“You don’t have to worry about that right now,” he said. “Delia and I are only friends. We bonded over having kinner we love more than anything. So...don’t worry about it right now, all right?”
He put an arm around her shoulder and tugged her into a hug. Only a friend... Yah, that was the plan they’d made when this started, but he was feeling his heart pulling toward Delia all the same. Maybe as a man and a father, it was his duty to shoulder the loneliness that came with being a widower so that his daughter could feel safe and secure.
“Okay, Daet,” Violet said, and she leaned into his side. He felt a rush of relief mingled with fatherly protectiveness. He had to show Violet a happy life here with their people.
But if his courtship with Delia had been a real one, it would have been a sweet one. Maybe he’d let himself pretend a little too well, because while Violet seemed to be feeling better, his heart was starting to ache.
That evening, Delia sat the boys down and they talked about Mammi’s need to see a doctor.
“Will she be okay?” Aaron asked, squinting across the table. “Like, is there a pill or something to fix it?”
“Boys, I don’t know how to answer that,” Delia said slowly. “I hope so. But sometimes as people get older, things change. It’s possible that Mammi’s memory is going to be affected for the rest of her life. And if that is the case, then we will just have to love her as she is. Sometimes forgetting makes her grumpy, too, Dawdie Joseph told me. So if that happens, don’t get your feelings hurt. Mammi is doing the very best she can. Do you understand?”
The boys did understand. They had big hearts, and they loved their grandparents dearly. Zeke’s mamm and daet had already passed away, but Mammi Linda and Dawdie Joseph were still a big part of their lives. They visited often, and Dawdie Joseph taught them a fair amount about woodworking. Mammi Linda made them their very favorite sugar cookies, too. And the boys all agreed that they’d do their best to help Mammi and wouldn’t feel bad if she forgot things.
As Delia lay in bed that night listening to the chirp of crickets outside the window, she silently prayed for strength and guidance.
Gott, please help me as I raise my boys, she prayed. Guide their steps, and their hearts. Show me what they need most. And, Gott, please help my mamm...
She prayed through her list of people who needed Him. Her mother, Joseph, the doctor... She prayed for her friends and her neighbors and for dear, sweet Elias, who had been such a source of patience and strength.
That was where she suddenly stopped. Elias... She rubbed her hands over her face. Elias had been such a help these last few days—more than he even thought. True, they were helping their children to accept the idea of a stepparent, but just having Elias around had made everything easier to bear. She felt stronger with him by her side. Even when she ended up crying in his arms. But the problem was, she wasn’t as strong as she should be, because when Elias wasn’t around, she’d started missing him and wishing she had an excuse to see him again sooner. The thought of him going back to Indiana was really starting to hurt. What was she, a teenage girl?
Thank You for sending Elias when I needed him most, Delia prayed. And help me to keep my emotions in check, Gott. I seem to be feeling more for him than I should.
And while Gott didn’t seem to be dousing her tenderness toward Elias, slumber did overtake her. She had a deep, dreamless sleep and awoke the next morning more refreshed than she’d been in a very long time.
The next day was a busy one. Another flower truck was scheduled to arrive, and they all got to work early. Violet arrived to help about half an hour after the boys started work, and Delia sent Ezekiel and Violet to start filling buckets of long-stemmed blooms.
The work passed quickly, and by the time the truck arrived, they had most of the flowers ready to load up. Working together, they saw the truck loaded and forms signed, and in good time the truck crept back up the drive to deliver the flower shipment to florists in the city.
“Danke, all of you,” Delia said. “You’ve worked so hard, and that is our last big shipment for another couple of weeks. So it won’t be quite so hectic.”
But the kinner weren’t acting like they usually did after a big shipment was loaded and sent on its way. They looked down at their shoes and scuffed their toes in the dirt.
“I’ve got cookies in the house,” Delia said hopefully. “I think we all deserve a treat, don’t you?”
“Mamm, you lied to us,” Moses said loudly.
“Moses!” Ezekiel snapped. “Enough!”
“Well, she did!” Moses’s face went red. “She lied!”
Delia’s heart hammered to a stop. “Excuse me?”
“Are you really courting Violet’s daet?” Thomas asked quietly. “Or was it a trick?”
The kinner all looked at her pointedly, and Delia felt her cheeks heat.
“I take it your daet talked to you about this, Violet?” Delia asked.
Violet’s ears blazed red and she took a step backward. “Yah. He told me.”
“Okay...” Delia sighed. “Then I think we need to talk.”
“So, are you two courting or not?” Aaron asked. “Because you said—”
“I said we were getting to know each other,” Delia said firmly. “And that was true. I said we were spending time together—”
“But you also talked to us about getting a new stepdaet one of these days,” Moses said.
“They wanted us to think they were courting so we’d get used to the idea, and probably be relieved when they didn’t get married,” Violet said.
“Is that it?” Ezekiel asked, meeting Delia’s gaze. He looked disappointed. Sad. Let down.
“Something like that,” she agreed. Somehow, now it seemed a little silly. Especially with her four boys looking at her like that.
“I think I should go home now...” Violet said. “If that’s okay, Delia.”
“Yah, Violet, you go on home,” Delia said. “And I am sorry, dear.”
“It’s okay,” Violet said. “It worked—I’m relieved.”
That stung more than it should, and Delia felt a sudden mist of tears in her vision. She blinked it back and gestured toward the house.
“Come on, boys,” Delia said. “Let’s go talk.”
The boys headed toward the side door of the house, and Violet started a brisk walk back toward her grandparents’ home, her head down and her white kapp gleaming in the sunlight. Delia watched the girl go, and her heart tugged after her. Violet was angry, no doubt. And like she’d said, she was relieved. But Violet was a sweet girl under all her angst, and she deserved to have a good talk about this, too. Delia’s instinct was to pull the girl inside with her own boys and include her in their talk about all of this, but they weren’t actually a family, were they? That was Elias’s place, and she needed to focus on her own boys, and let Elias do the same for his daughter.
