Karen looked down and gulped on a sob. “I love you, Will. Please don’t die.”
CHAPTER 34
Danki,” Regina said when Mark handed her the cup of coffee he’d gotten from the vending machine outside the hospital waiting room.
Mark looked over at Karen. “Are you sure you don’t want some?”
She shook her head. “I’m afraid coffee would make me feel shakier than I already am.”
Regina glanced at the door. “I wish we’d hear something. I can’t stand this waiting.”
“Will’s only been in surgery a short time,” Mark said. “I’m sure someone will come and give us some news soon.”
She shuddered. “When you came back to the house and said Will had been in an accident, I was afraid we might never see him again. All I’ve been able to do since then is pray.”
Karen nodded. “I’ve been praying, too.”
“That’s all we can do right now,” Mark said. “Will’s in God’s hands, and we have to trust that he’ll be okay.”
“Frank should be notified about Will’s accident,” Regina said.
Mark nodded. “What hotel did he say they’d be staying at tonight?”
“I believe Megan said it was the Country Inn & Suites,” Regina said.
Karen stood. “Would you like me to look up the number and see if I can reach Frank there?”
Regina nodded. “Jah, please do.”
Karen hurried from the room.
A few minutes later, a doctor entered and stepped up to Regina and Mark. “Mr. and Mrs. Stoltzfus?”
They nodded.
“Your son is out of surgery now.”
Regina jumped to her feet. “Is he all right?”
“He’s got some bumps, bruises, and a couple of broken ribs, but his worst injury was the main artery in his leg that was severed.”
Regina gasped, and Mark groaned.
“He lost a lot of blood, and he’ll need a transfusion.” The doctor looked at Mark. “I’m sure you know that your son has a rare blood type.”
Mark looked at Regina then back at the doctor and shook his head. “We didn’t know.”
“The thing is, no blood of his type is available locally right now, and it might take awhile for us to get some.” The doctor paused. “Will’s very weak, and he needs that blood as soon as possible.”
Tears stung the back of Regina’s eyes. “Is…is he going to die?”
“We got the bleeding stopped, so if we can get the blood Will needs, he’ll recover.” The doctor looked at Mark again. “Since blood types are inherited from the parents, you’re the most likely ones to donate the blood Will needs.”
Mark shook his head. “I’m sorry, but we can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“Will isn’t our son. I mean, we raised him from the time he was six, after his real father, who isn’t Amish, left him in our care.”
“Oh, I see. Do you know where Will’s biological parents are?”
Regina nodded. “His mother’s dead, but his father’s staying at a hotel in Shipshewana. Will’s fiancée is trying to reach him on the phone right now.”
Frank was about to turn on the TV in their hotel room when the phone rang. Since Megan had just put Carrie and Kim to bed, he grabbed the receiver.
“Hello.”
“Is this Frank Henderson?”
“Yeah. Who’s this?”
“Karen Yoder, Will’s fiancée.”
“Did Will make it home okay?”
“No, he’s—” Karen’s voice faltered. “What is it, Karen? What’s wrong?”
“Will was in an accident with his buggy. I’m at the hospital with Mark and Regina, and Will’s still in surgery.”
Frank’s heart thudded against his chest. “How bad is he hurt?”
“I’m not sure. He was unconscious when we found him, and his leg was bleeding really bad.” There was a pause. “I applied pressure, but it just kept bleeding.”
“What hospital is he in?”
“We’re here in Goshen. The hospital’s not hard to find. If you’d like to come, I can give you directions.”
“Of course I want to come. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Frank grabbed a notepad and pen. “I’m ready. Go ahead and give me the directions.”
Moments later, Frank said good-bye to Karen, hung up the phone, and turned to Megan. “I’ve got to go.”
“Go where, Frank?”
“Will’s been in an accident. He’s at the hospital in Goshen.”
“Oh, Frank, I’m so sorry. How serious is it, do you know?”
“Karen said Will’s in surgery, and it doesn’t sound good.”
“Should I wake the girls so we can go with you?”
Frank shook his head. “I might be gone awhile. I think it would be best if you and the girls stayed here and got some sleep.”
Megan slipped her arm around his waist. “I won’t be able to sleep until I know how Will’s doing. Please call when you know something, okay?”
He nodded. “I’ll let you know as soon as I can.”
“I’ll be praying.”
“I spoke with Frank, and he should be on his way to the hospital right now,” Karen told Regina and Mark when she returned to the waiting room.
Regina clasped Karen’s hand. “I’m so glad. The doctor was just here, and he says Will has a rare blood type that they don’t have in stock and that Frank’s blood may be a match. They need to give Will a transfusion because he lost so much blood.”
