by Mary Ellis
A Little Bit of Charm
ONE
Randolph County, Missouri
“Whew, it’s already the middle of September and it’s still hotter than blazes.”
Rachel looked at her younger sister in horror. “Shush, Beth, before someone hears you. What will the Gingerichs think of us?”
Beth peered up with an innocent expression. “Is ‘blazes’ a bad word? I’ve heard daed say ‘build a blaze in the woodstove’ or ‘a blazing sunset.’”
Rachel rolled her eyes. “Just shush on general principles. You’ll be on your way back to Lancaster County soon, and then you can revert to your normal self. But let’s put our best foot forward while we’re still visitors here.”
Beth’s green-eyed focus turned wary. “What do you mean by I’ll be on my way back to Pennsylvania?”
Rachel ignored a question she wasn’t yet ready to answer. “Look, here comes the blushing bride and groom.” She grinned with a heart swelling with joy and love for their sister.
“Who would ever guess Nora would get hitched to Lewis Miller?” Beth’s words were a very audible whisper. “I thought she’d end up with that wily fox, Elam Detweiler.”
Rachel shifted her weight to her other foot, which she then placed directly atop Beth’s. No other admonishment proved necessary.
Nora and Lewis approached with glowing faces that only a wedding day can inspire. “Well, my dear schwestern, did you enjoy yourselves at our wedding?” Nora wrapped an arm around each of their shoulders, drawing them close.
The three-way hug brought a rush of moisture to Rachel’s eyes. “Truly, I did. I’ve never seen you looking so pretty…or so happy.” Tears cascaded down her cheeks with the realization the four King siblings would not only be in four different districts, but different states as well.
A couple of years ago they were like any other Old Order Amish girls living with their parents with their grandparents next door. They dreamed of a future around the corner, married to boys they had known their entire lives. But a house fire had changed everything. It took their parents to the Lord and Rachel’s two older sisters to where their hearts led them. Amy, the eldest, settled in Harmony, Maine, where her fiancé’s brothers lived. Nora, however, didn’t find the ultraconservative district to her liking. So when the handsome, fence-sitting Elam Detweiler, Amy’s new brother-in-law, took off with his secret driver’s license in his bright-red Chevy, Nora followed soon after.
But new beginnings are often hard to predict. Not long after moving to Missouri, Nora’s independent streak began to fade. And for the first time she longed to fit in, to be part of a loving, supportive community. If Nora’s facial expression could be trusted, she had found what she was looking for in a town called Paradise.
A frisson of anxiety spiked up Rachel’s spine. Was she making a big mistake? Would she cause her grossmammi grief and worry for nothing? Shaking off the notion, she joined Beth in cleaning up after the wedding meal while the happy couple walked guests to their buggies, expressing gratitude for the gifts and good wishes, thanking them for sharing in their most special day.
Much later that evening, while fireflies lit up the backyard with a thousand twinkling lights, Rachel sat alone on the Gingerichs’ porch. Sleep wouldn’t come—that much she knew. But she didn’t wish to pace the bedroom floor and keep Beth or her gracious hosts awake. She tried to pray, but the only words that came to mind were rote prayers learned as a child. After several silent “Our Fathers,” she clenched her eyes tightly shut. Please, Lord, grant my sister a long life with many kinner and much joy. Unbidden tears started anew. Her emotions seemed to be a roiling kettle of soup, rattling the lid and threatening to overflow.
“Why are you out here crying?” Nora gently pulled on her sister’s kapp ribbon before slipping into the rocker next to hers.
“A better question would be what are you doing out here on your wedding night?” Rachel wiped her face and arched an eyebrow. “Don’t you and Lewis have some business to attend to?”
A pretty blush rose up Nora’s neck. “Don’t speak of things you know nothing about.” She pinched Rachel’s arm. “Besides, I’ll join him in a little while. We’re both too nervous to sleep much tonight. In a few days we’ll move into our new home. It’s not much, but it’s ours.” She rocked with the satisfied assurance of a woman with her life laid out like a well-organized quilt.
Rachel knew no such contentment. Her future looked like an early spring sky—patchy clouds, intermittent rays of sunshine, and the smell of a coming storm. “I wish Beth and I could stay longer to help you pack.”
“Worry not. My friend Violet arranged everything for our move and hers before she and Seth leave on their wedding trip to see the Gulf of Mexico. Violet may not be able to run, but she still maneuvers at the speed of light. She absolutely refused to use her crutches at her marriage ceremony. Her poor daed kept hovering as though she might fall over.”
