The Amish Widower's Twins. Jo Ann Brown

needleworker.

      What else had he forgotten about her in the mad rush to become a husband and a daed?

      Hearing Heidi squeal with delight from where she sat on Inez’s lap while the woman who must be Leanna’s twin held Harley, he relaxed again.

      “You need a bigger hole in the nipple,” Leanna said, pulling his attention to her, “so the bopplin don’t have to work so hard to get the milch out.” She used the needle to demonstrate, sticking it in and wiggling it about to enlarge the hole.

      “That’s a gut idea.” He took the bottle and tried getting the formula out again. As before, nothing emerged. “It’s still too small.”

      Her forehead threaded. “It should have worked. It’s what others have done when their bopplin have had trouble with formula. Are you sure you’re making it correctly?”

      “I’m following the recipe I was given by the doktor’s office.” He fished a copy out of his pocket. He’d been carrying it with him in the hope he could find someone to watch the twins before he had to go to work in West Rupert in a few days. So far his search had been unavailing.

      “Let me see it. Maybe I can figure out if there’s a problem.”

      At Leanna’s words, laughter burst from everyone in the kitchen.

      When Inez’s laugh was cut short by her uneven breathing, Gabriel found a glass and filled it with water. He set it in front of her, far enough away that Heidi couldn’t grab it.

      “Danki,” she said in a raspy whisper. She flashed a loving smile toward her kins-kind. “You don’t want to ask Leanna to help mix up the formula.”

      “Why not?”

      “What my grossmammi is saying,” Leanna interjected with a wry glance at Inez, “is that I don’t cook.”

      He was shocked. He’d never met a plain woman who made such a claim. Most Amish families considered the kitchen the center of family life, and the women wanted to fill it—and those who entered it—with delicious food.

      “Not at all?” he asked.

      “Not much. Despite what the rest of the family thinks, I can cook a few things. My sisters have always enjoyed cooking, so while they’ve made our meals I’ve handled other chores around the house. However...” She flashed a jesting frown at her sisters and brother. “I can read a recipe.”

      More laughter swirled around the kitchen before her younger sister and brother left to get ready for school. Footsteps pounded up the stairs at the same time the first-floor bathroom’s door closed.

      Despite their teasing, when Leanna took the recipe and began to prepare the formula, she seemed far more competent than he was. He wondered if he was supposed to help her or if he should offer to take over for Inez and Annie, who were feeding the twins small bites of oatmeal from a bowl set between them. He halted himself before he warned them about the bopplin eating cows’ milch. They knew that.

      Leanna put water in a pot and reached for the box of gelatin. She spooned out two small spoonfuls.

      “No,” he said. “That’s not enough.”

      “What?” She pointed to the recipe. “It’s the right amount. This says two teaspoons.”

      He stared at the piece of paper. “Teaspoons? I thought it said tablespoons.”

      “No wonder the formula is so thick. You put in three times too much gelatin.”

      “That would do it, ain’t so?” Shaking his head, he wondered what other mistakes he’d made when he was too tired to think straight.

      Inez pushed herself to her feet. Keeping her hands on the table to hold herself steady, she said, “You’re a busy man, Gabriel.” He wanted to hug her for comprehending what he couldn’t bring himself to say. “If you want, I can make up the formula and send it with Leanna each day.”

      He looked at Leanna. For a moment, he thought she was going to protest, but she was silent, not wanting to gainsay her grossmammi. Leanna always had been careful of what she said, thinking before she spoke. Another thing that hadn’t changed, which pleased him. He’d respected her for not reacting to everything said or done around her, as others did.

      But someone had to this time.

      “That’s not necessary, Inez,” he said. “I can stop by and get it.”

      “Nonsense! She drives right past your house on her way to work.”

      “Where do you work?”

      “I do housecleaning for several Englisch families in Salem,” Leanna replied. “I’ll be able to drop off the formula every day, except Sunday, as long as I can have access to your refrigerator.”

      “I’ll make sure whoever I get to watch the bopplin knows you’re coming by.”

      “Watching the bopplin?”

      “You didn’t think Michael and I are taking them to work with us, did you?”

      When Leanna looked at him with hurt in her eyes, he knew he should have been more like her and thought before he blurted out. Rather than question her, he should have been grateful that she’d agreed when her grossmammi had volunteered her. Not having to go to the Waglers’ farm every morning would allow him to spend a few extra minutes with the twins.

      “Who’s doing that?” Grossmammi Inez asked.

      “I’m not sure,” he had to admit. “Do you know someone who would be gut with them? I’d heard about a couple of people, but they can’t help now.”

      “Let me think and ask around.”

      “Danki.” He prayed Inez would find someone, because he wasn’t sure what he was going to do when Monday rolled around and he had to be at work in West Rupert.

      * * *

      The door was barely closed behind Gabriel and Kenny, who’d offered to carry one of the bopplin out to the buggy, when Grossmammi Inez sighed and said, “That poor man needs help. Someone must step up.”

      “I will,” Juanita said as she reached for her bonnet so she and Kenny could head to school once he returned from helping Gabriel.

      “You’ve got to graduate first.” Leanna put her arm around her sister’s shoulders.

      “I will be soon!”

      “I know. It’s gut of you to offer, but he needs help now.”

      “True, but who’s going to help him?” her younger sister cried out in frustration.

      “I will.”

      Leanna clamped her hands over her mouth as everyone in the room turned to stare at her. She’d never said anything about her attraction to Gabriel to her family, because that was a topic never discussed until a wedding was announced. Still, everyone in her family had to have been aware of how she wanted to be with Gabriel. Nobody could have missed how she’d deflated when tidings of Gabriel’s plans to marry Freda were announced.

      “You?” Annie asked, wiping her hands on her apron. “Are you sure about this, Leanna?”

      “He needs help. Those kinder have to have someone to watch over them. I can do that.” I may even be able to find a way to forgive him. Pretending she didn’t care about him and was interested in marrying someone else hadn’t worked to end the disquiet in her soul. Maybe letting go of her anger would ease the blight burning inside her and eroding her happiness.

      “What about your cleaning jobs?” Kenny asked as he walked in and picked up his plastic lunch container.

      “What about your goats?” Juanita grabbed her own lunch box.

      “What