by Beth Shriver
“There’s a morning chill.” She put it around his shoulders, a bit more out of his reach.
Gideon chuckled. “I’m glad to see you’re in gut spirits.”
“And I’m glad to see you planting my corn, Gideon.” When he leaned back, Gideon noticed his pale skin and shallow breaths.
“You take care now,” Gideon said in a serious tone. “We’ll take care of your field.”
Solomon nodded and gazed out at the men readying the horses and deciding where each one would work and how many rows they each would plow.
Yonnie pushed open the screen door as he stuffed a rolled-up pancake into his mouth and brushed past both of them. “Hurry up, Lapp. I brought my best,” he tried to say around the food in his mouth. Maggie and Tony were his two finest Clydesdales, each stronger than an ox.
“I’m right behind you.” Gideon tipped his hat to Elsie and ran to catch up. He slapped down Yonnie’s broad-brimmed hat. “Switch to your straw hat. It’s almost summer.”
Yonnie was about to protest but shut his mouth then mumbled the planting rotation under his breath. “Planting corn . . . hay . . . ” He kept on until Gideon set him straight.
Yonnie slapped his thigh. “Why can’t I get the southern rotation through my head?”
Gideon chuckled. “That’s why you need me, my friend.”
When they got to the field, Gideon dropped the plow and Yonnie steered the horses. The weather started to heat up, but Tony and Maggie stayed the course. Everyone had to adjust to the warm weather down south, including the livestock. Gideon settled back and let the horses do most of the work. They made the task seem effortless. The methodical movement of the plow cutting through the thick dirt dulled his senses.
They stopped for a break so the horses could drink, and the men were given tea or water. Then the women went in to finish the noon meal.
“Um zu essen!” Meredith called out for everyone to come and eat.
The women brought out plates of fried chicken, canned pears, sliced tomatoes, and pies. The young men started a game of base-ball but were soon called back to work, leaving the younger children to carry on the game.
Gideon sat with the men, talking about the soil condition and estimating how much longer until they would be finished. When Elsie walked up to him, he couldn’t help but ask her, “Did you make the pecan pie?”
She shook her head. “Nee, walnut, your favorite.” Her eyes widened. “I put it in your buggy to take home. Be right back.” She took quick steps to pick up speed. The pie sitting in the buggy all this time meant he might not get his favorite dessert. He’d just started to look for the pie when he heard what sounded like a drum.
“What’s that?” Yonnie cranked his head around to zero in on the noise.
“Sounds like music.” It was a strange noise for them, considering they didn’t listen to music.
Others stared in the direction the sound came from, and soon a car appeared. Once the driver saw them in the field, he blared the music and drove faster. The horses’ ears went back and their nostrils flared. Everyone turned to see what the commotion was as the blue car passed by, spitting out smoke from the exhaust.
Elsie. His buggy was an arm’s throw away from the path that led to the main road the Englishers were driving by.
Gideon jumped up and ran down the lane. There was no sign of her. He clicked into high gear, pushing himself harder to get to her before they did.
A flash of black lured him over past her buggy. As he looked past the overgrown weeds beside the fence line, a blur of Elsie’s dress caught his attention. The blond-haired one had her by the wrist, a grin spreading each time she pulled away. Another walked toward her, grabbed her kapp, and pulled it off. The long, steel pins gave way, but not without great pain, as Gideon knew.
He couldn’t get his feet to move fast enough as he approached. Gideon went straight toward Elsie, with no hesitation, and yelled just loud enough to get their attention. “Let her alone.” The voice did not sound like his. The deep yet wavering sound exposed his fear, and they fed on it.
“Come to save your girl, Amish man?” The blond one still had his hand on Elsie, making Gideon cringe.
He kept his eyes on each of them, then noticed movement in the backseat. He was more than outnumbered. Defeat zipped through his mind. But that wasn’t an option. So he focused on Elsie and kept the others in the corner of his eye. He turned to the dark-haired one, the weaker of the two. “You will receive the same punishment he will—” Gideon nodded toward the blond one. “—unless you stop now.”
