Amish Romance BOOK BUNDLE: Marian's Story: Amish Romance Boxed Set (Hollybrook Amish Romance)

by Brenda Maxfield

“Girls, you stay here with your mamm in case she comes back,” Isaiah said.

  “Nee, I’m coming to!” Betsy cried, already pulling on her coat.

  “Stay here,” Isaiah said. He stepped to his wife and took her hand. “We’ll find her, but you need to be here, watching the others and waiting for her.”

  “Isaiah…” The pain in Betsy’s voice brought tears to Marian’s eyes.

  “Stay here,” he repeated, but more gently this time. “Thomas, Ben, Marian, and I will go.”

  “I want to go!” Esther said. “Dat, let me come!”

  Isaiah shook his head. “We have to go now. Esther, get quilts out and ready.”

  Esther let out a sob and Martha stood, frozen, as if unable to move.

  “We’ll bring her home,” Thomas said to his mother.

  The four of them rushed outside.

  “I’ll hitch up the pony cart,” Isaiah said, his voice gruff. “We can cover more territory that way.”

  “I’m going by foot,” Marian said. “I’m heading west. I know Deb loves the forest down that way.”

  “I’ll come with you,” Thomas said, moving to her side.

  “But Thomas, if you go the other direction, we can search more area.”

  Thomas nodded. “You’re right. Will you be okay? Do you have your mittens?”

  She was already pulling them from her pockets and putting them on.

  “You’ll stay on the main road?” He looked at her and she saw the concern, even fear, in his eyes.

  “I’ll stay on the main road,” she agreed. “Now, go! We need to find her fast!”

  Ben grasped Thomas’s shoulder. “I’m going to the Millers! They’ll help us look!” He hurried off down the drive, sliding on the ice.

  Isaiah was halfway to the barn. Thomas gave Marian’s mittened hand a squeeze before he headed off. Marian took a deep breath, and the frigid air burned into her lungs.

  She started down the drive, taking smaller steps in an attempt not to slip. She glanced over her shoulder back at the house and saw Betsy, Esther, and Martha lined up at the window, their faces pale and their eyes wide. Marian turned back to the road. Where would Deb have gone? And why had she sneaked away without telling anyone?

  She increased her pace as much as she dared, wishing she had a walking stick or something to help steady herself. Deb loved the snow. She loved to throw snowballs, and she loved to make snowmen and even forts. She loved to slide around on the ice and pretend she was a famous skater.

  Marian stopped. That was it! Edmund’s Pond. Deb had probably gone there to slide on the ice. Edmund’s Pond was further than the patch of trees where Deb loved to play. When conditions were good, the pond was only a twenty minute walk from the house. But in this icy weather, it would take considerably longer.

  Marian bent her head and walked faster, her eyes glued to the road, watching her feet as she took careful steps. She saw a broken branch covered in ice in the ditch at the side of the road, and it looked to be the right size for a walking stick.

  She stooped to retrieve it, breaking it free from its ice covering. She pounded it on the road, breaking off the rest of the ice. Using it, she was able to increase her speed if only slightly.

  Deb. Deb. Deb. Please let me meet you on this road. Let me run into you all laughing and happy about your adventure. Dear Gott, let it be so.

  The gray of the sky sat above her like a quilt covering, and she squinted her eyes into it. Strange how bright it was with the sun hidden behind the bank of clouds. But the light reflected off the snow and ice, creating a near blinding effect. A small gust whooshed around her, penetrating her clothes with icy fingers. She shivered and kept walking, one foot carefully in front of the other. Step. Step. Step.

  An eerie silence filled the air. There were no carts about. No children laughing and playing. Nobody on their way to visit neighbors. The earth was still. Silent. Waiting.

  A sense of foreboding filled Marian’s heart, and she shoved it away, refusing to give in to the frightening possibilities swirling through her mind. Deb was a tough little girl. She would be fine. Fine.

  She passed the patch of trees Deb loved and dared to increase her pace. Her feet slipped with each step, but the walking stick helped. Resolutely, she attempted to put her weight down evenly with every movement, and it helped her feel more secure even as she hurried.

  The silence around her echoed louder than any noise she’d experienced. Louder even than a yard full of children playing. She blew out her breath, and the white puff of air looked to become ice before her eyes. Her lungs pinched with the cold. Step. Step.

