Abram's Daughters: The Betrayal Part 6

Oh, Jonas, I can hardly wait to see you again! To think we'll be joining church together.

All my love, Your faithful Leah She folded the letter and slipped it into the envelope. In no hurry to leave the quiet woodland setting, she leaned her head against the locust tree and stared high into its leafy structure. Her life was about to change forever. No longer would she live under the protective covering of her father, though she would always love and respect him and Mamma both. Her place amongst the People would be that of Jonas's helpmeet and wife, and the mother of his children in due season.

Since Dat had read to her Catharina's final testimony of faith, Leah had been thinking constantly of the Anabaptist 83Idelrayal martyrs. She struggled with the thing that separated her from i lie dedicated church members right here in Gobbler's k.n.o.b the terrible secret she kept locked away inside. She 11uly felt the Holy One of Israel was calling her to repent of i he sisterly covenant made last year, though she dreaded what Mich a thing might do to her and Sadie's relations.h.i.+p.

In the end Dat would understand if she broke her vow to Siidie. With his concern about Sadie's rumschpringe, he would undoubtedly accept the dire revelation of his firstborn's misconduct as true, but would it cause him undue grief?

Mamma, though she would agree with Dat, would undersiund why Leah had made the covenant in the first place.

And what of Aunt Lizzie? Leah felt her cheeks burn, knowing Lizzie was unyielding when it came to the tie that hinds. She'd made her promise to Sadie, as well.

The battle within Leah's heart between doing what she knew was the right thing and keeping her word to Sadie was < ausing="" her="" to="" lose="" her="" appet.i.te.="" she="" found="" herself="" whispering="" iote="" but="" fervent="" prayers,="" not="" just="" at="" mealtime="" and="" bedtime,="" but="" ;ill="" the="" day="">

Walking barefoot to the Nolts' house, Mary Ruth heard a pair of woodp.e.c.k.e.rs hidden in the trees that rimmed the road. I 'hough she couldn't see them just now, she knew they were 11inch larger than the bats Dat sometimes spotted in the barn rafters of a night. Their wedge-shaped tails steadied their black bodies as they flew from tree to tree, driving hard bills Jeep into tree bark in search of a succulent insect dinner.

She kept to the left side of the road, still baffled by her lather's voluntarily allowing her to work for fancy folk. To be

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-/ J2e sure, Aunt Lizzie had played a part. Seemed most anything Lizzie wanted lately she got, especially if Dat had much to say about it.

Awful surprising, she thought as she headed off to her first day on the job with the nice Englishers and their infant son. When she'd gone to meet them with Aunt Lizzie yesterday after supper, she'd noticed right away the baby's dark hair, unlike his blond and blue-eyed parents, though neither of them seemed to pay any mind. Dottie Nolt had quietly shared with her that baby Carl was indeed adopted, not common knowledge. Now in their midthirties, the Nolts were pleased to have a little one to love as their own. Mary Ruth thought they must be churchgoers because Dottie had told her yesterday they were planning to have their baby dedicated to G.o.d in church soon. There was something awful special about knowing they wanted to raise their little one with the Lord G.o.d's blessings. It made her respect them, English or not, though she scarcely knew them.

"h.e.l.lo again, Mary Ruth," Dottie greeted her at the front door.

"Hullo," she replied. Stepping into the thoroughly modern front room, Mary Ruth felt such gladness to be here again. She had an uncanny connection to the larger world here. It was just as some of her older girlfriends had described their first visit to downtown Lancaster that unspeakable, somewhat delirious feeling of rumschpringe being allowed to experience something other than the society of the People ... truly the only thing she knew.

After she was offered a gla.s.s of lemonade, freshly squeezed just like Mamma's, Mary Ruth agreed to sweep and scrub both85 the entry hall and the kitchen floors. "I'll even get down on nil fours like Mamma does at home," she told Dottie.

Her employer appeared somewhat surprised, eyebrows arching as she smiled. "I can see I'm going to become very spoiled with you around, Mary Ruth."

So she took extra care to reach far into all the corners and crevices, was.h.i.+ng the floor by hand. When that ch.o.r.e was complete, she dusted the front room. Carefully removing knickknacks and magazines from the sofa tables, she hummed, enjoying herself far more than she'd ever dreamed possible In a worldly home, of all things. Except she'd seen an open Bible in both the kitchen and now here, on what Dottie culled the "coffee table." Interesting, to be sure.

