Ella's Wish (Little Valley 2)

by Jerry S. Eicher

  With a start, Ella jumped to her feet. I really must stop interfering in Preacher Stutzman’s business.

  “We have to get ready for Ronda and Joe,” Ella said. “Are you girls going to help me?”

  The girls both nodded. “We’ll help with the breakfast dishes,” Mary said. Baby Barbara lay cooing beside the table.

  “That’s a gut plan,” Ella said, putting the chairs in place around the sink. It might actually take a little longer this way, but working with the girls was more important.

  Before they were finished, buggy wheels could be heard rattling in the driveway.

  “Sounds like they’re here already,” Ella said, rushing to clear the last of the dishes from the kitchen table. Ronda would understand the late breakfast with the three girls to care for, but Joe might not. It seemed important to make the best impression possible on the first morning.

  Both Mary and Sarah ran to the living room window to look out as Ella set the last of the dishes in the sink. At the knock on the door, Ella left the sink full of dishes. Joe would just have to think what he wanted to think.

  “Good morning,” Ronda said when Ella opened the door. How chipper she sounded. Beside her, Joe grinned broadly. “Hope we’re not too early.”

  “I’m still finishing up the dishes,” Ella said, holding the door wide open, “but come on in.”

  “This is so wonderful of you,” Ronda said. “You don’t know how much this means to us.”

  “It’s really nothing,” Ella said. “I’m the one who needs people in the house.”

  “It is large,” Joe said, glancing around, “and well built. I was here for one day of the work frolic.”

  “Daniel did a good job,” Ella said, wishing at once she hadn’t mentioned Daniel.

  Ronda walked over to the window where Mary and Sarah sat.

  “Hello, girls,” she said.

  They both smiled, and the baby kicked her feet on the blanket.

  “I think they like me,” Ronda whispered to Ella.

  “Of course they do,” Ella said quietly. “You’re a nice person.”

  “Yah, she is,” Joe said with a laugh.

  “You haven’t lived with me very long,” Ronda said, coming up to stand beside Joe and putting her arm around his waist.

  “Well,” Joe said, “you’ll get sweeter every day, I’m sure.”

  “Can I show you both around?” Ella asked, ready to move the conversation past the newlyweds’ cooing.

  After the quick tour, Joe said, “The house is even better than I expected. There’s plenty of room for three families. Shall we start to unload our things?”

  “Yes, put them anywhere you like,” Ella said. “As you can see, I’ve already moved my belongings upstairs.”

  Minutes later they had completed the third trip, and Ronda said, “This is all that could fit on the wagon. The living room couch, kitchen table, and chairs all come on another load.” After a moment, it occurred to Ronda to ask, “Ella, other than upstairs, where are you staying?”

  “Well, I guess just upstairs. That’s what seems best.”

  “What about a kitchen?” Ronda asked with concern. “I hope you plan to use the one down here. I won’t mind at all.”

  “Two of us in the same kitchen?” Ella said with a laugh. “Really, I hadn’t thought things through completely, but I know that won’t work. I plan to make do somehow.”

  “With the girls? You’re the one who needs the main floor. Why don’t we move upstairs?” Ronda said, turning to look at Joe.

  “It’s no problem with me,” he said. “Up or down, it’s all the same, just so long as you’re there.”

  “I wouldn’t even think of it,” Ella said, interrupting their loving gaze at each other. “I’m either upstairs or in the basement because that’s where my little quilt shop is.”

  “I really would feel better if we didn’t put you on the short end of things,” Joe said.

  “I tell you what,” Ella said, having a sudden inspiration. What if there was a stove hookup in the basement? Joe, would you know how to install a stove down there?”

  Joe thought for a moment. “I think there’s a hookup there already. I remember seeing it the day I was here for the work frolic. Whoever laid the chimney put it in. They would have known that an extra woodstove usually goes in the basement.”

  “Really,” Ella said, relief flooding her. “It would solve our problem if I could have my kitchen downstairs. I could even live there all the time and just go upstairs on the weekends.”

