The Sound of Distant Thunder

by Jan Drexler

  Mama glanced toward Katie and pressed her lips together. But she didn’t need to. Katie knew she was thinking of Elizabeth Kaufman. That’s why Mama wasn’t sure about her friendship with Jonas. He was from a good Amish family, and as conservative as the Stuckeys themselves. There would be no talk of Sunday schools or stream baptisms in the Weaver house, but there was still the sister who had married badly.

  Papa glanced at Katie at the same time, then smiled at her. “I’m just happy that all of our children have made good choices so far. And we know Katie will make a good choice when it’s her turn too.”

  “It’s my turn now, Papa.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Katie gasped. Her fingers flew to her lips as if she could push her announcement back in.

  Mama’s eyebrows raised in surprise, her head tilted to one side. “What did you say?”

  Papa leaned toward her, looking at her as if she had just sprung from under the table. “I think she said it was her turn.”

  “Her turn for what?”

  Katie wished they would stop talking about her as if she wasn’t there. “I said it’s my turn to think about marriage. Jonas and I are planning to be wed in the autumn.”

  Papa’s face grew red. “You are not having a wedding so soon. You’re still a child.” He turned to Mama, pointing in Katie’s direction. “Tell her, Mama. She’s just a child.”

  “I’m not a child. I’m seventeen.”

  Papa’s hand came down on the table with a slap. “Seventeen is too young to be thinking about a wedding.”

  “Mama was eighteen when you got married.”

  “That was different.” Papa got up and paced around the table. “We were living in the old country, and people got married younger then.”

  “Rosie Keck is eighteen.”

  Papa turned toward her. “Ja, that’s just what I mean. Rosie Keck is making a poor choice.”

  “Jonas is not a poor choice.”

  Papa ran his hand over his beard. “I have nothing against Jonas. He’s a fine young man.” He pointed his forefinger in her direction. “But I still say that seventeen is too young to be married.”

  Katie’s hands trembled as she faced Papa’s lowered eyebrows. “But Papa, I love him.”

  Mama brought her hand up to her mouth with a little cry as Papa’s hands flew up in the air. “And now she thinks she knows what love is.”

  Katie’s face grew hot. She had inherited Papa’s temper, and she was close to losing it. “I am not a child.” She fought to keep her voice level. “I’m going to marry Jonas in the fall and we will be very happy together.”

  “You will not disobey me.” Papa’s voice had the hard edge to it that told her he was not going to argue any longer.

  “Oh, Papa!” As the words tore from her throat, she lost all control. Katie stood so quickly that her chair clattered to the floor, but she didn’t care. She ran out the door and down the road toward the little clearing in the woods where her house would soon stand. She ran across the log bridge and to the bench Jonas had built at the edge of the woods.

  Here, there was peace. Here she could let her tears fall with no one to tell her she was only a child and wasn’t old enough to know what she wanted.

  Here was where Jonas found her.

  “What’s wrong, Katie?” He knelt beside her and cradled her face between his hands. “Tell me why you’re crying.”

  She closed her eyes as her mind went back to another time, years ago, when Jonas had found her in this same spot, and asked that same question. With a shudder, she closed her mind to the memory of that horrible day.

  Jonas handed her his handkerchief. The cloth was wrinkled and soiled from a day of wiping his brow with it in the hot weather, but she didn’t care. She blew her nose and wiped her face dry.

  “I did an awful thing. Now Papa will never let us get married.”

  Jonas sat on the seat next to her and held her tight. “It can’t be as bad as all that. What happened?”

  Katie told him how the news of their coming marriage slipped out before she could stop herself. “I wanted to wait until the time was right to tell him, but it just happened.”

  “We’ll get him to change his mind. You’ll see.”

  “If you think you can get Papa to change his mind, then you don’t know him.” Katie wiped her nose again. “Once he sets his mind to something, he won’t change it.”

  “Perhaps my datt can talk to him.”

