He reckoned he seemed like a madman in his race to put his clothes back on. He’d have to use good manners by the time he moved his family to the homestead, especially because Ma would expect him to behave in front of Ivy. Might as well start now.

Greta was halfway up the hill by the time he shoved his foot all the way into his second boot, stuffed his socks in his pockets, and rushed after her.

“Hold on.” He gripped the handle of one of the buckets. “Let me help.”

She didn’t break her stride. “I can get it just fine. I wouldn’t want to keep you from your work.”

“You ain’t keeping me from nothin’.”

She held the bucket a second longer before she relinquished it. “I suppose you and Judd will be wanting breakfast once you finish with your morning chores.”

“Judd’s been taking care of the grub. I just leave it up to him.”

“Now you can leave it up to me. Tell me when you want to eat, and I’ll have it ready.”

Before he could respond, she halted and touched one of the shrubs that grew along the river. “What kind of berry is this?”

He took a closer look at the dark red clumps amid tangled leaves. “Judd calls them chokecherries.”

“Are they good to eat or poisonous?”

“They ain’t poisonous. But Judd said they earned their name ’cause they’re so tart they can choke a man.”

She set her bucket on the ground and reached into the foliage. She plucked off a cluster, the berries so heavy and dark they appeared almost purple. “They look like blueberries.”

“Definitely not as sweet. The birds like them. So do the bears.”

“Bears?” She took a rapid step back, as if a bear were about to hop out of the bush and tear her to pieces.

He couldn’t hold back a chuckle. “You don’t have to worry about too many bears down here where it’s dry and open. They like to stay farther up in the mountains.”

Her shoulders relaxed. “Then I don’t suppose they’d mind if I took some of the chokecherries, would they?”

“Nope, I don’t reckon they would.”

She began to pick more clusters, making a basket out of her apron. “I don’t know how hard it is to get sugar up here. Or honey? It would be most beneficial if I could start my own bee colony eventually.”

Honey? Bee colony?

“I sold jam back home from the berries—mostly blackberries and raspberries that grew in the wild around the farm.” She was rapidly filling her apron with the chokecherries. “A few years ago, I planted several apple and peach trees. Last summer, my harvest was big enough to make apple and peach jam too.”