Wayne halted and waited for her to catch up to him. “What’s up, Ella?”
She stopped in front of his wheelchair and bent down so her umbrella covered both of them. “I need to talk to you about Jake Beechy.”
“What about Jake?”
“He’s been hanging around Loraine a lot lately. I think he wants to date her again.”
Wayne shrugged. “So, what’s that to me?”
Her eyes widened. “Are you kidding? Up until the day of our accident, you and Loraine were a happy couple looking forward to your wedding, and—”
“Things are different now. I’m not the man Loraine needs anymore.”
“How can you say that? Don’t you know how much she loves you?”
“I’m not sure she ever really loved me.” Wayne couldn’t keep the bitterness out of his tone. “As I’m sure you already know, she used to love Jake. I was only her second choice.”
“It may seem that way, but—”
“Loraine feels sorry for me now that I’m a cripple, and she thinks she has to keep her promise to marry me.” He shook his head. “But she doesn’t. I’ve released her of that promise and told her that she’s free to get back with Jake.”
“What if she doesn’t want Jake? What if she wants you?”
“Then she’ll have to make him her second choice, because we’re not getting back together so we won’t ever be getting married!”
Ella released an exasperated sigh. “I see your mamm’s waving for you to come, but I just want to say one more thing before you go.”
“What’s that?”
“If you want my opinion, you’re full of hochmut.”
“I am not full of pride; I’m just doing what I think is best.”
“Jah, well, if you don’t wake up and come to your senses soon, you’re going to live to regret it!”
Ella dashed off, and Wayne sat in the pouring down rain, shaking his head and feeling sorry for himself. “I already do regret it,” he mumbled, “but it’s the only way.”
CHAPTER 25
“How’s your throat feel today?” Ada asked when Crist entered the kitchen on Monday morning.
“Not so good. It’s even worse than it was two days ago.” He touched his throat and winced. “I can barely swallow.”
“Open your mouth and let me have a look-see,” she said, standing on her tiptoes.
He shook his head. “No need for that; you’re not a doctor.”
“I just want to see if your throat is red or swollen. If there are any white patches, it could mean that you have an infection.” Ada hurried across the room and opened a kitchen drawer. She returned, holding a flashlight. “Now, open real wide.”
Crist stood like a statue for several seconds, but finally grunted and opened his mouth.
Ada squinted as she shined the flashlight inside. “Umm ... I’m afraid your throat doesn’t look good at all. After breakfast, you’d better go on back to bed while I run out to the phone shed and call the doctor’s office.”
“Does my throat look that bad?”
She gave a slow nod. “You’ll probably need some antibiotics to get it under control.”
He groaned. “Oh, great. This is just not what I need this morning.”
“What’s not what you need?” Wayne asked, wheeling into the room.
“Your daed’s throat is still sore, and I think he needs to see the doctor.”
Wayne looked over at Crist. “That’s too bad, Pop. I was hoping you’d feel better this morning.”
“You and me both.”
Ada motioned to Wayne’s wheelchair. “How come you’re not wearing your prosthesis?”
“My leg’s kind of sore from where the appliance rubs, so I decided not to wear it today.”
“Maybe you need to have it adjusted,” Ada said. “Want me to see if Dr. Bower can take a look at it if I’m able to get an appointment for your daed today?”
“That’s okay,” Wayne said. “I have an appointment to see the specialist next Monday, so I’ll talk to him about my problem when I go in then.”
“You mean you’re not going to try that silly tapping method?” Ada still couldn’t believe her son thought something like that could actually work. But then, maybe it was a mind over matter kind of thing, and if that was the case, then he could have talked himself out of the pain.
Wayne shook his head. “The tapping method helped my phantom pains, but I don’t think it’ll take the place of an adjustment on my prosthesis.”
“So what are you going to do until next Monday—sit around in your wheelchair all the time?” Crist asked, giving Wayne a look of disapproval.
