An Unexpected Amish Courtship

by Rachel J. Good

  “How did everything go today?” Sovilla injected a cheery note into her strained voice.

  Isaac again prayed for God’s peace and calm, for Sovilla as well as Wilma.

  Wilma grumbled something. As Sovilla crossed the living room and invited Isaac to sit beside her on the sofa, Wilma’s eyes narrowed. “What’s he doing here?”

  Isaac stopped. Should he go or stay? He didn’t want to make things worse for Sovilla.

  * * *

  Isaac looked ready to flee, and Sovilla silently pleaded with him to stay. Having him here would give her added strength.

  “We, um, I have something to tell you.” Sovilla twisted her hands in her lap.

  Isaac shifted uneasily under Wilma’s hostile glare.

  “I knew it.” Wilma’s tone rose triumphantly. “Didn’t I warn you about this? I never should have left you alone while I was in the hospital.” She rubbed her forehead.

  “Neh, neh.” Sovilla was horrified. Her face blazing, she couldn’t bear to look at Isaac. Wilma had shamed both of them.

  With a skeptical expression, Wilma examined their faces. “You’re both blushing, so you must be guilty.”

  More than anything, Sovilla wished she’d never invited Isaac to accompany her. He didn’t deserve to be humiliated. Embarrassment kept her tongue-tied. She had to say something to stop her aenti’s accusations. But what?

  Please, Lord, give me the courage and strength to do this.

  Wilma opened her mouth, but before she could speak, Sovilla cut her off. “This is about you.”

  “Me?” Wilma scoffed. “Trying to change the subject from your wrongdoing?”

  Sovilla prayed she’d be able to do this in a gentle way. She regretted asking Isaac to come along. At the time, her only concern had been to have an ally. She should have thought about Wilma’s privacy.

  It was too late now to change that.

  Beside her, Isaac shifted uneasily. “Maybe I should g-go.”

  Had he sensed her unspoken concern? She hoped her weak smile expressed her gratitude.

  “Yes, you certainly should.” Wilma sounded as if she’d push him out the door if he didn’t.

  “Come back later,” she whispered.

  “You’ll come back at your peril. Sovilla will not be going anywhere tonight.”

  Sovilla tried to convey with her eyes that she wanted him to return with Mrs. Vandenberg. His nod and supportive smile told her he’d gotten her message.

  “Good riddance,” Wilma said loudly enough to be heard just before Isaac closed the door behind himself. “Now what is this little drama all about?”

  Her voice trembling, Sovilla began haltingly, “Remember in the hospital ... right before surgery? You said, well ... you wanted me to share the . . . house, you know, the will.”

  Wilma’s face purpled and swelled until Sovilla feared she’d have a heart attack. “I told you to forget that,” she thundered. “Don’t you ever dare to talk about that again.”

  Sovilla bit her lower lip. “I have to.”

  “No, you don’t. Erase it from your memory. I never said anything.”

  “I can’t forget it. Because we found your son.”

  The swollen purple balloon of Wilma’s face deflated into ashen, saggy flesh. “You what?” Her words, low and unbelieving, came out shaky. In her eyes, fear fought with longing.

  “His name is David Riehl.”

  Wilma’s chins wobbled. “David?” Her eyes damp, she stared off into the distance. Then her voice melted into tenderness. “That was one of the names I picked for him.”

  Sovilla blinked back tears. “He lives in Honeybrook, and—” Sovilla paused, hoping this wouldn’t come as too much of a shock. “Mrs. Vandenberg will be picking him up and bringing him here in about an hour.”

  “No, no. He can’t come here. I don’t want him to see me like this.”

  “I’m sure Mrs. Vandenberg will tell him you had an operation.”

  “Not that. My clothes. My dress,” she wailed.

  “You look fine.” Yesterday, Wilma had started putting on regular dresses rather than loose housedresses. “Smooth down the skirt. That’s a pretty color on you.”

  Wilma brushed at the wrinkles on her dress, then ran a hand over her head. “My hair’s a mess.”

  “I’ll run up and get your brush and mirror.”

  When Sovilla returned, Wilma was dabbing at her eyes. “You shouldn’t have done this. I told you not to.”