Moving upstairs, she couldn't help but think of the extra mi >ney she was going to earn. What a good idea to put it away Inr future schooling needs. Dat would have a fit when he put I wt > and two together and discovered what she was saving up for. Yet it wasn't as if she had sought out this work. The whole thing had fallen into her lap, thanks to Aunt Lizzie.

Hannah, on the other hand, had appeared startled about this opportunity. "How will ya keep up with your homework once school starts?" she had asked Mary Ruth in the privacy i >l I heir bedroom last night.

"Dottie Nolt wants me only two or three times a week. That's all."

"Twice oughta keep the house clean enough, seems to me," Hannah replied.

"Maybe so, but I want to please my first employer. I'll still have plenty of time to help Mamma at home."

So, after talking it over with Mamma, Mary Ruth agreed

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Lu J2, that if the job interfered with schoolwork, she'd ask Sadie to fill in for a while. But she doubted that would work, what with Sadie seeming to recoil at the sight of her own baby sister. Mary Ruth truly wondered about that.

just now, going into the darling nursery, she stopped to admire a framed wall painting above the dresser a small boy with suntanned legs making chase after a lone orange-brown b.u.t.terfly that appeared to be just out of reach. She'd seen bright-colored b.u.t.terflies like that many times in the high meadow over near Blackbird Pond, out behind smithy Peachey's bank barn and blacksmith shop.

The painting made her smile, and she set to work dusting the dresser thoroughly before moving on to the oak rocker, cleaning the rungs beneath. A peek at the empty crib let her know baby Carl was either cradled in his new mother's arms or tucked away for a nap in the wicker ba.s.sinet near the kitchen. Such a wondrous thing, these folk opening their home and their joyful hearts to an orphaned baby.

Eager to complete her housekeeping ch.o.r.es in an acceptable manner, Mary Ruth attended to every detail. When the rocking chair was polished, she moved to the round lamp table nearby. To her surprise, there on the table lay yet another open Bible, same as the two downstairs. She saw that a verse from the Psalms was underlined in red As the hartpanteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O G.o.d.

Why so many copies of the Good Book in the house? she wondered. Was Dottie a follower of the Jehovah Lord? Were there Englishers who were also devout like the People? For sure and for certain, the idea of an open Bible in every room and in a fancy home was ever so curious.

87lO e i r a u a t Distracted and restless, Abram worked up a sweat redding Up the barn for the Lord's Day gathering and the young people's singing that was to follow tomorrow evening. He'd made the decision to have the church benches set up on the threshlny floor, where an occasional breeze might do some good I-roping folk awake instead of the way it had been two weeks ,i);u, when he and everyone else had been helpless to fight off ilie heat-induced stupor. And with Ida still tending closely to ilidr infant daughter, the housework of removing all the rugs inul rearranging the furniture would have fallen to the girls Mild Lizzie. Truly, it was better to have church in the barn, where he would plan the seating arrangement and direct the lVople to their seats.

He was mighty glad to have a strong helping hand this .iliernoon with the heavier duties. Far as he was concerned, ' 'inithy Gid could easily become a necessary right arm to him, what with Johr*suffering a hip ailment clear out of the blue.

Working with Gid, he shoveled manure out of the stable Hi t'lU Then they raked and swept clean the widest area of the thres.h.i.+ng floor, where the People would sit as hearers of the Word.

" 'S'mighty gut of you to help," Abram said, pus.h.i.+ng hard mi I he long-handled broom. "Glad to do it." . .'..

^H "Ain't so certain how I'll manage here in a few weeks." HP Gid nodded but kept working. "I wonder 'bout that, too,

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ly Abram. But more and more Pop needs me to help him with some of the smithy work."

Abram knew that, all right. But there was no real need to address the event both men dreaded. The topic of Leah's impending marriage was something they avoided discussing altogether. Abram had witnessed firsthand Gid's feelings for Leah, saw the hopeless longing in the young man's eyes whenever she was anywhere near.

Abram's feeble attempt to get Jonas Mast out of town and off to Ohio had backfired. The time apart had served only to solidify their love, visible by the number of Ohio letters arriving each week. So Leah had fallen in love with the boy she believed was to be her life mate... although Abram would be surprised if she and Jonas ended up together.

