The Hope

by Patricia Davids

  “How did you find her?”

  “I met an Amish woman in Ohio who knew Thelma. She said she had seen Rebecca working at a diner in Shipshewana, Indiana. I went there as soon as I could.”

  “Two months ago. About the same time as Ella’s wedding?”

  “That’s right. I’m sorry I missed the ceremony, but I didn’t feel I had a choice. I asked the manager at the diner if he knew a woman named Rebecca Mast. He didn’t but he said Rebecca Stoltzfus worked for him. Turned out that she had the week off. I took a job at a construction place in town and rented an apartment. I was low on funds at that point, so I had to get work. I hung around the diner the day she was supposed to return. I knew as soon as I saw her that Rebecca Stoltzfus was my sister. She looked so much like our mamm. I waited until her shift was over and spoke to her as she came out of the building.”

  “She must’ve been stunned to see you after all that time. What did she say?”

  He pushed his hands into his pockets. “Not much. She had no idea who I was. Rebecca was only three years old when we were separated. I never considered that she wouldn’t remember me. She didn’t recall my promise to come and get her. She thought our aunt was her mother and that she was an only child. Rebecca said Thelma passed away five years ago.”

  Ruth leaned back in her chair. Sympathy pushed aside some of the bitterness she felt toward him. “I’m sorry, Owen. How terribly sad for you. But now that she knows she has a brother she’ll keep in touch, won’t she?”

  “I gave her my address. I left her Ernest’s address and yours. I told her about him and about you and your family. I thought she would be happy to know she wasn’t alone in the world. She didn’t seem interested in learning more. She brushed me off, said she had somewhere to go. She seemed, I don’t know, frightened or something. I told her I’d be back the next day after her shift was over again. When I returned she was gone.”

  Ruth frowned. “Gone? What do you mean?”

  “The restaurant manager said she came in early and gave her notice but didn’t say why.”

  “She didn’t leave word for you?” Ruth was astonished.

  “Nee. She didn’t seem to want anything to do with me. I don’t even know why. I thought maybe she didn’t believe my story. I was crushed. She was all I had left. Our parents, our sister and our two brothers were taken away in the blink of an eye. I was holding Rebecca on my lap when the car struck our buggy. I don’t know how we survived.”

  “It was Gott’s mercy.”

  “I didn’t see it that way. I used to wish He had taken us altogether. I thought it was cruel to leave Rebecca and me behind. I wasn’t old enough to take care of her. That’s what the bishop said when he sent her to stay with our aunt. Thelma said she couldn’t take care of a boy my age, so I was sent to stay with Nathan’s family. I just wanted my family back. That’s why I was so determined to find Rebecca.”

  “Owen, I’m so sorry.” She didn’t know what else to say.

  “Talk about a wasted life,” he said bitterly. “I left the family that wanted me, to search for a sister who didn’t remember me and the aunt who was afraid I would find her. I crisscrossed the country following every lead to Amish settlements no matter how small, trying to track down my aunt’s whereabouts. I guess she feared losing the little girl she’d come to love. I only wanted to make sure Rebecca was safe and happy.”

  “What did you do after that?”

  “I stayed in Shipshewana. I hoped I would run into her if I remained in the area. I didn’t but I got a letter from her a short time later. There was no return address. The postmark was from Columbia, Missouri.” He rubbed his palms on his pant legs.

  “That’s something. What did her note say?” Ruth sensed he wanted to say more but she heard Grace calling for him.

  He went to the stairs. “I’m down here.”

  Grace made her way down one careful step at a time until she reached the bottom. “I took a nap.”

  “Ja, you took a goot nap. Now what shall we do?” Owen took her hand and led her into the kitchen.

  Ruth folded her arms across her chest. “First some lunch for you. Do you like ham sandwiches?”

  The child nodded eagerly, and Ruth led her to the kitchen. Owen followed and leaned against the counter watching her.

  Grace ate her sandwich and downed a glass of milk in record time. She sat back with a sigh, wiping her milk mustache off with the back of her hand. “Now what should we do?”

