Miriam and the Stranger

by Jerry S. Eicher

  The bus slowed for the next town, but Mose was lost in his thoughts and didn’t notice. New voices filled the bus, and a few people departed. Mose saw only vague forms out of his side vision as his mind whirled with thoughts of Miriam.

  “Is this seat taken?” A cheerful woman’s voice interrupted his thoughts.

  “No, it’s open.” Mose didn’t look up but scooted further to his side of the bus.

  “Are you Amish?”

  Mose finally looked up. The young woman was well dressed. A faint whiff of perfume hung in the air. Her beauty was obvious to him. “Yah,” Mose managed.

  “I thought so,” the woman chirped. “You look quite Amish. My name is Cindy.”

  When he was silent, she continued, “Are you sure you don’t mind. I mean… I can sit somewhere else.”

  “No, that’s okay.” Mose forced a smile. “The seat is empty. My name is Mose.”

  The woman stood to toss her large handbag into the overhead compartment. The smell of her perfume became stronger as the bus lurched forward again and Mose hung on.

  “So what brings you to Oklahoma? Or is Oklahoma your home and are you visiting another community?” Cindy was obviously in a talkative mood.

  Mose thought for a moment before he answered. “I was visiting a community in Clarita.”

  “Is your wife along, or are you single?” Cindy glanced over her shoulder to take in the rest of the bus.

  Mose shook his head. “My wife died a while ago.”

  “Oh, I’m so sorry,” Cindy cooed. She reached over to squeeze Mose’s arm. “Was it sudden?”

  “We had some warning,” Mose muttered. “Cancer. Breast cancer.”

  “Oh, that must have been hard.” Cindy’s hand was still on his arm. “You haven’t married again?”

  This was none of the woman’s business, Mose thought, but a man of God must not be rude. And he didn’t want to offend her, but he pulled his arm out from under her fingers before he answered, “I’m waiting on the Lord to provide… in His time.”

  “Oh, that’s so dear.” Cindy didn’t seem offended by him removing his arm. “So how will you know when the Lord has provided? Does the woman make the first move? Is this how second marriages happen among the Amish?”

  Mose almost laughed but managed to keep a straight face. “No, the man still seeks out a suitable mate, which the Lord provides.”

  “And you’re looking then?” Lights seemed to go on in Cindy’s face. “How fascinating. How’s the search going?”

  Mose looked away. This conversation had gone into deep waters, but he didn’t know how to extricate himself. “Well… I’m…” He tried, but nothing presented itself that he wished to say out loud.

  “That’s okay.” Cindy patted him on the arm. “You don’t have to tell me, although that would be a most fascinating story—an Amish man’s hunt for a mate.”

  That was a most gruesome way to describe things, Mose told himself. But the Englisha had different ways about them.

  “Are you some kind of newspaper reporter?” he asked.

  Cindy laughed. “Oh, no. Just curious.”

  Mose wasn’t convinced. Englisha reporters were trained to deny who they were. What if this made its way into a local newspaper? No one from his community would read the story since it was published out here on the prairie, but this Cindy knew his name now, and such things could get spread far and wide on the Internet. Cindy might even snap his picture secretly on her phone and print that with the story.

  “You don’t believe me?” Cindy watched Mose with her eyebrows raised.

  Mose managed to mumble, “One can’t be too careful these days, you know.”

  “A skeptical Amish man.” Cindy appeared deflated. “I expected better things of such a holy people.”

  Mose swallowed twice. “Okay, I’ll tell you this much. I was looking for a frau this past week, and I think I have found one by the Lord’s grace.” There, he had said the words. He certainly couldn’t leave an outsider with the impression that the Amish faith produced hypocrites. That was the worst kind of implication.

  Cindy’s face lit up. “That’s wonderful. How did it all come about?”

  He had said enough, Mose told himself. Marriage and courtship led to wedding vows, and that was sacred territory. On the subject, he would not speak words lightly even to his own people. Few in his Wayne County community would learn the details of his week in Oklahoma. Surely Cindy should be able to understand that.

  “We treat marriage with great respect,” Mose said. Now he felt more comfortable with the subject, so he continued. “Perhaps we had best not speak too much about the things which the Lord’s hand has so clearly led me into.”

