“Hi, th-ithy,” he mumbled through the crumbs.
“Thomas, come here please.”
He shrugged his tiny shoulders and forced down the bite of stolen bread as he ambled over.
“Hi, sissy,” he said more clearly. “Please don’t tell ’bout the bread. I was hungry.”
She ruffled his hair.
“Can you run upstairs for your favorite sister and bring down my covering? It’s in my room.”
He wrinkled his nose.
“Please?”
Thomas looked first at her, then at the door before he allowed his big blue eyes to settle back on Rebekah. “You’re my favorite sister because you’re my only sister.”
“Thanks a lot.”
Thomas sighed. “I guess we do need to cover up that hair. I’ll be right back.” He started up the stairs, slow as molasses in January. After a minute, he’d ascended three steps.
“Thomas?” Rebekah’s voice was gentle.
“Yeah, sissy?”
“Could you please go quickly? For me?”
A gap-toothed grin filled his freckled face. He scratched his nose. “Sure can.”
Thomas disappeared up the stairs as the front door creaked a tell-tale warning.
Someone’s coming in.
“Oh no.”
Rebekah glanced about for a suitable hiding place big enough for a twenty-year-old girl. In her haste, she hadn’t even bothered to dress and still wore her nightgown.
Her thoughts came in quick spurts.
Maybe whoever it is won’t see me if I don’t move.
She sat down on the bottom step and hugged her knees to her chest.
Joseph held open the door and Katie sashayed in. The pair sat down on the seat made for three with their backs to her.
Thank goodness the seat between them is open.
A hot knot formed in her throat.
“So sad about their barn. I heard that you went in and saved their new calf.” Katie’s sing-song voice trilled in the still air. Rebekah closed her eyes.
“Well, you’re half right.” Joseph stood and folded his arms. That was a sure sign that he was either completely comfortable or completely nervous.
“It is unfortunate about the barn, but it wasn’t me who went in for all the animals.” He turned to face Katie and in doing so, faced Rebekah, too. “It was Rebekah.”
“Here you go, sissy!” Thomas’s voice was a screech as he flew down the stairs. In his haste, he tripped.
Rebekah reached out and made an expert save before Thomas crashed to the ground. She patted her littlest brother and sat him down.
With butterflies flitting wildly in her stomach, she glanced at Joseph to see if he’d witnessed the display.
He stared back, grinning.
Rebekah shoved her headpiece over her sizzled locks. “Thank you, Thomas.”.
“You’re welcome, sissy,” he yelled as he dashed away past Joseph and Katie without so much as a glance in their direction. Rebekah guessed his five-year-old heart and mind were already out the door, off the porch, and playing in the surrounding woods.
Katie turned as Rebekah finished straightening the gauzy white covering. She smoothed her nightgown.
“There she is now. The hero of the day.” Joseph stepped to her side. “Rebekah, come sit with Katie and me.”
He took her hand and led her across the living room as she tried to hide her limp.
She spoke first and tried to keep her voice even despite the sour taste in her mouth. “Katie, thank you for my pouch of quilting squares.” Despite their mutual object of affection, Rebekah was serious in her appreciation. “Did you piece them together yourself?”
Katie nodded. “I did. ’Fraid I’m not much of a quilter, so they’re a little uneven. Nothing like your ma’s.”
Rebekah shifted her weight on the seat. “My squares aren’t anything like Ma’s, either.”
She shifted her attention to Joseph. “How was breakfast?”
“Well, everyone was fed. If there were any complaints, I didn’t hear them.” He brushed the end of his nose with his thumb. “But then again, I made it a point not to listen.”
Katie giggled.
“I’m surprised to find you two here.” Rebekah didn’t mean for her voice to come out as harsh as it did. “What I mean is,” she sputtered to clarify, “I thought everyone was going to gather at the Yoders today.”
Joseph extended his hand to her. “There was a change of plans.”
She accepted it, stood, and hobbled toward the door. Needles of pain pricked her foot. She bit her tongue and squeezed Joseph’s hand.
He pushed the door open and revealed the busy scurrying of all the Gasthof Village families.
Mr. Yoder and Mr. Knepp were pushing up the new wooden frame of their barn as Mr. Raber and Mr. Odon steadied them from the top. They called out orders and requests in German, giving the clearing around their house the old-world feel that Rebekah knew only from her mother’s stories.
Her Pa, Joseph’s Pa, and Simon Wagler unloaded goods from the row of parked wagons. Piles of hay, animal feed, and tack were stacked about in an orderly fashion.
Tears welled in her eyes. “Everyone came here?”
