A Time To Heal (4 page)

“When we talked at the V.A. hospital, Jenny told me a quilt brought her here. She said her grandmother sent one to her with a note that said to come here to heal.”

“
Ya.
I remember.”

Chris walked over to stare out the window.

“Is that why you've come?”

Chris jerked around and stared at her. “I'm all healed. I came to look around, see a place I've heard about. It's been a long time since I had a vacation.”

“Many people come here. Couples. Families. School groups.Even tourists from overseas. But not single men, Chris. Not single men.”

“Oh yeah? Why else would I come?”

It was so quiet she could hear the ticking of the clock in the other room. “I don't know,” she said finally. “But I hope it's not because you want Jenny. She belongs to my brother now.”

He met her stare for stare.

“I know she belongs to your brother. I didn't come to 'steal' her.”

She folded her arms across her chest, eyeing him warily.He hadn't ever met a woman so determined, or so protective of her family.

“Maybe I shouldn't stay,” he said slowly. “I don't want to cause any problems.”

He had already brought one family enough grief. One man's wife had alternately begged and screamed at him, and the child whose hand she held … He hadn't been able to forget the look of confusion in his eyes. At four, the child had been too young to understand what had happened to his father in court.

For the second time that day, he turned to leave the property.And felt her hand on his arm.

“Wait! Don't go.”

Turning, he looked at her. “I'm sorry,” she said. “Maybe I'm being too—”

“Suspicious?”

She laughed and shook her head. “Cautious, not suspicious.I don't want the people I love hurt in any way.”

“I'm not here to hurt anyone.”

“No,” she said with a sigh. “So far you've actually kept two of us from serious injury today. First me, and then Mary.” She sobered. “I know I would have broken some bones if I'd fallen from the loft. At the very least.”

“You thanked me for that.”

“No,” she said, looking at him directly. “I don't think I had a chance to do that. Big brother came along ready to beat you up.”

She didn't think she'd ever look at the hayloft the same way again. When she'd heard a noise, she'd thought it was just one of the
kinner
being mischievous. Instead, she'd surprised a man—a strong, mysterious man. The strength of his grip had saved her from falling and hurting herself. What she'd felt when he touched her, when he looked deep into her eyes— that had shaken her more than she cared to think.

When he looked at her hand on his arm, she let it go.

“I can sleep anywhere. Haylofts. In the woods.”

“No one who's a guest in our home will sleep in the hayloft or in the woods.”

“I slept in far worse places overseas.”

Hannah flinched. “I don't want to think about that.”

He shrugged.

“You saved Mary from a serious burn too. I think that's what really convinced Matthew that you were a good person, that you instinctively jumped up to protect her. I can't let you leave and walk through the dark to find a motel.”

Hannah walked to the closet and double-checked its contents.“There are more blankets in here if you need them.”

“The quilt should be enough.”

She watched him stroke the quilt again.

“It'll feel real homey tonight, I'm sure,” he mused. “I stayed with Grandma one winter when my mother was in the hospital.Grandma made me a quilt and she'd tuck me in at night. It felt like a warm hug.”

He turned. “The quilt got lost in a move and Grandma's not around to make me another. Maybe I should buy one in town before I leave.”

“I teach people how to make them at a shop in town,” Hannah said. “It's just part-time.”

“Is this one you made?”

She nodded. “There are a lot of places you can buy one. I'll tell you where to go.”

“Great.”

“Well, I guess I'll go then. Sleep well.”

“You too.”

She felt a blush stealing into her cheeks. Nodding, she turned and instead of exiting through the connecting door hurried out the entrance of the
dawdi haus,
wanting a moment to herself but not sure why.

Stars twinkled overhead as she walked back to the front of the house. The air was indeed turning cool, but she welcomed the change from the heat of the summer and all the work that was involved in harvesting and canning.

When she walked into the kitchen, the dishes had been done and Phoebe and Jenny were chatting as they sat at the table.

“Perfect timing,” Hannah joked.

“Our guest all settled?” Jenny asked her.

“
Ya.”

“He was very kind to me in the hospital. I don't know what I would have done if he hadn't come to my rescue during that anxiety attack.”

Hannah nodded. “You told us that.”

