“Two green thumbs,” Owen insisted.
Mammi looked like she would burst into laughter any second. “Would you like to help with the weeding, then? These old bones are creaking like a rusty gate.”
Rachel glanced at Moses and pasted on her best smile. “Jah, sure. Do you have a pair of gloves?”
“In the barn,” Felty said. “Top shelf above the clay pots.”
Rachel tiptoed gingerly to the barn and disappeared after a look behind her to make sure Moses watched.
“Staking the tomatoes?” Owen said.
“Would you like to help?”
“I used to lay roof for a living. I know how to drive a nail pretty gute.”
Moses gave Owen his leather gloves and the hammer. “I’ll hold while you drive it.”
Owen donned the gloves and raised the hammer. Moses twisted a section of rebar into the ground a few inches from the first tomato plant. Owen aimed true, and it only took him three hits to firmly drive the stake.
Rachel appeared at the door of the barn holding a bright green pair of gloves. “Do you have smaller ones?”
“Look in the brown bin,” Felty yelled.
Owen chuckled. “That girl sure is petite. We have to buy child-size garden gloves for her at home. Not like Lia. There ain’t nothing small about Lia. She’s tall enough for birds to perch on her head like a telephone pole.”
Owen’s voice grated like fingernails on a chalkboard. Moses interrupted him just so he would quit talking. “I think Lia has beautiful long fingers. And graceful, like a swan in flight.”
Owen looked mildly surprised. “I suppose she does. She’s not favored like Rachel, but Lia has her own good qualities. Rachel is a beauty, ain’t not?” He leaned closer to Moses and lowered his voice. “I’ll tell you one thing about Rachel. She likes to go riding. Don’t matter where you take her, she just likes to be off somewhere with the wind in her face.”
“I don’t have an open-air buggy,” Moses said.
“That don’t matter. Take her riding anywhere.” He lowered his voice further. “And if Lia is any sort of a bother, you send the word and I’ll bring her back home.”
There was the bottom line. As long as Rachel was satisfied with Moses’s attentions, Lia could stay. But if Lia inconvenienced her sister in any way, Lia’s dat would ship her home.
Had Lia’s fater always treated her this way? She must have the patience of Job. Moses wanted to growl in indignation for Lia. Instead, he turned his back on Owen and trudged toward the house. “I need a Band-Aid,” he said. “I’ll be back.”
He flung open the door more violently than he meant to. Owen Shetler had really gotten to him. Lia stood at the counter with her hands submerged in a bowl of ground beef. She smiled weakly at him, but she looked weary, like all the sunshine had seeped out of her.
Moses felt that he should say something to make her feel better, but he’d really come in so she would make him feel better. She always did.
“I came for a drink of water,” he said lamely, momentarily distracted by her deep chocolate eyes.
“Are you staking tomatoes?”
“Slowly. Your dat is helping, and Rachel is scouring the entire barn for a suitable pair of gloves.”
One corner of her mouth twitched upward. “It’s one of her tricks to avoid work.”
“Jah, I figured.”
Lia’s eyes glistened with instant tears. “I am sorry. I should not have said anything against my sister.”
Moses hadn’t expected tears. He’d never seen Lia cry before. “Don’t cry about it,” he said, frozen in place where he stood. “I promise I won’t tell a soul.”
Lia sniffled softly and blinked back the moisture before anything trickled down her face. “Must be the onions.”
Moses snatched a tissue from the box with the knitted cover and held it ready for any leakage. “The strategy is to make sure there is a pair of extra-small gloves for Rachel ready for every occasion. We’ll need latex, gardening, and rubber. Did I forget anything?”
There was a smile. Weak, but better than the unhappiness that overspread her features a few moments ago. “Oven mitts.”
“Smaller oven mitts. Maybe Mammi could knit a pair.”
Lia pressed her hamburger mixture into a pan. “You’re annoyed.”
“You always think I’m annoyed.”
“You always are.”
Moses ran his fingers through his hair. “Not always. Just today. I wish people would quit trying to marry me off to people I don’t want to marry.”
Lia’s face clouded over. “Then I have news that will annoy you more than ever.”
“Sounds like very bad news.”
