by Sarah Price
“Daed? What time did you get up, then?” she called out, limping over to the side room to grab her stool and bucket.
“Is that you, Kate?”
She stopped and spun around, shocked to see Samuel stand up from behind the cow. “Samuel!”
He stood by the cow, a battered straw hat on his head. In his work clothes, he looked different than she was used to seeing him. Normally, he wore his clean Sunday outfit when he came calling for her. Not today. He wore his dirty black trousers with suspenders that crisscrossed in the back. His blue work shirt had seen better days. There was a hole in the sleeve near his shoulder. And when he walked around the cow to approach her, she noticed his boots were old and clunky.
But the grin on his face was pure Samuel.
“And gut mariye to you, Kate!” He acted as if his presence in the barn was nothing out of the ordinary.
Kate, however, felt stunned. “What on earth are you doing here?”
He raised an eyebrow and peered at her, that familiar sparkle in his blue eyes. “Mayhaps a better question is what you are doing here? A little bird told me that you’re supposed to be off your feet for a week, ain’t so?” He glanced around. “Being in here with a bucket in your hand, looking ready to milk cows, sure isn’t recovering, now, is it?”
“Samuel!” She could hardly make sense of what she was seeing. Not only was Samuel milking the cows, he appeared more than comfortable doing so. She ignored his question by repeating her own. “Why are you here?”
“What does it look like, Kate?” He gestured toward the cows. “I’m helping your daed.”
“At four thirty in the morning?” She almost laughed, especially given his even-natured tone. “Whatever for?”
He shrugged his shoulders, leaning against the metal post. “Figured your daed needed some help with the morning milking. Felt responsible for your injury.”
Responsible? She wondered why he would feel responsible for her injury. And now, as a result, he was helping her daed each morning? She had a hard time understanding the motivation behind Samuel undertaking such a monumental inconvenience, especially when his help was certainly needed at his own daed’s farm.
“Have you been here all week, then?”
He nodded his head. “Sure have.”
“Oh help,” she muttered.
“Now, you march yourself right back inside and relax. Between your daed and I, we have everything covered out here. No need for you to be hobbling around, risking more injury, Kate.” He dunked under the railing and took her elbow in his hand, gently guiding her back toward the house.
Speechless, she didn’t argue as she followed his lead.
“Hey now,” Daed said when Samuel walked into the kitchen. “What’s this, then?”
Samuel shook his head as he guided her to the sofa. “Found a little mouse in the haystacks today, it seems.”
To Kate’s surprise, Daed laughed. She stared at him, her mouth dropping. When was the last time she had heard Daed laugh? Certainly not since David’s accident.
“What’s going on here?” she managed to ask. “I don’t understand . . .”
Samuel shook his head at her. “Nothing to understand.” He situated her on the sofa, and as if it were the most natural thing in the world, he propped up her foot on the stool. “Now you relax and work on healing. No reason to have that look on your face, Kate. I’m just helping out a spell. That’s all.”
But it was more than that. She could tell right away. Something had transpired between Samuel and her daed. The ease with which they communicated was something Kate had never before seen. And Samuel had told her he’d been coming to help Daed all week. Why had no one mentioned it to her?
She was still sitting on the sofa, stunned by this surprise revelation when Maem came down the stairs. She was pinning her prayer kapp as she entered the kitchen, a peaceful look on her face.
“Up already, then?”
“Maem, what’s going on around here?”
Startled, Maem glanced around the kitchen, then looked back at Kate. She appeared genuinely perplexed. “Whatever do you mean? Nothing is going on.”
“I just saw Samuel out in the dairy!”
Maem frowned. “What were you doing out there, Kate? You know you aren’t supposed to be putting weight on your ankle.”
Kate sighed, exasperated. “That’s not the point.”
Maem headed toward the sink, reaching for the kettle of water to begin preparing coffee. That was always the first order of the day. “What is your point, Kate?”
A laugh almost escaped from her lips. “Why is Samuel here? Everyone is acting like it’s the most natural thing in the world . . . having Samuel helping Daed with my chores!”
“I think it’s rather kind of him to have offered,” Maem said, setting the kettle on the stove. She fiddled with the dial until the familiar poof of propane caught and a flame flickered under the pot. “He showed up and spoke to your daed, insisting to help while you are recuperating. He’s quite a nice young man, isn’t he?”
In disbelief, Kate shook her head. “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
“Why should anyone have told you?” Maem countered, an odd expression on her face. Kate squirmed under her maem’s scrutiny. “Doesn’t involve you, does it now?”
Tossing her hands in the air, Kate sank back into the sofa. She had no idea why they had been so secretive about Samuel being at the farm. No one had mentioned a word. She made a mental note to corner Miriam later, see if she had known about Samuel’s help in the dairy.
To her surprise, Miriam knew nothing about it. She professed innocence and seemed genuinely as surprised as Kate. They both knew better than to question Becca. From what Kate could best figure, Samuel arrived at four to start the milking and helped her daed until five thirty, when he returned to his own family’s farm for morning chores. Under the cloak of dawn’s darkness, Samuel Esh had been both arriving and leaving, with no one besides Maem and Daed being any the wiser.