“I’ll try wearing the prosthesis again later today or tomorrow at the latest. It might feel better by then.” Wayne rolled his chair up to the table. “Is breakfast ready yet, Mom?”
“Not quite. The bacon’s still frying, and I have to do up some eggs.”
“No bacon for me,” Crist said. “I’d never be able to eat it.”
“How about some oatmeal?”
“That sounds good.”
She touched his arm. “If I do get an appointment for you, would you like me to go along?”
“No, thanks. I’ll probably run a few errands while I’m in town, so I might be gone awhile.”
“I wouldn’t mind running some errands with you,” she said.
He shook his head. “Thanks anyway, but I’ll go alone.”
“Whatever you say.” Ada shuffled over to the stove. It was obvious that Crist didn’t want her to go with him. Could he still be upset because she’d refused to go to Sarasota to celebrate their anniversary? Or was he worried that she might embarrass him by asking too many questions of the doctor?
She looked over at Crist and then at Wayne. Men can be so hard to figure out at times.
***
“Are you feeling okay this morning?” Ella asked her mother as they cleared the breakfast dishes from the table. “You look really tired, and I noticed during breakfast that your hands were shaking.”
“I think it’s all the excitement of the weekend. I was feeling pretty keyed up when we left the auction on Saturday, and then, with Sunday services being held here, it left me a bit drained.” Mom placed the plates she was holding into the kitchen sink. “I had a hard time sleeping last night, too, which didn’t help, either.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. Why don’t you go rest while Charlene and I do the dishes?”
“I really should go to Shipshewana this morning. I need to get some sewing notions at Spector’s.”
“Just give me a list of what you need, and I’ll run to town for you,” Ella said.
Mom smiled wearily. “Oh, I’d appreciate that. You’re such a thoughtful dochder.”
“Ella can go to town right now if you want her to,” Charlene spoke up as she brought the rest of the dishes to the sink. “I can manage to wash and dry the dishes on my own.”
“Are you sure you don’t mind?” Ella asked.
“Don’t mind a bit.”
Mom patted Charlene’s back. “Danki. You’re a thoughtful daughter, too.” She yawned noisily. “Now, I think I’ll go rest.”
“I’m worried about her,” Ella whispered after Mom had left the room. “She hasn’t been the same since Raymond died.”
Charlene wrinkled her nose. “Of course she hasn’t. What mother could be the same after one of their kinner passed away?”
Ella gave her sister a little nudge. “When did you get to be so schmaert?”
“I’ve always been smart,” Charlene said with a smirk. “You’ve just been too busy to notice.”
“Jah, maybe so.” Ella grabbed her sweater and black outer bonnet and hurried out the door.
After the heavy drizzle they’d had for the past two days, a thick layer of fog covered much of the land. Ella shivered and quickened her steps. She didn’t look forward to going anywhere in this chilly weather but figured the sooner she got it over with, the better it would be.
She hitched her horse to the buggy and was preparing to back away from the hitching rail when—whack!—something bumped the rear end of her buggy. Her head snapped forward and she gasped. “What on earth was that?”
She jerked the door open and was just getting ready to climb down, when Jake stepped up to her buggy. Ella squinted at him. “Did you have anything to do with that jolt I just felt?”
Jake nodded. “Afraid so. The front of my rig caught the back of your rig as I was pulling in. You ought to take a look behind you before you pull out.”
“Well, you shouldn’t have snuck up behind me like that. What are you doing here, anyway?”
“I wasn’t sneaking. I came to shoe one of your daed’s horses. Didn’t he tell you I was coming?”
“No, he sure didn’t.” Ella wrinkled her nose. “You shouldn’t have come barreling in here, smashing into my buggy.”
“I didn’t barrel or smash your buggy. It was only a little tap.” Jake thumped the spot where his chin dimple was and scowled at her. “Who gave you driving lessons, anyhow?”
“My daed, that’s who.”
