Lena nodded, offering a small smile.
“How are ya managing over at Harley and Mimi’s?” Rebekah asked.
Lena was quick to say how wonderful the couple had been to her.
“Oh, they’d do anything for ya,” Cora Ruth agreed.
“That’s true,” Lena said with a glance at the two young boys, so happy and well-mannered as they played together at the end of the table. She supposed they were about two and four, if she wasn’t mistaken. But she reminded herself that she was primarily there to spend time with Cora Ruth, though she was also interested in getting to know Rebekah better.
When Cora Ruth brought over mugs of coffee and set them on the table, she asked Lena if she’d had a chance to read the recent weekly periodical, The Budget. “There’s something right funny in the column for your hometown.”
“Oh?”
“Here, let’s see if I can find it,” Cora Ruth said, reaching for the paper and thumbing through. “Here ’tis.” She folded the outer pages back and placed the section from the Amish scribe in Centreville in front of her, tapping the spot.
Silently, Lena read about a three-legged biddy chicken hatched by one of Deacon Joe Miller’s hens. Lena had to smile, wondering if Emma or Hans might write her about this. She thought of how Dat and Mamma had been close friends with Deacon Miller. “I’d sure like to see a picture of that chicken.” She slid the paper over to Rebekah. “Here, maybe you’d like to read it, too.”
Rebekah glanced down at the page, then up right quick, frowning a bit. “Would you mind readin’ it to me?”
Cora Ruth shook her head. “Oh, Mamm . . . it’s all right.”
“Well, since it ain’t in Deitsch . . . chust go ahead an’ read it to me, if ya don’t mind.” Rebekah’s voice had taken on an irritable edge.
Lena Rose had encountered another older woman back in Centreville who was also hesitant about reading, especially out loud. But Lena did as Rebekah requested and read the account of the three-legged chicken. Rebekah barely cracked a smile, instead looking down at the baby snuggled against her.
“It’s mighty strange, I daresay,” Cora Ruth said of the chicken and reached to take The Budget back. “I’m sure Melvin’ll get a kick out of it.”
“Puh! He has better things to do.” Rebekah sighed loudly and looked out the kitchen window, an indecipherable expression on her face.
Cora Ruth gave an apologetic shrug to Lena.
“Looks like it could turn out to be a milder day,” Lena said, trying to lighten things up.
“Well, it’ll be a good while, I ’spect, till it’s really mild again,” Rebekah said, looking Cora Ruth’s way. “Though I’ve never been round here when things thaw out.”
“You’re just visiting, then?” Lena asked Rebekah.
Rebekah glanced at Cora Ruth again. “Well, not exactly . . . not anymore.”
Oddly, Cora Ruth called loudly to Emily just then, interrupting the flow of conversation.
Rebekah abruptly changed the subject. “Lena Rose, did ya know there’s a cookie-baking frolic happening today?”
“So that’s where all the womenfolk were goin’. On the way here, I saw plenty-a buggies headin’ in the same direction.” Lena still felt awkward at the way both women had avoided answering her question about Rebekah.
“Jah, it’s the annual party down yonder at the bishop’s house,” Cora Ruth said, jumping back into the conversation. “His wife, Patricia, likes to get a head start on Christmas. They bake lots of cookies ahead of time, then freeze them—just oodles, with all those women workin’ together.”
“Mamma never really had much hope of freezin’ any cookies at our house,” Lena said, smiling. “There were so many of us.”
“Ain’t it cheaper to bake them by the dozens?” Rebekah asked, seemingly more relaxed now. She shifted the baby onto her shoulder and got her Kapp string stuck.
“One of our neighbors once joked to Mamma whether havin’ children might be cheaper by the dozen.” Lena smiled. “But there were only ten of us.”
“Close enough, ain’t?” Rebekah said with a chuckle.
Lena nodded. “I doubt my father would’ve agreed that more of us were any cheaper,” she said. “Things were tight much of the time till Dat began workin’ at the RV factory, but Mamma always did her best to make ends meet. She started substitute teachin’ the last few years, after I finished eighth grade. Before that, there were plenty of hand-me-downs in our house.”
Lena explained that she was the firstborn, and that her sister Emma had always ended up with Lena’s clothes, especially when they were small. “Quite a few of my baby clothes made it all the way to Liz and Verena. After that, there weren’t any more girls.”
“So, four girls and six boys, then?” Cora Ruth asked, turning to pick up the twin who had stirred and was now crying in the cradle.
“Jah, including a set of twins—both boys.”
“Well, what do ya know? Our twins are girls,” Cora Ruth said. “Cora and Constance—ain’t that sweet?”
“It is,” Lena said, noticing the darling twins were not identical. One had hair and the other was quite bald.
“Did your Mamma have much help with all of yous early on?” Cora Ruth asked, rocking back and forth with the crying baby and occasionally making soft shushing sounds.
“Oh, even when I was a youngster, she had my help before and after school—and in the summertime, too,” Lena assured her. “And Dat’s parents lived neighbors to us. So there were extra hands, for certain.”
Cora Ruth nodded and sighed. “A true godsend.” She looked Rebekah’s way just then, smiling at her. “The Lord God provides.”
Lena agreed.
“If circumstances hadn’t been, well, what they were when Mamm came here ten months ago . . .” Cora Ruth sighed heavily. “Ach, I’m just glad she came then and stayed on with us. Thank the dear Lord, too, that she was here when the twins were born.”
“Now, Cora Ruth, no need to dig that all up.” Rebekah’s voice
