As Patience led Rue into the mudroom, she shut the door behind her. The house was silent, and Patience peeked into the kitchen. There were some dishes to be done, and Mary was nowhere to be seen. When Patience glanced into the sitting room, she saw the old woman in a rocking chair, her chin dropped down to her chest and her breath coming slow and deep.
“Mammi is sleeping,” Rue said.
“Yah, it looks that way,” Patience replied. “We have to be quiet to let her rest. In fact, I think it is your naptime, too.”
“Naptime?” Rue eyed Patience uncertainly.
“Yah. Kinner like you take naps,” Patience replied.
“I’m not a kinner!” Rue said.
“Yah, you are. Kinner means children. You’re a child.”
“Don’t call me that,” Rue said irritably.
Rue was tired. It had been a long morning, and Patience could only imagine how hard things had been for her recently.
“All right,” Patience said softly. “I will call you sugar, then. Is that nicer?”
Rue considered this a moment, and Patience could see the fight seeping out of her.
“I’m not tired,” Rue whispered.
“Then you lie on your bed and you think quiet thoughts,” Patience replied.
“I don’t want to.” Rue’s lips pressed together, and that defiant glitter came back to her eye. Patience had a choice in how she dealt with this, and she debated inwardly for a moment, then she squatted down to Rue’s level.
“What if I lay down next to you?” Patience asked.
Tears welled in Rue’s blue eyes and she nodded. “Okay.”
Patience led Rue upstairs, and she found Mary’s bedroom with a little cot all arranged next to her bed. Patience doubted that the old woman would mind her bed being used for a napping little girl, so Patience lifted Rue up onto the quilted bed top, and then lay down next to her. Rue let out a shuddering little sigh.
“I’m not tired,” Rue repeated.
“I know, sugar,” Patience replied, and she took Rue’s hand in hers. “Me, neither. Let’s just lie quietly for a little while. Maybe we’ll even shut our eyes a bit.”
It didn’t take long for Rue to fall asleep, and Patience looked down at the girl with her long, pale lashes and the pink little lips. That striped sundress looked so strange against the blue-and-white Amish quilt, and Patience fingered the material. It was soft and stretchy, unlike the cotton of plain dresses and men’s shirts. Rue needed new clothes—but would she wear them, or would she fight it? This girl was so small, and sleeping she looked even younger than her four years, but the spirit in her—she had fight. Downstairs, the side door banged shut, and Patience eased herself slowly off the bed. She could hear the steady beat of Thomas’s footsteps on the stairs. She crossed the room on tiptoe, and when she got to the doorway, Thomas’s face appeared around the doorjamb. Her breath caught, and for a moment they just looked at each other—his dark gaze meeting hers. He was so close that she had to tip her face up, and she could make out the faint stubble on his chin. He was handsome—dare she admit that? And there was something about the way his gaze moved across her face that made her hold her breath. She’d have to get over her way of reacting to him.
Patience put a finger to her lips. Thomas’s dark gaze flicked over her shoulder to where Rue lay sleeping.
“Oh...” he breathed, a smile tickling the corners of his lips. “How did you manage that?”
“I’m not sure,” she whispered, and they exchanged a smile.
Thomas angled his head toward the stairs and she let out a shaky breath as he turned away.
“Englisher kinner aren’t raised the same way,” Patience said, following him down the stairs.
“Don’t I know it,” Thomas replied. He headed for a cupboard and pulled down a sealed plastic container, then opened it. “Do you want a muffin?”
“Yah. Thanks.”
Thomas passed a blueberry muffin to her, then took one for himself. Patience took a bite and swallowed before she continued.
“Englisher kinner don’t obey like Amish kinner. The Englisher parents seem to do more pleading with their kinner to make them behave, and quite frankly, it’s dangerous on our land.”
“You think I’ll be pleading?” he asked ruefully.
“I confess, I did a little pleading of my own up there,” she replied.
Thomas laughed—a full, open laugh that she didn’t expect—and she blinked at him. His dark eyes met hers with a glitter of humor.
“So, I’m not the only one?” Thomas said, shaking his head. “If she were raised plain, she’d already know the rules. It’ll take some time.”
“And in the meantime, she’s not going to know what’s dangerous,” Patience added. “From fire in the stove to the horses in the corral—this is all completely foreign to an Englisher child. She’s an accident waiting to happen.”
“That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?” Thomas asked hopefully.
“Yah,” she said. “But I don’t think either of us knows what she’ll get into once she feels more comfortable.”
Thomas nodded. “Yah. Definitely. Maybe having her play with some kinner would help with that. Learning while she plays.”
“It’s a good idea,” Patience agreed. “I don’t even remember learning everything I gleaned while playing with my older sisters. Maybe there are some girls who would... I don’t know...take her under wing a little.”
Thomas looked at her, his expression sobering. “You saw the reaction of the women in the store today.”
“Yah,” she admitted. “Maybe that was rooted in surprise,
