Red, White and Blue Weddings: Red Like Crimson, White as Snow, Out of the Blue

by Janice Thompson

  “About what I said before—I didn’t mean to imply that leaving the Amish life was a mistake,” Karl said. “I don’t think I could have stayed, in fact, and not just because of my parents. Still, something about being here in this part of Pennsylvania felt right.” He leaned back against the trunk of the elm tree and tossed his fishing line into the water, adding, “Not just comfortable, either.”

  “It is serene here,” Katie agreed. “Things are just more peaceful away from. . .well, the world.”

  Karl laughed. “It’s interesting you should put it like that. I keep thinking about Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. They had everything they could’ve ever wanted right in front of them, and still they wanted more.”

  “I’ve thought about that myself. Several times, in fact. I suppose the same could be said of me, at a younger age anyway. Now that I’ve tasted and seen what the world has to offer, I’m not convinced it’s all better.”

  “Yeah.” He leaned back against the tree and listened to the rippling of the water against the rocks.

  “Don’t get me wrong,” she said with a hint of laughter in her voice. “There are a lot of things I’d have a tough time doing without.”

  “Like?”

  “Hmm.” She paused for a moment. “Well, fast food, for one. And pedicures.”

  “Pedicures?”

  She flashed an impish grin then shrugged. “Yeah. Once you’ve had one, it’s impossible to turn back.” After a moment’s pause, she added, “I’d have the hardest time doing without my car. It’s hard to imagine getting around Doylestown without it.”

  “Sometimes I wonder how we managed out here at all,” he agreed. “Then I come back and I’m reminded of how simple, how peaceful life used to be.”

  For a moment, neither of them said anything. He closed his eyes and remembered back to a time when the two of them had sat together, listening to the same sounds, feeling the same early morning summer breeze. A time before either of them had owned a car or television or fancy clothes.

  “What do you miss most about living here?” she asked.

  “Hmm.” He smiled. “I miss the sense of community. I mean, I go to a great church and I have a lot of great people around me, but it’s not quite the same. People don’t seem to have the same investment in one another. As children, we knew that people in our community would come rushing in if we needed something. Sometimes folks in churches get overlooked when they’re going through troubled times. That always frustrates me.”

  “It is sad.” She dipped her toes in the water and wiggled them around. “At my church they have committees for that sort of thing.”

  “Still, people are often passed over. We were never passed over as children, were we?”

  “No,” she said, “but I’m not naive enough to think I will ever have that same sense of family I experienced as a youngster. Not without moving back for good, I mean.”

  He shrugged. “You never know.”

  “What else do you miss?” she asked.

  “I miss the barn raisings. And the buggy rides.” He started laughing. “Remember that time we got stuck in the mud coming back from town? That older woman stopped to help us then offered us a ride back to your house in her car?”

  “Mmm-hmm.” Katie’s eyes grew wide. “I remember how much I wanted to climb in that beautiful car and ride all the way back.” A sigh escaped her lips. “Then I pictured the look on my mother’s face if I’d come cruising up the driveway in a luxury sedan.”

  They both erupted in laughter, and Karl’s heart seemed to come alive. Perhaps they weren’t living in Paradise anymore. But sitting here, with Katie at his side, was the closest he’d come in years.

  ❧

  Katie spent the better part of the morning trying to accomplish two things: catch a fish before Karl did and quiet the crazy beating in her heart every time he looked her way. For whatever reason, she felt like a jabbering schoolgirl whenever he tried to engage her in conversation. Only this time, her feelings were different than they had been as a teen. Stronger. Unavoidable, really.

  Perhaps, as a young woman, she had managed to push aside any feelings for Karl in her quest to escape the lifestyle. But now, having tasted the things of the world, she suddenly found herself far more captivated by the gentleness of the man sitting next to her.

  Surely the beauty of the Amish countryside wasn’t the only thing she’d taken for granted as a child. Had Karl always been this good, this kind? And had she really not noticed how well their hands fit together? How beautifully they finished each other’s sentences?

