Shelter from the Storm

by Patricia Davids

  How could she be making a joke at a time like this? “Are you okay?”

  “As okay as I can be in the situation. Can you help me back inside?” She held out one hand.

  “Of course.” He swept her up into his arms.

  She squeaked in protest but then she laid her head against his shoulder when he ignored her. “I meant for you to hold my arm while I hobble back inside.”

  “This is quicker.” He kicked the door all the way open and carried her to her bedding. After laying her down, he went back to close the door. He returned to her side and thrust his hands into his coat pockets. “What do you need?”

  She sat up and drew her knees up under her cloak. “Nothing. I’m fine.”

  “You use that word far too often. How can you be fine if you just threw up?”

  “You have a point. I would love a cup of hot tea and a cracker. Any chance that Dale left some in his toolbox?”

  “I’ll check. Chamomile or Earl Grey?”

  Her eyes widened with surprise. “Jesse Crumb made a joke. He has a sense of humor.”

  “Don’t look so amazed.” He stoked the fire, added another log and sat cross-legged on the floor. The auction would be taking place soon. He wondered who would get the land he’d had his heart set on.

  “I noticed it was snowing again while I was on the porch. Heavily. No one will be able to follow our tracks, will they...?” Her voice trailed away.

  “Nope.” At least she understood why help wouldn’t be coming.

  “So, what do we do?”

  “The hardest thing of all in a survival situation. Stay put.”

  Her eyes grew wide. “When you say survival situation, are you telling me that we are in serious trouble?”

  There was a long silence. “Ja. We are.”

  She pressed a hand to her forehead. “I know conversation is hard for you, Jesse, but please spell it out for me and don’t sugarcoat it. How much trouble are we in?”

  “On the downside, we are lost and away from our vehicle, where they will be looking for us as soon as the weather clears. That is, if Dale made it out. If he didn’t, then no one will be looking for us until we don’t return to New Covenant. The bishop won’t expect us to travel in bad weather. He may assume we have hunkered down to wait it out. In that case, it may be a week or more before someone starts searching. Are they likely to be looking along a remote logging road? I doubt it, unless someone noticed us turning onto it when we left the highway.”

  “You could’ve left a little sugar on it. That was the downside. Now, what is the upside?”

  “We have a roof over our heads and a way to stay warm.”

  “That’s it?”

  “Pretty much.”

  She clasped her fingers together. “I see.”

  She wasn’t hysterical or crying. Jesse gave thanks for that. She sat quietly, staring into the fire for a few minutes. When she finally looked at him, her eyes were filled with determination.

  “I’m going to need a crutch, so I can move around and you don’t have to carry me everywhere.”

  It was a reasonable request. “I can do that.”

  “Water is important. I drank the last of mine. Did you find yours?”

  He nodded once. “I did. I drank it last night too. There’s plenty of snow to melt so we won’t go thirsty.”

  “I also noticed some rose bushes growing beside the house while I was outside. If you can gather some rose hips for me, I’ll make some tea. Where is the skillet you found?”

  “Still in the kitchen. I’ll fetch it after I make you a crutch. How is the ankle?”

  “Black-and-blue from what I can see of it around the edge of the tape. I didn’t take your handiwork off. It hurts when I move, but it will be fine as long as I’m careful.”

  “How is your stomach?”

  She blushed, although he wasn’t sure why. “It will be fine.” She paused and looked at him. “I mean, it is goot now.”

  He tried to reassure her. “Hope for the best and prepare for the worst. I will take care of you, Gemma.”

  “I know that. See if you can find anything usable in the other part of the house and bring me that pan packed with snow. I’ll need hot water if I’m going to make tea.”

  Her attitude amazed him. Perhaps he had underestimated her in the past. Or perhaps the worst was yet to come. He was never quite certain where Gemma was concerned.

  Chapter Six

  Gemma discovered the skillet was a small shallow one, only six inches across, but usable after Jesse chopped a hole through the ice on the pond and scrubbed it clean. He brought in a large handful of rose hips for her on his way back. She removed the seeds and placed the pulp in the skillet filled with melting snow to simmer. Soon the delightful aroma made her stomach rumble. Jesse disappeared outside again.

  It was still snowing heavily. She could hear the sound of the wind increasing. It would soon turn into a full-blown blizzard if the storm kept building. The creaking of the old cabin worried her as much as the weather. Was it strong enough to support the snow that was falling? Would it collapse and bury them alive? It had clearly survived a few winters. But would it last through one more? Where would they find shelter if it came down?

  To Gemma’s delight, Jesse returned a short time later with a long thick branch he had whittled into a crutch. She happily tried it out. It was good to be upright without hopping on one foot, but the crutch was too tall. “Can you shorten it?”

  “How much shorter does it need to be?”

  “Take off an inch. That should be enough.”

  He started to whittle at the end. “If I cut off any more I will have to give it to a crippled mouse to use.”

  “Are you making fun of my size?” She held up one hand. “Wait. Don’t answer that. First, I have to apologize for comments I made to you in the past. If I hurt your feelings, I’m truly sorry, Jesse. I wasn’t always kind.”

