by Sarah Price
EDNA
CHAPTER 19
Edna shut her eyes and tilted her face upward. The late-April sun warmed her skin. Worship was over, and for that, she was glad. The visiting preacher had given the main sermon and, well, it just wasn’t to her liking. He preached in a much different way from the leadership of her church, more old-fashioned, and spoke about losing one’s way in the world of plenty. No, Edna much preferred the way their bishop and preachers focused on the practical things one could do to help others instead of on things to avoid.
Still, she was glad that he’d come. Even though she hadn’t enjoyed his sermon, she was glad for the reminder of how special her church leaders truly were.
That Sunday, church had met at the home of Dwayne and Katie Fischer. With the fine weather, the men had set up the fellowship tables on the grass near the house. It had been the first Sunday that year when it was nice enough to do such a thing. And, with the meal now over, Edna was enjoying herself. Sunday was truly the only day in which she could find time to actually relax. And, of course, it was always nice to share that time with her neighbors.
Beside her, Mary chatted with some of the other women in Edna’s g’may. Ever since Bethany had moved onto the Esh farm, Mary and her husband had started attending church with the Esh family from time to time. And, afterward, they’d join Edna and Elmer back at the farm for a game of Scrabble. It was nice to spend time with Mary without the opinions of Wilma and Verna to interfere.
“MayFest is comin’ up right quick,” an older woman said. It wasn’t a question, but she had directed her statement to Edna in a loud, booming voice as if everyone else—not her—were hard of hearing.
“This week, ja,” Edna replied with a solemn nod. Immediately, she felt her temples throb. She resisted the urge to press her thumbs against them. Oh, how she was dreading this week. So much to do. She just prayed that Rachel and Ella Mae were as helpful as they had been their first week of work. She knew there was always a honeymoon period for new employees—that period of time when they were on their best behavior.
“You selling those cookies again for Amish Aid, then?”
Those cookies. Just the way Anna said the word, drawling out the word “those,” irritated Edna. The contribution Edna and her three friends had made to Amish Aid over the past year had not gone unnoticed by many of the women in their church districts. When Yoders’ Store began to carry their cookies, tongues had wagged nonstop. Edna might not have heard the remarks directly, but she knew that many women were accusing them of being prideful of raising so much money to help the Amish in their community.
“We sure are. And baking those cookies, too,” Edna tossed back.
The woman clucked her tongue, clearly disapproving of Edna’s sassy remark.
“They want twice as many cookies this year,” Edna said unapologetically. “That means twice as much work.” She thought she felt Mary nudge her leg with the toe of her shoe. “Sure would be nice if someone stepped forward and offered to help, Anna.”
That remark earned her another tongue click. “I’m sure we’re all doing our part,” Anna said drily through pursed lips.
Somehow Edna doubted that.
“Besides,” Anna continued, “only the four of you women seem to be in that Cookie Club. Didn’t hear of new members being added.”
Here we go again, Edna thought. The Cookie Club. Long ago, she had grown weary of the nickname given to the four women. Repeatedly Verna had told her that the other women were merely jealous they hadn’t thought of the idea first. What irritated Edna the most was, if they were truly jealous, why didn’t they start their own friendship groups? The more the women tittered about it, the more Edna refused to consider inviting other women to join them.
Mary leaned forward, a forced smile on her face. “Did you hear that the Schwartz girls are helping Edna now, Anna? With her business serving lunch to the Englische.”
Leave it to Mary, the constant peacekeeper, to jump into the conversation in order to steer it clear of trouble. Edna breathed a sigh of relief that, before she’d had a chance to respond to the older woman’s remark, Anna had taken the bait from Mary.
“Well, land’s sake, no! I didn’t hear that.” A look of amusement filled her face. “Now I sure do wonder how that’s going to work out.” She glanced at the women seated quietly beside her on the bench. “You know those two are just two peas in a pod and, from what I hear, prone to bickering something awful. Why, I heard they got fired from cleaning that Englische woman’s house just a few months back.”
