Ellie smiled at Mari. “See you after school?”
“Of course. Unless...” Mari glanced back at Sara. “Unless I’m supposed to go to work today.”
“Ne,” Sara assured her. “Not today. Gideon and Addy have just thrown open their doors, so the pace is still slow. Gideon said tomorrow would be fine. Give you a chance to settle in.”
“Going to be working for Gideon and Addy, are you?” James remarked as he added milk to his coffee from a small pitcher on the table.
Mari slowly lifted her gaze. James had nice hands, very clean, his fingers well formed. She raised her gaze higher to find that he was still watching her intently, but it wasn’t a predatory gaze. James seemed genuinely friendly rather than coming on to her, as if he was interested in what she had to say. “I hope so.” She suddenly felt shy, and she had no idea why. “I don’t know a thing about butcher shops.”
“You’ll pick it up quick.” James took a sip of his coffee. “And Gideon is a great guy. He’ll make it fun. Don’t you think so, Sara?”
Sara looked from James to Mari and then back at James. “I agree.” She smiled and took a sip of her coffee. “I think Mari’s a fine candidate for all sorts of things.”
The following morning dawned cold and clear. Mari had risen early to help with breakfast and make certain that Zachary was dressed and fed before she left him in the care of Sara for the day. “Wake up, sweetie,” she said, shaking him. “Time to rise and shine.”
“I want to sleep some more.” Zachary tried to roll over, away from her.
“Nope.” She put her arm around him. “No can do. I start work this morning.”
Zachary rubbed his eyes. “I don’t like it here. I want to go home.”
Mari ruffled his hair. “We can’t, and you know that. We can’t go back to Wisconsin because there’s no money and nothing to go back to.”
“Can’t I go with you to work?” He stared up at her with large, sleepy eyes. “I don’t know these people.”
“You’ll be fine.” Mari got up and laid out a pair of jeans and a faded flannel shirt for him. “Sara has been good to us, and she’s doing everything she can to make this easier. I told you she’d be keeping an eye on you for a few days while I’m at work. As soon as I can, I’ll get you enrolled in a new school. You’ll make friends, and before you know it, I’ll have enough money so that we can move into a place of our own.”
Zachary’s chin quivered, and he looked as if he was about to burst into tears. “My stomach hurts,” he said, not sounding very convincing.
“Don’t even try that trick.” She’d heard his attempts at malingering before, only to see him devour two bowls of cereal once the school bus went by. “What you need is breakfast. Sara makes great pancakes.”
He looked up at her. “I don’t want pancakes. I want to go home.”
She sighed. “I know this is hard—it’s hard for me, too.” Though maybe not for the same reasons, she thought to herself. She hadn’t been prepared for how comfortable she would feel in Sara’s house. She leaned down and kissed his forehead. “I need you to try, Zach. Can you do that for me?”
His eyes narrowed. “For how long do I have to try?”
She thought for a moment. She hadn’t really given herself a timeline. Had she subconsciously done that on purpose? “Three months,” she said off the top of her head. “Promise me that you’ll do your best to help me make this work.”
He considered. “Three months is a long time. How about one month?”
Mari shook her head. “Not long enough. We have to get our feet back on the ground. I have to earn and save money to get us started again. And even though Sara has been nice enough to let us stay here, I still have to pay for our food and such.”
They were both quiet for a second, and then he said, “All right, Mom. Guess I can try.”
“Is that a promise?”
“Three months,” he said. “But if it doesn’t work, if I still hate it, then what?”
Mari walked to a window and stared at the barnyard below. James and his crew had just arrived and they were unloading tools from a wagon. Her gaze fell on James’s broad shoulders and lingered. She turned back to Zachary. “I don’t know what we’ll do then,” she answered him honestly. “If we can’t make it here in Seven Poplars, I don’t know what we’ll do.” She turned back to him. “But I’ll think of something. And that’s a promise.”
“Okay.”
“Good.” She smiled at him. “I knew I could count on you. Sara told me that there will be a van here at eight o’clock to pick me up, so we have to hurry. Up and into your clothes, favorite son.” She gave him a tickle under his chin.
“I’m your only son!” Giggling, Zachary rolled out of his bed and scrambled for his clothes.
A short time later, Mari was downstairs pouring orange juice at the kitchen table for Zachary. “I’m so glad my new boss is providing transportation to work. I was wondering what I’d do until I could buy a car.”
Sara passed the plate of pancakes to Hiram so he could have another helping. “It was Addy’s idea that Gideon hire a driver to pick up all his workers and drop them off at the end of the day. Good way to make sure everyone’s on time.”
“Addy’s Gideon’s wife,” Ellie explained.
Jerushah nodded. “Gideon’s wife,” she repeated.
Mari buttered a slice of rye toast. “I suppose I expected the Amish employees to walk or come to work by buggy.”
“Most of us do use horse and buggy to get around,” Sara said. “At least locally.”
“Or a push scooter,” Ellie put. “I usually ride mine to the school, unless the weather is bad.”
“We’d rather keep the horses and buggies off the main roads,” Sara explained. “Because of the traffic. But we like horse power, especially for visiting back and forth in our community and for worship services or grocery shopping. Farther than Dover and most people usually hire a driver. And it’s reasonable if more than one family shares the price.”
“And if the employees drove a horse to Gideon’s shop, the animals would have to stand outside all day,” Hiram added. “Not good.” It was a long speech for him, Mari realized, and as if he’d used up his allotment of words, he reddened, put his head down and concentrated on his third stack of pancakes.
The loud sounds of hammering and sawing drifted from the direction of the addition. “I hear they’re at it already,” Mari said.
“Ya.” Sara added sugar to her coffee. “James is a hard worker.”
Zachary
