Mother For His Children, A (22 page)

Chapter Twenty-Three

“H
ow will we get home from the train station?” Ruthy asked, jiggling Grace on her shoulder.

Levi glanced out the window at the familiar Indiana landscape flashing by. “I sent a telegram to Elias when I bought the tickets back in Lancaster. If he got it in time, he'll be there to meet us. If not, we should be able to get a ride from someone.”

“It will be good to get home.”

Home.
Even though he had only been away a few days, Levi felt the pull of his own kitchen, his own barn, his own bed. His family together. His stomach still clenched when he thought of how close he had come to losing Ruthy—what would he have told his children? But God had been watching over them, for sure.

“Here, let me hold Grace for a while. You must be tired.” Levi reached for the baby, ignoring the stares of the Amish man across the aisle. It didn't matter that men didn't take care of babies. He did. He had taken care of his share of diapers and colic when his first two babies had been born, and he found he liked it. Grace would get just as much attention from him as he could give her.

He laid Grace on his chest and hummed under his breath. She settled in against him, mesmerized by the sound, as he cradled her tiny body in his hands. Such a wee mite of a thing, and yet it had been all he and Ruthy could do to keep her content on the train ride.

Levi glanced at Ruthy, and she smiled at him. “You have a way with little ones.”

“I've had a lot of practice.”

“
Ja,
you have.”

“You have a way with babies, too, Ruthy, and with the older ones, as well. You always know just what they need.”

“I always dreamed of having a big family. Lots of children...” She stopped and bit her lip, turning away from him to look out the window.

Levi leaned close to her, speaking so his words wouldn't carry to the other passengers. “So why did you put those conditions on our marriage? If we really lived as man and wife, we could be blessed with those children you wanted.”

Ruthy turned to him, her eyes dark. “I didn't want to take Salome's place. I know you still love her, and I didn't want you to feel obligated... I know I'm not the woman you would choose to be your wife.”

“Why not?” Levi's voice rose with his question and the man across the aisle glanced at them. He leaned close to Ruthy's ear, his cheek brushing her
kapp.
“Why wouldn't I choose you?”

Ruthy blushed. “I know I'm not attractive. You married me because I was available, and your children needed someone. I know you still love Salome, and I don't blame you. She must have been a wonderful wife and mother.”

Grace had gone to sleep on Levi's chest. He shifted her so he could hold her with one arm while he turned Ruthy's face toward him with one finger. “Don't ever think you're not attractive.” She tried to look away but he kept her facing him. “And you're right, I still love Salome, and I always will. But that doesn't have anything to do with us.” He moved one finger to caress her cheek, then shifted his hand back to straighten the sleeping baby. “If there's anything I learned the last few days, it's just how much I need you. How much I love you.”

Ruthy's eyes widened as he spoke, and a smile flashed, but then disappeared. She lowered her eyes. “Elam told me the same thing, Levi, and look what happened. How can I believe you?”

Levi felt rising anger against the man who had thrown this woman away like an old sock. “What Elam did was foolish and wrong, but I'm not Elam. I would never do anything to hurt you. You're my wife, and you will be for the rest of our lives.” He lowered his voice again and took her hand in his. “I'm just glad I've been given a second chance to show you how much you mean to me.”

She smiled again at his words, a smile that remained as she squeezed his hand in response and leaned her head against his shoulder.

* * *

Ruthy took Grace from Levi as the train approached Shipshewana and he gathered their bags. He kept meeting her eyes every few minutes, and once he even winked at her, sending shivers through her. Was this what it felt like to be truly married?

When the train came to a complete stop, Levi carried the bags down the aisle to the door at the end of the car while Ruthy followed him with Grace.

“There's James,” Levi said, bending to look through the window. “It looks like Elias got my wire.”

Ruthy hurried behind Levi, anxious to see whomever was waiting for them on the platform. Levi stepped out of the car into the circle of his children and Ruthy watched, drinking in the sight of their reunion. All ten children had come to meet the train, and Ruthy couldn't wait to hug each one of them.

