by Jan Drexler
Naomi. His toweling slowed, and then stopped. A week ago he had asked her to marry him. Had she even thought about the idea since then? All through the last week he had wanted her near, to share their misery together and comfort each other. Neither of them had to travel this road alone, and yet she refused to talk to him. She had closed herself in the house and refused to speak to anyone, Lydia had told him. She would go to church today, though. He would talk to her then.
Pulling his suspenders over his bare shoulders, he went out to take care of the horses. With only the team to care for, chores didn’t take long. He hauled buckets of water from the well and poured the cold, sweet liquid into the trough. The horses had been waiting for him at the edge of the fence, and when they smelled the fresh water, they shouldered each other aside to make room for both of them to get a drink.
Cap dangled the empty bucket from his fingers as he crossed his arms on a fence post, watching them. Someday, if Naomi agreed to marry him, they would have sheep, and chickens. Ducks, too, and geese. A milk cow and her steer calves for meat. A barn built into the bank where the ground sloped a bit just beyond the horse’s meadow. A garden. Fields for crops and a hay meadow.
With Naomi by his side.
He glanced at the sun. It was still early. If he hurried, he could get to the Schrocks’ farm before they left, and then walk to services with Naomi.
Later, he emerged from the woods just as the Schrocks were leaving. He jogged across the yard and fell in step next to Naomi. Lydia smiled at him and went ahead to join Eli, leaving Cap and Naomi alone behind the rest of the family.
“Good morning,” Cap said. Naomi hadn’t looked at him.
“Good morning,” he said again.
This time she glanced at him. Her face was pale, and her cast eye darted toward him and away again.
“You haven’t talked to me for a week.”
She made a small sound, her knuckle pressed against her lips. Finally, she said, “We don’t have anything to talk about.”
“Ja, we do.”
Her only answer was to keep walking, one step after the other. If he had stopped or turned around, she would have kept walking without him. He grabbed her elbow and turned her toward him, but she still wouldn’t look at him.
“We both lost Davey last week. I miss him, and I know you miss him even more. We need each other.”
She pressed her lips together, but didn’t answer him.
“I need you. I love you. I want you to marry me.”
Naomi looked at him then. “Why? Davey doesn’t need a mother and father anymore. We don’t have to get married for him.”
They were alone on the road. Naomi’s folks had gone over the rise toward the east. Their voices drifted back as they greeted the Yoders. At the next corner they would turn north. If he didn’t hurry, he and Naomi would be late to the Sabbath meeting, but right now he had something more important to do.
He stroked Naomi’s cheek with his thumb, and then pulled her close to him.
“I didn’t ask you to marry me for Davey’s sake. I asked you to marry me. To be my wife. To be the mother of our children, as well as Davey’s mother.”
She started to protest, but he stopped her with a finger to her lips.
“No matter where Davey is, you’ll always be his mother. He knows that.” He rubbed at the frown lines on her forehead. “We might not have Davey in our future, but we do have a future. God has put us together, and I want to see what he has for us in the years to come. But I don’t want to do it alone. I want you beside me every step of the way.”
Naomi pulled out of his arms, her head shaking back and forth. “I don’t know what I want, except that I want to go back . . . as if the last week never happened.”
“Naomi—”
She took another step back. “You need to leave me alone, Cap. Forget about me. Nothing can bring Davey back, and nothing can fix this—” she grasped at the bodice of her dress—“this empty hole in my heart. Without Davey, I have nothing.” Her eyes were hollow and her face pale as death. “Just leave me alone.” She left him and ran to catch up with the rest of her family.
Cap slumped onto a stump by the side of the road, his face buried in his hands. “You have me. And you have God.” But she was too far away to hear his voice.
Shem tied his horse along the river near the Schrocks’ farm. He pulled his watch out of the inside pocket in the waistband of his trousers, opened the lid to read the face, then snapped it shut and returned it to its place. Just past noon. The LaGrange County folks would be finishing their morning service, and the absence of the Clinton Township group would be the subject uppermost in their minds.
