A Time To Heal (11 page)

“Oh, you're doing the laundry,” Matthew said as they stopped where she stood pinning up one of Annie's dresses.

“Some people would thank me for my help,” she told him with some asperity as she bent down to pluck a pair of Joshua's pants from the basket of wet clothes.

“That means Jenny's doing the cooking.”

Hannah stared at him, poker faced. Then she covered her mouth with her hand, but she couldn't stop the giggles.

“Oh, this is so wrong,” she said. “We shouldn't poke fun at her. She tries so hard!”

Out of the corner of his eye, Chris saw someone approaching.Jenny. Should he tell them any second she'd hear them joking about her cooking?

Remembering how Hannah had behaved the last time he'd seen her, he decided to stay silent. He felt a little guilty that Matthew would take some heat. The guy had been good to him, especially after finding him in the loft with his sister. But it couldn't be helped.

“So, what's so funny?” Jenny asked brightly and Hannah jumped and spun around.

“Oh, nothing really.”

“But you both were laughing so hard.”

She looked from Hannah to Matthew and back again.

“Did you come out to tell us dinner is ready?” Matthew asked her.

Her eyes narrowed with suspicion. “You were talking about my cooking, weren't you?” She swatted him with the dish towel she carried in her hands.

“Oh, now why would we do that?” he said quickly, a little too quickly, for she looked even more suspicious.

Jenny turned to Chris. “That's what they were doing, right, Chris?”

He hadn't expected this. “Er, uh, now why would they do that?”

“Because my cooking's still not very good,” she said honestly.“Now tell the truth. That's what they were doing.”

“I—” He held out his hands and shrugged.

“Did I tell you that I'm the farm's bookkeeper?” she asked, giving him a sweet smile. “I sign the paychecks.”

“You sign my paycheck?”

She folded her arms across her chest. “Yes.”

“Sorry, I'm giving you up for that,” Chris told Hannah and grinned when she glared at him. “Yes, Jenny, they were making fun of your cooking.”

“I think you should have an extra slice of pie for dessert,” Jenny told him.

“Pie?”

“Shoofly pie.”

When he hesitated, she frowned. “Phoebe made it.”

“Oh, okay.”

She tossed the dish towel at him. “You're no better than those two,” she complained.

But she was smiling at him, so Chris didn't figure he could be in too much trouble with her.

“Hmmm. Phoebe brought over the pie.”

“That she did, dear husband.”

“I still get a piece of it, don't I?”

Chris saw Jenny's lips twitch.

“I'll need some convincing,” she told him, giving him a smile.

Chris exchanged a look with Hannah.

“See you inside,” she said and she slanted her head in the direction of the house.

Chris nodded, showing he understood the silent message.Chris and Hannah walked to the front of the house and climbed the porch steps. He opened the door for her.

As he followed her inside, he turned and wondered where Matthew and Jenny were, then he saw them silhouetted behind a bed sheet. It was obvious they were kissing.

“Newlyweds,” Hannah said with a smile.

The explosion caught them unaware as they sat at the table eating.

Matthew jumped up and looked out the kitchen window.“The barn's on fire! Jenny, go to the shed and call 911.”

Chris shot out of his seat and followed Matthew out the door. Flames were licking up one side of the wooden barn.Before they got to the barn door, Eli came staggering out, waving his arms wildly, his shirt on fire.

Acting on instinct, Chris ran and tackled him, throwing him to the ground and using his hands to put out the flames.Groaning in pain, the man stared up at Chris, his eyes wide and terrified, his face blackened by the explosion.

“What happened?” he croaked.

“Lie still, help's on the way.”

The shirt had burned off Eli and his skin was peeling, blistering, a burning bright red mass on his chest and arms.

“Are you okay?”

“
Ya,”
he said. “I think so.” He struggled to sit up. “I need to help.”

Chris pushed him down, hoping he didn't hurt him further.“You stay here.”

Hannah raced over and dropped to her knees beside him.“No, don't get up. Jenny's called for help.”

“Got to—got to help them put out the fire,” Eli gasped.

“Make him stay here,” Chris told her. “The pain hasn't set in yet so he thinks he's okay but he's not.”

