Amish Homecoming

by Jo Ann Brown

  “Offend me? How?”

  “I can’t imagine how you lived in that big city, and I don’t want to. But I do know ten years is a very long time. I’m not certain what you’ve forgotten or what habits you learned from Englischers, and I don’t want to make you uncomfortable. Especially in front of others.”

  Her smile softened, and his heart did a twirl in his chest. It seemed to spin even faster when she said, “Ezra, I’m glad to discover that, in spite of everything, one thing hasn’t changed. You’re still a gut friend to me.”

  He looked hastily away as his heart thudded down into his gut. Friend? Was that how she thought of him? Was that how she had always thought of him? Maybe wanting them to become something more had been only his wish.

  His thoughts made his voice gruff as he said, “Isaiah asked if I would ask you to do him a favor.”

  “Why doesn’t he ask me himself?”

  “He didn’t want Rose to see you two talking together. He thought that might make Rose more upset.”

  “I can understand that. What’s this favor he wants me to do?”

  “He’d like you to spend time with Rose. He hopes you can become friends, and that your friendship will help her through this difficult time.”

  She rolled her eyes, looking as annoyed as her niece could. “You’re too late. Rose and I have already begun to get to know one another. There’s no need to concoct some great scheme in the shadows.”

  “Isaiah is very worried about her.”

  “I know.” She looked back out at the rain as she added, “Rose asked me about Philadelphia. She had a lot of questions. You don’t think that she’s considering leaving Paradise Springs, do you?”

  He leaned against the pole that held up the porch roof. “You’re asking the wrong man, Leah. No one was more surprised than I was when you left Paradise Springs.”

  “I was pretty surprised myself.”

  His lips twitched in a reluctant smile. “Knowing what I do now, I’m sure you were.” He became serious again as he said, “Esther told me how you spent time with Mandy at school several days this week. You are very protective of your niece.”

  “Go ahead. You can say it. I’m overprotective.”

  “That’s not for me to judge. I can’t help wondering if there’s another reason you’re worried. Do you fear Mandy’s mamm will come here to claim her?”

  “No.”

  He gave her a moment to add something more, and when she didn’t, he said, “You sound very definite.”

  “Ja, I am. As I told you before, Mandy’s mamm, Carleen, disappeared within days after Johnny’s accident, even though Mandy was only a few weeks old. I contacted some of Carleen’s friends to discover where she’d gone.”

  “Did you find her?”

  “Not exactly. She must have learned I was looking for her, because she left a message with one of those friends to tell me to stop looking for her, that she didn’t want anything more to do with either Johnny or their daughter or settling down in one place. A couple of months later, a letter arrived from a lawyer’s office in Colorado. It was a form to relinquish any claim on Mandy so Johnny could let someone else adopt her if he wanted. Instead, he had me named as her legal guardian.”

  “I had no idea.”

  “It’s not something we talk about. I don’t want Mandy being reminded that her birth mamm abandoned her.”

  Now it was his turn to be silent. He tried to imagine someone in their community giving up their kind simply because it was an inconvenience. Even if a member of the Leit couldn’t care for a kind, someone within the district would take that little one into their home and rear it as their own. Each boppli was a blessing from God, a way to remind them that love was His greatest gift.

  He watched her, wondering if now was the time to ask if she were staying or leaving again. Maybe it was, but he didn’t want to destroy the camaraderie they shared as they watched the rain. He yearned for more than friendship with her, but he was glad for this quiet moment when they could be content in each other’s company.

  * * *

  Leah tried to match her steps to Ezra’s longer strides as they walked side by side under an umbrella along the road between his house and hers. No cars or trucks rushed past. She dodged a couple of big puddles that were pocked with more rain. The umbrella was large, but her shoulder pressed against his arm on every step. She could have moved farther away, but that meant being out in the rain.

