A Simple Spring: A Seasons of Lancaster Novel Page 21

  These shoes weren’t used to walking on marble floors. These fingers didn’t normally push a button on a tiny box of an oven to microwave popcorn. This heart had never thrilled to the sound of a young man’s voice, but now it seemed to skip ahead every time Mike spoke.

  Oh, she was walking in some other girl’s footsteps, and she was determined never to give up this stranger’s shoes, for fear of the blessed happiness ending.

  She hugged herself, turning in the lovely bedroom. The edges of the ceiling were trimmed in white like a cake. There were paintings framed in gold, colorful wallpaper with splashes of lavender flowers, and her very own bathroom through that door. She fell back on the big four-poster bed, bouncing on the bedspread with tiny purple flowers. How would she ever sleep with such excitement beating in her chest, beating like a hawk rising into the sky?

  After she had helped Mike’s grandmother to bed, Mike had led her up the graceful, twisting staircase through this castle of a house with electric lights that looked like white candles coming out of the wall. There were windows with sparkling edges, bouncy carpeting that felt like marshmallows underfoot, and carved wooden banisters that seemed more like sculptures than practical handles to hold on to. Sadie had been surprised to see so many rooms that went unused, but Mike reminded her that his gran used to live up here and offer free board to traveling students and missionaries until the stroke made it impossible for her to do the stairs. Still, all these rooms for one person? “It would take all of an afternoon just to travel from room to room,” Sadie had told him.

  She rolled over on the bed and opened the thin red book of poetry. Hearing Mike read the poem, she had begun to see how musical a poem could be. The contents promised so many verses, but she let the book fall closed, knowing her mind was too unsettled to read.

  Downstairs she heard the gong of a clock—Katherine’s grandfather clock—striking twelve times for midnight, and the story of Cinderella came to mind. Was it time for her to run from the ball and return to her life as slave to her cruel, bad sisters?

  She laughed at the notion and rose from the bed. No, there was no cruelty in her good, kind family. Only concern, and a little disappointment. They were upset with her because they wanted her to follow the Ordnung. They loved her and wanted her to live nearby forever, a good Amish wife and mother. Of course, that was how her story should end.

  But was that the happy ending for her?

  She pressed her palms to the cool stone windowsill and looked to the street below where a small car moved down the lane. To be in the city, so close to Mike … it hadn’t occurred to her before, but now she didn’t think she would sleep a wink.

  Feeling adventurous, she went to the door and peered into the hall, studying the way the staircase curved up as it rose to the next story. There was a little window seat on this level and she sat down on the velveteen cushion and hugged her knees. The window off to the side seemed to be made of ice diamonds, clear and sparkling in the night. Such beautiful things Katherine’s home was made of. It was so different from the Plain life Sadie knew, and yet she found that the smooth marble and glittering glass thrilled her as much as the wildflowers of a spring day. Wasn’t a house as beautiful as this Gott’s creation, too?

  A shuffling sound alerted her, and she turned her head to see Mike coming down the stairs. “Sadie? Hey. Do you need something?”

  She shook her head, hugging her knees. “I’m fine. Just enjoying this wonderful good house.”

  He sat beside her on the window seat, his arm brushing hers. “It is a great house, but I thought you were tired. Don’t you go to sleep early so that you can get up with the sunrise?”

  He had casually dropped his hand to her knee when he asked the question, and his touch sent shivers running straight to her heart. “Ya, but here I don’t have to get up and milk cows.”

  He laughed. “Right. So I haven’t even shown you one of the best parts of the house.” He stood up, and she missed the comfort of his body beside hers. “You want to have a look?”

  “Sure.” She followed him up the curving staircase.

  “My brother used to call this the stairway to heaven,” Mike called back to her.

  “If there are stairs to heaven, I think they must look like this.”

  Four floors! Mike led her to the tippy-top, where a white door opened to the sky. And suddenly they stood on a patio looking out over rooftops and city lights.

  “Look at all the lights,” Sadie marveled, taking a breath of cool air.