  She looked up and peered into the white landscape. Edmund’s Pond was just around the corner. She took to almost skating over the road now, using her stick to balance herself as she skimmed the glassy surface in her thick shoes. Better. She’d be there in a minute. When she rounded the bend, her jaw dropped and fear clutched her heart.

  Deb was lying there, spread on the ice with a large bushy branch on top of her legs.

  “Deb!” Marian screeched, throwing down her stick and hurtling down the road. She fell, skidding to a stop next to a pile of snow. Quickly, she scrambled up and kept sliding and running and crying toward Deb.

  “Deb!” she yelled.

  Deb shifted her head and Marian was close enough now to see her face twisted in pain.

  “Mari!” Deb sobbed. “Mari, I fell and hurt my ankle. And I can’t barely feel my legs anymore.” She let loose with heaving moans. “Mari, I wanna go home.”

  Marian knelt on the ice and grabbed onto the branch. She yanked, but it was so heavy with snow, it didn’t budge.

  “Don’t worry, Deb,” she said. “I’ll get you home.” She jerked on the branch again, throwing all her weight into it, and it gave way, sprawling Marian on the ice with it.

  “Mari, I wanna go home.” Deb repeated and her sobs turned to gasping snivels.

  Marian crawled back to her. “You will, Deb.” Marian took off her coat and laid it over the shaking girl. The cold surrounded Marian with a slap, and she took a quick intake of air. She had to get the girl up and home, but she didn’t think she was strong enough to carry her.

  She looked around frantically for help, but no one was in sight. The Ebersol’s farm was close. She could go there and get help. She looked down at Deb’s red chapped face, covered with icy tears.

  “I’m going for help,” Marian said.

  “Nee!” cried Deb. “Don’t leave me! Please, Mari!”

  Marian gulped, the frigid air freezing in her throat. “I don’t think I can carry you,” she said.

  “Please try,” Deb said, her eyes pleading.

  Marian got on her haunches and put her hands under Deb’s arms. She squirmed to pull the girl up, but Deb cried out.

  “My ankle hurts too bad.” Deb said, her sobs starting again. “The branch made a sound like thunder, then it fell on me. But that ain’t what hurt. It was my ankle.”

  Marian glanced up at the bank and saw a tree stretching over the pond with a gaping wound where the branch had snapped off.

  “It’s okay,” Marian murmured. “We’ll figure it out.”

  She bit her lip and prayed, and tried again to get Deb up on her feet. But her own feet slipped out from under her and she fell with a smack on the ice. She was sweating now, and the cold hit her with such force, she was breathless. It was no good. She’d hurt the girl if she kept trying.

  “Marian! Deb!” came a booming voice from the road.

  Marian looked back at Thomas, hurtling across the ice. Her eyes filled with tears. “Thomas! I can’t pick her up!”

  Within seconds, he was kneeling beside her. “Deb, you all right?”

  Deb was crying. “My ankle’s bad hurt.” Deb sat up and wiped at the tears flowing down her face. “I can’t hardly feel my legs,” she cried. “Are they dead?”

  “Nee, honey, they’re just awful cold and have gone numb.” Thomas moved his hands slowly down Deb’s legs. “You say i
t’s your ankle that hurts?”

  “She’s frightful cold,” Marian said, her own teeth chattering.

  Thomas gazed at Marian and pulled off his coat and put it around her shoulders. “Thank you for finding her.” There was a catch in his voice.

  Marian’s eyes filled with tears. “I told you. She’s my sister, too.”

  “Okay, Deb, I’m going to try to get you up. You holler if it hurts, okay? I’m going to pick you up good and slow, all right?”

  Deb nodded her head and stared at her big brother. Thomas put his arms under her and slowly moved her up and off the ice. “Hurt?” he asked.

  “My ankle,” Deb said. “And my legs, they’re too cold.”

  Thomas stood, cradling Deb to his chest. “We need to get her inside and quick.”

  “The Ebersols are close,” Marian said. “We can go there.”

  They took careful strides off the frozen pond and headed back to the road.

  “How did you find us?” Marian asked. “You went searching the other way.”

  Thomas moaned. “I was a fool to send you off alone, and I realized it right quick. I circled back, but you must have been making good time.”

