Someone to Trust

by Patricia Davids

  “I would rather spend the summer at home playing ball with my friends, but Daed said I needed to come along to look after my sisters.”

  “Do your sisters take a lot of looking after?” Maybe he could learn something useful about his mother’s imported bridal prospects.

  “Esther needs my help sometimes, but the others don’t. They’re all going to be too busy trying to find husbands to need me.” The kid rolled his eyes.

  Gabe grinned. Jonah was exactly the person he needed to pump for information. “All of your sisters are looking for husbands?”

  “My stepmother claims she is a goot matchmaker and will have them engaged before the end of this trip. She even said we aren’t going home until at least two of the girls are promised. I think the whole thing is silly.”

  “I couldn’t agree with you more.”

  “I’d like to get back to my friends before the ball season is over. I’m the pitcher on our team. Are you looking for a wife?” the boy asked hopefully.

  “Nee, I’m content being a single fellow.”

  “So am I. Girls are nothing but trouble. Just ask me. With four sisters, I know what I’m talking about,” Jonah said with long-suffering conviction.

  Gabe tried hard not to laugh. “How does your stepmother hope to get all your sisters engaged so quickly?”

  “I don’t know her whole plan. I got tired of listening, but each one is going to concentrate on one brother.”

  “Who plans to set her sights on me?”

  “I don’t remember. I was getting pretty tired by then.”

  A white van with the hood up came into view along with a group of Amish women standing beside it. Gabe pulled the horse and wagon to a stop beside them. Which one was going to concentrate her attention on him? He wished Jonah knew the answer. That way he’d know which sister to avoid. His mother’s cousin Waneta came rushing toward him with a cheerful smile.

  “Gabriel, it’s goot to see you again.”

  He got down from the wagon, determined not to give any of the women undue encouragement. “Nice to see you, too, Waneta. If your stepdaughters will get in the wagon, I’ll collect your things.”

  “Our driver, Bessie, will help. Let me introduce you to my family.”

  “There will be time for that when everyone is settled at the house,” he said and walked to the back of the van where Bessie, a gray-haired Englisch woman, was pulling out the luggage. He heard the rumble of a truck approaching and then a horn blaring. He glanced in that direction and saw a woman walking into the roadway. Her gaze was fixed on something in the distance. Didn’t she hear the truck? She looked at the ground. The trucker would never be able to stop in time. Gabe dropped the suitcases and dashed toward her.

  The truck’s brakes squealed. Over the noise Gabe heard screaming behind him. He yelled at her to get off the road. She didn’t move a step. He closed his eyes and launched himself toward the woman, knowing they were both going to die.

  He hit her and locked his arms around her as they landed on the hard pavement. His momentum sent them rolling to the grassy verge on the opposite side of the road. The wind from the truck tore his hat off. When the vehicle flew past, he kept his eyes closed for several seconds until he realized he was alive.

  Thanks be for Your mercy, Lord.

  He opened his eyes and gazed at the woman beneath him. She stared at him with wide, frightened, amber-colored eyes. She pressed her hands against his chest. “You saved my life.”

  “Are you hurt?” His arm was starting to sting where he had landed on it.

  “I don’t know. My head hurts.” Her words were slightly slurred.

  The rush of adrenaline drained away, leaving Gabe weak and shaken. “Don’t move until you’re sure. What were you thinking? Didn’t you hear the truck? We could’ve both been killed.”

  She was staring at his mouth. “I saw a moose. I’ve never seen one before. I wanted a closer look. Something scared it away. Please let me up.”

  He rolled off and sat beside her. “It was almost the last thing you saw.”

  Her family surrounded them and helped her to her feet. They were chattering and motioning with their hands as they hugged her and checked her for injures. It dawned on Gabe that they were using sign language. At least that’s what he thought it was. Was the woman deaf? Was that why she hadn’t heard the trucker’s horn or his shouts?

  The big rig’s driver had managed to stop the truck a hundred yards down the road. He came running up to Gabe. “Are you okay? Is she all right? I couldn’t stop in time. She just walked out in front of me. Man, what you did was the bravest thing I’ve ever seen.”

