Mother For His Children, A

by Drexler, Jan

  “I understand. I have an auntie like that, too.” Ruthy smiled at Waneta. “Come, we’ll face her together.”

  Waneta led the way up the bare wooden steps, glancing back once to make sure Ruthy was following her.

  “Go on, I’m right behind you.”

  Ruthy smiled at Waneta’s back. She remembered hating to face her overbearing Aunt Trudy when she was a young teenager, so Waneta’s reaction didn’t surprise her. Aunts could be very particular about a girl’s behavior.

  The woman waiting for them in the kitchen didn’t look anything like thin, pinched Aunt Trudy. Eliza stood in the middle of the floor, still wearing her woolen shawl and black bonnet, leaning heavily on a gnarled cane. Her expression was the same as Aunt Trudy’s, though, as she surveyed the spotless kitchen shelf. If she were looking for a fault with Ruthy’s housekeeping, she certainly wouldn’t find it in the kitchen.

  “Aunt Eliza, you should sit down. Would you like some coffee?” Waneta hurried to the stove and moved the coffeepot to the front.

  Eliza’s cane thumped as the woman turned to inspect Ruthy.

  “So you’re the housekeeper my brother hired.” Eliza’s gaze took in everything from Ruthy’s heart-shaped kapp to her shoes, dusty from the cellar.

  “Ja, I’m Ruth Mummert.”

  “You’re from Lancaster County?”

  “Ja.” Ruthy smiled. Eliza was gruff, but didn’t seem to be as scary as Waneta acted. Sam had disappeared into the front room.

  “I once met a Mummert from Lancaster County.” Eliza let Ruthy take her shawl and untied her bonnet.

  “You did? I wonder if they could be related to us.”

  “I hope not.” Eliza sniffed and thumped toward the rocking chair in the corner. “They were Englisch.” She turned to Ruthy again, narrowing her eyes as she studied her. “You don’t have Englisch relatives, do you?”

  Before Ruthy could think how to answer this, Eliza sank into the rocking chair with a groan.

  “Here’s your coffee, Aunt Eliza.” Waneta handed the cup to her aunt. “And here’s the footstool.” She brought the small stool from its place next to the wall.

  As Ruthy poured herself a cup of coffee, she watched Eliza lift her left foot onto the stool with one hand and lean back in the chair, her lips pinched together. Raising the cup to her mouth, she blew on the hot liquid before taking a sip.

  “Waneta,” Ruthy said, sitting on the bench with her back to the table, “will you get a plate of cookies?” She took a sip of her own coffee, and watched Eliza’s face relax as her body eased into the chair. The older woman appeared to be in much pain, but no complaints escaped, except for her gruff demeanor.

  “You need to know up front that I don’t approve of what my brother’s done.” Eliza took a cookie from the plate Waneta set on the small table next to her. “We could get along just fine without the expense of hiring someone from outside.”

  Ruthy kept a smile on her face as Eliza paused to take a bite of her cookie. Did the woman have any idea the hurt her words caused? Without a family of her own, Ruthy would always be an outsider.

  “I told him I would take the little girls to live with me.” Eliza spoke around her cookie, unaware of the crumbs that fell as she gestured. “Those two will never learn to be good wives, growing up without a mother as they are.”

  A small sound escaped from Waneta, who was sitting next to Ruthy on the bench. Ruthy glanced at her, but the girl’s head was down, her bottom lip caught between her teeth.

  “I don’t think Levi Zook wants his girls to live away from him. Isn’t your house quite far?”

  Eliza grunted and shifted her bulk in the chair. “Not so much. It’s only eight miles, and that’s close enough to visit several times a year.”

  Waneta jumped up from the bench and went through the doorway to the front room. Ruthy heard her feet pounding on the stairway as she ran to her room and slammed the door behind her.

  “Now, what’s wrong with her?” Eliza gazed through the doorway where Waneta had vanished.

  “I don’t think she wants her sisters to live that far away.” Ruthy took another sip from her coffee, and then set the cup on the table behind her. Irritation at this woman’s callous behavior rose with each moment, and she didn’t want her shaky hand to betray her feelings.

