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Folding her arms in front of her, she gave him a cool smile. “That’s not what I was checking. If you want, I can teach you to read lips.”
“What?”
She touched her lips and then raised and lowered her fingers against her thumb as if they were a duck’s bill. “Talk. I can help you understand what people are saying by watching them talk.”
* * *
When he realized what Miriam was doing, Eli was stunned. A nurse at the hospital where he’d woken after the wall’s collapse had suggested that, once he was healed, he should learn to read lips. He’d pushed that advice aside, because he didn’t have time with the obligations of his brother’s farm and his brother’s son. Kyle had been a distraught toddler, not understanding why his beloved parents had disappeared.
During the past four years he and his nephew had created a unique language together. Mostly Kyle had taught it to him, helping him decipher the meaning and context of the few words he could capture.
“How do you know about lipreading?” he asked.
“My grossmammi.” She tapped one ear, then the other. “...hearing...as she grew older. We...together. We practiced together.”
Kyle came outside and rushed to them when Miriam gestured. He wore a milk mustache, and chocolate pudding dotted his chin.
When she bent to speak to him, too low and too fast for Eli to hear, the little boy nodded and took the tissue she handed him. She motioned toward Eli as she straightened.
Wiping his mouth and chin, Kyle faced him. Learn to read talking. What’s that? The puzzled boy looked from Miriam to him at the same time he made the rudimentary signs he used to help Eli understand others.
“I can help.” She put her hands on Kyle’s shoulders. “Kyle...grows up. Who will...you then?”
Who would help him when Kyle wasn’t nearby? He was sure that was what she’d asked. It was a question he’d posed to himself. More and more often as Kyle reached the age to start attending school.
“How does it work?” he asked.
“You watch my lips. We start with simple words. It is how my grossmammi... I learned.”
Watch her lips? Simple? He would gladly have spent days watching her lips. His gaze was drawn to those rose-colored curves too often. Now she was giving him the perfect excuse to stare at them...
He shook his head.
“You...no help?” she asked, and he realized she’d confused his refuting of his own thoughts as an answer to her kind offer.
Before he could answer, Kyle pulled on his sleeve and motioned, Help you. Her help you.
As his nephew pointed at Miriam and then at Eli, Kyle’s signals couldn’t have been clearer. Kyle wanted Eli to agree to the lessons.
Not for the first time, Eli thought about the burden he’d placed on Kyle. Though Eli was scrupulous in making time for Kyle to be a kind,sometimes, like when they went to a store, he found himself needing the little boy to confirm a total when he was checking out or to explain where to find something on the shelves. If he didn’t agree to Miriam’s help, he was condemning his nephew to a lifetime of having to help him.
That wouldn’t have been what his brother would have wanted. Milan and his wife, Shirley, had expected their son to play with friends and go to school and learn to assume responsibility for the family’s farm. The farm had been sold so he and Kyle could start over by Harmony Creek, but he could ensure his nephew had the chance to be a kid. Was Miriam the way God was answering his prayer for help? If so, he needed to agree.
“All right,” he said. “You can try to teach me to read lips.”
She gave him a nod and a gentle smile, not the superior one he’d worried she’d flash at him. “...next Monday. You and Kyle—” she pointed at his nephew and at him, matching Kyle’s motions “—supper. After we eat...”
“All right.”
“Tell me.”
For a second he was baffled, and then he realized she wanted him to repeat what she’d said so she could be certain he’d grasped the meaning of her words. His confusion became surprise. Why hadn’t he considered such repetition was an easy way to avoid mistakes?
“You invited Kyle and me to supper,” he said. “After the meal, you’ll start teaching me to read lips.”
“Gut,” she said as his nephew held his fingers in an okay sign. Satisfaction sparkled in her cat-green eyes as if she’d enjoyed a bowl of cream. “Be prepare...work.”
He hoped he wasn’t going to prove to be an utter failure as he’d been with helping his brother make sure the wall was safe. Miriam seemed so confident she could teach him. He didn’t want to disappoint her when she was going out of her way to help him.
Kyle threw his arms around Miriam and gave her a big hug. He grinned, and Eli realized how eager the kind was to let someone else help Eli fill in the blanks.
“You’ll have a gut time at school, ain’t so, buddy?” Eli asked, trying to cover his trepidation at losing Kyle’s help.