  “Mari found me,” Deb murmured, her head against Thomas’s chest. “She found me.”

  Marian reached over and patted her shoulder. “Course I did, Deb. I can’t get along without you.”

  Thomas’s eyes softened as he glanced at Marian. “I can’t get along without you, either,” he whispered.

  Marian clenched his arm as they headed to the Ebersol’s. Her breath came easier, Deb was safe; she would be cared for now. It was all right. She leaned into her husband’s side, drawing her balance from him. And they would be all right, too. She couldn’t get along without him, either. She saw it clearly now. She nearly wept realizing how she’d let her difficulties with Betsy cloud her vision of her husband. She squeezed Thomas’s arm. She wouldn’t let her mind lead her astray again anytime soon.

  They were nearly to the Ebersol’s drive when Marian heard the clip clop of a horse’s hooves ring through the air. She turned.

  “It’s Isaiah!” she cried.

  “Dat?” Deb muttered. “Is it Dat?”

  They stepped to the side of the road, and the cart pulled up.

  “You’ve got her!” Isaiah cried. “Get her in the back. Is she all right? Deb, you all right? Ach, thank Gott!”

  Marian climbed into the back of the wagon and sat cross-legged. “Give her to me,” she told Thomas.

  Thomas laid Deb gently on Marian’s lap. Marian tucked her coat tighter around the girl. Thomas got in with them and rubbed Deb’s legs over and over. “Tell me if it hurts,” he told Deb. “I’ll avoid your ankle, but I’m trying to get the blood going.”

  “Is my ankle broke?” Deb asked. And then her voice faded, and she closed her eyes.

  “She’s asleep,” Marian said.

  Thomas’s brow wrinkled. “We need a doctor.”

  Isaiah clicked his tongue and slapped the reins on Saunter’s back. He got the wagon turned around in the Ebersol’s drive and set the horse to pulling them as fast as he dared.

  “Does she have frostbite?” Isaiah asked over his shoulder.

  “Maybe. I’m not sure. Hurry, Dat.”

  “Where was she?”

  “Marian found her on Edmund’s Pond. A branch fell on her, and I guess she twisted her ankle.”

  “I’ll drop you off and go for the doc,” Isaiah said, slapping the reins again.

  Thomas’s face was red and Marian saw bits of ice forming in his beard. “Do you want your coat back?” Marian asked.

  He frowned. “I’m fine, Marian.”

  She looked down at Deb’s face, now so peaceful as she slept. Was the little girl in shock? Marian shook her head. She knew so little about medical things. She had no idea how to best help Deb.

  They pulled into the drive and Betsy, Esther, and Martha flew out of the front door.

  “Do you have her?” cried Betsy. She spotted Deb in the back of the wagon, and she stumbled and slid down the steps to meet them.

  “Deborah!” she said, then looked at her son. “Is she all right?”

  “She’s sleeping, Mamm,” Thomas said, rising to his knees and taking the girl from Marian’s lap. “Let me get her inside.”

  Marian scrambled down first and held out her arms, helping to steady Thomas and Deb as he climbed out.

  “I’m going for Doc,” Isaiah said. He clicked his tongue and was off again.

  “Is she okay?” asked Esther, trying to swoop in for a look.

  “Back up. Let me through,” Thomas instructed, carrying Deb into the house. He placed her on the couch.

  Betsy rushed forward and covered her with quilts. Marian stood, shivering and watching.

  “Where was she? Is she hurt?” Betsy knelt before Deb and stroked her face.

  “She was on Edmund’s Pond. A branch fell on her and she hurt her ankle.”

  Betsy laid her cheek against Deb’s chest. “Ach, Deb. You foolish girl. What were ya thinkin’?”

  “Will she be all right?” Martha asked, her voice quiet, almost reverent.

  “You know our Deb. She’s a tough one.” Thomas patted Martha’s head. He turned to Marian. “You must be frozen. Come, stand by the fire. You want some tea?”

  Marian moved toward the fire, her teeth still chattering as the dry heat caressed her face. She hurt. The skin on her face actually stung as she moved to the fire.

  “I can make tea,” Martha said.

  “Where’s Ben?” Betsy asked.

  “Still searching, I imagine. Dat will find him after he gets the doc.”

