A Wedding Quilt for Ella (Little Valley 1)

by Jerry S. Eicher

  “Almost as good as a boy,” Daniel said, laughing. “By the time we’re done, you can join the crew.”

  “Don’t tease me. This is hard enough,” Ella said as they brought in the next board.

  “You’re a better worker than my sisters,” Daniel said. “I’m not teasing.

  “Well, it’s wonderful to help,” she said, bending over to hammer as another board came into place.

  The hours went by quickly, and they ate lunch sitting against a lumber pile, shielded in part from the bright sunlight. By early afternoon the last of the floorboards had been nailed into place.

  “We’re ready for plywood next,” Daniel said, pointing toward the pile of flat lumber.

  “And what am I to do?” Ella asked.

  “Just wait while we carry the pieces in, and then you can help hammer.”

  Wearily Ella stepped back and watched as they glued the edges of the upright boards and allowed the pieces of plywood to fall into place with a sharp bang. Then they pounded the tongue and groove edges together with sledgehammers.

  “There’s the work that needs to be done,” Daniel said, shouting above the noise and pointing out the lines on the plywood. “We need nails all the way across about eight inches apart.”

  Ella glanced at the piece of plywood and then across the still unfinished subfloor.

  “That’s an awful lot of hammering,” she said.

  Daniel laughed. “We will help, so don’t worry.”

  Ella pounded away and was joined by all the men at the end of each row.

  “We have to keep up before the glue dries,” Daniel said. “It’s not that we think you’re slow.”

  “Stop worrying about me,” she said.

  “Tired and snappy already” he said with a grin.

  “I guess,” she said. Daniel was being wonderful, building her house. It was going to be wonderful even though it didn’t look much like a house yet.

  “We’re making gut progress,” Daniel said when she stopped to catch her breath.

  “Yah, and it seems like the house is getting smaller instead of bigger.”

  “That’s the nature of things with homes,” Daniel said, pausing to look around. “They always look smaller when only the foundation or sub-floors are in. Once the walls are up, the true size becomes apparent.”

  The rest of the crew nodded, and Ella paused to look back across the plywood they had put down.

  “It still looks small,” she said, and they laughed.

  By late afternoon they were three quarters of the way across, and Ella stood to leave. Daniel waved as she climbed down the ladder and turned to walk back to where her horse was tied along the fencerow. The horse still had a few nibbles of hay left from what she had given it at lunchtime and was trying to dig them out of the grass. She backed the horse around and climbed into the buggy. The horse started with a jerk, heading home with eager steps.

  By midmorning the next day, the floor plywood was down, and Daniel marked off the boards for the wall construction, laying them in place along the outer edges. Ella watched them place a few studs between the marks and then grabbed a handful of her own. When they came to the end of the wall, she turned to look behind her. Daniel had been correct. Already the stretch of laid-out wall made the house look larger.

  “Nail in a stud where each set of marks is,” Daniel said, bending over to trace the marks with his finger. “You use two nails for each stud, and these double marks are for windows and doors. The boys and I will finish those. All you have to do is leave a stud out wherever there is a zero inside the set of marks.”

  Ella glanced up and down the lines. “It looks easy enough,” she said, her hammer ready.

  “Oh,” Daniel said, raising his hand. “I just thought of something. Do you want to know how things are laid out on the inside—since you’ve not seen my plans yet?”

  “Of course,” Ella said. “And you’d better show me where the front door, living room, and kitchen are. I need to see how they flow together.”

  “Then let them work on the wall,” Daniel said, waving his hand. “Come over here and show me what you want.”

  Ella followed him to where he had the plans open on a piece of plywood, watching as he traced the blueprint lines with his pencil.

  Do I dare make suggestions? Things look fairly decent already, but this is my house, after all. She cleared her throat and, glancing at Daniel’s face, said, “I’d like the kitchen moved to this wall so that it looks out toward the back.”

  Daniel shrugged. “Hey, it’s your house. We can still change most anything right now. And what you just moved requires only the change of one wall, which isn’t really too bad.”

  “I think that’s all I want changed,” Ella said.

  “Just speak up about any changes that you want,” Daniel said. “As long as we catch things in time, I don’t mind. Maybe you should look things over a little more.”

  Ella studied the print for a few minutes and shook her head, “I think the kitchen is really my only concern. And the rest doesn’t really matter as long as it flows together.”

  “And you think it flows well?” he asked.

  “Yes, I think it does,” she said with appreciation.

  They then joined the others who were constructing the wall. The gas-powered saw roared all day long as one person cut the boards to correct lengths, and the others put things together.

  “You can work on the headers,” Daniel said, hollering above the noise.

  “What are headers?” she asked.

  “The headers are made out of this pile of boards, and they need plywood nailed between them.”

  Ella nodded as he set two of the boards out on the plywood floor.

  “You have to be careful,” Daniel said. “Each edge of the board has to be lined up fairly close otherwise you get a crooked header.”

  “What happens then?” she asked.

  “It can allow the wall to settle later.”

  Ella gasped. “I don’t want my house falling down on my head. Maybe you’d better do this part of the job.”

