Read Online Snowfall by Shelley Shepard Gray - Free Book Online Page B

figure out if they should accept her game or not.
    But before he could decide one way or the other, Ruth shook her head as she picked up her hamper and set it on the floor. “You all are incorrigible. And you’ve seriously neglected your notion of fun.”
    â€œWe . . . We’ve had fun before.”
    â€œThat’s up for debate, since you have no idea what Christmas Bingo is.”
    Thomas looked flummoxed. Almost speechless. This was such a rare event that Martin was tempted to write the date down.
    Instead, he stood up again. He was too tempted to never go to work. He was as tempted as his children to be cast under Ruth’s spell.
    But he had to stay strong. “Breakfast was gut . Danke . But I need to go. Now.”
    Karin tugged on his shirt. “But, Daed, you were going to make a Bingo card with us.”
    â€œI wish I could, but I must go tend to the trees,” he said as he crossed the kitchen and grabbed another slice of ham off the paper towels.
    Ruth picked up his plate. “But what about your breakfast? You barely touched anything.”
    â€œI’ll be fine. Good-bye for now.”
    â€œGood-bye for now, Martin,” Ruth said.
    He turned to the children, ready to give them last-minute hugs. Ready to warn, cajole, and bribe them to be good. To promise them that he would be able to take a couple of weeks off after Christmas.
    But not a one of them was paying the slightest attention to him.
    Instead, they were all staring at the Bingo cards and looking at Ruth like she was the most amazing thing they’d ever seen.
    Only when he got to the barn did it occur to him that his children were probably right on the money.
    It seemed Ruth Stutzman, all five-feet-four inches of her was a force to be reckoned with.
    His family’s very own miracle worker.

Chapter 8
    I’m a good artist, and Karin is, too.
    Brigit, Age 5
    The door slammed behind Martin with a resounding clank , making Ruth feel as if Martin hadn’t just been saying good-bye for the day, but good-bye to everything that she’d been imagining had started between them. His departure created a gap in the room, as if the central focal point had been removed.
    Not that she should even care.
    And in the space that remained, all that was left was the startling rush of silence.
    It made Ruth shiver. Gazing at the children, she summoned a smile, even knowing while she did, that it was patently fake. “Well, now,” she murmured. “I guess it’s just the seven of us again. Are you ready for breakfast?”
    Thomas blurted, “How come Daed left? Did that make you sad?”
    â€œNot at all,” she lied. “I was hired to take care of all of you, not keep tabs on your father.”
    Katrina’s eyebrows snapped together. “But he didn’t eat breakfast.”
    â€œHe was in a hurry, that’s all. I bet lots of folks are wanting to buy trees.”
    Staring at her father’s neglected plate, Katrina shook her head. “I don’t think Daed was worried about a bunch of trees.”
    Ruth didn’t think so, either, but she sure wasn’t going to start guessing why he suddenly hadn’t been able to run out of the kitchen fast enough. “Don’t make mountains out of molehills. Your father is fine. And you are, too.”
    Katrina turned to Thomas. “You know what? It’s almost like he didn’t want to leave today.”
    He scrunched his nose. “I don’t know, Kat. He ran out of here pretty quick-like.”
    â€œI’m sure he simply remembered he had something important to do,” Ruth said, attempting to smooth things over. “Or perhaps there is a concern at work none of you know about. That happens.”
    Thomas kept staring at the door. “Maybe. But I don’t know.”
    â€œDaddy really likes work,” Karin blurted.
    â€œ Jah ,” Katrina replied after glancing at the door again.