An Amish Family Christmas: Heart of ChristmasA Plain Holiday

by Marta Perry

  “What’s a kinder heedah?” Ryder asked.

  Mrs. Weaver frowned. “Let me think.”

  “A nanny,” Sally answered.

  “Ja, I could not remember the Englisch word. How was your trip in the sleigh? Did you enjoy it?”

  “No!” Kimi said.

  “I liked it,” Ryder said. “Ben let me drive part of the way and I found a perfect Christmas tree.”

  “Then the horse tripped and we had to walk forever.” Kimi dropped onto the sofa with a scowl.

  “It was only half a mile,” Ryder rolled his eyes.

  Kimi shot him a derisive look. “You weren’t walking. Sally was carrying you.”

  Granny’s eyebrows rose over the top of her wire-rimmed glasses as she turned to Sally. “You carried the boy that far?”

  Sally made light of her deed. “The snow was too deep for him and Ben had his hands full trying to keep our horse moving. The poor thing’s foreleg was injured when he fell. Ben is putting him up in your barn. I hope that’s okay. He may be here for a few days.”

  “Your Ben is free to use anything he needs. There is plenty of hay and oats. You kinder must be chilled to the bone. Let me get you something to eat and something hot to drink. How about some peppermint hot chocolate with marshmallow cream and poppy seed bread with butter?”

  Ryder’s eyes grew round. “Sounds wunderbarr, grossmammi.”

  Mrs. Weaver chuckled. “Someone has been teaching you Pennsylvania Dutch. Was it Sally?”

  “Ben taught him a couple of words so he’s acting like hot stuff. You’re not as smart as you think, Ryder.”

  “Kimi,” Sally cautioned her with a stern look.

  “What? He’s not.” She pulled her phone out of her pocket and sat up. “Finally, a signal.”

  Sally said, “I’m going to see if Ben needs anything.” He should have come in by now and she was worried.

  Granny Weaver began to bustle about in the kitchen. “You must tell me what you’ve been doing. Ryder, how do you like school?”

  Sally collected Kimi’s and Ryder’s clothing and hung the coats over the backs of the kitchen chairs. She arranged them, along with the hats and mittens, around the stove so that they would dry before they left. She slipped her coat on again and went out. The snow was blowing sideways in the gusty wind.

  She crossed the farmyard to the barn that was only a hundred feet from the house. The drifts were three feet high around the corners of the building and nearly covered a pair of low evergreens growing next to the walls. Pulling open the barn door, she stepped into the dark interior and waited for her eyes to adjust to the dim light. She saw a glow coming from one of the stalls toward the back and went toward it. She passed several stalls. Most were empty. One contained a black mare that looked as old as Granny Weaver. The next held a brown-and-white milk cow. Another held two brown goats that stood on their hind legs to get a better view of her. Overhead, she heard the clucking of chickens in the loft.

  Inside the last stall, Ben was wrapping a length of cloth around Dandy’s leg by the light of a battery operated lantern. The big horse turned his head toward her and whinnied.

  “How is he?” she asked.

  “It’s too soon to tell. If it’s an injury to the ligament, it could be serious. For now, all I can do is ice it several times a day and keep it wrapped for support.”

  Sally glanced around. “I only noticed one other horse.”

  Ben stood and patted Dandy’s neck. “Mrs. Weaver doesn’t live alone. Where is everyone?”

  “Her family went into Hope Springs this morning and haven’t returned.”

  “The black mare down there is too old and too small to pull the sleigh through this snow. Unless there is another horse on the property, we may be stuck.”

  “We can’t be stuck.” She stared at him in shock.

  “Believe me. I’m even less eager than you are to spend the night here.”

  “I doubt that. We have to get the children home. I’m responsible for them.” She did not want to spend time with Ben in the close quarters of the old farmhouse. She kicked a corncob across the dirt floor.

  “I’m responsible for them, too. I know I got us into this. I’ll get us out. I’ll walk back to the farm and bring a team out to fetch you and the children. It should only take a couple of hours.”