  And, to be honest, she relished being close to him. The casual brush of his shoulder against hers sent a lightning-quick pulse through her. He was silent, and that was fine. She appreciated the feeling of the company of someone who didn’t try to act as if she were some sort of weird creature because she’d gone away, and, more important, he understood how she was struggling to help Mandy—and herself—fit into the community.

  “Here we are,” she said when they paused at the end of the lane that led to her family’s farm. Rain slapped the broad leaves on the trees and made the grass dance as the rain fell in a soft patter.

  When she started to ease out from beneath the umbrella, Ezra said, “You keep it.”

  “It’s not raining that hard. I can run to the house.”

  “Ja, but keep the umbrella.” He tugged on one of her kapp strings as he did to tease her years ago. “I’m used to getting wet out in these fields.”

  “So am I.”

  “True.” He winked at her as she took the umbrella, making sure she held it high enough so he didn’t have to stoop. “There was the time you met me with the garden hose because you were mad at me for not sharing Mamm’s peanut butter cookies and ended up almost as wet as me.”

  “They were chocolate peanut butter cookies! The best cookies in the world. Don’t tell my mamm I said that.”

  “As long as you don’t tell mine that no one makes better corn chowder than your mamm.”

  “A deal.” She held out her hand, grinning.

  Her smile softened as he took her hand in both of his. She gazed into his eyes, which were shadowed by the murky day. Gently he squeezed her fingers before he slowly released them. He lightly brushed a recalcitrant strand of her hair back toward her kapp, and a frisson inched down her back as that cold around her heart eased further.

  There were so many things she wanted to say, but the moment passed when a car came around the corner. They moved off the road, and the driver kindly slowed down so they weren’t splashed by water coming off the tires. The man waved before the car went beyond the next hill.

  Ezra must have realized it was the wrong time to speak, too, because he left then and hurried home through the rain. She watched him until he vanished around the corner before she headed along the lane. Her steps were as light as if she bounced on clouds instead of the gravel lane. In rhythm with the rain falling on the umbrella, she hummed a tuneless song. Her happiness was simply too powerful to keep inside her.

  She knew that as soon as she reached the house Mamm and Mandy would want to talk about the mud sale. This was her only time to savor the wonder left by Ezra’s touch. He had not pushed the boundaries of friendship; still, she longed to believe the warmth in his eyes heralded that he wanted more. Could they pick up where they had left off ten years ago when they had been hardly old enough to consider courting? The thought was both thrilling and terrifying because they weren’t the same people they’d been back then.

  The lane curved between the main barn and the house. As she strolled toward the house, Daed came out of the barn. She heard Mandy’s shout seconds before the little girl appeared in the barn’s doorway. Her daed turned and tumbled to the ground. He was still except for his right hand, which struggled to grasp the grass. He raised his head, then collapsed with a groan.

  Chapter Eight

  Leah wasn’t surprised when, as she and Mamm assisted
Daed toward the house, he refused to let them call 911, but she was astonished that Mamm agreed. With an expression that warned Leah not to argue, Mamm kept an arm around him as she warned him of a stone or a bush in their way. Leah ran ahead to the kitchen door. As she held it open, she glanced at Mandy, who stood by the pump with Shep in her arms. The little girl’s face was as colorless as her apron.

  She longed to comfort Mandy, but she went with Mamm to help her get Daed to his favorite chair in the living room. He sat heavily with a groan and leaned his head back against it. She swept the quilt off the back of the sofa. When she started to place it over him, he put up his hands.

  “I’m not an invalid,” he ordered. “Don’t treat me like one.”

  “You need to see a doctor. You fell again,” Leah said as she tucked the quilt around him in spite of his words.

  He glowered at her. “I stumbled. I need to have Mandy mow the grass tomorrow, because it’s gotten too long and is as slippery as ice when it’s wet.”

  Mandy came in and said nothing as she waited in the doorway between the kitchen and front room. She held Shep close until the dog wiggled to get down.

