A Kauffman Amish Christmas Collection (2 page)

He grinned. “I bet I know someone who would be happy to help you.”

“Who?”

“Your brother David’s wife.”

“Kathryn.” Anna Mae nodded, a knot developing in her throat at the thought of her sister-in-law. “She was the most supportive of my relationship with you. She seemed to be the only one in the family who understood why I left. She might consider planning a surprise visit. Kathryn was always known for speaking her mind, despite the consequences.”

“Why don’t you write her a letter and tell her how you’re feeling?”

“Maybe I will.” Anna Mae bit her lip, hoping to stop the threatening tears. “I miss her.”

“Let’s enjoy this delicious meal. After we’re done eating, I’ll clean up while you write a letter to Kathryn.”

“Okay.” Anna Mae tried to keep the conversation light while they ate.

After finishing off the meal with pumpkin pie and coffee, Kellan stood and gathered up the dishes. “I’ll take care of this. You go write that letter.”

“No. Let me help you.” Anna Mae rose and reached for his mug.

“Anna Mae,” he began with mock annoyance, “I’ll take care of the dishes. Go write to Kathryn so you can rest easy tonight. The baby doesn’t need the stress you’re feeling about your family. Writing to Kathryn will ease your mind.”

Stepping around the table, Anna Mae brushed her lips against Kellan’s warm cheek. “I don’t deserve you.”

He set the dishes on the table and swept Anna Mae into his muscular arms. “Actually, I’m the one who doesn’t deserve you.” He kissed her lips, slow and easy, and then smiled down while brushing back a wisp of light brown hair that had escaped her bun. Even though she now lived an English lifestyle, she always wore her hair up. Some parts of her upbringing were still comfortable to her. “You’re so sweet and loyal. I’ll never understand how your family could shun you.”

“Kellan, I already explained —”

“I know, I know.” He held her close and whispered into her ear. “No matter what happens with our family, I love you. Don’t forget that.”

“I love you too.” She closed her eyes, silently thanking God for her wonderful husband.

He let go of the embrace. “Go write your letter. I’ll get the dishes under control.”

“Thank you.” After retrieving her favorite stationery from the roll-top desk, Anna Mae settled into Kellan’s easy chair.

At a loss for how to begin the letter, she stared across the room at her favorite wedding portrait of her and Kellan, standing together at the altar of his church. Clad in a simple white dress, Anna Mae stood holding a small bouquet of flowers while clutching Kellan’s arm. Her dress and the ceremony were both very different from an Amish wedding, but Anna Mae had wanted to fit into Kellan’s English world. After all, she’d broken every Amish rule by leaving her community and marrying him. It was both the happiest and saddest day in her life. Only Kellan’s sister and a handful
of his friends and employees attended. She’d wished her family would’ve come, but they had objected to her leaving and did not condone their union. Anna Mae was cut off from the family when she left, even though leaving was her choice.

Closing her eyes, Anna Mae thought back to that fateful day when she’d met Kellan McDonough. It had been four years ago when Kellan had stepped into the Kauffman Amish Bakery in Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania, where Anna Mae worked with her sister-in-law Kathryn and Kathryn’s relatives.

Anna Mae was twenty-three and had joined the Amish church the previous spring. After a few months of instruction covering the
Ordnung
, the unwritten rules of the Amish, she’d been baptized and had taken a public vow to live by the Amish beliefs. All three of her sisters were married, but Anna Mae had all but given up on finding a mate. She’d been certain she’d become an old maid, working in the bakery and making quilts for auction until she was too old and frail to work.

However, her life had changed irrevocably when a handsome English customer approached her and asked her to sit on the porch with him and share a slice of chocolate cake. Anna Mae hesitated, but Kathryn nudged her forward, telling Anna Mae to relish a much-needed break.

The customer introduced himself as Kellan McDonough, a car dealership owner from Baltimore in town visiting old friends. Kellan’s soft-spoken demeanor and easy sense of humor intrigued Anna Mae. She was more comfortable chatting with her new friend than she’d ever felt with the young Amish men in her community.

Their conversation on the porch lasted an hour, ending only when Beth Anne, Kathryn’s sister, came looking for Anna Mae. When Kellan said goodbye and shook Anna Mae’s hand, a spark ignited between them.

Kellan visited Anna Mae at the bakery every day for the next week and then wrote her letters after he returned to Baltimore. Six months later, he visited her again, and six months after that he proposed to her.

“Annie?” Kellan’s concerned voice brought her back to the present. “You all right?”

She opened her eyes and found him standing in the doorway to the kitchen with a pot in one hand and a dishtowel in the other. “Yes, I’m fine,” she said. “I was just losing myself in memories.”

He dried the pot with the towel. “Good ones, I hope.”

She smiled. “The best.”

“Do you need anything, like a drink or a snack?”

She groaned. “If I eat anything else, I’ll explode. Thank you, though.”

“You call me if you need anything.”

“I will. Love you.” She lifted her pen.

“Love you too.” He retreated into the kitchen.

Taking a deep breath, Anna Mae began to write. Once she completed the letter, she signed and sealed it. After addressing the envelope, she closed her eyes and whispered a prayer, asking God to somehow reunite her with her family for Christmas.

W
alking up her long driveway, Kathryn Beiler smiled as her middle daughters prattled on about their day at school.

“Naomi told Millie that Danny likes her, but really Danny likes Rebecca,” Lizzie said.

“But I heard that Rebecca likes Johnny, and so I—” Ruthie chimed in.