Priscilla was a genius at timing. The results of this morning’s Sabbath meeting in Clinton Township were perfect, with seventeen of the families attending the newly formed congregation. Only Yost Bontrager had made the early morning journey to the meeting at Josiah Plank’s, and the remaining families had been in joyful agreement about the division in the church.
His wife had been right. The split happening at the same time as the Hinklemanns taking Davey west would throw the tradition-minded half of the district into confusion, and they would never be able to reverse the change that had taken place. And on top of everything else, Cap Stoltzfus would be sure to be so miserable that Shem would finally be the one on top. He would never need to see the man’s self-satisfied smile again. Not that Priscilla cared about Cap, but it was icing on the cake for Shem.
Shem started the walk toward Josiah Plank’s, glad that Priscilla had suggested taking the horse to ride most of the distance. It wouldn’t do to show up at the meeting on top of a horse on the Sabbath, but riding as far as the river crossing prevented sore feet. When he arrived at the Planks’ farm, the congregation was gathered around tables scattered between the stumps in a newly cleared field near the house. The tone was sober. Even the children refrained from their usual play. Things were working out perfectly.
The conversation died down as he drew closer, and people turned to watch his progress toward the table where Eli Schrock, Christian Yoder, and Cap sat along with Solomon and Josiah Plank and the Troyers, Abraham and his son, Sep. Yost Bontrager was the only one of the group who didn’t turn to face him.
“Good afternoon.” Shem greeted the men with a smile. His smile grew broader when Cap ignored him.
Eli moved over on his bench. “Sit down, Shem, right here between Christian and me. Have you had dinner yet?”
Shem smiled his thanks to the woman who set a plate of cold meat, cheese, and bread in front of him. “Denki, Brother Eli.” He tore the coarse rye bread in two. “I must say, I hadn’t expected such a warm welcome today.”
Christian leaned forward, his arms folded on the table in front of him. “I’m sorry you arrived so late, Brother Shem. You have missed the worship service.”
Shem took a bite of the bread and chewed it slowly. “I had other things to do this morning.”
“Such as attending another meeting?” Yost’s words shook with pent-up rage.
“Ja, I attended meeting this morning.”
Next to him, Eli wagged his head. “So sad that it has come to this. We are one congregation, one family. We should worship together.”
“Not anymore.” Shem dabbed at some bread crumbs with his finger. “We are two congregations now.”
Cap snorted. “Why are you here, Shem?”
Shem met Cap’s gaze. That face that had always brought out the worst in him was gone. Instead, Cap looked exhausted. Beaten. Ready to give up. Shem smiled.
“I only came to see how things are going in this district, and to make sure there are no hard feelings.”
“Hard feelings?” Yost rose halfway off his bench, but Abraham Troyer restrained him with a hand on his shoulder.
“We are disappointed,” Abraham said, “and confused. As Eli said, we are sad that the Clinton Township group has decided to withdraw from our fellowship. We would like to meet with the leaders of the dissenting part of
the congregation, Preacher Elam and anyone else who would like to. Surely we can repair this breach.”
Shem shrugged. “As far as I am concerned, there is nothing to discuss. We parted amiably enough. From now on we’ll be neighboring districts. That is the way a community grows.”
Cap left the table. As Shem watched him stalk off toward the edge of the clearing, he couldn’t keep back a grin. The confident, proud, can’t-do-anything-wrong Cap was gone, and in his place was a shell of a man. Shem had finally gotten his revenge after years of waiting. He stuck the last bite of cheese in his mouth as Cap walked out of sight, down the road.
“Well, brothers, I must be going. My work here is done.”
Abraham stood as Shem rose from the table. “Tell Elam that Christian and I will call on him this week. We do want to discuss this with him.”
Shem brushed crumbs off the front of his coat. “I will give him the message, but like I said, there really isn’t anything to talk about.” He smiled at the grim faces around the table. “Have a good Sabbath, brothers.”
