Rhoda desperately wanted to help deliver those goodies tomorrow afternoon, imagining she’d have a chance of seeing Andy. It was silly, of course, to believe he’d be working that particular shift or that she’d catch sight of him among all the other folks there, but it gave her something pleasant to think about . . . instead of fretting over her confession this Sunday.
“You okay, Rhoda?” Rebecca had cleaned the big coffeemaker and was preparing the first batch of tomorrow’s water and coffee. “You haven’t seemed like your usual perky self today, Sister.”
Rhoda shrugged. How did she describe her feelings, her fears, to someone who hadn’t grown up in the Amish church? “Just wishin’ my ordeal with Hiram was behind me,” she murmured. “What with the bishops from New Haven and Morning Star bein’ in charge, there’s no tellin’ how things might go.”
Rebecca came to stand beside her at the window, slinging an arm around her shoulders. “I bet you’re missing those two kids and Andy, too,” she said in a low voice. “I can certainly see why. What a nice family they are—and as crazy for you as you are for them. Not to criticize your Plain ways, but it seems awfully . . . harsh for Hiram to forbid you to see them again, and to declare he won’t allow Andy to join your church, either.”
“Jah, I’ve been turnin’ that over and over in my mind,” Rhoda murmured. “The Old Ways have been followed for centuries, yet now that it’s me goin’ to my knees, it all seems unfair.” She sighed. “I guess that’s the way of it. So—when’re ya movin’ in with me, Sister? I’m lookin’ forward to your company.”
Rebecca chuckled at the abrupt change in topic. “I think we should allow Mamma and Ben to enjoy all their wedding excitement before I start hauling my stuff here. But, gee—that’s only two weeks away!”
“Jah, and I’ve told her I’ll do the bakin’ for the feast,” Rhoda replied. “Figured it’d be a real gut afternoon to bake her coconut cake layers and the sheet cakes, too. I’ll put them in the freezer so Rachel can decorate them when she gets back. She’s steadier with a pastry tube than I am, ya see.”
“Puh! I can’t think of a thing you’re not really good at, Rhoda,” her sister insisted. “And I hope you’ll let me help with—oh my, here comes a sleigh! No, two of them!”
They hurried to the front window to watch. Rhoda shielded her eyes with her hand, squinting into the sun’s glare. “Jah, and they’ve got those horses runnin’ awful fast in that fresh snow, too.” Rhoda squinted into the sun’s glare. “Why, that’s Levi and Cyrus Zook in the green sleigh.”
“The boys in the black sleigh are so short, I can hardly see that anybody’s driving it.” Rebecca cupped her hands against the glass to shade her eyes.
“Ohhh, that’s because it’s the Knepp twins,” Rhoda murmured, shaking her head. “Hiram and Jerusalem are gonna pitch a fit when they find out—oh my stars, they’re headin’ onto the blacktop. We’ve gotta stop this.”
Rhoda rushed out the front door, hollering as loudly as she could. “Get outta the road! If a car comes, it’s too slick to—”
Wild, childish laughter rang out in the crisp air as reins clapped on the horses’ backs. One of the horses whinnied and their hoofbeats sped faster as the two sleighs approached the Sweet Seasons. Rhoda kept running at them, waving her arms above her head even as her shoes slipped on the packed snow in the parking lot. “Pull in here, outta the—Joey, a car’s comin’!” she shrieked when a vehicle topped the hill, approaching the two sleighs from behind.
“Car’s coming!” Rebecca echoed behind her, pointing frantically toward the car.
Levi Zook motioned for Cyrus to pull into the Lantzes’ lane. The Knepp boys, however, were caught up in being ahead in the race and they had far less driving experience. As they flew past her, Rhoda again yelled at them. “Joey! Josh! Pull over! Car coming!”
“Boys, get outta the road!” Ben hollered. He had no doubt heard Rhoda screaming as he worked in his farrier shop. He rushed around her and Rebecca, jogging as fast as the slick pavement allowed.
Rhoda’s heart flew up into her throat. The driver of the car had finally spotted the sleigh, but when he jammed on the brakes, the car fishtailed crazily. The horn honked again and again until the car went into a full spin.
