Levi rushed toward her, grasped her waist and twirled her around, causing her dress to spin around her in the air. “You’re finally going to tell me about our own boppli? Wonderful. I am so excited to be a father!”

  Miriam righted herself and stood in silence, staring at him. “What are you talking about, Levi?” Why did he think her news had to do with a boppli? Surely, he did not know she was with child. She would know such a thing, after all, she was a midwife. Then thoughts of nausea, fatigue, and fainting struck her. Nee. She could not be, could she?

  She just stood in the middle of the room with both Levi and Ruby staring at her. Suddenly, they all began laughing. “I-I think I might be. With my heavy workload the past few weeks, I thought I was overworked.”

  “You have been, Miriam. Why not tell Levi what we really talked about earlier?”

  Levi gave Miriam a one-armed hug and said, “Since I let the cat out of the bag about the boppli, maybe you better tell me what is really going on.”

  “Go ahead, sister tell him our plans.”

  Taking a deep breath, Miriam began, “I am quitting working here at the store. I have so much more to do with the midwifery, and now Wayne, Anna, and the children. I want to be home to support you emotionally, and if you have chores for me, like driving to town to pick up supplies, you may need.”

  Levi’s eyes grew wide in surprise. “That...that is wonderful. I’m just surprised you really are doing this. With the boppli coming, it is perfect timing. Apparently, you agree, Ruby.”

  “Oh, yes! I have been so bored with nothing to do around the farm stay now Matthew and Hannah have taken over. This will be perfect for me.”

  Levi smiled at Ruby then at Miriam. “I suppose this is all working out for everyone.”

  “It is, and now my husband,” Miriam gave Levi a playful grin which made her eyes sparkle. “told me, a trained midwife, that I am with child, I need to be home even more. I have baby clothes to make.”

  “Or you could buy some from your sister.” Levi picked up a blue one-piece covering and ran his fingers over the soft material.

  “Miriam, run along home,” Ruby said, “It’s starting to snow harder, and the wind has picked up.

  “I rode my horse, so I cannot take you home, but I will make the horse purchase quickly.”

  Miriam slipped into her wool coat, tied on her black hat over her Kapp, then wrapped the long wool scarf around her neck. “I will be on my way then.”

  Levi opened the door for her, once again setting off the bells.

  “Be safe, both of you,” Ruby called out to them as they left the store.

  CHAPTER 10

  Ruby had taken over the store full-time for nearly two weeks. She plunked down in the soft desk chair behind the short wall, hidden somewhat from customers. Today everyone arrived at the same time and left this way as well. At once. Not that there were too many customers.

  She took a bottle of cold water from the barrel near the check out station before she came back here for her break. Twisting off the lid, she tipped back the bottle and took a long drink. Even though winter barely arrived, the store was hot when the stove heating the area was recently stoked.

  Closing her eyes for a moment helped clear her mind. She worried about her sister Miriam. Pregnant, busy with birthing babies and healings, and now, all these shunned families coming to their property to live. She admired her sister, but she still worried. What more could happen in their district? Last spring had been the kidnappings and the murder of the teacher; this winter, horse thieves, and the new families.

  The farm stay was forgotten in the gossip mill with all that transpired over the last few weeks. Now she was the only one working at the store, she was occupied most of the day. Closing the store a couple of days a week crossed her mind, and with winter coming, the sales dropped to minimal amounts. Really it was not worth opening even one day.

  The ringing of the bell over the door snapped her from her reverie. In walked David Fisher. Ruby’s heart felt as if it had jumped to her throat. Something about this man made her breathing difficult and her breath to catch.

  “Welkom, David. What brings you in on this cold, snowy day?”

  “You do.”

  “Me?”

  “Jah.” He reached behind him for the doorknob then turned and went out onto the covered porch. When he stepped back in, he had an ornately carved and finished clock in his arms. “This is for you as thanks for all you did for my family to make Hannah’s wedding so nice.”

  Ruby could not fathom what to say. Never had she received such a gorgeous gift for herself. “I’m stunned, David. All I can say is thank you.”

  He walked around the divider wall and placed the large clock onto the counter. Looking Ruby directly in the eyes he asked, “mind if I sit a spell?”

  “Nee, do sit a spell.” She pushed the other rolling chair toward him. “Nothing much is going on here. Winter is taking over a bit early. I would not be surprised to have a white Christmas. I have been sitting here wondering if I should just close up until spring.”

  “And not have sales for the Englisch Christmas shoppers?”

  “Ach, I have a plan for this.” Ruby bit at her lower lip and looked away from David. He caused her heart to gallop and her breathing ragged. Could she tell him what she had been up to during her long evenings? She took a calming breath and looked back toward the man. He had a cute grin pulling at his full lips.

  “And your plan is?” He looked around the room to assure there were no customers before he said, “So do not worry about what you have been up to. I see you are truly a gut Amish woman, but a little more progressive than tradition...as am I. Do tell me.”

  His words relaxed her worries. She blew out the end of her anxiety with a sigh, and told him, “I have been taking pictures of all the store items with my cell phone. At night when our children are asleep upstairs, I have been updating the farm stay website with pages of the store and listing items for sale.” She opened her arms, indicating the whole store.

