“Will Rebekah eat soup? If there are potatoes and such, I can start a pot.”
“You should ask her. She’ll be back soon. My darling wife is not good at idleness. You will find some things in there,” he pointed to the pantry she’d barely glanced at last night. “Martha bakes for us, still, and helps out when she has time. There is a root cellar, and the well is near the barn.”
Maggie gasped. “Leopold.”
Franz stared at her, confused. “I beg your pardon?”
“My cat, Leopold. I left him upstairs and he will sulk all day if I don’t let him out soon.”
“Wonderful,” Franz grinned. “I enjoy cats, as does Rebekah. He is welcome to roam about everywhere except our bedroom and my examination rooms, and we keep those doors closed.”
As Franz left, she stepped into the pantry and gazed around in amazement. “There’s more room in here than in our wagon. And so much food.” With reverent touches, she brushed fingers along sacks of flour, baskets of apples and bowls of nuts. A ham hung from the ceiling, a small hunk of cheese in a burlap sack beside it. If the doctor was paid in food, he must be very busy, indeed.
Pulling out what she needed for breakfast, Maggie ran upstairs, released Leo into the back yard, put down a bowl of milk with an egg whipped into it and some shavings from the ham, let the cat back inside when he yowled loudly enough to wake the neighbors, and finally got to work on breakfast.
While she sliced and stirred, an idea took shape in her mind. Until Mrs. Bittner—Rebekah—was up to the task of caring for the household again, she needed help. Though Martha evidently did much of the cooking for the Bittners, she had her own home. And Maggie needed to be useful. It wasn’t just a matter of not accepting charity, as she’d told Reverend Oltmann. She needed to care for other people.
An image of the preacher’s handsome face swam into her mind. He was so very tall, with hair and eyes the deep color of the chocolate Maggie had once had as a treat. After his escort last night, she could attest to his strength. A shiver went through her at the memory of his warm hands covering hers where it rested on his arm. Albert’s touch had never affected her like that, and she’d been in love with him. Or thought she was.
“That’s all in the past, Margaret Marie,” she muttered, biting back the urge to curse the deceptive slug one more time. Unexpected tears stung her eyes. “How could I have ever imagined his feelings were sincere?” The people of River’s Bend had shown her more caring and concern in one night than Albert had in all the months she’d known him.
Refusing to think of how badly she’d been led astray, she set to work on the doctor’s food. In only a few minutes she had a thick slice of ham fried up with two eggs on top, and toasted bread with strawberry jam along side. Maggie smiled in satisfaction. The meal looked good, and she knew it would taste good. Now, if it would only help her cause. “There’s only one way to find out.”
Slipping down the hallway to the small room where her father slept, Maggie tapped quietly on the door. “Doctor Bittner? Breakfast is ready.” Without waiting for him to reply, she returned to the kitchen, alternately practicing what she would say and questioning her wisdom in asking for a job.
In the end, she hadn’t had to ask. After greeting Leo with unconcealed shock at his size, Franz ate his breakfast, poured a second cup of coffee and offered her a job as their housekeeper and cook until Rebekah was feeling stronger.
“Perhaps you would consider staying until the baby is here and she is on her feet again.” Franz imbued the statement with just the right amount of pleading. “My Rebekah wasn’t raised to run a home without help.”
“Her father must have protected her like a princess.”
“No, he did not. But I am now in the position to do so, and I plan to spoil her completely.”
Maggie had to smile at his earnestness. “How will Rebekah feel about suddenly having a housekeeper?”
“She will complain, at least for a short while, then she will let me take care of her as I promised I would.” Franz’s smile dimmed. “I realize it isn’t what you had planned when you stopped in River’s Bend with your wagon,” Franz conceded, “and I cannot offer much in way of payment, but you have a place to live, you will never be hungry or alone, and you can stay close to your papa.”
Maggie agreed almost before he’d finished speaking. “Oh, yes. Thank you, Doctor Bittner. I was trying to decide how to ask for just that arrangement.” With a smile, Franz took the hand she offered and shook to seal their bargain.
“It is a good thing, ja? For all, I think. Now, I will go to tell Rebekah.”