Free Ties That Bind by Cindy Woodsmall Page B

her. Ever. “I have a plan, a reward for staying.”
    Salome looked grieved as she put the baby on the bed and moved to Ariana. “I need you to listen to me. You have a good heart, and I know you think you’re doing the right thing here, but you’re setting yourself up for heartbreak. No one can change people’s minds on a matter this serious with some sort of bribery. A desire to stay has to come from deep within a person.”
    “Susie is hardly more than a child. If I can buy that café, I know I can change her mind.”
    Salome’s brows wrinkled. “Wait.” She gazed into Ariana’s eyes, seemingly confused. “You think it’s Susie?” Her sister’s words were hardly more than a whisper.
    “I was surprised too, but it makes sense.” Ariana pulled a pair of scissors out of her nightstand. “She’s got the backbone for it, and she’s restless living inside the Old Ways.” She put her clothes for tonight on the bed.
    “Ariana?” Malinda tapped on the door.
    “Kumm.” Ariana snipped frayed threads off the dress, hoping to make it look less old. Was she going to get a chance to jump in the shower or not?
    Malinda opened the door. “Hallo.” She held out a glass of icy water to Ariana.
    “Ach, denki.”
    “You’re welcome. Sorry, Salome. I didn’t realize you were in here. Besides, my hands were full.”
    “That’s okay.” Salome took the drink from Ariana and drank about half of it. “See? Not a problem.” She passed it back to Ariana.
    Ariana shook her head while chuckling. “At least she saved me half.”
    Malinda grinned and pulled a brown bag from behind her back. “Before you get excited, the gift isn’t actually for you.” Malinda passed it to her.
    Ariana laid the scissors on her dress and slid the soft fleecy item from its paper container. She knew immediately who it was for. After Berta went into the hospital, Ariana realized she needed a housecoat. As good fortune would have it, she’d found some fleecy material for a dollar at an Englisch neighbor’s yard sale later that same day. “You did make it for me.” Ariana had worked on making Berta a new housecoat, but she never got past cutting it out. It didn’t help that Ariana wasn’t very good at sewing, so trying to create something unusual like a housecoat, with a collar that was part of the length of the garment itself, took her a really long time. Ariana ran her hands over the downy material. “And it’s the perfect gift for me. Denki.”
    “How’s Berta?”
    “Still a bit weak but nothing like she was when she went into the hospital.”
    “That’s good. You and Rudy going by there tonight?”
    “No. We’re going into the historic district.”
    Susie was at work right now, but she would meet Rudy and Ariana at the café. Ariana was ready to divulge her secret hope about the café. It wasn’t as if she had been overly secretive about the café. Susie knew Ariana had spent years saving up to buy an old shop in town, but the dream never had much luster to Susie, so they hadn’t talked about it in a long time. Ariana prayed she could get Susie excited about it too. Surely she would then stop thinking she had to leave the Amish to have a fulfilled life.
    Ariana glanced at the dress she’d chosen for tonight. She was fairly sure magenta was Rudy’s favorite color. “I could take the housecoat by Berta’s first, but the Esh girls are with her until bedtime, and she’s staying the night by herself.” Did Quill come by after everyone was gone, or had he returned to hiding now that he knew what was going on with his mother? “The Esh girls will fix her dinner and tend to—”
    “Ariana, sweetie?” Mamm called.
    Salome giggled. “Sweetie?”
    “Maybe if you baked lots of carbs for her, she would call you that too,” Ariana teased.
    Despite Mamm’s calm demeanor she hadn’t been herself in days. Was she more worried about losing a child to the world than she’d let on?
    Carrying the housecoat, Ariana went into