  She rubbed her hands up and down her arms as she listened to the sound of the rising wind. “You don’t have to hike.”

  One side of his mouth lifted slightly. “I can’t very well fly.”

  His teasing tone was almost her undoing. She looked around for another corncob to kick before she blurted out how much she adored his smile. “We can use Kimi’s phone to call Mrs. McIntyre and tell her what’s happened and then wait here until Trent arrives with another horse.”

  Ben thought it over and nodded. “That’s smart thinking. I forgot about Kimi’s phone.”

  “You’ve had a lot on your mind. The children are safe now. You take care of Dandy and I’ll go make the call. Come inside and warm up when you’re done here.” She turned away.

  “Sally,” he called out.

  She stopped but didn’t look at him. “What?”

  “I’m sorry if I misjudged your motives in coming along today. You’ve been a great help. I’m not sure how I would have managed without you.”

  “It’s good of you to say so.” She kept her voice flat. She hated it when he was being nice to her. It was easier to keep her distance when he was angry.

  “When I’m wrong, I admit it, Sally.” He paused for a long moment and then said, “Maybe we can start over and be friends.”

  Sally closed her eyes. She could never settle for friendship when she wanted so much more from him. The only way to get over him was to make a clean break. She knew that, but the crumb of affection he offered made it painful to say what needed to be said. “Nee, Ben. I don’t think that’s possible.”

  She started to leave, but the outside door opened and Mrs. Weaver came into the barn. She held a flashlight and a wire basket. “Ben, it’s nice to meet you. You can call me Granny. I need to feed my chickens and the goats.”

  “Granny, do you have another horse I can borrow?”

  “Nee, my Nellie is the only one here. My sons have the other horses. Nellie is getting a bit long in the tooth, but I can’t bear to part with her. She has pulled my cart for twenty years. How is your horse?”

  Ben left the stall and stopped beside Sally. “Dandy will be better for some rest. It took a lot out of him to hobble so far in the snow.”

  “It took a lot out of all of you. I had Kimi call Velda for me. I explained to her that you would be staying with me. She was happy to know all of you are safe. She’ll send someone to fetch you when the weather breaks.”

  Sally crossed her arms and glanced his way. He shoved his hands in the pockets of his coat. “I reckon we can spend one night here.”

  “Might be more than that,” Mrs. Weaver said cheerfully. “Velda said the weatherman is predicting a mighty blizzard. Could last three or four days. I knew we were in for a bad spell. My old bones have been aching something fierce. I can’t tell you how happy I am that God sent you and the children to stay with me. What a blessing it is with my family gone. It will be just like a frolic, like an early Christmas party. We’ll have a fine time together.” She chuckled and turned to climb the steep stairs leading to the loft.

  Had Granny said three or four days? This couldn’t be happening, Sally thought, feeling the edge of panic creeping over her. How could she spend that much time with Ben and keep her feelings hidden? She had to find a way. She rushed toward the barn door and out into the snow.

  Chapter Six

  Ben stared at the barn door banging open and shut in the wind. Sally hadn’t bothered to latch it in her
haste to get away from him.

  She’d said she couldn’t be friends with him. What did that mean?

  He had spoken roughly to her earlier that day, but she said he was forgiven. So why turn his offer of friendship down flat? Was she angry at him about something else? What had he done? He had complained bitterly about her to Trent, but she couldn’t possibly know that.

  He rubbed the ache in the back of his neck. He didn’t understand why Sally pursued him in the past, and he didn’t understand why she refused his friendship now.

  If there was one thing that Sally Yoder could do well, it was confuse him.

  “I like that young woman.”

  Ben looked up to see Granny Weaver coming down from the loft. She held a basket of eggs hooked over her arm.

  “Sally is nice enough.”

  When Granny had both feet on the ground, she turned to him with a smile. “I know her family. They are good people. I hope she finds her way back to them. I pray that is God’s will for her.”