  “City lights. Sometimes they’re so bright, they block out the stars and moon. They call it light pollution.”

  “Even if you can’t see the stars, with all these twinkling lights, I could just stand here and watch for hours.” She walked to the railing, a fence covered by clear glass so that you could see through to the city view.

  “I thought you’d like it. That patch of darkness over there is the Delaware River. On a clear night, it shimmers in the moonlight.”

  “It is like heaven. And those buildings over there … the square of light. Each one is a window with people inside.” She sighed in wonder. “So much life in the city. Everywhere I turn, it reminds me of the good people Gott has created.”

  “That is not the way most people see the city, but I like it.” He turned to her. “I like the way you think, songbird.”

  The sparkle in his blue eyes gave her goose bumps, and she crossed her arms, wanting to hold on to the good feeling. If only she could remember this moment for always—the feeling sweeping her from head to toe, the cool night air, the color of his eyes and the way they looked at her as if she were the most precious flower in Gott’s creation.

  “Are you cold?” he asked.

  She didn’t answer; she didn’t want to go inside.

  But instead he moved behind her and folded his arms around her, pulling her against his warm, solid body.

  Sadie gasped at the contact, her senses afire as his arms formed a band across her belly and his head tipped down so that his cheek pressed against hers. The hard wall of his body behind her made her feel loved and supported, and her throat tightened at the sweet feeling of security in his arms.

  “Is that better?” he asked.

  “Ya.” Her voice sounded thin and meek, and that was not how she was feeling. She covered his arms with hers and held on tight. “Yes, it’s warm and cozy.”

  “You know, I really can’t believe you’re here. I mean, what are the chances that a guy could get an Amish girl to visit him in the city?”

  She laughed. “Slim chances.”

  “I guess I’m just lucky.”

  “We’re both blessed. My heart is doing flip-flops, just being here in the city and being with you. I feel so new, so alive. Like my life is just beginning now.”

  “Really? Well, maybe it is. Maybe this is where you’re meant to be.”

  Could it be?

  This was all wonderful good. But was this who Sadie really was? She had always thought of herself as an Amish girl from Halfway. Much as she loved the city, Lancaster County was her home.

  But this—this beautiful night in a city palace—this was a memory she would cherish for always.

  “I think this is just a wonderful fairy tale,” Sadie said. “I feel like I stepped into a princess’s shoes.”

  “This is real, Sadie. The real deal.” He tightened his grip and swayed gently back and forth.

  Back and forth …

  Emotion blurred the lights in the indigo night as they rocked together and she tamped down all thoughts of the farm and the bishop and baptism. Her troubles could wait while the reality of her feelings for Mike set in.

  The Big Love. She was falling for Mike … had already fallen in love with him. And the rush of feelings wasn’t at all what she’d expected.

  How childish she’d been to think that it would chase the loneliness from her heart. Instead, she knew that from now on a new loneliness was going to jab at her whenever she was away from Mike. Real love was
going to bring her heartache, she saw that now, and still, she wouldn’t have missed these feelings for anything in the world.

  “God works in mysterious ways,” Mike whispered in her ear. “He’s the one who brought us together. And now that I’ve got you, I’m not going to let you go.”

  She couldn’t help but smile as she swayed in his arms. “Okay, but it’s going to look mighty funny when we go downstairs for breakfast with your octopus arms around me.”

  He stopped swaying and loosened his grip. “Are you calling me an octopus?”

  She turned in his arms and pressed a finger to his lips. “I think you should stop complaining about that and kiss me.”

  “Oh, really?” He pretended to bite her finger and she laughed, pulling it away.

  His hands moved to her shoulders, melting the burdens she carried there as his eyes studied her.

  Those eyes … every time she looked at him she was stunned anew by the light in his blue eyes. Gott’s light; that had to be it.

  “Really. We’re on a rooftop overlooking a sparkling city. My family is many miles away, and the bishop isn’t watching. I think it’s a good time.”

