A gentle breath brushed her face in the moment before Olivia whispered, “No sad, Kay-Kay.” Her tiny hand patted Katie Kay’s arm. “No cry, Kay-Kay. Please.”
Katie Kay was startled. She hadn’t heard the little girl get up. Olivia must have been woken by her sobs. Another mistake to add to her long list.
Rolling over to face the kind, Katie Kay whispered, “Aren’t you supposed to be asleep?”
“You sad. Wanna hug? A hug makes it better.” She held up her short arms.
Suddenly Katie Kay couldn’t imagine anything she wanted more than comfort from one small kind. Olivia’s solace was offered with no strings attached other than her heartstrings, which had been touched by Katie Kay’s weeping.
Katie Kay swung her legs over the side of the bed. Picking up the little girl, she set Olivia beside her. Holding out her own arms, she gathered the kind close. The aroma of Olivia’s flowery shampoo swirled through her senses as she welcomed the hug.
“Danki,” she murmured into the kind’s silken red hair.
“That means ‘thank you,’ doesn’t it?” Olivia stared at her. “You talk like Uncle Micah.”
“I do...sometimes.”
“Will you teach me to talk like you?”
“If your mamm—your mother—says it’s okay.” She brushed her tears aside as a smile edged along her lips. Spending time with the inquisitive little girl would help her to stop thinking about her troubles...she hoped.
“Mamm. Mommy. Mamm. Mom.” Olivia giggled and then clamped her pudgy hands over her mouth. Whispering again, she said, “Sounds the same.”
“The words do, don’t they?” She lifted the kind off the bed. “You should get back to bed.”
“Mommy sleeps with me when I’ve gots a bad dream. I stay with you.”
Katie Kay bit her lip to keep it from trembling as a new storm of tears filled her eyes. She watched Olivia run to her own bed and collect her pillow. The little girl put it next to Katie Kay’s before clambering to sit beside her.
Lying down, Katie Kay blinked hard when the little girl embraced her again. She closed her eyes as she leaned her head on the kind’s soft hair. She wasn’t sure which of them fell asleep first.
* * *
The hope that things would be better after a gut night’s sleep had been as unreasonable as Katie Kay’s expectation that Austin would do the right thing and apologize. Though Olivia’s kindness had allowed her to find sleep, reality reared its ugly head again the next morning.
Nothing had changed.
Katie Kay woke with a groan. She heard sounds of the household getting ready for another day. Olivia had returned to her bed sometime during the night, but she was already out of the room. Alone, Katie Kay was tempted to pull the pillow over her head and stay in bed until everyone else left.
Facing Gemma and Sean after last night was impossible. Their acceptance seemed to make the whole situation worse. Everyone was being kind to her. Even Micah, though he’d been blunt about why he’d proposed. But he’d been trying to be nice to her. He hadn’t wanted her to have any illusions about why he was proposing.
She couldn’t stay in bed. Getting up, she dressed in the clothes Gemma had lent to her. They didn’t fit well, and Katie Kay knew—sooner or later—she needed to return to Lancaster and collect her things from Austin’s apartment. She wasn’t sure when he’d be there. He hadn’t worked in the past month. Not like Micah who was successful in his business with Sean Donnelly.
She crossed her arms in front of her as she stared at Olivia’s empty bed. She didn’t want to think about Micah. It was easier to be angry at him than to wonder what she’d do now that she hadn’t accepted his proposal. There had to be someone who’d help.
Because you’re cute and a flirt, but you’ll soon be fat and nobody will want to flirt with you.
She hated her conscience, but she wouldn’t be forced into a loveless marriage. Maybe, before she had told Micah that she didn’t want to spend time with him anymore, it might have been possible for her to accept his offer.
Not now.
Not after the cruel and taunting words she’d fired at him.
“Good morning, Katie Kay,” called Gemma from the bedroom doorway. She held a bundle of dirty laundry in front of her. “How are you feeling this morning?”
“Fine,” she replied, but her stomach roiled as she stood, countermanding her words. Putting her hand over her mouth, she ran to the bathroom.
It was almost ten by the time Katie Kay got downstairs. She glanced toward the kitchen, but the idea of breakfast was nauseating. She’d wait for lunch, and maybe her stomach would have settled by then.
Gemma smiled when Katie Kay came into the living room. “Just in time. You can join us.”
“Us?” She glanced around the room, which was empty except for her and her hostess.
“My young mothers’ prayer group.” Gemma hurried on, warning Katie Kay that her pulse of dismay had been visible on her face. “It’s okay. There aren’t any plain women among my prayer group friends. I doubt any of them know folks from your district.”
“I don’t want to intrude.”
“You won’t.” She smiled. “And lurking around in the kitchen will rouse their curiosity. Why don’t you join us?”
Katie Kay was tempted to be honest and state she was uncomfortable joining an Englisch prayer group. She bit her lip. Until she made up her mind where she intended to live and how, she shouldn’t close any doors or alienate anyone, especially the Donnellys, who’d welcomed her as if they’d been friends for years.
She helped Gemma put out plates of cookies and make coffee and tea for the members of the prayer circle. She watched Olivia, hoping the little girl hadn’t said anything to her mamm about Katie Kay’s tears last night. Olivia seemed focused on playing with her little brother, Jayden, as they built buildings out of wooden logs and filled them with plastic horses in the most outrageous pastel shades. They giggled and jumped around as if they were riding the horses.
Gemma paused in her preparations when Olivia dropped her plastic pony and began to cough. Pulling an inhaler out of the pocket of the shirt that was taut across her belly, she inserted it into a tube. She held the tube to Olivia’s mouth and told her daughter to breathe deeply. Pressing the inhaler, she calmed the little girl as the medicine hissed into the tube and was drawn into Olivia’s mouth and lungs. They repeated the procedure a second time before Gemma led her kind into the kitchen and had her wash her mouth out with clean water.
“She has asthma,” Gemma said when she caught Katie Kay watching. “When she plays too hard, sometimes she has an attack. Thank the good Lord, her inhaler takes care of it as long as we get to her fast.”
“Do you always carry an inhaler?”
She smiled. “Always, and Sean keeps one in the truck.” She continued chatting as she finished getting everything ready for her guests.
Katie Kay wanted to tell Gemma she understood what it was like having a special needs kind in the house, but such a discussion would have to wait.
The other five women began arriving just before eleven, and each of them seemed to accept Gemma’s explanation that Katie Kay was a guest from out of town. The women ranged in age from younger than Katie Kay to their midthirties.
Sitting in the living room, she listened as they spoke about the challenges they faced as mothers. Would she be confronted with the same problems? Not the ones where the women