A Simple Autumn: A Seasons of Lancaster Novel (5 page)

“Nothing was biting,” Dan said. “Three hours, we were waiting. So Perry broke out
the cooler Sarah had packed for him. Gave me half of his sandwich, which was nice.
Denki
, Perry.”

Across the table, Perry touched his short beard and grinned. “Ya, but I thought you’d
be eating it yourself.”

“I
was
eating it when I remembered something my father had told me. How he once had baited
a hook with bread and caught a whopper. I figured it was worth a try.”

“And that’s how you caught these fish?” Annie asked.

“Not exactly,” Perry said.

“The problem was, that bread wouldn’t stay on our hooks,” Dan said. “I don’t know
how my dat did it. But I was getting frustrated. I
pulled a piece of ham from my sandwich and stuck that on the hook.” He paused, his
gray eyes twinkling. “Next thing I knew, I had a tug on my line. A heavy pull! It
didn’t come in easy, but I finally landed that big fish.”

Laughter rose from the family.

Dat roared with amusement. “With ham? I’ve never heard of that.” He pressed one hand
to his chest and laughed some more.

Dat’s laughter lightened Annie’s heart. Aaron Stoltzfus had always been warm and good-natured,
but lately the stress of the farm had been wearing him down. It showed in his pale
complexion and his lack of energy at the end of each day. With a small farm to run
and no sons to help him run it, Aaron had relied on the help of his two sons-in-law,
Perry and Dan, to keep things going. But Perry would be leaving soon, and the Eshes’
harness shop in Halfway was demanding more and more of Dan’s time lately.

Annie and her mother kept telling Dat that he should hire some local help, but Dat
said no. “We’ve managed all these years on our own; I don’t want strangers running
the farm.”

“It wouldn’t be strangers,” Mamm always reminded him. “Some of our Amish neighbors
could use the work. And with the money from the shop, we’d have no trouble paying
them.” Ye Olde Tea Shop, which had started as Mamm’s side business, had gotten popular
with more and more tourists coming to Halfway these days. The shop was bringing in
money for the family, but it also pulled Lovina and her daughters away from the farm.

Annie’s older sister Sarah rose and started clearing away plates. “So that’s how you
caught one fish,” she said. “How did you come home with four?”

“Are you kidding me?” Perry’s dark brows rose. “I know something good when I see it.
I started baiting my hook with the ham, too. Four pieces of ham and we brought in
four fish.”

“We would have caught more,” Dan added, “but it was getting dark and we were running
out of ham.”

“Mmm.” Dan’s wife, Rebecca, pressed a napkin to her mouth. “That’s why the walleye
was so good and smoky. Tastes just like ham.”

Everyone laughed again.

“I’m glad to see my wife shares my sense of humor.” Dan handed his plate to Rebecca,
and Annie caught the unmistakable look of love between them. How her heart ached to
know that sort of love.

Annie brought a washcloth over to Mark in the high chair. She loved tending to her
little nephews. “I think you’re wearing more fish than you ate.” She wiped little
Mark’s face and hands before releasing him to toddle around.

“I don’t need a wiping,” said five-year-old Levi. “I’m not a baby.”

“Hmm.” Annie squinted at him. “You look fishy to me.”

“I’ll wash at the sink, then.” He scooted off the bench and went to the sink.

“Now I know how to get him to the sink,” Rebecca, Levi’s mother, said, smiling at
Annie. “Set
you
on him.”

Annie smiled. “If you need me, just send him down the lane.” Rebecca, Dan, and Levi
lived in a cottage on the property, so Levi spent most days on the farm.

“Perry and Dan, denki for the fish,” said Annie’s mother, Lovina. “Your walleyes made
a delicious meal for us.”

“And a good surprise on a Sunday when we usually just have a small snack for dinner.”
Annie’s father folded his napkin and dropped it onto the table. “Next time you go
fishing, I’ll supply the ham.”

“Next time will be a long ways off, Dat,” Sarah reminded him. “We’re heading off Friday.
Perry ordered the driver already.”

Sarah’s words drained the smile from Annie’s face. In all the laughter and joking,
Annie had let the dreaded day slip from her mind. But
it was coming, this Friday. In a way, tonight had been a farewell dinner for Sarah,
Perry, and little Mark. They would be leaving Lancaster County … leaving the state
of Pennsylvania.