  “I do, too.” Ben took a pitchfork and tossed some hay in with the horse and milk cow. “What other chores do you need done?”

  “If you will see that all the animals have water, they won’t need anything else out here until morning. I like to gather the eggs a few times a day so they don’t freeze while the hens are off the nests. I don’t mind telling you that I’m happy to give over the chores to you. My old bones don’t like going out in the cold.”

  “I’ll take over the care of the animals. It’s the least I can do in exchange for Dandy’s room and board. He’s a big eater.” Ben went around to all the stalls and checked on each animal’s water supply. He had to break the ice open on the tub for the cow, but the others had only a skimming of ice around the edges. By morning, they would all need to be chopped open.

  Granny came out of the goat’s stall. “I hear the wind howling like a wolf. It makes me happy the Lord has seen fit to give me a sound house to cover me and a good stove to keep me warm.”

  Ben took the eggs from her and followed her to the house, making sure the elderly woman made it across the yard without falling. Inside, Ryder was seated at the kitchen table. He had a white mug clasped between his hands and a chocolate mustache on his upper lip. A second mug with inviting steam rising above the rim sat across from him. Ben looked around but didn’t see Kimi or Sally.

  Mrs. Weaver hung up her coat. “I will take those eggs now. I have a lot of cooking to do. Christmas is just around the corner. I have gift baskets to make for a few of my Englisch friends and for a couple of elderly widows in my church. And I have a cookie exchange to get ready for. That cup of chocolate is for you. Get warmed up. I know you must be chilled.”

  He was. He crossed the kitchen to stand beside the stove and snagged the mug from the table on his way. After taking a sip, he let the warmth spread through his body and savored the rich sweet peppermint chocolate combination. “Ryder, where’s your sister?” he asked.

  “Pouting.”

  Granny Weaver looked surprised. “Pouting? Whatever for?”

  “She’s unhappy because we won’t be back in time to watch her favorite TV show tonight. She’s upstairs in one of the bedrooms.”

  “I reckon I will have to keep her busy so she doesn’t get bored,” Granny said with a wink for Ben.

  Ryder licked his chocolate-covered lips. “What can I do?”

  “I have a chore for you boys. I need a large bowl of pecans shelled. Can you do that?”

  Looking perplexed, Ryder shifted his gaze to Ben. “Can we do that?”

  “It’s easy. I’ll show you how it’s done.”

  Grandma Weaver fisted her hands on her ample hips. “Do you mean to tell me that you have never cracked pecans?”

  Ryder shook his head. Ben said, “The trick is not to eat them all.”

  “I’ll be back in a minute.” Granny took a large wooden bowl from the shelf, opened the door at the far end of the kitchen and went down into the cellar.

  “Where’s Sally?” Ben had already noticed her coat hanging by the door so he knew she had come in.

  “She went upstairs to try to tease my sister into a better mood.”

  Ben thought of Kimi’s stubborn, uncooperative actions earlier. “Does it work?”

  “Sometimes. Sally is better at it than anyone.”

  “Maybe because they’re birds of a feather.”

  Ryder tipped his head. “Huh?”

  “Because they are a lot alike.”

  “Sally doesn’t get into bad moods. She’s almost always happy except when she gets a letter from home. Then she gets sad. She misses her home a lot.”

  Ben glanced toward the stairwell. “Maybe she will return there someday.”

  “I hope not. Sally’s my friend and I would miss her.”

  So, Sally could be friends with this Englisch boy, but she wouldn’t be friends with him. Ben was determined to find out why.

  * * *

  “I’m not going downstairs, and that’s final.” Kimi pulled the blue-and-white quilt over her head and leaned against the headboard. She would soon run out of air beneath the heavy fabric, so Sally folded her arms and waited.

  The upstairs bedroom was chilly, even with the warm air rising from the kitchen below. Lacy frost coated the windowpanes, obscuring the view. Even if she could look out, Sally knew there wasn’t much to see. Just a lot of blowing snow that was trapping her in the same house with Ben. Sitting upstairs in a cold bedroom had seemed like her only option to avoid Ben, but she realized she was being foolish.

