Florence studied each person in turn. Mamm looked thoughtful, probably wondering what would happen if she married Levi and got sick. Would he refuse to take her to a doctor. Then there was Joy with a smirk hinting around her lips, probably thinking of all the scriptures she could quote.
Favor was eating with her mouth open, most likely not even listening.
Hope’s eyes were wide, wondering something similar to Mamm.
Isaac was looking at the ceiling, hoping there would be green jelly for dessert.
Christina looked bored as though she wanted to go home.
Mark looked disturbed, probably because he knew Christina was ready to leave.
Then Florence looked over at Ada and Samuel. Ada looked like she wanted to comment and was holding back, and Samuel was frowning with his head hung low.
After another silent moment, Florence couldn’t take it anymore and said the first thing that came into her head, “You’ll all be pleased to know there’s Joy’s green jelly for dessert.”
“Wunderbaar!” Isaac said. “My favorite.”
“I guessed it was,” Florence said.
“We do have more besides the jelly, don’t we, Florence?” Mamm asked, blinking rapidly and trying to hide her distaste.
“A lot more choices for the non-jelly-lovers.”
“All the more for me,” Isaac looked over at Joy and smiled.
Florence decided that, if Mamm married Levi, she’d have them all to her place for dinner every so often. It was nice to have everyone gathered together for fellowship and a meal.
It wasn’t long before she thought about Carter again and wondered what he was doing right about now. He mentioned he couldn’t cook even though he had a brand-spanking-new kitchen that had cost a fortune, when all he really needed was a microwave. He’d told her he heated his food rather than cooked it.
In her mind’s eye was a scene of him in his kitchen getting his dinner and sitting alone to eat it. Then after dinner, he went back to his computer to play his chess game.
After dinner at the Bakers' haus, Florence asked Hope and Favor to wash up. Bliss volunteered her help. Florence figured there be more giggling going on rather than work. No matter. At least she could join the adults in the living room and continue to keep that close watch on Wilma and Levi.
Chapter 17
By the time Florence left the kitchen, the only seat left in the living room was one next to Christina. Florence wasn’t happy about that, but she decided to make the best of it.
“How are your prayer caps doing?”
Christina smiled. “Really good. I have a large order for them from one of the shops in town."
“That’s really good. Are you continuing to get many other orders?”
“I do. All my friends have ordered them.”
“I’ll know where to go when mine wear out.”
“Don’t you make your own?”
“I do, but I’ve been sewing other things lately.”
“Like what?”
She lowered her voice so the men couldn’t hear. “Wilma's got it in her mind that Mercy and Honor will soon be having babies. Well, I suppose they will, and she’s got us all making baby clothes.”
Florence noticed that Christina didn’t look at all happy now.
“I see. I don’t have any kinner so that’s why I'm able to spare the time helping at the saddlery store and making the kapps.”
“That's very convenient.”
“No it’s not,” she snapped. "There is nothing convenient about it at all.”
There was a hush over the crowd as everyone stopped their conversations to stare at Christina.
Florence felt a bit sorry for her sister-in-law.
“I’m sorry, that’s not what I meant to imply,” Florence told her.
“That’s alright. I'm tired—I haven’t had much sleep lately.”
“Nee? Why is that?”
“I don’t know. If I knew the problem I could solve it.”
Florence laughed. “That’s a very good point.”
A smile tugged at the corner of Christina’s lips. “You should help me to sew some kapps to help me fulfill that order.”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t have the time. Maybe one of the girls can do it. Joy is good at sewing.”
“Don’t worry about it. I would’ve paid you, of course. I would share some of the money with you.”
“That’s very generous, denke, but by the time I do everything around here and keep everything stocked for the store and do all the orchard chores it doesn’t leave any time.”
“I understand. It was just an idea.”
“Denke for thinking of me anyway.”
She gave a curt nod. “So, what’s new with you, Florence?”
There was nothing new with her that she could talk about. And the last thing she would do was talk about Carter with Christina. “There’s nothing new.”
“What happened to Ezekiel?”
“That fizzled out months ago.”
“He was here just recently wasn’t he?”
“A while ago. He didn’t even come to Honor’s wedding, remember?”
She shook her head. “I’m sorry, I didn’t notice.”
“That’s okay, I didn’t think that you would.”
Christina studied Florence for a moment and her eyes flickered with anger. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing. There were just so many people at the wedding, I don’t think I even saw all the people who attended.”
Slowly Christina nodded as she accepted the answer. “That’s true. You’re right. There were a lot of people there. I didn’t even know half the people who were at my wedding.”
When Christina smiled, Florence was relieved.
Chapter 18
The next morning was Sunday and today there was no meeting. When Florence was washing up the breakfast dishes, she heard the girls squealing about something.
“Will you stop it?” Mamm called out. “I can’t take the noise anymore. You all gave me a headache yesterday with your constant carryings on. Can I have one day of quiet?”
“There’s a car coming,” Favor called out.
Florence looked out the window and saw a black car heading up their driveway.