The next few moments took on a sense of slow-motion unreality as Rhoda watched in horror, gripping her sister’s hand: the Knepp’s Belgian, spooked by the blaring horn, swung around in the middle of the road. The sleigh whipped across the slick surface in an arc, tossing the twins out of the seat. A deafening whinny blended with the boys’ cries, and when the spinning car’s back end struck the terrified horse, Rhoda knew that sickening thud would live on in her memory. The Belgian kept screaming as it fell to the pavement, held captive by the sleigh’s metal shafts. The sleigh continued to slide until the weight of the horse stopped it. The car careened into the ditch.
Then, silence.
Rhoda stood frozen, with Rebecca’s hand her only grip on reality. Ben resumed his running. “Josh! Joey!” he called out hoarsely. The Zook boys, their faces as pale as the snow, had hitched their horse to the rail by the café. As they, too, made their way across the parking lot, Rhoda came out of her shock.
“Get Mamma,” she told Rebecca. “We’ve got to call Hiram—I’m callin’ Andy first, though.”
“And call 9-1-1,” Rebecca added.
Rhoda hurried to the phone shanty out back, aware now that she hadn’t grabbed her coat, but there was no time for that. Thank goodness she’d tucked the little ad with Andy’s number on it into the drawer of the phone table. As she punched the numbers, she tried to focus her thoughts. Dear Lord, please be with Josh and Joey and all of us who’re scramblin’ to get help over here—and please let Andy be at—
“Hello?” came a voice through the receiver.
“Andy! Ya gotta come, quick! There’s been a sleigh wreck, right here at the café. Hiram’s little boys got thrown out onto the road, and—”
“I’m on my way. Cover them, and don’t move them or let them get up.” Click.
Rhoda tried to catch her breath and slow her runaway heartbeat. Cold wind blew into the shanty with Mamma, who shut the door behind her as Rhoda was hanging up. The heavy coat she’d brought felt awfully good as her mother held it so Rhoda could put her arms into its sleeves.
“Mamma, Andy’s comin’, but Rebecca thinks we should call the ambulance, too,” Rhoda said as she tied on her bonnet. “Ya know how Hiram feels about gettin’ doctors involved. He wouldn’t take Linda—his own wife—to the hospital when she was havin’ trouble deliverin’ that last poor baby, so the both of them died.”
“We’re callin’ 9-1-1,” Mamma declared quietly. “We’ve got English folks in that car to consider, and I’ll not have it on my conscience that we didn’t do everything possible for the twins. If the bishop doesn’t like my decision, well, it won’t be the first time.”
Nodding, Rhoda punched 9-1-1 and gave the operator the information she asked for. The regional hospital was on the far side of Morning Star, so it might be several minutes before the ambulance arrived . . . yet another reason Rhoda was thankful she had gotten to know Andy Leitner. She would probably be in deeper trouble, come Sunday, for defying the bishop’s order not to see Andy again, but what if Josh and Joey had serious internal injuries? What if they didn’t regain consciousness, or—heaven forbid—what if one or both of them died? She would never forgive herself if they passed on for lack of proper care . . .
“We need to call Hiram now, although I sent the Zook boys over there in case nobody hears the phone,” Mamma said. “Rebecca has run to the quilt shop for blankets and the Schrocks’ help—”
“I—I’ve never been so scared in my life, Mamma,” Rhoda rasped as she dialed the bishop’s number. She didn’t realize she’d started crying, but fat tears were plopping onto the tabletop. “Both boys got thrown from the sleigh. Rebecca and I saw the whole—jah, Jerusalem?” she said into the phone. “We’ve had a horrible accident here
by the Sweet Seasons. Hiram needs to come right away. Josh and Joey got thrown out of the sleigh when a car spooked their horse, and—”
“Oh, my Lord! Hiram’s off visitin’ an English client. If they don’t answer their phone I’ll send Annie Mae to get him,” the maidel gasped. “I’ll be right there. Don’t let anything bad happen to my little boys!”
As Rhoda and Mamma came around to the front of the café, Rebecca had reached the road with Mary and Eva Schrock close behind her, all of them carrying quilts. Seth and Aaron Brenneman, who were working on the new house, had come out to see what all the honking was about. The two young men joined Ben at the ditch, their faces grim as they approached the two little boys, who had landed about ten feet apart. Joey and Josh were too still, sprawled on the snowy ground with their arms and legs spread in unnatural positions.
