LITMIR.BIZ

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      No! Not Annie and Caleb. She shouldn’t use their names together in her thoughts. She had to keep her focus on helping Caleb see what a wunderbaar wife Leanna would make him.

      Wishing she could think of a way to bring her twin into the conversation, Annie said, “Your timing is great because Caleb was giving me a tour of his bakery.”

      “Bakery?” Hope sprang into the girl’s voice. “I didn’t see any food around here. Do you have some?”

      “I’ve got soup in a thermos in the buggy.” Caleb’s face eased from its frown. “I meant to eat it for lunch, but I got busy and forgot.”

      “Wasn’t that a blessing?” Annie hoped her laugh didn’t sound as forced to them as it did to her.

      “It probably won’t be hot,” Caleb said.

      Annie frowned. Didn’t he realize his cousin might be so hungry she wouldn’t care what temperature the soup was? “We can heat it up.”

      He shook his head. “The stove isn’t connected. Nothing is yet. The gas company is supposed to have someone come later this week.”

      Annie made a quick motion with her fingers toward the door. Did he understand that she hoped, when he was gone, Becky Sue would open up to her? Sometimes it was easier to speak to a stranger.

      The boppli wiggled in Becky Sue’s arms and began crying. While the girl’s attention was diverted, Annie gestured again to Caleb. He gave her a curt nod, but his frown returned as he headed for the door. If he disliked her idea, why was he going along with it?

      Focus, she told herself.

      Pasting on a smile, Annie held out her arms to Becky Sue. “Do you want me to hold him while you have something to eat?”

      “No, I can do it myself.” Her sharp voice suggested she’d made the argument a lot already.

      With Becky Sue’s parents? Other members of her family? Joey’s daed? The girl had said she wasn’t a widow, but where was the boppli’s daed?

      Wanting to draw Becky Sue out without making the conversation feel like an interrogation, Annie began to talk about the weather again. Her attempts to convince the girl to join in were futile. Becky Sue refused to be lured into talking. Instead she stared at some spot over Annie’s head as she bounced her son on her hip in an effort to calm him.

      But Annie wasn’t going to waste the opportunity. There was one topic any mamm would find hard to ignore. “Becky Sue, do you have enough supplies for your boppli?”

      Her face crumbling as her defiance sifted away, Becky Sue shook her head. “I’ve only got one clean diaper left for him.”

      “Do you have bottles, or is he drinking from a cup?”

      “I had a bottle.” She stared at the floor. “It got lost a couple of days ago.”

      “My sister-in-law has a little one not too much older than Joey. I’m sure she or someone else will have extra diapers and bottles you can borrow.”

      Bright tears clung to Becky Sue’s lashes but didn’t fall. The girl’s strong will astonished Annie. It was also a warning that Becky Sue, unless she decided to cooperate, would continue to avoid answering their questions.

      “Gut,” the girl replied.

      “I know it’s none of my business, but are you planning to stay here?”

      “You’re right. It’s not any of your business.” A flush rose up Becky Sue’s cheeks, and Annie guessed she usually wasn’t prickly. In a subdued tone, she added, “I don’t know if I’m staying in Harmony Creek Hollow...beyond tonight.”

      “I’m glad you don’t plan to go any farther tonight. It’s going to be cold.”

      “I didn’t expect the weather to be so bad.”

      “None of us did.”

      Annie watched as the girl began to relax. Becky Sue was willing to talk about trite topics, but the mere hint of any question that delved into why she was in Caleb’s bakery made her close up tighter than a miser’s wallet.

      A few admiring queries about Joey brought a torrent of words from the girl, but they halted when the door opened and Caleb walked in. Annie kept her frustrated sigh to herself as she searched for a chair Caleb said was among the boxes.

      Somehow they were going to have to convince the mulish girl to let them help. Becky Sue must be honest with them about what had brought her to northern New York. Annie prayed for inspiration about how to persuade her to trust them.

      Not having any ideas on how to solve a problem was a novel sensation.

      And it was one she didn’t like a bit.

      * * *

      While Becky Sue sat on the floor and began to feed her son small bites of the vegetable soup from the thermos, Caleb watched in silence. The same silence had greeted him when he came into the bakery. He’d heard Annie talking to his cousin, but Becky Sue had cut herself off in the middle of a word the moment she saw him.

      Annie edged closer and offered him a kind smile. He was startled at the thought of how comforting it was to have her there. She was focused on what must be done instead of thinking about the implications of his cousin announcing the boppli was her son.

      But the situation was taking its toll on her, as well. Lines of worry gouged her forehead. She was as upset as he was about his cousin.

      “I’m sorry,” he murmured.

      “For what?” she returned as softly.

      “Putting you in the middle of this mess. When I asked you to work for me, I didn’t think we’d find my cousin hiding here.” He gulped, then forced himself to continue. “Here with a boppli.”

      “You didn’t know she was pregnant, ain’t so?”

      He moved out of the front room. When Becky Sue glanced at them with suspicion, he made sure no emotion was visible on his face. The boppli chirped his impatience, and she went back to feeding her son.

      Standing where he could watch them, he leaned toward Annie. A whiff of some sweet fragrance, something that offered a tantalizing hint of spring, drifted from her hair. He hadn’t thought of Annie Wagler as sweet. She was the forthright one, the one who spoke her mind. But standing close to her, he realized he might have been wrong to dismiss her as all business. She had a feminine side to her.

      A very intriguing one.

      “Caleb?” she prompted, and he realized he hadn’t answered her.

      Folding his arms over his coat, he said, “Nobody mentioned anything about Becky Sue having a kind.”

      “But you’ve got to let her family know she’s here. She...”

      Annie’s voice trailed off, and Caleb looked over his shoulder to see Becky Sue getting to her feet. Annie didn’t want his cousin to know they’d been talking about contacting Becky Sue’s parents. A wise decision, because making the girl more intractable wouldn’t gain them anything.

      He realized Annie had guessed the same thing because she strolled into the front room and began asking how Becky Sue and Joey had liked their impromptu picnic.

      The girl looked at her coat that was splattered with soup. “He liked it more than you’d guess from the spots on me. I should wash this out before the stains set.”

      Making sure his tone was conversational, Caleb pointed into the kitchen area and to the right. “The bathroom is through that door.”

      Becky Sue glanced at her drowsy son and hesitated.

      Annie held out her hands. “I’ll watch him while you wash up.”

      “Danki,”

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