Jacob felt suddenly weak, lowering himself onto a fresh bale of hay across from Lizzie. “Why is she leaving? Is it because of Jonah?”
Lizzie wiped her tear-dampened face. “They’re planning to go to Florida together so they can marry there.”
If Jacob hadn’t already been sitting, he’d have fallen over from the shock of it. “They plan to get married? Why didn’t she come to me? Do you think she’s never really felt I was her daed?”
Lizzie shrugged. “If I would have waited to tell her the truth back then until you could be there to help me break the news to her, I believe we could have spared all of us the pain of her leaving the first time. It’s a regret I have to live with. But this time, I want to do the right thing so I don’t keep living with regret. I have to go to the Bishop and accept whatever consequences there are—for the sake of my dochder’s happiness.”
“I think that’s wise. But I shoulder the blame for how far this has gotten out of control. I should have spoken up from the very beginning.” He turned to Lizzie. “Don’t misunderstand me. I still would have married you, but I would have never gone along with this lie that has been eating away at our familye all these years.”
Lizzie looked at her husband sorrowfully. Her lie to protect her dochder had been the very thing that hurt her most. And her husband still loved her in spite of it all. She didn’t feel she deserved that love, but she intended to earn it. And if Abby would ever consider forgiving her, she had to make it right, and she had to do it immediately.
“Maybe we should break the news to the rest of the kinner before we go to the Bishop.”
Lizzie shook her head. “Caleb and Rachel already know, and they’re taking it better than I expected they would. They actually support Abby’s decision to go to Florida. I don’t think Liam knows, but he’s always off somewhere with his cousins and friends. He would be gone from sun-up to sun-down if we let him. I guess we need to track him down and have a familye discussion about all of this. If we can keep Abby here, and make it so she and Jonah can be married here, then I am willing to accept whatever my fate is here in the community. But Abby deserves to stay here if that’s what she wants.”
Lizzie wondered how such an innocent lie could have gotten so far out of control that it had nearly torn her familye apart. Her intentions in the beginning were to hide her dochder from the mann who had taken advantage of her in her youth and stolen her innocence. A mann who was a dangerous drug addict and a criminal for all she knew. She should have told Abby the truth after Eddie’s death. Instead, she had allowed her own selfish desires to cloud her judgment of what was right. She had put her own wants before those of her dochder, and it was her dochder who was paying for her mistakes.
All of that was about to change.
Lizzie could not let another day go by without bringing the truth forward once and for all. She would stand before the Bishop and confess, even if meant she would be excommunicated.
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CHAPTER 27
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By the time Abby reached Jonah’s haus, she was emotionally drained. Rachel had been fairly quiet the entire trip. She was grateful her schweschder had agreed to stay outside at Becca’s haus and play with the kittens in the barn while she talked with her in private. It wasn’t that she’d said anything Rachel didn’t already know, but she didn’t want her schweschder to hear any unpleasant conversation if there had been any. Thankfully, Becca had taken the news well. Abby suspected she was far too happy with her new boppli for much of anything to bother her for the time-being, but she welcomed the distraction nonetheless.
Abby left her horse outside in the yard at Jonah’s haus, knowing Caleb would tend to the mare before he left. She was eager to see how Jonah was feeling after not being able to stay with him during the night. When she entered the kitchen, Jonah was sitting at the table, fully dressed and wearing the grin that she loved so much.
“Gudemariye, Jonah. You look wunderbaar. Should you be out of bed though?”
Jonah smiled from ear to ear, but Abby could see he still fought back pain.
“Don’t worry so much about me. I’m strong. And the doc gave me permission to be up. As a matter of fact, he even gave me permission to get a little fresh air.”
Abby smiled. “That’s wunderbaar.”
Jonah reached for Abby’s hand. “We haven’t taken a buggy ride for a long time. What do you say we do that now while I still have the energy?”
