Then she’d opened the shed door. In a moment of time, as quickly as the hope of being loved had come to her, it had fled. Every hope of marrying Daniel shattered. The laughter of their future children silenced.
She’d run back to the house, fleeing a truth she could not escape. Once inside, she’d slammed the door tight, locked it, then fallen against the frame and wept. When she’d looked up, dozens of her relatives and Daniel’s were staring at her. She’d forgotten they were there to help prepare for her and Daniel’s wedding day.
Daniel and Aquilla had pounded on the door, demanding she let them in.
Sadie’s Daed had hurried to her, asking what was going on, and she’d whispered what she’d witnessed. The emotions that crossed her Daed’s face mirrored her own. He’d been the one to encourage the relationship, nudging the two of them together from the moment Daniel had arrived in the community. When Daed had opened the door to Aquilla and Daniel, Sadie had expected their guilt to be evident on their faces. But they’d looked only upset, and Aquilla’s first words were a lie she didn’t even stumble over.
Aquilla’s eyes had glistened with tears, and her angelic face radiated sincerity. “I fell off a stepladder, and he caught me.” She’d turned to face everyone in the room. “She’s insecure about Daniel, imagining her worst fears concerning him.” She’d wiped tears from her face. “Why would I want the only man she’s ever dated when I can date anyone I choose?”
Immediately the heads of loved ones had begun to nod, and murmurs rippled through the room. Daniel had stood by quietly, neither denying nor confirming Aquilla’s account. Her cousin had skillfully planted doubt in everyone’s mind, and in so doing, Sadie felt what little strength she still possessed drain from her. It wasn’t Sadie’s nature to defend herself, to stir anger and resentment when the argument would still leave people unsure of who was right.
If given time, would Daniel take up Aquilla’s lie too?
Sadie closed her eyes, trying to reconcile what was happening with what was supposed to take place tomorrow. She pulled free of her cousin’s hand and rose, hoping her legs would not fail her. Standing mere feet from Daniel, she stared into his eyes, remembering how they’d grown so close over the past months, talking for hours, laughing at things only they shared. She studied him now. Who was this stranger? What did he see when he looked at her? Did his heart break for all he’d forsaken?
He gazed at her. “I swear to you on my life, nothing like this has happened before or ever will again.”
She was tempted to believe him. But how could she be sure? Did he mean what he said, or would he say anything to end this nightmare?
She’d never know.
What she did know was that her family believed she’d remain unwed forever if she didn’t marry Daniel. Even rebellious teens weren’t gawked at or gossiped about like a woman who had never married—at least until the woman was past thirty. Then everyone accepted her fate without further discussion.
Daniel angled his head. “Don’t call off the wedding, Sadie,” he whispered. “It’ll cause a scandal. And there’s no sense in trying to weather that.”
Visions of him with Aquilla tore at her again. His mouth pressed against Aquilla’s, his hands under her dress, roaming over her body. The pain struck again, so deep, so intense, Sadie longed to ease it. She only needed to nod, and he’d embrace her. Relief would rush through him and their families, and everyone would surround her with words of hope and encouragement. Her pain would ease.
But would it ever go away?
She feared not. Doubt would fade when she was in his arms, then grow as bright and scorching as an August sun when she wasn’t.
Could she live with that? The seconds ticked by as she studied him, and anger grew in Daniel’s eyes.
“Despite what you thought you saw,”—Daniel took a step back, talking loudly enough for most everyone to hear him—“Aquilla has told the truth, and I’m begging you not to call off the wedding over a misunderstanding.”
His words hit hard, and she felt the weight of judgment from her family and his bear down on her. Trembling, Sadie struggled to catch her breath. She wasn’t strong enough to cope with a broken heart and the fallout of people’s disappointment in her if she chose to call off the wedding.
But was she strong enough to marry a liar?
Four years later
Sadie rode in the front seat next to the hired driver. Her lips were pressed into a thin line. Summoned. Just like that. She’d been sent for.