  “You are a holy people,” Cindy allowed. “I can respect your private feelings on such matters. Well, the best to the two of you. Was she willing? At least tell me that.”

  “I didn’t ask yet.” Mose held a smile back.

  “But she will say yes?”

  “We leave such things in the Lord’s hands.” Mose smiled this time.

  Cindy chuckled. “Of course.”

  Mose sent a silent prayer heavenward. Thank You, dear Lord, for sealing my lips. He wished Cindy nothing but the Lord’s blessings, but she obviously lived in a world he wanted no part of.

  “So where are you from?” Cindy asked when Mose remained silent.

  “Ohio.”

  “All that way to travel for a bride!” Cindy exclaimed. “And on a Greyhound bus.”

  Mose shrugged. “It’s the best way for us.”

  “I know you don’t have personal transportation,” Cindy said. “Oh, except for your buggies. You’ve never owned a car, have you?”

  Mose looked away. How was he supposed to answer the questions of this woman? Cindy’s face had lit up again. “Likely you owned one in your rumspringa time. Isn’t that what you Amish call sowing your wild oats?”

  Mose finally met her gaze. “The Lord has mercy and forgiveness for our mistakes, and, yah, even for those days when I did things I shouldn’t have.”

  Cindy had a gleam in her eye. “Did you ever date a girl like me in your rumspringa?”

  Mose felt the heat flame up his neck. The truth was he had, but the words stuck in his throat. This was why he took such care in his choice of a frau. He wanted nothing the world had to offer. He could never imagine Miriam asking questions like these. No decent Amish woman would.

  Cindy chuckled beside him. “Must have seen something you didn’t like? Am I that bad?”

  “The Lord bestows His grace on all of us.”

  “I see.”

  “We all have our faults,” Mose said, and wished he hadn’t. A hurt look filled Cindy’s face, but he didn’t know how to comfort her without further damage. He couldn’t touch her arm like she had touched his. That was what she likely wanted. He would have to wait until this awkward moment passed. “I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings,” he finally said.

  Cindy remained silent, and Mose didn’t try again.

  What would the community back home say if they learned of this conversation? He couldn’t be fully blamed, but he had somehow allowed himself to speak familiar words with a very worldly woman. And she had felt at home enough to sit beside him on the bus. Those things were not easily explained. He would ask the same hard questions of any man who allowed himself to fall into such a trap. If this incident made its way back to the ears of his district in Wayne County, it would remove all his votes for bishop this fall, and he wouldn’t blame anyone but himself.

  Thankfully he was far from home, and no one would ever find out. That was poor reasoning, but it was all he had. In the meantime he would think again of Miriam and what a holy woman she was. He would have Miriam soon to help him and stand beside him while they walked through the life the Lord had planned for them.

  Cindy took a long breath beside him and exclaimed, “Apology accepted. I guess I’m a little touchy.”

  “I’m not always what I should be myself,”
Mose acknowledged, and a comfortable silence settled between them. Cindy debarked from the bus at the next town with a wave of her hand and a smile.

  Mose smiled back, but he didn’t wave.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Miriam hopped out of Mr. Whitehorse’s car when they arrived back from Coalgate and ran up the driveway to the mailbox.

  “What’s the rush?” Aunt Fannie called after her with a laugh. “There’ll be no letters from Mose yet!”

  Before Miriam could answer, Jonathon raced out of the greenhouse to welcome his mamm home, and Aunt Fannie bent down to wrap her arms around the little figure.

  Miriam opened the mailbox to find the usual pile of magazines and bills. Most of them were addressed to Mr. William Byler. Miriam held them in one hand and searched deeper with the other. She shrieked in delight at the sight of Mamm’s handwriting on a white envelope. With the mail in both hands, Miriam hurried back toward Aunt Fannie.

  Aunt Fannie had paid Mr. Whitehorse by the time Miriam arrived back at the car. Jonathon jumped up and down as she approached and leaped into her arms for a quick hug.

  “I’m working for Daett today,” he announced and wiggled out of her arms to race back toward the greenhouse.

  Mr. Whitehorse smiled and slowly backed his car out of the driveway.

