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

by Sarah Price

  It was the picture of a perfect family.

  “What’s going on in here?” Susie asked as she opened the door between the mudroom and the kitchen.

  Merv’s mamm was at the stove, stirring something that looked like gravy. She looked over her shoulder and smiled when she saw Susie. “There she is!” Dora looked at the kinner. “I told you that your mamm would be home soon! And just in time!”

  “Surprise!” Sylvia shouted with a lisp as she raised her arms over her head and grinned at Susie.

  “Dora?” Susie questioned the older woman with a raised eyebrow.

  “You sit down, now,” Dora demanded in a light, cheerful tone. “Merv should be along shortly and we can enjoy some good, home-cooked food together! Won’t that be nice for a change?” Pouring the gravy into a small metal bowl, Dora smiled at Susie. “Time for someone to wait on you a bit, I reckon.”

  There was something humbling about seeing Merv’s mamm hustling about the kitchen, preparing a meal for the family. Obediently, or perhaps from the shock, pleasant for once, Susie sat down at her spot at the far end of the table. Her eyes roamed the room and, to her further surprise, everything was clean. Toys rested in the box by the corner, the floor shone from having been freshly washed, and the windows sparkled, letting the sun shine into the room.

  Dora set down the mashed potatoes onto the table when Merv walked into the room. He glanced around and, when he saw Susie, he tried to hide his smile. But she saw it and knew: Merv had gone to his mamm and asked her to come help out at the house while Susie helped Leah with the big order. It was his way of making things right with his fraa and all of her hard work.

  “Ja vell,” Susie said, looking over at the beaming faces of Gid and Sylvia. “This is a nice surprise!”

  She tried to think of when the last time was that, during the day, everyone was seated around the table for what smelled like a right gut noon meal. With the kitchen cleaned and the kinner looking freshly washed, Susie felt as if she just walked into a dream. And the look on Merv’s face, so contrite and sheepish. Did he think that she’d actually be angry with him for turning to his mamm?

  Dora pulled out her chair, the wooden feet scraping against the floor. She sat down and waited for the signal from Merv. It took a moment for him to realize that he needed to bow his head, the signal for the family to say their silent prayer over the meal. Susie watched him, amazed as she realized that it had been so long since they sat as a family that he had forgotten!

  Once the blessing was said and everyone began passing plates, Dora looked at Susie and asked, “How are things over at your family farm?”

  She wasn’t certain how to respond. After all, there was no reason to scare the kinner. They were far too young to understand such things as cancer and hospitals. And she definitely did not want to discuss Lydia’s situation. While she knew that word would spread quickly enough, she wasn’t quite ready to answer questions about her sister’s awful behavior.

  “Thomas was picking up the supplies for that big order,” Susie said as she dished mashed potatoes onto Gid’s plate. She motioned for him to hand her Sylvia’s plate so that she could do the same for her dochder. “I need to get back there to help sort the goods for him to deliver everything to the women.”

  Dora shook her head and clucked her tongue. “What a story!” She glanced at Merv. “It did my heart good to hear how the women were coming to your aid. I’m just right glad that I can help out, too, by watching the little ones.” With a big smile, Dora looked across the table at Sylvia. “Although with you starting school next year with your big bruder,” she said. “Reckon I shouldn’t be calling you little any more, ja?”

  Sylvia grinned and nodded her head.

  Merv cleared his throat and glanced from his mamm to his fraa. He seemed to have something on his mind. With an anxious look to his eyes, he stared at Susie until she set down her fork. She felt a moment of panic. All of this happiness had seemed too good to be true when she walked in; a vision of how life should have been if Merv didn’t drink and she had more time to take care of the house.

  “What is it, Merv? Something you not telling me?”

  “Ja,” he said slowly. “I mean, nee, nothing bad, Susie. Just an idea that I had.”

  From the way that his eyes sparkled, she knew that he was excited. Whatever this idea was, glimpses of the old Merv had returned: the Merv she thought she had married so long ago.

  “Oh? Do tell,” she coaxed.

