She held out a slim brown hand to shake his, and Charlie was struck by a long-lost memory from what seemed like a hundred years ago. He and Madelyn were taking their first evening walk on the beach. They were reveling in a new life together, a life beginning in a strange and beautiful place.
“We heard the boy in the waves,” Spider explained. “He wasn’t out too far, but he’d become disoriented and was paddling the wrong direction. Somehow, he must have then seen our bonfire, and he started to holler for help.”
“Spider went in and hauled him out,” Janice said.
“You did that?” Joshua had been watching Spider, and now he walked over to where they stood. “You went in and saved him?”
“It wasn’t that big of a deal.”
“It was. It is.” Joshua stared up at the sky and then down at the ground. Finally, he held out his hand. “I misjudged you when I shouldn’t have judged you at all. I’m sorry.”
Spider shook and said, “No problem.”
“You two know each other?”
“You could say that. I’ve been trying to teach his brother to surf.”
“And tonight?” Joshua asked.
“No. I don’t do the night surfing… ” He glanced over at Alton and started to say something else, but he seemed to changed his mind. “After we’d brought him in, the boy was cold and scared and didn’t want to tell us his name. We had a feeling that maybe he was in trouble.”
“I suppose he was,” Charlie said. “But now Alice is so happy to see him she’ll probably make him his favorite meal.”
“Can’t hurt to feed and spoil him a little,” Jim said, walking up to them and shaking hands with Spider and Janice. “I don’t think C.J. will be trying another stunt like that for quite a while.”
Charlie tried to remain focused on what Jim and Spider and Janice were saying, but instead his attention followed the four Amish kids—adults, really—who had separated from the group and were walking back toward the FEMA trailer. Joshua and both girls were walking together. Alton maintained a few feet of distance between them, and when one of the girls—Becca, if he could make her out correctly—called to him, Alton only shook his head and waved them on.
Was Alton blaming himself for what had happened?
C.J. was not his responsibility, but Charlie realized that the Amish took their obligation to family and friends seriously. Alton had never struck him as a bad kid, only an immature one. It seemed to Charlie, as he walked with Alice and C.J. and Quitz and Jim back toward their vehicles, that sometimes a dire event could mature a person overnight. Other times the person fled back into their childhood.
Which way would Alton go?
Because they were leaving the next week, Charlie might never know. But he could pray. That was one thing he’d learned over the years. Even during situations where he wouldn’t likely learn the results of a certain thing, he could still pray. He could entrust that young man to God, even as he walked alone down the beach in the darkness of the night. In the same way he had entrusted C.J. to God, he could also leave Alton in His care.
Charlie realized in that moment that faith was not something you had or didn’t have, like brown eyes or curly hair. Faith was something you chose—an outlook on life, a way of dealing with each day’s joys and disasters. He vowed then that before he went to sleep, he would get down on his old creaky knees and thank the Lord for another day, for a ten-year-old boy who was safe in his home, and for his Amish friends—that they might find the path God had chosen for them.
CHAPTER 58
Becca felt as if the next week passed in a blur.
They nearly finished work on the second house.
Alice and the kids were completely settled in, and C.J. was no worse for his mishap at the beach.
Jim invited them all back to work on future projects.
Joshua and Sarah both confessed to missing home at the same time that they hated to leave.
As for Alton, he seemed to have sunk deep into his own thoughts. At one time or another, they had each gone to him and assured him that what had happened wasn’t his fault. But Alton was carrying the burden of C.J.’s disappearance on his shoulders, or perhaps he was carrying the weight of all his poor decisions there.
Becca was worried about him. She’d never had a younger brother, but it seemed as though Alton was just that. It hurt her to see him struggling.
Charlie reminded them to pray, and Joshua assured her that eventually everything would be fine. But even as he said it she saw the doubt in his eyes.
Their mood was subdued as they rode in the van, crossed over the water on the ferry, and then climbed onto the bus that would take them home. Only Nancy seemed the same, a port in the storm for sure and for certain.
She rounded everyone up under her wings, intent on seeing that they were safely on the bus back to Cody’s Creek.
Alton slept most of the way… or pretended to.
Joshua studied a copy of the Budget Nancy had somehow found.
Becca tried to read. She was surprised she hadn’t finished the book Rebecca Byler had given her. When had it ever taken three weeks for her to read a single book? She glanced again at the title, and then she tucked it into her bag. No doubt the story would make for good reading once she was home and back in her old routine.
When they traded buses in Dallas, Alton didn’t even look at the street vendors. He walked straight to the new bus, found a seat, and pulled his ball cap down over his eyes.
“Is he sulking?” she asked.
“He’s polite enough, but I think he’s having trouble sleeping.” Joshua handed her a soda and a hot dog, same as the last time they had stopped in Dallas. “He stayed up most of last night, sitting out on the patio.”
“Still worried about C.J.?” Sarah asked. She’d opted for an ice cream cone and nothing more.
“I’m not sure. I think… I think maybe he’s reassessing a few things. When I try to talk to him, he only shakes his head and walks away. I’m learning that sometime my bruder needs to work things out on his own.” He reached for Becca’s hand as they climbed aboard the bus.