  Miriam held the envelope high in the air to show Aunt Fannie. “A letter from Mamm!”

  “Gut!” Aunt Fannie declared. “That will cheer you up over Mose’s leaving. Now tell me what your mamm wrote.”

  “I’m afraid I’ll have to read it later,” Miriam said. “I want to check in with Betsy at the schoolhouse and see how today went.”

  “Oh, I’m sure she did just fine,” Aunt Fannie assured her. “Relax a little. You’ve worked hard enough today, I say.”

  Miriam blushed at the implied compliment. She had worked hard on pleasing Mose, but wasn’t that what a gut prospective frau should do?

  “I need to go,” Miriam said hurriedly. “Betsy probably knows what she’d be doing, but I’ll feel better if I check in with her.”

  “Always thinking of your duty,” Aunt Fannie said, clucking her tongue. “Let me at least help you get Star hitched. You’ll have to hurry to make it in time.”

  Miriam tucked Mamm’s letter in the dress pocket and handed the rest of the mail to Aunt Fannie. She hurried toward the barn to throw the harness quickly on Star’s back. When Miriam led Star outside, Aunt Fannie held the shafts of the buggy high in the air, and Star was ready to go in no time. Miriam hopped in, and Aunt Fannie threw her the lines. With a quick wave, Miriam was on her way.

  Star seemed to understand the need for haste, or perhaps he was feeling frisky since he hadn’t been driven all weekend. She had ridden with Uncle William and Aunt Fannie on Sunday morning, and Mose had picked her up with his borrowed buggy for the hymn singing on Sunday evening.

  She had wanted last night to be a special time for her and Mose. But to her surprise, memories of her weekends with Wayne had intruded. She had seen Wayne’s face again and heard his laugh even while Mose was in the buggy with her. She had pushed the thoughts away at once. She had no right to compare Mose with Wayne. Mose was older and more mature, as was she now. She should no longer need warm flashes to her face and poundings of the heart to thrill her. Nor did she need kisses. She had told herself this several times last night. Yet how would it have been to kiss Mose? He had acted like he wanted to kiss when they were seated on the couch. She would have let him, though her face would have turned beet red. Yah, Mose was a man, and she had kissed a man before. She almost wished Mose would have followed on his impulse. But he was too proper to indulge in the usual affections of dating couples, but surely he would eventually. Wasn’t that part of marriage?

  Miriam held the reins tight as Star took the next turn at a rapid clip. Mose probably figured they should wait until their marriage vows had been said before they kissed, or at least until he proposed. Mose thought she was decent, but he didn’t know everything. Somehow Mose had missed the fact that she had kept the two million dollars a secret for so long. That was her weakness. She could pretend well. In all that time Daett and Mamm had never suspected that she had such a large sum in the bank. They only found out because she had finally confessed.

  Miriam’s fingers dug into the rough leather of the reins as she thought of another of her faults. Tyler Johnson. But she wasn’t about to confess her feelings for him. Those would go away soon anyway. That secret need never be told. If Mose had missed one of her faults, she wasn’t to blame. With all the scrutiny he had given her, it served him right that he had missed one. That meant Mose wasn’t perfect either. Miriam smiled and relaxed her fingers. That she found pleasure in the thought was downright sinful, but she couldn’t help it.

  “Everyone should be human,” Miriam muttered out loud.

  She certainly wanted a husband who was human. Mose likely thought he was too perfect, but she was sure the man had flaws of which he wasn’t aware. She hadn’t dug for them because Mose would have taken that as a serious flaw in her own character.

  Miriam drove the buggy into the schoolhouse lane as the children were bursting out of the classroom door and scattering around the schoolyard. Two of the older girls threw a softball back and forth, while their brothers brought the horse out of the small shelter. Miriam smiled at the sight and brought Star to a stop by the fencerow. She would wait a few minutes until the students were gone before she drove on in. The single gravel lane could only handle so much traffic.