  “I’ll go down and look just to be sure,” Joe said, moving toward the basement door. “Do you have an extra stove, then?’

  “No,” Ella said, “but maybe Daett would know where I could find one.”

  “See if she has an extra flue first,” Ronda said. “I think there’s an old stove in our barn.”

  “I did see one a while back,” Joe said, disappearing down the stairs.

  “Are you sure that would be okay?” Ronda asked. “I’d still feel better if we moved down to the basement.”

  “You won’t do that,” Ella said firmly. “You are the ones payin’ the rent. And I’m going to the basement.”

  “I guess that settles that,” Ronda said, giving in, “but we will try to be good renters.”

  “There’s no question in my mind.”

  “Joe wants so bad to get our own place—a farm where he can do the milking,” Ronda said wistfully. “With farm prices like they are, it may take awhile yet.”

  “Yes, I think it surely will. Prices seem high these days,” Ella said.

  Joe came up the basement stairs. His voice sounded cheerful when he came through the door and said, “Yep. There’s a flue down there, just as I thought there would be.”

  “Why didn’t I see it?” Ella asked.

  “They left it covered up till it was needed,” Joe said.

  “Nothing like a man in the house,” Ronda said, fairly bursting with delight, and Ella nodded. She had been given a gut gift in this young couple.

  Thirty-two

  The clock on the wall showed that it was now past noon. Ronda and Joe should have been back with their wagonload of furniture. Where are they? Yet, the afternoon still lay ahead, and there is plenty of time, no matter the holdup.

  Now that they discovered the chimney flue in the basement, Ella could move downstairs. That did change everything. There was no longer any reason to use the upstairs during the week when Preacher Stutzman’s girls were there. Now she just needed curtains for the basement windows. As for sleeping, the bed they recently moved upstairs could stay there. If she placed foam mattresses on the basement floor and moved the crib down, she would be all set for the weekdays.

  The more she thought about it, the more Ella liked the setup. It would prove more efficient while the girls were here, and weekends upstairs would provide relief from basement life.

  Three o’clock came, and still there was no Joe or Ronda. A glance down the road produced no sight of anyone. Ella thought to hitch the horse to the buggy and go look for them. How silly that would look. Even if there had been an accident or some such calamity, what could I do? Waiting really is the only option.

  Ella busied herself with packing for the girls. Preacher Stutzman would come sometime this evening for his daughters. He hadn’t said exactly what time. Is he a scheduled person, who will show up each week at the same time or only comes when it suits him? If his fiery sermons are any indication, the latter seems likely. I’ll simply have to be ready either way.

  Ella took all three girls upstairs with her and began to pack their bags. Mary didn’t say anything. Should I explain this and perhaps establish order to this routine that will reoccur every Friday for some time to come?

  “Your daett will come soon to pick you up,” she said gently.

  Mary looked long at the suitcase but said nothing.

  “You’ll go home for the weekend and then come back here on Monday.”

  “This is home
now,” Mary said. “Why doesn’t Daett come here?”

  “No, dear,” Ella said, shocking herself with her tone. “Look, Mary, I just take care of you—like your Aunt Susanna does—and then your daett takes you home again for the weekend.”

  “Yah,” Mary said, staring off into space.

  Carefully Ella placed all their clothing in the suitcase, adding the washed diapers. The dirty ones could stay. This was the way she wanted it. All clean clothes should go back with Preacher Stutzman on Friday nights, even though the girls would return on Monday.

  The sound of steel wheels rattling up the driveway caused Ella to run to the window. Who’s bringing a wagon in? She gasped at the sight below. So this is why Joe and Ronda had been delayed! A hay wagon stood in the yard near the front door. A cook stove was propped in the middle, and some beds were set on the end along with the furniture Joe and Ronda had gone to retrieve. Out by the hitching post, Joe tied the horse. Ronda was already at the front door. She gestured with her hands to her dad, who had come with them, and pointed toward the basement door.

  “Ronda and Joe are here,” Ella said loudly, and Mary jumped up to run to the window.