She held the letter from her parents, the one they had sent to her boss and trusted advisor. Loyd Farmer had given it to her mere hours ago, his elderly hands trembling in their usual manner.
At least this mandatory family gathering wouldn’t be held at her parents’ or siblings’ homes in Brim. There would be no chance of encountering Daniel.
Thankfully, she hadn’t been required to return home but a few times over the years. She could thank her Daed for that. He’d believed her about Daniel’s betrayal and had managed to stir up pity for her from the church leaders so they’d leave her alone, allow her to move away, and permit her to go on Mennonite mission trips. Normally, the church leaders would be heavily involved in an incident like the one with Sadie and Daniel and Aquilla. They’d hear all sides and render a verdict. If Sadie had been able to convince the church leaders of what she’d seen, the lovebirds would’ve been shunned for at least six weeks. But two things stood in her way: an eye for an eye wasn’t God’s way, and it was her word against Daniel’s. Aquilla would have verified Daniel’s account of that day. Sadie only had God as her witness. So rather than start a fight she couldn’t win, she put the matter in God’s hands. Her Daed had appealed to the leaders, telling them that whether Sadie saw Daniel and Aquilla together or simply thought she did, she was broken over her loss. Daed’s argument had been convincing enough that they’d let him have final say over Sadie. She respected her Daed for what he’d done, and she owed him a lot, but she liked who she had become because of the extra freedoms she enjoyed. She couldn’t give them up now.
Still, her Daed had beckoned her, and in the blink of an eye, she was compelled to head to Apple Ridge, where her mother’s family lived. But this wasn’t a good weekend to be gone from her job as the floor manager of Farmers’ Five-and-Dime. Although they’d probably be fine without her, the Fourth of July weekend was one of their busiest times.
One would think Sadie could get out of bending to her parents’ demands by now. With Loyd and Edna Farmer’s guidance and support, Sadie had moved into a house in Stone Creek with two Plain Mennonite girls and had gone to work for the Farmers in their variety store.
Sadie had learned that the Stone Creek Mennonite group did mission work at a remote mountain village in Peru. She’d never expected to be able to go with them. It just wasn’t done in her community. But her Daed had not opposed her, and what Amish church leader would deny a broken woman the right to serve God by caring for those less fortunate?
None, she’d discovered. Not a one—even if they were not sure what Sadie had seen that day in the shed.
Since her Daed and the church leaders had given her so much leeway for four years, Sadie had expected by now to be free of having to buckle under her parents’ wishes. But the opposite seemed to be true. Her Daed had been writing to her more of late and calling her regularly, all with strongly worded pleas for her to return to her Amish roots and live under his roof.
The letter in her hand bore a polite command from her Daed—and he’d sent it to her Mennonite employers. It was a shrewd move on her parents’ part. They knew Loyd and Edna would support them and that Sadie wouldn’t argue with the elderly couple. And her Daed had chosen neutral ground for what she believed to be the beginning of the latest battle to get her home. She took comfort in the fact that her parents had not pulled the church leaders into their struggle. If they had, she’d have been called home to Brim instead of to her grandmother’s place.
The driver pulled on
to Mammi Lee’s driveway. Sadie stared at the old house, dreading what lay ahead of her.
She wasn’t the same dedicated-to-the-Amish woman they’d raised her to be, but she couldn’t tell them that. All she could do was aim to honor them to the best of her ability and hope her excuse of brokenness from Daniel’s betrayal would continue to give her the freedom she needed.
Her Mamm came out of Mammi Lee’s house, a smile on her face and worry in her eyes. Sadie opened the car door, praying for wisdom and strength to get through the next three days and then return to the life she loved.
She embraced her mother. The warmth radiating from Mamm brought tears to Sadie’s eyes. For a moment she wished that circumstances were different. But no, she would return to Stone Creek. The only question was whether she’d do so with peace and love reigning between her and her parents, or if they’d be at war. Of course, there was one other question …
Whether she’d leave as a member in good standing with the Amish or be excommunicated.
Levi stood at the kitchen counter, cracking two eggs simultaneously and dumping the yolks and whites into a bowl.
