O Holy Night

by Amy Clipston

  “Right.” Darlene nodded. Her pinched brow seemed to illustrate her skepticism, but at the same time, Elaine thought she saw a hint of understanding in her eyes. Maybe she’d had a lot on her plate before dating Andrew.

  Elaine started toward the barn again. “I need to serve this kaffi before it gets cold.”

  She stepped into the barn and began moving down the tables, smiling as she filled the men’s cups with coffee.

  When she came to the table where Calvin sat with his friends, he was laughing at something Jay said.

  She stilled for a moment and took in his profile, his face looking as though it had been carved out of a fine piece of granite. He was certainly attractive, but Lewis was too. And he’d not only trampled her heart but destroyed her reputation.

  Elaine closed her eyes and fought against the familiar cloud of betrayal and heartache that took up residence in her soul after Lewis broke up with her. Then she squared her shoulders and headed down the table.

  When she came up behind Calvin, she forced her lips into a smile. “Kaffi?”

  Calvin craned his neck to look up at her. “Hi, Elaine.”

  “Hello.” She held up the carafe. “Would any of you like kaffi?”

  Andrew lifted his cup. “Ya, please.”

  Elaine filled his cup and then reached over to fill Dave’s and Jay’s. When she allowed her gaze to tangle with Calvin’s again, she said, “Do you want some?”

  “Of course I do.” Those blue-gray eyes sparkled. “How did you like the service?”

  “Fine. It was similar to our services back in New Wilmington.” She filled his cup.

  “Did you know your cousin Uria works for mei dat? We work together.”

  Her eyes locked with his. “Your dat owns King’s Belgian and Dutch Harness Horses?”

  “That’s right.” He took the full cup from her. “Danki.”

  “Gern gschehne.” She moved on to the next group of men, but her mind was stuck on the information Calvin had shared. Uria worked with him. Would that make it even harder to avoid this man?

  If so, her heart might be doomed.

  Chapter Two

  Elaine again sat with her new friends while the women of the congregation ate their lunch. She did her best to concentrate on the conversation, but her thoughts kept wandering to what Calvin had told her about Uria.

  Mary Liz had written her mother about how Levi, who was twenty, enjoyed working with his father and the other carpenters at the shed store, but Uria had asked to pursue another vocation. He’d tried working at the Kings’ horse breeding and training farm two years ago, when he turned fifteen. He enjoyed the work so much that he chose to stay.

  Now Elaine found herself imagining Calvin and her cousin working together. Were they close, despite what she was sure was a few years’ age difference? What if Calvin sometimes came to her aunt and uncle’s house to see Uria?

  “Have you decided if you’re going to sing with us this afternoon, Elaine?”

  “Huh?” Elaine looked up at Alice’s voice and found all three women staring at her. “I’m sorry. I was lost in thought.”

  Sharon picked up her sandwich. “What were you thinking about?”

  Elaine licked her lips and searched her mind for a response. “Nothing. It was nothing.”

  Darlene turned toward her. “So will you sing with us today?”

  “Please?” Alice asked from across the table.

  Elaine wished she’d found an excuse to say no, but she still thought she had no choice. “Okay. I’ll go.”

  Darlene smiled. “Wunderbaar!”

  After Elaine helped with the cleanup, she made her way toward the line of buggies, where she spotted her parents talking to her aunt and uncle.

  “I’m going out this afternoon with Darlene, Alice, and Sharon.” Elaine pointed toward where they stood waiting for her. “They’re going to sing for a church member who’s still recovering from surgery.”

  “Oh, gut!” Mamm squeezed her arm. “Have fun.”

  Elaine met up with Darlene, who’d joined Andrew near one of the buggies. “May I please ride with you to the singing?”

  Darlene glanced at Andrew and then back at Elaine. “Of course you can.”

  “Danki.” Elaine climbed into the back of the buggy.

  They all made small talk during the short ride to a small, white farmhouse that sat in front of a barn and a modest pasture. Once Andrew halted his horse, Elaine scrambled out behind Darlene—and almost crashed right into Calvin.

