The Gift (21 page)

“Who let the mutt in?” Adam grumbled, when he discovered Coal sleeping under the kitchen table.

Carrie, Amy, and Linda looked up at him with guilty expressions, but no one said a word.

Adam frowned. “You know the rules about bringing the dog inside. He’s to stay out at all times.”

“But Uncle Adam, Coal gets lonely out there by himself,” Linda spoke up. “Besides, we like him.”

Carrie and Amy nodded in agreement.

“I like the mutt, too, but he’s a dog, and he belongs outside.” Adam opened the back door, clapped his hands and hollered, “Come on, Coal! Outside you go!”

The dog crawled out from under the table, but instead of heading out the door, he ran past Adam and darted up the stairs.

“Come back here right now, you stubborn animal!” Adam’s face heated as he tromped up the steps after the dog. At this rate, he’d never get the girls’ breakfast served, and he might be late for work.

All the bedroom doors were open, so Adam figured Coal could have gone into any one of them. Choosing the first room, he stepped inside. “Coal, are you in here, boy?”

No response.

Adam squatted down and peered under the bed. No sign of the dog. The closet door was open, so he looked in there as well, but Coal wasn’t inside.

Moving on to the second bedroom, Adam checked all the obvious places, but there was no dog. That meant he either had to be in the third bedroom or the bathroom.

Exasperated with all the time this was taking, Adam entered the last bedroom and spotted a long black tail sticking out from under Amy’s bed.

“I know you’re under there,” Adam muttered. “So you may as well come out.”

Coal whined pathetically and moved farther under the bed, turning in the opposite direction so that Adam could only see the dog’s head.

Adam groaned. This was not a good way to start the day.

Dropping to his knees, he reached under the bed, hoping he could grab hold of the dog’s collar, but the mutt was just out of his reach. “Oh, great.”

Adam figured he had two choices: he could either crawl under the bed and try to grab Coal, or go back downstairs and let the dog stay where he was. The second idea really wasn’t an option.

Crawling on his belly, Adam inched along until he was nose-to-nose with Coal. The next thing Adam knew, the dog’s tongue shot out and slurped Adam’s mouth.

“Yuck!” Adam jerked his head, bumping it on the slats holding the box spring. “Ouch!”

Arf! Arf!
Coal backed out quickly, and by the time Adam crawled out from under the bed, the dog was gone.

Disgusted, Adam tromped down the stairs. “Where is that mutt?” he bellowed, storming into the kitchen. “Did he come back in here?”

Carrie started to howl, Linda whimpered, and Amy’s eyes widened. “You don’t have to holler like that, Uncle Adam,” Amy said. “You oughtta be nicer to Coal. And you’re scaring my sisters, too.”

Sweating profusely, Adam drew in a deep breath. “I wouldn’t have had to holler or run around upstairs if one of you hadn’t let the dog in. We’d have all had our breakfast by now.” He looked back at the girls, his frustration mounting. “Have you seen Coal or not?”

Amy pointed to the utility room. “He went in there.”

As Adam started in that direction, he heard Amy mutter that their dad never yelled at them like that. Pretending he didn’t hear, Adam was almost to the utility room, when a knock sounded on the back door. When he opened it, he discovered Leah on the porch. He was about to invite her in, when Coal darted between his legs and zipped out the door, nearly knocking Leah over.

Instinctively, Adam reached out to grab her, and she fell into his arms.

“Ach, my!” she exclaimed, her face turning red as she pulled slowly away and stepped into the house. “What’s going on with your hund?”

“It’s a long story, but the shortened version is this: Coal was where he doesn’t belong, and I would appreciate it if you’d have a talk with the girls about making sure that he stays outside from now on.”

Leah looked at him strangely but then gave a quick nod. “Where are the girls?” she asked.

“They’re in the kitchen, waiting for their breakfast, which I was going to make till I ended up chasing after the hund.” Adam pulled out his pocket watch and grimaced when he saw the time. “At this rate, I’ll never make it to work on time.”

“Don’t worry about breakfast,” Leah said sweetly. “I’ll fix the girls whatever they want. If you have time to eat, you’re welcome to join us at the breakfast table.”

He shook his head. “If I don’t leave now, I’ll be late, so maybe I’ll stop by the bakery on my way to the store and grab a doughnut.”

“That’s not the healthiest breakfast, Adam. Wouldn’t you rather take some fruit or a piece of toast along?”

At first, Adam’s defenses rose. Who did Leah think she was, telling him what to do? But after he thought it through, he realized she was concerned for his welfare.

“Maybe I will grab an apple,” he mumbled, moving into the kitchen and reaching into the bowl of fruit on the counter. With a quick good-bye to everyone, he picked up his Thermos full of coffee and headed out the door. He shouldn’t have lost his temper or made such a big deal about the dog. From the way Coal had responded to Leah in the past, she’d probably have better luck taking control over the mutt than Adam did. It was too bad Leah couldn’t be here all the time. But in order for that to happen, he and Leah would have to get married.

Adam thumped the side of his head.
I’d better get that idea out of my head. Even if I did propose to Leah
,
I’m sure she’d say no.

A
my and Linda, are you two ready to go to school today?” Adam asked. Though this was the first day of school for Amish children in the area, most English kids wouldn’t start back to their schools until next week.

The girls, who had just entered the kitchen, both shook their heads. “I don’t wanna go to
schul,
” Linda said in a whiny voice.

“Why not?” Adam asked. “It shouldn’t be much different than the school you used to go to.” As soon as Adam mentioned their other school, he immediately regretted it.
What was I thinking, bringing that up?