He heard the sound of the horses and buggies now, the womenfolk arriving to help Ida make ready for the common meal tomorrow. Plenty of baking would take place in the Ebersol kitchen this day. Will Leah and Lizzie be on hand to help Ida? he wondered. The chummy twosome had gone to run an errand an hour or so ago.

Frankly, it was downright unnerving how Lizzie had inched her way deeper into their lives, all of them. First she'd gotten her grip on Sadie last year. Now Leah. Worst of all, Lizzie had pressed Abram to make a hasty decision over an English housekeeping job down the road a piece giving him no breathing room. He had little choice but to do things Lizzie's way to keep her hushed up ... for now. Alas, Lizzie Brenneman was railroading him down a path of her own choosing. Downright unbecoming of her.

Ida, on the other hand, wasn't much help, either. Seemed90/Oeirayal IiIn wife and her sister were out of check, and the bishop wnnkl tell him so if he sought out spiritual counsel. He was liihlni; sway over his family in more ways than one, and growlli(-i wi'nry before his time.

As for the upper hand, he also felt at a loss when it came In Ins lather-in-law. It struck him as peculiar that John's b.u.m I Up, il real, had come on the heels of a fiery discussion coni nhing none other than Lizzie and her past blunders, though It H in ;igo confessed. Thus Ida's sister was causing strife at every Ii.iiuI. He'd have to put a stop to it before things spun cornI'li'U'ly out of control.

Turning his attention back to the barn cleanup, Abram ! iii'w he'd be tuckered out by this time tomorrow. No doubt he iind Ida would rise early and dress for the Lord's Day right quirk after Lydiann's early-morning feeding, around three-I1 inly. There was much to be organized before the member- liip began to arrive two hundred thirty-eight strong, and 111.my more wee ones on the way.

So he and the young man who he hoped might still Income his son-in-law continued that most honorable and .11 n'd task: making an acceptable place of wors.h.i.+p in the il^lil of the Lord G.o.d and the People.91^Jp'

0-t- ffi.

'i-'M' & T.

1 In-morning mist took too long to burn off, revealing at lliNl ;i cloudless, pure sky. By the time Dat and Leah had finlulled the milking, Sadie, Mamma, and the twins had cooked up u full breakfast of fried eggs and bacon, along with some ii. ih fruit, toast, jelly, and milk. "Best not dally," Mamma i 11 n led the girls, though they knew better than to linger on iliii Lord's Day. "There'll be folks arrivin' well before nine ' lock, to be sure."

Sadie didn'isjnuch care when the People came. They were ill Moing to be sitting on the church benches in the smelly I, un (he last place she'd like to be today. But go she must.

Her parents' closed-door conversation of four nights ago nil rung in her ears. Pity's sake, she'd thought so long and 11 ml nbout what she'd overheard she'd made herself sick. One 11111 iK was sure, she was convinced they knew something of her i >' k loss year with Derry, that good-for-nothing boy who'd I 'M >ught an everlasting stain on her life.

Thinking on all this, she decided then and there ...

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-lu maybe she was just too ill to attend church today. She could take herself off to the high meadow and try to keep from being queasy. Dat might not believe her, but Mamma would and so would Aunt Lizzie if it came to that.

Before the womenfolk were to file into the barn prior to Preaching, Leah was surprised to see Naomi come running over to join her and Adah Peachey, along with the twins and Mamma babe in arms and the Ebersol family cl.u.s.ter. The main thing on Leah's mind was Sadie, who wasn't where she was supposed to be just now. Boldly, her sister had gone up to the outhouse right quick before the service was close to beginning. Never mind her, thought Leah, dismissing her errant sister. If she comes, she comes.

Leah got herself into the line for church, behind the baptized single girls at the front. The earthy scent of cats and hay and cattle filled her nose. Best smells on earth, she thought, ever so glad to be alive as she shook hands with Preacher Yoder and the visiting minister from Ninepoints.

She noticed Ezra and Elias Stoltzfus turn their heads in unison when spotting Hannah and Mary Ruth, but the twins reverently walked toward the benches set up for the womenfolk and young children. Though Leah did not crack a smile, inwardly she was amused and gladly so. Someday her younger sisters might end up married to the deacon's boys. Who was to tell? But if so, her nieces and nephews, Hannah's and Mary Ruth's babies the whole lot of them now, wouldn't they resemble each other? Cousins, for sure, but even closer.

