Almost Amish (24 page)

By now, Brian had made his way over and was checking out the new ride. “Interesting piece of equipment. My personal thanks.”

Gary smiled. “I hoped you all would enjoy them. They may not be terribly cool, but they will make your commute to and from school much faster, I think.”

The creek burbled happily as it hurried on its way, birds chirped their own working songs back and forth in the trees, and the smell of damp earth and wildflowers added richness to the outdoor symphony. Julie looked at Charlotte. “What a nice idea to have class out here. It’s a beautiful place, and so much cooler than the schoolhouse today.”

“The hanging of the canopy made for a nice physics and logic problem.” Brian grinned at his teacher.

“Charlotte,” Susan said, “I wonder if we might have a meeting today so we can discuss your academic plans for the rest of the summer. Just to make certain we are all on the same page.”

“Of course. We were just about to take a snack break. Would you like to do it now?”

“Yes.” Susan’s jaw was firm, and Julie couldn’t keep her own stomach from clenching in response. Why couldn’t Susan ever relax? “Why don’t the two of us go talk privately? Unless you want to join us, Julie?”

Julie considered for a moment. “No, I think I’ll stay here with Gary and the kids.”

“Suit yourself.” The disapproval was obvious in Susan’s voice. The two women walked off in the direction of the schoolhouse.

“Woo-ee, someone’s a little uptight.”

“Whitney . . .”

“Just saying.” She grasped the handlebars of Susan’s scooter. “Can I take it for a spin?”

Gary nodded. “You bet. Here, why don’t the three of you try them out?”

“All right.” The three of them were soon zooming up and down the dirt road, laughing and having a blast, seemingly oblivious to the heat and dust.

“It appears your gift is much appreciated, especially by the younger generation.” Julie thought about how that might have sounded. “Not that us old folks don’t appreciate it, too. Just seems like a disaster waiting to happen.”

He laughed. “I know what you mean. I was praying I wouldn’t break my neck the first time I tried one of those things.” The phone jangled in his pocket. “Excuse me.” He took a couple of steps away to answer. Seconds later, he waved the kids over.

“It seems you are all needed back at the farmhouse right away. They want family groups, so Charlton family, why don’t the three of you take the scooters? I’ll walk back with Susan and Angie when the meeting is over.”

“Why do they need us?”

Gary grinned. “You should know how things work well enough by now to know that I’m not going to tell you anything.”

“Okay, Mom, let’s see how well you can ride this thing.” Whitney stood beside the scooter Angie had just vacated.

“Not very well, I’m afraid.” But Julie climbed on board. “Are you sure Angie shouldn’t take this one?”

“Positive.”

Julie tried to somewhat keep up with her kids, but quickly gave up and allowed herself to lag behind. They were way too young and fast; no reason to kill herself to prove the obvious, especially going uphill.

Whitney reached the crest of the hill first, then hit her brakes and stopped in a cloud of dust. Brian soon followed suit. “Hey, Mom, there’s a black car pulling up down there. Lisa Lee is not supposed to be here yet, is she?”

“I don’t think so.”
Oh no. Surely not.
Julie caught up to the kids and looked down at the farmhouse and the Suburban just coming to a stop in the driveway. This was going to shove Susan right over the edge.

The back door opened then, and Julie could see someone climbing out. The figure backed away from the door and then it closed behind him. “Oh, my goodness, oh, my goodness. It’s your father.” She clamped her hand over her mouth, the sheer joy of the unexpected visit causing tears to run down her cheeks. “Race you to the bottom.” Julie climbed back on her scooter and started pumping her left foot as fast as she could. After about three repetitions, she realized that this might have been a mistake, as it was downhill and she was going much faster than was safe for someone with her skill level. Still, she didn’t care.

“Slowpoke.” Whitney sailed past, looking like she was barely even exerting effort. “Dad, Dad! Dad, look up here.” She was using one hand on her handlebars and waving with the other, while Julie was holding on for dear life with both hands. Brian passed her, too, but he at least seemed to be exerting effort in the process.

Julie eased up on the hand brakes and found herself gaining on the kids. By this time she had no idea whether or not Thomas had seen them yet, because she was too terrified to look anywhere besides the road directly in front of her. She had almost caught Brian when they reached the car.

“My, my, what has happened to the wife I used to know? I don’t recognize this speed demon I just watched tearing down the hill at Mach 1 speed.”

Whitney threw her arms around Thomas’s waist. “You might not recognize a lot of things. Mom has started to come out of her shell in a major way. She’s almost . . . almost cool.” She leaned back and squeezed Julie’s arm at the elbow.

Julie looked at her daughter, waiting for the punch line, but saw nothing other than a serious expression on her heat-reddened face.

“Well, all right.” Thomas grinned as he reached out and included Julie and Brian in the hug. “It’s so good to see the three of you. The house is just plain boring without all of you around.”

“Yeah, but I bet the house is finally tidy to your satisfaction, right?” Whitney looked up at him. “If not, you’ve got no one to harp on but yourself, ’cause we didn’t do it.”

Julie couldn’t help but stiffen a little as she waited for his response. Thomas and Susan were definitely from the same gene pool, and it was a constant source of stress in their home. Right now, she wasn’t sure what she wanted to hear—something between the harsh truth and a complete lie.

He finally cleared his throat as he pulled away from the hug. “Well, that part is nice, but I still miss all of you.”

Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.

Didn’t this work in reverse in most families? Wasn’t the wife supposed to nag the husband about these things?

Thomas interrupted her thoughts with another enormous hug. And she embraced him back. It felt good to be in his arms, and for the moment, she’d just focus on that.

