“The upper beams’ll be goin’ up in a moment,” Caroline said, placing her hand gently on Hope’s shoulder. “We’ll all wanna watch that.”
Hope had seen it before but always marveled at how it was done, the way the men worked together to hoist the framework of the roof. She never envied the poor men who had to go to the top and join everything together, make sure everything was flush and perfectly joined. At least this barn didn’t appear to be too horribly tall. She’d heard of people falling to their deaths or to great injury and silently wished Doc was there with them in case someone was injured.
“Don’t worry, they’ll be fine,” Caroline assured her as if she could read her mind.
“They gotta good supervisor,” Melissa added with a laugh, also patting Hope on the arm, and then both of the ladies walked away giggling, leaving Hope to wonder what that meant and what she should be doing to help.
She didn’t get too far into the deciding process when there were shouts that the final beams for the roof were being lifted into place. She imagined there’d been just as much excitement earlier when the men had used poles and ropes to get the walls upright, but she’d missed all of that. Now, the children and women all walked closer to the barn together to watch the large support beam that ran across the top of the barn for the structure of the roof to be lifted into place.
It was hard work, especially since there weren’t as many men as Hope was used to seeing. But they all worked together to hoist it up, and then she realized who was waiting for it at the top, poised on a beam so high in the sky, she might not have recognized him if it weren’t for the way the sun glinted off the shock of caramel brown hair poking out from beneath his hat. And then she heard him give a direction and was certain Judah was in charge of this operation.
The sun was beating down already, and all of the men were covered in sweat. She could see the grimaces on their faces as they struggled to overcome gravity, but with one final heave, the beam was raised, and Judah was able to work one end into place. He balanced on a plank of wood narrower than his feet were wide and made his way to the other end of the barn, making sure that one fell into place as well and then pulled a hammer and large nails out of his belt to fasten it into place. Everyone cheered as one end was secured and then after careful trapeze work, so was the other.
“That would’ve been much easier if there were more men,” Caroline muttered under her breath.
“It’s done now,” another woman—Rita, Hope remembered—said patting her on the arm. “Come on. They’ll be wanting to stop to eat soon.”
“You think?” Caroline asked. “Judah will keep ‘em workin’ as long as he can.” They both chuckled like there was a history to that statement.
Hope turned to walk away with the other ladies, fighting the urge to turn and look at Judah one more time. She was acting like a silly schoolgirl, gawking at him all the time. The number of reasons why she should just avoid him at all costs was higher than she could even begin to count.
“Anna! Water!” Brady’s booming voice reverberated around her, and Hope did turn, then, seeing Anna pick up two empty buckets, each with a ladle in it. She’d seen other women carrying them back and forth earlier but hadn’t taken a turn because she didn’t want to speak to either of the men she knew or any of the ones she didn’t.
Anna was mumbling as she walked past Hope. “Do you need some help?”
“Nah, I got it.” Her disposition suggested she didn’t appreciate the way Brady spoke to her, and Hope couldn’t blame her. Anna passed her, headed at an angle to the house, but then someone at the table called her over, and she set the buckets down, hurrying over to help another woman with something in one of the baskets, which Hope couldn’t see.
By the time Hope got to the table, Anna was involved in another activity, and Hope imagined she might’ve forgotten the men were waiting for a drink. She glanced at the buckets and then back at the barn. The frame was so impressive, standing there against an azure sky. Hardly a cloud dotted the horizon, but the sun was bright and harsh, even for an early spring day.
“Should I fill the buckets?” Hope asked no one in particular. The other women were busy unpacking baskets, setting dishes down the center of the table. She cleared her throat and asked again, “Should I fetch the water?”
Evelynn, the pastor’s wife, called over her shoulder, “Yes, dear. That would be lovely of you. Pump’s a little hard to find.” She gestured in a vague direction toward the far side of the house.
Hope figured she could manage to find the pump. She was certain it must look like every other pump she’d ever seen, though once she had buckets in hand and began to look for it, she noticed Melissa had plenty of flowers growing in the beds around her house that might obscure it. She wandered around the corner and took in the pond. It looked cool and inviting and she thought it was too bad those poor men couldn’t take a dunk really quickly as relief from the scorching sun.
She turned the corner to see if perhaps the pump was on the back side of the house, closer to the well, and promptly dropped both buckets with a clatter. Her mouth gaped open as she took in the sight of Judah Lawless shirtless with rivulets of water running down his well sculpted chest past the muscles of his abdomen, wetting the waistband of his tan trousers, which were belted just below his navel. Hope’s eyes wandered of their own accord farther than they should have and then back up again to blue eyes wide with the degree of shock Hope felt at stumbling upon such a vision. And yet, despite her gasp and the fact that she realized she’d intruded on a private moment, she could not look away.