A Bride's Sweet Surprise in Sauers, Indiana

by Ramona K. Cecil

  Herr Rothhaus scrunched his face, and his head rolled more fiercely on the pillow. “But there was an angel with me. She sang schöne hymns and spoke words from the Heilige Schrift.”

  At his words, Regina’s heart pounded, and she fought the urge to flee the room. It appeared Dr. Hughes had been right when he suggested patients with head injuries like Herr Rothhaus’s might actually hear and have some awareness. What would Herr Rothhaus think if he knew hers was the voice of the angel his muddled brain had heard?

  Diedrich glanced at Regina then turned back to his father. “Vater, I believe the angel you speak of is Regina. She has cared for you since Herr Tanner and his Sohn brought you here to the home of Herr Seitz after your accident.”

  Herr Rothhaus’s right hand clenched, wadding a fistful of quilt. For a long moment, he said nothing. Tension built in the room like a coming storm. Regina’s breath caught in her throat, and she braced for his angry outburst.

  Instead, when Herr Rothhaus spoke again, his voice was small, weak, even contrite. “Bring her, Sohn. I want to see her.”

  Turning to Regina, Diedrich curled his fingers toward his palm in a beckoning gesture. “Come.”

  Regina hesitated as fear gripped her. She did not want to ignite another ugly scene like the one they experienced in front of the new house a few days ago. But the steady look in Diedrich’s eyes assured her of his unwavering protection, and she tentatively approached the bed. As she stepped into Herr Rothhaus’s view, her heart thudded. How would he react?

  To her surprise, a gentle smile touched his lips. His watery eyes looked sad, and his face appeared ancient, tired. “Forgive me, liebes Mädchen. I was wrong.” His gaze shifted from her face to Diedrich’s. “I must ask your forgiveness, too, Sohn. You were right. I had forgotten the lessons our Lord taught us in His Word.” Reaching up, he fingered the bandage around his head. “It took you and Gott together to knock the sense back into my head.” The quilt covering him eased down as he breathed out a deep sigh. “I am tired of carrying the burden of hate in my heart. It has grown too heavy,” he murmured as if to himself. “Too heavy and too costly.”

  A tear slipped down his weathered face, touching Regina deeply and forcing her to wipe moisture from her own cheeks. Herr Rothhaus looked up at Diedrich, his eyes full of contrition. “I do not want to lose you, mein Sohn.” He turned a sad smile to Regina. “Or the chance to have an angel Schwiegertochter.” Then his gaze swung between them. “You have my blessing to marry.” He grinned. “But you must wait until I am strong again. I want to stand beside my Sohn as he takes a wife.”

  Smiling, Diedrich rose from the chair and slipped his arm around Regina. “Do not worry, Vater. Regina and I will marry in September, as we agreed the day we arrived here. By then you will be stark, like Herr Seitz’s bull.” He shot Regina a knowing grin. At his veiled reminder of their first meeting, she couldn’t hold back a merry giggle.

  Herr Rothhaus’s voice turned gruff. “Now both of you go and let me rest so I can heal.”

  Diedrich grinned, and Regina bent and pressed an impulsive kiss on her future father-in-law’s cheek. Her heart sang with anthems of thanksgiving for the answered prayers and miracles God had wrought over the past several minutes.

  With his hand around her waist, Diedrich guided Regina outside. There they met Mama coming in from the garden with a basket of vegetables on her arm and shared the joyous news with her.

  Mama wiped away tears. “Praise Gott!” Her expression quickly turned from relieved to determined. “After two days of broth, I must make Herr Rothhaus a proper supper.”

  When Mama had disappeared into the house, Diedrich led Regina to the garden. Regina gazed over the vegetable patch where bees buzzed and butterflies flitted around the verdant growth of potato and cabbage plants as well as vines of beans entwined around clusters of sapling poles. Her full heart throbbed with a poignant ache. Here she and Diedrich had shared so many significant moments in their relationship over the past several months, and now she sensed they were about to share another.

  He took both of her hands in his, and she cocked her head and grinned up at him. “Why have you brought me here?” She gazed into his eyes—those same flannel-soft gray eyes that had made her feel safe last April in the bull’s pen.

  He didn’t smile, but a muscle twitched at the corner of his mouth. “To hear your answer.”

  It suddenly occurred to her that Herr Rothhaus’s awakening had distracted her before she could answer Diedrich’s proposal. Mischief sparked within her, and a playful grin tugged at the corner of her mouth. Feigning weariness, she gave an exasperated huff. “Diedrich Rothhaus, I have agreed to marry you twice before. Must I say it again?”

  “Ja, you must.” He sank to one knee and lifted an expectant look to her, while an untethered smile pranced over his lips. “So, Regina Seitz, will you agree to be my wife?”

