A Christmas Haven

by Cindy Woodsmall

  “Next time I better wear a head-to-toe cover-up. Got it.” He smiled at her. “Have a great day at work, Holly. Love you. I know you’re worried about getting everything handled before the wedding, but we have this.”

  “Love you too.” They’d talked about his bishop numerous times, and Josh was trying to ease the man into the twenty-first century concerning Holly’s job, but it was no easy feat to get an Amish bishop to think outside the Old Ways. Josh felt hopeful about it, and he had time to continue talking to his bishop since it was nearly half of a year until December.

  She walked to the driveway and hopped into Julie’s car. “Thanks for the ride.”

  Julie adjusted the rearview mirror. “It’s no trouble at all, especially with our schedules lining up today. How’s Magda feeling?”

  “Good. But she’s still sick to her stomach at times, even with the nausea meds.”

  “I checked on her last week, but I’d like to do so again before they leave the area.” Jules picked up her speed.

  Holly used a fingernail to scrape at some dried paint on her forearm. “Sure. Anytime that works for you. They don’t leave the farm right now.”

  It seemed that everyone on the Zook farm except her had a secret. Arlan and Magda didn’t want their parents to discover where they were staying. Mamm was unhappy with Ivy for reasons she didn’t want to talk about. But what weighed on Holly was Ivy’s secret.

  What was going on in her little sister’s life that was so bad she wasn’t talking to Holly about it?

  * * *

  With a rope tied around his waist and the far end of it anchored to a rafter inside the barn, Arlan used every muscle in his body as he maneuvered across the roof to put a new sheet of tin into place. Sweat poured as the bright July sun bore down. It was still morning, maybe eleven, but he felt as if he was standing in an oven.

  In his two weeks of being here, he’d found plenty of wood, tin, and nails in the carriage house to make repairs. The only thing this farm lacked was manpower. He removed his work gloves and shoved them into his tool belt before kneeling and hammering the metal into place. When it was finally secured, he put the tools in his belt and used the rope to climb to a hole he had made in the roof, a small area he’d have to seal and waterproof when the job was complete. He shimmied through the hole and landed on his feet in the hayloft. After removing the rope, he climbed down the haymow’s ladder. The repairs to the roof were almost finished. He needed only one more sheet of tin.

  He stepped out of the dairy barn, wishing he could go to his favorite stream to cool off. The shower inside the house did the job. He got plenty clean. But in other ways it made him feel dirtier. Did that make him a hypocrite? It wasn’t as if he kept all the Swartzentruber rules—either here or at home. Since moving into the room above the carriage house, he’d spent time each evening reading one of the fiction books he’d brought with him. He also wrote to Lorraine in the evenings, although he’d yet to send a letter. Even so, writing made him feel connected to his dreams.

  While walking toward the carriage house to get the last needed piece of tin, he spotted Magda in the vegetable garden to the left of the house. She was picking fist-sized tomatoes and placing them in a basket. His heart warmed. She was getting better. They could do this. But it was time to talk to Magda about leaving soon.

  “Hallo,” Magda called, smiling. Then she bent down and pulled a weed.

  He returned her wave and headed that way. When he and Magda left here, hopefully in the next day or two, nothing would leak, and no one would be at risk of a rung breaking or being gouged by a rusted, broken nail. He felt good that he was leaving this place in better condition than when he’d arrived. He’d even fixed the steps to the room above the carriage house. That space was now suitable for the Zooks to rent out, as long as the person was like him and didn’t mind living without plumbing. It was an easy walk to the house, and Betty could provide meals for the hired help.

  Once beside his sister, he crouched and pulled several weeds and tossed them on the pile Magda had started. “Isn’t it a little hot for you to be working in the garden?” Did Betty know she was out here weeding? Even in the borrowed Old Order clothes, which had fewer layers and were made of lighter material, the heat had to be hard on a pregnant woman.

  “Ha. This is light duty compared to what I’d be doing at home, and you know it.” She wiped her forehead with her sleeve.

