CHAPTER 1

A year ago, Mary Katherine wouldn't have imagined she'd behere. Back then, she'd been helping her parents on the familyfarm and hating every minute of it.

Now, she stood at the front window of Stitches in Time, hergrandmother's shop, watching the Englischers moving about onthe sidewalks outside the shop in Paradise. Even on vacation,they rushed about with purpose. She imagined them checkingoff the places they'd visited: Drive by an Amish farmhouse.Check. Buy a quilt and maybe some knitting supplies to trymaking a sweater when I get back home. Check.

She liked the last item. The shop had been busy all morning,but now, as people started getting hungry, they werepatronizing the restaurants that advertised authentic Amishfood and ticking off another item on their vacation checklist.Shoofly pie. Amish pretzels. Chow-chow. Check.

"Don't you worry, they'll be back," Leah, her grandmother,called out.

Smiling, Mary Katherine turned. "I know."

She wandered back to the center of the shop, set up likethe comfortable parlor of an Amish farmhouse. Chairs werearranged in a circle around a quilting frame. Bolts of fabric ofevery color and print imaginable were stacked on shelves onseveral walls, spools of matching threads on another.

And yarn. There were skeins and skeins of the stuff. MaryKatherine loved running her hands over the fluffy fibers, feelingthe textures of cotton and wool and silk. Some of the newyarns made from things like soybeans and corn just didn't feelthe same when you knitted them or wove them into patterns—butsome people made a fuss over them because they weremade of something natural, plant-based, or more sustainable.

Mary Katherine thought it was a little strange to be usingvegetables you ate to make clothes but once she got her handson the yarns, she was impressed. Tourists were, too. They usedterms like "green" and "ecological" and didn't mind spendinga lot of money to buy them. And was it so much different touse vegetables when people had been taking oily, smelly woolfrom sheep and turning it into garments for people—silk fromsilkworms—that sort of thing?

"You have that look on your face again," her grandmothersaid.

"What look?"

"That serious, thoughtful look of yours. Tell me what you'rethinking of."

"Working on my loom this afternoon."

"I figured you had itchy fingers." Her grandmother smiled.

She sighed. "I'm so glad you rescued me from working atthe farm. And Dat not understanding about my weaving."

Leah nodded. "Some people need time to adjust."

Taking one of the chairs that was arranged in a circlearound the quilt her grandmother and Naomi worked on, MaryKatherine propped her chin in her hand, her elbow on the armof the chair. "It'd be a lot easier if I knitted or quilted."

Leah looked at her, obviously suppressing a smile. "Youhave never liked 'easy,' Mary Katherine."

Laughing, she nodded. "You're right."

Looking at Naomi and Anna, her cousins aged twenty andtwenty-three, was like looking into a mirror, thought MaryKatherine. The three of them could have been sisters, notcousins. They had a similar appearance—oval faces, their haircenter-parted and tucked back under snowy white kapps, andslim figures. Naomi and Anna had even chosen dresses of asimilar color, one that reminded Mary Katherine of morningglories. In her rush out the door, Mary Katherine had grabbedthe first available dress and now felt drab and dowdy in thebrown dress she'd chosen.

Yes, they looked much alike, the three of them.

Until Mary Katherine stood. She'd continued growing afterit seemed that everyone else had stopped. Now, at 5'8", she feltlike a skinny beanpole next to her cousins. She felt awkwardnext to the young men she'd gone to school with. Although sheknew it was wrong, there had been times when she'd secretlywished that God had made her petite and pretty like her cousins.And why had he chosen to give her red hair and freckles?Didn't she have enough she didn't like about her looks withoutthat?

Like their looks, their personalities seemed similar onthe surface. The three of them appeared calm and serene—especiallyNaomi. Anna tried to be, but it didn't last long. Shewas too mischievous.

And herself? Serenity seemed hard these days. In the pastseveral years, Mary Katherine had been a little moody butlately it seemed her moods were going up and down like aroad through rolling hills.

"Feeling restless?" Naomi asked, looking at her with concern.Nimbly, she tied a knot, snipped the thread with a scissors,then slid her needle into a pincushion.

Anna looked up from her knitting needles. "Mary Katherinewas born restless."

"I think I'll take a short walk."

"No," Leah said quickly, holding up a hand. "Let's eat first,then you can take a walk. Otherwise you'll come back andcustomers will be here for the afternoon rush and you'll starthelping and go hungry."

Mary Katherine was already mentally out the door, but shenodded her agreement. "You're right, of course."

Leah was a tall, spare woman who didn't appear old enoughto be anyone's grandmother. Her face was smooth and unlined,and there wasn't a trace of gray in her hair, which she wore likeher granddaughters.

"I made your favorite," Leah told Mary Katherine.

"Fried chicken? You made fried chicken? When did youhave time to do that?"

Nodding, Leah tucked away her sewing supplies, and stood."Before we came to work this morning. It didn't take long." Sheturned to Naomi. "And I made your favorite."

Naomi had been picking up stray strands of yarn from thewood floor. She looked up, her eyes bright. "Macaroni andcheese?"

"Oatmeal and raisin cookies?" Anna wanted to know. Whenher grandmother nodded, Anna set down her knitting needlesand stood. "Just how early did you get up? Are you havingtrouble sleeping?"

"No earlier than usual," Leah replied cheerfully. "I madethe macaroni and cheese and the cookies last night. But I don'tneed as much sleep as some other people I know."

"Can you blame me for sleeping in a little later?" MaryKatherine asked. "After all of those years of helping with farmchores? Besides, I was working on a design last night."

"Tell us all about it while we eat," Naomi said, glancing atthe clock. "We won't have long before customers start comingin again."

"I worry about Grandmother," Anna whispered to MaryKatherine as they walked to the back room. "She does toomuch."

"She's always been like this."

"Yes, but she's getting older."

"Shh, don't be saying that around her!"

Leah turned. "Did somebody say something?"

"Anna said she's hungry," Mary Katherine said quickly."And wondering how you picked a favorite when everythingyou make is her favorite."

Anna poked Mary Katherine in the ribs but everyonelaughed because it was true. What was amazing was that nomatter how much Anna ate, she never gained weight.

Nodding, Leah continued toward the back room. "We'llhave it on the table in no time."

Anna grabbed Mary Katherine's arm, stopping her. "Shameon you," she hissed. "You know it's wrong to lie." Then sheshook her head. "What am I saying? You've done so muchworse!"

"Me? I have not! I can't imagine what you're talking about."

Turning so that her grandmother wouldn't see, Anna liftedher fingers to her lips and mimed smoking a cigarette.

Mary...