“Hard to say. Some people’s bones heal faster than others’. But even if he’s out of the cast, his leg will be weak. He’ll need time to regain his strength.”
“What can I do to help?”
He chuffed out a chuckle. “What? I’m sure there’s plenty to be done in the house.”
“Hannah and Lydia are taking care of Vater while overseeing the breakfast cleanup as well as the early prep for lunch. Everyone’s busy with their regular duties, leaving nothing for me except free time.” She didn’t even have a modeling job today. That would have been nice to get her mind off Vater being hurt.
“This isn’t woman’s work.”
“If you haven’t noticed, my vater has seven girls. We’ve all done a bit of carpentry, livestock tending and even some plowing. So let me help.”
“Danki for the offer, but I can manage.”
If she was a man, he’d accept her help. “Well, I have nothing else to do, so I’m not leaving.” She backed up to a covered feed barrel, pushed herself up and sat. “If you won’t let me help with the labor, I’ll supervise from here.” The truth was, she just wanted to be out here with him.
He stared at her hard for a long moment. “You are going to tell me how to fix this?”
“It’s either that or put me to work.” The work would go faster if he allowed her to help. Would he be too stubborn and insist on doing it alone? If so, he deserved to have a more difficult time than need be, and he deserved to have her comment on every little thing he did.
“Fine. But you have to do as I say. I don’t want you getting hurt, as well.”
She hopped off the barrel and saluted him.
He shook his head at her playful gesture. “First we need to determine how sturdy the rest of this floor is.” He handed her a shovel, and he grabbed a pitchfork for himself. “Tap the underside of the boards with the end of the handle.” He demonstrated with his implement.
Deborah poked at a board to show him that not only did she understand his elementary instructions, but that she could also follow his directions as ordered. Then she smiled.
He worked his mouth back and forth, presumably to keep from smiling himself. His effort created a cute expression.
She studied her shovel from tip to end. She didn’t like the idea of lifting the heavy metal blade up and down. The repetitive movement would give her sore muscles, for sure. After looking around, she leaned the shovel against the wall and grabbed a push broom. Putting her foot on the head, she twisted the handle several times, freeing it. This was lighter. Much better for repetitive motions. She twirled it around once and went to work tapping and poking. “Tell me about your family.”
Amos shrugged. “Like what?”
“Parents. Siblings.”
“I have two parents and four brothers.”
Not very forthcoming with information. She was going to have to work harder at learning anything about him. She would start with something easy and hope he got the hint and freely offered up more details. “What are your parents’ names?”
“Joseph and Karen.”
At least half the boards she poked at were usable for the time being, although they would need to be replaced soon. The other half of them were splintery and soft. “What about your brothers?”
“James, Boaz, Daniel and Titus.”
She felt like growling and poking him with a stick. Couldn’t he give her more information? Did he not want to talk to her? Well, she wasn’t about to work in silence. Her sisters chatted all the time while doing chores. “Where do you fit into all of them?”
“Youngest.”
Really? Nothing more than that? She did growl now, softly to herself, and jabbed her stick at the next board. It poked through, splintering the wood in half. Hay showered down on her from between the dangling halves.
Amos rushed over and pulled her out of the way as one of the jagged pieces broke free and shot straight down to where she’d been standing. She could have been seriously injured.
Caught off guard by his action, she lost her balance and grasped at his sleeve. Her body twisted, and gravity did the rest of the work, landing her in a pile of straw.
Between her yanking on his sleeve and his trying to catch her, he lost his footing as well and landed in the straw beside her with one arm stretched across to the other side of her. His eyes went wide. “Are you all right? Did you get hurt?”
He looked so adorable in his worried state that a giggle escaped her lips before she could stop it.
His mouth pulled up at the corners. “I guess that means you’re not hurt.”
She nodded and wrestled her chortling under control.
He plucked hay off her cheek and forehead. “You’re covered.”
She imagined she was but didn’t help him, liking his ministrations.
His hand stilled, and he stared down at her for a long moment.
What was he thinking?
Clearing his throat, he pushed himself up to his feet, then offered her assistance. His hand was large and strong. And warm.
As soon as she was on her feet, he released her quickly as though embarrassed, and stared up at the ceiling. “Too many of the boards are rotted beyond repair, and the ones that are serviceable won’t be for long. It would be best to replace the whole floor. I’ll take the wagon into town and order the necessary lumber.”
Now he was chatty? Or had their little moment made him uncomfortable? She missed the moment of closeness they’d just shared. Would they have another one in the future? She hoped so.
The next morning, Amos was sent into town by the oldest twin, Hannah, to pick up some medicine for Bartholomew Miller. Though identical in most respects, he noted that Hannah had a worry crease between her eyebrows, which helped him to differentiate the two sisters.
He now drove back along the paved road. Floyd plodded along. The rhythm of his clip-clopping hoofbeats lulled Amos’s thoughts—thoughts that drifted to his cousin. Jacob was gut to help Amos. Amos wouldn’t know what to do on the outside. Having his cousin’s guidance made him feel less anxious about the whole endeavor. Jacob knew all about Amos’s hurts back in Pennsylvania. How Esther had let him court her and led him to believe she cared for him, only to turn down his offer of marriage. Then when he’d arrived in Indiana, the situation was nearly repeated with Bethany.
Then his thoughts turned to the Millers’ farm. The work there was gut. Gave him purpose. And being around all those women would give him insight into the female mind. Maybe then he could figure out what he’d done wrong in the past.
Up ahead, an Amish woman meandered in the middle of the two-lane country road.
What was she doing?
A car came down the road, honked and swerved around her.
She sidestepped but didn’t move to the side of the road.
He snapped the reins to hurry the horse. When he pulled up beside her, he said, “Ma’am?”
She faced him but didn’t really look at him.
“Teresa? Teresa Miller?” He hauled back on the reins.
“Ja.” She raised her hand to shade her eyes from the morning winter sun.
“What are you