The shady road was a welcome change from the heat of the sunny yard. Shem removed his jacket and unfastened his shirt at the neck. The day was hot and still, with the promise of an afternoon thunderstorm. As he rounded a bend where the road turned to go down the hill past the Yoders’ farm, a figure stepped out of the underbrush at the side of the road. One of the Smith gang? They were known to waylay lone travelers. Shem almost laughed with relief when he recognized Cap.
“I thought you had gone home to pout.”
Cap only stood in the middle of the road until Shem came up to him. “What are you doing here, Shem?”
“I told you.” Shem grinned. He had imagined how this would feel, to be on the winning end of an encounter with Cap Stoltzfus, but the satisfaction was greater than he had ever thought. “I came to make sure there are no hard feelings between the two districts.”
“That isn’t what I mean. Why are you here, in Indiana?”
Cap seemed to grow taller as he spoke. Shem licked his lips. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“You are a wolf, a false shepherd. You have no interest in being a preacher. You only want to have control, hovering in the background, spreading rumors and breeding dissent. You may have the folks in Clinton Township fooled, but I know you. You’re the same now as when we were boys. A bully.”
Shem laughed off his words. Cap was all bluster. He had found the other man’s weak spot and hit it hard. Cap had nothing left.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about. What is it that you are accusing me of doing?” Shem held up a hand to stop Cap from speaking. “Not half-truths and ambiguous accusations. Tell me, exactly, what you think I’ve done?”
Cap’s gaze flickered up and beyond Shem’s shoulder. He turned to see Eli, Yost, and Christian coming up the road, along with Jacob Yoder and Josef Bender. All of Cap’s new friends.
Shem raised his voice so that his words would carry across the short distance. “You are just in time, brothers. Cap here is in the process of laying false accusations at my feet.” He turned back to Cap. “Go ahead.” He kept his voice low, for Cap’s ears only. “Go ahead. Make your accusations. But you are beaten. Done. Your precious Naomi will never recover from that boy leaving with the Hinklemanns. You are left with less than nothing.”
Cap’s eyes narrowed. “How did you know that Davey left with the Hinklemanns? We haven’t talked about that outside of the family.”
Shem took a step back as the pieces fell into place in Cap’s mind.
“You were the one who told the Hinklemanns where to find Davey.” He moved closer to Shem as the other men drew close enough to hear. “But they aren’t his relatives at all, are they? You brought them here, told them what to say, who to look for.”
Shem tried to step away, but he was surrounded.
“Go on, Cap.” Christian said. He leaned on his cane, but his eyes were bright. “What are you accusing this man of doing?”
“Ever since Shem arrived in our area, trying to pass himself off as a preacher, he’s tried to undermine me.” Cap looked from face to face in the circle. “Shem and I were in school together back in Ohio. He was a bully then, and he is a bully now. I think he wanted to drive me away from this community so that he wouldn’t have any opposition to his plans.”
Shem tried to laugh, but the sound that came out of his mouth was more of a squeak. “That is ridiculous. He makes me sound like some political conspirator.” He cleared his throat. “You’re letting our past differences color your judgment, Cap. We’re adults now. We’ve moved beyond our boyish disagreements.”
“Is this true?” Eli looked from Cap to Shem, and then back again. “You can’t think that this man, an ordained minister, would have such evil intent against you?”
“Haven’t you noticed that he has been in the middle of every step of this division in our district? He whispers lies into men’s ears, and sometimes those lies find a willing audience.”
Movement up the road caught Cap’s attention. More people were coming to see what was happening. Naomi and Mattie were at the front of the group.
Cap took a deep breath. “But I know he was instrumental in getting the Hinklemanns to claim to be Davey’s relatives.” Naomi raised her hand to her mouth and he turned to Shem. “Did you bribe them? Offer them money? Do you know where they’ve taken Davey?”
Shem tried to shrug off the accusations, but he only met hard stares. “The Hinklemanns said they were Davey’s relatives. Shouldn’t he be with his family? I only orchestrated their meeting.”
Eli stepped forward. “You did this thing? You took our Davey away and sent him off with strangers?”
