he called as much to give fair warning of his approach as to deliver a greeting.
Two pairs of small feet padded across the bakery floor at a run while everything else went silent.
“Well, hello there,” he said when the twins lined up at the door and stared out at him. “Is your mother here?”
“Is there a problem, Herr Troyer?” Pleasant glanced anxiously past him to where Rolf was cleaning the paintbrush.
Now why would she automatically assume that?
Jeremiah thought. “Actually, I’ve come to ask another favor.”
She waited, wiping her hands on the dish towel she held while the twins glanced from him to her and back to him.
“If we can be of help,” Pleasant said, “we’re more than …”
“I have this new flavor of ice cream I’ve concocted—vanilla with bits of mango mixed in. I wondered if you and the children might taste it for me and give me your honest opinion.”
The twins did not wait for her reply, but opened the screen door and burst out onto the back porch of the bakery seemingly ready to follow him anywhere as long as he held to his promise of ice cream.
“Boys,” Pleasant chided, then turned her attention back to Jeremiah. “I thought we had agreed on the end of the week. There is no possible way that I will have anything ready by …”
“You’d be doing me a great favor,” Jeremiah continued as if her protests had nothing to do with the topic at hand. “While you’re developing the cone recipe, don’t forget that I need to be working on special flavors for the ice cream. We can’t just offer the standard flavors, after all. Besides, I tend to be far too lenient when it comes to my own tastes for flavors.”
Bettina had joined Pleasant on the porch and she was smiling up at him. “What other flavors have you invented, Herr Troyer?” she asked.
Jeremiah removed his hat and scratched his head for a moment. “Well, let’s see now, there was the time I thought maybe there might be a market for frog’s leg chocolate.”
All three children giggled and miracle of miracles, he was pretty sure that Pleasant was fighting a smile.
“You made that up,” Bettina said.
“You’re right. I did. But I actually did think about adding prunes to vanilla once.” He made a face that had the twins convulsing with laughter. “So you see I’m not always the best judge when it comes to these things.”
“I wouldn’t want to spoil the children’s supper,” Pleasant hedged.
Jeremiah shrugged. “My guess is that you were planning to give them dessert with supper?”
“Well, yes, but …”
“So what if they have dessert first?”
Her mouth worked as she tried to find an answer to this unorthodox logic. “I … without the promise of …”
“They might not finish their peas and carrots?” Jeremiah guessed and Pleasant nodded. He frowned as he studied each child in turn. “Rolf, come over here a minute, would you?”
The boy’s bare feet sent puffs of sandy dust flying as he ran across the dry dirt yard. “Yes, sir?”
“Am I to understand that sometimes you children have to be coaxed to finish your vegetables?”
Rolf and Bettina nodded. The twins studied the ground. Jeremiah sighed.
“So you see, Herr Troyer, ice cream at this hour …”
All four children looked up at her, their eyes wide with protest as they realized they were about to lose this opportunity. “But Mama, if we promised?” Bettina pleaded.
Pleasant folded her arms across her chest and studied each child. “No. There have just been too many times …”
Jeremiah was almost as disappointed as the children were. He didn’t know why it meant so much to him but it did. “Your mother is right,” he began.
“Unless,” Pleasant interrupted, “Herr Troyer would agree to come for supper and bring some of his ice cream along for dessert.”
The children whooped with delight at what they clearly considered an acceptable solution.
Pleasant was watching him though. “You do like vegetables, do you not, Herr Troyer?”
“What kind?” he asked and hoped the answer would be green beans or perhaps carrots.
“Brussels sprouts,” Pleasant replied and he knew that the look of disgust that had flickered over his face for an instant was exactly what made her smile. “May we expect you at five-thirty then?”
Chapter Five
Have I completely lost my mind? Pleasant thought as Jeremiah walked back to his shop, whistling a nameless tune. But she put the thought aside as the children clamored around her.
“Ice cream! Ice cream!” the twins chanted as they marched up and down the small porch.
“He said I did fine work,” Rolf reported shyly, his eyes still following Jeremiah until the shopkeeper disappeared inside his back door.
“I don’t think he likes Brussels sprouts though,” Bettina mused. “Did you see the look on his face? Maybe we should have the beans, after all.”
“We’re having the sprouts,” Pleasant said. “And speaking of supper, we need to get home. Boys, stop that marching and go along home with your sister. Rolf, would you stay and help me finish closing up for the day?”
“Yes, Mama,” all four children chorused and then they grinned up at her, their eyes shining with anticipation.
“And stop at your grandfather’s, Bettina. Ask him and Greta and Lydia to join us for supper.”
Bettina squealed and held hands with the twins as the three of them ran down the dusty road. “It’s like a party,” Pleasant heard her say.
“Would you like to see the job I did for Herr Troyer?” Rolf asked as he helped Pleasant finish putting away the pans and bowls and scrub the counters.
Pleasant saw the worried look the boy gave her. His father had always insisted on inspecting any task assigned to the boy and more often than not he had found something not quite to his liking.
“You said that Herr Troyer was pleased with the work,” she reminded him.
“I know but Papa …”
“Your papa taught you well, Rolf,” Pleasant hurried to reassure him. “I can see from here that you did a fine job. If I didn’t know which was the newer post I wouldn’t be able to tell the new from the old. Now let’s finish up here and get home or our company will be there ahead of us.”