  “I suppose he could try, but I doubt if it would make a difference.” Katie leaned her head against his shoulder. “Have you told your parents about our plans?”

  “They know we want to get married, but I haven’t told them that we’ve already set the time.”

  Katie stifled another sob. She didn’t want to start crying again. “We talked about getting married in November, after we both joined the church, but now that can’t be.”

  “Why not?”

  “I can’t go against Papa’s wishes.”

  “Then we’ll wait until he changes his mind.”

  Papa never changed his mind. The hopelessness of the situation beat against Katie’s emotions. “We’ll have to wait for years, maybe.” She would never get married. Jonas was the only man she could trust. The only man she could be sure of.

  A gust of wind stirred the treetops above them, followed by a distant roll of thunder.

  Jonas’s arms around her tightened. “A storm is coming. Listen.”

  The wind strengthened, sending a cool wind between the trees and swirling around the two of them. The fresh smell of rain accompanied it, along with another long roll of thunder.

  Jonas leaned his cheek against her kapp and tightened his hold. “I love listening to a thunderstorm, don’t you? Someday we’ll be cozy in the shelter of our own house, listening to the rain on the roof and the thunder crashing overhead.”

  Katie shivered. “I hate thunder. When I was little, I used to think the sky was going to fall in on us.”

  Jonas stood, her hand in his. “Then I’d better take you home before the storm comes.” He smiled as he pulled her into his arms and gave her a kiss. “Don’t worry, Katie. Everything will turn out fine. You’ll see.”

  By the time they reached the Stuckeys’ house, both Jonas and Katie were breathless and laughing, her worries about her father forgotten. He leaned one hand against the porch rail, watching her as the lightning cracked, followed by a boom of thunder that shook the house. She hugged herself, shivering as she moved closer to him. The rain started then, pouring as if God had turned a bucket over Weaver’s Creek.

  Jonas longed to pull her close, to hold her safely in his arms while the storm raged above them, but not here. Not where her parents could see them.

  She turned toward him, their laughter still lingering in her smile. “I must go in. Mama and Papa will be worried about me. You should come in too. You can’t walk home until the storm is over.”

  A movement at the window told Jonas they were being watched. Facing Gustav so soon after Katie had spilled the news of their plans sent a shiver through him that had nothing to do with the thunderstorm, but he couldn’t ignore his future father-in-law. He needed to act like the man he was.

  “Did you get soaked?” Margaretta asked as they opened the door.

  “We reached the porch just before the rain hit,” Katie said, pulling Jonas into the kitchen with her. “The storm came up so quickly that we barely made it in time.”

  Gustav sat at the kitchen table, reading from the ancient Bible he had brought from Germany. He stared at Jonas from under his eyebrows. “I thought you would bring Katie home as soon as you saw that a storm was coming.”

  Jonas cleared his throat. “Like Katie said, it was sudden. We started for home as soon as we—”

  “But you nearly got our Katie drowned.” Gustav shut the Bible with a thump that rivaled the thunder.

  “Ach, Papa, don’t be like that.” Katie sat at the table.

  Another thunder crash drowned out G
ustav’s answer, but he pointed to the chair next to him. Jonas took it as an invitation to sit down. He had known Gustav all his life and had never had an issue with the man. The families had been good friends ever since before Jonas had been born.

  “Katie tells me you plan to marry her.”

  Thunder sounded again, but not quite as loud. The storm was moving east as quickly as it had arrived. Jonas glanced at Katie. She sat next to Margaretta with her hands clasped together, staring at the table.

  “We thought this autumn would be the right time.”

  Gustav drummed his fingers on the table. “Neither of you have joined the church yet.”

  Katie leaned forward. “That’s why we’re waiting until autumn. We’ll take the baptism class and join the church, and then we’ll have the wedding as soon as we can after that.”

  Frowning, Gustav looked from Katie to Jonas. “Why are you in such a hurry? Katie is only seventeen.”

  “And I’m nearly twenty-one. We’ve been waiting for a long time, and we don’t want to wait any longer.”