Karen sank into a chair. “Frank seems to care about Will. I’m sure he’ll be willing to give his son the blood he needs.”
Regina nodded and moved over to the window. “I just pray Frank gets here in time.”
CHAPTER 35
Will moaned as he slowly opened his eyes. Three figures stood at the foot of his bed, but he couldn’t make out who they were. “Wh–where am I?”
“You’re in the hospital.”
“Karen?”
“Jah, Will, it’s me.” Karen moved to the side of Will’s bed, and her face came into view.
“What happened to me? How come I’m in the hospital?”
“You were in an accident,” Papa Mark explained. “I was taking Karen home, and we found your mangled buggy on its side along the edge of the road.”
“What about Blazer? Is he okay?”
Papa Mark slowly shook his head. “I’m sorry, son, but your horse is dead.”
Will grimaced. First Ben and now Blazer? He was beginning to think he wasn’t supposed to own a horse.
“We’re sorry you lost your horse, but we’re thankful you’re going to be okay,” Mama Regina said as her face came into view.
“I don’t feel okay.” Will groaned. “My leg feels like I’ve been kicked by a cow.”
“You’ve got several bumps, bruises, and a few broken ribs, but the worst part of your injuries was the artery in your leg that was severed. The doctors did surgery, and your daed gave you some of his blood, so you’re going to be okay,” Mama Regina said, patting his hand.
A lump formed in Will’s throat as a sense of gratitude welled in soul. “Danki, Papa Mark, for giving me some of your blood.”
Papa Mark shook his head. “It wasn’t me. Frank saved your life.”
“Pop gave me blood?”
“That’s right,” Karen said. “When I phoned his hotel to let him know you’d been in an accident, he came to the hospital right away. And when he learned that you have the same rare blood type as he does, he didn’t hesitate to give you some of his blood.” She leaned closer to Will’s bed. “There’s something else you need to know.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s about the note your daed left you sixteen years ago.”
“There was no note.”
“Jah, there was.” Karen opened her pocketbook and removed the recipe card she’d put there before leaving Will’s house. “After you left the house and the company had gone home, your mamm gave me the r
ecipe for White Christmas Pie, and I discovered Frank’s note had been written on the back side of it.” She held the card in front of Will’s face.
He squinted. “I can’t make out what it says. Could you please read it to me?”
Karen nodded and cleared her throat. “‘Dear Will, I’m going to make my delivery, and then I plan to look for another job. I’ll be back for you soon. Mark and Regina will take good care of you until then. Love, Pop.’ ”
“So there really was a note.”
“I found the card on the counter the morning your daed left,” Mama Regina said. “But it was lying faceup, and I didn’t turn it over before I put it back in the recipe box.”
Will swallowed hard as tears clouded his vision. “I need to see Pop. Do you know where he is?”
“He’s in the waiting room,” Mama Regina said. “I’ll go get him.”
For the last fifteen minutes, Frank had been pacing the floor of the waiting room, berating himself for the things he had done in the past. He had so many regrets…so many things he wished he could change.
He sank into a chair, closed his eyes, and let his mind carry him back in time…back to the day of his accident….
Frank flipped on the radio and searched for a country-western station. He needed something to lift his spirits and take his mind off the guilt he felt over leaving Will behind. He felt sure Will would be well cared for while he was gone, but that wouldn’t make him miss the boy any less.
He finally found a station playing his favorite kind of music, but he couldn’t seem to relax. Besides the fact that the roads were icy, making him feel tense, he couldn’t stop thinking about Will.
Does Will understand the reason I left? How did he react to my note? Will my boy be happy living with people he hardly knows? Does he realize how much I love him?
Frank strained to see out the window. It had been snowing hard ever since he’d crossed into North Dakota. His windshield wipers could barely keep up with the moisture hitting the front window.
I’ll pull over at the next truck stop. Maybe a cup of coffee and a sandwich will revive me a little.
The car in front of Frank swerved unexpectedly to the left. He figured the vehicle must have hit a patch of ice, so he lowered his speed. The car swerved again, this time to the right. Then it spun around and headed straight for Frank’s truck!
Frank turned the wheel sharply to avoid a head-on collision, but as his tires slipped on the ice, he lost control. As the car collided with Frank’s truck, he held on to the steering wheel and screamed, “Somebody help me! I’ve got to get back to Will!”
“Frank. Frank, are you sleeping?”
Someone touched Frank’s shoulder, and his eyes snapped open. Regina stared down at him with a peculiar look on her face.
