Are you sure Emma won’t mind if we stop by today?” Jay asked William as they walked up the steps to the Keims’ front door.
“She ain’t going to mind at all. When I saw Miss Emma at school yesterday morning, she said I could stop by anytime. This is anytime, ain’t so?”
It was comments like that that made Jay think the Lord had a sense of humor. Headstrong, eternally optimistic, and constantly in motion, his youngest was as different from his two older brothers as could be. He wasn’t sure how he would have gotten through each day without William’s quips and comments. “Perhaps, but sometimes people say things they don’t mean,” he cautioned.
“Oh, she meant what she said, I’m sure of it. Lena said her mamm loves visitors.”
“All right. I guess we’ll see if she likes unannounced visitors.” Rapping his knuckles on the door, he said, “Don’t forget your manners, Will.”
“I won’t. But Daed, you don’t have to have gut manners with Lena’s mamm. You just have to be yourself.”
“That may be true, but still, I’d like you to be your best self,” he said just as Lena opened the door with a smile.
“Hi, Mr. Jay,” she chirped as she bounded out onto the porch. Her pink dress was a little on the short side, showing off her tan lower calves and bare feet. “Frankie and I were watching you out the window.”
She looked so proud of that fact, Jay realized she was expecting a response. “You were? I didn’t see you there.”
“I was there. We didn’t know if you were ever gonna knock. I wanted to open the door right away but Mamm said I had to wait until you knocked before opening it up. What took you so long?”
Before Jay could fashion a reply, Will walked right inside. “There was no reason. My father was being a worrywart.”
After bending down to greet Frankie, Jay said, “Is your mother around?”
“Oh, jah. She’s sewing me a new dress.” Pointing to her ankles, Lena added, “I’m growing.”
“Actually, I’m right here,” Emma said as she joined them at the door. Smiling brightly, she said, “Come on in.”
Jay shut the door behind him just as William edged closer to Lena and whispered something in her ear.
The little girl grinned. “Mamm, can William and I go in the backyard with Mandy and Annie?”
“Sure, that is fine. Don’t forget to look after Annie, Lena.”
“I won’t.”
After the children disappeared, Emma clasped her hands in front of her waist. “How are you, Jay? Seeing you here is a nice surprise.”
“I’m fine.” Feeling more awkward by the second, he added, “Um, I hope you don’t mind that we came by without an invitation.”
“You now are officially invited to come over anytime you would like. Would you like to sit down?”
“Oh, sure. And since we’re here anyway, I was hoping to talk to you about something. If you have time, that is.”
“Of course I have time.” She walked over and perched on the edge of a beautiful cherrywood rocking chair. After she smoothed a wrinkle in her violet dress, she smiled.
Jay sat down on her couch, liking the thick white canvas cover on it. He couldn’t help but wonder, however, how in the world she kept a white couch clean with three little girls and one busy beagle.
Realizing she was patiently waiting for him to speak, he said, “It’s about school and William.”
“Yes?”
He wasn’t sure how to begin. “I thought about sending William to the elementary school near the farm, but there aren’t many Amish kids who go there. Mark and Ben are done with their schooling, so I decided to ride with William on the SCAT every morning and take him to Pinecraft Elementary.”
“Since it’s an Amish school, I can see why you would make that decision. I saw William yesterday when I dropped off the girls. He seemed happy enough.” Looking at him closely, a new concern entered her expression. “Or are you not happy with it?”
“I’m plenty happy with the school. I think it’s going to be fine. Miss Meyer seems to be competent.”
“I think she does a gut job. There are almost thirty kinner in the classroom and she handles everyone from first to fifth grade well.” She paused. “Does William not care for Miss Meyer? Some kinner don’t do as well in a one-room school, you know. Around here, many Amish children simply go to the regular elementary schools, if that’s what you’re worried about. All of the English kinner are accepting of them. He’ll make friends in no time.”