  David’s mouth dropped open, and his blue eyes grew wide.

  Ruby swallowed with difficulty. Oh nee, she had done it now! If only she could take back her words! Ruby had always been in trouble with her husband. She was the one with the idea of gas generators for the electric refrigerator and freezer in the basement. Then it was the electric washer and electric lights. Ach, the tiffs they had over buying those items. He finally gave in to all her demands, but he insisted the generators go in a shed he built close to the back porch. The old bishop had never found out.

  This did not stop her husband from thinking she was too Englisch. Maybe she was, but she trusted Gott and her Anabaptist religion as well as loved her community and all the members of it.

  Now they had a new bishop, Matthew spoke to him about getting direct electric lines to the house. The man agreed. It completely surprised both Ruby and Matthew when the bishop decided in their favor. The farm stay contributed a lot of money to the fund, which helped pay medical bills for people in the district, build barns after catastrophes and on and on. The bishop needed all the businesses to thrive for the security of the community.

  “I imagine you feel I should be shunned.”

  David burst out laughing, splitting the tension in the room. “Oh Ruby, you are one of a kind. Of course, I do not think you should be shunned. You are a lovely, proper Amish woman doing what’s best for your family. You are a true entrepreneur.”

  “But if the bishop found out...”

  “And why should he care at all? He knows about the computer and the farm stay website. The store is just one more element of it.

  “True. I must be overthinking it.”

  David stood to leave. “What will you do with your time if you close the store?”

  Ruby shrugged. “I am not sure. Without the farm, I do not have much to do.

  “I have a question for you,” David said. He ran a tan finger over the wood countertop following the grain as he deliberated his words. “You see, my business is growing fast. With all my new employees I have arriving, there will be a tremendous amount of paperwork. Then there are all the documents for my purchases of seed, fencing for my new property, all sorts of things I will need in the spring.”

  “How many workers are you taking on?”

  “At least three of the five that are coming this week.” he ran out of steam and sat back down.

  Ruby followed suit. She could see the man needed someone to talk too. “What a massive amount of work you have to do.”

  “I can do all of this, but I have a problem with record keeping.” He shook his head. “You should see my desk. Piles of bills and receipts. I was wondering if you could help me out?”

  Ruby didn't answer for a bit. What was he asking of her? “I am not sure, David. What can I do?”

  “You did all the books for the farm stay, jah?”

  She nodded. Now she knew what David wanted, but she might have to divulge another secret. When would all her skeletons in the cupboard come out? And here she was giving them away to the only man who had created turmoil in her heart since losing her husband.

  Oh well, he knew about the website so what? She closed her eyes and opened her mouth, and with it, she released a bit of the hold she had on her own heart. “David, you are my friend, so I'm going to trust you with this secret as well. I do the books on the computer.” She placed her head on her arms, which she had crossed on the counter.

  “Hey, don't despair. It is OK. But I want to know... how did you learn all of this? I am truly impressed with your knowledge.”

  “You are?”

  “Jah, I am.”

  She raised her head, and tears ran down her cheeks. “I do not know how to do paper versions of books. I’m sorry I will not be a help to you.”

  David took her small hands into his rough, work-worn hands. How about I talk to the Bishop about my need for a computer? Then you could use mine. Do you remember the small room at the front of the house near the living area?

  She nodded.

  “I have made it into my office. We could set up the computer there, and you could come and go by the front door.”

  Ruby mulled over the idea. There was no good reason not to do this for him, although she worried about spending so much time with him. Over the months she knew him, she began to fall in love with him?

  Since Hannah had been found, she returned to help her family with meals and housework. Ruby had been helping at the Fisher home while Hannah was missing, but now, she saw David only when they were helping arrange the wedding. “Awk, I forgot to tell you Mrs. Guthrie will be here as well.”

  His words pulled her from the thoughts,

  “She will keep our house and cook for us. Her room will be the bedroom on the main floor. Mine and the children’s rooms are upstairs. The Bishop felt this was proper.”

  Ruby’s mind swirled and did not want to work. There was just too much to take in. The book work accounts, the new housekeeper, contemplating closing the store and begin the website to sell her merchandise.

  David looked at her expectantly. “You look scared.”

  “You think so?” She smiled at him then bit her lip as she said, “I am. I-I do not know what to say, David.”

  “Understandable. How about I give you some time to consider it.”

  “T-thank you.”

  “May I ask you a question?”

  Ruby nodded in response.

  “Where did you get your skills for the computer? It could not have been an easy thing to learn. The Amish schools do not prepare you for such a thing.”

  Ruby offered him a seat again “I have been taking classes at the library. I began a few years ago to keep track of our reservations.” She motioned to the kaffe station in the other corner, but David shook his head, so she continued with her story. “Once I learned the software, then came the website building class, then the class where I learned reservations. Before I knew it, the whole farm stay was on there, and we began to really make money.”

  “You amaze me, Ruby. Will you work for me? Think about it and why don’t you let me know next Monday? Right now, I need to get busy. The old dawdi haus on my property needs a bit of work. I cannot have my new housekeeper doing such a huge cleaning job. She might not take kindly to us and quit.”

