by Amy Lillard
Kappy nodded. “I wanted to get out to the market last week, but I didn’t make it over there.”
“It was a pretty good turnout, all things considered.”
“How did Liz do?”
“Not bad. She took some small Kirbys and sold out to one customer.” Lorna chuckled. “Never seen that before.”
“How many?”
“Four or five bushels.”
“Bushels?” Four bushels alone was nearly two hundred pounds of cucumbers.
“I know, right? Her plants really took off this year. She had more than we knew what to do with. I talked her into taking them. It was either that or let them rot on the vine. She told me they would end up as pig slop, but then the second customer of the day and bam, they were gone.”
Kappy looked to Edie. Edie raised her brows in that go on manner she had. “Do you remember who bought them?” Kappy asked.
“You don’t easily forget something like that.” Lorna ran her hands down her rotund belly. “It was that Hershberger woman. Barbie . . . ?”
“Bettie?” Kappy’s mouth went dry in anticipation.
“Yes, that’s it.” Lorna smiled. “Bettie Hershberger bought them all.”
* * *
“I’m still not sure what this proves,” Edie said as they climbed back into her car and headed toward the next house.
“I’m not sure it proves anything, either, but if she bought two hundred pounds or better of pickling cukes, then she means business.”
“Isn’t that what Silas already told us? That she was hoping to change everyone’s mind, and she wanted to get her pickles in the stores and such.”
“Jah, but this proves it.”
Edie nodded. “If you say so. I was ready to take Silas at his word.”
“I was, too, but this is good, too, jah? If she has started to can them already . . . well, it can’t be long before her plans are revealed.”
Edie cast her a quick glance then stopped, looking one way and then the other. “Which way?”
The houses up the side of the mountain were a long shot. The farther away they got, the clearer the sight, but the harder it would be to see any details due to the distance.
“Back toward the road, I suppose.”
They drove in silence for a moment, each one contemplating the clues they had and the difficulty in finding eyewitnesses.
“We need to find that blue car,” Edie said. “There was nothing to see at Silas’s.”
Kappy shook her head. “You didn’t expect them to have it parked in the barn, did you?”
“No. And Silas didn’t even flinch when I started talking about blue cars. But now we know that his house truly must smell like vinegar if she’s been canning hundreds of pints of pickles.”
And she would have to be with the reported number of cucumbers she had bought.
“I’ll admit the whole thing sounds suspicious, but pickles? That’s hardly worth hurting another person over.”
“You haven’t been out there,” Edie said. “You would be surprised what people will do for less than pickles.”
“I may not have been ‘out there,’ and I can’t say that Bettie Hershberger has, either, but pickles?”
“I just mean in general.” Edie shrugged. “I still say Silas likes you.”
“Silas likes everybody,” Kappy countered.
Edie didn’t answer, just noted the lack of cars at the houses closer to the road. “I guess everyone’s at work.”
“What do we do now?”
Edie stopped the car at the main road.
“Go home and try again another day.”
It wasn’t what she wanted to do, the disappointed note in her voice testament to that. But what choice did they have? And chances were that if the people weren’t home now, they weren’t home on the day of the accident.
Kappy stifled a sigh as Edie turned the car toward the house.
“There’s one thing I know about Silas,” Edie said, picking up their earlier conversation. “He’s a sight better than stuffy old Hiram.”
Kappy sniffed. “There’s nothing wrong with Hiram being . . . conservative. I like the way he balances things.”
Edie shot her a frown. “What exactly does that mean?” “You know as well as I do that I didn’t have the most conventional upbringing.”
“Yeah. So?”
“Hiram sort of gives me . . . I don’t know . . . people looked at me differently when I was going around with him.”
“Are you saying that he gave you some sort of respectability?”
“Sort of, and I am very grateful that he took an interest in me.”
Edie shook her head. “You aren’t yourself when you’re around him.”
“I would like to think that I am better.”
“Try again.” Edie pulled the car into Kappy’s drive, but neither one made a move to get out.
“Edie Peachey, there is nothing wrong with trying to improve oneself.”
“No, but there’s plenty wrong with allowing someone to change you when there’s nothing wrong with you to begin with.”
Kappy didn’t answer.
“Why would you want someone to tone you down?” She shrugged.
“And I know for a fact he doesn’t like dogs.”
Kappy turned in her seat to face Edie. “That is not true. Of course he likes dogs. He owns one.”
“You can own a dog and not like them,” Edie said. “But Silas . . . that man loves dogs.”
Kappy remembered all the canines wandering around at the Hershberger place. There had been at least three, maybe four. But Hiram . . . did she know for a fact that he liked dogs? She did not. It wasn’t like that would be how she judged his character, but it went to prove how little she actually knew about him. They might have practically grown up together and known each other their entire lives, but he was still a mystery to her. She shook her head.
“Speaking of dogs . . .” She reached for the door handle.
“Do you want me to ride with you to pick up Jimmy from work?”
“If you’d like.”
Kappy’s only answer was a quick nod. Then she got out of the car and started for the house.
