As dawn eased the night away, Deborah stood in the laundry room, threading freshly rinsed dresses through the wringer before dropping them into the clean laundry basket.

A driver would arrive for her soon, and she had a lot of clothes to hang out before then. She usually did most of the wash on Mondays, but there had been so much work left over from Saturdays auction, she hadn’t managed to get to it yesterday. Late Saturday afternoon she’d washed the clothes she and her family had worn during the auction to keep the mud from staining them. She’d meant to remove the items a few hours later, but she’d forgotten. So that’d caused her to do something she’d never done before—leave laundry on the line on a Sunday. It wasn’t acceptable to have the appearance of having done laundry on a Sunday. Early Monday morning realization of what she’d done smacked her, and she hurried out to remove them, but her newly sewn teal dress was missing.

One of her friends was certainly playing a trick on her. When she found out who had masterminded this, that person had better watch her back, because paybacks were… fun. She’d begin by watching which of her friends blushed and who giggled the most the next time she saw them. That was a sure giveaway. Then she’d come up with a plan and get the rest of the girls to help her.

After wringing out the last item, she tossed it in the basket. Carrying the clean, wet load, she went through the kitchen on her way to the front door. One glimpse of the room made her stop. Kitchen drawers were open, and utensils were strewn across the countertops. Obviously while she’d been in the laundry room with the wringer washer running, someone had come in search of something. As she headed for the clothesline, she saw Ephraim loading a crate into his buggy. Without seeing her, he climbed in and left.

She grabbed a shirt and shook it. He must be trying to get a head start on the day too. She wondered what he’d been looking for in the kitchen. It had to be him. Almost everyone else in the household was still asleep.

Her stepmother’s sister had arrived last night to help take care of the younger ones so Deborah could go to the hospital this morning. As she reached for a clothespin, she stopped cold. A ten-dollar bill dangled from the line. She laughed at the silliness of it before shoving the cash into her pocket. Money didn’t grow on trees, but it appeared to grow on clotheslines. Whichever friend had come up with this prank had planned rounds for it—one day taking the item, the next day leaving money for it. Maybe she should borrow ten dresses from the instigator and leave one dollar.

Sunlight warmed her back, making the day feel as if it might be a good one. While she hung a pair of pants on the line, a horse and carriage pulled into her driveway. She’d hoped Mahlon would arrive for his workday in the cabinetry shop before her driver came to get her, but Ada was driving the rig. She stopped the buggy near Deborah, studying her but saying nothing.

Deborah dropped a pair of wet pants into the basket and walked closer to Ada. “Gut morning. What brings you out this early?”

“I thought maybe I left my roasting pan here on Saturday.”

“I don’t remember seeing it. You know that every year I have a box of lost-and-found items people have left at the auction. But the last time I added something to it, there weren’t any pots or pans. We can go look, though.”

She shook her head. “If you haven’t seen it, I’m sure it’s in one of the boxes of stuff I took home Saturday.” Studying the barn and pastures, she seemed to be searching for something. “I guess while I’m here, I’ll stop in at the shop and speak with Mahlon.”

“Mahlon?” Deborah’s heart jolted.

Ada wasn’t looking for missing pans. She wanted to find her son, which meant he’d been out all night again, and this time she’d realized it. But Deborah hadn’t seen him since yesterday when he came by the house after work. If he were already at the shop, his buggy would be parked along the fence nearest her house, and his horse would be grazing in the closest pasture.

She looked but saw no sign of either. “I saw Ephraim leaving a little while ago. Maybe they’re meeting at a job site.” Or maybe Mahlon had been out with Eric again.

Oh, ya, you’re probably right.”

She hoped she was. She hated the concern on Ada’s face. If Mahlon was going off with Eric behind Ada’s back, Deborah would be tempted to tell him his mother deserved more respect than that. But Mahlon would say he wasn’t a kid and he footed most of the bills. She hoped Mahlon didn’t put her in this kind of spot once they married. She considered Ada a friend and hated not sharing what she knew to be true.

Mahlon was the kind of man who needed time and space to work through the things that bothered him. Deborah worked through her issues with the help of her friends and church fellowship. Over the years they each had allowed for what the other one needed. When he was ready, he’d tell her everything.

Her driver pulled into the driveway, and she didn’t have the laundry hung out yet. Ada wrapped the reins around the bar on the dashboard of her carriage. “I’ll finish that for you. Is there more to be washed?”

“Ya, but you don’t have to—”

“I know. But I’m here, and you need to go, so shoo.”

“Denki, Ada.”

“Gern gschehne. Now go.”

Deborah gave her a quick hug and climbed into the passenger seat. Unrest concerning Mahlon rode with her for the hourlong drive to the hospital, and she silently prayed for him.

Three hours later and with Becca’s errands behind them, she was in the car on her way home with her Daed and Becca. Distant rain clouds moved across the sky, and she hoped someone had taken the laundry inside.

From the front passenger seat, Daed watched the scenery, making occasional remarks to the driver. He looked surprisingly well, and except for admitting to being very tired, he said he felt fine.

As they came closer to Levina’s old barn, Daed pointed. “What’s that box?”

Deborah peered through the front window, unable to spot it.

Daed tapped the glass. “Pull over and let me take a look.”

She saw the wooden box with a piece of a blue tarp covering the top sitting outside the barn door. It looked like the one Ephraim had this morning.

Daed climbed out of the car, lifted the tarp, pulled a folded paper out of the side of the crate, read it, and returned it to the box. He replaced the covering and got back in the vehicle.

“What were you reading, Abner?” Becca asked.

He shrugged. “A note written by whoever left the box. Looked like Ephraim’s handwriting.”

Becca frowned. “Well, who was the note to?”

“It didn’t say. Just boiled down to instructions to keep what they’d taken but telling them they couldn’t live in his barn and they needed to leave Dry Lake.”