Thankful (14 page)

“Um. Yes.”

Marla winked. “I'll let him know that you'll be out shortly.”

When she was alone again, Jana closed her door. Giving in to temptation, she fixed her makeup. And then decided she might as well pull a brush through her honey-gold hair.

And then she did what was most needed: She gave herself a stern talking-to. Just because he was the first man since Harrison she'd felt anything close to a spark with—it surely didn't mean that he felt anything like interest in her.

Why, he probably only stopped by to fill her in on the latest with the robbery investigation. And who knows? Maybe he was hoping to get another free piece of pie.

She'd probably imagined that they'd shared some kind of connection when they met. Why, who even knew what his status was, anyway? For all she knew, he had a longtime girlfriend.

And what did she care about all that, anyway? Wasn't she supposed to be done with dating at fifty-eight?

The moment she walked out of her office and into the kitchen, she scanned the room and saw both Ruth and Marla looking like they were trying very hard not to be interested in her business.

“You look real nice, Jana,” Ruth said, obviously noticing her fresh lipstick and the way her hair was now neatly resting on her shoulders.

Jana debated whether to ignore the cheeky comment but then decided pride was way overrated. “Do you two think I look okay?” She frowned. “Or does it look like I'm trying too hard?”

“You look like yourself,” Ruth said with a smile. “Real pretty.”

She took a step toward the dining room, then gave in to temptation—and her small case of nervousness. “Marla, do you really think that policeman came back just for the pie?”

Marla's eyes twinkled. “Nope. When I went out to pour him tea, he asked if I'd talked to you. That has to mean something good. Don'tcha think, Ruth?”

Looking a bit like the Cheshire cat, Ruth nodded. “Most definitely.”

Jana let herself smile. And gave in to temptation and revealed her thoughts. Marla and Ruth were her employees, but they were her friends, too.

And since Marla was married and Ruth widowed, she knew that they knew enough about life for her not to feel completely ridiculous about how giddy she was feeling. “It kind of feels that way to me, too. I mean, it's been a while since I've had a man show any interest in me, but it sounds promising.”

“Mighty promising,” Ruth said. “Now you'd best go on in that dining room before our newest policeman notices that the three of us are all standing here staring at him like a trio of bashful girls.”

“Oh my gosh! That would be terrible!” With a shake of her shoulders, she gathered her courage, lifted her chin, and then strode out to the dining room.

There were a lot of people dining. Almost every table was filled.

But it didn't seem to matter. Right away, her gaze fastened on Ross. He was sipping a glass of iced tea and looking at something on his cell phone. Glad he was unaware of her—at least for the moment—she forced herself to scan the room.

It was gratifying to see more of the tables filled than usual. Pippa also looked to be handling the front counter with ease. They'd agreed to move forward with the partnership slowly. For now, Pippa was putting in a few hours a week working in different parts of the restaurant.

For a moment, she considered walking toward Pippa to see how she was doing. But when she met Pippa's eyes, the woman only winked.

Ah, it seemed as if everyone had noticed Ross's visit. Feeling like a child on a stage, she walked toward him. When she was just a few feet away, he stood up to greet her. Just as if they were on a date. “Hi.”

“Hi,” she replied. And then, because she was too old to try to even attempt to be coy, she added, “I'm so glad you came back.”

“Me, too.”

Just as she relaxed, a slow grin transformed his face. “Because, you know, the pie here is pretty wonderful.”

“Ah. Yes, it is.”

“But so is the company,” he added with a smile. “Do you have time to join me for a little while?”

Even though she knew all the ladies were quietly watching them, she sat down across from Ross. “Do you have some news about the Grabers' store or the quilts?”

“Nope. We might get a lead, but I told Mr. Graber that he ought to look into a security system, or at least a couple of cameras. Sugarcreek is a wonderful town, but I'm afraid there's crime everywhere.”

“Yes, I suppose so.” She paused, wondering what else she could say about that topic.