  At his repeated petition, Regina’s heart danced with happy abandon. Blinking back renegade tears, she fought to affect a bored pose while bursts of joy exploded inside her. “Ja,” she drawled. “Since your Vater now agrees, I suppose I must marry you. But our Vaters promised us months ago, so my answer should be no surprise.”

  Grinning, he stood and let go of her hands. “Then this, too, should come as no surprise.” Pulling her into his arms, he kissed her until her toes curled. Suddenly September seemed excruciatingly distant.

  “Well,” he murmured as he nuzzled his face against her hair, “did I surprise you?”

  “Nein,” she managed in a breathless whisper.

  His voice against her ear turned husky. “Then I must try harder to surprise you.”

  Regina leaned back and smiled up into her future husband’s handsome face. “Only if all your surprises are as sweet as the last one you tried.”

  He pulled her back into his arms and tried again.

  Epilogue

  Sauers, Indiana, September 1850

  R egina bent and reached into the oven to extract the pan of freshly baked corn bread. The sweet aroma tickled her nose as she gingerly grasped the hot pan with the cotton pot holder. Noticing the quilted square of cloth’s stained and singed condition, she couldn’t suppress a smile. Over the past year, Sophie’s wedding gift had seen much duty.

  As she plopped the pan on top of the stove, strong arms encircled her waist. Twisting in Diedrich’s embrace, Regina smiled up at her husband. She slipped her arms around his neck. Would his touch ever cease to send delicious shivers through her? She couldn’t imagine such an occurrence. “I should make you wear your Holzschuhe in the kitchen so you cannot sneak up on me, mein Mann,” she teased.

  Grinning, he nuzzled her cheek with his prickly chin, filling her nostrils with his scent and firing all her senses. “But then I could not surprise you, and you know how you love surprises.” His lips blazed a searing trail from her jaw to her mouth and sweetly lingered there.

  When he finally freed her from his kiss, she still clung to him, reveling in his closeness. No, she would never become immune to Diedrich’s caresses. “You can no longer surprise me with kisses,” she challenged breathlessly.

  Stepping back, he reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out an envelope. “Ah, but I have other means by which to surprise you.”

  Intrigued, she plucked the already-opened envelope from his fingers. “What is this?” She looked at the name printed on the envelope’s top left corner. “So what is so surprising about a letter from your brother Frederic?”

  “Look at the postmark.” His grin widened.

  “Baltimore, Maryland?” It took a moment for the significance to register.

  Diedrich beamed. “Frederic and Hilde and the Kinder are now in America. They should arrive in Jackson County within the month.”

  Regina’s heart thrilled at her husband’s joy. Separation from his beloved brother had remained the one spot marring Diedrich’s otherwise flawless contentment. Her smile turned fond. “That is wunderbar, mein Liebchen. I am excited to meet
my Schwager and Schwägerin.” Not to be outdone, she decided to share her own piece of news. “Frederic, Hilde, and their children are not the only additions to our family we are expecting.”

  At Diedrich’s puzzled look, Regina stifled a giggle. “Mama stopped by while you were gone. She got a letter from Sophie today saying Henry will be getting a little brother or sister soon.” She laughed. “Mama wondered if helping Elsie with her and William’s little Catharine made Sophie want another little one of her own.”

  Diedrich chuckled. “Soon our Vaters will have more Enkelkinder running around than they will know what to do with. And since Ezra and Sophie bought Herr Roberts’s big brick house in Salem, they will have plenty of room for even more Kinder.”

  Regina perused Frederic’s letter. “Have you told Papa Georg yet about Frederic and Hilde?”

  He nodded. “Ja. On my way back from Dudleytown, I stopped by the mill to deliver to Herr Tanner a letter from Eli.” He grinned. “Vater is sehr excited about the news.” His grin disappeared, and his gaze skittered from hers, signaling a measure of unease. “Eli and Herr Roberts believe they have discovered a rich vein of gold on their claim near San Francisco.” The tiny lines at the corners of his mouth tightened. “Perhaps you will think you should have married Eli after all. You could be a wohlhabend woman now.”

  She cupped his dear face in the palm of her hand. “I am glad for Eli and Herr Roberts, but I married the right man. And I am a wealthy woman.” She turned to cut the cooling corn bread. If his face held a tinge of regret, she would rather not see it. “And if you had joined Herr Roberts instead of Eli, the gold would be yours.”

  He grasped her waist and turned her around. His soft gray gaze melted into hers. “Gott has given me more treasure here in Sauers than Eli will ever find in the hills and streams of California.” He bent to kiss her, but before their lips touched, a soft mewling sound that quickly became a full-throated cry halted them.

  Regina sighed and slipped out of her husband’s grasp. “I must see about our Sohn.”

  Diedrich followed her to the doorway between the kitchen and front room. “Perhaps he is hungry.”

  “Nein.” Regina shook her head. “I just fed and changed him a few minutes ago.”