  “Like when you said I was as big as an ox and dumb as a post? You weren’t far wrong, but I forgive you.”

  “Danki. That means a lot. And I was wrong. You may be a big man, but you aren’t dumb and it was cruel of me to say that. Now, what were you saying about mice?”

  “Nothing.” He handed back the shortened crutch. “See if this works better.”

  She took it and made a trip across the room and back. “This is goot.” She wished there was some way to pad the part under her arm. She was still wearing three layers of clothing and her cloak. She didn’t want to sacrifice warmth for a little comfort nor did she want Jesse to give her the shirt off his back, which she knew he was more than capable of doing. “Did you happen to find anything we could use as cups?”

  He shook his head. “All I found was a broken pint jar. The edge is too jagged to drink out of, but we can melt snow in it. I found a few broken plates, nothing else we can use.”

  “If you can cut the necks off our water bottles we can use those as glasses.”

  “That is easy enough.”

  She lowered herself to the floor in front of the fire. After Jesse was finished with the water bottles, he sat beside her. Gemma folded her apron to use as a hot pad. She moved the skillet away from the fire and after letting it cool a bit she poured the rose hip tea into the plastic bottles and handed one to Jesse. He took a sip and wrinkled his nose.

  She smothered a smile. “Did you know rose hips have more vitamin C than oranges? Do you like it?”

  “I’ve had worse. It’s not coffee, but it’s warm.”

  Gemma took a sip of hers. “It’s better with honey, but it is hot and that makes it taste wunderbar to me.”

  “I’m not surprised. You haven’t had anything to eat since supper the night before last.”

  She grimaced. “I couldn’t eat that greasy hamburger. I threw it out.”

  “When was the last tim
e you ate? Tell me the truth.”

  “The morning before I arrived in Cleary I had a good breakfast.”

  “And you let me eat your burrito yesterday morning? What were you thinking?”

  “That I didn’t want to eat a spicy breakfast and bump about in Dale’s truck for hours afterward. My stomach doesn’t travel well. I get carsick.”

  “You weren’t in a car this morning.”

  She didn’t want to tell him she had morning sickness, so she skirted around the issue. “Perhaps not, but I was exhausted after a terrible day and uncomfortable night. I’m fine now. I’m even hungry. I could eat a moose if you want to go out and wrestle one to the ground.”

  He stared at her for several long seconds. “I’m sorry I got us lost.”

  “It was a mistake anyone could have made. You might remember I was with you. The conditions were horrible. I’m amazed you had the strength to get us this far.”

  “I thought you would be angry.”

  “I’m too tired to pitch a fit. Tomorrow I’ll harp at you.” She took another sip of tea. He made her uncomfortable with his intense scrutiny. A few months ago, she might have been upset with him over getting them lost and taken her frustration out on him. Everything changed the day she found out that the baby’s father had left town without a word. She’d had to grow up in a hurry.

  What would Jesse think of her when he found out? New Covenant was a tiny settlement. Everyone would know within a matter of days, unless her parents agreed to keep her secret. She couldn’t hide it for long unless she left the community. She was already six months along. Perhaps her parents would allow her to stay with her aunt or one of her cousins in rural Pennsylvania. She could have the baby and give it up for adoption. After that, she could return to New Covenant with no one the wiser, except a few close family members. Only, would she be able to give up her baby?

  It was the first time she realized that she actually thought of the child as her baby. She pressed a hand to her heart.

  “What are you thinking?” he asked.

  Startled by his question, she shook her head. “Nothing. Why?”

  “You looked sad. Are you worried about being stuck here?”

  She splayed her fingers over her abdomen under her cloak. There was more than her own life at stake if rescue didn’t come soon. “Shouldn’t I be worried? You’re the one who took the sugar off my expectations when you laid out our situation.”

  “Maybe I made it sound too bleak.”

  “Nee, I would rather know the truth.”

  “Food will be our most pressing need soon, although we can survive without it for several weeks.”

  “What is your plan?”

  He cocked his head to the side. “What makes you think I have a plan?”

  “Well, you aren’t screaming hysterically and running in circles shouting, ‘We’re going to die!’ You managed impressively by improvising a sled to move me, collected firewood and even figured out how to use the truck hood as a draft blocker. One might think you do this kind of thing every winter.”

  “I get in a lot of hunting by myself, and survival skills are important.”

  Most of the Amish men she knew hunted for food. A deer or moose was a welcome addition to a family’s freezer. “Did Dale leave a rifle in his toolbox?” she asked hopefully.

  Jesse actually smiled. He had a sweet smile and a dimple in his left cheek she had never noticed before. “I wish he had.”

  “What kind of hunting can you do with a wrench set and a screwdriver?”

  “Not much, but I can fashion small game snares from my bootlaces. There is always the pond at the bottom of the clearing. It might be possible to catch fish through the ice. It isn’t thick enough yet to walk on it. There are cattails I can harvest. The inner bark of the white pine tree is edible, and we have plenty of those around us. You can also make tea from the pine needles. They’re high in vitamin C too. We won’t starve if I can help it.”

