Simple Secrets (The Harmony Series 1) (10 page)

“Dressing modestly is our aim,” Cora Crandall, the store owner, said. “Quite a few of the women love the traditional prayer coverings while some wear nothing on their heads at all—except in church.” Her white cap and peach-colored dress accented her dark skin and large brown eyes. Her husband, Amos Crandall, towered over her and exuded friendliness. I immediately liked this couple.

“Many people believe that the scriptural admonition of a head covering in church isn’t relevant for today,” Amos said. “Others feel it is. So each person wears what they feel comfortable with. There are no rules set in stone.”

I thanked them for their insight. I came incredibly close to buying a lovely apple green dress with small flowers, three-quarter-length sleeves, and a gathered waist. The lace around the collar was light and delicate. Unfortunately, I couldn’t think of a single place to wear it. I held it for several minutes before reluctantly putting it back on the rack.

Sam and I spent the rest of the morning visiting the other side of Main Street. I met the owners of the leather and feed store. Paul and Carol Bruner carried everything needed for horses and cattle. Dale Scheidler ran the farm implements store with his brother Dan.

Then we got to Nature’s Bounty, a small shop that sold dairy products, fruits, and vegetables.

“I sell a lot of my fruit here,” Sam said. “Although most of it is marketed in Council Grove and Topeka.”

The store was rather crowded with people buying milk, cheese, and fruit. Sam pulled me aside. “That’s Joyce Bechtold,” he whispered. “She’s the woman who painted the birds on Ben’s houses and feeders. We should come back when she’s not so busy. I know she wants to meet you.”

Joyce was a lovely woman with curly hair the color of molasses, cut to just above her shoulders. She had soft brown eyes and laugh wrinkles. I whispered to Sam, “Is she Mennonite?”

“No, as a matter of fact, she’s not. She attends my church.”

I wondered if that had anything to do with my uncle’s lack of interest in her. Too bad. Even from across the room, her graciousness and kind attitude toward others was obvious. As she finished helping a customer, her eyes swung over to where Sam and I stood. When she saw me, her eyes widened and her complexion grew pale. I saw Sam nod slightly to her.

“Let’s get going,” he said gently.

When we were outside, I grabbed his arm. “Joyce seemed shocked when she saw me. Why?”

Sam sighed. “She knew you were coming, but none of us knew how much you looked like Ben. It’s rather startling.”

“You didn’t seem surprised when you first met me.”

He blushed. “Guess I was just thinking about how pretty you are.”

I stared at him, but I couldn’t come up with a snappy comeback. All I could think about was that he’d said I was pretty. I tried to change the subject quickly. “I—I get the feeling Joyce really cared for my uncle.”

“Yes,” he said quietly. “She really did.”

Next to Nature’s Bounty was Keystone Meats. I started to open the door when Sam caught me by the arm.

“We don’t really need to go inside. John Keystone...”

“Don’t be silly,” I said lightheartedly. “We’ve made the rounds of all the other stores. I want to check out this one, too.”

I swung open the old screen door on the whitewashed building with the bright red–painted letters and stepped inside. Unlike Joyce’s store, there weren’t any customers standing around. In fact, Sam and I were the only ones. My first impression was that there wasn’t anyone at all in the store. Then a man came from behind the meat counter. He was tall and slender, probably in his early thirties. His long, aquiline nose and dark eyes enhanced his wellsculpted good looks and tanned skin. Longish black hair only added to his overall attractiveness. I felt my mouth go a little dry.

“Hello, Sam,” he said in rich, deep tones. “What do you want here?”

“John,” Sam said, acknowledging the man with a nod. “This is Grace Temple, Benjamin Temple’s niece.”

“Hello,” I said slowly. The tension between the two men was palpable. What was this about?

John wiped his hands on the white apron he wore over jeans and a dark blue shirt. He stuck out his right hand, and I took it. He held it a little longer than was necessary, but I didn’t pull it away. His eyes locked on mine and for a moment I felt transfixed. A door slammed behind us, breaking the moment.

“Well, here you two are. I was beginning to wonder if you’d left town.” Mary sashayed up next to us, a fake smile plastered on her pretty face. Before Sam or I had a chance to respond, she turned her full attention to John.

“I need some ground chuck and twelve rib eyes for tonight, good lookin.’ Is that possible?”