  “You don’t want to meet him?”

  “No. Yes. I don’t know.” She tilted the mirror with one hand and tugged the brush through her short hair with the other. Both hands trembled. “I can’t do this. Why didn’t you give me more time?”

  Sovilla took the brush from her aenti and smoothed the hair around her face. Then Sovilla slipped behind the chair to brush the rest. Plucking the mirror from Wilma’s hand so she didn’t have time to examine and criticize the results, Sovilla said, “I’ll run these upstairs and then straighten the living room.”

  “Ack! The house is a mess.”

  Sovilla ignored the yelps. She’d cleaned the downstairs thoroughly before she’d left for the market this morning, so the only things out of place were a few items Wilma had disturbed. Since her aenti rarely left her chair, redding up wouldn’t take long.

  “Why did you do this to me?” Wilma moaned.

  “I can call Mrs. Vandenberg and tell her not to come.”

  “Don’t you dare.” Then her tone softened. “What if... if David was counting on meeting me? We can’t disappoint him.”

  When Sovilla reached the bottom of the stairs, Wilma was muttering, “Why would he want to meet an old hag like me?” Her face crumpled. “He won’t want anything to do with a mother who abandoned him.”

  Sovilla wasn’t sure if she should be eavesdropping, but she wanted to ease some of her aenti’s fears. “Mrs. Vandenberg said David is eager to meet you.”

  “Probably to scream at me for messing up his life.”

  “He’s not upset at you.” Sovilla picked up two crossword puzzle books, a novel, a deck of cards, and the channel changer and slid them into a drawer.

  “You don’t know that. He has to be harboring lots of unresolved anger.”

  “For what? Once he hears your story, he’ll understand you had no choice.”

  Wilma twisted her hands in her lap. “I can’t tell him that. I won’t be able to speak.”

  “You’ve never had any trouble with talking.”

  “Since when did you become such a smart mouth?”

  Since a few minutes ago. Sovilla had to do something to distract her aenti from her defeated attitude. She straightened the doilies on the backs of chairs, fluffed the sofa pillows, and took an empty water glass to the kitchen.

  “Why, oh, why did you do this?” Wilma’s cry trailed off as the doorbell rang. “He’s here. What am I going to do?”

  “Just be yourself.” Maybe that wasn’t the wisest advice.

  Sovilla headed for the door.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Sovilla’s gaze went first to Isaac, standing on the stoop with Snickers beside him. “Danke,” she murmured before turning to greet Mrs. Vandenberg and the tall, thin Amish man standing beside her.

  “This is David,” Mrs. Vandenberg said. “David, this is your cousin, Sovilla.”

  When he turned toward her, a genuine smile replaced the nervous tic by his mouth. “Nice to meet you.”

  “Don’t keep everyone standing on the doorstep, Sovilla,” Wilma called from behind her.

  “Welcome. Come in.” Sovilla opened the door wider.

  Then tension in Wilma’s face dissolved into amazement. “Eli,” she said in a soft, tender voice as David took off his straw hat.

  Crushing his hat against his chest, he cleared his throat. “I’m David.”

  “I know. You look just like . . .” The tears brimming in her eyes flowed down her cheeks. She clenched her hands in her lap. “I never dreamed . . .”r />
  “It’s nice to meet you,” David said in a husky voice.

  Wilma nodded, obviously too overcome to speak.

  Sovilla waved Mrs. Vandenberg to a sturdier, more upright chair that would support her. Isaac sat where Sovilla indicated and patted the cushion beside him. Snickers leapt up and snuggled close to him.

  “Get that beast off—” Wilma’s screech dropped into a lower register, but the tension in her words revealed she could barely control her fury. “I mean, please don’t let the dog sit on the sofa.”

  She glanced toward David, but he didn’t appear to notice. He was helping Mrs. Vandenberg into the chair.

  “I’m s-sorry.” Isaac patted the floor beside his feet. “D-down, Snickers.”

  Sovilla sank onto the cushion beside him. “I’m sorry too,” she whispered.

  Her aenti glared at her, but she held her peace as David settled into the seat opposite her. Her eyes brimmed with tears. “I never thought I’d see you again,” she choked out.

