by Amy Lillard
Just before the final prayer, Pastor Joel came out from behind his podium and stood on the church floor. “If I could have everyone’s attention for another moment, please.”
Leah stopped gathering her things and trained her attention on the pastor.
“I had the pleasure of leading someone to Christ this morning.” He grinned. “That’s not exactly true. I helped someone to Christ on a different path. And I want to take a minute to introduce you to this person. Jamie, why don’t you come on up here?”
Jamie?
Leah watched as the man she loved make his way down the aisle. She hadn’t seen his buggy out back, or even in the side parking lot. How had he gotten here?
Better than that, why was he here?
Brandon elbowed her in the ribs. “That’s Jamie,” he whispered.
“I know who it is,” she hissed back. The sight of him here, in her church on Sunday morning, a church Sunday for the Amish, made her heart sing with hope.
What was he doing here, and could she trust her wonderful suspicions? She couldn’t allow herself to get her hopes up. Instead, she pushed those thoughts and her lifted spirits down until she could be sure.
“Folks, this is Jamie Stoltzfus. He visited our church last week with Sister Leah and Brother Brandon. Now you know we’re always glad to have visitors of any sort, but I feel Jamie was called to be here. I won’t tell you his entire story, I’m gonna leave that up to him, but I will tell you this. Up until this morning, Jamie was a member of the Amish church. But he came to me and asked me some pretty important questions. We talked about the Lord, His love, and His grace. I’m happy to report that Jamie has expressed an interest in baptism, joining our church, and helping us spread the word of Jesus.”
A round of applause went up in the congregation. Beside her, Brandon clapped and clapped, but Leah felt as if her arms were glued to her sides. How could this be happening? Was it good or bad? How would she ever know?
* * *
“Don’t you want to wait and talk to Jamie?” Brandon trailed behind her as she hurried to her car.
“No.” She was more than afraid; she was terrified. How could he have done that? How could he have left his church, his life? Did he expect now that she would simply marry him because he had carried through with the one thing she told him not to do?
“I’m hungry,” Leah said, unlocking the car and sliding behind the wheel. It might be nearing November, but the inside was still stiflingly warm. She turned on the air full blast to blow some of the hot out of the car.
“Okay.” Brandon slid into the seat next to her. “Where are we eating?”
“You want to get pizza?” She backed the car out and waved at a few of the people who were also leaving. “Pizza sounds good.”
Bradley Stone waved for her to stop. She would have loved to just keep driving, but he had made eye contact.
She stopped and rolled down the window.
“We’re going to get pizza. You and Brandon want to go with us?”
She shook her head. “Thanks anyway. We were just talking about going to get a burger.” She rolled up her window before he could say anything else. Then she waved and drove out of the parking lot as slow as she dared.
“Aunt Leah.” Brandon had a white-knuckle grip on the dash. “What has gotten into you?”
“Nothing.” She eased off the gas and shot him a quick smile.
“You’re a terrible liar, you know.”
She did. She couldn’t even lie to herself. She didn’t trust herself to be with Jamie right now. He had taken the first steps toward joining the church; the Mennonite church. Now she couldn’t claim that religion was standing in their way. And despite her declaration that any relationship they could have after such a sacrifice would be tainted, she might not be able to tell him no if he asked to marry her now.
* * *
They ate lunch at a small café at the edge of town. She pretended that nothing was out of the ordinary, but she could feel Brandon’s shrewd gaze on her the entire time.
“Can you take me back to the apartment?” he asked as she left a tip for the waitress and enough to pay their tab. “I want to go over to Shelly’s.”
“You’re not going to Mammi’s with me?”
“Not right away. I may get Shelly, and we can come over later. She said she wanted to see Peter’s dog.”
“Peter’s dog is something else.”
Brandon laughed. “That bad?”
She shook her head. “Duke’s a great dog, but in dog years he’s a dawdi.”
“Peter’s happy,” he pointed out.
“Yes,” she said. And that counted for a lot.
“Are you going to see Jamie?” he asked as they got into the car and headed back for Main.
“No.” Her tone implied, Why would I want to do something like that?
“Chicken.” The one word was quietly spoken.
“I am not,” she protested.
“Then go see him.”
“We’re just friends,” she reminded him. Though there had been a time . . .
“Like me and Shelly.”
She started to say something, she didn’t even know what, but was interrupted as Brandon laughed. “You have got it so bad. Just tell the man you’ll marry him and get it over with.”
“I can’t marry Jamie.”
“Why not?”
“A dozen reasons. A hundred dozen.”
He frowned.
“Where would we live? He has a two-bedroom shack.”
“Cabin,” Brandon corrected.
“You and I live in a two-bedroom apartment, over the shop.”
“You really are hopeless.” He sighed. “No one gets married based on the idea of where they are going to live. You get married because you love someone. Maybe even you need someone. So you tie the knot, and then you find a place to live.”
“It’s not that simple.”
