Summer Promise
Page 20
“No,” Miriam replied. “But Daniel’s parents have a pay phone in their barn.”
The doctor frowned. “It’s just a precaution, but considering that you are pregnant with twins, it might be a good time to put a phone in at the farm stand. And not a pay phone. If anything should go wrong, you’ll want to summon help quickly.”
“We’ll do that,” Daniel said at once, to Miriam’s surprise.
Miriam considered the doctor with curiosity. “You come to the stand?” She didn’t remember seeing her, but then, so many Englischers came and went.
“Oh, yes,” Dr. Harrington said with a smile. “Your father and I were old friends. He always saved me a jar of your rose hip jelly.”
“Then we will continue the tradition,” Miriam promised.
“Thank you. I would like that,” Dr. Harrington replied. “Any more questions?”
Miriam exchanged a look with Daniel. “I don’t think so,” she said. “At least, not now.”
“You feel free to call me if you change your mind,” the doctor said. She got to her feet. Miriam and Daniel did the same. “Congratulations, folks. I’ll look forward to helping you welcome a new generation into your home.”
* * *
“Twins!” Sarah said. She caught Miriam by both hands and twirled her around in a great circle.
“Stop!” Miriam protested, laughing. “I already feel dizzy enough!”
“Twins,” Sarah said. She collapsed onto the couch, pulling Miriam down beside her. “I can’t believe it!”
Miriam laughed. “That’s exactly how I felt.”
“What will you call them?” Sarah asked. “Have you decided?”
“Give us some time,” Daniel protested. “We only just found out.”
“And we don’t even know if we’re having girls or boys yet,” Miriam added.
“It could be one of each,” Sarah remarked. “But I know you, Miriam. You probably had half a dozen names for each picked out on the way home.”
“Well,” Miriam began.
“I knew it!” Sarah cried.
“We did have a few thoughts. Edna for certain, if God gives us a girl.”
“Oh,” Sarah said. “Just like Mamm. And if there’s a boy?”
“Daniel,” Miriam said softly. She looked up at Daniel, who stood, quiet and steady as always, just inside the living room door. “I have always dreamed of having a son to name for his father.”
“That’s it. It’s official,” Sarah announced. “I am going to cry.”
* * *
One week later, Miriam and Daniel stood in the Philadelphia airport, watching Sarah’s great, silver plane lift off into the sky. Though Sarah had insisted she could get to the airport on her own, Miriam had been equally insistent: She would see her sister off. And when Sarah returned once the babies were born, as she promised to do, this time Miriam knew just how she would feel. She would welcome her sister with an open heart and open arms.
“It was a good visit, in the end, wasn’t it?” Daniel asked quietly.
“Ja.” Miriam nodded. “It was.” She turned from the window with its view of planes lifting off and touching down. “But I am ready to be out of the hustle and bustle of this Englisch world she has chosen.”
“Then come,” Daniel said. He extended one hand and Miriam took it. “Let us go home.”
Miriam Brennemann’s Blackberry Jam
Miriam makes her blackberry jam by the “slow cook” method her mother, Edna, learned from her mother. Edna Lapp wrote the technique down in a book that Miriam treasures (and uses) to this day.
In spite of its name, this method really isn’t all that slow. It will produce a slightly softer jam than one made with commercial pectin. But Miriam thinks the flavor is much better because the fruit-to-sugar ratio is higher on the fruit side. Her Stony Field Farm Stand customers seem to agree! This blackberry jam is always one of the stand’s bestsellers.
4 cups fresh blackberries
3 cups granulated sugar, divided into three portions of 1 cup each
½ large, tart apple, such as Granny Smith
Rinse the berries in cold water. Put the berries through a food mill or a strainer to remove most of the seeds.
Pour the slightly thick and frothy juice/pulp mixture into a large, heavy-bottomed pot. (Miriam uses her mother’s enameled Dutch oven.)
Add the first cup of sugar to the mixture and stir to dissolve.
Cut the half apple into four slices. Remove the core, but leave the skin on. Place the slices in the pot.
Set the burner to medium, and heat the mixture, stirring occasionally, until it reaches a rolling boil. A rolling boil is a boil that cannot be stirred down, so you will want to stir more as the mixture begins to boil to make sure that the rolling boil point has been reached (and also to make sure the mixture doesn’t burn or stick to the bottom of the pot).
Once the mixture reaches the rolling boil stage, set a timer for five minutes. Continue to stir, adjusting the temperature if you feel you need to, until the timer goes off.
At the end of five minutes, add the second cup of sugar and stir to dissolve. Continue to stir as the mixture returns to a rolling boil. Set another five minutes on the timer. Stir for this five minutes, then add the final cup of sugar when the timer goes off.
Repeat the stirring/reaching rolling boil stage one last time. (The amount of time it takes the berry mixture to return to a rolling boil grows shorter and shorter as you go along.)
At the end of the final five minutes, take the pan off the heat. Remove the apple slices. (They make a tasty sweet snack when cool.)
Ladle the hot jam into the size of jars you like. Miriam prefers the eight-ounce size. Prepare jars for water bath according to the manufacturer’s instructions. This recipe makes approximately four eight-ounce jars.
If Miriam has jam left over, she puts it in a little dish and saves it for her family to use immediately.
Glossary
ab in kopp crazy
ach oh
aenti aunt
Ausbund hymn book
blabbermaul chatterbox; blabbermouth
boppli (plural: bopplin) baby
daed, daedi dad, daddy
danki thank you
dawdi-haus grandparents’ house attached to main house
Deitsch Pennsylvania German
dochder (plural: dochdern) daughter
dokterfraa a woman healer
dumm dumb; stupid
Englisch non-Amish
Englischer non-Amish person
fraa wife
gennuk enough
graabhof graveyard
gross-mammi grandma
gude mariye good morning
gut good
gut nacht good night
ich liebe dich I love you
ja yes
kaffi coffee
kapp prayer head covering for females
kind (plural: kinder) child
komm come
Leit the people, the district
maedel (plural: maedels) girl; young unmarried woman
mamm mom
mei kinder my children
mutza coat worn by a man to Sunday services
onkel uncle
Ordnung district’s rules of behavior and worship
rumspringa running-around time before baptism
schatzi little treasure (an endearment)
Schteckliman intermediary between groom’s and bride’s parents
snitz pie dried apple pie
sohn (plural: söhne) son
vorsinger lead singer at services or singings
was iss letz? what’s wrong?
wie geht’s? hello, how are you doing?
wilkomm welcome
wunderbaar wonderful
<
br /> yunga young one
If you enjoyed Summer Promise, don’t miss
AUTUMN GRACE
the second book in the Amish Seasons series, coming in November 2013 from Berkley Books.