“My dat says I have to take Rachel midwifing with me, or he will make me come home.”
“But Sarah doesn’t want her to come,” Moses said.
“Oh, she’s not planning on accompanying me. She’s planning on being with you.”
Moses had no reply for that. He clenched his teeth until he thought they might crack.
“I would never ask you to do that for me,” Lia said. “Is there another way to get me to the homes without you having to fetch me? One of Sarah’s sons might be able to pick me up, or I could borrow Felty’s horse and go myself.”
Moses couldn’t go along with that plan. He liked being with Lia, maybe more than he would admit to anybody. Why should he let Rachel take that from him? “That will never do. I take all the credit for introducing you to Sarah. I should have the privilege of driving you places.”
She blushed and looked away. “It is more appropriate to say ‘the burden.’”
“You deserve to learn with Sarah. You’ve studied hard.” Moses searched for the words to reassure Lia. There was no way he would let her sister ruin things for her in Bonduel. “Don’t fret. I don’t mind spending time with Rachel.”
Lia’s countenance fell further. “Oh, you don’t?”
“She is really a very pleasant girl. And helpful. She can help me make cheese on the days we are together. I will buy a supply of small gloves.”
He meant for her to laugh. Instead, Lia acted as if he had said something very hurtful. He didn’t like her reaction.
“You’re annoyed again,” she said.
“Because I hate trying to guess what you are thinking.”
“I am thinking that you and Rachel would make a striking couple.”
Moses grunted. “And you must keep learning from Sarah. I won’t allow you to quit or let your dat ruin things for you.”
Lia sighed deeply. “I can never repay all you’ve done for me.”
“A piece of pie will be all the thanks I need.”
Mammi came huffing into the house with Isaac Weaver close behind. Isaac and his wife, Lindy, were Mammi and Dawdi’s closest neighbors. They had six small children and twenty head of cattle. Moses bought all Isaac’s milk for the cheese factory.
“Isaac,” said Moses, “Gute to see you.”
“Gute maiya, Moses.”
“Lindy is feeling poorly,” Mammi said, rummaging through her kitchen cupboards.
Isaac stood just inside the door. “I came for some raspberry leaf. I know Anna always keeps some about.”
“Are the kinner feeling okay?” Lia asked.
“Jah, all well, but it’s a burden when their mother is so sick.”
Lia reached into the fridge and pulled out a delectable-looking pie. She showed it to Anna. “Is it all right?”
Anna nodded.
Lia glanced apologetically at Moses and handed the pie to Isaac. “Take this for your family. Pie is such a comfort when things are out of sorts.”
Isaac smiled. “Denki, Lia. They will really enjoy it.”
Mammi handed Isaac a plastic bag full of raspberry leaves plus a pink dishrag from her knitting closet. “Here. These will make her feel better.”
Isaac smiled and took his treasures. Moses watched out the window as his pie disappeared down the hill. He slumped his shoulders and groaned as if his heart would break.
“Sorry, Moses,” said Lia. “I will bake you a pie next week.”
Moses flashed Lia a mischievous grin. “That is a piecrust promise. Easily made, easily broken.”
Lia propped her hands on her hips. “I’ll have you know, piecrusts are not easily made.”
“All I know is that Lia Shetler’s pies are as rare as hen’s teeth.”
Owen Shetler ate two big pieces of meatloaf and three helpings of corn all the while praising Rachel for the meal she might have cooked if Lia had only given her a turn. He cleaned his plate and held his fork at the ready. “I’m ready for pie.”
Moses didn’t mourn for the pie quite so badly when he saw Owen Shetler’s disappointment that there would be none. Lia’s dad would be going to bed without dessert.
It was precisely what he deserved.
Dat’s driver pulled up the lane promptly at six. Dat laid his napkin over his plate and scooted from the table. “That was delicious.” He shook his finger at Rachel. “Next time I come, I want to see you do the cooking.”
Rachel tilted her head playfully. “Of course.”
Moses, his grandparents, and the Shetlers stood in unison, and Lia and Moses began clearing the dishes from the table.
“Come again, Owen,” said Felty, shaking Dat’s hand. “And bring Eliza next time. Tell her your girls are getting along right as rain.”
