Rosemary Opens Her Heart: Home at Cedar Creek, Book Two by Naomi King Page A

to keep those two young rams for now, son—”
    Matt’s hopes plummeted. What had made Titus change his mind when he had sounded so
     excited about the exchange yesterday?
    “—on account of how I’m thinking to move to Cedar Creek. With my kids scattered around,
     it’ll put me closer to my brother, Ezra, you see,” the old farmer continued. “Will
     you ask around town and find out if any land’s up for sale? The sooner I know about
     this, the sooner I can make my plans.”
    Matt stared at the phone, his thoughts spinning wildly. If Titus moved to Cedar Creek—if,
     indeed, there was a place for him to move to—would Rosemary come along? Or would she
     build that house she and Joe had been planning and stay behind?
    He replayed the message, hanging on every word, and then he stepped out of the phone
     shanty. The CLOSED FOR WEDDING sign still hung inside the front door of the mercantile, so Matt went around to the
     back door. Through the workroom he hurried, fighting a grin as he looked around the
     store’s huge main room. His father sat at the checkout counter, bent intently over
     the order he was filling out.
    “Dat!” Matt called out as he strode past the shelves lined with bags of bulk flour
     and yellow cornmeal. “Do you know of any farms for sale hereabouts? Is anything posted
     on the bulletin board?”
    His father looked up, raising his thick eyebrows. “Does this mean you’re looking for
     a place of your own?” he asked, only half teasing.
    “Not anytime soon.” Matt stopped at the counter, careful not to scatter his dat’s
     inventory lists. He laughed, still in disbelief at what he’d heard over the phone.
     “Titus just called me, asking about property so he can move back to Cedar Creek. Says
     he wants to be closer to his brother,” he explained. “Since all the news gets talked
     about here at the store, I figured you might’ve heard if anybody was looking to sell
     out.”
    His father considered this for a moment. “There was a time last December, while we
     were rebuilding the Ropp house, when some of us wondered whether Rudy’s family would
     decide not to move back there because they’d lost their savings in the fire,” he replied.
     “But right now I don’t know of anybody turning loose of land. Most of it gets passed
     down rather than going up for sale.”
    Matt nodded, thinking. If Titus moved his flock here, they might be able to share
     some of the chores, like shearing, or lower some of their expenses by buying larger
     quantities of veterinary supplies or feed supplements. Titus would certainly bring
     Beth Ann with him, so maybe…maybe Rosemary would come along, too. That possibility
     inspired Matt to pursue even the remotest chance that somebody might sell off a parcel
     of land.
    As he glanced through the front windows, where he could see the Grabers’ front porch,
     Matt got an idea. “What with Carl Byler farming a gut bit of the Graber place, now
     that Merle can’t handle that sort of work, do you suppose Merle might sell some of
     his property?”
    His dat pushed up his rimless reading glasses. “Carl farms a lot of Paul Bontrager’s
     acreage right next to the Grabers, too,” he replied as he thought about it. “But be
     careful, son. Talk to James real quiet-like, when Merle and Eunice aren’t around,
     or you’ll get them all upset. And we wouldn’t want Preacher Paul hearing rumors that
     somebody wanted to buy him out,” Sam remarked. “We can’t forget that those families
     depend on the income from the crops Carl raises for them, either.”
    Matt nodded, already envisioning what a perfect arrangement it would be if Titus could
     pasture his flock right across the road. He was fighting a smile, imagining he was
     already courting Rosemary…
    “Another consideration,” his father said, “is that Titus’ll need a house. I can’t
     see him as the sort to build a new place at his age.”
    Matt sighed. “Jah, there’s that. I’ll