The Divine Secrets of the Whoopie Pie Sisters: The Complete Trilogy

by Sarah Price

  The conversation with Abe still lingered in her mind. How could he accuse her of faking her illnesses? How could her own husband bring the bishop to their home for a confrontation about Abe’s desire for her to see a doctor? She had agreed, that much was true. But her feelings had changed overnight. If Abe didn’t really believe that she was sick, why was he insisting that she go see a doctor anyway?

  Setting her bicycle by the porch of the bakery, Lydia hurried to the door. Her hand touched the doorknob and turned it, surprised to feel resistance. Closed? Locked? Lydia peeked through the glass and tried to see if anyone was still inside. The sign said OPEN but the door was clearly not budging.

  Standing on the porch, Lydia looked around the farm. Down toward the end of the driveway, she saw Leah and Thomas walking into the barn. That struck Lydia as odd. After all, only an hour earlier, Leah had come into the bakery and told both Susie and Lydia that she would close up. The store wasn’t supposed to close this early, but it was obviously not open.

  Hurrying down the driveway toward the barn, Lydia suspected that something had happened. Most likely with Tobias, she thought, a touch too bitterly as she realized that no one had brought the bishop to see him about his constant illnesses. As she rounded the corner and approached the doorway of the barn, she heard Jacob speaking with Leah and Thomas. For a moment, she paused, her ears stressing to listen to their private conversation, despite knowing that it was wrong.

  “What do you mean I’m the only one that can help him?” Jacob said, an annoyed edge to his voice. “The doctors said my blood doesn’t match!”

  Lydia heard Leah clear her throat, hesitating before she replied. “Jacob,” Leah said. “There’s something you need to be knowing, bruder.”

  There was the noise of feet shuffling in the hay on the floor of the barn. The cows were still in the pasture, the evening milking time not quite upon them. “And what would that be?” Jacob asked.

  A pause. A long pause. Lydia fought the urge to peek around the corner. Mesmerized, she just stood there listening, with her heart beating inside of her chest. Her hands pressed against the dry wood of the barn, her ear tilted toward the doorway.

  “It’s about Tobias and you,” Leah finally said.

  “What about Tobias now?” The impatience in Jacob’s voice was more than apparent. Lydia knew that the two brothers had never really gotten along, although she suspected it was more on Jacob’s part, than Tobias’. As the first and only son, Jacob had not reacted kindly to being supplanted by a new baby brother when he was eighteen.

  “This might be hard for you to hear,” Leah said softly and Lydia could imagine that her oldest schwester was placing her hand on Jacob’s arm. “Do you remember that Englische woman from your rumschpringe?”

  Silence.

  Lydia caught her breath, remembering the turmoil that had happened in the house. Jacob had been sixteen when he began running around with those Englische boys. Two of his Amish friends had also joined him. Rumschpringe was a time of exploration before settling down with the church, after all. Yet, Mamm and Daed had been beside themselves.

  And then there was that girl.

  “Cheryl Weaver?”

  Lydia heard Leah make a noise. It came deep within her throat. “Ja, that be the woman,” Leah said. There was a strange edge to her voice and Lydia fought the urge to peek around the doorway. Cheryl Weaver? The name sounded familiar but Lydia just couldn’t place the face.

  “What about Cheryl Weaver then?”

  There was a few seconds pause. Lydia could envision Leah glancing at her husband before she continued. “She came to Mamm after you had stopped seeing her.”

  Jacob’s voice began to sound suspicious. “She moved away.”

  “Ja, she did that,” Leah affirmed. “And eight months later, Tobias was born.”

  It took a moment for Lydia to understand what Leah was saying. When it hit her, she caught her breath and covered her mouth with her hand. Quickly, she searched her memory, trying to remember when Tobias had been born. Of all the children, he was the only one born in a hospital. Sadie had only been eight years old and Lydia had been but thirteen. Mamm and Daed simply went away one morning and came home the following day with a bundled baby in their arms.

  “I…I don’t understand what you are saying,” Jacob stammered.

  “We need to find his mother,” Leah spoke up. “His real mother.”

