Unbreakable

by Nancy Mehl

  He took a step toward the door, but before he could leave, Beau trotted over to him and leaned against his legs, effectively blocking his path. Ebbie was obviously glad to see his little canine friend and knelt down next to the dog. After scratching him behind the ears, Beau promptly dropped to the floor and rolled over on his back. Ebbie laughed and began rubbing the dog’s stomach. Beau’s tongue lolled out the side of his mouth, making him look comical. In spite of my distress with the situation, I had to giggle. I leaned down and stroked Beau’s stomach too. My hand accidentally touched Ebbie’s, and he pulled it away as if I’d just burned him.

  “Ebbie,” I said, “when you broke up with me, you said you would always be my friend. But I don’t feel like we’re friends at all. You won’t speak to me, and whenever I see you, you ignore me.”

  He took off his hat and ran his hand through his hair. “I meant it when I said it, Hope. But it’s much harder than I thought it would be.” He frowned at me. “I’m sorry. I’ll try harder. That is, if you’re still interested in being my friend.”

  I nodded. “I’d really like that.”

  “All right. And thanks, Hope, for charging in to save me even though I didn’t really need you to.”

  I sighed. “Pastor Mendenhall must think I’m insane.”

  He chuckled. “Actually, he thought it was pretty brave. He thinks very highly of you. You have nothing to worry about.”

  “Thank you for saying that.”

  “You’re welcome.” Ebbie put his hat back on. “I’d better go. My parents will be wondering where I am.”

  “I understand.”

  He leaned down, petted Beau once more, and then left. I walked over to the window and watched him walk away. Beau came up and sat down next to me, and I looked down at him. “Well, at least I’ve still got you, Beau. Maybe you and I should just stick together. You’re easier to understand.”

  I stood by the window until I couldn’t see Ebbie anymore. A feeling of sadness washed over me as I thought about him. He’d always been there for me. Always stood by me, no matter what. Maybe he didn’t make my heart race the way it did around Jonathon, but no one had ever understood me the way Ebbie had. Would it ever be the same? Could we really be friends? I wasn’t so sure.

  Beau licked my hand as if to comfort me. I reached down and stroked his head. After a while, I went back to my wedding quilt and was still working when Papa came by to pick us up and take us home. We were just climbing into our buggy when we saw an old truck barreling down the street. It stopped next to us, dust from the dirt road swirling up in the air. Papa jumped down and grabbed Daisy’s halter. The door to the truck flung open, and Levi, Noah’s brother, jumped out.

  “We need help,” he yelled. “Noah and Lizzie’s house is on fire!”

  CHAPTER / 12

  After telling me to stay in town, Papa climbed into Levi’s truck and they took off. I stood in the street, trying to calm Daisy. Beau, who obviously sensed something was wrong, stood next to me and whined. I told him to get into the buggy, and we rode to the church. A big crowd was gathered there, mostly made up of women and children. I tied Daisy to a nearby hitching post and ran toward the assembled group. The food was still on the tables, but Lizzie was nowhere to be seen. I saw Belle talking to Callie and hurried toward them, Beau right on my heels.

  “What’s going on?” I asked when I got there. I grabbed Belle’s arm. “Levi said Lizzie and Noah’s house is on fire.”

  Callie nodded, her expression grim. “Someone set it on fire while we were all here for the funeral. After the service, Noah wanted to get Ebbie’s advice about some of the work being done on the house, so they decided to run over there. Noah said they saw the smoke from the road even before they could see the house.”

  “How bad is it?” I asked, afraid that Lizzie’s dream house was gone.

  “We don’t know,” Belle said. “They just rode back here and asked for help. Aaron called the fire department from his store. All the men left to see if they could put out the fire.”

  As soon as the words left her mouth, we could hear sirens in the distance.

  “How does Noah know the fire wasn’t caused by some kind of accident?” I asked. “Not every fire is arson.”

  “I . . . I don’t know,” she said slowly. “But there’s no electricity there. Nothing he thinks that could have ignited flames without help.”

