An Amish Reunion

by Jo Ann Brown

  “For what?”

  “Our walk.”

  Again, heat soared up her face. “You don’t have to go for a walk with me because Grossmammi Ella told you to.”

  “She didn’t tell me to. She asked me why I wasn’t asking you to go. I’m asking you and Shelby if you’d like to go for a walk. We may find some early flowers along the road.”

  “We will.”

  “You sound sure.”

  “No, I sound like a beekeeper. I’ve seen my bees working hard for the past couple of days.”

  He winked at Shelby before asking, “Shall we follow the beezzzz?” He stretched out the sound until the little girl giggled and made the buzzing sound that made them all laugh.

  “How can I say no to both of you?” Hannah asked.

  “That was the idea.” This time, his wink was for her.

  Something quivered deep in her heart, and, for the first time in too long, she didn’t try to silence a pulse of honest joy. She did want to call Daniel her friend. No, she wanted far more than friendship with him, but she wasn’t going to make the same mistake of letting her heart overrule her head.

  She continued to savor her happiness as she pulled on her coat and bonnet while Daniel helped her little sister into her coat. Shelby kept her fingers in her mouth, a sign that her gums hurt. Hannah dabbed honey and teething gel on them. Shelby’s last new tooth couldn’t come in soon enough.

  When the three of them stepped out into the backyard, the hives were alive with the sound of bees. Shelby began copying the sound and giggling.

  “It’s astonishing how much noise those little wings can make,” Daniel said. “I can hear it in my bones as well as my ears.”

  “There are a lot of little wings,” Hannah replied with a smile. “One hive can hold as many as fifty thousand bees.”

  He whistled a long, steady note before saying, “I had no idea that many lived in a single hive. But they’ve got the right idea. Let’s not waste this sunny day. We haven’t had many lately.”

  Hannah held Shelby’s right hand as they walked down the sloping yard. The little girl reached for Daniel, but her arms were too short. When they got to the road, he picked her up. Setting her on his shoulders, he clasped her hands and bounced along the road like a runaway pony. Shelby squealed with delight.

  Following at a more sedate pace, Hannah watched how careful Daniel was with the little girl. He didn’t jostle her too hard, but kept her laughing. Someday, when he decided to settle down, he would be a gut father.

  Halfway between her home and her neighbor’s, where a small thicket of blackberry bushes and saplings grew, she paused and bent to look at clumps of snowdrops perched atop their green stems. The blossoms drooped toward the ground, making the ground beneath the bushes look as if there had been a fresh fall of snow. She called to Daniel to bring Shelby to look at them.

  The little girl was delighted. Hannah convinced her to pick only a couple, telling her the bees would want the rest.

  “I’m not sure how much she understands,” Hannah said, glancing at Daniel who was squatting beside the kind.

  Shelby looked at her and made the buzzing sound. When Hannah smiled, the little girl grinned, showing off her newest tooth.

  “I’d say she knows what you’re saying.” Daniel stood and brushed his hands against this trousers. “Do you think there was a house here at one time and someone planted these flowers?”

  “Maybe. Or the seeds were scattered here by birds.”

  “Look here.” He reached deeper into the bushes. “Bloodroot.” He pulled up one, and the sap burst out onto his fingers, turning them red. “My brothers and I used to use these to paint the trees. It takes a lot of them to write Daniel Paul Stoltzfus on bark.”

  “They’re too pretty to yank from the ground. Look at the yellow in the center.”

  When he walked into the thicket, where the shadows draped the ground in cool dampness, Hannah took her little sister’s hand and went, too. They had to stop every few steps as they climbed the slope so Shelby could collect another blossom. Hannah doubted there would be much left of the flowers by the time they returned to the house because the toddler clutched the stems tightly, and her bouquet already sagged over her tiny fingers.

  The sound of trickling water reached Hannah’s ears before she saw a spring half-hidden by thick moss. Daniel paused and then dropped to sit by the narrow stream of water drifting beneath the bare roots of the nearby trees.