Abby furrowed her brow. “Are you sure the jostling of the buggy won’t hurt your head? Maybe we should just take a little walk instead.”
Jonah squeezed her hand and smiled. “Where I want to go is a little too far to walk. If we go slowly I’ll be fine.”
Abby’s pulse raced, and she smiled knowingly. She knew where he wanted to take her, and she was eager to go.
Abby’s heart skipped a beat when the familiar set of mulberry trees came into view. Jonah had insisted on driving, and she’d cuddled next to him to stay warm. They’d taken many forbidden buggy rides together, but this one seemed more special than all the rest. This one seemed more like an official date.
Jonah stepped down carefully from the buggy, and then held out his hand to assist Abby. She thought he had never looked more handsome than he did now. His smile showed the slightest of dimples at each side of his cheeks, his blue eyes sparkled in the bright sunshine. With the bandage on his head covered by his hat, it was easy to pretend everything was alright—especially since he didn’t let his pain wipe the smile from his face.
They walked over and stood beneath the mulberry tree where they’d shared their first kiss. Jonah pulled her into his arms and kissed her temples. He knew he shouldn’t risk holding her and kissing her out in the open, but the school was vacant, and there was no one around but the two of them. She felt comfortable in his arms, like she had always meant to be there. He breathed in the scent of fresh lilac soap; a hint of cinnamon that lingered on the collar of her coat. The lonely void he’d felt for so many years all melted away in this one embrace. He never knew love could feel this freeing. He unbuttoned his coat, wrapping it around Abby as he held her close. Her warm breath seeped through his shirt as she rested her head against his chest. He didn’t want to let her go, but he’d brought her here for a reason, and he needed to speak his mind before his energy drained.
“You know I always hoped we’d be married here beneath these trees. But since we can’t, I figured at the very least, you deserved a proper proposal. And what better place than right here where it all began.”
Abby wasn’t willing to lift her head from his chest just yet. She needed to hear the soothing beat of his heart to validate the moment—to ensure the reality of it. Jonah’s hand held her there at the base of her neck, his fingers gently raking through the loose strands of her hair. It sent twinges of desire through her, making her momentarily forget the riskiness of their actions.
Jonah tucked his hand under Abby’s chin and lifted until her lips met his. The warmth of her mouth on his, and the sweetness of her shallow breaths made him wish they were already married. He gently held her away from him, and knelt before her. Taking her hands in his, he looked up into her glistening eyes.
“Abby, I’ve loved you since the day we first met, but I fell in love with you the first time I kissed you under this very tree. Marry me so I can enjoy your love and your sweet kisses I can’t live without. Continue to be my best friend, and become my helpmate until death parts us.”
Abby’s lower lip quivered with joy, tears filling her eyes.
“I will marry you, but only if we are married here, under the mulberry tree.”
Jonah stood up abruptly, the pain in his head causing him to groan under his breath. “That’s not possible, Abby and we both know it. There is no way Bishop Troyer is going to marry us when he thinks we are first cousins. If we were second cousins, we wouldn’t have a problem, but since your familye’s lie is preventing us from marrying in t
he community, we must wait until we go to Florida.”
Abby took Jonah’s hands in hers. “Just the other day you said that even Gott Himself couldn’t make us so we weren’t cousins, but He did! Let’s not be hasty and give up on that miracle we’ve been hoping for. Gott will make this right for us, and we will be married here.”
Abby was right, but Jonah still found it difficult to trust in what he wanted most—to have her as his fraa, and to be able to live in this community with her.
Abby felt a mixture of sadness and elation as they left the mulberry tree. She was engaged, but her heart ached at the thought of not being able to marry Jonah under their tree.
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CHAPTER 28
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Seth steered the horse into the curved driveway in front of the B&B. It would be their second meeting with Ellie, and he was hopeful that she was going to grant them adoption rights for her boppli.
Seth squeezed Lillian’s hand. “Are you ready to go ask her if she’s made up her mind?”