“How do you always do that?” Tobias stood on his tiptoes, peering into the container.
Levi tossed the shells into the sink, wiped his hands on the kitchen towel tucked into his pants, and passed him the last egg. “Try it.”
Tobias smacked the egg against the bowl. Eggshell slid into the bowl while the contents oozed onto the countertop.
Levi chuckled. “Close enough.” Running the flat of his hand across the counter, he scraped the mess into the bowl and dug out the pieces of eggshell. He rinsed his hands, dried them, and handed Tobias a fork. “Here, you scramble them.”
With twelve eggs in the bowl, Tobias would be busy for a few minutes. In the meantime Levi started a flame under the camp-stove toaster and put four pieces of bread on it.
Tobias gazed up at him, eyes shining. “I love you.”
Levi tousled the boy’s hair. “You’d better, or no more eggs for you.”
How could this sweet boy’s mother have left him so suddenly? If Levi could, he’d look her in the eye and demand an answer to that question. For a moment anger stirred, but he tried not to let it pull him under.
The back door slammed. “Do I smell toast?”
Tobias grinned at Levi’s brother. “And soon it’ll be eggs too!”
Andy came into the room, both eyebrows raised. “Are you ever going to cook that boy anything but eggs?”
“Nope. It’s healthy and easy.” Levi flipped the bread over, toasting the other side. “Like some smart guy once said, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ ”
“No picking on Levi.” Tobias grinned. “I don’t know anybody that’s got an uncle like mine.”
“Good answer.” Levi loved the kid. He was a pain in the neck at times, but Levi had never seen another like him.
Andy peeled out of his dirty shirt and tossed it toward the doorway of the washroom, then moved to the sink and flicked on the water. “I’ll wash up and take over. You still have time to get cleaned up and make it to tonight’s singing.”
Levi grabbed a plate and put four pieces of toast on it. “Thanks, but I’m not going.” Using a potholder, he removed the camp-stove toaster from the flame and set an iron skillet in its place.
Andy scrubbed his hands and arms up to his elbows, washing off caked-on mud. They usually avoided work as much as possible on Sundays, but one of them had to tend to their small herd of horses. “I think Daniel’s coming tomorrow, so I took time to get the horse barn in order.”
“He’s not going to pay us a penny more for those horses because our barn looks good. Still, I’m sure the horses appreciate it, especially since they’re spending so much time under the shade trees in this weather.” He dumped the raw eggs into the hot skillet, making it sizzle.
“The fine art of sarcasm. Think maybe it’s time to give it a rest?” Andy turned off the water and took a dishtowel off the hook.
“Not for a second.” Levi stirred the eggs with a wooden spoon.
Andy retrieved three glasses from a cabinet and the milk from the fridge. “You should go tonight.”
Levi wrapped a potholder around the handle of the cast-iron skillet and lifted the pan, deciding just how much sarcasm to fling back at his brother. “Are you confusing me with someone who cares what you think?”
Andy grinned. “I’d never do that.” He set three plates on the table. “You do know that’s why Mamm brought a stack of clean, well-pressed clothes for you yesterday? She’s hoping you’ll go tonight. I think it’s time you met someone.”
Levi dumped the steaming eggs into a bowl and set it on the table. “And I think it’s time you minded your own business.”
“Tobias, why don’t you go to the bathroom and wash your hands?”
Levi wasn’t fooled. His brother had just washed up in the kitchen, so there was no reason Tobias couldn’t do the same. Andy wanted Tobias out of earshot. The boy scurried down the hall and into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. His little-boy voice came through the closed door. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to do that.”
“Not a problem,” Andy hollered, then turned to Levi. “Look, we’ve covered this before. You can’t keep avoiding women because I got a bad shake.”
A bad shake? Andy’s life had been mutilated, and he’d bear the scars in plain sight for the rest of his days.
Levi set the toast and butter on the table. “I understand Mamm and Daed pushing me. But I thought you and I had this resolved.”
“I never said it was settled. I left you alone for a while, but you’ve had enough time.”
