A Sister's Test (4 page)

Ruth was tempted to ask if she could be of assistance but figured Abe might not appreciate her butting into his family’s business.

“It’s not fair that Esta gets a puppy and we don’t,” Willis complained to his dad.

Abe patted the boy’s head. “There are plenty of animals around our place for you to play with.”

“I’ll share Winkie with everyone.” Esta held the pup out to her brother. “You can play with him whenever you want.”

Abe quirked an eyebrow. “Winkie, is it?”

“I gave him the name,” Anna explained. “It’s because he winks whenever I do this.” She stroked the pup behind its ear, and just like before, the puppy winked.

Everyone laughed. Ruth was glad she’d given the dog to Esta. Despite all of the horrible things that happened in people’s lives, it was good to still have some things to laugh about.

W
ould you be interested in seeing the harness shop while you’re here?” Martin asked Ruth as they sat with Abe on his back porch, watching the children frolic in the yard with the puppy.

“Oh jah,” she said with an eager nod. “I think that would be quite interesting.”

Abe grunted. “Don’t see what’s so interesting about a bunch of leather harnesses, straps, and buckles, but if you’d like to see my shop, I’d be happy to show you around.”

“Will the kinner be all right?” Ruth questioned.

“Sure,” Abe said with a nod. “Sue’s in the house if they need anything, and we’ll be within hollering distance.”

“Let’s head out to the shop, then, and give Ruth the grand tour.” Martin reached for Ruth’s hand as she rose to her feet, and their gazes met. He looked pleased at her interest in his work.

When they stepped into Abe’s harness shop, Ruth’s nose twitched at the distinctive odor of raw leather and pungent dye. It seemed strange that she’d never visited here before. But whenever Dad had come to see Abe during Ruth’s childhood, she’d either been in school or been doing chores at home. Now she kept busy with her job at the bakeshop and never had a need to visit the harness shop on her own.

“This is quite impressive,” Ruth said as she gazed around the room, awed by all of the equipment and supplies. She pointed to a tall machine on one side of the room. “What’s that over there?”

“It’s a riveter. We use it to punch silver rivets into leather straps.” Martin glanced over at Abe and shrugged. “Guess I should let you do
the telling since this is your shop.”

“No problem,” Abe said. “You go ahead and show Ruth around. I’ll take a seat at my desk and relax awhile.”

After the comment from Gideon about Abe sleeping so much since Alma died, Ruth wondered if Abe had lost his zest for working. Could he be putting the workload on Martin’s shoulders while he sat around feeling sorry for himself?

Ruth mentally scolded herself. She had no right to judge the man. She hadn’t walked in his shoes, and it wasn’t fair to speculate on how Abe ran his business or how he was coping with Alma’s death. Besides, he had come to the work frolic the other day and worked hard to rebuild Grace and Cleon’s house.

“Here are all the buckles, snaps, rings, and rivets we use.” Martin pointed to a group of open-faced boxes lining one wall.

“I don’t know how you keep track of everything,” Ruth said, letting her gaze travel from the boxes, to the harnesses and bridles looped from ceiling hooks overhead, to the scraps lying on the cement floor, looking like thin spaghetti noodles.

“We know where everything is.” Martin moved to stand between two oversized sewing machines. “This is what we use to stitch leather straps together. They’re run by an air compressor.”

“It’s all so impressive. I like what I see.”

A wide grin spread over Martin’s face. “So do I.”

Ruth felt the heat of a blush cover her cheeks. Did Martin mean he liked looking at her, or was he referring to the harness shop? She didn’t dare ask.

“How did you learn the trade of harness making?” Ruth asked, turning to face Abe.

He leaned back in his chair with his fingers locked together behind his head. “Learned it from my daed, and he used to say he learned it from making mistakes.”

“Your daed must have taught you well,” Martin said, “because you’ve got a lot of customers who are always telling me what a good job you’ve done for them.” He grinned. “You’re teaching me real well, too.”

“That’s because you’re a good learner, and you’ve always been cooperative.” Abe looked back at Ruth. “Not like Luke Friesen, who
gave your daed nothing but trouble when he was working as his apprentice.”

Ruth wasn’t in the mood to talk about Luke, and she wished Abe hadn’t brought him up.

“Come over here and take a look at all the tools we work with,” Martin said, steering Ruth across the room. She figured he knew talking about her ex-boyfriend made her feel uncomfortable.

Ruth followed Martin around the room as he explained how they cleaned and repaired old harnesses and made new ones. She reached out to touch a strap that lay on one of the workbenches. “This feels so soft and oily.”

“It’s recently been dipped in neat’s-foot oil,” Martin explained.

Ruth glanced over at Abe and noticed that his eyes were closed. She figured the poor man must be either very tired or bored with playing chaperone for them. Or maybe he was trying to shut out the world as he suffered the loss of his wife in silence.

Martin stepped closer to Ruth and whispered, “Would you be interested in going to the pond with me next Saturday for some fishing and a picnic?”

“Just the two of us?”

He nodded. “Since we couldn’t go there today, on account of bringing Anna along, I thought maybe next Saturday would work better. You don’t have to work at the bakeshop, do you?”

“I have that day off. What about you? Won’t you be working here at the harness shop?”

