the STRUGGLE (28 page)

“You can eat the candy, but only if you come inside,” Hannah said, opening the door. The children put the cat down, and as he bobbled off to chase after a bug, they followed Bonnie and Hannah inside.

Once inside, Hannah instructed them to go to the kitchen to eat their candy bars, while she gave Bonnie a tour of the house.

“This is a nice-sized home,” Bonnie said when they stepped into one of the bedrooms upstairs. “Plenty of room for a growing family and extra room for any company you may have.”

“Our family’s not growing at the moment,” Hannah said. “Unless you count Bobbin, the cat.”

“I assume you and Timothy will want other children?” Bonnie asked.

Hannah nodded. “I had a miscarriage last year, but I haven’t been able to conceive since then. Timothy says it’s because I’m always stressed out, but I think my womb might be closed up.”

Bonnie gave Hannah’s arm a gentle squeeze. “I’ll pray for you.”

“Thanks, I appreciate that.” Hannah was surprised to see such compassion on Bonnie’s face. It made her think maybe Bonnie might want children, too.

“The men did a good job painting all the rooms,” Bonnie said, as they moved on to another bedroom.

“Yes, they did. It took them awhile to strip off the wallpaper, but it turned out nice. There’s still some work that needs to be done up here, though.” Hannah motioned to the windows. “Some of the screens are missing, and some are old and loose, so they’ll all need to be replaced. But considering the repairs that have been done since we bought this place, we’re fortunate that we could move in so quickly.”

“There were a few missing screens at the B&B when I first moved in,” Bonnie said. “But between Samuel and Allen, those were taken care of before the warm weather arrived last year.”

“Hopefully, Timothy will get all the screens replaced here soon. With nicer weather on the way, it will be good to have fresh air circulating through the house.”

Hannah left the room and stepped into the hall. “I think we should go downstairs now and see what the kids are up to in the kitchen.”

“Oh yes, and I want to give you my housewarming gifts, too.”

When they entered the kitchen, the children were gone. Hannah checked the living room and found them sitting on the floor with a stack of books. “Go to the bathroom and wash up,” she instructed. “You probably have chocolate on your hands, and I don’t want that getting on any of Mindy’s books.”

The children did as she asked, but they didn’t look happy about it.

Hannah turned to Bonnie and said, “Those kids of Samuel’s can sure be stubborn.”

Bonnie chuckled. “I guess all kids can be that way at times.”

The two women continued on into the kitchen, and Bonnie removed a carton of eggs, a cookbook, several dish towels, and a loaf of homemade bread from the wicker basket she’d set on the table. “The eggs are from my layers,” she said. “Oh, and Trisha made the bread, I made the dish towels, and the cookbook was put together by some of the women at my church. I have one, too, and all the recipes I’ve tried so far have been very good.”

“Thank you for everything,” Hannah said as they both took a seat at the table.

Hannah thumbed through the cookbook and stopped when she came to a recipe for Kentucky chocolate chip pie. “You know, I was planning to make this pie for Christmas, but I didn’t feel like doing any baking. I really do need to try it sometime though. Timothy likes anything with chocolate chips in it, and I bet he’d enjoy the pie.”

“It does sound tasty,” Bonnie agreed. “If you try it, let me know how it turns out. I could even be your guinea pig,” she added with a gleam in her eyes.

“I might just do that.” Hannah laughed. “Would you like a cup of tea?” She offered, feeling cheerful. “It won’t take long to get the water heated.”

“That sounds nice, but I really should get going. I need to drive Trisha to her physical therapy appointment this afternoon, and if we get an early start, I may try to get some shopping done while we’re in Hopkinsville.”

Bonnie was just starting for the door when a fat, little frog hopped out of the sink onto the counter, then leaped onto the floor by Hannah’s feet. She screamed and jumped up. “Jared Fisher, did you bring that frosch into the house?”

Wearing a sheepish expression, Jared shuffled into the kitchen. Hannah pointed at the frog. “Take it outside, right now!”