  “Come,” Ella said, taking the baby and encouraging the girls to follow. At the top of the stairs she paused and took Sarah’s hand in hers. Mary held onto the handrail but still kept up with them. Ella quickly left the baby on the blanket, shooing the girls over to the living room window. She really needed to get outside to help.

  “Oh, I was so worried,” Ella said, opening the front door and stepping out onto the porch.

  “I just knew you would be,” Ronda said, wrinkling her brow, “but what was there to do? Dad offered to bring the stove today, and he even had the wagon hitched up already. Then the stove wasn’t in the barn but over at my brother’s. He was done with it, though. They just used it last winter.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Certain,” Ronda said. “He bought himself a new one for his shop. This is more of a cook stove. I think he was a little embarrassed with a kitchen stove in his shop.”

  “I guess Daett would feel the same.”

  “So you see it all took time, but now it’s done, and am I thankful. How Daett and Joe plan to carry the thing into the basement, I don’t know. But they are confident.” Ronda then noticed the girls in the window. “They’re still here? When does he pick them up?”

  “I don’t know,” Ella said. “This is our first week. Soon, I think.”

  “It would be like him to be late.”

  Ella went over to where Joe and Ronda’s father, Jesse, was surveying the stove. The older man kept eyeing the size of the stove in comparison to the basement door.

  “Ach, good afternoon,” he said with a smile. “Just tryin’ to see how to get this thing down there.”

  He was a big, muscular man who was obviously used to hard farm work. Still, this would be quite some task.

  “It took four people to load it,” Ronda said. “Don’t you think you’d better wait for help?”

  “Wait?” Jesse said, rolling the words out in a roar of laughter. “Not with me and Joe here. Why would we need more men?”

  “I think it’ll help if we take these fire bricks out,” Joe said, bringing his head back out from behind the stove. “All I need is a screwdriver, and the job’s as good as done.”

  “You have one?” Ronda asked Ella.

  “Nee,” Ella said.

  “There’s one in my toolbox, which is still in the buggy. Ronda knows where it is.”

  Ronda ran quickly toward the buggy, retrieved the screwdriver, and handed it to Joe. After some tinkering with it out of sight, Joe finally hollered in triumphant, “Finally got it!” He handed the gray fire bricks to Jesse who placed them carefully on the wagon. When the last one was out, they heaved together. Their faces quickly reddened, but they managed with some struggling to navigate the steps. Ella ran ahead and held the basement door open as they staggered in.

  “Put it down. Rest a little,” she said.

  Jesse roared and heaved harder than before, and Joe followed along with him, making it over to the chimney.

  “There! We did it!” Jesse said, leaning against the stove and gasping for air. “A little rough on an old man, but we made it.”

  Ella grabbed a rag and began to scrub the stove top. The dust rose thickly. She coughed and then laughed. Dust could also explain the tears in her eyes.

  Joe disappeared up the basement steps and returned with different lengths of stove pipe. He laid them out on the basement floor. Picking out one piece, he began to connect the end of the stove to the chimney.

  “You can do that later,” Jesse said. “Let’s get this furniture unloaded so I can get back for chores.”

  “No problem,” Joe said, getting up off his knees. “I think I have everything I need.”

  “This is so nice of both of you,” Ella said, following them upstairs. “This stove is exactly what I need.”

  “You’re the one who has helped Joe and Ronda,” Jesse said. “This is the least we could do, and you just keep the stove until you don’t need it anymore.”

  “But I can’t keep it that long,” Ella protested. “I don’t know how long that will be.”

  “Might the young bishop have something to say about that?” Jesse said with a mischievous glint in his eye.

  “Oh?” Ella said, feeling the blood rush to her face. “Him?”

  “We were glad to hear the news,” Jesse said, smiling broadly. “The young bishop has needed a wife now for some time. Is it not the will of Da Hah that a man find his life’s companion? He couldn’t have done any better.”

  What am I to say? Her face turned bright red, and a cry of agony rose from her heart. Surely this is a nightmare from which I will soon awake. Can Jesse read my face? What does it say about my feelings for the bishop?