“It’s Mercy!” Favor squealed.
“And she’s by herself,” Hope yelled out.
Florence froze to the spot. This was what she’d feared, and it’d come true. Mercy had married too soon, without the two of them learning about each other first, and now they were already separated. Wilma would be distraught. She’d believe it was a bad reflection on her family.
That meant Mercy would either have to reconcile with her husband or stay single forever. It would be a dreadful life for her. She looked around for Mamm, but she was outside with the girls waiting to welcome Mercy.
Florence quickly dried her hands on a hand towel and stepped outside to join them. Mercy was getting out of the car just as the driver was taking two bags out of the trunk.
While all the girls ran over to Mercy, Florence sat on one of the porch chairs watching the whole scene play out as though she were an outsider. That was how she often felt.
Then she heard someone ask where Stephen was. Mercy said that Stephen was working so she had taken a couple of days to visit.
Florence wasn’t convinced by that flimsy excuse. The distance was too great from Wisconsin to travel for a couple of days, and why hadn’t she visited before now? She’d only been back for Honor's wedding.
The girls and Mamm walked into the house with Mercy and sailed right by her. Not one of them gave her a glance as she sat on the chair.
That made Florence feel worthless, made her wonder why she was even there working so hard at the orchard, working so hard in the house, providing them an income and a nice place to live—and got no gratitude or recognition in return. And now with Mamm barely talking to her since the letter incident, except to complain that Florence hadn't introduced Carter to her,
it made her feel even further away from the family.
Just then someone rushed toward her; she looked around and saw it was Mercy.
“There you are.” She bent down and hugged Florence and Florence patted her on her back.
“What brings you back?”
“Just a little holiday.”
“The others might believe that, but I don’t believe that for an instant.”
Mercy look bothered by that. She glanced over her shoulder to see if anyone could hear and then she crouched down next to Florence. “I was gonna wait for the right time to tell everybody—perhaps over dinner tonight but I’ll tell you if you won’t tell anyone else.”
“Go ahead.”
She whispered, “I’m pregnant.”
Florence nearly cried with happiness. “And that’s what you’ve come to tell us?”
“Jah, I was hoping to come with Stephen, but he just can’t get away from work. I thought it was best to come and tell everyone in person because when we left we planned to be coming back in a year and now we’re not. Do you think Mamm will be very upset?”
“I think she will be extremely upset, but she’ll come to understand that you have your own life to live now that you’re grown up.”
“I hope so. Are you pleased for me, Florence?”
Florence sprang to her feet and hugged her oldest half-sister. “This is the best news I’ve had since ... since I can’t remember when.” She held Mercy at arm’s-length and looked at her. “Jah, you do look kind of glowing. And what’s married life like?”
“Perfect, just perfect, just like I hoped it would be.”
"I'm so glad to hear that."
“Come inside with everyone but don’t say anything yet. I’ll tell them all over dinner.”
"I’ll come in, but I’ll just sit out here for a minute if that’s okay.”
“Why? Aren’t you feeling too well?”
“Just very tired and you know how noisy the girls are. I’ll be in in a moment. I’m very happy for you, and for me.” Florence giggled.
“Denke, Florence. If it’s a girl I’ll call her Florence.” She laughed. “Just kidding. That’s a bit of an old-fashioned name. I’ll call her something modern and different.”
Mercy ran into the house, giggling while Florence shook her head. Typical Mercy. She hadn’t changed at all. Maybe motherhood would change her.
Florence looked out over the orchard. Since Mamm still wasn’t talking to her, she almost felt like a stranger in her own home.
She wasn’t as close to her half-sisters as she would’ve liked to have been because they saw her as more of an authority figure rather than a sibling or a friend. But this was her home, and it was more her home than it was Wilma’s. Dat had raised his first family there before he’d married Wilma.
When laughter and screeching came from inside, Florence knew Mercy hadn’t been able to keep the secret until dinner time like she’d said.
The laughter and loud talking went on for a few more minutes and then Wilma appeared on the porch. “Florence, come inside and hear the good news.”
She turned to see Wilma’s smiling face. “I heard. She told me on the quiet.”
Mamm stepped closer. “You knew?”
“Only a minute before everybody else.”
Wilma rushed at her, leaned over and hugged her. Still sitting in the porch chair, Florence was trapped and couldn’t move. She patted Mamm on her back, figuring this was her way of apologizing.
When Mamm straightened, she said, “Ach, Florence, in faith we all made boppli clothes and now my prayers have been answered. I always wanted more myself, but this will make up for the kinner I didn’t have.”
“Ach, Mamm, six was a good number. And you had me and the boys to raise.”
Florence wondered if her mother realized that Mercy and Stephen wouldn’t be moving back for a while. The longer they stayed, Florence guessed, the easier it would be to settle in the community where Stephen was raised.
“I know, but still …”
“Congratulations, you’re going to be a grossmammi.”
Wilma giggled. “I will, won’t I?” Florence nodded and then Wilma gave her a big smile. “Come in soon?”