Hannah was relieved when the child did as she asked but embarrassed that she’d made a fool of herself in front of Bonnie. “I’ve had a fear of frogs ever since my oldest brother put one in my bed when I was a little girl,” she explained. “And I sure never expected to see a frog this early in the year.”

“It must be the warm weather that brought it out.” Bonnie smiled. “And believe me, I understand about your fear. I think we all have a fear of something.”

“Not Timothy. I don’t think he’s afraid of anything.”

“Most men won’t admit to being afraid because they want us to think they’re fearless.” Bonnie chuckled and moved toward the door. “It was nice seeing you, Hannah, and thanks for giving me a tour of your new home.”

“Thank you for stopping by and for all these nice things.”

Hannah stood at the door and watched as Bonnie walked out to her car. It had been nice to have an adult to visit with for a while. Even though Hannah kept busy watching the children, she often felt lonely and isolated. Oh, what she wouldn’t give for a good visit with Mom.

C
HAPTER
34

A
s Esther’s driver, Pat Summers, turned onto the road leading to Pembroke, Esther’s excitement mounted. Here it was the first Saturday in April, and she could hardly believe she’d been gone two months. But her help had been needed in Pennsylvania, and she’d stayed until Dad was well enough to take over working the stands at both farmers’ markets. It had been good to spend time with her family, but as hard as it was to leave, she knew her place was here in Kentucky with Samuel and his children. She would stop by the B&B first to drop off her luggage and let Bonnie know she was back, and then she would head over to see Samuel and the children.

“I hope the woman you work for at the bed-and-breakfast will have a room available for me to spend the night,” Pat said as they neared Bonnie’s place. “If there are no vacancies, I’ll have to look for a hotel in Hopkinsville. I’ve done enough traveling for one day and need to rest up.”

Esther smiled at her. “When I spoke to Bonnie on the phone a few days ago, she said she didn’t have any guests coming until next weekend. So unless things have changed, I’m sure she’ll have a room for you.”

“I’m anxious to see the B&B,” Pat said. “From what you’ve told me, it sounds like a real nice place.”

Esther nodded. “It is now, but you should have seen the house before Samuel and Allen fixed it up. Both men are good carpenters, and Samuel’s an expert painter, so Bonnie was very pleased with how it turned out.” Esther motioned to the B&B sign on her right. “Here we are. Turn right there.”

Pat drove up the driveway and parked her van on the side of Bonnie’s garage. When they got out of the van, Cody leaped off the porch and ran out to greet them.

“Oh, I hope he doesn’t bite,” Pat said when the dog jumped up on Esther.

“No, he’s just excited to see me.” Esther told Cody to get down; then she bent over and stroked his head. “Good boy, Cody. Have you missed me?”

Woof! Woof!
Cody wagged his tail.

“I’ve missed you, too,” Esther said with a chuckle. “Now be a good dog and go lie down.”

Cody darted over to Pat and sniffed her shoes before making a beeline for the porch, where he flopped down near the door.

Esther found the front door open, so she didn’t bother to knock. They’d just entered the foyer when Bonnie stepped out of the kitchen. “Oh, it’s so good to see you!” she said, giving Esther a hug. “I knew you were coming back today, but I wasn’t sure what time you’d get here.”

“We spent last night in a hotel in Louisville and got an early start this morning,” Esther explained. She turned to Pat and introduced her to Bonnie.

“I was wondering if I might be able to rent a room for the night,” Pat said after shaking Bonnie’s hand.

Bonnie nodded. “I have no other guests right now, so you can take your pick from any of the rooms. Shall we go upstairs and take a look right now?”

“Sure, that’d be great.”

While Bonnie took Pat upstairs, Esther meandered into the kitchen. She found Trisha baking cookies. “Ah, so that’s the source of the wonderful aroma,” she said, motioning to the cookies cooling on racks.

“It’s nice to see you, Esther,” Trisha said. “I’m sure you’re glad to be back.”

Esther nodded. “Yes, I am. I’ve missed seeing all of my friends here.”

“How soon will you want to start working at the B&B again?” Trisha asked.

