A Gift of Grace

by Amy Clipston

  “I guess they’re speaking in Pennsylvania Dutch, huh?” Lindsay asked, her gaze following their aunt and uncle.

  “Probably. I wonder if they’re talking about us.” Taking in a deep breath, Jessica clapped a hand to her mouth and gasped at the foul odor. “What is that stink?”

  “Maybe the horses?” Lindsay asked. “I think I remember that smell from when Aunt Trisha took us riding at Hunt Club Farm that one time.”

  “It’s awful.” Jessica’s eyes scanned the pasture behind the house, following the line of the split-rail fence. A cluster of farm buildings dotted the horizon in the distance. “We’re in the middle of nowhere, Linds. No neighbors. I bet we’re the only teenagers for miles.”

  “There have to be kids somewhere.” Lindsay dropped her backpack onto the ground at her feet. “I saw a little convenience store up on that main highway. Maybe kids gather there and hang out like they did back home.”

  “Maybe. What else would kids do around here anyway—go cow tipping?” Jessica shook her head in disgust. “I bet there isn’t a movie theater for miles. Besides, it would take a week to get anywhere by horse and buggy.”

  “It can’t be too bad, Jess. Mom survived here somehow.”

  Mom. Jessica sighed. She missed her parents so badly that her heart ached. How would she and Lindsay make it without them?

  “Do you think it’s true that they don’t have electricity or TV?” Lindsay’s question broke through Jessica’s thoughts.

  Jessica fetched her iPod from her pocket and examined it. “That’s what I hear. I don’t know how I’m going to charge my phone or my iPod. I brought the cord for it, but I can’t plug it in if they don’t have electricity.”

  “What about basic things we need, like lights? I guess we’ll have to use candles like they did in those Old West movies Dad liked.” Lindsay sighed and brushed a lock of hair back from her face.

  “Oh no.” Jessica ran a hand through her own hair. “I can’t live without my hair dryer. The humidity makes my hair frizzy. I’ll never be able to leave the house.” She groaned. “I wonder if they even have hot water. Will we have to take cold showers?”

  Lindsay scrunched up her nose. “Why would someone want to live that way? It seems so ridiculous today.”

  “I agree.” Jessica shook her head. “Maybe we’ll wake up tomorrow and realize this is all a bad dream.”

  Lindsay frowned. “Then we’re having the same dream. I don’t think that’s possible.”

  The back door slammed and Aunt Trisha ambled through the grass toward them. “Hey girls,” she sang as she approached. “You’ve got to see the inside of the house.”

  “Why? Are there chickens and goats roaming around on the inside?” Jessica deadpanned.

  Trisha wagged a finger at her. “Remember your manners, Jess.”

  Jessica rolled her eyes and folded her arms in response.

  “The house is really quaint,” Trisha continued. “The furniture is lovely, but there are no knickknacks. They don’t even have carpet. It’s like they only allow the bare essentials.”

  “No carpet?” Jessica’s eyes widened with horror. “You’ve got to be kidding me. We’ll freeze in the winter.”

  “Do they even heat their houses?” Lindsay asked, her eyes wide with worry.

  Jessica turned her gaze to the large farmhouse. “The house looks old. Check out the rust on the roof. I wonder if it leaks.”

  “Rebecca said the house has been in her family for years,” Trisha said. “It was probably built at the turn of the century.”

  “Sheesh.” Jessica shook her head. “Our house back home was only five years old, and it was brick. I can’t imagine living in a place as old as this.”

  Scanning the pasture, Jessica couldn’t help comparing it to the house where she and her family had lived for the past five years. The wooden, split-rail fence that bordered the pasture looked as if it hadn’t been painted in several years. A shiny, white plastic split-rail fence lined Jessica’s backyard, as mandated by the homeowners’ association.

  Although Jessica’s family’s yard back home had been tiny, they had a deck where Dad barbecued burgers and steaks in the warm weather. Aunt Trisha and Uncle Frank would come over and sit on the deck for hours, eating and laughing until late at night. She’d give anything to sit on that deck now and be able to talk and laugh with her parents one more time.

