“Yah, Rue,” he said firmly, picking up the case. “Now, you will come downstairs for your dinner.”
Rue turned her back on him and laid her head down on Mary’s pillow with a shuddering sigh. She didn’t cry again, but she didn’t turn to look at him, either, and he stared at that tiny form, filled with his own misgiving. Was this going too far?
But he’d made his decision, and he couldn’t go back on it now, so taking the suitcase with him, he left the room and deposited it inside his closet. When he came back down the hall, he looked in Mary’s room again and Rue hadn’t changed her position. She lay on the bed, so small that she barely took up a corner, her entire body curved around her knees, and her tangled blond hair spread across the white cotton of Mary’s pillow.
“You can come down for dinner, Rue,” he repeated.
“No,” Rue said.
So he carried on down the stairs. The meal was on the table, and Amos and Noah were both seated already. Patience was just putting a bowl of gravy on the table when she spotted him.
“Is she coming to eat?” Mary asked.
“No, she doesn’t want to,” Thomas replied.
“What did you do?” Noah asked. “A lecture?”
“A lecture, and—” He swallowed. “I took her suitcase.”
“Just as well,” Mary said, coming to the table. “Those clothes are inappropriate for our girls anyway. If she’s going to be one of us, those clothes had to go. The sooner the better.”
Patience didn’t speak, but there was a tightness around her mouth that betrayed an opinion, and she dropped her gaze.
“Let’s pray,” Amos said, bowing his head. “For this food we are about to eat, make us truly grateful. Amen.”
“Amen,” the rest of them murmured, and there was the rustle of food being passed and the clink of dishing up.
“Was I wrong?” Thomas asked, turning toward Patience.
“You’re her daet,” she said simply.
“But was I wrong?” he pressed. “I know what Mammi thinks. I want to know what you think.”
Patience accepted the bowl of mashed potatoes from Noah and handed them to Thomas.
“Those clothes are more than something she likes,” Patience said, her voice low so that only he could hear her. “They are her last link to her dead mamm.”
He knew that, and he hated the way she’d caved in like that when he took them. He wasn’t going to burn them—and he knew plenty of men who might in the same situation.
“If she’d liked the doll, I might have taken that away. But something had to be done.”
“I agree...”
“Any ideas?” he asked.
Patience shrugged weakly. “She’s lost too much. I don’t know. Maybe other kinner to play with—to see how they’re expected to behave—might help.”
And that seemed to be the only answer that kept coming back—she needed other kinner in her life, and the sooner the better. If he was already married, there would be siblings, but as it was, he’d have to find her some playmates one way or another.
Thomas accepted a plate of chicken from Mary and took a leg, then passed it to Patience. She took some white meat and passed it along.
“Ben Smoker asked if one of us would help him with a broken gate tomorrow,” Amos said.
“I could do it,” Noah said. “When does he want us to come?”
“In the morning,” Amos replied.
But the timing was just too perfect. Thomas needed to show Rue other kinner so that she could see that their way wasn’t some random, cruel list of rules to follow. She had to see that others were like them, too. And the Smokers had five girls, twelve and under.
“What if I went?” Thomas said. “I could bring Patience and Rue with me, and Rue could play with some kinner. It would be good for her. She might see how another family runs.”
Amos shrugged, and looked over at Noah.
“Yah, I don’t mind that,” Noah replied. “I didn’t want to get behind on that bedroom set that’s due to be finished next week, anyway.”
“Would you be willing to come along?” Thomas asked Patience.
Patience nodded, and from the stairs, there was a small, shaky voice. “I’m hungry.”
They’d all been speaking German up until now, and Thomas looked up to see Rue standing there, her eyes red from tears, and looking so small that his heart nearly broke.
“Come have your dinner, then,” Thomas said, patting the stool next to him. “It’s chicken.”
Rue froze, and he could almost see the cruel possibilities running through her little, tousled head.
“It’s not Toby,” he clarified.
“Oh, good...” Rue sighed, and she came up to the stool and stared at it.
“Here—” Thomas lifted her onto her seat. When she was settled, Thomas and Patience both set to filling her plate.
“Now, eat up,” Thomas said.
And in those words, he meant so much more—he wanted to say that he loved her already, and that he wanted to keep her safe. He wanted to say that he was sorry that he had to punish her, and that he was only trying to teach her the right way.
But he couldn’t say all that, so instead, he gave her a little extra gravy.
Chapter Six
The next morning, Thomas flicked the reins as the horses got into their pace, trotting down the paved road, their hooves clopping cheerfully. Patience sat across from him, with Rue between them, scooted forward so her legs could hang normally. This would help—he was sure of it.
He’d been praying last night about his predicament, and community was the answer to all of an Amish man’s troubles. He’d been reading Galatians, and he came across the verse that said, “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” This was what the Amish strove to live—but going to a neighbor with a vulnerability wasn’t always easy. It took humility—a painful amount, he realized now. But Rue needed to belong to more than just him—she needed to belong here.
The day was