The other women seated nearby mumbled something, their words inaudible, but the expressions on their faces were clear as could be. For an Amish woman to be fired from a cleaning job was almost unheard of. It was a true scandal in the making and, without doubt, the women were shocked to hear of it.
Suddenly, Edna felt the urge to protect Rachel and Ella Mae. She’d never been one to support gossip in the community by passing it along. And now that she’d gotten to know Wilma’s daughters, she knew how unfair those stories were.
“I beg to differ,” she said, speaking in a loud enough voice that any other woman seated nearby could hear. “Rachel and Ella Mae Schwartz have been perfectly well behaved and hardworking every single day. I’ve seen no indication of either of your claims being true, Anna.”
Anna’s mouth opened in surprise at the rebuke.
“In fact, I suspect that everyone just thinks they’re two peas in a pod because they are twins. And I haven’t seen them bicker at all.” A minor fib, but she suspected God would forgive her. “Indeed, they’ve been most helpful”—she raised an eyebrow in Anna’s direction—“and pleasant.”
“Oh, Edna,” Mary interrupted. She gestured toward the door. “I do believe I just saw Elmer waving for you near the barn.” She stood up, reaching for Edna’s arm and pulling her friend to her feet. “Good day, everyone.”
By the time they’d rounded the corner of the barn, Edna could hardly contain herself. She knew that Mary had merely made an excuse to get Edna away from the rising tension at the table. So she wasn’t surprised to see that Elmer was nowhere in sight.
“Oh, that Anna Miller!” Edna fumed. “Saying such things about those two girls.”
“I know, Edna,” Mary said softly.
“It’s not right, you know.”
“I do.”
Edna paced back and forth, her shoes kicking up small puffs of dirt. “I spent some time with Ella Mae yesterday. Alone.” She looked at Mary. “She’s such a pleasant young woman, Mary. The problem is that everyone lumps them together so they have no time apart . . . no time to find themselves as individuals. Why, I even suspect that Ella Mae would be a right gut match for my Jeremiah.”
Mary turned pale. “Oh, Edna—”
“And Jonas. Why, I think he’s head over heels for that Rachel.” She stopped pacing and, for the briefest of moments, stared at the side of the barn. Was it possible that Wilma had been right? That her daughters might, indeed, make good wives for Edna’s sons? “I can’t have these women saying such things about Wilma’s dochders.”
“But—”
“No more than I could have anyone say something against Bethany,” Edna continued. “After all, mayhaps one—or even both!—could be my family one day.”
“I think you’re jumping to—”
Edna smiled to herself, clasping her hands to her chest. “Just think of how exciting that would be. All of my boys married, and to the daughters of my dearest friends.”
Mary stepped forward, standing before Edna. She reached out and placed her hands on Edna’s shoulders, staring her square in the eye. “Now, you hold on there, Edna Esh,” she said in a firm voice. “I thought you were done with matchmaking.”
Edna frowned. “I’m not matchmaking . . .”
Mary raised an eyebrow.
“Well, mayhaps just a little.”
“If something is going to happen between either of those girls and your boys, that’s for
God to decide,” Mary said. “Not you.”
It didn’t matter to Edna what Mary said. There was nothing wrong with giving the situation a little nudge. After all, God often worked wonders through his people. People were, after all, his vessels. “We’ll see,” she said at last, choosing to keep her thoughts private. No sense in upsetting Mary. “Now, let’s go find Elmer. I’m ready to head home, aren’t you?”
RACHEL
CHAPTER 20
When Jeremiah walked into the youth singing at Benjamin Riehl’s barn, Rachel near about fell off her hay bale.
The singing had begun almost an hour ago and they were already on their second break. Sometimes Rachel thought the singings were more about what happened in between songs than about the actual music itself. That was the time when the young women could gather and talk, casting furtive glances in the direction of the young men in the hopes that, mayhaps, one would want to take them home in his buggy that night.
