"Jah."

"Send Linda in."

Seven in the morning, and Linda lay in the bed like a spoiled princess. "Linda," Rebecca said, standing in the doorway and studying the lump in the bed that was her sister. The lump stirred and sighed. "Linda, I know you are awake. Mamm wants you."

Linda stretched and groaned. "What does she want?"

"She wants you."

Rebecca didn't wait to hear arguments or excuses. There was too much to be done today to wait around for a slothful sister. She marched to the kitchen, filled the sink, and dispatched the breakfast dishes with all due haste. She wiped the table and the cupboards, swept the floor, and spot-mopped the sticky places. Better mop again tonight after supper.

Just as she drained her dishwater, she saw Linda, in her slippers, amble down the hallway with a pile of clothes in her arms. She yawned loudly and made her way into the mudroom where the washer stood. Rebecca did not smile or cheer or jump up and down for her sister, but it was gratifying to see that Linda could still be prevailed upon to get up and work.

A knock on the door inspired more irritation than curiosity. Rebecca had too much to do to be interrupted today.

When she opened the door, she couldn't have been more astonished than if Saint Peter had been floating there. Levi Cooper stood on her porch wearing a bright blue shirt with suspenders, black trousers, work boots, and a big straw Amish hat. He looked more Amish than her brothers usually did. What in the world was he up to?

"Hullo, Rebecca," he said, tipping his hat.

In a panic, Rebecca looked behind her then pushed him backward as she stepped outside and quickly closed the door. "What do you think you are doing here?" she whispered. "Somebody will see you."

He didn't lose the grin. "Well, Miss Miller, that is precisely the point. Why do you think I dressed like this?"

"You will ruin everything."

"No, no, I came to help you. Anyone driving by will see an Amish boy on an Amish farm doing Amish chores. Isn't the outfit good enough?"

Rebecca stood with her mouth wide open. He had rendered her momentarily speechless. "The...the clothes...they are...gute." She got her wits about her and pointed to the road. "You march back home right now, Levi Cooper." She still whispered loudly. "I can't tell my family you are an Amish boy."

Levi still insisted on unabashed cheerfulness. "You don't have to tell them anything. They'll draw their own conclusions." He looked down at himself. "So you like the clothes?"

Rebecca wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. It was just like Levi to pull such a stunt, but what did he mean by showing up at her door dressed in Amish clothes at seven thirty in the morning?

He took one of her hands. "The car is parked about a mile down the road in front of an Englischer's house. No one has to know I drove it."

Rebecca paced back and forth and tried to think. "Why are you here?"

"I came to help with your chores so you won't fall asleep on every date. I'm starting to get a complex about my ability to be entertaining."

She stared at him. What strange dream had she landed in? "You came to help with the chores?"

Levi took a step toward her. "Wednesday is my day off. I came so you could put me to work. I want to help."

"Help me? Why?"

He smiled warmly. "Isn't it obvious?"

She hadn't realized he'd kept one hand behind his back until he produced a long-stemmed red rose and held it out for her. Without hesitation she took it and buried her nose in the silky burgundy petals. How did he know she had a weakness for roses?

"It is beautiful," she said.

"I thought of you when I saw it. I hope it doesn't make you feel uncomfortable. I didn't know if Amish people could get flowers or not."

Rebecca looked away. "No one has ever given me a flower before."

"Does that upset you?"

"Nae, I-I love it." She rubbed the rose against her cheek and smiled at him. "You caught me by surprise, that is all. I didn't expect..."

He took her hand, and she immediately lost her train of thought. "You deserve a rose every day," he said.

He squeezed her arm then clapped his hands together. "Now that I've softened you up, kid, put me to work." He surveyed the barn, the garden, and the yard. "What needs to be done around here?"

"I am not putting you to work," she insisted. "This is ridiculous. You are leaving now."

"Give me a good reason why."

Rebecca tried to shoo him off the porch like a stray cat. "Because if my fater finds out-"

"If your dad finds out, all he'll know is that some Amish boy not from the district came to help Rebecca with her chores."

"And he will forbid it."

Levi threw up his hands. "Then you won't be any worse off than you are now, and he still won't know that I am secretly an Englischer dating his daughter."

Rebecca tried not to crack a smile. She wasn't about to give in yet. "And my mamm and brothers and sister?"

"If I make it easier for them, do you really think they are going to tell your dad? They don't have to lie about it, either. They can conveniently forget to tell him that some boy-again, not from your district-helps with the chores." Levi tapped his foot against the porch pillar. "It's a perfect plan."

She folded her arms and eyed him sternly, but she had already surrendered, and he could tell. "Where did you get those clothes?" she said.

Levi sauntered down the porch steps. "I think I'll mow the lawn if you'll tell me where the mower is."

"It is in the toolshed," she said, pointing to the far side of the barn. She paused. "You didn't steal them off a clothesline, did you?"

Amused at some private joke, Levi thumbed his suspenders. "They were my dat's," he said.

"Your dat's? What are you talking about, Levi Cooper?"

Levi winked. "If you are nice and don't give me any more trouble about being here, I might be persuaded to let you in on my secret."

He turned and left her standing on the porch, clutching her rose, with her mouth wide open. Collecting her scattered wits, she went back inside and slammed the door behind her.

What went on in that boy's brain was a true mystery.

Chapter Twelve.

While she kneaded the dough, Rebecca tried to keep her eyes from wandering to the large kitchen window. Levi, perfectly framed between the two panes, sat on the grass tinkering with the lawn mower while Danny, enamored with the presence of a stranger, stood over him watching his every move. Rebecca couldn't hear the conversation, but she guessed Danny had offered suggestions on how to fix the rickety old thing. Levi smiled and nodded and acted as if Danny were the greatest companion in the world for a guy who had to repair the mower before he could cut the lawn.