What a bright future they all had, including Sadie if she'd just get her tail feathers down here to settle in for the Preach-

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Illy ncrvi.ee. And not only did she need to hear the Word of win1 Lord ... but Leah had just this minute decided Sadie Uvilyht benefit from another straight talk. Life was too short to mike risks with eternity, and her own conscience weighed ever hi i heavily.

The. raucous come-hither trill of a group of blue jays cut 11 < .si="" i="" 11="" ness="" at="" the="" end="" of="" the="" long,="" final="" prayer="" after="" the="" threeliiiiir="" meeting.="" once="" the="" people="" were="" seated="" again="" after="" kneeliniii="" i="" vacon="" stoltzfus="" rose="" and="" announced="" the="" location="" of="" the="" lii-si="" sunday="" preaching,="" "in="" two="" weeks="" at="" smithy="" peachey's="" i="">

plill C.

Then, when the meeting was opened up for any business I In be conducted relating to church discipline, there was an I ..lie involving "a reckless teenager," or so the member K polled. That being the case, the closing hymn was sung and i he youngsters began silently filing out of the barn, followed ,1'Y i he unbaptized, single young people. Another forty inimlies or so of pointed discussion was to follow, including 11ir humiliating possibility of the wayward youth having to i . in less before the People.

I eah s.h.i.+vered, wis.h.i.+ng Sadie had been present at Preachiiii: today. Aware of the secret members' meeting now going nil, she felt sure it might have put the fear of G.o.d in her sister.

Mary Ruth hurried with Hannah to help Mamma, Leah, j iiinl Lizzie with a smorgasbord-style spread laid out on long

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It, e tables in the sunny kitchen. Today being a perfect day for a picnic, the People would eat and fellows.h.i.+p on the grounds. Bread and homemade b.u.t.ter, sliced cheeses, dill and sweet pickles, strawberry jam, red beets, half-moon apple pies, and ice-cold lemonade the standard light fare for a summer Sunday go-to-meeting. Not that a body could eat himself full on such, a menu. It was merely intended to squelch growling stomachs till the People could ride horse and buggy back home.

"Has anybody seen Sadie?" Mary Ruth asked of Leah and Hannah.

c 'Sadie's sittin' up in the meadow, head between her knees like she's under the weather," Aunt Lizzie offered.

Mary Ruth joked, " 'Cept ain't it an awful nice day to "

"Now, leave her be," Mamma spoke up.

.At this Mary Ruth turned to Hannah and frowned. , "You heard Mamma," Hannah whispered.

Still, Mary Ruth wondered how Sadie could get by with skipping church, soaking up the suns.h.i.+ne instead. Unless she was ill. But if she was simply having a sulk, well, then it didn't make sense. Why would Sadie bring unnecessary shame to her parents on the day they hosted the church meeting?

After the noon meal, enjoyed on the rolling lawns, the young men gradually began to gather in the barnyard. There they congregated in one of two groups: the more pious teens some baptized and some not and the known rebels 95lOetrayal wln> I ypically ignored the rules of dress, conduct, and were all- 11Hiiul less serious minded.

I'lias stood with the teens known for following the letter I I Ik-law, even though he was also hipperdiglipp the type of 11 I low who rode his new pony cart to the limits of speed and liniifj;, I )n her way back from the outhouse, Mary Ruth stumbled 11 iihi Hlias and had to swallow her nervousness. She'd never 1'ieii rhis alone with him, except for that one time at the i- .;cialile stand, nearly a year ago. Her resolve not to pay him my mind flew out the window. She was ever so eager to reply il lie should happen to speak to her.

And speak he did, removing his straw hat. "Hullo, Mary I'uili, How are ya?"

Well, she might've thought the Lord G.o.d himself had I-'mended and stood before her, she was that tongue-tied. "I ... uh, hullo."

She wanted to say more, truly she did. Not lose her words in (his hopeless stuttering, of all things. Should she try to talk it .;iiin/ She might not get a second chance today, and the next 11 ii it-lo prove herself to be a bright and expressive young woman would be another two weeks away. Be calm, she told I mi self. Breathe deep ... stand tall.

1 le scratched his tousled red hair and nodded. He was lookin) ; ai her, sure as anything, and she tried ever so hard not to i.iiv back. Yet his eyes drew her, pulled her like iron to a magi i. I ;or what seemed like a full minute, he stood smiling down I1 her. "Awful nice seein' you again, Mary Ruth."

"Denki thank you" was all she managed to say before he was on his way. Oh, she could just kick herself for being so

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