He sprang to his feet and ran to help the other men throwing buckets of water from the water trough onto the fire. It seemed like hours, but only minutes later, Chris heard sirens heading toward the farmhouse. The local volunteer fire department arrived and began unfurling their hoses and spraying water on the blaze.

Paramedics grabbed their bags and ran to Eli. Relieved of his firefighting detail by those more experienced, Chris walked over to watch them check Eli's vitals, insert an IV, and do some preliminary treatment of the burns.

Though Eli protested, they placed him on a gurney and took him to a waiting ambulance. The vehicle pulled away, siren blaring, and raced down the road.

Chris stood with Matthew, Jenny, and Hannah and watched as the men extinguished the fire. A large gaping hole showed in the side of the barn, the edges of the wood blackened and smoking. The stench of smoke lingered on the air.

“Thank goodness the horses were out in the field,” Hannah told Matthew as she rubbed his back with her hand.

Matthew had the look of a shell-shocked soldier in the field.

“I don't understand what happened,” he said. “Did Eli say what happened?”

Jenny put her hand on her husband's arm. “He was in shock.”

“I should go to the hospital and see how he is.”

A man separated himself from the group of firemen who were talking and walked over to them.

“Are you the property owner?” he asked Matthew.

“Yes.”

“I understand you heard some kind of loud noise before the barn caught on fire? Any idea what could have caused it?”

“No, I don't understand it, we're careful, all of us, with what we do and what we store in the barn.”

The man nodded and looked at the barn. “They're always a problem. Wood structure, hay, equipment …”

He flipped open a pocket on his shirt, dug out a small notebook and pen and jotted something down. Then he glanced up at them.

“I'll be back tomorrow when things cool down to look around some more. Keep everyone out, okay? Don't want anyone messing with evidence, just in case.”

The firefighters loaded their hoses onto the truck, climbed aboard, and drove away.

“Evidence?” Hannah said, frowning. “What does he mean by that?”

“I'm sure it's nothing,” Jenny reassured her. “No one around here would deliberately set fire to our barn. Come on, Matthew, let's borrow my grandmother's buggy and go to the hospital to see about Eli.”

They started to walk away and then Jenny stopped and clapped a hand to her mouth. “Oh, Hannah, the children will be home from school soon. Can you—”

“Don't worry about a thing,” Hannah said quickly. “I'll take care of everything.”

After they left, Chris walked over to the barn.

“He said not to go near it—”

Waving a hand at her, Chris moved a little closer and peered into the blackened barn. The family buggy had collapsed into a heap of burned rubble; the horse stalls still smoked. Farm tools were blistered by the heat of the fire. The table where Chris had worked on the engine lay broken in many pieces on the dirt floor.

He wondered if the structure might be safe enough to repair it or if it would have to be torn down and rebuilt. Well, it would have to wait until they were finished harvesting. Getting the crops in had to be first. No matter what happened, the family depended on the money they would bring in.

Sighing, he shook his head. Something nagged at him, something he couldn't put his finger on.

“I'm making some
kaffi,”
Hannah said. “Do you want some?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, that would be great. Thanks.”

He followed her back inside. The remains of their dinner lay on the table, sandwiches dropped on plates and cups on their side amidst a puddle of coffee.

“Oh,” Hannah said, then she looked at him. “I should have thought to ask you … we'd barely started eating. You must still be hungry. I'll fix you something.”

He shook his head. “I'm not hungry. Are you?”

She pressed a hand against her stomach. “No, I couldn't eat.Not after seeing what happened to Eli—” she shuddered.

Chris picked up a plate, scraped the contents into the trash can, and put it into the sink. He noticed that she didn't tell him that she'd do it and to sit down because he was a guest.Clearly, she'd been rattled by what had happened.

He watched her out of the corner of his eye as she dumped the cold coffee in the sink, filled up the percolator with fresh water, and measured out ground coffee. She set the percolator on the stove, turned on the flame, and sighed as she looked around the kitchen.

“You're sure you're not hungry? I can warm up the soup, make new sandwiches.”

He shook his head. “Just the coffee.”

