A Match For Addy (The Amish Matchmaker Book 1) (9 page)

She folded her arms and raised her chin. “Was it so terrible that you miss a big dinner?” she asked. “You hardly look as though you’ve missed many meals.”

“It was awful,” he said in an exaggerated tone. “I barely made it until morning. And that was a day of worship. No cooking on the Lord’s Day. No hot breakfast.” He gave her his most pitiful look. “Nothing but cold biscuits and warm milk from the cow.”

“What? No sausage?” Her lips twitched.

It was working. She would forgive him if he continued to charm her.

“
Ne
. My sisters had eaten the last of the cooked sausage the evening before.” He pressed his advantage. “The morning service was a long one. The preachers didn’t finish the last sermon until long after the sun was high.”

“Milk and biscuits is all your
mam
fed you? No jam on the biscuits? No honey? No applesauce or canned peaches?”

He shook his head. “
Ne
. Well...apple butter. Just a smidgen. And a little cheese.”

“And what else?”

He grinned at her. “A big ol’ hunk of pumpkin pie.”

Addy laughed and raised her hands in surrender. “Fine. You win. I’ll go away and leave you to your messy kitchen. But I warn you, if you don’t get it straight by the time Sara returns, I’ll have no pity for you.”

“I don’t want you to go away,” he protested. “I need your help, Addy.”

“Make up your mind, Gideon. You want my help or you don’t. Which is it?”

“I do, but not as a kitchen scrubber. I need you to help me with my sausage. I need to grind a new mix of meat and rethink the ingredients. Maybe more mustard seed?”

“You’re going to make
more
sausage? On top of what you’ve already cooked?”

“It’s the only way to perfect a recipe. A rainy day like this is perfect. What we make we can save for supper and breakfast tomorrow. That way, Sara won’t have to cook so much for us. I’m sure that this Joseph will like sausage. Who doesn’t?”

She eyed him suspiciously. “So what, exactly, do you want me to do?”

“Help me to grind the meat and measure the spices. Taste. And watch the pan to make sure I don’t burn the next batch.”

“You know I didn’t come here to make sausage. I have work to do for Sara.”

“No sense mopping the floor until I’m done.” He turned to the plate of biscuits on the counter and grabbed one. “Think fast,” he said as he tossed it to her. He didn’t think she’d be able to catch it, but to his surprise, Addy’s hand shot out, and she snatched the biscuit midair. And before he could congratulate her, she drew back her arm, like a boy, and hurled it back at him.

He hadn’t been expecting that. He made a grab, too late for the flying biscuit, and it smacked him full in the chest and broke into a dozen pieces that rained down on the floor.

Addy seemed stunned by the audacity of what she’d done. Her eyes widened, and she clapped a hand over her mouth. “Oh, Gideon. I didn’t mean...” She knelt and began picking up the scattered pieces of biscuit. He did the same, but somehow, they both came up at the same instant, and their heads knocked together.

Addy began to giggle at the foolishness of it, and in seconds he, too, was laughing. He laughed so hard that tears ran down his cheeks.

“What are the two of you doing?” Ellie demanded, entering the kitchen, hands on her small hips. “Are you
kinner
to play with food like this? Sara will skin you both alive.” But the last of her threat was lost in her own snicker, which became a side-slapping guffaw. Then she shook her head and returned to her sewing. “Best I have nothing at all to do with this,” she threw back.

“Ya,”
Gideon called after her. “Better you don’t.” He glanced back at Addy, who was now sitting on the floor, covering her face with her hands and snickering.

“You...you’re in trouble,” she accused. But from the tone of her voice, he knew that she’d forgiven him and was enjoying herself immensely. “If my mother could see me—”

“Good for us she’s not here.”

Addy chuckled. “You have no idea.”

“Maybe a little,” he answered, gesturing with his thumb and forefinger. “I have an Aunt Martha, and she is a—” He stopped in midsentence, not wanting to insult Addy’s mother. He’d heard a few stories about Martha Coblentz from Sara, but he wouldn’t want to hurt Addy’s feelings.

“She’s a what?” Addy’s eyes were sparkling with amusement.

“A...” He struggled to be honest without speaking ill of his own Aunt Martha. She was, for all her bad temper, a woman of faith and determination. “A woman of substance,” he pronounced. “And one who does not suffer ill-behaved boys.”

“Or girls?”

