He seemed to reach for something. She put her hand in his, and he tightened his fingers as if needing reassurance that someone was here. She used her free hand to touch his face, hoping to coax him to respond. “It’s okay. I’ve got help on the line. Do you know where we are?”
He stirred, even opened his mouth, but she could hear no words.
She moved her ear closer to his face again.
“Zook … Road. Three miles … north of … Cherry Hill … intersection.”
Tears welled in Sadie’s eyes. “Excellent!” She caressed his face as she reported this to the operator. The woman on the other end of the line repeated it back to her.
“Yes. That’s right.”
The woman didn’t respond.
“Hello?”
Nothing.
“Hello?”
Sadie looked at the phone. No lights were on. She punched several buttons but heard no sound of any kind.
The man raised a hand.
She clutched it and lowered it to his side. “Stay still, please.”
He shivered, and she frowned. It was hot and muggy, but he breathed and trembled as if he were freezing. Sadie went to her horse, removed Bay’s saddle, and plunked it to the ground. She grabbed the blanket and unfolded it while walking back to him. After covering him with it and tucking it around him as best she could, she sat beside him.
“Help’s on the way.” Since his arms were under the blanket and he responded well to touch, she stroked his cheek. Thank heaven, his shaking had eased.
Under the glow of the moon, she saw him close his eyes. His body went limp. She jabbed her fingers into his neck, feeling a faint rhythm. “Hey! Wake up!” She screamed in his face. “Can you hear me?”
But he didn’t budge, and his pulse seemed to fade.
A female voice commanded Levi to wake up. He pried his eyes open.
The outline of a woman hovered over him. She held a cell phone in one hand. Did angels wear jeans and boots and carry a phone?
She seemed perturbed with the phone as she kept pressing numbers. He tried to speak but only managed a moan.
She crouched beside him. “Stay still. Completely still. Okay?”
He wanted to get his hand free of the blanket, but when he tried, she lowered the cover and firmly intertwined her fingers with his. “It’s okay. Help is on the way.”
“You’re no angel.”
She laughed. “I’m afraid my father would agree with you completely, especially if he arrives at my grandmother’s place to discover I’m not there.”
“He’ll be worried.”
“No. He’ll know I’ve gone riding. He’ll just be angry.” She released his hand and eased his arm to his side. “What’s your name?”
His head pounded. He had to concentrate to answer her. “Levi.”
“I’m Sadie.” She sat down next to him.
“Amigo … my horse … Is he hurt?”
“He’s spooked but appears fine. I think he needs a name change, however, because that horse is no friend of yours.”
Her sense of playfulness brought him some much-needed relief. He mustered his strength to talk. “I can’t. I have no idea what the Spanish word is for ‘enemy.’ ”
“Believe it or not, it’s enemigo.”
“You’re making that up.”
“One might think that, but I promise it’s true.” She shifted. “Do you live around here?”
“On Hertzler Drive.”
“Is that near Hertzlers’ Dry Goods?”
His head throbbed, and he closed his eyes.
“Levi, look at me.”
He tried but couldn’t find the strength. Her hands cradled his face.
“Levi,” she sang his name. “Open your eyes.” She paused. “Levi, now!”
A sensation of being pulled from the bottom of a pond tugged him awake. “It’s not nice to yell at people you just met.”
“If you don’t open those eyes, I’m going to slap someone I just met.”
It wasn’t easy, but he made himself look at her.
“Good.” She smiled. “I was asking where you live.”
“A mile or so from the dry goods store.”
“I’ve been to that store with Mammi.”
His head spun. He’d never been so befuddled, but did she use the word Mammi? “You have Amish family?”
She hesitated. “Sort of.” She stood. “I need to get something. Stay very still.”
“You’re leaving me?”
“I may hurt you if you close your eyes, but I’m not leaving.” Then she disappeared.
She sort of had Amish family? Did that mean some of her family was once Amish but no longer?
She returned with a saddle, which she put near his shoulder. When she sat, she propped her elbow on it and leaned her head on her hand. “I’m just getting comfortable. I imagine, with the holiday, ambulance services are very busy. One might not show up for a while.”
Pain shot through him, and he moaned despite his resolve. His breath came in short, catching spurts. “Sorry. My left leg hurts.”
“Try not to think about it.”
He glanced up at her, studying her features. “Great plan.”
She chuckled. “Got a better one?”
“No.”
“Since we’re strangers, how about if we play twenty questions?”
He took short breaths. “I already asked one. You didn’t answer.”
She propped her knuckles over her mouth, watching him. “The question game is a good one—short, back and forth, only discussing things each of us is interested in. But before I began my ride tonight, I was careful so no one could connect me to my relatives in Apple Ridge, and if I answer you, I would place in your hands the power to change my life. I won’t give that to anyone.”
That was a telling statement. Did she mean it? “Not anyone? Ever? Not even the man you love?”
“Especially not him.”
Despite his pain, an eerie sensation swept over him. “I’m not really awake, am I?”
She leaned close, peering into his eyes. “Levi?”