  But now life was completely different. She was stuck in a strange old farmhouse with two guardians whom she didn’t know. She wondered if Aunt Rebecca and Uncle Daniel ever hosted barbecues. Did they have friends who liked to come over and laugh and eat? A chilling emptiness filled her gut.

  “The house can’t be too bad,” Lindsay said, snapping Jessica back to the present. “Mom lived here.” Her soft voice quavered.

  Jessica glanced at her sister and found tears brewing in her sister’s eyes. Swallowing her own tears, she looped her arm around her slight shoulders. “I miss her too,” she whispered.

  “I can’t believe she’s gone,” Lindsay said. “It seems like just yesterday she was modeling her dress she got for their anniversary dinner. How could they go out to eat and not come back? It’s just not fair!” Her voice choked on a sob, and Jessica pulled her into her arms.

  Jessica rubbed her sister’s back. She held her breath while trying to suppress her own tears.

  “It’ll be all right,” Trisha said, circling the girls with her arms. “I miss your mom too, but we’ll all be okay. Somehow.”

  Jessica gnawed her bottom lip. She wanted to believe Trisha’s words, but somehow she couldn’t believe she’d ever be okay again.

  “Is everything okay?” a voice behind them asked.

  Turning, Jessica found Rebecca watching them with concern shining in her eyes.

  “We’ll be okay,” Trisha said while rubbing Jessica and Lindsay’s backs. “The girls and I were just thinking about their parents and feeling a little sad, right girls?”

  “Uh-huh,” Lindsay mumbled, swiping her hand across her wet cheek.

  Jessica nodded and cleared her throat, wishing the lump that was lodged in it would subside.

  “I know this must be so difficult for you,” Rebecca said in a soft yet reassuring voice. “It may seem impossible now, but the grief will get a little easier as time goes on. I remember when my mother died. I thought my heart would never heal. I still miss her, but the pain did get easier after a while. I held on to my faith in God, and my faith got me through it over time.”

  Standing with a sad expression on her face, Rebecca resembled Mom and reminded Jessica of their last conversation. The disappointment in Mom’s eyes had made Jessica cringe. Regret mixed with grief surged through her soul and caused more tears to fill her eyes.

  When her vision blurred, Jessica cut her gaze down to her shoes in hopes of hiding her tears. She couldn’t cry here. Holding her breath, she willed herself to stop.

  “Would you like to come inside?” Rebecca offered.

  “Sure,” Lindsay whispered.

  Taking a deep breath, Jessica stayed back and followed Aunt Trisha toward the front of the house.

  [Return to Table of Contents]

  Let’s go in the front door,” Rebecca said. She led Trisha and the girls up the steps of the front porch. She absently wondered if her nieces would eventually come to like sitting there with her and Daniel during nice weather.

  Stepping through the front door, they entered into a large, open room, sparsely decorated with simple furniture.

  “This is our living room.” Rebecca pointed to the plain blue sofa. The Bible from which Daniel read every night sat on a small table by his favorite easy chair. She smiled to herself. She looked forward to sitting with Daniel and the girls while they listened to the Word together. She hoped that the girls would join them.

  “The kitchen is this way.” Rebecca padded across the hard-wood floor into the kitchen. She idly noticed how different her plain kitchen was from the elegant one in her sister’s V
irginia home. Rebecca’s kitchen housed a long table with a bench on one side and four plain chairs on the other. The modest pegs on the wall contained a couple of straw hats and a black cloak. The counters were clear and clean with only a few canisters on them. A rack full of little spice bottles hung on the white wall.

  Rebecca’s kitchen was the definition of simplicity while her sister’s had contained an elegant dining set and granite counters crammed with the latest cooking gadgets.

  Rebecca scanned the room, finding her plain but comfortable gas-powered refrigerator and stove along with a pot-bellied stove, a far cry from the stainless steel appliances back in Virginia Beach. Her drying rack sat next to the sink awaiting her clean dishes. No fancy dishwasher like at her sister’s house.

  It’s so good to be home.

  Pushing aside her memories of her sister’s English life, she walked to the refrigerator. “Would you like some iced tea?” She opened the door and fished out a pitcher. “Daniel always brews fresh tea in the mornings, so it’s sure to be delicious.”

