by Jan Drexler
“It looks like my trip has been for nothing.”
Aaron stepped forward. “Mr. Hoben? Harlan Hoben? My name is Aaron Zook, and this is Elizabeth Kaufman.”
As he motioned for Elizabeth to come up beside him, the look on Mr. Hoben’s face turned to relief.
“Thank goodness,” he said, his voice rich with a familiar honey-smoothness that Aaron had missed since he had been in the North. “I have been corresponding with Mr. Mast, and he led me to believe that you were indisposed in some way, Miss Kaufman.”
Elizabeth shook her head. “I think we have a few things to clear up—”
“But we should find somewhere quiet where we can talk,” Aaron said.
“Very good,” Mr. Hoben said. He shifted the boy in his arms, then finally handed the sleepy toddler to Elizabeth. “Is there an office somewhere in town where we can discuss these matters?”
“We’ll try at the hotel,” Aaron said. “It’s over here next to the station.”
The hotel was happy to rent them a room for a fee, which Mr. Hoben paid. “Send in a lunch for us also, if you will be so kind.” He pulled out his pocket watch again. “And can you tell me when the next train leaves for Cincinnati?”
Once they had settled themselves in a large room on the ground floor of the hotel and their lunch was brought in, Harlan Hoben picked up his knife and fork and glanced at them.
“Don’t worry about me. I can talk while we dine. I only have an hour before my train leaves.” He took a bite, then gestured to their plates. “Eat, please.”
Aaron glanced at Elizabeth, then took the boy from her and set him on his lap. He was a handsome boy who looked nothing like Reuben. As he came fully awake, he started to fuss, so Aaron cut a bite of ham and gave it to him.
“One thing that needs to be cleared up,” said Elizabeth, “is that I am not Reuben’s sister as you assumed. I am his widow.”
Mr. Hoben stopped chewing, then swallowed. “His widow? According to Mrs. Kaufman, that is, the woman I had assumed to be Mrs. Kaufman, he had said he was never married. She found your name and location in a pocket after Mr. Kaufman’s demise, and came to the conclusion that you must be his sister.”
“I understand that.” Elizabeth pulled a folded paper from the reticule hanging from her wrist. “This is the marriage certificate from when I married Reuben.”
Wiping his mouth with a napkin, Mr. Hoben took the paper and held it at an angle to get the best light.
“Yes. Yes, everything seems to be in order.” He looked at Elizabeth. “But had he abandoned you or dissolved the marriage in any way before he married the other Mrs. Kaufman?”
Elizabeth shook her head. “He left to go to war, but I always assumed he would return, until I got word about his marriage and his . . .” She glanced at the boy sitting in Aaron’s lap. “His son.”
Mr. Hoben gave the child a look that told Aaron he didn’t like children, especially two-year-old boys.
“I suppose I’ll have to take him back to Mississippi, then. Unless there is an orphan home here?” He looked from Aaron to Elizabeth with a hopeful expression. “Not that I want to leave the boy,” he added quickly, “but he is an orphan. His mother’s people don’t want him, considering how she had shamed them when she . . . well, that is a story that has no bearing here. Except that now that Mr. Mast is no longer with us, and you are not directly related to the boy, there is no other place for him.”
The boy. Aaron felt the weight of the child on his lap and saw the bright curiosity in his eyes as he tried to capture a pea from Aaron’s plate. He knew what it was like to grow up alone, without a father and mother. He had had Grandpop, but an old man’s gruff companionship was a poor substitute for a mother’s love.
“We’ll take him.” The words sounded before he thought. He glanced at Elizabeth’s surprised face. “I mean, I’ll take him. You don’t need to find another place for him. I’ll provide for him and raise him like my own.”
Mr. Hoben finished the food on his plate and pushed it off to the side. He picked up a case and took some papers from inside. He read through them while Aaron and Elizabeth waited.
“These papers say that I am authorized to give the boy, Jefferson Davis Kaufman, to Elizabeth Kaufman, or her representative, Solomon Mast.” He looked at Aaron. “Are you related to Elizabeth Kaufman?”