The warmth of her hand against his cheek seemed real, but he had to be dreaming. Catching a glimpse of her heart was like seeing into his own—filled with distrust and determination to steer life onto the safest path possible. Maybe this was God’s way of talking to him. He was convinced the world was too big for this kind of coincidence. For him to be thrown from his horse, land on his back in the middle of nowhere, then be found by a woman whose thinking was so close to his own?
This was no coincidence.
Well, real or dream, he needed her to tell him more. “After what you’re doing for me, do you think I’d betray your confidence?”
“Probably not, unless it profited you in some way, through money, pleasure, or maybe just ego.”
He closed his eyes, trying to block out the pain. “I think you’ve got me beat.”
“How so?”
“I thought I was distrusting of the opposite gender. You’re way beyond distrust and square in the middle of intolerance. Why?”
She started to pull her hand away. He reached for it and then howled in pain from the movement. “If we wrestle, I’ll lose.”
She held his hand and eased it to his chest. “Then let’s not. I’d hate to have to live with the guilt of having beat up someone I was trying to help.”
“I appreciate that.”
“Do you have someone special, Levi?”
“Do this often, do you? Find broken men sprawled in a dark field and ask them out? I’m in no mood for a date, but thanks.”
She laughed, and the sound echoed against the night, easing his concern that she wasn’t real.
He drummed his fingers on his chest, feeling more clearheaded. Except for his leg, his pain was subsiding. “Much to my family’s horror, I’m seeing no one.”
“Boy, do I understand that. I didn’t think parents were as hard on guys about that.”
“You haven’
t met my brother. He’s the worst.”
“Okay, twenty questions, but past loves are off-limits.”
She must have been in love at least once. He’d like to ask her about it, to understand what it felt like, what the big pull to find someone was really about.
He drew a sharp breath as pain throbbed through his leg and lower back.
She tucked the blanket around him and took his hand in hers again. “I’m Amish, and so is my family. But that’s not how we’re going to play this game. I’ll ask a question, and I’ll have twenty tries to get the right answer. You simply say yes or no. Whoever asks the fewest questions before coming up with the right answer wins. My turn. What color are your eyes?”
“That’s hardly fair. There are only a few choices of eye color.”
“Brown?”
“Someone give the lady a cigar.”
“No thanks. I gave them up last week.”
“My turn to guess yours. Brown?”
“Nope.”
“Blue?”
“Nope.”
“Green?”
“Nope.”
“Okay, you’re just lying to me.”
“I’m not.” Sadie giggled.
“I’m injured, and you’re fibbing to win the game.”
“They’re hazel.”
“Isn’t that a shade of brown?”
“Technically I think it is. But if I wear green, my eyes look green. If I wear blue, they look gray.”
“So what color do they look when you wear purple polka dots?”
“I told you, I’m as Amish as you are. There is no wearing of polka dots. Did you fall off your horse or something?”
He liked her spunk and how she said things dryly when teasing. “I hope we’re here when the sun comes up, because I want to see your weird eyes.”
“Do you want my entire family, including Mammi Lee, to turn my future inside out just so you can look into my eyes?”
“Well, since you put it that way … yes.” He smiled as she chuckled. “I know a few Mammi Lees in the area.”
“No shortage of Lees in this neck of the woods.”
“You know someone Amish who has a unique name?”
She chuckled again. “You can choose any combination of names, and I bet you and I both know at least ten people with the same name.”
“Which Mammi Lee is yours?”
“Verna Lee. Her husband was a woodworker who once made toys for Hertzlers’.”
“I know Verna. We don’t live in the same church district, so I haven’t seen her in years. But my older brother apprenticed under your grandfather, and I went with him a time or two when I was around fifteen. One time she received a package from you. She loved her little Sadie, the girl who made soaps and candles and sent them to her.”
“One of Verna Lee’s grandchildren. Number four thousand five hundred and eighty-two, I think.”
He chuckled.
Fireworks boomed in the distance, and Sadie jolted. “It’s okay,” he said. “I’ll keep you safe.”
“Uh-huh.” Her playful tone mocked him.
Without moving his head, he could see multicolored flashes of light in the sky behind Sadie. “Look.”
She turned. “Beautiful.”
If the fireworks weren’t exploding in the sky within his direct gaze, he wouldn’t be able to see them. Of course, they could see only a portion of the light display. She moved to his other side so she could see them and face him. They watched in silence for a little while.
She patted the blanket, probably to make sure it was keeping him warm. “Does your brother make toys?”
“He did. I took over.”
Her eyes grew large, and for once he didn’t feel self-conscious for admitting he made toys. It wasn’t his only business, but he enjoyed doing it. Their conversation kept a steady pace, and they stopped talking in English. It surprised him how much they could talk about and how interesting he found each topic. It’d come naturally to tell her he lived with his brother and nephew, but he’d stopped short of saying anything about his missing sister-in-law. Thankfully, either Sadie hadn’t noticed, or she was too polite to ask. They even talked about where she lived and her need to earn money to return to the mission field. He was so caught up in their conversation, he didn’t notice when the fireworks ended.