  “Katie’s age is only one of my concerns.” Gustav pulled on his beard. “I’ve known you since you were a little child, Jonas, and I see a trait in you that speaks of a man who doesn’t have the maturity to make a lifelong commitment like this.”

  Jonas shifted in his chair as he felt heat rising in his breast.

  “You are impetuous. You make decisions quickly, without taking the time to deliberate and seek the advice of your elders.”

  Jonas rose halfway from his chair, but glancing at Katie’s worried expression, he sank back down again. Storming out of the house now would only prove Gustav’s opinion of him.

  “That may be true, but when I make a commitment, I follow through on my word. This is something I’ve thought long and hard about. Katie and I love each other and want to be married.”

  Gustav leaned back, lacing his fingers over his stomach. “Margaretta thinks you should be married—”

  At this, Katie released a pent-up breath.

  “But,” Gustav raised a finger, “not this year. Wait until Katie turns eighteen, and we’ll talk about it then. Meanwhile, both of you will have time to grow up a little. Join the church. Prepare for your lives together.”

  Ignoring Katie’s tears, Jonas leaned toward Gustav. “An entire year? You want us to wait another whole year?”

  Katie’s father nodded. “When you reach my age, you’ll realize that a year isn’t long at all. The time will pass quickly.”

  Jonas couldn’t look in Katie’s direction, but stared at the floor. Anger rose like a red-hot poker, ready to lash out. Ready to insist on his own way. Ready to claim his right to marry Katie anyway. But he tempered his thoughts, knowing that anger wouldn’t convince Gustav to change his mind.

  He leaned on his knees, matching his fingertips together to form a point. Katie continued to cry softly as her mother tried to comfort her, but the way was clear to Jonas. As much as he hated to, he must submit to Gustav’s wishes if they were to continue a close relationship with Katie’s family into the future. He didn’t have to look any further than his own family to know the heartbreak of a girl marrying against her family’s wishes. If Gustav insisted that they wait a year, they would wait.

  “All right,” he said, meeting his future father-in-law’s gaze. “We will do as you say. But next summer, by August at the latest, we will be married.”

  Gustav broke into a grin and grasped Jonas’s hand. “That is a wise decision, son. Very wise.” He looked toward Margaretta and Katie, beaming. “Next summer, a wedding!”

  Jonas rose from the table. “The storm is over, and I must be getting home.”

  “I’ll walk you to the end of the lane,” Katie said, heading for the door.

  “It’s after dark.” Gustav nodded toward the window. “You’ll go no farther than the porch.”

  Katie glanced at Jonas, her expression unreadable.

  “No farther than the porch,” Jonas repeated, and pushed her through the doorway.

  “Why did you agree to that?” Katie asked as Jonas closed the door behind them.

  “Because it’s dark, and you need to stay near the house.”

  “Not that.” Katie sounded as irritated with him as she was with Gustav. “Why did you agree to wait a year? Maybe we could have convinced him that waiting until December or January would be long enough.”

  “Because as much as I hate to admit it, your father is right.”

  Out of the corner of his eye, Jonas saw the kitchen door open just enough to let Katie’s parents hear their conversation. He led her along the porch, away from the door.

  “You know I love you,” he said, keeping his voice low. “I want us to be married as soon as we can, but I don’t want to cause a rift in our families.”

  Katie didn’t respond but kept her gaze looking out on the freshly washed night.

  Jonas put one finger under her chin and turned her face toward his. “You are worth waiting for.” A reluctant smile lifted the corners of her mouth. “And by next summer, our house will be built and ready for us to move in. That will be better than living in a tent, or with my parents for a time, won’t it?”

  She nodded, then thrust her arms around his neck and drew him close. “But I wish we didn’t have to wait another day.”

  Pulling her arms loose, Jonas held her hands together between them, mindful of the eyes that were probably watching every move he made. “So do I, Katie. So do I.”

  But the extra time would help him sort out his thoughts about the war and abolition, and then he could join the church with a clear conscience.