Rebecca dropped her quilts and turned away suddenly, her face pale. “Oh, this doesn’t look good. I’m going over to see about the car’s driver.”
Mamma nodded and grabbed Rhoda’s hand as they carefully walked closer. The horse let out an agonized cry, flailing as it lifted its head. Its hind legs were bent the wrong direction, and as Aaron brought a blanket to cover it, he was shaking his head. “Gonna have to put this poor fella down,” he murmured. “I’ve got to wonder what those boys were doin’—how they came to be out racin’ around with the sleigh and one of their dat’s Belgians.”
“We’ve got a lot of explainin’ to hear,” Mamma agreed in a tight voice. “It’s a gut thing the Zook boys pulled over. Except that leaves them to do the explainin’.”
Ben looked up from tucking a quilt around one of the twins. “Aaron, I keep a pistol in my farrier trailer for times like this. Look in the drawer of the nightstand up at the front end.”
As the youngest Brenneman brother took off across the road, Rhoda tried not to think about a beautiful animal losing its life, or the boys’ frightening stillness. She moved in beside Ben with another quilt. “Andy Leitner’s on his way. Says to cover them and not to move them. I think this is Joey, but I can’t always tell them apart unless they’re talkin’,” she murmured. She glanced over to the other twin, shaking her head. “They were ridin’ high, racin’ the Zooks without payin’ one bit of attention to traffic . . .”
Ben lifted his head from Joey’s chest. “Thank the gut Lord he’s breathin’, but it’s awful shallow. He won’t be sneakin’ out with one of his dat’s horses again anytime soon.” He glanced toward Seth, who was wrapping a quilt around the other twin. “How’s he doin’? Got a pulse?”
“Jah, and he’s startin’ to moan. Gonna be in perty fierce pain, what with this arm broke and maybe a leg.”
A single shot rang out. Rhoda clenched her teeth to keep from crying. At least Hiram’s poor horse was out of its misery, while the bishop’s boys might suffer a long while yet.
The sound of an approaching car made them all look up. Ben sprang to the edge of the road, waving his arms to warn the driver away from the horse and Aaron, who still knelt beside its body.
At the sight of the familiar vehicle, Rhoda’s shoulders relaxed a bit: Andy had arrived, so surely this heart-wrenching situation would improve. He quickly surveyed the scene and moved toward them, gripping his medical bag. “What happened?” he asked in a low, no-nonsense voice.
As Rhoda recounted the way the twins had been thrown from the sleigh, Andy did a fast once-over on each boy before beginning a more thorough examination on the one she was kneeling beside. “I hear sirens,” he murmured gratefully. “Wasn’t sure you’d call for help.”
“Hiram’ll no doubt give us a piece of his mind for that,” Mamma replied, “but I thought it best, partly because of whoever was drivin’ that car.”
Rhoda looked down the road, relieved to see her sister talking with that driver as he leaned against the car, which was nose down in the snow-filled ditch. “Well, that fella’s up walkin’ around, anyway. Probably more scared than hurt, if he was wearin’ his seat belt.”
Andy was gently rolling Joey onto his back, checking for broken bones and whatever else his skilled hands might detect. When he placed his stethoscope to the boy’s chest, however, his expression tightened. He checked inside Joey’s mouth, pinched his nostrils shut, and then breathed down his throat . . . inhaled deeply and breathed into him again.
Rhoda clapped her hand over her mouth, refusing to believe this lively little boy might die. Watching Andy she wondered, was this how God had breathed life into Adam all those centuries ago? While that thought startled her, she was filled with gratitude and relief that Andy had arrived when he did. Joey coughed, thank goodness, and gasped for the next breath on his own.
“This little guy’s on his way to surgery,” Andy said. “Is Bishop Knepp around? He’ll need to sign admitting papers and—”
“Somebody’s fetchin’ him, jah,” Rhoda said, “but we don’t know how long he’ll be. And he might not agree to that, ya know. He’ll say it was the will of God that his boys got hit after they disobeyed him by sneakin’ out in the sleigh.”
Andy’s eyes widened in disbelief, but he saw that Ben, Miriam, the Schrocks, and the Brenneman brothers were nodding their agreement. “No disrespect intended, but those emergency vehicles are nearly here, and I’m going to let the members of the EMS team do their jobs. We’ll handle Hiram later.”