  “Are you saying…?” He did not finish the sentence, the question left dangling in the air. “I cannot believe this,” he mumbled. “It’s not true.”

  “Ja, it is,” Leah said. “And you must help us find her.”

  “You’re saying that Tobias is my son?” The shock in his voice was only equal to the shock that Lydia was feeling. How was this possible? How could Tobias not truly be her bruder?

  “Ja, he is, Jacob.”

  In a rage of anger Jacob asked, “How do you know this?” There was denial in his voice. But as Lydia quickly digested what she was learning, she knew the truth. The blue eyes, the curly hair, even the way they walked. Tobias favored Jacob much more than he had ever favored either Mamm or Daed. And the hostility that Jacob had always felt toward Tobias? Lydia wondered if, deep down, Jacob had suspected that something was amiss. Perhaps, despite his denial, he had known after all.

  Leah spoke softly, so softly that Lydia almost could not hear the word that slipped through her lips. ““Mamm and Daed felt it best to raise Tobias as their own. When the arrangement was made, the girl stayed home as the birth approached so that people wouldn’t suspect anything.”

  Jacob made a noise, deep in his throat. Lydia couldn’t tell if he was clearing his throat or scoffing at this wild statement that had crossed Leah’s lips. “If this is true, why wasn’t I told this from the beginning?”

  They were in fear that if you found out you would leave the church,” Leah explained, trying to carefully select her words. The last thing she wanted to do was to upset Jacob, for she knew her bruder well enough to know that he could shut down at any time. “That you’d refuse your kneeling vow and, mayhaps, pursue that woman.”

  Now it was Thomas who spoke. “Leah needs your help trying to contact her, Jacob. Tobias’ life depends on it.”

  Stunned, Lydia had heard enough. Slowly, she moved away, hoping that she didn’t make any noise as she did. It would do no good for Leah, Thomas or Jacob to know that she had overheard their conversation. Eavesdropped, she told herself, feeling a momentary stab of guilt. However, the damage was done and she could barely believe what she had just learned.

  For several minutes, she stood behind the barn, far enough away from the other side so that no one would find her. Tobias was Jacob’s son! How had this secret been kept from everyone for so long? Why had Mamm chosen to share it with Leah and not the rest of the family?

  She shivered as dark clouds passed over the sun. They were rolling in rapidly and the air felt heavy. Lydia glanced up and, as she studied the sky, thought how appropriate it was that it looked so gloomy.

  Keeping secrets was almost as bad as outright lying, she thought to herself, brushing a stray hair from her cheek. And she knew that there were far too many secrets going around these days. First, Tobias had told her about Sadie’s morning sickness. Now, she had learned about Jacob having fathered a boppli when he was a himself a boy, a boppli that had been raised as their own sibling!

  “No. I can’t hear any more. This can’t be so.” Lydia whispered to herself. Moving as swiftly as the strong winds would let her, Lydia found her bicycle. Not hearing Leah who had came out of the barn yelling at her, Leah quickly hopped onto the bicycle and sped down the driveway and onto the road.

  The sound of Leah’s voice telling Jacob that he was Tobias’ father began swirling in her head and the winds from the vehicle that had just barely missed her were dragging her bicycle from side to side putting fear into every part of Lydia’s body. Fear that blinded her from the approaching vehicle that was out of control until t
he moment it was upon her.

  Sadie

  After sitting with Tobias for two hours, as she had promised Leah she would do, Sadie left him when he finally fell asleep; the medicine that had been slowly dripping through the IV was causing him to become drowsy in the afternoon. Dr. Conceicao had insisted upon seeing Sadie as soon as possible and instructed her that, as soon as she would end her visit with Tobias that day she should tell the nurse to page her as she needed to talk to her.

  “Sadie, I have the results of your pathology tests,”Dr. Conceicao said slowly, staring at Sadie as she stood before her in the small office. Taking a deep breath, she added:“I’ve gone over your file thoroughly and I’ve even consulted with some of my colleagues. I’m sorry Sadie. The news isn’t good.”

