by Jan Drexler
Swinging her feet to the floor, she gathered her blanket around her and headed downstairs, following the smell of coffee.
“You’re finally awake,” Katie said as she pushed a chair away from the table for Elizabeth with her foot. “The coffee has been ready for an hour and you look like you need it. Didn’t you sleep well?”
Elizabeth took the pot from the back of the stove where it had been keeping warm and poured a cup. As she sat down, she said, “I’m glad today isn’t a church Sunday.”
Katie leaned forward. “I heard you dreaming during the night. Was it that same dream about Reuben?”
“I don’t know how I can stop them, and they’re getting more frequent. Ever since . . .”
Elizabeth’s mind went in a direction it had never gone before.
“Are you all right? Elizabeth?”
“I’m all right.” She forced a smile and took a swallow of her coffee. “I just remembered something I have to do this morning.”
“On a Sunday?” Katie turned to watch her as she took a final swallow of coffee and poured the remainder of the cup into the slop bucket. “You won’t miss our picnic lunch today, will you?”
The picnic. Elizabeth had forgotten all about it. Jonas and Katie had invited her to come along with Levi and Elise. She had been looking forward to it so she could get to know the new girl better.
“You’ll have to start without me. You’re going to that spot on the Beilers’ farm, aren’t you? The one by the little stream? I’ll join you later if I can.”
Elizabeth headed back upstairs to get dressed. Those dreams of Reuben had come more frequently ever since Solomon had come into her life, and in last night’s dreams, she didn’t know if the man attacking her had been Reuben or Solomon. Somewhere in her mind, the two men had become one. Why hadn’t she seen it before? Aaron had been right—Solomon was not a man to be trusted. She had to find that marriage certificate. If she found that, then Solomon would have no hold over her.
When Jonas came to pick up Katie, Elizabeth stood on the porch, watching them walk down the lane together under the pine trees. Bitterness welled up, but she shoved it down. Katie and Jonas deserved their happiness. Perhaps someday, her dreams would come true, too, but not with Solomon.
The morning was pleasant for early July. Elizabeth hurried down the road, staying behind Jonas and Katie until they passed out of sight up the hill, going toward the Beilers’ farm. As soon as she reached the turnoff to Reuben’s cabin, she quickened her pace.
Pulling the door open to let the morning light in, Elizabeth went straight to the loose floorboard and pried it up. The box was still there. She opened it, dumped the papers onto the floor, and sifted through them. The letter from Reuben’s father’s lawyer, more Confederate money . . . but no marriage certificate.
After she gathered the papers into a loose pile, Elizabeth sat on the floor, leaning against the bedstead. There was no question in her mind that she had seen the marriage certificate. She remembered the faint writing. Her name and Reuben’s. The official seal from the notary public. She hadn’t imagined it. But where was it?
As she retraced her movements in her mind, a seething restlessness filled her breast. Her feelings might have been muddled by Solomon’s handsome face, but now her mind was clear. She had found the certificate in the box along with the deed to the farm. One quarter section of land in Reuben’s name, or his heir’s. She was Reuben’s heir. The land was hers.
The deed and the certificate had both been in her hand when she had driven to Solomon’s house. He had taken the papers from her, then she had gone into the kitchen to have dinner with Dulcey.
Where had Solomon gone? Into his study. With the papers.
He had lied to her last week. He had the certificate. Solomon lied only to gain power over her, to force her to marry him quickly.
But why would he do that? Because of the land?
Elizabeth put her fist to her mouth. What about the letter from Mississippi? There was someone else who could claim the land. If the marriage certificate existed, then Elizabeth’s ownership of the land was without question. If she married Solomon, then the land would belong to him. So why would Solomon say the certificate didn’t exist?
A cloud passed over the sun and a gust of wind blew the door shut, making Elizabeth jump. With last night’s dreams fresh in her mind, the shadowy corners of the cabin seethed with memories. She jumped to her feet.