“What does
Mam
have?” Nancy asked, noticing Ruthy waiting on the steps.

“Children, I want you to meet your new sister.” Levi helped Ruthy step down and they were both surrounded by the children.

“A new sister?” Jesse asked, his eyes wide.

“Where did you get her?” Nellie asked.

“Nellie, you know where people get babies,” David said, and pushed past her to get a better look at the baby.

“But, you weren't...” Martha's face turned red. “I mean, this is a surprise, isn't it?”

“Let's all go and get in the buggy,” Levi said, herding them all away from the train and the group of curious onlookers. “You'll all hear the whole story.”

After they all crowded into the big family buggy, Ruthy watched the children's faces as Levi told them how Grace's mother had died, and her father had given the baby to them to raise. She was thankful he didn't say anything about Elam's actions after that, but focused on how much Grace needed them.

“Grace is our baby now,” Levi said, “and she's as much of a gift from God as all of you were.”

The children all nodded as Levi spoke, but Sam leaned over Ruthy's shoulder. “I only have one question.”

“Ja?”

“If you were going to get a new baby, why couldn't it be a boy?”

“I know why she's a girl,” Nellie said. “With Grace we have five girls and six boys. We're almost even now.”

“It's all right, Sam,” James said. “It's good to have some of each. It's more fun that way.”

“Well, just make sure the next one's a boy.”

Levi looked sideways at Ruthy as the children talked about names for the next baby, but didn't make any comments as they continued home.

Ruthy watched the farms go by. Every one that she could name the owners of brought them closer to their own home. When they reached the farm and Levi pulled into the lane, Ruthy gazed at the big house with one addition leading into the next, all the way to her little
Dawdi Haus
tacked on the end.

Not her
Dawdi Haus
anymore. Butterflies danced in her stomach as she realized tonight she would not be sleeping in her own bed, but in Levi's, as his wife. She gazed as Grace's face, peaceful in sleep. It would be
wonderful-gut
for Grace to have a sister close in age.

* * *

“Tomorrow's a church Sunday,
ja?
” Ruthy turned slices of ham in the frying pan while Grace slept in the cot Levi had brought down from the attic when they had arrived home.

“Ja,”
Waneta said. She hummed a familiar tune as she opened a jar of pickled cauliflower.

“And I think someone's looking forward to the Singing tomorrow night.”

Waneta glanced at her and smiled. “Ruthy... I mean,
Mam...
” She blushed and then turned back to putting the cauliflower into a dish next to the pickled beets. “I always look forward to the Singings.”

“But more now that someone special brings you home afterward,
ja?
”

“What do you mean?” Martha asked, slicing potatoes. “I thought Elias always brought you home.”

“
Ne,
not lately.” Waneta's smile grew broader. “Elias has been taking someone else home now.”

“So, who have you been riding with?”

“Can't you guess, Martha?” Ruthy said, putting the ham on a plate on the back of the stove to keep warm while she dumped the sliced potatoes into the big frying pan.

“Is it Reuben Stoltzfus?”

Waneta turned bright red. “Now you keep quiet, Martha, or I'll start telling stories on you.”

Martha clamped her lips tight as she lifted a stack of plates out of the cupboard and took them to the table.

Ruthy stopped stirring the potatoes and gave Waneta's shoulders a hug. “He's a
wonderful-gut
young man.”

“I think so, too.” Waneta hugged her back. “I was afraid you weren't coming back when you were gone so long. I wanted to go after you and bring you home.”

Ruthy stirred the potatoes again, turning the crisp brown sides up while the pale sides sizzled in the bacon grease. “I'm sorry I left in such a hurry, but I was so upset about Laurette....”

Waneta glanced at the cot near Ruthy's chair where Grace lay. “God knew what He was doing when He took you back there, didn't He? Who else would be as good of a
mam
to Grace than you?”

“I never thought of it that way.” Ruthy stirred the potatoes again, remembering that terrible train ride to Lancaster with Elam, knowing it was too late to ask for Laurette's forgiveness. “I only felt like I had let everyone down—you, your
daed,
Laurette...”