Still, she couldn’t help but think a few hours later that while an organized house was nice for Thomas, there was another side to that equation, because in a lot of ways, the last few weeks had been a nice break for her, too. An escape from the constant awareness that she did not live up to her husband’s expectations. In this place, she was very aware of not living up to Susan’s standards, but because things were so extreme here, it didn’t feel as depressing.

After a festive dinner, Whitney and Brian said they’d take care of dishes, so Julie and Thomas headed out for a walk together. She had so much she wanted to share—about Whitney at Kids’ Club, Brian and his observatory, gardening, sewing. And Rosemary. She told Thomas the woman’s stories and how they’d gotten her thinking about using her gifts. She looked at Thomas. “Thomas, what would you say are my gifts?”

“Your gifts? Besides being beautiful, you mean?”

“That’s a lie, and you know it. I’m not being facetious; I want the truth.”

“It’s not a lie. You are beautiful, and I suppose I need some clarification of the question. How, exactly, would you define the word ‘gift’ as you are using it in this sentence?”

“You know good and well what I mean. What am I good at?”

“You’re a terrific mother, a great wife, and one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.”

“Those are all too general to be completely true or completely helpful.”

“All right, then. I’ll be more specific. You’re a great wife because you constantly deal with my ever-changing schedule with good grace and good humor, and I know from the talk around the office, this is not the norm for many of my coworkers. You are a terrific mother because you encourage the kids to follow their own dreams. That part about you being one of the nicest people I know is true, too, and one of the ways I know this is that you truly see people. You notice when someone is sad, or uncomfortable, when most people would not give them a second glance.”

Julie knew there was a flip side to all those statements. She might adapt to a schedule well, but his coworkers’ wives maintained meticulous homes. She let the kids follow their dreams but perhaps was too lax with them. She noticed people, but did she do anything to really change things?

Maybe Rosemary was wrong. Maybe there was a group of people who really just didn’t have anything much in the way of gifts. They were the group of people, like her, who just floated through the sea of this life, waiting for the tide to pull them in, or push them out, or the next wave to crash into them.

Still . . . maybe there was a bit of truth to his words.
God, if I really do have a special gift, any gift, please show it to me. Please help me use it to the best of my ability.

“Now, let’s get back to that part about me being a terrific wife.” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “What was it you were saying again?”

The Friday morning of Lisa Lee’s visit had been a train wreck. Nothing had gone right, including spilled coffee, which had splattered underneath the stove, a backed-up kitchen sink, and burned pancakes that still smelled up the entire farmhouse. All the makings of a disastrous day were firmly in place. Susan pulled out her to-do list. “We’ve got to work fast. We’re already almost half an hour behind schedule, and there are a few additional things we have to add to the list now.” Susan would make certain things were as comfortable as possible for Lisa Lee’s visit today—just like a good Amish woman would do for her guests.

“The kids sure must enjoy their school. They seem to be in an awfully big hurry to get there.” Thomas turned from the window and looked at Susan, as if waiting for a response.

Since she didn’t have time for chatter this morning, she gave none. “Okay, Thomas, you’re in charge of sink duty. Let’s see, Julie . . .” She started to tell her to work on the coffee clean-up detail, but it was too important to have that job done correctly today. Better just to get Julie out of the way. “Why don’t you go on out to the garden and start weeding at the green bean row?”

“Don’t we need to do a load of laundry this morning?”

“We certainly don’t want Lisa Lee showing up with our laundry hanging out on the line. It’s got to look perfect around here, and we are a far cry from perfect right now.”

“Okay.” Julie turned and started for the door.

Susan heard Thomas mumble something to her as she walked by. It sounded something like “I want to go to school with the kids,” but she couldn’t be sure, and it didn’t really matter. They didn’t have time to talk.

Susan got down on her hands and knees and looked at what she had to face. Julie had wiped up the bulk of the coffee after she’d spilled it, but it had streamed underneath the stove and all around the front stove legs. This was going to require a toothbrush and some scrubbing. She looked under the sink and pulled out her cleaning supplies while Thomas continued to work with the plunger in the sink itself.

“So how are things going here?”

At least he was working while he talked. “Fine. Just busy.”

“Fine? Really? Because you seem about as uptight as I’ve ever seen you.”

“Of course I’m uptight. Today’s visit is crucial for us, and it’s started as a nightmare.”

“No worries, sister of mine. We’ll have it all straightened out and ready to go by the time Lisa Lee arrives.” He looked at his watch. “We’ve got a couple of hours yet, yes?”

“Yes, but plenty of things to do.” She pulled out the brushes and cleaner and went back to the stove. She knelt down on the floor and started scrubbing with every bit of her energy. Hopefully things would get better from here. “This is make it or break it for me today. It has to be perfect, and given the start we’re off to, I’d say that’s likely not going to happen.”

“We’ll give it our best shot.” A loud gurgling sound coming from the sink was the first hopeful sign. “One down, what’s next on my list?”

It was good to have Thomas here.

A few hours later, Susan watched through the farmhouse window as Lisa Lee emerged from the black Suburban. Kendra and the camera crew had been standing in the driveway as the car approached. Kendra held out a restraining hand toward the crew and approached Lisa, shook hands and began telling her something. Lisa nodded politely, tucked her hair behind her ear, and smiled without comment. Finally, she shook her head and pointed toward the house.

Kendra was obviously still arguing the point as Lisa Lee came to the front porch and knocked. Susan ran to the door, accompanied by the cameraman, who was waiting inside. “Welcome. Please come in.” It felt strange inviting her in, as if she were a guest, rather than the reason for all of this.

“Hello. How nice to see you again.” Lisa walked in and hugged Susan. “I hope you are enjoying your adventure here.”