A Season for Tending: Book One in the Amish Vines and Orchards Series

by Cindy Woodsmall

  Arlan bounded down the stairs, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. “Bye.” He ran out the door while they both said good-bye.

  Mamm put the carton of eggs in the refrigerator. “Now, where were we?”

  “I asked if you wanted to get married long before Daed did.”

  “No. But everyone’s story is different. You know your father. He isn’t afraid to make a decision based on feeling. The minute he fell in love with me, at nineteen years old, he asked me to marry him. Of course we ended up living with his parents for about five years. But Samuel’s not like your father. It’d kill him to follow his emotions ahead of what’s logical.”

  “He agreed to get a puppy. That wasn’t based on purely rational thought.”

  Mamm grinned. “Oh, I’d say he has plenty of give in him concerning what others need or want, especially you. But you are not a puppy that can be put in a crate or in the barn while he carries on with work. You are his life, and he wants to carefully plan for your future, knowing you will be with child soon after you’re wed.”

  “That’s what I needed to hear.” She finished washing the baking utensils she’d used earlier, dried them, and put them away. Then she eased the pie into the insulated carrier and went to the barn. After hitching up her rig, she set the pie on the floor of the carriage and headed for Samuel’s place.

  Fifteen minutes later she pulled up at the Kings’ house. His Mamm was in the backyard, using a broom to whack a braided rug hanging from the clothesline. Billows of dust filled the air with each hit.

  Catherine parked the rig at the hitching post and took the pie carrier with her.

  “Hi, Catherine.” Her future mother-in-law stopped beating the rug. “Samuel’s not here.” Elizabeth worked the kinks out of her back. “He got a call from Leah early this morning, asking him to come get her at her cousin’s house. She and Dorothy went camping last night.”

  Camping? Catherine knew better. Leah’s cousin had probably gone to the same party that Leah got all dressed up for last night. Dorothy’s father was a preacher in Lancaster, one of the church leaders meant to uphold the Old Ways. How difficult it’d be on him if he knew what his daughter had been up to.

  “How’d he get there on a Saturday morning?”

  Elizabeth handpicked tiny clumps of lint off the rug. “His uncle’s driver, Craig, came from Lancaster and got him. Good thing someone in this family has a business with a full-time driver.”

  “I guess so.” Catherine appreciated that Craig never failed to stop what he was doing to drive any of the Kings to Lancaster when they needed it. But once Samuel arrived at his uncle’s, Craig would return to his carpentry work, leaving Samuel to hitch a horse to a buggy to get around. “You haven’t heard from him since he left this morning?”

  “Not yet.” Elizabeth brushed the balls of lint from her hands.

  Catherine imagined that neither of Samuel’s parents knew the real story behind his picking up Leah. No matter. She’d find out soon enough.

  “Is that your special blueberry pie?”

  “Ya.”

  “He’ll love it. You’ll stay for dinner, right?”

  Catherine had hoped she’d ask. “I will now.”

  “Good. Go ahead and put the pie in the kitchen. Then I suspect you’ll be wanting to go see that new pup of yours.”

  “I hope you don’t mind her being around.”

  Elizabeth grinned. “Not at all. She’s a cute little thing, and the girls are thrilled.”

  Catherine took the pie to the kitchen, where Samuel’s youngest sisters were making biscuits. “Hello.”

  Thirteen-year-old Katie looked up from kneading a lump of dough. “Hey, Catherine.” She raised flour-covered hands and wiggled her messy fingers. “Want a big hug?”

  She laughed. “Maybe later.”

  “How about from me then?” Eleven-year-old Betsy left the round cookie cutter in a square of rolled-out dough and wrapped her arms around Catherine’s waist.

  After returning the hug, Catherine took her pie out of the carrier and put it in the icebox, disappointed that Samuel wouldn’t be able to eat it while it was still warm. “How do you like the puppy?”

  “Are you kidding?” Katie sprinkled more flour on the cutting board. “We go out to the barn every chance we get.”