  “No,” he said, laughing, “it’s not hard at all so don’t worry. Simply take this square and hold it against the board on each end, and you should be okay.”

  “Okay,” Ella said, kneeling on the plywood floor. She started the nail on the first board, pushing the square tight against the two stacked boards. Holding them together with her knee, she pounded away. With the two nails in, she sighted down the edge and then tried to adjust them. They still didn’t look right, and so she pounded some more.

  “You don’t have to be that careful,” Daniel said, standing at her shoulder. “Just as long as it’s close, it’s good enough.”

  “Then why did you tell me earlier to be so careful?”

  “Maybe I made it sound too serious,” he said, kneeling beside her and sighting the two boards with his eye.

  “Is it good enough?” she asked.

  “It’s very good,” he said, “so stop worrying.”

  “Okay,” she said as he moved away.

  Daniel was a gut boy, and he was trying hard to help her. Aden would be glad if he were here and could see them. A cloud passed over the sun, and Ella wiped her eyes. Aden wasn’t here, but she was moving on with life now, and Aden would also like that.

  Ella laid the square on the floor again. Taking a careful look, she started the nail. On the other end, she repeated the maneuver, lifting the header to sight down the edge when she was done. It would have to be good enough even though the edges weren’t exactly perfect. This wasn’t quilting, it was house building. Finishing the header, she added it to the pile.

  Chore time came quickly, and Ella climbed down the ladder to leave.

  “See you tomorrow,” Daniel hollered after her, and the others waved.

  She stopped a distance from the house to look back at the work they had done. One of the long walls and the end was up, held in place on the inside with two by fours nailed to the floor. It didn�
��t look like much, but this would be her house, and she would soon live here.

  Ella smiled, and giving her horse a gentle rub on the neck, she turned it around on the road to drive home.

  The week went by quickly, and the plywood second floor was down by Saturday. Ella helped hand up materials to the upper level on Monday morning, pushing up boards with one of the men until her arms ached.

  “Ella,” Daniel yelled down from the second floor, “that’s enough of that. Come up and help with the walls again.”

  “I’m fine,” she said. “I can help down here.”

  “I said come up,” he said, glaring down through the open stairwell.

  “A little bossy, are we?” she said, teasing.

  “Just come up,” he said, not moving away until she climbed the ladder.

  “Satisfied?” she said, standing on the second floor, strapping on her nail apron.

  “Yah,” he said, turning toward the wall he had marked off. “That’s much better.”

  “You still don’t have to be so bossy,” she said to his retreating back.

  “I just don’t want you to get hurt,” he muttered.

  Ella smiled as she began to work on the headers again. It was gut to feel looked after, but Daniel didn’t really need to worry. She knew how to work hard and was used to it.

  Forty-one

  The load of trusses came the next week, and Ella watched as the men set each one by hand. At the end of the day, they stood like spiny skeletons, outlined against the evening sky, their centers having been guided in place by the string along the top. Daniel began working on the roof plywood that afternoon and completed it two days later, rolling out the black tar paper before Ella left for her chores. She walked up the field behind the house, where the ground rose to the highest level, and looked back on the house. The outline of the house was now in place. All the windows were in, and the roof was a black shiny surface, waiting for the shingles to be added tomorrow. The sight took her breath away.

  Clara’s house was a reality, or almost one. And how strange Da Hah’s ways were. Even before Aden passed away, Clara had been given the inspiration for the way the house would look. If there ever were doubts in the future, here was the proof that when things had made no sense during her darkest hours, Da Hah had been with her.

  That night after chores, Ella walked out behind the barn and looked again for the killdeer nest. Both parents raised a terrible racket, flying almost to her feet and then taking off in their fluttery attempts at flight. Carefully she searched the ground and found the four chicks, just hatched, their fluffy heads and bodies flat against the gravel nest.

  “Hello,” she whispered, bending low over the nest. They didn’t move, their feathers almost a perfect blend with the surrounding soil.

  Ella watched the little birds for a few moments while the fuss from the parents grew to a furious pitch.

  “Don’t worry,” she whispered, but they only dashed to her feet to make their objections all the more obvious. Apparently they were convinced she meant them only evil. Slowly she backed away and made note of where the nest was. It lay out of the main path they used for field work but might still be in danger from some of Eli or Monroe’s ventures with the teams.

  Glancing west, Ella saw great stacks of dark storm clouds working their way across the mountains. Lightning bolts lit up the sky, and the whole system headed their way. Ella shivered, going inside to help with supper.

  “It looks like quite a storm’s coming up,” Mamm said.

  “Yes, it does,” Ella said, glancing out of the kitchen window.

  “Is your house in danger?” Mamm asked.

  “Not with the way Daniel builds,” she said with a smile. “We might lose some tar paper, though. They didn’t have time today to get all the shingles on.”

  “That’s good to hear,” Mamm said, bustling around the kitchen with Ella joining in to help. By the time the men rushed in from the barn, followed closely by the sharp lash of the storm, supper was on the table.

  “Perhaps we’d better head for the basement,” Daett said, approaching the table.

