The Amish Widow (Amish Romance Mystery) (Amish Secret Widows' Society Book 1) Read online

  A smile flickered across her face. She had found something to be grateful for, just like the bishop said on the Sunday. Days ago she thought she had nothing to be grateful for and now she did.

  Chapter 3.

  And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

  Revelation 21:4

  Maureen gave Emma a ride to the ‘widows’ meeting.’

  “You’ve baked?” Maureen said as she glanced at the plate of food Emma held in her hand.

  Emma climbed into the buggy. “Jah, I thought I’d bring something with me.”

  “Well, put it in the back with my lot.”

  She stretched her arm to put the plate in the back seat next to two large plates.

  “I’ve baked a couple of things too,” Maureen said.

  Emma looked across at Maureen and noticed that she looked a little weary. “Are you okay, Maureen?”

  “Jah, I’m all right. Just a little tired. I started work early this morning.”

  Maureen worked at a restaurant and did the cleaning of a morning and sometimes of an evening. “Not working tonight then, I guess?”

  “Nee. Three days a week I work in the evenings and six days a week in the mornings. It’s odd hours, but that makes the pay better.”

  Maureen was in her late thirties, which was quite a bit older than Emma was. She was very confident and sure of herself, except when she spoke of her late husband. It was clear to Emma that Maureen missed her husband dreadfully.

  Ten minutes later they arrived at Ettie and Elsa-May’s haus. It was a tiny little haus and it glowed like a beacon, as large dark trees surrounded it.

  “Looks like Silvie’s here already,” Maureen said as she tipped her head toward the other buggy in the drive. “You go on ahead with the food; I’ll just tie up the horse.”

  Emma struggled in with the three plates of food and somehow managed to knock on the door.

  “Come in dear, nice to have you here,” Ettie said.

  Elsa-May came up behind Ettie and greeted Emma.

  “We brought some cookies and things,” Emma said handing Ettie one of the plates.

  “Ahh, denke. We won’t say no to food.” Elsa-May laughed and took the other two plates from her and headed to the kitchen.

  Emma hung around the doorway ‘til Maureen came in and ushered her into the living room where Silvie sat. There was no couch, which might have been more comfortable, just hard wooden chairs.

  The two older widows came into the living room; Elsa-May had knitting in her hands and Ettie had needlework. Elsa-May lifted up the knitting, which was of a soft yellow color. “I’m to be a grossmammi again.” She offered the information to Emma. It was clear that the other ladies already knew.

  “That’s so exciting. How many other grosskinner do you have?”

  “I’ve six others and this will make seven.”

  Although Emma smiled, she tried hard not to think of the fact that she had no kinner to remind her of Levi and she would never have any grosskinner either.

  Ettie leaned slightly forward. “Does that upset you, Emma?”

  “Nee, I’m happy for Elsa-May.”

  The ladies all looked at her; it was clear they could see straight into her heart.

  Maureen explained. “The group is here so we can tell each other our inner thoughts and feelings. What you tell us will not leave this room.”

  Emma looked at each lady in turn. Each of them had their eyes fixed upon her. She could see they were all filled with love and the bond that united them was loss. “All right then. If I’m totally honest – I’m upset that I don’t have kinner. I thought that I might be having a boppli and then I just found out that I’m not.” Tears ran down Emma’s cheeks. She could feel her mouth down turn and her face contort into something ugly, but she did not care and cried harder.

  Silvie was the closest to Emma and she put her arms around her. “Let it all out. It’s gut to cry.”

  The other ladies murmured their agreements with Silvie’s advice. Emma put her arms around Silvie’s graceful, slender neck and cried some more.

  Ettie popped her embroidery on the floor and disappeared then came back and offered Emma a handkerchief.

  “Denke,” Emma managed to say. After a while, Emma stopped crying and blew her nose. “I’m so sorry.” She looked at their concerned faces. “I feel so foolish.”

  “Nee, don’t. We’ve all been through it. You might find you cry at odd times because you’re so used to holding it all in and putting on a brave front,” Silvie said.

  “Jah, when you feel like crying it’s best to cry and not hold it in,” Maureen added.

  “I’ll have to get used to hearing that people are having bopplis, I suppose and seeing couples happy. I just don’t know why Gott had to take Levi now. Couldn’t I have had a few more years with him and at least a boppli – or maybe two?” Emma asked.

  “Who knows the mind of Gott?” Elsa-May said.

  Ettie added, “No one does. We just have to trust Him; we’re not called to understand Him.”

  “Anything else on your mind, Emma?” Maureen asked.

  Emma managed a smile. “Nee, nothing else.” She wanted someone else to say something. She felt as if she’d dominated the group with her problems for long enough.

  “I longed for a boppli as well, Emma. I know how you feel,” Maureen said.

  Emma acknowledged Maureen’s admission and smiled. It was at least gut to know that someone knew the pain that she was going through. “Tell me, does it get easier?”

  Maureen smiled revealing the slight gap in her two front teeth. “Oh jah. It does. I find I have to keep myself busy though. Busy with lots of things and working helps as well.”

