Читать книгу A Groom For Ruby - Emma Miller - Страница 12

Chapter Four

It was close to six o’clock when Joseph got home from work that night. He’d been laying a line of blocks on a house foundation and wanted to use the last of the mixed cement so that it wouldn’t go to waste. It had been a hot day and he wanted to shower before supper. “I’ll be quick,” he promised his mother as he cut through the kitchen. “I’ve got something exciting to tell you.”

“Your clean clothes are in there,” his mother said, waving in the direction of the bathroom. She was her usual neat and tidy self. She didn’t appear to be a woman who’d done a day’s work and prepared supper on a warm evening. Her kapp and apron were spotless, her complexion was smooth and without blemish, and her shoes were newly shined.

Hair slicked and dressed fit to sit at the table, Joseph took his seat twenty minutes later. He was so excited to share his news that he could hardly keep from tapping the tabletop or bouncing his heel up and down, both of which always made his mother unhappy. She didn’t scold him the way she had when he was younger anymore, but she had a way of expressing her displeasure without words.

“Aunt Milly stopped by today and left us a carrot salad,” she said as she placed a platter of cold ham and cheese in front of him. “So hot today, I thought we’d eat light. But if you’re really hungry, I can fry some chicken.”

“Plenty here,” Joseph said. Which was an understatement. Besides the lunch meat and carrot salad, there was a platter of deviled eggs, coleslaw, sliced onions and tomatoes, Kaiser rolls, homemade applesauce, peanut butter, raisin bread and three quarters of a chocolate pie. “Maybe we should invite the neighbors.”