by Sarah Price
No one spoke for a few minutes, the silence needed after so much excitement. Samuel didn’t have to imagine how Lillian felt, being taken away from her home and family. He had lived that very same feeling just two weeks prior and the threat of it happening again seemed to linger over his head. He rubbed his forehead with his hand and looked at the two women before him.
“What do we do now, Rachel?” he asked.
With a heavy sigh, Rachel took charge. “Mary Ruth, Linda will be home soon with the other three. She can help you get supper started. Samuel, you should get started on evening chores since you’ll be needed to help with the little ones. Jacob will surely have a lot of questions and needs your attention.” Rachel looked up at the sky. The sun was beating down on them. “Mary Ruth, you should keep Linda busy with Jacob, Lena, and Abram. Have them water the garden and their mamm’s flowers. That will keep their mind off of the house being empty and free you up for the little ones.”
“What will we tell them?” Mary Ruth asked.
Rachel shook her head. “Haven’t figured that one out yet. We’ll know when we see them, ja?”
Mary Ruth nodded and hurried into the house to start preparing for the children’s return. It would be hard to explain to them about their mamm being away. Mary Ruth was certain that Lillian had rarely left her children unattended. Sure, there might be short errands during the day but never over the evening hours. Their mamm’s disappearance would not be easy for the smaller ones to accept. Mary Ruth knew that she’d have to shield them from knowing that Lillian had been taken to an Englische hospital for that would cause them all unnecessary worry.
As it was nearly three o’clock, Mary Ruth stared out the window, eager for the children to walk across the field from the direction of Sylvia and Jake’s farm. The kitchen smelled of fresh baked sugar cookies, a hopeful attempt at distraction on Mary Ruth’s part. She knew that Rachel had left the door to her house open and was listening for the phone to ring with any word from Junior. Since her house was right next to the mule shed, it would be easiest for her to answer whenever it rang.
But it remained silent.
“Mamm! Mamm!” a voice called from the doorway.
Mary Ruth turned around in time to see Jacob flying into the door, tossing his hat on the bench and his books on the counter. Linda followed, holding Abram’s hand while Lena stayed outside, stopping to pet one of the barn cats that was lounging in a sunbeam. Not seeing his mother, Jacob ran toward Mary Ruth and hugged her legs.
Laughing, Mary Ruth knelt down before him. “That’s a lovely greeting, Jacob! Did you have a nice time visiting your aendi and onkel?”
He nodded but, before he could answer, he looked around the room. “I smell cookies.”
“You sure do,” she said, standing up and walking over to the counter. “I made you some. Thought you’d be hungry after such a long walk.”
“He already had some at Sylvia’s,” Linda offered.
“Tattle-tail!” he shot back.
“Now, now,” a deep male voice said from the doorway. Jacob whirled around, smiling when he saw Samuel. Hesitating, Samuel walked into the room and took the plate of cookies from Mary Ruth. “I’d say one cookie each is in order and keeping with Mammi Katie’s rule, ja?” He turned back to the children and let them select a cookie from the plate.
“Where’s Mamm?” Lena asked, looking around the kitchen. At seven years old, she trailed behind the large personality of Jacob and authoritative role of Linda. It was rare that she spoke up unless someone directly asked her a question. So, both Mary Ruth and Samuel were surprised that she had not only noticed her mamm’s disappearance but had ventured to ask about it.
Samuel glanced at Mary Ruth. She raised an eyebrow but didn’t speak. It wasn’t her place to discuss what had happened to Lillian. She took the plate of cookies from him and hurried over to the sink to finish washing the dishes. Taking a deep breath, Samuel turned back to the anxious faces staring at him.
“That’s a good question,” he started. “I’m not exactly certain how to answer it.”
Jacob’s eyes grew wide. “Did the police come and take her like they took you?”
For a moment, Samuel flinched and felt his pulse quicken. How had Jacob heard about that? Certainly not from the family, he realized. It must have been a story spread after church service the other week since school had been out for the summer season weeks ago. “Your mamm is with your daed at the doctors,” he said, quickly deciding to ignore Jacob’s question. “We are waiting to hear what is happening with her and the babies.”
“Babies?” Linda asked. “What’s wrong with the babies?”
“I don’t know if anything is wrong with them,” Samuel quickly said, hoping to alleviate any fears. “She just wanted to make certain that everything is just fine.”
Abram licked his fingers. “She be home by dinner?” he asked.
“I don’t think so,” Samuel said, slowly shaking his head.
The five-year old looked up, his eyes starting tear as he realized his mother wouldn’t be home. “When she coming home?”
“Mayhaps tomorrow,” Samuel said. He wished that Junior had called. He wished that he had some real answers for these children. He wished that everything would be all right.
For the rest of the evening, David and Samuel took Jacob and Abram under their care. Samuel had asked the young boys to help with the evening milking, a ploy to help distract them. Jacob was eager to show Abram “how it was done”, dragging his five year old brother throughout the dairy. Samuel smiled as he listened to Jacob instructing Abram as to the proper way to wash the udders before Daniel, David and Samuel milked each cow.
