“And twins for her youngest.” Mimi came to the table with the toast. “But you know what havin’ multiples in the house is like, jah?”
Lena nodded. “What one doesn’t think of, the other certainly does.”
Mimi glanced at Harley. “We wanted twin boys back when we were younger. Still, we’re real thankful for six healthy singles.”
Harley nodded his head. “Now the grandbabies are comin’ on fast—nearly a new one every year.”
Lena went to the fridge to get a bottle of orange juice. “That must be wunnerbaar.”
“Nothin’ like it.”
“ ’Tis a blessing, for certain.” Mimi took her seat to Harley’s right and fanned herself with her hankie. She kept it up for more than a minute, puffing air out through her lips.
Harley studied her but said nothing, his eyebrows raised as if to acknowledge that Mimi was overheated. Lena finished pouring the juice into their glasses, then went to sit next to Mimi while Harley asked the silent blessing.
When the prayer was finished, Harley quietly cleared his throat and raised his head.
“Amen,” Lena said before remembering that no one said amen aloud following grace here in Lancaster County. She’d forgotten yesterday, too, at Mimi’s Thanksgiving dinner, when it had just been her and Solomon, along with Harley and Mimi, of course. Eli had gone to Lydia’s parents’ home at their invitation, and the married children were either hosting their in-laws and families or were celebrating the holiday with extended family. It still wondered Lena why none of them had come to enjoy Mimi’s delicious spread—the turkey was as delicious as she’d ever tasted. It struck her as odd, but Mimi hadn’t seemed to mind, so that was all that mattered. Perhaps they’re all planning to come for Christmas, Lena thought, looking forward to being with her own close-knit family on that day.
Harley suggested just then that it would be all right for Lena Rose to take the family carriage and the best driving horse over to Cora Ruth’s place. “You can stay a while, too, if you’d like to visit,” he added with a quick smile, “unless Mimi needs you back right quick.”
“Well, there’s plenty-a sewing waitin’,” Mimi acknowledged, “but I agree—take your time, Lena. Even though Cora Ruth’s mother lives with her, I daresay she loves havin’ someone else to talk to who’s older than five.”
Lena nodded. “I’ll deliver the coat, then.” Honestly, she looked forward to getting out of the house, since she primarily kept busy in Mimi’s sewing room during the week. Sometimes Ada or Tessa or one of Mimi’s daughters-in-law would stop by for a visit, and there were occasional trips to market, too. Sundays, on the other hand, were a pleasant change of pace and scenery, because Lena had always loved to gather with people of like faith, even if this community of believers dressed differently and their church ordinance wasn’t quite like Lena’s back home.
In thinking ahead to attending Preaching this Sunday, the possibility of another encounter with genial Lydia Smucker crossed Lena’s mind. She hadn’t forgotten Lydia’s eagerness to have her join the youth at a Sunday Singing.
Lena thought back to her recent letter to Hans, having stayed up later than usual to pen it. Writing to him, and to her brothers and sisters, helped her make sense of this life she was living so far removed from all of them—an unexpected source of strength, the act of picking up a pen and writing. Hopefully, with snow on the ground and the outdoor work winding down, Hans’s letters might start coming more frequently.
Lena Rose held the driving lines carefully, feeling the sway of the mare’s trot as they went over the snow-packed roads.
A surprising number of folk were out and about as Lena drove up Stumptown Road, past the historic gristmill complex—Mascot Roller Mills. Most of the carriages were moving in the opposite direction, and Lena assumed they were headed for a quilting bee or a Sisters Day somewhere. Oh, to have more free time to do something different like that, she thought.
It wasn’t that she begrudged her sewing routine. Not at all, considering how much Mimi needed the help. But Mimi seemed content to be nearly homebound, and the Stoltzfus house just seemed so quiet, if not almost empty, compared to Dat’s house filled with ten children growing up together. Is Mimi depressed about Tessa moving so far away?
At the Ebersols’ turnoff, Lena noticed a little white stone springhouse out near the road, and a slight grade leading over to the farmhouse with its double Dawdi Hauses. She didn’t know who lived in the smallest of the houses, unless that was Rebekah’s. Mimi hadn’t told her much regarding Cora Ruth’s widowed mother, only that Cora Ruth had nearly more than she could manage most days. “ ’Tis a blessing Rebekah’s there,” Mimi had said.
Cora Ruth had an uncertain look on her face when she saw Lena Rose at the back door bringing the new black coat, but she welcomed her inside while holding one of the infant twins. Close by, one of the older children was rocking a wooden cradle with her foot.
“Kumme in an’ have some coffee, won’t ya?” Cora Ruth said, then closed the door.
“Denki, sounds nice.” Lena followed her to the large kitchen table, where two little towheaded boys were sitting and playing with wind-up ducks and other miniature animal toys. Seeing them made her think of Chris when he was that age.
Pretty soon, Rebekah came in, her gray hair all done up perfectly in a tight hair bun like Cora Ruth’s, looking perkier than Lena expected for a woman Mimi had described as in her mid-sixties.
“What made ya think to deliver the coat?” Cora Ruth asked Lena Rose, handing Rebekah the sleeping baby in her arms.
“Mimi thought it might help ya.”
“Ain’t that nice?” Rebekah said. She bent to kiss the top of the baby girl’s silky head and went