After taking a sip of tea, he leaned back in his chair. “Would you mind if we didn't talk about robberies?” he asked quietly.

“What do you want to talk about?”

He shrugged almost boyishly. “Oh, I don't know. Maybe you.”

“You really are single, aren't you?”

He laughed. “I promise, I really am divorced.”

Why that gave her comfort, she didn't know. “How long ago did that happen?”

“Six years.” He shrugged. “Candace is a nice woman. We just wanted different things. Maybe we got married too young?” He shrugged again. “Whatever the reason, we parted as amicably as two people who are divorcing can. I've been pretty much alone ever since. You?”

“Harrison died twelve years ago.” She didn't see the need to admit that she'd been alone all that time. “So, are you seeing anyone?”

“I hope so.” His eyes twinkled, making her feel sixteen again. She chuckled just as Marla came by.

“Want something to drink, Jana?”

“I'll take a glass of iced tea, too. And a slice of Ruth's buttermilk pie.” Turning to Ross, she said, “It's good I don't mind running on the treadmill, because I eat way too much pie.”

“I've never tried buttermilk pie.”

“You should. It's my favorite.”

Ross held up two fingers. “Two of those.”

“I'll bring those out in a jiffy,” Marla said. As soon as she turned, Jana heard a low chuckle.

And she started thinking that she didn't even care about that. This was the happiest she'd felt in just about forever.

Or at least in twelve years.

I
won't be gone long, Judith,” Ben said for about the tenth time as he slowly edged out of the living room toward the door. “At the most, two hours,” he added. “Unless you'd like me to stay.”

It took everything Judith had to keep a straight face. Her unflappable husband wore a look that was half helpless, half hopeful. She had a feeling that it would only take a frown on her part for him to cancel his plans and remain by her side.

But she was made of stronger stuff. And, besides, she was a little anxious to spend some time with James, just the two of them.

“Go on ahead, Ben. I have James in his crib next to me and a turkey sandwich and a bowl of potato soup that my mother fixed for me earlier today. I promise, I'll be fine.”

To her amusement, he didn't budge. “I wish we had a phone. Do you think I should ask the bishop about getting a temporary phone?”

“Definitely not.”

“But what if something goes wrong? What if you need anything—”

“I won't. Go.”

He clasped the door handle at last. “All right. That is, if you're sure. . . .”

“Ben, what would my
mamm
say if I acted so helpless? She had a houseful and never let seven
kinner
upset her day in the slightest.”

“She might have. Your
daed
might have done more than you think.”

Even thinking about her father abandoning his duties at the store in order to fuss with a baby made her smile. She couldn't even imagine it. “Um, I don't think so.” Knowing that if he waited much longer, Ben wouldn't leave, she made a shooing motion with her hands. “Off you go, now.”

“All right. Good-bye.”

When the door closed and she was finally alone with baby James, Judith grinned. “Now it is just you and me, James,” she whispered.

Peeking into the crib, she was relieved to see he was still asleep. He'd been asleep only an hour. The last baby book she'd read said that a baby his age needed a good morning nap.

Satisfied that he was doing fine, she stretched out on the couch, yawned, and decided to spend the time until he woke up half dozing.

They'd survived their first night with the baby. He'd awoken twice, but between her and Ben, they'd managed to fix his bottle easily. He took it from her happily, burped, and almost instantly went back to sleep.

Thinking of Gretta's stories about her babies having gas and being confused about nights and days, Judith counted herself lucky. Of course, anything could happen. But so far, she privately thought she had taken to motherhood like a duck to water.

James squirmed a bit, threw his arms over his head, and then sighed and fell back into a peaceful slumber.

And she sighed in contentment. Amazing how these twenty-four hours had changed her life. Now she couldn't even remember why she'd been so taken aback with his color. So what if everyone in the world would know that she wasn't his birth mother? What mattered was that she was his mother in every way that counted. Years from now, she would tell James that very thing. That she'd prayed and prayed to God and He had rewarded her with the beautiful blessing of getting to care for James for the rest of her life. She felt like the luckiest woman in the world.