They were just about ready to finish for the evening when they heard the buggy pull down the lane. Daniel wiped his hands on his pants and started walking to the door, hoping that the buggy brought some good news. He looked over at his two brothers who were washing the buckets. “Amos has come,” he said flatly.
“Mary Ruth!” a deep male voice called out.
Samuel took a deep breath. Indeed, it was Amos Smucker. He’d recognize that voice anywhere. Certainly Amos hadn’t been too pleased when Simon had returned home without Mary Ruth. With Katie and Jonas visiting Emanuel’s and Steve’s families while Junior had rushed Lillian to the hospital, Mary Ruth was virtually unsupervised with Samuel Lapp in an isolated home for the evening. Despite her gracious offer to stay and help with the children, even Samuel knew how precarious a position that had put Mary Ruth in. Only he hadn’t realized just how serious such a position truly was.
“She’s watching the kinner,” Daniel said, pointing toward the house. “Lillian went to hospital.”
Amos nodded once. “So I heard.”
Daniel paused, waiting for Amos to say something, perhaps to ask how Lillian was doing. But Amos sat in the buggy, holding the reins in his weathered hands, staring sternly at Daniel. His hostility toward the family was apparent and surprising to Daniel. Where had it come from? For years, the two families had raised their families together, sharing fellowship, and enjoyed friendship. All because of Samuel?
“She was a great help today, Amos,” Daniel finally said, trying to diffuse the situation. He caught sight of Samuel in the doorway of the dairy barn, listening to the conversation.
“She’ll be coming home with me now,” Amos said. “Won’t be back. Needed by her mamm” was the only explanation he gave. But Daniel and Samuel knew the truth. Her daed simply didn’t want his daughter alone on a farm with Samuel Lapp, even if his other brothers were there.
Daniel nodded. “I’ll get her, Amos” he said and started to walk toward the house to fetch her. Samuel hung back in the shadows, not wanting to provoke Amos. He knew that the father was the authority over his children in all matters, save anything that involved the church leaders; and that meant that Samuel had to honor that relationship or risk alienating himself even further.
It was at that moment that Rachel ran through the barn, havin
g entered from the open doorway near her own house. Her bare feet raced toward Samuel, not caring that she was running through muck in the aisle way. She called out for Daniel as she ran. Samuel emerged from the shadows and collided with her.
“What is it, Rachel?”
“Where’s Daniel?” she asked, breathless from running. She looked over his shoulder, trying to see if Daniel was behind Samuel. She hadn’t seen him walk toward the house when Amos had arrived. Not seeing Daniel, Rachel looked at Samuel, her eyes wide and bright. “Your daed called. He’s at the hospital with Junior.”
“Daniel’s there,” Samuel said, giving a quick gesture toward the house that sent Rachel running in that direction. She passed Amos without any acknowledgement in her hurry to find her husband. Samuel followed, not caring about Amos’s reaction to seeing him. It was clear how he felt and nothing Samuel did or didn’t do at that moment would change it.
“She’s going to be fine,” Rachel said between gulps of air as she stood before Daniel on the porch. “Junior sent a driver over to Ephrata for your mamm and daed. Your daed called from the hospital to share the good news!”
“Thanks be to God,” Daniel said, the relief apparent in his voice as he lifted his eyes toward the sky.
Samuel stood behind them, his eyes looking at Mary Ruth as she walked out of the kitchen door. She stopped on the porch, seeing her father peering from the buggy as he watched.
“What happened?” she asked.
Rachel smiled and laughed. “She’s going to be fine, Mary Ruth. The babies are alright, too!”
“Oh!” Mary Ruth gasped, her hand fluttering to her chest. “I was so worried!”
“What did they say?” Samuel asked.
Rachel looked at him, confused for a second about his question. “Say?”
“What did the doctors say about Lillian?” he repeated slowly.
Laughing, she lifted her fingers to her head, touching her forehead gently as if trying to think. Samuel noticed that she was shaking. “Of course, of course,” Rachel flustered. “Her water broke and she’s going to have the babies. But they have her on some special medicine to try to delay birthing for a day or two. The babies are early but they should be fine. Might have to stay in the hospital for a few weeks but they should live.”
A day or two? Samuel glanced at Daniel first then Mary Ruth second. Junior would never leave her side and their mamm was too old to care for six kinners by herself, even with Linda being old enough to help. Both Rachel and Sylvia had their own small children to watch. Who would watch the children? “I can sleep here with the children,” Samuel offered. “But during the day…”
Raising his hand to stop Samuel from saying more, Daniel nodded. “Understood, brother.” He glanced over his shoulder at the buggy. Amos was leaning out the open door, a scowl on his face. “Mary Ruth, I’ll walk you over to your daed since he’s waiting for you,” he said slowly. “Like to have a word with him.”
