Read Amish Circle Letters II: The Second Circle of Letters for Free Online Page B

order, ja ?”
    Ten minutes later, Mimi walked down the stairs and noticed that the table was set for four and that the smell of a wonderful breakfast waft through the air. Everything looked in order with the exception of a lot of pans and dishes that needed to be washed from the previous day ’s festivities. She wondered how early Steve had arisen to help her parents put the room back in order. A quick glance at the clock on the wall caused her to blush, embarrassed for having slept so late while others were up early and working. It was almost seven-thirty. Surely her daed and Steve must have been up by six. She wished that Steve had awoken her to help.
    “ Gut mariye , Mamm,” Mimi said sheepishly. “I didn’t realize it was so late!”
    Her mamm gave her daughter a smile. “You had a long day yesterday. Steve was right gut and took care of most of the clean-up, Mimi. When I came out here, he had the room back in order already!”
    Mimi glanced around. Indeed, the furniture was back in its proper place and everything looked right as rain. “By himself?”
    “Ja, by himself,” her mamm said. “A right gut man you have there, dochder .”
    Mimi didn ’t need to be told that. She knew that Steve was a good man…a decent, God-loving, and hard-working man. She felt blessed all over again, realizing that Steve had taken on the burden of re-organizing the house while leaving her sleep late that morning.
    “Well, good afternoon, young lady!” Her daed walked into the kitchen, a broad smile on his face as he greeted his daughter with a sparkle in his eye. “Married one day and lazy the next, at that!” he teased.
    “Oh Daed !”
    Steve walked up behind her father and placed his hand on Jonas ’ shoulder. “No lazy one there, Daed ,” he said. “It was my fault for not waking her.”
    After the breakfast, Mimi hurried to help her mother wash the dishes and return order to the kitchen. It took almost two hours, during which her daed and Steve drank coffee and read the Budget. By nine o’clock, however, her daed had excused himself as he had to open up the store for customers. Steve joined him in order to look through the inventory so that he could see what he might buy for fixing up the grossdaadihaus .
    The only problem, he thought, with fixing it up was time. Steve milked his cows on a different schedule than most dairy farmers. Instead of milking them every twelve hours, he milked his cows every ten hours. That meant that he milked his cows at two o’clock in the morning, noon, and ten o’clock at night on one day only to milk them at eight o’clock in the morning and six o’clock in the evening on the next day. He managed to get more milk out of the cows and was still able to help his father with the morning milking each day. It was a busy schedule, one that didn ’t leave a lot of opportunity to take on extra projects such as fixing moldy sheetrock, repairing kitchen appliances, and replacing windows.
    Yet, for the love of his new bride, he would do all that he could to make it livable throughout the winter so that they would not be separated.
     
     
    After the kinner had left for school, Mary Ruth cleaned up the morning dishes and began the daunting task of washing the clothes. While she had never taken a fancy to this particular chore, she especially disliked it during the winter months. It took longer to dry the laundry and, often, she had to bring them inside to hang them in her mamm’s washroom. Now, at Menno’s home, she had to rethink this strategy for the washroom was much smaller.
    But her mind wasn ’t really on the laundry or the issue with drying clothes in colder weather. It was on Menno.
    Oh, she had held such high hopes for a loving and strong marriage. She remembered him causing her to blush during a church service, the one that they attended just after they had decided to get married. When she had left abruptly, he had sought her out. He had been concerned and his presence had caused