Sunday Night, December 17
Once Traci calmed down, finally sinking deeper into the hot water and soothing bubbles, Susanna got to her feet.
“We’re going to get out of here and let you soak in privacy for a little while. Is that okay?”
Traci nodded. “Does that mean that you believe me?”
“I think you’ve given us a lot to think about,” Susanna hedged. Traci needed to be soothed and calmed down, not agitated further.
“Tomorrow, when I’m better, we’ll go over there and I’ll show you,” Traci promised. “Or maybe Daed can take you out there tonight.”
“I have a feeling Daed isn’t going to want to do anything but recover,” Amanda said gently. “We were really worried about you, Traci.”
“But this is important. I wouldn’t lie.”
“I don’t think you’re lying,” Susanna said as she edged to the door.
Looking even more upset, Traci bit her bottom lip. “What about you, Mandy?”
“Of course I believe you,” Amanda said quickly.
Traci stared at Susanna. “What if your buggy accident hadn’t been just an accident? What if someone had been meaning to hurt you?”
She swallowed. “And now someone is sabotaging our bridge? It makes sense . . . except that all we did was buy a farm that was for sale.”
Amanda walked to the door. “Little sister, please. Calm yourself. I don’t want you to get sick. Now, I’m going to go make sure you have something warm for when you get out.”
Traci nodded slowly. “All right.”
After she and Amanda left the bathroom, Susanna sighed. She hated to admit it, but Traci had a point. “Do you think she could be right?” she asked quietly.
Amanda shrugged. “I don’t see how she could be.”
“But what if these things are all connected? Don’t forget, our fence was broken, too.”
“That fence was also the Kaufmanns’.”
“I don’t think they were a target.”
“We haven’t done anything wrong,” Amanda said with more force. “The only reason people are paying any attention is because we’re new here to town. We can’t start letting our imaginations run away with us.”
That did make sense. She wanted it to. “Let’s go talk to Mamm and Daed. Maybe Daed got a better idea of what happened than Traci.”
After Amanda pulled out one of her soft flannel nightgowns for Traci, they walked into the kitchen. Their parents were sitting at the kitchen table. Mamm was drinking hot apple cider while Daed was sipping hot chicken soup. He already had put on fresh clothes, including a thick pair of socks that Amanda had knitted for him last year for Christmas.
Pausing for a moment, Susanna not only gave thanks that they were home safe but that they were now all together every night. She needed to keep focused on what a blessing that was.
While Amanda went right in and hugged their father, Susanna took a moment to appreciate the scene in front of her. They were not only all together, they were sitting at their kitchen table, which in a lot of ways had become the cornerstone of their family.
It almost hadn’t made the move to Kentucky. Daed had been so happy to be finally giving them a lovely new, big home, with a big kitchen, that he wanted to celebrate the move by purchasing a new table, one that would be suitable for their new surroundings. Susanna and her sisters had all thought that was a good idea.
The table was old, had a crack down the center of it, and was really too small for five people. It also brought back a lot of memories of just the four of them sitting around it while Daed was gone for the week, working for Mr. Fowler.
Getting a new table that was big enough for all of them to sit together seemed like a wonderful idea.
But it had been their mother who had resisted. She hadn’t wanted to spend the money . . . or give up the memories that it brought her.
And because their father could never tell their mother no, they’d put it in the moving van.
Now Susanna was so grateful for it. Ever since they’d moved, they’d had a lot of trouble and worry. That table symbolized security for her.
Mamm looked up when Susanna finally sat and joined them. “How is she?”
“She looks better,” Susanna said. “She has some color in her cheeks. I told her to soak for a bit.”
“We put in some of your bubble bath, Mamm,” Amanda added.
“Good. I hope it relaxes her.” Rubbing her temples, she said, “What a night. Until we saw your father holding her the way he was, it never crossed my mind that Traci had been hurt. I just thought she’d forgotten the time.”
“Me, too,” Susanna said.
After pouring herself a cup of tea, Amanda sat next to their father. “Daed, Traci said something kind of disturbing. She said that one of the boards of the bridge had been damaged. Maybe even on purpose.”
He frowned. “She mentioned that to me, too.”
“What do you think? Could she be right? Did you see anything?”
“It was too dark to tell.” He shrugged. “I told her that was probably not the case, though.”
There was something in the way he spoke that gave her pause. “Do you think there could be a reason someone might want to do that?”
“I don’t want there to be . . .” After he took a fortifying sip of tea, he added, “But it is disconcerting, especially coming so close to that fence being broken the way it was.”
“So you think it’s a possibility,” Susanna said.
“Nee, I didn’t say that.” Looking at her intently, he added, “Sue, we are trying to make a new life for ourselves here. We want to be a part of the community. A positive part of the community. No one is going to appreciate us making a big fuss about a couple of weak boards in an old bridge.”
Mamm nodded. “People are finally realizing that the Vances’ financial troubles had nothing to do with us, too. And we have a whole farm to manage now. That’s too much on our plate to be making up problems where they don’t exist.”
Susanna heard what her parents were saying, but didn’t necessarily agree that they all should be sticking their heads in the sand. “But we can’t forget that many things have been happening to us that are out of the ordinary. Why, since we’ve moved here, we’ve had my buggy accident, then the fence, and now this. It can’t just be a string of unfortunate events.”
“It might be,” Mamm said. “I think this is just a case of Traci letting her imagination get the best of her.”
After looking over her shoulder to make sure Traci wasn’t walking their way, Susanna added, “I’m going to go look at that bridge just to make sure.”
“I’m not going to stop you, Susanna,” Daed said after sharing a look with their mother. “But please watch who you talk to about this. Don’t go starting trouble where there is none.”
“I won’t say anything to anyone else. But I do think we need to check the board for Traci. Just to be sure.”
“You going to play detective, Sue?” Amanda teased.
“Nee. Well, maybe.” She yearned to laugh, and make light of her suspicions, but she simply wasn’t able to do that. She still had nightmares about her buggy accident. She also believed Traci. Their little sister was a lot of things, but she wasn’t the type of girl to make up stories about broken boards.
“Please, be careful,” Amanda whispered.
“Don’t worry. I intend to be.” Actually, it would make her extremely happy to walk out to the bridge, see a couple of rotten boards, and realize that her little sister had simply had a bad accident.
She hoped and prayed that was the case.