Creak, creak, creak. For several moments, the only sound came from the rolling wooden slats on the porch boards. Then in a hushed tone, Nora asked, “Care to tell me what’s troubling you? And don’t say ‘nothing.’ You’ve been weepy-eyed all day. That isn’t like you, Rachel. You know we’ll take a wedding trip in November, after the harvest is in. We’ll visit Amy and John in Harmony and then come to Lancaster County to see you, Beth, grossmammi, and grossdawdi.”
Rachel debated only half a second. There was no point in withholding the truth any longer. “When you get to Pennsylvania, you may only find one sister.” She stared into the darkness as the moon slipped behind a cloud. “I’ve decided to take the bus from St. Louis to Louisville after I put Beth on the train to Chicago.”
Nora stopped rocking. “Who on earth do you know in Louisville?”
“Not a soul. Once in Louisville I’ll board a bus to Elizabethtown. Then I’ll arrange for a hired van to take me to Charm.”
“You’re planning to visit Cousin Sarah? But you hate chickens.”
Rachel laughed. “I do not hate chickens as long as they are in a pot with celery, onions, and dumplings.” They shared a chuckle. “The fact that Sarah and her husband operate a free-range chicken farm doesn’t deter me. Kentucky is known for only one thing, and it isn’t Rhode Island Reds. The Blue Grass state raises the prettiest horses in the world.”
“Prettier than Old Smokey after you braided his mane and tail with ribbons?”
A pang of nostalgia filled her heart. Old Smokey was her father’s favorite Belgian draft horse, now relegated to light work with grossdawdi in his twilight years. “Jah, even prettier than him if magazines and library books can be trusted.”
“If you’ve decided to visit Sarah on your way home, why not take Beth?”
A long minute spun out in the humid evening air while Rachel chose her reply carefully. In the end she gave her sister the short, honest answer. “Because if I find living on a chicken farm tolerable, I intend to stay permanently.”
“Whatever for? I know you love horses and have read more about them than any Amish person in the country, but horses are big business in Kentucky. What would a Plain gal who’s never held a paying job in her life do there?”
Somewhere a faraway train blew its whistle. “I haven’t the slightest idea. All I know is Lancaster County is a lonely place since mamm and daed died. I love our grandparents and I’ll miss little Beth something fierce, but I can’t see myself sticking around anymore than Amy or you could. There are too many sad memories.” A lump rose in her throat, threatening her composure.
“I of all people cannot find fault with your plan, but I hate the idea of us spread across the eastern United States.”
“Missouri is certainly not the East. Have you checked a map lately?”
“Truly, it is not,” agreed Nora with a laugh. She flicked away a mosquito.
For several moments they rocked and listened to tree frogs and crickets fill the air with a late summer serenade. Each of their hearts grew heavier as the irrevocable fu
ture closed around them like heavy fog. “No matter where I end up, you will always be my schwester,” murmured Rachel.
“And I, yours.” Nora clasped her hand in the shadows as they savored memories of their shared childhood. Impulsively Nora leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Gut nacht, Rachel. I believe I’ve kept my new ehemann waiting long enough.” After a nervous giggle, she went inside the house, leaving Rachel alone with her thoughts and fears for the future. When she fell asleep that night, frolicking colts, majestic stallions, and gentle mares filled her dreams, giving her the best sleep she’d had in weeks.
The next day Rachel and Beth accepted tearful hugs and a packed lunch that would feed far more than two, and then they climbed into the back of a hired car bound for downtown Columbia. After paying their driver, they boarded the bus to St. Louis—a frightening city in terms of the amount of fast-moving traffic. Rachel waited almost until the bus pulled into the terminal to drop her bombshell.
“What do you mean you’re only buying one train ticket to Chicago?” demanded Beth. “How do you intend to get home?”
“After I put you on the train, I’ll take a cab back to the Greyhound station. I’m traveling by bus to Louisville.” Patiently she spelled out the sketchy details as she’d done the night before to Nora.
Beth listened to the explanation without interruption and then wailed, “Fine and dandy, but why can’t I go too? I’ve never been to Kentucky either.”
“Because if all goes well, and if Sarah and Isaac allow it, I will stay and work. You’re too young to move away from grossmammi and Aunt Irene just yet.”
“Will you court boys there?” Beth turned toward her on the seat.
The unexpected question caught Rachel by surprise. “I’m not thinking about courting now. I just want to find a job.”
“But you’re already twenty.” Beth sounded aghast.
“That’s not that old in this day and age. People are waiting longer to marry.”
“Why can’t I come with you? If you decide to stay longer than a visit, you could put me on a bus home then.”