  “Or the most foolish.”

  “I’ve always heard there’s very little difference between the two.” The man patted his chest. “That took ten years off my life. If you had been a second slower—”

  Visibly upset, the man sat down in the grass beside Gabe. “Are you folks Amish? I’ve heard some of you have moved here.”

  “We are.”

  “After today, I might trade my truck in for a horse and buggy.”

  “You won’t haul near as much lumber that way.”

  The man chuckled. “You’re right. Maybe I’ll just slow down and keep an eye out for folks like you.”

  “We would appreciate that.”

  Jonah, pale and shaken, left his sister and came to sit beside Gabe. “You saved Esther’s life. Danki, but it should have been me. I’m the one Daed sent to look after her. I reckon I didn’t do such a goot job.”

  Gabe draped his arm over the boy’s shoulders. “You brought me here. Looks like that was Gott’s plan for both of us.”

  “I just remembered something.”

  “What?” Gabe asked.

  The child looked up with his eyes full of wonder. “Esther is the one Mamm picked for you.”

  Chapter Two

  Esther couldn’t stop shaking. She was afraid her knees wouldn’t hold her up much longer. Her shoulders, her hip and the back of her head were starting to hurt. Tomorrow she would likely be black and blue all over, but she was alive. God be praised. She leaned heavily on Nancy’s arm.

  Julia immediately took charge and signed as she spoke so everyone would know what she wanted. “Let’s get Esther to the wagon.”

  Julia turned to Gabriel. “Are you able to drive the team? If not I will.”

  “I can drive.” Gabriel got up with a grimace as Jonah helped him to his feet. The truck driver added a steadying hand to his back. Gabriel nodded his thanks.

  “You’re hurt,” Esther said, pointing to his arm. His shirt was torn from his elbow to his shoulder. There was blood dripping from his fingers. She swallowed hard against the pain of knowing her disability had almost cost him his life as well as her own. How could she have been so foolish?

  He tried to look at the injury, but the blood was soaking his shirtsleeve. “It’s nothing.”

  Esther was able to read his lips, but Jonah signed for her, as well.

  “It’s more than nothing. Let me see.” Julia made a quick examination. “That’s a nasty gash. You might need stitches.” She turned to Bessie but didn’t sign, so Esther had no idea what she was saying. Bessie hurried to the van and came back a few moments later with a first-aid kit.

  Esther was grateful for her older sister’s competence. Once Julia had a dressing on Gabriel’s wound, she ushered everyone into the wagon, where Bessie had loaded their luggage. Esther sat facing Gabe as he leaned against the side boards of the wagon bed. He cradled his injured arm across his chest. Jonah got in beside him and handed him his hat.

  “Danki.”

  Esther carefully studied his face.

  He was a good-looking man with blond hair and sky blue eyes. He had strong features, a square chin and a nicely shaped mouth. She thought he must smile often, for he had tiny laugh lines brac
keting his lips. “I’m sorry you got hurt saving me. I was careless.”

  “I hope you’re more careful in the future. I might not be handy.” He glanced at her brother. “I don’t know sign language. Can you tell her that for me?”

  “Esther can speech-read pretty well.”

  “I thought she read lips.”

  “Some call it speech-reading, but calling it lip-reading is fine. I guess that’s the most common term. It’s more about interpreting expressions and face muscles’ movements. You have to look directly at her when you talk. She can get the gist of what you’re saying, if not every word. I’ll sign for you.”

  “Danki.”

  He looked ill at ease. Esther was used to having hearing people feel uncomfortable around her, but she didn’t want this man to feel that way. She owed him too much. How could she repay such bravery?

  “You are Gabriel, am I right?” She smiled to put him at ease.

  “Folks call me Gabe.”

  “We haven’t actually met. I am Esther.” She gestured to the front of the wagon, where her stepmother sat beside her sister on the bench seat. “You already know Waneta. Julia is driving. She is my oldest sister. This is Pamela and Nancy.” She indicated the women sitting on their suitcases behind the wagon seat.

