Edna arrived in the kitchen a few minutes later and Phoebe immediately relayed her idea about Edna serving as hostess.
“Nonsense,” was Edna’s immediate response. “You said you could handle preparing the house for the service and part of that is ensuring everything in the house goes well, including greeting our guests.” She gave Phoebe a stern look. “You can’t do that by retreating into the shadows. Do you want to be viewed as a capable adult or not?”
Feeling properly chastised, Phoebe dropped the subject.
“Now,” Edna said, “since I’m no help to you here I’ll go check on the boys and make sure they straighten their rooms properly before they come down.”
The rest of the Beilers appeared soon after and all grabbed coffee before they headed out to do Sunday-morning chores.
They were back for a quick breakfast and then headed out again for last-minute checks to make sure the drive and parking area were ready to handle all the buggies and horses that would soon fill the free spaces around the place.
Thirty minutes before the first of their neighbors would likely arrive Seth and his brieder were properly dressed for Sunday service and were in place, ready to help their neighbors park their buggies and tend to their animals as they arrived.
The first arrival was Edna’s shveshtah Trudy and her familye. While Trudy and her three dechder joined her and Edna in the house, the menfolk headed for the spacious, cleared and freshly cleaned barn.
“We have two apple pies, a gingersnap pie and a shoofly pie,” Trudy said before they’d even shed their coats. “Where would you like us to put them?”
Phoebe waved a hand toward the kitchen. “In here.” She led the way and had them set their desserts on the expanded kitchen table.
They had just done so when Hilda and her familye arrived. They also came bearing pies. As soon as they entered the house, Hilda turned to two of the women with her. “This is my dochder Zilla and her friend Fannie and Fannie’s dochder Beth. They arrived here in Sweetbrier Creek yesterday afternoon.”
Exchanging greetings, Phoebe did her best not to stare at the woman who’d come here to meet Seth with the hopes of marrying him. Fannie was a pretty woman, with cornsilk-blond hair and deep-blue eyes. She had a heart-shaped face, a pleasant smile and an air of quiet confidence about her. Her daughter was a mini version of herself with a sweet touch of shyness.
“Where would you like these?” Hilda’s question brought Phoebe back to the present.
“Ach, I’m sorry. Please, kum this way.”
It wasn’t long before the living room and kitchen were filled with women and girls milling about in shifting clusters, visiting with one another. More pies had shown up as well and now the kitchen table practically groaned under the weight.
Even as she mingled among the other women, Phoebe was aware of Fannie wherever she was. The woman was personable, friendly and well received.
At some point Margaret and Constance arrived and Phoebe was delighted to renew her acquaintance with them. She was pleased to find that Constance didn’t treat her any differently, even after Jesse’s artless reveal of her shortcomings. These were two girls she could see herself forming long-term friendships with if she didn’t live so far away.
All available chairs had been placed in the living room so there would be seating for those who wanted it prior to the start of service and some of the elderly and women carrying bopplin had taken advantage of that.
At the appropriate time, Phoebe lined up with the single women and headed into the basement and took her place on one of the benches.
After the service was over the ladies returned to the kitchen to get the food ready while the men worked on converting the benches to tables for the meal.
Baskets of bread, pitchers of tea, water and lemonade, bowls of peanut butter spread, cheese spread and pickles, along with bologna and bowls of coleslaw with apples and raisins mixed in were transported downstairs.
Fannie pitched in along with everyone else. She was helpful and moved with confidence and efficiency. It made Phoebe feel clumsy by comparison. In fact, when Phoebe had a near accident, knocking her elbow against a large pitcher of water, Fannie was right there to set it to rights before it could spill. She couldn’t help but like the woman and she could easily picture Seth liking her as well.
And she couldn’t find it in herself to take joy in that.
After the meal was over and the dishes and food had been cleared, Phoebe spotted Zilla taking Fannie over to introduce her to Seth. After a few minutes, Zilla walked away, leaving the couple to speak alone.
Phoebe forced herself to look away. She had no business spying on their activity. But she couldn’t shut off her imagination.
She went back inside and grabbed a damp dishrag. It wouldn’t hurt to give the counters an additional scrubbing.
She was still at it a few minutes later when Edna walked in.
“I believe those counters are probably clean enough,” she said mildly. “Don’t you think you should be visiting with our guests and getting to know the people of this community better?”
“Why? I’ll be gone in a few weeks anyway.” Phoebe mentally winced when she heard the sulky tone in her voice.
Edna put a fist on her hip and her eyes narrowed. “Phoebe Kropf, what kind of talk is that? Are you feeling sorry for yourself?”
So what if she was? Didn’t she have a right to feel that way occasionally? But she kept her thoughts to herself.
Edna shook her head. “Were you not taught to be thankful for what you have and not to look to what others have?”
Phoebe stopped going through the motions of cleaning and placed both hands on the counter. “Jah. I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m so out of sorts.”
“Don’t you?”
What did that mean?
Then Edna straightened. “Don’t worry about the future. Gotte will work things out for the gut.”
And before Phoebe could form a response, Edna was gone.
Chapter 32
Seth strolled beside Fannie, unsure how to open the conversation. When she remained silent he decided to start slowly. “Is this your first trip to Sweetbrier Creek?”
“Jah. But I’ve known Zilla ever since she moved to Franklin five years ago.” She didn’t expand on that, apparently content to let him carry the conversation.