  Shep ran over to Leah and sat by her side. She looked from the dog to Mandy, whose face became even more colorless if possible.

  “Will you get Grossdawdi a cup of coffee?” Mamm asked the little girl.

  “Ja.” She spun on her heel and rushed back into the kitchen.

  By the time Mandy had returned, carefully balancing the cup of black coffee, Daed was seated with his feet up on a small stool and a pillow behind his head. He wouldn’t even talk about lying down and resting, but Leah could see he was unnerved by the way his hands shook when he reached for the cup.

  Mandy set it on a table beside the chair, then scurried toward the front door, pausing only long enough to shoot a glance at Leah. Seeing her niece’s drawn face, Leah gave her a steadying smile before following Mamm into the kitchen.

  Her mamm went to the stove and turned the burner on under the stew pot. She began to stir it, releasing the scent of beef and vegetables.

  Leah put her hand on the counter by the sink and asked in a low voice that wouldn’t reach Daed in the other room, “How long has this been happening?”

  “Your daed being clumsy?” She stirred the stew vigorously. “Every day of his life.”

  “Mamm, what happened wasn’t him being clumsy. There wasn’t anything for him to stumble over.”

  “He said he slipped on the wet grass.”

  “And you believe him?”

  “He’s my husband.” She didn’t look at Leah. “Why wouldn’t I believe him?”

  Leah tried to calm her voice, but it rose on each word she spoke. “Because he isn’t being honest, Mamm. I don’t know if it’s because he doesn’t want to worry you or he’s frightened, but he should see a doctor. It might be nothing more than a simple ear infection. Those can make someone very dizzy.”

  “Let me tend to him, Leah.” She turned from the stove and patted Leah’s cheek gently. “Your concern shows your love for your daed, but you’ve become too accustomed to Englisch ways. I will check his ears tonight. If I see any sign of redness, I’ll flush them with peroxide.”

  “And if you don’t see any signs of redness?”

  Mamm shrugged and didn’t answer.

  The frustration she’d endured while listening to Daed and Johnny quarrel came rushing back. She clenched her hands to keep from throwing them up in irritation. If her daed and brother had—just once—faced the fact they might have some common ground, they could have patched up their differences. Every time she’d suggested that, they’d refused to listen.

  Now Mamm was doing the same. Ignoring the facts was wrong. Helping Daed was the right thing to do. For a second, she considered contacting the village clinic for advice, but God’s commandment urged her to honor her parents. Obeying had never been so hard.

  “Leah?” Mamm turned from the stove and wiped her hands on a dish towel.

  “Ja?”

  “Your daed is, despite his efforts not to be, a proud man. Don’t say anything to anyone else about this and caution Mandy to say nothing, too.”

  “I will agree if you will agree that if this happens again, we’ll call the clinic in the village.”

  “I can’t agree. The decision isn’t mine.”

  Leah nodded, accepting defeat. She mumbled something about checking on Mandy. Pouring three glasses of lemonade, she set one on the counter by her mamm and picked up the other two. She glanced at Daed as she tiptoed through the front room. He was leaning his head back, with his eyes closed. His face was flushed, and he tapped the arm in the chair. If she hadn’t seen him fall, she would never have guessed anything was amiss. Was she making something out of what was truly nothing?

  God, I need Your guidance to help Daed. Please guide me in the right direction. She repeated the prayer over and over silently as she crossed the room and went out the front door, closing it behind her.

  As she’d expected, Mandy sat on one of the pair of rocking chairs on the porch. Shep was curled up on her lap. He looked up and wagged his tail when Leah crossed the porch. Beyond the roof, the rain fell, watering the freshly planted fields that stretched into the twilight. Several cars whooshed past out on the road, their lights flickering as they pierced the storm.

  It seemed impossible that less than an hour ago, she had been standing out there with Ezra, happier than she’d been in a long time. Now she felt confused and thwarted at every turn.

