He shifted, rubbing the back of his neck.
She’d tried to lighten the mood but apparently he wasn’t comfortable talking about her shortcomings yet. Then she stiffened. Had that been at the heart of his hesitation—her ability to perform the task given she wouldn’t be able to read his directions?
Trying to push down the knot in her stomach that that thought had generated, she smiled. “If you’ll talk me through it this first time, I should be able to handle it with very few questions when working on the ones after that.”
She saw a flash of skepticism in his expression, there and gone in a heartbeat. Then he nodded. “If you have the time, when we finish our game, I’ll show you how to do the job.”
Actually, she’d prefer she did the work while he directed, rather than him doing it while she watched. But now was not the time to argue the point.
His hesitation was understandable. She’d just have to prove her abilities to him by following through. If he gave her the chance.
Now that she’d won that point—sort of—it was time to change the subject. She moved her bishop, capturing one of his pawns. “By the way, how do you and your brieder celebrate birthdays?” She kept her tone as casual as she could.
Seth shrugged. “The way most familyes do, I imagine. We have a cake, give gifts, invite some friends and relatives over to help celebrate. Why?”
“I wanted to know what to expect when we celebrate Jesse’s birthday on Sunday.”
“That’s not something you need to worry too much about.”
That was a strange thing to say. “What do you mean?”
“Because Jesse’s birthday falls so close to Christmas we don’t usually have a big party, just a quiet celebration within our household—a nice meal with a strawberry rhubarb cake and some gifts.”
“Well that hardly seems right.”
He waved a hand. “Jesse’s never liked to make a big production out of his birthday so there’s no need to worry—it will be all right with him.”
Did he really understand what he was saying? “Whether he shows it or not everyone, especially kinner, like to have their special day recognized and celebrated.”
Seth shifted in his seat. “With me being so busy trying to get my orders finished and having to get the place ready for hosting the church service, I don’t—”
Phoebe didn’t let him finish. “His birthday is on a between Sunday, ain’t so?”
“Jah, but—”
“So there won’t be any work being conducted that a celebration would interfere with,” she said patiently. “And I can make sure there’s enough food prepared for a nice party on my own.”
She saw another protest form on his lips and held up a hand.
“Before you say anything more, there’s something I’d like to say.”
Seth sat back in his seat, surprised by the set determination of her features. Why was she so focused on Jesse’s birthday? Why couldn’t she just drop the subject? But she obviously wasn’t to be deterred so he waved a hand, indicating he was listening.
“Edna told me the circumstances of Jesse’s birth.”
He stiffened, not sure how he felt about them discussing that particular subject behind his back. “If you’d asked me I would’ve told you. There was no need to go to Edna.”
“I did try to speak to you about why everyone shied away from talk of Jesse’s birthday. And I didn’t ask Edna, she volunteered.”
That was quibbling the point but he let it go. “I guess what happened is common knowledge anyway.”
“I know that must have been a difficult time for you and your familye, especially your daed.” There was a soft earnestness to her expression. “Edna also told me how it changed your daed, which I’m sure made it even more difficult for the rest of you. Under those circumstances it would be natural for a kinner, at least on some level, to blame it on the new addition to the familye.”
Seth took immediate exception to that. “Nee. I don’t blame Jesse. He was innocent in what happened.” He tugged on his sleeve. “And I wasn’t a kinner when Jesse was born, I was sixteen.”
“Of course you were. But how did it color the way your daed viewed that day? The way some of that feeling splashed over on you? And how could Jesse not help but feel something was off as he got older?” She leaned forward. “Think about how you celebrate every other birthday in this familye and compare it with how you all are treating Jesse’s birthday, have apparently always treated Jesse’s birthday—are they the same? If so, then I won’t say anything more on the subject.” She sat back and folded her hands in her lap.
Seth tried to search his heart. Was she right? Had he been guilty of making his little bruder feel he had no right to celebrate his birthday? The thought almost brought him to his knees. How could he not have realized this before?
He looked up and met Phoebe’s gaze. “Please ask Edna to invite her shveshtra and their familyes to join us for Jesse’s birthday lunch on Sunday.”
She rewarded him with a broad smile. “Wunderbaar! We’ll do that today. And I saw an ice-cream freezer in the basement so we’ll get that out as well.”
He smiled at her childlike anticipation.
“Do you normally give homemade or store-bought gifts?”
“It depends on what each of us feels like doing.”
“And do you think the gifts for Jesse have been bought or made already?”
“I’m not sure what my brieder have done.”
“Well, what have you done?”
He was ashamed to say he hadn’t given it a whole lot of thought. “I plan to carve a whistle for him.”
She smiled. “I think homemade is always a gut way to go, it shows you care enough to put in the effort. I’ll have to come up with something myself.”