“I…I wasn’t sleeping,” he mumbled. “Just remembering some things from the past.”
“I came to tell you that Will’s awake, and he wants to see you.”
“He…he does?”
“Yes, but before we go in, there’s something I think you need to know.”
“What’s that?”
“After you left our house last night, I gave Karen the recipe for White Christmas Pie.”
“What’s that got to do with anything?”
“Karen found your note—the one you wrote for Will and asked me to read to him after you left.”
Frank’s mouth dropped open. “Where’d she find it?” “On the back of the recipe card.”
A tremor shot up Frank’s spine as a rush of memories washed over him. “Now that I think about it, I did write the note on the back of a recipe card, and I left it lying on the kitchen counter.”
“I’m sure you did, but the card must have gotten turned over somehow; I ended up filing it away without seeing the note. The card’s been in my recipe box all these years, and that’s why we never knew you had written a note.”
Frank pulled his fingers across his stubbly chin and shook his head. “No wonder Will didn’t believe me.”
“Would you like to see Will now?”
He swallowed around the lump in his throat. “Yes, I would.”
“I still can’t believe you found Pop’s note,” Will said as he looked up at Karen. “I really thought he was lying.”
“Sometimes when we’ve convinced ourselves of something, it’s hard to believe the truth even when we hear it.”
Will grimaced. “What I still don’t understand is why Pop never came back to get me or wrote any letters letting me know he hadn’t forgotten me.”
“Why don’t you ask him about that now?” Mama Regina said as she slipped in beside Karen.
Will turned his head in time to see Pop enter the room. At that moment, he remembered Papa Mark saying to him, “God has a reason for bringing people into our lives at certain times.” Could God have brought Pop here to save my life? No matter what’s happened in the past, at least Pop and I are together again.
“Hello, Will,” Pop said. “I’m relieved to know you’re going to be okay.”
“I understand I have you to thank for that. I hear you gave me the blood I needed.”
Pop nodded and moved to the side of Will’s bed. “I’m glad I could do it, but it doesn’t make up for the years we’ve spent apart.”
Will drew in a quick breath. “Karen told me about the note she found on the back of the recipe card. I’m sorry I didn’t believe you.”
“Since you didn’t see the note after I wrote it, it’s understandable that you wouldn’t believe me.”
Will swallowed hard. “I…uh…need to know one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“Why didn’t you come back for me, or at least write and let me know why you weren’t coming back?”
Pop leaned closer to Will. “I’d planned to write, but a few days after I left you with Regina and Mark, I was in an accident that landed me in the hospital, where I stayed for many months, thanks to my injuries. Once I was well enough, I headed to Pennsylvania to get you. Unfortunately, you weren’t there. Someone else was living in Mark and Regina’s house.”
“We left word with a neighbor so that if your daed came to get you, he would know we had moved,” Papa Mark said. “I guess by the time your daed showed up, our neighbor had also moved.”
Frank grimaced. “I was so shook up when I found out you were gone I could barely function. If I hadn’t met Megan when I did, I might never have gotten my life straightened around.”
Will stared at the ceiling as he mulled things over. He’d been so sure Pop had abandoned him on purpose. He hadn’t figured Pop might have had a good reason for not contacting him.
“‘And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free,’” Will said, quoting John 8:32.
Pop tipped his head. “What?”
“It’s a verse from the Bible. Jesus was telling those who believed on Him that they would know the truth and be set free from their sins. The verse reminds me of my situation,” Will said. “I’ve been holding a grudge against you all these years because I didn’t know the truth. But now the truth has set me free.”
Pop nodded. “Megan quoted that verse to me not long ago. Afterwards, I prayed and asked God to forgive my sins.”
“I’m happy to know you’re a believer.” Will reached out and touched Pop’s arm. “Will you forgive me for not believing you wrote a note and for holding a grudge against you all these years?”
Pop nodded as tears trickled down his cheeks. “If you’ll forgive me for not being there during most of your childhood.”
“I forgive you, Pop.” Will looked over at his folks. “I’ve always been thankful that you took me in and treated me like your own son, and I’m sorry if the things I said during our Thanksgiving dinner hurt your feelings. I love you both so much.”
“We love you, too, Will.” Tears shimmered in Mama Regina’s eyes.
“And we’ve been glad we could raise you,” Papa Mark added.
Will smiled at Karen. “I
’m also thankful to God for giving me a special woman to share my life with—if she still wants to marry me, that is.”
Karen nodded as tears sprang to her eyes. “Jah, Will, I do.”
“Before we pass the box of tissues around, I’d like to know one thing,” Frank said.
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