She pointed to a flock of four turkeys carefully pecking the ground ten or so yards away.
Even from that distance Will could tell that it was a turkey family of sorts. Three of the turkeys were much smaller than the largest one, and they were all trailing after the leader like schoolchildren followed their teacher.
“What do we do now?” Roy asked.
His eyes were wide; Jemima’s were resigned. Will glanced at Harley and John, who had picked up his shotgun.
But then it became clear that none of them had the heart to shoot the mother bird. But what to do?
John jumped to his feet, somehow managing to knock over Harley’s steel thermos. It fell on its side with a loud clang, ringing through the trees like Christmas bells.
The turkeys froze, all looked their way, then scurried off down a ravine.
“Oh, um, rats!” John cried.
“John, you never could stay quiet. You scared off our Christmas supper,” Will said. “Now what are we gonna do?”
“I’m real sorry, everyone. I don’t know what happened,” John said.
Roy and Jemima turned back to Will with wide eyes. Struggling to keep a straight face again, he made a great show of looking at his pocket watch. “It’s getting late. I reckon we should get on home.”
“But what about the turkeys?” Roy asked. “What should we do?”
“Do?” Will asked. “Oh. Well, I think I’m going to tell E.A. that we didn’t see any turkeys today.”
“But we did,” Roy said. “So you wouldn’t be telling the truth.”
“It would only be a small fib.”
John winked. “I only saw a couple of birds from a great distance. I’m not a hundred percent positive they were turkeys. Are you, Harley?”
“Nee. They might have been . . . um . . . quail. Or wild chickens.”
“Wild chickens?” Roy wrinkled his freckled nose.
Harley zipped up his backpack with the thermos tucked safely inside. “Ah, jah. And let me tell you what, I ain’t about to start eating wild chickens this year for Christmas.”
“Me neither,” Will said. “Don’t fret, kinner. I’ll go to the butcher and ask him to put aside a turkey for us at the shop. E.A. won’t care if I do that. She’ll probably be pleased she doesn’t have to pluck feathers.”
Jemima giggled before covering her mouth again. But at the last minute, she left it uncovered and her laughter filled the air.
And Will realized that was what happiness sounded like.
Chapter 5
E.A. couldn’t recall the last time she’d laughed until she’d cried. She was mighty thankful for that. She didn’t want to have another memory to compete with the supper they’d just shared together.
She doubted that any other supper would come close, though. Her little family had been in fine form when they’d rushed in the kitchen door! Oh, they’d come home dirty and tired, that was for sure. But they’d also been full of stories and laughter and chatter. Roy’s sweet face was flushed and his blue eyes were fairly sparkling. Will simply looked like he’d just hung the moon. And as for Jemima? Well, she looked happy.
So happy!
It had made E.A.’s heart want to sing. After she’d cajoled them all to take hot showers and put on clean clothes, they’d gathered around the table, so ready to tell her about their adventures that the children hardly took time to bow their heads while they prayed silently.
Then, the very moment after Will said, “Amen,” they started talking so fast that she could hardly keep up.
Sitting around the supper table, E.A. served warm chicken and dumplings and listened with wide eyes as Jemima, Roy, and Will told her about sipping Harley’s hot chocolate and about Miss Katie’s cookies. About spying deer and rabbits and lots of birds and maybe even a fox in a thicket.
They also told her a rather long and convoluted tale about a mysterious flock of wild chickens that lived in the woods.
When E.A. questioned them about that—honestly, she’d never heard of such a thing—Jemima and Roy looked like they were going to bite their tongues, they were having such a time holding back their mirth.
That’s when she put on her best schoolmarm expression and folded her hands in her lap. “Tell me the real story, if you please.”
Her three looked at one another and seemed to come to a silent conclusion.
“Well, um, Mr. Kurtz didn’t want to hurt the mommy bird,” Jemima said.
“The mommy bird?”
“It was a hen, E.A.,” Will said in an aggrieved tone. “The female turkeys lay eggs, you know.”
“Ah, yes. I believe I heard something about that.”
Just as his cheeks reddened and he looked down at his plate, it had all become so very clear. Her dear husband hadn’t had the heart to shoot their Christmas supper in front of the children.
It made her love him all the more. It was things like this that made her so glad not only that they’d married but also that they’d decided to adopt. He was such a kind man. The perfect man for two children who had already lost so much. She wasn’t sure why the Lord had decided that it was time for her and Will to have a baby now, too, but E.A. figured that He wouldn’t give them anything more than they could handle. Maybe He thought all of them—she, Will, Jemima, and Roy—needed a baby to take care of.
And maybe they did. Caring for a helpless infant would indeed bring them all closer.
At least, E.A. thought it would....
* * *
“I thought you’d have your nose in a book right now, not staring out the window,” Will said as he entered their bedroom two hours later.
After E.A. had gone upstairs to read Jemima and Roy their story and put them down to sleep, Will had gone out to the barn to see to Chip and Dale, their two horses.
E.A. moved over on the mattress so he could sit beside her. “I don’t think I could concentrate on anything right now.”
“Why?” He played with one of the ties at her nightgown collar. “I promise, the kinner had a gut day. And I kept them safe. Neither of them ever left my sight.”
“I didn’t doubt that for a second.” She looked at him fondly. “Actually, I guess I was just thinking about how glad I am to have married you.”
He straightened. “Is that right? What made you think about me?”
“You’re so silly. Of course I would be thinking of
