Planted with Hope (21 page)

Hope saw Jonas and Emma briefly at the church service, and by Monday afternoon she kept wondering if they would come by after school. She still hadn't given Jonas an answer about the schoolchildren. Maybe she was just hesitating. If she told him she didn't want the children to help out would she lose him and Emma, too?

Over the weekend, while everyone else was attending the Haiti Auction, Hope planted beets, radishes, and potatoes. And as the morning slipped away and afternoon came, she found herself with senses peaked, watching for footsteps or voices, but no one came. Had Jonas given up on her?

When she was certain that school was out, Hope went into the pie shop to check the time. It was four o'clock. If Jonas and Emma didn't come in the next thirty minutes they never would.

Then, as she was making her way back to the garden, Hope saw her. Emma was walking down the street holding Ruth Ann's hand.

Hope paused in front of Me, Myself, and Pie. Disappointment tugged at her lips. Where was Jonas? She pushed them up into a smile.

“Hope!” Emma called. Ruth Ann released the young girl's hand and she raced up the road toward Hope. Hope bent down and opened her arms. Ten seconds later Emma jumped into her embrace. Warmth spread through her.

“I told
Aenti
Ruth Ann that I need to come—needed to be your helper.”

Hope gave Emma one more squeeze, and then she straightened up. “
Ja
, I was hoping you would come by.”

Ruth Ann approached. She looked down at Emma and then eyed Hope. “Is it okay if she stays a while? She has been talking about the garden ever since she got home from school. Jonas stayed over to help one of his students with his math.”

Hope tried to hide her disappointment that Jonas wasn't with Emma. “
Ja
, I've missed Emma. I've been waiting for her so I can plant the beets.”

Emma wrinkled her nose. “Beets?”

Ruth Ann gave the girl no mind. “Well, if she's not too much of a bother.”

“
Ne
, I love having her.” Hope took Emma's hand. “Are you ready to do some planting?”

For the next hour, Emma and Hope planted turnips, peas, beets, and cauliflower. When they finished, Hope dropped down onto the blanket on the grass next to Emma. They sat on the blanket and stared up at the clouds, trying to find pictures in the white forms.

Then, just when Hope was about to suggest that they go get ice cream, Jonas walked around the corner, carrying a book bag.

Hope quickly sat up and tucked her skirt around her legs.

His smile was large. “The garden looks good. Did you work on it all afternoon?”

“Over the weekend most. I worked on it by myself, but this afternoon I had help.” She brushed away dirt from Emma's cheek. “Emma is the best helper.”

“Have you had any other helpers? Or advisors?”

Hope smiled up at them. “Oh, I had plenty of advisors this weekend. Lots of friends from the village have stopped by.”

Jonas chuckled. “Was the advice welcomed?”

“I'd never send anyone away.”

Jonas smiled and nodded as if he understood.

Emma rose to her knees. “Hope let me put seeds in the holes!”

“I imagine you did a wonderful job.” Jonas reached over and gently tweaked Emma's ear. There was a comfortable ease between father and daughter that Hope didn't often see. It was a
relationship forged with time. Amish men loved their children, but they were often many of them. It was hard to give too much attention to just one.

Amish men were also busy in everyday tasks or they were at work all day, and they especially didn't spend a lot of time with their daughters. Yet the relationship between Jonas and Emma was different. She smiled, imagining the young girl tagging along with her father as he worked on the farm.

They sat and chatted for a while longer, and then Jonas took his daughter's hand. “Well, we need to get going. Ruth Ann is planning dinner.”

“Oh, all right.” Hope looked at him, wondering if he was going to ask about the schoolchildren being allowed to help in the garden, but he didn't say a word.

“Hope, I wanted to check with you—do you mind if we stop by tomorrow afternoon? I have something I want to do for you.”

“For me?”

“
Ja.
”

“I will be here.” She didn't know what else to say.
I always want to see you, Jonas.
“You really don't need to do—”

Jonas held up a hand, halting her words. “
Gut
. I'm looking forward to it.”

“Me too.”

Emma gave Hope another squeeze.

And as they walked away Hope was certain they were taking a piece of her heart with them.