  By the time they reached the front room, the baby’s crying had stopped, and the cradle was empty. As Diedrich and Regina shared a look of alarm, the sound of quiet singing wafting through the open front door turned Regina’s sharp concern to mild curiosity. On the porch, they found Papa Georg in the rocking chair, cradling his swaddled grandson in his arms and softly singing a hymn.

  Papa Georg stopped singing and looked up at them. “Jakob and I are just enjoying the nice day,” he whispered, glancing down at the now sleeping infant. “So since we require nothing at the moment but each other’s company, maybe the two of you could find something else to do.” Grinning, he went back to rocking and singing, while Jakob’s rosebud lips worked around his tiny thumb.

  At the sight, Regina’s heart melted. A little more than a year ago, she would not have imagined witnessing such a scene. Her eyes misted at the culmination of all her prayers. The words of Psalms 100:5 echoed through her heart then winged their way heavenward in a prayer of thanksgiving. “For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations. “

  Diedrich and Regina shared a look, and their smiles turned to wide grins. Diedrich nodded. “Sehr gut, Vater. We will leave you alone with your Enkel.”

  Inside the house, Diedrich took Regina’s hand. He glanced at the kitchen door then at the stairway that led to the loft. “The corn bread is baked, and you won’t need to start dinner for at least another half hour. And I can’t do any hammering, or I may wake Jakob. So what should we do?”

  Her heart full, Regina grinned up at her husband. “Surprise me.”

  As he towed her toward the stairs, Regina knew that whatever surprises the years might bring, as long as she and Diedrich were together, life would be sweet.

  Discussion Questions

  As the story opens, Regina is infatuated by Eli Tanner. What were some of Eli’s superficial attributes that captured Regina’s interest? Can you relate? Can you think of a time when you judged a person exclusively by their outward appearance? Do you think our culture is too focused on a person’s looks rather than their character? Did Regina’s experience with Eli make you think about this question?

  How did Regina choose to deal with her parents’ decision to marry her off to a stranger? Do you think her actions honored her parents? If not, where did she fall short? For young adults, the need to break away from their parents and make their own life decisions is a timeless rite of passage. After reading this story, do you think that process was easier or harder in Regina and Diedrich’s day than now or about the same?

  Diedrich’s desire to come to America overrode his guilt about not being honest with his father and admitting that he didn’t want to get married. Can you think of a time when you justified an action you knew wasn’t entirely honest? What problems did Diedrich’s sin of omission cause him later?

  Regina continued to make excuses to herself for Eli’s bad behavior. Why do you think she did that? What are some of the things you think blinded her to his true character? Have you ever wanted someone to be good so badly that you refused to see their character flaws?

  Diedrich thought he wanted riches and adventure. Do you think that God used Diedrich’s desire for these things to bring him to Sauers and the richer life God had planned for him? What did Diedrich learn about riches?

  Why do you think Regina’s parents kept the secret of her birth hidden for so many years? What effect did learning of her true parentage have on Regina? At what age do you think a child should be told that he or she was adopted?

  Georg could not forgive Regina’s birth father and grandfather. What did his inability to forgive cost him? What effect did it have on Diedrich, Regina, and Regina’s parents? Considering the destructive nature of holding on to grudges, why do you think it is so hard for people to forgive?

  What motivated Sophie to encourage Regina not to marry Diedrich? Have you ever witnessed adult sibling rivalry? Why do you think that Sophie could not see the parallel between how she was treating Regina and how her husband’s brother was treating him?

  After his father’s accident, how did Diedrich’s attitude toward Regina change? What do think changed it and why? Do you think that Satan uses guilt as a tool to keep us from living the lives God has planned for us? If so, how?

  Diedrich was quick to condemn his father for his lack of forgiveness, yet later he was found lacking in forgiveness toward his father. Why do you think it is so easy to see shortcomings in others yet remain oblivious to the same flaws in ourselves?

  Do you think it is possible for an adult child to act contrary to the wishes of his parents and still honor them? What lessons do you think Regina, Diedrich, and their parents learned concerning the commandment that children honor their parents?

  What, if anything, did you take away from Regina and Diedrich’s story? What change did the act of forgiveness make in the lives of Regina, Diedrich, and Georg?

  About the Author

  Ramona K. Cecil is a wife, mother, grandmother, freelance poet, and award-winning inspirational romance writer. Now empty nesters, she and her husband make their home in Indiana. A member of American Christian Fiction Writers and American Christian Fiction Writers Indiana Chapter, her work has won awards in a number of inspirational writing contests. More than eighty of her inspirational verses have been published on a wide array of items for the Christian gift market. She enjoys a speaking ministry, sharing her journey to publication while encouraging aspiring writers. When she is not writing, her hobbies include reading, gardening, and visiting places of historical interest.

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