Katie Opens Her Heart (26 page)

Jesse rubbed his head and dressed in the dark. He’d hoped things would look different after a
gut
night’s sleep. Didn’t they usually? But it was apparently not to be. Ruth’s meddling still looked like the nightmare it was, even when he tried to convince himself she really did care for his children and couldn’t be entirely blamed. But there remained just as much trouble this morning as there had been last night after her buggy lights had disappeared in the darkness. She’d be back, he was still sure of it. And no doubt she’d left in her wake terrible tales to poison Mabel’s mind against Emma. What a mess this was indeed.

Well, some things would have to change around here, beginning with straightening Mabel out. Perhaps he could have a long talk with her, explaining that Ruth’s opinion of Emma was a little misguided, especially considering her own interest in getting married. The situation was complicated by the fact that part of Ruth’s tale was true. Emma had been, or thought she’d been, in love with Daniel Kauffman. That much made sense. And she had made that mad dash out of the wedding. But so what? In the end, Emma loved the man she married. Nothing he’d ever seen in Ezra and Emma’s relationship had given any other indication. So Emma couldn’t be faulted in the matter.

Jesse left his bedroom, opened the stair door, and hollered, “Time to get up! Everybody out!”

He didn’t wait for a reply but walked over to light the gas lantern at the kitchen counter before he headed into the washroom. He paused as he heard light steps coming down the stairs. That would likely be Mabel, wanting to speak with him before the chores. And he needed to take the time for a few words with her. But the real conversation would have to wait until later. There wasn’t time now to counter Ruth’s nasty news and opinion about Emma.

“The nerve of that woman!” Jesse muttered, stepping back into the kitchen. He greeted Mabel. “
Gut
morning.”

“
Gut
morning,
Daett
,” Mabel said, wringing her hands. “Did Ruth tell you everything last night?”

Jesse sighed. The subject already made him weary. Maybe he ought to snap out orders like some
daetts
did instead of using persuasion on the hearts of his children. He could simply tell Mabel to accept what was going to happen. But that wasn’t his way.

Mabel’s eyes were pleading. “I wanted to speak about this when I came down last night. But I thought it was better if I waited until this morning when Ruth was gone.”

“
Yah
, that was for the best,” Jesse agreed, leaning against the doorframe. “Ruth didn’t share anything I wasn’t already aware of or that I care about. I think it best if we wait until after breakfast to speak at length about this. I don’t want to rush through this with you because this is a very serious situation. It’s important to me that we talk and get things straightened out.”

Mabel hesitated, her face questioning. Then she relented and walked over to the counter where she began to take down the breakfast dishes.

“Be sure Carolyn gets up to help you,” Jesse said before he left.

Mabel nodded.

Jesse walked across the lawn, swinging the lantern. When he pushed open the barn door, the first thing to meet his eyes was a smashed gate on a horse stall. The second shock was the listless form of one of his workhorses lying on the floor. An empty oat bag lay on the concrete floor with a few kernels still scattered around.

“What’s going on here?” He hollered the question even though no one was around but the farm animals. He ran to the workhorse, grabbed its halter, and pulled up hard. The horse lifted its head, but it fell again when Jesse let go. Jesse ran over to the smashed gate, where he saw that most of the boards were broken inward. That could mean only one thing. Something from the outside had broken in. But what and who?

In a flash he remembered dragging Ruth’s horse out of here last night. It had been dark, and his only light had been the flashlight. He hadn’t looked around. His mind had been on getting the woman on the road, not on what her horse might have done inside his barn.

“Confound it all!” Jesse said out loud. “The nasty thing kicked down my gate.”

Jesse looked around again. There could be no other answer. Ruth’s horse had kicked the stall door, and from there the workhorse had pushed his way out and stuffed himself with grain. Jesse returned to the listless horse and pulled on the halter again. He succeeded in getting the animal up and walking a few steps. Behind him the barn door opened, admitting Leroy and Willis.

Jesse hollered, “Come over here boys, quick!”

The boys rushed over, and Jesse gave the halter to Willis. “Take this horse outside and see if you can walk this off. I don’t believe the bag was more than half full. Leroy, grab a lead rope for your brother.”

Willis took the halter while Leroy ran to get the lead rope. After giving it to Willis, he stared at the smashed gate. “What happened here?”

“Ruth’s horse must have kicked the door in last night,” Jesse said. “I didn’t notice it when I took her horse out to hitch up.”

“You didn’t see something like this?” Leroy looked incredulous. “That’s as plain as day.”

Jesse wanted to tell Leroy he’d been distracted, that the woman had messed with his mind, but maybe it was best that Leroy didn’t know about his troubles last night.

“I only had my flashlight,” Jesse said instead.

Leroy didn’t look convinced.

“Go, Willis!” Jesse motioned with his hand toward the back barn door. “We have to get that horse walking around. If necessary, run him around the barnyard. Anything to get that feed moving through the digestion cycle.”

“Come on, boy!” Willis shouted as he snapped on the rope and pulled hard. With much straining he got the horse out the back door and started on the first go-round in the barnyard.

“What a woman,” Leroy said, still staring at the smashed gate.

Jesse almost laughed, but he coughed instead. Leroy was already putting way too many things together. Soon he would be laughing at his
daett
. Jesse decided he’d better make a trip back to Emma’s today and set the wedding plans in motion before anything worse happened. Would Emma be willing to rush the wedding date? Probably not. He’d have to let things run their course. And there was still much work ahead. For one thing, his children’s hearts and minds needed to be persuaded.

“Come on,” Jesse told Leroy. “We’d better begin the chores.”

“I thought I heard shouting last night after I went to sleep,” Leroy said. “Did you and Ruth have a fight or something? Was it somehow connected to this?”

