she couldn’t stand there and let a young boy be accused wrongly.
Those thoughts fled through her mind in a second. Stepping forward, she said with a gentle smile, “Ma’am, I think there’s been a misunderstanding.”
The manager glanced at her with relief. He was ready for someone else to try to reason with Mrs. Hayes.
The old woman wasn’t in a reasonable mood. “That boy bumped me a few minutes ago and almost knocked me off my feet. I’m sure he did the same to the sauce.”
“Did you see him do that?” asked a voice from the crowd of onlookers.
Mrs. Hayes glowered. “I didn’t have to. He was running wild. That man—” She aimed her frown at Eli. “I don’t know how you people raise your kids, but they need to learn manners.”
“I didn’t mean to bump her,” the little boy said. “She stopped right in front of me. It was an accident.”
“Wouldn’t have mattered if I’d fallen and broken a hip, would it, boy?”
“Let’s be thankful that didn’t happen,” Miriam said. “Why don’t you let him help you load your groceries into your car? That way, he’ll have another chance to say he’s sorry.”
The kind glanced at his onkel and made motions with his hands.
Looking from him to her, Eli nodded.
“I can help you,” the little boy said, sticking out his narrow chest.
The elderly woman seemed to have second thoughts as if she’d just realized how young the kind was. “No, that’s not necessary.” She frowned at Eli again. “You need to keep a closer watch on your child, and both of you need to learn how to behave in a store.” With a muttered comment Miriam didn’t catch, she walked away, pushing her cart.
The manager stepped forward, careful to skirt the broken glass. He motioned for a couple of his teen employees to start cleaning up the mess. He apologized to her and to Eli, ending with, “Mrs. Hayes means well.”
“I understand,” Miriam replied.
Eli said, “Danki.”
His voice was a rich tenor as smooth as warm molasses. She wished he’d say more, but he didn’t.
When Russ offered to pay to have her clothing cleaned, Miriam assured him it wasn’t necessary. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to get the stains out, but she didn’t want to hand her clothes over to a stranger. The manager insisted on giving her a discount on her groceries, and she agreed after realizing she’d become the center of attention in the cramped store.
“You, too, sir,” he said to Eli.
Again, Eli didn’t reply until his nephew tugged on his arm. “Danki.”
He took his nephew by the shoulders and steered him to a cart farther back in the aisle. When he glanced at her again, their gazes locked. Did he want to say something to her?
For the third time, he said, “Danki.”
The single word’s warmth and the sincerity in his voice swirled through her like a spring breeze after a difficult winter.
“You’re welcome,” she replied.
After he gave her a slight nod, he and his nephew walked away.
And Miriam let the air in her lungs sift out. She hadn’t realized she’d been holding her breath, and she wasn’t sure why she’d been.
“Are you okay, Miriam?” asked a soft voice from behind her.
As Eli and his nephew went around the end of the aisle and out of view, Miriam turned to her friend Annie Wagler. Annie, her twin sister, Leanna, and Sarah Kuhns had come with Miriam in the Englisch van they’d hired to bring them the three miles into Salem for grocery shopping. The other women were, like Miriam, in their midtwenties and unmarried. Each had come to the Harmony Creek settlement to join members of their families in making a new home. The twins lived with grandparents and their brother and his family while Sarah kept house for two brothers.
“I am. Danki for asking. I never expected so much excitement.” She was babbling. She needed to stop, but her mouth kept moving. “Be careful. Glass is scattered everywhere.”
“Bend down.” Annie plucked a shard from the top of Miriam’s kapp.
Annie was the complete opposite of Miriam. A tiny brunette doll instead of a female Goliath towering over everyone else as Miriam did. Annie possessed a sparkling effervescence that brightened every life she touched...which Miriam couldn’t. Annie was honestly cheerful while Miriam had to struggle for every smile, though it’d been easier this morning while she and the other women rode in a white van driven by Hank Puente, who wasn’t much taller than the Wagler twins.
While Annie handed the glass to a store employee, Miriam shook her apron and dress with care. She was shocked when several more pieces of glass dropped to the floor. When she washed her clothes and herself, she was going to have to take care not to get cut.
Sarah stepped forward. She was a couple inches taller than the twins, but had hair as red as Eli’s nephew. She wore gold-rimmed glasses, which she pushed up on her freckled nose as she helped Annie and Leanna do a quick check to make sure there was no glass among the groceries in Miriam’s cart. Other shoppers edged around them, staring. Not at the plain women, but at the mess. More than one Englisch woman asked if Miriam had gotten hurt.
Miriam was amazed how the incident had opened the door wider for them with their Englisch neighbors, who had watched the Amish newcomers with polite but distancing curiosity. When she mentioned that to her friends, Annie giggled.
“What’s the saying? An ill wind blows no gut? I’d say it’s the opposite today. Gut things are happening.”
Annie saw the positive side of every situation, one of the reasons Miriam was glad they’d become friends. Annie’s optimism helped counteract her own regrets at how her betrothal had ended.
As she moved her cart aside so the store employees could clean the floor, she saw Eli and his nephew checking out. She watched the little boy signal his onkel each time the cashier spoke to them. Comprehension blossomed when she remembered Caleb saying Eli wore two hearing aids. They must not be enough to compensate for Eli’s hearing loss because he needed help from his nephew.
“Someone’s curious about our newcomer,” Leanna said.
“I’m more curious how long the checkout lines are,” she replied.
With another giggle, Annie said, “She’s not denying it.”
Miriam shook her head and looked at Sarah, who was more serious than she was. They shrugged before separating to finish their shopping.
Ten minutes later Miriam was watching her purchases flow along the belt at the checkout. Coming into the small village to do errands had become more fun than she’d expected. Other than the spaghetti sauce disaster, but that would be amusing when she told her brother about it. She was glad she’d accepted the invitation
