The Wonder of Your Love - By Beth Wiseman Page 0,38
will be there as soon as you tell me to be.”
Katie Ann smiled. “I know you will. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving next week, Arnold. And I will call you back as soon as I have the details.”
After she hung up the phone, she peeked around the corner. No Mrs. Dash. She reached into her pocket and left some scraps of bacon in the container, then went back to Lillian’s. She’d never wanted to tell anyone anything as badly as she wanted to tell Lillian about Eli’s kiss, but she knew she couldn’t. It was inappropriate, and she was much too embarrassed. But she did tell her that Eli was coming to repair her roof and that she was making supper for him.
Lillian stomped a foot before she went to the sink to wash her hands. “I told Samuel that he needed to go back and fix that roof correctly!” She joined Katie Ann at the kitchen table and grinned. “But I guess it’s a gut thing he never got around to it.”
“No matchmaking, Lillian.”
Lillian pouted. “Why not? He’s perfect for you.”
“No. He’s not. And I’m even less perfect for him. Eli has big plans to travel and do all the things he couldn’t do while he was raising six kinner on his own.” She picked up Jonas’s carrier. “I’m heading home. I have much cleaning to do. Danki for watching Jonas.”
“I love watching the boppli.” Lillian snapped her finger.
“Ach, I’ve been meaning to ask you—have you seen a big black cat in the barn lately? That thing scared the daylights out of me the other day when I went to collect eggs.”
“You mean Mrs. Dash.” Katie Ann grinned.
“Mrs. Dash?” Lillian frowned. “You’ve named that poor animal after a spice?”
Katie Ann shifted Jonas’s carrier from one hand to the other.
“A spice? What do you mean?”
Lillian walked to the kitchen cabinet, pulled out a yellow container, and pointed to the name. “Mrs. Dash is a combination of different spices.”
Laughing, Katie Ann said, “Why do you buy those storebought spices when you can get fresh herbs at the market in Alamosa?”
“This is easier.”
“No matter. Next year I think we should have our own herb garden.”
Ignoring the comment, Lillian cocked her head to one side. “That cat is solid black. Bad luck.” She crinkled her nose as she shook her head. “Don’t let it run across your path.” She pointed to Jonas. “And don’t let it near Jonas. I already told the girls not to go near it. It hisses and balls itself up like a porcupine! And he—or she—is big!”
Katie Ann knew most of her people were superstitious, a part of their upbringing that had clearly rubbed off on Lillian. “That’s rubbish,” she said. “Mrs. Dash isn’t bad luck. And she’s big because she’s pregnant.”
“Oh.” Lillian twisted her mouth from one side to the other. “Hmm . . . maybe that’s why she’s so skittish.”
“Maybe.” Katie Ann walked toward the door as Lillian followed.
“What did Arnold say? How did he take the news about Martha?”
Katie Ann smiled. “He was ready to leave right this very minute to come and be with her. I told him to wait until the week of the surgery, after Thanksgiving.” She cringed. “Martha is going to be so mad at me.”
Lillian put her hand on Katie Ann’s shoulder. “Martha gets mad about a lot of things, but you were right to call Arnold. I’m glad he’s coming.”
IT WAS TWO o’clock in the afternoon when Eli loaded up his cousin’s buggy with tools and headed to Katie Ann’s. When he pulled up the driveway, she was carrying firewood from the barn to the house.
Eli hurried from the buggy and tethered the horse. “Wait! Let me help you with that.” He ran toward her and pulled three small logs from her arms. “You should have waited for me to get here.”
“Eli Detweiler, I am perfectly capable of carrying a few logs.” She turned his way and smiled. “But danki.”
Once inside, Eli placed the logs in the carrier by the fireplace. Katie Ann already had a small fire going. “It smells gut in here,” he said.
“I’m slow-cooking a stew.”
“Well, I’d better get to work then. Elam sent along just about every tool he had, along with some extra shingles he had left over from when they reroofed their house last year, so I’m sure I can get your leak fixed. I just need a ladder.”