“Well, he must have been wearin’ blinders.”
Refusing to let Jake get the best of her, Ella folded her arms and glared at him.
He motioned to the back of her buggy. “I don’t think any damage was done, so you needn’t look at me as though I’m your enemy.”
“There better not be any damage,” Ella said through tight lips. She rushed around to the back of the buggy and was relieved to see that there was no dent. Even so, she was irked at the way Jake kept smirking at her.
“You’re very inconsiderate, you know that, Jake?”
His eyebrows lifted. “You think I’m inconsiderate because I accidentally bumped your buggy?”
“I’m not just talking about the fact that you bumped my buggy.”
“What then?”
“I think you were very inconsiderate when you took off for Montana two years ago and left Loraine in the lurch. Don’t you know that it almost broke my cousin’s heart?”
Jake opened his mouth as if to defend himself, but Ella rushed on. “Your lack of consideration proves what kind of a person you are. I hope Loraine never believes anything you have to say, because I sure don’t!”
Ella thought she would feel better for spouting off like that, but all it had done was leave her with a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. She had watched Loraine mope around for months after Jake left Indiana. When he’d quit writing and didn’t return home, Ella was afraid Loraine might never get over being jilted by her first love. But then Wayne, bless his heart, had become Loraine’s good friend. Ella had been real pleased when the couple had fallen in love and become engaged to be married. She just wished Wayne hadn’t ruined things by breaking up with Loraine. Couldn’t he see that she would be better off with him than she would be with self-centered, selfish Jake?
Jake cleared his throat a couple of times and stared at the ground. “I know what I did was wrong, but I’ve grown up and changed since then.”
“Have you really? From what I heard, the only reason you came home at all was because you heard about the accident my cousins and I were in. If it hadn’t been for that, I’ll bet you’d still be in Montana playing cowboy.”
“Well, I—”
“You’d better not break Loraine’s heart again. I mean it, Jake.” Ella’s hand shook as she pointed at him. “Because if you do break my cousin’s heart, then you’ll have to answer to me!”
“I won’t break Loraine’s heart. I care about her a lot.”
“If you care about her so much, then you’ll leave her alone. She and Wayne are meant to be together, and if you’ll just stay out of the picture, I’m sure in time they’ll get back together.”
Jake looked like he was going to say something more, but Ella’s father showed up just then.
“Glad to see you made it here early,” he said, thumping Jake on the back. “I have a chiropractor’s appointment this morning and have to be there soon, and I’d like to get my horse shod before I go.” He looked over at Ella and smiled. “Your mamm said you were going to pick up some things for her in town, but I can do it if you’d rather stay home.”
Ella shook her head. “Since today’s my day off from working in your shop, I don’t mind going. In fact, getting away from here for a while might be just what I need.” She glanced over at Jake, but he shrugged and walked away.
Ella climbed into her buggy again, gathered up the reins, and headed down the driveway at a pretty good clip. She wished Jake would leave Indiana for good!
***
“Where are you going?” Wayne’s mother called as he headed for the back door, wearing his prosthesis.
“I’m sick of sitting around. I’m going outside to check on my lamb.”
“But I thought your leg was bothering you. You said earlier that you weren’t going to wear the prosthesis today.”
“I said I might try it later on, and I’ve decided to give it a try now.” Wayne hurried out the door before Mom could respond.
Once outside, he drew in a couple of deep breaths. The air felt clean and fresh after the rain they’d had. Even though the rain had stopped, the sun had tried all morning to make an appearance but never quite overcame the low-hanging clouds. He guessed that was better than chilling rain.
Wayne hobbled out to the fence that separated their yard from the pasture and stood watching the sheep graze. He couldn’t help but smile when Tripod let out a loud baa and headed straight for him. He bent over and reached through the fence so he could pet the sheep’s head. “You’ve accepted your plight in life, haven’t you, girl?” he murmured. “Sure wish I could do the same.”