Aaron rose from the table and put a hand on his daughter’s shoulder. Were those tears
shining in his blue eyes? Annie wondered.

“You don’t need to say it again,” Dat said softly. “Your move up north has been heavy
on my mind ever since you and Perry announced it. You know your mamm and I are sad
to see you go.”

“It wasn’t an easy choice.” Sarah paused, her arms full of stacked dishes, her smile
a bit shaky. “But, Dat, you know how hard it is to find land in Lancaster County.”
The young couple had moved in to one of the upstairs bedrooms when they married, and
though they’d been saving money, they didn’t see a way that they could buy property
here anytime soon.

“I know that, Sarah. You and Perry have made a good choice. But it’s like castor oil;
it doesn’t go down too easy.”

Sarah looked to her husband. “Perry thinks it’s the best thing for us, and I know
my husband will do his best to provide for his family.”

Perry nodded at Sarah with such a look of love in his eyes that Annie thought her
heart would melt. She had always wondered at the quiet bond between her sister and
Perry Fisher. Mutual respect, admiration, and a willingness to work side by side.

Sarah didn’t even notice as Annie took the plates from her and set them beside the
sink. Her oldest sister, Rebecca, was already rinsing forks in a pot of clear water,
so Annie grabbed a towel and got to work.

“We’re all going to miss you,” said Hannah. “Mamm, who’s going to take Sarah’s work
at the shop?” Eighteen-year-old Hannah was the youngest of Annie’s sisters, and though
she looked like she was barely a teenager, she’d been meeting with the bishop to be
baptized this month.

“I’ll need to hire some help at the tea shop,” Lovina said. “Same with Dat here on
the farm.”

“I can manage without a hired hand,” Dat said. “I’ve always said, we’ve got to keep
this a family farm.”

“The choice is yours,” Lovina said, “but I’m going to ask around for help at the shop.
And it wouldn’t hurt to hire an Amish man to work here. A hearty young man who wants
to learn how to work the land.”

Dat waved his hand as if swatting a gnat. “Pshaw! An old man like me can work the
land, too.”

“You’re not old, Dat,” Annie said.

“But you’re going to need help, Aaron,” Perry said. “With Dan taking over the harness
shop and me gone, there’s going to be more work around here than any one man could
handle.”

“Everyone will pitch in,” Aaron said. “We’ll make do.”

Hannah blew a wisp of hair out of her face. “Sounds like Annie and I are going to
be spending more time out in the barn.”

“At the end of the day, the chores will be done,” Lovina said. “Important thing is
that Perry and Sarah get a good start. What grows in that part of New York? Is the
land the same as ours? I want to imagine you there in the months ahead.”

“There’s a lot of dairy farming. Three years ago my cousin moved up there, and last
fall he was able to build a house,” Perry said. “There’s opportunity up north that
we don’t have here. More open land. Cheaper land, and a lot of it can be tilled. We’ve
almost got enough saved to buy forty acres. In the meantime, Cousin Gideon needs help
on his farm. That’ll give us work right away, and a place to stay.”

“I’ll miss you all so!” Lovina’s voice was as warm as a familiar quilt on the bed.
“You will always be welcome here.”

Dropping some forks into the drawer, Annie saw her mother gather Sarah into her arms.
The knot in Annie’s throat grew thick. Another minute of this and she would be crying.

“You’ve shared your fine home with us for too long,” Perry said. “We’re grateful for
all you’ve done for us. But we’ve talked and prayed about making this move. I think
it’s time.”

“Bishop Sam has given us a letter for the clergy up in Lowville, saying that we’re
baptized members in good standing,” Sarah said.

“And it’s an Old Order group?” asked Dat.

“It’s the Byler Amish,” Perry said. “More conservative than we are. No gas lamps or
indoor plumbing.”

“Do you remember the days when we had the outhouse in the back?” Lovina asked her
daughters. “It wasn’t so bad. You’ll be used to it in no time.”

Annie wondered if she would fit in among the Byler Amish. Not that she had made up
her mind on moving to New York, but she had to ask herself how she’d feel about following
a stricter Ordnung.

“We’ll be near a lake, and close enough to take a ride to Lake Erie,” Sarah said.
“They say that lake is so big, you can’t even see the other side.”

“That would be such a wonderful sight!” Mamm said. “We’ll have to go there when we
visit, Aaron. Take a look at the great lake Gott created.”

“It is a Great Lake,” Perry said, “one of five.”