  “I wish I’d known you worked at the Green Valley market. My, um, mammi sometimes took me there in the summertime.”

  “We might have crossed paths millions of times and never known.” Anguish twisted Wilma’s face. “I lost all your childhood.”

  She gulped.

  “I couldn’t keep you.” She squeezed her eyes shut, and in a low, quivering voice, she recounted the story she’d told Sovilla. Taking a deep breath, she continued, “I bawled the day they took you from my arms, and there’s not a day since I haven’t cried.” She hung her head. “I know you can never forgive me, but I loved you and wanted only the best for you.”

  “I forgive you.” David’s quiet words were heartfelt and genuine.

  Without looking up, Wilma shook her head. “I don’t see how. Even God can’t forgive me for that.”

  “God forgives you.” David waited until she looked up. Then, in a serious voice, he added, “You need to forgive yourself.”

  Sovilla waited for Wilma to rail against any talk of God. Instead, her aenti bowed her head and wept.

  “I didn’t mean to make you cry.” David’s faced creased with distress.

  Wilma shook her head and held up her hand. When she could talk again, she said in a tear-choked voice, “God and I have a lot of unfinished business.”

  He looked puzzled.

  “I’ve been angry at God since the day I had to give you up. More than anything in the world, I wanted to keep you. But I was seventeen, alone in an unfamiliar state, and had no job.”

  Tears formed in David’s eyes. “I don’t blame you.”

  “But I blamed me. Every day since then, I’ve lived with the guilt. Of my rebelliousness. Of my sins. And most of all, of giving you up.”

  “You did what you had to do. I grew up with loving parents and adopted brothers and sisters. My mamm . . .” He hesitated. “I mean my adoptive mamm. You’re my real mamm.”

  Wilma covered her face with her hands and burst into tears.

  “I didn’t mean to upset you more.”

  She lifted her head, her eyes wet, but shining. She could barely speak. “They’re . . . they’re happy tears. I never thought ... I’d see you again. To hear you call me mamm . . .” Her voice shook.

  David sounded choked up. “I prayed for you, even though I didn’t know anything about you or who you were.”

  Wilma stared at him. “You prayed for me?”

  “I had a loving family, but I thought”—he cleared his throat—“well, I thought if you hadn’t married, maybe you didn’t have a loving family. I worried you might be all alone.”

  “I was,” she whispered.

  “I wish I’d known. I’m glad I prayed.”

  Wilma shook her head. “I can’t believe you prayed for me.” She lowered her head into her hands again, muffling her voice. “I should have prayed for you. I only prayed to have you back. And every day that didn’t happen, I grew angrier at God. I didn’t deserve—”

  “None of us are deserving,” David interrupted, his voice gentle. “That’s why God sent Jesus.”

  Sovilla waited for her aenti to explode. But she didn’t. Her shoulders shook, and her head remained down.

  He seemed to sense the need for silence. Wilma had decades of pent-up pain to process. They needed to give her time.

  While they waited, Sovilla smiled at David to thank him for being so patient. His serene smile in return showed he understood what his birth mamm was going through.

  What a wonderful son Wilma had. With his deep faith, he might help to bring her back to the Lord.

  Sovilla prayed that would be the case. Beside her, Isaac seemed to be praying as well, and across the room, Mrs. Vandenberg’s eyes were closed, and her lips moved. They’d surrounded Wilma with prayer.

  When Wilma finally lifted her head, David stared down at his clasped hands. “I also prayed for my dad. I don’t know why he didn’t marry you.”

  Wilma’s whole body slumped, and the lines etched into her face revealed the deep pain of rejection. “I don’t either.” She stayed silent for a moment. “I thought he loved me as much as I loved him.” A trace of bitterness seeped into her tone.

  “I don’t understand. Even so, I’d like to know who he is.”

  The pain in her eyes magnified, and she pressed her lips together. After a moment, she spoke. “Eli Hochstetler in Middlefield, Ohio. You look just like him.”

  “I’m glad to know that. I don’t look anything like my brothers.” David stared at his birth mamm with sympathetic eyes before saying hesitantly, “I’d like to meet him. Do you think it might be possible?”