  These things and more she pondered. . .until she felt a tug on her line. “Ooo! I’ve got one!”

  She pulled up a smallmouth bass, and Karl whistled. “That’s a beauty. Looks like someone’s having fish for supper.”

  “Datt would’ve loved this.” She sighed as she thought about the many times her father had fished alongside her and the gleam in his eye every time he hooked a prize catch.

  Together, Katie and Karl worked to ease the frantic bass from the hook and into a bucket filled with creek water. She stared down at him in wonder, noting the beauty of his rich green color. He looked up at her with sad eyes, as if to say, “Release me, please.”

  In an impulsive decision, she lifted the bucket and carried it to the edge of the creek.

  “What are you doing?” Karl gave her an incredulous look. “You just caught—”

  He never had a chance to finish his sentence. Katie leaned down and tipped the bucket over, allowing the fish to slither back into the waters of Pequea Creek. She glanced over at Karl with a shrug. “Sorry. I just didn’t have it in me.” He stared at her in disbelief. She wanted to explain but wasn’t sure where to begin. The little guy just wanted to be free. In many ways, she was reminded of herself as a teen, wanting to be released out of her tiny bucket—the Amish community—into a bigger stream. She had escaped from the bucket back then. Tipped it over herself and climbed out. But this poor bass needed help, needed someone to assist him.

  Clearly, Karl didn’t get it. He continued to stare at her with a look of genuine confusion on his face.

  “I have a confession to make,” Katie said, after sitting once again.

  “A confession?” Karl wiped the perspiration from his brow and gave her an inquisitive look.

  “Yeah.” She brushed the dust from her hands. “When I slipped out of the window all those years ago, I made myself a promise.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah. It might sound crazy, but. . .I’ve never worn blue since I left Lancaster County.”

  “Are you serious?”

  A wave of relief washed over her as she told the story, one she’d never before told a soul, not even Hannah. “I grew up wearing mostly navy blue or brown dresses,” she explained. “The night I slipped out of the window, I was wearing a blue one. My mother and Aunt Emma had just sewn it for me. For. . .”

  “For our wedding day.”

  “Yes.” She let her gaze shift to the ground. “It was the last time I ever wore blue.”

  “How in the world do you manage? Half my wardrobe is blue,” Karl said.

  “It would be a tragedy for you to avoid that color. Your eyes are the prettiest shade of blue I’ve ever seen.” Katie clamped her hand over her mouth the minute the words were out, not quite believing she’d actually said such a thing out loud.

  Karl laughed and his cheeks turned crimson. “Well, thank you.”

  “To answer your question,” Katie continued, “I do wear jeans. That’s my only compromise. But no blue blouses or dresses, anything like that. I don’t even own a blue nightgown.” She laughed. “I can’t believe no one has ever noticed I avoid the color.”

  “Probably because your eyes are green,” Karl said with a wink. “You do wear green, I see.” He gestured to her button-down blouse.

  “I do.” Katie laughed and then remembered a story she wanted to tell. “When Hannah and Matt got married a few years after I moved to Do
ylestown, I was in quite a fix. She’d chosen blue for her bridesmaids’ dresses.”

  “What did you do?”

  “Convinced her that blue wasn’t trendy. Talked her into lavender.” She smiled, remembering. “She was fine with that, actually, so I didn’t feel too bad. And I think she figured out what I was up to. She was raised alongside me, after all.”

  “That she was.”

  Just then a shout in the distance caught their attention. Katie looked up to discover Emily approaching, breathless and red-cheeked.

  “You have to come back to the house,” her sister managed between pants.

  “What’s happened?” Katie scrambled to her feet.

  “It’s Sara. The baby is coming.”

  “The b–baby?” Katie gave her sister a wide-eyed stare, hoping she didn’t mean what she thought she meant. “But Sara’s not due for four weeks.”

  “Someone needs to tell that to the baby.”

