by Leslie Gould
A couple of minutes later Zane appeared with two of Shani’s protein bars. He tossed one to Daniel and said, “We should get a head start on the chores.” Zane led the way on down the steps. In fact, he seemed to be leading Daniel most of the time, which wasn’t surprising. The kid was more like his father than he knew.
Charlie expected Tim to say something to the boys but he didn’t. They took off through the bushes and disappeared into the field. About fifteen minutes later Tim packed up his tools and said he’d go help the boys with the milking.
Charlie kept working until Shani arrived. She opened the sliding door and pulled out a pizza box. “I have a salad too,” she called out to Charlie and then smiled. “Who says I can’t come up with a balanced meal?”
He laughed.
She started toward him. “Where’s Zane?”
“Over doing chores.”
“Oh, I thought he’d be here by now,” she said.
“I’ll go get him,” Charlie said. “It’s getting too dark to keep working.” Thanks to Tim, the ramp was nearly completed. Another hour in the morning would finish the construction. Then he’d just need to stain the wood.
Instead of cutting through the field, he took the lane. When he reached the Lehmans’ place, Eve was outside taking diapers off the line. She folded one as he approached. He couldn’t imagine how often she had to do laundry.
“I came to get Zane,” Charlie called out to her.
She didn’t turn toward him as she answered, “They’re still in the barn.”
He must have imagined what he thought was a spark between them last weekend. She was definitely keeping her distance today.
As he neared the barn, Daniel shouted something in Pennsylvania Dutch and then Zane repeated it. “Misht. What does that mean?” he asked.
“Manure,” Daniel answered.
Someone laughed—but it wasn’t Zane.
When he entered the barn, a boy with curly hair leaned against a shovel, still laughing, but with his mouth closed.
“Hello,” Charlie said to the boy. “I’m Charlie.”
“Simon.” He didn’t open his mouth as he spoke either, and his words were slightly distorted but understandable.
“Nice to meet you,” Charlie said, feeling silly for not guessing who it was. “Glad to see you up and around.”
“Me too,” Simon said, his eyes sparkling. It looked as if he’d like to break out in a grin but, of course, he couldn’t. “I thought I was going to die of boredom.”
“Where’s your father?” Charlie asked him.
“In the milk room.”
Charlie stepped to the doorway. The man stood next to the huge stainless steel vat, his back toward Charlie.
“I’m taking Zane home,” Charlie said.
“Gut.” Tim waved his hand, as if dismissing them both.
As Charlie turned back toward the boys, Daniel said another word in Pennsylvania Dutch. “Hinaendt.”
“What does that mean?” Zane asked.
“You don’t want to know,” Simon said, slapping his hind end. Both of the Amish boys laughed at that.
Zane stared for a moment but then laughed too.
Charlie found it amusing that it took Zane a minute to catch the meaning but didn’t say anything. Instead he told Zane it was time to head on home.
Zane’s tone was full of disappointment. “Already?”
“Yep, your mom brought a pizza home.”
“A pizza?” Simon shook his head. “We get one of those once a decade, if we’re lucky.”
“We had pizza last week with them while you were in the hospital,” Daniel said.
Simon took a step toward Charlie, still leaning on the shovel. “Then I should get to have some tonight, don’t you think?”
Zane’s voice brightened. “Can they?” he asked Charlie.
“They’d have to ask their dad.” Charlie headed toward the barn door, doubting Tim would allow it. And Simon wouldn’t be able to eat it anyway, not unless Shani processed it through a blender.
“He’d say no,” Daniel said, his voice glum.
“Next time, then,” Zane said. Then he called out, “See you tomorrow!” as he ran out the door only to stop abruptly and head back to the barn. “Speaking of, want to go trick-or-treating together?”
Simon snorted. “Do you think Halloween’s a big deal around here?”
“It’s not?” Zane had a baffled look on his face.
“Halloween is an Englisch holiday,” Daniel explained.
“Do you have a harvest party?” Zane asked. “The youth group I went to in California did.”
