Tilly noticed how quiet, if not contemplative, Ruthie looked over in the corner of the front room near the heater stove. Mamm, on the other hand, looked bleary-eyed and ready to call it a day while Daed read verse seventeen, “ ‘Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord.’ ” There was not a speck of expression in his voice. I could fall asleep to his monotone, thought Tilly as he read the Bible. It took her back to the days when her older brothers were still living at home, and this room seemed much smaller with all of them present. Joseph and Jacob were always the most relaxed during evening Bible reading and silent prayer, as she remembered. Was it that they were less interested? She also remembered later, when Anna was old enough to calmly sit on Mamm’s lap and fold her little hands while Daed read to them. Thinking of her baby sister still took her breath away, as if Tilly were realizing yet again that Anna was gone.
