Mother For His Children, A by Jan Drexler

at the end of the table were talking about, but they were deep in conversation.
    He took the last bite of pie as the girls rose to wash the dishes. Ja, with pie for supper life was gut. He had done a wonderful-gut thing when he brought Ruth Mummert here. If she could teach Martha to make pie, she could teach his girls everything else they needed to know. There would never be a reason to send any of his children away.
    â€œDo you want some more coffee?” Ruth asked, appearing at his elbow with the coffeepot in hand.
    â€œ Ne, it will only keep me awake.”
    â€œIt would me, too.”
    Levi let her take his empty plate and swallowed the last of his coffee. “Boys, you can start on your studying. Martha and the twins will join you when the dishes are done.”
    â€œDat,” said Jesse, “I need help with my arithmetic. I got all the problems wrong today.”
    â€œI’ll help you. Bring your book in here.”
    When Jesse brought his book, he opened the page and showed Levi where he was having difficulty. “It’s here, Dat . I added one plus one, but Miss Shrock said the answer was eleven, not two.”
    Levi smiled. Ja, it was the same with all his children when they encountered adding ten and one for the first time. “Go in my bedroom and get a dime and the pennies off my dresser.”
    Jesse brought them and Levi showed him how ten pennies turn into a dime. “Now, if I add one penny and one dime, what do I get?”
    â€œEleven cents.”
    â€œ Ja, gut . Now look at your arithmetic. If you add ten and one, what do you get?”
    â€œEleven?”
    â€œ Ja, that’s it. Now try the next one.”
    While Jesse worked on his arithmetic problems, the girls joined them at the table, and Levi’s eyes strayed to Ruth. She was setting the sponge for tomorrow’s bread, her movements quick and practiced.
    As he watched her, the memory of her tall, graceful form in the flowing white gown hit him with full force. How could he put it out of his mind? Or did he even want to? Her golden hair gleaming under her heart-shaped kapp, her efficient hands, his children content and well-fed, the worry lines disappearing from Waneta’s face... Ja, he had done right when he brought Ruth Mummert here.
    â€œ Dat, is this right?”
    Jesse’s question brought him back to the present. As he looked over Jesse’s arithmetic paper, the reality of what he had been thinking hit him square in the jaw. Ruth Mummert wasn’t much older than his Waneta. A grown woman, ja, but still a young woman. A beautiful young woman. How long would she be working for him? The first Singing she attended, she’d have a flock of young men buzzing around her.
    He glanced back at Ruth, noting how quickly she had brought the kitchen to order after feeding all twelve of them. After less than a week, she had settled into the role of housekeeper very easily. Not just housekeeper, he amended as he surveyed the row of heads around the table, his scholars busy with their evening studies. She was taking his daughters under her wing like an older sister.
    Ruth took off her apron, and after hanging it on the hook next to the sink, came over to look at Nellie’s homework. Levi watched Nellie’s face light up when Ruth whispered in her ear and gave her shoulders a hug. He swallowed the lump rising in his throat.
    Ne, not an older sister. More like an aunt or...
    Ruth turned to Nancy and laid her hand on the girl’s shoulder as she leaned down to catch Nancy’s explanation of her homework.
    Ne, not even an aunt. A mother. The mother he had been hoping to find for his children.
    But wasn’t she too young to take on such a responsibility?
    Levi turned back to Jesse’s paper as Ruth left the girls and walked toward him.
    â€œI’ll say good-night now, Levi Zook, unless you have anything else you need me to do before morning.”
    Levi glanced up at her, his mouth dry.