chuckled. “Your hair would turn gray if you knew half the things my brother, William, and I pulled when we were their ages.”
She giggled, amazed she could smile after all that she had learned. “You should go and visit him.” Her uncle and his wife along with her father’s sister had remained in Missouri when her father moved to Ohio twenty years ago. He had been to visit them only once in all that time.
“Before it’s too late, you mean? Don’t look so sad. You’re right. I should go. Perhaps I will after the New Year. Until then, I have a lot to do here.”
Besides farming, her father had always planned to open a hardware business that catered to a few of his Amish neighbors with things like lanterns, nuts, bolts and his prized key-cutting machine that was powered by an ancient diesel generator. Only the shell of the building had been completed. The rest of the things he had collected over the years were junk in her eyes, but occasionally someone needed a part for a broken bailer and Zachariah Swartzentruber was the man to see. He had five bailers in various stages of rust sitting in a long shed he’d built to house them. He never came home from market day empty-handed.
Tears pricked her eyes again. What would she do without him? The doctor had to be wrong. “The boys and I will help with whatever you need.”
“I know you will. I want to get my store finished and stocked by Christmas. I have loads of things just waiting to be put out on shelves.”
His store was a room he’d built off the side of the house. The roof was on and the walls were framed, but that was all. His shelves were nothing more than long boards stored in the shed alongside the rusting bailers. “Roy and Alvin can help you finish the store.”
“I need more help than they can give me. My hands are getting weak, and I can’t swing a hammer the way I once did. I need a man’s help.”
“You’re not going to ask Wayne Hochstetler, are you?” The idea of seeing him daily while the work was completed was troubling. What if she didn’t like him enough to walk out with him? How could she face him day after day knowing he was sizing her up to be his wife?
“Nee, for if Wayne has his mind on courting you, he might not be any use to me. A lovesick fellow often makes a poor worker.”
“Then there are a number of young men who should suit your needs nicely. How much will this cost?”
He rose and cupped her cheek with his hand. “Don’t worry your head about it, daughter. Buy the material for a new dress, and let me worry about the money.”
“All right.” She smiled for him.
“That’s my girl.” He started to leave the room.
“I’ll put an ad for a hired man in the newspaper tomorrow.”
“No need. I’ve already hired someone. He starts on Monday.”
Her heart dropped like a rock and she closed her eyes. Please, please, please, don’t let it be him.
“Who did you hire, Daed?”
“I don’t feel so goot. I don’t think I’m ready to go home.”
Luke suppressed a smile at Roy’s downcast expression as he sat on the edge of the boy’s bed the following morning. Roy looked less like a drowned rat today and more like a fella ready to get up to mischief as soon as Rebecca let him out of bed. Both of them knew better than to make that move without her permission. Luke’s sister-in-law was a force to be reckoned with. She and Emma were cut from the same cloth.
Why hadn’t Rebecca mentioned that Emma was seeing someone? While most Amish sweethearts kept their relationship a tightly guarded secret from the community until the banns were read a few weeks before the wedding, family members usually knew what was going on when a couple became serious. Zachariah’s announcement yesterday had hit Luke like a ton of bricks, although he wasn’t sure why.
That was a lie. He knew why. Emma held a place in his heart that no other woman had been able to fill.
She should marry. Wasn’t that why he had stepped aside all those years ago? Because he wanted her to be happy? He wanted her to build a life in the Amish community where they had grown up. Emma belonged here. She embraced the Amish way of life. It was something he had never been able to do.
All through the rough times when he was on drugs and then behind bars, he imagined Emma living a contented life. He was able to find comfort in that. It had soothed the pain of knowing how poorly he’d treated her. His words that night had been cruel, but they had been for her own good. He knew how much her family was going to need her. He had learned her mother didn’t have long to live, but he had been forbidden to tell anyone, even Emma.
Roy plucked at the covers. “I think I should stay here another day or two.”
“You’re fine. You’re just afraid of what your daed is gonna do.”
“Not daed. Emma. She has a way of looking at you that makes you feel two inches tall.”
“I’ve seen that look. Your daed didn’t seem well when I saw him yesterday.”
“He’s been feeling poorly for a spell, but he saw the doctor yesterday. I’m sure he’ll be better soon.”
“Until then, I reckon that means he needs you and your brother’s help more than ever with the farm chores.”
Roy glanced from beneath his lashes at Luke. “Was he mad at Alvin?”
“A bit. Emma more so.”
“There’s no surprise.” Roy rolled his eyes, forcing Luke to hide another grim.
“Mostly they’re thankful both you boys survived. It was a dumb stunt.”
Roy scowled. “Micah and I watched you ride a snowmobile up and down that river a few years ago.”
“It was a dumb stunt when I did it, too. Micah who?”
“Micah Yoder. We thought it looked like mighty goot fun. He would have enjoyed it.”
“I’m sure he would until he ended up in the water. Not so much fun then, was it? It could easily have been your brother lying here in your place. Or worse. You know that, don’t you?”
A stoic expression settled on Roy’s face. “Ja. I know.”
Luke waited a few moments to let that thought soak in. “Your father mentioned he wants to get some of his equipment ready to sell in the spring. He asked for my help to repair some of his machinery. He offered to hire me for a couple of months.”
Roy’s face split into a wide grin as he scooted up in bed and leaned against the headboard. “Are you gonna take the job? That would be wunderbar.”
“I’m glad you like the idea.” Luke still didn’t know what had come over him. He never should have accepted Zachariah’s offer. He hadn’t even spoken to his own father yet.
“I
