by Faye Sonja
Minna didn’t much like the idea of these guests being imposed on her without her having much of a say in it but she kept her silence about it. In any event she would take the job, welcome the opportunity, and if she was to argue with Henry it was just to annoy him, but she was smart enough to know when to count her wins and leave the man alone. She had accomplished what she wanted for the day, and that was that Jackson would now have an upper hand in what was going on.
For now that would have to be more than enough. She went back to her book and stayed buried in it until early afternoon when she headed home to her uncle who had stayed in bed reading all day. She made dinner with an extra pep in her step for the rest of the evening. She had prayed about this and God had answered. The ordnung spoke of simplicity and she loved her Amish life, but that didn’t mean that she had to stay at a disadvantage and watch her brother suffer.
“I hear we have guests tomorrow,” Aknan, her uncle said as they ate that evening. He reminded her so much of her father who had died.
“Yes,” she said with an excited smile. “Maybe a nice Mennonite girl will be among them for my brother.” She was actually hoping so, because if she had to choose a girl for him, she saw none in the community befitting of her baby brother.
* * *
It was the cool breeze that he was not used to which was chilling his skin that woke John. He felt like he had been immersed in a bucket of ice cold water, but when he opened his eyes and looked out the window of the train, he saw nothing but trees and green. It was a welcomed visual difference to the barren landscape he had been used to.
“Clara look!” he said to the girl who was buried in a book by his side.
She smiled at him. “I see it my love.”
His brain was stuck on the my love she had never before called him and she smiled at him when he realized the depth of her words. It was a smile his heart returned as his toes curled in his boots.
“There is something I want to tell you,” he whispered to her, turning his eyes back to the window and taking a deep breath as if to reassure himself of what was to happen.
“Yes?” she questioned him.
Again he hesitated, but he had started that ball rolling and there was to be no getting away from it. “No matter what happens when we get to Bunker Hill, I want you to know that I want us to take a look at this marriage proposal very seriously. I have loved you for a while and I would love for us to explore what lie ahead.”
He watched her blush then look away. The novice he was in that department had no idea what that reaction meant and he had a feeling that maybe asking her was not to be his first line of defense. But she saved him the need to.
“What took you so long to ask?” she chided.
He chuckled as she slipped her hand into his and rested a head on his shoulder. They had a lot more growing to do, but they had done a lot of growing up together in the hardship over the last couple months so he was sure they would find their rhythm. This was one thing he was certain of as he glanced at her parent’s heads a couple rows up. Whatever this adventure was to bring he didn’t want to celebrate or experience it with anyone but her.
“You could have asked me to court you,” he joked, knowing full well that was not their custom.
She chuckled and rested her head on his shoulder where he promptly placed a kiss atop her bonnet. “I would have had you taken any longer to get around to it.”
There was a kind of rightness to this feeling he had. He had left the old behind for something new and he had found it. He had left heartache and rejection at home to travel with the woman his mother was right about, he had loved her for as long as he’d known her. Now he was more than looking forward to what the future would hold for them.
Hours later they got off the train in the nauseating busy terminal. There was another man dressed in britches with the top hat of an Amish but no beard standing against a column holding a card with his father’s name on it.
“Is he Amish?” Clara asked at his side. It was a good question, and one he could not answer.
“Yes, he is.” His mother said standing beside him. “The Amish here do things a bit differently but this man is part of the group and it is the same one Henry manages.”
John was confused, but his manners told him not to ask more questions for in time he would learn what he needed to.
“Good day!” the man spoke to them in Old German, a shared language he was happy they knew. “Welcome to Ohio.”
The chirpy look on the man’s face as he guided the group outside was refreshing and John was humbled by the reception, but when the man directed them to the large buggy waiting outside, where he signaled for his parent’s to board and directed Sara to hop up in the open back, John’s questions again surfaced.
He refrained from asking any questions however, and just did as he was told. Things were definitely different around here. His eye caught the sweet smile Clara gave the younger man who had introduced himself as Jackson, and he had no issue with that. But when he saw the lingering look of appreciation Jackson gave her, he moved a bit closer and took her hand in his. He had never before felt the emotion that was now running through his veins. He had never before felt anything of the sort, but he knew it well for the ordnung taught of it- jealousy.
“Are you okay?” Clara asked him looking at him worriedly and he realized he had been gripping her hand harder than he had intended to.
“Yes,” he smiled at her and kissed her cheek. He did not miss the look of apprehension that crossed Jackson’s face. There was something about this young man that he really found tentative and though he couldn’t quite figure it out he knew he didn’t like the feeling.