  Betsy pressed the cookie cutter into another section of dough. “Which has been ever so much fun.” She lifted the circle and set it on a baking sheet.

  Catherine wouldn’t ask them to join her now. They had a chore to finish. “I’ll go see her, and you two come when you’re done.”

  “We’ll be there later. But we’re likely to have to bake and throw out a few batches before we get it right. Mamm’s determined we get the hang of making biscuits … today.”

  “Sounds good.” Catherine left the house and went to the barn.

  Hope was in a stall, but it wasn’t like the solid wooden stable at Christian’s place, so Samuel had lined it with chicken wire. The cocker spaniel ran around in circles when she saw Catherine, barking as she had at the Lapps’ place. Hope jumped up on her hind legs, her front paws resting on the fencing.

  Catherine picked her up and stroked her soft fur. Despite the turmoil she felt over Arlan and Leah, Catherine found solace in the puppy. Samuel had known that when he put the pup in her arms. If only he were as eager to marry her as she was him.

  She found an old towel to play tug of war with Hope. The puppy roughhoused for a while, and then Catherine sat on a bale of hay, and Hope snuggled into her lap and took a nap.

  It seemed as if only minutes had passed before Katie and Betsy joined her. They chatted and played with the puppy, and when the dinner bell rang, Catherine turned to the girls. “It can’t possibly be that late already.”

  Katie giggled. “That’s how we were this morning. There’s just something about a new puppy that makes the hours fly by.”

  “Apparently so.” Catherine put the puppy into the pen. Why wasn’t Samuel back yet? He’d have come to the barn to let her know if he was home.

  Elizabeth was punctual about mealtimes, so Catherine hurried the girls to the house, and they washed up before sitting down at the table. Samuel’s Daed, Benjamin, was there, but none of the other King men were. Although Catherine enjoyed Elizabeth’s delicious apple-glazed chicken and stuffing and the girls’ biscuits, she couldn’t stop wondering what was keeping Samuel. It wasn’t unusual for him to sit and chat with his family in Lancaster over coffee or something, but surely he would’ve planned to be back in time for dinner.

  Jacob and Eli finally came in from the field, saying the day’s work load had taken longer without Samuel. As the men started filling their plates, Catherine heard a car drive up outside. She excused herself and went out the front door, straightening the folds in her apron. Samuel and Leah got out of the car.

  Neither looked happy.

  Samuel had been at the dinner table for ten minutes, and he couldn’t take much more of listening to Leah tell half-truths. He rubbed his aching head, and Mamm got up from the supper table. She passed Samuel two Advil.

  “Denki, Mamm.” He picked up his glass of water and swallowed the pills.

  “Gern gschehne.” Mamm took a seat again. “Leah, I can’t believe you and your cousin pitched a tent in someone’s berry patch.”

  “What tent?” Leah asked. “I slept under the stars. It was warm enough.”

  “I doubt the person who planted those berries intended for a couple of teenage girls to simply set up camp and help themselves.” Samuel’s Daed crossed his arms over his chest.

  “I didn’t help myself.” Leah swallowed a mouthful of stuffing. “And the woman who owns the patch is Rhoda. She didn’t mind me being there.”

  Samuel picked at his food. Their parents didn’t question her story, and Samuel intended to add nothing. He simply sat there.

  Samuel glanced at Catherine. How well was she holding up?

  Daed picked up the saltshaker. “Samuel, what’s your take on al
l this?”

  “Leah slept in the patch. Rhoda found her and fed her, and then Leah helped pick berries, so I’m hoping she paid the woman for any inconvenience she caused.”

  Leah nodded. “I did. Trust me.”

  Samuel stiffened at Leah’s “trust me.” The meal continued with very little else said.

  When everyone was finished, Catherine put her fork on her plate. “Anyone ready for dessert?”

  Samuel appreciated her effort, but he’d eaten enough to assure his family he was fine. That’s all he could stomach right now.

  Katie’s face glowed. “Catherine brought one of her blueberry pies.”