  He knew that for sure, but she’d almost landed in the hospital just two weeks ago. He felt as if he’d repaid the debt to Betty, Ivy, and Holly, but it would be harder to pay Lyle for all the damages to the pharmacy. The sooner he could find a job, the sooner he could start sending funds to Greene’s to chip away at his debt for both the crash and Magda’s medicines. However, he wasn’t sure farmers were hiring now like they were ten years ago. There was a lot of dormant farmland around these parts, both where he lived and here. Would that be true farther north also? Even if it was, how was he going to earn his parents’ good graces once he returned home? Would the New York Swartzentrubers understand his actions? Would Lorraine?

  He tried not to dwell on these questions. Surely God would give him insight when the time came. Whatever he needed to do later to repent, he knew for sure that his best chance of smoothing things over would be not staying here one day longer than was medically necessary. The two sects were outwardly polite, but the Swartzentrubers—or at least his small community—harbored prejudices against the Old Order. He struggled with the more lenient ways himself, although their love and kindness to him and his sister seemed very biblical.

  His sister pointed to the large basket of shiny tomatoes that was sitting on the ground. “When I fill this basket, Betty and I are going to make some sauce and then can it. Later we’re going to try a new soap recipe. After a week of resting, I couldn’t take it anymore, so last week I made milk-and-honey soaps. Did you know that she took them to a farmer’s market yesterday? She sold all twelve bars. I made forty-eight dollars!”

  “Magda…” He hated to deflate her excitement, but he had to. “You know it’s time for us to leave, right?”

  Her smile fell. “I…I’m not ready, and they like us here. I know Betty does.”

  Betty did seem to enjoy their presence. She was busy with cleaning houses, and she’d voiced time and again how nice it was not to need to milk the cows too. It was a bit odd that Betty talked to Arlan earlier today about her possibly needing to increase the herd, but the conversation seemed unrelated to Magda and Arlan staying. Betty seemed to simply need information about a topic Arlan was familiar with.

  “Magda, we need to go and soon. Look at you. You’re well enough to make soaps and weed the garden. We can get enough antinausea tablets from the pharmacy to get you through any more bouts of sickness. This isn’t our home.”

  Magda went from crouching to sitting. “I know you’re still planning to work for Englisch farmers up north, but hear me out. Before we arrived here, a widow and her two daughters held this farm together. Betty wants us here. She already told me that we could stay longer. She said we could stay all the way until December when the baby is born. Longer, even.”

  That wasn’t at all the impression Arlan had from Ivy, not that he’d spoken with her much since their conversation in the barn the first morning he and Magda were here. She cleaned homes with her Mamm and had some sort of side business.

  “You’re not thinking this through.”

  “But Betty’s thrilled at all you’ve been—”

  “I know.” He really didn’t want to hear any more. “And I’m glad she doesn’t think we’ve overstayed our welcome. I also know it feels like we’re in a new land, but we’re only eight miles from home. A forty-five-minute buggy ride or ten-minute car ride isn’t far enough to keep our whereabouts quiet for much longer. Word is going to spread, and someone from home will find us.”

  She shook her hea
d. “Nee. Betty told her bishop that we’re here. He said that he would visit when time allows and that he welcomes Swartzentruber Amish and that no one will turn us in. You know how the Amish are, Swartzentruber or Old Older. When we agree to keep a thing quiet in our home or community, it stays quiet. The Zooks’ bishop said we can even go to church next Sunday.”

  How could she think that getting comfortable with the Old Order ways was good for them?

  He pulled several more weeds. “We’re too close. Besides that, what are you thinking? You sound as if you’re getting used to this life.”

  She plucked a few blades of grass from the ground. “Is that such a bad thing?”

  Was he now the parent who had to correct her? “Our parents were wrong to treat you as they did, but they are our family, and I believe in our way of life. Don’t fall for this cushy way of living, Magda.”