He nodded and grinned at her. She smiled back as he got his feet under him and reached out to take her hand and help her up. “So,” he asked, “will you help me with the sausage?”

“I suppose I’ll have to,” she agreed reluctantly. “Because if I don’t, you’ll be at this all day and never get the kitchen cleaned up before Sara gets back.”

* * *

Three hours and two more batches of ground pork later, Ellie, Addy and Gideon sat around the kitchen table eating bread, sausage, cheese and pickles, washed down with glasses of buttermilk. “Is it really good?” Gideon held up his sausage sandwich to make his point. “Is this the best one yet?”

Ellie chuckled. “It is, but you’ve stuffed us like a Christmas goose to get it.” She groaned. “And not even Joseph, Sara and us combined will be able to eat all this sausage you’ve cooked. You’ll have to go around the neighborhood begging people to take it off your hands.”

Addy wanted to offer to take a plate home for her parents. Her
mam
and
dat
would love it, and it would add to the stewed tomatoes and macaroni salad that they were planning to have for supper. Since she’d started working away from the house three days of the week and sharing dinner with Sara’s household, her mother had often waited to prepare the biggest meal of the day until early evening. Then the three of them would sit around the table together.

Eating together in the kitchen, just the family, was an important part of daily life. Her
dat
sometimes pointed out that in the
Englisher
world, things were different. Husbands and wives were often too busy to have breakfast, dinner and supper together. To Addy’s way of thinking, it went against all the principles of family life. How else could you share your day’s successes and failures? And what kind of an example did you set for children if they sat alone in front of a television?

But as much as she would have liked to take Gideon’s delicious sausage home, she wouldn’t ask. She didn’t want to admit that many days she and her mother whipped up a meal of bread and vegetables because the pig they’d slaughtered the previous fall was long eaten, and they had already culled her hens and ducks. As a preacher, Addy’s father was often invited to other people’s homes for a meal, and church Sundays always included a substantial communal meal. They never went hungry at her mother’s table. There were always biscuits, granola and canned fruit, but this sausage was a real treat, and Addy hoped she hadn’t been greedy in eating so much of it.

“What do you think, Addy?” Gideon urged. “Too much sage?”

“Just right,” she pronounced truthfully. “The best sausage I’ve ever eaten, even better than my cousin Anna’s, and she’s the best cook in Kent County. At least, the best Amish cook,” she amended. “But now I’m going to do something about this kitchen because if Sara gets home and finds—”

The sound of a motor vehicle came from outside the house. Addy jumped up and went to the window.
“Ach!”
she cried. “Look! It’s Sara and the new boarder. You said she wouldn’t be back so early.” She looked around the room, trying to see what, if anything, could be set to rights in the next moment or two. In desperation, she seized a broom and began sweeping the floor. “We’re going to be in so much trouble!”

Ellie had gotten up to help, but Gideon hadn’t moved. He continued to eat his sausage sandwich as though they had all the time in the world.

“What’s wrong with you?” Addy demanded. “You promised you’d clean this up.”

“And I will,” he answered, carefully wiping his mouth with a napkin. “She’s early. I’m sure Sara’s seen worse.”

“When have I seen worse?” Sara asked, walking in the back door.

Addy froze, broom clutched in her hand. “Sara, I’m sorry. We didn’t expect...” she managed, all in a rush. “But we’re cleaning up now.”

Sara stood at the entrance to the utility room and calmly removed her cloak and bonnet. “I can see the three of you have been busy while I was gone,” she said without a hint of amusement. “Joseph. You’ll have to excuse us. We usually keep a tidier kitchen than this.”

Addy stared at the tall man who came into the house behind Sara. He wasn’t young, but neither was he old. Maybe her age, perhaps a few years her senior. His face was long, his chin prominent, but he had soft brown eyes. Not so beautiful as Gideon, with his perfect nose and high forehead and butter-yellow hair, but this Joseph had nice eyes and an inviting smile. Very masculine, she decided, an outdoors man...maybe a farmer, by his tan. He wore dark blue jeans, a navy blue cotton pullover shirt and black leather shoes. All properly
Plain
. His black hat had a slightly broader brim than was worn in Seven Poplars, but it was clearly Old Order Amish wear.

“A good day to you,” Joseph said heartily. His words encompassed the three of them, but it seemed to Addy that his gaze lingered on her.

