spending the morning together at the schoolhouse, Ruby was still shy around Ellie. The little schoolteacher seemed nice, like someone Ruby would like to have as a friend. But Ruby had never known someone with dwarfism before and was afraid that her habit of saying whatever popped into her head might cause a problem. She feared she’d blurt out something offensive that would ruin their prospective friendship.
At school, it had been easy to concentrate on the children and forget worrying about saying or doing something awkward. Children always had a positive effect on Ruby. She adored them, and they seemed to respond well to her. If things had been different at home, maybe she would have liked to have been a teacher herself.
The best way to keep from putting her foot in her mouth was to keep it closed, but being quiet never came easy to Ruby. So before she knew it, a question slipped out. “Why aren’t you married, Ellie?” She tried to stop herself but it was too late. There it was, bobbing between them as obviously inappropriate as a mule in a kitchen. “I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “I didn’t mean—”
Ellie responded with a peal of laughter. “You mean why hasn’t Sara been able to find me a husband? My fault, entirely. I’m too picky. I’ve had two marriage proposals since I got here, and I turned them both down.”
Ruby plucked a tomato from a plant and carefully placed the fat tomato into the basket. If you bruised them, tomatoes could go soft before you could get them canned, and that would be a waste. “You did? Were the boys awful?”
Ellie tossed a rotten tomato into the space between the rows. “Ne, they were very nice. And one was very handsome.” She giggled. “He was the hardest to refuse because I really liked him.”
“But you didn’t want to marry him?”
“Nope. I’m not even sure I want to marry. Maybe I like being single.” Ellie ducked down behind a big tomato plant and all Ruby could see were the leaves shaking. “Ha. Thought you were hiding, didn’t you?” Ellie reappeared, brandishing a perfect tomato. “The heritage tomatoes are the hardest to pick because they’re not always that red color that gives them away. But they are delicious.”
“I know,” Ruby agreed. “I love them. They have more taste than the commercial varieties.” She stood to her full height and rubbed the small of her back. Picking tomatoes was hard work because of all the bending. “The boys you turned down,” she said. “Joseph Brenneman wasn’t one of them, was he?”
Ellie giggled again. “Ne, not Joseph. But he’s cute, don’t you think?”
“He is.” Ruby blushed and busied herself in searching for ripe tomatoes. “Was it awkward? Saying no?” she ventured after a few minutes of picking. “Refusing a man’s proposal?”
“Not particularly. Only one of them seemed to take it hard, but he’s found someone else, so I couldn’t have broken his heart.” At this, they both laughed together. As they reached the end of the row, Ellie brushed the dirt off her skirt, glanced up at Ruby and sighed. “My current problem is with a certain blacksmith that I know Sara would like to fix me up with.”
“You don’t like him?” Ruby furrowed her brow. “Or you don’t think he’d like you?”
Ellie shook her head. “It’s more complicated than that.” She lowered her voice and moved closer. “I know Sara means well, but he’s little.”
“Little?” Ruby asked.
“Like me,” Ellie said, throwing up her hands. “A little person. Jakob obviously likes me. But he’s a pest, always trying to wrangle an invitation to dinner or showing up at the schoolhouse with some excuse or another. He’s even trying to get my friends to put in a good word for him.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
Ellie picked a tomato up from the ground, examined it, and then threw it hard against a fence post. The rotten tomato burst, sending a red-winged blackbird skyward in a flurry of tomato bits. “I would never date someone just because he’s little like me.” She gave a little huff. “Right now, I don’t even want to think about it. I’m happily independent. I don’t want to marry anyone. I love teaching at Seven Poplars School. I’m having the best time of my life and I don’t have to do a man’s laundry. But if I do decide to marry, it will be because he’s the one and I can’t live without him. Does that make sense to you?”
“It does,” Ruby agreed. She wondered if Ellie might like this Jakob more than she let on or if it was smart to rule out a person just because of his height, but she didn’t say so. For once, she was able to keep her mouth shut.
“How are you two doing?” Sara called from the garden gate. “Finding many ripe ones?”
“Lots,” Ruby answered. “I need to start another basket. This one’s full.” She picked up the basket with the tomatoes she’d just picked, but when she turned to carry it down the row, she tripped. The basket tipped and half of them rolled out onto the dirt. “Sorry,” she said, making haste to recover the fallen tomatoes.
“Let me help.” Ellie began putting tomatoes back into the basket.
Ruby was mortified. “Sorry,” she mumbled again.
“Don’t worry.” Smiling, Sara walked toward them. “We’ll start another batch of canning tomorrow. It won’t matter if some of them are bruised.” She stopped and made eye contact with Ellie. “Ach. I forgot my soup on the stove. Ellie, would you mind running in and stirring it? Just turn off the flame.”
“I can do it,” Ruby offered.
“Ne, let Ellie go,” Sara said.
“But I don’t mind,” Ruby said, eager to help.
Ellie looked to her. “What Sara is trying to say politely is that she needs to speak to you alone.”
“Oh,” Ruby declared.
“It’s how it works when you live in a matchmaker’s house,” Ellie explained. “Watch out, Ruby, she’s about to have a serious conversation with you.” She giggled. “And unless I’m mistaken, it has to do with a certain bricklayer named Joseph.” As she walked out of the garden, Ellie called back over her shoulder. “Remember what I said about the laundry, Ruby. Don’t make any hasty decisions.”
Nervously, Ruby looked back at Sara. “You wanted to say something to me that you didn’t want Ellie to hear?”
Sara turned over an empty five-eighths basket and sat on it. She smiled at Ruby. “No need to fret. What I have to tell you isn’t bad news. Ne, not bad at all. You have an offer of marriage. Quickest ever, for me.” She shook her head in disbelief and folded her arms. “So fast and easy that I might not feel right collecting a fee for it.”
Excitement bubbled up inside Ruby. So Joseph really had spoken to Sara, just like he said he was going to. She didn’t know whether to jump with joy or drop to the ground in shock. She’d had offers before, but none she was so eager for. “Joseph?”
Sara rolled her eyes. “Of course, Joseph. What other available man has laid eyes on you since you arrived? Other than Hiram, and he doesn’t count.” She chuckled. “Well, he counts. He’s a sweet enough man under all that laziness, but he’s certainly no match for a young girl like you.”
Ruby shivered with delight. A young girl. The matchmaker had called her a girl. Sara knew she was twenty-five but didn’t consider her over-the-hill. It was probably pride that made her take pleasure in hearing it, but she did. “Joseph really wants to marry me?” she asked, still unable to believe her ears. “He wasn’t joking?”
“Not a joke,” Sara assured her. “And not a match, not yet. There’s much we need to discuss. Your parents made it clear to me that I was not to share your circumstances with any possible prospect. Now that Joseph has made his intentions clear, how do you feel about that? I’ve never counseled a would-be bride to keep such a big secret from her might-be groom.”
She