  “Not tonight,” Mamm said. “I don’t think there are any twisters. It’s mostly lightning strikes, and those will reach us in the basement as well as up here. We have to trust in Da Hah’s protection.”

  “He has been good to us,” Daett said, sitting down with a sigh. “And may He watch over us tonight as we sure do need the rain.”

  With the rest of the family at the table, Daett bowed his head in prayer, and then the meal began.

  “I found a killdeer nest,” Ella said, turning to Eli and Monroe, “and I want the two of you to be careful when you take the team out to the fields. The nest is to the left of the lane, close to the fencerow.”

  “My, my,” Eli said, “the woman builds a house, and now she wants to run the place.”

  “That’s what I say,” Monroe said. “I’m surprised she can still sit with us at the table.”

  “Boys, boys,” Daett said, laughing as the rain lashed the kitchen window, “we can all be thankful that Da Hah has allowed Ella to move on with her life. I know it’s not exactly what we expected, but it is His will.”

  “Thank you,” Ella whispered as tears formed at the edges of her eyes.

  “She’s going to have me crying soon,” Eli said, faking a sharp sniffle. Ella glared at him, and he burst out laughing.

  By bedtime the storm had quieted down, and Ella climbed the stairs, entered her bedroom, and sat on the bed. She sat in the darkness for long moments, finally getting up to light the kerosene lamp on the dresser and pulling it closer to her.

  “Dear Journal,” she wrote.

  Work on the house is now progressing quite well, though I never would have thought such a thing was possible. I, little Ella yoder, am building a house for myself. Yet Da Hah has seen fit to allow it as He has seen fit to allow my Aden to be taken.

  Daniel is confident he can be done in another month or two. He has quite a lot of work lined up for himself after that, and I have my twenty-first birthday coming up. It will all come together so well. I find myself comforted even when my heart bleeds again for Aden, as it does often—especially on nights like this when a storm has just blown through. Somehow it reminds me of my loss, and what will never be again.

  Weary, Ella closed the notebook, climbed into bed, and drifted off to sleep easily.

  In the morning, her mom softly called to her from the bottom of the stairwell. Ella dressed slowly, rubbing her arms and legs. She was only used to using muscles that farmwork required. If things continued on like this, a month might be a long time to keep up the heavy work schedule she was on. Yet, it was also a great joy even with the pain.

  “Good morning,” Mamm said when Ella walked into the kitchen. “Happy this morning?”

  “Tired and happy,” Ella said with a smile. “I guess I’m out in the barn for chores this morning.”

  “That would be the best if you’re up to it. You’ve been working hard.”

  “Oh, yah,” Ella said, grabbing her coat as Dora and Monroe came down the stairs. She waited a few minutes and walked outside with them. The cool morning air filled her lungs, and she took deep breaths, waving her arms around in the air.

  “Stop that,” Dora said. “You’re making me tired.”

  “It feels so good to be alive,” Ella said, suddenly stopping to listen. The first streaks of dawn painted the eastern sky in front of them as they turned to look down the road and toward the sound of rapid horse hooves.

  “It’s Daniel’s buggy coming,” Monroe said, squinting into the semi-darkness. “I wonder what he wants this early? Probably something to do with Ella’s house. I sure hope that thing gets done soon, and everyone stops pestering us.”

  “The house,” Ella said, not moving. “Did something happen to the house?”

  “It probably burned to the ground in the lightning storm last night,” Dora said.

  “Dora,” Ella said, hardly able
to breathe, “don’t say things like that.”

  “I’ll go out and see what he wants,” Monroe said, his voice full of concern.

  “No,” Ella said, holding up her hand. “I’ll go talk to him myself. I might as well face this.”

  The two looked at her, shook their heads, and walked on toward the barn. Daniel was still seated in the buggy when she reached him, holding the reins limply in his hands. He looked as though he hadn’t slept. His hair was disheveled, his clothing was soot-stained, and his eyes were red. He hung out of his buggy and coughed, apparently too exhausted to climb down.

  Ella’s heart pounded furiously. “What’s wrong?” she whispered. “Did the house burn down?”

  “No,” he said, mustering a smile. “I’m sorry for scaring you like this, but lightning struck a tree behind our corncrib, and we didn’t see it till it was almost too late. I was up most of the night with Daett moving what corn was left inside the barn.”

  “Did the corncrib burn up?”

  “Partly But we put the fire out with two water hoses from the barn.”

  “Then the house is okay?”

  He nodded. “I came to tell you that I won’t be working there today. The boys will, but I have to get some sleep.”

  “Then I won’t either,” she said, “but that’s okay. I’m so sorry about the corncrib.”

  He smiled weakly. “That’s much better than if the house had burned.”

  “Yah,” she said, “so will this slow down the work?”

  “Oh,” he said, “I might as well tell you since I’m here. Dad talked with the bishop last night and gave him the whole story about the house we’re building.”

  “Oh!” Ella gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. “And what did he say?”

  A broad smile spread across Daniel’s face. “He wants to have a work frolic on Saturday and, perhaps, one after that. Just think—we could be done with this very quickly, which is one of the reasons I don’t feel too bad about taking off today.”