“Last Tuesday?”
Caleb looked up now, directly into her eyes.
“Ya. Last Tuesday. As I was driving to your house, I was praying. Maybe because while everyone is very friendly…” he waved a hand to encompass the group of people milling about, “I haven’t made close freinden other than Aaron and David, and they are busy with their families. Whatever the reason, I clearly remember my prayer.”
“What—”
“I prayed for a freind. That was it. I told Gotte I needed a freind, and He led me to you, in the garden, with tears in your eyes and a burden on your heart. Maybe, Julia, maybe friendship isn’t a bad place for a marriage to begin.”
Squeezing her hand once again, he turned and walked away to his buggy.
Julia didn’t mention the conversation to her mother or anyone else. She ate a little cold ham, helped to put up what was left of the food, and stayed close to Ada for the remainder of their time there. The ride home was pleasant in the fall afternoon, but Ada began to shiver next to her on the buggy seat, so Julia called out to her mare and pulled up on the reins. Missy slowed immediately. Once Julia had stopped the buggy, she hopped out to retrieve a blanket from underneath the backseat. It hadn’t been cold enough to need one since winter, but Ada plainly could use one now.
“Danki.”
“Gem gschehne.” Julia positioned the blanket until it fit snugly around her, and the image flashed through her mind of Anna, David’s wife, tucking a quilt around her baby. In so many ways, on so many occasions, Ada was now like a child.
They were silent except for that brief exchange as they continued their journey home. The quiet was peaceful and comforting and allowed Julia to comb through Caleb’s words again.
When she’d helped her mother up the stairs, changed her clothes, settled her into her bed, and fed her some soup, she thought to darken the room in the hopes Ada would go to sleep early. The day had worn her out, and Julia wondered if they should have foregone the church service and had their own Bible study at home instead. In such cases, Bishop Atlee was happy to stop by the next day to pray with them. Julia had long suspected it was also his way of checking to see if the people under his care needed anything else in the way of ministering to.
She reached out to pull down the shade. The sun had set, but there was still light outside the old house’s window, and she wanted her mother to rest. She tugged on the cord of the shade, but Ada touched her arm, causing her to pause with the shade half closed. The light from outdoors gently bathed the room.
“This is the day the Lord has made, Julia.”
“Ya, mamm. It is indeed.”
“And we rejoiced.” Her mamm appeared so frail, so small against the white pillowcase. Something in Julia’s heart threatened to tear.
“We did.”
“I’m glad.”
The words of Psalm 118 weren’t lost on Julia. She’d heard them every Sunday since she was a wee kind.
“I know you are.” She bent and kissed Ada’s cheek—soft, weathered, and worn. “I am too.”
She pulled down the shade and a gentle darkness blanketed the room, though a small amount of light was still visible through the open door from the hall.
“What will you say to Caleb?” Ada’s hand plucked at the quilt that had been covering her bed longer than Julia could remember. “How will you answer him?”
Julia didn’t bother to ask how her mother knew.
“I haven’t decided.”
Ada patted the bed, so Julia sat.
“How would you have me to answer?”
“He’s a gut man, yes?”
“He seems to be.”
“Maybe Gotte has sent him to us in our time of need.”
Julia thought of what Caleb had said, of his prayer asking for a freind. She shrugged and remained silent. She expected Ada to spout a Psalm, maybe 145 or 139. They were both favorites. Instead, a smile tugged at her mother’s lips, one Julia could barely make out in the light from the hall. Ada’s next words caused her to laugh in spite of the weariness spreading through her limbs.
“He does need a haircut, though. If my hands weren’t so bent, I’d sit him in a kitchen chair and do it myself.”
“I remember when you would cut dat’s hair.”
“Back when he had some on top, it was a twice-a-month chore.”
Julia stared down the hall, as memories of her dat and then Caleb flooded through her mind and then through her heart. She wasn’t surprised at what her mother said next.
“Go read your Bible, dochder.”
“Yes, mamm.”
She was nearly out the door again when her mother spoke from the bed.
“Read the story of Isaac and Rebekah. Genesis twenty-four.”
An unusual selection, one Julia couldn’t remember her mother ever recommending before. Maybe she’d take her Bible and a cup of tea to the garden. There was enough light yet. Maybe that was exactly what she needed after a day with not enough answers and too many unexpected twists.
Chapter 9
Sharon crept back to her house as the eastern sky lightened to pink. It was too close to dawn. Her father would surely be up and working. Her father would see.
Should she go in the front or risk sneaking in the back? Either way she was bound to be caught and there would be a scene. Though the morning was cool, she wiped at the sweat beading underneath her hair.
Her hair! She’d forgotten all about her kapp.
Ducking back behind the hot water shed, she hastily braided her hair and pinned it back into a bun before covering the chestnut mass with her kapp. James loved her hair. He’d told her so again last night…or was it this morning? Warmth heated her cheeks as her mind flipped through the memories. The evening had been worth it, even if she did wind up in trouble.
And she’d do it again. There was no doubt in her mind she would do it again.