Aaron couldn’t look at her. He had spoken too soon. “No, I’m not.”
Elizabeth leaned forward. “The papers only have my name on them, correct? There is nothing that states the relationship I’m supposed to have to the boy?”
He looked through the papers again. “That is correct.”
“Then you can give the boy to me after all.”
Mr. Hoben smiled. “Young lady, if you were a man, you would make a fine lawyer. If you’re willing to take him, I can give the boy to you.”
Aaron put one hand on her arm. “Elizabeth, are you sure?”
“More than anything in my life.” The smile she gave him was clear and open, without any fear.
“Then that is settled.” Mr. Hoben slid the paper across the table to Elizabeth and handed her a pen. “If you will sign here, my work is done.”
She dipped the pen in Mr. Hoben’s inkwell and signed her name without hesitation.
Mr. Hoben took another paper from the case. “Here is the boy’s birth certificate. I must warn you, though. Do not try to contact his grandparents. Other than financing this trip to bring the child here, they want nothing to do with him. They have already paid a retainer fee to my partners and myself to react quickly if that ever happens.”
“You don’t need to worry about that,” Aaron said. “When we said we would take him, we meant it.”
“That is that, then.” Mr. Hoben snapped his case closed and stood up. “Please, feel free to stay and finish your meals. I have to arrange for my passage home.”
The lawyer walked out, leaving Aaron alone with Elizabeth and the boy. She reached for him and took him on her lap.
“I’m not sure Jefferson is a good name for a child this young.”
“He was named after the president of the Confederacy.” Aaron gave the boy another bite of ham. “So, what should we call him?”
“We?” Elizabeth smiled as she brushed the boy’s fine blond curls out of his eyes. “You heard the lawyer. I’m the one who was just awarded custody of him.”
Aaron leaned closer, ignoring the teasing tone in her voice. “I meant we. A boy needs parents, not only a mother. I’ve told you before that I wanted you to be my wife. Over the last few days I’ve become even more certain. I can’t go through my life without you. Will you marry me, Elizabeth? Will you be my wife?”
She rested her cheek on the boy’s head. “How do you feel about children?”
“I love children.” He grinned at her. “And I pray that we will be blessed with many of them, starting with little JD here.”
“JD? What kind of name is that?”
“Then you come up with a better one.” He scooted his chair closer to hers. “But first, I want your answer. Will you?”
Elizabeth’s eyes grew moist. “You once told me that perhaps my dreams were the wrong dreams. That if I gave my will over to the Lord, he would show me the right way. The right dreams.” She held JD closer. “I think that you were part of my dream all along. I still don’t feel like I deserve this, but I will take it as a gift from my Father’s hand.”
“Does that mean that you will marry me?”
She nodded. “As soon as you join the church. And build your house.”
Aaron stood and leaned over JD to kiss her, and the boy squirmed when his beard brushed his face. Aaron pulled back, just enough to look into Elizabeth’s eyes.
“Will we always have children coming between us when I want to kiss you?”
She laughed. “I hope so, Aaron. I do hope so.”
Epilogue
APRIL 1866
“Now you take care of yourself,” Elizabeth said, hugging Dulce
y. “I’m going to miss you.”
Dulcey hugged her back. “God did a good thing when he brought us together, didn’t he?”
Elizabeth held on to her friend with a tight grip. Letting her go meant that she would be leaving for Michigan and Elizabeth might never see her again.
“Are you going to write to me?”
Dulcey smiled, pulling away so she could see Elizabeth’s face. “Don’t you worry. Now that you and your mama taught me to read and write, I will send you letters regular. Just you see. And you got to write to me too. I want to hear all about how that boy of yours does when he grows up. You’ve got to tell me all about any others that the Lord blesses you with.”
“You, too.” Elizabeth shared a secret smile with Dulcey. She was the only one Dulcey had told that she was expecting a child in the autumn.
A deep voice growled from the wagon seat. “We won’t get any letter writing done if we don’t get going.”