  Drawing Shelby onto his lap, he handed her a leaf that had fallen last autumn. He laughed when the little girl tossed it toward the water. She missed, so he stretched to retrieve it. On her second try, it landed in the small stream. She clapped her hands in glee as the leaf twirled and spun on the current before disappearing beyond the roots.

  Hannah smiled when Daniel stood, and she took Shelby’s hand again. They walked out of the shadows into the sunshine. When Shelby held up her arms and teased, he put the little girl on his shoulders again.

  “You’re going to spoil her,” Hannah said with a laugh.

  “I hope so.” He winked before galloping across the open field.

  Again she watched the two of them and couldn’t help smiling. She was glad she hadn’t accepted Daniel’s offer to take Shelby to live at his house, but she was happy he’d helped during the rough times until her little sister began to trust her.

  When Daniel bent, he set Shelby on her feet. He plucked a long piece of grass. “Listen to this.” He blew on it. Hard.

  An awkward sounding squeak emerged.

  Shelby clapped her hands before holding them out. He squatted beside her again and helped her put her fingers around the piece of grass. Holding it close to her mouth, he urged her to blow on it. The little girl did, and the faintest sound emerged.

  Hannah cheered before picking another piece of grass. When she held it to her lips, a lovely note rippled through the air.

  Daniel stared at her wide-eyed, then applauded. Shelby did, too.

  Bowing, Hannah tossed the grass aside and hugged Shelby as her little sister ran to throw her arms around Hannah’s legs. She didn’t look in Daniel’s direction, not wanting him to see how much she wished she could embrace him, too.

  “Hey! Look!” He pointed toward the sky that was littered with thickening clouds. “There’s a bald eagle.”

  Hannah held her breath as she watched the magnificent bird soar overhead. Its motions looked effortless while it drifted, letting the winds high above them carry it.

  “It’s beautiful,” she whispered.

  “I’m glad whenever I see an eagle.” He walked over to stand by her and Shelby. “We almost lost them.”

  “But people wised up in time to bring them back from extinction.”

  “Too bad being smart doesn’t happen more often. We don’t realize our mistakes until we look back at our lives and know we should have chosen better.”

  When his gaze caught hers, she couldn’t look away from the powerful emotions within it. He wasn’t talking about birds. He was talking about him and her.

  She searched his face, her gaze lingering on the cleft in his chin he despised and she thought made his face interesting. Again the longing to step into his embrace and let his arms close around her was so strong she had to fight herself.

  She didn’t want to talk about the past. It was dangerous territory. As the future was. That was why she preferred to think about the here and now. Except as his blue eyes regarded her, the moment itself held the potential for disaster.

  Picking up Shelby, she set the kind on her hip. “Grossmammi Ella will get worried if we stay out past the time she gets up. We need to go.”

  “Hannah—”

  She didn’t let him finish. She left with Shelby. She was being a coward, turning away from the problem instead of facing it
. But she knew where courage would lead.

  To her heart being broken all over again.

  Chapter Twelve

  Hannah was amazed two days later when Grossmammi Ella asked her when they’d be leaving for the Stoltzfus farm.

  “As soon as breakfast is done,” Hannah replied, hoping her shock wasn’t visible. For the past six months, she’d had to insist every church Sunday that her great-grandmother leave the house and attend services. A few times, Grossmammi Ella had been so stubborn neither she nor Hannah had been able to go.

  But the elderly woman acted as excited as Shelby did when she had a cookie. Grossmammi Ella talked about the many quilting frolics she’d attended and spoke of people Hannah had never met. Hoping her great-grandmother continued to focus on the present, Hannah packed their sewing boxes in the buggy and made sure Shelby had Buzz-buzz with her.

