this Eli? How did he know Mam? How did he know Ruth?
A hint of unease flashed across her mother’s face, quickly replaced with her normal calm. “Eli is Roman’s sister’s son. He’s come from Belleville, Pennsylvania, to work for Roman. We met at the chair shop yesterday. Thank the Lord he was close enough to help. You might have been badly burned.”
“I didn’t need rescuing,” she protested. She didn’t want to be beholden to this arrogant stranger who made her feel so foolish. “I saw the sparks. I was taking my apron off when he threw me on the grass.”
“Nevertheless, I thank God that he sent someone to watch over you.” Mam squeezed her hand. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
Mam turned to face the school. The fire seemed to be out, and the men had set aside the fire extinguishers. “I just don’t see how this could have happened. We haven’t had a fire in the stove in weeks, and we have no electricity.”
“I’d say somebody started it,” Eli replied. “That’s how this kind of thing usually happens.”
Immediately, Ruth thought of Irwin Beachy, who she’d seen running away from the school, but she didn’t say anything. Irwin had a reputation for causing trouble. He’d been a thorn in Mam’s classroom ever since he’d come from Ohio to live with his cousins after his parents had died. But Irwin could have just been frightened by the fire. It would be wrong to accuse him, especially in front of this Eli.
“It was good you came when you did,” Mam said to Roman as he approached. “God must have sent you. If it wasn’t for you, we might have lost the school.”
“We were delivering a table to Esther Mose. We heard the bell.” Roman glanced at Ruth. “Good you thought to ring it.” He slapped Eli’s shoulder. “And good my nephew saw Ruth’s clothes catch fire.”
“Glad to be of service.” Eli stared boldly at Ruth and she felt heat wash over her again. “I’d hate to see such a pretty face burned.”
Ruth felt so self-conscious that she wanted to melt into the grass. “We’re thankful God sent you to save the school,” she said stiffly.
“No lives were lost and no one was injured,” Mam said. “Wood can be replaced.” She straightened her shoulders. “It appears we’ll be in need of a good carpenter. We’re nearly at the end of the school term, and the children can’t miss any days, especially those who are graduating.”
Eli winked at Ruth. Even with her face smudged with soot and her red hair all in a tangle, she was the prettiest girl he’d ever laid eyes on. She had the cutest little freckled nose and a berry-colored mouth. She wasn’t very tall; her head came barely to the top of his shoulder, but she was slim and neatly put together in her modest blue dress. But most of all, he was drawn to her eyes, nutmeg brown with dashes of cinnamon and ginger. “Aren’t you a little old to still be in school?” he teased.
“I am not in school,” she corrected him. “My mother forgot her dinner bucket, and I came to bring it to her.”
He grinned mischievously. Ruth wasn’t just pretty, she was saucy. A man didn’t come across too many saucy Amish girls where he came from. Mostly, they were quiet and meek. Hannah Yoder’s daughter was different, not just a pretty face and a tidy body. She had spirit, and he liked her at once. “If I thought you would bring my lunch, I might forget it, too.”
Chapter Two
The hanging oil lamp cast a warm golden light over the Yoder kitchen as Ruth’s family prepared for supper that evening. This was her favorite part of the day, and despite the near-tragedy of the fire, she found sweet comfort in the familiar odors of baking bread and the clatter of dishes and silverware.
Dutifully, Ruth helped her sisters carry food to the old trencher table that Dat’s great-grandfather had crafted. The kitchen was Plain, spacious and as neat as the starched white Kapp Mam wore to Sunday services under her black bonnet.
Ruth was carrying two steaming bowls of corn chowder to the table when she heard a knock on the back door.
“Whoever could that be?” Mam asked.
Anna placed an iron skillet of fresh-baked biscuits on top of the stove. “I’ll get it.”
Ruth had a strange feeling she knew who the unexpected visitor was, and she hurried to the window over the sink and tugged back the corner of the yellow chintz curtain. The minute she saw him, she dropped the curtain and spun around, leaning against the sink. “Don’t answer it!” she called, panic fluttering in her chest.
“Don’t answer it?” Anna laughed as she walked toward the back door. “Ruth, what’s gotten into you? You hit your head when that boy rolled you around in the grass today?”
Susanna giggled and covered her mouth with a chubby hand. Nothing was said or went on in Susanna’s presence that wasn’t repeated later to anyone who would listen.
“No, I didn’t hit my head,” Ruth whispered loudly. She felt silly and shaky at the same time, as if she’d played ring-around-the-rosy too long with her nephew. “It’s supper time. Just let him go.”
“Him?” Anna raised a blond eyebrow and Susanna giggled again.
Eli heard the sound of feminine voices on the other side of the door and yanked his straw hat off. Then, feeling silly, he dropped it back on his head. What was he doing? He wasn’t courting the girl; he’d just stopped by after work to check on her. Okay, so it wasn’t on his way home, but it was the proper thing to do, wasn’t it? To check on a girl after she’d nearly caught her clothes on fire?
Eli groaned. Who was he kidding? He knew very well Ruth was fine. She’d made that quite clear at the school yard. He should never have come to the Yoder house. When he had left Belleville, he’d sworn off pretty girls. They were nothing but trouble. Trouble, that was what it was that had led him here tonight, and if he had any sense at all, he’d turn and run before the door opened.
That was the smart thing to do. Eli took a step back, cramming his hat down farther on his head. A smart man would run.
He was just turning away when he heard the doorknob, and he spun back, yanking off his hat again. In his mind, he already saw Ruth, pretty as a picture, smiling up at him, thanking him for rescuing her from certain death today. He smiled as the door opened.
But it wasn’t Ruth, and he took a step back in surprise, nearly tripping down the step. Definitely not Ruth. This girl was taller and far rounder and not nearly so gentle on the eyes….
She looked as startled as he felt.
“H-hi.” Her round cheeks reddened as she wiped her hands on her apron, a smile rising on the corners of her lips.
He had that kind of effect on girls. They smiled a lot, giggled when they looked at him. “H-hi,” he echoed, feeling completely ridiculous. He heard someone whisper loudly from inside.
“Tell him I’m not here.”
The girl at the door smiled more broadly, bringing dimples to her cheeks, and she took a step toward him, practically filling the doorway so he couldn’t see inside.
Eli took another step back. That had to be Ruth he’d heard.