Simon snorted again, but Daniel just shrugged.
Zane tried again. “But there are pumpkins on your porch.”
“Aenti put them there—but they’re not carved.” He glanced over his shoulder and then whispered, “Dat would have a fit.”
There were beautiful purple mums on the porch, no doubt thanks to Eve too. “Come on,” Charlie said to Zane. “We can talk about trick-or-treating on the way home.”
Zane waved to the boys again, but as they left the barn he said, “I’m too old for it anyway. I thought it would be fun to go with them, but it’s not a big deal.” He ran toward Eve, who was headed toward the house with her basket of clean diapers. She stopped to speak to Zane, but when Charlie approached she told the boy good-bye.
“Hurry on home,” Charlie said to Zane. “I want to talk to Eve for a moment.”
She turned toward him, her dark eyes bright and her cheeks rosy from the cold.
“Zane and I enjoyed the Mennonite church last Sunday,” he said.
She nodded. “Gut.”
“Afterward we were wondering about your church. Are visitors ever allowed?”
Eve pursed her lips and then said, “We don’t have any visitors who aren’t Amish or didn’t grow up Amish.”
“My grandparents were Brethren. I’d visit sometimes when they had services at their house. I’m curious how similar their practices are to yours.”
She smiled slightly, her profile toward him. “You could ask the bishop about attending.” Her brown eyes weren’t as warm as they’d been the week before.
“Gideon, right? At the lumberyard?”
“That’s correct.”
Charlie nodded. That was the right way to handle it anyway. “Do you think he’ll be open to the idea?”
“He might.” Eve smiled, wryly. “The Scriptures are in High German, though. And the rest is in Pennsylvania Dutch.”
“I know some German,” Charlie said.
“Really?”
He nodded. “My grandparents spoke German. And I took it in school.” He smiled. “Although the only Pennsylvania Dutch I know, I’ve learned from what Simon and Daniel are teaching Zane.”
She laughed. “Jah, he’ll be fluent in our language in no time—at least in boy talk.”
“I’ll go by and ask the bishop tomorrow.” He didn’t want to leave yet and scrambled for something more to say. “I’ve appreciated what you’ve done for Zane and Shani. What Tim has done too, as far as the ramp.”
“Shani has been good to us too,” she answered.
“It’s a relief, really, that you’re close by.”
She smiled a little at that, adjusted her grip on the basket, and said, “I’ll see you later. If not tomorrow, then perhaps at church.”
He nodded and waited for a moment as she strode toward the house, just until he realized he was staring. Then he turned down the driveway toward the lane.
Saturday, Charlie finished the railing on the ramp and then went to the lumberyard to buy stain to finish the project. When he brought up attending church, the bishop seemed flattered. He gave him the address of Deacon King’s farm, where the service would be held.
“There are thirty-three families in our district,” Gideon said.
That didn’t sound too big until Charlie did the math. If most of the families had five children, like Tim did, that would be one hundred s
ixty-five people. The Kings would have to have a huge house.
Charlie thanked Gideon and left with the wood stain. He’d ask Zane if he wanted to join him.
He wondered how much his grandparents’ faith had in common with the Amish. Both were nonresistant—he knew that. He wondered, if they had still been alive, what his grandparents would have thought of him joining the Army Reserve and then going off to war. His mother had been opposed, but not because of her religion—she’d left the Brethren as a teenager. She was against his going simply because he was her son.
He couldn’t help but wonder what Eve thought about the war as well.
He quickened his step as the lights of Joel and Shani’s house came into view. He wasn’t sure why he felt a ray of hope. It had been months since he’d felt anything more than angst. He thought of his grandfather’s prayers, back when he was a boy. He whispered one now. “Father, we desire the greatest blessing of all, the blessing of your daily presence.”
He felt that around Eve. In her grief and sorrow, she seemed to trust the Lord. Charlie felt a peace when he was with her.
15
Eve stood in the sunshine at the edge of the King family’s shed, rocking Trudy in her arms, willing the baby to go to sleep before the service began. Tim and a group of men stood under the oak tree in the middle of the driveway, while Daniel and Simon scuffled nearby.
