“I was surprised to see him there,” Gracie said, picking up their earlier conversation about Levi Yoder. “But I suppose Mims can be a little . . .”
“Bossy?” Leah supplied.
“Forceful,” Hannah said with a sharp look at her sister. “Mims is forceful and is somewhat accustomed to getting her way.” Though nobody knew exactly how that came about.
“I just felt bad for him,” Hannah said. “He looked like he would have rather been anyplace else.”
“Well, John David is his cousin,” Leah said.
“I know,” Hannah replied.
He had been as obliged to go to the wedding as she had, Tillie thought. Why did they do that to themselves? It certainly wasn’t for the bride and groom. That much Tillie knew for certain. There were enough people at the wedding that neither she nor Levi would have been missed had they not attended. The people who knew they were both there would be the other people, other guests, attending the wedding. They would know if someone was missing and needed to be there. So that was the reason people like Tillie and Levi subjected themselves to the torture of the niceties dictated by their community.
It wouldn’t do any good to say that it wasn’t fair. It was simply the way it was.
“I heard you and Mamm went over to his house Monday and put up Christmas decorations for him.” Leah’s words took Tillie completely off guard.
“I . . . Jah, I mean, not . . .”
“We’ll take that as a yes,” Hannah said.
“We were just trying to bring him a little joy,” Tillie explained. But even to her own ears it sounded weak. Lame, Brandon would say. It sounded like an excuse just to go over to his house. And all because his name popped up on her lips at the most inconvenient time.
“Whew!” Leah waved a hand in front of her face. “And this is why we usually do this outside,” she said.
“Even in the winter?” Tillie asked.
“This is the first winter that we’ve had this many orders, thanks to somebody’s website,” Gracie said.
“We needed a website,” Leah returned.
“Who knew it was going to take off like this?” Hannah shrugged. “So we hadn’t planned on making this much lotion. Now we know to start earlier next year.”
“And crack a window,” Gracie said.
Leah rose to her feet and made her way across the room to the window at the front of the house.
“It’s really gotten cold out there.” Hannah rubbed her arms as the first gust of wind swept through the room.
“It’s either cold or overwhelming smells,” Leah said.
Hannah laughed. “I’m sure Mamm’s got a sweater I can borrow.” She stood.
“Get one for me too,” Tillie called.
“Make that three,” Gracie added.
Hannah stopped at the door and looked back to Leah.
Her twin shrugged. “It’s unanimous.”
“Check,” Hannah said and disappeared down the hallway. She returned a few moments later with a sweater for each of them.
“It’s supposed to get bad tomorrow or the next day,” Hannah said. “I heard Aaron talking about it.”
Leah passed a stack of labels to Tillie and nodded. “I’m not sure how bad it’s really supposed to get, but they have everybody worried. I went to the store this morning—no bread, no milk. I’ve got a growing boy at home who is not happy if he can’t have a peanut butter sandwich for lunch.”
“Don’t they get a shipment in on Thursdays?” Gracie asked.
“Gracie Glick, you’re the only person I know who would keep up with such a thing.” Hannah laughed and shot her cousin a sweet smile. She meant no disrespect or harm.
“Everyone knows that. Besides, I’ve got four growing boys at home. I have to keep up with that sort of thing. Especially since Henry has taken a liking to cheese crackers. He thinks he has to have them every day, and if he runs out . . . Well, you know Henry.”
Tillie didn’t know Henry as well as Leah and Hannah, of course, but she had seen him a couple of times. He was what their mamm would call a stinker. But so adorably cute everyone somehow forgave him his daily transgressions. A handful, that’s what Mammi Glick would say. Henry Byler was a handful.
“I suppose we’ll have to be there at the crack of dawn in order to get any if everybody else knows they’re getting a shipment,” Hannah said. She didn’t say as much, but she had growing kids too. They all did. In just a short time everyone around the table had gained family, husbands, life mates.
Everyone but her.
She pushed the thought away as Leah continued, “You think there’s going to be a white Christmas?”
Hannah handed a bottle of vanilla-scented essential oil to Leah. “And when is the last time you remember a white Christmas in Mississippi?”
Leah tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Sometime in the nineties?”
“I’ll tell you when,” Hannah said with a firm nod. “Never. That’s when.”
“Surely we’ve had one or two,” Gracie said. She stood and started mixing lotion, using the mixed scents Leah had been carefully concocting.
“Well, there’s a first time for everything, right?” Tillie asked.
“I suppose so,” Hannah said. “But I’m not holding my breath on this one.”
“I’m with Hannah,” Leah agreed. “I’d suspect an icy Christmas over a white Christmas around here.”
“You are staying through Christmas,” Gracie asked with a hesitant look at Tillie.
She nodded as all eyes turned to her. “Jah,” she said. “I’m staying through Christmas.” For now anyway.
“Have you heard from Melvin?” Hannah asked. Tillie shook her head. There wasn’t a good way for Melvin to get in touch with her, nor she him. The only phone shanty in the district was just outside the school. If an Amish person wanted to use the phone, they had to borrow one. No one wanted to bother their English neighbor with something that wasn’t an emergency. It wasn’t like Melvin could just pick up the phone and call.
It wasn’t like he would