  “I have an idea,” Ruth said. “I think you need a bath and some clean clothes. How does that sound?”

  “Okay, come on. I like baths.” Grace slipped off her chair, grabbed Owen’s hand and pulled him toward the hallway that led to the bathroom.

  He stopped and held both hands in the air. “I’m going to turn you over to Ruth for this one.”

  Grace looked around Owen at Ruth and then beckoned him to lean down. She cupped a hand to his ear. He listened and nodded. “Ja, you are safe with Ruth. She knows all about giving little girls a bath.”

  To Ruth’s surprise Grace smiled at her and held out her hand. “Okay.”

  Shocked but not wanting the child to change her mind, Ruth took her hand. She looked at Owen. “What did she say to you?”

  “She asked if you were a safe one.”

  “A safe one? What do you think that means?”

  “I’m not sure. I just agreed. At least she isn’t screaming for me.”

  “Yet.” Ruth followed Grace down the hall but looked back. “Don’t go far.”

  * * *

  HAPPY TO TURN Grace over to Ruth without a fuss, Owen breathed a sigh of relief. It was short-lived. He went back to the window, hoping to see the storm was letting up. It wasn’t. Had they found Grace’s mother yet? Was she okay? He didn’t want to consider the worst. Grace needed her mother. He knew what it was like to wake up from a nightmare and not have anyone to comfort him. He missed his mother to this day.

  What had the child meant when she asked if Ruth was a safe one? She had said something like that to him the night he found her.

  It was easy to assure her Ruth was a friend once he knew what she needed to hear. Ruth would care for Grace as if the child were her own. He didn’t doubt that for a second. Maybe one day Ruth would see him as a friend again. He hoped she would.

  Owen hadn’t told anyone about locating his sister until now, not even Ernest. Ruth seemed to understand how painful his sister’s initial reaction had been for him. It was hard not to share the cryptic wording of Rebecca’s letter with Ruth, but he couldn’t betray his sister’s trust.

  Over the sound of the wind outside he caught the drone of a tractor engine. He opened the door and stepped out onto the porch. The snow flew sideways past the house, driven by a fierce north wind. A drift was already forming next to the steps. Ernest’s tractor appeared out of the blowing snow followed by Faron on Ruth’s tractor. Ella and Zack were huddled behind him. Ernest had a long gray scarf tied over his hat to hold it on with one end covering his mouth and nose. Everyone’s clothes were caked with snow.

  Faron stopped to let Ella and Zack off at the house and then drove his tractor down to the shed beside the barn where Ernest had stopped. Owen looked but didn’t see the sheriff’s vehicle on the lane. Ella walked up the steps and stopped in front of him.

  Owen’s heart sank when he saw the expression on her face.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  “THE SHERIFF CALLED off the search,” Ella said. “There’s no sign of a stranded car near Ernest’s place.”

  It wasn’t good news but at least it wasn’t the worst. Owen stepped aside so Ella and Zack could go in. He waited for his uncle and Faron to cross the yard. If the visibility got much worse, he would be forced to string a rope from the house to the barn to keep the family members and himself from getting lost going out to do chores.

  Faron bounde
d up the steps. Ernest climbed them slowly. Owen grasped his elbow to help him up the last step and guided him to the door. Inside the house, water was already puddling on the entryway floor as the snow melted from the searchers’ clothing.

  Ella hung up her traveling bonnet, straightened her kapp and looked around. “Where is Grace?”

  “Ruth is giving her a bath,” Owen said.

  “Without you? How did she manage that?” Ella asked.

  “We found the friendship key. Apparently if you tell Grace that someone is safe, she accepts that person as a friend without any fuss.”

  Ernest untied the scarf beneath his chin making his black hat look like Ella’s bonnet. “I leave you alone for one night, Owen, and look at the crisis that unfolds.”

  Owen chuckled. “I’m not taking the blame for this one, Aenti Ernest.”

  Ella giggled. “It does look like you’re wearing a bonnet.”

  “He makes a homely fraw,” Faron said.

