A Widow's Hope (14 page)

Your bashful brother,

Thomas

P.S. Give my nephews and nieces a big hug from me and tell them I’ll see them this summer.

“My word. The solution is easy,” Hannah said, after taking a swallow of tea. “I’ll write him tomorrow and tell him to haul the last of our apples in the cellar over to the Hostetler farm. He can explain that I moved away without using them up, which certainly is the truth. He’ll get a chance to talk to Catherine when he asks her to can them for him and when he picks up the finished jars. With any luck, the Hostetlers won’t have enough canning jars, and Thomas can take Catherine to town to buy more.” Despite her tiredness, Hannah straightened up in the chair.

Julia grinned over her mug while Hannah furrowed her eyebrows.

Hannah needed only another minute to ponder. “Then he can ride over to the next singing with someone who lives close to him. When it’s time to go home, he can ask the Hostetler
bruder
for a ride. He’ll have a chance to talk to Catherine all the way home.” She finished off her tea and poured a second cup to carry upstairs.

Julia rose unsteadily to her feet, gripping the arms of her chair tightly. “Sounds like you’ve come up with a good plan.”

“I’ve only just begun.” Hannah set the teapot on the stove and Julia’s mug in the sink. “Thank you. You were right. I do feel better after thinking about someone other than myself.” She kissed her sister’s forehead and climbed the stairs to her room.

She said her silent prayers, the ones she’d prayed since childhood, but added some special pleas for mercy toward her wayward sheep and a few words of thanksgiving for the special man who’d showed her more than simple kindness. Seth gave her hope for a new and meaningful life, one in which she wouldn’t be alone anymore.

Seth Miller slept soundly that night and woke up refreshed. Answers to his prayers had come to him long before the morning sun. Washing and dressing quickly, he carried a still-sleeping Phoebe
to the buggy. She would stay with his neighbor who often watched her while he worked his fields. He took the bag of leftover seed from the barn and a change of clothes for both of them. With eight children of her own, Mrs. Lehman didn’t mind one more under foot, especially not one as quiet as Phoebe.

Jacob Lehman was only too happy to help once Seth explained his plan. His three sons loaded their extra wheat seed into the wagon while Jacob hitched up his two Belgian draft horses. Seth moved his bag of seed to Jacob’s wagon, and with Phoebe asleep on the Lehman sofa, returned home for his plowing team. His buggy would remain in the Lehman yard for the day, his driving horse in an empty barn stall.

By the time the sun cleared the horizon, shining light on the ruined hayfield, Seth and Jacob were almost to Simon’s farm by the back lanes. Both were eager to help.

Simon stood on his porch enjoying his second cup of coffee. He, Hannah, and the boys had finished the sheep roundup and returned all of them to the hastily repaired pasture. Hannah was off counting and recounting like a dutiful mother hen. The smell of sizzling bacon and frying eggs whet his hearty appetite, but the sound of wagon wheels rumbling up the drive kept him from heading to breakfast. He stared at three young faces bobbing into view and recognized the sons of his closest Amish neighbor.

“
Guder mariye,
boys,” Simon said. “Why are you out so early?”

“We’re here to help you replant your hay, deacon,” the older one called. He was a tall, gangly youth, who could use a larger portion of his
mamm
’s cooking. His strawberry-colored hair hung down in his eyes, in need of a trim. The boy didn’t stop to offer further explanation but clucked to the horse to keep moving toward the back fields. Simon stood on his stoop, speechless for the first time in a while.

He didn’t have long to wait.

“
Guder mariye, bruder,
” Seth called, coming around the house.

“What are you up to, Seth? I didn’t expect you here today after
our late night yesterday. Have you no chores to do?” Simon appeared to be stifling a grin.

“They’re done. It’s a work frolic, even if a small one at short notice. Jacob Lehman and I had nothing better to do on this bright, sunny day, and we both had extra seed taking up valuable barn space, so I said why not help my brother replant? With three teams plowing and all the
kinner
following behind and dropping in seed, we’ll be done by lunch and looking for something else to do.” Seth swept off his hat and then repositioned it playfully on the back of his head.

Simon’s joy couldn’t be contained as he spotted Jacob in the distance, bringing his plow and team. “I’ll have Julia make another pot of coffee and start fixing sandwiches,” he said. “Come in for a bite of bacon and eggs before we go to the fields. I know you haven’t had any breakfast and must be hungry.” He rubbed his hands together while organizing details in his mind. “I’ll check with Jacob and his boys to make sure they’ve eaten. Then I’ll pull my sons from their chores and look for my girls. I need to find Hannah too. I know she’ll want to be part of this.” He started down the steps and then paused to meet his brother’s eye. “
Danki,
Seth.”

Seth touched his hat brim in response and headed toward the wagon for the seed. The mention of Hannah’s name caused an odd jolt of anticipation. His brother was right. He must be hungry for his gut to be all aflutter. He would unload the sacks, grab something quick to eat, and hope he wasn’t coming down with something.

Hannah still seemed to be sticking in Simon’s craw. Yesterday’s sheep stampede through his crop hadn’t helped matters. Instead of growing accustomed to an extra female in the household, his pique had increased with the passing of time. But once Seth presented Simon with his second God-given intuition of the early morning, her sheep would no longer be a thorn in his side.