“I will.” Dat motioned to the door. “Moses, can you come out and point my driver in the direction of your cheese factory? I’d like to go by and see the place before heading home.”
Moses laid a stack of dirty silverware on the counter and flashed an apologetic look at Lia before following Dat out the door. Butterflies fluttered around Lia’s insides when Moses flashed his teeth at her. He had a way of making her feel more important than she was.
Dat closed the door behind them, and Anna gave Rachel’s arm a motherly pat. “Well, dear, I’m sure your dat was satisfied with what he saw.”
Rachel stared out the window. “I guess so. He probably wants to make things clear to Moses. One more time. Maybe.” Her voice trailed off as she watched Moses and Dat, no doubt wishing she could hear the conversation.
Felty winked in Lia’s direction. “It’s good Lia is here to make things easier for you.”
“Uh-huh.”
Anna carried a stack of cups to the counter. “Rachel, would you go down to the cellar and fetch a bottle of peaches? They would taste so gute for dessert.”
Rachel turned from the window. “Lia, you go. I want to wave to Dat one more time.”
Lia pressed her lips together and dried her hands. It was easier to do it herself than to talk Rachel into anything. She tromped down the thick wooden steps to the long shelf full of colorful bottles of fruits and vegetables. She studied the labels and picked a bottle of peaches that had been canned last year. Best use the oldest fruit first.
She didn’t realize the small cellar window stood open until she heard heavy footsteps on the porch above her. The window sat below and to the side of the porch, and when it was open, Lia could hear everything that went on up there. Moses was probably coming back into the house.
The clomping stopped on the porch, and Lia heard the voices of both Moses and her dat.
“It’s no trouble for me to come back,” she heard Dat say. “The phone shack is but a ten-minute walk from the house. Here’s the number. I check messages almost every day. Make no bones about calling me if Lia gets in the way.”
“I think it’s better if Lia stays here and does the choring so Rachel will have more free time to be with me.”
Lia held her breath and moved away from the window. Had Moses changed his mind about Rachel? Maybe Dat’s praise of Rachel at supper had been more convincing than Lia had believed. Two hours ago, Moses had positively assured Lia that he wasn’t interested.
No. He had said,
I don’t mind spending time with Rachel. She is really a very pleasant girl.
Lia cradled two bottles of peaches in her arms and made her way up the steps.
Moses’s comment probably didn’t mean anything but a way to placate Dat.
It probably didn’t mean anything at all.
“Rachel, wake up,” Lia whispered.
The only thing that moved on the lump under the covers was Rachel’s mouth. “What time is it?”
“Two thirty. Moses is waiting outside. Diane Nelson’s baby is on the way.”
Rachel groaned and rolled onto her back. “Go without me.”
“Dat said I can’t leave the house without you.”
“He didn’t mean in the middle of the night.”
“It doesn’t matter what you think he meant. Get up. Moses is waiting.”
Rachel sat up slowly and then sank back into her pillow. “What am I to do with Moses at two in the morning? I’m not going.”
Lia felt guilty about her swelling sense of satisfaction. Rachel really was delicate and really did need her sleep, but being yanked out of bed at two in the morning was her just desserts. Lia grasped Rachel’s arm and pulled hard. “You’re going. This is what you said you wanted, and I won’t go against Dat.”
Rachel tried to swat Lia away. Lia doubled her efforts, and Rachel would have ended up in a heap on the floor if she had not caught herself and stood up. “You’re only making me go because you’re mad I told Dat.”
“He won’t fault me for strictly obeying his directions.”
“Jah, he will. You’ll see.”
Lia pulled Rachel’s nightgown up over Rachel’s head and quickly helped her into her dress. She didn’t bother with the bertha. Rachel smoothed her hands over her hair. “I look a mess. I’m not going. What will Moses think?”
“I don’t care what Moses thinks.”
“Is he in his buggy?”
“Jah,” said Lia, “and it will take us almost an hour to get there.”
Rachel glared at Lia. “Your hair is nicely in place. I bet you spent twenty minutes getting ready before you woke me.”
Lia handed Rachel a scarf to cover her head. No time to spare for a kapp. Even by the dim kerosene lantern, Lia could see the darts Rachel shot with her eyes.