During the break, most of the men lingered near the door or just outside it. The air was fresher there. But with the hint of a drizzle in the night sky, most of the young women sat inside the double doors, some hovering near the refreshment table while others, like Rachel, were seated upon hay bales.
She always wondered what the men talked about. They looked so serious, as if they were discussing important matters like crops or livestock. But, in all likelihood, they were talking about nothing in particular.
She’d been looking around when she caught sight of him. He stood in the doorway, his nice Sunday hat in his hand, as he scanned the room.
“Oh help!”
Quickly, she turned away. Her heart beat rapidly and she felt a cool sweat cover her palms. Was it possible that, despite the fiasco at the volleyball game the previous night, he had come to the singing just for her? Maybe Ella Mae was right that the accident hadn’t scared Jeremiah away. The thought warmed her insides, and she felt as if she held a delicious secret that no one else could possibly suspect.
If this was the beginning of courtship, she liked it very much.
She felt a hand on her shoulder and heard a hushed voice in her ear. “Isn’t that Edna Esh’s son?”
Rachel gave a noncommittal lift of her shoulders. “I didn’t notice. Where?”
Her friend Katie pointed over Rachel’s shoulder. “Why, over there! The tall fellow in the doorway. He’s never been here before.”
But Rachel didn’t have a chance to respond before Ella Mae suddenly appeared.
“Oh help!” she muttered, clutching at Rachel’s arm. “I can scarce believe my eyes. That scoundrel Jonas Esh just showed up here.”
Jonas? Rachel frowned and directed her attention toward the doorway. Yes, just behind Jeremiah stood Jonas. Both brothers had shown up?
A wave of disappointment washed over her. If Jeremiah and Jonas had shown up together, surely Jeremiah hadn’t come just for her. They’d have driven over together, she was certain, and it was probably no more than a coincidence that they’d showed up at her church district’s evening singing. After all, young men often attended youth gatherings in different districts.
“Turn around,” Ella Mae whispered. “Before they see us.” She wiggled around on the hay bale so that her back faced the door. “If they come over here, I’ll just about faint!”
Katie laughed. “Then you best get yourself ready to fall to the ground, Ella Mae, because you have been spotted, and they’re headed this way.”
While Ella Mae took a deep breath and rolled her eyes, Rachel tried to sit up straighter. She lifted her hand to smooth back her hair, just in case any wisps had strayed from the bun at the nape of her neck.
Staring straight ahead, Rachel pretended she didn’t know that the two young men were approaching them from the doorway. She even managed to force a laugh as if she had just heard a funny story from one of her friends, even though no one had spoken.
“Stop it,” Ella Mae whispered. “You look foolish.”
Rachel leaned forward and hissed, “Oh, hush you!”
“What ho!” Jonas walked around the group so that he faced both Rachel and Ella Mae. “Look who we have here!”
Ella Mae sighed and shifted her body so that her back was toward him.
Rachel, however, was too aware that Jeremiah stood there, too. She didn’t want to make a scene with Jonas, not while his brother could observe.
“What brings you here?” Rachel managed to ask, trying to hide the disdain in her voice.
“Oh, just a nice evening for a buggy ride.” Jonas rocked back and forth on his heels.
“Hmph.”
Jonas looked at Ella Mae. “Did you say something?”
She exhaled and stood up. “Nee, I did not. Please excuse me.” And with that, Ella Mae walked away.
Rachel panicked. She couldn’t talk to both of the Esh brothers together, not without Ella Mae there to help her. While she wanted to impress the one, especially given the circumstances of the previous evening, she had to fight the urge to give the other a stern tongue-lashing.
“Now, where on earth has she run off to?” Jonas said, more to himself than to the others, although Rachel suspected he did that on purpose.
“How are you tonight, Rachel?”
Her heart did a little flip at the sound of Jeremiah’s voice. She’d almost forgotten he was there. Eagerly, she turned to face him. “I’m fine, danke. Surprised to see both of you here, though.” She paused, hoping that her comment hadn’t come across in a negative way. “I mean because I’ve never seen you at one of our gatherings before,” she added quickly.