  As they drove onto the creek road, Hannah heard shouts and the whir of power tools from the covered bridge. Knowing she should pay no attention to the men working on it, she couldn’t keep from looking in that direction. Men were cutting boards and nailing them in place to create a new deck. She picked out Daniel as if a flashlight focused on him. Her breath caught when he began to climb a ladder, balancing a large sheet of plywood on his back.

  Don’t fall. Don’t fall. Don’t fall. The words resonated through her mind as she drew in the reins to watch while he climbed through a hole in the bridge’s roof and set the plywood down.

  She released her breath and urged Thunder to continue along the road. She should be grateful that Daniel would be occupied at the bridge so she didn’t have to see him at his family’s farm. Since their walk through the woods and meadow, she hadn’t been able to get his easy grin and warm gaze out of her mind. He’d slipped into her dreams again.

  Her hands tightened on the reins until the leather cut into her palms. She was close to making the same mistake. Friendship! That was all they could share, and she must not pray for more.

  Hannah was relieved when traffic demanded her attention as she reached the center of Paradise Springs. It kept her from thinking of anything else. They had to wait several minutes to cross Route 30 because cars and tractor-trailers rushed by at a speed far over the posted speed limit in the village.

  “Is that where Daniel works?” asked Grossmammi Ella when they passed a low building with the sign Stoltzfus Family Shops in the parking lot.

  “I don’t know.”

  Her great-grandmother gave her a baffled glance, and Hannah kept her gaze on the road and the cars passing them. Why didn’t she know more about the man who’d infiltrated her dreams? Did he work there with his brothers? She’d never gone to any of the shops except the grocery store.

  Hannah was relieved when they reached the Stoltzfus farmhouse. It was set off a long lane. A half dozen buggies were parked under the trees that would give the house cooling shade in the summer. The house, like the barns, was painted white. In a nearby field, a team of five mules pulled a plow. Englisch farmers had to wait for the ground to dry out so their tractors didn’t get mired in the fields, but plain farmers who used horses and mules were already at work getting ready for planting.

  Wanda Stoltzfus met them at the kitchen door and ushered them in as if they were special guests. She introduced them to her current daughters-in-law and her future one. Finding Grossmammi Ella a seat at the middle of the quilting frame where she’d be able to hear what everyone said as they worked, she urged Hannah to sit beside her great-grandmother. Shelby was bundled away to play with the other kinder who were too young for school and were being overseen by Daniel’s younger sister Esther who showed the earliest signs of being pregnant.

  Hannah didn’t mention it, but others weren’t so circumspect. The young woman, who’d been the district’s schoolteacher until her marriage, was congratulated and teased by the other women. Everyone had an opinion on whether the boppli would be a boy or a girl. Esther smiled as she went into the other room to entertain the kinder.

  The day passed quickly as Hannah worked with eight other women on the large Sunshine and Shadow quilt stretched between them on the quilt frame. She tried to match her great-grandmother’s tiny stitches. The small squares in light and dark shades of blue, purple and green created a large diamond in the middle of the quilt. The border, which was more than a foot wide, was dark green and edged with a narrow strip of navy blue fabric.

  As she listened to the conversations around her, she wondered again why she’d let Grossmammi Ella’s condition keep them from spending time with their neighbors. Her great-grandmother seemed more alive than she had in months as news from the district was shared. Hannah heard the names of several friends from her school years. Shelby joined them when the quilters took a break for a lunch of salads and sandwiches and pies of every description made by their hostess and her family. Hannah hoped it wouldn’t be long before the Lambright family could become a vital part of the community again.

  * * *

  Weaving his way through the crowd of women getting ready to go home and make the evening meal for their families, Daniel saw Hannah moving toward the kitchen door. He didn’t want her to leave yet. He’d cleaned up in the barn, keeping an eye on the house to make sure she didn’t go before he’d washed off the sweat of working on the bridge.

  “Hannah?”

  She glanced over her shoulder and smiled. “Hi, Daniel!”