“Tell us about where we are going?” Clara asked eagerly as the buggy pulled away.
Jackson’s pleased smile at being asked to carry out such a service did not sooth John in the slightest.
“You will love it there,” Jackson began. “Likely you will be put to work in the orchards and the community barn with the other women and John here will be given work in the fields or maybe tending to the horses for now, at least until you both are used to the place.”
“And your fields here thrive?” John asked, forgetting his discomfort for a second.
“Yes!” Jackson responded with flair. “Look around you. The land here is fertile. All you can see is miles and miles of prosperous green. Being a farmer here you will definitely do well.”
“And where will we stay?” Clara asked. It was a womanly concern and there was much reason for it. John hadn’t thought of that until now.
“In my sister’s house. Both her and my uncle have the space to accommodate you all.”
John was happy he would not be around, because he really didn’t like the way Jackson eyed Clara. He didn’t like it one bit. “And you, what do you do?” he asked.
“I work with Henry. The one who runs the community and makes sure all is well.”
“Do you not have elders here?” Clara asked again and he would have asked the same thing had she not beaten him to it.
“We have elders, but Henry keeps the peace and deals with the monetary affairs of the English world.
John was even more confused. Had they left their peaceful valley for a place where there was anything but peace? “Peace?” he asked.
Jackson laughed at his confused look. “You will find John, that things around here are a little different than what you are used to. We are a quiet community, but every now and then there is need for some discipline.”
John thought on those words as they drove through the streets faster than any horse drawn buggy could have pulled them. He took in the buildings and concrete bridges that eventually gave way to more open land space until he was looking at nothing but a wide open green expanse of land. When they passed the first buggy wobbling its way in the same direction they were going he felt at ease once again. There was something familiar! Though he wondered what else could possibly be.
* * *
7<
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Chapter SEVEN
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“ I would never, ever
forget about you … ”
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For two days Minna observed her brother watching Clara, the sweet new addition to their community, and all the while his eyes were on Clara he was oblivious to the glares John gave him. She rolled her eyes so many times at their childish behavior that she was beginning to worry they might get stuck that way.
It was two days since they had arrived and Minna had to admit that Clara would have made a nice bride for her brother, but she liked the group. She liked the way they willingly worked for their stay and the exuberance with which they soaked up the green of the environment she had grown up in since she was a child. She had taken for granted something they had very little of.
She made her way over to John, who had a spirit she liked. He was very vocal and asked the hard questions despite his mother’s urgings that he should remain quiet.
“She is lovely,” she said as she came to stand beside him and followed his eyes. The young man immediately blushed deep red.
“I hope she becomes my wife someday.”
Minna smiled. “Unless my brother beats you to it.” His glare followed her loving stare to where Jackson was busy helping Clara lift the linen form the line as the thunder rolled overhead. “He really likes her.”
“Is that your custom here?” John asked her and she was confused for a moment, but not for long as he proceeded to explain his question. “Is no woman off limits in this community? We came in together hands held and soft kisses were given. Is that not a clear sign that she is taken.”
Minna turned to him. “We do many things differently around here, and that includes the fact that a woman has the ability to choose who she wishes to spend her life with. Suitors can make their intentions known, but she is the one that gets the final say.”
“I love her,” John whispered, looking at Clara who was laughing coyly at something Jackson had said.
“I can tell,” Minna almost felt sorry for him. “But right now, it is my brother who is making her smile.”
“He can’t have her,” John responded with fervor. Minna laughed. For all the ways of the Amish again she found something similar, when a man loved he did so with all the fire he had inside his belly and John was fixing for a war for the woman he had grown to love.
“My brother means no harm, but it would do you well not to make and adversary of him. If she is to be yours she will be, but if there is a choice to make then she will choose when she sees fit.”
Minna walked away from him leaning against the fence watching them. He had been in the fields all day making the plot of land next to the house ready for planting. The rainy season was about to begin, but they were not prone to floods. They would get enough rain for things to grow in abundance. She found it a tad bit strategic that Henry had seen it fit to designate the piece of open land beside her house for the new families who had been well received.
When she stepped inside he waited on her with a hot cup of tea. “Playing referee?” he asked with a chuckle as he walked to the door and looked out at the men.
“I like John, but we all know when Jackson sets his eye on the prize he does not let go so easily.” She was seven years his senior and she had watched her baby brother obsess over many things in his life. One thing was clear, when he had his heart set on anything he would get it. She only wished she could get him to obsess just as much over the position Henry had.