  “Humph.” Eliza took a bite of her cookie and inspected it as she chewed. “There’s nothing wrong with making sure those little girls have all the advantages a mother can give them.”

  Ruthy clenched her hands together on her lap. “I’m sure Levi Zook has considered what his daughters need.” She lifted her chin, looking at Eliza. She was beginning to understand why Levi was so anxious for her to stay here. “This family suffered a loss when their mother passed on, and it wouldn’t help anyone to separate them now.”

  Eliza deflated in her chair, the corners of her mouth quivering. “Ach, you’re right. I hadn’t thought of that.” With the bluster gone, Eliza was just a lonely old woman.

  “Would you like more coffee?” Ruthy rose and went to the stove. Eliza wouldn’t want a stranger to be a witness to her emotions.

  “Ja, denki.” Eliza sniffed, and the chair creaked as she shifted. By the time Ruthy refilled the two cups, Eliza was back to her old self. “You seem like a young thing to be taking on a job like this.”

  “Not so young. I’ll be twenty-four this spring.”

  “Twenty-four? Why aren’t you married?”

  Ruthy flinched at Eliza’s blunt words, but the other woman took another cookie from the plate and tackled it with relish. If she hadn’t seen the vulnerable crack in Levi’s sister a few moments ago, she might have run out of the room the same way Waneta had. But the downturned corners of Eliza’s mouth revealed more than a demanding aunt who was used to riding roughshod over everyone around her. Something else made her very unhappy.

  Ruthy considered this as she took another sip of her coffee. Eliza may be a lonely old woman, but that gave her no excuse to be cruel to her brother. Eliza wasn’t going to bully this family while Ruthy was around.

  “If I wasn’t a maidle, I wouldn’t be able to help this family, would I?”

  Eliza raised her chin and regarded Ruthy through narrowed eyes, but Ruthy pressed on.

  “If I wasn’t around, your brother would need you to help, ja? Is that why you came today? To see if you could get me to run back to Lancaster County?”

  The other woman’s eyes narrowed further, and then a sudden smile broke over her face.

  “You’ve got spunk. I like that. Maybe you will work out here.”

  Ruthy nearly dropped her cookie. Instead she brushed nonexistent crumbs off her lap. What was going on? A chuckle from the other woman made her look up.

  “My dear girl, I’m not nearly as grumpy as everyone thinks I am.” She tapped her knee with one hand. “Arthritis keeps me from getting around as I like, and sometimes the pain is unbearable. I try not to complain, but I know I can be short-tempered. I also know I stick my nose in where it doesn’t belong at times, but I love my brother. He has a long row to hoe in front of him, and I was just trying to help.”

  Pieces fell together like a quilt top as Eliza paused to take a sip of coffee. Levi’s crafty sister used her cranky attitude to get her own way, just as Laurette used her pretty face. Was this nothing more than concern for her brother and his family?

  “Don’t think I’m soft, though.” Eliza’s sharp eyes peered at Ruthy over the rim of the cup. “Levi’s my little brother, and I’ll take care of him just as I always have.” She lowered the coffee cup to her lap and regarded Ruthy, her eyes narrowing. “You are much too young and pretty for this job, you know.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Eliza’s head tilted toward her. “We are to avoid the appearance of evil, but here you are, living in
this house with a single man...”

  Ruthy felt a cold lump turn in her stomach. “But I live in the Dawdi Haus. Surely that can’t be construed into anything wrong.”

  “You know how people can talk, dear, and it only takes one comment to start rumors flying.”

  Ruthy concentrated on brushing a crumb off her knee as Eliza took another sip of her coffee. The woman was right. Even if she and Levi Zook avoided each other, her presence in this home could appear improper to anyone in the community. But what could she do?

  As the other woman finished off her cookie, Ruthy caught a hint of a smile on Eliza’s face, and the cold lump of dread turned to seething irritation. What a wily fox she was! Her attempt to bully hadn’t worked, so she had changed tactics and had almost succeeded. Levi’s sister didn’t know her at all. Daed had always said she was stubborn as a mule, and she would keep her heels dug in. Levi Zook had hired her to be his housekeeper, and that’s what she would be as long as he wanted her to stay.