“Nee, he seems to like Miss Meyer and the school, too. It just looks like he’s a little bit behind in his reading and math. Miss Meyer thinks that he’ll get caught up in no time, but he’s going to need some help.” Stumbling forward, he finally broached the idea that had been floating around in his head. “I wondered if you knew of someone I could talk to about helping him with his homework. Sometimes he needs a little extra help or explanation.”
“That doesn’t seem like too much to ask.”
Now he was embarrassed. Emma was probably thinking he was the worst sort of father, a man who was not even willing to take the time to help his child when he needed it. “Here’s the thing. I’ve got my hands full with the farm and the house and the produce stand. In order for us to start making a profit, I need to plant some fresh crops and see if there’s a way to salvage some of the berry bushes and citrus trees that are already bearing fruit. All this takes time, you see.”
“To be sure.”
“I can do all that and help William, but I can’t help him right after school, which is when it would be best for him. He gets tired after supper, and I know from experience that trying to get him to do homework that late is a recipe for disaster.”
“That sounds like my Mandy. When she gets tired, we all try to stay away from her until she falls asleep.”
He sighed in relief. “So you can understand why I’m asking?”
“Yes and no.”
“What don’t you understand?”
“Jay, why don’t you simply ask me for help?”
He was confused. “I did. I’m asking you for names of tutors.”
“Ask me to look after William after school. I’m home and I don’t mind.”
“I couldn’t ask that of you.”
“Why not? I’ll be picking up Mandy and Lena anyway. And we always do homework in the early afternoons, after the girls have some time to play and a snack. William will fit right in.”
“But I couldn’t ask it of you.”
“I offered. But I don’t know why you wouldn’t want to ask it of me anyway. We are two people in much the same situation. It’s hard to do everything on one’s own, I think. Even with my family nearby, it, well . . .”
“It isn’t the same,” he finished.
“Exactly,” she said with a look of relief in her eyes. “Jay, I think we should be helping each other out as much as we can.”
Everything she said made sense, but it was hard to come to terms with the idea that he would be asking so much of Emma when they hardly knew each other. In addition, he didn’t know how he would be able to return the favor. “Will you let me pay you?”
“For helping William?” Hurt flashed in her eyes. “Definitely not.”
He held up his hands. “I don’t want to offend you, but I wouldn’t have asked about getting help if I didn’t intend to pay. I don’t want to take advantage.”
Looking slightly more mollified, she said, “You are not taking advantage.”
Jay figured he should be coming up with a bunch of new reasons why he couldn’t accept Emma’s offer, but he really couldn’t think of any. It was going to be an answer to his prayers. “Then, will you accept my thanks?”
“Of course.”
“Thanks.” He ran a hand through his hair, thinking yet again how challenging life had become since Evelyn’s death. “Do you ever miss being married?” he asked suddenly.
She flinched. “What?”
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to bring that up in such a clumsy way. It’s just that while of course I miss Evelyn, there are times, like today, when I simply miss the ease of it. She took care of things like this.” Thinking about all the years he’d pretty much only worried about the fields while she’d dealt with Ben’s and Mark’s issues at school, he added, “My frau did a lot of things around the house and with our family that I didn’t even realize until she got sick.”
“Tell me about her,” Emma said.
“I wouldn’t know where to start.” Jay waited for the familiar pain that usually came from simply remembering Evelyn, but instead he only felt a curious emptiness.
“I can help you with that. What was she like?”
He blurted the first thing that came to mind. “Peaceful.”
“How so?”
He felt his cheeks flush. “She was a wonderful-gut mother and wife. She would have had all of us far better organized if she’d been in charge of the move.” Thinking about their relationship, he had to admit that in many ways he’d always felt like her protector. She’d needed him to help her find her way and he had gotten used to making her life easier. “She was quiet and a little shy. Kind of timid around strangers, too. But she was caring and helpful. She depended on me, but the boys also knew they could depend on her to give them her time. She loved to sit with them and hear about their days.”
