“I don’t mean to be any trouble to you, either, Delia,” Joseph said.
“I know, Joseph. It’s okay. I think the most important thing is to get my mother to see a doctor.”
“How?” he asked.
“Well...” Delia sighed. “I’ll tell you what. You make an appointment for her to see a doctor, and I’ll come over and talk her into going to it.”
“Danke,” he said. “I appreciate that. She thinks it’s me who’s changing, you see. She thinks I’m the problem.”
“We’ll do our best,” Delia said. “We’ll start there. If she won’t listen to me, then we’ll bring Aunt Agnes.”
Aunt Agnes was Linda’s younger sister. And if Agnes couldn’t do it, then they’d have to involve the church elders. She’d have to listen to them!
Delia’s mind was ticking forward to future solutions, but the one thing she was dreading most was sitting down with her own mother and telling her that she needed help. Linda had always been a strong woman. She’d been the one who held up everyone else single-handedly! She’d been the one to hold Delia while she cried over the loss of her baby girl. She’d been the one to step in and help cook and clean when Zeke died. She’d ordered around a whole army of Amish ladies who’d come to help. Mamm was all heart and determination. She was a pillar of the family, and she wouldn’t take kindly to being told she was slipping.
Joseph pushed himself to his feet.
“I’d best be going,” he said.
Delia looked down at the salt-heavy cookies. “Joseph, are you hungry?”
“I wouldn’t turn down a sandwich,” he said hopefully.
Delia smiled and turned toward the kitchen. She’d put together something hearty for him.
“Where is Mamm now?” Delia asked.
“She’s at home,” he said. “She’s drying her hair.”
Mamm had long white hair, and on hair-washing night, she’d sit in the kitchen with a comb as she combed out her long hair and let it dry.
“Well, I’ll make you a sandwich, and then I’ll see her right away,” Delia said. “And I’ll talk to her.”
“Danke, Delia. I truly appreciate it.”
After eating a thick chicken sandwich, Joseph took his hat off the peg on the wall and replaced it on his head. “Danke again, Delia.”
As her stepfather headed back out to his buggy, Delia went to the window and watched him as he crossed the gravel and heaved himself back up into the seat. Was it just her, or did the older man seem to be walking a little bit lighter now?
Delia exhaled a shaky sigh.
Oh, Gott, she prayed. Whatever do I do about my mother?
It seemed that Delia was now at the stage of life when she was the one to provide solutions—for her children, for Violet, for her stepfather, for her mother... Suddenly, when Delia hadn’t been looking, she’d become the sole adult expected to fix things.
And for one fleeting moment, she wished she could go back in time to when someone else had all the answers!
Elias stood in the stable brushing down the big standardbred horse using strong, long strokes. The gelding quivered with pleasure as Elias worked. His daet still brushed down the horse, but it took a little more muscle to do a really thorough job of it. He’d asked his daughter to come out to help him in the barn, not because he needed the help, but because he wanted an opportunity to talk to her alone.
Violet leaned against a rail, chewing one side of her cheek. Today, she looked like thirteen going on twenty-five.
“So who told you?” she demanded. “Was it Delia?”
Violet would love to have someone to blame this on—someone other than herself. But Violet had been the one carrying on with an Englisher boy, and that was bound to draw attention. It was also a problem, and she knew it.
“I heard from two different sources this afternoon,” Elias replied. “One of which was your grandmother, and she heard from no less than three others! People talk, Violet.”
Violet looked away, and she scuffed the toe of her running shoe across the cement floor.
“I just wanted to...ask you about it,” Elias said, keeping his voice gentle as he continued to brush the horse.
Violet didn’t answer.
“Maybe you didn’t know that the boy was flirting with you—or that he looked like he was,” Elias suggested.
“I knew he liked me. And why shouldn’t he?” she said. “We didn’t do anything wrong. We just talked.”
“Okay...” Elias stopped his brushing and moved around the horse to the other side. “But he’s a born and raised Englisher. I know you are intrigued by their world, but those boys are raised differently. They might... expect...different things.”
“He’s got Amish grandparents and extended family,” she replied, her tone very sure.
Elias looked at his daughter, and she met his gaze defiantly. Was she just trying to get a rise out of him? She didn’t know the world like he did, and he didn’t want her to. But maybe it was time to wise her up a little bit.
“Let’s say that you and Liam were both older,” he said. “Let’s say that you were old enough to consider marriage.”
Violet went still, but her angry gaze softened. She seemed to like that idea.
“Let’s imagine that you were at the point of making a choice—stay Amish or go English,” he went on. “And you wanted to go English. You’ve told me that repeatedly. Let’s say Liam wants you to go English, too. He wants you to be together.”