  Thumps and stamps from the porch told her Levi was coming in, so Ruthy rose to refill the plate of cookies and pour his coffee. How easily was he swayed by his sister?

  * * *

  Levi took a deep breath, his hand on the kitchen doorknob. He had put off facing Eliza for as long as he could, but now worry set in. Had she already succeeded in running off Ruth? Would he be searching for another housekeeper before the day was out?

  Pushing the door open, he sought Ruth’s face first. She glanced at him from the stove, where she was pouring a cup of coffee, her face pinched. At least Eliza hadn’t reduced her to tears.

  His sister, on the other hand, was settled into the rocking chair like a toad that had just snagged a fat moth. Whatever they had been talking about, it looked like he had come in just in time.

  “Some coffee?” Ruth handed him a cup as she sat on the bench.

  “Denki.” Levi sat on the bench beside her and took a sip from the steaming cup.

  “We were just discussing your situation,” Eliza said.

  “What situation is that?” Levi took a cookie from the plate Ruth had set on the table behind him and took a bite. A piecrust cookie, just like his mam had made. Ruth Mummert was full of surprises.

  “A young girl, living in the same house as an unmarried man.” Eliza leaned the rocker forward. “You know how that will look to the community.”

  Levi glanced at Ruth. Her face was growing red, but she tilted her chin up as she returned his look.

  “I’ve done nothing against the Ordnung, sister. Ruth is no different than any other helper I might hire to work on the farm.” Levi kept his voice sure and strong, but at the back of his mind a whisper of doubt crept in. What would the ministers say about this situation? After all, it wasn’t what he had expected when he made the arrangement.

  “I still think you should follow through on what we agreed.”

  All doubt disappeared.

  “We never agreed to anything, Eliza. I am the head of this family, and I would never agree to send any of the children away.”

  Eliza drained her coffee cup and then looked at Levi. “You would if the ministers insisted.”

  She was right, of course. If the ministers decided it would be best if the girls went to live with Eliza, he wouldn’t have any choice but to submit to their decision. He had hired Ruth Mummert to avoid this, but Eliza seemed intent on pursuing her plans. If only she had remarried when she had the chance twenty years ago, then she might have her own family and wouldn’t be so interested in taking his.

  Eliza planted her cane in front of her and hauled herself to her feet.

  “I must be getting back. Susie needs milking on time, you know.”

  Ruth hurried to fetch Eliza’s bonnet and shawl from the hook by the door. “You’ll miss seeing the scholars. They’ll be home in another hour.”

  “Ne, I can’t wait that long.”

  Levi saw Sam peering around the door from the front room. “Sam, go ask Elias to hitch up Aunt Eliza’s rig for her.”

  Sam edged past Eliza and then scooted out the door. His sister had never been friendly with the children, so why was she so insistent on raising Nellie and Nancy?

  “We’ll make the trip to see you next, some Sunday after the snow melts.”

  Eliza smiled as she pulled his sleeve until he bent down for her kiss on his cheek. “I may be seeing you sooner than that, little brother. You never know.”

  Levi walked with her to her sleigh. Elias held Ginger’s reins as the horse tossed his head. The short rest in the barn had renewed his fire.

  “That’s a pretty feisty horse you have, Eliza. Are you sure he isn’t too much for you?”

  Eliza smiled at him from her seat as she wrapped a wool horse blanket around her legs. “Don’t worry about me, Levi. I can handle him.”

  She nodded to Elias and he let go of Ginger’s head. The horse lurched forward, but before they reached the end of the lane Eliza had him settled into a controlled trot. At the corner she turned Ginger neatly onto the snowy road and headed north.

  Levi shook his head and reached back to massage his tense neck muscles.

  “Did she ask you to let the girls come live with her again?” Elias asked, watching Eliza drive away.

  “Ja, but it won’t do her any good. I told her our family was staying together.”