  “I’m happy to make everyone’s acquaintance.” He nodded to her sisters, but his eyes held wariness, not happiness, as his gaze slid over them. Something wasn’t right.

  She looked at Jonah and signed, “What did you tell him about us?”

  “I don’t know what you mean,” he signed back without speaking.

  Having a conversation in sign without explaining what was being said to Gabe might be considered rude, but Esther didn’t care. “Jonah, the truth.”

  “I might have mentioned Waneta’s plan to find everyone husbands.”

  Esther pressed her lips together tightly. “Why would you do that?”

  “It just slipped out,” he signed with an apologetic grimace.

  “Tell me you didn’t mention that I was looking for a husband.”

  Jonah looked away and then back at her. “I did say Waneta had picked him out for you.”

  “Jonah, how could you?” Esther closed her eyes and leaned her head back to pretend she was alone in the world. No sights, no sounds, no humiliating suspicious looks from the man who had just saved her life. Somehow she would have to make it clear to him—when her stepmother and her sisters weren’t listening in—that she wasn’t husband hunting.

  Someone tapped her foot. She opened her eyes to see Gabe frowning at her. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine.” She forced herself to smile. Humiliated, bruised from head to toe and stuck in Maine. She was about as far from fine as she could get. A headache began pounding away fiercely at what few wits she had left.

  * * *

  Gabe wanted to know what she and her brother had been saying to each other. Whatever it was, it made her blush. Her cheeks were as red as the barn he had helped paint in the spring. He suspected the conversation had something to do with him. Otherwise, why wouldn’t she share it? Jonah looked guilty and contrite. None of the sisters spoke.

  Waneta, on the other hand, hadn’t stopped talking about his prompt action, his quick thinking and his disregard for his own safety since she had climbed to the wagon seat. Her voice had become almost a whine, like the sound of the band saw running in the buggy shop.

  Julia drove the wagon into the farmyard. His family came out of the house to greet them.

  His father took hold of the horse’s bridle as he looked at Gabe and frowned. “What has happened?”

  “It was the most frightening thing, Cousin.” Waneta got down and threw her arms around Gabe’s mother then launched into her dramatic version of the story as Gabe’s brothers helped him and the women out of the wagon. Gabe’s mother’s face grew pale as she listened.

  “I’m okay, Mamm.” Gabe touched her shoulder. “It’s just a scrape.”

  “He needs stitches,” Julia said, getting down. “Is there a physician nearby?”

  “There is a new clinic in Fort Craig. I’ll hitch up the buggy.” Asher jogged toward the corral to get their buggy horse, Topper.

  “I don’t need a doctor,” Gabe declared. He’d lost enough working time already.

  Moses helped Esther down from the wagon. The color left her face, and she crumpled. She would have hit the ground if Moses hadn’t swept her up in his arms. “I think this one might.”

  Moses carefully lowered Esther to the ground. His mother and her sisters gathered around. Gabe was relieved when her eyes fluttered open. She frowned. “What happened?”

  “You fainted,” her sister Nancy told her.

  She raised her hand to her brow. “My head hurts.”

  “We’re going to take you and Gabe to a doctor,” Julia said and signed.

  “I’m sorry I’m being so much trouble.” She closed her eyes again. Gabe knew how hard he had struck her when he tackled her. He had tried to protect her when they hit the ground, but she could easily have serious injuries.

  Seth quickly unhitched their workhorse from the wagon and took him to the barn. Asher had Topper hitched to the buggy in a matter of minutes and drove him up to the house. Gabe’s mother got in and had Moses lift Esther in beside her. Gabe climbed in and sat across from the two women. His mother looked out the door. “There is room for you, Cousin Waneta.”

  Waneta took a step backward. “Nancy should go with her. I haven’t learned enough sign language to be of any help.”

  Gabe’s father climbed in and took the driving lines. He looked at his sons. “Help our guests get settled. We will be back as quick as we can. Topper, step trot.” The horse took off down the lane.