  David stood, buttoned up his jacket, and walked to the door. He looked back at her and smiled. There was something in the glitter of his blue eyes, which caused her heart to leap in her chest. She felt the change in the room when he walked through the door and closed it softly. She missed him as soon as he was gone.

  CHAPTER 11

  The last weeks at home truly helped Miriam to feel better. Not one time did she get called away for a birth or an energy healing. The only pregnancy written in her book was her own. In a few months, she would have a little boppli in her arms.

  Anna’s little Abby and Emma were quickly growing. She enjoyed helping her sister-in-law care for the children, but they could be a handful at times.

  This afternoon, the boppli and their mother were all napping, and Miriam was cooking. Making pie crust filled her with happiness. The aroma of the lard mixed with flour and the actual crumbling it together with her hands gave her deep satisfaction. As a youngster, her crusts were as hard as soapstone, but over the years, and with lots of practice, they became tender and flaky.

  So far, she had two chickens roasting and two apple pies cooling. Now, only to finish these crusts and bake them off to use tomorrow for cream pies. The rich fragrance from her cooking filled the room and dropped her back into memories of her mamm and mammi cooking when she was young. Coming home from school, food smells welcomed her and wrapped the feelings of home around her body. As a grown woman, she experienced these same feelings. Soon, her child would have memories such as hers.

  Levi and his brother, Wayne tramped into the back porch. “You two had better take off your boots before coming into the kitchen. I will not have you leaving mud and such all over my freshly mopped kitchen.

  “Ok, we hear you,” Levi called out to her. Then she heard him muttering something to his brother.

  The men hung their winter jackets on hooks, they came into the kitchen in their stocking feet.

  “Go warm yourselves by the fire while I’m finishing supper. I will bring you kaffe while you wait. Go along.”

  Levi smiled at her and wrapped his cold arms around her and nuzzled her neck with his cold cheeks. “Levi! Stop,” Miriam laughed at his antics. “You are freezing me.” Then he kissed her with his cold lips. “You are so bad.” Her words were half-jest.

  “But I am warmer now,” he said and again, kissed her lightly on the lips before going into the front room to join his brother who had found his way to a recliner near the fire.

  Miriam shuddered as the thrill of love passed through her. She didn’t know what she had done to deserve such love from her husband. They found each other as an older couple, not in their late teens or early twenties like so many of the Amish did. She had felt like she would be an old maid when she reached thirty, then a couple of years later, Levi came into her life. Suddenly, they were creating a family.

  She filled the mugs with kaffe and took down the remaining chocolate chip cookies she made yesterday placing it all on a tray, she then headed toward the men.

  “The new standard-bred horse will be here next week. We will have time to get the information around at the meeting. Then we can see just who we shake out of the bushes as our thieves,” Levi said to Wayne, “I would like to get past all this and have those horse thieves locked up.”

  Miriam stood in the doorway, listening to the conversation. She knew better than to do this. Her father always said if you eavesdropped, you might not like what you hear. In this case, he was undoubtedly right. Miriam did not want Levi involved in trying to catch these criminals. It sounded dangerous to her.

  Yes, she knew it was the Amish way to handle problems in their own districts, but sometimes you needed law enforcement as they were trained in this sort of thing. She was glad Asher knew what they were up to, but still hearing their plans made her worry.

  Taking a deep breath and sticking on a big smile on her face, Miriam walked into the room with her tray. She set the tray on the table between the chairs where the men were kicked back, enjoying the warmth of the fire.

  “I’ll tell you when supper is on the table.”

  “Are Anna and the girls taking a nap?” Wayne asked her as he took the mug full of kaffe and blew across the top of it to help cool it.

  “They are, so try to be quiet. The boppli need rest. It has been a busy day with wash again. Those two go through more diapers!”

  “It is a good thing we added more lines in the basement to hold them. Can you imagine how many we will need when our boppli comes?” Levi spouted.

  Miriam shook her head and said, “At least he will arrive in the summer so we can hang them all out.” With that, she went back into the kitchen. Hopefully, Levi did not notice his conversation with Wayne upset her, but it sure did. Why did her husband have to try to solve all the problems in the district? Please keep Levi safe, dear Lord. We have so much to live for. Thank you for blessing us with this little one I keep close to my heart and bless this boppli with both a mother and father.

  Later that night, Miriam changed into a soft pink flannel nightgown and sat on the edge of the bed, brushing out her long hair while waiting for Levi to finish his shower. He took one every night before going to bed. Levi told her from their first night together that he would never drag hay and horse hair to their bed. Thankfully, he was true to his word.

  Levi came into the bedroom. His hair was nearly dry from the brisk towel drying he always gave it. His body smelled of a masculine scent from the soap Miriam bought him at Ruby’s store. One of the district ladies, Rachel Schwartz, made it with goat's milk and various essential oils. It smelled so good. Miriam had her own favorite, and soon she would be able to buy her own kinner their own made especially for little ones. The woman also made boppli clothing which smelled rich in the oils.

 

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