Rachel's Garden by Marta Perry Page A

Mammi.” Becky’s voice trembled a bit, and her face was white. “Ben didn’t hurt me. He wouldn’t.”
    “N-n-no.” William climbed out of the stall more slowly than he had gone in, and the horse stamped a giant foot as if to emphasize the word. “He w-w-wouldn’t hurt you on purpose. He d-d-didn’t know you w-were there.”
    “Are you sure you’re okay?” Rachel smoothed Becky’s fine hair back into its braid.
    Becky pulled away, her lower lip coming out. “Don’t fuss.”
    Fear slid easily into anger, fueled by the guilt she always felt when one of the children was in danger.
    “That is no way to speak to your mother. What were you doing in that stall? You know better than to go in there.”
    Becky’s gaze slid away from hers, a sure sign she knew she was in the wrong. “Daadi always checked the horses’ hooves to be sure they hadn’t picked up a stone. He showed me how to do it. I did it just like he did.”
    The picture filled her mind—Ezra bending over the horse’s leg, knowing just where to pinch so that Ben would lift his hoof for checking, explaining it all in his confident voice to his small daughter.
    She had to swallow before she could speak. “I’m sure Daadi didn’t mean for you to do so now. When you are bigger, you will, when a grown-up is there to watch.”
    Becky’s face turned sullen. “I’m big enough.”
    “No, you are not!” She was on the verge of losing patience with the child, and that was surely a failure on her part.
    “B-Ben would squash you like a bug and n-n-not know he did,” William said.
    “But Daadi said—”
    “Enough.” Her voice was sharper than she intended. “Onkel William knows well how to take care of the animals. He will do it.”
    “Ja, I will, for sure.” William tugged on Becky’s kapp string. “D-Don’t worry.”
    “Tell Onkel William denke for taking care of you.”
    “Denke,” Becky whispered.
    “Ja, it’s okay.”
    “Go to the haus.” Rachel gave her a little shove toward the door. “I’ll be right in.”
    She gave Becky a moment to get out of earshot before she turned to William, because she knew that her voice was going to betray her.
    “Denke, William.” She clutched both his hands in hers. “If you hadn’t been here—” Tears overwhelmed her.
    “Ach, it was n-nothing.” He flushed to his ears. “I sh-sh-should have been w-watching her better.”
    “That is not your job. It’s mine.” She brushed away the tears impatiently with the back of her hand. She was embarrassing William, and that wasn’t fair to him. “I’m so grateful to you. I don’t know what we would do without you.”
    His flush deepened, and his blue eyes seemed to darken with emotion. “I w-would do anything for you and the ch-ch-children. Anything.”
    Leah’s idea that William had feelings for her forced its way into her head. Here she stood alone in the barn with him, their hands clasped.
    Carefully she drew her hands away. “We’re very grateful. Now I must go and find some suitable punishment to keep Becky from being so foolish another time.”
    It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him to come in for coffee when he’d finished, but Leah’s words had made her wary of doing so. That was foolish, wasn’t it?
    Still, she turned and walked quickly back toward the house. It was silly, she was sure of it. She’d let Leah’s comments change the way she reacted with William.
    William had been upset, maybe a little emotional, too, just as she had been. But that was because he loved Becky. It couldn’t possibly be anything else.
     
    “they’ll be opening the doors soon.” Aaron Zook, Gideon’s brother, gave Rachel a reassuring smile. “Are you ready?”
    “Ach, she’s been ready this past hour.” Lovina, Aaron’s wife, turned from arranging the loaves of bread she’d placed in a large basket on the counter of their stall at the farmer’s market in Petersburg. “This is Rachel’s first Saturday at market, so she hasn’t