“Oh, you’re a smart one.” Lovina clapped him on the back as everyone laughed.

The men moved into the front room to talk and relax with the little ones while kitchen
cleanup was in progress. Annie brought some table scraps out to the porch to feed
Sunny, their border collie. When she returned to the kitchen, talk of the big move
was still in the air. Sarah was explaining that the Lowville Amish didn’t allow phone
shanties that were shared by neighbors.

“So we can’t even talk to you on the phone?” Hannah asked as she wiped down the table
covering. “How will we share news?”

“We’re going to do a circle letter,” Rebecca said. “And we’re
counting on you to write about everyone here, Annie. You’re the writer.”

“Me?” Annie pressed the paper plates down into the trash. “I don’t mind writing, but
I don’t think a true circle letter will work. I can’t bear to wait for other people
to write and keep the chain going.”

“You can send your letter straight to me, anytime,” Sarah assured her.

Annie wanted to say that a letter was no comfort at all, not like having her sister
nearby. Nothing was turning out as Annie had planned. She had always thought she’d
be married to Adam King by the time she turned twenty. Married and living a stone’s
throw from her sisters.

And here she was, not a prospect in sight, and she was losing part of her family.
Her throat felt thick, squeezed tight by worry, and her eyes stung.

Don’t cry. Do not cry!
She clamped her teeth over her lower lip to keep it from wobbling. She didn’t want
to be a Gloomy Gussy. Sarah deserved better.

When she looked up to find a place in the cabinet for the glass she’d been drying,
Sarah stood beside her, her blue eyes watchful. Annie had never been able to fool
her.

“Be happy for me, Annie.” Sarah grabbed her arm and pulled her to the side of the
big kitchen, away from the commotion of dishwashing. “Perry and I are going off on
an adventure. There’s good opportunity for him there, and a chance for us to farm
our own land someday.”

Annie twisted the dish towel around one hand. “But you’ll be so far from home.”

“Ya, but Perry has some family there. And you can come visit us anytime. It’s not
like you to see the bad in things. Look at all the good that might come of this. Now
smile for me.”

Swallowing, Annie forced a smile. “You know I want the best for you. I pray that Gott
has good things waiting for you in New York.”

“I know that.” Sarah rubbed Annie’s arm fondly. “And think about what I said before.
New York might be your chance to start over. Even if you and Adam weren’t right and
proper beaus, that doesn’t make it hurt any less to have your dreams crushed.”

Annie took a deep, calming breath. “How did you get so smart about things like that?”

“When it comes to my sisters, I’ve had a lifetime of experience,” Sarah said. “I can
read you all like a book.”

“Ya?” Rebecca called from the sink. “If you can read me now, you’ll know that someone
needs to serve coffee and apple schnitz while I finish scrubbing these fry pans.”

Sarah laughed as she led Annie back to the heart of the kitchen. “I’ll make the coffee.
Where’s Hannah gone off to?”

“She’s getting washed up for the singing,” Lovina said as she returned from the front
room. “Though I don’t know how much more washing that girl can do. With the time she
spends in the shower, she’s going to scrub clear through the skin.” She turned to
Annie. “Are you going to the singing, too?”

When Annie nodded, her mamm shooed her along.

“You’d better get along, then. Go hitch Dapple to the buggy. We’ll get the kitchen
spic-and-span.”

“I don’t mind helping,” Annie said.

But Lovina wouldn’t hear of it. “You’ll have double chores on your shoulders after
your sister leaves,” Mamm said. “Best to make hay while the sun shines. Off to the
singing you go!”

O
utside the barn, a cool wind swept over the stubby golden fields, making the leaves
on the trees shimmer in bunches of gold and red and orange. The sun was an orange
ball over the hills—a harvest sky that promised cooler days ahead. It would be a perfect
night to give Annie a ride home—just cool enough to make two people want to huddle
together for warmth.

When Jonah led Jigsaw over to the buggies lined up beside the barn, he saw Adam there,
hitching Thunder up to the open carriage on the end.

“I like this cooler weather,” Adam said.

Jonah nodded, stroking the withers of his horse. Jigsaw nickered in appreciation.

A second later, Gabe trotted over bareback on Mercury.

“A traffic jam and we’re not even on the road yet,” Jonah said. Though all three brothers
were going to the same place, by courting tradition each wanted to take his own buggy,
in the hope of leaving with a girl. “It’s a good thing we have more than one buggy.”