“It’s a rooster!” Rue exclaimed, holding it up. “It’s a Toby, Daddy!”
Patience got a glimpse of the gift—a little carved rooster about the size of a tin of tuna. Rue hugged it to her chest, then she sidled up closer to her father and tipped her head onto his shoulder. Thomas patted her head tenderly, then rose to his feet again.
“Did you want to stay for dinner?” Thomas asked Patience.
“Thank you, but I won’t stay tonight,” she said.
Amos and Noah had turned their attention to nabbing a bun each from the dish Mary had been guarding.
“Would you like to...walk with me back?” Patience asked hesitantly. It was forward of her—far too forward, actually. They were both single, and this would look an awful lot like courting. But she needed to speak to him alone, and she wasn’t sure how else to do it.
“Uh—” Thomas’s gaze looked uncertain for a moment, and then a smile tickled his lips. “Yah, I’d like that.”
After saying goodbye, Patience hurried to the door. How this must look! When she got outside, her face felt like it was blazing, and when she glanced over at Thomas, she found him looking mildly amused.
“This looks terrible,” she burst out. “I’m not really this forward.”
“I didn’t think you were,” he said.
“I’m not trying to start something, Thomas,” she added.
“That’s too bad,” he replied, his warm gaze catching hers. He was teasing—she could see it in the glint in his eye.
They started their walk down the drive, but Thomas didn’t seem in a big hurry. He sauntered along slowly enough.
“I just had to talk to you alone, and I didn’t want to draw any attention to it because Rue has been through enough lately, and—” Patience looked back over her shoulder and Thomas did the same. Mary was looking out the door after them, and when she was spotted, she whisked back inside.
“I don’t think it worked,” Thomas chuckled. “What’s going on?”
“It’s Susan Smoker,” Patience replied. “Did Ben say anything to you?”
“No.” He sobered now. “What’s the problem?”
Patience licked her lips. “Oh... Well, it seems that Susan—” She didn’t want to have to say this out loud. It was cruel, and when she turned to look at Thomas again, he reached out and caught her hand. It wasn’t a casual touch, either—it was purposeful, steadying.
“Patience, what is it?” He kept her fingers clasped in his, and there was something about his warm, strong grip—she couldn’t let herself appreciate it. So she tugged her hand free. Thomas seemed to realize what he’d done then, too, and he pulled his hand back to his side.
“She says that Rue can’t come back,” Patience said. “I’m sorry. I tried to point out that her daughters could be a good influence for Rue, but...”
Thomas was silent for a moment, and Patience could see the emotions clashing over his face—anger, frustration, hurt. These were people Thomas thought he could trust to help him in his most vulnerable time as a brand-new daet. He’d been wrong.
“Did Rue do something bad?” Thomas asked.
“No! She was fine. She...just talked. As kinner do.”
“About Englisher things,” Thomas surmised.
“Yah, about Englisher things.”
Thomas sighed, and he started walking again, and she fell in at his side.
“I’m sorry,” Patience added. “I don’t think Susan is being fair to her.”
“I don’t think Susan is thinking about Rue at all,” he replied quietly. “She’s thinking about her own girls.”
“That’s true...” Patience rubbed her hands over her arms. “Do you want my advice, for whatever it’s worth?”
“Yah, I do.” Thomas looked down at her. “What do you think?”
“Maybe it’s better to start out with time alone with you,” Patience replied. “It’s her relationship to her daet that will be most meaningful. Maybe until people relax a little more, you could do some special things with Rue alone.”
Thomas chewed the side of his cheek, and they reached the top of the drive. He walked over a few paces until he was shrouded from view at the house by some lilac bushes, the blooms wafting fragrance. He smiled faintly.
Patience went over to where he stood and looked past his shoulder. Anyone in the house could no longer watch them—was that on purpose? They had some privacy—for a moment or two, at least.
“You know how this looks, Thomas,” she said.
“They can’t see us,” he said.
“You know what I mean!” she laughed. “And I know it’s my own fault, but I’d really rather not start rumors right away. You should go back.”
“I don’t want to go back,” he replied, and he caught her gaze with a challenge in his eye. “Do you?”
She didn’t, actually. It felt nice to stand here in the cool shade of the lilac bushes, this handsome, kind man inches away from her... This was the very thing she couldn’t be getting used to, or playing with.
“I’m your first friend here,” he said. “And I will make sure to set everyone straight as soon as I get back to the house.”
“Do you promise?” she asked quietly.
“Yah. I promise. Besides, we haven’t figured out what I’ll do with Rue all by myself.”
Patience was silent for a moment, her mind going back to her own childhood. “My daet used to take me and my sisters to the river. We had one that ran through our property, and we’d pack up a picnic lunch, and he’d take us out to the river to eat it together. Once, when my mamm and sisters had gone to a quilting circle, my daet took me to the river alone, and we sat and threw stones into the water...”
She smiled at the memory. Her daet had been a loving man, and he had a way of making every single one of them feel like the favorite.
“There’s a creek I used to play in as a boy,” Thomas said. “My brother and I used to go there together after chores were done, and we’d dam it up with stones, and then let the water through again in a rush... I pointed it out
