“So I decided to hire an office manager,” he said slowly.
That wasn’t what she had anticipated. In fact, it didn’t even make sense. With the quantity of orders increasing, he needed more workers in the back of the shop to fulfill them. “An office manager?” She tried to hide her disappointment with this unexpected announcement.
Oblivious to her thoughts, he nodded, his eyes glazing over. She always called that his business mode: his mind completely focused on work. “Ja, an office manager. I’m getting tired, Rosanna, but I’m not ready to sell my business. Not financially or mentally.”
This was the first complaint she had ever heard from him about working. In fact, his reputation among the g’may included a high level of respect for his work ethic. That was one of the things that had so impressed her about him. Now he was saying that he was tired? Turning her attention to her embroidery, she knotted the thread she worked with and snipped the end with a small pair of scissors.
“You’re too young to retire,” Rosanna said.
He raised his eyebrows at her comment, but he did not contradict her. “I just wish I didn’t have to be there so much.”
She exhaled sharply again. “I thought you liked being there.”
For a moment, Reuben studied her while she worked. The sudden silence caused her to look up again. There was a shy expression on his face. “I’d like to spend more time here, Rosanna. Helping you and Aaron around the farm, ja?” He paused. “I never had a family before, and I’d like to enjoy it a bit.” Another pause before he added, “I’d enjoy being with you in particular.”
She blushed at his words and lowered her eyes, staring at the floor. Timothy had done everything in his power to avoid spending time with her, especially after Cate was born. He had wanted sons, lots of sons. When their second child was not a boy, he had said it was her fault. He had even accused her of praying to God for a girl instead of a boy. The image of Timothy refusing to hold his baby daughter still lingered in her memory as if it had happened just a few days ago.
Now she sat beside a man who wanted to spend time with her? She wondered if she deserved such a man and such happiness.
He watched her with anticipation, waiting for her response. She felt the emotion welling up inside of her. “Well, that would be right gut, Reuben.”
“There’s a young brother and sister who just moved in the area,” he said slowly, and Rosanna suspected that this was what he really wanted to talk about, not the fact that he hoped to spend more time at home.
“Alone?” It was unusual for Amish people to move away from their families unless it was to marry. “Where are their parents, then?”
“They’re from New York state. Their parents died in a car accident.” He paused, his eyes watching for a reaction from Rosanna. She felt him staring at her, but she refused to meet his gaze. “A drunk driver hit their buggy.”
The tightness in her chest returned, and she fought the urge to catch her breath. Accidents happen, she reminded herself. It wasn’t as if Timothy’s death was unique in that regard. Only in this case, the man driving the buggy had been drunk, not the people in the car. “Go on,” she said, hoping that her voice didn’t sound edgy. She did not want to sound like that, not with Reuben.
“They’re older. She’s in her midthirties, and he’s in his late twenties,” he said. “They’ve rented my haus.”
At this announcement, she lowered her embroidery one more time. Since their wedding in December, his own house next to the harness shop had stood empty. It was smaller than the one here on the farm, with just two bedrooms upstairs, and Reuben had said he had only painful memories there. Moving in with her and the kinner had been a welcome change for him.
When she had walked through it for the first—and only—time, she completely understood why he wasn’t attached to it. The rooms were large, but he barely had any furniture. An old Formica table and a simple folding chair were the only things in the kitchen. While she had not ventured upstairs, she assumed he had a bed to sleep in.
Reuben had noticed her surprise at the lack of furnishings and quickly explained that his second wife, Grace, had not wanted any reminders of his first wife, Rachel. Grace had insisted that everything be sold and replaced with something new. Reuben had bought a table for the kitchen and a sofa for the adjoining sitting area, but when Grace died, her family claimed that those items belonged to them. Rather than argue, he had permitted them to move out whatever they felt was their due. As a bachelor, he didn’t need much anyway.