An Amish Christmas Wish by Leigh Bale

Author:Leigh Bale
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2022-09-02T19:47:33+00:00

Chapter Eight

As the last customer of the day left the store, Susanna flipped the Closed sign around in the window and locked the front door. She’d set the hours for her shop to close at five o’clock. But when shoppers kept coming in, she wasn’t about to shoo them away. So, she’d kept waiting on them while Mammi worked in the back rooms. Their diligence seemed to be paying off. In her wildest dreams, Susanna had never expected this much business.

A clock buzzed in the kitchen and she hurried toward it. Perfect timing. The batch of pumpkin bread Mammi had slid into the oven an hour earlier was done. If Seth would come inside and eat his supper, she could clean up and go home.

Switching off the light to the salesroom, Susanna retrieved her mitts and pulled the oven door open. A blast of fragrant heat struck her in the face and she ducked her head. The aroma of cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice wafted through the air. The entire store smelled like the holidays. One customer had caught the yummy smell and even asked if Susanna sold her bread. She thought about speaking with Mammi to see if they wanted to expand their noodles into homemade bread, too. Maybe they could make it just for the holidays. They’d have to buy a second oven and perhaps a gas-powered freezer. It was something to consider.

Lifting the four bread pans onto cooling racks she’d laid out on the counter, she noticed the full, moist loaves had baked to perfection. As she inserted a toothpick into a couple of them and withdrew it to ensure the batter was done in the middle, she glanced at the clock on the wall. A quarter past seven. They’d all been working long hours.

Hurrying back to the salesroom, she emptied the till into a cash box. She’d take it home with her and count out the receipts from there. Making some notes on her inventory list, she realized she needed to make noodles again. Maybe she could work on that tomorrow, while Mammi minded the store.

Returning to the kitchen, she gazed out the window. It was dark but she caught a flash of movement from the barn. Seth was headed this way, packing two shiny metal buckets, which she knew carried fresh milk.

She peered at the doorway leading to the apartment overhead, hoping to see Mammi there. The elderly woman had taken the baby upstairs a few minutes earlier, to get the child bathed and ready for bed. Susanna knew it would be another half hour before her grandmother came back down stairs and she hated to be alone with Seth in the meantime. But it couldn’t be helped.

She sighed, hearing the back door open, then the sounds of his thudding boots as he stepped inside. Within moments, he appeared in the kitchen and set the buckets of milk on the counter near the fridge. She’d trained him not to go tromping upstairs where he might wake the baby.

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