The Tempted Soul Read Free

cheese, creamed corn, and the little red potatoes that Melvin loved roasted in with the meat. It was the kind of meal that, two years ago, she could only have dreamed about.
    Literally. She’d dreamed about food a lot. Endless tables of it—main courses, side dishes, desserts—she’d sat down to many a feast and then awakened in the morning to the cold reality of empty cupboards and a cellar that didn’t contain much more than potatoes and onions. Carrie shuddered at the memory and checked the gas oven to make sure the roast had not browned too much on the top.
    God sent tribulation to try the soul and refine it as gold, but she couldn’t see what good had come of those years other than the fat section of cards in her recipe box, all featuring potatoes and onions. And eggs. She could make more things out of eggs than anyone else she knew.
    The sound of heavy steps on the stairs meant Melvin had finished putting the horse away. He sat on the bench in the mudroom and took off his work boots. “It smells gut in here, Carrie. I’ve had a hungry day.”
    “A short one, too.” She maneuvered the roasting pan onto the counter so the roast could sit for ten minutes, then crossed the kitchen. She framed his upturned face with her patchwork potholders and kissed him, whereupon he grabbed her around the waist.
    “Come here, Fraa, and do that properly.” She dropped into his lap with a squeal. It was hard to kiss and laugh at the same time, but somehow they managed it.
    When he set her on her feet again, and she returned to the stove to stir the corn, she was still smiling. “I thought sure I’d beat you home. Did you decide not to go to Lancaster and all you boys go fishing instead? It was a beautiful afternoon for it.”
    “ Nei , not at all. Brian Steiner would never leave the shop on a work day. The only things he closes for are Thanksgiving, Old Christmas, and the Lord’s Day. No, he told me before I left this morning to start packing.”
    Carrie stopped stirring. “Packing for what?” Oh, surely not. Not another trip, so soon after the last one.
    “Apparently there’s some kind of wood-industry trade show down in Philadelphia this weekend. He’s gone in on a booth with his cousins, who are also in the cabinetmaking business, and he wants me to go.”
    “If he’s gone in on it with his family, then he should go.” Oh dear. That had come out a little sharper than she’d meant it to. She remembered she was stirring creamed corn, and turned the flame down to barely a sputter.
    “Oh, he’s going, all right. But he’s not much of a talker. That’s why he wants me.”
    Melvin sounded so happy that at last he had a skill someone needed that she didn’t have the heart to let him see how much the news had upset her. “How long will you be gone? Just the weekend?” Two days. She could live with two days. She had before.
    “He wants us to go down on the train tomorrow and spend Thursday setting up. The show runs Friday through Monday, but of course our booth will be closed Sunday. With teardown and working up any orders, we’ll miss the Tuesday train, so I suppose we’ll be back Wednesday sometime.”
    “A week.” She schooled her face to calmness, though she felt anything but.
    “I know what you’re thinking, Liebschdi . And I don’t like it either, leaving you alone to manage everything. But this time it will be different.”
    “Different how? Am I to go with you?”
    He actually laughed, as if this idea were absurd. It wasn’t absurd at all. She would love to go to Philadelphia, even if it was to spend a day in some big Englisch convention center, surrounded by machinery and wood products and goodness knows what. At least they would be together.
    “I don’t think there would be much to interest you there. Besides, I might not even come back Wednesday. If I don’t run down there Sunday, I might stop off at the home place and see Mamm and my brothers.”
    “I could do that, too.” Only Emma,