  “You could have ridden with me,” he said with a confused expression on his face. Or was that disappointment?

  Elaine shrugged. “I thought I should ride with one of the women since they’re the ones who invited me.” She looked at the back porch as Darlene and Andrew climbed the steps behind Sharon and Jay. Each woman held two hymnals, and she was sure they were copies of the Ausbund, their Amish hymnal, and perhaps copies of Heartland Hymns, a German and English songbook. “We’d better get going.”

  Slipping past Calvin, she caught up with the others.

  Sharon knocked on the back door, and an Amish woman with a round face, perhaps in her midforties, appeared in the doorway.

  “Hi, Bertha,” Sharon said. “We were wondering if we could sing for you and Josiah. We heard he’s had some complications since his back surgery.”

  “Oh, how nice.” Bertha’s expression brightened as she beckoned for them to enter the house. “We’d love that. Please come in.”

  Elaine followed everyone into a small kitchen, then through a doorway to an even smaller family room. A dark-haired man sat in a recliner. While everyone else gathered around him, Elaine hung back.

  “How are you, Josiah?” Sharon asked.

  The man shook his head, and his brown eyes seemed full of pain. “It’s been a tough recovery, but I’m holding on to my faith.”

  “We’re all so sorry to hear you’re struggling. We wanted to offer our support in person.” Sharon turned toward Elaine. “This is our new freind, Elaine Lantz. She and her parents just moved here from New Wilmington.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Bertha said.

  Elaine nodded and smoothed her hands down her white apron.

  Sharon looked at Josiah. “May we sing for you? It might brighten your day.”

  “That sounds wunderbaar.”

  Darlene touched Sharon’s arm. “Why don’t we sing ‘Jesus Loves Me’? That lovely arrangement we memorized. I can start.”

  “Ya,” Bertha said. “That’s always been one of our family’s favorites. It’s such a simple yet powerful testimony for believers of all ages.”

  Alice spun to face Elaine. “Would you come join us?”

  “Okay.” Elaine crossed the room and stood beside her.

  Darlene cleared her throat and began to sing. “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong. They are weak, but he is strong.”

  Everyone joined in for the refrain, and Elaine sang along. “Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me! The Bible tells me so.”

  Elaine sensed someone watching her. She turned, and her gaze collided with Calvin’s, once again sending heat surging to her cheeks. She looked down at the floor and tried to avoid his eyes for the remainder of the hymn.

  After they’d sung three hymns, Bertha served chocolate chip cookies and coffee in the kitchen. They talked with her for a while and then headed outside.

  “You have a gorgeous voice,” Sharon told Elaine as they approached their waiting horses and buggies.

  “Danki.” Elaine tried to hide her embarrassment as they all looked at her.

  “Ya, you do,” Alice added. “Your voice blends well with ours. We need you at all our singings.”

  “Oh, I don’t know.” Elaine hugged her arms against her sweater.

  “Please think about it,” Jay said. “You definitely add a lot to our little choir.”

  “That’s very nice of you to say.” Elaine turned towa
rd Andrew. “Could you take me home? Maybe Darlene told you I live on Mel Lantz’s farm. He’s mei onkel.”

  “Of course. Darlene doesn’t live far from there. Let’s go.” Andrew pointed toward his buggy.

  “Good-bye.” Elaine nodded her head and smiled at the whole group, then focused on Calvin for a moment. He didn’t look happy. She tore her gaze away from his and hurried to Andrew’s buggy.

  * * *

  Elaine climbed the front-porch steps of the little, white, one-story daadihaus that sat on her aunt and uncle’s farm. She grinned as an orange tabby cat trotted toward her. “You’re back,” she told him. “I’ve seen you before.”

  She leaned down and rubbed the cat’s ear, and he purred. “I think I’ll name you . . . Arnold.”

  The cat meowed at her, and she laughed. “I’ll find a bowl and bring you some food. Wait here.” She stepped inside the house, then into the small kitchen. “Hi, Mamm.”

  “Hi. Your dat will be back soon, and then we’ll have our supper. Did you enjoy the singing?” Mamm asked as she looked up from a cookbook she’d been reading at the table.

