A Time to Heal(43)

"I think I'll ask Phoebe if she'd like to go into town."

"I thought you looked restless," Jenny said sympathetically.

"A bit."

"I know the feeling."

"You're feeling restless too? Would you like to go?"

Jenny laughed and shook her head. "No, I meant I know the feeling but I'm not feeling it now. I'm actually quite content to sit here and do something domestic. But then again, I was just out of town days ago. It feels good to be here now." She put the sock she'd been mending down. "We've all been so busy and then there's been this . . . tension since the fire."

Hannah sighed. "You've felt it too?"

"How could I not? Every time I look at the barn I get this uncomfortable feeling. I think it's bothering Matthew as well.He hasn't been sleeping well. It's a shame. Harvest time is always exhausting enough."

Hannah tucked her needle and thread into her sewing basket, stood up, and reached down to give Jenny a hug. "Anything you need from town?"

"I'm fine." Then she looked at the socks in the basket. "But next week, let's you and I consider a trip to get some new socks for the kids. It just seems to me that mending isn't worth the time as cheap as socks are. I know that's probably sacrilegious to say here because nothing's to be wasted but . . ."

Hannah laughed. "I understand how you hate it."

When Hannah returned home, she found Phoebe had a visitor who'd just arrived. With just a little sigh of disappointment, she went on out to hitch up Daisy to the buggy.

Within a block or so of the house, the vague restlessness faded. She didn't often feel such a thing; she loved being at home, doing things in and around it.

A man walked on the right-hand side of the road. Although all she could see was the back of him, he looked familiar. When she pulled alongside, she saw that it was Chris.

"Going somewhere?" she asked and then found herself holding her breath. Why did she hope he wasn't going to say that he was leaving?

"Matthew told me to take a couple of hours off."

"Really?"

"Really. Thought I'd take a walk into town, go to the library."

He kept walking and Daisy plodded along next to him.

"Would you like a ride?"

When he didn't answer for some time, Hannah wondered if he'd heard her. Then he turned and looked at her. "You're not afraid of me?"

"You know I'm not."

"I don't know anything," he muttered. "Josiah just went past. I got the distinct impression he wishes I'd just keep traveling on down the road."

"I'm sure. He's not the friendliest man. Come on, get in, I'll give you a ride." She stopped the buggy, watched him hesitate and then climb inside.

"Where are you headed?" he asked her.

"I'm getting some supplies at the quilt store. I wouldn't mind looking in the library too. My nieces and nephew always love it when I get books for them. Annie loves a good book, especially when I read it to her."

"Okay. You decide which one to visit first." He leaned back against the seat and watched the passing scenery.

"You'd go into the quilt shop with me?"

He shrugged. "Sure. Why not?" Then he looked at her. "Oh, so the men here can't do that sort of thing?"

"It's not that they can't, but they're not really interested in what they view as a woman thing."

"I don't mind going in with you. My grandmother took me a few times when she ran errands."

Hannah found herself laughing. "Bet you were a little boy then."

He grinned, his teeth bright white against skin turning tan from being out in the fields. "Yeah, but I'm not afraid to be in a woman's enclave. I was in the military."

When she looked blank, he held up his arm and flexed the muscle. "I'm a manly man. I can take it. That's Englisch guy humor," he explained when she stared at him.

"I see," she said dryly. Then she smiled to show him that she "got" it, as the Englisch said.

They fell silent as they traveled.

"What do you like to read?"

"A little of everything," he said noncommittally. "I want to poke around. But ladies first. Let's go to the quilt store, then the library."

"Okay. I hope you won't be sorry."

"Looks like a little store. How long can it take?"





Famous last words, thought Chris.

Stitches in Time turned out to be a tiny store with spaces in front for just four cars or buggies to park. But the minute Chris opened the door for Hannah, he realized that the room inside stretched for far more than the usual length of a store.

It was interesting to watch Hannah as she walked through the shop. Her fingers touched a fabric here, another there, and she got a faraway look in her eyes, as if she were already planning out a design for a quilt.