He grinned. “Yeah, it is. You love him. He loves you. You now belong to the same church. Well, almost. The only thing standing in your way is you.”
* * *
Leah refused to talk to Brandon the rest of the way back to the apartment. She didn’t even wait for him to get his keys and get into the apartment before she left for her mamm’s house.
All the way there she had to push his words out of her head. The only thing standing in their way was her. That wasn’t true. There was plenty standing in their way, like . . . like . . . well, there was plenty. She just couldn’t think of anything on such short notice.
Oh, yeah, the biggest of all: changing religions for love was a dangerous sacrifice. One that could break a relationship.
She pulled into the lane leading to her parents’ house. She would not stop at Jamie’s. If Peter was outside, she would wave and keep driving as if she had never stopped there before. And soon, it wouldn’t be so hard to drive past.
But no one was out front. She was both relieved and disappointed.
At the end of the lane, she pulled her car to a stop next to the barn and rolled up the windows to keep the red dirt dust out.
Orange pumpkins were stacked in a wagon parked to one side of the workshop. She supposed her brother David would be taking them to market come tomorrow morning. A beautiful crop they were.
And she remembered she still needed to get one to paint for her storefront. She walked over to the wagon and selected a nice one: not too big, not too little, round and plump. She put it in the back floorboard and shut the car once again.
That was when she saw it. A splash of red there in the remaining green grass that grew between the tree roots.
She turned to look at the color, knowing she had to be mistaken. What would a painted rock be doing out here on her parents’ farm? She must have painted rocks on her mind, and it was causing her to see things. But there it was, in those few blades of grass.
She walked to it and picked it up. It was about as long as her palm, but only a couple of inches wide. The dark red paint had a
fall tinge to it, but the yellow sun in one corner was all summer. Colossians 3:14 was painted next to the sun.
Was she dreaming and none of this was actually happening? But the warmth of the real sun and the cool breeze were proof enough that it was real.
Colossians 3:14. She didn’t know the verse. She would have to look it up when she got home. Or maybe later. Her Bible was still in the car.
She glanced toward the house. It looked empty. Who had left this rock? With a quick peek at her watch, she saw that her parents wouldn’t be home for another forty minutes or so, and maybe even a little after that.
But Jamie’s home.
She ignored that little voice. It didn’t know what was good for it. Or maybe it did.
She decided to walk the short distance to Jamie’s cabin. It was a perfect fall day, and she was enjoying the sun on her face and the rock painted with a sun in her hand. Her heart beat a little faster. Not because of the exercise, but because of the thought of the painted rock.
She couldn’t allow herself to get too excited. It might not have even been meant for her. For all she knew, one of Jim and Anna’s twins had found it in town yesterday and dropped it there on accident.
Or maybe Jamie hadn’t given up on her after all.
There on the side of the road, Leah found another rock. This one was painted blue, with John 15:12 on one side with a mosaic heart. This one she knew. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. On the other side someone had painted Love me? Coincidence? She was beginning to doubt.
She kept walking, and just to the right of the turn leading to Jamie’s cabin was a green painted rock. This one said I Peter 4:8. And someone had taken the time to write the entire verse on the painted surface. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. On the back, the artist had written, Sometimes love is the answer.
Jamie was waiting for her when she got to his house. He stood on the porch watching her come toward him.
“That was some show in church this morning,” she said by way of greeting.
“That was no show. That was the real thing.”
She squinted against the afternoon sun. “You’re really going to leave everything you know behind?”
“I have lots to learn ahead.”
She wasn’t sure how to respond. “I think you may have dropped something.” She took a step closer and offered the rocks to him.
“Those were for you to find.”
“Yeah?” Her heart beat a little faster. She had told Brandon that if Jamie asked her to marry him again, she might not be able to tell him no. But now, when the time was approaching, she found she didn’t want to tell him no. Not about this. Not about anything.
“In fact, I have another one for you.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a rock. It was purple with a dove painted on it. Crude though it was, it still held a great deal of charm. In scrawling black, Ecclesiastes 4:9–11 was written. She turned it over. Marry me? was written on the back.
“Do you know the verse?” he asked.
She shook her head, unable to speak. Or maybe she was merely afraid to break whatever wisps of connection were holding them together.
“Two are better than one,” he quoted. “Because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone?”
“How do we know?” she whispered. She wanted to ask if he had learned that for this moment, but she would rather believe it to be than ask him for sure.
He handed her two more rocks, simply painted in yellow and pink. Both had book, chapter, and verse written on them: I Corinthians 16:13 and Proverbs 31:10. She would look them up later. “It’s written all around us.”
She looked at the rocks she held, painted by his hand with God’s message of love and marriage. “I want to believe,” she said. “I want to believe that we will never grow resentful or remorseful.”
“There’s only one way to find out,” he said. “Let me prove it to you. Let me show you every day of our lives that I don’t regret loving you, loving Jesus, or walking away.”