  Since God seemed determined to force them together, Sally had to ask herself why. What was His purpose in doing so?

  Maybe it was time for her to confess her foolish past behavior and ask Ben’s forgiveness. She had used him. In doing so, she had compromised her own integrity. She cringed at the idea of explaining why she had pretended to be head over heels for him, but if she had that embarrassing confession off her chest, perhaps it would be easier to deal with her current feelings.

  Easier, but not easy.

  Ben confused her. He made her feel breathless and frightened, yet wonderfully excited all at the same time. She wanted to be wrapped up in his arms the way Kimi was wrapped in Granny’s quilt.

  This wasn’t what Sally imagined love would be like, so maybe it wasn’t truly love. Maybe it was the kind of wild infatuation that would burn out in a few months, rather than the steady, gentle love shared by her parents for thirty years. Maybe if she allowed herself to know Ben better, she would see that he wasn’t the ideal fellow she imagined.

  If she told him the truth about her charade, he certainly wouldn’t want to be friends with her.

  Kimi flipped the quilt down. “It’s too cold to be out from under these quilts, but I can’t breathe under them.”

  Sally tucked her chilled fingers under her armpits. “Welcome to Amish living.”

  “Why can’t the bedrooms be heated?”

  “Our parents and grandparents lived like this. We value the old ways.”

  “Would it kill anyone to have an electric blanket?”

  Sally ignored Kimi’s question when she heard the sound of Ryder’s and Ben’s laughter below.

  “Everyone is gathered downstairs. Ben and Ryder are doing something together with Granny. It might be work, but they are doing it together and having fun. Do you hear Ryder laughing? You are missing out. How many times will you miss out on what he does before he’s grown? How will he remember his sister? As someone who laughed and worked beside him? Or as someone he only saw occasionally? Amish children know and love their brothers and sisters well. Oh, we fight and make up like all people do, but we spend time together as a family. It’s very important to us.”

  Kimi pulled the covers to her chin. “Spending time with Ryder won’t
fix what’s wrong with our family.”

  “Maybe not, but I guarantee that it would make him happy. You might find spending time with Ryder makes you happy, too.”

  “I doubt it.”

  “I’m going downstairs. I want to see what is making your brother laugh.”

  Kimi’s phone giggled and shouted, “Text message.” She pulled it out from beneath the covers. “Fine. Leave me up here to freeze all by myself. At least my friends want to talk to me. You just want to spend time with Ben.”

  “You should turn your phone off and conserve your battery. We don’t have any way to charge it and we might need it. We don’t have any idea how long we will be here.”

  “Whatever.” She began typing a new message.

  Sally shook her head sadly and admitted defeat. Down in the kitchen, she saw Ryder and Ben were cracking nuts. A piece of shell flew out of Ryder’s nutcracker and landed in Ben’s hair. Ryder dissolved in a fit of giggles. Ben removed the offending piece and dropped it in the trash can beside the table.

  “I wondered what was so funny down here.” Sally crossed to the table.

  Ryder sat up straight. “Where is Kimi?”

  “Texting.”

  “She should do this. It’s fun.” He squeezed a pecan between the jaws of a handheld nutcracker. The face he made while he was trying to exert enough force to break the shell made her turn away to keep from laughing. Ben had no such trouble. He laughed outright, which reminded her how much she loved his laugh. And his smile. And his kind eyes. Everything about him.

  He operated a lever-action nutcracker mounted to a short board. He was able to crack five nuts before Ryder managed to split his. Once it broke open, Ryder promptly picked away the shell and ate the meat.

  Sally grinned at him. “Are these for snacking or did Granny want some for cooking?”

  “Both,” Granny said from her place at the stove. She was smiling as she stirred something in a large pot.

  Ben pushed an extra handheld nutcracker across the table toward Sally. “Want to help?”