  “Oh, Hope, after what’s happened, it was only a matter of time,” Belle said, shaking her head. “It would be obvious to anyone that our people were working on that house—just by the way we dress. They’d know the house belonged to Mennonites.”

  Belle’s reasoning seemed sound, but I just couldn’t jump to that conclusion yet. Knowing that Lizzie and Noah’s house was out on the main road, I’d wondered how safe it would be. But all the other buildings that had burned were churches. Not private homes. It seemed these men hated everything and everyone who had a relationship with God.

  Lizzie had obviously gone to the house with Noah. I asked about Charity. Callie told me Leah had taken her and some of the other children over to the school for a while.

  No one seemed to have any idea what the damage was. I thought about taking Daisy down the road so I could see what was going on, but Bethany Mendenhall, the pastor’s wife, circulated through the crowd, telling us that Noah had asked everyone to stay off the road and away from the house. There was nothing for the rest of us to do but to clean up from the dinner and wait. As I worked I prayed silently that the men fighting the fire would be safe and that Lizzie’s house would be spared from too much damage.

  We’d been waiting almost an hour when Harold Eberly’s truck came down the road. When it finally reached the church, several of us ran over to see what we could find out. Harold parked and got out. I was frightened by his demeanor.

  “Harold, what’s happening?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “The fire’s out, and the damage isn’t as bad as it could have been. With a little work, Noah can get it fixed. The house is still structurally sound.”

  “That’s good news,” Callie said with a smile.

  “Where is everyone?” Belle asked. “Are they on their way back?”

  He nodded. “Soon.”

  Harold didn’t look relieved by the news he’d brought us. “Harold, is everyone all right?” I asked. “Was anyone hurt?”

  He paused for a moment and then took a deep breath. “Someone got hurt real bad. Burned. Ambulance took him to the hospital. We’re all prayin’ he’s gonna make it.”

  Papa was there, as were Noah, Jonathon, and Ebbie. My voice shook with fear as I asked, “Who was it, Harold?”

  “Didn’t see him myself,” he said, “but I heard someone say it was Ebbie. Ebbie Miller.”

  I felt as if all the blood drained from my body. All I could do was stare at Harold. Callie took my arm.

  “I’m sure he’ll be fine, Hope. God will take care of him. We’ll pray—”

  I wrenched my arm away from her and ran to my buggy. My fingers shook as I untied Daisy. I quickly climbed inside, and Beau jumped in next to me.

  “Get down, Beau,” I said firmly. “You stay here.”

  Usually a very obedient dog, he stayed put and refused to look at me. I told him once again to get out, but he continued to ignore me.

  “Fine. Have it your way.”

  I urged Daisy forward, snapping the reins to let her know I wanted her to run, not something we did very often. I could hear the cries of people behind me, calling out to me not to go. I turned a deaf ear to their pleas.

  As we raced down the road, all I could think about was how much I cared for Ebbie. I couldn’t lose him. Not now. Not after I’d caused him so much pain. I knew tears were running down my cheeks, but I didn’t care. Let everyone see how important he was to me. It just didn’t matter anymore. I was halfway to Noah’s when a truck passed me. I heard someone call my name, but I kept going. The truck turned around and began to follow me. Someone was yelling
at me to stop, but I couldn’t. I had to find out if Ebbie was all right. Finally the truck pulled past me and stopped in front of the buggy. Aaron Metcalf got out. I pulled back on Daisy’s reins because I had no other choice.

  “Hope, where are you going?” he asked, frowning. “The fire’s out. Everyone’s headed back to town.”

  I tried to speak but could only sob. He came up next to the buggy. “Goodness gracious, Hope, what’s wrong?”

  At first I couldn’t get any words out. I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself. “Eb-Ebbie,” I finally choked out. “I-I heard he was hurt. How bad is it?”

  Aaron’s mouth dropped open. “Ebbie? Ebbie Miller?”

  “Harold said he was badly burned. That he’d been taken to the hospital.”

  I felt someone touch my shoulder and swung around. Ebbie stood there, looking at me. I cried out and flung my arms around him. “You’re . . . you’re okay. I . . . I thought you were dying.”

