A second later, she was smothered in a hug that threatened to coat her in batter. “Forgive me, child. That is not what I meant. You know that. You are the light in this old woman’s heart and your dear dochder is the sun and the stars.”
Mary closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
God spared my life. He has forgiven my sins. I am loved and treasured by the new family He gave me. Bad things happened years ago, but those things gave me my beautiful child. She is happy here, as I dreamed she would be. I will not dwell in that dark place again. We are safe and that evil man is locked away. He can never find us here.
Hannah came to join the group, tugging on Mary’s skirt and lifting her arms for a hug, too. Mary set her bowl on the counter and picked up her daughter. “You are the sun and the stars, aren’t you?”
“Ja, I am.” Hannah gave a big nod.
“You are indeed.” Ada kissed Hannah’s cheek and Mary’s cheek in turn. “You had better hurry or you will be late for the quilting bee. I’ll finish that batter. Are you taking Hannah?”
“I am. She enjoys playing with Katie Sutter’s little ones.” Mary glanced at the clock in the corner. It was nearly four. The quilting bee was being held at Katie’s home. They were finishing a quilt as a wedding gift for Katie’s friend Sally Yoder. Sally planned to wed in the fall.
“Who else is coming?”
“Rebecca Troyer, Faith Lapp, Joann Weaver and Sarah Beachy. Betsy Barkman will be there, of course, and I think all her sisters will be, too.”
Betsy Barkman was Mary’s dearest friend. They were both still single and neither of them was in a hurry to marry—something few people in their Amish community of Hope Springs understood. Especially Betsy’s sisters. Lizzie, Clara and Greta had all found husbands. They were impatiently waiting for their youngest sister to do the same. Betsy had been going out with Alvin Stutzman for over a year, but she wasn’t ready to be tied down.
“Sounds like you’ll have a wonderful time. Make sure you bring me all the latest gossip.”
“We don’t gossip.” Mary winked at her grandmother.
“Ja, and a rooster doesn’t crow.”
Shifting her daughter to her hip, Mary crossed the room and gathered their traveling bonnets from beside the door. She stood Hannah on a chair to tie the large black hat over her daughter’s silky blond crown of braids. As she did, she heard the distant rumble of thunder.
Ada leaned toward the kitchen window to peer out. “There’s a storm brewing, from the looks of those clouds. The paper said we should expect strong storms today. You’d better hurry. If it’s bad, stay with the Sutters until it passes.”
“I will.”
“And you will be nice to Delbert when he visits.”
“I’ll be nice to him. Unless he squashes any of our chickens,” Mary said with a cheeky grin.
“Bothersome child. Get before I take a switch to your backside.” Ada shook the spoon at Mary. Speckles of batter went everywhere much to Bella’s delight. The dog quickly licked the floor clean and sat with her hopeful gaze fixed on Ada.
Laughing, Mary scooped up her daughter and headed out the door. Bella tried to follow, but Mary shook her head. “You stay with Mammi. We’ll be back soon.”
Bella gave her a reproachful look, but turned around and headed to her favorite spot beside the stove.
Mary soon had her good-natured mare harnessed and climbed in the buggy with Hannah. She glanced at the rapidly approaching storm clouds. They did look threatening. The sky held an odd greenish cast that usually meant hail. Should she go, or should she stay home? She hated to miss an afternoon of fun with her friends.
She decided to go. She would be traveling ahead of it on her way to the Sutter farm and Tilly was a fast trotter.
Mary wasted no time getting the mare up to speed once they reached the highway at the end of her grandmother’s lane. She glanced back several times in the small rearview mirror on the side of her buggy. The clouds had become an ominous dark shroud, turning the May afternoon sky into twilight. Streaks of lightning were followed by growing rumbles of thunder.
Hannah edged closer to her. “I don’t like storms.”
She slipped an arm around her daughter. “Don’t worry. We’ll be at Katie’s house before the rain catches us.”