  “Maybe later.” Samuel set his napkin on the table. “I wouldn’t do it justice right now.” With a brief glance at Leah, he rose and left the room.

  Although Catherine usually stayed in the kitchen to help clean up after a meal, he was glad when she excused herself and followed him outside.

  She took his hand. “Want to go see Hope?”

  “What?”

  “Our puppy, silly.”

  He’d forgotten about the dog. “Oh. Ya, sure.” He tightened his fingers around hers. The moment they stepped into the barn, Hope started barking. Samuel had to do something useful and mindless, so he brushed the horses.

  Catherine grabbed the towel again and tussled with Hope. While he spread a scoop of oats into the horses’ troughs, she dropped the towel and came to the short wall of a stall. “You calm enough yet to talk?”

  The puppy shook the towel and continued playing.

  Samuel left the stall and put two milking stools side by side near Hope. “Sorry I wasn’t here when you arrived.”

  Catherine sat and patted the other stool. “You know that’s not a problem, right?”

  He took a seat and exhaled before telling her all that had taken place since early that morning.

  Her brown eyes flickered with offense for all he’d been through, but the tension in his shoulders began to ease. “Samuel, getting that call from Dorothy had to be awful.”

  “To say the least.”

  “Where was Leah when she called you?”

  “About thirty miles away in Morgansville, but it’s mostly highway between here and there. Once the driver got me to Lancaster, it took me about twenty minutes by horse and carriage to get from my uncle’s place to Rhoda’s. By the time I got there, I was so irate I took it out on the woman who helped Leah. But she didn’t make matters any better, spouting a crazy idea about how our family needs to love Leah and build up her self-esteem or some such nonsense.”

  Catherine nodded, looking sympathetic about his day. “Leah’s problem isn’t a need for love. She needs self-control and self-discipline.”

  “That Rhoda woman had a very different impression.” She was completely wrong, wasn’t she?

  “Morgansville?” Catherine put the whimpering pup in her lap. “They must be under a different bishop than Lancaster, because I don’t remember meeting many Morgansville Amish at regional gatherings.”

  “Ya, they’re off by themselves in lots of ways. Town living. A few Amish homes with large lots and small barns. Some houses have shops beside them. It’s a pretty place, now that I think about it.”

  Catherine smiled. “You mean now that you can see straight.”

  He rubbed the top of Hope’s head. “Leah and Dorothy have told so many lies to cover their tracks I doubt our families will ever know all that’s going on. Unless the girls mature enough to confess. Until then, I’m stuck in the middle, trying to do the best I can.”

  “Maybe you’re trying too hard to shield her from your parents’ anger.”

  “Leah fears our parents and the church leaders discovering what she’s been up to. I don’t know why. She gives off a vibe that she doesn’t care what others think. But I believe if that one obstacle were removed, if all the adults in her life knew the truth, she’d probably walk away from the church.”

  Catherine jolted, eyes wide. “If Leah left, she’d likely take a friend with her, and Arlan would be first in line.”

  “I know, and I intend to do what I can to keep that from happening.”

  “She’s only seventeen. She can’t legally run off, and she has no skills to support herself, does she?”

  Samuel took her soft hand into his. There was so much Catherine couldn’t understand about someone like Leah. “She doesn’t care what’s legal. And she may be lazy, but she’s far from stupid. She could figure out a way to take care of herself. If I’m right about what’s motivating her to stay, we need to keep her secrets and hope she grows up before people find out what she’s up to.”

  “I’ll keep her secrets to the bitter end. My parents couldn’t stand losing one of their only two children.”

  “All we can do is our best.”

  “And pray.”

  He nodded. “And pray.”

  Leah came into the barn. “Is it true that you got a puppy?”

  Samuel took the dog from Catherine and held Hope out to his sister. “Go on.”

  Leah reluctantly moved in closer and took her.

  Catherine stroked the puppy’s head. “Her name is Hope.”

  “Thanks for covering for me.” Leah’s eyes didn’t quite meet his.

  “You need to stop doing things that would hurt the people you care about. And stop mooning over Michael. He’s not worth it.”

