Plain Proposal (40 page)

“Betsy, what are you doing out here? You’re supposed to be helping
Mamm
get those jams labeled so she can carry them to Abby’s bakery later. Does she know you ran over here?”

The child untied the strings of her bonnet, pulled it off, then tucked loose strands of blonde hair beneath her
kapp
. “I reckon this is more important.” She folded her small arms across her chest as her hazel eyes bored into David. “What did you do to Emily?”

“Betsy, he didn’t do nothing. Now, get on back in the house.” Jacob stacked papers on top of the counter, dismissing the child.

Betsy walked to David, her hands landing back on her tiny hips. She squinted her eyes and pursed her lips together. “I want you to know that if your behavior instigated this outpouring of emotion from my sister, it would be best for you not to visit us here again.” She nodded her head once, but David was too stunned to say anything.
The women in this family are crazy
.

“Just pretend she’s not here,” Jacob said as he walked to the girl. He gently grabbed her by the arm and led her to the door. He pulled the door open. “Put your bonnet on and go home, Betsy.”

Betsy stood in the doorway as snow powdered her black cape and the threshold of the shop. She plopped her bonnet back on her head, tied it, then lifted her chin. “I will be going back to tend to Emily, and I suspect you should be heading to your own
haus
.” She spun around and slammed the door behind her.

David cocked his head to one side and watched Betsy from the window. “How
old
is she?”

“Seven.” Jacob shrugged, then sighed. “And a handful.”

David scratched his chin and finally pulled his gaze from the window. “I have a sister who is seven, but she doesn’t talk like that.” He paused. “I don’t know many Amish folks who talk like that, even us older ones.”

“
Ya
, Betsy is special. She’s a real pain most of the time,
Mamm
and
Daed
let some
Englisch
people give her some tests, and they said she’s what they call gifted.” Jacob pushed a button on the cash register, and the drawer swung open. He filled the slots with bills as they talked. “Betsy’s been reading since way before other
kinner
her age. I reckon she thinks she knows everything.” He chuckled. “Sometimes I think she does, too, using them big words and all. She does math real
gut
too.”

David nodded. “Oh.”

Jacob slammed the cash drawer shut, then smiled. “In case you were wondering,
mei mamm
is normal.”

David laughed. “
Gut
to know. Are those your only siblings?”

“No. I got a younger
bruder
, Levi. But he works with
mei daed
doing construction and installing solar panels.”

David had noticed that lots of the Amish homes in Canaan used solar panels, something you didn’t see a lot of in Lancaster County. “How’d your
daed
and
bruder
get into that?”

“
Daed
knew he was going to need to find an outside job here since farming is going to be a challenge, at least in the beginning.” Jacob shook his head. “Can’t believe that there’s only three months of frost-free weather here.” He paused with a sigh. “Anyway,
Daed
planned ahead and learned about these solar panels before we moved here.”

David nodded again as he considered whether or not his family might benefit from solar panels.

“And me and Emily take care of the shop, and ’course
Mamm
has the house to tend to . . . and Betsy, which is a full-time job when she ain’t in school.” Jacob scratched his forehead. “What ’bout you? Where’d you come from? I haven’t seen you around here.”

David sighed. “We moved here. Yesterday. We’re not even unpacked, but my stepmother wanted me to pick up a few things.”

“You don’t sound happy about this move.” Jacob sat down on a stool behind the counter and eyed David skeptically.

“I’m not, really. I mean, my whole family and everything I’ve ever known is in Lancaster County. In Pennsylvania. My great grandfather left us some land, so we moved.” David shook his head. “Although . . . I reckon I don’t know why. This is nothing like Lancaster County. It’s—” He stopped when he realized he might offend Jacob if he went on.

“It’s all right.” Jacob took off his hat and ran a hand through wavy brown hair. “You ain’t tellin’ me anything I don’t know. We moved here from Middlefield, Ohio, three months ago. It’s real different here for us too.”

“What made your family move?”

Jacob shrugged. “Needed a change.” He pulled his eyes from David’s and his forehead wrinkled as he went on. “And Levi’s got asthma. The weather is better here for him. Less mold, which seems to trigger it.”

David suspected there was more to it than that, but he just nodded.

“Lillian, my stepmother, was wondering where the school is for my sister. I have two sisters, but only Anna is old enough to go to school. She’s the one who’s the same age as Betsy. Elizabeth is almost five, so she won’t start until next year.”

Jacob grunted. “There ain’t no schoolhouse. Hoping to build one soon, though. Right now, the young ones are getting their schooling from Emma Miller, the widow around the corner.” Jacob pointed to his right. “Big blue house on the next road to the right. She teaches them in the barn.”

About the Author

B
ETH
W
ISEMAN HAS A DEEP AFFECTION
for the Amish and their simpler way of living. She is the author of many bestsellers, including the Daughters of the Promise series and the new Land of Canaan series. She and her family live in Texas.