Tripod turned and rubbed her side against the wooden boards on the fence.
“What’s the matter, girl? Have you got an itch?” He rubbed her wooly back and sides and snickered when she closed her eyes, obviously enjoying the attention.
He glanced over at the watering trough and noticed that it was almost empty. “Guess I’d better give you and the other sheep some fresh water to drink.”
Tripod let out a loud baa as Wayne moved away from the fence.
“Don’t worry, girl; I’ll be back.”
Wayne made his way over to the hose, turned on the water, and then hauled the hose back across the yard. That seemed easier than having to walk back to the spigot and turning the water on after he’d placed the hose in the trough.
Poking the hose through the fence slats, he let it drop into the trough. He then stood back and watched as Tripod and the other sheep eagerly drank their fill.
One of the more aggressive rams pushed two ewes out of the way and bunted the hose with his nose. The next thing Wayne knew, the hose was on the ground with water shooting into the air.
“Oh, great,” Wayne moaned. He reached through the slats to grab the hose, and at the same time his hat fell off his head and landed in the pasture on the other side of the fence.
He winced as he hobbled over to the gate and stepped into the pasture. The part of his leg where the prosthesis was attached had begun to throb.
Wayne leaned down to retrieve the hat, when—whoomp!—the rambunctious ram butted him from behind, sending him into the watering trough with a splash!
Wayne gasped as the chilly water hit his body. Gritting his teeth, he grabbed the edge of the trough and tried to pull himself up. Splash!—he fell right back in.
He tried two more times to get out of the water, but with no success. He realized that he had no other choice but to call for help and hope that Mom would hear him hollering from inside the house.
Just then, a van pulled into the yard and stopped near the fence. A middle-aged English man got out.
“Looks like you’re in need of some help,” he said, stepping into the pasture.
Wayne accepted the man’s hand, despite the humiliation he felt over being found in such an awkward, embarrassing position.
“Thanks,” h
e mumbled as the man pulled him to his feet. “I was stuck in there and couldn’t get out.”
The man chuckled. “If it was a warm summer day, I might have thought you were trying to cool off, but since winter will be coming soon, I’m guessing you didn’t purposely take a dip in that old water trough.”
“No, I sure didn’t.” Wayne shook his head, spraying water everywhere. “One of our rams knocked me into the trough when I was trying to pick up my hat. I never even saw it coming.”
The man’s gaze traveled around the pasture. “Say, did you know that one of your ewes is limping real bad?” he asked, pointing to Wayne’s crippled lamb.
“That’s Tripod. She had one of her legs amputated not long ago.” Wayne pulled up his pant leg, exposing his prosthesis. “See, just like me.”
A look of shock registered on the man’s face. “I didn’t realize you had only one leg.”
“Lost it in an accident a few months ago. If you live around here, I’m surprised you didn’t hear about it.”
“Actually, I’m new to the area,” the man said. “One of my friends told me that an Amish man runs a taxidermy shop here, so I brought over a couple of pheasants I’d like to have stuffed.”
“It’s my dad’s business, but he’s not here right now,” Wayne said. “You can leave the birds with me if you like, and I’ll see that he gets ’em.” He motioned to the house. “If you’d like to put the pheasants on the back porch and come inside with me, I’ll take down your information and give it to Pop as soon as he gets back.”
“Oh, okay.”
The man followed Wayne up to the house. When they stepped into the kitchen, Mom greeted them with a frown. “What happened to you, Wayne? Your clothes are sopping wet!”
“I fell in the watering trough, and this nice man was kind enough to help me out.”
Mom regarded the Englisher with a curious stare. “I don’t believe I’ve met you before.”
He extended his hand. “My name’s Howard McKenna. I brought some pheasants by to have them stuffed.”
“Oh, I see. Well, my husband’s not here right now.”
“Yes, I know. I’m going to leave the pheasants, as well as my name and phone number. He can call me whenever they’re done.”
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