Amanda Weds a Good Man by Naomi King

Author:Naomi King
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2013-11-04T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

Early Monday morning Abby entered the mercantile’s back room and shivered. A cold front had blown through in the night, so she turned on the furnace to take the chill off the large, open rooms of the store. She made a mental note to ask Sam about getting the propane tank refilled, and realized it was time to order the jimmies, spices, and baking supplies for the upcoming holidays. So many things to remember, now that she often ran the store while her brother tended to his duties as a preacher.

About an hour before opening time, the bell above the door jingled. “Merle, gut morning to you!” she called out from the freezer case she was stocking. “You’re up before the sun today.”

He scratched his head, looking around as though he’d forgotten why he’d come.

Abby tucked her box of bagged fruits into the freezer and went over to help him. James’s dat loved to shop—sometimes to get away from Eunice’s watchful eye—so it was Abby’s mission to be sure he didn’t buy items they wouldn’t use. “Does Emma need something for your breakfast?” she asked.

“What Emma needs, I can’t give her,” Merle teased as he reached for Abby’s hand. “But you can help me. Eunice has a birthday coming up, and I don’t have the foggiest notion what to give her. It’s not like I can make her some little surprise, because she’ll see me working on it.”

Abby squeezed his gnarled hand. It was always a fine day when Merle’s memory and sense of humor were working at the same time. “Gut thing you reminded me. I’d feel awful if October twenty-ninth went by and I didn’t have a little something for her, too.” As she gazed around the store, a splash of color caught her eye. “How about a piece of Amanda Brubaker’s pottery? Something new and cheerful for the kitchen—”

“Jah, new and cheerful would be improvements.”

“—or we have some of Zanna’s braided rugs. Or maybe a dress,” Abby suggested. “I could sew up a couple before then, if you’d like.”

“I’ll take a quick look at that pottery, before anybody realizes I’m not tending the horses,” he whispered, as though his absence was a secret between him and Abby. “Might have to come back a few times to finally decide, you know.”

Abby smiled at his wily idea. “I can wrap your gift and keep it in the back room for you. That way Eunice won’t find it.”

“Gut idea. If she thinks I’m not getting her anything, she’ll be madder than a wet hen, saying I forgot again.”

As Merle ambled toward the pottery display, Abby hoped that, come time for presenting his wife’s gift, he would remember that he’d bought her one. She went back to stocking her frozen food, occasionally glancing Merle’s way. It was something to see, the way his face lit up as he lifted each pitcher, bowl, and pie plate. Amanda had a true gift for raising peoples’ spirits with her bright colors, and several of her pieces had already sold.

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