  He sighed. “I love a practical girl.”

  The warmth of his hands moved down her back as he pulled her closer, pulled her into his glittering world of cars and cities and limitless music.

  Like a flower opening itself to the sun, Sadie lifted her face for his kiss—a gentle brush of his lips, then a hungrier contact that sizzled down to her toes. Her beating heart roared in her ears, and she was sure he could feel it pulsing through her lips as they kissed and sighed and kissed as if tasting honey for the very first time.

  There was a smile on her face as Sadie awoke to the pink light of sunrise at the window.

  Kissing under the stars … such a lovely night.

  She burrowed into the pillow of the princess bed, wanting some time to think and pray.

  “Dear Gott in heaven, I didn’t know I could ever feel this way.” All those times she had prayed for the Big Love, she had thought of it more of a game than a real bond between a woman and a man.

  My very first kiss.

  She pressed her fingertips to her lips, remembering the kiss. She had never guessed that a simple touch on the lips could stir so many feelings in a person … and such a hunger for more.

  Stretching under the covers, she closed her eyes and pictured the two of them locked in each other’s arms on the rooftop.

  Kissing under the stars.

  The beauty and wonder of it all would probably fade when she went back to Halfway, but for now the glow still warmed her.

  Did this mean Mike was her boyfriend now? Ya, it had to be so. And where was he right now? She knew he had to work at the bakery this morning. With a look at the clock, she kicked off the covers and hurried to get dressed. Maybe she could catch him before he left.

  Downstairs she tiptoed past the archway to Katherine’s makeshift room and found the older woman still in bed, her breath whispering in and out, gentle as a child. There was a note on the kitchen counter, addressed to “Songbird.” She beamed, reading that he was off to work and planned to return by three. Katherine’s nurse Stella would arrive by eight-thirty, and Sadie was invited to help herself to anything in the kitchen.

  “What do we have here?” She pulled open the refrigerator and found it well stocked with eggs, cheese, veggies, and fruit—everything she would need for a good breakfast. She would shower first, then cook a meal to be ready soon after the nurse arrived.

  The morning passed quickly with a breakfast to cook, a kitchen to clean up, and a big house to tidy. Sadie stripped the sheets on Katherine’s bed and put them into the electric washing machine. Stella showed her how to add soap, press two buttons, and the machine did everything else on its own. Sadie enjoyed going through the downstairs rooms with a feather duster, a broom, and a pail of soapy water.

  “You don’t have to do that, Sadie,” Katherine insisted. “You’re a guest here.”

  “But I like to stay busy,” Sadie said. “Such a beautiful house deserves to be sparkling clean.”

  While Katherine was reading in the sunroom, Sadie moved into the parlor and noticed a piano for the first time. Big and black as a cow, it sat in an alcove, alone and lonely.

  “You want to make music,” Sadie said, running her palm over the keyboard cover. “It’s all waiting inside you.”

  “Did you say something?” Katherine called.

  Sadie peeked around to the sunroom. “I was talking to your piano. It’s telling me it wants to make music.”

  Katherine squinted, the creases in her forehead sharpening. “Does it?” Her mouth softened. “Yes, it must feel neglected. It’s been gathering a lot of dust these past few years.”

  “Do you play?”

  “Not often—and not at all since the stroke.”

  “Kumm, please.” Sadie brought the walker to Katherine. “Will you play for me? Or at least show me how it works?”

  “Mike did say you are a gifted musician.” Katherine closed her book. “I might play a little something, but I can’t really show you how to work it. It’s not like a washing machine or a microwave oven. A piano’s music is only as good as the fingers dancing over the keys.”

  As she walked slowly alongside Katherine, Sadie cupped her rough hands together, wondering if these fingers could learn to dance. “I would love to hear a song.”

  “We’ll have to see how my left hand works.” As they reached the parlor, Katherine’s pale blue eyes slid over to Sadie. “Did my physical therapist put you up to this?”

  Sadie laughed. She replaced the piano bench with a hard-backed chair from the dining room, and then helped Katherine settle in.