“Just thought I'd remind you. It seemed like you were a little distant with him at supper.”

“She glared at him,” Phoebe said, and she and Jenny laughed.

“I guess I did,” Hannah admitted with a grin. “He told me I was suspicious of him.”

“Well, well. He was direct.”

Hannah laughed. “Oh yes, very direct. But so was I.”

Obviously curious, they sat and waited for her to go on.

“You might as well know that I accused him of coming here to steal you away from Matthew.”

Jenny and Phoebe looked at each other and then Jenny laughed. “That's pretty outspoken even for you.”

“Yes, well.” She glanced at the floor and then up at them.“You can't blame me. Good-looking guy comes here unannounced wanting to see my sister-in-law … what would you think?”

Jenny's eyebrows rose. “Hmm. Good-looking, huh? You noticed?”

“Is that why you were gone so long?” Phoebe asked, her eyes alight with mischief.

Hannah threw up her hands. “Oh, never mind. I'm going home.”

C
hris lay staring at the ceiling, his arms folded under his head on the pillow. He didn't know where Hannah had gotten the idea that he'd come here with romantic fantasies about Jenny, but he sure hoped Matthew didn't think the same thing. He had enough problems without having his host think that was why he'd come to see her.

Jenny appeared so different from the way she'd looked last time he'd seen her. Then, she'd been pale, in pain, sitting in a wheelchair, and hyperventilating as she waited for the results of her medical tests. He'd been able to relate since he'd gone through the same thing.

Now she glowed with health, moved about easily, and looked so happy with her husband and her ready-made family.He felt a moment's envy that she'd found someone who loved her. Found a home. Found family. Found a community

He had a home back on the farm. Had family—his dad and brothers. He'd gone there after his release from the hospital, but it didn't feel right. He wasn't ready to settle there again. He didn't know when he would be.

Sleep eluded him. The burns on his chest still stung like crazy, but he felt so tired after the unaccustomed exertion of the day that he should have slept. Instead, his mind kept replaying the incident in the hayloft with Hannah.

He couldn't help but remember Hannah staring at him in shock, then disappearing from sight as she slipped from the ladder. His stomach clenched as he recalled jumping up and reaching for her, wondering if he'd be able to grab her hand or whether he would witness her fall to the ground below.

Then, when he pulled her up and she lay gasping for breath, he'd had an opportunity to look at her, really look at her. He thought she was one of the prettiest women he'd ever seen— with her clear ivory skin, wide blue eyes, and full rose-colored lips that bore no trace of cosmetics. Lips that had spoken such hard words of distrust just a short time ago.

No shy, meek Amish miss. Jenny had asked Hannah to show him around the area tomorrow. No doubt Hannah would be polite, as she had been this evening. But she'd watched him at supper, watched his interactions with her family, and now he knew why.

Well, she could believe what she wanted, but he wasn't interested in romancing her sister-in-law. He hadn't come here for that reason at all. And he didn't intend to tell her his reason for coming, either.

He wondered what the next day would bring. After so many months cooped up in a hospital, his injuries holding him hostage in a wheelchair, he wanted to live, not just exist. He hadn't fought all that pain and the surgeries and the depression and despair just to waltz through the rest of his life. He'd survived when others he knew hadn't.

That didn't mean he thought he was special and had some big purpose to accomplish—some big contribution to society to make. But it meant that he had to make the time he had been given worth something. Others hadn't gotten it.

He thought about that a lot. Especially after Vince had been killed and left him his Bible. Vince had talked to him about God and Jesus and about their love for him. Chris didn't understand why he'd lived and his friend had died. Vince had been the one with the connection to God. He was such a good person. Wasn't he more worthy of life?

His counselor called it survivor guilt. A lot of people— especially soldiers—felt this way.

Chris had no idea that he wouldn't be able to talk to Jenny alone. Now he had to think of how he could stick around without arousing suspicions.

And the woman he would be playing tourist with the next morning—he'd have to be careful around her if he didn't want to make anyone suspicious of his motives.

The burns on his chest had made wearing a shirt to bed a bad idea. Now, as Hannah had predicted, the night had turned cool and he felt cold under a top sheet only.