“Excuse me?” Levi focused on his brother, eyes wide. “Do I live under your roof for my sake?”
“No. You do it for mine.” Andy snapped at a fly with a kitchen towel. “And I appreciate it. But it’s a holiday weekend, and that’s when the best singings take place. New girls from the other districts will be here to visit family and meet available men. Go have some fun for a change.”
Levi wasn’t interested. He’d witnessed one too many women say they were in love, only to walk away later. He was five years younger than Andy, and he’d spent his childhood shadowing his big brother. If Andy had a good day, Levi did too. So when Andy fell in love and married Eva, Levi felt as if he could lasso the moon. Eva became a sister to Levi, and she’d loved Andy. Levi knew she had. So what caused Eva to break her vows and leave her family?
Something similar had happened to Daniel too. Andy had been in the thick of losing Eva during Daniel’s courtship and wedding plans, so Levi was sketchy on the details, but this much he knew: Daniel’s fiancée had left him. At least the woman walked out before they were married, if only a few hours before. Daniel said she had accused him of being in the arms of another woman, and he admitted he’d been in a room alone with her cousin. But he claimed he never laid a hand on the girl. The last Levi had heard about it, Daniel said his former fiancée had hightailed it somewhere. Maybe Illinois, Peoria, or Peru.
Eva’s departure was worse. It’d left Andy without a wife and Tobias without a mother. And they would stay that way since an Amish man could not remarry as long as his former spouse was alive. No exceptions.
“Kumm on, Levi.” Andy rubbed the center of his forehead. “Please go. I need a break from Mamm’s pleading eyes. She’s fretting over this. You know she is.”
Tobias ran back into the room, holding up his hands to his Daed. Andy pulled a chair out for his son. “You had hands under all that dirt, didn’t you?”
The boy nodded and took a seat. “I’ve been thinking ’bout all these singings everybody keeps telling Uncle Levi to go to. Maybe he doesn’t want to go there to meet girls.”
“Ya.” Levi sat. “I think he’s onto something, Andy.”
Tobias folded his little hands, preparing for the silent prayer. “Maybe he’d like the idea better if, instead of girls, you’d put a herd of horses in the barn where the singing take
s place. He likes them just fine.”
Andy looked at Levi, trying not to laugh.
Levi sighed. “Tobias, you got this all wrong. I like girls.”
“You do?” Tobias’s big brown eyes were filled with innocence.
“I do.” Levi turned to his brother. “Fine. I’ll go.”
Still, he had to figure out a way to settle this issue for his family and his impressionable nephew. But how?
Sadie steadied her breathing. She’d tried to avoid angering her father. After her arrival yesterday, she’d tiptoed through all the conversational land mines, avoiding each potential explosion. Until now.
Daed wagged his finger at her. “Duh net schwetze.”
She pursed her lips, determined to obey him and not speak—not in English or Pennsylvania Dutch. She ached for the grief she had caused the man who had embraced her so warmly yesterday. The one who had spent a lifetime telling her to listen to God’s voice no matter what anyone else said. The one who had understood her need to get away from Brim. There was no doubt that he had a fierce, determined love for her. But now he was angry. And probably afraid. According to him, she had grown up as the sweetest-natured and most obedient daughter. But something in her broke the day she saw Daniel’s body entwined with Aquilla’s, and there was no going back, not even for her Daed’s sake.
Mammi Lee pursed her lips and shook her head. “Sadie.”
Her grandmother’s voice had never held such sorrow and disappointment. Her family’s reaction hurt. So much for being loving and respectful over the long weekend and for not stirring up any arguments. And today was only Sunday.
As soon as she’d arrived, her parents and grandmother had asked her a lot of questions. She’d tried to be honest without giving away her plans to return to Peru with the mission team after Christmas. She figured there would be an opportunity to ease into that conversation closer to December. But while dodging questions about the lease on the home she rented with her friends, her Daed had picked up on her reluctance and pressed her. Before she knew it, she had told everyone about South America. And she was talking about staying there for another year. Maybe two.
Christmas in Apple Ridge Page 28
