"Did I wake you?" Phoebe asked, turning from the stove."Sorry, I tried to be quiet."
"It's that creaky fifth step."
Phoebe sighed and took the kettle to the sink to fill it. "I don't even hear it these days."
"Maybe we should take you into town for another hearing test."
"Doc says I don't need a hearing aid. At least, not yet. It's just certain sounds I don't hear."
Hannah sat at the table and propped her chin in her hand."So what's keeping you awake tonight?"
Shrugging, Phoebe sat down while the water heated up."Sleeping through the night just gets a little harder each year."
When she started to rise, Hannah motioned her to remain seated and went to fix the tea herself, a soothing chamomile should help Phoebe sleep.
They sat, drinking the tea, talking quietly.
Phoebe glanced at the kitchen window. "A harvest moon," she said, tilting her head to study it. "My favorite. It's my favorite time of the year, really."
Hannah stirred her tea. "Did you used to go for hay rides with your husband, John?"
Smiling, Phoebe nodded. "He was such a sweet mann. And, may I say, a romantic one. He wrote me a poem on each anniversary."
Hannah's eyes widened. "I didn't know that."
"I'll show them to you sometime."
"I'd like that."
She watched Phoebe's smile fade and reached out to grasp her hand. It felt frail, like bird bones.
"What's wrong? What's made you look so sad?"
"Sometimes I think all people remember is how stern he was with our sohn, Luke. They were two hard-headed men."
"Jenny's daed was hard-headed too?"
Nodding, Phoebe sipped her tea. "They disagreed about most everything but especially about Luke being baptized.I kept telling John that Luke needed to find his own way and the Plain life might not be for him. In the end, Luke left and—and—"
"You felt like part of your heart went with him?"
Tears welled up in Phoebe's eyes. Some things still hurt even though much time has passed, Hannah thought as she hugged Phoebe.
"You're a sweet kind," Phoebe told her after a moment. "I missed him, but when he came to visit a little while later, he was so happy. I couldn't feel sorry for myself any longer. And when he brought Jenny . . . oh, my, what a gift he gave me each time he left her to visit for the summer."
"I remember the last time she was here, when she and Matthew had a crush on each other," Hannah said, resuming her seat.
She tasted her tea and found it had cooled, but she didn't care. "It was so wonderful to see her come back again and find out that she and Matthew had never forgotten each other, that they were still in love."
"I know. And now they're married and living right next door."
Hannah found her thoughts traveling next door, but not to Matthew and Jenny. She got up and put her cup in the sink and saw that a light shone from the bedroom in the dawdi haus. As she watched, the back door opened and Chris came out and sat down in the chair on the back porch.
So, he couldn't sleep, either.
"Phoebe?" She turned and sat again at the table. "What would you do if you knew something about somebody, but you were afraid to tell because it made someone look bad?"
Was it her imagination that the older woman turned pale? She grasped her hand and found it trembling. "Are you allrecht?"
"Ya, of course. What do you mean?"
"You'll think badly of me."
"No, I wouldn't," Phoebe said.
"See, you're already looking at me like I've done a bad thing."
Phoebe took her cup to the sink and stood looking out at the night. Hannah wondered if she saw Chris. Phoebe's eyesight wasn't the best these days and she'd left her wire-rimmed glasses upstairs.
"I was at the library the other day and I looked up something about Chris."
"Oh." She turned and faced Hannah.
Was that relief on her face? Hannah told herself she was being fanciful. "It's nothing bad. It's just that he hasn't told anyone—"
"So you wonder if he'd want you to say anything to him or anyone else."
"Yes."
"Chris is a proud man." Phoebe paused and smiled slightly."Most men are." She sat again at the table. "He's strong but he's carrying a lot of pain in him."
"You think he's injured more than he wants to show? Should he be helping with the harvest?"
"I'm talking about pain in here," Phoebe said, pointing to her temple. "I'm talking about here," she said, gesturing at her heart.
She sighed and stood. "And speaking of pain. I think I'll take these old bones back to bed and give them a rest. My knees have been a little arthritic lately."