Jeremiah remained silent, his eyes catching hers for a moment.
It was Jonas who responded. “Thought I’d pop in and see your schwester in a social situation for once.” He glanced over her shoulder in the direction in which Ella Mae had disappeared. She stood with another group of young women near the refreshment table, her back, once again, toward him. “And I see she is busy being social indeed.”
For the briefest of moments, Rachel almost felt sorry for him. And yet, from what she recalled of the past few days, he’d barely interacted with her sister at all. Ella Mae had made no mystery of her feelings—or lack thereof—toward Jonas. Unless, of course, something had transpired that Ella Mae hadn’t shared with her.
But, true to form, Jonas didn’t appear to mind that Ella Mae had wandered away deliberately to avoid him. With a spring to his step, he sashayed over to where she stood with her friends.
Jeremiah chuckled. “I get the distinct feeling that your schwester isn’t just playing hard to get.”
Rachel watched as Jonas joined the group standing with Ella Mae. Almost immediately, the rest of the women dispersed, tittering to one another with bent heads as they left the distraught Ella Mae alone with Jonas. He made some animated gestures, to which Ella Mae responded by turning around and walking away from him once again.
Turning back to Jeremiah, Rachel felt that familiar sense of shyness overcome her. He shuffled his feet as if anticipating that Rachel would say something. But, try as she might, she couldn’t think of anything to say. What was it about being in his presence that made her so tongue-tied?
“You want some snacks or water?” he asked at last.
“Sure. That’d be great.”
Quietly, she followed him to the table where the refreshments were laid out. He handed her a plastic cup of water and then filled a small bowl with popcorn. Together, they walked back to the hay bales and sat down.
“You’ve a nice-sized gathering here,” he said, his eyes once again scanning the room. “Our singings don’t have so many people. Probably because we’re in the country. Farming folks.”
“Our church district is rather large. We’ve over thirty families, but most of them only have three or four kinner.” She rested the bowl of popcorn on her lap. “Older kinner, too.”
He nodded. “Probably because it’s more expensive to buy a haus in town. Young couples probably can’t afford it.”
Once again, a silence fell between them.
Rachel couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable. Oh, how she wished she had the gift of gab around him. But there was something so stoic and reserved about his nature that she resisted the urge to just chatter away. She didn’t want to appear like a silly young woman, talking about things that didn’t appeal to him—or anyone else, for that matter! She knew far too many women like that, and Rachel could never understand why they were always the first to get married.
She didn’t have to worry about silence for long, however. Ella Mae suddenly reappeared, standing before the two of them. She put her hands on her hips and stared down at Rachel.
“I suppose you wouldn’t mind if I leave.”
Rachel’s mouth dropped. How could her sister want to leave so soon, especially now that Jeremiah had made the effort to show up? They’d walked to the singing together. Rachel knew she couldn’t let her sister walk home alone. Not when it was already dark outside.
“Leave?” she repeated incredulously.
Ella Mae gestured toward the door, where Jonas had paused, clearly looking for her. “I can’t stay with him chasing after me. Besides”—she removed her hands from her hips and crossed her arms over her chest—“I’m getting tired anyway.”
Jeremiah was quick to stand up. “We’ll take you home.”
Suspecting that Ella Mae was going to refuse, Rachel quickly responded for both of them. “That would be wunderbarr. Wouldn’t it, Ella Mae?”
Her sister groaned and turned around, just as Jonas rejoined them.
“There you are!”
Ella Mae shook her head and moved closer to Rachel as if seeking safety.
“Come on, then,” Jeremiah said. “We parked on the other side of the barn.”
It dawned on Rachel that part of Jeremiah’s “we” included Jonas. She couldn’t make Ella Mae sit in the back of the buggy with him. She’d have to sit beside her sister and let Jonas sit up front. So much for a quiet buggy ride home alone, she thought, although at least with Jonas and Ella Mae along, she’d probably find it easier to talk.