She nodded, then changed the subject. “Is there anything I should know about you and your brieder’s eating habits? Any food preferences or things to stay away from?”
He shook his head. Then he straightened. “On the subject of eating habits, Levi, the second oldest of my brieder, works with our onkel’s construction company so he’s sometimes late for supper, depending on what job they’re working and how far away it is.” He shrugged. “Other than that, there aren’t any special requirements. We all just eat whatever is put in front of us.” He loaded his fork with a second bite of her egg salad.
She smiled. “You sound like my brieder.”
So she had brieder too. “Tell me about your familye.”
“I have four brieder—Paul, Michael, Adam and Peter. They’re all married and Paul and his wife, Rhoda, live with us in my eldre’s home. I’m the youngest of the bunch and the only girl.”
“So you’re used to dealing with a houseful of men?”
“For sure and for certain.” Then she smiled. “You needn’t have any worries that I’ll be intimidated when dealing with your brieder.”
He was beginning to see a little spark of that spirit he’d looked for earlier.
And this egg salad actually went quite well with his ham sandwich.
Chapter 7
Once lunch was over, Seth headed for his recliner and read for a while. He could hear the sound of the women chatting as they worked, though he couldn’t make out any of the actual conversation.
Not that he was trying to eavesdrop.
He wondered how many more of his routines Phoebe was going to disrupt. He supposed he should start putting his foot down, to let her know his preferences, the way he thought things should be done to make the household flow smoothly. But not on her first day. He’d let her get settled in and meet his brieder, then he’d gradually introduce her to the routines and order he had in place for keeping their busy household functioning as it should.
Fifteen minutes later he realized he’d been looking at the same page in his magazine and hadn’t read anything. He set the magazine down and stood. He might as well be doing something productive.
He passed through the kitchen and noticed Edna was alone. Where was Phoebe? All signs of their recent lunch were gone—the table had been cleared and cleaned, the dishes were done and the dishrags hung neatly to dry. Order—he could appreciate that.
“Is your young protégée taking a nap?”
Edna gave him a stern look, obviously not amused. “She just left for the phone shanty. She promised her mamm and daed she would call once she got settled in.”
Seth frowned, not liking this feeling of being on the defensive. “The phone is supposed to be for business or emergency use only.”
“She’s obeying the request of her eldre. Certainly you can’t fault her for that.” This time Edna’s tone was positively acerbic. “It’s not something she’ll do often.”
Not knowing how to respond to that he merely nodded, then made to leave.
But Edna wasn’t done with him. “Before you go, I’d like to know what you think of Phoebe so far.”
He crossed his arms. “You didn’t tell me she was so young,” he said sternly.
“You never asked.” Her tone was more amused than repentant.
“She looks younger than Daniel.”
“Phoebe is twenty-one, so she’s actually the same age as Daniel.”
It was obvious he wasn’t going to get her to admit to any deception.
“But you haven’t answered my question yet—what do you think of her?”
What did he think? The new housekeeper still seemed to have one foot in childhood and appeared a bit too eager to please. “It’s too early to form an opinion—she’s only been here a few hours. Let’s wait and see how she deals with my brieder.”
Edna raised an eyebrow. “That’s still not an answer but I suppose we’ll leave it at that for now. At least you’re not rushing to judgment.” Then her eyes narrowed slightly. “Let me just say that Phoebe is special and she’s wonderful dear to me. If you give her a chance and treat her kindly, she will go above and beyond for you.”
Seth saw the earnestness in her demeanor. “I’ll keep that in mind. Now, was there anything else you needed?”
“Nee. Phoebe will be back soon and I should give her that tour I promised her.”
“While you’re at it, you can go over the household work schedule I posted on the corkboard.” It was what he used when assigning household tasks among his brieder during those times when they didn’t have a housekeeper. He’d also gone over it with each of their housekeepers to use as a guideline. “I find it helps maintain an orderly household if everyone knows when things will get done.”
Edna nodded with a smile. “That’s a gut way to approach things.”
Seth was nearly to the workshop when it occurred to him that she hadn’t actually agreed to go over the schedule with Phoebe.
Phoebe hung up the phone and slowly walked back up the drive toward the house. She’d been able to speak to both Mamm and Daed—unexpected since Mamm didn’t like to speak on the phone. Daed had just wanted to make sure she had arrived safely. Mamm, on the other hand, spoke to her as if she’d been gone for days instead of having left just this morning. Her questions came one on top of the other, not giving Phoebe time to answer.
“Do you feel comfortable there? Are they treating you all right, not demanding too much? You’re not feeling overwhelmed, are you?”
Phoebe had finally just cut in. “Don’t worry, Mamm, I’m settling in fine. The dawdi haus is nice. The only Beiler I’ve met so far is Seth, the oldest, and he has treated me well. I’ve learned how to run a household by watching you, and Edna is here to help me if needed so there’s no need for you to worry.”
“That is gut to hear.” Mamm hadn’t sounded like she believed Phoebe’s claims that all was well. “Just remember, you can return home before your time is up if you need to.”
Phoebe was glad Mamm hadn’t been able to see her roll her eyes. “I’ll remember. But I need to go now, Edna is waiting for me. Gutentag.”
