Exactly how did the Amish do laundry if they didn't have electricity?
The first chance he got at supper, he asked Jenny. To his surprise, she didn't blink at his question.
"I'll show you the machine later," Jenny told him. "Joshua, take those clothes and put them in the basket for me, will you?"
"Schur," the boy said and he took them from Chris.
Jenny looked tired but radiant. When she refused his offer of help, Chris sat and watched as she moved around the kitchen taking food from the oven and the stovetop while listening to the children chatter about what they'd done while she was gone.
Chris glanced toward the front door.
"Hannah will be here in a few minutes," Jenny told him.
"I wasn't thinking—" he broke off when she just smiled.
Matthew walked in a few minutes later and Chris wondered if he'd say any more about what had happened that afternoon.But the other man excused himself to wash his hands and when he returned, Hannah and Phoebe were coming in the door. Phoebe hugged Jenny and the room became one big joyfilled space. The few days Jenny had been gone were pleasant, but it was obvious this woman was the heart of the home, and everyone was glad to have her back.
When Chris glanced over at Hannah, he was surprised at the expression on her face.
There was yearning in her eyes as she glanced around the table. When she realized he watched her, Hannah quickly schooled her expression and held out her hands to Joshua and Phoebe. The rest of the family joined hands for the blessing.
Mary took Chris's hand and he reached out his other to Phoebe. Her hand felt dry and frail in his, but her grip felt strong. The look on her lined face as she glanced around the table was so full of joy it was almost blissful.
Family. He watched a family connect in a way they were supposed to. His own family had been that close when he was growing up. They might still be. He'd stayed only a few weeks and couldn't seem to settle. He and his dad hadn't gotten along for years but there was a newer, bigger distance between them.Now he wished he'd given it a little more time.
Soon. He'd go back soon. His family worried about him while he was in the hospital. They'd called, visited, even sent him letters and "care" packages.
But he'd been so afraid of losing it the way he had earlier today to risk it. He didn't want to frighten them or cause them any more concern. Or, to be honest, shame himself. His father and his older brother had been in the military, as was the custom in his family, but neither had returned with any problems.
The psychiatrists at the veteran's hospital talked a lot about why more soldiers who served in overseas conflicts experienced problems like post-traumatic stress syndrome. What was different about these conflicts than the ones before them? No one seemed to have the answer yet.
But it wasn't so much the place he served that had been what had ultimately affected him, damaged him.
No, it had been what one of his fellow officers had done that set the course of his life, not that of the war enemy.
You were supposed to stand by the men in your platoon, your country. He knew that. Many of his comrades and commanding officers had tried to persuade him to look the other way if he saw them break a law.
But he hadn't been able to ignore what he'd seen. He couldn't go through the rest of his time in the military as if nothing had happened, so he set the wheels in motion to get justice.
Two weeks after the trial, just days before he was due to be discharged, a roadside bomb blew up while he was on a routine patrol.
"Payback," one officer told him as they carried him onto the plane to ship him back home.
Chris knew he was paying the price of betraying one of his own—
A loud noise jerked him from his thoughts. Glancing up, he saw Hannah staring at him with frown lines puckering her forehead.
Jenny jumped up and he realized the noise had been Annie dropping her glass of milk on the table. Milk rapidly spread across its surface, running in a sure path toward Chris. He grabbed his napkin and threw it down, mopping up the spill.
"Crisis averted," he said, smiling at Annie whose bottom lip trembled. "No harm done."
Hannah reached for the napkin and threw it into the sink.She walked over to the sideboard, pulled out another, and handed it to him.
"Thanks, Chris," Jenny told him. "Sorry, it's a little more chaotic here than usual."
"I think it's very nice."
"It's a zoo," she said cheerfully.
"But you love it."
She grinned as she reached for Matthew's hand and squeezed it. "You bet."
"You were quiet at supper," Hannah said as she followed him out onto the porch after the meal. "You looked like you were a million miles away."
"At least a couple thousand," he muttered.