The Letters by Suzanne Woods Fisher Page A

house.”
    “Why not just train the goat?” Galen said. “He spends more time at my place than yours anyhow.”
    Luke and Sammy looked at each other. “We could rent the goat!” Luke said. He turned to Galen. “Want to be our first customer?”
    “I’ll give it some thought. I’m pretty busy now, though, with buggy training a green batch of Thoroughbreds. Jimmy is going to start working for me. Starting Monday.” Galen glanced at Jimmy. “Early.”
    Sammy’s face lit up. “Jimmy, you’ll be able to come by here every day!”
    Jimmy Fisher did that crazy up-down eyebrow wiggling at Bethany and she felt a flush creep up her neck.
    “Rose, have you thought of giving a handle to your bed-and-breakfast?” Galen said.
    “Like what?” Mim said.
    “What about Eagle Hill?”
    Everyone stilled. It was Delia Stoltz who volunteered that suggestion. She had been so quiet during dinner, they had practically forgotten she was there.
    “Why, Eagle Hill is a fine name, Delia,” Rose said. “A wonderful choice.”
    “It is my farm,” Vera added, her feathers ruffled. “Everyone seems to forget that.”
    “Every farm needs a name,” Rose said.

    Vera turned to Rose and narrowed her eyes.
    “Now you’re taking over my farm. I can’t imagine what’s next. Maybe you’ll be the first woman bishop of Stoney Ridge.”
    And a silence like cold, still air filled the kitchen.
    Bethany could see Rose look at Vera for a moment, holding her peace.
    Then Rose laughed and the tension was broken. “No, I don’t have aspirations to be a bishop, Vera. I’m having enough trouble with this tribe of wild Indians, right here.”
    Bethany exhaled. Rose had a way of defusing a difficult situation; she never failed.
    Vera sat there, sulky.
    Bethany knew that look on her grandmother’s face. It was time to take action, before something worse happened. “Come, Mammi Vera,” Bethany said as she jumped up to help her grandmother rise to her feet. “You’ve been sitting all day. It’s bad for your circulation. You have to get up and walk around.” She caught Jimmy looking at her, then quickly away, as if she had caught him at something. She glanced around the table. “We’ll be out on the porch if you need us. Mammi needs fresh air.”

    It was no great surprise to Rose to hear those kinds of remarks come out of her mother-in-law. Rose knew Vera wasn’t in favor of creating an inn in the basement, but she also knew Vera wasn’t in a position to make decisions about the farm’s future. She had no understanding of the dire financial situation they were in. She had always turned a deaf ear and blind eye to any talk or news about Schrock Investments and acted as if it was all too complicated for her.

    Rose felt a flash of annoyance, most of it with herself. When Vera insinuated she was taking over the farm, she couldn’t disagree. Somebody had to steer this ship before it sank. Sometimes, she felt as if she had turned into another person, as if someone else walked around in her shoes. But the hardness Vera referred to was a result of dealing with the mess Dean had left behind.
    As she dried the last dinner dishes and put them away, she hung the wet rag over the faucet and went to the window to see what was going on in the yard. Galen and Jimmy had the boys and Mim engaged in a game of horseshoes. Bethany and Naomi’s capped heads were together, talking earnestly. Vera was resting in her room. Delia sat on the porch step in the sunshine, head bent back, watching the sky. What was she looking at? Soon, Rose figured it out. Some kind of noisy drama in a tree. She watched one of the eagles descend like an arrow into the tree, and a flock of birds blasted into the air, filling it with strident, high-pitched squawking.
    Eagle Hill was a fine name for the farm. No matter what Galen had said about the game commissioner and people nosing around, she considered it a blessing that an eagle couple had chosen it for their nest. She walked