  “Hope, it was Eddie,” Aaron said gently. “Eddie Stutzman. And he’s okay. Just slightly burned. He was taken to the hospital in Washington, but the last we heard, he’s already on his way home.”

  I heard Aaron’s words, but for some reason I couldn’t let go of Ebbie. Somehow he seemed to understand and continued to hold me.

  “Hope, I’m fine,” he whispered into my ear. “Really. Everything’s okay.”

  I finally let him go. When I looked around, I realized that Aaron had gone back to his truck. I could see some buggies and other vehicles coming back from the house. Aaron moved his truck to the side of the road, and Ebbie and I moved out of the way. I wasn’t sure who was driving past us. It could have been Papa or Jonathon, but I didn’t care. I took Ebbie’s hand.

  “If anything had happened to you . . .” I choked up before I could get my words out.

  Ebbie smiled. “Seems like I remember a scene very similar to this when I thought you’d been hurt.”

  I’d forgotten all about Ebbie’s reaction when he’d thought I’d been killed out on the road. I shook my head. “How odd. We were both so upset, yet we’re both fine.”

  He cocked his head to the side and stared at me strangely. “It is odd, isn’t it? Almost seems like a coincidence. Of course, I don’t believe in coincidences.”

  I sighed and tried to calm my trembling body. The fear that had grasped me so tightly was draining away, and I felt like a squeezed-out dishrag. “So you think this means something?” I looked into his face. “And what would that be?”

  He smiled. “I think that’s a question you’ll have to ask yourself, Hope.”

  He gently withdrew his hand from mine and went back to the truck. Aaron pulled around me and drove back toward town. I got into my buggy and turned Daisy around, Ebbie’s words echoing in my mind.

  I found Papa waiting for me when I returned. He got into the buggy and we headed home. He told me that they’d found a homemade bomb outside of Lizzie’s house. Thankfully, whoever threw it hadn’t aimed very well. One side of the structure was scorched, but it was fixable. Eddie had tried to snuff out a section of the fire with a blanket, but it caught fire and burned his arms. Not too bad. Leave it to Harold to embellish the story.

  “I shouldn’t have believed him,” I said to Papa as the buggy bounced along the dirt road to our house. “Why does he always make things bigger than they are?”

  Papa smiled. “Harold has a good heart, he just gets overly excited. Obviously, he misheard and thought someone said Ebbie instead of Eddie.”

  I sighed. “And then I took off with it.”

  He nodded slowly. “Yes, Daughter, I would say you did.”

  Papa informed me after we got home that he and Herman planned to spend all day Tuesday working on the transfer of Avery’s business. Avery got some of his inventory through the mail, but the rest had to be purchased in Junction City. That meant Papa would have to find a way to go to Junction City every couple of months. That wasn’t going to be possible in a buggy. Not only was it too far, but there was no way our buggy could carry all the things Papa would need to pick up.

  “So what does that mean?” I asked him.

  Papa hemmed and hawed for a while, finally telling me that Herman planned to give him Avery’s truck as part of the deal. I found it funny that Papa would have to learn to drive, but he assured me rather huffily that he knew how to drive before he came to Kingdom and it couldn’t have changed all that much.

  As we sat at our kitchen table finishing supper, Papa made a surprising announcement. “Herman is taking me to Junction City to meet Avery’s suppliers. We will be gone for two days.”

  I couldn’t remember the last time Papa had left Kingdom for more than an afternoon. “When do you leave?” I asked.

  He finished off his roll before answering. “Tomorrow. I do not want you out here alone, Hope. I asked Lizzie if you could stay with her. She has happily agreed. She will be by herself as well, since Noah and some of the other men plan to stay out at the house. Noah does not want there to be another fire. Until these men are caught, he plans to remain there.”

  “What about you and Herman, Papa?” I said. “Will you be safe on the road?”

  Papa smiled. “Herman was asked this question by his wife. His answer was that no one in their right mind would take on someone his size. I guess I am to be the beneficiary of his large frame.”