The liquid heated and began to beat with a rhythmic music against the clear glass knob at the top of the pot. It was a familiar sound he remembered from sitting in his grandmother's kitchen. A soothing one. The newer electric coffee makers just didn't make the same sound or give the process a homey feel.

The rich aroma of it brewing took him back to sitting at the table in his grandmother's kitchen just before he deployed.She'd made him coffee and served him a plate of his favorite cookies—oatmeal raisin—and pressed a box of them to his chest as he left the house. Later, he'd known something had happened to her, even before the chaplain notified him. There hadn't been the usual weekly care package of cookies at mail call.

He shook his head, forcing the memory away, as Hannah set a cup of coffee before him.

Instead of sitting down to drink a cup herself, she started filling the sink with hot water.

“Sit down,” he said. “I'll help you with them after you have a cup too.”

She continued to stand at the sink and he saw her look out the window.

“Don't,” he repeated. “We need to take a break first.”

She started to argue and then she nodded. “Let me finish putting them in water. They'll be easier to clean that way.”

But when she sat, he noticed that she just stirred and stirred the coffee without drinking it.

And his own coffee cooled as Chris stared into his own cup as he tried to figure out what had happened to Eli and the barn.

H
annah walked down the road quite a distance from the farmhouse so she could talk to her nieces and nephew before they saw the barn.

They looked surprised when they saw her standing by the side of the road. They were old enough now that they usually walked home from
schul
by themselves.

“Something happened today,” she told them. “Everyone's all right,” she assured them quickly when she saw fear spring into their eyes. She didn't blame them—they had lost their mother and probably the first thing that came into their minds was that they were about to get bad news concerning their
daedi
or
mamm.

“There was a fire in the barn today.”

“The horses—” Joshua cried.

Hannah grabbed his arm as he started to run. “The horses were in the fields. They're fine.”

“What caused the fire?” Mary wanted to know.

“The firemen don't know. They're going to find out.”

Annie tugged on Hannah's apron. “
Daedi
and
Mamm
aren't hurt? You're sure?”

“Positive. You'll see for yourself when they get home. Eli was hurt but he'll be okay.”

Annie stuck her thumb in her mouth, something Hannah had seen her do many times when she felt uncertain. She hadn't done it since Jenny came into her life. Hannah held out her hand and Annie took it as they walked to the barn.

She told them what happened, leaving out the part about the explosion and graphic details of how Eli had looked with his skin so burned. Instead she focused on how quickly the firemen had arrived so they'd be reassured that there were people who would help in such an emergency.

“We're not to go near it,” she warned. “The man who's in charge of the firemen said that they want to come back tomorrow when it's not hot inside and see if they can figure out what caused the fire.”

“Will the house catch on fire too?” Annie asked.

“No, no,
liebschen,”
Hannah soothed. “Something in the barn caused it. Maybe some paint or something. We don't know but the fireman will find out.”

“Where will our horses sleep?” Mary asked.

“Either at Phoebe's or the Lapps. They'll be fine.”

Joshua glanced around. “Did the buggy burn up?”

Hannah nodded. “
Ya,
it wasn't safe to go in and get it. So your
mamm
and
daedi
are using Phoebe's to go see Eli. Your
daedi
will get a new buggy later.”

“Maybe one with a radio?”

Laughing, Hannah shook her head. “I know that Leroy has one in his courting buggy, but he's in his
rumschpringe.”

“But why is it okay when he's in his
rumschpringe
but not later?” Joshua persisted.

“That's something you should ask your
daedi.
Just not today,
allrecht?
I'm sure he'll be too concerned about Eli and the barn.”

Joshua nodded.

She ran her hand over his hair. “How about we go inside and have some
kichli
and milk before we start our chores?”

“Yes!” they chorused and the three of them raced to the kitchen. After oatmeal-raisin cookies and big glasses of milk, the children went about their assigned chores. Mary went to take down the laundry, Joshua ran to get the stalls in Phoebe's barn ready for the horses, and Annie started setting the table for supper.

Phoebe. Thank goodness she'd gone to help a friend today, thought Hannah. It would have been so upsetting for her to witness what had happened, to see Eli burned. Hannah didn't look forward to telling her later, but being there herself would have been too much for the older woman.