Gideon knew their purpose was only to control, but he hoped they knew better than to go too far. These young men had been fed untruths about the Amish and their gluttony for land, an excuse to harass just for fun.
A thought went through his head, one he thought he’d never go through with, but this time . . . all it would take was one more hand on her. Brownie’s hand wouldn’t make it that far.
Elsie looked down at his left fist squeezing then opening. She hadn’t said a word. By the look on her face he guessed she was in shock. “Gideon, nee.”
Blondie yanked her closer to him. “Shut up.”
Gideon’s fist hit him on his left cheekbone, staying clear of Elsie. Blondie immediately dropped Elsie’s arms and fell back against the car, causing those inside to rouse.
Gideon stood his ground, waiting for them to come at him. But instead Brownie grabbed his cohort off the trunk then shoved him into the car and ran to the other side. The car kicked out pebbles and dust, fishtailing down the road.
Gideon lifted Elsie up into his arms. Her rapid breathing pressed against his cheek until it slowed to a normal pace. “Are you all right?” He pulled back to see her pale face, with a soft pink slowly appearing—a good sign she was unharmed.
Although it went against their customs, Gideon only felt a shred of guilt for hitting that man. He had it coming; if it hadn’t been Gideon, it would have been someone else. He wasn’t about to let Elsie get hurt, even if there were repercussions.
“I’m fine.” Elsie was slow to answer, her voice just above a whisper. When her shoulders stopped shaking, she looked behind him. Gideon slowly turned around. There behind him stood Omar with his hunting rifle. Gideon thought he’d scared those men on his own accord. Now he discovered he had another man with a gun who had done the job simply by showing up. He swal-lowed his pride and looked to Omar.
“Elsie, were you hurt?”
“Nee, just scared.”
He put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. “You’re shaken.”
“I’m fine.” She didn’t seem fine to Gideon, but he shouldn’t expect her to. Her worst fear had reared its head and done to her what she’d hoped and prayed wouldn’t happen. These men had used her for a bargaining chip, and she was the one who lost.
“Let’s talk.” Omar squeezed her shoulder but was talking to Gideon.
The walk back to the haus was quiet with a faint buzz of conversation on occasion. There would be plenty talk now that the incident happened in plain sight. But no one knew the whole story except for Gideon and Elsie and, soon enough, Omar.
Gideon looked back toward the road where the car had been. When he turned back, Omar nodded to him, frowning with question. Gideon motioned to the house, and Omar excused himself to those around him, stepping away from the picnic table, and followed behind him.
Elsie watched the interaction and stared at Gideon. Her chin began to quiver as she watched them walk up to the house. This was Gideon’s chance to speak with him. He didn’t want Elsie to be part of this conversation. She might deter him, and he didn’t want to wait any longer; there wasn’t a choice anymore.
The two men walked into the house and sat down in the chairs, but neither said a word for a few seconds.
“What happened out there, Gideon?”
“Those young men who drove by . . . ”
“Jah; I wish they’d do their driving out of our community.” Omar’s stare was one of concern and great i
nterest, almost too much for Gideon to handle.
“I know those young men.” Gideon looked away, ashamed he hadn’t come to him earlier. “They are the English who have done the vandalism.”
Omar leaned forward. “How do you know this?”
He pushed out a harsh breath from his lips. “Elsie.”
“Elsie?” Omar’s brows knitted, causing lines to deepen between his eyes.
“They have been harassing her and Katie.”
Omar moved back with force, a bewildered look across his face. ‘Harassing them how?”
“By instructing them to tell us not to buy the land, to leave, and that we aren’t wanted here, and making crude remarks.” He kept his eyes downcast, waiting for Omar’s next question.
“How long has this been going on?”
He forced himself to look into Omar’s eyes, ashamed at how long Katie and especially Elsie had to deal with this alone. “Since before Katie left.”
