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room where Zach still screamed. “When I get back, I’ll see about gettin’ the little guy diapered and fed.” Naomi hurried out of the kitchen.
    Ten minutes later, she reentered the room, only this time her face and arms were covered with baking soda instead of mud. She stopped inside the door. The mess had been cleaned, and Zach was in his highchair eating a cracker; but her brothers Matthew, Norman, and Jake sat at the table, dripping wet.
    “ Ach, my! You’re gettin’ water everywhere!” Naomi shouted. “What are you three doin’ in here anyways?”
    “It’s rainin’ cats and dogs outside, and we sure couldn’t keep on plowing the fields in this kind of weather,” Matthew answered. His dark brown hair was plastered against his head like a soggy leaf, and his cheeks were as red as a raspberry. At the moment, he looked like a little boy rather than a twenty-two-year-old man.
    “That’s right; it’s a real downpour out there,” Norman agreed. “If it keeps up for long, we’ll have us a flood, and that’s for certain sure.” He raked his fingers through his hair, almost the same color as Matthew’s and just as wet. A spray of water splattered onto the table, and Norman grinned at Naomi, kind of sheepishlike.
    “What happened to you, Sister? You look awful,” Jake commented. The seventeen-year-old had recently celebrated his birthday; but soaked to the skin and with his hair in his face, he, too, looked like an overgrown child.
    “I had a run-in with some bees.” Naomi glanced at the clock above the refrigerator. It was half past four. Samuel should have been home from school by now. She ran to the back door and flung it open. No sign of her little brother—just pouring rain and jagged lightning.
    She spun around to face her brothers. “One of you needs to go after Samuel. He’ll catch his death of pneumonia if he walks home in this terrible weather. Besides, he could be hit by lightning.”
    “It wonders me so that you’re such a worrywart. Why, a little rain won’t kill the boy, and he’s sure smart enough to stay out from under a tree if lightning were to strike.” Matthew reached for a wad of napkins and swiped them across his forehead.
    “Yeah, that’s right.” Jake’s blond head bobbed up and down. “I can’t begin to tell ya how many times I walked home from school in the rain when I was a boy.”
    Zach let out another ear-piercing yelp, and Naomi thought she was going to scream. Wasn’t there a single person in her family who cared about anyone but himself?
    She clapped her hands together and stomped one foot. “Now listen to me! One of you had better go after Samuel—now!”
    Matthew blinked, then turned to face Norman. “Guess the boss means business, Brother. Get the buggy hitched, schnell!”
    “Okay, I’m goin’.” Norman pushed his chair away from the table. He sauntered past Naomi but halted when he got to the back door. “You’d better have supper started before Papa gets home. He won’t like it if he shows up expectin’ to eat and nothin’s ready.”
    Naomi had taken as much as she could stand. She grabbed a wet sponge from the sink, took aim, and pitched it at her brother. It hit its mark, landing in the center of Norman’s back.
    He didn’t seem the least bit affected but merely chuckled and marched out the door.
    “Brothers!” Naomi hollered. She hurried over to Zach, scooped him into her arms, and headed upstairs.
    ***
    Caleb couldn’t believe how hard it was raining. When he left for town to get supplies a few hours ago, the weather had been warm and sunny. By the time he left Zook’s Tool Shop, a noisy thunderstorm churned across the sky, dropping buckets of rain. He’d planned to stop by Fisher’s General Store and see if he could catch Naomi alone, but now he thought it would be best to go straight home. Besides, judging from the time on his pocket watch, Abraham’s store was probably closed.
    Speaking softly to his four-year-old gelding,