachel planted her hands on her hips, raising an eyebrow. “And just when did ya whip up all these new aprons and dresses, Mamma? And ya coulda told us you were comin’ out in color again!”
“And spoil my surprise? Why would I do that?” Mamma looked downright shy, watching their reactions. Then a smile stole over her radiant face. “Figured it was time, after two years and a couple months now. But whatever happens today, don’t ya worry about how it’s all gonna turn out with Hiram and the bakery and what-all. Your mamma’s not nearly out of surprises.”
Rhoda considered this as they all walked downstairs and along the lane toward the café. Hiram had looked mighty smug about something when he’d paid for breakfast today—but who could guess what the bishop might have in mind, given the way he’d lectured them about becoming worldly and prideful a few weeks ago?
Mamma and Rachel were pointing out the various vegetables growing in the huge garden as they walked, telling Tiffany—Rebecca for today—about how they grew most of their own food and put it up for winter, and how their aunt Leah provided the honey and a lot of the produce they used in the café this time of year. In her new dress, their mother looked as fresh as the clematis blooms climbing the trellis alongside the porch: yet another sign that things were moving along for the good in all of their lives.
As they entered through the Sweet Seasons kitchen, Naomi and the three Schrocks shouted, “Surprise! Happy birthday, girls!”
The tables were covered with fresh white tablecloths. Pink roses and hydrangea blooms from Mary’s flower garden were arranged in vases. Up near the pass-through window, a big sheet cake that said
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GIRLS
! was displayed on the center table while nuts, mints, and fresh lemonade stood ready beside it.
“Oh, you ladies’re too sly!” Mamma exclaimed. “And what a kindness, too, knowin’ how busy we were this mornin’ durin’ the breakfast shift.”
Eva, Priscilla, and Mary stood in a row, gawking at them. “Well, would ya look at this,” Eva said in an approving voice. “Got three sisters in blue—and a mother like a fresh bouquet of lilacs.
Gut
to see ya lookin’ so pert and perky again, Miriam.”
“
Jah
, I was hopin’ ya had somethin’ like this in mind when ya wanted so much of that twill, couple weeks ago,” Mary remarked with a smug nod. At the sound of footsteps behind them, she turned. “Hope ya don’t mind that Micah gave the three of us and Naomi a sneak peek at the smithy loft. He wanted us to make sure everythin’ was just right, like a woman would have it.”
And didn’t Micah look fine today in his freshly pressed black trousers and a shirt so white it nearly gave off light on its own? His dark blond hair shone and his cheeks were flushed with anticipation. “You two ready for your tour now? Almost time for folks to be gettin’ here, and—”
“Mamma, come on!” Rhoda grabbed her mother’s hand, giggling, and hurried over to the smithy and up the sturdy new stairs. For weeks now, she’d heard the pounding and sawing over here, and it was time to see what Micah and Rachel had been working on.
And when Rhoda topped the stairs, she just gawked—and Mamma stood alongside her doing the same. Instead of lumber studs, Dat’s scrap metal, and a bare-boards floor, they saw one long wall of pale blue and the other painted celery green, with built-in bookcases the color of sunshine. Bright white kitchen cabinets and a sink filled the corner to their left, and a sitting area with cozy chairs and a small sofa sat off to the right.
“I ... I’d forgotten what clean, new walls looked like,” Mamma murmured. She looked ready to cry. “I can’t believe ya did all this for Rhoda and me.”
“Oh, just wait till ya see
this!”
Rachel grabbed a peg on the end of one bookcase, and as she rolled an entire section of wall toward the center of the large room, Rhoda stepped closer to observe the tracks in the ceiling ... the way the camouflaged bookcase divider locked into place with a snap. “And looky how your beds work! Ya pull them down, come bedtime, and when ya redd up the room, they fold right back into the walls!”