It turned out she was wrong. Big raindrops began hitting her windshield a few minutes later. A strong gust of wind shook the buggy and blew dust across the road. The sky grew darker by the minute. Mary urged Tilly to a faster pace. She should have stayed home.
A red car flew past her with the driver laying on the horn. Tilly shied and nearly dragged the buggy into the fence along the side of the road. Mary managed to right her. “Foolish Englischers. Have they no sense? We are over as far as we can get.”
The rumble of thunder became a steady roar behind them. Tilly broke into a run. Startled, Mary tried to pull her back but the mare struggled against the bit.
“Tilly, what’s wrong with you?” She sawed on the reins, trying to slow the animal.
Hannah began screaming. Mary glanced back and her heart stopped. A tornado had dropped from the clouds and was bearing down on them, chewing up everything in its path. Dust and debris flew out from the wide base as the roar grew louder. Mary loosened the reins and gave Tilly her head, but she knew even the former racehorse wouldn’t be able to outrun it. They had to find cover.
The lessons she learned at school came tumbling back into her mind: get underground in a cellar or lie flat in a ditch.
There weren’t any houses nearby. She scanned the fences lining each side of the road. The ditches were shallow to nonexistent. The roar grew louder. Hannah kept screaming.
Dear God, help me save my baby. What do I do?
She saw an intersection up ahead.
Travel away from a tornado at a right angle. Don’t try to outrun it.
Bracing her legs against the dash, she pulled back on the lines, trying to slow Tilly enough to make the corner without overturning. The mare seemed to sense the plan. She slowed and made the turn with the buggy tilting on two wheels. Mary grabbed Hannah and held on to her. Swerving wildly behind the horse, the buggy finally came back onto all four wheels. Before the mare could gather speed again, a man jumped into the road, waving his arms. He grabbed Tilly’s bridle as she plunged past and pulled her to a stop.
Shouting, he pointed toward an abandoned farmhouse that Mary hadn’t seen back in the trees. “There’s a cellar on the south side.”
Mary jumped out of the buggy and pulled Hannah into her arms. The man was already unhitching Tilly, so Mary ran toward the ramshackle structure with boarded-over windows and overgrown trees hugging the walls. The wind threatened to pull her off her feet. The trees and even the grass were straining toward the approaching tornado. Dirt and leaves pelted her face, but fear for Hannah pushed her forward. She reached the old cellar door, but couldn’t lift it against the force of the wind. She was about to lie on the ground on top of Hannah when the man appeared at her side. Together, they were able to lift the door.
Mary glanced back and saw her buggy flying up into the air in slow motion. The sight was so mesmerizing that she froze.
A second later, she was pushed down the steps into darkness.
Chapter Two
Pummeled by debris in the wind, Joshua hustled the woman and her child down the old stone steps in the hope of finding safety below. He had discovered the cellar that afternoon while investigating the derelict property for his father. He hadn’t explored the basement because the crumbling house with its sagging roof and tilted walls didn’t look safe. He couldn’t believe anyone had lived in it until a few months ago. Now its shelter was their only hope.
The wind tore at his clothes and tried to suck him backward. His hat flew off and out of the steep stairwell to disappear in the
roiling darkness overhead. The roar of the funnel was deafening. The cellar door banged shut, narrowly missing his head and then flew open again. A sheet of newspaper settled on the step in front of him and opened gently as if waiting to be read. A second later, the cellar door dropped closed with a heavy thud, plunging him into total darkness.
He stumbled slightly when his feet hit the floor instead of another step. The little girl kept screaming but he barely heard her over the howling storm. It sounded as if he were lying under a train. A loud crash overhead followed by choking dust raining down on them changed the girl’s screaming into a coughing fit. Joshua knew the house had taken a direct hit. It could cave in on them and become their tomb instead of their haven.
