As everyone rose to sit on the pew benches after the prayer ended, Leah felt a great sense of gratitude and expectation. Peacefulness settled over her as she realized how far she and the rest of the Shetler family had progressed since the fateful morning when the twins had eavesdropped on her and Jude’s intimate conversation about the circumstances of their birth. Leah thought back to her maidel fantasies of the perfect life she would experience as Jude’s wife. She believed those dreams had a chance to come true now.
Leah’s breath caught when she saw the way Jude was gazing at her from across the crowded room. When Stevie climbed into his dat’s lap and wiggled his fingers at her, her heart overflowed with love for the boy she now considered her son. She wondered if the women around her could feel the way she glowed.
How had she been so fortunate to hitch up with such a handsome, affectionate husband? Who could have foreseen the all-encompassing love she now felt for his children—and the way they had accepted her? The coming weeks and months would surely be filled with the goodness and mercy promised in the Twenty-Third Psalm, with blessings she couldn’t anticipate, and Leah couldn’t wait to see where God would lead her.
* * *
A couple weeks later, Leah watched Stevie as he scooped alfalfa pellets into the calves’ feed trough. The May morning sparkled with sunshine and the breeze that whispered in the leafy trees tousled the boy’s shiny brown hair. When he looked at her, Leah realized that he was beginning to resemble Jude more closely.
With practiced ease Stevie held out the two big nipple bottles to feed Erma and Patsy’s orphaned calves. “Mama, do ya think Maisie and these calves miss the other cows that got shot?” he asked wistfully.
Leah sighed. Lately she’d been thinking that the pen and pasture seemed awfully empty, and unless she found another Black Angus cow or two, her little herd couldn’t grow very fast. “I’m sure they do, Stevie,” she replied softly.
“Pretty soon the calves will grow up and we’ll be sendin’ them to market, huh?” he asked plaintively. “I’ll really miss gettin’ to feed ’em and watch ’em every day.”
“We’ll keep the two little heifers as breeding stock, but we’ll sell the two steers when they’ve reached a gut market weight,” Leah clarified, even as she wondered what direction Stevie’s questions were heading. “By this time next year, I hope the heifers will be carrying their first calves.”
“Oh.” Stevie considered this information. “That’s a long time to wait for more cows, huh?”
Leah nodded sadly. She’d tried to make the best of a bad situation—had tried to find the silver lining to the dark cloud that hovered over her livestock business—but having a lot of meat in the deep freeze and stored at Abner’s locker wasn’t the same as having the money she would’ve earned with the cattle that had been shot. Jude was a fine provider, but she didn’t expect him to replace the cattle she’d lost by spending money that should go toward supporting their family.
“It’s a lesson in patience, Stevie,” she said. And maybe God’s giving me time to deliver my baby before I have to tend so many cattle again . . . or He’s pointing my business in a different direction.
As Leah combed the boy’s warm hair back over his ears with her fingers, however, she brightened with a new idea. “But we’ll still raise our goats and ducks and chickens—and when we get more cows and calves, I think we should let you be totally in charge of them. You would be responsible for tending and raising them—with your dat’s and my help. When you earn an income from selling the first batch, you can take over buying their feed and paying the other expenses. Someday I hope to turn the entire herd over to you, Stevie.”
“Wow,” Stevie said, awestruck. “You think I can do that, Mama? I’m just a little kid, not even in school yet.”
Leah smiled proudly, her heart expanding with the thrill of being called Mama on a regular basis. “Your dat and I will help you keep your accounts, sweetie. We’ve both been managing animals since we were kids—maybe not handling the buying and selling yet, but our parents were pointing us in that direction.”
The sight of the sheriff’s car turning off the county road and into their lane made Leah nip her lip. Had there been trouble? Jude was calling an auction and the twins had gone into Morning Star to shop for groceries and sewing supplies, so Leah hurried toward the car as it approached the house. Sheriff Banks had spoken to her briefly in the pool hall parking lot the day he’d searched the gray pickup for the gun that had killed her cattle, so her thoughts spun around images of Dexter and Phil. Now that the twins were taking their instruction to join the church, she hoped those reckless young men weren’t coming around again, causing Adeline and Alice more trouble. More temptation.
“Morning, Mrs. Shetler,” the burly sheriff called out as he stepped from his vehicle. “It’s a beautiful May day, and your place looks really pretty with the iris and peonies in bloom. I’ve got some good news for you.”
Leah inhaled deeply to settle her nerves. Clyde Banks was a nice enough fellow, but she still felt a little nervous dealing with an officer of the law—especially while Jude was away from home. “Oh?” she asked, grasping Stevie’s hand as he came to stand beside her.