“Nope. Abe’s only got the shop open one Saturday a month now, and that won’t be this Saturday.”

Ruth hesitated before giving Martin her answer. The last time she’d gone to the pond with a man, it had been Luke. He’d acted odd and secretive that day, despite his kidding around. Of course, now she knew that was because Luke had a truck hidden in the woods not far from the pond and didn’t want anyone to know about it.

“Maybe you’d rather we make it a double date,” Martin said. “We could ask your friend Sadie and her boyfriend, Toby, to join us.”

“That’s a good idea,” Ruth was quick to say. “Sadie’s been after me to go someplace with her, and that would be a nice way for us
to spend the day.”

Martin tipped his head. “For who—you and Sadie, or you and me?”

“Both.”

His face relaxed into a smile. “Do you want to speak to Sadie about it, or should I talk to Toby?”

“Sadie and I are both scheduled to work at the bakeshop on Monday, so I’ll ask her then. But if you happen to see Toby between now and then, feel free to mention it to him, as well.”

Abe released a sigh as he sat at his desk, resting his eyes and listening to Martin and Ruth’s conversation. The joy of being young and in love. He could still remember how excited he felt when he and Alma first started courting. He couldn’t wait to be with her. Whenever they went somewhere together, he didn’t want to take her home. Even after they’d been married a few years and had started their family, he’d continued to enjoy her company and looked forward to their time alone after the kinner were in bed.

Abe thought about his sister, whose boyfriend, Melvin Zook, lived in Illinois. He knew it had been hard for Sue to leave Melvin and her family to come care for his kinner. He also knew that should Sue and Melvin decide to marry, he would lose his housekeeper.

“Then what’ll I do?” he mumbled.

“Were you speaking to me, Abe?”

Abe’s eyes snapped open, and he squinted. Martin stood a few feet from his desk, and Ruth was right beside him. “Uh. . .no. I was just thinkin’ out loud, is all.”

Martin nodded. “I do that sometimes, too.”

Abe grunted. “Been doin’ it a lot more since Alma died.”

“I’m sorry for your loss.” Ruth’s pained expression revealed the depth of her compassion.

Abe swallowed hard. “You know what happened the first time I brought Alma out here to show her around?”

“What happened?” Martin asked.

“She ran around the room touching everything in sight, saying how much she liked the place. Alma was full of love and life, and I sure
do miss her. Even though my kinner and Sue are around, I feel lonely without Alma.”

“Of course you do. It’s only natural that you and your children would miss her,” Ruth said, touching Abe’s shoulder. “My grandma Hostettler used to say that when we’re lonely, we should reach out to family and friends and allow them to reach out to us in return.”

Abe sniffed. “Esta’s got her puppy now, but I wish there was some-thing that could help my oldest boy cope with his mother’s passing. Gideon hasn’t shed a tear since Alma died. Yet I know he’s grieving. He’s been acting moody and kind of sassy lately.”

“Would you like me to speak with him?” Ruth asked. “Maybe I can help in some way.”

“I appreciate the offer,” Abe replied, “but I believe in time the boy will come around.”

“I think we’d better go,” Martin said before Ruth could respond. “We don’t want to get Anna back to her folks too late, or they might start to worry.”

“Oh, okay.” Ruth glanced over her shoulder as Martin led her toward the door. “Danki for letting me see your shop, Abe. It’s very interesting in here.”

“Jah, sure. I’m glad you like it.”

Grace entered her new living room and seated herself in the rocking chair near the fireplace. She leaned her head against the cushion and placed both hands on her stomach.

“You feeling all right?” Cleon asked as he took a seat on the sofa across from her.

“I’m fine,” she said with a nod. “I just felt the boppli kick.”

“He’s an active one, isn’t he?”

“Jah, but it could be a girl, you know.”

He shrugged. “I guess Anna would like a baby sister.”

“What about you? Will you be disappointed if the babe is a girl?”

“I’ll be fine with whatever God chooses to give us,” he said.

“Me, too.” Grace smiled. “I was pleased to see how Anna perked up when she found out Ruth was taking the puppy over to Esta. I’m
glad Ruth didn’t mind taking Anna with her.”

“I’m not sure Martin was so pleased about Anna tagging along, though.”

“What makes you say that?”

“I’ve got a hunch Martin wanted to be alone with your sister today.”

“Then he should have said so.”

“Probably didn’t want to hurt Ruth’s or Anna’s feelings.”

“Anna would have been disappointed, but I’m sure she’d have gotten over it.” Grace stopped rocking and stood.

“Where are you going?”

“I’ve got a cramp in my leg, so I need to walk around a bit.”

Cleon was immediately at her side. “Want me to rub it for you?”

Grace appreciated her husband’s concern, but sometimes he could be a bit overprotective. “If it doesn’t relax soon, I might take you up on that offer,” she said with a smile.

Despite the uncomfortable knot in her calf, Grace felt peace and joy in her heart. It was hard to believe that just a few weeks ago things had been strained between her and Cleon. Then the day their house had burned, Cleon had apologized for his part in their marital problems, and she’d done the same. Grace had never felt closer to him, and with each passing day, their relationship seemed to grow stronger.
Let it always be so,
she silently prayed.
Let peace and joy reign in this house.