Eve had told Tim she’d stay home with Simon, but the boy had wanted to come, and Tim allowed it.
The baby snuggled closer, her eyes closed now. Eve pulled the blanket tighter and kept swaying. Tim and the other men, and then the boys, started toward the shed. The bishop followed, but he stopped before entering, turning toward Eve with a smile.
Her face warmed, and she ducked her head down toward the baby. She felt Gideon’s eyes on her for a long moment. Whatever his intentions, they wouldn’t last. The sooner he moved on to someone else, the better. When she joined the Amish church she’d done it with a personal vow—never to marry an Amish man. That—coupled with the promise she’d made to Abra, that she’d care for her children—meant she’d never marry at all.
When she finally looked up, he was gone. Instead she saw Charlie and Zane striding down the driveway. She took another backward step to where she could still see them but hopefully Charlie couldn’t see her.
He stopped at the entrance to the shed and smiled at Zane, gesturing for the boy to go first. The two disappeared. She hoped they realized the men and women sat on separate sides. Had Gideon explained that? Apparently he’d given Charlie directions to the King place.
She smiled at the thought of all the things that could go wrong for Charlie and Zane. Gender specific sides. The three-hour service—Gideon had probably neglected to mention that. And no matter how much German Charlie knew, he wouldn’t keep up with all that went on in a service.
Trudy relaxed against her, but Eve waited another couple of minutes until she was sure the little one had fallen into a deep sleep. Then she entered the shed, stopping at the back. Charlie had figured out the seating arrangements—he and Zane sat three quarters of the way back on the men’s side, along the aisle.
The congregation was still singing Das Loblied. “‘O Lord Father, we bless thy name, Thy love and thy goodness praise . . .’”
Zane had his head turned. Was he watching Lila, who sat a few rows ahead? Eve started down the aisle with the baby and slipped onto the bench beside her niece. The baby stirred but then settled again. Lila stroked her littlest sister’s fine hair. Rose, on the other side of Lila, popped her head forward, grinned at Eve, and then pointed to the men’s side, back toward Charlie and Zane.
Eve shook her head at the little girl and then stared straight ahead.
When the song ended, Deacon King stepped to the front and started reading from Scripture. A starling fluttered in the rafters above. Rose fidgeted. Eve suppressed a yawn. She’d been up with the baby twice during the night.
Halfway through the service the baby woke and Eve gave her the bottle she’d prepared that morning. Then Lila and Eve took turns holding Trudy. She seemed content to look over their shoulders at those seated behind them.
At the end of the service, as Eve stood with the baby back in her arms, she couldn’t keep herself from glancing at Charlie. Simon stood between him and Zane, obviously thrilled to see them. Tim stood a few feet away, his arms crossed.
“Come on, girls,” Eve said to her nieces, pointing to the side aisle. She wanted to avoid Tim—and Charlie. “Let’s go help with the meal.”
“Will Charlie and Zane eat with us?” Rose asked.
Eve shrugged. She had no idea.
Rose led the way, and Eve followed the girls into the bright sunshine. Deacon King’s wife, Monika, reached for Trudy.
The baby didn’t protest and settled into the woman’s plump arms. Monika cooed to her, “How’s our poor motherless babe?”
Rose kicked at the hay that had been spread across the dirt pathway. Lila drifted away.
Monika squeezed the baby and then said to Eve, “How are things going with the bishop?”
Eve’s face grew warm. “Ach, Monika . . .” She didn’t want her nieces to hear. She reached for the baby. “You probably need to get things ready in the kitchen.”
Monika grinned and twisted away from Eve. “My girls have it all under control.” She had five girls. The oldest was twenty-three and the youngest, Jenny, was in school with Lila. The two oldest were already married, although neither had babies yet, and the next two were mother’s helpers in a neighboring district. All the girls were hard workers like their Mamm.
It was Eve’s turn to tease. “Are you practicing being a grandmother with Trudy?”