Hannah went into the pantry and thought about what to cook for supper. A roast had been left to thaw in the refrigerator.This must be what Jenny had planned to have for supper, she thought.

Pulling it out, she glanced at the clock and figured she had just enough time to cook it for supper. She'd put some carrots and potatoes in with it. Dessert would have to be something simple and quick to make.

Someone knocked at the front door. Hannah went to answer it. Chris stood on the doorstep, hands shoved in the pockets of his jeans, his expression unsmiling.

“Is there anything I can do? Chores that Matthew would do at this time of day that I can take care of for him? Animals to feed or whatever?”

“Joshua is fixing up some stalls in Phoebe's barn. The horses are out in the pasture,” she said after a moment. “I'd thought about sending Joshua out to get them—”

“I'll take care of it.”

She bit her lip, thinking hard. “Take Joshua with you since they know him. Phoebe's got room but I don't know if she has enough food. If not, let me know and I'll send Joshua over to get some from the Lapps.”

He nodded and turned to leave.

“Chris?”

Turning again, he looked at her. “Yes?”

“I appreciate you thinking to offer this and I'm sure Matthew will too.”

“I'm happy to help.”

“And you've
been
a help too,” she said. “You came here for a vacation and you've had little of it.”

“I had a lot of time off before this,” he said, shrugging.

“I'd hardly call being in the hospital time off.”

“I'm not used to sitting around for any reason.”

“Hannah, do you want me to peel the potatoes?” Annie called.

“No! Don't touch that knife!” she turned to respond. “Do you hear me?”

“I won't!”

“Anyway, I want to thank you,” she told Chris.

She took a deep breath and said what she knew she should have said some time ago. “I know we got off on the wrong foot, and I haven't always been pleasant to you.”

“Yeah, it was a surprise because we're so much alike,” he said.

“Alike?” She stared at him. “How?”

He chuckled. “We're both stubborn, protective, and sure we're right.”

She leaned back against the doorjamb. “Are you saying those things about yourself so that you can say them about me?”

“Oh, of course not,” he said, but the twinkle in his eyes belied his words. “And then there's the fact that you're Amish and I'm
Englisch,
as you call it, so you can see we should have no differences in how we feel and act about things.”

Hannah shook her head and grinned. Then she spotted a buggy turning into the drive. She straightened and her smile faded as she saw who had come to visit.

“That's the bishop. I wonder why he's here.”

“Do you want me to stay or go get the horses?”

“Get the horses,” she said quickly. “I'd rather he not think I'm entertaining
Englisch
men.”

“I'd be happy to tell him otherwise.” Chris stood straighter himself.

“No, there's Joshua now,” she told him, spying the boy walking up to the bishop's buggy and helping the elderly man alight. “And thank you for—for—”

“For being sensitive?” he asked, struggling not to laugh.

“I'm sure you've never been accused of that,” she said tartly.

“Now, now, let's play nice. We were actually getting along for a few minutes there.”

“Joshua, Chris is waiting to help you bring in the horses,” Hannah called to him.

The bishop and Joshua walked up the steps and the older man studied Chris.

“This is Chris Matlock, a friend of Jenny's,” Hannah said as she introduced them. “Chris, this is Bishop Miller.”

The two men shook hands. “I hear you're helping Matthew with the harvest.”

Chris nodded. “My family owns a farm out in Kansas.”

The bishop's glance went to the barn. “Heard there was some trouble here today.”

“Joshua, why don't you and Chris go get the horses now and put them in Phoebe's barn? Be sure to feed them.”

She waited until the two had left and then turned to the bishop. “Eli had some burns on his arms and chest but he's okay. They're keeping him at the hospital for observation tonight, but he should be out tomorrow.”

The bishop descended the stairs and walked toward the barn. Hannah followed him.

“The fire chief doesn't want anyone to go near it.”

He stopped and peered at her over wire-rimmed glasses.“Why?”

“Said he wants to send an investigator to look around tomorrow.”

“Are you saying he thinks someone set the fire?”