“Never again, Reuben Kaufman!” She shouted the words into the air. “I’m not going to be any man’s victim again!”
Elizabeth felt for the matches she had always kept above the kitchen cabinet. There was one match left. She went back to the pile of useless papers she had left on the floor. Her mouth dry, she struck the match and held the faltering flame close to a Confederate bill. The dry paper caught, the flame gaining strength, full of color from the ink. She fed the little fire with more bills, then the letter, then some dried leaves she found on the floor.
Backing away from the growing flame, Elizabeth found more fuel. Old kindling in the box by the fireplace. Pieces of the beam that had fallen. The kitchen cabinet door that pulled easily off its hinges.
The fire took on a life of its own, jumping up to lick the leg of the bed, spreading across the wooden floor, curling around the beam. Elizabeth backed toward the door. The flames no longer needed her to feed them.
They leaped to the wardrobe where Reuben had kept the belt he had used on her. The stand where he had inverted his boots to dry. The box where he had kept his liquor . . . all burning. All consumed by the fire that had started from the single flame of her match.
Elizabeth pushed against the door, making her way outside, and air rushed in. The inside of the cabin grew into a ball of flame. Elizabeth fled to her garden and stood, watching the fire. Flames licked the logs through the places where Aaron had pulled out the chinking. The orange and yellow fingers crawled up the dry logs to the roof, completely consuming the cabin. Soon it would be reduced to a pile of ashes.
Tears streamed down Elizabeth’s cheeks as she watched the fire devour years of nightmarish memories . . . destroying them forever.
“Look to Christ,” Gideon had said, “and he will set you free.”
“Why don’t I feel free?” Elizabeth sank to her knees. “Dear Lord, why don’t I feel free?”
Aaron sat by the stream that ran through the corner of the Beilers’ farm, plucking blades of grass and throwing them into the water. The place was pleasant in the shade with the sound of the water trickling through. The picnic lunch that Katie and Elise had brought was delicious, including the blackberry cobbler Katie had made for dessert. She had even brought a small jar of cream that she set in the running water until it was time to pour the cool rich liquid over the treat at the end of their meal. Aaron hadn’t tasted anything that good since he was a young boy.
But now the sun was past the noon hour and the two couples had gone for a walk, Katie and Jonas in one direction and Levi and Elise in another.
“It’s no problem,” he told the chipmunk that peered at him around a tree trunk. “They want to be alone together, I understand that.”
But . . .
He threw another blade of grass into the water and watched it float away. Katie had said Elizabeth might come. She had told her she might be late, but she would try to come.
Aaron yanked a dandelion from the grassy bank and threw the yellow flower into the stream after the grass.
She was with Solomon. Of course, she was with Solomon.
He plucked another dandelion blossom and spun the stem between his fingers.
Most likely making plans for their wedding.
The stem dissolved into a mess of pulp and he threw that flower into the water too.
He didn’t blame the others for leaving him behind with the excuse that someone needed to be in the agreed-upon spot when Elizabeth showed up. He wasn’t good company today.
A cloud passed over the sun and he looked up. It wasn’t alone. Oth
er clouds in the west were following on its tail on a gust of wind. It might rain tonight.
Then, on the next breeze, he smelled smoke. A brush fire? Aaron got to his feet and climbed to the top of the rise above the stream. Another whiff of smoke. Not grass or brush. This was a wood fire.
“Jonas!” He turned, looking for his friends. “Levi! Where are you?”
The smoke smell grew heavier.
The two couples came running toward him.
“Where is that smoke from?” Jonas said when he came closer.
Aaron pointed south, toward the Weaver’s Creek valley. “In that direction. It’s wood smoke. Could be a house or a barn. We should see if there’s trouble.”
“I knew I should have brought the wagon. It would be quicker.” Jonas went to help Katie put the blanket in the picnic basket.
“You go on,” Aaron said. “You can move faster without me. Leave the basket and we’ll pick it up later. I’ll come behind you.”
