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“You don’t like him?” Ruby furrowed her brow. “Or you don’t think he’d like you?”
Ellie shook her head. “It’s more complicated than that.” She lowered her voice and moved closer. “I know Sara means well, but he’s little.”
“Little?” Ruby asked.
“Like me,” Ellie said, throwing up her hands. “A little person. Jakob obviously likes me. But he’s a pest, always trying to wrangle an invitation to dinner or showing up at the schoolhouse with some excuse or another. He’s even trying to get my friends to put in a good word for him.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
Ellie picked a tomato up from the ground, examined it, and then threw it hard against a fence post. The rotten tomato burst, sending a red-winged blackbird skyward in a flurry of tomato bits. “I would never date someone just because he’s little like me.” She gave a little huff. “Right now, I don’t even want to think about it. I’m happily independent. I don’t want to marry anyone. I love teaching at Seven Poplars School. I’m having the best time of my life and I don’t have to do a man’s laundry. But if I do decide to marry, it will be because he’s the one and I can’t live without him. Does that make sense to you?”
“It does,” Ruby agreed. She wondered if Ellie might like this Jakob more than she let on or if it was smart to rule out a person just because of his height, but she didn’t say so. For once, she was able to keep her mouth shut.
“How are you two doing?” Sara called from the garden gate. “Finding many ripe ones?”
“Lots,” Ruby answered. “I need to start another basket. This one’s full.” She picked up the basket with the tomatoes she’d just picked, but when she turned to carry it down the row, she tripped. The basket tipped and half of them rolled out onto the dirt. “Sorry,” she said, making haste to recover the fallen tomatoes.
“Let me help.” Ellie began putting tomatoes back into the basket.
Ruby was mortified. “Sorry,” she mumbled again.
“Don’t worry.” Smiling, Sara walked toward them. “We’ll start another batch of canning tomorrow. It won’t matter if some of them are bruised.” She stopped and made eye contact with Ellie. “Ach. I forgot my soup on the stove. Ellie, would you mind running in and stirring it? Just turn off the flame.”
“I can do it,” Ruby offered.
“Ne, let Ellie go,” Sara said.
“But I don’t mind,” Ruby said, eager to help.
Ellie looked to her. “What Sara is trying to say politely is that she needs to speak to you alone.”
“Oh,” Ruby declared.
“It’s how it works when you live in a matchmaker’s house,” Ellie explained. “Watch out, Ruby, she’s about to have a serious conversation with you.” She giggled. “And unless I’m mistaken, it has to do with a certain bricklayer named Joseph.” As she walked out of the garden, Ellie called back over her shoulder. “Remember what I said about the laundry, Ruby. Don’t make any hasty decisions.”
Nervously, Ruby looked back at Sara. “You wanted to say something to me that you didn’t want Ellie to hear?”
Sara turned over an empty five-eighths basket and sat on it. She smiled at Ruby. “No need to fret. What I have to tell you isn’t bad news. Ne, not bad at all. You have an offer of marriage. Quickest ever, for me.” She shook her head in disbelief and folded her arms. “So fast and easy that I might not feel right collecting a fee for it.”
Excitement bubbled up inside Ruby. So Joseph really had spoken to Sara, just like he said he was going to. She didn’t know whether to jump with joy or drop to the ground in shock. She’d had offers before, but none she was so eager for. “Joseph?”
Sara rolled her eyes. “Of course, Joseph. What other available man has laid eyes on you since you arrived? Other than Hiram, and he doesn’t count.” She chuckled. “Well, he counts. He’s a sweet enough man under all that laziness, but he’s certainly no match for a young girl like you.”
Ruby shivered with delight. A young girl. The matchmaker had called her a girl. Sara knew she was twenty-five but didn’t consider her over-the-hill. It was probably pride that made her take pleasure in hearing it, but she did. “Joseph really wants to marry me?” she asked, still unable to believe her ears. “He wasn’t joking?”
“Not a joke,” Sara assured her. “And not a match, not yet. There’s much we need to discuss. Your parents made it clear to me that I was not to share your circumstances with any possible prospect. Now that Joseph has made his intentions clear, how do you feel about that? I’ve never counseled a would-be bride to keep such a big secret from her might-be groom.”
