A Mother's Gift

by Charlotte Hubbard

  Folks have snickered at you behind your back for most of your life, Leah told herself with a sigh. At least you’re not intimidated about entering an establishment that’s mostly for men, after all the time you’ve spent in sale barns. Margaret would be ready to faint.

  Bolstered by this thought, Leah decided to go in through the back door, hoping she’d be less conspicuous. When she turned the knob, she wasn’t ready for the blast of loud country music or the dim interior where the air was thick and blue with cigarette smoke. The front center of the large room was filled with pool tables where men of various ages stood with cues, playing or awaiting their turns. A bar spanned one wall, and the other walls were lined with dark tables, dimly lit by hanging glass lamps that advertised various brands of beer.

  Leah shut the door and stood near it, nearly suffocated by the smoke. Her burning eyes took in a scantily clad young woman who was flirting with two of the nearby men.

  “You are just askin’ for it, when you do that to me, Natalie,” one of the guys teased loudly as she plucked the cigarette from his mouth.

  “Nah, Natalie’s beggin’ you for it,” the other fellow countered with a loud laugh. “Better pour your beer on her to cool her off.”

  Leah sucked in her breath, hoping she didn’t have to witness such an incident. A song about honky-tonk angels came over the speaker system just as she spotted two identical young women in tank tops at a back table. She bit her lip to keep from crying out.

  Adeline and Alice both held cigarettes and beer mugs.

  Leah’s first urge was to hurry outside and ride off on Mose, back to where Plain life was quiet and predictable—but she’d come here for a reason. She had to make her point with the twins, or her search had been for nothing.

  Leah kept to the wall as much as she could, hoping to reach the girls without calling attention to herself, but other folks at the tables immediately picked up on her presence.

  “Say, sweetheart, you lost?” one of the young men at the bar teased her.

  “If you’re lookin’ for the church where the guys in beards and the women in those funny little hats and long dresses go, you’re in the wrong place!” his companion called out.

  “You didn’t come here to save us, did ya?” a fellow in faded, holey jeans taunted her.

  Focusing on Adeline and Alice, Leah ignored the men. A squeal made her turn her head just as one of the rowdy young men yanked Natalie’s lacy see-through tank top down over her shoulders. Shaken, Leah walked faster—and she knew the moment the twins spotted her. They stiffened, beer mugs poised in front of their faces, and for a desperate moment, Leah thought they were going to bolt out the front door.

  “Wait!” she pleaded as she reached their table. She pressed her palms against the sticky tabletop, praying for the right words. “Please come home before your dat gets worried,” she pleaded beneath the loud music. “I know you feel cheated by what he said this morning, but he is the father who’s given you a home all your lives.”

  Alice and Adeline exchanged a doubtful glance. “What are you doing here?” one of them asked as though Leah’s presence embarrassed her.

  “Jah, how’d you find us?” the other twin demanded in a voice slurred with beer. “Why would you care how we feel?”

  Aware that several pairs of eyes were watching her, Leah slipped into the chair nearest the girls. It wasn’t the right time to chide them for seeming so familiar with this raucous place, so comfortable with their beer mugs and cigarettes—nor was it a good idea to deride them for wearing such sheer, snug tops and sparkly earrings that dangled provocatively from their ears. They’d asked her a question that demanded a sincere answer, and if she was ever to gain their trust, she had to convince them that she did care about them.

  “I know you’ll always miss your mother, and that I’ll never replace her,” Leah replied, holding their gazes. “But I want us to be a family. I want us all to find new ways to be happy—and that means you have things to teach me, like how to cook food you love to eat, and—”

  “You can’t tell . . . um, Jude—or the bishop—where we’ve been,” the twin closest to Leah insisted.

  “Jah, all bets are off if you don’t promise to keep your mouth shut,” her sister chimed in with a wave of her cigarette.

  Nailed by two blue-eyed glares, Leah realized Alice and Adeline were testing her—expecting her to comply with their demands so they could keep coming to the pool hall without suffering any consequences.