  Ernest kept a straight face as he pulled off his hat with a flourish. “Both Henry and Otis Shetler asked to walk out with me before they realized who they were talking to, so I’m not that homely.”

  The chuckles died away as the seriousness of the situation returned. “We searched as much of the roads as we could manage,” Faron said. “If the car is drifted over, we may not see it until the weather warms up next week. She may not even be on one of the roads. She could have turned into a field without realizing it.”

  Ella helped Zack slip out of his coat. “If she got out of the car and tried to follow Grace there’s no telling where she could be. Hopefully she found shelter.”

  “The best thing we can do now is pray for her,” Zack said.

  Owen gestured toward the window. “Does anyone know how long this blizzard is supposed to last?”

  “Another two days is what the sheriff said. I’ll get some towels to mop up this mess.” Ella walked down the hall.

  “What about your flock, Faron?” Owen asked. “Do they have enough feed to last a couple more days?”

  Faron nodded. “I filled the hay feeders the day before yesterday. We may have to dig some of the sheep out of the drifts when this is over but they should be fine for a few days. We started changing over to Icelandic sheep the year before last. They are a hardy breed and don’t mind the snow.”

  Owen tipped his head. “Icelandic sheep? I’ve never heard of them.”

  “They are a new breed in the US, but they’ve been in Iceland for more than a thousand years. They have a double coat and are a lot less trouble at lambing time. We have about fifty head now.”

  “We still have thirty Dorset ewes,” Ernest added. “I like the look of them better than those shaggy Icelandic critters. Sheep should be white and wooly, not muddle colored with coats like a floor mop.”

  “Those Icelandic critters get ten times as much for their wool as your Dorsets bring, and their meat is better, too,” Ella said.

  Ernest wasn’t done. “They are far more expensive than my sheep. The price your daed paid for them was outlandish. If your mamm doesn’t recover their cost with this year’s crop of lambs she’s going to lose the land your daed mortgaged to buy them.”

  “Won’t the church help her if things get that bad?” Owen asked.

  Ernest shook his head. “The church takes care of their own if sickness, accidents or a disaster strikes, but a bad business decision is the responsibility of the person who made it. A man or woman learns as much from their mistakes as their successes.”

  “That’s why I’m not going to fail,” Ruth said, coming into the room with Grace bundled in a large towel in her arms. “My Icelandic sheep will pay for themselves this year if your Dorset sheep don’t upset the basket by losing too many ewes and lambs this spring. Not to mention your dog cost as much as one of my ewes. I assume by looking at your faces that you don’t have news to share.”

  “Where’s my mamm?” Grace asked the question none of them wanted to answer.

  “We don’t know,” Owen said gently. “But we’ll keep looking.”

  Ella laid towels on the floor to soak up the snowmelt. “The weather has made it too difficult to continue today, but Owen is right. We’ll keep looking as soon as we can.”

  “Meeka is doing her job. We haven’t lost any sheep so far, have we?” Ernest returned to the sore spot Ruth had touched on.

  She grinned at him. “Meeka has done a wonderful job and even brought us one more lamb than we were expecting.” Ruth transferred her smile to Grace.

  Grace eyed Ernest with distrust. “I don’t like him.”

  “Grace, this is my onkel. His name is Ernest Mast,” Owen said, gesturing toward the older man.

  Grace switched her gaze to Owen. “Ernest is safe.”

  “That’s right,” Ruth said, glancing at Owen. He shrugged.

  Grace narrowed her gaze at Ernest. “I still don’t like him.”

  Everyone laughed. Ernest looked crushed. Ruth patted the girl’s back. “You have taken him down a peg or two. He’s used to being everyone’s favorite jokester. Let’s go try on your new dress and see how much I need to alter it. Everyone, there is ham for sandwiches in the kitchen. Owen, Grace and I have already eaten.”

  Ruth carried the child up the stairs. Zack looked at the rest of the family. “I reckon there’s nothing to do now but wait for the weather to clear.”

  With a murmur of agreement, the group split up, with the youngsters heading for the kitchen. Ernest remained. “Why do you think the child doesn’t like me? Kinder always like me.”

