Courting Cate Read Free Page B

make not being married work for me. Now I just needed to figure out what kind of business I could make a living at.
    And how to get around Dat’s newest edict.

CHAPTER 2
    All the next day, Dat micromanaged my every move.
    He knew it was bookmobile day—my stack of library books sat on the edge of my desk—yet he still delayed me. First with Levi’s paperwork, then an unexpected billing, and finally a lecture on tracking our inventory. Granted, it wasn’t as if I’d find a husband at the bookmobile, but I wasn’t going to find one in my office either.
    The bookmobile stop was just outside of Paradise, in a parking lot near a public school. By the time I reached the highway in my buggy, I knew chances were I’d be too late, but in case Nan tarried, I pressed on, snapping the reins, urging Thunder to go faster.
    If my father had been along, I wouldn’t have driven Thunder at more than a trot. Dat had heard too many reports of me racing my standard-bred horse along the back roads of Lancaster County.
    But Dat wasn’t with me today. “Giddy up!” I scooted to the edge of the bench seat.
    I passed rich brown soil, freshly plowed and ready to plant. Then dark strips of alfalfa. Next, a light green pasture. I never grew tired of admiring the countryside. In the springtime, aswell as in the summer and the fall, I longed to spread out a blanket and lose myself in a story. But not today.
    I crested the hill just past Township Road. Ahead I saw the blue-and-white bookmobile van turning right out of the parking lot. I was practically standing now, willing my horse to go faster and yelling for Nan to stop. I couldn’t survive without anything new to read.
    The van accelerated, heading back toward Lancaster. As I slapped the reins again, Thunder lunged forward, and the bag of books beside me tumbled to the buggy floor. The van gained speed, leaving a growing gap of gray highway between us. Finally, in defeat, I sank back against the bench, slowing Thunder to a walk.
    Tears of exasperation stung my eyes. I’d have to convince Dat I needed to go into Lancaster . . . for something. We were getting low on toner for the printer. I’d need to hire a driver. I’d need to figure out a way to make Dat think it was his idea.
    In the distance, the panel van slowed, then pulled to the side of the road and stopped. I blinked back my tears. Nan must have seen me in her rearview mirror. By the time she pulled a U-turn, I was snapping the reins again, imploring Thunder to move, offering up a prayer of thanks that Nan had taken pity on me. By the time I reached the parking lot of the school, she had parked the van and was climbing out of the driver’s seat.
    She wore a floral dress and a sweater. Her light blond hair, mostly covered by her rounded Mennonite Kapp, glowed as if it were a halo. “Cate!” Her voice radiated warmth. “I thought I was going to miss you today.”
    I stuffed the books back into the bag and jumped from the buggy. She stepped forward and gave me a hug.
    “Thank you for coming back.” I was a little breathless asI spoke, not from exertion, though, but solely from relief. “I had to work late.”
    I waited as Nan lowered the steps and opened the door. I followed her inside, handing her my returns, breathing in the peppery scent of the old books lining the van’s walls.
    It was my favorite place on earth. I loved the endless possibilities of the stories. I loved the places they took me. And I loved being with Nan. There was something so accepting, so kind and hopeful about her, that for a few minutes I’d forget how disappointing I was to others in my life.
    It didn’t take long to choose my books. Two on parenting teenagers, because I wasn’t done with Betsy yet; three cookbooks to make Dat think the bookmobile would help make me a better Haus Frau ; a book on quilting, again to keep Dat thinking good things about me; a how-to-write-articles handbook; a book on pregnancy, because medicine intrigued me,