Heritage of Lancaster County 03 The Reckoning by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-03-01T12:05:56.312000+00:00

The women were nodding in agreement.

"How much would a quilt like that sell for?" Elizabeth

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asked, sitting across the frame from Katherine.

"Oh, probably over a thousand dollars for a queen size, at a store catering to tourists. If you knew where to go--to a private Amish residence, for instance--you'd only pay about five hundred dollars."

They talked about what to do with the Ninepatch quilt the seven of them were already in the process of making. "If we ever finish it," Natalie said with a grin.

"Maybe we could sell it to raise money for the hospice," Katherine suggested.

Missy, Elizabeth, and Natalie immediately decided that was a good idea. Leoma, Rosie, and Ada didn't seem to mind either way. "We're just thrilled to have the opportunity to learn firsthand from someone who knows what she's doing," Ada said, acknowledging Katherine.

"Yes, thanks for being Amish," Missy teased, offering a smile.

Katherine didn't quite know how to respond. Truth be told, if Missy, or any of the other women gathered here, had the slightest idea what she'd experienced for having been an unyielding Plain woman, maybe they woulcbn't be so quick to jump to conclusions. But, of course, they couldn't poso sibly know. They had no way of understanding the rigid, nearly unattainable, expectations placed on one growing up in a cloistered society. So she said nothing.

"What made you leave your people?" asked Elizabeth. Katherine noticed Natalie's concerned look but took the question in stride. "I wanted to find my birth mother, Laura Mayfield-Bennett. My search brought me here to Canan- daigua and this mansion."

Several of the ladies looked surprised. "So you were adopted by the Amish?" asked Elizabeth.

"Yes, as an infant, but I wasn't told until just last year." She was beginning to feel uncomfortable about exposing her past.

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"Oh . . . I know just how you must feel," Ada offered. "One of my cousins recently found out she was adopted. She's in her late forties."

"Why would parents keep something like that from their child?" Missy asked, frowning as she looked across the frame at Ada.

Ada shook her head. "In the case of my cousin, she never felt connected to her family. I guess, from what she says, she

always sensed that she didn't really belorrg."

Didn't belong...

Katherine wondered if her quilting class was turning into the type of therapy sessions she'd recently read about in the newspaper. Was this how English folk aired their pent-up emotions?

Natalie, being the professional she was, must've picked up on Katherine's mood. Because before you could say Geilssch wanz--horsetail--she had steered the conversation away from adoption to the nasty weather and news of another storm front heading their way.

In more ways than one, Katherine was mighty glad the nurse had joined the group.

When Daniel arrived home after putting in another long day at work, it was coming on toward twilight, and the city lights were beginning to twinkle up and down his street.

Sorting through the mail, he scrutinized each return address and the handwriting as well, hoping for a reply from Katie.

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