“Oh,” her mother said, looking a bit ferhoodled. “Do ya think I’m allergic to that, too?” She continued to study her. “Or is something botherin’ ya, dear?”

Susie refused to meet Mamma’s eyes. “You know me. I like a spotless house.”

Mamma’s head tilted as if there was a whole lot more she might like to say.

Quickly, Susie offered her some fresh fruit or warm tea, but Mamma politely declined both. And once Susie finished sweeping, she excused herself to go upstairs to her room, lest she reveal the emotion she’d been holding back ever since Verena’s visit.

“The dearest day,” Verena had said of her wedding day, and the words continued to echo in Susie’s mind as she brushed her long hair, one hundred strokes on each side before bedtime. She had to wonder how she’d feel serving as her younger cousin’s wedding attendant.

But no, she knew, oh, how she knew.

The season for love has passed me by, she thought, staring at herself in the dresser mirror, refusing to cry about Obie.

CHAPTER
27

A hint of autumn pervaded the early September air the afternoon before Mamma was scheduled to leave for Missouri. Susie had been working with Britta near the carriage shed, using large sponges to wash down the gray enclosed buggy, both sisters talking quietly about how they would miss Mamma for the upcoming two weeks.

“’Tween you an’ me,” Susie said, glancing back at the house, where Mamma was doing some last-minute packing, “I’m glad she waited till now to go. For one thing, she’s stronger than she was last spring.”

“I think so, too,” Britta agreed as she soaped the headlights. “It’ll be a special time for her. Allen and Sarah will see to it.”

“Jah,” Susie said, a lump in her throat when she thought of the long fifteen-hour journey ahead for Mamma. “I’ll be praying for that, and for traveling mercies.”

While the three of them awaited the twelve-passenger van’s arrival early the next morning, Mamma kissed Susie and Britta on their cheeks and thanked them for “keepin’ the home fires burning.”

“Of course, Mamma. We love ya and are glad to do it,” Susie said as they stood in the kitchen together.

“I love yous, too . . . very much.” Mamma’s eyes gleamed with tears.

Britta’s chin quivered. “You’ll write to us, jah?”

Mamma coughed several times and patted her black shoulder bag. “My stationery and best pen are right here, along with some stamps. And Allen will leave a phone message for ya once I arrive late tonight.”

Susie was heartened by that and picked up Mamma’s suitcase for her, trusting that Allen would indeed take good care of their mother, like he’d mentioned when he’d first presented the idea.