The Amish Quiltmaker’s Unattached Neighbor (The Amish Quiltmaker #6)

Chapter 14

A da’s legs could no longer support her. She plopped ungracefully to the ground, and Pepper nudged his nose against her cheek and whined pathetically. Ada put her arm around Pepper’s neck and nuzzled her face against his soft fur. She had never felt so completely devastated.

Beth ran out the back door and down the steps, her apron flapping as she came. “Ada, what happened? Are you hurt? I looked out the window and saw you fall down. Ach , you look ill. Cum , let me help you.” Beth, the helpless schwester who couldn’t function without Ada, put her arms around Ada and raised her from the ground. Clucking like a mother hen, she led Ada into the house and pulled a chair out from under the table so she could sit. She got Ada a glass of water and handed it to her. “Drink this. What happened? Did Enos say something to upset you? Or was it me? I’m sorry about Tyson and Cathy. I truly thought you’d be froh Tabitha was gone.”

Ada held up her hand to stop Beth from apologizing for anything else. Lately, all Beth did was apologize, and the blame fell squarely on Ada’s shoulders. Enos had been unkind, but he’d also been right, and Ada thought she might never breathe normally again. “Beth, please don’t. It’s my fault. Everything is my fault.” Heartbreak and regret overwhelmed her, and the dam broke. Tears streamed down her face.

Beth gasped and sat down next to Ada at the table, hooking an arm around her shoulder and leaning in so their heads were touching. “It’s okay, Ada. Everything is going to be okay. Enos can hop on a bus in the morning and go straight to Pennsylvania.”

“It’s not that,” Ada moaned.

Beth squeezed tighter. “What can I do? How can I help you?”

Beth had her faults, but she never seemed to have trouble loving anyone, even when they made themselves very unlovable. She never held a grudge, she was always trying to help someone, and she was so eager to please. “Oh, Beth,” Ada sobbed. “After how I’ve treated you, I don’t deserve your kindness.”

Beth pulled back and frowned in confusion. “How you’ve treated me? What do you mean by that?”

“Enos says I’m just like his mater .”

Beth flinched. “What? You’re nothing like his mater . She’s mean and spiteful and can’t say a word without criticizing something.”

Ada took a shaky breath. “Enos says that’s how I treat you.”

Beth pursed her lips and shook her head. “Well, that’s just silly. You don’t like the way I clean toilets, and you get irritated when I don’t make my bed, but I know you love me and that you’re just trying to help me be a better person.”

It was Ada’s turn to embrace Beth. “You are too gute , dear schwester , and I’ve never known anyone more forgiving, but I’m too hard on you, and we both know it. Will you forgive me?”

“Of course I forgive you, if you’ll forgive me for making a mess of your kitchen, putting raspberry dust on the cheese, and sticking my nose into your love life.”

Ada hooted. “My love life? What love life?”

Beth cracked a smile. “I just . . . I can’t stand the thought of Tabitha as your mater -in-law.”

Ada groaned loudly. “Tabitha is not going to be my mater -in-law. Enos and I are about as far away from marriage as you can get. He’s very angry with me, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he never spoke to me again.” A sharp piece of glass pricked Ada’s heart.

Beth made a face. “Of course he’ll speak to you again. He loves you.”

Ada felt her face get warm, but whether from embarrassment or hope, she couldn’t tell. “He does not.”

“Ada,” Beth scolded, “anyone who’s been around you two for more than five minutes can see it. The way he looks at you could melt chocolate. Besides, he’s been angry at you before, and that hasn’t seemed to affect how he feels about you. You set up a tent right in the middle of his six acres . . .”

“My six acres.”

“You made it impossible for him to move the fence.”

Ada sighed. “I think he realized it was impossible on his own.”

“You refused to give him your water rights.”

“ Ach , vell , that didn’t do any gute . Cathy lent him hers.”

Beth laughed. “I’m just saying that if he wanted to hate you, he’s had plenty of chances.” Beth stood and retrieved the kaffee pot from the cupboard. “So Enos accused you of being like his mater , and you were so horrified he felt the need to apologize to me?”

