Abram's Daughters 04 The Prodigal (7 page)

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in flic other hand, was all boy strong, as he had declared to

Bill ill' them this afternoon, and afraid of nothing, least of all

ike cold plank flooring. He climbed jagged tree trunks and

l"oiij,'h stone walls, even crawling halfway up the silo one day

B-iisi October, to Leah's dismay and Dat's forced laughter,

Jiiuigh Dat's face had turned ever so pasty. Some boys are just

mum tougher than others, Dat had said with a healthy dose of

Bride, but Sadie decided, then and there, that Dat viewed

Mio's daring from the standpoint of previously having raised

inly girls.

I All that aside, both Lydiann and Abe were the happiest

1)1 children, and their cheerful faces reminded her of earlier

liiys growing up in this old farmhouse, when she and Mamma

i:id been ever so close, spending all day together cooking and

miking, cleaning and talking ... as fond of each other as

lydiann and Abe were of Leah now.

B "Anybody for hot chocolate?" She sang the question as

Bhe carried the tray into the front room.

"Ach, we'll come to you," Leah said, meeting her halfway.

No need to risk spills with youngsters."

f' That waSjjLeah, always thinking on the practical side. No

wonder Mamma had chosen her to raise Abe and Lydiann.

No wonder Aunt Lizzie looked ever so kindly on Leah; each

t ime Sadie happened to glance at her aunt, she was aware of

that deep admiration.

Tuesday, December 25, 1956 Dear Diary,

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I feel sure it won't be long now and our new baby will make his or her entrance into this world. Goodness, it would be awful nice if we'd have a boy to help Gid and Dat and young Abe with the outdoor work. Leah encourages Lydiann to be out in the barn and whatnot more than I see necessary. But, more and more, Leah and Dat are having equal say in the raising of Lydiann and Abe, seems to me. 1 suppose that is both good and bad, although I'd have to agree with Gid that Leah dotes on Abe rather too much. She's awful protective of him, even saying he isn't old enough to go ice fishing with Dat, Gid, and Smitty come this Saturday, but Abe begged and pleaded and got Dat to intervene but quick. So they're all planning to go over to Blackbird Pond early that morning, more than likely as soon as milking's through. I hope I have this baby before then. Most uncomfortable I'm becoming!

Gid and I have together decided there's nothing whatsoever wrong with having the Hexedokder wait in the front room when I go into labor with this one. just knowing that, I'm already feeling much better . . . whether or not my mother-inlaw's in favor of this. She's beginning to irk me some, what with all the say-so she's been given by the bishop, no less in overseeing Sadie's Proving. Give some folk a bit of authority and they crave even more. I hope Sadie behaves herself, truly I do, but it's hard to know what's going on in her head, let alone her heart. She seems more brooding than I remember her to be ... and no wonder, given what she's gone through.

Last night I had a troubling dream, one I don't know what to make of. All of us were gathered, sniffling, in a small, dark room, surrounded by unrecognizable sounds. Dat's face was drained of color, and he was struck dumb, unable to speak. Leah, though I recognized only her form, stood tall, like a beacon of light in the dimness. Since I don't normally have such dreams, I wonder if this was a result of all the sweets I've been

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iiihhlmv on this week. Then again, I hope it's not a bad omen. /i'i Mire and for certain, we've had our share of heartache mmul here.

Respectfully,

Hannah

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iv lidmorning Thursday Abram and Gid cut down the dead branches left dangling by the heavy snows, spending a good part of the sunny but cold morning dragging chopped limbs into the woodshed to dry. Abram enjoyed working with his son-in-law and he told him so. "You just don't know how lonely an old man I'd be without ya workin' by my side."

Gid looked at him cockeyed, as if to indicate he wasn't used to hearing such soft words from a man. "You ain't old, Abram."

"Oh, but I feel my age ev'ry morning when I rise. Besides that, my baby boy is seven today."

Gid went about stacking the branches, remaining silent, as if waiting for him to continue.

"Next farm auction, you and I oughta go together. Abe will prob'ly jump at the chance to miss a day of school, too, 'cept Leah will frown on that." He rambled on, saying how well both Abe and Lydiann were doing in their studies. "I can only hope they don't get the notion to seek after higher education like Mary Ruth did."

