Thursday, December 14
Several days after she and Neil had resolved to start over, Susanna put most of her worries about him behind her. It felt good to wake up in the morning with a clear head and heart.
It also felt good to settle back into her regular routine of helping her mother as much as possible. While Mamm seemed to be feeling strong, all of them still worried about her. Susanna knew that she would never forget sitting by her mother’s side in the hospital and listening to the doctor explain that her mother’s pneumonia had been aggravated by stress and exhaustion.
Ever since that scary afternoon, she’d vowed to take on more of the household responsibilities.
They’d spent the majority of the afternoon working in the kitchen, both preparing a few dishes to freeze and making the evening’s meal of stuffed peppers.
But while Susanna had been content to slice and dice in the quiet, her mother had seemed preoccupied. When they were almost done, she cleared her throat. “Susanna, what is going on with your sister? Do you know?”
Susanna made a show of shoving her wooden spoon around the browning hamburger and onions in the pan. “Which one?”
“Amanda, of course. We both know Traci is fine.”
“Amanda? Hmm. I don’t know.”
Her mother clicked her tongue as she turned back to the tomato sauce she was stirring. But it was obvious that she didn’t believe Susanna for a second. “She’s been going out walking by herself. Do you know anything about that?”
She did. Amanda had shared that she had met Dale on those walks. But that wasn’t Susanna’s news to share.
“When I peeked in the living room, she wasn’t sewing. She was simply staring out the window.”
“Maybe she was looking at cardinals?” Ack. Could she have not thought of a better excuse?
“Nee, child. She was not bird-watching.”
Turning off the gas burner, Susanna set the frying pan to one side. “I’m sure Amanda is fine, Mamm. Please don’t worry.”
As she always did, her mother thought about that answer. Then she shook her head. “Something is bothering her and I know you know what it is. You might as well tell me. Is she still unhappy about the move?”
“I think she’s settling in.” Actually, Susanna was pretty sure Amanda was settling in a little bit too much. Ever since Dale had walked her home from the bridge, Amanda had acted distracted. She was smitten.
“When I asked her what she was looking at, Amanda just blinked at me, like she didn’t know how to respond.”
Susanna was beginning to not know how to answer her mother, either. To give herself more time, she combined the sauce and meat mixture, then began to stuff the peppers she’d hollowed out earlier that day.
“Susanna, I think she was searching for something in particular.” She wrinkled her nose. “But what could it be? There’s not much to see except snow.”
“Maybe she saw a deer? Or, um, a rabbit? You know how pretty they look against the snow-covered fields.”
“She was never all that excited about woodland creatures, Sue.” Her mother’s tone had more than a good bit of sarcasm in it. Yet another reminder that she never had been the type of woman who was easy to fool.
Just as she had never been the type of woman who was good at dodging questions or telling fibs. Tired of making the attempt, Susanna said, “Why don’t you ask her?”
“I did. But she—” Mamm stopped abruptly when the back door to the mudroom opened with a slam. Together, Susanna and her mother turned in surprise.
When Daed entered the kitchen, tracking wet dirt and snow behind him, her mother groaned. “Do you see the mess you’re making on my floors? Honestly, John. I just—”
“We’ve got a problem, Leah,” he interrupted. “Part of the back fence was broken last night. Someone demolished a good six-foot section of the fencing. It’s in pieces all over the ground.”
“My word!” Mamm exclaimed. Walking to his side, she said, “What do you think could have done that? Was it a bear or something?”
“It weren’t no bear.”
Still wondering why her father was so upset, Susanna said, “We had some strong winds last night. Maybe that shook some of the boards loose.”
“Maybe so,” Mamm said. “You know what? Sue and I were just standing here, talking about deer. Maybe a buck could have broken it. You know how much damage those deer can do.”
Daed shook his head. “That damage wasn’t caused by the wind, and it certainly wasn’t caused by some deer. And it wasn’t an accident, either. I think someone went on our property, took out a sledgehammer, and deliberately broke a good six feet of the fencing.”
Susanna knew her father wasn’t the type of man to exaggerate, but that did seem a little bit farfetched. Still attempting to be helpful, she offered, “Well, you know how teens are. Maybe a couple of kids were out walking and got rowdy.” Of course, the moment she said that, she felt foolish. Rowdy teens did not wander around farms with sledgehammers breaking fences. No one was that bored.
