Chapter 8
L eanna didn’t tell you she was going to Kentucky?”
Jalon leaned back against the wall of the phone shanty. “ Nee. She didn’t.”
“She and yer cousin Maria decided to visit some friends for a few weeks,” his aunt Tabitha said. “They’re not supposed to be back until February twentieth, if then. They like to keep things open-ended, and they said something about maybe going to Horse Cave too.”
Another one of Leanna’s open-ended trips. Jalon sometimes wished he had his sister’s freedom to do whatever she pleased. “Is there a number where I can reach her?”
“Not until they come back here or go to Horse Cave. The friends they’re staying with right now don’t have a phone.”
That was a week away. Great.
“Is it an emergency? I can try to get a message to them somehow.”
He paused. This wasn’t a true emergency.
Karen was going to stay in the house, and even though he didn’t want to ask her to stay with Phoebe a whole week, he knew she would.
He also didn’t like the idea of staying in the unfinished dawdi haus , but it was better than staying in the barn, which is where he would have slept tonight if he’d had to.
Then again, maybe he was making this complicated for no reason.
He didn’t know Phoebe’s plans. There was so little he knew about her, and that frustrated him more than anything.
“Jalon?” Aunt Tabitha said.
“It’s not an emergency,” he said, coming out of his thoughts. “But can you let her know she needs to call me as soon as she’s near a phone?”
“Sure.” Aunt Tabitha didn’t say anything for a moment. Then she asked, “How are you doing, Jalon?”
“ Gut. ” He cringed, knowing what was coming next.
“The familye misses seeing you,” Aunt Tabitha said. “It’s nice having yer parents nearby again. Maybe you’ll come for a visit soon?”
“I don’t know.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “ Mei job keeps me busy.”
“That’s what Leanna said.”
“I’ve got to geh , Aenti . Danki for passing along the message to Leanna.” He hung up the phone, the breath in his chest speeding up. He pushed open the shanty door and trudged through the snow to the house. Now wasn’t the time to think about his family. He had Phoebe and Malachi to worry about.
He stripped off his boots, coat, and hat in the mudroom, then went into the kitchen. Phoebe and Karen were scurrying around in a smooth rhythm, as if they had been cooking together for years instead of an hour. “I see you two have met,” he said.
Phoebe turned around, a small smile playing on her lips.
He stilled. There it was again. A trip of the heart, but much different than the anxiety he’d felt after his phone call with his aunt.
Her eyes flitted shyly downward, her long black lashes resting against her cheeks.
Quit noticing stuff like that. He had to keep a level head. She doesn’t exactly make it easy.
“Supper will be ready in a little while.” Karen glanced at him as she set the table.
Jalon watched Phoebe spread mashed potatoes on top of some sort of casserole, then slide it into the oven.
He spied a bowl on the counter covered with a kitchen towel.
The scent of onions, butter, and cornbread made his stomach growl.
For the first time that day he had a real appetite, and if Phoebe’s cooking was anything like her baking, he was in for a delicious meal.
As usual, he felt helpless in the kitchen, despite being a marginally better cook than Leanna. “I’ll leave you to it, then.” He stopped when he saw the cake container on the counter. “Is that what I think it is?”
Karen smiled. “If you think it’s an Orange Bliss cake, then you’re right.”
His mouth literally watered. “I haven’t had that in a long time.”
“I’ve been meaning to make one and bring it over. I thought you’d want a treat while Leanna was gone.”
“Because you know she’d eat the whole thing if she was here.”
“Not the whole thing.” Karen laughed. “But most of it.”
Jalon chuckled, then glanced at Phoebe. She wasn’t laughing. She stood in front of the stove, staring at the empty pot that had held the mashed potatoes. She didn’t look at him as she took the pot to the sink and rinsed it out.
“We’ve got everything under control here,” Karen said to him, making a shooing motion with her hands. “ Geh find something to do and let us finish.”
Freemont had been right in sending Karen here. Jalon liked Ivy well enough, but Karen had a way of making everyone around her feel at ease. She was more than a chaperone; she was a buffer between him and Phoebe.
He went to her, lowering his voice so Phoebe couldn’t hear. “Can I talk to you a minute? In private?”
Karen nodded, then set her dish towel on the table. She and Jalon walked out of the kitchen and stood just inside the living room. “Do you think you can stay a few extra days?” he asked. “I just found out Leanna’s in Kentucky.”
“Phoebe’s going to be here that long?”
“I’m not sure.”
She paused as if she were going to say something. Then she nodded. “I have to work most of this week, but I’m usually home by three. Tomorrow I’m off, though.”
