“Bopplins?” Joseph looked down at Rebekah, his clear eyes questioning.
“We have had two new additions to the Graber family.” Rebekah looked pointedly at Thomas.
“Their names are Slinky and Stinky Graber-Stoll.”
Joseph sucked in his lower lip. “How about you tell me about them on the walk over to see your Ma and Pa?”
Thomas nodded. “If you think they will be okay, they are asleep in the barn. Because they are knocked oral.”
“Nocturnal?” Joseph guessed.
“That is it!” Thomas skipped ahead of them, chattering all the while. “Slinky is a baby raccoon. And Stinky is a…”
“No. Please, do not say Stinky is a skunk.”
“I was not going to.” Thomas held his chin out triumphantly to the tune of Rebekah’s giggles. “I was going to say Stinky is a bopplin skunk.”
Joseph’s eyes widened. “Rebekah…”
Rebekah interrupted him gently. “Maybe we can talk about it later when it is just the two of us. We have so much to be grateful for today, let us not spoil on it…” She paused. “On Stinky matters.” A giggle escaped before she could help it.
“That sounds good, fraa,” Joseph said, his voice sweet.
Chapter Thirteen
The four of them walked slowly down the path that led to the Stoll homestead. Thomas skipped ahead, as always, and Rebekah scanned the countryside but kept her pace slow to walk beside Joseph.
“Legs are pretty tender,” he said. “I apologize for not being able to go faster.”
“I am grateful you are here. The speed is no matter to me.”
“Did you lose something? Along the side of the trail, I mean.”
“Hmm?” Rebekah paused in her scanning and looked at Joseph.
“It looks as though you lost something.”
Careful to make sure Thomas was out of earshot, Rebekah spoke quietly. “Pa was usually at the house by now. He left rather late last night; I am looking for any sign of him not having made it home.”
Having said this out loud brought a fresh round of fear to Rebekah and awoke the butterflies that had settled in her stomach. They took flight at once.
“Oh Joseph, I fear he did not make it home. It was no doubt dark when he made it to this part of the trail, and he has been so sick…”
With a grunt, Joseph lengthened his strides. If he hurt, it did not show. “Then we must find him. Thomas,” he called. “We are on the lookout for your fater. First to spot your fater wins!”
“Then I will win because I am in front of you two!” He dashed even further ahead, up to the top of a little knoll. He turned to them and waved his arms. “I can see clear to Montgomery from here!”
He turned around slowly, one hand over his eyes as though to shield them from the rising sun. “Looking…looking…looking…”
Thomas was still looking, as he put it, when Rebekah and Joseph caught up to him.
“There!” Thomas and Rebekah shouted in unison. “There he is!”
Sure enough, over the next hill, Samuel was walking toward them.
“That is him, all right,” Joseph said. “I helped you make that shirt for him for Christmas last year.” Joseph smiled and waved his arms over his head. “Samuel. Samuel!”
“Pa!” Rebekah, flooded with relief, called out. Dawson echoed her sentiment with a leg-flinging, happy screech. She exhaled the breath that she had held heavy in her chest since before dawn. Pa. “He was just running a bit later than usual is all.”
“Hello, Fater,” Thomas cried out.
Samuel raised his face to them, but a sudden ray of sun blotted it out. He waved his arm over his head as he walked down the little hill toward them and disappeared into the dip of a little valley.
“Must be coming for good company and hot coffee,” Joseph mused aloud.
Rebekah gave her husband a quizzical look. “What an odd thing to say,” she began. “That is what Pa always said. Had you heard him say that while you were sick?”
Joseph shrugged. “I do not know. It just popped into my mind.”
Hmmm. She shook off the strange feeling that cloaked her with Joseph’s words and the butterflies, which had stilled their flapping wings, sprang to life once again. She tried to ignore it.
“Come on,” Joseph said. “Let’s go down the trail and meet him in the little valley before he comes up this side.
All smiles, the trio and the bopplin started down the trail to meet Samuel and all breathe a collective sigh of relief at his presence, something the lot of them feared they may never experience again.
As they trotted down the little hill, they slowed in tandem as a figure approached them. Rebekah’s face fell at once. “Fogarty? Is that you?”
Joseph whispered so that only she could hear. “It was Samuel. I recognized the shirt. Now, the shirt is not right at all.”