Addy felt her face grow warm. Was the stranger staring at her? The sudden thought that Sara might have brought this man here with the intentions of making a match between them struck her speechless. Gideon had said that morning that he thought Sara already had an idea who she’d like to match Joseph with. She opened her mouth to answer, but nothing came out, so she nodded dumbly, bobbing her head like a duck.

Ellie spoke to Joseph; Gideon offered a clear welcome in their common
Deitsch
, but she couldn’t utter a sound.

“
Danki
. I’m happy to meet you,” Joseph said. His voice was nice, his accent a little strange to her. He said
danki
, instead of
danke
, but the difference was so slight she might not have noticed if she hadn’t been paying such close attention. Had Sara said where he was from? Not that it mattered, because one good look at the kitchen and her housekeeping and any interest in her he might have had was lost.

Gideon rose and crossed the kitchen. He offered his hand to Joseph, and the two shook. “Hungry?” Gideon asked. “We’ve got plenty left. I hope you like sausage.”

“Ya,”
the stranger answered. “That would be good. Sausage is my favorite.” He smiled at Addy again. “Addy Coblentz. Your father is a preacher, I think?”

She nodded. What else had Sara told Joseph about her? And why was he paying so much attention to her when Ellie was far prettier than she was? Addy felt a rush of elation. She didn’t know this Joseph, didn’t know his prospects or if he was someone that she would like to know better. But the notion that an eligible man, one who’d come to stay with Sara for the express purpose of finding a wife, was both interesting and exciting.

Ellie was setting two more places at the table. “Would you like Addy and me to make Joseph’s room ready in the bachelor quarters?” she asked Sara. “We were going to ready it up after dinner. We just didn’t expect you so soon.”

The room, of course, was already clean, but Joseph’s bed had no linen yet. Sara had asked them to make the bed with fresh sheets and quilts. And both of them had forgotten. The bachelor’s quarters, where Gideon slept, were in a separate building a short distance from the main house. Ellie had told Addy that Sara had hired carpenters to remodel what had been an enclosed shed into two comfortable rooms, because parents of her female boarders wouldn’t have been comfortable having strange men sleeping under the same roof as the girls.

“I can see that you didn’t,” Sara replied. “The train was on time but, with the heavy rain, we decided to come straight home instead of stopping at a restaurant to eat.” She looked expectantly at Addy. “Could you see to Joseph’s room now? He’s been traveling for many hours. I’m sure he’d like an opportunity to unpack and make himself at home.”

“Ya,”
Addy answered. “Of course. We’ll do it now.” She offered Joseph a shy smile, and he grinned back at her. And as she and Ellie left the room, Addy heard him say, “You’re right. She’s very pretty.”

The two girls hurried upstairs to the big walk-in closet that Sara used for linens. “He thinks you’re pretty,” Addy told Ellie in a whisper. “He said so. Didn’t you hear him?”

“He wasn’t talking about me, you woodenhead,” Ellie replied with a giggle. “
You
. You saw how he was watching you. Sara must have brought him here to meet you.”

Addy’s surprise must have shown on her face, because Ellie laughed out loud.

“Ne,”
Addy said. “Men don’t find me attractive. I’m too tall. Too much of a beanpole.”

“Silly goose. How do you know what men think? I saw Joseph’s eyes light up when he saw you. He likes you. Now, all you have to do is be on your best behavior, so you don’t scare him off, until you can learn if you might want him to court you.” Ellie climbed on a stool and took down two pillows and a log-cabin-patterned quilt. She pushed them into Addy’s arms. “It isn’t your looks that scare away boys. It’s your tongue.” She folded her arms over her small bosom and regarded her seriously. “Sometimes you’re very hard on Gideon.”

“Hard on him?” Addy repeated. She hugged the quilt and pillows to her chest. “I’m just being honest. Should I agree with everything he says?”

“Of course not,” Ellie said, reaching up to pull down a set of sheets. “But don’t be so quick to criticize men. Their feelings are easily bruised. Be yourself, Addy, but stop thinking and acting like you aren’t someone that a man would want to walk out with, because that isn’t true.”

“You’re just saying that to be nice,” Addy replied.

“I’m saying it because it’s so. You have to value yourself. If you don’t, how will anyone else value you?” She climbed down and started for the stairs with the sheets. “No wonder you’re almost thirty and not yet betrothed,” she said. “You’ve been so certain that no one wanted to marry you that you don’t give anyone a real chance.”