  “I’ll only keep your secret if you come home with me right now,” Leah shot back, holding their gazes. She bit back a retort about how they’d done enough damage to the Shetler family today—and no matter what she was promising the twins to get them out of this dangerous place, she would tell Jude about his girls’ escapades in a heartbeat to keep them safe. “Please come home now, before your dat realizes you’re gone and comes looking for you himself.”

  “Dat? Enter a pool hall?” the sister nearest Leah said with a snide laugh.

  The other twin stubbed out her cigarette in an ashtray overflowing with butts. “Mr. Clean wouldn’t have the first idea about where to find us—unless you tell him,” she added sharply.

  After a brief pause, the other girl set her beer mug down with a thunk. “We might as well go,” she said as she plucked her hoodie from the back of her chair. “I’m tired of waiting for the guys.”

  “Jah, they should’ve been back a long time ago. Let’s go.”

  Leah was so relieved that the twins were starting toward the back door, she could ignore the catcalls and derogatory whistles from some of the young men who were playing pool.

  “Come back and see us again sometime, girls!” one of them teased in a falsetto voice.

  “But leave your frumpy old lady at home!” another one put in.

  “What’ll we tell Dex and Phil?” a third fellow demanded.

  One of the twins made a hand gesture Leah didn’t understand, and she walked faster behind them. When the door opened, the afternoon sunlight revealed black bras beneath the twins’ close-fitting tops—and they had matching tattoos of Tinker Bell on the backs of their left shoulders.

  Leah was too startled by these discoveries to say another word as Alice and Adeline unhitched Minnie and clambered into their rig.

  Pierced ears and tattoos. So much for what Margaret knows about her granddaughters, Leah thought as she mounted Mose to follow them home. Where are the girls getting money for these English clothes and jewelry and—and those colorful tattoos? How can I tell Jude what his daughters have been up to?

  How can I not tell him?

  Chapter 8

  Jude drank deeply from his glass of cold water, preparing to sell one last lot of sheep to the crowd of area farmers gathered in the sale barn near Cedar Creek. Although the bidding had been unusually active and he’d sold more cattle, hogs, and sheep than usual for a blustery March day, his mind had occasionally wandered home . . . wondering how Leah’s day with the twins had been going. When one of the Amish barn hands opened a side gate to drive the lambs into the fenced arena in front of the elevated booth where he sat, Jude shifted the microphone into place—and then gripped it hard.

  On the other side of the fence, Jeremiah was taking a seat in the bleachers. And Stevie was with him.

  A prickly feeling went up Jude’s spine, but when his son waved at him, grinning widely, Jude waved back. He hadn’t seen Stevie so happy in months, so the day had to be going better than most despite the serious set to Jeremiah’s jaw.

  “All right, folks, we’ve got a dozen nice Suffolk lambs,” Jude announced, allowing his amplified voice to catch the attention of the attendees as he read from the small computer screen in front of him. “They’re from Jake Sutter up in Trenton, so you know they’re good. Starting the bids at a dollar fifty, do I hear two?”

  Jude eased effortlessly into his chant, acknowledging the raised cards of the three farmers who bid first. Below him in the pen, young Bram Kanagy, who owned the sal
e barn, was walking between the lambs to keep them moving so folks could get a good look at them. Jude focused on raising the bids until one fellow and then a second one dropped out. “Sold! Six dollars a pound to number one twenty-four. On behalf of the Kanagy brothers I want to thank you folks for coming out today,” he said cordially. “Mary, our cashier, is ready to help you settle up before Bram and Nate help you load your livestock. Have a great day and may God bless.”

  Jude switched off the microphone and said a few words to redheaded Mary, who sat beside him and had been keeping track of the sale transactions for her husband, Bram. He left the booth, wondering what sort of news Jeremiah had for him—and wondering why he had Stevie in tow. By the time Jude made his way through the jovial crowd of farmers who were lining up to pay for the livestock they’d bought, he saw that Vernon Gingerich had spotted his brother as well, and had gone over to chat with him.

  “Great sale today!” the white-haired bishop called over to Jude. “I picked up a fine lot of Black Angus calves to fatten up.”

  “You had several to choose from,” Jude agreed. He knew that livestock was the furthest thing from Jeremiah’s mind, so he asked the obvious question. “What brings you boys to the barn today? It’s a nice surprise to see you, Stevie!” he added as his son launched himself from the bleacher.