By nightfall they would be home.
She felt incredibly eager to see her parents. She was amazed at how much she had missed them.
Becca waited until the bus had pulled out of the Dallas area, until the traffic was behind them and it seemed that Joshua and Alton were asleep. Then she turned to Sarah.
“I want you to promise me that if you have any trouble at home, anything at all, you will tell me.”
“But what—”
“I don’t know what I could do. I honestly don’t know what anyone can do, but I do know that you aren’t going to endure your situation alone any longer. We’re freinden now. Right?”
Sarah nodded, wound her arm through Becca’s, and stared out the window. It was the closest thing Becca was going to get to a promise, but it was enough. After living together for three weeks, a bond had developed between them now. Becca didn’t know how to solve any of the problems Sarah would face, but she heard Charlie’s voice softly reminding her to pray.
The trip home passed faster than she could have imagined, the miles unwinding until they were once again crossing over into Oklahoma, passing McAlester, and driving through familiar terrain.
When they reached Cody’s Creek, a small group of folks were waiting at the bus stop.
Becca practically flew into her parents’ arms.
She heard them telling her about a new foal and asking if she was ready to build a new addition to her father’s workshop. She heard all these things and smiled at their teasing, but her attention was on her friends.
Alton and Joshua were greeted by their father, who clapped both of them on the back as they walked toward their buggy. Joshua said something to his father, and then hurried back in Becca’s direction.
When he stopped in front of her and her parents, he took off his hat and fidgeted with it in his hands. Then he looked her father in the eye and said,
“I’d like to take Becca to the singing Sunday if that’s all right with you.”
Becca wanted to melt into the ground. She also wanted to throw her arms around Joshua’s neck.
Instead, she stood there, unable to say a word as her father shook Joshua’s hand and assured him that would be fine, provided she felt up to going after their long trip and that she wanted to accompany him to the Sunday evening social.
“Ya. I do.” She couldn’t help smiling as Joshua walked back toward his family.
But as she climbed into her parents’ buggy, it was Sarah that Becca watched. Sarah’s mother seemed to be talking animatedly about something, and several young boys clung to her skirts asking her questions. Her dad wasn’t there, but perhaps he was busy in the fields. Though it was sunset, a farmer’s day often extended into the early evening hours.
Sarah glanced her way once, and Becca waved.
When Sarah waved in return, Becca felt a certainty that her new friend would remain her friend regardless of what their futures held.
CHAPTER 59
Four weeks later
Joshua snagged Becca’s hand as they walked through corn grown waist high in his father’s southern field. The Oklahoma sun was setting slowly and a light breeze helped to dissipate the summer heat.
“I had a letter from Alice today.” Becca stopped to pull a wildflower from between two rows of corn. “C.J. has enrolled in a lifeguard class.”
“Isn’t he a bit young?”
“He turned eleven last week.” Becca twirled the yellow-and-red bloom—an Indian blanket flower—in her fingers. “Alice seems happy about it.”
“I’m sure she is, and I’m glad he’s not afraid of the ocean after his ordeal. That would have been a hard thing, considering they live on an island.”
“He told Alice he wants to understand the ocean.”
Joshua nodded. “He’s a smart one. I wouldn’t be surprised if he chose a profession where he works near or in the ocean.”
“He’s also going to a summer camp on marine conservation.”
“And how is Shelley?”
“Gut. Fewer nightmares about the storm.”
They walked for a few moments without talking, each lost in their thoughts of friends on the Texas coast.
“Oh. I almost forgot.” Becca tucked a stray hair into her kapp. “Charlie has decided to purchase the lot next to Alice and build a house there. He says he’s too old to be living on the beach, but Alice thinks he wants to be near the kids.”
“And close to her. Alice is like the daughter Charlie never had.”
“I wonder if he regrets that.”
“Not having children?” Joshua pulled off his hat and then resettled it on his head. “I suppose he and his wife tried. Charlie seems to be good at accepting the circumstances God gave him.”
“Yeah. I miss him.” Becca laughed. “I never thought I’d say that about an Englischer. I never thought I’d feel so close to someone who is so different from us.”
“I’m not sure Charlie is so different from us. If there’s one thing that I learned on our mission trip, it’s that people are basically the same.” When Becca looked at him quizzically, he pulled her over to the picnic table, the one where Levi had first spoken to him about going on the mission trip. The idea had seemed so ludicrous to him at the time. Why was that?
Joshua shook his head and laced his fingers with Becca’s. “Don’t you agree? That we’re all basically the same?”
“But our lives are so different. Some days it seems as if those weeks at the coast are something from a dream.”
“Ya. South Texas is certainly quite different from Oklahoma.” Joshua stared out over the crops, the sun setting in a riotous display of color, and finally at the beautiful woman sitting next to him. “But people are born and die, they laugh and love, they cry and mourn the same. Whether we’re Amish or Methodist or Presbyterian, we experience the same things. I’m not sure how much denomination or location matters to Gotte.”