He pressed the woman and her child against the rough stone wall and forced them to crouch near the floor as he huddled over the pair, offering what protection he could with his body. It wouldn’t be much if the floors above them gave way. He heard the woman praying, and he joined in asking for God’s protection and mercy. Another crash overhead sent more dust down on them. Choked by the dirt, he couldn’t see, but he felt her hand on his face and realized she was offering the edge of her apron for him to cover his nose and mouth. He clutched it gratefully, amazed that she could think of his comfort when they were all in peril. She wasn’t screaming or crying as many women would. She was bravely facing the worst and praying.
He kept one arm around her and the child. They both trembled with fear. His actions had helped them escape the funnel itself, but the danger was far from over. She had no idea how perilous their cover was, but he did.
He’d put his horse and buggy in the barn after he arrived late yesterday evening. One look at the ramshackle house made him decide to sleep in the backseat of his buggy while his horse, Oscar, occupied a nearby stall. The barn, although old and dirty, was still sound with a good roof and plenty of hay in the loft. His great-uncle had taken better care of his animals than he had of himself.
Joshua hoped Oscar was okay, but he had no way of knowing if the barn had been spared. Right now, he was more worried that the old house over their heads wouldn’t be. Had he brought this woman and her child into a death trap?
* * *
Terrified, Mary held Hannah close and prayed. She couldn’t get the sight of her buggy being lifted into the sky out of her mind. What if they had still been inside? What if her rescuer hadn’t appeared when he did? Was today the day she was to meet God face-to-face? Was she ready?
Please, Father, I beg You to spare us. If this is my time to come home to You, I pray You spare my baby’s life. But if You must take Hannah, take me, too, for I couldn’t bear to be parted from her again.
The roar was so loud and the pressure so intense that Mary wanted to cover her aching ears, but she couldn’t let go of Hannah or the apron she was using to cover their faces. The horrible howling went on and on.
Make it stop, God! Please, make it stop.
In spite of having her face buried in the cloth, thick dust got in her eyes and her nose with every breath. Hannah’s small body trembled against her. Her screams had turned to whimpers as her arms tightened around Mary’s neck. The roar grew so loud that Mary thought she couldn’t take it another moment. Her body shook with the need to run, to escape, to get away.
As soon as the thought formed, the sound lessened and quickly moved on. Was it over? Were they safe?
Thanks be to God.
Mary tried to stand, but the man held her down. “Not yet.”
She could hear the wind shrieking and lashing the trees outside, but the horrible pressure in her ears was gone and the roar was fading. In its place, groaning, cracking and thumps reverberated overhead. A thunderous crash shook the ceiling over them and the old timbers moaned. Hannah clutched Mary’s neck again. Mary glanced up fearfully. She couldn’t see anything for the darkness and the man leaning over her.
He said, “Stay close to the wall. It’s the safest place.”
She knew what he meant. It was the safest place if the floor above them came down. She huddled against the cold stones, pressing herself and Hannah into as small a space as possible, and waited, praying for herself, her child and the stranger trying to protect them. After several long minutes, she knew God had heard her prayers. The old boards above them stayed intact.
“Is the bad thing gone, Mamm?” Hannah loosened her stranglehold on Mary’s neck. Her small voice shook with fear.
Mary stroked her hair and kissed her cheek to soothe her. Somewhere in their mad dash, Hannah had lost her bonnet and her braids hung loose. “Ja, the bad storm is gone, but keep your face covered. The dust is very thick.”
Hannah was only quiet for a moment. “Can we go outside? I don’t like it in here.”
Mary didn’t like it, either. “In a minute, my heart. Now hush.”
“We must let the storm pass first,” the man said. His voice was deep and soothing. Who was he? In her brief glimpse of him, she had noticed his Amish dress and little else beyond the fact that he was a young man without a beard. That meant he was single, but she didn’t recognize him from the area. He was a stranger to her. A Good Samaritan sent by God to aid her in her moment of need. She wished she could see his face.
“Is Tilly okay, Mamm?”