“I think he's just making sure of what caused it,” she said, frowning. “I don't think he suspects anyone set it. He said barns are a problem, being a wood structure, things stored it, that sort of thing.”

The bishop folded his arms across his chest and stared at it.“It's not a good time for it to have happened,” he said finally.“Matthew can't really afford the time to fix it while he's finishing up the harvest. We'll have to talk.”

“He's not home. He and Jenny went to the hospital to see about Eli.”

“I knew that,” the man said mildly.

“Oh, of course.” The Amish grapevine was working as usual.

“I also heard about the young man who's staying here. The one I just met that you said is a friend of Jenny's.”

“Heard about him?”

“Josiah said he came running toward his buggy, waving his arms, fussing about him not taking you. Said he didn't know what all that was about.”

Hannah sighed. “Chris just misunderstood something.”

When the bishop continued to stare at her, she realized she'd have to give him some kind of explanation or things might look worse for Chris.

“He served overseas in the military and saw bad things. He had a kind of stress flashback.”

“He was a soldier?” The bishop stroked his beard and looked thoughtful. “I hope he's not talking about it, glorifying what he did there with the
kinner.
They're at an impressionable age.”

“No, of course not.”

“
Gut.
We're a peaceful people. We don't believe in making war.”

“Chris knows that. And I don't think Chris went into the military with the idea of making war.”

She felt compelled somehow to defend him although she wasn't entirely sure why. “His family has a tradition of serving to defend the country.”

“Seems like the two of you were being friendly just now.”

Hannah felt her cheeks warm at what she felt was a mild rebuke. She hadn't done anything inappropriate. “He came to ask if there was anything else he could do since Matthew is at the hospital,” she told him, trying to keep her voice level.

Don't be defensive, she told herself. If you do, it'll just seem as if you're feeling guilty. And she wasn't guilty of anything.Well, okay, if she was honest with herself she had to admit that she thought he was attractive but … “Matthew was lucky Chris was here when he needed someone, especially someone who's worked on a farm the way he has.”

“
Gut.”
He scanned the bright blue, cloudless sky. “Well, let's hope the rain holds off until all the crops are in.”

She walked him back to his buggy and watched it pull out of the drive and proceed down the road.

Annie came out onto the porch. “Hannah! The pan is making funny noises!”

Hannah's hand flew to her throat. “I forgot! I put it on to boil the green beans!”

Gathering up her skirt, she flew up the steps and ran inside, calling to Annie to stay on the porch. The pan on the stove had nearly boiled dry and was, indeed, making “funny” noises, sputtering as the last drops of water danced on the surface.

“I didn't go near it,” Annie told her.

Hannah bent to kiss the top of her head. “
Danki, liebschen.
It's important to stay safe.”

The safety games were paying off, thought Hannah as she took the pan to the sink and refilled it. Farm living could be dangerous for children, with farm equipment moving around, animals being raised,
kinner
doing chores alongside their
eldre.
During the time she'd come to live with Matthew after his wife died, she played the safety games that were taught to Plain children so they'd be more careful.

Today, she'd forgotten the pan of water, but Annie had stayed away from it. Annie had remembered what she'd taught her.

As Hannah stood at the sink refilling the pan with water, she looked out at the barn. The day had been sobering enough without something else happening.

Chris had seen the way the bishop looked at him when he walked up. The man had behaved much like a suspicious father—he knew there was a strict code of conduct, more propriety than in the
Englisch
world. Something called the
Ordnung.
He wasn't going to do anything that caused the family more problems.

Without Matthew and Jenny here, maybe he shouldn't expect to eat supper in the kitchen as usual.

When he and Joshua finished feeding the horses and they had returned to the house, he asked the boy to have Hannah come to the front door.

She wiped her hands on a dishtowel as she stepped outside.“Did you need something?”

“Is there any place to get something to eat around here?”

“You don't want to eat with us? I made pot roast. I know you'll like it.”

“With the way the bishop was looking at me, I figured he was trying to tell me that I shouldn't be here without my hosts.”

She smiled. “You were perceptive. I got that message too.But it wouldn't be right to tell you to go get supper elsewhere.Besides, I solved the problem—Phoebe will be joining us.”