  Gabe hadn’t had a chance to tell his brothers what he knew about Waneta’s matchmaking plans. He would as soon as he returned. If his brothers wanted to find wives, that was up to them to decide, but they should be warned they were now the targets of their mother’s matchmaking cousin and her brood.

  The trip to the clinic in Fort Craig took almost an hour. Esther was seen immediately. Gabriel ended up waiting thirty minutes before the physician was able to get to him. When the young man in a white lab coat entered the room, Gabe’s father, who had been waiting with him, sat up straight. “How is the woman who came in with us?”

  “She gave her permission for me to share her condition with your family because she knew you were worried so I can tell you she has a concussion. I told your wife and her sister that someone should be with her around the clock for the next twenty-four hours and to wake her at regular intervals to make sure her symptoms aren’t getting worse. She could lapse into a coma if there is bleeding in her brain. In that case she will need immediate surgery. After that I want her to rest for at least another day.”

  The doctor read through the notes the nurse who had admitted Gabe had written. He looked at Gabe. “I want you to lie down on the table.”

  “I hit her pretty hard,” Gabe admitted as he complied.

  “She told me. She’s thankful it was you and not the truck.” He put his stethoscope in his ears and listened to Gabe’s heart and lungs and pressed several places on his belly. “Does that hurt? Do you have pain anywhere else?”

  Gabe shook his head. “I have a few aches and bruises. Nothing more than that.”

  The doctor seemed satisfied. “Okay. Let’s take a look at this arm.” He unwound the bandages. “Ouch. Oh, this is going to need stitches. I’ll get the nurse in here to help me.”

  When he left, Gabe’s father paced to the door and back. “He sounds concerned about Esther.”

  “So am I,” Gabe admitted.

  “Waneta should have come with her.”

  “You heard her say she doesn’t sign well enough.”

  “She’d known the family for more than a year be
fore she married Carl. You’d think she would have made a point of learning to talk to the child even before the wedding.”

  “Maybe it is a hard thing to learn, and Esther is hardly a child.”

  Daed shook his head. “Even if it is difficult, that’s not a good excuse. Your mother has had concerns about their relationship. Just things she has gathered from Waneta’s letters. She claims the girl is stubborn and resents her trying to take her mother’s place.”

  “She’s a grown woman. Does that seem likely?”

  “Who can say? I think there is more to the story.”

  The doctor and the nurse returned, ending their conversation, but it gave Gabe something to think about. If Esther was unhappy with her new stepmother, maybe she was eager to find a husband and get out of the house. He could sympathize with her, but he wasn’t going to give her a hand with that. He’d already done enough by saving her life.

  It didn’t take long to get ten stitches in his arm. Hearing that he wasn’t to use his arm for several days was disappointing.

  “We can spare you from the repair shop,” his father said as he helped Gabe slip into his shirt after the doctor and nurse left the room. “Work in your harness shop can wait a few days, too.”

  “The Potato Blossom Festival is only three weeks away. I’ve already paid for a booth at the event to sell my leather goods. As of now I don’t have enough pieces ready to make it worth my while.”

  “Your plans to expand your harness business with other leather goods is ambitious, but don’t think the fate of the family rests in your hands. We will get by. Gott provides. We have enough repairs lined up to take care of our needs.”

  “Daed, you know as well as I do that we won’t be able to make the loan payment on our land in August unless we can bring in additional income. Seth and Asher are talking about moving to the city and taking jobs there.”

  His father sighed heavily. “That would break your mother’s heart. I brought us here to get away from the influences of so many Englisch moving into our part of Pennsylvania. To have my sons find work in a factory is not what I wanted. I thought more Amish from our area would follow us here. I thought we would be the only buggy builders in this part of Maine and that we would have more work than we could handle. It pains me to say I was wrong. Two of the new families left last winter because the weather was so harsh. The New Covenant Amish community is too small to support us. If we had stayed in Pennsylvania, at least the boys could have found work in the factories with other Amish men and women. Here they will be alone among outsiders.”