Rather than wait on the porch, Samuel went inside the house, not wanting to leave Linda with the responsibility of watching the other five children by herself. Despite being capable, Linda was certainly worried about her mamm as much as the younger ones. Having an adult nearby would be reassuring to her. Yet, he stood in the window, watching at Daniel talked to Amos. He didn’t have to be nearby to know what was being said. Daniel was trying to convince Amos to let Mary Ruth come back to help with the children. But Amos stared straight ahead, not saying one word in response. When Mary Ruth finally climbed into the buggy, her daed merely clicked his tongue and slapped the reins on the horse’s back. It lurched forward and rolled down the driveway. With that, Mary Ruth was gone and not likely to return.
Samuel turned away from the window, his heart heavy. Just when the family needed help the most, Amos Smucker would turn his back on their need? He wondered if anyone else in the community would offer to help. He doubted it. Anyone with young woman at home wouldn’t want their daughters’ exposed to Samuel, not while he was being investigated for driving that car and causing that accident. It was because of Samuel that no one would come to help them. The weight of that fact was more than he could bare.
Later that evening, Rachel brought Lovina and baby Katie over to the main house. She set Linda to work helping her with the finishing touches on the evening meal while Lena watched the smaller children and babies. It was comforting to have a woman’s presence in the house and Samuel took the time to escape for a few minutes. He needed a break from children and the emotional roller coaster that seemed to be hanging over his head like a dark thundercloud.
Chapter Twenty
The next few days fell into a chaotic routine for Samuel, as he didn’t have so much as one minute to himself. He slept in the main house, reassuring his mamm and daed that he’d be fine with the kinners. After all, Linda was there to help him, if he needed it. The truth was that Samuel didn’t want his parents sleeping in a different bed, one that was unfamiliar to them. After all of the stress that the family had been going through, he wanted his parents to have the comfort of their own bed at night.
In the mornings, he woke up before five in order to help with the early milking. By the time he returned to the house, Linda had already arisen and tended to the baby. Samuel would help get the other children ready before taking over the care of the baby until Katie came over to relieve him.
After breakfast, Samuel would walk with Jacob to the carpentry shop. The family had agreed that Jacob could help out at the shop if Samuel was willing to keep an eye on him. Jacob was delighted with this arrangement, especially since he worshipped his Onkel Samuel. So, besides working on his regular tasks at the shop, Samuel had to invent chores for Jacob to do. It didn’t take long for Samuel to get creative, asking Jacob to practice hitting nails into blocks of wood or having him pick up wood scraps for burning later.
For dinner, they would walk down the gravel lane to the house. Jacob would talk about all of his plans for building his own shed for the mother cat and its kittens while Samuel listened. It was clear that Jacob had an endless amount of energy. The more time they spent together, the more Samuel realized how amazing Jacob truly was. His love for the animals and nature was apparent as was his ability to see everything with large eyes and a passion for life. Samuel was also amazed at how inquisitive Jacob was, asking questions that caused him to really think before answering.
After the noon meal, Samuel would head back to the carpentry shop alone. By the third day, he realized that he missed Jacob’s presence in the afternoons. The silence gave him too much time to think. It had been over three weeks now and there had been no word from the police about Paul’s recovery. Since Jake had been forbidden to contact the lawyer, Samuel had no idea whether that lawyer man, Dave, was still in contact with the authorities.
What he did know was that, every second of every day, he lived in fear. There was too real of a threat looming overhead, like a dark cloud that threatened to pour rain. Whenever a car drove over the hill, Samuel would find his heart suddenly beating faster until he was certain it wasn’t someone pulling into their driveway. The thought of being dragged away from the farm frightened him. He had never realized how much he loved his home and his family. Having been forcibly separated from them before had certainly changed his perception on how important they were to him. He certainly didn’t want that to ever happen again.
The news from the hospital had been good. Junior called every morning and again in the afternoon. By Thursday, the doctors had performed a Cesarean section on Lillian, welcoming her two new daughters to the world. Little Jacob had cheered at the news, happy to know that he wasn’t going to have too much competition for his daed’s attention until Linda pointed out that meant he’d have less brothers to help with chores. His jubilation quickly dissipated and he sulked off to play with the kittens that were rough housing near the shed.
Indeed, the celebration had been brief as the premature babies had to be whisked away to the neonatal unit at the hospital. Lill
ian was recovering while Junior stayed by her side. There wasn’t much Junior could do at home. His mind would be on Lillian and the two new babies. Everyone understood that he had no choice but to stay with his wife. Without one complaint, the rest of the family stepped up to help with the children. Even Sylvia came over one day, bringing her own children, so that she could lend a hand with cooking, cleaning, and entertaining the kinner.
The week seemed to drag by slowly. Each day was filled with unexpected surprises. Little Anna fell and bruised her nose. Abram tore the seat of his pants climbing a fence. Linda grew increasingly quiet, the worry for her mamm too obvious, yet there simply wasn’t time to spare for a private discussion with her. Samuel tried his best to relieve his mamm and Rachel, both of whom seemed increasingly worn out by the end of the day.