She was determined to do some digging to find the answer to that question.
Chapter 22
Sure enough, when they rose on Wednesday morning there was a dusting of snow on the ground and occasional flurries still falling.
Phoebe made sure to pack a little extra in everyone’s lunches—Mamm always said a full stomach would help provide the energy to stay warm.
Once the younger Beilers had scattered for the day, she turned to Seth. “Before you head out, do you mind if I ask you a question?”
“Not at all. What would you like to know?”
She noticed he had a wary look on his face—what was he expecting? “I was wondering why things got a little uncomfortable when the subject of Jesse’s birthday came up last evening?”
He frowned, clearly puzzled. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, Jesse didn’t seem at all excited or even interested in the subject, and none of the rest of you wanted to talk about it either.”
“That’s just Jesse being Jesse. As for the rest of us, I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary, we just don’t dwell on such things. I think it must have been your imagination.”
She frowned at his tone. Had he already started to dismiss her opinions?
After he left Edna spoke up. “It wasn’t your imagination.”
Thank goodness she wasn’t the only one who’d seen it. “Then what was it?”
Edna waved her to a chair. “To understand you need to know a little bit about this familye’s history.”
Phoebe shifted in her chair. “I don’t want to pry into their private business.”
“You aren’t prying. And this is something most everyone around here already knows.”
She supposed that was different. “All right.”
“Back before Jesse was born, this was a different household. I remember visiting here and how warm and welcoming it was. Reba, their mamm, was a wonderful gut cook and always had extra food available for anyone who dropped in. Boaz, their daed, was an outgoing man, full of gut humor and a generous spirit. He loved to tell stories to anyone who would listen and to sing as he worked.”
This was the man Seth had spoken so fondly of yesterday.
Edna’s expression grew serious. “Then Reba died giving birth to Jesse and everything changed. Boaz lost his joy and began to focus all his energy on the farm. He left the raising of his sons to his elderly mamm, who lived in the dawdi haus at the time, and Seth, who was only sixteen back then. To Boaz, Jesse was a reminder of the love he’d lost, and while I’m sure he tried not to be cruel, he could barely stand to be in the same room with Jesse.”
Phoebe felt her heart break for both daed and suh. “That’s a terrible burden for a kinner to bear.”
“Jah. And while his daed was alive, Jesse’s birthday was seen more as the anniversary of Reba’s death than as a celebration of his birth. I don’t think Seth and the others are even aware of it, but I believe there’s still some shadow of that sadness and discomfort whenever Jesse’s birthday comes around.”
That explained a lot, including why the boy always seemed to stand on the fringes of things rather than joining in.
She sat up straighter. “We must make this year different for Jesse, for all of them.”
Edna eyed her speculatively. “Did you have something specific in mind?”
Phoebe slowly nodded. “Perhaps. Let me think about it a little longer.”
Edna reached across the table and patted her hand. “I have faith that you will come up with exactly the right thing.”
Phoebe certainly hoped she was right.
Phoebe sat back as Seth studied the chessboard. “Are you ready to start involving the rest of us in creating the chess sets?”
Lunch was over and they’d just started their chess match. It had become one of her favorite parts of the day.
He nodded absently, his focus obviously still on the chessboard. “Almost. I have a little more to do on the current set I’ve been working on.” He made his move and leaned back. “After that I’m going to sit down and come up with a plan for how to make this new process work. That includes writing out instructions for each of the pieces that I think can be handled by someone else.”
She shook her head. “You for sure and for certain like to make plans.”
He shrugged. “It’s the only way I know how to make sure things stay on track and get done.”
She let that go. “Have you lined the drawer yet?”
“Nee. That’s one of the last steps.”
“Then perhaps this would be a gut time to teach me how to do that task for you.”
“Are you sure you still want to do that?” She heard a note of hesitation in his voice.
Was he still fighting against letting go of total control of his pieces? Then perhaps getting her to help him let go of this one piece would make it easier for him to let go of others.
“For sure and for certain. And there’s no need to wait until you can write out instructions since I won’t be able to read them anyway.”