  “I did.” Elaine glanced around the room, taking in the few cabinets. “Would it be okay if I fed that orange tabby cat that keeps coming to visit us?”

  “Sure.”

  “I just named him Arnold. If it’s okay with you, I can give him the cooked chicken in the refrigerator until I get to the store for some cat food.”

  Mamm nodded, so Elaine shredded the chicken into a small bowl. After she’d filled another bowl with water, she took them to the porch, where Arnold sat waiting. When she set down the bowls, he eagerly began to eat.

  “Enjoy.” She patted his head and then returned to the house, passing the short hallway that led from the family room area to the home’s two bedrooms and one bathroom. Once again she noted how few furnishings the family room could hold—a sofa, one recliner, and one end table. She tried to imagine Mary Liz’s parents living there before they passed away. Were they happy in this little house? Most of her family’s furniture was stored in the barn, waiting for the house Dat would build for them.

  “I’m so glad you went singing,” Mamm said when Elaine returned to the kitchen, finding her father there as well. “Making new freinden will help Bird-in-Hand feel like home.” Mamm opened the refrigerator and pulled out the chicken, mushroom, and spinach lasagna casserole Mary Liz had brought the day before. Then she placed it in the preheated oven and set the timer.

  “I know you’re right.” Elaine ran her hand across the back of one of the four kitchen chairs.

  “Rhoda and her freinden made life difficult for you, but this is a new start,” Dat said as he washed his hands. “I bet these nice young folks will more than welcome you.”

  Elaine studied him for a moment. Dat was forty-nine. Most of his hair still matched his dark eyes, but now it was threaded with gray. More than once, Elaine had been told she resembled her father more than her mother. Mamm’s hair was light-brown, and her eyes were hazel. She wondered what a sibling would have looked like if her parents had been blessed with more children.

  “I’ll set the table.” Elaine pulled three plates from a box, waiting for their unpacking to resume tomorrow.

  Mamm touched her shoulder as Elaine rinsed the dishes. “It will all work out, mei liewe. We have a new life here to enjoy.”

  Dat sat down. “Ya, and tomorrow I’ll start my first day at Mel’s shop. I hope he doesn’t regret hiring me.”

  Mamm chuckled as she lifted a hot pad from the counter. “You know he won’t. He’s been trying to lure you back here for years. He’s relieved you finally came.”

  “Ya, but I’m awfully old to be an apprentice.”

  “You’ve always been gut at woodworking,” Elaine said. “You’ll do just fine.”

  “Danki.” Dat smiled. “The only thing that matters is we’re here together, right?”

  Elaine nodded.

  Somehow Elaine would find her way in this new community. But only with God’s help. As her parents talked about her uncle’s shed business, she silently prayed.

  Lord, please help me in this new community. Lead me to true freinden. And help my parents feel welcome here too.

  * * *

  “Breakfast looks wunderbaar as usual, Edna.”

  “Danki, Harvey.” She smiled. “Did you meet the new family at church yesterday?”

  “The ones from New Wilmington? No, I didn’t. I believe I saw them, but I didn’t get a chance to talk to any of them.”

  Cal glanced across the table at his mother, then nodded as he swallowed a bite of bacon. “I met the dochder, Elaine. She seems nice.” And she’s pretty.

  “Uria told me Elaine is his cousin,” Raymond said. “His dat has always wanted his bruder to come help him run the family shed business. Apparently, Elaine and her parents are staying in the daadihaus on Mel’s property. It’s been empty since Uria’s grandparents passed away a few years ago.”

  Cal lifted his mug and studied his younger brother. Ray was good at gathering information, and that made him smile. Despite their age difference, Ray’s seventeen to Cal’s twenty-three, Cal felt close to his only sibling, and he could remember arguing with him only a few times. He also noted, not for the first time, that with his medium-brown hair and hazel eyes, Ray looked more like Mamm than Dat.

  Many times, like now, Calvin thought about how much he admired his father. He was close to fifty, but he still had a twinkle in his gray eyes and hardly any gray in his light-brown hair. He was also still in great shape, sporting a trim waist and muscular arms. He was a few inches shorter than Cal’s nearly six feet, but that would never diminish his respect for him.