  “Oh my.” Katie brushed loose dirt from her clothing.

  “Jacob will take her to town in the buggy,” Emily explained. “To the birthing center. But Sara is asking for you. She wants you there.”

  “The buggy?” Katie gave her younger sister a curious look. “Wouldn’t it be better if I took them in my car?”

  Emily shrugged. “We will let Sara determine that. She likely has enough time to get there in the buggy. But it’s possible she will want one of you to call ahead to let the midwife know she’s on her way. I would go myself, but Mamm isn’t feeling well, and I think I should stay with her.”

  “Of course.”

  “Should I wait here?” Karl reached for his fishing pole.

  Emily shook her head. “No, you should go, too. Jacob will need menfolk to gather around him, no doubt. Having you there will help keep him calm until the baby is born.”

  Katie gave Karl an imploring look.“Yes, please ride with me.”

  “I’ll do one better than that,” Karl said, rising to his feet. “I’ll drive you there myself.”

  Relief washed over her as she nodded. How many times had he stepped in over the past few days, bringing comfort? Like an umbrella, he had shielded her from a multitude of storms.

  And, from what she could tell, the rain was about to start up again.

  NINE

  Karl eased his car out onto the road behind Jacob and Sara’s buggy, ready to tail them all the way to town. He glanced at Katie, who appeared to be a nervous wreck.

  “You okay?”

  “Mmm-hmm.” Just then Katie leaned over and pressed the horn. “Did you see that?” She pointed out to the road. “The guy in that SUV nearly hit Sara’s buggy. If he had any idea there was a pregnant woman inside. . .”

  She continued to rant as Karl watched her in amusement. In truth, the car hadn’t come near the buggy at all, though he would certainly never say so. No, at this point it would be far better just to let sleeping dogs lie. Or. . .ranting women rant.

  He felt like a snail crawling along behind the buggy. If only they’d been able to talk Sara and Jacob into joining them in the car; surely they would have been there by now. He’d seen the flash of panic in Jacob’s eyes back in the house, but Sara insisted they would do just fine going to town in the usual way, reminding him that first babies rarely came quickly.

  However, no more than a mile from the Walken home, the buggy came to an abrupt halt. Karl pulled his car off the road behind them and leaped from the seat to see what had happened. He found Jacob wide-eyed, seemingly frozen in place.

  “Everything okay?” Karl asked.

  Katie appeared on the other side of the rig, ready to be of assistance to her sister.

  Sara’s eyes grew huge as she panted. “I. . .don’t. . .think. . .I’m. . .going. . .to. . .make. . .it.”

  Katie took one look at Sara’s face and made a pronouncement. “Everyone into the car. We’re driving you the rest of the way.”

  “But the rig, the horses. . .” Jacob scrambled out of the buggy in a dither.

  “Don’t worry about them.” Karl tossed his car keys to Katie, who caught them with ease. “Katie will drive you to town in my car, and I’ll follow with the buggy.”

  “Are you sure?” Jacob had relief written all over his face.

  “Of course. Now go on. Don’t wait on me. No time to waste.”

  Karl waited until the car pulled out onto the road before climbing into the rig. Once inside, he took the reins in his hands and drew in a deep breath. He spoke a handful of words aloud, more to convince himself than the horses, “It’s been awhile, boys, but I think I’ve still got it in me.” With a snap of the reins, he was on his way.

  The midday traffic breezed by. Several cars beeped their horns, trying to push him out of the way. Karl stayed as far to the right as possible but couldn’t seem to calm the drivers down. The horses were a bit skittish, as well. Thankfully, he managed to keep them under control.

  Just a mile or so outside of town, some tourists obviously took Karl for a true Amish man as the car slowed and one of them snapped his picture. No doubt they would get quite a jolt when they took a closer look at the photo and realized he wore jeans and a T-shirt. He wanted to shout, “Hey, cut that out!” but didn’t. Most Englishers didn’t realize the Amish frowned at picture taking. So Karl bit his lip and continued to plod along, easing his way down the highway toward the birthing center.