“Oh, Kate,” Miriam whispered happily. “Do you think this means . . . ?”
Kate grabbed Miriam’s hands, holding them before her. “Shh! Don’t even say it, Miriam! It means nothing more than a very nice young man helping Daed.”
“He must be very nice to get up an extra hour early to get here by four o’clock!” Miriam said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “I’d say he’s ferhoodled for sure and certain! I hope Maem planted plenty of celery.”
Shaking her head, Kate tried to change the subject. “He’s helping Daed, not me. People do it all the time.”
As the day wore on, even Becca seemed to catch the scent of romance in the air. Despite not knowing about Samuel’s mornings at their farm, she sensed something was happening. When she came in from weeding the garden, she plopped on the sofa next to Kate and looked at her.
“You need to get better fast, Kate,” she said, plucking at the dirt on her bare knee. “Getting tired of doing all your chores.”
“Becca!” Maem scolded. Miriam was helping her make shoofly pies at the counter. Clearly, they had both overheard Becca’s comment.
“It’s true!” Becca shot back. “She hurts her foot and the whole world shifts around her!” Huffing, she crossed her arms over her chest and pouted. “It’s as if she’s already married and not here anymore!”
Kate’s mouth dropped open, and she fought the urge to respond. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Miriam smiling while she pressed the pie dough into the pans. It was Maem who jumped to her defense.
“Becca, you just leave your schwester alone, now!”
“Special treatment, I say,” Becca mumbled.
Maem gestured toward the door. “Go help your Daed with the evening milking. See if some good hard work cures you of complaining.”
“Aw, Maem!” But knowing better than to argue further, Becca s
tood up and walked back to the door, her feet dragging on the linoleum as she went. “Not fair,” she grumbled just loud enough for everyone to hear before she shoved open the screen door.
“That girl,” Maem said, exasperated and worn out. “The day that one gets married, I don’t think I’ll be none too sad to see her go. Surprised that someone might want to marry her, mayhaps, but not sad to hand her over to someone else for a while!”
Miriam giggled.
Kate, however, remained quiet as she sat on the sofa. Her mind whirled in twenty directions as she pondered Samuel’s intentions. None of this made sense to her. From what she knew, he’d courted Ella for almost eight months. Yet that had ended.
She found joy in his attentions, but there was still that seed of doubt, planted deep in the pit of her stomach that she would disappoint him. And that he would move on yet again. He didn’t know about her role in David’s accident, after all. Nor did he know about Jacob.
Staring out the window, Kate felt her heart beat rapidly as she realized that she needed to talk to him, to set the matter straight. A special friendship built on a weak foundation would never last. And she felt as if the weight of her sins needed to be aired. Then, at least, he would know the truth and could decide on his own whether he felt she was still a worthy partner for the future.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
By the weekend, Kate managed to convince her parents that her ankle was healed enough to help with chores. She even managed to attend the worship service, although she had a hard time during the two kneeling prayers.
After worship, her daed indicated that they would not stay for fellowship. Her older brother, Thomas, was going to visit in the afternoon and because Maem stayed behind once again for David, Daed didn’t want to linger over the dinner meal.
For the first time in a long while, Kate felt the loss keenly of returning home and missing the chance to visit with her friends while helping to serve the fellowship meal. Now that she was back in the routine of socializing a bit, she realized how much she had missed them during her months of isolation after the accident.
But thanks to Samuel, her perspective had changed. She felt an increased ability to attend gatherings and reconnect with her friends. It was his encouragement that made her feel confident to do so.
She knew that she had a lot to be grateful for because of Samuel. During the course of her life, she’d rarely interacted with any men outside of her family. Yet Samuel had managed to draw her out of her shell and into conversations that she never would have considered discussing before. No topic seemed off-limits for him, whether it was Amish traditions, Englische technology, or Christian theology.
Kate had come to eagerly anticipate her buggy rides with Samuel, the only time they truly spent alone. Now, however, the burden of confiding in him, and telling him the truth, weighed on her mind. She worried over his reaction.
When they returned from worship service, Maem sat on the porch with David, enjoying the breeze and the birds. The impatiens she had planted in May bloomed large and colorful along the walkway with black-eyed Susans surrounding the base of the house. She rested her head on the back of the rocking chair, her eyes shut as she gently rocked back and forth, a peaceful expression on her face.
David presented a different picture. Instead of enjoying the fresh air or seeming thankful for Maem’s sacrifice in missing worship service on his behalf, David sat in his wheelchair, his head resting on his elbow as he scowled, looking into the distance angrily.
Just the week before, Daed had hung three bird feeders from the tree near the porch. Despite wanting the birds to eat bugs, he filled them with different types of feed to attract as many birds as he could. Maem had set her bird book on the bench where David could reach it to identify the different types of birds. From the looks of it, he had never so much as opened it.