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I Al'iiim wouldn't admit to worrying like an old hen some ly* nl 11 ml losing more of his family to the fancy English Mifhl. No way, nohow, did it look like Mary Ruth would ever Vi ii|> I it-1- new life, with its electricity, fast cars, and Bible wdit I;act was, she was getting herself in deeper all the nt, ^^ 11:11 with spending nearly all her free time with the Hjjet'oi':. elder son, Robert. Well, he had no intention of letfcg In:, mind wander in that direction, so he straightened MdiM'll 'ind asked Gid what he thought about asking Gid's fnlht'i in-law Sam Ebersol to join them for ice fishing on tuiday.

Wp C iid nodded his assent.

I "I'll ride over there and talk to Sam this afternoon, then," bruin said. "We'll have us some tasty fish to fry up for supper A|h weekend." The thought of the catch and the time of felinwship sent his spirits soaring.

I ;ol lowing the noon meal, Sadie dried and put away the

li.hes anckutensils, then headed to the front room, where she

ii to finish stitching a floral design on a set of pillowcases

i hat had arrived a month ago in the trunk containing her

u-dding gifts and small household linens from Indiana. When

11 ic sudden sound of knocking came at the front door, she was

uiprised to see the mailman standing on the porch.

"Good afternoon," the man wearing the familiar postal Ii,n said. "Sorry to bother you on this cold day, but I thought M hest to be extra careful with this letter delivery." He held iii11 to her a stained envelope with the words Return to sender .Limped across the front. "Looks like this here got lost

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somehow or other," he said, pointing out the October 1947 postmark, "nine years ago now."

Sadie nodded her astonished thanks and stood at the door holding the letter marred and frayed by the years. Upon careful examination of its terribly faded writing, she was stunned to realize it was an unopened letter from Leah to Jonas Mast. Somehow it had found its way to the Ebersol Cottage.

Could this be the letter I threw away?

Turning it over, she saw the envelope was soiled, as if it had, indeed, been in a pile of rubbish at one time. Yet how on earth had it resurfaced after nearly a decade?

Impossible, she thought, noticing the letter was still sealed shut.

Having attempted to bury the shameful deed deep within her forgetfulness, she felt convicted as she stared at the envelope, evidence of her wrongdoing.

What should I do now?

She and Leah had forged a new relationship these months since Sadie's return, and she was far too hesitant to open up an old and hurtful wound. Besides, there'd been many letters flying back and forth between Leah and Jonas when this letter was written.

She'd thrown it away once in the heat of anger; why not discard it again? Better yet. . . burn it. Coming clean about this dreadful thing would serve no purpose now. Best to leave things be, let the truth remain concealed and her sin covered up once and for all.

Or, better still, she could simply slip the letter into the mailbox for Leah to discover on her own. No confession required. Even though Leah might wonder why Jonas had never opened the letter, or why it was being returned all these

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til'*! lult'i, Siulic's part in its disappearance would remain

fadlm nvciid. Besides, wasn't she already paying for past sins?

pU1 implied Proving was proof, and she could never ever go

MM l mill nj.;lil nil the wrongs.

I Num,'inj; ihoughts tormented her as she paced the floor.

Rlhr nil, I his letter was by no means her property. Leah

li ived tn have it returned to her with a full apology.

I What will good-hearted Leah think of me? Will she despise me?

In crlnjvd at the prospect of the confession Leah surely

'- i veil.

I Vci iIk- lact Leah seemed so jovial, what with today being

I|m ' , birthday and all, made Sadie feel her sister might take

llr news of the long-lost letter awful hard.

I Not today, she thought. Nothing good would come of the

mil iliis day. Heart pounding, she slipped the letter into her

Iff v. pocket and hurried upstairs, where she deposited it

plvvccn several layers of clothing in her own drawer in the

111 bureau.

