a spinner, but my job there is finished for the year. I hope you don’t mind that I bathed the children out here. I didn’t want them trudging through the house in the state they were in.”
“It looks like a good idea to me. Come on, kids. Let’s get dressed and take Clara home.”
“The children have only nightclothes to wear. I’ve washed all the rest. Nothing else was clean.”
“I’ve been meaning to do their laundry,” he admitted. Along with a dozen other chores he couldn’t find time to get done.
She glanced at him, and he caught a glimpse of her stunning blue eyes before she dropped her gaze again. Her cheeks grew pale. “I didn’t mean that as a criticism.”
“I didn’t take it as such. The children and I appreciate your neighborly gesture. Danki.”
“You are wilkumm,” she replied in a small voice.
“Micah should be home soon. We’ll have lunch when he gets here. The clothes should be dry by then, don’t you think?”
She nodded without speaking. He hefted Amos to get a better hold on the boy and carried him toward the house. “Olga has had a new heifer. You children will have to help me name her.”
“Let’s call her Clara,” Lily said. He heard Clara’s bitten-off laughter quickly turn into a cough. It proved she had a sense of humor.
She said, “That’s very sweet, Lily, but it might get confusing. What if you said you wanted to go picking strawberries with Clara and your onkel gave the calf a basket?”
Lily said, “That’s silly.”
“Let’s choose a different name.” Ethan held open the back door so that Clara could go inside. She hesitated, but then rushed past him. She was as skittish as a wild colt. Why was she afraid of him?
* * *
What on earth had possessed her to accept a ride home with Ethan? Clara had agreed because she didn’t want to hurt Amos’s feelings, but she hadn’t thought about spending the next hour with Ethan watching her every move. He made her feel like jumping out of her skin.
“How about Heidi for a name?” Amos suggested.
Ethan set the boy on the floor and appeared to give the idea careful consideration. “Heidi the Heifer. It has a certain ring to it. What do you think, Lily?”
Lily, still in Clara’s arms, worked her hands out of the towel and cupped Clara’s face. “I like it. Do you like it, Clara?”
Clara’s heart turned over with a surge of emotion at the child’s touch. What she wouldn’t give to have a little girl of her own like Lily. “It’s an excellent name. Let’s go and put your nightgown on until your clothes get dry.”
She carried the child up the stairs, happy to escape Ethan’s watchful eyes.
Once in the girl’s room, Clara finished drying the child and helped her dress in a white cotton nightgown with a tiny pink ribbon threaded through the lace at the neckline. “Sit down and let me comb and braid your hair.”
Lily climbed on the bed and sat cross-legged with her toes peeking from beneath the hem of her gown. She tipped her head to the side. “Clara, will you be my friend?”
“I would be delighted to be your friend, Lily.” Clara began to pull a comb gently through the girl’s tangled hair.
“What do friends do?”
“Friends do all kinds of things together.” She finished combing and began to braid the wet strands.
“Like what?”
“Friends visit each other. Sometimes they help each other with problems. They play games. When you are older, you can go to quilting bees and singings and simply enjoy each other’s company.”
“Do you enjoy my company?”
Clara smiled. “Very much.”
“I think I like having you for a friend.”
Clara secured the end of Lily’s braid with an elastic band. “I like having you for a friend, too.”
“Do you want to play hide-and-seek?”
Clara flicked the end of Lily’s nose with her finger. “Nee, for I have just got you clean. No hide-and-seek today.”
“Tomorrow?”
Sitting on the bed beside the child, Clara said, “I won’t be back tomorrow.”
Lily’s smile vanished. “Why not?”
“Because my job with the Lapp family is finished. I’m not sure when we will see each other again.”
“But you are my friend, and I want you to play with me.” Lily’s lower lip began to quiver.
Clara wrapped her arms around the child. “We will plan a visit. How about that? Someday soon. I’ll ask your onkel to bring you to my grandfather’s farm so you can see all our sheep and meet our dog, Duncan.”
“When?”
“I’ll work that out with your onkel, but it won’t be long.”
“Promise?”
Ethan didn’t seem to mind her giving the children a bath, but how would he feel about bringing Lily for a visit? Looking at the child’s hopeful face, Clara decided to ask and hoped her courage wouldn’t desert her when she was face-to-face with him. “I promise. Now smile for me. It makes my heart happy when I see a grin on your face.”
Lily complied. Amos came upstairs still wrapped in his towel. She left him to get dressed in his room. When he came out in his pajamas, he had a wooden puzzle in his hands. “Onkel said we were to play up here until he calls us to eat.”
“Okay.” Lily slipped to the floor and the two of them began to assemble the puzzle on the blue-and-white braided rag rug beside her bed.
Clara went down to see what she could do to help Ethan. The kitchen smelled of cooking ham. Ethan stood at the stove with his back to her, frying the meat in a skillet. There was a freshly sliced loaf of bread on the table along with a bowl of tomatoes.
Clara saw that Micah was home. The boy was setting the table. He paused when he caught sight of Clara. “What’s she doing here?”
“She has been taking care of your brother and sister.”
“Spying on us, you mean. She’s always spying.”
Clara’s stomach lurched. She pressed a hand to her midsection. Her foolish behavior was about to be exposed.
Ethan turned from the stove to scowl at the boy. “Apologize to Clara right now, Micah.”
“But it’s true. She was watching me at the Lapp farm, waiting to get me in trouble. She was watching me again today. Now she’s here in our house.”
Clara’s knees went weak with relief. He didn’t seem to know about her return visit the first time she came here.
Ethan glanced at her and back to Micah. “Only someone doing wrong fears discovery. If you are afraid Clara will see you doing something wrong, then you must have something to hide.”
“Everyone thinks I’m bad.” Micah slammed down the plate and raced out of the house.
Ethan sighed heavily. “I apologize for my nephew’s behavior.”
Clara was more ashamed then ever by her suspicions about Ethan. “I wasn’t spying on Micah.”
“I know that.”
“I was spying on you.” She bowed her head, unable to face him.
“On me?”
She nodded. “I came back after Faith and I left the other