  “I drove past your family farm today,” he said.

  This was news indeed! “Why didn’t you stop in, then? We sure could have used your help!” As soon as she said the words, she cringed. It sounded accusatory and that was the one thing Merv did not need now. He needed support and understanding. Surely things could not be easy for him, just dropping the bottle and trying to move on with his life. “I’m sorry, Merv,” she whispered. “I didn’t mean that to sound so harsh.”

  “It’s the store I went to see,” he explained. “Just to get a better understanding of the damage, ja? And…and I came up with something that I sketched on a piece of paper. An idea to rebuild it.”

  “Rebuild it? You mean Whoopie Pie Place?”

  He nodded his head and reached into his back pocket. Carefully, he withdrew a folded piece of paper and, after one brief moment’s hesitation, as if having a second thought, he reached across the table to hand it to her. “Rebuild it, ja. Open that paper and take a look. Tell me what you think.”

  Curious, Susie pushed back her chair to give herself some more room as she unfolded the paper and, with a tentative glance at him, she started to look at it.

  And she caught her breath.

  It wasn’t just a drawing, something written hastily on a piece of paper. Instead, she found herself looking at a complete diagram with measurements and detailed plans of what needed to be done. Everything was meticulous, a rendering that appeared almost professional.

  Even better, Susie liked what she saw.

  “Why Merv!” she exclaimed. “I never knew you could draw plans like this!”

  A look of pride crossed his face but, as soon as it was there, he quickly lowered his eyes and began to eat the food on his plate. “Nothing special,” he mumbled. “Just an idea.”

  Susie knew that was not true. It was more than ‘just an idea.’ Indeed, she recognized it as the beginning of the healing process. After years of abusing the bottle, which had, in turn, abused his body and soul, he was healing. Without alcohol controlling his life, Merv was taking the reins and steering himself through recovery: physical, mental, and spiritual.

  “I’m heading back to help Leah later,” Susie said. “I don’t think I should show this to her just yet. Mayhaps next week after this first order is fulfilled, ja? And,” she paused. He had never gotten on well with her family. Instead of joining festivities, he often remained at home. In hindsight, Susie understood now why he avoided them. Would the new Merv do the same? “I think you should be the one to present the idea to her.”

  He paled and looked as if he was about to decline.

  Hastily, she added, “You can answer any questions that she has better than I can, anyway.”

  To her relief, he did not decline. Instead, he nodded his head, agreeing to take a ride over to the family farm during the following week to talk with Leah.

  For the rest of the meal, Susie could hardly contain herself. She watched as Gid and Sylvia giggled, one of them apparently poking the other under the table. When Merv gently scolded them, reminding them to have table manners, she tried to hide her smile. She felt a year’s worth of anxiety lift from her shoulders as she realized that, quite possibly, things were finally taking a turn for the better in the Stutzman house.

  Lydia

  A warm breeze blew through the open door. Indian Summer, Lydia thought as she stood behind the screen and stared outside. The last warm days before winter kicked in.

  In the distance, she could see Abe walking behind the Belgian mule
s as they pulled the cutter along the fields of grass. It would dry for a few days before being baled and stacked in the barn, good hay for feeding the animals over the upcoming winter months.

  He hadn’t spoken to her since the bishop had left the previous day. In fact, he seemed downright happy, as if he felt justified and vindicated by her shunning. The night before, at supper, he refused to sit at their table with her. In fact, despite her efforts at having set the table and placing nice, home-cooked food before his plate, he merely glanced at her before walking out the door. Moments later, she heard the buggy pulling out of the driveway, the horse’s hooves click-clacking on the macadam as he drove away. She didn’t know where he was going, but she suspected that he was going to enjoy the evening meal with another family.

  Shutting her eyes, Lydia leaned her head against the doorframe.

  She had heard of people being shunned. All of her life the threat dangled over the heads of the people in the congregation. As a child, she knew that, once one was baptized, the bishop’s rules were meant to be followed. Furthermore, she had been told on numerous occasions that those who strayed would be shunned.

