Regina gasped, and fear closed in on her like a vise. After all these years, Will’s father was trying to contact him!
Her hands shook as she let the paper fall to the table. Should I show this to Will? It would be the right thing to do, but what if Will contacted his father and then decided to leave the Amish faith and go English? If Frank came back into Will’s life now, they might lose Will forever. And what of Will’s plans to marry Karen? Would news of Frank’s father disrupt Will and Karen’s wedding?
Regina sat still for several minutes, staring into her cup, trying to decide what to do. Finally she rose from her chair, picked up the newspaper, and placed it inside one of the kitchen drawers. She would wait and talk to Mark before she said anything to Will.
When Karen entered the kitchen to help with supper, she found her mother sitting at the table reading The Budget. Suddenly Mom’s face paled, and she gasped.
Karen’s heart pounded against her rib cage. “What’s wrong, Mom?”
“Kumme, look at this.” Mom’s eyes widened as she pointed to the newspaper.
Karen came over to the table. “What is it?” she asked, leaning over Mom’s shoulder.
“You need to read this notice.”
As Karen read the notice, her palms grew sweaty and her mouth went dry. “Ach, Mom, Will’s real daed must have put that ad in The Budget. After all these years without making any contact with Will, he’s looking for him.”
“I wonder if Will knows about this.”
Karen pulled out a chair and sank into it. “I…I don’t know.”
“Are you going to ask him about it?”
Karen contemplated her mother’s question. She had thought several times how nice it would be if Will’s real father could be at their wedding, but now her mind was filled with doubts. If Will read the notice and met his father, what kind of impact would it have on him? Would it affect his plans to marry her? If Will were reunited with his father, would he decide to leave the Amish faith and be English again?
CHAPTER 22
Can I speak to you a minute, Regina?” Mark asked as he entered the health food store the following morning.
She turned from stocking shelves and smiled. “Jah, sure. Mary Jane’s up front waiting on Susanna Chupp, so I have time to talk.”
Mark’s eyebrows furrowed. “I’ve been thinking about that notice you read in The Budget that was put there by Will’s daed.”
Regina motioned to the front of the store, and her voice dropped to a whisper. “Let’s keep our voices down. I don’t want anyone to hear this conversation.”
Mark moved closer to Regina. “I think we need to tell Will about that notice before he reads it himself or hears about it from someone else.”
“You’re right, but I can’t help but be worried about his reaction.
What if Will gets together with his daed and decides to leave the Amish faith and go English?” Regina blinked against the tears clinging to her eyelashes. “I don’t think I could stand it if we lost Will now.”
Mark patted her arm. “I don’t think we’ll lose him, but I do think he needs to be told.”
Regina nodded. “We’ll tell him at supper tonight.”
When the bell above the door of the dry goods store jingled, Karen went to see who had come in.
She started down the aisle and almost bumped into Susanna Chupp. “Oh, I wondered who’d come into the store.”
“I’m getting low on kerosene and thought I’d better stop by and get some.”
“Were you in town shopping?”
Susanna shook her head. “I went to Regina’s store to get some vitamins.” She squinted at Karen over the top of her glasses as she tipped her head. “I heard some distressful news while I was there and wondered if you’d heard it, too.”
“What news is that?”
“I heard Regina and Mark talking about Will and his real daed.”
“What about them?”
“I guess Will’s daed put an ad in The Budget, trying to contact Will.” Susanna paused and moistened her lips. “I heard them say that Will’s planning to leave the Amish faith and go English.”
Karen’s breath caught in her throat, and she grabbed the edge of the counter to keep from falling over. Apparently Will had read the notice in The Budget just as she had done last night. Had he already made contact with his father? Had their reunion caused Will to decide he wanted to go English? If so, there would be no wedding next month, because despite Karen’s love for Will, she could never leave the Amish faith and hoped he wouldn’t ask her to.
“You look kind of pale.” Susanna touched Karen’s arm. “Are you feeling grank?”
“I’m not sick. What you said about Will just took me by surprise.” Karen swallowed around the lump in her throat and blinked back tears that threatened to spill over.
“Then you didn’t know?”
Karen shook her head.
“Oh dear. I’m sorry for being the one to tell you. It should have come from Will, not me.”
Karen’s brain felt foggy. Her body felt numb. This couldn’t be true. It had to be a mistake. Surely Will wouldn’t decide to leave the Amish faith without talking to her about it. She needed to speak to him right away!