He reached for the quilt, unfolded it, and spread it over the bed. Pulling it up over his shoulders, he wrapped himself in the scent and soft fabric of bedding that had been dried outdoors.Finally at peace, he slept.

The next morning, Mary opened the door when Chris knocked. “
Guder mariye,
Chris.” She smiled and explained, “It means 'good morning.'”

“Good morning to you too.” He stepped inside and inhaled the wonderful breakfast aromas of bacon, eggs, cinnamon, and coffee.

He nearly stumbled over the suitcase that sat near the front door.

“
Mamm's
leaving for New York City right after breakfast.“She shut the door. “Did you sleep
gut?”

“Very
gut,
thank you.”

She stopped and so he did too. “Chris? Do the burns still hurt?”

Chris stared at her. The child looked like a little angel with her long moss-green dress and almost white-blond hair worn in pigtails. Her big blue eyes gazed up at him.

“They don't hurt at all,” he lied.

She smiled and slipped her hand into his. “
Gut.
Are you
hungerich?
We made cinnamon rolls.”

“Sounds wonderful.” He looked at her. “How do you say that in Pennsylvania Dutch?”

“
Wunderbaar.”

Chris said the word, and she giggled at his pronunciation.

“What's all this mirth first thing in the morning?” Matthew asked sternly as they entered the kitchen.

Then Matthew waggled his eyebrows and sent Annie into a fit of giggles.

“Silly
Daedi,”
she said, sitting at the table. She scribbled in a notebook. “Mirth means funny. Right?”

“Right.”

She looked up at Chris. “I'm keeping a book of words,” she told him seriously. “I'm going to grow up to be a
schreiwer
like my
mamm.
A writer,” she explained with a giggle.

Tucking her pencil into the notebook, she plunged her spoon into a bowl of oatmeal.

“That's a stupendous idea,” he said.

Annie's eyes grew big. She pulled the notebook open and got out her pencil. “Stupendous! I don't know that word! I have to look that up. It sounds like it means really, really good.Right?”

“You bet.”

“Help me spell it?”

“S-t-u-p-e-n-d-o-u-s.” He hoped. For confirmation, he looked at Jenny who grinned and nodded.

“Have a seat,” Matthew told Chris.

Jenny glanced over from the stove where she used a spatula to lift fried eggs from a cast iron skillet.

“Good morning.” She picked up the percolator and walked over to pour him a cup of coffee.

Chris breathed in the scent. It smelled like heaven.“Thanks.”

“Hannah should be over soon. I'm not sure if she told you that she lives next door with Phoebe.”

“
Mamm?”

Jenny glanced at Mary and some unspoken message seemed to pass between them. Jenny nodded.

“Chris, how are the burns this morning?”

“Not a twinge,” he lied. “The burn ointment you gave me worked really well.”

Mary smiled and sipped from a glass of milk.

“I hope you like bacon and eggs?” Jenny asked.

“Love them.”

They said a prayer for the meal and then passed around platters of eggs and bacon. The cinnamon rolls were bigger than a man's hand, warm from the oven, and they oozed spicy, sugary sweetness and ribbons of white icing. Chris took one and wondered if he'd be rude to take more. Manners kicked in, and he passed the basket.

“We made lots and lots,” Mary told him shyly, giving him a conspiratorial smile as if she'd read his mind. “You can have as many as you want.”

The children chattered about Jenny's trip but didn't seem worried about her being away.

“
Mamm's
going to talk to her editor about her new book,” Annie told him. “It's not a storybook. It's to tell people what's happening to kids who aren't fortunous like us.” She frowned and looked at Jenny. “Fort—fort—?

“Fortunate,” Jenny said, her smile gentle as she touched the little girl's cheek. “They aren't as fortunate as us.”

She took her seat at the table and served herself as she listened to the children.

Chris waited for the children to ask her to bring them back presents, things, the way kids he knew did when their parents had to go away for work. Instead, the children talked about school and chores and what they'd be doing while she went out of town.

All the while, he saw that Jenny and Matthew quietly held hands beneath the table and spent a lot of time smiling at each other. Even if he didn't know they hadn't been married all that long ago, he'd have figured them for newlyweds. But he hadn't expected an Amish man would display his feelings about his wife.

The front door opened and then closed.