  But it had never happened.

  Until now.

  Oh, she knew that she might have exaggerated some of her headaches in the past. Mayhaps some of her aches and pains weren’t quite as bad as what she claimed. But to be shunned?

  She shook her head and walked back to the kitchen. For a long moment, she stood there, wondering what to do. She didn’t have to cook, for Abe had made it clear that he wouldn’t take food made by her hand. That was a little extreme, she told herself.

  And he sure wasn’t going to talk to her. His silence made that point quite clear.

  All of this because of Sadie.

  Maybe she did have the cancer, Lydia thought as she leaned against the counter and stared out the window. Just because of one little mistake, Lydia reasoned with herself, now she was shunned? Because she made a comment to Manny about Sadie being pregnant? How was she supposed to know that it was cancer and not pregnancy? After all, it was Tobias who had told her about Sadie’s morning sickness.

  That was the moment that she remembered.

  The image of Jacob hearing the words from Leah’s lips while Thomas listened: Jacob was Tobias’ daed!

  “Oh help!” she muttered, her eyes widening as the memory of the conversation came back to her.

  Her baby bruder. After all of these years, the truth was that Tobias was not her bruder but her nephew, born out of wedlock, to her older bruder, Jacob! To make matters worse, it was Leah who kept that secret, tight to her bosom during the past years. It was Leah who deceived others by allowing everyone to think that Tobias was their bruder and Jacob was such a godly man.

  He wasn’t.

  Lydia had always known that anyway. Now the entire g’may would know!

  She stood up straight and found that her breath came in short, clipped waves. Her heart pounded and her blood raced. The bishop would surely lift the Meidung from her if she told him. She would redeem herself, Abe wouldn’t ignore her any longer, and she would work extra hard to win him back. She certainly couldn’t live the rest of her life like this, surrounded by silence!

  When Abe returned from the fields, Lydia was seated at the kitchen table waiting for him. She lifted her eyes to meet his, doing her best to look remorseful. She knew what needed to be done. She knew that she would have to play by the bishop’s rules, agree to confess to the g’may, and let Abe have his victory. But as soon as she had the bishop alone, she’d tell him what she overheard and Leah would see how far her superior, smug attitude would get her then!

  Abe hung his hat on the peg in the mudroom, took off his boots, and walked straight to the stairs. Not once did he look at her.

  “Abe,” she said softly. “I…I can’t go on like this.”

  He paused, his hand on the banister and one foot ahead of the other on the stairs.

  “I’ll apologize to Sadie,” she said. “I’ll confess to the g’may. Anything. Just don’t desert me. Not now, Abe. Not when I’ve seen the error of my ways.”

  He remained motionless.

  “It was the accident, I think.” She stood up and walked toward him, her hand reaching out to cover his. “I didn’t know what I was saying.” When his eyes glanced at her, she tried to smile. “And when I awoke in the hospital, I knew I had been wrong. I knew that you and the bishop…you both were right. I need to speak to someone and I’m willing to do it. But I need this shunning to go away. I can’t go on much longer without you, without my sisters…”

  “You mean what you’re saying?”

  She nodded her head. “I do, Abe. I truly do!”

  He withdrew his hand from under hers. “Let me pray on this, then,” he said before continuing to climb the stairs and leaving Lydia alone in the kitchen.

  She caught her breath, uncertain of whether or not he would fetch the bishop to hear her confession. She heard the door to the empty bedroom shut, the bedroom where Abe had slept by himself for the past few nights since her return from the hospital.

  The pain in her head hurt. The pressure of trying to convince Abe didn’t help. Her nerves were eating at her stomach, too. Walking over to the sink, she poured some water into a small glass before she opened a cabinet in search of a seltzer tablet. That would help her headache and stomach.

  Pray on it, indeed, she thought bitterly as she sat back down at the table.