  Elias turned to him, a younger version of himself. When had the boy gotten so tall?

  “Is that why you brought Ruth Mummert here? To keep the family together?”

  “Ja. With Ruth here, Eliza doesn’t have any good reason for going to the ministers to ask for the girls.”

  Elias rubbed the back of his own neck. “I sure hope it works.”

  Chapter Six

  Sunday morning dawned bright and crisp. By the time the sun rose above the horizon, the Zook family, plus Ruthy, were crowded into the family buggy on their way to Sunday meeting at John Stoltzfus’s. Elias followed behind in his courting buggy. He and Waneta would be staying at the host house until after the young folks’ Singing in the evening.

  Ruthy sat on the front seat with Levi, Sam and Nellie scrunched between them. She pressed her knees together to keep from shivering, either from the cold or from being nervous about meeting this new church community. Since last week had been an off Sunday, this would be her first church service with Levi and his family.

  “When will it be our turn to have church again, Dat?” Sam’s words came out in puffs in the frigid air.

  “Don’t even mention that!” Waneta said, her teeth chattering as she sat with her other sisters and Jesse in the second seat. “It’s so much work to have church.”

  “Now Waneta,” Levi said, “you know you had plenty of help from the women the last time it was our turn.”

  “Ja, but they talked about you the whole time. I heard Minnie Garber say you should marry one of her daughters so your house could be taken care of properly.”

  Ruthy turned around and laid her hand on Waneta’s knee. “You’ve done a wonderful job keeping house, and you have nothing to be ashamed of. Some people just don’t think before they talk.”

  “Ja, daughter. Ruth is right.” Levi gave her a smile that made her forget her cold toes. “Don’t let Minnie Garber’s words fester. Forget them and forgive her, and all will be well.”

  Waneta nodded. “You’re right.”

  “So, when are we going to have church at home again?” Sam asked. “I want to show Johnny my calf.”

  “You don’t have a calf yet,” said David from the backseat.

  “But I will when spring comes, won’t I, Dat?”

  Levi nodded. “You and Jesse will both have calves of your own to raise this spring.”

  “Will I have it before we have church?”

  Sam wouldn’t le
t go of a question until he got an answer.

  “Ja, probably. It will be our turn to have church in May.”

  Satisfied, Sam settled back into his seat.

  Martha leaned forward and touched Ruthy’s shoulder. “Are you nervous about meeting all these people? They’re all strangers to you.”

  Ruthy gave Martha a smile. “I’m trying not to be. You’re right, I’ve never met them, but we’re all part of the same church, aren’t we? They’re just brothers and sisters I haven’t met yet.”

  “There are a lot of nice people in our district, aren’t there, Waneta?”

  Ruthy turned around to see a blush creep up Waneta’s cheeks at her sister’s words. Could there be a special young man Waneta was anxious to see?

  Before long Levi’s buggy was just one in a long line of black buggies heading west along the road. The fields here, only a few miles from Levi Zook’s farm, were smaller, often with a creek dividing them and wooded strips following the path of the creek. Of all the things that were different between Indiana and Pennsylvania, the flat land around Levi Zook’s farm was the hardest for her to get used to. She had been missing the rolling hills of Daed’s farm, but this part of the district almost seemed like home.

  Levi pulled to a halt at the top of the farm lane, where the buggies in front of them had stopped to let out their families. Ruthy got out with the children, ignoring the curious stares of the women waiting to enter the house. She had told Waneta she wasn’t nervous, but she was glad she had the girls around her. She held Nellie’s and Nancy’s hands while Martha and Waneta stood behind her. Levi took his place in the men’s line, one hand on Jesse’s shoulder, the other holding Sam’s hand. Ruthy didn’t need to look around to know the older boys would be with their friends, being old enough to sit together on the front rows directly behind the ministers.

  The woman in line in front of Ruthy turned to greet her. Holding a baby in one arm, the young woman’s blue eyes twinkled from inside her bonnet, but she spoke in the soft tones appropriate for the day. “Good morning. It’s always nice to see a visitor. My name is Annie Beachey.”