  She handed Mandy a glass before sitting on the other rocker. With a sigh, she tried to smile at the little girl and failed. She couldn’t pretend nothing was wrong.

  “How is Grossdawdi, Aunt Leah?” The little girl trembled almost as much as Daed had. “Is he going to die?”

  “No, not now.” She hoped she was being honest. “Grossmammi is going to check if he has an ear infection. That could have made him dizzy enough to trip.”

  Mandy shook her head vehemently as she continued to pet Shep. “It wasn’t an ear infection that made him to fall down.” She took a drink as she petted Shep. “He showed me what really was going on.”

  “I only saw him fall. What did you see before that? Was he unsteady when he was walking in the barn? Did he—”

  “I’m not talking about Grossdawdi Abram. I meant Shep.”

  “What about him?”

  “He did his special dance just before Grossdawdi fell down.”

  Leah swallowed her gasp as she squeaked out, “The same one he did when your daed was about to have a seizure?”

  She nodded, her eyes wide with fear. “What do you think it means?”

  “I’m not sure.” Was that the truth, or was she, like Mamm, trying to act as if nothing were wrong with Daed?

  She struggled to recall every tiny detail she’d been told by the people who’d trained Shep as a service dog. Before he had come to live in the apartment with them, he’d learned how to discern the changes that occurred in the human brain before a seizure was about to begin. Those lessons had been ingrained in him months before he met Johnny for the first time. It hadn’t taken him long to recognize the unique smells he could pick up before one of Johnny’s seizures began. Maybe a couple of weeks.

  Shep had been on the farm about the same amount of time before Daed fell and bumped his head in the kitchen on Mandy’s first day of school. That day, while Mamm bandaged Daed, Shep went through the motions he had been taught to perform in the wake of his warning about an upcoming seizure.

  Was it possible that Daed had suffered something similar and that was why he fell? He hadn’t acted as confused as Johnny had after a seizure, and he had seemed to be in control of his limbs. What had Shep sensed? She couldn’t believe it was a coincidence. Not when it had happened twice now.

  She glanced at t
he front door but knew she couldn’t blurt out her suspicions to Mamm. Mandy was telling the truth...of what she thought she’d seen. Shep did have a unique way of leaping about on his hind feet when Johnny had been about to have a seizure, but the little dog was easily excitable and often jumped. Mandy had been watching from the barn, and Daed had been halfway to the house. From that distance, it would be difficult to see exactly what Shep was doing.

  “Mandy, if Shep starts doing that dance again, I want you to scream as loud as you can for Mamm or me. Maybe Shep is sensing something about Daed losing his balance. If one of us can get there fast enough, we might be able to prevent him from falling and hurting himself again.”

  “I can—”

  Leah shook her head as she took Mandy’s hand in hers. “He is too big for you to hold up on your own. That’s why I want you to scream at the top of your lungs. Two of us together should be able to keep him on his feet.” Looking into her niece’s eyes, she ached when she saw her twin brother in Mandy’s expression. “You spend a lot of time with your grossdawdi as he’s working around the farm. Can we depend on you to call us?”

  “Ja! Me and Shep will guard Grossdawdi.” Her thin chest puffed out with determination to do as she promised. It deflated as quickly when she asked, “But what about when I’m in school?”

  “Mamm and I will keep an eye on him then.”

  “School will be done in a few weeks. After that, Shep and I are going to stick like glue to Grossdawdi.”

  Knowing her niece needed time to be a kind, Leah smiled. “Once you’re out of school, we’ll arrange a schedule that works for all of us.” She reached to tug Mandy’s kapp string, then paused as she remembered Ezra doing that to hers.

  A high-pitched howl rang through the deepening darkness, followed by staccato yelps. Shep jumped to his feet on Mandy’s lap, his head snapping in the direction of the sounds.

  “What’s that?” cried Mandy.

  Shep whined deep in his throat, his hair rising around his collar as the sound came again.