Her legs felt like rubber as she made her way up the porch steps. She really didn’t want to think too much about Hiram and Silas. It was much easier to think about pickles, Bettie Hershberger, and blue cars. And even though who killed Sally June was a mystery, Kappy understood the whole thing a lot better than she understood men.
Edie honked as she pulled from the drive. Kappy waved and stepped into the house, making her way into the backyard. No shrill puppy barks greeted her and her heart sank. Where had the mischievous pooch gotten off to? As soon as one of her neighbors showed up, she would know for certain.
With a sigh she went back into the house and sat down at the kitchen table. She had kapps to sew. When she had gone into her basement shop that morning she noticed a few sizes were getting low. There had also been a couple of special orders in the box. They were both from regular customers, and she had their patterns on hand. All she had to do was find the peace of mind to sit down and sew.
She pushed up from her feet and made her way to her sewing room. But the stacks of fabrics didn’t give her that sense of well-being that they usually did. She found the white organdy she had bought at the dry goods store and laid it out on the small table she kept in the room. She really needed to look into getting some of that waterproof material. That was all the rage in Lancaster. At least that was what the girls were telling her. Kappy wasn’t so sure, but a girl had to make a living. And if her customers wanted waterproof prayer kapps, then waterproof prayer kapps they would get.
She cleared her mind and set to work, but when she cut the same pattern on the wrong side of the fabric, she knew she needed to take a break before she ruined another one.
With a sigh, she made her way back into the kitchen. She could get a drink of water, maybe sit for a while and empty her head of some of the thought
s flying around inside. She could make a grocery list. She could get that out and, maybe then she would be able to concentrate better.
She got a glass of water, a notebook, and a pen, then once again sat at the table.
She needed milk, but she would get that from the Joseph Rabers. She had a co-op sort of thing going with him. She had bought the cow, he housed it and milked it, and in turn she made his wife, Mary’s, kapps and didn’t charge her a dime. It was good to have the benefits of fresh milk without the hassle of keeping cows. It might not hurt to see if gossipy Mary had heard anything good lately. Anything that could help her and Edie figure out who would want to hurt a sweet girl like Sally June Esh.
Kappy stopped that thought and turned her focus back to food. She could use a loaf of bread. She hadn’t baked bread in years. Maybe she needed to buy some bread flour instead and make a loaf of her aunt’s special potato bread.
And you know who loved potato bread? Hiram. Hiram loved potato bread. Didn’t he? She thought he did.
She pushed the thought away and added bread flour and yeast to her list. She really wished she had a sourdough starter, but every time she received one she had a hard time keeping it from getting moldy on the top. Maybe she should run by the Sundries store and see if Hiram had any fresh baked sourdough. Then she could ask him if he liked potato bread.
She tossed her pen down and sighed. Too many thoughts were making her crazy. Maybe she didn’t know much about Hiram. She knew he was a good man and that was a lot. She knew she wouldn’t marry him until he could love her as much as he loved Laverna. Kappy didn’t think that would ever happen. She wasn’t trying to be negative, merely pragmatic. That was tomorrow’s word of the day. She had peeked. Pragmatic, that was exactly what she was being.
And being pragmatic didn’t mean she believed all of Edie’s claims that Silas liked her. He seemed to like her well enough, but he was a good man, and she had never given him cause not to like her. But if he did . . .
She flipped the top page of her tablet over to expose a fresh sheet of paper, then she picked up her pen.
Never in her life would she imagine herself to be “boy crazy,” but that was exactly what was going on. She had only had one suitor in her life and that was Hiram Lapp. Now she possibly had two, and the mere thought was sending her into a tizzy.
She drew a line across the top of the page. On the left side she wrote Hiram, on the right, Silas. She hesitated a moment longer, then began her list.
Chapter 11
Kappy had filled half a sheet of paper when she heard someone at the front of her house. Most everyone knew that she only conducted business at the back door and even that was reluctant. Her kapps were in the basement shop, set up with one box for paying and another for special orders. There was no need for anyone to be coming to the front of the house unless . . .
She dropped her pen and made her way to the door. It was Ephraim again, she was almost sure of it. She was really going to have to do something about the fence. She couldn’t have Elmer getting out every day or even when his whim dictated.
But it wasn’t Ephraim Jess hobbling up her porch steps, but his sworn enemy, Nathaniel Ebersol. In one hand he clutched a wilted and broken green stalk that once upon a time had most likely been a hollyhock. That could only mean one thing.
“Hi, Nathaniel. What brings you out today?” She didn’t need him to tell her other than she could use the time he took in answering to get herself together. She hadn’t been expecting this.
“Cut the pleasantries, Kathryn.”
She took a step back. Customarily no one save Martha Peachey, her across-the-lane neighbor, ever called her Kathryn. And in the last few days she had been called by her given name not once but three times. Which meant, like Ephraim before him, Nathaniel was angry. Or senile. Never before in her life had she wished mental problems on another, but she was so tired of angry neighbors and a misbehaving puppy.
“I’m sorry.” The words burst out of her before she even had time to form them in her mind.
Nathaniel stopped on the last step, staring at her. He had his empty hand on the railing and the other still held his mutilated plant. “What are you sorry for, girl?”