  Only one problem. He had no idea where the birthing center was.

  Ah, his cell phone. He did have that, though he’d kept it turned off since Aimee’s call. Karl used one hand to hold the reins and another to punch in Katie’s number. All the while, he couldn’t help but laugh. What would the curious tourists think now if one snapped a photo of the Amish man with a cell phone in his hand?

  ❧

  Katie paced the halls of the birthing center and prayed. From what the midwife had said, it wouldn’t be long. Sara’s water had broken while in the buggy, and the baby’s appearance was imminent. There seemed to be some concern about Sara’s blood pressure, which was running on the high side, so the midwife ushered Katie out of the room. Of course, there had also been the issue of the baby coming early.

  With so many variables factored in, Katie had been instructed to wait in the hall—and to pray. And that’s exactly what she did.

  Until her cell phone rang.

  She fumbled around in her purse for it, surprised to hear Karl’s voice when she answered.

  “Is everything okay?” she asked.

  “Mmm, yeah. I’m just a little lost.”

  She proceeded to give him directions then conveyed her fears about her sister’s condition. To her great relief, Karl offered to pray. She continued to pace the hall as his comforting voice took over. His appeal to the Almighty for a safe and healthy delivery of the baby eased her troubled mind.

  As he finished with an “Amen,” Katie was struck with the realization that he’d telephoned her from inside the buggy. She tried to envision what he looked like, plodding through the center of town in the rig with a cell phone in hand, praying aloud as he went. Must be quite a sight, especially for curious onlookers.

  Just about that time, she heard a cry from the other side of the door and realized the little darling had arrived. “We have a baby!”

  Karl responded with a whoop, which nearly deafened her. “I have the birthing center in sight,” he said. “I’ll be there within minutes.”

  By the time he arrived, the midwife emerged from Sara’s delivery room with a broad smile. “You can go inside now,” she told them.

  Katie took a step toward the door, but Karl’s feet remained planted on the hall floor.

  “You go ahead,” he encouraged her.

  She tiptoed into the room, her heart swelling with pride as she saw Sara sitting up in the bed with the little bundle in her arms. Her sister’s hair hung down in long, beautiful tresses around her shoulders. Katie hardly recognized her without her kapp.

  Sara gestured for her to draw near. “Co
me and see your niece.”

  “She’s a. . .it’s a girl?” “Yes, and she wants to meet her aunt Katie.” Katie took a couple of tentative steps in her sister’s direction.

  The little bundle in Sara’s arms wiggled and let out a squeal. Glancing down, Katie noticed the squinted eyes and pink face. Wrapped up in a soft white blanket, she looked like a perfect little baby doll. Tiny, to be sure, but perfect.

  “She’s beautiful, Sara!” At once she wanted to scoop the little darling in her arms but kept her distance, not wanting to intrude.

  “Thank you.” Sara looked up at Jacob with a warm smile. “I wouldn’t have made it without him. He was such a help to me.”

  “I’m sure he was.” Katie reached over to give him a hug. “Congratulations, Datt.”

  Even as the word was spoken, everyone in the room grew eerily silent. The truth registered at once. “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.” The scripture had never felt so personal, so. . .real.

  “What will you call her?” Katie whispered as she brushed away a tear.

  With a smile, Sara gave her answer. “We’ve settled on Rachel.” She gazed down at her daughter. “I think she looks like a Rachel, don’t you?”

  Katie peered down at the wriggly bundle. “I do.”

  “She’s only five and a half pounds,” Sara explained, “but we’ve been told she’s healthy enough to take home.”

  “When?”

  “By nightfall, I would imagine.”

  “Are you serious?” Katie could hardly believe her sister could travel so soon.

  “Yes, we will give Sara a few hours to rest; then I will take her back to the house.” Jacob looked toward the door with a curious look on his face. “That reminds me. . .did Karl make it here with the buggy?”