Jacob’s father greeted him and Lilly at the door with a bright smile. “So, how did your visit to your new school go?”
Before Jacob could give his perspective, Lilly shrugged. “It went fine. We filled out some paperwork and answered some questions. I start tomorrow.”
His daed’s smile dimmed. “Well, how was your teacher?”
“Fine.”
The smile completely vanished. “That tells me nothing, Lilly.”
“I know, but that’s because there wasn’t much to tell. It was just school, Dawdi.”
“Just school? You used to love school.”
“I used to be a lot younger, too.”
His daed folded his arms across his chest and pretended to look put out. “Lilly Yoder, you start talking this minute. Fill me in.”
Hearing his father’s gruff voice made Jacob feel like grinning. Both the tone and the words were classic traits of his busy, inquisitive father. He liked to talk, ask questions, and listen to answers. He also was bossy, but all bark and no bite. People who didn’t know him were a bit afraid of him, but not his children. Or his grandchildren. Lilly—who was usually shy and reserved with most people—became just as bossy whenever she was around him.
Still, though Jacob knew his father’s questions and mannerisms were based in love, he feared that his niece might not feel that way. She had recently lost her parents and been relocated to Charm. For her grandfather to demand answers about something she didn’t want to discuss was a mistake.
“Daed, Lilly is right; there really isn’t too much to share. All the other kids were gone when we got there.”
“That’s too bad. Well, tomorrow will surely be a great day. A wonderful-gut one.”
Lilly shook her head. “Not really, Dawdi. I won’t know anyone. All my friends are back in Berlin.”
“I’m sure in no time you will have made some good friends here, too,” Jacob said. “At least your teacher seems nice.”
“I suppose.” Lilly shifted from one foot to the other. It was obvious she couldn’t wait to escape their company. “I’m going to go to my room now.”
“Not so fast,” Daed ordered.
Jacob inhaled, ready to intervene if his father pushed much harder—or if Lilly’s withdrawn manner veered toward rude. “You’re all grown-up now, but I haven’t seen you all day. Give your poor old grandfather a quick hug before you disappear.”
“You ain’t old, Dawdi,” she said as she gave him a quick hug—and her first real smile since walking in. “You’re perfect.”
“I feel old today,” he said gruffly. “All right then. Go say hello to your mommi before you go hide in your room. She made you cookies.”
After she walked to the kitchen, Daed looked at Jacob. “Sounds like today was tough on Lilly.”
Jacob nodded. “I think it was. I don’t know why she’s not excited about school anymore. She used to love going, but today she looked like she wished she was anywhere else.”
“She’s probably missing her old friends.”
“Maybe, or maybe not. It didn’t feel as if she was only missing friends.” Thinking back to Lilly’s behavior, he said, “It seemed like she didn’t really care about school. Maybe something happened at her old one?”
“Who knows?” Daed frowned. “If something did, Marc and Anne never told me.”
Yet again, Jacob wished he’d stayed in better contact with his older brother. They hadn’t had discussions about anything of worth in years. Then, just two months ago, Marc and Anne had died suddenly in an accident. That had set off a chain of events everyone was still trying to come to terms with. Now, here was Jacob, trying to parent a thirteen-year-old girl whom he’d not only never spent much time with, but had never really gotten to know.
After darting a quick look toward the kitchen, Daed said, “Tell me about the teacher. Who is at the school now?”
“Rachel Mast. Do you know her?”
“Nee. Well, what was she like? Did she seem nice?”
Thinking about Rachel’s sweet personality and white-blond hair, Jacob blurted, “She seemed kind. Young, too. Probably no more than twenty or twenty-one years old. She’s married already.”
Daed smiled. “Sounds like she was snapped up. I married your mamm at eighteen.”
Jacob didn’t even want to go down that road. If he did, his father would take care to remind him that he was twenty-eight. At least once a week, his parents reminded him that it was time to take a wife. Past time. “Anyway, Rachel had a friend who was there volunteering.”
“Oh? And who was that?”
“Rebecca Kinsinger,” he said with a smile. She was a fetching thing, so earnest and wholesome looking, with a tad amount of mischief in her eyes. And that dimple. He never thought he’d be the type of man to notice such things, but he had hardly been able to look away.