  Ella dared to look at him only to find he was turned toward the wagon, readying himself to move the furniture.

  Joe lifted a table from the top of the wagon and lowered it to the two women and Jesse on the ground. Then Joe jumped down to help carry it into the house. At the front door, Jesse went first, holding the table sideways, while Joe maneuvered the legs through.

  “Don’t scratch the door,” Jesse said.

  “I’m more concerned about the table,” Ella said, trying to help.

  “You just hold the door open all the way, and we’ll get through.”

  Ella held the door and her breath as they slowly went inside.

  “That was awesome,” Ronda said, once they were inside. “You two sure know how to move furniture.”

  “She’s just tryin’ to butter you up,” Jesse said, laughing. “Just be warned, now, son.”

  Joe grinned and glanced at Ronda.

  It almost looked like the man grew a few inches taller. Something about the way Joe and Ronda looked at each other brought a brief pang to Ella’s heart. But it quickly passed—more quickly than it would have only a month ago, she realized.

  Jesse paused at the front door and then came back to give Ronda a hug. “I have to go now. Both of you take care,” he said, giving Joe a stern look. “Take care of that wife of yours—real gut care.”

  “I will,” Joe said. His voice was rich with emotion as he added, “She’s well worth it.”

  Jesse rattled out of the driveway, hollering at the horses to hurry. Ronda made Ella sit on the couch while she raced around getting supper ready. “You and the girls will eat with us,” she said, “especially since Preacher Stutzman hasn’t come yet.”

  “We can eat our supper just as well in the basement. I can prepare something. After all, it’s your first night in your new house.”

  “No, we won’t hear of it,” Ronda said. “Now stay on the couch.”

  “I guess it would be nice,” Ella said, leaning back on the couch and accepting the unexpected rest.

  “It’ll be a casserole Mamm sent along,” Ronda said, “but it’s a really gut casserole. And she sen
t along fresh bread and jam.”

  Ella got up from the couch and said, “You can, at least, let me set the table.”

  Ronda waved her arm in the direction of the cupboards. “Help yourself, and then we can eat.”

  “Come, girls,” Ella said once the table was set. Mary and Sarah climbed up onto the bench, and Ella held baby Barbara. Joe led out in prayer with a voice that was deep and steady. What a joy it was to have a male voice in the house who could lead in an audible address to the Almighty. Somehow it made the house truly a home.

  After prayer, they ate their meal and listened to the girls chatter lightly. Ronda and Ella washed dishes while Joe sat in the living room. Neither Mary nor Sarah asked to help. When they were finished, Preacher Stutzman still hadn’t come.

  “I guess I’ll take them downstairs,” Ella said.

  “What a man,” Ronda whispered, and they exchanged looks.

  How such a man could have three darling girls, really is a wonder. She took Sarah’s hand, held the baby in the other arm, and encouraged Mary to hold the handrail again. Together all three moved down the basement steps.

  “Be careful,” she said in Mary’s direction.

  “I can do it,” Mary said, protesting. She jumped off the last step and landed with perfect timing. Her face was a picture of delight.

  Thirty-three

  Preacher Stutzman drove his buggy hurriedly toward Chapman Road. He was late, but he could rationalize it by the fact that the chores had gone long. One cow was down with mastitis, and another had a lesion on her foot. The walk down to the phone booth was necessary, as well as the call placed to the veterinarian. Since he couldn’t come out till the morning, Preacher Stutzman wrapped the cow’s leg with salve. The mastitis would have to wait until the morning. He simply dumped her milk into the gutter.

  He slapped the reins, hurrying the horse on. Perhaps I should have left earlier. Might Ella feel taken advantage of? What if she already has the girls in bed, gave up on me, and figured I hadn’t meant what I said? Lois never questioned me. She trusted me completely, whether I was late or on time. Ella might be different, though. Why do her feelings on the subject even bother me? Why should I care what she thinks? Ivan shifted on the buggy seat and slapped the reins again.