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Ruby had taken over the store full-time for nearly two weeks. She plunked down in the soft desk chair behind the short wall, hidden somewhat from customers. Today everyone arrived at the same time and left this way as well. At once. Not that there were too many customers.
She took a bottle of cold water from the barrel near the check out station before she came back here for her break. Twisting off the lid, she tipped back the bottle and took a long drink. Even though winter barely arrived, the store was hot when the stove heating the area was recently stoked.
Closing her eyes for a moment helped clear her mind. She worried about her sister Miriam. Pregnant, busy with birthing babies and healings, and now, all these shunned families coming to their property to live. She admired her sister, but she still worried. What more could happen in their district? Last spring had been the kidnappings and the murder of the teacher; this winter, horse thieves, and the new families.
The farm stay was forgotten in the gossip mill with all that transpired over the last few weeks. Now she was the only one working at the store, she was occupied most of the day. Closing the store a couple of days a week crossed her mind, and with winter coming, the sales dropped to minimal amounts. Really it was not worth opening even one day.
The ringing of the bell over the door snapped her from her reverie. In walked David Fisher. Ruby’s heart felt as if it had jumped to her throat. Something about this man made her breathing difficult and her breath to catch.
“Welkom, David. What brings you in on this cold, snowy day?”
“You do.”
“Me?”
“Jah.” He reached behind him for the doorknob then turned and went out onto the covered porch. When he stepped back in, he had an ornately carved and finished clock in his arms. “This is for you as thanks for all you did for my family to make Hannah’s wedding so nice.”
Ruby could not fathom what to say. Never had she received such a gorgeous gift for herself. “I’m stunned, David. All I can say is thank you.”
He walked around the divider wall and placed the large clock onto the counter. Looking Ruby directly in the eyes he asked, “mind if I sit a spell?”
“Nee, do sit a spell.” She pushed the other rolling chair toward him. “Nothing much is going on here. Winter is taking over a bit early. I would not be surprised to have a white Christmas. I have been sitting here wondering if I should just close up until spring.”
“And not have sales for the Englisch Christmas shoppers?”
“Ach, I have a plan for this.” Ruby bit at her lower lip and looked away from David. He caused her heart to gallop and her breathing ragged. Could she tell him what she had been up to during her long evenings? She took a calming breath and looked back toward the man. He had a cute grin pulling at his full lips.
“And your plan is?” He looked around the room to assure there were no customers before he said, “So do not worry about what you have been up to. I see you are truly a gut Amish woman, but a little more progressive than tradition...as am I. Do tell me.”
His words relaxed her worries. She blew out the end of her anxiety with a sigh, and told him, “I have been taking pictures of all the store items with my cell phone. At night when our children are asleep upstairs, I have been updating the farm stay website with pages of the store and listing items for sale.” She opened her arms, indicating the whole store.
David’s mouth dropped open, and his blue eyes grew wide.
Ruby swallowed with difficulty. Oh nee, she had done it now! If only she could take back her words! Ruby had always been in trouble with her husband. She was the one with the idea of gas generators for the electric refrigerator and freezer in the basement. Then it was the electric washer and electric lights. Ach, the tiffs they had over buying those items. He finally gave in to all her demands, but he insisted the generators go in a shed he built close to the back porch. The old bishop had never found out.
This did not stop her husband from thinking she was too Englisch. Maybe she was, but she trusted Gott and her Anabaptist religion as well as loved her community and all the members of it.
Now they had a new bishop, Matthew spoke to him about getting direct electric lines to the house. The man agreed. It completely surprised both Ruby and Matthew when the bishop decided in their favor. The farm stay contributed a lot of money to the fund, which helped pay medical bills for people in the district, build barns after catastrophes and on and on. The bishop needed all the businesses to thrive for the security of the community.
“I imagine you feel I should be shunned.”
David burst out laughing, splitting the tension in the room. “Oh Ruby, you are one of a kind. Of course, I do not think you should be shunned. You are a lovely, proper Amish woman doing what’s best for your family. You are a true entrepreneur.”
“But if the bishop found out...”
