Hidden Mercies by Serena B. Miller Page A

mechanics of a helicopter. He could help Levi, and he wanted to.
    “How bad is that hand?”
    “I don’t know. I just now hurt it.”
    “Let’s get it cleaned up and tended to, and then I’ll help you fix that tractor.”
    “You can do that?”
    “Yes.” He dropped his duffel bag on the ground. “If you don’t mind.”
    Once they got all the grease off Levi’s hand, the injuryturned out to be not much more than some badly skinned knuckles. He felt bad for Levi, who he soon discovered had no working knowledge of combustion engines at all.
    “How on earth do you keep your car running?” he finally asked.
    “Grace takes care of that.” Levi sounded a little embarrassed. “Grace takes care of a lot of things.”
    “I’m sure having a competent wife is a good thing.”
    “Oh, it is,” Levi said. “But it is hard to figure out how to be the leader in my home when my wife knows so much more than me that she has to teach me how to change a lightbulb.”
    “I’m sure there are things you could teach her.”
    “Like what? How to weave a basket? How to harness a horse? How to fix a buggy wheel?” Levi’s voice rose and Tom could tell that he had been distraught over this for a long time. “These are not skills that Grace needs or wants. I even had to depend on her to teach me how to take her out to a restaurant and how to purchase tickets at a movie house.”
    “Does she mind?”
    “She says she doesn’t. But she complains about other things.”
    Tom didn’t ask what, but Levi seemed determined to tell him.
    “She says I compare her cooking to my mother’s.”
    “Do you?”
    There was a long pause. “Maybe.”
    Tom tightened a screw on the motor. “Perhaps you could buy her a cookbook.”
    “Have you seen Grace angry?”
    “Not yet.”
    “Then don’t suggest she buy a cookbook. I already tried that. It did not go well.” Levi shook his head. “She talks about not having gotten a necessary gene to make her as good a cookas the Amish, but when I tried to help her by buying her a cookbook for our anniversary, she blew up.”
    “I’m sorry, Levi.”
    “If I would allow it, she would live in jeans and T-shirts. She says they are comfortable, but I think she does not know how much they show off her body. I do not see a need for other men to see that. I think it is not unreasonable for me to ask her to wear dresses. After all, I don’t dress the way I used to either. And it is my job as head of our home to take care of the finances. I am very good at figures and she is not. But will she accept my headship? No. She insists on paying bills, and makes a mess of our checkbook.”
    Evidently Levi had been building up a head of steam for a long time. Tom was not enjoying this conversation, but he thought perhaps he was helping Levi depressurize a little.
    “She wants to fight me on not going back to work after the baby is born—but everyone knows a woman should not work after she has children.”
    Tom thought about all the women he knew who managed to balance both—including Levi’s own mother—but thought better of it. Let Levi get it all off his chest.
    “And even though we agreed before we got married that we would not watch television, now she complains about missing it. She says she just wants to watch a program every once in a while. Sometimes I know she sneaks over to Elizabeth’s Daadi Haus to watch it there. I love her, but I do not know what to do with her.”
    Tom couldn’t help but think of the men who would think that they had died and gone to heaven if they had a wife like Grace, but telling Levi that would do no good. In fact, he had no idea what to tell Levi. But in all the things he had told him, there was one he thought might be an easy fix.
    “I know how to fix this motor, and I can teach you—butdo you want some advice about your marriage from a man who doesn’t have a clue what he’s talking about?”
    Levi sat back and didn’t say anything for a moment.
    “I will