A Mother for His Children. Jan Drexler

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      The kitchen table filled with children was silent as she closed the door to the Dawdi Haus.

      “Dat,” Sam said, standing in the door of the front room with a drawing tablet in his hand, “why didn’t she stay with us?”

      “Ruth works hard. She probably wanted to rest or write letters before she went to bed.”

      Nellie, his quiet Nellie, said, “She could have stayed and written her letters here.”

      “Tomorrow we’ll ask her to stay.”

      But would she? Levi had the sudden urge to follow her, to ask her to stay tonight. But he sat, the final snick of the Dawdi Haus door latch echoing above the children’s voices.

      * * *

      Ruthy leaned back against the kitchen door before heading down the short hall to the Dawdi Haus. The kitchen had been cozy and warm, and the lantern hung over the table had enclosed them all within its light. The scholars bent to their studies, Waneta copying recipes, Elias and Nathan sharing sections of The Budget—they were a family, but not her family. From the table-flat farmland outside the window, to the stark stiffness of the girls’ kapps, to the flat tones of their words, every moment she spent with Levi Zook’s family showed her just how far from home she really was.

      But this is where God wanted her to be, wasn’t it? And she was needed here. Even after this short time, she could see how much this family needed her help, especially the girls and little, lonely Sam. Several times during the day he would come to her and she would take quick breaks from her work to sit down and hold him on her lap while he chatted with her or showed her his drawings. His little-boy body had molded into hers, showing her how he missed the comfort of a mother’s arms.

      They all missed their mother, even Elias and Waneta.

      Ach, and she missed her own mother, even though they had only been parted a short time. But she could still write, and she knew she could visit whenever it was convenient. Her mam was only a train ride away.

      With that thought she hurried into the Dawdi Haus and relit the fire in the stove. She retrieved her writing desk from the bedroom and sat at the little kitchen table, as close to the fire as she could get.

      Putting the ink bottle on the side of the stove to warm it, Ruthy took out a sheet of paper and her pen, composing a letter to Mam in her head as she waited.

      Her first week had gone well, she would write. Waneta was a sweet girl and a joy to work with. Martha had loved learning to make pies. Nellie had come to her wanting to learn to purl so she could knit a pair of stockings for her dat, but Ruthy had convinced her to start out with a blanket for her doll to practice the stitches. Nancy had come home from school yesterday with snow inside her boots, complaining that David had pushed her into the ditch on the way home. The boys... She didn’t know any of them very well yet, except Sam.

      And then there was Levi. What would she tell Mam about Levi Zook?

      Ruthy picked up the bottle of ink and shook it as she considered this problem. The ink was almost warm enough to use.

      Levi hadn’t lied to her, but Mam and Dat would say he misled her by not telling her how many children he had. They would ask if she wanted to stay on, knowing he had kept that important information to himself.

      She smiled to herself. Of course she was going to stay. Ten children seemed like such a large number...until she started getting to know them. Now that she had met them, had seen how much they all longed for a mother in their lives, she couldn’t bear to think of leaving them.

      But... Ruthy shook the ink bottle again, and then brought it to the table and 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?

Chapter Five

      Levi 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.”

      “Ja, Waneta’s doing a fine job.”

      His sister sniffed, looking from the barn to the house. “You’re all well? The whole family?”

      “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.

      “I’m well enough, considering. It isn’t easy living alone, you know.”

      He didn’t know. He had never lived alone.

      “I’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.

      “Ja, her name is Ruth Mummert. She’s our housekeeper.”

      “A 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.

      “Eliza, I want to keep my family together.”

      “Humph.”

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