  6

  JULY 27

  As Levi and his family approached the Weavers’ place for Sunday worship, Jonas met him at the bridge.

  “I have news to tell you.”

  Levi met Father’s frown. “I need to go in and sit down. You know Father doesn’t want me to fool around before church.”

  Jonas pulled him to the side, away from the gathering crowd. “Rosie is getting married.”

  “To whom?”

  “Some fellow from Smithville. Katie told me about it, and I thought you would want to know before you heard folks talking about it.”

  Levi shrugged. “That’s all right.”

  “I thought you wanted to marry her.”

  “We never got along. Not like a couple planning to marry should.” He looked toward the house, where Father was just disappearing inside the door. “I have to go. Don’t worry about it. I’m fine.”

  But he wasn’t fine. Levi kept a smile on his face as he walked toward the house and nodded a greeting to Caleb and Ben. He slipped into the house and onto the second bench, right where he always sat. The big room was cool for now, but before long the air would be sweltering. Levi bowed his head, pretending to pray. No one would bother him, and he could work through what Jonas had just told him.

  Rosie’s face flashed in front of him. Pretty, spoiled Rosie. He fidgeted with the edge of his jacket. He didn’t want to marry her. He wasn’t fooling himself. But for her to marry someone else . . . It stung.

  Levi closed his eyes, scrunching them shut, searching his mind, examining his thoughts. Why did it sting? Because it was embarrassing. The girl he had chosen was marrying someone else. He tried to let the tension out. It was all right for Rosie to marry that other man, whoever he was. He didn’t care.

  So why was his throat so tight? Why had he rushed into the house when Jonas gave him the news?

  Low voices hushed as the room filled. From his seat, he couldn’t see the rest of the congregation, but he knew where Katie sat. Jonas sat next to him on the bench, and Caleb beyond Jonas, like they did at every church meeting.

  He lifted his head as Abraham Weaver announced the first hymn. The singing started as Father and the other ministers filed out of the room to pray during the hymns. Levi put aside his own feelings and concentrated on the song. The first one chosen was one of Abraham’s favorites, about the love an
d brotherhood of the followers of Christ. Levi had a good voice, and often sang while doing his chores at home, letting the words ring in the rafters of the barn. But on Sunday, he worked to keep his singing blended with the others. To let it stand out would be a sign of pride, and he didn’t want to be guilty of that.

  It wasn’t until the service ended three hours later that he was reminded of Rosie again. Henry came up to him as they waited their turn at the fellowship meal.

  “Have you heard? My sister Rosie is getting married.”

  Levi met Jonas’s eyes, giving him a nod of thanks for the early warning. “Ja, I heard. It’s sudden, isn’t it?”

  “I should have told you she was seeing someone.” Henry scuffed his shoe against a stone in the grass. “I know you chose her and all, but she met this fellow last year when she was visiting our cousins, and then I guess he proposed to her when she was there last month. I’m sorry I didn’t let you know earlier.”

  “That’s all right. I hope they’ll have a good life together.”

  Levi smiled. The tension he had felt earlier was gone, and there was nothing between him and Rosie to make him regret losing her.

  “I think they will. We met him last week when he came down here to arrange the wedding and all. Datt isn’t sure he likes the change-minded church he goes to, but he’s a nice fellow. One of the Schrocks from up that way.”

  “I probably met him while I was at the ministers’ meeting. What is his first name?”

  “David.”

  Levi nodded. “I remember him. He was interested in what was going on in Walnut Creek. His own church has already built a big meetinghouse.”

  “Datt isn’t too happy about that part of it. He’d rather Rosie marry someone who wants to follow the old order.” Henry shrugged. “But, as he says, you can’t reason with a girl in love.”

  Levi smiled as the others laughed at this. “Is that church near Smithville going to stay Amish?”

  “As far as I know, they are. Why?”

  “I heard of another church that was discussing joining the Mennonites, ministers, bishops, and all. They would call themselves Amish Mennonites.”