Free Sarah's Gift by Marta Perry Page B

little brother when he’d done something wrong that Sarah wanted to reach out to him. But Aaron would hardly welcome that.
    “It’s no big deal,” Benjamin muttered.
    “Don’t talk to me as if I were one of your Englisch friends.” Aaron glanced at her and then caught the boy by the arm. “Komm. I’ll tell you some other things to bring when you go back for the cutter.” He marched Benjamin outside.
    Sarah had to press her lips together to keep from voicing her opinion. Didn’t Aaron see that being sharp with the boy would only make him more rebellious?
    “Do you have bruders, Sarah?” Nathan’s question pulled her attention away from the two of them who stood out by the wagon.
    “Ja, five of them and no sisters, so I know a little about getting along with boys.” She thought of her own youngest brother. “James, the youngest, is fourteen. He’s going to be a dairy farmer, just like Daad, if he has his way.”
    “That’s nice, that is.” Nathan paused for a moment, straightening so that he could see out the door opening to where his brothers stood. “Often boys that age don’t know what they want.”
    “True enough. Did you?”
    Nathan grinned. “For sure. Aaron put tools in my hands as soon as I could hold them. I never wanted anything else.”
    Obviously Aaron had taken time and patience with his siblings. “It seems as if Aaron is more like a father to you two than a brother sometimes.” She remembered what Aunt Emma had said about the father’s drinking problem and wished the words back.
    But Nathan didn’t seem to take offense. “Ja, he always has been. He was fourteen when Mammi died, so he just took charge.” His smile flickered again. “Molly reminds him that we’re most all grown up now and he can relax, but I don’t suppose he ever will.”
    “Parents don’t, do they? My daad still worries over me.” She felt a rush of longing to have Daadi’s arms around her shoulders. “Now I know how much that concern means, but there were times when I was impatient with what seemed like endless fussing.”
    “Like Benjamin.” Nathan didn’t seem too concerned. “It will all komm straight.”
    She hesitated, wondering if she could say the thought in her mind. But if she didn’t speak, how could she know what Nathan might say?
    “I’m afraid that this project is difficult for Aaron. Because of your mamm.”
    He was silent for so long that Sarah feared she’d gone too far. Then he nodded.
    “Maybe. But maybe that’s gut. Bishop Mose would say that all of this—you being here, our doing the work—is God’s will, meant for our well-being.”
    She smiled despite the tears that filled her eyes. “Nathan, I think that you are very wise for someone so young.”
    “Not me. But Sarah . . .” He hesitated a moment. “If Aaron gives you trouble, just remember that you’re the boss on this job, ain’t so?”
    She couldn’t respond because she heard Aaron returning, but she gave Nathan a grateful smile before she turned toward Aaron.
    He glanced from Nathan to her as if wondering what was going on between them. “Benjamin will be back soon. That boy would forget his head if it weren’t attached.”
    “Most nearly-sixteen-year-olds are like that,” she said easily. “Now, about the storage areas.” She didn’t give Aaron time to protest. “When you break for lunch, I will show you what we have now in the exam room and what things I want changed.”
    She was pleased to hear that her words didn’t leave any room for excuses. Aaron must feel that way, too, because he simply gave a sharp nod of agreement before turning back to his work.
     
    Aaron followed Sarah into what she called the exam room, and the beef-and-onion pie Emma had served for lunch seemed to form a clump in his stomach. He didn’t want to talk about what Sarah and Emma needed for delivering babies. But Sarah hadn’t left him much choice in the matter, now had she?
    Her firmness had taken him by surprise. He