Free Hidden Mercies by Serena B. Miller Page A

at the end of the driveway represents quite a mixture of talents.”
    “It is good for children to work,” Levi said as he drained the last dregs of his coffee cup. “Albert keeps chickens and sells fresh eggs. Maam taught Jesse how to forage for sassafras in the woods, and how to dry and package the root chips for a medicinal tea. Albert helps me with the beehives, and I let him sell whatever honey we can’t use. Maddy keeps a supply of her homemade fudge ready, and sells quart jars of any extra produce she and Maam can. Maam taught Sarah how to make little pot holders, so now even Sarah is part of things.”
    “It sounds like a busy house.”
    Elizabeth broke in. “Oh, I just remembered. Maddy has recently started making those intricate prayer Kapps that all the Amish women wear. The mother of one of her girlfriends taught her how. She really has a knack.”
    “Daniel helps out, too,” Levi said.
    “I didn’t know that,” Elizabeth said. “What can a two-year-old contribute to the store?”
    “Daniel’s job is to be Amy’s legs,” Levi said. “He runs to get whatever item she needs. He takes great pride in it and she pays him a few cents each week. Maam gave him a jelly jar to keep his earnings in. It is good for the children to help out now that Abraham is gone.”
    That last sentence knocked the entire pleasant conversation completely out of Tom’s head.
    Abraham was gone? Claire’s husband was dead? This fact had not come up even once in the past two days. He fought not to let it show how shaken he felt by this news.
    “I’d better go. I’ll be in the back field, and I’ll have my cell phone on me if anyone needs me for anything,” Levi called as he went out the door.
    “Thank you, Levi,” she said. “You are a very good boy.”
    Tom saw Elizabeth’s eyes watch Levi as he left. She had a worried look on her face.
    “Is something wrong?” he asked.
    She turned her attention back to him. “Have you ever been married, Tom?”
    “No.”
    “Then you have no way of knowing that in a new marriage there is almost always some little thing wrong.”
    “Why do you say that?”
    “Levi and Grace had to jump a lot of hurdles to be together. They were in love almost from the moment they met. He didn’t know it, and she didn’t know it, but I could see it and it scared me. It was not possible for two people to come from two such different cultures and not have problems. He was Swartzentruber Amish. You can’t find a stricter, or a more isolated sect among the Amish. And there was poor Grace, coming home to take care of me after my heart attack two years ago, never knowing that she was going to discover the man of her dreams living next door.”
    “What did they do?”
    “Levi eventually decided to leave the church and they got married and lived happily ever after. At least that’s the way it would be if it were in one of those romance novels Grace likes to read. Happily ever after.” She snapped her fingers. “Just like that. Overcome the obstacles, get married, and life is rosy forever and ever. Those two didn’t have a clue how hard it was going to be for them to carve out a marriage together.”
    “And they’ve been living here with you the whole time.”
    “Yes, they’ve been living here with me ever since. In spiteof the Daadi Haus Levi built for me last year, I can’t help but notice how much they fuss at each other. It worries me.”
    “I’m sorry to hear that.”
    “He doesn’t want her to work after the baby comes.” She began to tick off items on her fingers. “It is positively unthinkable to him, raised in the Swartzentruber church, that his wife work outside the home after the baby comes. Grace is too good at what she does to walk away from it—besides, she earns a whole lot more than he does.”
    “I can see where that would be hard on a man.”
    “Which brings up another problem. He thinks the husband should be in complete control of the finances, because he thinks