Jalon nodded. Karen and Ivy had been apprenticing for the last couple of years at Thomas and Judith Miller’s bookbinding business.
“I’m at work until five or six. Sometimes seven if we’re working overtime.
As long as you’re here in the evenings, it will be fine.
” Of course, it was all contingent on whether Phoebe was going to be here beyond tonight.
They would have to talk about that soon.
“That sounds gut . It will be nice to get away from home for a bit. I love mei familye , but sometimes the chaos drives me crazy.”
He knew from experience that the Yoder household was chaotic, especially when Karen’s three brothers had been younger. They were a rambunctious group. “ Danki for staying, Karen. I really appreciate it.”
“Phoebe is nice.” She lowered her voice. “I can see why you like her.”
“Oh,” Jalon said. “One more thing. Do you have a pair of boots Phoebe could borrow? We were in a hurry when we left her aunt’s.”
“Sure. I’ll bring them over later.”
Jalon leaned against the doorjamb as Karen walked back into the kitchen.
One issue solved for the moment. Or two, if he counted the boots.
He’d noted that Phoebe was wearing only tennis shoes when they left her aunt’s house, but he hadn’t wanted to go back for her boots.
Now her feet would be warm and dry when she went outside.
He went into the living room and found Malachi sitting on the couch, his hair a tousled mess, his eyes drowsy and groggy as if he’d been sleeping. Blue was draped over Malachi’s small lap, his front paws and back feet resting on the couch cushions on either side of the boy’s legs.
“I think this cat likes me,” Malachi said, running his hand over Blue’s back. “What’s his name?”
“Blue.” Jalon sat down on the edge of the couch and reached to scratch Blue’s face, but the cat pulled away and leaned against Malachi. “He belongs to mei sister, Leanna. I think he likes you too. Which is something, because he’s a picky cat.”
Malachi continued petting Blue, who was purring so loudly Jalon was sure the women could hear him in the kitchen. “I wish he was mine,” Malachi said, stroking the cat with more gentleness than Jalon thought a child his young age possessed.
Jalon’s heart went out to him. He seemed lonely. So does Phoebe.
“Can I sleep with him tonight?” Malachi asked, looking at Jalon.
“That depends on Blue. And yer mamm . Does she let you sleep with pets?”
“I’ve never had a pet. Aenti Bertha doesn’t like animals. And Grossdaadi says animals are for work and food, not for pets.”
“So you used to live with yer grandparents?”
He nodded. “I miss them. And mei cousins. Crackers too.”
“You miss crackers?” Jalon asked, thinking it was an odd thing for a child to miss. Then again, he knew next to nothing about little kids.
“ Ya. He’s the best horse.”
Ah . That made more sense.
“Sometimes I got to ride him as long as Devon said it was okay. He would lead Crackers around while I hung on to his mane.” Malachi hugged Blue.
Once again the situation made little sense to Jalon.
If Malachi missed home so much, why couldn’t they go back?
Why had Phoebe been so insistent she and Malachi had no place else to go?
Jalon wanted answers, but he wasn’t going to take advantage of Malachi’s youth and trusting nature to find out.
He’d have to ask Phoebe. If she’ll tell me the truth.
The bitter thought came unbidden and he frowned.
“What’s wrong, Jalon?”
At Malachi’s worried question, Jalon shook his head. He tousled the boy’s hair. “ Nix. Just waiting on supper. Mei stomach’s growling.”
“Mine too. I hope Mamm made pizza. She makes the best pizza.”
“Better than her cookies?”
Malachi tilted his head, deep in thought. “Her cookies are better.”
Jalon laughed. “Cookies are always better than pizza.”
Blue continued to purr away. Remembering the lack of toys Malachi seemed to have at his aunt Bertha’s, Jalon thought of something.
“Stay here. I’ll be right back.” He ran upstairs to his room, opened the bottom drawer of his dresser, and found what he was looking for.
A few seconds later he was sitting next to Malachi again.
“Have you ever used a yo-yo?” He handed the toy to Malachi.
Malachi nodded. “ Mei grossdaadi had one. Really old and made of wood.”
“Those are the best ones. But this green plastic one isn’t too bad. I played with it when I was a kin . Do you want to see a trick?”
“ Ya. ” Malachi sat up straighter on the couch. Blue adjusted, then went back to purring while looking bored.
Jalon stood, hoping he remembered how to do his favorite trick from childhood. “The important thing is to make sure you have a clear space. I learned that the hard way and broke one of mei mamm ’s glass flower vases.”
“Did you get in trouble?”
“ Ya. ”
“Lots of trouble?”