Jesse laughed out loud this time. “We did have a frank discussion,” he admitted. “But it had nothing to do with horses kicking in gates.”

“I take it you’re not getting along too well with the woman,” Leroy observed. “Was that why you didn’t see the smashed gate last night?”

Leroy was right, but Jesse didn’t feel like admitting it.

His son didn’t seem bothered by his
daett
’s silence and continued with his thoughts. “I think she’s using Mabel’s heart to wrap you around her apron strings. Maybe you ought to get rid of the woman before something worse happens than her horse kicking down the gate. She might take to burning down the barn.”

Jesse laughed again. It felt
gut
to finally have one child on his side—and so suddenly. But then maybe it hadn’t been so suddenly. Leroy was smart. They all were smart, even Mabel. It was just that her heart strings were being plucked by Ruth. Mabel shouldn’t be blamed for that woman’s manipulation.

“I’m still going to enjoy her pecan pies tonight though,” Leroy commented. “So maybe on second thought you ought to marry the woman so we can have pecan pies every day.”

“Come on now,” Jesse said through a smile. “Enough talk. We have to get these chores done without Willis’s help. I expect we’ll do good to save that horse without a large vet bill.”

Leroy nodded and disappeared into the hayloft. Jesse took a quick look into the barnyard to check on Willis’s progress. Willis was doing a great job. He was already moving the horse along at a brisk trot. “That’s the way to do it!” Jesse hollered to Willis before going to open the gate for the cows. The cows pushed past him to get to the feed.

“I’m going back and forth, except I just walk him when I get tired,” Willis hollered back. “Is that okay?”

“That’s the best we can do.” Jesse slapped the last cow as she stopped half in and half out of the doorway. The cow lunged forward, and Jesse followed her inside. With the cows eating, he closed the stanchions and then began the milking. Leroy soon came to help, and they finished only fifteen minutes later than normal.

Willis was still working the horse in the barnyard when Jesse let the cows out.

“How’s it going?” Jesse asked.

“Okay.” Willis slowed to a walk. “He’s passed gas several times.”

“That’s what I was hoping for. Come on. We can go for breakfast now. I think the horse will be okay now. If things still look iffy after breakfast, you can walk him some more.”

The three men walked back to the house and entered through the washroom door after cleaning up.

Mabel had the table laid out with eggs, bacon, oatmeal, and toast.

Jesse seated himself at the head of the table and bowed his head. They prayed silently and, after a few moments, Jesse said, “Amen.” Mabel passed the plates of food around like usual, though Jesse noticed her face seemed drawn.

Behind them the first light of day came through the window, overwhelming the weak kerosene-fueled lamplight.

“When is teacher Ruth coming again?” Carolyn asked, breaking the silence.

Jesse cleared his throat. “I don’t know, honey. But not very soon.”

“I like having her here,” Carolyn said. “She can make pies in just a jiffy. I don’t think Mabel or I will ever learn how to make them that fast.”

“It doesn’t matter how fast you can make pies,” Jesse said. “And you will see teacher Ruth at school.”

“You don’t like her pies?” Carolyn asked.

“Of course
Daett
does,” Leroy answered the question. “Everyone likes pecan pies.”

Carolyn didn’t look satisfied. “I think Ruth wants to come and live here all the time. That is, if
Daett
will ask her to be our
mamm
. She could teach us how to make pecan pies fast someday.”

“She’d probably burn down the house first,” Leroy muttered.

Mabel gasped and flew to her feet. “Don’t you be running down Ruth, Leroy. She is already as close to a
mamm
to me and Carolyn as we’ve had since
Mamm
passed.”

“
Yah
, Leroy. Let’s not tear someone down.” Jesse kept his voice low. He had to soothe this situation or they would all be fighting each other before long. But Leroy wasn’t paying attention to any soothing words.

“Well, I’m telling you that Ruth’s horse kicked down our gate last evening. And for no
gut
purpose. And that nearly got one of our workhorses killed by this morning.”

“That’s not possible!” Mabel shouted. “Neither Ruth nor her horse would do anything like that. At least not on purpose.”

Jesse opened his mouth to say that Leroy was indeed telling the truth, but he changed his mind.

Leroy wasn’t backing down either. “I think this woman is completely out of her place. I finally figured it out last night. Not that I was totally blind to her schemes before, but I see clearly now. That woman is using you and Carolyn to weasel her way into this home and get
Daett
to marry her.”

Jesse raised his hand to silence Leroy.

Mabel’s face was fiery red. “I want to tell you something, Leroy Mast. It’s that Emma Raber who is causing all this trouble. Ruth told me all about her last night—how she was in love with somebody while they were all growing up. Emma followed the poor boy right up to his wedding day, trying to lure him away from his girlfriend. And then she shamed herself by making a scene at the wedding and driving out right in front of the bride and groom when they left the service.”

Leroy blinked and looked away. “I’d not heard that,” he said.

Mabel continued. “Then Emma lured a new boyfriend into her clutches only weeks after the boy she loved married. She’s like a spider, Leroy. A sneaky spider who is trying to catch
Daett
in her web. How else can you explain why
Daett
is so taken with Emma when Ruth loves all of us and would be our
mamm
tomorrow if
Daett
would only ask her?”

“Wow!” Leroy shook his head. “Thank
Da Hah
neither of them are after me.”

Jesse stood up. There would be no talking with Mabel after breakfast as he had planned. She wouldn’t be persuaded very easily, he could see that clearly now. Ruth had done her work thoroughly. It was high time he brought this conversation to an end. He motioned for silence. “I want to make something clear to all of you. I’ve asked Emma Raber to marry me and be my
frau
. And once she says the wedding vows with me, she will be your new
mamm
. And that’s the end of the conversation and the end of the story. And I don’t care what Ruth has to say about it or about Emma.”