  “Leah took me to Uncle Jeremiah’s coz she went out huntin’ the girls,” Stevie blurted, landing against Jude’s shoulder.

  “Apparently, Alice and Adeline believe you’re not their father—and they told Stevie the same thing this morning?” Jeremiah asked carefully. He, along with the rest of the Shetler family, had known the truth about Frieda’s babies ever since she’d confessed it, and they had agreed to honor Jude’s situation by keeping silent.

  Even so, Jude’s heart shriveled. Who could’ve foreseen the consequences of entrusting the story of his past to Leah after she’d bared her soul to him? As he hugged his son—for Stevie was his boy in every way that mattered—he wondered what Bishop Vernon was thinking as he followed this conversation. When the bishop from Leah’s Cedar Creek district had counseled them about the potential pitfalls of bringing a new wife into a home with teenage twins, he hadn’t been privy to the details of Alice and Adeline’s birth. Jude figured Bishop Vernon felt even less confident about the possibility of the Shetler family coming together than he had before Jude married Leah.

  “Oh, my. It’s been quite a day at your place, by the sound of it, Jude,” Vernon said. He rubbed Stevie’s back, smiling at the boy. “But I can see you’ve let God’s love and light guide your feelings about your dat, Stevie—and that’s a wonderful gift you’ve given us all.”

  Jude sighed, glancing around to be sure the other sale attendees couldn’t hear their conversation. “It all started when Leah and I were pouring our hearts out in the wee hours, unaware that the twins were listening on the other side of the wall,” he said, shaking his head. “The girls were upset, of course. They said that if I’m not their father and Leah’s not their mother, they have no reason to listen to us—much less obey us. I would’ve given anything to stay home today to help Leah deal with them, but—”

  “Leah seemed to be handling it pretty well, all things considered,” Jeremiah put in. “She took out on her horse to—”

  “Jah, and she’s lettin’ me raise the new baby goats that was borned in the night!” Stevie crowed as he grinned at Jude. “And I got to feed the calves this morning, too.”

  Jude’s heart swelled with love for Leah—and gratitude to God—that, for whatever reason, Stevie had finally decided his stepmother was a woman he could trust. “That’s exciting,” he said, hugging the boy close as he gazed at Jeremiah. “Do we have any idea where she planned to look?”

  “She was goin’ wherever Tinker Bell was!” Stevie blurted out. His eyes twinkled with mischief. “I told Leah the girls let me watch a movie about Tink on their phone, and I wasn’t supposed to say nothin’ about that. But Alice and Adeline aren’t s’posed to have that fancy kind of cell phone, huh, Dat?”

  Jude’s suspicions spun as he wondered how many more revelations his boy would make. “No, but that’s another matter entirely,” he said. He lowered Stevie until the boy was standing on the bleachers. “Our first priority is locating Adeline and Alice before trouble finds them, so—”

  “I’d check at home first,” Bishop Vernon said pensively. “Your girls are upset by what they overheard—and they’d be acting out even if their mother were still alive—but I doubt they had a destination in mind when they took off. They’ll find out pretty fast that the English world doesn’t offer many options to young people without ready cash or a car.” He squeezed Jude’s shoulder, nodding. “If anyone can ferret them out, Leah can. She’s resourceful in ways most Plain women aren’t.”

  “Let’s hope so,” Jude muttered. “We certainly didn’t see this coming when we considered the problems our marriage might face.”

  Vernon’s blue eyes shimmered with a hint of sadness. “My suspicions about Frieda’s youthful inclinations years ago have just been confirmed,” he said with a shake of his head. “You and Leah have taken the higher path, and I wish you all the best as this situation plays out. Shall we pray about it?”

  Jude couldn’t recall ever praying in a sale barn, but he bowed his head and motioned for Stevie to do the same. If Bishop Vernon and God could give him some assistance with Alice and Adeline, he’d be foolish not to accept it.

  “Lord and Father God, You’ve loved Your wayward children since before Adam and Eve rebelled against You,” Vernon intoned. “We ask Your continued assistance as Jude and Leah strive to reconcile their family’s difficult situation. Bless Adeline and Alice with the insight to follow Your ways and to believe in the blessings You’ve given them in the form of caring parents. Amen.”