Levi said something to Danny and Rebecca's little brother took off across the lawn like he was running a footrace. He soon returned with a wrench and a screwdriver. Levi pulled Danny over to sit next to him, and soon the two of them were fiddling busily and laughing and talking as if they had always been friends. Max, true to form, was nowhere to be seen.

There was still hope for Danny. He just needed a little encouragement, maybe someone to show some faith in him. A mentor, a big brother. Rebecca turned from the window. Danny needed a father.

The long-stemmed rose, in a small vase, stood tall on the vast expanse of the kitchen table where Rebecca had placed it. She went to the table and inhaled the sweet fragrance of her flower. She thought of Dottie Mae. No one had ever given her best friend a rose. And she had deserved thousands of them.

After separating the dough into loaves, Rebecca set the bread on the counter to rise. Hearing the halting putt-putt of a motor, she looked out the window. Danny pumped his fists in the air and cheered as Levi pushed the mower around the yard. The engine produced a steady hum, not the coughing, choking sound it usually made, and no white smoke puffed from the carburetor.

So, Levi was handy. Did she dare ask him to fix the broken door on the barn or the wobbly buggy wheel? She didn't want to impose on him like that. His being here was a gift. Let him do whatever he wanted to do today.

Linda came padding into the kitchen, no doubt completely worn out from filling the washtub. Dropping crumbs on Rebecca's clean cupboard, she cut herself a piece of bread and plopped a healthy dollop of strawberry freezer jam onto her slice. As she took a sizable bite, something out the window caught her eye.

"Oh, sis yuscht!" she murmured. "Oh, sis yuscht!" Laying her bread on the cupboard, she hurried to the window for a better look. "Who is that?" she said in awe, as if she were looking at an angel from heaven.

Rebecca turned her back and pretended to busy herself with the bread dough. "Who?" she said indifferently.

"That handsome boy mowing our lawn."

Rebecca didn't turn around. "Oh, him. He is a-"

Linda seized Rebecca's arm and pulled her to the window. "Do you see?" she said. "That boy. Do you see him?"

"Jah."

Linda rested her forehead against the window. "Oh, Rebecca. Oh, Rebecca. He is handsome. Look how tall he is. Look at the muscles."

She gazed longingly at Levi for a full minute before grabbing Rebecca by the shoulders and shaking her excitedly. "Who is he? Do you know him?"

Rebecca was sorely tempted to tease her sister and plead ignorance, but instead she said, "He is a friend of mine. He came to help with the chores."

Linda turned back to the window. "A friend? Why didn't you ever tell me about this friend? Oh, Rebecca, he is-well, you have eyes to see."

"Jah, he is very handsome."

"How do you know him?"

"I met him in Patton."

Linda glued her eyes to the good-looking boy happily mowing the grass, until, starting from her trance, she smoothed the wrinkles of her dress. "I must get out there and...hang laundry."

Rebecca propped her hands on her hips. "You'd better wash it first."

"Jah. But how long will he be here?"

"All day, he says."

Linda bolted for the mudroom. "I will hurry." She stopped and smoothed the creases of her apron. "How do I look?"

Amused, Rebecca folded her arms and looked at Linda head to toe. "Different shoes. And comb your hair. It is sticking out of your kapp."

Linda nodded seriously and disappeared. Another advantage of Levi's presence-Linda might actually finish the laundry. Rebecca smiled in spite of herself.

When next she looked out the window, Danny pushed the lawn mower while Levi headed to the barn.

What did he plan now? Rebecca scolded herself and retrieved the bathroom cleaning supplies from the cupboard. She'd get nothing done all day if she kept checking on Levi. Resolving not to take one more peek out the window, Rebecca hurried down the hall to scrub the toilets.

A half hour later, Max ambled into the bathroom. With his hands in his pockets, he leaned against the doorjamb and watched Rebecca scrub the tub.

"That boy wants to know where he should dump the manure when he is finished mucking out the barn," Max said, with his devil-may-care attitude.

Rebecca sat up on her heels and brushed an errant lock of hair from her face. "Tell him to spread it in the corn. You can show him the corn rows?"

"Jah, I guess."

"Gute."

Max didn't seem to be inclined to go anywhere, so Rebecca went back her scrubbing.

"Why is he here?" Max said.

Rebecca dipped her sponge into her bucket of water. "He is helping with the chores."

"He is a pest."

"A pest?"

"And he cannot hardly find the words in Deitsch. Like he never learned to speak it gute."

Rebecca had to fight hard to hide her astonishment. Levi's father owned a set of Amish clothes and Levi spoke the old language? What exactly was going on? "He is not from Apple Lake. Maybe you do not understand his accent."

"He said he loves to milk cows, but then he didn't do it right. I made him stop and finished by myself. What boy does not know how to milk properly?"

Rebecca kept her face expressionless while she wiped down the walls of the tub. "You finished the milking?"

"Jah, the pails are in the kitchen. He is gute with cleaning out the stalls, but he thinks he knows more about the horse than I do." Rebecca wiped the tub dry, and Max sat on the edge of it. "He says if the stall is not mucked out better, Frankie will get sick. Does he think I don't know how to care for our own horse?"

"He has worked at a stable," Rebecca said. "You would do well to listen to what he says. He cares about the health of the animals."

"So do I," Max said. "I love that horse better than anything."

"Then you best take better care of him so Levi doesn't have to scold you."