Twice Blessed. Barbara Cameron

favorite places: her favorite park where she’d picnicked many times, the schul she and Katie had attended, the homes of some of the people he’d met. And when he pulled into the drive of her home she smiled. This was her favorite place of all, the one she loved and hated to leave sometimes for work in town—however much she liked her job at Elizabeth and Saul’s store. She happily worked in her garden as many hours as she could and always wished for more.

      “I really enjoyed today, Rosie,” Jacob said. “If you have an evening free this week, I’d like to take you out to supper.”

      Her heart lifted. This hadn’t been hard at all . . . as a matter of fact, she couldn’t remember a time when she’d enjoyed herself so much.

      A buggy pulled into the drive behind them, then another pulled in behind it. Four kinner spilled out of the buggies and raced up to Rosie’s side of the buggy.

      “Aenti Rosie!” they cried in unison.

      Two of Rosie and Katie’s schweschders walked up and looked startled when they saw Jacob. “Oh, we thought this was Katie and Rosie’s buggy!”

      “I’m Jacob,” he said, introducing himself.

      “These are two of my schweschders, Sarah and Lavinia and their kinner,” Rosie told him. “They live in the next church district, so you didn’t meet them this morning.”

      “We thought we’d drop by and see you,” Sarah said brightly. “We figured you’d be home not doing anything.”

      “We were hoping you could watch the kinner so we could go visit Aenti Naomi. She’s not feeling well, so we didn’t want to take the kinner.”

      She paused and looked behind her. “Ike, did you do something to your bruder?”

      “Nee.”

      “Ya,” said Joshua, tears welling up in his eyes. “He punched me in the arm.”

      “Boppli,” Ike muttered. “Tattletale.”

      “Enough,” said their mamm. “Jacob is going to think you’re a bad boy.”

      “I can watch them,” Rosie said quickly, trying to sound like she didn’t mind. She was enjoying talking to Jacob, but they had been about to part. It wouldn’t hurt to watch her nieces and nephews even though it hadn’t been considerate of them to just drop and expect her to babysit.

      She felt a little embarrassed, too, to have Sarah make that comment that let Jacob think that she sat around with nothing to do on a Sunday afternoon. Even thought she rarely had plans—especially with men.

      “Go on up on the porch, and I’ll be there in a minute,” she told the kinner.

      “Danki,” chorused her schweschders, and they rushed off quickly.

      Rosie glanced back and them and shook her head. “I think they’re getting out of here before I can change my mind.”

      Jacob grinned. “Don’t look now but Joshua just punched Ike.”

      She rolled her eyes. “Seems like it’s going to be an interesting afternoon.”

      “Too bad I have to leave,” he said, not sounding sorry at all.

      “Chicken,” she muttered.

      “True. Men weren’t made with eyes in the back of their heads. My mamm was able to see me doing things when I was behind her just like those two.”

      “They’ll behave for me,” she told him. “They like the cookies we bake when they visit.”

      “Cookies?” He straightened.

      “Too bad you have to go,” she said as she slipped out of the buggy. “Danki again for lunch.”

      Looking disappointed, he nodded and called to his horse.

      Rosie climbed the steps to the porch and glanced over her shoulder to watch him leaving. She didn’t have eyes in the back of her head. She supposed you had to be a mamm before you grew them.