Will had just finished washing the floor in the milking barn when Karen stepped through the open door. Her eyes were wide, and her cheeks were crimson, probably from the cold.
“I’m surprised to see you,” he said. “Aren’t you needed at your folks’ store today?”
“I was working there this morning, but I needed to speak with you. So I went next door and asked Mavis to help Cindy while I was gone, and she was more than willing.”
“Aren’t your folks working today?”
Karen shook her head. “They both had dental appointments, and then they had some errands to run in Shipshewana.”
Will motioned to a couple of wooden stools. “Should we take a seat?”
“Jah, sure.” Karen sat on one of the stools, and he took the other. She folded her hands in her lap and looked at him expectantly.
“What was it you wanted to talk to me about?”
“I’m sure you must know.”
He scratched his head. “If I knew, I wouldn’t have asked.”
She drew in a deep breath and sighed. “Susanna Chupp came into our store awhile ago, and she told me something very disturbing.”
“What’d she tell you?”
“She said…” Karen paused, and he noticed tears clinging to her lashes.
“What is it, Karen? What’s got you so upset?”
“Susanna said you’ve been in touch with your real daed and that you’re planning to leave the Amish faith and go English.”
Will’s mouth dropped open, and a tremor shot through his body. “That’s lecherich! I haven’t heard from Pop since he walked out on me nearly sixteen years ago. And I’m certainly not planning to leave the Amish faith.”
“Then you don’t know about the notice in The Budget?”
“What notice?”
“The one from your real daed.”
Will shook his head, partly in response to her question and partly to clear his mind. “What did this notice in The Budget say, and what makes you think it was from my daed?”
Papa Mark cleared his throat loudly.
Will turned his gaze from Karen to Papa Mark. “I didn’t know you’d come into the barn. How long have you been standing there?”
“I came in to see if you needed any help cleaning things up and heard the last part of your conversation.” He motioned to the door. “I think you need to come into the house with me, Will.”
“What for?”
“There’s something your mamm and I want to speak to you about. She’s in the house now, starting lunch.”
Will looked at Karen then back at Papa Mark. “Is this about some notice that’s supposedly in The Budget?”
Papa Mark nodded. “Let’s go inside so we can look at the paper together.” He smiled at
Karen. “You’re welcome to come with us, of course.”
She looked at Will, as if seeking his approval.
He nodded and reached for her hand.
When the three of them entered the kitchen, Will spotted Mama Regina in front of the counter cutting slices of ham.
She turned and smiled when she saw Karen. “What a nice surprise. Would you like to join us for lunch, Karen?”
Before Karen could respond, Papa Mark stepped forward and said, “You’d better get out The Budget and show it to Will.”
Mama Regina’s eyebrows pulled together. “I thought we were going to wait until supper.”
Papa Mark shook his head. “Since Karen’s already told Will a few things, I think it’s best that we show him the newspaper now.”
Mama Regina hesitated; then she scurried across the room, removed a copy of The Budget from a drawer, and placed it on the table.
“What’s this all about?” Will asked, following her across the room.
Mama Regina flipped through the pages. “Right here,” she said, touching one section of the paper. “This is the part you need to read.”
Will leaned over and read the notice. His heart pounded so hard it seemed to echo in his ears. A feeling of helplessness and confusion swept over him as he stared at the page in disbelief. “It can’t be. It just can’t be,” he muttered, shaking his head. “After all these years with no word from Pop, I was sure he must be dead.”
Will shuddered. There were times when he had secretly hoped his father might be dead. At least it would have accounted for his not coming back. But there were other times when Will felt a strong need to know that his father was alive.
“Your daed is obviously not dead,” Karen said, stepping up to Will. “This notice in The Budget means he’s looking for you.”
As Will tried to let everything sink in, a stark realization hit him with the force of a tornado. He had thought he’d put the past behind and was ready to make a future with Karen. He’d thought if he just knew Pop was alive, it would be enough for him. But now, after reading this notice, he realized he still hadn’t come to grips with his past or forgiven his dad for abandoning him. He knew, too, that even though he was curious to know where Pop had been all these years, he couldn’t deal with the thought of seeing him again.
He turned to face Mama Regina. “How long have you known about this notice?”
“I read it last night.”
“Why didn’t you say something to me about it then?”
She dropped her gaze to the floor. “I wasn’t sure how you would take it. I was afraid you might…” Her voice trailed off, and when she looked at Will, tears filled her eyes. “Are you going to call your daed?”
He sank into a chair and let his head fall forward into his hands. “I’m not sure what I should do. I need time to think.”