  “I find it best not to think about him at all. I got rid of everything he owned and I put him out of my mind. Every time I think about him I still want to cry,” Silvie said, with tears in her eyes.

  A silence fell over the group. Elsa-May clapped her hands. “Let’s eat.” She rose to her feet and they all followed her to the kitchen. It appeared Emma was not the only one who had brought food. There was cheesecake, chocolate cookies, sugar cookies, chocolate fudge bars, roasted almonds and dried figs.

  Ettie asked, “Everyone having meadow tea?”

  Everyone said ‘yes’ to meadow tea with the supper. Emma followed everyone’s lead and sat up at the table in the kitchen. Even though the chairs in the kitchen were wooden as well, they were far more comfortable than the chairs in the lounge room.

  Emma looked around at the ladies, then said, “I want to thank everyone for sharing their feelings. It makes me feel so much better. I mean – I felt alone and now I don’t.”

  The elderly, Ettie put a hand briefly over hers. “That’s why we meet.”

  Emma picked up a chocolate chip cookie and took a bite. Silvie sat opposite Emma. She was quite young to be widowed and Emma wondered if she had ever considered getting married again. Surely Gott would have someone else for her seeing was such a lovely girl and so pretty. Her hair was blonde, her skin creamy and her eyes were the bluest of blue that Emma had ever seen. Maureen was also attractive, a little older than Silvie, but still, a very handsome woman and she was wise and intelligent. Surely Gott could find menner for these women, she thought. Maybe, they are like me and don’t want another man.

  “Emma, anytime you’re feeling sad you can always come visit me. I don’t live that far from you,” Silvie said.

  “Denke, I’ll remember that.”

  Emma knew that Maureen and Silvie had jobs. Maybe that’s what she needed. If she had a job, that would take her mind off things.

  * * *

  The next day, Emma forced herself out of bed and once she fed the animals, she threw herself into gardening. Keeping busy was her new way of coping with life without Levi.

  “Here you are.”

  Emma looked
up when she heard Wil’s familiar voice. “Hello, I’m gardening.”

  “I can see that.”

  Emma stood up from her crouched position. “I’m all right, Wil. You don’t have to visit me everyday.”

  “I’m just making sure you’re okay and you’re not hassled by vultures or anyone, that’s all.”

  “Nee, no one’s been ‘round.”

  “Gut. Well, if you have everything under control I’ll be on my way.”

  Emma did not want to rely on Wil. She had to be self sufficient if she was going to get through these next few months that everyone told her were going to be very tough. “Denke, Wil, for everything you’ve done.”

  Wil turned to leave and as he walked away he put a hand in the air and gave a wave.

  She was comforted in the knowledge that Wil was on the farm next door. If she ever did need anything, he was only a few minutes walk away.

  Emma crouched down again with her garden fork in hand. “Where do all these weeds come from?” she asked herself out loud.

  A few moments later, Emma heard a car in the driveway. She stood up and walked around to the front of the haus. Rarely did she have a visit from anyone in a car. It was a large, black car. She could not see inside the car, as the windows were dark. The driver’s side door opened slowly and Emma suffered pangs of anxiety when she saw the vulture emerge from the car.

  Emma did not wish to have to contend with this man again, this man who would not take ‘no’ for an answer. She glanced up the road hoping that Wil was still around, but she could see no sign of him.

  Chapter 4.

  Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from him cometh my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved.

  Psalm 62:1

  “Mrs. Kurtzler, I hope you don’t mind me visiting you.”

  Emma took a step back toward her haus. “I most certainly do. You’ve been told already that I am not selling. I never said I was selling at all. So please leave my property.”

  He took a step closer to her. “It’s a big place for you to manage just by yourself.”

  Emma folded her arms and held her head up high. “Well, it’s none of your concern. Anyway, I lease it out, so it’s all under control.”

  The vulture was not going to give up easily. He moved clear of his car and walked toward her. “Mrs. Kurtzler, if you take the money I give you for the farm and invest it, I’m sure that will give you far much more money to live on than leasing it to someone.” He took another step closer, which left only four feet between them. “What we need to do is sit down and go through the figures.”

  Emma considered him condescending, as if she would not know how to manage money just because she was a woman. “Mr…whatever your name is, it’s not all about money. I’m trying very hard to be polite to you, but I don’t know how much longer I can do so. Please leave my property now, or I shall call someone and have you removed.” Emma lifted up her chin some more and tried to look confident while secretly wishing she had a telephone installed in the barn like a lot of other Amish folk do. She could not call someone even if she wanted to, but the vulture didn’t know that.

  “An attractive woman like you shouldn’t be alone out here, you never know what might happen.”

  A ripple of concern ran down her spine; she was alone and if this man got nasty she had no defenses. Out of the corner of her eye she spied the gardening fork and if he got nasty, she would be forced to use it to defend herself. “Leave my property now.”

  “I’m just trying to be helpful and get you to see that what I’m offering you is a good deal.”

  “Please go.” Maybe she was being too polite; she tried again, a little louder. “Just get in your car and go.” She glared into his eyes.

  He turned and walked slowly back to his car. Once he opened his car door, he said, “My office is above the post office if you change your mind.”

