"Good," he said. "I like her."
"Me or the pie I'm bringing?" Phoebe asked.
Chris turned. "You, of course. But I'll be happy to carry in that pie for you."
"Ya, because it's sooo heavy," she said with a twinkle in her eye. She held out the pie. "I'm not sure which people like better, me or my pies."
"It's a tough choice when it's your apple cranberry," he told her seriously and then he grinned to show her he was teasing.
Matthew and Jenny came in midway through supper.They said Eli was doing well and would be home the next day. No one talked at the table. Matthew and Jenny appeared exhausted.
Afterward, Chris walked out to the barn with Matthew and they studied the scene, discussing how the fire might have started. Storing hay had always been dangerous—both of them had heard of the volatility of the dust it created.
They agreed there could be many things that might ignite, such as chemicals or the gasoline used for various equipment.
"Don't know when I can start repairs," Matthew said. "We still have to get in the rest of the crops."
Chris shook his head as he assessed the damage. "You think it can be repaired? It won't have to be pulled down?"
"I'll know more after the investigator comes."
"A farmer's life isn't an easy life."
"Ya," Matthew said simply. "But it's the life I love, with God walking alongside me helping things grow."
He bent to pick up a big flake of ash and study it.
"If God is walking alongside you, why did He let this happen?"
"I don't always understand why things happen," Matthew said after a long moment. "God's will is a mysterious thing sometimes. But I don't have to understand. It's enough for me to know that whether He reveals why He's done something or not, He is all-knowing."
Chris thought about that. How could anyone be so accepting of something bad like this happening? He'd been struggling with doing what he thought was right when he saw something bad happening, only to then have the men he saw as brothers in the military turn on him because of it.
He suddenly realized Matthew was saying something."Sorry, I was thinking about something that happened sometime back. It's hard to accept it as God's will, to believe that it was somehow part of His plan for me. It just feels like it's caused me nothing but problems."
But as much as he wanted to talk to Matthew about his inner conflict, he felt the old reserve creep back. It wasn't good to share too much when you didn't know someone well, no matter how good a person he considered Matthew to be.And how much could the other man understand when he wasn't from the world Chris had experienced—not just Englisch, but military?
Besides, dusk was falling and they'd both had a long day.
"You okay?"
"Sure. Why do you ask?"
Matthew shook his head. "I thought you were about to say something. Guess I'll get the horses in."
"Done. Joshua and I took care of it—fed and watered them too."
"Well, danki. I appreciate it." He held out his hand. "And danki for grabbing Eli and saving him from hurting himself worse today. You have fast reflexes."
"You learn 'em on the battlefield," Chris said, shaking Matthew's hand.
Matthew started toward the house, to his wife and family, and Chris toward the dawdi haus.
Chris hesitated and turned back to look at Matthew.
Matthew stopped. "Did you say something?"
Shaking his head, Chris opened the back door and went inside. It was just that the day had been strange—an emotional roller coaster, he thought as he got a glass of water. He felt out of sorts.
No, if he was honest with himself, he suddenly felt lonely. He drained the glass and went into the bedroom to go to sleep.
But once again he lay awake for a long time.
An investigator came the next morning and looked around the barn.
Hannah watched him as she hung out the laundry she'd helped Jenny re-wash because it smelled of the smoke from the fire.
Every so often, she glanced over to the fields where Matthew, Chris, and the other men worked. And often, she found Chris watching her.
Buggies and cars slowed and sometimes stopped as people gawked at the damage the fire had done to the barn.
"Wonder what he's finding," Jenny said as the man came out of the barn.
"What's that in his hands?"
"Evidence bags."
"Evidence? What kind?"
"I don't know. But if he wasn't finding something that made him suspicious, he wouldn't be bringing bags out."
Chills ran up and down Hannah's arms. "Jenny, you're not saying that someone would start a fire in the barn?"
Jenny bit her lip as she watched the investigator. "No, that can't be. He's just being careful. Why would anyone start a fire in our barn? No one's mad at us."