Rhoda’s eyes widened at the prospect that both Josh and Joey might need to be hospitalized, yet she trusted in Andy’s judgment. He had a son not much older than the twins, and he was caring for these boys in the same way he would his own children.
As a police cruiser pulled around to the car that had gone off the road, followed closely by a wailing fire engine and then the ambulance, Rhoda wondered just how serious the boys’ condition might be. She and Mamma and the men stepped away to allow the ambulance crew more room to work as Andy waved them over to where the bundled boys lay. He was talking in low tones, using big medical terms as he indicated that Joey needed immediate attention, most likely. Rhoda didn’t dare interrupt him to find out.
Mary and Eva Schrock huddled with them, shivering in the wind. “I had no idea all these folks would be comin’,” Mary murmured to Mamma beneath the scream of the three sirens. “If Hiram sees what-all commotion they’re stirrin’ up, with the police gettin’ in on it, he’ll be mighty peeved.”
Rebecca joined them then, while the policeman questioned the driver of the car. “It’s standard procedure to have all these vehicles come with the paramedics when you call 9-1-1,” she said. “That happened every time we called the ambulance to take Mom to the hospital when her cancer pain got bad.”
Rhoda and Mamma grabbed Rebecca’s hands, sorry to recall that such sorrow had touched her English life. It was a sobering sight when two of the ambulance men deftly shifted each Knepp boy onto a stretcher to carry them one by one inside the vehicle as a third fellow took down information from Ben. The men from the fire truck talked briefly to Seth and Aaron, and then they pulled away down the blacktop. As one of the paramedics was closing the ambulance doors, Rhoda caught sight of an approaching buggy.
“Wait!” she called out to them. “Here come a couple gals who should be there at the hospital with Josh and Joey. Can ya give them a ride?”
“I’ll take them,” Rebecca offered quietly. “Might be helpful if somebody who’s had some experience with hospital procedure goes along, and that way they’ll have a way home when they’re ready. I’ll get my keys.”
Rhoda squeezed her sister’s hand and hurried toward the approaching buggy to tell the Hooley sisters what was going on. After Jerusalem pulled into the café’s parking lot and hitched the horse, she asked, “How bad is it?”
At the sight of the Hooley sisters’ frightened faces, Rhoda blinked back fresh tears. “We’re not sure. Josh has been moanin’, but Joey quit breathin’ for a bit and Andy had to bring him around. They’ve got broken bones, for sure, and Andy was sayin’ they’ll need some surgery.”
“Sh
ould’ve seen this comin’,” Jerusalem murmured. Her brow furrowed as the ambulance pulled away, and beside her, Nazareth pulled out a handkerchief and blew her nose loudly. “The Zook boys went flyin’ by in their sleigh after school let out, wavin’ and hollerin’. Then Joey got the idea that the goats needed more straw and feed, cold as it is today.”
“Jah, and quicker than a lizard darts behind a rock, they must’ve hitched up and raced outta the yard,” Nazareth joined in. “We can’t see that side of the barn from the house, so we hadn’t yet realized they’d slipped out on us. They knew their dat was over to Warrensburg, and probably figured to be back before anyone was the wiser.”
“Well, our prayers go with ya,” Mamma said as she approached. “Our Rebecca’s gut help, so don’t hesitate to ask for her cell phone or whatever else she can do for ya. If Hiram stops by, we’ll send him to the hospital.”
“Or if ya know the number where he is, Rebecca can call and tell him you’re on your way there,” Rhoda suggested as her sister’s red car purred to a stop beside them. “Maybe that English client-fella will give him a ride.”
“Lord love us all, once the bishop hears about this,” Nazareth murmured, opening the car door. “No doubt he’ll blame the two of us for not watchin’ the boys close enough, and then he’ll be pointin’ a finger at you folks for gettin’ medical attention that also brought the police into it.”
“God’ll get us through it, Sister. Denki, Miriam and Rhoda, for seein’ to things on this end.” Jerusalem ducked through the sportscar’s door and squeezed behind the front seat to sit in the back with her sister.
As they pulled onto the blacktop, Rhoda waved good-bye. Lord, I’m hopin’ You’ll be with us all as we do what needs doin’. Watch over Josh and Joey while they’re hurtin’ and scared. They’re just ornery, Lord, and too young to think about what they were gettin’ into . . .
Winter of Wishes Page 17