  Emma stared him down and then he got in his car and drove away. Emma threw her head back and let out a groan and then she went inside, careful to lock the front door after herself. She sat at the kitchen table and tried to calm down. A cup of tea is what I need, Emma thought. Once she had calmed down a little, she put the kettle on the stove. I wonder if I should tell Wil that the vulture came to the haus. Nee, he already is concerned enough; I don’t want him to be coming over twice every day to watch me, once is enough.

  In the back of Emma’s mind she wondered why Wil was so fast to get to her place when he saw Mr. Weeks’ car, but he did nothing to rescue her when the vulture appeared. Surely the vulture’s car would have passed Wil on his way home.

  While she drank hot chamomile tea, she decided to go into town and get herself some needlework; that would give her something with which to occupy herself. She also considered getting some sort of a weapon, something a little better than a gardening fork. Was the vulture threatening her, talking about being all alone or trying to scare her? She wasn’t sure which one. Maybe she would look around the barn and see what she could use to defend herself.

  Emma hitched the buggy for her trip into town and then had a look around the barn for a weapon of self-defense. The best she could find was a pitchfork and a spade. She put them both in the back of the buggy just in case she had any trouble on the way to town or the way back.

  The wool and craft shop was more crowded than Emma had ever seen it. It was as if everyone had decided to go there that day. She spotted her friend Maureen at the back of the shop. “Maureen.”

  “Hello, Emma. I was going to visit you later today.”

  “Please still come. I’d love it if you did.” Seeing Maureen’s smiling face made Emma happy.

  “I’ll come see you in a couple of hours if you’ll be home by then.”

  “I’ll be home. I just came here to get something to sew.” Emma held a couple of things in the air that she had chosen. “Trying to keep busy and all.”

  Maureen smiled, revealing the familiar gap in her front teeth as she did so.

  Before long, a queue formed in the shop as people waited to pay for their goods. Maureen was first in the queue; she paid for her things and left the shop. Emma was five back from the register. The next person to be served was taking a very long time and Emma wondered whether the sales assistant was having a gossip session instead of serving the woman.

  Emma impatiently shifted her weight from one foot to another and then glanced out the window. Across the road she saw Wil, but who was the man he was talking to? She looked a little harder and saw that the man Wil was speaking to was the vulture.

  “Next,” the sales assistant shouted.

  Emma looked around, but she was still three from being served. She turned again to study the two men. They were speaking to each other in a civil manner as if they were friends. Emma frowned. That can’t be right; why would Wil be friendly with that horrid and rude man? He certainly looks to be friendly with him. But, Wil was rude to him at the funeral so why is he nice to him now?

  “Next.”

  Emma looked up to see the bored sales assistant waiting for her to bring her goods to the counter.

  Once she paid for the goods and was ready to leave the shop, Emma looked out the window again, but the two men had gone. She stepped out of the store and looked both ways up the street, but still no sign of either man. Confused and upset at the sight of the two men being friendly, she hurried back to her buggy. She passed the post office and remembered the terrible man saying his office was located above it. She stopped and stepped through the doorway, which led to the upstairs offices. Ah, there it was ‘McAllister Realtor.’ I just don’t like the way the man conducts business, by harassing people. She stepped back onto the pavement.

  What she needed was something to make herself feel better. Chocolate would be just the thing she needed. Nearly every time Emma came to town, she stopped at the specialty chocolate shop. The hand-made chocolates tasted so much better than regular store bought chocolate. Emma had tried to
make her own chocolate at home once, but nothing compared to the chocolate from the little store that she had found in town. She considered she deserved a little indulgence every now and again.

  After she paid for her favorite soft centers, she decided to buy a cake for Maureen’s visit. The next store she came to was a café with bakery attached. She wondered if she might buy a few cookies as well. Before Emma got to the front door she happened to glance through one of the two full-length windows. It was through one of those windows that Emma saw an odd sight. Wil and the vulture were sitting at the same table having what looked like lunch together and they were laughing as though they were old friends.

  Nee, surely not; that can’t be the vulture I see Wil with. Emma looked harder and her first sighting was confirmed; that indeed was the horrid little man himself sitting with Wil. Emma continued walking past the café window hoping that either man would not see her.

  She walked on ahead, quite forgetting the idea of cakes or cookies. Emma climbed into the buggy and drove her horse toward home.

  Usually the clip clop of the horse’s hooves soothed whatever disagreeable mood she might be in, but today her nerves were shattered beyond repair. She could not shake the sight of the two men being friendly. What on earth would they have to laugh and chat about? A few days earlier Emma had concerns of Wil’s rudeness to the man and now they appeared best of friends. It all did not make sense. Emma forced the two men out of her mind and concentrated on Maureen’s visit.

  After Emma put the buggy away and tended to the horse, she walked out of the barn to see a buggy heading to the haus. She knew the gray buggy belonged to Henry Pluver.

  Emma met the buggy and noticed that Bob, Henry Pluver’s adult son was there also. Emma always felt uneasy around Bob and Levi had told her never to let him around the haus if she was there by herself. Bob never talked to anyone and that unnerved many people.