She took courage in that. While her life had been difficult the past two years, she wasn’t alone. Others had it worse.
“Seems there are always babes visiting.” Mary Ann smiled and pushed a mug of hot tea in her hands. “It’s herbal, won’t keep you awake at all. Are you sure you won’t have a bite to eat?”
“Nein. I had a sandwich on the bus.”
Eli and Mary Ann exchanged a knowing glance, but they didn’t call her on the fact that the sandwich was probably her lunch and not her dinner.
Faith sipped the tea, allowing the chamomile to warm her, soothe her. Finally she raised her eyes to the couple who were waiting so patiently.
“I’m in a bit of a jam, and I could use some help.”
“People who care about each other take care of one another,” Eli said.
Mary Ann added, “It’s not a duty. It’s a pleasure.”
“But you don’t even know me.”
“Yet, Gotte has brought you to our doorstep. We’re happy to help. Share what you feel like you can, and take your time. No one is in a hurry here.”
The hands on the clock showed it was nearly eight, and Faith realized that the bishop and his wife would be rising sometime between four and five. She’d imposed enough. No need to keep them up later because she was embarrassed.
Setting down her mug, she clasped her hands on the table. “I was headed for Michigan when the bus put me out.”
“Because of the snowstorm.” Old Eli glanced at the window. “It’s still coming down and the weather people are predicting over a foot.”
“If you could provide me a place to stay until the buses are running again, I would be grateful.”
“Of course we will.” Mary Ann reached out and covered Faith’s hand with hers. “How could we do any less?”
Mary Ann picked up her knitting—a soft blue yarn that could have been a shawl or a scarf or a blanket. She was just beginning the project, so it was impossible to tell what it might turn out to be—rather like Faith’s life at the moment. The thought simultaneously depressed and intrigued her.
As for Mary Ann, she seemed willing to listen and knit and let her husband pick up the threads of the conversation.
Old Eli tapped the old oak table. “We’ll contact your husband too, so he won’t be worried. I can send one of the kinner to the phone shack at first light—or now if you think it necessary.”
“No need. My husband passed two years ago.”
“I’m sorry to hear that—we can call your family, then. Surely they’ll be worried.”
Faith met his gaze. This wasn’t the time to indulge in embarrassment or cowardice. The moment she’d stepped on that bus, her life had changed, and she needed to be willing to do whatever was necessary to ensure Hannah’s best welfare. She knew that being honest with Old Eli wasn’t just the right thing to do, it was the most expedient thing to do.
“That’s just it. That’s why I’m going to Michigan. I don’t have any family. Hannah and I...” Why was this so hard? Why did tears sting her eyes every time she tried to speak of it? Not that she’d spoken to anyone about her trials. In Fort Wayne she hadn’t been afforded the luxury of friends.
“Hannah and I are alone. We don’t have anyone who will be worried about us.”
Old Eli was silent as he sat back and studied her, but Mary Ann tsked and murmured, “We are all family in Christ, my dear.”
“No family where you’re coming from...”
“Fort Wayne.”
“What about where you’re going...in Michigan?”
“Nein. I answered an advertisement in the Budget. A widowed woman in the Mio district was looking for someone who would be willing to live on the property with her and help run a small farm.”
Mary Ann and Old Eli exchanged another look. She wondered about that, the way they were able to communicate without words. She hadn’t been married to Jonas long enough to develop such a thing, and his parents—well, Gerald rarely bothered to speak to Sara. When he did, it was usually a command that was meant to be heeded immediately.
“Putting aside for a minute just how difficult it might be for you to help run a farm...” Old Eli held up his hand to stop her protests. “Even a small one, I’m sure you’ve looked at how far it is to Mio. It’s another three hundred miles from here, nearly to the Canadian border.”
“And it’s a small community besides—and cold. The wind and snow that come off Lake Superior can both try a person’s soul.” Mary Ann raised her eyes from her knitting. “Are you sure that’s where you want to go?”
“I’m sure that I don’t have any other options.”
Old Eli grinned and pushed back from the table. “Then that is where we will begin.”
“Begin?”
“We will pray for options, and that Gotte reveals them to you quickly.”
Thirty minutes later, Faith was tucked into a bedroom that was barely large enough to hold the twin bed and cradle. She thought it might be the room of one of the teenaged girls as there were books stacked in one of the cubbies—including several Christian romances from the public library.
Though the room was tiny, she was grateful for it. The smallness almost felt cozy, and after sitting on the bus for so long, she welcomed the chance to lie down.
Hannah was fast asleep.
Faith checked Hannah’s nappie a final time before turning out the room’s small battery lantern. As she lay there in the dark under Mary Ann’s clean sheets and hand-sewn quilt, her mind wouldn’t quit wrestling with the trials of the day.
Gerald’s haughty coldness as he’d dropped her at the bus station, wishing her good riddance and proclaiming he hoped never to see her again.
Sara’s tears.
The increasing snow and finally the bus driver’s pronouncement that everyone needed to get off the bus before they reached the Michigan border.
Being the last one on the bus.
Getting out at the deserted station.
And then Elijah.
She almost smiled when she thought of Elijah. The look on his face when she’d asked if he was a kidnapper... She would have laughed if she hadn’t been so frightened. How did she know what a kidnapper looked like? She doubted they wore a T-shirt proclaiming their intentions.
Elijah King struck her as a guy looking for a woman to rescue.
Well, she didn’t need rescuing.
She didn’t need a man.
She’d tried that already, and it hadn’t worked out so well.
What she needed was a safe place to raise Hannah, and as far as she could tell that place was in far northern Michigan in the little community of Mio. Sure, she understood it would be cold and isolated, but at the moment a place to live mattered much more to her than convenience.
Old Eli might be a gut bishop and a wise man, but he was wrong about one thing.
Options.
She knew better than anyone that at this point, she didn’t have any.
Copyright © 2020 by Vannetta Chapman
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ISBN-13: 9781488070884
An Unexpected Arrangement
Copyright © 2020 by Heidi Blankenship
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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