Finally, the question she had dreaded. “Please don’t be hurt, Beth, but I truly wish to try this out by myself.” With a shaky hand, she pulled a printed sheet from her purse. “I wrote out directions on how to change trains in Chicago to catch the Capitol Limited to Pittsburgh and then the Pennsylvanian on to Harrisburg. There you’ll catch the bus to Mount Joy. It’s all spelled out very carefully. It’s exactly what we did on the way here in reverse.”
Beth shrugged. “Grossmammi is going to be miffed, even more so than she was about us attending the wedding unchaperoned.” She shivered, as though picturing their grandmother’s seldom-displayed temper.
“True enough. But she knew I was considering it, and I wrote her a long letter to explain as best as I could.” Rachel withdrew a sealed envelope from her purse. “Will you give her this when you get home?”
Beth stared at the white envelope and nodded. “Jah, I suppose. But maybe I’ll just lay it on the kitchen table and hide in the barn until the steam clears. What about Amy?”
Rachel patted her bag. “I wrote her a letter too. I’ll post it the first chance I get. I told Nora last night after the wedding. She seemed to understand.”
“Then it’s all decided.”
Her sister’s plaintive words of resignation cut Rachel like a blade. She wrapped her arms around her, enfolding Beth in a hug. “You can come visit me once I’m settled. And I promise to come home to Mount Joy too. We’ll always be sisters. Never forget that.” The rocking bus, the chatter from other travelers, and the scenery passing at breakneck speed all faded away. Rachel was only aware of the skinny fourteen-year-old she held in her arms and how much she would miss her.
“St. Louis,” the bus driver barked into the loud speaker.
Everyone jumped up to pull luggage from overhead bins and collect belongings from the seat and floor. Rachel felt Beth shrink by her side. “Don’t be frightened. You’re a smart girl. You have your directions, plenty of food, and money in your purse. Just remember what mamm used to say: ‘You’re never alone in life. God is always with you.’ So close your eyes and let Him fill your heart.”
Whether her words did any good, Rachel would never know. Beth was quiet during their walk to the train station and said little as they sat eating sandwiches and fruit, waiting for the next train to Chicago.
Feeling as low as a crawfish on a river bottom, Rachel walked her sister to the turnstiles. She handed her the tote bag of sandwiches and snacks. “Don’t lose your ticket. And don’t be afraid to ask questions of kind-looking ladies.”
“Promise me you’ll write.” Beth’s green eyes were round as silver dollars and just as shiny.
“Twice a week, every week. And Sarah has a phone in her house because she’s Old Order Mennonite, not Amish. I wrote her number on your directions. You could always call from the phone shed if you’re dying to hear my voice.”
Beth laughed. “Most likely twice-a-week letters will fill my need for sisterly companionship. Don’t go too sappy on me.”
True to the youngest sibling’s style, Beth had already adjusted to the change, disappointment rolling off her like water off a duck’s back. So Rachel was able to watch her board the train for home without melting into a puddle of sorrow and indecision. Home—Mount Joy, Pennsylvania—didn’t feel much like home since the night she’d spotted flames leaping high into the starry sky and smelled the acrid smoke, which had filled her lungs and then her soul.
That night Rachel dozed fitfully in the train station’s lounge, per the advice of Jonas Gingerich. There would be more people milling about there than in the bus station, where she returned at first light. She washed her face and hands and brushed her teeth in the restroom. She bought a bagel and cream cheese and pint of cold milk.
By the time Rachel boarded the bus to Louisville, excitement had built in her blood like an herbalist’s tonic. She couldn’t keep from grinning as they crossed first into Illinois, then Indiana, and finally into Kentucky. She thought even the air smelled different.
She arrived in Elizabethtown by late afternoon and called the number provided by her cousin Sarah. A hired driver, a sweet woman named Michelle, picked her up and drove through Charm before arriving at the Stolls’ farm. A historic courthouse with a clock tower soaring into the clouds dominated the town square. Stately elms and oaks spread their limbs far and wide, shading park benches and stone walkways, where elderly men reminisced and young mothers pushed baby strollers. There was a second, new courthouse, along with the sheriff’s department, café, furniture shop, post office, pizza shop, and an ice cream parlor. What more did a body need? Two white church steeples loomed above the housetops. Rachel wished she could take a photograph to send to Beth, but, of course, she’d never used or owned a camera in her life.
Charm—the name said it all. Rachel was so eager for a fresh start she almost broke into song.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mary Ellis grew up close to the eastern Ohio Amish Community, Geauga County, where her parents often took her to farmers’ markets and woodworking fairs. She and her husband now live in Medina County, close to the largest population of Amish families, where she does her research…and enjoys the simple way of life.
Mary loves to hear from her readers at [email protected]
or
www.maryeellis.wordpress.com
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER
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HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS
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