Planted with Hope (17 page)

Hope quickly made a green salad for dinner and put that in the fridge too. With dinner prepared she enjoyed a piece of cold chicken and grapes. Once all the dishes were washed and the kitchen clean, she slipped on her flip-flops. She was about to head out the door to the garden when she decided it would be best to leave a note.

Dinner is in the fridge. I'll put it in the oven when I get home.
She placed the note on the counter and had a strange sense of satisfaction. She'd been discontent for so long that she didn't feel like cooking or spending the time with others, but now… something had changed. It was strange in a way, but she understood a little of what Pauline wrote about. It seemed odd that a few conversations in the garden and in the pie shop and making dinner for her family could make her feel alive again.

^*
Janet McKenzie Hill,
Economical War-time Cook Book
(New York: George Sully and Co., 1918), 3-4.

 

Potato Casserole with Eggs in Bacon Nests, 1918

4 cups mashed potatoes

Salt and pepper

Milk or cream, butter

2 eggs, well beaten

12 bacon strips

6 whole eggs

Season potatoes very well with salt, pepper, milk or cream, and butter. Add 2 beaten eggs and beat until light and fluffy. Pile lightly into greased casserole and, with the back of a spoon, make in the surface 6 hollows, each large enough to hold 1 egg. Meanwhile partially cook bacon and line each hollow with 2 strips. Place an egg in each. Bake in moderate oven (350°) until eggs are set and bacon is browned. Season eggs. Grated cheese may be sprinkled over top just before eggs are done. Serves 6.
^*

^*
Ruth Berolzheimer,
250 Ways of Serving Potatoes
(Consolidated Book Publishers, Inc., 1941), 30.

Chapter Thirteen

The foundation of understanding is the willingness to listen.

A
MISH
P
ROVERB

H
ope tried not to hold her breath as she walked to her garden.
Breathe normally.
She told herself it really didn't matter if Jonas and Emma were there or not. But even as she walked, she had a hard time convincing herself. She would be disappointed if they weren't there waiting for her.

Afternoon clouds had rolled in, making it cooler than it had been earlier this morning. Before leaving the house she had slipped on a sweater. She'd also grabbed her bucket with seeds and gardening tools.

The bucket tugged on her arm and swung by her side as she walked. She waved at friends and neighbors as she walked past, but her mind was mostly on Emma. From the way Pauline talked about young Janet in the journal she guessed her to be Emma's age. Something Pauline wrote stuck in Hope's mind. Parents were models for their children. Children learned by what they witnessed. Emma no doubt liked to tag along with Jonas on his farm back home, but maybe Hope could be a positive influence
on her while she was in Pinecraft. Hope had already decided that if Emma stopped by with Jonas, she would offer to let the young girl plant some of the seeds.

It only took ten minutes to walk from her house to the garden. Hope rounded the corner and paused in her steps. Her lips opened with excitement.

Jonas and Emma were there.

He was on his knees examining a watering pipe connected to one of the raised concrete beds. Emma was near him, walking along the edge of a concrete block like a gymnast on a balance beam. Her arms spread out to her sides and the slightest breeze ruffled her dark blue dress.

Hope stepped closer to the building, partially hiding in the shadows, and studied them. As she watched, Emma walked to the end of the raised bed, and then she lifted her hands high. “Dat
,
watch!”

He paused his work, pushed back his hat, and fixed his eyes on her. Jonas's devotion to his little girl was clear.

Emma flapped her arms, as if they were bird wings, and jumped. Despite the effort, her body sank like a rock and she tumbled onto the grass.

“Whoa! I believe you jumped higher that time!”

Unplanned laughter spilled from Hope's lips, and both sets of eyes turned to her.

“Hope!” Emma rose from the ground and raced Hope's direction.

Jonas didn't call Hope's name. He didn't run to her, but his smile—and the happy look in his eyes—offered the same eager welcome.

Her stomach did a little flip as she met Jonas's gaze, and then she turned her attention to the little girl.