“Well, she is a lucky girl. How old is she?” Aknan asked her.
“Twenty-two she says.”
“Ahhh, prime age to be off causing a fuss in the English world or settling in with a family. I prefer John for her.” Aknan said and Minna was actually very surprised at his words.
“And why is this?”
Her uncle turned to her with a stern jawbone. “I know what you have planned for Jackson with the position you have, and you made sure he got on Henry’s posse. I don’t think Clara is ready to be shown the other side of this community and being married to a man like Jackson will do her far less good.”
“Do you think the elder faction is that bad?” she asked him in an honest need to know.
“I think Jackson’s sweet calming personality will have to change, and you need to be very careful, it might be a change even you will not be ready for.”
Minna didn’t think much of what he was saying, because she knew her brother well, but as to his little love affair, she was not going to get involved in that.
* * *
As the rain made its entry John made his way up the stairs into the shower and then in search of Clara who sat by the window in the common room staring out at the rain. The sofa was one he had fallen asleep in both nights they had been here. It was comfortable despite the fact that he had been provided a room of his own in the vast house. This corner was the one he had claimed as his own. He would ensure that the home being built across the way for them had one of such amenities in it for him.
“Counting the rain drops?” he asked her as he disrupted her thoughts.
She turned to him with a smile and took the tiny flower he held out to her. “Thank you. I love it here. It never rained like this back home. If only it had.”
“Would you have gone back?”
Clara sighed and he heard the sadness leaving her. “I don’t think about going back because I know it is not an option, but I worry about the other families suffering the same plight when they should not have to.”
John smiled at her and laid a kiss on her forehead as he stared out at the pattering rain drops that strummed his soul. He too worried for the friends he had left behind, but he would never go back. He would never give this up for the cloistered and unforgiving ways of that community.
“I know you love it here,” Clara said. “And I do too.”
John broached the topic he knew he had to sooner or later. “Have your feelings for me changed?”
“What?” Clara looked at him surprised. “What kind of question is that?”
"I see you the way you look at Jackson," he said to her as soon as she turned her piercing gaze on him.
She looked at him confused. "He is sweet and helpful. That is all. John, do not be selfish."
He frowned at her. "Selfish? How am I selfish for wondering if the woman I love, loves me back?”
She smiled at him. “You love me?”
John had to think for a moment because he really couldn't remember ever having told her those words before, but now was as good a time as any.
“Yes, I do love you Clara, and I want nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with you if you will have me.”
He saw the wheels in her head turning as she tried to compute what she was hearing. “Oh wait! Are you saying that now because you feel a tinge of jealousy?" She asked, and he could see she was finding it hard to believe that the words coming out of his mouth were sincere.
"No!" came his vehement response. “I am saying this because this is how I feel. I have loved you for a long time and I don’t want to lose you to this new world. I want you to know that when you told me your family would be coming along with mine, it made me the happiest man alive. None of this would have been the same without you here. So will you tell me what is going on with you and Jackson.”
She looked at him and cocked her head to the side, somehow he had not thought that professing his love would have been this hard.
"He seems nice," she said flatly. "I like his company and I can foresee us becoming great friends but my heart…" She trailed off.
"What about your heart?" he almost choked himself on his own breath trying hard not to sound too rushed.
"Okay stop!" She swatted his hand with a smile. "Are you going to tell me what has you in such a rut or am I going to have to try and figure it out?"
He sighed. “I am worried you
will decide you want to be with him instead.”
She laughed and shook her head. “You men can be such spoiled little children sometimes. John, I love you and only you. You have had my heart for ages and moving to a new place will not change that.”
“Really?” he asked, exhaling his relief.
She kissed him on the cheek before cupping his face and speaking her love into the windows of his soul. “I have worried for a while that you will think me too young and find someone else more your age to fall in love with. I have worried that you see me as nothing more than a sister and I have worried that my love for you would go unrequited.”
He took another deep breath as her words warmed his soul. He had longed for a love like the one his parents shared. He had longed for that kind of love for a very long time and as he looked into the warm eyes belonging to his love, he felt that beyond a shadow of a doubt that he could have it.
"Jackson is not a problem. He is a friend and one I am sure I will treasure over time, but you are the keeper of my heart and that will never change."
"I sense there is something amiss between his family and Henry." John voiced his own concern before he could stop himself. He had been watching the men around for the days he had been here and he was almost certain Minna had some grand design for Jackson and it involved Henry.
“I know, I think we might have come in the midst of a power struggle, but in any event this is where we are and I want to build my life here with you.”