The fact that someone might rent the house was a good thing, and Rosanna felt as if it was just one more divine message regarding God’s plans for them.
“I’m speechless,” she confessed. “How wunderbar!”
Reuben nodded. “Ja, I thought so, too.”
“I am, however, a bit surprised you didn’t tell me beforehand,” she said, keeping her voice even so that she didn’t sound critical.
“It must’ve slipped my mind, Rosanna,” he responded. “It’s been so busy down there.”
“Ja, vell then, it’s gut to have the house occupied.” She swallowed her irritation that he had kept something so important from her. Instead, she focused on sharing his excitement. After all, the little house sat upon a small plot of land that was of no particular value to an Amish family. The two acres were barely enough for a large garden. Because the store was set up in the stable, an Amish family would be limited as to how they could use the property. To be able to rent it was most fortuitous. “He has started already, I take it?”
At this question, Reuben cleared his throat and leveled his gaze at her. “The brother, Samuel, is a carpenter and will be apprenticing for Jonathan Lapp.”
Rosanna was familiar with the Lapp family, even though they worshipped in a neighboring g’may due to the odd borders of the two church districts. Jonathan had a large farm down the road a spell from Reuben’s business. His two brothers ran the farm while he operated a shed-making business on the rear quadrant of the property.
“It’s the woman I was considering hiring,” Reuben said.
The woman? Rosanna frowned, wondering at the announcement. “As your office manager?” She didn’t want to question her husband’s judgment, but she would have thought he would hire a man to help take charge of the business.
“I know it sounds a bit off,” he admitted. “But apparently she ran a similar shop in New York. She knows a lot and would not require much training.”
Something about the idea didn’t sit well with Rosanna. She mulled over her feelings before speaking. Her husband seemed genuinely excited, and of course Rosanna liked the thought of having him help out more around the farm.
“Why did she leave the business in New York?” Rosanna asked.
“Her brother was moving to this area, and she wanted to accompany him. The New York business was in a smaller community, and she felt . . . stifled.” He laughed when he saw Rosanna’s reaction. “That was her word, not mine.”
“Indeed.”
Stifled? The word sounded strange when Reuben said it. It sounded even stranger when he laughed about it. Stifled was not a word that Rosanna heard very often . . . not from her Amish circle of friends. Stifled was an Englische word, a word that smacked of ambition and drive, the desire to achieve more than others—to be more than others. No, she did not have a good feeling about this. But she certainly was not about to share her doubts with Reuben. This was, after all, his business, and he knew what was needed to run it properly.
“When the parents died, an onkel took over the shop, and they felt it was best to move on,” he added.
“I shall look forward to meeting her, this . . .” She paused; she didn’t know the woman’s name.
“Nan. Nan Keel.”
Rosanna nodded her head. “Nan, then. I reckon we might want to invite both of them to supper one evening? Perhaps after worship on Sunday?”
Reuben leaned over and placed his hand on her knee. His blue eyes sparkled with pride at Rosanna’s offer. “I knew you’d understand. You always do.”
The door slammed open, and Cate bounded outside, a glass of water in her hands. “Maem,” she said, interrupting the moment. Instead of excusing herself for barging in on them, she thrust the glass at her mother and made a horrible face. “Something’s wrong with this water! It’s gross!”
“Oh help!” Rosanna muttered, more about Cate’s interruption than the water. Taking the glass, she held it up to the light. “Let’s take a look-see here.” The glass was clear, but the water wasn’t. Tiny particles floated in the glass, the water tinged the color of urine. A woman’s work never ends, she thought. “Appears the filter needs to be changed.”
Reuben frowned. “I just changed that the other month, ja?”
Despite knowing that his other month was actually over two months ago, Rosanna kept the thought to herself. “The well’s only thirty feet deep, and with the underground springs, it muddies up quicker than usual, I reckon. Needs to be changed every four weeks or so.”