Going to Indianapolis, eating in a real restaurant, seeing a movie, and driving in the old truck with her hair down and her hand out the window—for the first time in her life she had felt careless and free.
She wanted to feel that way every day.
She did not want to feel like a twelve-year-old sneaking home after having skipped school.
Glancing left and then right, she ran toward the front steps.
Her mamm would be in the kitchen making breakfast, and the boys would be up readying for school. Better to enter from the front, and maybe she could sneak up the stairs and into her room. She crept through the front door, which was never locked. The smell of coffee from the kitchen almost persuaded her to change her plans. Coffee would be good, but her mother would notice she was wearing the same clothes she’d worn to last night’s singing.
Sunday clothes on a Monday?
Nein.
She needed to go upstairs and change. Besides, the Englisch clothes she’d worn to the movies were still stuffed in her bag. Best to go to her bedroom first, the room she shared with her baby sister, Ruthie.
She almost made it.
But she stopped to look out the window that was positioned halfway up the stairs. Her brother Jonas was walking from the barn to the field. He looked so happy, almost as if he were whistling. At six thirty in the morning? What could he possibly be so happy about? Why was he content within their community and faith when she wasn’t?
Shaking her head, she stepped back to continue up the stairs, and that was when she forgot to avoid the middle of the step. Nearly all of them creaked.
Her mother had been walking from the kitchen toward the front door to throw out some water on the flower bed. When she heard the squeak, she detoured around to the stairs, thinking it was one of the boys, but instead she saw Sharon.
Their eyes met, and Sharon was certain that her mother knew. What Marion couldn’t tell from Sharon’s disheveled appearance, she would guess.
The question was, how much would she share with Sharon’s father?
Marion didn’t bring up the matter until they wer
e hanging the second load of laundry. The breakfast dishes had already been done, the boys were off to school, and Ruthie was playing in the leaves at their feet. Sharon’s little sister was nearly four, and if there was one thing she’d miss when she left home, it was the little tyke with curly hair who looked at her as if she were perfect.
“What you did was wrong, Sharon.”
“Which part?”
“All of it.” Marion held up one end of the sheet while Sharon walked the other end down the line and pinned it.
Laundry for two adults and seven children was an enormous task. One line alone was completely filled with Ruthie’s clothes. Sharon’s little sister was adept at making a mess. Two sets of dresses and aprons a day was not unusual for her. They would be lucky to be finished with the laundry by the time the boys returned from school.
It was one of the reasons her parents had not pressured Sharon to find a job. Her mother could use all of the help her older daughter provided. At seventeen, no one was in a hurry to see her leave, though there had been several discussions about settling down and marrying when the right man came along. Sharon’s mind drifted to James, and she had to ask her mother to repeat what she’d just said.
“You told us you were going to the singing.”
“We did.”
Her mother wagged a finger at her, a clothespin in one hand and the other hand planted on an ample hip. When had her mother gained so much weight? When Sharon was young, she’d been thin and beautiful. She still was beautiful, but—
“We’re only having this conversation alone if you speak truthfully. I still plan on speaking with your dat, but things might…” She took the clothespin and attached it to a pillowcase. “Things might go better if you aren’t in the room at the time. I’ll speak to him tonight after dinner, and I’ll bake his favorite dessert too. Soften him up some.”
“Oh, mamm. What difference does it make? He’s going to blow the hat off the top of his head either way.”
Marion peered at her from between two of Ruthie’s dresses. “Why did you do it, Sharon? Why do you keep testing him so?”
Sharon didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she continued hanging the laundry as she mulled over her mother’s question. When the last piece of bedding was hung, she plopped down on the ground. Ruthie immediately crawled into her lap. Somehow it was easier to speak the things of her heart while holding her baby sister.
“Have you always wanted…” Her hand came out to encompass the laundry, the fields, the barn, and even the house. “This?”
Marion swiped at her hair, pushing it back into her kapp. She moved over and sat down on the ground with a grunt that made them all laugh.
“I suppose I did. When I was your age, I thought your father was the best thing I had ever seen. He’d speak to me, and my heart would jump like when thunder claps right next to you. I knew he was all I needed to be happy. More than that, I knew that once I was married to him, I would be living the life I was supposed to live.”
“And do you still feel that way?”
Marion sighed and looked out over their farm. “I hear the judgment in your voice, Sharon. My life isn’t perfect, but it’s not the worst, either. Your dat is a gut man, and I’m grateful to Gotte for him, for all of my life and all of my kinner.”
Sharon didn’t answer. She didn’t know what to say, and she was embarrassed by her mother’s honesty.
Finally, she pulled at a blade of grass and tickled Ruthie with it. “He made your heart jump like when the thunder claps, huh?”
“Ya. Still does some days. Does James make you feel this way?”
“Sometimes.”
“Do you think he’s the one Gotte has chosen for you?”
“I don’t know, mamm.” Sharon focused on Ruthie, who was busy crushing red, yellow, and brown leaves. She’d crumble two fists full, and then she’d sprinkle the pieces over the both of them. “I don’t know if I even believe in that.”