“But it turned out right anyway, didn't it?”

“Ja.”
Ruthy gave Waneta a smile as Levi and the boys came in for supper. “
Ja,
everything has turned out just right.”

* * *

When Ruthy came back downstairs after tucking the little ones in for the night, she paused at the bottom step, drinking in the sight before her. Levi sat in his chair in the circle of lamplight, holding Grace as he held her bottle for her and sang a hymn in his quiet, rumbling voice. Ruthy sat on the end of the sofa near Levi's chair and watched him until Grace finished her bottle.

“I'll change her and put her to bed,” Ruthy said, standing up.

“Ja.”
Levi caught her hand as she bent to take the baby. “I'll check the stock, and then I'll be in. No
Dawdi Haus
tonight?”

“
Ne,
no
Dawdi Haus.
” Ruthy smiled at him as he kissed her hand.

Ruthy took Grace into Levi's bedroom...their bedroom. She had put her clothes in the dresser drawers that afternoon, and hung her Sunday dress on the hook behind the door. Levi had made room for Grace's cot next to the dresser along the wall at the bed's foot.

Ruthy changed the baby's diaper and then lifted her to her shoulder. Taking a few minutes to make sure she had no gas would help all of them sleep better tonight. With that thought, Ruthy glanced at the bed. How many times had she smoothed the quilt over Levi's bed, tucking in the edges to make it neat and orderly, and wondering what it would be like to sleep there with her husband?

Grace gave a burp and relaxed into sleep. Ruthy laid her in the cot as the bedroom door opened. Levi stood in the doorway, watching her, the lamplight throwing his shadow on the wall next to the door. Ruthy shivered. She trusted Levi, but Elam's betrayal still haunted her. She couldn't shake the feeling that he would never go any further than standing in the doorway looking at her—that perhaps he would want her to move back into the
Dawdi Haus
after all. Could he really want her for his wife?

Levi stepped into the room and closed the door. “Ruthy, if you're here waiting for me every night like this, I may have to give up checking on the stock.”

“You'll have to go back and check them again. I'm not ready for bed, yet.”

Levi leaned back against the door. “
Ne,
I'm not going anywhere. I've been waiting for weeks to watch you brush out your hair, and you aren't going to cheat me out of that tonight.”

He stepped close to her, but she still couldn't quell the lingering doubt. “Do you really think you could ever love me?”

“Ruthy, I would never have married you if I didn't, and the more time I spend with you, the more I like you.” He took her in his arms, pulling her close, kissing her cheek, and then her jawline. “You're my wife. I love the way you love the children, I love the thoughtful things you do for me, I love the order and peace you've brought to our home.”

She pulled back, looking straight into his eyes. “You love the things I do, Levi, but do you love me?”

He smiled, pulling the pins out of her
kapp.
“Ruthy, I think I've loved you ever since that first day when you came storming into my workshop, insisting that I tell you how many children I had. You were so beautiful.” He took off her
kapp
and fumbled with the pins that held her hair up until it fell, cascading down her back. Levi lifted its weight in his hands, running his fingers through it.

“I wasn't beautiful. I had just spent hours on the train and we were talking in the barn. What on earth was beautiful about that?”

Levi brought a handful of her hair to his face and breathed in the scent. “You laughed. That's when I knew our home could be happy again. You brought laughter and love back when we had forgotten how.” He kissed her cheek again, and then her eyebrow. With each kiss Ruthy's knees grew weaker. “When did you first know you loved me?” He whispered the words into her ear, sending chills down her back.

Ruthy smiled, remembering. “When I saw how you cared for Jack, even when he was at his worst.” Levi's kisses trailed down her other cheek and she took a deep breath. “That's when I knew you were a man worth loving.”

Levi stopped kissing her and pulled back, his eyes looking deeply into hers. “Be my wife, Ruthy, please?” She nodded and he leaned in, claiming her lips in a kiss.