  Jesse became more animated as he talked about how to harvest the edible parts of trees, something Gemma never thought she would consider as a part of her diet. She would have to eat something for the sake of the babe. She asked a few more questions to keep him talking. She’d never seen him like this. Where had this Jesse been hiding? Maybe he had just been waiting for someone to listen.

  She’d first found him attractive because he was a strong, work-driven man. And to be honest, he’d been one of only two single Amish fellows in the area. Now that she had a glimpse of the man underneath the brawn, she liked him even more.

  “How did you learn all of this stuff?”

  He suddenly seemed to realize he had been talking too much. “Here and there.”

  “Come on. Where?”

  He looked away and tossed a twig into the fire. “When I first came to Maine, I took some survival training courses the local game warden taught.”

  “When I first came to Maine I invested in a very heavy coat, fur-lined boots and a lot of books to read. Why are you embarrassed to say you took classes?”

  “Because most people don’t think a big man like me is very bright.”

  Shame brought a lump to her throat. He said most people, but he was actually saying Gemma Lapp. “You really like it here, don’t you?”

  “I love owning my own farm. It’s small, but it’s mine. I had plans to expand, but that has gone by the wayside.”

  “Why?”

  “Some land next to mine unexpectedly came up for auction. I was determined to purchase it but missed my chance.”

  “Because someone outbid you?”

  “Nee, the auction took place this morning.”

  “If you hadn’t stayed with me at the truck, you could have made it back to the highway and gotten home in time.”

  He shrugged. “There’s no way to know that for sure. Why do you hate this country so much?”

  She moved a little farther from the fire and stretched out her feet, wincing as she moved her bad ankle. “Hate is a strong word. I wasn’t prepared for how lonely it could be. I was used to lots of friends and cousins visiting back and forth in our community in Pennsylvania. In New Covenant, I had only two friends. My cousin Anna and Bethany Martin. They both married last year, and they naturally had less time for a single friend.”

  “And you thought marriage would be the answer for you too?”

  * * *

  Jesse watched as Gemma’s cheeks flushed a deep pink. She folded her hands together and stared at them. “I wondered when that would come up.”

  “It was a joke to you, wasn’t it?” He braced himself to hear her answer. “Little woman tames the big ox and breaks him to harness.”

  Her gaze flew to his face. “Nee, it was never a joke.”

  “Wasn’t it?”

  “I can see why you thought so. I acted foolishly, but I did like you, Jesse. I do like you. I’m sorry if you thought I was trying to make fun of you or to hurt you. That wasn’t my reason.”

  “So what prompted your pursuit of me?”

  “I guess I wanted what my friends had found. They were both so content. You were the best choice out of the single men in New Covenant at the time.”

  He snorted, unwilling to accept her explanation. “You expect me to believe you chose me over handsome, well-to-do Jedidiah Zook? I’m not stupid.”

  “I never thought you were, but you can be very stubborn. I reckon I saw it as a challenge. Besides, Jedidiah Zook is no prize. He thinks more of himself than any woman he knows.”

  Was she telling the truth? Jesse tried to recall the things she had said and done before her stunning proposal of marriage. She’d never shown an interest in Jedidiah that he could recall. Had he misjudged her and her motives all this time? He could believe that she saw winning him as a challenge. That made sense. It was more believable than thinking she had suddenly fallen i
n love with him. Her confession that she liked him soothed some of his past hurts. He liked her too but couldn’t bring himself to say so.

  He leaned back on his elbows. “It’s all in the past and best forgotten.” It was a relief to be able to say the words and mean it.

  “Agreed. I was a foolish girl used to getting my own way.”

  “So what changed you?”

  She stared at her hands again. He noticed her fingers were clenched tightly together as her expression grew sad. “We all get wiser as we get older.”

  There was more to that story, but he didn’t want to press her. Something had to have happened in Florida that had changed the brash girl he knew into the somber woman sitting with him now. Maybe one day she would feel comfortable enough to share that sorrow with him.

  And why was he thinking about continuing to see Gemma?

  When they got out of this mess, he was certain she wouldn’t want to spend another hour in his company. “Why don’t you take a nap if you’re tired? We don’t have anything else to do.”

  “That’s a fine idea.” She sighed heavily and lay down, turning on her side with her back to him. Her tea sat unfinished on the floor beside her. Was she sicker than she was letting on? There was nothing he could do for her if that were the case. He wasn’t used to the feeling of total helplessness.

  Jesse was able to venture outside when the wind died down in the early afternoon. He took the opportunity to strip two of the closest pine trees of their bark as high as he could reach. He regretted that his actions would ultimately kill the trees, so he limited his harvest to what they could use in the next day or two. At the pond, he found cattails growing in the shallow end. Pulling up the roots and washing them was an ice-cold messy business. By the time he got back to the cabin, both of his wet hands were numb.

  Gemma immediately noticed he didn’t have his gloves on. She knocked the cattail rhizomes to the floor and began to dry his hands with her apron. “Are you trying to get frostbite?”

  “I was trying to get our supper.”

  “I would go hungry another night rather than see you wet up to your elbows in this frigid temperature. Do you have any feeling in them?”