When Jude gazed at Leah, his smile made her quiver inside. “Jah, except for the house seeming way too quiet without Betsy, our home has already taken on a peacefulness I couldn’t have foreseen a few weeks ago,” he said as he began to strip the skin from the carcass on Abner’s second worktable. “I believe the kids have accepted Leah as their mamm now. And I believe God will grant us even more exciting possibilities in the days ahead.”
Rather than speculating on what her husband meant, Leah focused on removing the meat from a steer’s neck and shoulder. The smaller pieces from the neck would be ground or cut into stew meat, while the larger sections around the shoulder would make nice roasts and steaks.
“I’ll be pleased to sell as much of this meat as you’d like me to, Leah,” Abner said as he deftly plied his knife around the flank he was butchering. “What I don’t sell fresh in the next few days, I can package and freeze for selling later—or to keep for you folks, if you don’t have space for it in your freezer at home. The meat from your grass-fed cattle is tender and well marbled, so the beef will be tastier than what folks can find in regular grocery stores.”
“I’d appreciate that,” Leah put in. “You’ve been such a help to us, Abner.”
“Another possibility is donating some packages of the meat to a couple of families in the Cedar Creek district who’ve met with misfortune recently,” Bishop Vernon suggested. “Over the weekend, Mose and Hannah Hartzler lost their home—including the jars of canned goods and their deep freezes—in a fire, and Rudy Ropp suffered a stroke I suspect he might not recover from.”
Leah’s eyes widened. “Oh my, I hadn’t heard that sad news, what with all the goings-on at our place,” she said. “Jah, I’d be grateful if you’d give those families a gut supply of this meat. They’ve got kids to feed.”
The four of them settled into a companionable routine, with Jude skinning the last few carcasses while Vernon and Leah removed the meat from the bones and Abner cut steaks and roasts. The men shared talk from around the Morning Star and Cedar Creek church districts, but Leah had to force herself to concentrate on her work, despite the fact that she’d been butchering since she was a young girl. Her headache sapped her energy and she had the sensation of working inside a bubble, somewhat removed from the men, as she tried to convince herself she didn’t feel queasy.
Something in the breakfast casserole the twins had fixed seemed to be upsetting her stomach. Trying not to draw attention to herself, Leah left the cold room and hurried to the bathroom in the hallway. She barely made it in time to vomit repeatedly in the toilet.
When she had nothing left in her stomach, Leah leaned against the wall for a few moments to settle herself. Why was she feeling so clammy and weak-kneed? She hoped she hadn’t caught the flu or—
“Is there some gut news you’re not telling us, Jude?” Bishop Vernon asked on the other side of the wall. “In all the years I’ve known Leah, I can’t recall that she’s ever gotten sick to her stomach.”
“Jah, ordinarily Leah’s got a strong constitution when it comes to butchering,” Abner put in.
“I can’t say for sure that we have happy news,” Jude replied with a chuckle. “But I intend for us to find out soon, because this isn’t the first time Leah’s thrown up recently.”
Leah’s eyes widened. Could she possibly be in the family way? She hadn’t been throwing up every morning, as she’d heard was common, yet she couldn’t deny that she’d gotten sick to her stomach, dizzy—or just cranky—several times over the past weeks.
Leah rinsed her face with cool water and took a few deep breaths. It was embarrassing to think the fellows in the next room might’ve figured out her condition before she’d thought of it—but she hadn’t dodged men’s remarks and opinions before, and she didn’t intend to start now. She returned to the refrigerated room as though nothing had been amiss and resumed butchering alongside Jude, Abner, and Vernon.
The men played along with her pretense. Leah felt better, more able to focus on the task at hand, and by the end of the morning all her cattle had been processed and packaged in white butcher paper. She and Jude loaded several boxes of meat into the rig and took off around twelve-thirty.
“What if I treated my girlfriend to lunch at Mrs. Nissley’s Kitchen or Mother Yutzy’s Oven while we’re in Cedar Creek?” Jude asked as he steered the rig onto the county highway. “I always look forward to auctions where Beulah Mae or Lois provide the lunch. And then . . . do you suppose we should swing by the clinic and find out if a new little Shetler is upsetting your system?”
Leah’s cheeks tingled with heat. “Do you think that’s what’s going on? It’s kind of, well—humiliating, to think you and the Gingerich men guessed my condition before I even had a clue.”
Jude gently cupped her face to bring it closer to his. “Nothing to be embarrassed about, sweetheart,” he murmured before he kissed her tenderly. “You’ve had a lot on your mind lately, dealing with the twins and letting Betsy go back to her mamm—not to mention this ordeal with your cattle.”
Leah’s heart thrummed steadily as she rested her head against Jude’s shoulder. “Maybe we should visit the clinic first and then celebrate the results over lunch.”
“I like that idea.”
“And—Jude?” Leah hesitated, yet she knew he would understand her request. “If there’s a baby, let’s keep it between you and me for a while, shall we? Just to be sure everything’s going the way it’s supposed to before we tell everyone.”
Jude slung his