“That is exactly right. Will you forgive me for being critical and disagreeable? I don’t want to end up a lonely and unlovable old woman like Enos’s mater . I want to change. I want us to be best friends instead of always getting on each other’s nerves.”

“You don’t get on my nerves,” Beth said.

Ada grinned. “Well, you get on mine.”

Beth laughed. “Okay, I suppose you do get on my nerves occasionally, but you’re one of the four people I love most in the world. That’s what you do for the people you love. You forgive them. That’s why Enos will forgive you, and he’ll keep forgiving you over and over.”

“But will I forgive him?”

Beth smiled slyly. “I think you will.” She filled the kaffee pot with water and set it on the stove. “I don’t want you to change, Ada. You want the best for me, and when you criticize my mopping skills, I know you don’t think I’m a lost cause.”

“Lost cause? What a thought! Never.”

“If you thought I was a lost cause, you wouldn’t care if my cakes fell or my bed sheets turned gray.”

Ada grimaced. “They’re gray?”

“I like you just the way you are, except maybe a little less critical and a little less uptight.”

“Uptight?”

Beth pulled out the kaffee . Ada almost jumped up and took the package from her. Beth made horrible kaffee . But maybe now was not the time to point it out. “Ada, you think you have to be perfect. You think you have to earn people’s love, as if love is a reward for gute behavior. Love isn’t a reward. Love is Gotte’s law. We’ve already got His love. He asks us to help Him spread it.”

“But . . . but someone has to do something. I can’t just sit around loving people. The dishes would not get washed. The toilets would grow mold. What would have happened to our six acres if I hadn’t been willing to camp on the property all these weeks?”

Beth turned from the stove, tilted her head, and peered at Ada. “No one asked you to camp, Ada.”

“I did it for you and Dat,” Ada sputtered.

“Were you trying to earn our love?”

“Maybe. I don’t know that I was thinking about it that way.”

“You don’t have to be a martyr. Dat and I need you, but you wear yourself out doing things for us that we should do for ourselves. If all your time in that tent has taught me anything, it’s that you have sacrificed a great deal to make my life comfortable, and I have done almost nothing for you.” Beth drew her brows together. “I want to share the load and make your life easier instead of you always feeling like you have to coddle me.”

Ada sighed. “I feel bad that you lost your mater so young. You needed someone. I tried to replace her.”

“You lost your mater too. I don’t need a replacement mater . I need a schwester . Schwesteren take care of each other.”

Ada felt the frustration clear to her toes. “I don’t know how to be any other way.”

“Then let’s start with this: sometimes you just have to bite your tongue, even though it hurts.” Beth checked the water in the pot. “And maybe you need to let me make my own mistakes.”

“Like raspberry-dusted goat cheese?”

Beth’s eyes lit up. “I hate to burst your bubble, but the chef at Le Chez loves it. He’s paying me four dollars extra for the raspberry flavor.”

Ada’s mouth fell open. “He isn’t!”

“Think how much poorer we’d be if I’d listened to you.” Beth poured the kaffee into the pot. She didn’t put enough in, but Ada was already expecting very bad kaffee . At least it would be weak bad kaffee . Beth’s lips twitched upward. “You’re dying to make the kaffee , aren’t you?”

Ada let out a breath she’d been holding. “ Jah .”

“Come on, then.”

Ada didn’t need to be asked twice. She jumped from her chair and took the can from Beth. Then she squeezed her eyes shut in disgust. “I’m doing it again.”

Beth giggled. “I’d rather drink your kaffee . It was just a test.”

Ada growled and laughed at the same time. Her faults could fill a swimming pool, but Beth loved her anyway. It was a very gute feeling. “You are too clever for your own good, Beth Yoder.” She measured out the right amount of kaffee and poured it in the pot. “I finished the Liza series.”

“And?”

“And I loved it. All five books.”

Beth squealed in delight. “I knew you would. Who was your favorite cowboy? Mine is Gavin. He’s so friendly and talkative.”

Ada put the lid back on the can of kaffee . “I like Joe. He’s quiet and serious and always does the right thing.”

“Hmm,” Beth said. “Sounds like someone we know.”