“I’ll miss Leah.”

“Me, too,” Amy put in. “And we hardly know anybody who’ll be going to this school. Carrie’s lucky ’cause she gets to stay here all day with Leah. She’s our only friend right now.”

Adam flinched. They obviously didn’t think of him as their friend, but then did he really want them to? He was their guardian—a father figure of sorts—so it probably wouldn’t be good if they saw him as a friend. The only time any of the girls had shown him affection was after the hummingbird banding, when Linda rushed up to give him a hug. That simple act had kept him whistling all afternoon. He wasn’t quite sure how to respond to Amy’s statement just now but was glad the girls hadn’t gotten upset at the mention of their other school. He was also pleased that his nieces liked Leah.

Even so, they had to go to school, and he wanted them to enjoy it. Leah had said she would take Linda and Amy to school today, which meant Adam could leave for the store on time. He was having second thoughts about that now, knowing that if he took them it would give him a chance to speak with their teacher, Barbara Yoder. But maybe that wasn’t necessary, since he had introduced the girls to her at church a few weeks ago.

Adam moved over to the refrigerator and took out a carton of eggs.
Maybe I shouldn’t expect Leah to take Linda and Amy to school. I’m their uncle, and it’s really my job, after all.

Adam didn’t know why he was going back and forth like this, but as he cracked open several eggs into a bowl, he made his decision. It would be him taking the girls to school this morning, not Leah.

“I hope I’m not late,” Leah said breathlessly when she entered Adam’s house. “For some reason, Sugar didn’t want to do anything but plod along on the trip over here this morning.”

Adam glanced at the clock on the kitchen wall. “You’re not late, but I do need to head out pretty soon. I’ll be taking Amy and Linda to school on my way to work.”

Leah smiled at the girls, who sat beside each other at the table. “I’ll come pick you up after school, so you won’t have to walk.” Truthfully, Leah felt that Linda and Amy were both too young to walk home alone. She felt protective of them—almost as if they were her own daughters.

“That’s nice of you,” Adam spoke up. “Maybe after the girls make some friends who walk this way, you won’t have to pick them up anymore.”

She smiled. “I don’t mind, really, but if the time comes that they want to walk home, I’ll be fine with that, too.”

Linda’s chin trembled as she looked up at Leah. “I don’t wanna go to school; I’d rather stay here with you.”

Amy nodded in agreement. “It’s not fair that Carrie gets to be with you all day. Me and Linda are gonna miss out on all the fun.”

“You’ll have fun at school,” Adam interjected.

Linda shook her head vigorously. “Uh-uh, we’ll have to work.”

“It won’t all be work,” Leah corrected. “Barbara Yoder is a wonderful teacher. You’ll get to play games and have fun during recess, and learning about new things can be fun, too.”

“Leah is right,” Adam agreed. “And I’m sure you’ll make some new friends quickly. I can almost guarantee that you will like your teacher, too.” Picking up his lunch pail and Thermos, he added, “Now get the lunches I fixed for you, and let’s be on our way.”

Linda jumped up from the table and gave Leah a hug. Amy did the same. Leah felt sorry for the girls, and she would miss them. She was glad she would have Carrie to watch during the day and looked forward to when Linda and Amy came home after school.

“Remember now,” she told the girls, “I’ll be there to pick you up when school lets out this afternoon, and then you can tell me all about your first day.”

That seemed to satisfy the girls, and with a wave, they followed their uncle out the door. Holding Carrie’s hand, Leah stood watching as Adam helped the children into the buggy and backed his horse away from the hitching rack. At that moment, she knew exactly how her mother must have felt when she’d sent Leah and her brother, Nathan, off at the beginning of each new school year.

“Well, little one,” she said, smiling at Carrie, “it’s just you and me now. Should we find something fun to do?”

Carrie’s eyes shone as she nodded. “Let’s look for Chippy!”

It had been awhile since they’d seen the chipmunk, but maybe it was because all their attention had been on the hummingbird feeder. Once the hummingbirds had found the feeder, poor Chippy had soon been forgotten.

Leah patted the child’s head then glanced at the kitchen sink, full of dirty dishes. Apparently Adam hadn’t had time to do them before she’d arrived. “Maybe after a while we can go outside. Right now, though, you can color a picture while I wash and dry the dishes.”

Cora looked around the small house she had rented just a mile outside of Arthur. Since it was fully furnished, she’d only brought the basic things they would need, plus their clothes and personal items. Once the house in Chicago sold, she would see about purchasing a home here, and then all of their furniture could be moved.

“I’ll be heading to the clinic soon,” Cora told Jared, taking a seat across from him at the breakfast table. She didn’t realize that moving could be so tiresome, but then when she and Evan had moved into their house they’d hired movers, so everything had been done for them.

Pushing a piece of hair behind her ears, Cora closed her eyes for a minute. She was exhausted, not just from the move but from worrying about Jared.

“You’re starting work already?” Jared asked.

She opened her eyes and nodded, noticing how much her son had changed since the divorce. His droopy jeans somehow stayed up without a belt. He wore them for days on end, until Cora insisted that he wear something else so she could launder his clothes. Then there was his hair. Jared was lucky to have a thick head of jet-black hair like his father’s. When his hair was cut and styled, he was a handsome young man. But now he didn’t seem to care how it looked, and it had become a shaggy mess. Jared’s eyes were a vivid deep blue, like Cora’s. These days though, Cora hardly recognized her son. Hopefully, once he got used to his new surroundings and made a few friends, that would change and he’d pay attention to his appearance.