“She sounds like a wonderful woman.”
“Evelyn was.” Only now did he realize that he wasn’t pining for her in the ways he used to. He missed her, of course, but often he found that he was really missing her tasks around the house and with the kinner. He missed her help.
What did that say about him?
“Jay, what’s wrong? You look like you swallowed a cricket!”
“I’m sorry, I was just remembering something.”
“Something bad?” Emma had such compassion in her eyes. In her blue eyes. Blue eyes that were framed by thick dark lashes and brows that swept up in a natural arc.
“Not at all.” He knew he was stumbling but he suddenly felt like he was Ben’s age and trying to get a pretty girl’s attention. “Tell me about Sanford. What was he like?”
She pressed one of her hands to her chest. “Oh, goodness. Well, he was organized, too. And he liked things in order. He loved his little girls dearly, too. He was a gut man.”
Jay noticed she didn’t mention how much Sanford had loved her. He wondered if that was on purpose or if she simply thought it was understood. “I guess we both were blessed with good marriages.”
“We were. I was blessed. Still, I can’t believe Sanford left me so young. But then again, I guess since we grew up together the Lord decided that we’d already had lots of time together.”
“I grew up with Evelyn, too. From the time I was twelve or thirteen, everyone assumed that we’d marry.”
“That happened with Sanford and me, too.” Looking back out at the front porch, she said, “We had a big wedding. Practically our whole church community was there.”
“The same thing happened with Evelyn and me.”
“It was nice.” Her voice had turned wistful. A little melancholy.
He was feeling the same way. “Jah, it was,” he agreed, though, “nice” didn’t really cover the many emotions that had been running through him on their wedding day. He’d been glad to finally stop planning and worrying about everything going all right during the ceremony. He’d been eager to have Evelyn as his wife.
If he was being honest, he’d also been struggling with his emotions. Jay had begun to wonder if he and Evelyn had made the right decision, if their long friendship had really melded into a romance, or if they’d simply been too comfortable to want to shake up their lives.
Before he brought up any other topic that made him doubt how things had been between him and Evelyn, he got to his feet. “Well, I’d better collect William and get him home. Ben is no doubt waiting to ask me what time he can go see Tricia.”
“They sure seemed smitten when I saw them together,” she said as she walked to his side.
“I thought the same thing,” he said as he stepped outside into her backyard. What he saw there made him smile. William was playing tag with Lena, and Frankie was barking at their heels. It was obvious that the beagle knew he was an important part of the family and loved “his” girls very much. William bent down and ruffled his velvety-soft ears. Frankie had just closed his eyes in what looked like extreme happiness when Annie’s squeal lit the air.
“There’s Serena!” she called out, pointing to a slim gray cat reclining on a tree branch just on the other side of the fence in the front yard. The cat was staring down into Emma’s yard like she’d just discovered a very plump canary.
Emma tensed as she stared at the cat, as if she feared it was about to turn into a crazed mountain lion. “Oh, no.”
“What’s wrong?” Jay thought the cat looked rather harmless, and he really couldn’t understand why Annie had taken off running.
“So many things,” she muttered. More loudly, she said, “Serena is a roving cat. She doesn’t seem to ever want to stay home. And Mrs. Sadler, her owner, bless her, never seems to keep track of her.”
He shrugged as Frankie ran to the fence and let out a howl. “That little cat will be okay. We always had a couple of barn cats back in Ohio. They’re smart creatures.”
“Oh, Jay. That is not what I’m concerned about,” she said as she gazed at Frankie worriedly. “Girls, one of you grab Frankie’s collar, wouldja?”
Jay chuckled. “Dogs and cats don’t always fight, Emma. Why, we had a shepherd once who was practically best friends with one of our barn cats.”
“That ain’t the case here.” She looked around at the girls who were still playing. “Oh, those girls never listen when I need them to. Excuse me, Jay.”