Kate didn’t need to ask why David’s mood was so foul. Without doubt, she suspected that Thomas’s pending arrival bothered him. Five years older than David, Thomas was mature enough to see through his younger brother’s anger. In the past, Thomas had gone so far as to refuse to tolerate David’s insolence. On more than one occasion, he had even interrupted the visit to abruptly leave with his wife.
“No need to be poisoned by such malice,” he had explained before leaving.
Kate never blamed him. The tense relationship between Thomas and David went back at least ten years, perhaps longer. Kate couldn’t remember when it had started and she certainly had no idea as to why. By the look on David’s face, his brow so deeply furrowed in indignation, she suspected the afternoon would not end well.
“Home already, then?” Maem said when she opened her eyes, Becca’s laughter having awakened her. “I didn’t realize it was so late. Need to set the table.”
“I can do it, Maem,” Kate offered. “You relax a spell.”
Inside the kitchen, the smell of home-cooked food filled the room. The meal had been prepared the previous day so that Maem wouldn’t have to work on the Lord’s Day. But everything smelled delicious: they’d be eating ham and scalloped potatoes. The rolls were neatly arranged in a basket and covered with a napkin. Bowls of applesauce, canned beets, and coleslaw were set out in dishes, too, and covered with pot lids to keep away flies.
Quickly, Kate covered the table with a plain white cloth and began to place the plates in front of each chair and along the bench where she sat with Miriam and Becca. Eight plate settings for their family surrounded the table, plus a high chair for baby Stephen. Soon, however, there would be a new addition. Linda was expecting a second child in August, almost a year to the day after Stephen had been born.
“Did you set everything, then?” Maem said as she came inside, hurrying to the sink to wash her hands.
“You put out an extra setting.”
“I did?” Maem paused and recounted the places at the table. “No, I didn’t.”
“Eight adults, Maem. Susan doesn’t live here anymore.”
But Maem shook her head. “Nee, Kate. There are nine adults for supper tonight.” Without hesitation, she picked up the extra plate and utensils, setting them on the side of the table with the bench. “You best go change your dress, Kate. Thomas should be here within the next hour.” She glanced at the clock. “Or sooner, I reckon.”
Upstairs in her room, Kate wondered who else was joining the family. Was Susan coming on her own? It seemed unlikely she’d leave her husband and the boppli at home. She quickly removed her white organza apron and cape, carefully hanging them on a hanger. Every Saturday night, she carefully ironed them so that there were no creases or wrinkles. She knew far too well that the older women watched with a critical eye to see which young woman would arrive with anything less than a perfectly crisp covering. She removed her black apron from the hanger and slipped it over her dark-blue dress, pausing to replace the hanger on the hook behind her door.
She wondered if Samuel was planning to fetch her for the singing. With Thomas and Linda visiting, she doubted she’d be permitted to attend. Her expression must have given away what she felt when she returned to the kitchen, for David immediately sensed her melancholy.
“What’s bothering you?” David said, his tone needling. “Didn’t get to see your boyfriend yesterday or today?”
Kate clenched her jaw and refused to take the bait. Everyone in the family seemed happy with Samuel’s attention to Kate, with the exception of one person: David. He did nothing to hide how visibly unhappy he was with this relationship. The happier everyone else seemed, the more miserable he became.
It was true that she hadn’t seen Samuel on Saturday. The previous day, Kate had not been able to help Susan. Instead, Miriam went in her place since Daed needed Kate’s help with the first hay cutting. Even Becca had to assist, something that had not passed without complaint. Without a reason to go to Susan’s house, there had been no Saturday buggy ride home with Samuel.
Kate tried to think back to when Thomas courted Linda. Like most Amish courtships, his had remained cloaked in secrecy until the bishop announced her bruder’s intentions at worship service. Kate suspected that, prior to that public announcement, Thomas confided in their parents. But for the rest of the family, his engagement had truly been a surprise.
That meant there was no teasing or ribbing from anyone. Of course, that was only right, as Thomas was quite serious in nature. He worked hard, saved his money. Six months before he married Linda, he had purchased a farm in Ephrata, which was not close enough for him to visit frequently. But Kate admired the way he always seemed to make plans and see them through.
Shortly after one thirty, Kate heard the arrival of a buggy, the gentle humming of the wheels and familiar clip-clop of the horse’s hooves approaching the house, indicating that Thomas had finally arrived. Eager to escape the tension in the kitchen, she hurried outside to greet her brother and his wife.
“Why look at you!” Kate gushed, greeting Linda with a warm embrace. When they separated, she let her hands fall to Linda’s enlarged belly. “My goodness! I think you have a watermelon under there.”
Linda laughed. “Feels like it at times, too!”
Thomas walked around the side of the buggy, carrying their son, Stephen. At ten months of age, he was a big boy and already walking, although Kate quickly learned that he fell once for every three steps he took. She reached out to take him in her arms, snuggling him against her chest and nuzzling his neck until he giggled.
“Things look right gut around here,” Thomas said, assessing the farm with an approving eye. “You holding up all right, then, Kate?”
She swung Stephen so that he sat on her hip, jiggling him just enough to keep him moving and happy. “We’re holding up,” she responded. “Everyone’s pulling their weight.”