  Leah seemed like a child in some ways, as innocent as Katie and Betsy, who’d been so excited about Hope. But the excitement he’d seen in her moments earlier had disappeared. She looked as if she’d like to melt into the floorboards and disappear.

  Leah pulled the furry little pup closer before she passed Hope back to Samuel and left without saying another word.

  Catherine put her hand on Samuel’s back and scratched it lightly. “I see the guilt on your face, Samuel. But she needs to know you don’t approve of her behavior.”

  He felt the weight of Leah’s actions more than he should. If messing up her own life wasn’t hurtful enough, and it was, he knew Catherine would never be the same if Leah left and Arlan followed. “I’m doing my best. You know that, right?”

  “I know, and you’ll get us beyond our current problems with our siblings, and our days will become peaceful as we focus on our life together and having a family.”

  Catherine’s viewpoints tended to be oversimplified, but she often said what he needed to hear.

  He propped his forearms on his knees. “I hope you’re right.”

  ELEVEN

  Leah sat on a hard bench in her neighbor’s barn, trying not to think about God while the minister preached on and on about being faithful to His perfect, divine plan. She and Arlan had talked a lot about her feelings toward God, but he never felt exhausted by the topic the way she did. He embraced every thought about God, and then he either accepted what was said as accurate or filed it away as skewed. It’d be nice to have that kind of peace.

  But this was a church Sunday, and every other week she had to sit with the single girls in her age group, each of them wearing a white organdy apron to signify her purity. She hated pretending to worship a God who, at best, didn’t like her any more than she liked herself.

  When the sermon finally ended, everyone moved from the benches onto their knees for silent prayer. Leah stole glances at her girlfriends, whose heads were all bowed reverently. Elsie, Anna, and Nancy had gone to the same party she had on Friday night, but here they were, heads bowed, eyes closed, wearing the pious clothing of a people who’d separated themselves from the world. Maybe Samuel had a point about her being a hypocrite. But the only way she could stop being a hypocrite was to leave the order. Being seventeen and jobless, she had no way of doing that.

  “Amen.” The preacher’s voice echoed through the old barn, and the congregation stood.

  Leah looked past the preacher’s stand at the hundred or so men with their hats in their hands. She couldn’t see Michael among them, but she knew he was there toward the back with the rest
of the single men his age. Did he know she’d left the party by herself? Did he even care?

  She filed out of the barn behind the girls who’d left her at the party. Her mind burned with choice words she’d never say to them.

  A group of little children, free from their parents’ restraints after the three-hour service, fled into the yard to run off their energy. Leah wished she could so easily escape the restrictions that bound her.

  She needed to talk to Michael so they could patch things up. Ever since he started his rumschpringe, he’d been flirting with other girls, had even dated a few, but he always came back to her. Always.

  Ignoring her so-called friends, she followed the older women toward the house. Tables needed to be set and food served. Halfway between the barn and the house, Nancy and Anna came out of nowhere and grabbed her arms. Leah let them lead her to the middle of the yard before she jerked free of their grip.

  Anna moved in close, whispering, “What happened to you Friday night?”

  “You all left without me.”

  Elsie joined the group. “Shush.” She glanced at the men who were moving benches from the barn into the house for the midday meal. “Either talk quieter or not at all. I’d rather not give my parents a heart attack on a Sunday.”

  “Ya.” Leah rolled her eyes. “That’d be more ungodly than doing so on Monday through Saturday.”

  Elsie scoffed. “Fine, Leah. Let’s all watch while you tell your parents what you’ve been doing with your Friday nights.”

  Her blood boiled. “You should watch—watch me tell them how you left me at some Englischer’s house. How you didn’t even check on me all day yesterday after you abandoned me!”

  Anna raised her nose, looking down on Leah as if she were as unimportant as a bug on a sidewalk. “We didn’t leave you Friday. We met at Brad’s car at the same time we always do, just like we were supposed to, and we waited for twenty minutes. You never showed.”