Once the work frolic began, no one had time for thinking. Henry and Hannah followed his plow, dropping in evenly spaced seeds as the blade cut furrows into the earth. Emma and Leah walked behind
their
daed,
while Jacob had two of his boys for helpers. His eldest son and Matthew tamped and raked long rows, making sure the seeds were adequately covered with soil. Jacob whistled while Leah and Emma sung gospel tunes they had learned from Julia. With the sun warming the back of his neck, Seth felt the first sweat on his brow as he rolled back his cuffs and shed his coat. It felt good to be back in the fields after a long winter.

When they stopped to rest the horses, Seth watched white, lacy clouds scurry across the bluest of May skies. The world looked a far different place than it had yesterday when dozens of critters eluded every attempt to corral them. With a solution to their dilemma almost in his back pocket, Seth felt like humming himself.

By two o’clock, they had reseeded the entire field. The boys would finish covering the seeds during the afternoon. Mrs. Lehman came by with Phoebe and her girls to help Julia prepare lunch for the hungry workers. They set up a table outdoors where they spread out an array of sandwiches, cold pickled vegetables, and fresh-baked pies. The meal looked like an oasis under the maples when they returned from the fields.

Seth ate his fill of ham and Swiss cheese sandwiches with more than his share of pickled beets. He drank two tall glasses of lemonade to wash the dust down his throat and stole glances at Hannah across the table during the entire meal. She looked surprisingly fresh for someone who’d just spent almost as much time in the sun as he had. Her heavy black sunbonnet had been replaced with a white
kapp,
revealing newly sun-burnished cheeks and a shiny-penny smile. He thought only Constance ever looked prettier sipping iced tea and laughing with the girls. She sat with the women, chatting amiably with Emma. He couldn’t wait to tell her his idea and see the look on her face. Someone as kind and thoughtful as the widow wouldn’t want to cause turmoil in her sister’s house indefinitely. But Hannah didn’t meet his eye once during the meal—furtively glancing only at her brother-in-law. Simon, on the other hand, looked like a father
who’d been given his first newborn son. And the satisfaction on his face was all the thanks Seth needed.

Only one thing still remained to straighten out—the problem of Hannah’s sheep. Simon hadn’t responded to his plan to expand with sheep with the anticipated slap on the back and “good luck to you.” But surely he would see the wisdom behind this idea.

Seth waited until the Lehman family packed up and left by buggy, wagon, and draft team, and then he followed Simon to the barn. The afternoon milking still needed to be done. The cows couldn’t milk themselves.

Simon nodded when Seth entered the barn. “
Danki
again for arranging the work bee,” he said. “Extra hands make light work of any task.” Simon forked hay into the cattle troughs.

“Happy to help.” Seth picked up the other pitchfork. “I’ve got another idea brewing that I wanted to run by you.” He tried to control his growing excitement. “I told you I wanted to add sheep to my livestock. The way I see it, Mrs. Brown’s sheep have just about overstayed their welcome at your place. And they don’t seem to like the particular cuisine of your pasture.” Seth glanced up at his brother, expecting at least a small laugh, but Simon looked bewildered.

Seth squashed any further attempts at humor. “Well, I’ve got a pasture already thick and green on good high ground. I say we move Hannah’s sheep to my place.” He jabbed the pitchfork into a full bale and leaned his weight on it, waiting for Simon’s hearty approval.

Simon stood with his jowls slack and his mouth in fly-catching mode.

Seth realized he hadn’t approached the subject tactfully. “I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with your pasture. It’s fine, to be sure. I’m only suggesting a temporary move to my farm until your grass has a chance to come in. We also need to replace those rotted fence rails. The repairs I made last night will only tide you over. Plus, I’ll be able to learn the business from the widow while the sheep are with me to prepare me for my own flock. Hannah and I are going to the
auction in Kidron on Thursday to see if any decent animals are up for sale.” Seth pulled the fork from the bale and finished filling the trough. When he glanced back, Simon was staring at him.

It probably was the heat of the unseasonably warm day coupled with the exhaustion of replanting the entire field the day after staying up so late. Added to that, there was the pleasant surprise of the neighbors coming to his aid so quickly. But Simon looked ready to faint. He lowered himself to the milking stool nearby. “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea,” he said, slowly pulling on his long beard. “I promised Julia that Hannah…and her animals…could move in with us. Julia won’t like the idea of my sending half the bargain away.”

This wasn’t what Seth had expected. “I’m sure Julia will see the common sense behind the suggestion.”

“Unless this is the widow’s desire—and I can’t imagine her wanting to be separated from her sheep—I can’t go along with your notion. We can talk more about this later, but right now I need to feed and water my horses and help the boys with milking.” He struggled to his feet using the stall wall for support, his short break over.

Seth once again felt he was making trouble rather than offering a practical solution. He told Simon good day and scratched his head all the way back to his team of Percherons.

Why did he feel like any involvement on his part with Julia’s sister wasn’t welcome? Had Hannah complained that he was acting too forward? That wasn’t the feeling he had when they were together. But Seth didn’t want to cause problems for Hannah—she managed to create enough on her own. He would let her behavior on their trip to Kidron settle the matter. If she was relaxed and comfortable with him, he would offer his pasture for better grazing. And if not, he wouldn’t pester her for any more advice. He could just as well do what she did—open a book and read.

Simon dragged his milking stool into the open doorway and sat down heavily. He didn’t permit smoking in any of his buildings, not even by himself. But tonight he would enjoy half a pipeful of Ohio-grown tobacco as he collected his thoughts and said his prayers. With the chores finally done and the rest of his family asleep, he allowed himself this one rare vice before going to bed.