“But I thought it seemed real, Mamm,” Moses interjected. “Elias seemed to really like you, and you laughed a lot when Elias was around. Like you liked him, too, or something.”
“I do like him,” she replied. “He’s my friend.”
“I thought you liked him, like a boyfriend,” Moses said. “I’m glad you don’t really.”
Her boys—her wonderful, protective, kind boys... She loved them more than they’d ever know. She nudged the plate of cookies closer to Aaron and Thomas.
“Have a cookie,” she said softly.
And this time, they reached for a cookie. Moses stretched across the table on his belly to reach one, too, and then Delia slid the plate over to Ezekiel. He accepted a cookie with a boyish smile.
They were growing up, but they weren’t grown yet. And a cookie could still make things better.
But her own problem remained. The courtship had been fake, but it had started to feel awfully real to her. She never should have let that happen.
Chapter Ten
Elias lifted a box up into the wagon, then hopped up after it to get it settled in the right spot. This was the last wagonload to go over to Dina’s home where the newly built dawdie hus was waiting.
Elias’s brother-in-law, a couple of cousins and two men from the community had been there packing up the first wagonload that morning, and this was the last of his parents’ personal items to be carried out to their new home.
“Here’s another one,” his father said, putting another box on the wagon bed.
Elias packed it with the others.
“I’m leaving the gardening equipment for your sister,” his father said. “And your mamm has some bags of linens and all that, but I think we’re about done.”
It was rather sad to see the last of his parents’ possessions so efficiently packed up and carried off, as if the very heart of this place was that easy to replace. His whole childhood had been here, and while his sister, Mary, was taking over the place, it would be different. His nieces and nephews would grow up here—a whole new generation of kinner. He was glad it would stay with the family, but it was a goodbye in a way, too.
He looked over in the direction of the Swarey farm, and he spotted his daughter coming in his direction. She was walking briskly, and he couldn’t see any sign of the Swarey family—at least not from his vantage point. The truck that had been there earlier was gone now, and he hadn’t heard it leave.
“Hi, Daet,” Violet said. “Can I help?”
“Aren’t you supposed to be working with Delia today?” he asked.
“We’re done.”
“Just...done? There’s nothing else to be done?”
“The delivery truck came already,” she said. “We’re done now.”
He shaded his eyes and looked over toward the farm. Normally he’d see one of the boys around, or Delia marching across the farmyard in her rubber boots. But everything looked still.
“Okay...” he said. “Great. Um, Mammi has some bags of linens that need to be carried over here. They might be heavy, though. See what you can do.”
Elias had slept terribly the night before. He’d felt like he’d succeeded with Violet in their talk last night, but his heart had felt strangely sorrowful. He knew what grief felt like, and this had been just like that—an aching sadness for something lost. For someone lost.
But Delia wasn’t lost. She was running a farm next door. If he wanted to, he could march right over and knock on her door. He could see her easily enough. She wasn’t gone like Wanda was gone, and yet he was grieving this silly fake relationship. They’d been clear. Delia had been clearer! This was to help the kinner work through some of their deeper issues, not to actually start a romance.
And that was what he’d repeatedly told himself last night. It hadn’t helped. He’d even woken up to read his Bible, hoping to find some peace in a familiar passage, but every time he opened the book, he stumbled across the Song of Solomon, or the story of Ruth. When he flipped to the New Testament, it was Joseph being told by the angel that he shouldn’t be afraid to take Mary as his wife.
So he’d shut his Bible and gone back to bed. Obviously, deep in his heart somewhere, he’d starting longing for something more with Delia, and he couldn’t help but feel foolish. And he’d prayed that Gott would help him to think sensibly about all of this. But it seemed that Gott wasn’t going to remove his feelings so easily.
So today, tired and a little out of sorts because he’d only gotten about four hours of proper sleep the night before, Elias had set to work helping his parents pack up the last of their belongings.
“Oh, son!” his mother called from the side door. “Could I talk to you a moment?”
Elias hopped down from the back of the wagon and headed over to where his mother waited for him.
“I borrowed these garbage bags from Delia this morning. You don’t think you could bring them over to her, do you?” She lowered her voice. “If that isn’t going to be too awkward...”
“Mamm, it wasn’t a real relationship,” he said with a forced smile. “This isn’t a breakup. There’s no awkwardness. I count Delia as a good friend, and I’d be happy to return them for you.”
More than happy. He found himself feeling oddly relieved. At least now he had a reason to go over there and see her and prove to himself that everything was fine between them.
“Come along, Judith,” his father called. “Time to get this wagon moving.”
“I’ll be along shortly with the buggy,” Elias told his mother. “I’ll see you soon.”
His father helped his mother up onto the front seat, and Violet hopped up next to them. His mother put an arm around Violet’s waist to keep a good hold on her, and Violet laughed. It was a light, happy sound that he hadn’t heard in years. He couldn’t help smiling at the three of them, and the wagon rumbled off down the drive, the two draft horses plodding evenly along with the heavy load behind them.
He looked over at the box of garbage bags waiting on the step. It was just past one, and when he looked over toward the Swarey farm again, he spotted Aaron and Thomas heading out toward the fields again, dragging a long black hose behind them.
Elias should probably let Delia know that Violet knew the truth. Maybe she’d be ready to let her boys in on the ruse, too. It seemed to help get him and Violet talking, at the very least.
When he got to the Swarey farm, he knocked on the side door. There was no answer, so he left the box on the porch and headed out to see if he could spot Delia. The door to the greenhouse opened, and she appeared in the doorway with a bucket in one hand and a pair of clippers in the other. She waved with the clippers, and he angled his steps in her direction.
“Hi,” Delia said, and she led the way into the greenhouse. It was hot inside, and a little humid. She sat on a stool in front of a potted shrub, and began to trim the plant with the clippers, leaves falling to the floor around her.
