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Entering the store, Alanna was charmed by the old-fashioned atmosphere of wooden barrels filled with their homemade products, baskets of apples, and jars and jars of preserved fruit, jams, and vegetables.
The store was bustling with customers while a woman behind a wooden counter checked them out.
“Hello,” she greeted them when they entered through the door. “If you need anything, just yell out.”
Alanna didn’t know where to start. She wanted it all.
Matthew must have picked up on her hesitation. Under his amused gaze, he led her to the shelves.
“This is as good a start as any. See anything you want?”
She saw several. The problem was she didn’t have any money.
“Pick out anything you want. Silas will pay for it. It’ll go in the storeroom, so if anyone wants it, they can take it. That includes you. Just make sure to buy several enough to last for a long time. We only come here a few times a year.”
She couldn’t resist the peach preserves. She took one jar.
Matthew took five.
“I love peach cobbler,” he explained at her surprised look. “I’m going to set these on the counter and grab a basket. I’ll be right back.”
Alanna let him take the jar she was holding.
She was deciding on whether to get the cherry or apple pie filling when she saw a frail woman coming out from a back room. Alanna smiled at her when the woman noticed her gaze on her. She was wearing the same green-colored smock the woman behind the counter was wearing. At her smile, the woman came out from the back room and made her way toward her. She must have misunderstood her smile as needing help.
Each step the woman took, she would have to lift up the long metal cane attached to her arm. Glancing down, Alanna could see one of her legs was shorter than the other and she was wearing a thicker sole shoe on that foot. Alanna felt bad that she was wasting a trip to see if she needed anything, so she walked to meet her.
“I don’t need anything,” she said, turning her head to see where Matthew had gone. Turning back, she saw the woman staring at her quizzically. “I’m fine. I don’t need anything,” Alanna repeated.
The woman’s face cleared with an understanding smile.
“Hey, Hanna Joy.” Matthew came to her side, holding a basket in his hand. He set the basket down and began making a series of hand movements as he talked. “How have you been doing? I didn’t see you the last time I came with Silas.”
The woman leaned the cane on her hip as she started signing back. “I stayed with Livia while I had another surgery on my hip.”
Matthew spoke the words out loud as Hanna Joy signed, and then he signed back.
“The surgery must have gone well. I thought you were going to break a speed limit for a second.” His teasing had the woman laughing.
At her laughter, Alanna realized she was much younger than the initial impression she had given. Alanna had thought her to be over thirty. With laughter relaxing her face, Alanna thought she might be in her mid-twenties. The way she wore her brown hair coiled back, no makeup, made her look older, and the drab smock wasn’t helping either. Alanna thought the jailhouse orange had done her no favors, but that puke green was atrocious.
“The surgery went longer than expected, but I can walk with one cane now.”
Alanna was listening to the signed conversation between Matthew and Hanna Joy when the bell over the door rang. Jimbo, Greer, and Silas walked inside, spotting them.
“So I see …” Matthew was signing when Jimbo reached them first.
“What are you doing out of the house?” he yelled, lowering his face to Hanna Joy’s, who shrank back when he moved to place himself between her and Matthew. “I told you I would take over for Livia.”
Alanna started to give the overbearing farmer a taste of his own medicine at speaking that way to the cowering woman. From Silas’ , Matthew’s, and Greer’s expressions, she wouldn’t be the only one.
“Stop it, Dad.”
The other woman came from behind the counter to take Hanna Joy by the shoulders, moving her aside. From the sharp movements she made as she talked, Alanna guessed she was shouting in sign language.
“She was here for a minute to give me a bathroom break because you were late getting here.”
“I was busy,” he snarled.