Shem spread his hands out in denial. “Why would I do that? What would I have to gain? All I did was bring a broken family together.” He looked around the circle of faces, avoiding Cap’s stare. “Everything I’ve done has been for the good of others. I long for the purity of the church, and her continued growth. Even the division of the two districts allows each group to grow stronger.”
“You’ve said some harsh words about a brother, Cap.” Sep Troyer had joined the other men in the circle. “Do you have any proof that he did these things maliciously?”
Cap shook his head. “I can’t prove anything.” He turned his gaze from face to face, then looked back at Shem’s smug smile. That was all the evidence he needed, but it wasn’t enough to convince the others.
“I’ll be on my way, then, if you are done spreading lies and rumors about me.” Shem’s smile stretched into a grin. He lifted his gaze to the men surrounding them. “Any of you are welcome to join us in the Clinton District. We’re having a meeting on Wednesday to decide the future of our community. Any of you who are interested in progressing toward prosperous days ahead should be there.”
No one spoke as Shem walked away, down the road past Jacob Yoder’s farm, then around the bend and out of sight.
Cap clenched his jaw tight to keep his words in check. He could accuse Shem of many things, but Eli was right. Without any evidence, it was his word against Shem’s.
The rest of the group turned to go back to the Planks’ farm and their interrupted Sunday afternoon, but Naomi stepped up beside Cap and slipped her hand into his.
“I believe you. I think more people do too, but they aren’t willing to confront Shem without proof that he’s done anything to hurt us.”
Cap squeezed her hand. “What I’m afraid of is that Shem has done more damage than we know of. He looked too satisfied with himself.” He looked up and down the road, but the two of them were alone.
Naomi’s face was troubled and sad, just as it had been since Davey left nearly a week ago. Hearing his suspicions that the Hinklemanns weren’t really Davey’s relatives would only strengthen her worries.
“It has been a long day. Do you want me to walk you home?”
The look Naomi gave him was one of relief, and he pulled her hand into the crook of his elbow. As the
y walked, Naomi rested her head on his shoulder and he shifted his arm, pulling her close to him. The road was shaded and cool with only a few birdsongs to break the silence. Every branch was green and the undergrowth in the forest was thick and lush. The height of summer.
As they followed the bend and came in sight of the Schrock farm, a figure stood in the road, holding a riding horse by the reins. The sunshine was bright as they emerged into the clearing around the barnyard and Cap shaded his eyes, trying to see the man.
“Shem.”
His voice startled Naomi. “Where?”
“Ahead of us. He looks like he’s waiting for us.”
Naomi withdrew from his embrace. “I don’t want to talk to him. I don’t think I could control my words.”
Cap left Naomi behind as he strode toward Shem. “Are you looking for me?”
A smile spread across Shem’s face. “I wanted to see your face when you realized the truth.”
“The truth about what?” A cold lump shifted in Cap’s chest. What else had Shem done?
“You’re finished.” He took a step forward and jabbed a finger in Cap’s direction. “I’ve dealt you a blow you’ll never recover from, and you don’t even know it.”
A sound caught Cap’s attention. Naomi was coming closer to listen to the conversation.
The smile spread further across Shem’s face. “You’ll never get that boy back. He’s gone, and you’ll never find him.”
The cold lump grew larger as Shem confirmed his suspicions. “The Hinklemanns aren’t his relatives.”
“When I saw the deed to the land up in Steuben County, I knew someone would take the boy to get that farm. All I had to do was find a likely looking family, and the Hinklemanns were perfect.”
Naomi came closer, in spite of Cap signaling her to stay away, where she wouldn’t hear the truth. “The papers in Davey’s chest,” she said. “You’re the one who looked through them, aren’t you?”
Shem grinned at the panic in Naomi’s voice. “It’s too late. They’ve sold the land and have gone by now. You’ll never get that boy back.” Shem took a step closer and poked Cap’s chest with his finger. “I’ve finally won, Cap. I’ve won. The district is divided and the Clinton folks have welcomed me in with open arms. Meanwhile, you’ve lost everything. How does it feel to be on the bottom for once?”