“This wasn’t caused by teens running around, Sue.” Sitting down, he sighed. “As much as it pains me to say this, I think someone broke our fencing on purpose.”
Her mother was looking increasingly flustered. “But why? We just moved here. We haven’t done anything to anyone.”
Her father sighed. “You know how cool everyone has acted toward us. I didn’t want to upset you girls, but I think a lot of people are mad that we bought this property.”
“It was for sale,” Mamm pointed out. “They should be happy because we bought it.”
“I know that. But sometimes people twist things in their heads,” Daed said.
“Say someone was upset. Breaking fencing doesn’t seem like a smart way to deal with that anger.”
Susanna cleared her throat. “Um, Mamm, Daed, I’m afraid there might be something to this. Several women told Amanda and me that lots of people think we took advantage of the Vances by buying the farm at such a low price. Then, well, I talked to Neil Vance at church. He kind of confirmed that his family has been upset about how the sale was handled.”
Daed glared. “You heard all that at church?”
“Jah.”
“And all this time you didn’t feel the need to share that information with your mother and myself?”
“I didn’t want to upset you or Mamm. Besides, Amanda and I saw Neil and Dale Kaufmann on Monday when we were walking home. We talked for a while, and patched things up.”
Mamm groaned. “And you didn’t think to mention that either?”
“I’m sorry?”
“Is that why Amanda keeps looking out the window? Is she afraid of those boys?”
Oh, this was a mess! “Nee . . .”
Her mother folded her arms over her chest. “Susanna, I’ve had enough of your talking in circles. Please, just give us some information without making us play twenty questions.”
Mentally apologizing to her sister, she said, “Amanda isn’t looking out the window because she’s afraid. She’s looking out the window because Dale hinted that he might stop by. She likes him.”
“That is what is wrong?” Mamm groaned.
“I told you she was fine, Mother.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sakes. You girls never fail to surprise me,” Daed said with a groan. Susanna knew he wasn’t too upset because there was a new bit of light in his eyes. “You know what? I think it’s time we went over to our neighbors and introduced ourselves. Maybe I’m blowing things out of proportion and there’s an obvious reason for that broken fence. Maybe they know what happened to it.”
“Amanda did say that Dale’s parents wished they’d already come here to welcome us,” Susanna said.
“The decision is made, then.” Turning to Susanna, Mamm said, “You’d best go fetch your sisters and share our plans for the evening.”
“We’re all going to go?” asked Susanna.
Her mother nodded. “I think so. It’s time we reached out to folks, even if they haven’t been reaching out to us. I’ll even bring a pecan pie.”
Daed’s eyes twinkled. “And while we’re there, we can meet Dale.”
“Don’t tell Amanda I told you about him. She’s going to be so mad if she finds out.”
Her mother laughed. “She’ll be fine. All you have to do is tell her that I wore you down. She’ll believe that.”
Susanna chuckled, too. Amanda would believe that without question. Their mother was extremely skilled at wheedling information from them. “After I talk to Amanda and Traci, I’ll come back to help you with the pie.”
“Danke, Sue.”
Leaving her parents to discuss what they were going to say, Susanna informed Traci, who was in the basement working on laundry, then walked to the back room, where Amanda was sewing.
The moment she saw Susanna, she hastily hid her project.
“What are you working on?” Susanna asked.
“Something for Christmas. What do you need?”
“Only to tell you that we’ll be going over to the Kaufmanns’ haus tonight.” While Amanda gaped at her, Susanna filled her in on their father’s news about the broken fence line and the plan to visit the Kaufmanns’ house after supper.
As she anticipated, her sister’s expression shone with different emotions. “Do you need help with the pie?”
“Absolutely not.”
Amanda laughed. “That’s what I hoped you’d say. I’ll finish this project, then go see how I can help Mamm or Daed. Then, I think I might go ahead and wash my hair.”
“You’re going to wash it this afternoon?”
“Of course. I won’t want to wash it when we get home. It might be late.”
Yep, Amanda was definitely infatuated with their new charming neighbor. Smitten enough that she probably wouldn’t even care if the whole household knew who occupied her thoughts. That was a relief, indeed.