“I’m not sure. I’ll need to talk to Bonnie about that.” Esther motioned to the cookies. “If those taste as good as they smell, I’d say any B&B guests who might get to eat them are in for a real treat.”

“I hope so.”

“I hope you’ll stay here for a while,” Esther said. “At least until I know what my plans are going to be.”

Trisha quirked an eyebrow. “What do you mean? Are you saying you might not continue to work for Bonnie?”

“I’m not sure. It’ll depend on how soon Samuel and I get married, and whether he wants me to keep working or not.” Esther leaned on the edge of the counter. “I probably shouldn’t have said anything until I’ve talked to Samuel, so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention this to Bonnie.”

“I won’t say anything.”

“If I should decide to quit, would you stay to help Bonnie?” Esther asked.

Trisha shrugged. “Maybe. I do like it here, and Bonnie and I have become quite close. In fact, I’ve begun to feel like she’s the daughter I never had.”

Esther smiled. “I’m glad.”

Just then Bonnie and Pat entered the kitchen. “You were right. This place is wonderful,” Pat said, looking at Esther.

“Which room did you choose?” Esther asked.

“The one with the Amish theme. I love that Log Cabin quilt on the bed.”

“It is nice,” Esther agreed. “But then I like most Amish quilt patterns.”

“Why don’t we all take a seat?” Bonnie motioned to the table. “We can have some of Trisha’s delicious cookies and a cup of hot tea.”

A crisp afternoon breeze brushed Hannah’s face, and she shivered. It might be officially spring, but the chilly weather said otherwise.

I wish Timothy didn’t have to spend the day plowing the fields
, Hannah thought as she hitched Timothy’s horse to the buggy. She’d wanted to spend the day as a family—maybe hire a driver and do some shopping in Hopkinsville—but Timothy said he didn’t have time. It seemed like whenever he wasn’t painting with Samuel, he had work to do here. Hannah kept busy during the week, taking care of Samuel’s kids and keeping up with things around the house, but when the weekend came, she was ready to do something besides work. Since Timothy wasn’t available today, she’d decided to take Mindy and go over to see Bonnie for a while. Hannah’s horse, Lilly, had thrown a shoe, so Hannah knew if she wanted to go anywhere, she’d have to take Dusty. She hoped he would cooperate with her and take it nice and easy, because there had been times when she’d ridden with Timothy that he’d had to work hard to keep the horse under control. Since Dusty had been let loose in the pasture this morning and had a good run, Hannah figured he might be ready for a slower pace.

As she guided the horse and buggy down the lane, Hannah saw Timothy out in the field. He must have seen her, too, for he lifted his hand in a wave. Hannah waved back and stopped the horse at the end of the lane to check for traffic. Seeing no cars coming, she directed the horse onto the road. They’d only gone a short ways when Dusty started to trot, but it quickly turned into a gallop. Hannah tightened her grip on the reins and pulled hard, but that didn’t hold the horse back. “Whoa!” she hollered, using her legs to brace the reins. “Whoa, Dusty! Whoa!”

Dusty kept running, and the foam from his sweat flew back on Hannah, but she was concentrating so hard, she barely took notice. As the horse continued to gallop, the buggy rocked from side to side. If she didn’t get Dusty under control soon, the buggy might tip over.

The sound of the horse’s hooves moving so fast against the pavement was almost deafening as Hannah struggled to gain control. Dusty clearly had a mind of his own.

This is what I get for taking a horse I really don’t know how to handle
, Hannah fumed.
Guess I should have stayed home today and found something else to do
.

The buggy swayed, taking them frighteningly close to a telephone pole, and Mindy, sitting in the seat behind Hannah, began to cry.

“It’s gonna be okay, Mindy,” Hannah called over her shoulder. “Hang on tight to your seat, and don’t let go!”

C
HAPTER
35

H
annah’s fingers ached as she gripped Dusty’s reins and pulled with all her strength. Why wouldn’t the crazy horse listen to her and slow down? If she wasn’t able to get control of him soon, she didn’t know what would happen.