Marion sighed, put her hands on the ground, and attempted to push herself up.
“Let me help.” Sharon moved Ruthie off of her lap, popped up, and grabbed her mother’s hands. She managed to pull Marion into a standing position but nearly fell into the clothesline when her mother let go suddenly.
“You did that on purpose.” She was laughing as she caught herself.
“A young man can cause your heart to race, as yours did when you thought you were going to fall.” She stepped forward and touched Sharon’s face. “In life though, falling hurts. I want what is best for you and so does your dat.”
Sharon shook her head. James wasn’t like that. He’d never hurt her.
“Now tell me the rest. I want to be able to explain it truthfully to your father.”
So she did. She told about how they had gone to the singing and then left early. She explained about the ride into the city in James’s old truck with the other car of Amish kids following. How together they had gone to the late night movie, and how it had been an animated show but with a story line directed toward teens.
“I never knew they could do such things with a computer, mamm.”
Her mother nodded and motioned for her to continue.
As they walked toward the house, Ruthie tugged on Sharon’s hand and demanded, “Carry me, Sharon! On your back!”
So she squatted down as Ruthie moved behind her and wrapped her arms around her neck. Soon she would be too heavy for piggyback rides. Soon she would be off to school instead of playing as they finished the laundry.
Standing in the hot little washing room, she told the rest—about the all-night diner they had found, how different the food was, the ride home, and even the kiss at the end of their lane.
She left out two things, though. She didn’t mention the Englisch clothes—blue jeans and a purple T-shirt top with lace around the hem, still hidden in her room, and she didn’t admit how much she looked forward to doing it again. Something in the pained expression that covered her mother’s face told her it would be best to stop short of those confessions.
“I’ll speak to your dat this evening, Sharon. Perhaps you should go and spend the night with your grossmammi. Give him a day to cool off.”
After the noonday meal she packed an overnight bag, and her brother Jonas drove her down the road to her grandparents’ farm.
Banished from her own home.
It was humiliating. She didn’t even have her phone to call James and let him know where she was.
How could her life get any worse?
Chapter 10
It wasn’t Julia’s first time to walk into the grocery store in Cashton. She tied Missy to the post in the parking lot, straightened her apron and her kapp, and tried to calm her heart, which felt as if it were going to thump right out of her chest.
Why was she so nervous?
She just wanted to ask Caleb a few questions. There was nothing to be afraid of. Her mind understood that, but her body continued to overreact. She had to wipe her hands on her dress, they were sweating so. Pushing her way through the front doors, she was relieved to see that very few customers had arrived before her.
“Can I help you?” A young Englisch girl with short blond hair and bright blue fingernail polish stood at the front register.
“Ya. I’m looking for Caleb Zook.”
“Oh. Sure. He’s loading up at the back dock. I saw him when I clocked in. Let me call him for you.”
The girl picked up a telephone and spoke into it. To Julia’s horror, when she did, her voice came out over speakers on the wall loud enough for all to hear. “Caleb Zook to the front register. Caleb to the front register, please.”
Hanging up the phone, she turned back and smiled. “I’m sure he’ll be here in a second.”
“Danki,” Julia whispered, wondering if she could flee before Caleb made it to the front.
The girl’s voice had been louder than an auctioneer! Why not take an ad out in the local paper? What had she been thinking of when she drove here?
&n
bsp; She had been thinking she could quietly pull him aside and ask the questions that had been tumbling around in her mind since Sunday.
“Julia? Is everything all right?” Caleb had walked through the double doors at the far side of the room.
“Ya. Everything is fine.” Julia glanced from the girl at the register, to the customer she was helping, and back to Caleb.
“It’s gut to see you…” Caleb stopped and studied her a moment. “Why don’t we step outside?”
“Is it okay? You’re supposed to be working.”
“I have a fifteen-minute break coming. I’ve been here since six loading.” He pulled the front door open and waited for her to walk out first. When she did, he motioned to a bench positioned near the plate glass window of the store, but she shook her head no.
It was all too public. She shouldn’t have come to his place of work, but she hadn’t known what else to do.
“Did you drive Missy here?”
“Ya.”
“Let’s go see how she’s doing.”
They walked around the corner to the parking area. Missy was exactly where Julia had left her. Of course she was—she’d been gone less than ten minutes. Caleb reached into his pocket and brought out a handful of raisins.
“I remember when you accused me of spoiling your horse, and look at you. You’re carrying raisins in your pocket.”
“You never know when they’ll come in handy, and my own gelding was spoiled long before you fed him.” He smiled as he offered the treat to the mare with one hand and patted her with the other.
“Is this better?” he asked, lowering his voice. “You seemed to want somewhere more private.”
“Ya. I didn’t know the girl was going to shout your name out so loud when she said she’d call you.”
Caleb’s smile immediately put her at ease. “That startled me the first few times as well. If you work at the store long enough, you grow used to their speaker system.”
“I don’t think I could.”
A Wedding for Julia Page 6