“Making yourselves busy, I see,” Hope said as Emma approached.
Emma immediately grabbed Hope's hand and tugged. With more strength than Hope expected, Emma dragged her to Jonas. They paused just a few feet away from him.

Jonas pointed to the pipe, but he didn't look up. “Had a little leak, but it's fixed now.”

“I appreciate that. I'd expected to be hauling buckets of water from the spigot or setting up sprinklers. The watering system was a nice surprise.”

Jonas eyed Hope's bucket. “And I appreciate your waiting to start your planting.” He stood, his tall frame towering over her, and placed a hand on Emma's shoulder. Emma hovered by Hope's side with a new unexplained bashfulness.

Hope nodded. She hadn't really waited to plant the first seeds for the reasons he thought—to save the task for when Emma was present—but she didn't need to explain that. She was simply happy now that she had waited.

Hope lifted the bucket. “Ready to get started?”

Emma's eyes widened. “
Ja
!”

Hope pulled off her sweater, revealing her gardening apron.

“Plant-ed wi-th Hope!” Emma read. “Can I get one like that?”

Hope shrugged. “I don't know, but I'll see what we can do. It seems like you would need one if you'd like to be my little helper.”

Emma's face brightened in a smile. She looked to her dat
,
who was smiling too. “
Ja
, I can be your helper!”

Hope glanced down at the long row. “How about we start with carrots?”

Emma reached for the packet of seeds. “Okay.”

Hope pulled the bucket back a little. “No, wait. Not yet. We have to make sure the soil is
gut
.” She set down the bucket and pulled out two hand rakes. “First, we're going to break up all the lumps. And make sure there are no stones.”

Hope kneeled at the side of the raised bed and slowly combed the rake through the dirt. Wherever Noah and Jonas had got the garden soil, they'd found premium dirt. There were few clumps and even fewer stones, but if she was going to model for Emma how to garden she wanted to make sure to do it right.

As Hope worked, Emma watched her, her eyes following Hope's movements, and then did the same.

Side by side they raked through a quarter of the long box. Hope tried to pretend that Jonas wasn't watching. She tried to imagine it was just her and Emma and this was their garden, but the pounding of her heart betrayed her.

When the soil was nice and loose, she tore open a package of seeds and poured some into her hand. “Now we're going to take a pinch—maybe five or six seeds—and poke them into the ground about an inch, which is about as deep as the top part of your thumb.” Hope put down the seed packet and modeled it for Emma. She took the seeds between her pointer finger and thumb, pushed them into the loose, moist soil, and released them.

“And make sure you do it in a straight line,” Jonas added.

Hope straightened, locking with his gaze. His eyes were smiling today, too, and it was hard not being pulled in to his dark brown eyes. “Oh, you're one of those type of gardeners are you? You don't scatter the seeds, you line them up?”

“And you're not?”

“Of course I am.” She grinned. “It's just that every time my dat helps in the garden he likes to work quickly. He's not too concerned about nice, neat rows.” She pointed her finger. “But he has taught me a few tricks. Did you know that you can mix in a few quick-growing radish seeds to mark the carrot rows, since the carrots take so much longer to pop up?”

Emma reached into Hope's bucket. She dug around, finding the package of radish seeds. “Can we do that here?”

Hope nodded. “Since we have these raised beds, I didn't think we really needed to do it. It'll be much easier to remember where the rows are here, but I
did
buy some radish seeds because I'm impatient. I don't like to wait two weeks to see sprouts poke up.”

They worked side by side, planting the carrots and adding radish seeds sprinkled in.

Jonas watched, and every once in a while he offered help or advice. Hope gladly accepted both. When they were finished with the carrots she considered planting more, but Emma had returned to her balance beam act. Hope wanted this to be fun for the girl, not just work, so she decided to wait. She had plenty of time to plant in the morning, and the many early mornings to follow.

“Hope, what do you love about gardens?” Jonas asked as they watched Emma chase a butterfly.

“I love everything—the soil, new buds, tiny roots, Jerusalem Crickets, roly-polies, the scent of dirt.”

He nodded, agreeing. Then he looked at her, lifting his eyebrows. She waited, having a feeling he had something to ask.