She tilted her head and sat up. “I hear a siren. It’s probably the ambulance. I’d better move to the road so I can flag them down.” She stood, brushing off her clothes. “I need to get back to Mammi’s as soon as you’re in the ambulance. Is there someone I can call for you?”
“You can find my brother’s phone number in your Mammi’s Amish directory. It’s Andy Fisher on Hertzler Drive.”
“You stay still. Okay?”
“Denki, Sadie.”
She smiled. “You’re most welcome, Levi.”
She hurried toward the road, and Levi wondered if he’d ever see her again. As odd as it seemed, he hoped he would.
Beth fidgeted with her patient gown as she sat across from the doctor. Her heart was racing.
Pregnant?
She had missed a couple of cycles, but that wasn’t unusual.
Pregnant? By the time she and Jonah had married, they were a decade older than most Amish newlyweds. They’d discussed children before they married, and their conclusion was to be grateful and content to have each other. Their well-meaning relatives on both sides of the family had said that because of their ages, it could take them longer to conceive than most Amish newlyweds. So she and Jonah had agreed not to put pressure on themselves about having babies.
Jonah had stronger opinions about conceiving than she did. He suggested they ignore the possibility, not think or talk about it for at least two years. After they were married, she’d found it very comforting to know he wasn’t quietly pacing the floors, needing her to come up pregnant before he could feel satisfied or complete. Now, a mere seven months later, they were expecting.
“You’re sure?” Beth tried to steady her voice.
He chuckled. “My practice is among the Amish, and whenever a married woman comes in with any flu-type symptoms, we run a blood test to check for pregnancy.”
Beth ran her hand over her flat stomach. Jonah would be beyond thrilled. Excitement skittered through her.
The doctor stood. “Since you’re unsure of your last cycle, I’d like to do a sonogram.”
She nodded. He helped her lie back on the table. A nurse came in, and within a minute Beth saw a tiny, shadowy image on the monitor. Tears trailed down her face as the baby’s heartbeat pulsed fast and loud. This tiny being had a heartbeat! Their child had been growing inside her, and she hadn’t even realized it.
The realization of life’s many gifts lingered in front of her, and she couldn’t help but admire them. How had she gone from being a lonely woman wearing all black to being married to someone as perfect for her as Jonah? And now they were expecting their first child!
The doctor angled the wand one way and then another. Each time, he tapped some keys on the keyboard, and then green lines showed up on the monitor. “According to the measurements, I’d say you’re about eleven weeks along. Most women feel a surge of nausea at around eight weeks.”
“Food has tasted funny, and I haven’t been very hungry. I remember feeling sleepy at the oddest times for a while, but I thought it was because the store’s been busier than usual since we added larger-ticket items to our inventory.”
He put the wand on the cart, and the nurse cleaned the gooey stuff off Beth’s stomach.
“We’ll let you get dressed, and then I’ll be back to talk.”
Both the nurse and the doctor left the room. She felt … invincible, as if the fear and death and sadness of the world couldn’t erase the joys she and Jonah would have raising this child. Tears welled again. Once dressed, she sat in a chair and poured out thanks to God for this gift.
There was a knock on the door, and the doctor came in. He asked questions, answered the o
nes she could think up at the moment, gave her papers and pamphlets and loads of instructions and a prescription for vitamins. She couldn’t wait to tell Jonah.
As hard as it was to keep secrets from her driver, Beth didn’t say anything to her about being pregnant. Gloria had been her driver since Beth was eighteen, but Jonah had to be the first to hear Beth’s news. When Gloria parked in front of the store, Beth hurried inside.
She made sure her expression was normal. Numerous employees said hello when she entered. She spoke to each while looking around the store for her husband. Finally she spotted him stocking candles.
As soon as he saw her, he asked, “How are you feeling?”
“Better.”
He smiled, a sense of calm radiating from him. “Gut.”
“But I didn’t need a doctor because of a virus. By the time I arrived at his office, I was over it.”
“It’s still good you went.”
“True.” She took him by the hand, and without asking any questions, he followed her into the office and closed the door. They shared lunches here and talked about business, but most of all, this was where they went when they needed to talk … or steal a few kisses.
When they were courting, after their engagement but before he moved to Apple Ridge, she’d sit in the office and talk to him on the phone for hours.
Now she sat on the front edge of the desk. They were about to share the greatest gift yet with each other.
“What’s on your mind, sweetheart?”
“I have news. Good news.” She took his hand and put it over her stomach. “I heard our child’s heartbeat today.”
Jonah’s brows tightened, as if he feared he’d heard her wrong. “You’re pregnant?”
“Due the third week in January.”
Jonah hollered and picked her up. She giggled. “Shh. Everyone must have heard you.”
He set her down and jerked open the door. Several people were staring at the office.
“It’s okay, folks. I just heard good news concerning the arrival of an important item.” He closed the door. “They’re fine now.”
She laughed.
He hugged her tight. “I never imagined being so happy.”
“Me either.” Her lips met his, and she relished the moment.
The phone rang. She had to answer it. If she didn’t, one of the girls would come into the office to get it. Beth picked up the receiver. “Hertzlers’ Dry Goods.”
The Dawn of Christmas: A Romance from the Heart of Amish Country Page 4