  “Denki, Bishop,” Jude said, pointing Stevie toward the door. “I’ll head home as you’ve suggested, and hope the girls are there.”

  “If they’re not, come and get me,” Jeremiah said, clapping Jude on the back. “Between the two of us, we know of every possible place in Morning Star where they might be holing up. Your girls aren’t the first Amish teenagers to run around doing questionable things during their rumspringa, after all.”

  Jude smiled. “Jah, but it feels like a hundred years ago when you and I were running under the adults’ radar. And we were guys—without cell phones,” he added. He held out his hand, pleased when Stevie grabbed hold of it. “Let’s go home, son. You can tell me about the new baby goats and the calves along the way.”

  As they rode in the rig, Jude nodded and smiled at Stevie’s enthusiastic rendering of his adventures with Leah this morning, but his mind was gnawing on a different subject altogether. What if Alice and Adeline have taken off with those English boys folks suspect they’ve befriended? What if they’ve learned enough about getting around in the English world to fare better than Bishop Vernon has predicted?

  “—and then Leah told me about how come the calves and some of her cows are black with white faces even though the bull is red,” Stevie was saying excitedly. “And she let me scoop their alfalfa pellets into the feeding trough!”

  Jude focused on his boy, grateful to God for the purposeful shine in Stevie’s eyes as he spoke with such enthusiasm. “What was so special about today—so different?” he asked softly. “You’ve been around Leah for a long time now, yet today’s the first time I’ve seen you really excited about spending time with her.”

  Stevie’s eyes widened as he considered Jude’s question. “I dunno,” he said with a winsome shrug. “I guess I was really happy when she told me I could be a friend to the new goats. Alice and Adeline are always tellin’ me I’m too little and too—too stupid to do stuff—”

  Stevie’s chin quivered as he took in Jude’s shocked frown. “Uh-oh. Now they’re gonna know I blabbed about somethin’ else they told me to keep quiet about.”

  “No, they’re not,” Jude whispered, cupping his boy’s
face in his hand as he held Stevie’s gaze. He wasn’t surprised that the twins were showing Leah so little respect, but his heart curdled at the thought that they’d been convincing Stevie he was stupid or inadequate. “There’s something else I need to know, and it’s just between us guys, all right? Leah and the girls will never hear what you tell me.”

  Stevie’s expression grew serious. “Jah, Dat. It’s just you and me and Rusty—and horses can’t carry tales,” he added, crossing his heart with his finger.

  Jude didn’t spoil the moment’s solemnity by chuckling at Stevie’s way with words. For safety’s sake, he guided his bay gelding to the shoulder of the road and eased the horse to a halt. “Stevie, do the girls ever tell you things about Leah that . . . that make you think your new stepmamm is mean or scary?” he asked carefully. “Have you stayed away from Leah because you believed Alice and Adeline when they said Leah might hurt you?”

  The boy’s wide eyes spoke volumes, and Jude’s heart twisted in his chest.

  “Sometimes,” Stevie replied in a faltering whisper.

  Jude bit back a remark intended for his daughters, because his son shouldn’t have to carry the burden of his disappointment. “You don’t have to tell me what they’ve said,” he muttered, “but I hope that after today, you realize that Leah would never hurt you or be mean to—”

  “And Leah won’t never tie me up in the closet with my mouth taped shut like the girls said, neither, will she, Dat?” Stevie blurted. “And she won’t make me eat chicken poop for lunch coz she can’t cook nothin’ better. I know that, coz we have really gut grilled cheese sandwiches a lot of days!”

  “Oh, Stevie, I’m sorry,” Jude murmured as he pulled his son close. “I don’t know why your sisters have put such awful ideas in your head about Leah, but I’m glad you’ve decided not to believe their hateful talk.”

  Stevie nipped his lip. “Even though Alice and Adeline was talkin’ mean to Leah this morning at breakfast, Leah got real worried about ’em when they didn’t come home,” he said. “She wouldn’t never tie them up in the closet, neither, Dat. Leah’s not mean, even when the girls hurt her feelings. Anybody who loves animals so much can’t be a bad person.”