Beneath the Apple Leaves(47)

Andrew kept the six surviving runts from Pieter Mueller in the closed porch. With the cooling nights, the piglets were confined to that one room, bedded in straw-lined wooden crates. The animals had come to him listless, but under his care their bellies swelled and they squirmed and tumbled over one another as they found strength in their legs.

After the day of fishing and tadpole catching with his cousins, a day squeezing some fun between feeding the chickens, hogs and cows, the night came fast and hard and it was nearly dark before dinner.

Lily was pulling her sweater on when Andrew plopped down next to his charges, the box of pigs lighting up with squeals. It was no small effort to feed one piglet while the others fought against the bottle for their turn. Without his other arm to tame the mob, he had to use his knee as an inadequate buffer against the mass of hungry pink bodies.

“Need some help before I go?” asked Lily.

He nodded, the small action taking his focus off the feeding and sending the offended animal into a rage of grunts. Andrew slid to the side to make room for Lily.

“My gosh, they’re loud!” Lily leaned over and picked up a piglet from the pile. Andrew could smell the handmade soap on Lily’s skin and a warmth flooded down his stomach and heated his thighs.

The young woman nestled the pig into her arm, fed it from one of the warm bottles with the cork nipple while she watched Andrew drip milk with precision and concentration. “You were good to save them,” she noted. “Don’t think they would have lived more than a few days.”

“Not out of the woods yet.” He put the sated and drowsy piglet into the straw and picked up the next. “This nursemaid business is harder than it looks. But I guess you know all about that. Twins have been fussing nonstop. Surprised you’re not deaf yet.”

Lily didn’t laugh and her forehead furrowed. “Can I tell you something?”

He faced her completely. “Of course.”

“Those babies—” She stopped for a moment. “They don’t look well.”

“I know.”

She glanced at the door to make sure no one was listening. “Mrs. Kiser’s been giving them cow’s milk, but . . .” She concentrated on the piglet in her arm. “They’re crying just like these runts.”

“Did you talk to her?”

“She knows it, so I didn’t want to make it worse.” Lily bit her lip. “Women take that stuff hard. Becomes personal, you know?” She used a free finger to rub the top of the animal’s wrinkled forehead.

“Dr. Neeb came a few weeks back.”

“I know, but he’s no good. About the weakest man I ever laid eyes on. Sooner have these pigs healing me than Dr. Neeb.

“Your aunt’s scared, Andrew.” Lily pleaded with her whole face. “She’s scared for her babies and she doesn’t know what to do. Making her angry.”

Andrew’s gaze melted into the gentle profile, the perfect slope of her nose and curve of the lips. “Well, if it makes you feel better, you’ve been a big help to her. She likes having you around.”

“I don’t know about that. Feel like I get in the way more often than not. Hurts me something awful to hear those babies crying like that.”

She leaned closer to him, reached over and put the piglet down. So close a few soft hairs from her head touched his cheek. She retreated then and leaned against the wall, folding her legs up under her. “Saw Pieter in the barn with you today. You get on well, don’t you?” she asked uneasily, the color draining from her cheeks.

“Yeah. He’s a good man.”

“Did . . .” She waited, swallowed quickly. “Did he tell you anything about my family?” She flustered. “About me?”

“Yeah.” Andrew nodded. He didn’t want to lie to her. “He shared some things.”

“He tell you about Mary Paulsen?”

Andrew nodded again.

“I hated Frank for that.” Lily’s mouth trembled for just a moment. “Hated him for what he did to the Paulsens. Seeing Mary and her family kicked off their land like that.” Her eyes glistened. “Mary wouldn’t talk to me, wouldn’t even look at me. Not that I blame her. Pieter still hates me because of it.”

Lily pulled her knees to her chest and hugged them, rocked slightly. “I took all the money I had and went to the auction. Bought as much of Mary’s possessions as I could afford. She had the prettiest dresses, Andrew. Her mother made them all by hand. You’ve never seen such lovely clothes. I was lucky to get them.”

He turned away from her now, didn’t understand how the woman who made his heart jump could have acted so greedily.

“Should of seen Claire and me at the post office.” She grinned then. “I got so upset because I didn’t have enough money to mail the box to Minnesota. Poor clerk finally took pity on me and paid the rest.” She sighed. “Never heard back from Mary. Don’t even know if she got all her things I sent. But I hope so. Helps me rest at night thinking that she was still wearing those dresses.”

The relief was sudden and nearly left him giddy. “You bought her things so you could send them to her?”

“Of course. What did you think?” She looked wounded.

“Nothing.” Andrew smiled widely. “You should tell Pieter, though.”