She exhaled softly and considered. “I’ve worried about that. But I gave my word to Daddi and Mommi. They didn’t think it would be wise to tell and asked that I not say anything. But that was before—” She chewed hard on her lower lip. “I don’t want to be dishonest with Joseph, but I promised them. I feel as though I have to keep my word. What do you think?”
“I agree that this is unusual, Ruby. Your father explained that he doesn’t want you judged for your circumstances. I don’t often condone misleading a suitor, but I understand your parents’ concern.”
“My father is a wise man. And I know both he and Mommi want what’s best for me.”
“Mmm, ya.” Sara picked a potato bug off a tomato leaf and dropped it into the dirt. She squashed it with the heel of her foot. “Nasty things,” she said. “I’ll never understand why the Lord created them, unless it was to teach us something I haven’t learned yet.” She met Ruby’s gaze. “You might as well know that I’m a woman who says what she thinks. And I have to tell you that the swiftness of Joseph’s proposal worries me.”
Ruby made a sound but was able to keep herself from interrupting.
“I’m sure he’s sincere, but these matters usually go at a much gentler pace. I had intended to introduce you to someone else.” Sara narrowed her gaze. “Are you certain you wouldn’t like to meet him before we proceed with Joseph’s suit?”
Ruby shook her head. “Ne. I think Joseph is wonderful, perfect even.”
Sara pursed her lips. “A perfect man I have yet to meet, although my former husbands all had excellent qualities. I’d be of an easier mind if you and Joseph would just date one another before you consider a formal courtship.”
“Ne.” Ruby sighed. “I’ve been to enough taffy pulls and barn frolics. I’m tired of dating. If Joseph is willing, I am too. I would love to have him court me.”
“Courtship is a serious matter. You’ll be strictly chaperoned and the community’s eyes will be on you. When you go out with Joseph, you’ll be in at a decent hour and you will not be alone with him in any private place. And there will be no physical shows of affection. Do you understand?”
“Ya, ya,” Ruby replied, feeling herself blush. “I understand. That’s fine. So what happens next? When can I see him?”
“Well...” Sara sighed as if resigned, though still not totally in agreement. “Joseph is coming to share supper with us tomorrow night. We’ll see how that goes. Fair enough?”
“Fair enough.” Ruby grinned. Tomorrow night! How could she wait that long? What would she wear? What would she say to him? She clasped her hands together. “I can’t believe this is happening,” she managed.
“Neither can I,” Sara admitted, coming to her feet.
Chapter Four
It was close to six o’clock when Joseph got home from work that night. He’d been laying a line of blocks on a house foundation and wanted to use the last of the mixed cement so that it wouldn’t go to waste. It had been a hot day and he wanted to shower before supper. “I’ll be quick,” he promised his mother as he cut through the kitchen. “I’ve got something exciting to tell you.”
“Your clean clothes are in there,” his mother said, waving in the direction of the bathroom. She was her usual neat and tidy self. She didn’t appear to be a woman who’d done a day’s work and prepared supper on a warm evening. Her kapp and apron were spotless, her complexion was smooth and without blemish, and her shoes were newly shined.
Hair slicked and dressed fit to sit at the table, Joseph took his seat twenty minutes later. He was so excited to share his news that he could hardly keep from tapping the tabletop or bouncing his heel up and down, both of which always made his mother unhappy. She didn’t scold him the way she had when he was younger anymore, but she had a way of expressing her displeasure without words.
“Aunt Milly stopped by today and left us a carrot salad,” she said as she placed a platter of cold ham and cheese in front of him. “So hot today, I thought we’d eat light. But if you’re really hungry, I can fry some chicken.”
“Plenty here,” Joseph said. Which was an understatement. Besides the lunch meat and carrot salad, there was a platter of deviled eggs, coleslaw, sliced onions and tomatoes, Kaiser rolls, homemade applesauce, peanut butter, raisin bread and three quarters of a chocolate pie. “Maybe we should invite the neighbors.”
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