He spread his arms apart. “Anything for you, gorgeous.” He whirled around and disappeared through a door behind his counters.

“So, Gracie. Have you met everyone in town yet?”

“Of course she hasn’t, Mary,” Sam said in measured tones. “There are almost five hundred people living in Harmony. We couldn’t possibly meet all of them in a couple of hours.”

Mary’s right eyebrow shot up. “Oh, has it only been two hours? Seems like much longer.”

Frankly, I was getting tired of Mary’s jealous digs. “Maybe we should go, Sam. I’d like to take a nap sometime today. I didn’t sleep well last night.”

“Sure. No problem.” He walked to the door and pushed it open, waiting for me to exit first. The door slammed loudly behind us.

“Look, Sam,” I said when we were a few feet away. “I don’t want to be a source of contention between you and Mary. Maybe it would be better if we ... well, if you and I didn’t see each other again.”

“No!” His explosive response startled me. He blew a deep breath out between clenched teeth. “I ... I should explain, I guess.” He pointed toward a bench in front of the meat market. “Let’s sit down a minute.”

I lowered myself down on the bench and waited. After a little pacing, he finally sat down next to me.

“Mary and I ... I mean ... We’re kind of engaged.”

My mouth dropped open in surprise. “Kind of engaged? How can anyone be
kind of
engaged? Either you’re engaged or you’re not.”

He hung his head and stared at the ground. “I don’t know how it happened. To this day, I swear I don’t remember asking her to marry me. But somehow she got the idea that I did. Now I don’t know how to get out of it. I—I don’t want to hurt her.”

I let out an exasperated sigh. “You can’t marry someone because you don’t want to hurt her feelings. That’s ridiculous.”

“I know, I know. I’ve been trying to fix this thing for months. But every time I even begin to bring up the subject, she starts crying and I back off.”

I put my hand on his arm. “The longer you string her along, the worse it will be. You’ve got to tell her. Let her get on with her life.”

“I know. I know you’re right.” He put his hand over mine and looked into my eyes. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” I pulled my hand away, my own words ringing in my ears. In two weeks I would be gone. It wasn’t fair to either one of us for me to allow feelings to build up between us. Of course, maybe Sam wasn’t interested in me at all, but when I looked in his eyes, I could almost swear I saw something stirring there.

I decided to change the subject. “You and John Keystone don’t get along very well. Is there a problem?”

He shrugged. “Keystone’s only been in Harmony a little over a year. He came here with an attitude. I’m not the only one he doesn’t like. No one’s been able to forge a friendship with the guy—except Mary.”

It seemed odd that someone with no roots in Harmony would move here and start a business, but John Keystone wasn’t my problem. I had other fish to fry. I pointed to the last shop on the street. Hoffman Candles. Now there was something I could get into. “I love candles. Let’s finish our tour—and then to the bakery.”

Sam nodded and stood up. He swept one hand toward the candle shop and bowed slightly. Then he followed me to the white clapboard building with large windows and dark blue shutters. He ushered me into a room that contained a hodgepodge of aromas. Shelves with different kinds and sizes of candles shared space with interesting holders made of wood and metal. Some were freestanding while others were made to mount on the wall. I’d never seen so many different types of candleholders before and mentioned it to Sam.

“Levi Hoffman makes the candles, but the holders are created by Harmony residents,” he said. He pointed to a set of burnished metal holders. “These were built by Cora and Amos’s son, Drew.”

“Wow. They’re very good. He’s very skilled.”

“Yes, he is.”

I heard something in his voice that made me look up at him. Sam smiled. “Drew has Down syndrome. Cora and Amos have done an outstanding job with him. They don’t treat him as if he has a disability. He’s a great kid, and he’s achieved so much more than most people expected.”

I nodded but didn’t say anything. Grant, my boss, had a son with Down syndrome. I’d watched his struggles with Jared and felt great compassion for the Crandalls.

“Who’s that out there?” A voice rang out, breaking the silence.

“Levi, it’s Sam. I’ve brought Ben’s niece to meet you.”

A curtain hanging in the back of the store parted, and a man stepped out. He couldn’t have been much older than my father, but his hair was almost completely white. With his bushy beard and chubby body, he looked like a real-life Santa Claus. His eyes twinkled, and he broke out into a big smile when he saw us. Although he had certainly changed since the picture in the café, I could still see traces of the handsome young boy in his face.

