“Arden got a perfectly fine start in life,” Sarai said.
“I know. But figuring out how to walk straight when you’ve been doing otherwise can still be a challenge. It takes... I don’t know. It takes determination and a true change of habits. That’s not easy.”
“That’s my worry, exactly.”
The women were silent for a moment, and Sarai sighed. Was she no better than Lizzie or the other girls who used to swoon for this man? Was she just being foolish now that he’d focused that smile of his on her? Or was she right, and Ohio had truly changed him?
“Sarai!” Job called. “We’ll need you to get your chickens into another pen for now, okay?”
“Yah, Daet!” she called back, and she shot her friend a smile. “Enough about Arden. This is where I need your help. Are you up to chasing chickens?”
“Of course!” Verna said.
The women came outside then, and they all gathered hens up into their arms and brought them over to a makeshift pen. Adel and Verna got one chicken each, but Mammi was an old hand at this and had one under each arm. A few got feisty and made a flapping, hopping run for it, and Sarai went after the escaping birds. Her mother helped her to corral one of them beside a pile of fresh lumber.
“Got it!” Sarai scooped up her hen and shook her head. “You’ll have to settle down, Red. You’ll be glad of this new coop, I promise you that.”
Then she handed Red off to her mother and went after the next one on the loose that she’d named Dusty Girl. Dusty fluttered up into a bush, and Sarai got her arm scratched as she caught her by the legs and pulled her safely against her apron.
She looked over to where the women were putting the birds into the pen, and Verna and Adel were laughing over a runaway they’d managed to track down. Mammi stood with her hands on her hips, giving orders to keep the hens calm.
“No one wins with flustered poultry!” Mammi said. “If you stay calm, they will, too.”
That wasn’t entirely true, but it worked in many cases, at least. It was then that Sarai spotted Susie. She wasn’t helping chase chickens with everyone else. Instead, she stood a few yards away next to Arden. She was blushing and looking up at him bashfully. Arden was smiling at something, and he shrugged. Susie reached out and batted his arm. He just shrugged again, but then he looked down at her, and she could see Susie just melt under his gaze.
And despite Sarai’s indignation, she couldn’t really blame a seventeen-year-old girl for swooning over Arden’s good looks. Many a girl before her had done the same. Suddenly, it all seemed so clear to Sarai that it felt like a kick in the stomach. Arden was Arden. He always would be. She was the fool who was hoping to see more in the man because it felt so wonderful to have him look at her the way he did. But that didn’t make her special. In fact, she probably owed her cousin a sincere apology for having gotten so exasperated with her tears.
She tucked Dusty Girl under her arm and headed back toward the pen. But she felt a heaviness inside of her that hadn’t been there before.
“I’m going to Shipshewana,” she reminded herself. “Just as soon as I can manage it.”
But even Shipshewana wasn’t the comfort it had been in the past, and she wished she knew why.
Gott, keep my head on straight! she prayed.
Arden shifted his feet uncomfortably. Susie had latched on to him, and he wasn’t sure how to get rid of her. She was a pretty girl, but very young. Somehow, she’d learned his name and was chatting with him like an equal in age, when she was nothing of the sort. She wasn’t even old enough to understand the hints that he wasn’t interested. Susie nudged his arm again.
“So do you have a girlfriend, Arden?” she asked.
So forward! He couldn’t believe she was doing this. Wasn’t someone supposed to be keeping an eye on her?
“You don’t have to worry about that,” Arden said, shaking his head.
“No?” She sidled closer.
What message had she just gotten from what he’d said? He was trying to tell her that she was too young and he was not interested, which was why his relationship status was none of her business, but she didn’t seem to be getting that from him. He also didn’t want to hurt her feelings. She was just a kid, really. All of seventeen and just starting her Rumspringa—that time of freedom that teenagers enjoyed before they got serious about things. He knew all of this because she’d told him all about herself while he stood here, trapped by politeness. She thought she was grown-up enough to talk to single men, and maybe he could sympathize with teenage hubris. He’d felt so old and mature at that age, too. He most certainly wasn’t, though. He’d acted like a fool. Much like Susie was right now.
“Susie, I’m not someone you should be interested in. I’m sure you’ll meet plenty of young people your age at the youth group if you stay long enough,” he said.
“I might...” She shrugged. “Maybe you could take me driving sometime. I’d really like that.”
That was even more forward, and he looked down at her in shock. She smiled sweetly.
“Oh, you think I’m trying to ask you on a date!” She tittered. “No, silly! I just wanted a ride. I have my own little open-top buggy at home, but I don’t have it here. I miss the freedom.”
That was a thinly veiled excuse. There were buggies at her disposal at her aunt and uncle’s place.
“I don’t think your daet would like it,” he said. Maybe he could remind her of her father’s expectations of her. That might sober the girl up.
“My daet’s not here. They sent me out to Redemption to get to know my grandparents better.”
“Then your grandfather,” he amended.
“He won’t mind.” She smiled up at him. “I’d like to just get out for a little bit and talk. I get so bored with my aunt and my grandmother all the time. They’re so prim and proper.”
“You should be prim and proper, too,” he said. “That’s probably the hope, you know.”
“No, I shouldn’t!” she said, laughing. “What fun would that be? You’re just teasing now.”
He smiled ruefully. She was such a kid! He had a younger sister her age, and he fully intended to tell his sister this story as a bit of a warning tale.
“Arden, we could be friends,” Susie said. “We could talk... You could even write to me. That’s very proper, isn’t it?” She slipped a piece of paper into his hand, and Arden felt his own face heat. He crunched it into a ball in his palm. No, he was not writing to this girl, and he hated how she was embarrassing herself.
Except he was the one who was embarrassed, and she seemed perfectly comfortable.
“Susie, you should go help the women,” he said firmly.
Arden looked over toward the pen, and he spotted Sarai looking at him, a displeased set to her lips. Standing next to her was Verna, Susie’s aunt. Verna’s eyes snapped fire, and she left Sarai’s side and stalked toward him.