  “My entire life I’ve hauled water from our hand pump in the yard—all day, every day. Maybe having indoor water isn’t a temptation. Maybe it’s an invitation to relax and enjoy life.”

  Was it her nature to be easily pulled away from their ways? “You know why we don’t have that at home. In Jesus’s day they had a community well. Why is that not good enough for us? How can we follow Him if we can’t even bear dealing with something so simple?”

  “But they didn’t have hand pumps outside their houses either, and we do. Did Jesus ever say, ‘Don’t have running water in your house’?”

  He stood and looked at the Zooks’ house. Why was he arguing with his seventeen-year-old sister? She’d obviously been spending too much time with Betty—and maybe Ivy. These people weren’t a good influence.

  Magda got up, walked over to Arlan, and looked him in the eye. “I appreciate everything you’ve done, everything you’ve sacrificed to get me here and feeling better. I know it’s not been easy for you. But I’m staying.”

  He couldn’t believe his ears. “Just like that? Decision made? You don’t care that if you’re caught, you’ll be hauled back home?”

  “I won’t be caught, and if I get sick again, I have Doc Jules to give me fluids and medicine. She’s working with a midwife to make sure my baby is healthy. I think I’m starting to believe that both of us”—she rested a hand on her belly—“will make it through this alive. But I understand if you need to go home.”

  Everything in him disagreed with her assessment of the Old Order ways, but he couldn’t force her to leave, and he wasn’t leaving without her. “The only reason I’m here is because of you. If I went home without you, Daed and Mamm would demand to know where you are. I wouldn’t tell them, but I’d be in worse trouble than if I just stay gone.” If he returned but didn’t repent and confess where Magda was, Lorraine’s bishop would never allow him to join the New York community.

  “Denki.”

  “I don’t want to be thanked. Do you understand how our people will feel about us staying in an Old Order Amish home? We can explain the last two weeks. You had serious medical needs, and I worked the farm to help pay for the Zooks’ kindness. We can’t explain staying any longer than two weeks. We need to leave.”

  She pursed her lips and nodded. “I’m sure Mamm and Daed have checked with the New York community to see if we turned up there. Have you told Lorraine where we are? She’ll be worried.”

  His sister was probably feeling guilty for the trouble his absence from their community could cause with Lorraine, her family, and the church leaders.

  “I’ve written a lot, but I haven’t sent a letter yet.” He used both hands to pick up the mound of pulled weeds. It was odd how good it felt simply to write even if he didn’t mail the letter. He hadn’t expected that. “But I didn’t mention the baby.”

  Magda frowned. “Then what was there to say?”

  “My thoughts and feelings about you being so sick and us leaving, about me buying a car and what it felt like to leave. Do you mind if I tell her about…the baby?”

  “It’s fine. I’ve repented of my sin, and I’ll own up to my mistake to whoever I need to, but I’m raising this child. You’re free to tell her all of that. Just don’t give her this address, okay?”

  He’d given up everything to help his sister, and now she refused to leave with him? “I will tell her, and she’s sure to feel obligated to share that with her bishop. So I suggest you plan on saying your goodbyes to the Zook family, and we leave in two days.” He had specific tasks he wanted to complete before they left. It seemed the right thing to do, and it would be very helpful to Betty and Ivy if he finished them.

  “And go where?” Magda dusted her hands together. “And how will we get there?”

  “You get yourself ready. God will provide the answers soon enough.”

  His sister stared at him. “You’re being unreasonable.”

  “Me?” Was that true?

  “You sound like Daed.”

  His shoulders slumped. He never wanted to sound like their Daed. “Magda, we’re gambling with both of our futures if we stay here. Mine because I’ll be in so much more trouble for continuing to stay at an Amish home. And you’re at risk because you’re a minor. If someone shows up, you could be forced to return home.”

  “This is our safest place to be, Arlan. We’re welcome. Betty said that she and her daughters would appreciate our staying. Your work is valued. If I need medical assistance, it’s available. We never would’ve dreamed God would open such a place to us. It and the Zooks are a gift.”

