Seth finally turned back to her and held the receiver out. “I have all the information written down. Your mamm would like to speak to you again.”
It took Phoebe a moment to react, then she quickly nodded and accepted the handset, fumbling it a moment before recovering. To her relief Seth stepped back and gave her some space. But she found she now missed his presence.
The cold air cleared her head, and she focused on the telephone. “Hello.”
From the corner of her eye she saw Seth walk off. No doubt he was in a hurry to get back to work. Hopefully he hadn’t noticed too much out of the ordinary in her reaction.
Seth left her to say her goodbyes and headed back to his workshop. He’d wait to address her cards for her when he went back to the house for lunch.
Right now he needed to put some distance between them.
There’d been a moment back there in the shanty when he’d felt… something. He wasn’t ready to put a name to it yet. The hitch in Phoebe’s breathing hadn’t helped things either.
But now that he’d stepped away, had had the blast of cold wind to clear his senses, he realized it had been no more than the unexpected intimacy of that small shanty. It had been inappropriate of him to step in so close and he wouldn’t make such a mistake again.
Phoebe was under his care while she was here. As he’d told Levi, she was a guest of Edna’s and her eldre had entrusted her to his care. While she was here, she was a member of his household and should be treated as such.
With that bracing thought, he had himself back under control and continued on to his workshop.
But a niggling voice in his head said he wasn’t as in control as he was telling himself he was.
Chapter 27
Phoebe had washed and hung up one load of laundry between phone calls. Now she went down to the basement and began a second. While she worked on the task that she could basically do by rote, her mind kept returning to that moment in the phone shanty. In her mind she knew it had only lasted a few minutes but at the time it had seemed to stretch out for much longer. She wanted to believe it had affected her because she’d never found herself in such a situation before or that perhaps what she’d felt was a sense of being trapped. But if she was being honest with herself, there was only one answer for why it had affected her so strongly.
She had developed feelings for Seth Beiler.
Which was totally inappropriate, especially given that the man was due to meet a potential match in just a week or so. And she was obviously not the kind of woman he was looking for.
So the best thing she could do was try to forget the whole thing and under no circumstances let on to Seth how she was feeling.
She was afraid the second part of that was going to be a whole lot easier to accomplish than the first.
At supper that evening, Phoebe finally remembered she had a question for Edna. “Don’t you have a doctor visit coming up soon?”
Edna nodded. “Jah. Tomorrow morning as a matter of fact.”
Seth immediately reacted. “Ach. You should have said something sooner, Aenti.” He turned to Mark. “Can you take her—”
But Edna cut in. “That’s not necessary. I know you’re all very busy so I’ve already arranged for a car to take me.”
Phoebe felt a little stab of guilt. Had she been ignoring her friend? “I’ll go with you.”
Edna smiled as she shook her head. “Danke, but that’s not necessary.” Then she lifted her chin. “I may be old enough to be your grossmammi but I’m still able to get around on my own when I need to.”
“Of course you are,” Phoebe said quickly. “I just thought you might want company.”
“That’s a wonderful nice thought but you’re needed here.” The older woman raised her hand, palm-out. “My mind is made up. Let’s hear no more about it.”
Phoebe, who knew what it felt like to have everyone around her doubt her abilities, smiled. “You know best.”
She cut a quick glance Seth’s way and could tell he wasn’t happy with the corner Edna had backed him into, but at least he let the subject drop.
Poor Seth, he didn’t like it when someone in his household didn’t let him take care of them as he thought he should.
He had a gut heart and strong protective instincts, but he certainly needed to recognize when his actions crossed the line from protective to smothering.
Phoebe looked up from the stove as Edna stepped inside. “Welcome back. What did the doctor say?”
Edna hung her coat on a hook in the mudroom then lifted the arm with the sling. “That I need to wear this thing for two or three more weeks and then, if all goes well, I should be able to get back to normal.”
“That is wonderful gut news.” For Edna at least. Because it also meant she herself had only two or three more weeks here and then she’d be going home permanently. She’d known the day would come, of course. And given the feelings she was having for Seth perhaps it was better that it came sooner rather than later.
But oh, it was going to be so difficult to say goodbye to this familye—every single member.
And perhaps one in particular.
Later that day Daniel placed an armload of pine branch cuttings on the counter in the mudroom. “I hope these are what you were looking for.”
Phoebe wiped her hands on her apron as she bustled over. She lifted a few of the sprigs and nodded. “These are perfect—they’ll make wonderful gut wreaths.”
Daniel rubbed the side of his jaw. “I’d offer to help you make them but Seth needs me in the workshop.”
“Of course.” She waved him away. “I can do this on my own. Go, help your bruder.”
Jesse, who’d been in the mudroom shedding his coat and hat, spoke up. “I can help. Seth says he won’t need me again until tomorrow.”