“I don’t know, dear. I hope so.” Mary hadn’t spared a thought for her poor horse.
“Who is Tilly?” he asked.
“Our horse,” Hannah replied without hesitation, surprising Mary.
Hannah rarely spoke to someone she didn’t know. The current situation seemed to have erased her daughter’s fear of strange men, or at least this man. It was an anxiety Mary knew she compounded with her own distrust of strangers. She tried to accept people at face value, as good, the way her faith required her to do, but her dealings with men in the past had left scars on her ability to trust as well as on her wrists. Not everyone who gave aid did so without an ulterior motive.
“I think your horse is safe. I saw her running away across the field. Without the buggy to pull, she may have gotten out of the way.” There was less tension in his voice. Mary began to relax. The worst was over and they were still alive.
“But Tilly will be lost if she runs off.” Hannah’s voice quivered.
“Nee, a goot horse will go home to its own barn,” he assured her. “Is she a goot horse?”
Mary felt Hannah nod vigorously, although she doubted the stranger could see. “She’s a wunderbar horse,” Hannah declared.
“Then she’ll likely be home before you.”
Hannah tipped her head to peer at the man. “Did your horse run off, too?”
“Oscar is in the barn. He should be okay in there.”
Mary heard the worry underneath his words. In a storm like this, nowhere aboveground was safe.
Hannah rested her head on Mary’s shoulder. “Are Mammi Ada and Bella okay?”
“They are in God’s hands, Hannah. He will protect them.” The twister had come up behind them. Mary had no idea if it had touched down before or after it passed over the farm. She prayed for her dear grandmother.
“I want to go home. I want to see Mammi Ada and Bella.”
“Is Bella your sister?” the man asked.
“She’s my wunderbar dog.”
He chuckled. It was a warm, friendly sound. “Have you a wunderbar cat, as well?”
“I don’t. Bella doesn’t like cats. She’s going to be worried about me. We should go home now, Mamm.” Mary hoped they had a house waiting for them.
“We’ll get you home as soon as the storm has moved on,” the young man said as he stepped back.
Mary’s eyes were adjusting to the gloom. She could see he was of medium height with dark hair, but little else. She knew that without his help things could have been much worse. He could have taken shelter without risking his life to h
elp them. She had his bravery and quick action to thank for getting them out of her buggy before it’d become airborne. Just thinking about what that ride would have been like caused a shiver to rattle her teeth.
He gave her an awkward pat on her shoulder. “I think the worst is over.”
She tried not to flinch from his touch. Her common sense said he wasn’t a threat, but trusting didn’t come easily to her. “We are grateful for your assistance. God was merciful to send you when He did.”
He gave a dry bark of laughter. “This time I was in the right place at the right time.”
What could he find funny in this horrible situation?
* * *
Joshua was amazed at how God had placed him exactly where he needed to be today to save this woman and child, and yet six months ago the Lord had put him in a position that sent him to prison for no good reason. Who could fathom the ways of God? Not he.
“I am Mary Kaufman and this is my daughter, Hannah.”
He heard the hesitation in her words and wondered at it. “I’m Joshua Bowman.”
“Thank you again, Joshua. Do you think it is safe to venture out?”
A loud clap of thunder rattled the structure over them. “I think we should wait awhile longer.”
The thunder was followed by the steady ping of hail against some metal object outside and the drone of hard rain. The tornado had passed but the thunderstorm had plenty of steam left.
“I reckon you’re right.” Abruptly, she moved away from him.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be overly familiar.” Close contact between unmarried members of the opposite sex wasn’t permitted in Amish society. Circumstances had forced him to cross that boundary, but it couldn’t continue.
“You were protecting us.” She moved a few more steps away.
She was uncomfortable being alone with him. He couldn’t blame her. She had no idea who he was. How could he put her at ease? Maybe by not hovering over her. He sat down with his back against the old stone wall, refusing to think about the creepy-crawly occupants who were surely in here with them.
Amish Redemption Page 2