Elizabeth and Dulcey laughed.
“That man of mine, he can sure try a woman’s patience.”
Elizabeth looked over Dulcey’s shoulder at Elijah. The two had gotten married in December and had made their home in the Weaver’s Creek community after the businessmen in Millersburg had forced him to close his livery stable and move out of town. Elizabeth still didn’t understand why a freedman wasn’t welcome in Ohio. But then Elijah had heard about a job possibility up north.
“You won’t stay?” Elizabeth knew when she asked what the answer would be.
“You know there ain’t no place for us here. Elijah has got to have a job.” She gave Elizabeth a final hug and climbed into the wagon seat next to her husband.
Elijah started the wagon down the road, waving goodbye to Aaron while Dulcey waved her handkerchief at Elizabeth until they turned the corner at the Berlin Road and were out of sight.
Elizabeth sighed. “I’m going to miss her so much.”
Aaron put an arm around her shoulders. “I know you will. It’s too bad they couldn’t stay for the wedding, but Elijah has to get to Grand Rapids to get that job and he couldn’t waste any time.”
“Mamm, Mamm, look!”
As Elizabeth turned to walk back to the house with Aaron, JD came running out of the barn with Dan’s son Cap close behind. The three-year-old held a ball of fluff in his hands.
“JD,” Cap called. “Bring that kitten back here. You know it isn’t big enough to leave its mother.”
Her son stopped as Elizabeth walked up to him. He was always collecting something to bring to her. This time it was a little gray kitten, its eyes not even open.
“Listen to Cap, JD. The kitten needs its mamm.”
“But look!”
“I see it. Now obey.”
JD gave the kitten back to Cap, who took it into the barn.
“You know he’ll bring home a bobcat next,” Aaron said as he held out his hand for their son to hold.
“I hope not.” Elizabeth took JD’s other hand so he could walk between them.
“Are you ready to see your new house?” Aaron asked.
“Is it finished?”
“Nearly.” Aaron opened the front door. “We’ve been working almost every day on it so it’s ready in time for the wedding next week.”
Elizabeth stepped into the spacious front room. The movable walls weren’t installed yet, so the ground floor was open, large enough to seat the entire community when it was their turn to host the church meeting.
“The kitchen is done. The stove was delivered last Friday.”
“It’s beautiful.” She ran her hand across the smooth top of the big table. Large enough for several children to sit around it.
JD tried to pull his hand out of hers. “I want to run.”
“Not inside the house.”
Elizabeth smiled. Aaron’s response had been automatic. A father’s response.
“I’m not sure I can wait a whole week,” Elizabeth said.
Aaron’s eyes crinkled as he grinned at her. “You’re the one who decided on the date.”
“I know. And I do want Katie to be able to attend. Her baby is still so young.”
“Jonas won’t let her leave the house, you know.”
“I know. We’ll wait.”
“Come upstairs,” Aaron said. “The bedrooms are finished.”
They climbed the narrow stairway from the kitchen to the second floor. Casper had said they would appreciate having a full upstairs instead of just a loft and Elizabeth agreed. There were four bedrooms, one in each corner of the house, with two windows in each room to catch the summer breezes.
“Which one will be ours?”
“Ah, that’s the surprise I’ve been saving for you. Let’s go back downstairs.”
Aaron led them to a room Elizabeth hadn’t seen before, next to the kitchen and behind the stairway. He opened the door and Elizabeth walked in. It was already furnished with a bed and a wardrobe.
Aaron grinned at her. “This is our room. It’s handy to the kitchen, and I won’t have to climb the stairs so much.”
Elizabeth gave Aaron a hug that quickly turned into a kiss that took her breath away. It would have lasted longer, but JD pulled on Elizabeth’s skirts.
“Outside? I want to play.”
“We’ll go sit on the front porch.”
JD led the way this time. The porch had a special swing just for him, and he knew right where it was. Elizabeth and Aaron sat in the comfortable willow chair for two that Rosina and Casper had made for them and watched JD play.