CHAPTER 23
When Will stepped into the kitchen the following morning, Regina touched his arm. “Have you thought any more about that notice in The Budget from your daed?”
He gave a quick nod.
“What did you decide to do about it?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re not going to contact him?”
He shook his head and reached into the cupboard for a mug. “Is there still some coffee left?”
“I made a fresh pot after you and your daed went out to do the milking.” Regina got the coffeepot. “Do you mind telling me why you don’t plan to contact your daed?” she asked as she poured coffee into Will’s mug.
“For a long time after Pop left, I longed to see him. But then when I realized he wasn’t coming back, I came to think of you and Papa Mark as my parents.” He shrugged. “So after all these years have gone by, what’s the point in me seeing Pop again? If he’d wanted to get in touch with me, he’d have done so sooner, don’t you think?”
Regina took a seat at the table and motioned for Will to do the same. “What I think is that you’re being offered an opportunity to meet with your daed and find out why he never returned to our home in Pennsylvania. I’ll admit I had some misgivings about this at first, but after thinking it over, I believe you need to contact him and find out where he’s been all this time, don’t you?”
A muscle on the side of Will’s neck quivered as he stared into his mug. “Right now, I only want two things: to marry Karen and to forget I ever had a daed named Frank Henderson.”
“But you’ve said many times that you wished you knew where he was and that you’d like to ask him some questions.”
“I know, but I’ve changed my mind.”
She took a drink of coffee as she mulled things over. She set the mug down and decided to try again. “I think maybe you should reconsider, Will. I really don’t think you’ll ever put the past to rest until you’ve talked to your daed and heard why he left and never returned.”
Will grunted. “Any man who would abandon his own child doesn’t deserve to be anyone’s daed!” He pushed his chair away from the table and stood. “I’d better go back to the barn and see how Papa Mark’s doing with that cow. Maybe you should wait on breakfast until we both come in.”
“Jah, okay.” Regina knew that to say more would be futile. As soon as Will left the room, she opened the drawer where she’d put The Budget and took it out. She found Frank’s notice then copied down the phone number. If Will’s not going to contact his daed, then I will.
“What are you doing out here again?” Papa Mark asked when Will stepped into the barn. “I told you I could handle this. There was no reason for you to come out in the cold again.”
Will squatted beside the cow Papa Mark was working on. “The reason I came back has nothing to do with me thinking you couldn’t handle this cow.”
“What is the reason?”
“Mama Regina was giving me her thoughts on that notice in The Budget, and I didn’t want to talk about it anymore.”
“I see.”
“She thinks I ought to contact Pop and find out why he left and never came back.”
“What do you think, Will?”
“I think if Pop ever cared anything about me, he would have left a note like he told Mama Regina he was going to.” Will grunted. “And I think he shouldn’t have waited until now to try to contact me.”
Papa Mark nodded. “I have to agree with both of those things, but your daed is trying to find you now, so don’t you think you ought to find out what he has to say?”
“I don’t care what he has to say.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Jah.”
“You’re a man now, Will, and you have the right to make your own decisions. However, I think you might need to mull things over a bit before you make a final decision on this.”
Will gave no reply.
“I just want to say one more thing.”
“What’s that?”
“I believe that God has a reason for bringing people into our lives at certain times. He had a reason for bringing you into our lives when you were a boy, and maybe He has a reason for bringing your real daed back into your life now.”
Will shrugged.
“Enough said. Would you please get me some antiseptic?”
Will nodded, glad for the change of subject.
“Can I talk to you about something?” Karen asked her mother.
“Of course.” Mom motioned to the kitchen table. “Would you like to sit while we talk?”
“What about breakfast?”
“There’s no hurry. Your daed’s still outside doing his chores, and Cindy hasn’t come downstairs yet.”
“Okay.” Karen pulled out a chair and sat down.
“What’d you want to talk to me about?” Mom asked.
“It’s about Will and that notice we read in The Budget from his real daed.”
“You mentioned last night that you’d gone over to speak with Will about it.”
Karen nodded. “It was awful, Mom. You should have seen the look on Will’s face when I asked if
he was planning to leave the Amish faith.”
Mom gave Karen’s shoulder a gentle squeeze. “You had no way of knowing Will hadn’t seen The Budget. You had no reason not to believe what Susanna Chupp said she’d heard.”
Karen stared at a small hole in the tablecloth as she mulled things over. Would things have been better if she hadn’t said anything to Will, or would he have found out on his own?
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