Chapter Seven
“GET AWAY FROM THERE!” Levi’s harsh tone echoed through the small house.
Rebecca yanked her attention away from where she was buttering slices of bread to find Levi storming toward his desk and Roger scurrying away. She dropped the bread and knife. “What happened?”
Levi was shuffling papers in a hurry. “He needs to stay away from this desk.”
Rebecca glanced at her son, who looked properly chastised already.
He cast his eyes up at her. “I didn’t mean to mess anything up, honest. I only wanted a paper to draw on.”
Rebecca nodded at him. “Apologize to Levi, please, and in the future, you must remember to ask before you go hunting around in someone else’s belongings.”
“I will. I’m sorry.”
Levi shoved the papers into a drawer before finally looking over at Roger. He nodded quickly, clearly still irritated at the intrusion. Roger slipped away and joined his siblings, who had gathered around the table and were watching them intently.
“Go ahead, Gwynnie.” Rebecca said. Satisfied that her oldest was ensuring the little ones got their plates filled, she stepped closer to Levi.
“It was an innocent mistake.” She laid a hand on his arm, trying to recapture that moment of joy she’d felt earlier as he’d taken her arm in his on their way back home.
Levi looked down at her hand, but he held himself stiffly. He glanced down at the desktop, almost as if he were reassuring himself that it was empty.
Then he stepped back, and Rebecca’s hand fell away.
Not knowing what to do or say, she clasped her hands together and tried to make sense of his reaction.
“I like things neat and organized,” Levi finally said.
Rebecca nodded. “I understand.” Young children were anything but neat and organized.
“I need to go out to the barn.”
“Don’t you want your lunch?” But her words were lost in the opening and closing of the front door. She stood there a moment, her eyes moving from the door to the desk. Levi kept it tidy and devoid of any stray papers at all times. Perhaps he was simply more protective of his things than she’d realized.
“Mama, I made a plate for you and for Levi,” Gwynnie said from across the room. “Shall I bring his out to the barn?”
Rebecca ran her hands over her skirts. “Thank you, Gwynnie. I’ll bring it out to him later.”
Her daughter nodded and settled onto the floor with Roger and Sarah to eat.
Rebecca ate quickly and then busied herself with cleaning up and setting a stew to cook slowly for supper as she let her thoughts drift. She’d been thinking more about the children’s schooling. The oldest three should be in school, with Johnnie not far behind. But with it taking so long to drive to and from town, it felt impossible for them to regularly attend the schoolhouse there.
Determined to broach the subject with Levi, she slipped on her coat and crossed the snowy yard to the barn, his wrapped up lunch in her hand.
Inside the barn, the afternoon sunlight cast blocks of light across the space. It was a little warmer inside, thanks to the sturdy walls blocking out the wind. She found Levi at a workbench, driving a nail through two pieces of wood.
He turned to look at her, his eyes drifting from her face to the covered plate in her hand. She held it out to him.