“Whatever it is Elmer has done to your garden.”
“Heh?” He looked at the plant still clutched in his fist, then he tossed it to one side. “Who’s Elmer?”
“He’s my new beagle.”
Nathaniel squinted at her. “One of Ruth’s pups? I wouldn’t mind having one of them myself.”
You can have mine nearly jumped from her lips, but she managed to keep the offer to herself. She really loved the little dog, just not as much when he got her into trouble with every neighbor on School Yard Road. “I can talk to Edie for you, if you’d like.”
Nathaniel nodded. “I’ll give it some thought.” He looked down to where he had tossed the wilted green stalk. “You admit that your dog did that?”
Kappy swallowed hard and nodded. It was always best to tell the truth, wasn’t it?
Nathaniel scratched a spot under the band of his hat without removing it. When he was finished his hat sat at a strange angle and showed off more of his bald head than before. Kappy hid her smile.
“I was hoping that we could blame it on that other neighbor of yours.”
Kappy’s eyes widened in surprise. “You’re not mad at me because my dog destroyed your flowers?”
Nathaniel straightened his hat. “I might have been.” He paused. “Was the other one upset about something?”
“Elmer killed some of his chickens.”
“I see. Then I’m not upset at all. I love growing plants. And I suppose these messed-up ones are just an opportunity to plant new ones.”
“Thank you, Nathaniel.”
He nodded and hobbled on back down the steps. “I’ll be seeing you,” he tossed over one shoulder. He stopped halfway between the house and his carriage. “Did you hear about Sally June Esh?”
Kappy’s heartbeat kicked up a notch at the sound of that name.
“Jah. It’s really sad, it is.”
“That girl had so much ahead of her.”
Kappy nodded, unsure what to say.
“I trade with her dawdi. I tell you, it’s a shame. The whole family is broken up.”
“I’m sure.” What else was there to say?
“And Jonah,” Nathaniel continued. “He’s practically beside himself.”
Kappy nodded again. Nathaniel was in a chatty mood today, and she should take advantage of it. Not that it would do her any good, but she should try.
“Nathaniel,” she started when he stopped to take a quick breath. “You didn’t happen to see anything that day, did you?”
He did that head-scratching-without-removing-his-hat thing again, tilting it much in the same way. “I’m pretty far from the road.”
Kappy knew that. But she was still hopeful. “You were at home that day?”
Nathaniel nodded. “Jah.”
Kappy’s hopes deflated. “You weren’t at the cemetery or anything?” Nathaniel’s wife had died a few years back and Nathaniel figured he was too old to start over with a new one. Secretly, Kappy thought it was so he could continue his war with Ephraim in peace.
“That’s your other neighbor’s day to go.”
“Ephraim?”
“I reckon.”
“But he—” She had been about to point out that unlike Nathaniel, Ephraim had never married. He wouldn’t be at the cemetery to visit his late wife’s grave, but she supposed he had his own kin who had passed on.
“He’s got plenty of people to visit there.” Nathaniel’s mouth turned down at the corners. He looked particularly angry about something, though Kappy supposed it was the mention of Ephraim. That would do it every time.
“Thanks,” Kappy said.
“For what?”
She shook her head. “I’ll talk to Edie for you if you want.” He frowned.
“About a puppy.”
N
athaniel nodded. “Jah. That’d be good. Danki.” Then he turned and hobbled toward his buggy.
Kappy watched him go, trying to put all that she had just learned into focus.
Jonah Esh was having problems dealing with the death of his sister. Understandable. Ephraim Jess might have actually been in the cemetery when the accident happened and could be an eyewitness to the crime. Fantastic. As long as Ephraim was upset about Elmer’s shenanigans in his yard, Nathaniel would be forgiving. Even better. Now if she could just teach her dog which of her neighbors to visit.
Kappy went back into the house. She sat down in her seat and picked up her pen to resume making her list.
She wasn’t one hundred percent certain, but she was pretty sure that this list was the hardest thing she had done. Ever. Both men were good men. Both loved God and planned on staying with the church. Both were handsome to a fault. Yet the thing that bothered her the most? She was taking Edie’s word that Silas was even interested, Jimmy’s, too, and she had already broken off any plans she’d discussed with Hiram. So what was she doing making a list of the good and bad qualities of each?
* * *
Kappy had just finished mopping the floor the following afternoon when a knock sounded at the door. Had to be some new girl or visitor to Blue Sky who wanted a new prayer kapp. Word got around fast that Kappy was the one to see. She just wished that her rule of going around back would spread as successfully.
“Go around back.” Kappy yelled toward the closed door.
“Kappy? It’s me.”
“Hiram?” What was he doing here? She made her way to the door, but didn’t open it. “What are you doing here?”
“I need to talk to you about something.”
“Oh.” She stared at the white-painted wood. On the other side she knew Hiram was staring at powder blue.
“Kappy?”
“Jah?”
“Are you going to let me in or are we going to yell through the door all afternoon?”
“Oh. Right.” She pulled the door open and motioned for Hiram to enter. “Be careful. The floor might still be a little wet.” She waved a hand toward the mop propped up next to the kitchen entrance.