He started down the steps toward her. Peter came out onto the porch, Duke right behind him. Once again Leah looked to the brightly painted rocks. God’s word, Jamie’s feelings.
“God led me here,” he said when he was only an arm’s length from her. “He led me and Peter to find you, find this church, find the truth, and find our happiness. It doesn’t get any better than that.”
Peter clapped as Jamie wrapped his arms around her. Jamie pulled her close and gently kissed her lips. “Marry me,” he whispered.
It doesn’t get any better than that.
That was one thing she knew to be true.
“Yes,” she whispered in return. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
Epilogue
On the first Saturday in December, Jamie and Leah were married. Such a quick engagement required a simple wedding, or at least that was what Leah kept telling him. But Jamie wanted as much finery and food as could be arranged.
The wedding party was a mixed lot, some Amish, some Mennonites, and a few Englisch thrown in for good measure, a variety that was a good reflection of the guests as well.
Leah had chosen a beautiful shade of green for the attendants to wear. She called it Christmas green, and no one saw any reason to say anything different. But since each of her attendants was from a different religion, they all had different dresses, all made from the same color fabric. Hannah wore a traditional Amish frack, complete with white church apron. Kayla, her friend from the Mennonite church, wore a dress similar to Leah’s: almost to the floor with three-quarter sleeves, but in the green instead of Leah’s bride-white. And Shelly wore yet another style, still green and still conservative, but with a more Englisch flair of billowing sleeves and an uneven hem. The men all looked handsomely the same, in their white shirts and black vests. Standing at the altar, Leah decided that Jamie had to be the most beautiful man she had ever seen. Her brother David and nephew Joshua stood next to him, and for once, Brandon didn’t fuss about having to dress up.
There at the Second Street Mennonite Church, Leah and Jamie exchanged their vows and pledged to love God, each other, and Peter for as long as they lived. After their kiss, everyone went into the fellowship hall to have cake and give presents to the happy couple.
How ironic that Leah would marry first, before Hannah. But as far as church laws were concerned, Hannah and Aaron couldn’t join their lives until she had finished her baptism classes and joined the church.
After a couple of hours of fun, food, and fellowship, the couple was ready to say their farewells to their guests and head to their rented beach house in Biloxi. A traditional honeymoon was out of the question, considering Peter’s improving, but still fragile, state—though Leah told Jamie every day that Peter was stronger than he, Jamie, realized.
“It’s a dumb tradition,” Leah protested.
But Hannah shook her head. “It’s fun and harmless. Now get up there on the steps and toss your bouquet.” She ruffled the petals of the flowers: deep red roses and snow-white carnations.
Leah eyed her sister with a mixture of annoyance and indulgence. “The things I do for you, sister.”
“And you still love me.” Hannah smiled.
“You know I do.”
“Are we going yet? Are we going yet? Are we going yet?” Peter rushed up and clasped her hand, pulling it as he jumped in place. They had told him they were taking him to the ocean, and he was beside himself with excitement. A new home, a new dog, and his first trip to the shore. Well, it was the Gulf of Mexico, but Peter didn’t know the difference and most likely wouldn’t care a bit if he did.
“In just a minute.” Leah smiled at him. Once he had started talking, he hadn’t stopped. He talked from sunup to sundown, and all the hours in between. He talked about a
nything and everything. The color of the sky, a trick his dog had learned, the new kittens in the barn. He talked of love for Leah and Jamie and all of his new family members. He didn’t talk about his other family. Leah supposed that some things were more painful than others. When he was ready, he would talk about the fateful night that took his family from him. Until then, she had promised to love him and look after him, and that was exactly what she was going to do.
Soon they would have the adoption papers all signed and legal. Peter would be theirs forever. Jamie had said it wasn’t necessary, but Leah wanted the legal backup for Peter. Whenever he had any doubts, he could look at those documents and know that he was theirs and they were his. Just like Duke.
“What’s the holdup?” Jamie sauntered up, looking from his wife to their waiting car. Someone, most likely Leah’s brothers and nephews, had decorated the car with shoe polish, balloons, and a multitude of colored streamers. It looked a little like a carnival sitting there in front of the church. Leah could only imagine what it would look like going down the road all the way to the Gulf. Honk, we just got married! was painted on the back window.
“Hannah wants me to throw the wedding bouquet.”
“Throw it? Like away?”
“Sort of.”
“In the trash?” His frown clearly expressed his confusion. Leah’s heart filled to near bursting. He still wore the white shirt and black vest, but Leah had a feeling she would get him in a blue shirt before long. Maybe even lavender. Even for church.
“Into the crowd,” Leah replied.
“Into the crowd of unattached women,” Hannah corrected. “Whoever catches it will be the next one to get married.”
“Fine.” He rolled his eyes as if to say, Crazy traditions. “Let’s go.”
Leah nodded and made her way up the steps as Hannah called for the crowd to gather round, with the unmarried women in the front. She saw her cousin Gracie there just before she turned to face the opposite direction the way Hannah had instructed.