  Never had she felt more alone. Why was God punishing her? She wasn’t perfect; no one was except Jesus. But she tried to be a good person. She tried to honor the Christian faith and follow Jesus’ teaching. No matter what anyone thought, she was a godly woman. More so than her holier than thou schwester, Leah! That was something Lydia believed with all of her heart. And soon, she told herself, the rest of the g’may would believe it, too!

  Sadie

  She closed the suitcase, cringing as she clicked the latches shut. It sounded so final: packed, shut, locked. In all of her life, she had never slept away from the house and her family. Oh, there had been the occasional trips to Pennsylvania for a wedding of a second cousin. But, with her family traveling with her, it had not seemed as if she was away.

  Now, she would be going away for at least two nights, maybe longer.

  “You need to get this procedure done,” Dr. Conceicao had told her before when Sadie and Leah had sat in her office earlier that afternoon. “I’m willing to do it tomorrow morning. When I heard you were coming, we managed to reserve the operating room for six o’clock.”

  “Six o’clock?” she exclaimed. “That’s awful early!”

  Leah’s hand on her knee gave her the reassurance that she needed to calm down. “Then that’s what we’ll do,” Leah told the doctor.

  “She can arrive as early as five o’clock tomorrow morning to get into prep.” The doctor leaned forward and stared directly into Sadie’s eyes. “It may seem sudden, Sadie. But this is the best decision. Remove the breasts, go through chemo, and let’s get you on Herceptin if we decide against radiation.”

  After the appointment with the doctor, they stopped in to visit Tobias. He was in better spirits, that was for certain. His doctor wanted Tobias to stay in the hospital for another few weeks, even though he had already started the chemotherapy to kill the existing bad bone marrow cells prior to receiving the transfusion.

  Both Leah and Sadie felt it was better that he not learn about her cancer. For a fourteen -year-old boy, he had enough on his mind with his own medical problems. He didn’t seem to notice how quiet Sadie was as she sat there, staring out the window and leaving the talking to Leah.

  When they returned home, Sadie ignored Esther’s frown and retreated upstairs. She needed to pack her suitcase. Michelle agreed to pick her up at nine o’clock to take her back to her own house. She had asked Sadie to stay over because It was closer to the hospital and Sadie needed that time away from all the activity at the farm. At first, Leah argued with Sadie, refusi
ng to let her go alone. But Sadie won the argument, insisting that, this time, she needed to do this by herself.

  Leaving the suitcase by the door, she slowly walked downstairs, knowing that Leah had just told the family about the cancer. The younger kinner didn’t need to know. But Aaron and Rebecca were seated around the table, listening as Leah shared the news with Jacob and Esther.

  “There’s a black cloud hanging over this family!” Esther declared.

  “Esther!” Leah snapped at her. “Don’t say such things!”

  Sadie stood on the stairs, watching without them knowing. Leave it to Esther, she thought.

  “It’s true! First this business with Tobias! Now Sadie? And forget the tornado! I’m at my wit’s end!”

  Sadie shook her head. Always the victim, she thought bitterly. Still, there was strong venom to Esther’s voice, one that she hadn’t heard before. Her comment about Tobias struck her as odd. There was nothing about Tobias’ situation that impacted Esther. However, ever since the tornado, Sadie had noticed that Esther stayed to herself more and her kinner were often over playing with Leah’s younger ones.

  Thomas cleared his throat and glanced at the staircase. Almost in unison, three white prayer kapps turned around and the women looked in her direction while the men merely lowered their eyes. With a deep breath, Sadie continued her descent into the kitchen. She wondered whether Thomas and Jacob had heard the rumors about her ‘pregnancy’. Undoubtedly so, she suspected, a bitter taste in her mouth. Thomas would have dismissed it. But Jacob? She could imagine him spreading the gossip with the same glee as Lydia.

  “Sadie,” Rebecca said. “I’ll be praying for you.”

  “Danke, ‘Becca,” Sadie replied with a smile. “Prayers are right gut!” She wanted to sound positive and wanted to alleviate any fears, especially with Aaron and Rebecca. After praying about everything, she decided that a positive attitude was a gift from God. No one could take that away from her…not if she didn’t let them.