eyes on the shiny cutouts she was leafing through. “Toby is willing to help.”
It took so long for Becky to respond that Susannah thought she hadn’t heard. She grabbed Susannah’s hands and pulled her around to face her.
“Toby? What is wrong with you, Susannah? Why would you let Toby anywhere near you after what he’s done?”
“Shh. Becky, his children are my students. I can’t keep him away from the school.” She had no hope that Becky would accept that as a reason.
“I know what he’s doing.” Becky’s eyes narrowed. “He’s volunteered to help because he wants to get close to you again.”
Her voice had risen, and Susannah shot a quick look around. “Hush. Do you want someone to hear?” At least in a public place, she had a reason for trying to mute Becky’s protests. Unfortunately she knew she’d have to listen to them all the way home.
Becky dismissed her words with a quick gesture. “Why didn’t you tell him no? Say you already had enough help?”
“It wasn’t that way.” She found she was trying to avoid her friend’s eyes. “Toby didn’t suggest it. I did.”
Becky was silent for a moment, clasping her hands tightly. “Ach, Susannah, what were you thinking? You’re surely not falling for him again.”
“It’s nothing like that,” she protested. “William is troubled, and he needs attention from his father. I thought if they worked together on the project, it might help him.”
Becky pressed her lips together in disapproval. “Let him do that outside of school—far away from you.”
“You don’t have to worry about me. My only interest in Toby is as his children’s teacher. I’m not going to get involved with him again.”
Becky studied Susannah’s face for a moment and shook her head. “I’m not sure if you actually believe what you’re saying or not. But I am sure of one thing. If you let Toby get close to you, he’ll only hurt you again.”
Susannah felt her throat tighten as she considered the words. Becky was only saying what she herself knew was true. But her commitment to her students came before her own feelings. Somehow, she’d have to get through working with Toby without exposing her heart.
Toby felt more than a little out of place when he arrived at the school Monday afternoon for his first stint helping with the Christmas program. Susannah had seemed confident that this would be good for his children, but he couldn’t deny it made him self-conscious to think of trying to build bridges with his children under her gaze.
Well, Susannah wouldn’t be critical of him. That wasn’t in her nature. He’d turned his kinder over to her with complete confidence in her abilities, so the least he could do was follow her advice.
The schoolroom was already humming with activity when he stepped inside, and Toby paused for a moment, hefting his toolbox in one hand, while he tried to make sense of what was going on. One group of children seemed to be reading their parts out loud, while in another corner, some older girls were working on poster-size sheets of paper.
Becky was there, directing a group that was decorating a bulletin board. She gave him a cool nod, making him wonder what she’d said when she’d learned he’d be helping. Nothing complimentary, he imagined.
Susannah greeted him, wearing her usual composed smile. “You’re right on time. I have the materials over here for the big candles, and I thought you and some of the boys might start on those first.”
He nodded, following her to one side of the room where some desks had been pushed out of the way. She’d described what she wanted, and it seemed simple enough, although time-consuming, especially since Susannah expected him to be working with the children instead of doing it himself. Still, that was a typically Amish way of learning—doing a task alongside someone who had already mastered it.
Almost before he had gathered his thoughts, Susannah left him alone with a group of boys that included his son. William wore a wooden expression that suggested he wasn’t sure if he liked having his father here in the schoolroom.
“Suppose you all gather ’round, and I’ll show you what Teacher Susannah wants us to build.” He spread out the drawing he’d made for them. “The candles will be supported by a base and a diagonal, wooden brace on the back, where it won’t show.” He pointed with his pencil, and several of the older boys nodded.
“We’ll be painting them when they’re finished, ain’t so?” One of them, a tall kid with a shock of wheat-colored hair brushing his eyebrows, asked as he leaned over the sketch.
Toby nodded. “We’ve got a lot of work to do before then, so let’s get started.”
To his relief, several of the older boys immediately caught on to what was required. They had obviously done some carpentry before. He was able to set them to work on one candle while he tackled another with the younger ones, and soon the tap of hammers joined in the chorus of children’s voices practicing their lines under Susannah’s direction.
“You started school here at the right time,” he told William. “Putting on the Christmas program is one of most fun things you’ll ever do in the Pine Creek school, ain’t so?”
His son shrugged. “I guess.”
Toby inwardly sighed. If he got discouraged every time William gave him a two-word answer, he’d be done before he started. He had to persevere.
“My daadi says you went to school here with him.” The boy working next to William had a face spattered with freckles and a gap-toothed smile.
Memory stirred. “Is your daadi Paul Broder?”
The kid’s grin widened as he nodded. “I’m Matthew Broder. Do you remember my daad?”
“I sure do. Ask him if he remembers the time we ate the green apples from the apple tree in the schoolyard and were sick all afternoon.”
The memory brought a smile to his face. Paul had often been his partner in crime, as he recalled, but he hadn’t trusted Toby’s judgment quite so much after the green-apple affair.
William made a pretense of ignoring them, but he suspected his son was more interested in the conversation than he let on.
“Teacher Susannah was in school here with us, too,” he said. “Did your daad tell you that?”
Matthew nodded. “Everybody knows that.”
Of course. Everybody knew everything there was to know about people in this isolated community. Funny how he’d once been so eager to leave, when now he just wanted to fit in again.
Holding a crosspiece for the base while his son hammered a nail in, Toby realized he hadn’t felt this content in a long time. It was good to be back in the familiar schoolroom, feeling again the sense of order and purpose that permeated it.
And it was especially satisfying to be working