  I laughed. Papa seemed to be in a good mood about his upcoming trip and hadn’t said anything directly about seeing me out on the road with my arms around Ebbie. I was relieved. He would have asked me to explain my reaction. Yes, Ebbie was a dear friend, but the overpowering fear I’d felt when I thought he was injured seemed like something else. Felt like something else. I couldn’t understand it, and I couldn’t define it.

  The next morning we rode into town and met Herman in front of the quilt shop. Papa kissed me on the forehead before he got into Herman’s truck.

  “You will be safe, Hope. I thank God every day that His angels have charge over you.” He held my face in his hands and looked deeply into my eyes. “Remember that God offers us blessing and protection, but we must receive it by faith. By trusting Him. God does not force blessings on us, Hope. Especially blessings of the heart.”

  I nodded, but to be honest I wasn’t sure what he meant. As the truck rumbled out of town, his words came back to me, and I wondered what “blessings of the heart” I was missing. A small voice whispered the answer, but I pushed it away.

  CHAPTER / 13

  Tuesday morning went by slowly with only two ladies stopping by for supplies. Around three o’clock, the front door opened and Charity walked in.

  “Hi, Hope,” she said, shyly. “Is it okay if I’m here?”

  “I was hoping you’d come by,” I said with a smile. “How about a glass of lemonade?”

  She nodded. “It was hot in school today. Lemonade sounds really good.”

  I got the other stool out of the corner and moved it to the front of the counter. Charity promptly climbed up on it, plopping her schoolbag down.

  I went to the back and got the lemonade. Then I put some sugar cookies I’d made over the weekend on a plate and carried them out too. Charity’s face lit up when she saw the cookies. Lizzie tried to limit Charity’s intake of sweets, but I felt she needed a treat today. And to be honest, I did too.

  “Did you hear about the bad men that burned our house?” she asked as I put the plate on the counter.

  “Yes, I did. I’m so glad it’s okay.”

  “Me too. Mama says God kept it safe, just like He keeps us safe.”

  I smiled. “That’s right.”

  Charity picked up her glass and took a big drink. It seemed we were done talking about the fire. I was surprised but relieved to find her so calm.

  “You’re almost finished with school, aren’t you?” I asked. “How’s it going?”

  “Well, I think I’m doing okay in English, but not so good in math.” She frowned at me. “I don’t see why I have to learn all th
at stuff. No one ever asks me to add or subtract anything. I don’t think it’s very important.”

  I laughed. “I use math every day, Charity.”

  She wrinkled her little nose. “How?” The skepticism in her voice was clear.

  I stood up. “Okay, let’s say you want to buy this package of needles for sixty-five cents, and all you have is a dollar. So, you give me the dollar; how much change would I owe you?”

  Charity shook her head. “I don’t know. That’s your job, not mine.”

  I grinned at her. “Okay, let’s turn this around. You told me once that you love the quilt shop and you want to work here with me when you’re old enough. Do you still feel that way?”

  “Yes. So you mean I might have to give someone change?”

  “Of course. It’s part of working in a store.”

  “And that’s math?”

  “Yes, that’s math. And what about measuring things? How many inches are in a foot? If someone wants three-fourths of a yard of fabric, how will you handle that if you don’t know your math?”

  Charity rolled her eyes and sighed deeply. “Okay, okay. I guess I do need math. But it isn’t very easy.”

  I handed her another cookie. “Do you have a math worksheet you need to do tonight?”

  She nodded her head. “Uh-huh.”

  “Is it in your bag?”

  She said yes, although it sounded more like “yeth” due to a mouthful of cookie crumbs.

  “You finish your snack, and we’ll work on it together, okay?”

  She smiled, a look of relief on her face. I was thankful we were only working on second-grade math. I’d had a tougher time with some of my more advanced math classes in school and wasn’t sure I’d be much help with those kinds of problems.

  “Hope, can I ask you a question?” Charity had a very serious expression, and I assumed she was either going to ask about her father or say something else about the fire.

  “Of course you can. What do you want to ask me?”

  “Are you gonna marry Jonathon Wiese?”