I Ivi-ling justified in her choice to ignore this for the time

JfiK. with Leah's best interest at heart, Sadie hurried back

BWiisisiirs and picked up her sewing with trembling hands.

j I cab was glad to get out and breathe some fresh air that ltd noon. Abe and Lydiann were filled with chatter during Ir buggy ride to visit Uncle Jesse Ebersol and his family, and rub was hoping her dearest friend, Adah, might be on hand, I well. Sadie had also agreed to come along, though not as Berly as Leah would have thought, seeing as they'd all been her cooped up in the house. For her part, Aunt Lizzie had

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looked a bit droopy in the face when Leah announced they were heading over to Jesse's for an afternoon visit. Lizzie felt she ought to stay home with Dawdi John something it seemed to Leah was becoming her lot in life. Leah felt a twinge of sadness at the thought of Aunt Lizzie once again missing out on an opportunity to do the kind of visiting she so thoroughly enjoyed, and Leah promptly decided she would offer to stay behind next outing.

"Too bad Lizzie couldn't join us," Dat said when they were about halfway there.

"She's such a kindhearted soul, never complains 'bout tending to Dawdi's needs," Leah agreed.

Dat turned and smiled at her full in the face. "Sounds like someone else I know." He clicked his tongue and the horse sped up some.

"Oh, for goodness' sake," Leah said, catching on.

Sadie, sitting to Leah's left, patted her sister's shoulder. "Jah, 'tis for goodness' sake!"

Dat said no more, and Leah was suddenly conscious of Lydiann's voice in the seat behind her. "You daresn't tell nobody," Lydiann was saying, soft and low, to her brother.

"I won't promise not to tell," Abe said. "That's girl talk."

"No . . . no, now you listen to me," Lydiann's voice grew louder for a moment, then softer.

From that, Leah assumed Lydiann was cupping her hand around Abe's ear. Evidently she was not to be privy to the rest of this furtive conversation, and she wasn't so sure she cared to be, especially when the name of Carl Nolt was mentioned several times in the space of the next few seconds.

Leah remembered what she had been thinking and doing as a girl Lydiann's age. Nearly all her waking hours had been

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jpenl working around the animals feeding and watering them, cleaning the stalls, working with Dat in the fields, too. Thankfully Mamma had birthed Abe, which meant Lydiann imild learn to cook and sew at a young age, unlike Leah, who hud never attended a quilting frolic till she was nearly sixteen.

1 >lu- smiled, recalling that first quilting, how she'd pulled up a I hair to the enormous frame where the colorful Diamond-ini he-Square pattern was to be stitched. So much water had passed under the bridge since that September day. Truly now .he was her own person, with the Lord God's help, and mighty glad of it, too. Gone were the days of longing for what .'.lie didn't have, and she was as content as when she had been j (rowing up under Dat's and Mamma's watchful eyes on their peaceful farm.

Sadie startled her out of her reverie. "Oh, lookee there, Leah. Adah's come."

Sure enough, dear Adah was getting down out of the family carriage, her two young sons already scurrying about as she turned to wave.

She looks so happy, thought Leah. Adah's husband, Sam, Leah's fir* cousin, was a hardworking and kind man, and as Sam and Adah picked their way through the snow toward the big clapboard farmhouse, Leah recognized again how nice it was that Adah was now her cousin, as well as her closest friend.

"If Adah and Sam are here, don't ya think Smitty and Miriam might just show up, too?" Leah asked, hoping so for Sadie's sake, since heavy snow had kept any of them from I romping through the drifts to visit the Peachey farm the past few days. Smitty had driven over in his sleigh to deliver pretty bags of hard candy and nuts for Lydiann and Abe on

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Christmas Eve, but none of them had ventured out on foot to take baked goods to Miriam Peachey, who, she'd heard, was looking ahead to vacating the main farmhouse and moving into the Dawdi Haus come spring. Dorcas, their youngest, and her husband, Sam Ebersol's best friend, Joseph Zook, and little ones planned to take over the Peachey farm. From what Dat had told Leah, Smitty wasn't quite ready to throw in the towel and fully retire; he would keep a hand in shoeing horses, gradually turning over more of his customers to Gid as time went by.

As Dat brought the horse to a stop, Lydiann broke the stillness, telling Abe what Carl had recently told her at school. "A two-year-old Amish neighbor boy named Johnnie Weaver drank some kerosene and had to be rushed to the emergency room last week," she said. . , .

"No foolin'?" Abe replied. :

"I guess he was okay once he got some oxygen."