“Jah.”
Wilma turned and hurried back into the house.
Chapter 19
Florence eventually went back inside the house and Joy helped her prepare the dinner. Since it was Sunday, the day of rest, they were having last night’s leftovers to keep the work to a minimum.
Once everyone was seated at the table, all was quiet until Mercy spoke. “Can Cherish come back while I’m here, Mamm? I’d love to see her. I haven't seen her since Honor's wedding.”
“It’ll cost too much to have her driven here and then back again.”
Favor said, “Allow her to stay here, then.”
“I’m not willing to do that until I’m sure she’s learned her lesson.”
“I’m sure she would’ve learned her lesson by now.”
“I’m not so sure.”
“You’ve gotta give her another chance, Mamm,” Favor said.
Florence interjected, “We gave her another chance and she didn’t pass the test.”
“I just feel sorry for her, stuck all the way over at Aunt Dagmar’s. It seems awful to just leave her there like she’s unwanted, uncared-for and … and unloved.”
“We do love her,” Florence said. “We just love her more from a distance.”
Mamm giggled at Florence.
“I’m only joking, Mercy,” Florence told her. “We do miss her, but we also want the best for her.”
Mercy said, “So, is it your choice to keep her away?”
Mamm shook her head. “It’s both of ours. Florence and I both agree that it’s not the best thing for her right now to come home. We’ll know when the time is right. You need to trust your mudder.”
"I would just like to see her, that’s all. I thought I would see all my sisters while I’m here. I hoped I would anyway.”
“You can always write to her,” Hope said. “Like Favor’s pen pals.”
Favor frowned at Hope. “You have pen pals, too.”
“Not as many as you.”
Mercy said, “I do write to her and she writes to me. That’s why I know she hates it there.”
Florence wondered if Mercy was also there to plead Cherish’s case for her.
Mercy sighed. “I just think ... it’s just not fair that’s all.”
“Wait until your boppli’s born. Then you’ll have to see that sometimes you have to make some tough decisions in order to keep them safe.”
Florence was pleased that Mamm was finally speaking her mind. Normally, Wilma left things like that to her. “How are you liking where you’re living, Mercy?”
“I like it a lot. I like Stephen’s family.” Mercy giggled. “Jonathon is upset because he is the oldest brother and he’s not having the first grandchild.”
“Wait a minute,” Hope said. “I thought Stephen was the oldest.”
“Nee, silly. Stephen is the middle one.”
“It’s so confusing.” Hope stole a piece of chicken off Mercy’s plate when she wasn’t looking.
Favor said, “If you think that’s confusing, how do you think people can remember the six of us? The Wilkes only have three sons.”
Hope shrugged her shoulders and popped the chicken into her mouth.
“Honor said she’d have a boppli before me and I said she wouldn’t. I was right.”
“It’s not a competition,” Mamm said.
“Nee, but Jonathon started it. It’s a race now and we’re beating them.”
Florence hoped and prayed that Jonathon would prove her wrong; that he’d turn out to be a good husband, and one day, a good father. Every time she heard his name, she cringed.
Chapter 20
The girls were walking upstairs to bed, and Mamm and Florence stayed in the living room. Florence wanted to ask why she had been so upset over the lette
r. Many widowers remarried and that should take nothing away from their first wife or their second. She knew her father had loved Wilma very much, but didn’t know if he’d loved his first wife, her mother.
Didn’t she have a right to find that out?
She didn’t want their argument to be swept under the rug and never talked about again. “Mamm, about the letter the other day.”
“I don’t … I’m sorry for what I said to you.”
“What you said?”
“You know, the argument we had. We shouldn’t let things like that come between us. I overreacted when I saw you with that letter.”
“I said some things and I’m sorry too.”
“Let’s put it behind us and forget it. We’ve got a lot of bright things coming in our future.”
Florence nodded. They did have a lot of good things in their future. “I’m going to be an aunty. It seems hard to believe.”
“Well, you better believe it.”
“I do want to talk more about the letter before we never talk about it again.”
Mamm stared at her. “Not now. Please, not now. We can talk about it another time.”
“Okay, denke. I really do want to talk about it, though.”
“We will.”
Florence was glad that they were friends again. She pushed her annoyance away and stood up and gave her stepmother a hug. “Did she say anything else?” Florence asked.
“Who?”
“Mercy, when she told you she was pregnant?”
Wilma narrowed her eyes. “No, like what? She’s not having twins, is she?”
Florence laughed. “Not that she told me, no, I don’t think so. I don’t think there’s anything else. I was just wondering what else she might have said.” Florence wanted to know if Mercy had told her mother that she wasn’t moving back. “Bedtime for me now.”
“Night, Florence.”
“Gut nacht, Mamm.” Florence walked upstairs and saw Mercy and Joy giggling in the hallway. “Nice to have you home even if it’s just for a few days, Mercy.”
Amish Joy (The Amish Bonnet Sisters Book 4) Page 7