Mother For His Children, A by Jan Drexler Page B

uncorked it. She filled her pen as she considered something that had been hovering at the back of her mind. What if there was something else Levi had forgotten to tell her?
    What if he already had a new mother chosen for his children and he had only hired her so the house would be orderly and running well before his new wife came to live here? She wouldn’t be surprised. Just because he hadn’t been successful in courting that other woman Waneta had told her about didn’t mean he didn’t have his eye on someone else. A man like him wouldn’t stay single very long.
    And if she got along well with the new wife, perhaps she would be asked to stay on. A new wife would need a helper, ja?
    The clock’s ticking echoed in the silent room. It was a pipe dream at best. When Levi married again, she would have to move on. Find another position as a housekeeper, or a mother’s helper...
    A tear fell, raising a spot on her paper. Ruthy quickly crumpled the sheet and threw it into the stove. She couldn’t send a letter home with a tearstain on it, could she?
    Home. Would she ever know the sweetness of her own home again?
    Â 

Chapter Five
    L evi recognized Eliza’s sleigh as soon as she turned the corner half a mile away. Her feisty horse, Ginger, had a flashy step that matched Eliza’s own personality. She never did anything partway.
    He poured the bucket of slop he was carrying into the pig’s trough and then went back out to the yard to wait for her. She slowed Ginger for the turn into the farm lane, but then the horse picked up speed again before he reached the barn. Levi caught the reins as the horse neared the buggy shed. How could he convince Eliza this horse was too much for her? Levi struggled to hold the horse still. He had never been able to convince his older sister of anything.
    Eliza climbed down from the sleigh and looked him up and down. “Well, Levi, I guess you aren’t starving yet. Waneta must be doing a good job feeding you.”
    â€œ Ja, Waneta’s doing a fine job.”
    His sister sniffed, looking from the barn to the house. “You’re all well? The whole family?”
    â€œ Ja, Eliza. We’re all well. And you?” Levi stroked Ginger’s neck. What was Eliza doing here? It was an eight-mile drive from her home near Middlebury, and it wasn’t like her to drive that far on a Thursday just to see if all the children were healthy.
    â€œI’m well enough, considering. It isn’t easy living alone, you know.”
    He didn’t know. He had never lived alone.
    â€œI’ll take care of Ginger if you want to go on in the house. I’m sure there’s still coffee on the stove.”
    Eliza moved closer to him, stepping around a clump of snow. “I heard you picked up a woman at the Shipshewana station last week.”
    Levi sighed. Here it was. He had been wondering how to tell Eliza about his new housekeeper, but he should have known word would get to her.
    â€œ Ja, her name is Ruth Mummert. She’s our housekeeper.”
    â€œA housekeeper? You’re spending good money on a housekeeper when you know very well I had everything arranged for you?”
    That was just the problem. She had everything arranged, whether he liked it or not.
    â€œEliza, I want to keep my family together.”
    â€œHumph.”
    Ginger moved restlessly, reminding Levi the horse needed attending to after the long drive.
    â€œWhy don’t you go on in the house and meet Ruth? She’s been a wonderful-gut help to us already, and I think you’ll like her.”
    Eliza turned her bulk toward the house, but then looked at Levi. “I’ll meet her, but I can’t promise I’ll like her. It seems like backward thinking to bring an outsider into your home while I’m here.”
    Levi watched Eliza pick her way across the snowy barnyard to the house. At least Waneta was there to provide a buffer between Ruth and his