His father grinned. “Now, I do know Rebecca. She’s always been a pretty girl. Not as pretty as her sister, of course, but she’s always had a way about her that I’ve found appealing.”
Jacob had thought she was mighty appealing, too. “I thought she was real pretty. And nice.”
“I hope she is nice. After all, my granddaughter needs as many caring people in her life as possible right now.”
Forcing his thoughts back on Lilly, Jacob nodded. “I agree. To be honest, I’m a little worried about her. Lilly hardly said five words to me the whole way here.”
“She’ll come around.” After a moment, he cocked his head and smiled. “Don’t you hear her chatting with your mother? Lilly just needs time and care.”
Jacob crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t know how you do it, Daed, but you make parenting look so easy.”
As he always did whenever Jacob gave him a compliment, his father flushed with pleasure while brushing off his words. “Parenting is easy, Jacob. All you have to do is listen, be available, and remain positive.”
Jacob was learning that his father’s simple advice was easier said than done. So far, raising a thirteen-year-old was proving to be anything but easy.
After Marc and Anne’s deaths, Jacob had known he needed to do something. His parents were too old to care for a thirteen-year-old girl. At least, that had been Jacob and his sister Mary’s opinions. Mary had six children of her own with her husband, Bill, and she worried that suddenly being around loud children all the time might be too much for Lilly. She was, after all, an only child.
After talking about it with Mary, Jacob made the decision to move from Pinecraft, Florida, to Charm, Ohio, to help with his parents’ farm and become Lilly’s new guardian. But he soon discovered that good intentions and grand ideas didn’t always lend themselves to successful enterprises. Lilly was still mourning her parents’ deaths, and moving to a new place wasn’t easy.
His parents had given Lilly time to settle into her new room at the farm. She’d been so down about starting at the new school, they’d let her sit out the first few days before enrolling her. But none of those activities had seemed to lift the girl’s spirits.
“I’m trying to be positive, but it’s hard. Most of the time Lilly barely listens to me. I wish she’d try to meet me halfway sometimes.” Of course, the moment those words left his mouth, he regretted them. “Forget I said that. I didn’t mean to sound so uncaring, Daed. I know Lilly is struggling. I’ll get better and learn to be more patient with her.”
His father brushed off his apology with a wave of his hand. “Don’t apologize. You didn’t say anything wrong. You are simply being honest.”
There was honesty, and then there was being a little too harsh with a young girl who had lost so much. “I shouldn’t even be thinking things like that. I know better.”
“Jake. Stop fretting so much. You’re right, the girl has a heap on her plate, but she will bear it. The Lord will make sure of it.”
“Yes. Of course.”
“It’s only been two months. Grief takes time. Always does.”
When he said things like that, it reminded Jacob of just how much he’d missed his parents. He’d missed their wisdom and kindness, and especially the way they easily put everything into perspective. “I know you are right.”
“Nee, we hope and pray I am right. The Lord will help and guide us . . . if we remember to give Him a chance, jah?”
“Jah. I hope and pray Lilly will adjust to her new life soon.”
But instead of receiving more encouragement, this time, his father merely slapped him on the back with a gruff laugh. “Listen to you, son. You are sounding more and more like a father with each passing day. One day our Lilly will realize how much you care about her. Don’t despair; she doesn’t have to like you all the time, she just has to know that you love her.”
“I do love her.” In spite of his doubt about ever being the father his brother was, Jacob smiled. “I’ve told her that, too. So, that’s gut, right?”
“It is good, indeed. Wonderful-gut. As long as that girl knows she’s loved, anything can be overcome.”
Though the words were beautiful, Jacob wondered if they were a bit too simplistic. Lilly had lost both of her parents, been forced to change schools for her final year, and now had only her uncle and a pair of elderly grandparents to rely on. Any one of those things would be hard enough for her to bear. Combined? It would give even the most well-adjusted teenager a difficult time.
However, he wasn’t about to say a word about that. “Danke, Daed. Those are wise words.”
“Of course they are. I’m a wise man,” he said with a wink before shuffling off to the kitchen.
Standing alone in the foyer, Jacob grinned. His father was a wise man, but, it seemed, he was also quite full of himself. He hadn’t changed much, if at all. Jacob realized suddenly that he wouldn’t want it any other way.
It was good to be home.