  Dat had a great sense of humor too.

  Dat buttered his toast. “That’s nice of Mel’s bruder to come. I’ve noticed that store stays busy all year round. It’s about time Mel had a partner.”

  “Elaine seems like a lovely maedel,” Mamm said. “I met her before the service.” She pointed her fork at Cal. “I believe she’s about your age.”

  “I think so too.” Cal forked a pile of scrambled eggs into his mouth.

  “I saw her talking to your freinden,” Ray said.

  “Ya. She also went to Josiah Gingerich’s haus with us to sing to him. Her voice blended perfectly with ours. I’m hoping she’ll join us again soon.” Cal immediately regretted this honesty when Ray’s mouth dropped open.

  “Do you like her?” His brother smirked.

  Cal picked up another piece of bacon. “Like her? I don’t even know her.”

  Raymond shook a finger at him. “You’ve already got a crush on her. I can tell. You always get that look when you like a maedel.”

  “Stop it, Ray. I just met her yesterday.” He tamped down the urge to roll his eyes.

  “Finish your breakfast, Raymond,” Dat said. “We have plenty to do today.”

  Saved by Dat! Cal swallowed a sigh of relief.

  But the truth was he’d felt more drawn to Elaine than he would have expected to at first sight. She wasn’t like any of the other unattached maed in his church district. Most of them flirted with him and laughed at his jokes, and he enjoyed that. But when he introduced himself to Elaine, she barely responded before dashing off. Then she pursued riding to the singing with Darlene and Andrew, a couple, instead of asking to ride with him, a man obviously single. She seemed to be avoiding him, which both puzzled and intrigued him.

  Yes, she was different! And he was determined to discover why she was dodging him.

  When the family finished breakfast, Cal pulled on his work boots and straw hat in the mudroom before stepping onto the large wraparound porch and breathing in the crisp air.

  He knew many people in his community were already looking forward to the Christmas season, and so was he. But fall was still his favorite time of year. He enjoyed the colorful leaves on the trees that surrounded his father’s huge farm. He glanced at the line of six red barns and stables and then toward the vast p
asture surrounded by a split-rail fence. This had always been his home, and he cherished the aroma of their horses and the sound of their whinnying.

  “Are you ready to work?” Ray asked as he moved past Cal and jogged down the steps. “We have plenty of animals to feed and stalls to muck.”

  Cal grinned as he started after him. “I know. I’ve worked on this farm longer than you, little bruder.”

  As they made their way to the stables, Uria’s horse and buggy moved up the long rock driveway that led to the road. Cal waved as an idea formed in his mind. He would ask Uria about Elaine and hopefully learn more about her.

  And maybe, just maybe, Elaine would be his friend one day. Or maybe more. And that last thought sent an unexpected excitement flowing through his veins.

  * * *

  A knock sounded on the front door Thursday morning.

  Elaine stopped washing breakfast dishes and turned to her mother. “Are you expecting someone?”

  “No.” Mamm stopped sweeping the floor. “And I know Mary Liz is already out doing errands this morning.”

  “I’ll get it.” Elaine dried her hands on a dish towel and then headed to the family room.

  She wrenched open the door and found Alice, Sharon, Alice’s mother, and a woman who looked just like Sharon behind them holding covered dishes. Elaine blinked and then pulled the door open to the full width of the entryway.

  “Gude mariye,” Sharon announced. “Alice and I and our mothers thought we’d stop by.”

  “Oh.” Elaine was nearly speechless as she took in their wide smiles.

  “Why, hello, Dorothy.” Mamm appeared behind her. “What a nice surprise.”

  Dorothy pointed to the woman beside her. “I’m not sure you met Feenie Lambert on Sunday. She and I were talking yesterday about doing something special to welcome you into the community. Then Sharon and Alice suggested we bring you a meal.”

  Feenie nodded. “You must still be getting settled, and we thought food would be a gut way to show you how glad we are you’ve joined our community.”