by Sicily Yoder
CHAPTER TWO
Bishop Troyer cracked a compassionate smile as his eyes met Rachael’s tear-streaked eyes. She had thought that Elijah Yoder had been injured, or worse, had been killed. He supposed that it could happen, but not now. Not today.
But maybe one day.
The trial: it was a coming. But the teary-eyed, blonde-haired woman before him needn’t know the comings and goings of a lost soul, especially one that would one day pay for leading so many people astray.
Had he lead this blue-eyed woman astray? He swept a slow gaze over her. She had the correct length dress, colored in deep navy, the proper head-covering and no worldly jewels.
He bit his bottom lip and thought about the later. She had jewels. He reached into his coat and pulled out a heavy envelope, running his fingers over it to feel the gold.
It must have cost a fortune.
It would cost her faith. And he knew it. But he couldn’t stop it.
Bishop Troyer said now, “Lies tear down a community, but faith and obedience to the Word brings it back up.” He leaned up, extended the envelope, and added, “Take this envelope. It was delivered to me because she knew I needed to know. She thinks you’ll run.”
He recalled Jeremiah’s mamm’s words, “Rachael will run too. They are in love, but they are in sin, together.” The bishop sat there and watched her, praying hard that she would not run. But he knew her secrets, and he knew that Jeremiah had already run. And he worried about the baby. She had not confessed before the church yet. What a pity!
Rachael opened the envelope and saw a long gold chain holding a golden key.
“Jeremiah told you about the piano?” asked Rachael, getting sighs from her familye. Her mamm’s hand jerked up over her gaped mouth, her face flushed with shock. Her daed shook his head in great disappointment. Their dochder had sinned.
Rachael swallowed a lump, and then explained, “It was the old quilting store in downtown Shipshewana. The previous owner had left a grand piano. It wasn’t ours.” She looked up for agreement, and the bishop stayed silent. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see the anger in her daed’s eyes as he watched her talk to the bishop.
Shaking, Rachael elaborated, “The former owner was Englisch and passed on. Her dochder just couldn’t sell the store. She gave us permission to go in and use the sewing machines anytime we needed. She had hopes that, one day, Jeremiah and I could rent the store and sell our wicker furniture and quilts there.”
“Give me the key, then, and I will notify the late owner’s dochder. Stay out of abandoned shops.” Bishop Troyer uttered, his brow narrow, the lines in his face wrinkled in disapproval. She had sinned, and so had Jeremiah.
“How many times have you visited the old shop?” the Bishop asked.
She chose to lie. “The last two times that I visited Shipshewana.”
The bishop forced back a sigh. Worry flashed his deep velvet eyes. She wasn’t being truthful. He leaned up and said, “You are shunned.”
Shunned! “No, please don’t shun me!”
“Rachael, the songs in The Ausbund are the only songs we sing, and unlike the world, we don’t use a piano,” the Bishop explained in a leading tone.
“But––” She decided to shut up.
Bishop Troyer forced back a grin. He knew the whole story, straight from the love letters that Jeremiah’s mamm had found. Although he wouldn’t tell her, he knew that she had composed twelve songs. The young lady sitting before him had more than errored; she had swayed away from the fundamental belief that they held: to serve God by being apart from the world. She wasn’t fooling him. She deserved to be punished.
Rachael was part of the world.
“Jeremiah’s mamm gave me the envelope to give to you. She knows everything,” the Bishop said, pausing for a response, but Rachael just pouted, her brow narrowing in anger at Jeremiah’s mamm.
Swallowing a lump, Rachael rather hesitantly explained, “But it wasn’t what you thought it was, Bishop Troyer.” She upped her face and made eye contact, scanning everyone in the room for approval. “I love the songs that I sing from The Ausbund.”
What a liar. Bishop Troyer pushed his right hand out towards her. I will not hear any more of these lies.
“Danki, Bishop Troyer. I hope that our dochder learns from this,” Martha softly said.
Earl spoke up, and gave a smile to the bishop. “We love our dochder, and we uphold your decision. The Bible tells us to help those that error. That is what we will do.”
The Bishop nodded and agreed, “It is the best thing that we can do. I want to see Rachael and Jeremiah in heaven one day. And she has to take responsibility for the baby.”
The whole room sighed, except the Bishop, who had just found out about the baby through the letters. Immediately following Rumspringa, Jeremiah and Rachael had not come back to the community. They had moved out west, claiming to research whether it would be a good place to start a community. Actually, Bishop Troyer had talked with Jeremiah’s mamm about the possibility of starting a community out west, for she and her husband had temporarily moved out there.
However, they had all lied; therefore, Jeremiah and his parents had been shunned after confessing before the church. “The child is getting bigger, and she will ask questions,” Jeremiah’s Mamm had addressed in her letter to him. He was glad that she and her husband had come clean about their terrible sin, but, now, he had the duty of confronting Rachael.
She was thinking about herself, as she had before, when she let Jeremiah’s mamm take the baby. “I don’t want to be shunned, Bishop Troyer!’
“What about the boppli, Rachael?” Bishop Troyer asked sternly. The lines in his face grew tight, his eyes deepened. “The little girl that you gave birth to?” Gasps entered the room, and the color ran out of Martha’s face. She had a grandbaby. Where was she?
“They are bringing the boppli down here, and you will take full responsibility of your actions.” Bishop Troyer said.
The bishop got up and looked down at Rachael. “Let’s hope that you don’t do what Jeremiah did after he was shunned.” He looked at her and then added, “He just ran from his community.”
“I knew it! I knew that boy was trouble. Daed always told me that he was trouble!” Earl announced, shaking his head.
“He’s not trouble, Daed!” Rachael yelled, tears flowing down her red cheeks.
“So, this is how you take your punishment, Ja?” asked the Bishop as he stood before her. “Go ahead and follow your friend, and you’ll be excommunicated.”
“I don’t care---” Rachael stopped and then got up out of the chair. “I’m sorry!” She ran across the room and up the stairs. A slamming of a door echoed down the steps.
Bishop Troyer looked at Earl and said, “I think she’s going to run. Watch her closely. Jeremiah’s already run. No one knows where he is, but he’s holding a mighty secret that she should know about.”
Earl spoke up and nodded, “I agree. The boy is trouble.”
Bishop Troyer motioned for Bruder Yoder to get up. It was time to leave. “We will be going. I hope she confesses soon. Jeremiah had three women that had the golden key to that quilt shop.”
Martha jerked her hand over her mouth, her eyes widened. How could Jeremiah do such a thing? Three women? Why, her dochder deserved better than second, or third-best. And her dochder had delivered his boppli. What a terrible mess!
Earl got up and said, “I’ll walk you two outside. Thanks for coming.” He knew his dochder well, so he thought. Writing Englisch songs? That was not like Rachael. He thought it weird how a woman would suddenly change when in love with a mischievous boy like Jeremiah.
If only Elijah hadn’t messed up.