“How long is that, six or seven months now?” Omar shook his head. “Why didn’t they tell someone?”
“Elsie didn’t want the Amish men to be tempted into sin, so she hoped the English would stop without our involvement.” When he heard the words out loud, Gideon realized his failing even more. “I should have come to you sooner.”
Omar looked sharply at Gideon. “And are you the man she was worried would be tempted?”
“I guess I proved her right.” Gideon paused. “I’ve learned that ignoring a problem doesn’t make it go away; like a sore or an illness it festers and only gets worse.”
Omar lifted a hand and shook his head. “What all have they done?”
“Vandalism, and harassment, as far as I know, but the worst was John Yoder’s wheat field that caught fire. They’d never harmed anyone that I know of, until today.” Gideon thought sure that would make him want to take action. “I’m the one who should have come to you.”
“I knew of some infractions, but not that they possibly burned the field.” Omar tugged on his beard and looked through his window at the road where the Englishers had been. “We are peaceful people, Gideon. All we can do is try and reason with them.”
“I have talked with them, but it did no good.”
“Why do they want us to go?”
“The land. They say we should go back up north. But I think it’s an excuse; they like to bully.”
“Boys, trying to act like men.” He pursed his lips.
“So what do we do now?” Elsie appeared and stood by the door.
“It’s not for you to fret over.” Omar’s eyes softened as he took a long look at her. “Child, you could have come to me. This was too heavy of a burden to bear alone.”
“I didn’t know what to do.” She grabbed the end of her apron and started pulling at it.
“Secrets create self-doubt.” He smiled warmly at her. “You should share this with your daed.”
“So we do nothing to stop these young men?” Gideon knew what the answer was going to be, but now that Omar knew everything, there was a side of him that wanted to finish this in whatever way possible.
Omar leaned forward. “I know it can be hard to do, but it’s our way. We do nothing.” Omar sat back and twined his fingers.
“You mean like punching someone?”
Omar frowned. “I don’t recall.”
Elsie turned to Gideon, who lifted his brows at her. He appreciated what Omar was doing, but he couldn’t accept his pardon. Besides, there might have been others who saw what happened. “We are also to be honest, are we not?”
“I was the last one to the road, with my bad knee and all. I was glad to see that Elsie was all right. And it was a quiet walk back home.”
Gideon and Elsie exchanged glances. “Jah,” Elsie responded with one brow lifted.
Omar said one thing and did another. Whether it was right or wrong, he had final say in this conversation, and they had finally purged themselves in being alone involving this situation. But Gideon felt frustration stir up inside him. He tried to suppress it, knowing nothing was going to change. Omar was following their laws, and he had to abide by them. But Gideon wished he’d be called out for what he did instead of the constant turning the other cheek.
“When the authorities came after the fire, they encouraged us to let them do an investigation to make sure there was no foul play, but we told them it wasn’t necessary.”
He looked from one of them to the other. “They asked us if we knew how the fire started, and at that time we didn’t.” He pulled on his beard and paused just long enough to make them wait. “Now we do.”
“So you want them to get caught?” Elsie asked.
“I want them to stop before someone gets hurt. The police can do that; we can’t.” Omar looked at her and then to Gideon. “Seriously hurt that is.” He gave Elsie a sympathetic smile.
“That seems fair.” As fair as it could possibly be in dealing with something like this. But Gideon was supportive of Omar’s decision. He just hoped it worked before something worse happened.
Chapter Eleven
ELSIE WANTED TO get to the door before anyone in her family. The more they were together, the more questions. She dropped the carrot she was peeling and wiped her hands on her apron as she went down the hallway. She and Gideon were going to share a meal with Will and his wife, Ruby, and Elsie was grateful to have him along. Ruby was uncomfortable around anyone in her family, and Gideon seemed to have a way with everyone he met.