“Emma, can I help you?”
Before she could answer, somehow, some way, Frankie shoved himself under a very small gap under the fence, leaving only a cloud of dust. And Emma’s groan.
“Uh-oh!” Annie cried. “Mommy, Frankie has found Serena!”
“He certainly has,” Emma said under her breath.
As soon as Emma opened the gate, she and her three little girls scampered through, William on their heels. Jay followed as well. He was happy to help, though he wasn’t sure how good he was going to be capturing a wayward cat or an excited beagle.
By the time he’d gotten through the gate, around the side of the house, and reached the middle of Emma’s front yard, he didn’t know whether to laugh or take charge of the situation.
Serena was about halfway up the tree and hissing angrily. Frankie had his front paws on the trunk, howling his displeasure. The girls were all calling for Frankie and Serena. And his boy? William was swinging from the bottom limb of the tree, on his way up.
“I’m gonna go save Serena, Daed!” he yelled. “I can climb trees real good, right?”
William also happened to be mighty good at falling out of trees. But before Jay could stop him, his son was on the next limb.
“Serena, come here!” his boy yelled again.
As William climbed, Frankie barked and howled. Serena taunted Frankie from her tree limb with a haughty flick of her tail, and Emma’s little girls squealed, called for Serena, and egged William on—somehow all at the same time. Emma was standing a bit off to the side. Her arms were folded and she looked as if she’d been part of this scenario more than once or twice.
Jay couldn’t help it, he started laughing.
To his pleasure, Emma began chuckling, too. “It seems that things have gotten out of hand yet again, jah?”
“Jah. Do you care if William is climbing your tree?”
“That’s what they’re there for. Ain’t so?” she asked as she walked over and grabbed Frankie’s collar. “Come here, you silly hund. Won’t you ever learn that that cat lives to tease you?”
Frankie simply sat down and gazed at Emma with big, sad brown eyes.
“Oh, Frankie.” She gave the dog a quick hug. “What am I going to do with you?” she murmured before walking him over to the girls.
Looking up at the tree, Jay called out to William. “Come on down, son. I’ll get the cat.”
“Nee. I got it, Daed,” William said as he reached for Serena.
Serena meowed her protest, throwing in a hiss and a paw swipe for good measure. Looking alarmed, William jerked back. It seemed the cat thought she was a fierce lion or tiger instead of a plain gray house cat. Then Serena flicked her tail, gave him a superior feline sniff, and at last leapt from her branch to the ground. Seconds later, she was out of sight.
“She scratch you, son?” Jay called.
“Nee, but I lost her.” William moaned.
Jay was just about to go offer him a hand out of the tree, but Emma got there first. “That cat is a wily one, William. She’s confounded a great many people before you, I’m afraid. Can you get down all right?”
“Yep.” Looking almost catlike himself, William swung down and landed on the ground. “That was fun. Daed, can we come again real soon?”
After sharing a smile with Emma, Jay asked, “What do you think about coming over here a couple of afternoons a week to do homework?”
“Really?”
“Jah. Emma said you can stay with her and the girls, then either Ben or I will come get you.”
William looked up at Emma. “That’s okay with you?”
Emma nodded. “It’s more than okay,” she said softly. “I’d like to spend time with you, William.”
When William smiled and his eyes lit with something that looked a whole lot like hope, Jay knew that he’d reached a turning point with his youngest. William might not be done grieving for his mother—that might not happen for a very long time—but it seemed as if he’d at last shed some of the sadness that he’d been wearing like an ill-fitting shirt.
The whole way home on the SCAT, as William told Jay about his day at school, the new friends he was making, and how much he wanted a dog just like Frankie, Jay smiled.
Well, until that very last part. “I don’t think there’s too many dogs like Frankie, son,” he said through a chuckle. “Come to think of it, I think one Frankie in Pinecraft might just be all any of us can handle.”