Lillian looked at her husband through tearful eyes.
“What if she says no? I’m not sure I can handle that.”
Seth pulled her into his arms. “We prayed about it, and now it’s up to Gott. I believe He put Ellie in our path for a reason. We have to trust that.”
Lillian wiped her tears. “You’re right. If it’s Gotte’s wille, we will be that boppli’s familye.”
Seth kissed his fraa full on the mouth. “I love you.”
Lillian kissed him back and couldn’t help but smile. “I love you too.”
“Denki for opening your heart to Ellie. You’re going to be a gut mamm.”
“And you’re going to be a gut daed. I’m really happy Gott brought Ellie into our lives. I know Gott can’t bring back our little buwe, but maybe He’s giving us the opportunity to help a boppli who needs a familye just as much as we want to be his or her familye.”
Seth and Lillian stomped their feet on the porch of the B&B so they wouldn’t track snow in on Aenti Bess’s hardwood floors. She worked hard to keep the country charm atmosphere in the B&B, and the freshly polished floors were difficult to maintain in the winter.
Bess suddenly rushed down the stairs pretty fast for a woman her age. “I need your help up there, Lillian. Ellie’s in labor. Boppli’s coming fast. I’m not sure the doctor is going to get here in time.”
Lillian’s pulse raced at the thought of it. What could she do? She wasn’t a midwife. Fear coursed through her when another thought crossed her mind. If Ellie was having the boppli now, then it was possible she was about to become a new mamm.
Please Gott, let Ellie bless me and Seth with this boppli. It’s my heart’s desire to be this boppli’s familye.
Upstairs, Lillian felt awkward and out of place. She didn’t know what she was doing there, except that Aenti Bess had told her on the way up to the room that Ellie had voiced that she wanted her to be there when she had the boppli. Lillian hoped her nervousness wouldn’t be misinterpreted by Ellie as not wanting to adopt the boppli.
“What do you want me to do, Aenti?”
Bess took charge of the room. She was no stranger to delivering bopplies, even though she’d never established herself as an official midwife.
“Do you remember the breathing I taught you so you could give birth to your own boppli?”
The mention of Lillian’s boppli didn’t make her cry this time because she was too preoccupied with helping Ellie. “Jah.”
Bess prepared clean towels and a small quilt. “Stay near her head and help her breathe through this, just like I showed you.”
Lillian turned to Ellie and panted with her through a long contraction. When it was over, Ellie whined a little and asked for a cool cloth on her forehead. Lillian went to the other side of the room where a basin had been set up along with a large pitcher full of fresh water. She dampened a cloth and quickly returned to Ellie’s side, who’d begun another strong contraction.
“Where’s Melanie? Why isn’t she here?”
Bess draped fresh linens over Ellie in preparation for the birth. “She went into town for some things about an hour ago. Ellie’s water broke and the labor has progressed very quickly for a first boppli. She’s nearly ready to start pushing.”
Ellie pushed the pillow out of the way and propped herself on her elbows. “I think I’ve been having these contractions for a few hours. They were so light earlier that I just thought it was regular aches and pains the same I’ve had for the last few months. It didn’t start to really get strong until my water broke. Oh…here comes another one.”
Ellie braced herself, finding it difficult to follow Lillian’s lead with the breathing. She felt a strong urge to push, and began to bear down a little.
“Don’t push yet, Ellie. It’s not quite time yet. Breathe through the contraction.”
Ellie threw her head back. “I can’t do this anymore. It hurts.”
Ellie let out a scream. “Make it stop. Please.”
Lillian tried to get her to focus, but it wasn’t easy.
“Try to breathe with me, Ellie. You’re almost there. You can do this.”
Lillian took Ellie’s hand, and felt her squeeze it, as she fell into the rhythm of breathing with her.
“On the next contraction, Ellie, I want you to push with all your strength.” Bess had taken charge and decided it was time.