  She was in shock as she left Dr. Conceicao’s office. Disbelief. She couldn’t comprehend the news that Dr. Conceicao had just given her. A mastectomy? A rare form of cancer? Rapidly spreading? It was all too much to take in at one time. Why hadn’t she told Leah? Leah could have been here with her to receive this devastating news.

  As she emerged from the hospital, she was both relieved and dismayed to see Michelle’s van waiting by the entrance. She needed more time to digest what she had just learned. She hadn’t expected Michelle to be so prompt. Or, rather, she had hoped for a few moments to herself to clear her head.

  “You don’t look so good, Sadie,”Michelle said, a concerned look on her face as Sadie opened the door.“You okay?”

  Shaking her head yes, Sadie said nothing further. She was still trying to digest the news and didn’t want to speak further about the upsetting fact that, indeed, she had breast cancer. Yet, she knew that Michelle would never pry. Instead of asking more questions, Michelle shifted the van into drive and pulled away from the hospital.

  About midway home, Sadie asked Michelle:“Michelle, do you believe that God does things for a reason?”

  “Why, yes. As a matter of fact, I do, Sadie. I don’t believe in fate or coincidence at all. I believe that God has our lives mapped out for us from the minute we are born,”Michelle replied.“Remember Jeremiah 29:11?‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’ God knows everything about us and has plans for each and every one of us."

  Sadie stared out the window, watching the farms pass by. Hope and future were not the two words that she was feeling very cheery about these days. Faith, however, was something that she understood could relate to. God had planned this for a reason. If only she knew what that reason was.

  Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard Michelle break the silence.“Why did you ask me that question, Sadie?”

  Turning in the seat, Sadie faced Michelle.“If this wasn’t fate and this wasn’t coincidence but a plan, that means God knew that I was going to get breast cancer before I was born, is that so?” she asked Michelle.

  A grimace crossed Michelle’s face.“Don’t say that,”she whispered.“Wait till all the tests are in.”

  “They are in,” Sadie spoke quietly, yet loud enough for Michelle to hear.

  “Are you sure?” asked Michelle empathetically.

  “Yes, I’m sure,”Sadie replied and then proceeded to tell Michelle what the doctor had said.“How am I possibly going to tell my family? Here they are, all so worried about Tobias passing. Now I have to burden them with my own health issues?”

  “You have to tell them, Sadie,”Michelle encouraged.“You can’t put it off. You must have the surgery as soon as possible. And you need them by your side.”

  With a big sigh, Sadie frowned.“But Leah has so much going on right now. How will she ever be able to handle this?”

  “Leah is a strong woman. God has given her the strength to carry such burdens on her shoulders. You need her Sadie. You need all of your family.”

  “I just can’t do it Michelle. I just can’t. Tobias is so sick and he needs her. And she has her kinnerand Thomas to take care of. And Lord knows that at the bakery, Susie and Lydia keep her on her knees praying daily with all their antics. She just can’t handle any more than that.”

  “Don’t sell Leah short, Sadie. She’s stronger than you think.”

  “Ja, ja,”Sadie admitted.“I just don’t know how she’ll feel to hear that angels are knocking at my door.”

  “Hush!”Michelle scolded.“I don’t want to hear that kind of talk! And, as for Leah, you need to trust her to know what her limitations are. She would be so hurt if she knew that you didn’t go to her. In fact, she’d think she had done something wrong if she found out that you didn’t trust her enough to share the news of your illness with her.”

  Swerving on the road, Sadie quickly grabbed the handgrip above the door.“Oh help! Seen another turtle, Michelle?”Sadie forced a nervous laugh.“Or was that a jack rabbit jumping out in front of you, this time?”

  Michelle squinted her eyes and stared into the sky.“Very funny, Sadie. Glad to see you still have your good sense of humor.”The van shifted again and Sadie saw her grip the steering wheel.“The wind sure is picking up. It’s blowing my van sideways.”

  “I suppose you are right, Michelle. I do need to tell Leah. I need her right now and she would be hurt if she thought I had purposely not told her. She should be home when I get there. I reckon I’ll talk to her then.”

