Read Online Huckleberry Hill by Jennifer Beckstrand - Free Book Online Page A

just to brag about it to his friends.
    Thomas finished with the table. “Gute job, Thomas. Now go find Mammi and the others and tell them time for supper.”
    Moses had made it plain that he didn’t want a wife. He should have told her that he was still willing to kiss a few girls.
    Rachel appeared in the kitchen with Monroe’s three daughters, Susie Lynn, Mary, and Linda Rose. The nieces loved Rachel. She would sit with them in her bedroom, and they would brush each other’s hair and giggle and tell stories about boys.
    The four girls flopped down in their seats, followed closely behind by Mamm, who had been folding laundry. “What a blessing I had those clothes off the line before the rain started. It looks to make down heavy all night.”
    Dat appeared from outside and hung his dripping slicker on the hook in the washroom. He didn’t waste time once he sat down. As soon as Lia slid into her seat, Dat bowed his head and the family joined him for prayer.
    After silent grace, Mamm took the ladle and began serving up stew. “We must thank Lia for this delicious meal. I’ve missed your special corn bread.”
    “Denki, Lia,” said Thomas.
    Lia put her forehead against Thomas’s. “You are welcome.”
    Lia cut the pan of corn bread into squares while Rachel poured milk. “You will never guess what happened to me on Saturday after the funeral,” Rachel said, addressing the whole family. “The fun-er-al.” She annunciated each syllable as if the very word would horrify the children.
    “What?” Susie Lynn and Linda Rose asked at the same time.
    Rachel paused for dramatic effect. “Clemens Schrock asked me to marry him. On the day of the fun-er-al. Can you believe that? Wouldn’t a boy with any sense know not to propose marriage on the day someone dies?”
    “It wasn’t actually the day Aunt Treva died,” Mamm said.
    “I refused him. It was ridiculous that he would propose to me.”
    Lia knew better than to ask. She did anyway. “Why was it ridiculous? You are a pretty girl. Of course the boys want to marry you.”
    “Clemens works at the mill. At-the-mill.” Those long, drawn-out syllables again. “He’s short and has a pudgy face and pockmarks on his cheeks from all that acne he used to have. He doesn’t even own his own farm or house or anything. If I married him, I would end up living in that tiny dawdi house with only a wall between me and his parents.” Rachel sighed and stared into space as if she were trying to see her future. “I’ll not marry a man who isn’t handsome. He has to be handsome or I won’t be able to stomach him. And tall.”
    Susie Lynn, eight years old, nodded. “Me too. I want to marry Floyd Weaver.”
    Lia knew better than to argue. She did anyway. “Clemens is a nice young man. The mill is a gute job, and he takes care of his dat’s farm all by himself. And when the Bennetts lost half their shingles in the windstorm, he spent a week fixing their roof.”
    Rachel turned up her nose. “If you like him so well, why don’t you marry him?”
    “I didn’t say I think you should marry him, only that he is a nice young man.”
    Mamm clicked the handle of the ladle on the edge of the pot and glanced at Lia. “Now, children. Don’t argue. Rachel can marry whomever she pleases.” That was Mamm’s mild way of scolding Lia. Ever since they’d almost lost her as a little girl, both parents did their best to make sure Rachel was never displeased.
    “Jah,” Dat said. “Rachel is pretty enough to have her pick. We just need to find someone gute enough.”
    As soon as Rachel had turned eighteen last year, talk at the dinner table centered around finding a suitable husband for her, as if it were some impossible task. But to Lia, it didn’t seem hard at all to find Rachel a boy. She was so beautiful and petite that the boys flocked to Shetlers’ door like sparrows on the telephone wire. But Rachel and Dat were finicky. It had to be a handsome boy with an attractive income and