Kyle tensed. No go. Go later.
Eli knelt in front of his nephew. “You’ll be fine. You’re going to enjoy school.”
When Miriam nodded and said something, Kyle looked dubious.
The little boy shook his head. Stay together. Eli and Kyle. No go now.
“You’ll be fine,” he repeated. “The day will go so quickly you won’t realize it because you’re having fun with learning and your new friends.”
Kyle touched one ear, then the other.
It took every sinew of strength Eli had not to flinch. That was a signal he hadn’t seen the little boy make often, but he knew what it meant. Kyle was scared something bad would happen, as it had to Eli and his parents.
“It’ll be okay. Miriam will be watching over you so you don’t have to worry about getting hurt, ain’t so?”
He raised his eyes toward her, expecting her to confirm his words. Instead, Miriam eased out of the little boy’s embrace, her smile gone. She said something, but Eli didn’t get a single word. She rushed away, vanishing into the barn where she lived with her brother.
What had he said wrong? One minute she’d been working to convince Kyle that going to school was something he wanted to do. The next she was fleeing as if a rabid fox nipped at her heels. Was it the thought of being with the scholars? Again, Eli found himself wondering why anyone who was so uneasy around kinder was going to be the settlement’s teacher.
He didn’t have time to figure it out. He needed to calm his nephew. “Looks like we’re both going to start school next week,” Eli said, patting him on the back.
Kyle gave him a distracted nod and kept staring at the door Miriam had used. Why was he acting as oddly as she had?
Had what Miriam said upset the little boy?
“What did she say as she was leaving?” he asked as he tucked the page with the school drawing into his pocket. “Did you hear what she said?”
He nodded.
“What was it?”
The little boy started to open his mouth, then clamped it closed. Shaking his head, he ran to the buggy and climbed in.
Eli sighed. Kyle had heard something he didn’t want to repeat. It’d happened a few times before, and Eli had discovered how useless it was to badger the little boy again to help him understand. Kyle always found a way to avoid answering him.
But Eli now did have one answer. He wasn’t going to come to regret his decision to let her teach him lipreading.
He already did.
Chapter Four (#ucc0a5fe9-4d2d-5b55-a3dc-66a2bf29eb85)
Drying her hands, Miriam crossed the barn toward the open door at one end. The beep-beep-beep announced the delivery truck from the lumberyard backing toward where a dozen men and boys waited in eager anticipation. The school’s concrete foundation had been poured and given time to cure. Now they would work together to build walls and rafters. Once they had the skeleton in place, Eli would install shingles, clapboard, windows and doors before he finished the interior.
Spending time with Eli while he finished the school wasn’t going to be easy. Having his nephew hanging around was going to add to the stress, but she needed to get used to it because other kinder would be coming to the barn for school on Monday.
And, in the fall, though she wouldn’t be the teacher, the kinder would arrive every day to the school right across the road from her house.
Her heart contracted with the pain that never went away. Ach, how she’d longed for the family she thought she and Yost and Ralph would be! Even if the Lord hadn’t blessed her and Yost with more bopplin, they would have had the three of them.
Then it was all gone.
Tears welled into her eyes, but she dashed them away. Crying for what was impossible was absurd.
She’d been blessed when Caleb invited her to come with him to help build a new settlement. Their parents and four older siblings, who were well established in their lives, had remained behind in Lancaster County. God had brought her to this point. He must have a reason for it. She must have faith that someday she would understand, and she would be able to accept why her joy had been torn away.
“Gut mariye,” called the irrepressible Annie as she peeked past the front door. “Anyone home?”
“Komm in!” Miriam was glad to push aside her uncomfortable thoughts.
Dwelling on the past was useless. Dreaming of the future was more fun, but just as useless. She needed to concentrate on the present where she’d found three wunderbaar friends.
It was time to put sorrow behind her. She had to believe God had something better for her, something she couldn’t even imagine yet. Wasn’t that what faith was all about? Believing God would get her through the rough times?
Annie bounced into the barn followed by her twin. “Are you ready for a Harmony Creek Spinsters’ Club meeting?”
“I’m ready to enjoy a visit from you anytime. Are you here for a meeting?”
“Of course not.” Leanna rolled her eyes as she untied her bonnet. “Sarah had to work today. But the men are having a work frolic, so we decided we should, too.” She put a basket on the table. “It was Annie’s idea.”