Monika bent down and kissed the baby’s forehead. “Jah. That’s right.”
Rose pointed to the oak tree. Charlie and Zane stood beneath it, looking a little lost. Lila had started toward them, and Rose ran after her.
“Who is that?” Monika asked.
Eve opened her mouth to explain, but before she could, Gideon stepped to her side and said, “That’s the Lehmans’ new neighbors.”
“Actually the new neighbors’ son and their friend,” Eve added.
“Oh,” Monika said, looking at Eve. “Did you invite them?”
She shook her head.
The bishop spoke up. “Charlie stopped by yesterday and asked if they could visit. I gave him permission.”
“Oh,” Monika said. “How odd . . .” She squeezed the baby again.
“Mamm,” Jenny called from the porch. “Where’s the blue serving platter?”
Monika frowned. “I thought they had it under control.”
Jenny put a hand on her hip and waited. She and Lila were friends, although Eve suspected it was partly because Jenny had a crush on Daniel. Time would tell whether the girls stayed friends or not.
Eve reached for the baby again, but Monika shook her head. “I’m perfectly capable of giving orders while holding a little one.” She grinned at Eve and then strode off toward the house.
Gideon stepped closer to Eve, taking his hat off as he did. His sandy hair had begun to gray at his temples. His blue eyes were warm and his smile kind. He cleared his throat. “I was hoping I’d have a chance to speak with you.”
Eve’s pulse quickened.
“I’ve been wanting to spend some time together.” He paused and smiled again. “Soon.”
“It’s been a busy season,” she said. “The kids. Now Simon’s accident.”
“But he’s here today. He’s recovered, right?”
“Recovering . . .” She’d been trying to keep him quiet and in his room, along with getting as many calories into him as possible. Both were difficult tasks.
“Could I come over this evening?” Gideon asked. His wife had only passed last winter, but it wasn’t uncommon for an Amish man to seek another wife soon. Except for Tim. He seemed to not have given it a thought.
Gideon leaned toward her. “I can come over after supper.�
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“The baby is fussy in the evenings,” Eve said.
“Couldn’t Tim take care of her?”
Eve didn’t answer. Her brother seldom held the baby, let alone took care of her. She doubted he realized it, but she was sure he subconsciously blamed Trudy for Abra’s death. She’d refused any sort of treatment while she was pregnant. Finally, she’d agreed to be induced at eight months, so she could start chemo.
Gideon glanced toward the house, where Monika stood on the porch, holding Trudy and talking to a group of women. He chuckled. “Or maybe Monika would keep her for the rest of the day.”
“Lila could watch her,” Eve said. She didn’t want to involve Monika.
“Perfect,” Gideon said. “I’ll be over after supper. We’ll have time for a conversation then. And hopefully a walk.”
A commotion over by the tree distracted Eve. Gideon turned, and she stepped to his side to see better. Simon hung from a branch. Charlie spoke to him calmly, saying, “None of that, bud. But, careful, don’t drop.” He wrapped his arms around the boy’s torso and lowered him slowly. “Now go on over and check in with your aunt. Tell her you should go in the house and sit for a while.”
Eve started toward the tree, the bishop behind her. “Thank you,” she called out to Charlie. “Come on, Simon. Let’s go get you a glass of water and find a quiet corner.”
“Are they staying for the meal?” Simon pointed to Charlie and Zane. “I want to ask Charlie about the war.”
The bishop frowned at Simon but then said, “You’re welcome to stay,” to Charlie.
Zane looked pleased until Charlie said, “Thank you, but we need to get back.”
Eve took Simon’s hand and started toward the house.
“I’ll see you tonight,” Gideon called out to her.
“See you then,” she responded, her face growing warm. She’d turned down a few men wanting to court her over the last decade, but she wasn’t sure how to turn down the bishop. Tim wouldn’t be pleased if she did, not at all. And she didn’t want to reveal her vow—it wouldn’t make sense to anyone but her.
Gideon would lose interest soon enough. She’d be polite until then, but not encouraging. What else could she do?