And if she ever let herself remember that she wasn't his adopted mother, merely a foster
mamm
? Well, she firmly pushed it aside. Surely the Lord wouldn't take him away from her.

She knew that she would do everything in her power to stop that.

This boy had her heart and she had no intention of ever giving him up. Not if she could help it.

chapter thirteen

The snow kept falling. Staring at it through her bedroom window, Christina wondered if she'd ever seen a more depressing sight.

A whole day had passed since they'd gotten back to the house. In that time, she'd taken a long hot shower, been wrapped into a thick flannel dress and slippers, and been ushered downstairs to have her fill of a giant bowl of chicken and dumplings.

None of her protests had been listened to or heeded. As far as her parents were concerned, she was a child again and clinging to the edge of death.

They'd asked her to stay home from work that morning, and because the snow was falling and she couldn't seem to do a single thing besides replay Aden's kiss in her mind, she'd agreed.

But now she wished that she'd gone in after all. Sitting around the house under her parents' watchful gaze was slowly driving her crazy.

She'd decided to spend the rest of the day working on an embroidery project she'd started three years ago. It was a sampler, and she was sure a careful seamstress could make the elegantly shaped letters and meaningful scripture verse into a thing of beauty.

All she seemed able to do was create more knots in the floss. Thoroughly irritated with herself, she'd just pulled out her pair of embroidery scissors when Treva bounded into the room.

Christina stifled a sigh. She loved her sister, of course she did. But Treva had a determined way about her that reminded one of a sneaky cat. Treva liked to bait her sister with seemingly innocuous questions. Then, just when Christina would least expect it, she would pounce.

To make matters worse, Treva not only worked in a fabric store, she was practically a needlework prodigy. She could make anything that involved fabric, yarn, floss, or canvas beautiful.

“What are you working on?”

Christina sullenly held up the wrinkled mess of a sampler. “This.”

When Treva winced, Christina glared right back at her. “I know. It looks awful.”

Sitting next to her on the bed, Treva pulled the fabric from her hands like she was saving it from a terrible fate. Immediately, she began studying the stitches, even going so far as to run a finger along them. “These are all uneven.”

“I know.”

“And, um, some are even in the wrong spot. See this
D
?” she asked, pointing to it as if she was worried her sister couldn't even recognize the letter. “It's, um, backward.”

Christina held up the scissors. “ I know. I was about to repair it.”

“Give me those.”

Watching Treva painstakingly remove all of her work, Christina said, “Was there a reason you decided to bother me?”

“Yep.”

“Care to tell me what it is?”

“You know.”

“Actually, I don't.”

Looking up, her sister smiled. “Two words. You and Aden.”

“That would be three.”

“Three?”

“Words,” Christina sputtered, suddenly feeling more than a little off guard. But surely she was imagining things? After all, Treva had no idea about what, exactly, had happened between her and Aden last night.

Did she?

After staring at her a good long minute, Treva put down the offending fabric. “Mamm and Daed are in a bit of a state about what happened last night. But you know that, right?”

“It was hard not to notice. However, they need to calm down. We were late, but we weren't that late. And we had a good reason, too. We walked a long way in the cold.”

Treva tilted her head and smiled slightly. “It's true that they were worried about you. But um, I think they have something more than your long walk in the dark on their minds.”

“And what is that?”

“At the moment, they seem to be fixated on the fact that you were holding Aden's hand.”

“Oh, for heaven's sake. It was nothing.” She hoped her bluff sounded believable.

“Maybe not. But it was new.”

“Did Aden overhear them?”

“Nope. After they force-fed him a second bowl of chicken and dumplings, and a huge slice of apple pie with vanilla ice cream, he escaped to the barn.” She laughed. “Poor guy. He looked like he was about to burst.”