“Would you like to see our shop, Rue?” he asked.
“What’s that?” Rue asked.
“I’m a carpenter. I build things with wood, and I work at Uncle Amos’s carpentry shop. We build everything from beds to cabinets to little carved boxes for Englisher women to put their jewelry in.”
“A jewel box?” Rue breathed.
“Yah, but we Amish don’t use them,” he said. “We don’t have jewelry.”
“A princess does,” Rue said.
Right. He sighed. This would be a long journey in the making of an Amish girl.
“You could still come see our shop,” Thomas said. “Then you’ll know where your daet works.”
Rue looked up at him, silent. It didn’t seem to mean much to her.
“Can I hold that?” she asked, pointing to the reins.
Thomas smiled. He couldn’t exactly hand the reins over to a four-year-old, but it was a good sign that she wanted to try it herself. This was how children learned—they got curious and wanted to hold the reins.
“Come sit on my knee, and we’ll hold the reins together.”
The buggy ride into town wasn’t a long one. Patience sat quietly the rest of the ride, and he stole a few looks at her over his daughter’s head—noticing some details like the faint freckles across her nose and the wisp of golden hair that came loose from under her kapp. She was beautiful in that fresh, wholesome way that he’d missed so much when he’d left the community. But he was also feeling attracted to her, and that made him nervous. He needed to focus on his daughter right now, not the new teacher. Besides, Patience was comforting, and that was exactly what drew him to Tina in the city—a search for comfort. His comfort needed to come from his Father in Heaven, not a woman’s arms. He’d learned that the hard way.
A couple of farmers, both of whom Thomas knew, looked at him in open curiosity as their buggies passed, going in the opposite direction. Thomas nodded to them, and they nodded back. Word would spread quickly when they started telling their neighbors what they’d seen. Patience could be easily explained, but Rue wearing a striped Englisher sundress would require more. Thomas had a child—a distinctly Englisher child. People would have opinions about that, to be sure.
The town of Redemption was an Amish-friendly town, which meant that the shops all had buggy parking out front, and there were parking lots with hitching posts. Many of the restaurants and stores were Amish owned and operated, including Redemption Carpentry. Englishers traveled from miles around to visit Redemption and buy up the authentic Amish crafts and food. They ordered Amish cabinetry for their homes and stared at the Amish folk with the open curiosity that only Englishers could pull off.
Redemption Carpentry was on Main Street, with a convenient buggy parking area behind the shop. They also had a stable for their horses, and every few days, they’d bring out a new bale of hay and cart out the soiled hay to be used as fertilizer. Even housing horses during business hours took extra work. That was the life of the Amish—putting their backs into the labor and their hearts into Gott.
Next door to their carpentry shop was Quilts and Such, the fabric shop, and after unhitching the horses and settling them with their oats in the stable, Thomas took Rue’s hand and they all walked together to the front door. He felt the curious eyes of Amish and English alike sweeping over him. Benjamin Yoder stared in unveiled shock from his seat on his buggy, and his wife, Waneta, leaned forward to get a better look past her husband’s chest. Yah, he’d have explaining to do.
Thomas pulled open the door to Redemption Carpentry first. He let Patience and Rue go in ahead of him, out of sight from the passersby on the street. He heaved a sigh of relief as the door shut behind him, the soft tinkle of a bell pealing overhead.
“It’s you,” Amos said, poking his head out of the workshop. They had a small display room for a few finished products, giving customers an idea of the types of furniture they could order. There were some chests of drawers, sections of headboards, wood and stain samples, and a display shelf of ornately carved jewelry boxes.
“Oh...” Rue sighed, immediately drawn to the boxes. “They’re so pretty...”
“Yah, but why don’t you come see where the real work happens?” Thomas said, and he led the way into the back where Noah was working on a bedpost on a gas-powered lathe.
Thomas let them look around. Rue seemed most interested in the curls of wood shavings on the floor, and she collected a few in her hands.
“You have a good business here,” Patience said.
“Yah. It’s doing quite well,” Thomas said, and while he wouldn’t brag, they were doing more than well. The Englishers loved their work, and with the three of them meeting orders on time every time, they had a reputation for being reliable, as well.
“This is where your daet works,” Patience said, bending down next to Rue. “He makes all these beautiful things.”
“Could I have a jewelry box?” Rue asked, standing up and fixing Thomas with a hopeful look.
“Those are for the Englisher ladies,” he said.
“But I’m an Englisher lady!” Rue insisted.
“No, you’re an Amish girl,” he said. “And I will get you something that you’ll love. You’ll see.”
He glanced at Patience, and she shrugged faintly. There would be plenty of this in the coming weeks and months, he was sure. His daughter wanted an English life—it was what she was born to. He was the one asking her to change everything she’d been raised to be—and for what? For him, a father she hardly knew.
Thomas waved to Noah and Amos, then held the door for Patience and Rue