Aaron grasped Elizabeth’s hand. “I don’t know about you, but I know my dream has come true.”
She smiled at him. “A home.”
“A family.”
“And you.” She squeezed his hand.
He pulled her closer and cupped her cheek in his hand. “And you.”
Then he kissed her, sealing their promises to each other once more.
After the kiss, Elizabeth sighed as he held her in his arms. “Next week can’t come soon enough.”
1
CONESTOGA CREEK, LANCASTER COUNTY
OCTOBER 1842
Hannah Yoder stamped her feet against the October evening chill seeping through her shoes. Darkness already reigned under the towering trees along Conestoga Creek, although the evening sky had shone pale blue as she walked along the path at the edge of the oat field minutes ago. The north wind gusted, sweeping bare fingers of branches back and forth against scudding clouds.
Where was Adam? She had been surprised to see his signal after supper, when Mamm had asked her to check on the meat in the smokehouse. She had been surprised to see the bit of cloth hanging on the blackberry bushes so late in the day. They had used the signal since they were children, ever since Adam had discovered that they both liked spying birds’ nests in the woods.
She shivered a little. The cloth on the brambles had been blue instead of the yellow Adam always used. It could be a mistake. Perhaps one of her brothers had caught his shirt on the brambles instead.
A breeze fluttered dry leaves still clinging to the underbrush around her. She would wait a few minutes more, and then go back into the house. When a branch cracked behind her at the edge of the grove, Hannah lifted the edge of her shawl over her head, tucking a loose tendril of hair under her kapp, and slipped behind a tree. Let him think she was late. It would serve him right to worry about her for a change. He had been so serious lately. What was it about turning twenty that made him forget the fun they had always had? Would she be the same in two years?
Like a hunting owl, a figure flitted through the trees to her right. Hannah stilled her shivering body, waiting for Adam’s appearance, but the figure halted behind the clump of young swamp willows at the edge of the clearing. So, he was waiting to frighten her when she arrived. Hannah smiled. She’d circle around behind and surprise him instead.
As she gathered the edges of her cloak to pick her way through the underbrush, she heard a giggle from her left. Liesbet? Hannah waite
d. She didn’t want her younger sister spying on her conversation with Adam.
The wind tore fitful clouds away from the harvest moon, illuminating the clearing as Liesbet stepped into the light.
“Where are you?” Liesbet peered into the dark underbrush. “Come now, I know you’re here.”
Hannah clenched her hands. Liesbet was like a pesky gnat at times, always following her when she wanted to be alone. She was ready to step out from behind the tree to confront her when Liesbet spoke again, in English instead of Deitsch.
“George, stop playing games with me. You’re going to scare me.”
Hannah froze. Who was George?
Suddenly a man leaped from the trees behind Liesbet and caught her around the waist. She turned with a little shriek and fell into his arms.
“George, you did it again. I know you’re going to be the death of me one day.”
Hannah covered her mouth to keep a gasp from escaping. The man who had been hiding among the willows wasn’t Adam.
“Ah, lass, you’re so much fun to scare, but you know ’tis only me, not some ghoulie prowling around the woods here.”
Liesbet giggled and snuggled closer to George. As he turned into the moonlight, Hannah could see him clearly, from his blue corded trousers to the snug-fitting cap perched on top of his head. His cocky grin reminded her of a fox carrying off a chicken from the henhouse. Certainly not an Amish man, or even Mennonite or Dunkard. She had never seen him before, but Liesbet had, for sure. She ducked farther behind her tree before either one of them could spot her.
“Give us a kiss, lass. The boys and I are only here for the one night. We’re heading on to Philadelphia tomorrow.”
Hannah could hear the pout in Liesbet’s voice. “You’re going away again? You never spend any time with me.”
“Aye, and my sweet Lizzie, whenever I ask you to come along, you always play the little girlie who stays at home.”
“It wouldn’t be proper for me to tag along with you and your friends.”
George’s low laugh sent chills through Hannah. “No, lass, not proper at all.” Then his voice took on its teasing tone again. “Admit it, you’re just too young.”