  “Mama?” Deb’s eyes fluttered open. “Mama, my ankle hurts. And my legs, too.”

  Betsy glanced at Thomas and then back to Deb. “They’ll be better soon, honey. The doc is on his way.”

  “They hurt bad!” Deb began to cry.

  Betsy pulled the scarf from Deb’s head and began to stroke her hair. “I know, I know. We’ll get you fixed up soon.”

  Betsy looked toward the kitchen. “Get a cup of tea for Deb, too,” she instructed.

  “I can get it,” Marian said, moving from the fire.

  “Nee, you’ll do no such thing,” Thomas told her. “You stay right where you are and warm up.”

  “But, I—”

  “But nothing. Esther, go help your sister,” Thomas said.

  Marian pressed her lips together, glad that her teeth had stopped knocking against each other. She held out her hands toward the fire.

  “Thank you for finding her.” Betsy looked at her son. “And for bringing her home to me.”

  “I didn’t find her. It was Marian. She knew right where to look.” Thomas gave Marian such a look of pride, her breath caught.

  “Marian found her?” Betsy muttered and sank back against the floor.

  Marian watched as Betsy struggled to get to her feet. When she finally did, the look on her face was as if someone had slapped her. “You found my little girl?” she asked Marian.

  Marian nodded.

  “But Thomas, you would have found her.”

  Marian had rarely if ever seen her mother-in-law befuddled, but she was befuddled right then.

  “Nee, Mamm. I wasn’t even in the right place. If I hadn’t followed Marian, I wouldn’t have found her for hours.”

  Betsy looked down at her feet as she neared Marian. Then she looked up and into Marian’s eyes. They stared at one another for a long moment, and the only sound in the room was the crackling and snapping of the fire.

  “I’m sorry,” Betsy finally whispered. “I’m sorry.”

  “Sorry?” Thomas questioned. “What for?”

  There was another long silence. Marian reached out and grasped her mother-in-law’s arm. “I know what she means,” she said quietly.

  “You’ll forgive an old woman her foolishness?”

  “You’re not so old,” Marian countered and smiled, the first real smile she�
�d given her mother-in-law in weeks.

  Betsy shook her head. “I’m a foolish old woman,” she muttered. She took another step and enveloped Marian in a hard embrace.

  Marian was so surprised at her physical display of affection, that she nearly jerked back. But as Betsy clung to her, she relaxed and returned her hug. When Betsy drew away, there was moisture in her eyes.

  “Things is goin’ to be different,” she said.

  Marian nodded, her throat full of tears.

  Thomas stepped to Marian and took her hand in his. “Different can be good,” he said softly, then he turned to his mother. “Mamm, there’s something I need to talk to you and Dat about.”

  He smiled down at Deb, who was blinking up at them with wide eyes. Then he turned his focus back on Betsy. “Maybe this isn’t the best time for it. Fact is, I’m sure it isn’t. But later, I want to talk to you and Dat about Christmas.”

  Marian’s heart thumped and after a moment of astonishment, her spirits began to soar. Christmas? He was going to talk to them about Christmas?

  “Things might be different in the daadi haus this year.” Thomas gave his wife a look full of love and understanding.

  Marian forgot the cold, as her heart warmed to this surprising and amazing man at her side.

  “Oh?” Betsy snapped in her usual cantankerous tone. Then she cleared her throat as if thinking better of it. “Fine. We’ll discuss it after the doc sees to our Deb.”

  “Here’s the tea, Mamm.” Esther entered the room, carefully balancing a tray with three steaming cups.

  She served Marian first, and Marian took the tea gladly. She folded her hands around the hot cup and breathed in the steam. “Thank you, Esther,” she murmured.

  “There’s more if ya want it,” Esther said.

  Marian laughed. “Thank you.”

  Thomas took a cup and put his arm around Marian’s shoulders.

  Betsy had gone back to kneel before Deb. “Can you sit up a bit, daughter?” she coaxed. “Let’s get some of this hot tea into you.”

  Deb complied with a moan.

  “Doc will be here soon. You’ll see, everything will be all right.”

  Thomas put his lips to Marian’s ears. “Everything will be all right,” he whispered.

  Marian took a deep long breath and looked into her husband’s rich blue eyes. “It already is,” she said with a contented sigh.