Keeping Secrets by Linda Byler

she wore a blue dress and gray when she wore anything else. She was going on 15 now and looking forward to being finished with school. Anna was as happy and easy to get along with as any of her sisters.
    Sadie sat up, adrenaline filling her body with energy.
    “Dat! If you bring the buckboard home, we’ll fix it up, and we’ll keep watching for a horse for Reuben, and we’ll teach that horse and Paris to be hitched double. Anna can help.”
    Anna was chewing on a hard pretzel, sounding very much like a horse crunching an ear of corn. Reuben watched her out of the corner of his eye.
    “Do you have to crunch that pretzel so hard?” he asked, his eyes narrowing.
    “What’s it to you? Maybe my pretzel’s good!”
    Mam got up, yawning, gathering her housecoat about her, saying it was time all decent, hardworking people went to bed.
    Sadie caught a whiff of Mam’s talcum powder as she neared her chair, the same warm, silky scent she always wore, sort of like fresh baked bread mixed with a flowery odor of roses. She had just washed her graying hair; it hung down her back, held fast by a black, elastic ponytail holder. The long, thin ponytail made her seem as vulnerable as a child.
    Mam always had her hair up in a bun, a white covering obscuring most of it. She appeared neat, clean, and in charge of her life and her family. Somehow, at moments like this, Sadie knew Mam was a tender sort of person, though still dependent on medication. Her mental condition had greatly improved but was still delicate.
    Mam despised the fact that she was on “nerve pills,” but she never wanted to return to the abyss of breakdowns she had earlier slid into.
    Thankful now, Sadie said goodnight. She took a cool shower and tumbled into bed. She was too sleepy to read. It was too warm to be very comfortable, so she lay on her back, her hands propped behind her head, and stared wide-eyed at the ceiling, thinking.
    The giggles from Rebekah’s room irked her. It irked her more when the giggles rose to shrieks of glee and Leah dashed across the hall to the bathroom, slamming the door.
    Sadie harrumphed inwardly. They acted so childish these days. Both of them were very interested in their guys and acted as if it was the only subject worth thinking about. Likely they’d soon be dating.
    Sadie felt old and a bit useless, except for Paris and the ranch. If that Mark Peight insisted on acting so bupplich, then she’d just ignore him, and he could go fly a kite for all she cared. She was getting thoroughly sick of his strange ways. Besides, anyone with a childhood like that was bound to have some dysfunctional issues, and she wasn’t going to marry anyone like that.
    She had felt so sure that God was leading them together, that this was her destiny. Well, no more. She was done. She rolled on her side, punched her pillow, and sighed.
    So that was how it was going to be. Mark Peight would just have to live in Montana if he wanted to; it didn’t mean she had to be his wife anytime soon. Or…anytime at all.
    Suddenly, a train of nostalgia rolled over her heart, its mournful whistle causing her to wince with remembering Ezra.
    He was so good. So kind, uncomplicated, and easy to figure out. Life with Ezra would have been like calm waters, serene, her days floating by with no turbulence.
    It was unreal, at times. He was no longer here on earth. If anyone deserved a home in heaven, it was surely Ezra. Maybe she was meant to be alone, then reunited with him once she got to heaven. Who knew?
    Pi-i-ng!
    The sound was only heard in her subconscious mind. The second time she heard it, she figured the temperature must have been higher than usual this afternoon, the way the house was creaking and snapping.
    She heard another pinging noise, this time against glass.
    What?
    She sat straight up, kicked the sheet off, and headed to the window.
    Crack!
    Sadie recoiled, taking a few steps backward.
    Someone was throwing a small, hard object against her window, above the