Jonas and Levi left with the girls, running across the field to the road. Aaron followed, using his cane for balance on the rough surface. The others would arrive at the fire long before he did. They would find out if it was someone’s house, or if it was just someone cooking dinner.
Smoke rolled toward him on the south wind, strong and deadly. It wasn’t someone cooking dinner.
Step by step, Aaron made his way to the road. He couldn’t move any faster, not in the long grass of the pasture, but the possibility of someone being in danger made him careless. He stepped wrong with his wooden leg and stumbled, falling headlong in the soft grass.
He felt the self-pity start closing in and shoved it away. He got back on his feet and started again. He might not get to the fire in time to help, but he would get there, and then all he could do was try his hardest.
No. The thought came to him with sudden surety. No, that wasn’t all he could do. He could pray. Ma had taught him long ago, and he had listened to the ministers pray in church. Gideon had prayed for him, and Casper. He wasn’t as powerless as he thought.
Each step that brought him closer to his goal was accompanied by a word of prayer. For the safety of his friends, for the well-being of the people whose house or barn was burning, for his own careful steps. He glanced up at the sky and prayed for rain.
By the time he reached the road, he could see the column of smoke above the trees and increased his speed. He had been afraid it might be at Gideon’s farm, but now he could see it was at Elizabeth’s old cabin. Had she been there? He hobbled faster. Had she been trapped inside? That cabin was old and dry as tinder. It wouldn’t take much to destroy it.
When he reached the fire, he let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding when he saw Elizabeth sitting away from the cabin, surrounded by Katie, Elise, and Ruby. She was safe. The others who had gathered from the neighboring farms were hauling buckets of water out of the old well and running with them to the cabin, trying to keep the fire from spreading. One cabin wall had collapsed, and the roof was gone, but the fire still burned in pulses of searing heat.
Aaron placed himself at the well and took the rope from Samuel Weaver.
“I’ll do this part. I can’t carry water back and forth, but I can haul it out of the well.”
Hand over hand, he brought up the wet rope and poured the water from his bucket into a waiting pail. Again. And again. He lost count of how many times he hauled that bucket up. His hands bled from the rope burns and everyone’s faces were dirty with smoke and soot. Finally, the wind died down and Gideon motioned for him to stop.
“I think we’re all right for now.”
At that moment, a light rain started, growing heavier, the drops hissing as they hit the still-burning logs of the cabin, now lying in a heap. The whole crowd, at least a dozen people who had been helping with the fire, raised their faces and hands up, welcoming the cool water from heaven.
Aaron dragged the cover over the well and lay on the ground next to it. He couldn’t remember being so exhausted since he was in his last battle. He held his hands up. Blisters had formed, then popped, then the skin had turned raw across both palms. He sat up as folks started going home. Jonas found him.
“I’m going to walk Katie home. Levi and Elise have already left. Do you want to come with us?”
Aaron looked around for Elizabeth. She was still standing by Katie and shaking her head.
“I’ll stay with Elizabeth, then walk home with her. It doesn’t look like she’s ready to leave yet.”
Jonas gave him a hand to help him up, then walked over to Katie. As the couple walked toward the road, Elizabeth looked at Aaron, then back at the smoldering timbers. The rain had stopped, and the wind was still.
He made his way over to her. “Are you all right?”
Someone had thrown a blanket over her shoulders and she held the edges together in front of her. “I’m fine. How are you?”
He closed his hands, ignoring the pain of the broken blisters. “I’m all right. A little tired.”
She gave him a small smile. “Ja, a little tired.”
Everyone else had gone home, and the area around the smoking and steaming logs was empty, but from the road, Aaron heard a horse and buggy. Solomon drove into the yard, pulled his horse to a stop, and jumped down from the buggy.
He stared at the ruined cabin. “What happened here?”
Elizabeth lifted her head, her voice steady as she faced him. “I burned down Reuben’s cabin.”
Solomon turned on her, one hand half raised, until he saw Aaron standing near. He let his hand drop.