“Will you two take a breath?” Amanda snapped. “You’ve been yakking ever since you got home. I’m getting a headache.” At the age of fourteen, she was Kathryn’s oldest child and had already graduated from eighth grade. She now helped out at the bakery with Kathryn.

“Girls,” Kathryn said, trying to suppress a laugh. “There’s no need for bickering.”

Kathryn’s two boys, David Jr. and Manny, pushed each other and she gave them a stern warning look before glancing at the stack of envelopes in Amanda’s hands. “Did you grab the mail from the box?”

“Ya,
Mamm
.” Amanda gave her the stack. “I think it’s mostly bills, but I saw a letter mixed in with them. Looks like it’s from Baltimore. Who do we know in Baltimore?”

“Baltimore?” Kathryn wracked her brain. “I’m not certain.” Examining the letters, she gasped when she read the return address —
McDonough
.

“What is it,
Mamm
?” Amanda asked, craning her neck to read the envelope.

“Just an old friend.” Kathryn shoved the envelopes into the pocket of her apron as she stepped into the foyer. She nodded toward the kitchen. “Boys, please set the table. Girls, you can start on supper. The stew is prepared in the refrigerator. Your
dat
will be home shortly.”

While the children tended to supper, Kathryn slipped into the family room, dropping her bag and the stack of letters onto the sofa. She sank into her husband’s favorite chair and opened the envelope from Baltimore. Tears filled her eyes as she read the beautiful script written by her youngest sister-in-law.

Kathryn read the letter three times with tears trickling down her cheeks. Memories swirled through her mind. Anna Mae was going to be a mother! What a blessing. Oh, how she missed her sister-in-law!

“
Aenti
Anna Mae,” a voice said.

Kathryn’s eyes cut to the doorway where Amanda stood, her arms folded across her thin frame and her blue eyes confident. “That letter is from
Aenti
Anna Mae,” Amanda said.

Kathryn nodded. “
Ya
.”

Amanda lowered herself into the chair across from her. “What does it say?”

Kathryn paused, considering if she should share the letter or not. She knew the contents might upset David, since he’d felt caught between his father and Anna Mae when she’d decided to leave. However, Amanda was old enough to understand the situation, giving Kathryn no reason to distrust her.

“If I tell you,” Kathryn began, “you must promise to keep this to yourself, Amanda. Your
dat
may not be happy when he finds out.”

“So you’re going to keep it from him?” Her brow furrowed with disapproval. “Is that the right thing to do?”

Kathryn smiled, both proud of her daughter’s honesty and embarrassed by her own perceived dishonesty. “You’re right. It’s not right for me to keep this from your
dat
, but I need to figure out the best time to tell him. It’s up to me to decide when to tell him, not you. Understand?”

“Ya.”
Her daughter shrugged. “I don’t understand why it should matter, but I promise not to share it with anyone.”

“Anna Mae and her husband want to visit for Christmas.”

Amanda grinned. “That’s
wunderbaar
! We haven’t seen
Aenti
Anna Mae for three years. Manny was just a baby when she left.”

“Shhh,” Kathryn hissed. “You can’t say it too loud. If Lizzie or Ruthie overhear, you know what will happen.”

Amanda rolled her eyes. “The whole district will know by tomorrow morning.”

Kathryn clicked her tongue. “Now, now, you were just like them when you were around eleven.”

“I doubt that,” Amanda muttered. Her expression brightened. “Back to the letter. What exactly did she say?”

“She asked if I would help her plan a visit for Christmas. She and her husband are expecting a baby in January and they want the family to know their baby. It sounds like a
wunderbaar
idea, but your
Grossdaddi
Beiler won’t be as open to it as we are.”

“Because
Aenti
Anna Mae was shunned for leaving and marrying an Englisher.”

“That’s exactly right.” Kathryn folded the letter and slipped it into the envelope.

Amanda shook her head, and the ties on her prayer
kapp
fluttered around her neck. “It’s sad. She should be allowed to come for Christmas.”

“She can visit, but your
grossdaddi
won’t be as welcoming as the rest of us. It will be uncomfortable at best.”

The back door opened and banged shut, followed by a chorus of children’s voices yelling,
“Dat
!”

Kathryn dropped the letter into the pocket of her apron and gave Amanda a hard look. “Remember, this is our secret,
ya
?”

Winking, Amanda stood. “What letter? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Kathryn shook her head and swallowed a chuckle. She hoped the ease of her daughter’s fib wasn’t a glimpse into the future of her approaching
rumspringe
. She followed Amanda into the kitchen, where David stood surrounded by his children, smiling and nodding while they shared the details of their day.

He turned his gaze to Kathryn and his smile deepened,
causing her heart to warm. His smile still thrilled her, even after fifteen years of marriage.

She smiled in return and rested her hands on her apron, silently debating her choice to conceal the letter.

The children continued chatting, and David nodded while moving past them to the doorway. “Wie
geht’s
?” he whispered, before brushing his lips across hers.

“Gut,”
she said. “How are you?”

“Tired.” He removed his hat and hung it on a peg on the wall. He brushed back his sandy blond hair, which was matted from the hat.

Kathryn crossed the kitchen and checked the stew on the stove. “It looks like supper is ready. Everyone go wash up.”

The children filed out of the kitchen, chattering away in Pennsylvania
Dietsch
as Kathryn stirred the stew, savoring the aroma.

“How was your day?” she asked.

“
Gut
. The store was busy, which always makes my father happy. People always need farming supplies, no matter the time of year or the weather.” He leaned over the pot. “Stew?”