“Why am I not surprised?”
“Because you know I have gut ideas?” Annie asked.
“No, that would be a surprise,” her twin teased with affection. Motioning after she set two more bags on the table, she added, “Komm here, Miriam, and see what we’ve been able to dig up.”
Miriam wasn’t surprised when the twins began to unload schoolbooks and stack them on the table. Each grade level was printed with a different color cover, and she saw they had several for most grade levels. She already had the teacher’s editions. Caleb had packed them, figuring someone would use them along Harmony Creek. She wondered if he’d assumed he could persuade her to teach again...at least temporarily.
She tapped her cheek in thought. “We’ll need workbooks. I wonder where we can order them.”
“Is there a bookstore in the village?” Leanna asked.
“Not that I’ve seen, but Caleb may know where one is.”
“Or go to the library and order the books from a computer there.” Annie’s eyes twinkled.
“I’m not sure the bishop would approve.” Miriam sat at the table and began to sort the books out by grade. “Maybe Sarah could ask Mrs. Summerhays if she knows where we can place an order without using the internet.”
Since her arrival from northern Indiana, Sarah had been working as a nanny for the Summerhays family, who lived almost two miles east along the road toward Rupert, Vermont. There were four kinder, two preteens and two much younger kinder. Sarah told them it was what Englischers called a blended family. The parents had been married before. Miriam didn’t know if death or divorce had led to the daed and mamm remarrying, and she didn’t ask. She assumed Sarah knew, but her friend wouldn’t carry tales about the family’s private business.
Leanna opened a textbook and turned the pages. “Here’s the address for the publisher. If Mrs. Summerhays doesn’t have a suggestion, I can write to the publisher and ask how to order more books. In the meantime, the scholars may have to share.”
“A gut lesson for them,” Annie said. “And the lesson for us is that the men working on the schoolhouse are going to be grouchy if there isn’t food waiting for them for dinner.”
They laughed and got to work unpacking food from the baskets. Squeezing cold casseroles into the small refrigerator along with the dishes Miriam had prepared, they set the hot selections on the table atop towels so the wood wasn’t scorched. More food would be arriving soon.
“Mercy promised to make nachos,” Miriam said as she handed several more glasses to Annie.
“Your neighbor is Hispanic, ain’t so?” Annie asked.
“Ja, but she told me she learned to make nachos from her adoptive mamm. Her adoptive Mennonitemamm.”
That brought more laughter as they worked together.
“Before the others get here,” Annie said, “we need to plan another event for the Harmony Creek Spinsters’ Club.” She giggled. “I love getting to spend time with you. What does your brother think of it, Miriam?”
“I haven’t said anything to him about our club.” Her embarrassment faded when she saw the uneasy expressions on the twins’ faces. “I guess you haven’t, either.”
“It sounds as if we’re desperate to be married,” Annie murmured.
“Or have given up.” Leanna clasped her hands in front of her. “I believe there’s a man out there who will fall in love with me.”
“All you have to do is not be looking for him, ain’t so?” teased her twin. “Isn’t that what you say the heroines in your romance novels do?”
Color burnished Leanna’s cheeks. “I know those are just stories, Annie. I like reading them.”
“I do, too.” Annie’s face became almost the same shade as Leanna’s. “But if the right man comes along...” She sighed. “I don’t want to lose this friendship.”
“Once a member of the Harmony Creek Spinsters’ Club, always a member, ain’t so?” Miriam laughed, so glad she could let her worries slide away at least for a short while. Between the kinder coming for lessons and having Eli across the road day after day, in addition to teaching him to read lips, not thinking about those hurdles was a blessing. “We could rename it—”
“No! Don’t change its name.” Annie leaned forward with clasped hands. “Please!”
“But if none of us has told anyone—”
“The next one we come up with could be worse.” Annie shuddered.
Again, they shared a big chuckle.
“If you’d let me finish...” Miriam waited until they were listening again. “I suggest we rename our older girls’ group the Harmony Creek Spinsters’ and Newlyweds’ Club.”
Leanna brightened. “That’s perfect.”
“Do you have something to share, little sister?” asked Annie as she winked at Miriam. “Big plans for the fall?”
Taking pity on the younger woman, Miriam put her arm around Leanna’s shoulder. “I thought brothers were awful about picking on their sisters, but I think Annie takes the cake.”