  “No thanks.” Jessica clasped her hands together. “Would you mind showing us where our rooms will be?”

  “Of course.” Rebecca replaced the pitcher in the refrigerator.

  “I’m going to go see what Frank is doing,” Trisha said. “I’ll meet you upstairs later.”

  Rebecca motioned for the girls to follow her. She pointed out more of the house on their way. “Over here we have another sitting room and a large pantry. We do a lot of canning, so it’s full.”

  “Canning?” Jessica asked.

  “You know, like canned vegetables.”

  “Oh.” She shook her head with disbelief as if she’d never met anyone who canned before.

  Rebecca could see she had a lot to teach her nieces about living on a farm. They climbed the steep stairs to the second floor and entered a long hallway with several doors.

  “My room is here,” Rebecca said, motioning to a door on the right. “It was my parents’ room.”

  The girls glanced into Rebecca and Daniel’s room. Rebecca could only imagine what they thought of it, since it was much plainer than Grace’s room. While Grace and Philip had beautiful modern furniture, Rebecca and Daniel had a simple double bed and dresser.

  “Did you know your father’s parents?” Rebecca asked.

  Facing Rebecca, Lindsay shook her head. “No, we’ve only seen pictures of them. His mom died before we were born, and his dad died when I was an infant.”

  “Oh.” Rebecca shook her head and frowned. “That’s sad that you didn’t know any of your grandparents.”

  Jessica turned to her. “Can I see which room used to be our mother’s?”

  “Of course,” Rebecca said with a smile.

  Two movers slipped past them carrying boxes. Once they were gone, Rebecca and the girls padded down the hallway. They stepped into a bedroom at the end of the hall near the back staircase, and Rebecca turned to Jessica.

  “This was your mamm’s room. I thought you might like it.” Rebecca crossed the small room and sank onto Jessica’s bed.

  Jessica scanned the empty white walls. “My mom grew up in this room.”

  “Ya.” Rebecca paused. “I mean, yes, she did. My childhood room was across the hall.” She met Lindsay’s gaze. “I thought you might want that room. Your boxes should be in there if you want to go see.”

  “Thanks.” Lindsay disappeared through the doorway.

  Rebecca scanned the room while reflecting on the history of the room. “Most Amish children share their rooms and even their beds, but your mother and I didn’t have to. Since our parents only had two children, we were able to have our own rooms. Our mamm died young of cancer, so we were the only children she could have.”

  Nodding, Jessica glanced around the room.

  “I know it’s small, but you’ll adjust.” Rebecca wished Jessica would express her thoughts aloud since she seemed to be analyzing the situation. She worried that the child kept her emotions too close to her heart, and she might wind up depressed.

  Rebecca wondered how her niece would adjust to this Plain life after leaving her worldly existence. The room was a stark contrast to what Jessica had in Virginia Beach. In her former home, Jessica’s room contained loud lavender walls cluttered with posters and photographs along with fancy furniture, including a vanity, desk, bookshelves, and a frilly canopy bed. Lacy, tie-back curtains had decorated her large windows.

  Here, the walls were plain white. Most of Jessica’s and Lindsay’s furniture had been put into a shed at the back of Rebecca’s property since only a bed and two dressers would fit in the girls’ new rooms. No photos or even a mirror hung on the wall. Plain green shades covered the windows.

  Jessica brushed her hand over the wall and then frowned. “I forgot. No electricity, so no light switch.”

  “You’ll get used to it. The kerosene lanterns work really well.”

  “It’s pretty in a simple sort of way. You inherited this house?” Jessica stepped over and looked out the window at the large, green field.

  “That’s right,” Rebecca said. “Grace and I were the only children in our family, as you know, and she left when she was nineteen. I was the only one left, so I got the house. It’s been in our family for generations. Daniel moved in when we married.”

  Jessica faced Rebecca, folding her arms across her chest. “Can I decorate it a bit? I know it’s tradition to be plain, but I’m not exactly Amish.”

  Rebecca nodded. “I think it would be okay with Daniel, as long as you decorate it tastefully. We’ll go over some rules tomorrow after Trisha and Frank leave.”

