Amish Circle Letters II: The Second Circle of Letters by Sarah Price Page B

shook his head and snatched the package of letters and her pad of paper. “There will be no more excuses, Leah,” he said. “And no more of the writing until I see some progress in this here house!” He shook the package at her face to emphasize that she wasn’t getting the envelope back until he was satisfied.
    Fighting back her tears, Leah stood up and hurried over to the sink. In all of their years together, Jonah had never spoken to her in such a harsh manner. In fact, the past months had been spent in a quiet silence; a silence full of disdain and contempt. And now she knew why: He thought she had turned lazy after having Baby Caleb. He simply didn ’t understand that a special needs infant does indeed require more care than others. As always, she thought, no one understands me, not even my own husband.
     
     
    Mimi stood outside of the back door to the store. It was cold outside but the crisp, cold air felt refreshing against her cheeks. Her eyes scanned the farm fields behind her parents ’ house. Everything was bare and gray, an exact reflection of how she was feeling on the inside. Even the overcast sky mirrored her own emotions: dark, gloomy, and plain old unattractive.
    All of a sudden, she felt the urge to cry. She was so frustrated with the beginning days of her marriage to Steve. It wasn ’t anything at all like she had thought it would be. Their first weekend together had been all about work, chores and new tasks. There was very little time for them to spend together and certainly not alone. Not the best start of a marriage, she pondered.
    Five times a day, Steve milked cows. Twice with his daed and then every ten hours at his own farm. She had never heard of anyone milking cows every ten hours instead of every twelve.
    “Every ten hours means more milk and more income”, he had explained. But that also meant an irregular milking schedule, one that had him leave their bedroom for the dairy barn at the wee hours of the night, awakening her in the process. Not to mention the two other milkings at his dead’s farm. And then, there was that other issue: Any spare minute that was available, Steve spent it over at the grossdaadihaus , starting to tear down the plaster and replace the insulation Last week, when he had finally returned home on Saturday night, he had collapsed into bed and immediately fell asleep. Was this what married life was supposed to be about?
    Oh, Mimi had offered to help with the cows several times, but when she would walk over to Steve ’s farm, it was so freezing cold that the air simply chilled her to the bones. Then, inside the dairy, she could barely see a thing, despite the lanterns being lit. He had to show her how to milk the cows and, with the bitterly cold air that froze her hands and left her fingers numb, she had a real hard time getting the hang of it.
    Steve had laughed at her, teasing her about needing to learn how to be a farmer ’s wife. But Mimi hadn’t found anything amusing about the situation. She wanted to be crocheting in the house, cozily snuggled on the sofa next to Steve while he would read the paper or simply sit next to her, admiring her work and sharing some small talk.
    Instead, the very people she seemed to spend time with were… everyone except Steve. On Saturday, Menno had arrived with Mary Ruth and the kinner . For a while, there had been a lot of activity as everyone sat in Anna’s kitchen with coffee and fresh pie, visiting and discussing the upcoming quilting bee for Mary Ruth. Menno had disappeared, leaving his wife alone with her parents so that they could visit and perhaps share something relevant to her own side of the family. Mimi had noticed a look in Mary Ruth’s eyes as she watched him walk out of the door. It was a sad look and Mimi wondered if her own feelings of disappointment were mirrored in her new sister-in-law’s expression.
    “ You all right, Mimi?”
    She turned around and smiled at her mamm . Yet, she knew it was a forced