  “Grace is an odd child.” Owen thought she would be relieved to know Ernest was one of the “safe ones,” whatever that meant. It seemed it took more than the password to become her friend. “Once she gets to know you she’ll be as delighted with your company as I have always been.”

  “Maybe so. Her appearance here is mighty strange. Why would a mother let her child get out of the car in such bad weather? Especially one as young as Grace. None of it makes sense. If the child left a vehicle she couldn’t have gone far. We should have found it.”

  “Maybe Meeka brought her from farther away than we assumed.”

  “The only way I see that happening is if the child climbed on the dog’s back.”

  “She’s your dog. Would she allow Grace to do that?”

  “Meeka has strong protective instincts. Maybe. Why don’t you ask Grace how Meeka led her to the house?”

  “I’ll do that when she comes down.”

  Owen heard the door open upstairs and Grace came hurrying down the steps. “Owen, see my dress? It’s new. Ruth made it for me.”

  She stopped at the foot of the stairs to turn around. Her damp curly hair had been tamed into two braids. The dress was dark blue, loose and reached her ankles. Ruth had made a long apron of the same color to cover it. Grace patted her bare head. “Ruth is going to make me another kapp to wear when my hair is dry.”

  “You look very clean and tidy,” Owen said, and he knelt in front of her. “Can I ask you a question about Meeka?”

  “Is she here?” She peered around him.

  “She is still outside guarding her flock of sheep. When you came to Onkel Ernest’s house, did you walk there by yourself?”

  “It was cold. I couldn’t see a house. Meeka scared me when she came out of the snow. I was crying. She licked my face and I wasn’t scared anymore. She was warm when I hugged her.”

  “Did you walk beside her all the way to the house?”

  She nodded. “It took a long time.”

  What was a long time to a three-year-old? Owen looked up to see Ruth descending the stairs. “Did you learn anything new?” she asked.

  Owen shook his head. “Not really.”

  Ernest rubbed the back of his neck. “I’ve put in a long day. I’m going to get a bite to eat and head hom
e.”

  “Stay the night,” Ruth said. “We have room for you, if you don’t mind a cot.”

  “All right. Honestly, I’m tired enough to sleep standing up.”

  Ruth led Grace into the kitchen to fix her something to eat. After supper the family returned to the living room, where Faron and Zack began a spirited game of checkers. Ella found a children’s book and lay down on the floor beside Grace to read to her in front of the fireplace. Ernest settled in a recliner nearby to read the newspaper, but he was soon asleep and snoring gently. Ruth settled in the second recliner and pulled her knitting from a basket beside the chair.

  Owen found a suitable piece of wood in the wood box and began working on it with his penknife. The sound of the wind outside was muted by the sturdy house, but he could still hear the hiss of the snow hitting the windows. Outside the storm was raging but inside all appeared calm. The quiet was deceiving. They all were thinking of the young mother lost somewhere out there, separated from her little girl.

  He whittled on his piece of wood between watching Ruth’s knitting needles flashing through the gray yarn and Grace’s sleepy yawns. Every once in a while, Ruth would look in his direction and then quickly look away. What was she thinking?

  For the first time since he came to Cedar Grove as an orphan, Owen wished there was nothing to pull him away from Nathan’s family. He was comfortable among them, almost as if he did belong. But it was impossible to ignore his sister’s letter. He’d read it so many times he knew it by heart.

  Owen,

  As you must have guessed I was shocked to learn of your existence and our relationship. I’m sorry I couldn’t stay to visit with you but something important came up. I’m returning to Shipshewana on April 15. I’ll tell you what has happened then. I need your help. Don’t tell anyone.

  Yours in Christ,

  Rebecca

  He’d be going back to Shipshewana to meet Rebecca next month and he had no idea when he would return to Cedar Grove.

  Of course he was thankful Rebecca had reached out to him. The only conclusion he could draw from her letter was that she was in trouble of some kind. She needed his help. He would do whatever he could for her. All he’d wanted in life was to find her and become a family again. Maybe when he did see her he could convince her to come meet Ruth and Ernest.