  “Okay.” Her niece gazed toward the pile of boxes lining the far wall.

  “I’ll leave you to your unpacking.” Rebecca headed for the door. “I’ll go start on supper. If you need anything, just call me.”

  Trisha and Lindsay appeared in the doorway of Lindsay’s room.

  Trisha looped her arm around Lindsay’s shoulder. “Do you want me to help you unpack?”

  Lindsay shook her head. “I’m fine. You can go do something else.”

  Trisha glanced at Rebecca. “Can I help you in the kitchen?”

  Rebecca shrugged. “If you’d like, but it’s really not necessary.”

  “I’d be happy to,” Trisha said.

  Rebecca headed down the stairs with Trisha in tow. They nodded to the movers climbing the stairs with boxes. They stepped into the kitchen, and Rebecca fished through the refrigerator for ingredients.

  “How does your refrigerator work since you don’t have electricity?” Trisha asked.

  “It runs on gas.” She carried a handful of vegetables to the table. “Would you like to make a salad?”

  “Sure.” Trisha smiled.

  “Please have a seat.” Rebecca nodded toward the table. “I’ll bring you the chopping block and a knife.” She crossed to the cabinet and retrieved a block and then a knife from the holder on the counter. She then snatched a large bowl from the cabinet and brought all of the supplies to Trisha. “Thank you for helping me.”

  “Oh, don’t be silly.” Trisha arranged the vegetables on the table. “I appreciate all you’re doing for the girls.”

  Rebecca glanced through the contents of the refrigerator again. “It’s no trouble. I’m doing what Grace wanted. I wish I’d been a part of the girls’ lives sooner. I just hope the girls won’t resent being here. It must be hard on them. I show up and their world turns upside down.” Pulling out a container of potato soup, Rebecca chuckled. “I guess this is a hint. Daniel must want potato soup for supper.”

  “Sounds good,” Trisha said, slicing tomatoes.

  “It’s Daniel’s favorite meal.” She grinned while fetching more ingredients from the refrigerator. “I guess he missed me.” She pulled out a pot to warm the soup.

  “I would say so,” Trisha said with a chuckle. “He seems really nice. I met him just a few minutes ago. He’s been helping the movers.”

  “Ya. He’s
a hard worker.” Rebecca grabbed bowls from the cabinet.

  They continued preparing the meal for a few moments, silence filling the room. Rebecca wondered what Trisha was thinking and if she were analyzing the Amish lifestyle. It was different from her life in the large house on the oceanfront in Virginia Beach.

  “I’m sure the girls will adjust to being here,” Trisha said. “Just give them some patience and time.”

  “Oh, I will.” Rebecca snatched utensils and set the table. “I hope Jessica will consider going to work with Daniel in the store. I think it will be good for her, and it will help her understand our culture.”

  “What do you have planned for Lindsay?” Trisha asked.

  “I was hoping she’d go to work with me.”

  “You work in a bakery, right?” Trisha sliced cucumber and added it to the bowl with the tomato.

  “Ya. Daniel’s mother has owned it since she was first married.” Rebecca leaned back against the counter. “For some reason, I can see her baking alongside of me. Lindsay is very quiet, and she expressed an interest in cooking while we were in Virginia. I think she might enjoy learning some new recipes and also being with the other Kauffman women.”

  Trisha nodded. “I think you’re right. She’s very sweet and loving. Jessie is too, but Lindsay is more open to change.”

  Rebecca sighed while facing the counter. I just hope they’ll both open their hearts and give us a chance.

  “Supper’s ready,” Rebecca called up the stairs. Turning, she walked into Daniel, who stood behind her while wiping his brow. “I’m sorry. I didn’t see you.”

  “No problem.” He pulled her close and placed a light kiss on her lips.

  Her pulse raced at the feel of his lips on hers. “Why did I deserve that?” she whispered.

  “I’m happy you’re home.” He breathed a deep sigh and tossed his straw hat onto the peg by the door. “Everything’s unloaded. The movers just left. Frank and Trisha are outside talking by their truck.” His countenance brightened. “Did you make the potato soup?”

  “Ya.” She chuckled and placed a hand on his chest. “I got your hint.”