“So this is Gracie?” he said in a deep voice. “I’ve been waiting for her. Abel stopped by a little while ago and told me you were making the rounds.” I held out my hand, but instead of taking it, he wrapped me in a robust hug.

“Nice to meet you,” I said, my words muffled by his shoulder.

He let me go and then stared at me with interest. “My goodness. She’s the spitting image of Ben. I can hardly believe it.”

“I know,” Sam said. “It’s a little disconcerting.”

“Well, I think it’s wonderful.”

I was getting a little tired of being talked about and not addressed directly. “Were you and my uncle close?”

Levi stepped back a few paces. “No one was really close to Ben,” he said, a note of sadness in his voice. “But I cared for him.” He walked over to a nearby shelf and picked up two tall wooden candleholders. “He made these.”

He held them out, and I took them from his hands. They were oak, stained dark. Each one had carved round balls at the top where the candle was supposed to sit. Then they straightened out for about six inches before the bottom spread out into a carved base. I looked closely. The carvings were of birds and flowers.

“They’re beautiful, Levi.”

“Please, I want you to have them. Let’s find some candles to go in them. What would you like? Sandalwood, vanilla, rose, lilac...”

“I’d love lilac,” I said, “but let me pay for them.”

“Pshaw. This is a gift. For the niece of my friend.” The candlemaker’s eyes flushed with tears. “I’ll put them in a bag for you.”

“Thank you very much. I’ll treasure them.”

Levi had just pulled some paper from a stack on a table and was wrapping the candles and the holder when the door swung open behind us. A tall, grim-faced man dressed in dark clothes, a white shirt, and a large black hat stepped inside the store. Behind him trailed a young woman also dressed in black. Her long dress dusted the floor, and even though it was spring she wore full sleeves. Her head was covered with a stiff bonnet, not the light prayer covering I’d seen on other women in town. She kept her eyes downcast as if she were carefully watching her black laced-up shoes. Her attire was almost too morose for a funeral, yet the overall spirit emanating from the pair made that destination a definite possibility.

“Hello, Gabriel,” Levi said. “Have you brought me some new candleholders?”

The man stepped in front of Sam and me as if we weren’t even in the room. He put a large box on the counter in front of the store owner. “No other reason I’d be here, Levi.” His voice was sharp and raspy.

The store owner looked down into the box and carefully lifted out several metal holders. They were actually quite stunning. Intricately formed and freestanding, curved pieces of wrought iron formed the legs that held them up. Other pieces of metal had been twisted into designs that ended up creating a place to hold a candle.

“Why, they’re beautiful,” I said. “You made these?”

The man swung his gaze around and fastened his angry eyes on me. Even through his black beard I could see his lips locked in a sneer. “I’m sorry. I don’t remember addressing you,” he spat out.

“Now Gabriel, you mind your manners,” Levi said evenly. “This is Gracie Temple. Benjamin’s niece.”

The man’s eyes traveled up and down my body. “Doesn’t look like anyone Benjamin Temple would cotton to. He wouldn’t have approved of anyone this worldly.” His eyes flashed with anger. “Would have been mighty ashamed to call something like this family.”

I could feel my blood start to boil. “Now you look here...” Sam put his hand on my shoulder, and I caught myself before I said something I would probably regret. I stood there stoically, determined not to start an argument with this man. It was obvious it wouldn’t do any good.

Assuming I wasn’t going to rise to his bait, Gabriel turned back to Levi and resumed his transaction. I couldn’t help but glance over at the girl who stood by the front entrance. So this was Sarah Ketterling. Although she’d kept her head lowered throughout her father’s rude behavior, she looked up long enough to find me staring at her. Her lovely dark eyes were full of pain and embarrassment. Her light complexion turned even paler and she turned quickly toward the door.

“I’m going to wait outside, Papa,” she said in a soft voice. She slipped quietly out of the store. Gabriel didn’t appear to hear her.

“Wait here,” I whispered to Sam. I crept to the old screen door and opened it slowly. Then I stepped out onto the wooden sidewalk where Sarah stood with her back toward me, her thin body leaning against a light pole.

“Sarah,” I said as gently as I could so as not to scare her. “I wanted to tell you how beautiful I think your stationery is. I bought some of it this morning. You’re very talented.”