“Don’t let some of our elders hear you say that, Joshua Kline. They’ll think you need to attend the new member class again.”
Joshua laughed. “Indeed. Your parents though, they understand.”
“As do yours.”
Silence fell around them like an old jacket worn on a summer night. His life felt so right and so good. All except for his brother, whose future resembled a giant question mark without an answer.
“Has Alton made any decisions?”
“Not that he’s shared with me. He’s quieter now. Changed after what happened with C.J. I think he realizes that the child could have died out there, and though it wouldn’t have technically been his fault, he would have felt as if it was.”
“It could have happened, but it didn’t,” Becca insisted. “He should move on. Before he was too carefree. Now it seems as if he’s carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. I worry about him.”
Joshua marveled that Becca was able to put his own emotions into words. She knew him that well, and she was certainly better at expressing herself. “I worry too, but Levi says to give him time.”
“Daddi has the patience of a saint.”
He stood, pulled Becca to her feet, and allowed himself one fleeting kiss. She tasted like strawberries and sunshine. She tasted like the love of his life.
As they started back toward the house, Becca said, “We began sewing my wedding dress today.”
“Did you now?”
“Only two more weeks and we’ll be wed, Joshua. Everything keeps changing so fast that I can’t seem to keep up. If our lives were written into the pages of a book, I’d say it was impossible to believe. Life can’t change that quickly.”
“And yet it has.”
“Ya.”
“And I, for one, am grateful.”
Instead of answering, Becca walked even closer, until they were shoulder to shoulder, hand in hand. In the fading light, Joshua could see the outline of their house. They had begun framing it. There was still much work to do, but it would be ready when they needed it. If not the day they were married, then soon after.
He didn’t know what winter would bring. Whether they would need to again change the crops. Whether he could support a family as a farmer. He tried not to dwell on such things. Gotte knew what the future held. Joshua suddenly recalled a Scripture Levi had quoted on Sunday, something about God opening the floodgates of heaven and pouring out an abundance of blessings. As they walked toward his parents’ home, toward their future, Joshua had no trouble believing that whatever lay ahead, they could face it together.
EPILOGUE
Seven months later
Watching the January wind blow across the prairie.
Walking from a country road to a small-town bus station.
Riding seven hundred miles south.
Looking for the MDS van and then boarding the ferry.
Enjoying the short trip across the bay.
Charlie could envision each leg of Alton’s trip, and he prayed for the boy as he worked laying sod around his new house. It was a small house and a small yard, but he wanted Shelley and C.J. to have the extra place to play—children needed a yard to enjoy. Because his house was next door to Alice’s, the kids had twice the space.
Quitz lay in the sun watching him and waiting. The old girl had trouble rising to her feet now, but she remained faithful in spite of the fact that her body was wearing out. Charlie told himself it was a natural thing. He and Madelyn had named her Quitz because she was to be the last one, but he had his eye on a medium-sized pup down at the animal shelter. C.J. and Shelley had suffered enough loss. He wanted to prepare them for Quitz’s eventual passing, and a new pup might be just the ticket. Not to mention there was a possibility that it would perk up Quitz. Nothing like being around the young to encourage the old.
The MDS van pulled into his driveway, and Charlie stood and dusted his hands off on his jeans. Alton popped out of the van, wearing a huge grin and his traditional Am
ish clothing. There were pats on the back and exclamations over Charlie’s home, and then Charlie promised they would make it to Jim’s for dinner. It was the beginning of a new mission week. They would be joining with Mennonites from Ohio and Amish from Pennsylvania. Working alongside the Methodists and Baptists, it looked as if they might be able to finish another three houses in the next few weeks.
Alton squatted beside Quitz. He turned a worried gaze to Charlie.
“She’s all right. She just has a little trouble standing.” He moved behind the dog and helped her to her feet. “Once she’s up she can move pretty good, and we’re starting new meds from the vet that should help with the hip dysplasia.”
“Still thinking about the pup?”
“I am. Thought we might go by and see it tomorrow afternoon if you have any energy left after framing a house all day.”
Alton nodded, and Charlie thought he detected a degree of satisfaction in his attitude.
“Your house looks good.”
“It’s pretty much the same floor plan as Rodney and Jalynn’s. I thought single story was a good idea, given my age.”
“MDS built it?”
“They did. I wanted to hire builders, but I couldn’t find any. Workers are in high demand around here. The only construction firms that would even talk to me said it would be eighteen months before they could get to it.”
Alton let out a long whistle. “Another year and a half in a FEMA Urban Disaster Trailer? Did you tell them no thanks?”
“I did. Then I talked to Jim. We came up with a compromise. I paid for supplies and made a large donation to MDS to cover the labor. One of his crews put my house together in no time.”
Alton squinted at the home. “It looks like they did a fine job.”
“Want to walk down the street? I can show you the other sites.”
“Can Quitz make it that far?”
“Sure she can. In fact, walking is good for her.”
Quitz nuzzled his hand and the three set off toward the end of the street.
“The neighborhood is coming together nicely.” Alton glanced back over his shoulder. “I particularly like the attic windows on your place.”
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