Hannah walked in and noticed Chris sitting at the table eating breakfast.

She sighed inwardly. So, she was still going to have to play tour guide. Well, she'd do it for Jenny but she wouldn't like it a bit. The quicker he was gone, the sooner she could get back to her daily routine.

Hmm. How quick could she make it? She poured herself a cup of coffee and couldn't help smiling as an imp of mischief tugged at her imagination.

She made the mistake of looking at Chris just then and their gazes locked. His eyes narrowed as he studied her.

Hastily, she glanced away, and this time found Jenny watching her. Her sister-in-law's eyebrows went up, but Hannah shook her head.

“So do you have any idea where you want to go or what you want to see today?” Jenny asked Chris.

He cast a quick look at Hannah and then shook his head. “I think I'll let Hannah plan our itinerary.”

“Itin—rarry?” Annie looked like a reporter as she held her pencil above her notebook.

Chris grinned at Annie. “Itinerary. It's a plan for a trip you want to take. You make a list of all the places you want to see so you don't forget anything. Your mother will have to help you spell that one, I'm afraid.”

Jenny smiled and spelled the word for Annie.

“My
mamm's
going on a trip, right after breakfast,” Annie announced. “And she's got lots of lists.”

“I'm a little obsessive about being organized, I guess.”

“A little?” Hannah teased.

“Obsessive?” asked Annie.

Jenny bit back a smile and then spelled the word.

Hannah gave in and placed a cinnamon roll on a plate.Jenny still didn't make a lot of different types of food but those she did she made well. Cinnamon rolls were in the top five best recipes made by Jenny, Hannah decided as she bit in.

Jenny made a face at Hannah. “So I needed some help adjusting to running a household with three children and helping Matthew with the farm where I could and still meet my writing deadlines. You were a tough act to follow.”

Hannah shrugged and felt a little embarrassed at Jenny's praise. After all, she needed to do the same when Amelia, Matthew's first wife, had died.

“I enjoyed helping Matthew with the
haus
and the
kinner.
And I'll be happy to help in any way while you're gone.”

She turned to them. “Starting now. Isn't it time to leave for
schul?”

The children got up, took their plates to the sink, and then swarmed Jenny with kisses and hugs.

Hannah's heart warmed as she watched Jenny fight back tears while hugging them close.

“I'll be back in no time,” she said. “I promise.”

“We know,” said Annie, and she gave Jenny a big smacking kiss on the cheek. “Bye!”

A quick scurry of feet, and the three children raced out the door. It slammed behind them and left utter silence.

“What a wonderful sound,” Matthew said, grinning. He sighed and took a last sip of his coffee. “Let's get you off and I can have a nice, quiet house all to myself for a while,” he told Jenny.

“Well!” she pretended to huff. “Maybe I'll just stay there a few extra days.”

“Maybe I'll come after you if you do,” he responded and her smile faded.

“That would be so awesome,” she breathed. “Do you mean it? Just the two of us?”

“I can't manage it right now, during the harvest. But we can go away for a few days this winter.”

“How would we manage that—” She broke off and looked at Hannah. “Do I sense a plot here?”

Hannah smiled. “See, I can keep a secret.”

Jenny rushed to Hannah's side and threw her arms around her. “Well, I guess I won't mind this once.” She sighed. “I feel like we're sisters, not just sisters-in-law.”

The two women smiled at each other, and Jenny started clearing the table.

“Let us do that,” Chris said, standing and picking up several plates to take to the sink.

“But you're a guest,” Jenny protested.

“I'm used to doing chores,” he told her. “I grew up on a farm.” He returned to the table to gather up the silverware.“Besides, you need to get going, right?”

“Thanks, Chris.” Jenny stood and looked at her husband.“Can you help me with my suitcase?”

He jumped up. “
Ya,
of course.”

They hurried up the stairs, and the bedroom door shut with a click.

Hannah watched Chris glance down the hall. She was sure he'd seen the same suitcase by the front door she had when she'd come over this morning.

When he turned back, Hannah caught his look and smiled.

“They still act like newlyweds,” she said with a reluctant smile.

“It's good to see her looking so different from the way she was at the hospital.” Running water in the sink, he squirted in dishwashing liquid.