“Has she seen what you wear when you stay at the B&B?” Rachel teased, thinking of the jeans and thin red sweater she’d seen her cousin wearing the other day.
“Ne, and she’s not going to.” Mary Aaron stared out the window at the wind-blown fields and straggly pine trees. “Winter’s coming soon. Weatherman said there might be snow flurries tonight.”
Rachel slid the scarf onto the dashboard; she’d put it on when she reached the Studer farm. “Did you say anything to your father about Alma and Mary Rose needing more firewood?”
“Ya, I did. He promised to send a load from our woodshed. You know Dat, he’s always got enough wood stored up for two winters. Whenever one of the boys does something he doesn’t like, he sends them to split logs.”
“Be sure and tell Alma. She shouldn’t have to worry about heating the house in the next few months. She has enough to worry about.”
“Dat and your father are going to get some of the young men together to take turns helping the family out through the winter. Taking wood, splitting it, caring for livestock, mending fences, whatever’s needed. It’s enough that Mary Rose has lost her husband,” Mary Aaron said. “She shouldn’t fear that she won’t be able to care for her baby girl.”
“I agree,” Rachel answered. Ahead of them, a pheasant crossed the road. It was a male with beautiful plumage. She smiled. She hadn’t seen one for a while. “I want to get Mary Rose alone to talk to her. I might need you to distract Alma. Tell her that an attorney went to the prison to speak with Moses and we’re just waiting to hear if she’ll take the case. If Moses has agreed to allow her to represent him.”
“You don’t think it would be better to just wait until we know it’s going to work out with the attorney?” Mary Aaron asked. “We don’t want them to get their hopes up.”
“I don’t know. I think Alma will want to know what’s going on.”
“Mary Rose didn’t seem too interested in the case against Moses,” Mary Aaron pointed out.
Rachel shrugged. “I think she’s still in shock. A timid woman like her, she’s probably overwhelmed.”
“Okay, that’s fine. I’ll speak to Alma. It will give me a good excuse to get her away and let you talk with Mary Rose for a minute. Alma can decide what and when she wants to tell Mary Rose.”
As it happened, there was no need for Mary Aaron to pull Alma aside. Daniel’s widow opened the door and timidly welcomed the two of them in. “Mam’s not here,” she said, cradling her swaddled infant against her chest. “She and Lemuel went to the Hertzlers’. Joanne fell and hurt her arm.”
“Joanne is Rosh’s mother,” Mary Aaron explained to Rachel. “Neighbors.”
“Ya.” Mary Rose nodded. “Joanne and Mam are good friends, and she wanted Mam’s advice on whether she thought it was broken or just sprained. Before they made the trip to the emergency room. She’ll be sorry she missed you. Is there news about Moses?”
“Ne,” Mary Aaron replied. “Rachel sent an English lawyer to speak with him this morning, but we don’t know how that went yet.”
Mary Rose waved them to seats at the kitchen table and offered coffee. When Mary Aaron said she’d love some, Mary Rose placed the baby in a bassinet near the radiating warmth of the cookstove. “She’s such a good baby,” the proud mother declared. She hurried to pour coffee and cut slices of gingerbread. “Eat, please. Friends have brought so much that we’ll never eat it all before it goes to waste.”
Rachel waited until Mary Rose joined them at the table. “I’m sorry to bother you again. I just have a few more questions,” she said. “I’m trying to get information that could possibly help Moses,” she added.
Mary Rose passed around cream and sugar. She didn’t take any herself, nor did she pour herself coffee. Instead, she sat with her hands in her lap, waiting. “I don’t know what else I can tell you,” she murmured. “But I want to help my brother. Of course.”
“Did your husband have any enemies that you knew of?” Rachel asked, adding a spoon of sugar to her coffee.
“Enemies? Such a hard word. I would hope no Amish man or woman would have enemies,” the young widow said.
“You’re right, not a good word,” Rachel agreed, trying to make eye contact with the young woman. “What I mean is, did anyone have anything against Daniel? Did he have any ongoing arguments with anyone?”
“Ne, of course not. Everybody liked him.”
Rachel stirred her coffee. “You can’t think of any disagreements that he had recently? With anyone? Amish or Englisher.”
Mary Rose looked down at her hands. “Ne.”
Rachel thought for a moment, then went on. “I know that it couldn’t have been easy for the two of you. You’ve not been married that long,” Rachel ventured. “Daniel must have been under a lot of stress, what with the farm and the new baby. Did you see that?”
Mary Rose looked down and a hint of a blush tinted her cheeks. “He was a strong man, a good provider.”
“And he never spoke to you about any specific problems with anyone?” Rachel pressed. She wanted to ask if the marriage had been a happy one, but that would have been stepping too far over the line into the young widow’s personal life.
“He wouldn’t do that.” Mary Rose bit at a cuticle on her thumb. “Daniel put his faith in God. If he had worries, he took them only to his Lord.”
Mary Aaron leaned forward. “Do you know if Daniel was hunting alone that day?”
“Lemuel went with him. He told me yesterday.”
“He told me,