Lillian’s heart pounded as she held Ellie’s hand through the long push. She could see the boppli’s head, and felt like her own head was being squeezed just as hard from the fear that tried to grip her.
The next push revealed a very pink little girl. She let out the sweetest little cry, almost breaking Lillian’s heart for her. Bess cut the cord and placed her on the quilt, and then handed her over to Lillian.
“Take her over there and get her cleaned up, Lillian.”
Instinctively, Lillian carried the squirming, crying boppli to the bureau and set her down to examine the perfection as she dipped a cloth in the water to wash her off. She’d held newborns before, but this one was special. This one could possibly be hers. Was it too bold to hope? She was possibly the most beautiful boppli Lillian had ever seen, and it scared her to think about how much she wanted to be her mamm.
She finished washing the perfect little newborn and wrapped her in a clean quilt, and then she walked over to the side of the bed where Bess was finishing up with the delivery. Lillian held her out to Ellie. “Do you want to hold her?”
Ellie put up a hand. “No. She’s so small, I’m afraid I would break her. Besides, she’s yours and Seth’s. I signed the papers yesterday. You can take her home with you after you sign the papers. The lawyer is still here waiting on your signature.”
Lillian’s knees nearly gave out, and she stepped backward to sit in the chair in the corner of the room. She couldn’t believe her ears. She cradled the boppli close to her and caressed her head. She was asleep from all the excitement.
Ellie smiled at her. “What are you going to name her?”
Lillian admired her new boppli. “I’m sure my husband would agree with me; I’d like to name her Ellie, if that’s alright with you.”
Ellie smiled again. “I’d like that very much.”
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CHAPTER 29
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Lizzie was shaking as Jacob knocked on the Bishop’s door. Was it too late to change her mind? It didn’t matter because she knew she couldn’t keep hurting her familye. The truth had been long overdue to come out into the open, and she was prepared to face it.
Gott, give me strength, and soften the Bishop’s heart toward me and Jacob. Please don’t let us be excommunicated.
Mrs. Troyer greeted them with a smile. “This is an unexpected surprise. Please kume. I will let my husband know we have company.”
Jacob stopped her. “We aren’t here for a visit. We need to see the Bishop for a confession.”
; Mrs. Troyer looked confused, but politely excused herself to get her husband.
Lizzie wrung her hands, despite the constant prayers that she repeated in her head.
Jacob felt unusually calm as Bishop Troyer entered the room. “We’re here for a confession.”
The Bishop’s eyes darted back and forth between Jacob and Lizzie. “Both of you?”
Jacob and Lizzie nodded in unison.
Bishop Troyer motioned them toward the shaker furniture in the sitting room. “I’ve been wondering when you were going to come to me. Since it’s been so many years, I wasn’t sure if you were ever going to come forward.”
Jacob and Lizzie looked at each other quizzically.
“You know why we’re here?”
Bishop Troyer suppressed a grin. “You’re here to tell me about Abby, and why I performed an impromptu wedding when it wasn’t necessary. Am I right?”
Lizzie cleared her throat. “That’s part of it. How much do you know?”
Bishop Troyer leaned forward in his chair. “Not much gets by me in my community. I knew the timing wasn’t right for the two of you to have conceived Abby given how long you’d been gone from the community. And I knew your relationship had been a pure one from the amount of time you’d been allowed away from your daed’s strict hold on you, Miss Elizabeth. Is that what the two of you came to tell me?”
The color drained from Lizzie’s face as she nodded her answer to the Bishop’s question. He’d known all along. “If you knew, why did you marry us that day?”
“I didn’t see any reason not to. The fact that Hiram was pressing the issue didn’t help either of you gather enough courage to tell the truth. I didn’t think it would ever be a problem, but having both of you in the same community and widowed, well…I thought it was best to have you married once and for all.”
Under the Mulberry Tree: Book Three Page 9