  Wilma’s lower lip quivered. “I . . . I don’t know. I’m sure he has a family now.” She winced. “What if he didn’t tell them? It wouldn’t be right to disrupt his life.”

  “Maybe I could go to Ohio and just see him, meet him without telling him who I am. Although that would feel dishonest.”

  Mrs. Vandenberg lifted her head. “If you look like him, I don’t think you could keep your identity a secret. I have a better idea. I’ll ask a detective who works for me to find out more about Eli Hochstetler before you approach him.”

  David turned to her with eagerness. “Would you? It would mean a lot to me. I still can’t believe I’ve met my mamm.”

  Wilma pressed her hands to her heart, and tears flooded down her cheeks. “I’d like to know too.” Almost under her breath, she mumbled, “I never stopped loving him.”

  Sovilla wished she could hug her prickly aenti. What pain and loneliness Wilma had endured all these years. Sovilla couldn’t imagine losing two people she most loved in the world.

  And she had no idea why that thought made her turn toward Isaac.

  * * *

  Isaac found his attention straying to Sovilla more and more often as the evening progressed. Her tenderhearted sympathy for her aenti wreathed her face in a heavenly beauty that took his breath away. When their gazes met, her shining eyes touched a place deep in his soul, and he couldn’t look away.

  Everything about this evening had been sacred. Perhaps Sovilla’s eyes only reflected the spiritual awakening unfolding before them. This meeting between mother and son had transformed the room into holy ground. Isaac’s heart directed him to pray for Wilma, and everyone else seemed to be doing the same.

  When she lifted her bowed head, Wilma had eyes only for David. Moisture sparkled on her lashes, and her face held a new softness. The tense, angry lines in her expression had smoothed. Openness and vulnerability radiated from her. Isaac prayed this change would be permanent and that she’d turn her life over to the Lord.

  “We should go,” David said. “You need your rest, and I’m sure Mrs. Vandenberg does too. I’m so glad I finally got to meet you, Mamm.”

  When he said the word Mamm, Wilma collapsed into a fresh spate of tears. Mrs. Vandenberg swayed as she stood, and David rose to help her. After she’d steadied herself on her cane, he crossed the room to Wilma, who’d started struggling to her feet.<
br />
  “Neh.” He pressed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “You don’t need to get up for us.” Then he leaned over and gave her a side hug. “I wish you hadn’t been in such pain for so long, but God has a purpose for everything.”

  In a broken voice, she said, “I’m not sure about that, but if I hadn’t made a mistake as a teen, you wouldn’t be here. I can be thankful for . . . my—my son.”

  “And I’m thankful for you.” He straightened. “You gave me life and sacrificed to give me a loving family. I hope we can stay a part of each other’s lives.”

  Wilma’s face glowed. “I’d like that,” she said softly.

  Isaac swallowed hard at the tenderness between the two of them. He’d never seen Wilma so gentle, so calm, so happy. God had worked a miracle.

  He looked over at Sovilla to share his joy, and the lovelight shining in her eyes set his pulse on fire. Was that radiance for him or for her aenti’s reunion with her son?

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  While they waited to hear about Eli from Mrs. Vandenberg, Wilma did her exercises without prodding. She gritted her teeth and didn’t complain. Mrs. Vandenberg offered to continue acting as Wilma’s coach, but Sovilla, grateful for her aenti’s cooperation, took over the task.

  When the call finally came, Wilma hung up the phone, shuffled from the hall table to the living room with her walker, and collapsed into her chair. Sovilla hurried from the kitchen to hear the news.

  “Eli still lives in the same house, but both his parents have passed. And Mrs. Vandenberg insists Eli is a bachelor.” Wilma shook her head. “I find that hard to believe. He was the handsomest boy in our district. And the nicest.”

  “Does David know?”

  “Jah. He wants me to come with him to visit Eli, so Mrs. Vandenberg is making arrangements for all of us. David enjoyed meeting you and Isaac, so he asked if you could join us.”

  “When would we go?” Sovilla needed to take pies out soon, but she was eager to learn the details.

  “The driver will pick you and Isaac up after work at the market on Saturday. David has off on Saturday, so we’ll already be in the car. He’d like to go sooner, but I didn’t want you to close the stand again.”