  At that moment, a loud screeching noise blasted from the radio in the dashboard of the van. The noise startled Sadie and she clapped her hands over her ears to dull it out. She had never heard such an intrusive sound and she glanced over at Michelle.“What is that?” asked Sadie.

  “Ssh,” Michelle said, reaching for the dial to turn up the volume.

  A man’s voice boomed over the radio and Sadie leaned forward as she tried to listen. A tornado. The man calmly explained that a tornado had been spotted just southeast of Millersburg. It was moving at a very rapid speed in a northwestern direction. She looked at Michelle and noticed the color drain from her face.

  “We’ve got to get to your farm as quickly as possible!” Michelle said, her hands gripping the steering wheel tighter. She stared straight ahead, her eyes intent on the road before them.

  “Can we make it in time?” Sadie asked softly.

  “Just hang on,”Michelle responded.“I’ll get us there as quickly as I can.”

  “Is there really a tornado headed toward us? In September?”Sadie couldn’t remember ever having experienced a tornado warning this late in the season. But the sky certainly looked like the man on the radio knew what he was talking about.

  “Don’t think about it,”Michelle snapped. Then, as if instantly apologetic, she softened her voice and repeated her words.“Don’t think about it, Sadie, but pray!”

  For what seemed like an eternity, Michelle sped through the roads, the wind picking up and more branches flying through the air. The high-pitch noise returned and, immediately following it, the man’s voice calmly urged people to seek shelter underground.

  “Tobias!”exclaimed Sadie.“What about Tobias?”

  As Michelle struggled to keep control of the van she explained to Sadie that, since Tobias was further north, he would be safe. Besides, the hospital has emergency plans for these types of emergencies, Michelle reassured her, not once taking her focused eyes off the road.

  “But what about the farm?” Sadie implored, staring at her friend as the low hanging clouds, avocado in color, seemed to converge together. More debris seemed to swirl on the ground and, in the distance, Sadie saw it: the formation of the clouds, dark clouds, joining together into the telltale funnel of a tornado.

  Sadie gasped as Michelle pressed the gas pedal down and the van lurched forward, moving even faster down the road. A plastic crate rolled across the road and Michelle quickly swerved the steering wheel to avoid it just as they passed a bicycle that was struggling to stay on the road. Another swerve and Sadie’s head hit the side window.

  “That looked like Lydia”Sadie exclaimed a
s she jumped to look out of the van’s back window.“That person on the bicycle. Did you see her?”

  Michelle didn’t answer. Sadie could tell that Michelle was too concerned with driving the van. The wind was even more ferocious and keeping the vehicle on the road was clearly becoming a challenge for Michelle. Her concentration was fierce but Sadie knew what she had seen: her schwester.

  “We should go back for her!”

  “We can’t!”Michelle hissed.“It’s heading this way, Sadie! We have to try to get to your basement!”

  “Oh help!” Sadie held onto the handle on the dashboard. She was staring into the sky watching the swirling clouds overhead. Branches and leaves were flying through the air and the noise sounded like a freight train. The funnel was still a good distance away but it was headed right for them. She shut her eyes and said a quick prayer, an image of Manny passing through her mind as she did so.

  “We’re here!”

  The relief in Michelle’s voice interrupted her prayer and Sadie immediately opened her eyes. As Michelle drove the van toward the entrance to the Miller’s farm, they both saw a mailbox aimed for the van’s windshield. Sadie screamed while Michelle slammed on the brakes, both women ducking as the mailbox slammed against the hood of the van then shot back into the air.

  The van lurched forward and Sadie braced herself, pressing her one hand against the dashboard while her other hand clung to the strap of her seatbelt. She was too afraid to shut her eyes again, yet as afraid to keep them open. The funnel was moving across the fields of their neighbors’ farms and the power was beyond anything Sadie had ever witnessed.

  “Is it coming this way?”

  Her question required no answer.

  Once again, Michelle pressed the accelerator to the floor and spun the wheel, the van sliding and barreling down the driveway. Branches were falling from trees, a fence was knocked over and the wind was still picking up. But the driveway was clear and Michelle aimed directly for the house.