  “I need to warm up.” With some effort the older woman pulled herself up, her posture perfect as her hands pressed into the black and white keys. “All right, then, let me try this.”

  The song started with a low note, far to the left. The low notes set up a steady beat. And then the melody came, playful and light, like girls skipping in the sun.

  Butterfly fingers, Sadie thought, observing attentively. Hands arched. Fingers curled.

  Katherine’s fingers walked to the right of the keyboard, the notes rising like a kite in the air. At one point her left hand hit some wrong keys, and she grunted, but continued until she finished by hitting many bright notes at the same time.

  “Wonderful!” Sadie clapped, beaming in wonder that Katherine could make such a beautiful song.

  Katherine tried to hide her smile. “You’re an easy sell. That’s just a beginner’s piece, and my left hand is sluggish.”

  “But it warms my heart, and I couldn’t begin to play it myself. Doesn’t it thrill you that you can sit at this big piano and make such music?”

  “I never thought of it that way. I was forced to take piano lessons as a child. I had to practice every day before I could play outside, and that made me mad.”

  How odd to punish a child with music, Sadie thought. “Are you still mad?”

  “I worked through it. But it’s exhausting now, working my left hand so hard.” Katherine was pressing many keys at one time, bringing out tones so lovely they made the hair at the back of Sadie’s neck tingle.

  “What’s that you’re playing now?” Sadie asked.

  “This? Just chords.” When she saw Sadie staring, she elaborated. “A musical chord is a set of notes heard at the same time. You have triads … one, two, three. There are extended chords.” She struck many keys at the same time. “And major … and minor. Many songs have you play chords with the left hand and the melody with the right.”

  Sadie took a deep breath, trying to take it all in. “I think I would like to play the piano.”

  “That’s because you have music in your heart.” Katherine waved a hand in the air. “Pull up another chair, and I’ll show you a few things you can try.”

  Katherine showed her chords, and then had Sadie use her own fingers to strike
C major.

  The sweet, clear sound filled the room like light at sunrise.

  “I love that!” Sadie struck it again, and again.

  “And that’s just C major,” Katherine said with a wry smile. “We’ve got a ways to go before my nap.”

  When Mike returned in the afternoon, Sadie was once again testing the sounds of different keys and practicing chords. After a lunch of grilled cheese sandwiches, she had helped Katherine in for a nap, closed the pocket doors of the parlor, and spent hours picking out the melodies of hymns she had learned, adding chords when she could.

  “Listen to this—I can do chords,” she said excitedly, demonstrating.

  Mike sat beside her on the bench, and again she felt a tug of nerves having him so close. “Pretty impressive.”

  “It’s so wonderful to be able to take this music from my head and hear it on a piano, with other notes. A single voice can’t do so much.”

  Mike nodded. “A piano gives you more range, and you’re a quick study.” He leaned over the keyboard. “You want to see what I’ve mastered in my twenty-two years? This is called ‘Heart and Soul.’ ”

  He made a show of cracking his knuckles, then began with his left hand. Boom-dah-dee-dah … The song was a little goofy, but Mike made it even funnier with his silly expressions.

  She clapped when he finished.

  “Think I’m ready for Carnegie Hall?” he asked, blue eyes twinkling.

  “I don’t know that place, but I think you’re ready to join a circus.”

  “Ouch!” He played a simple chord. “I’ve got mad skills on the piano.”

  She nudged his shoulder with hers. “Sorry, sir. It’s a good thing you’re getting some mad skills in college.”

  “Oh, now you’re a comedian, too?”

  “No, I’m a serious musician. And if you don’t mind, I’d like to practice some more chords.”

  “Okay, okay.” He slid off the bench and moved behind her.

  A moment later, a tingle traveled down Sadie’s spine as his hands covered her shoulders. His fingers pressed into the muscles, soothing and exciting, too.

  She had never felt so close to a young man. Mike was her boyfriend, yes, but he was a good friend, too.