“And why should he care at all? He knows about the computer and the farm stay website. The store is just one more element of it.
“True. I must be overthinking it.”
David stood to leave. “What will you do with your time if you close the store?”
Ruby shrugged. “I am not sure. Without the farm, I do not have much to do.
“I have a question for you,” David said. He ran a tan finger over the wood countertop following the grain as he deliberated his words. “You see, my business is growing fast. With all my new employees I have arriving, there will be a tremendous amount of paperwork. Then there are all the documents for my purchases of seed, fencing for my new property, all sorts of things I will need in the spring.”
“How many workers are you taking on?”
“At least three of the five that are coming this week.” he ran out of steam and sat back down.
Ruby followed suit. She could see the man needed someone to talk too. “What a massive amount of work you have to do.”
“I can do all of this, but I have a problem with record keeping.” He shook his head. “You should see my desk. Piles of bills and receipts. I was wondering if you could help me out?”
Ruby didn't answer for a bit. What was he asking of her? “I am not sure, David. What can I do?”
“You did all the books for the farm stay, jah?”
She nodded. Now she knew what David wanted, but she might have to divulge another secret. When would all her skeletons in the cupboard come out? And here she was giving them away to the only man who had created turmoil in her heart since losing her husband.
Oh well, he knew about the website so what? She closed her eyes and opened her mouth, and with it, she released a bit of the hold she had on her own heart. “David, you are my friend, so I'm going to trust you with this secret as well. I do the books on the computer.” She placed her head on her arms, which she had crossed on the counter.
“Hey, don't despair. It is OK. But I want to know... how did you learn all of this? I am truly impressed with your knowledge.”
“You are?”
“Jah, I am.”
She raised her head, and tears ran down her cheeks. “I do not know how to do paper versions of books. I’m sorry I will not be a help to you.”
David took her small hands into his rough, work-worn hands. How about I talk to the Bishop about my need for a computer? Then you could use mine. Do you remember the small room at the front of the house near the living area?
She nodded.
“I have made it into my office. We could set up the computer there, and you could come and go by the front door.”
Ruby mulled over the idea. There was no good reason not to do this for him, although she worried about spending so much time with him. Over the months she knew him, she began to fall in love with him?
Since Hannah had been found, she returned to help her family with meals and housework. Ruby had been helping at the Fisher home while Hannah was missing, but now, she saw David only when they were helping arrange the wedding. “Awk, I forgot to tell you Mrs. Guthrie will be here as well.”
His words pulled her from the thoughts,
“She will keep our house and cook for us. Her room will be the bedroom on the main floor. Mine and the children’s rooms are upstairs. The Bishop felt this was proper.”
Ruby’s mind swirled and did not want to work. There was just too much to take in. The book work accounts, the new housekeeper, contemplating closing the store and begin the website to sell her merchandise.
David looked at her expectantly. “You look scared.”
“You think so?” She smiled at him then bit her lip as she said, “I am. I-I do not know what to say, David.”
“Understandable. How about I give you some time to consider it.”
“T-thank you.”
“May I ask you a question?”
Ruby nodded in response.
“Where did you get your skills for the computer? It could not have been an easy thing to learn. The Amish schools do not prepare you for such a thing.”
Ruby offered him a seat again “I have been taking classes at the library. I began a few years ago to keep track of our reservations.” She motioned to the kaffe station in the other corner, but David shook his head, so she continued with her story. “Once I learned the software, then came the website building class, then the class where I learned reservations. Before I knew it, the whole farm stay was on there, and we began to really make money.”
“You amaze me, Ruby. Will you work for me? Think about it and why don’t you let me know next Monday? Right now, I need to get busy. The old dawdi haus on my property needs a bit of work. I cannot have my new housekeeper doing such a huge cleaning job. She might not take kindly to us and quit.”
David stood, buttoned up his jacket, and walked to the door. He looked back at her and smiled. There was something in the glitter of his blue eyes, which caused her heart to leap in her chest. She felt the change in the room when he walked through the door and closed it softly. She missed him as soon as he was gone.