Free Sarah's Gift by Marta Perry

later, so I borrowed a buggy from Bishop Mose and came to see if there might be enough supper for one more.”
    “There’s always enough.” Aunt Emma was beaming. “I’ll just get another jar of stew from the pantry.”
    “I’ll do that,” Sarah said quickly. “You sit down and visit.”
    She was just as glad to have a moment to think, so she took her time about locating the stew in the rows of jars that lined the shelves of the pantry. Jonas might be feeling that her coming had interfered with his plans for his mother. And he’d be right about that. Still, Emma seemed well able to decide for herself what she wanted.
    Sarah walked back into the kitchen ready to tell Jonas exactly that, should he bring the subject up.
    However, it seemed Jonas had no such thing in mind. The talk over supper was mostly about his growing family, the downturn in the economy that had left some Amish without the factory jobs they’d had, and the problems of keeping a good teacher at their school.
    It was only after the meal was over that Jonas seemed ready to tackle something else. “You sit down and put your feet up,” he urged his mother, leading her toward the living room. “I’ll help Sarah with the dishes.”
    “You don’t need to help me,” she said, when he returned and picked up a dish towel. “I can take care of these while you visit with your mother.”
    “When you don’t have sisters, you have to learn to help in the kitchen from time to time.” Jonas dried a plate vigorously. “Mary always says she’s glad my mamm taught me so well.”
    “Your mamm thinks the world of Mary, from everything she’s said.” She suspected that Jonas wouldn’t take long to reach the subject of his desire for a private chat.
    “Ja, that’s so. It’s a lucky man whose wife and mother get on so well as they do.” He slanted a glance toward Sarah. “That’s why we thought it best for Mammi to move in with us.”
    And there it was. “I’m sure Aunt Emma would like that when she’s ready.”
    “We thought she was ready now. Neither of us wanted to see her go through another winter here alone. But then you came.”
    It was not said angrily, but Sarah still felt the words were an accusation.
    “I came because your mother asked me to.”
    “Ach, ja, I know that.” Jonas frowned at the bowl he was drying. “If you’d talked to us before you agreed, things might have been different.”
    She couldn’t argue with that. “They might have been, I guess. But why would I think of talking to you? Your mamm has always been an independent woman, able to make decisions for herself.”
    Jonas drew himself up, as if about to say something important. “Now that my father is gone, the responsibility for my mother is mine. It’s time she gave up working so hard and took it a little easy for the rest of her days.”
    Sarah raised her eyebrows. “Is that what your mamm thinks?”
    For a moment she thought Jonas would flare out at her. He looked very like the boy cousin who’d ordered her not to climb the apple tree when she was six. Of course she had, and gotten stuck, to boot.
    Then a smile tugged at Jonas’s mouth, and the pompous air vanished.
    “No, I guess it’s not.” The smile widened into a grin. “My mother is not the only independent woman in the family.”
    Sarah smiled back, her defensiveness evaporating. “Jonas, you know I wouldn’t do anything to harm your mamm. She’s not ready to give up yet, and now that I’m here, she needn’t work so hard. Or be alone in the house.”
    “Ja, that’s so.”
    She heard a reservation in his voice, and it troubled her.
    “If something else is wrong, just tell me.”
    Jonas rubbed the back of his neck, hesitating. Finally he seemed to make up his mind. “It seems to us that Mammi is getting a little forgetful these days. Mary tried to get her to go to the doctor about it, but Mammi wouldn’t hear of it.”
    If anything would strain the relationship between mother-in-law and