 

Working with Mother Nature

Almost any kind of care will produce vegetables of a sort; in fact there are some kinds that are difficult to kill after they once have a start. But you do not want just vegetables; one of the objectives of vegetable-gardening is the enjoyment of a better quality than is found in products purchased from the stores. To produce vegetables of good quality and texture you must work sympathetically with Old Mother Nature, with a knowledge of her processes, so that the plants under your care will grow.
^*

^*
Ross H. Gast,
Vegetables in the California Garden: A Home Gardener's Guide, with Notes on the Planting and Care of Fruits and Berries and an Introduction to the Small-home
(Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1933), 1.

Chapter Sixteen

It's better to give others a piece of your heart than a piece of your mind.

A
MISH
P
ROVERB

T
he sound of a hammer rang out from the back of the garden area when Hope arrived the next afternoon. She waved at the customers sitting near the front window of Me, Myself, and Pie, and then she quickened her steps. What was going on? Was Noah building or remodeling something?

She rounded the corner of the building, and it wasn't Noah there, but Jonas. Hope paused her steps and her heartbeat quickened seeing him there. He was framing something. This must have been what Jonas meant when he said that he had something for her. She clasped her hands in front of her. It was almost too much to believe. Jonas had already worked all day teaching school, and now this. She'd never known someone so giving and kind.

“What is this?” She eyed it curiously. “Maybe a playhouse for Emma?”

He turned to her and grinned, but he didn't answer.

“Well.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Are you going to keep me in suspense?” She gently reached out with her thumb
and wiped at the sawdust that had accumulated on the plank at the top of the pile. “It looks
gut
, whatever it is.”

Jonas pulled a red handkerchief from his back pocket and wiped his brow. “
Danke
. I'm making a tool shed.”

“A tool shed?”

He glanced down at the bucket that she'd set at her feet. “Aren't you getting tired of lugging that bucket around? And I thought we could get some donations of tools for the children too.”

She cringed again, thinking of those children digging in her soil. “I—I haven't really decided about that yet.”

“I know. But if you do decide, I'll be here to help you oversee them. They're not going to hurt your plants.”

“Can you promise that?”

Jonas winked. “Well, not all of them.”

“You make me wonderful mad sometimes, Jonas Sutter.”

“Is that why you're smiling at me?”

“
Ja
, I suppose it is.”

She watched as Jonas built the tool shed. It was larger than she needed for the items from the tool bucket. But as much as she wanted to tell Jonas that it would be all right for the children to come and help, she couldn't.

“Where's Emma?” she asked.

“She and Ruth Ann are visiting neighbors today. As much as I like Emma's help I thought it best she not hang around when I'm hammering.” Then he looked back at the hammer and nails as if trying to decide if he had more to say. “Besides, I thought it would be nice to just spend some time with you, Hope.”

Her eyebrows shot up and her stomach flipped once and then twice. “Really?”

“
Ja
.” He nodded. “I'd like to hear more about your life in Ohio and what it was like growing up with four sisters.”

And so Hope told him. She told him about their farm in Walnut Creek, about the vegetable stand by the road and about her dat's illness that he couldn't shake. “When the doctor told us Dat wouldn't last another winter up north, we had no choice but to move.”

“And he's doing better now—your dat.”

“
Ja
, thankfully. I appreciate your asking.”

Jonas shared too about being one of the youngest in a large family. “I'd get into more trouble than any kid, I think. I've gotten stuck in dry wells and had to get stitched from falling out of trees a few times. I suppose I know where Emma got her adventurous nature.”

Picturing Jonas as a little boy getting into all types of trouble made her laugh. And as they talked he built the tool shed with ease. She supposed he learned all types of skills taking care of his own farm.

As it neared dinnertime, Hope waved as Jonas headed out. She hated to see him go. She also hated to give him the answer she wanted to give. As much as she appreciated his help—and the tool shed—she still did not like the idea of allowing children into her garden.

At home, it was Grace's turn to make dinner, and she was grinning from ear to ear as Hope walked through the front door of the Miller house.

Grace turned, wiping her hands on a dish towel. “Guess what, Hope? We're having soup tonight, and it's not Thursday, it's Tuesday.”

Hope sniffed the air. “Soup?”

“
Ja
, I got the recipe from your journal. Onion soup gratinée. Doesn't that sound fancy?”

Hope glanced over to the kitchen table where she'd left the
journal. Thankfully it was still there. “You were careful with the journal, weren't you? I'd hate anything to happen to it.”