  His heart thudded like a nail gun. He hadn’t been sure if she’d talk to him after she’d taken off like a shingle in a high wind the other day. Aware of the women around him, including those from his family, he made sure no tremor tainted his voice as he asked, “Would you like to come and see the project I’ve been working on for the past year?”

  “Where is it?”

  “A short walk from here. Get Shelby, and we’ll head over. It shouldn’t take more than a few minutes.” He didn’t add he hoped she’d stay longer.

  Conflicting emotions flitted through her eyes, and he wasn’t sure what she’d decide until she nodded. “Let me get Shelby and her coat. I’ll tell Grossmammi Ella we’ll be right back.”

  He watched as she did and kissed her great-grandmother on the cheek. Grossmammi Ella was so enthralled in telling a story, she didn’t seem to notice. Buttoning her coat as well as the kind’s, Hannah walked out the door with him.

  “You don’t need a coat,” Daniel said. “It’s warmer today than I expected.”

  “That’s what we get when the sky isn’t filled with rain clouds.” Hannah settled Shelby in her arms, then relinquished her when the toddler held out her arms to Daniel.

  He led the way toward the barn. “Watch where you step. Ezra’s been trying out some goats to see if they’ll eat the weeds along the fence. They’ve been wandering free.”

  “The weeds?”

  Laughing, he said, “I’m not going to dignify that with an answer. I’m going to enjoy the nice weather.”

  “The nice weather is frustrating my bees. The weather is warm, but, except for the earliest flowers, most buds haven’t burst yet. The bees visit bushes and hedgerows, but come back without much nectar.”

  “At least, they’ve got last year’s honey to eat.” He held the gate open for her and followed her into the field.

  She smiled as Shelby bopped her on the head with Buzz-buzz. “Adult bees don’t eat honey. They make honey to feed their larvae. Adult bees eat pollen and nectar from blossoms. They store food for themselves, but it seems that as we prefer vegetables from the garden to what we freeze and can, they’re eager to get fresh food.” With a laugh, she said, “Probably more than you want to know.”

  “You find it fascinating, and when you talk about it, you make it fascinating for everyone else, too.”

  “Not everyone. I’ve encountered plenty of people whose eyes glaze over with boredom when I start prattling on and
on about my bees.”

  With a chuckle, he said, “I’ve seen the same thing when I start talking about trusses and foundations and sheetrock.”

  “Well, I can understand that. Nobody in their right mind should get excited about sheetrock.”

  “I get excited about it.”

  When she arched her brows, he wanted to put his arm around her shoulders and squeeze her. Usually Hannah was the epitome of a proper Amish woman, but he preferred when, like tonight, she was sassy and matched him jest for jest.

  “Okay,” he said. “Point taken. You wouldn’t be the first one to tell me I’m ab in kopp. Not even the first today.”

  “Who called you crazy?”

  “Some of the men on my crew. They think I’m crazy to want to replace the whole roof of the Hunter’s Mill Creek Bridge when we weren’t hired to do that.”

  She became serious. “But you were hired to fix the bridge, and you can’t fix the bridge if the roof’s leaking, ain’t so?”

  “Why do you get it and they don’t?”

  “Because I’m not the one having to get on the roof?” Her smile returned.

  He grinned at her. “Point taken again.” Taking a deep breath, he said, “This way.”

  The woods were dim because the trees blocked the last rays of the early sunset. It would be weeks before the sun was above the horizon after supper. When the Englischers went to daylight savings time, he must remember the difference between it and what the Amish called slow time. He wasn’t sure why the Englischers moved their clocks one hour ahead each spring. He was as impatient for summer to come each year as they were, but the shift didn’t make sense to him.

  A short distance later, he stepped from the woods and into the clearing. He swept one arm toward the house he’d been working on for so long, but his gaze was focused on Hannah as he asked, “What do you think?”

  His heart seemed to stop in midbeat as he waited for her answer. Until that moment, he hadn’t realized how important her opinion was to him. More important than anyone else’s. He didn’t want to think why, so he watched her face, looking for any sign of what she’d say.