  He sat on the grass, mulling over his sister’s words. Why didn’t he just leave Magda here and go? She was safe. He could return home and refuse to say where she was until she turned eighteen, which would happen in three months. He didn’t know the answer to his question, but his reasons for not leaving seemed to run deeper than its causing more trouble for him to return and yet not inform them where Magda was. He’d helped Magda run away, and he couldn’t imagine leaving her behind.

  Magda glanced at him. “If you send a letter to Lorraine, even without including the address, she’ll know what area we’re in by the postmark on the letter. That could be enough of a clue for us to be found. Doc Jules asked us to stay two weeks at a bare minimum. Let’s be safe in every possible way and stay longer.”

  Maybe she was right. He could do some bigger projects on the farm if he had more time, and he certainly didn’t want to leave with Magda if she might relapse. “Two more weeks, Magda. Just two. Then we have to go somewhere else so I can earn money to put toward paying Mr. Greene back for the storefront window.”

  “You gave him all we had. How much more do you owe?”

  “I’m unsure. He doesn’t want to say the amount outright, but I imagine it’s a few thousand dollars.”

  Magda nodded. “Maybe you could find a way to earn money from here. I’ll make more soaps, and you can have every penny of the money I earn.”

  He didn’t want her money. He wanted her cooperation in leaving.

  Magda started to say something, but the sound of a car pulling up caught their attention. His heart raced. Had their parents found them?

  Ivy got out of the vehicle. She noticed him and gave a little wave. The muscles across his shoulders relaxed, and he returned the wave.

  He had no desire to be unyielding like his Daed, but was he compromising too much by staying here? Worse, was he letting himself be led around by a house full of women?

  Nine

  Ivy closed the door of Tegan’s small sedan, watching Arlan and Magda in the side yard next to the garden. At least Magda had on some of Ivy’s clothes so she didn’t attract the attention of those who pulled up their long driveway. Arlan was the sore thumb sticking out because of his long hair. She rolled her eyes. Juvenile, yes, but no one saw her response. He was just standing out in the open.

  Tegan opened her car door, stepped out, and cupped her hand over her eyes to block the sun. “Who’
s that?”

  “He’s the guy that’s staying with my family and sleeping in the carriage house. And the woman is his sister.”

  “Oh, the one who’s been milking the cows for you.” Tegan grinned at Ivy across the top of the car. “He’s not bad looking. But it’s hard to tell with that hat.”

  Tegan didn’t know he was a Swartzentruber, so Ivy had no need to tell her to keep his presence a secret.

  Ivy leaned an elbow on the top of the car. “It wouldn’t matter if he was the most handsome man in the state. Trust me.” It was time for him and Magda to leave any day now. That was yet another uncomfortable subject to bring up with Mamm. She seemed to be encouraging them to stay. “He believes his thinking is on target and everybody else is missing the target by miles.”

  “Yeah, you’re right. It wouldn’t matter how good looking he is. On a better note, you have good news for your mom.”

  “I do.” But Ivy’s insides clenched. “Still, my leaving is a sore topic, whether we’re talking October or January.” Ivy had felt forced into a hard conversation this morning with her future landlord. Clara had been reluctant, but she had finally agreed to Ivy’s compromise. Mamm should be relieved. “Regardless of how Mamm feels, we continue booking parties and making plans for our future, Tegan.”

  Tegan pointed at her. “That’s my future roommate.” She opened her car door. “See you soon.”

  “Ya. Okay.”

  Tegan started her car and drove down the long gravel driveway. Ivy drew a deep breath. I come bearing good news, Mamm. Ivy’s plan for moving out had become equivalent to a clothesline running through the kitchen, one she and Mamm had bumped into daily for the past couple of weeks. No more avoiding the subject.

  She went through the screen door and into the house. “Mamm?”

  “I’m here, in the kitchen.”