“What do you mean, you burned down the cabin? That was my cabin on my land. You had no right to do that.”
Elizabeth’s answer was calm. “It is not your land and not your cabin.”
Solomon’s gaze shifted from Elizabeth to Aaron and back again. He cleared his throat. “I meant, as soon as we marry, the land will be mine. You shouldn’t have acted without consulting me first.”
“I’m not going to marry you, Solomon.” She walked toward the fire, her back to both of them.
Solomon shot a deadly look in Aaron’s direction, but his eyes narrowed as he watched Elizabeth’s back. He grunted as he seemed to come to some conclusion.
“You’ve proven to be more trouble than you’re worth, anyway.” He turned to climb back into his buggy. “You’ll be sorry you refused me, Elizabeth.”
He turned the horse around and was gone, back up the road toward his house.
The sun had sunk toward the horizon as the rain clouds scudded east, and the evening star shone just above the trees. When Aaron looked back at Elizabeth standing huddled in her blanket next to the glowing coals, his mind went back to a thousand or more campfires glowing in the dusk, with the sound of taps being played softly on a distant bugle.
Someone else might shrug off Solomon’s threat, but Aaron wouldn’t. He walked up behind Elizabeth and put one hand on her shoulder. She leaned against him as if she had no strength left.
“Do you really think Solomon is dangerous, Aaron?”
“I do. But don’t worry. I’ll be watching both him and you.”
She turned around in his arms and clung to him.
“I’ll protect you, Elizabeth,” he whispered into her hair. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
Elise shivered as they left the scene of the fire, but Levi resisted putting his arm around her.
“Are you cold? I could let you wear my coat.”
“Ne, not cold. I just can’t get over how our peaceful afternoon almost turned to tragedy.” She walked closer to his side. “The fire was so frightening. Didn’t you think so? I’m thankful that no one was injured.”
Levi stole a glance at the woman beside him. Not the first time to enjoy her lovely profile this afternoon, with the walk they took after their picnic.
She ducked her head. “I hope you will come to our house sometime. My parents would like to learn to know you better.”
“Do you want me to
visit?”
“I would like that very much.”
Continuing to walk, they passed Levi’s house. Mother had lit the lamp in the living room, and he could see her sitting in her rocking chair. They were almost to Elise’s house. The Zooks lived on the next farm past his own.
He ran a finger around the collar of his shirt. He should say something, but what could he say that would interest a girl like Elise?
“My brothers say you could be the next minister in the church.” Elise stopped in the road and turned to him. “They said that even though you appear to be very shy, you are a scholar, and have read many books.”
“Um . . .” What could he say to that? “I enjoy learning about theology.” He glanced at her. “That’s the study of God.”
She nodded. “I know. My father, who passed away, was the bishop in our district. He also loved to study the Bible and read the writings of Menno Simons and other Mennonite and Amish leaders. He would often read aloud to us during winter evenings.”
The tips of Levi’s ears started to burn. She described a home life he could only imagine. “Did you enjoy that?”
She smiled at him. “I did. I know not many people enjoy learning as much as I do, but I can’t get enough of reading.”
“Which is your favorite writer?”
“Menno Simons. I particularly enjoyed his rules for the Christian life.” She started walking again. “Do you think a Christian can follow those rules exactly, or are they guidelines for us to aim for?”
Levi caught up with her. By the time they reached her house, they had discussed five of the rules, plus debated whether the Christenpflicht was a collection of prayers that they should pray or examples of prayers. That led to a discussion of the Lord’s Prayer as it was given in the book of Matthew. Levi was about to compare Matthew’s version of the Lord’s Prayer with Mark’s when Casper opened the front door of their house. Suddenly, Levi realized they had been standing on the porch for at least an hour.
“Are you going to stand out here talking all night?” Casper asked, his eyebrows bristling.
Levi took a step backward. “I didn’t realize it was so late. We got started talking . . .”