She sighed. “You don’t want to go behind Mamma, so I won’t press ya.”

“Des gut.” As it was, Susie felt like she’d stepped deep into a hole with no escape.

“What about my birth father—did ya read anything ’bout him?”

Susie hated to tell her. “Well . . . the line for his name was blank.”

“So, she wasn’t married?” Britta frowned, clearly even more upset.

“I don’t know for sure. I didn’t look through the rest of the file.”

“Well, does that mean he doesn’t even know ’bout me?” Britta asked and abruptly excused herself from the table, leaving half her plate untouched.

Susie groaned inwardly. Ach, have I made things worse?

CHAPTER
32

Britta closed the door to her bedroom and hoped Susie wouldn’t follow her upstairs. I need to be alone, she thought, drying her eyes and pondering what this meant—this revelation of things she’d wondered about from the time she understood she was adopted.

She went to stand at the window, looking toward Jonathan Ebersol’s farm, half anticipating Susie’s knock at the door. She watched two of the children scampering about, undoubtedly having finished their supper. My children won’t look anything like anyone in the Mast family, she thought a bit sadly.

Then, thinking ahead to possibly telling Hazel about what she’d learned, she wondered now if Aaron might have been right about what he’d said so long ago.

Dismayed, Britta went to lie on the bed, missing Mamma more than ever. And in that helpless moment, her heart softened toward going alone to Missouri for Thanksgiving, after all.

The next morning, after Britta finished her barn chores and had breakfast with Susie, she hitched up the pony to the cart, not bothering to tell Susie where she was going. She might worry I’ll spill the beans, she thought, promising herself she would not. What Susie shared with me stays between us . . . for now, anyway.

She had never gone to visit the Wise Woman by herself, although she knew that Hazel and Susie enjoyed talking privately with her over sweet peppermint tea and cookies, just as Mamma and a host of other women did. Hazel’s first visit had been after her brother left for Sugar Valley.

She still misses him something awful, thought Britta. To this day Hazel did not understand why Obie hadn’t chosen to work locally. Ella Mae helped Hazel through that rough patch, so maybe she can help me. . . .

What surprised Britta most was Ella Mae’s casual manner when the elderly woman came to the door and welcomed her in. It was almost as if she had been expecting her, but how could that be?