  Several students passed Miriam with happy smiles on their faces. They waved but didn’t stop to speak. Betsy must have done a good job if the students had such a gut cheer about them. But on the other hand, perhaps Betsy had allowed them to goof off all day. That would make children happy, but it wasn’t gut for them. Betsy wouldn’t allow that, Miriam assured herself at once. All the young women of the community were taught that duty came first, which was exactly why she wouldn’t allow herself to return to the playful days when she was in love with Wayne. How young she had been and so dreamy. Not unlike a schoolchild who saw only marvels in a day that contained no work. Now as an adult she knew of the test that lay ahead of her… as did the Lord. The truth was that Mose was better for her than Wayne would have been. At least now she must believe that and not doubt.

  Miriam pulled herself out of her thoughts as more of the students worked their way past her. They all smiled and waved. A few hollered out, “Hi, teacher. See you tomorrow.”

  “See you too.” Miriam smiled and waved back.

  She loved these little ones with all her heart, as the Lord must love her with all His heart and wanted only the best for her life.

  Miriam was still encouraging herself when moments later she drove Star forward to stop by the hitching rack. She would only tie up, Miriam decided. Star could stand outside in this nice weather. With a quick jump she made her way down the buggy steps and snapped the tie rope on Star’s bridle. Up the walk she went and met Betsy at the schoolhouse door with a worried look on her face.

  “Oh, I’m so glad to see you,” Betsy gushed. “I’m all nerves and twitters. What if I ruined someone’s life today?”

  Miriam laughed. “They all appeared healthy to me.”

  Betsy clasped and unclasped her hands. “That’s so gut to hear you say. I was so worried.”

  “You don’t have to be.” Miriam took Betsy by the hand and led the younger girl inside. “So tell me how English class went. I know some of the grades were having trouble last week.”

  Betsy took a deep breath. “I don’t know. I tried to explain things, but half the time my voice squeaked so much I knew everyone had to be laughing.”

  “I’m sure you did just fine,” Miriam assured her. “Thank you so much for filling in for me.”

  “Did you see Mose off on the bus okay?” Betsy’s eyes grew large.

  “Yah.” Miriam felt a blush burn on her cheeks. Betsy’s open admiration of the relationship caught her by surp
rise.

  “He’s so handsome and manly.” Betsy caught herself and clasped a hand over her mouth. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t say such things. He’s not my boyfriend. But see what I mean. I haven’t been able to say anything right all day.”

  Miriam forced a smile. “I understand. Mose can be a little intimidating, but he’s a man like everyone else.”

  Betsy didn’t appear persuaded, but she nodded her head in agreement.

  “Well, I’m here now,” Miriam said with a happy sigh. “Can I help you get anything ready to leave?”

  “I just have my carry bag in here.” Betsy gave a nervous laugh. “The horse Daett had me drive, Ronny, is a little skittish. Maybe you could help me get on the road.”

  “Of course.” Miriam led the way outside again and waited until Betsy brought out the driving horse. True to predictions, Ronny tossed his head repeatedly while they hitched him to the buggy.

  “He’ll be okay once I’m on the road,” Betsy said with another nervous laugh.

  Miriam hung on to the bridle until Betsy had climbed in before she let go. Then Betsy waved as the buggy went by, and Miriam waited until Ronny had cleared the driveway before she breathed evenly. But Betsy had been right. Ronny calmed down and settled into a steady trot. Miriam turned toward the schoolhouse and as she walked, she reached into her pocket to find Mamm’s letter. She pulled the envelope out to unfold the pages. Mamm had written three pages in all, so there must be plenty of news from Possum Valley.

  Miriam read the first words…

  Dearest daughter Miriam.

  Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I have waited to write until I felt sure that Mose Stoll had left the community. If I’ve misjudged the timing, that’s okay. I just didn’t want to disturb you while he was still there. I’m sure you enjoyed your time with him, and maybe you’re a promised woman again by now. My heart leaps with joy at the thought. I had so hoped that eventually the Lord would supply your need for a husband—because you do need one, Miriam, even though you thought that life had settled down to a blessed state without a husband. There was still a need, and Daett and I have such high hopes for Mose and you, which is why I waited on the letter. I know that you should arrive at these decisions on your own without undue pressure from your parents. But that being said, we are thrilled to the bottom of our hearts with the gracious way Mose has spoken with Daett about the matter, and with the concern the man has for a godly frau. I know you fill the requirement perfectly, Miriam, but he had to learn that for himself, I guess. Which I’m sure happened in the past few days.