When she opened the door, she admired Gideon’s smile that always lifted more to the left. With her mind on Jake all that time, Elsie could see how she might have taken Gideon for granted. Elsie had always thought Gideon was attractive, but she didn’t bother to think of him any other way than the rock that he was. He had always been there for her family, but Elsie figured he was that way with most of the others as well. She thought he could be a minister one day. His ability to naturally serve and shepherd people made him an obvious choice. She didn’t feel worthy of being a minister’s wife.
His brows rose, and he smiled slightly. “May I come in?”
“Of course.” Elsie backed away so he could step in, and they made their way back to the kitchen.
Mamm turned to him and smiled. “Gideon, I’m so glad you and Elsie are paying a visit to Will and Ruby.” She turned back to the biscuits she was placing in the oven. “I was there the other day. They have the place . . . in order.” Mamm’s obvious worry over Ruby’s housekeeping only made Ruby stop wanting to try. Give her a horse to train or shoe, and she was in her element.
Gideon nodded. “If we didn’t see each other at church each week, I’d never get a chance to talk with them. Even then it’s difficult with so many around.”
Her mamm frowned at her when she saw Elsie getting the kitchen in order so she could leave. Mamm turned back to Gideon with a straight face. “They don’t seem to get out much, not even to visit us. Ain’t that so, Elsie?”
“Jah, but they seem happy enough.” Elsie hurried through the dinner cleanup, which was becoming a bad habit she didn’t want to continue, but she found herself distracted when Gideon was around. The normal way of everyday life with each task being done with pride and pleasure was getting lost to social activities.
“I’m ready.” Elsie wiped her hands and started out of the kitchen before Mamm found something she’d missed.
“You always seem to be in a hurry these days.” Her mamm smiled and stepped closer to wipe off a bit of carrot on Elsie’s dress. “Enjoy the visit.”
Elsie caught her mamm glance over at Gideon and then to her. She hoped she wasn’t getting the idea their relationship was anything more than supportive, although she thought Gideon felt more. As much as she admired him, Elsie didn’t know if she knew how to walk alongside a man who had a calling into ministry.
He helped her into his buggy and went over to the other side. All the while Elsie kept her eyes on him, admiring his confident stride and tranquil smile. When he lifted his eyes to h
ers, she turned away, not wanting him to see her interest. “Are you comfortable? That side of the seat needs to be repaired. I need to tend to it before someone gets pinched or worse.” He reached over and handed her a light blanket before she could reply. “Sit on this just in case.”
“Danke.” Elsie adjusted the blanket under her and thought about the evening ahead. It would be good to see her brother, and she hoped Ruby would be in a hospitable mood. She noticed her uneasiness when she came for Sunday meal. There were times Ruby seemed ready to leave as soon as she arrived. Elsie felt sure others would notice as well, but nothing had been said. Maybe tonight would be different.
Elsie was silent as they traveled down a narrow tree-shaded lane, and Gideon enjoyed the quiet. The locust singing in staccato was enough sound for him.
“It’s nice of your daed to let us off on our own like this.” She noticed he sat at the edge of the seat as far from her as he possibly could.
A rare few might take advantage of the situation, but Gideon was the least of those. He took his commitment to the church seriously, as did most others, never curious enough to experiment with rumspringa as some did. She had gone with Katie once to see a movie after she turned sixteen with her mamm and daed’s reluctant permission. Katie wanted to dress like the English for the outing, but Elsie didn’t want to go that far or leave the community to do something so silly, but she finally gave in to her sister’s prodding.
“Elsie?”
His voice brought her back, and she finally answered, “He trusts you.” Her smile told him she did too. She didn’t need to say it.
“What were you thinking about?” His eyes hadn’t left hers. The horse seemed to know the way.
“My daed. He’s not been himself today.”
“What do you mean?”
“He was complaining of more pain in his back.”
Elsie was also thinking about her sister-in-law. She didn’t want Ruby to know she was analyzing her, and even more so didn’t want to talk about Katie. Elsie wanted this to be an enjoyable evening with her brother. His wit and sense of humor always kept the mood light, so she expected to have a good belly laugh or two before the end of the visit.