by Sarah Price
On Saturday, Katie and Jonas hired a driver to take them to the hospital, leaving Samuel and David alone with the kinner for the day. The two brothers had recruited Jacob and Abram to help with chores around the barnyard while Linda stayed inside with the smaller children. With Lena to help, Linda would have no problems managing the morning house chores. Samuel had promised them an afternoon picnic by the pond over the hill if they finished their chores on time. That was all the motivation that the smaller children needed.
It was a hot and muggy day. The air felt oppressive and powerful. As the sun rose overhead, it became stifling and Samuel was increasingly sorry that he had mentioned the picnic. Yet, he knew that the house would be just as sticky warm, so keeping the children outdoors was not such a bad plan, after all. Plus, the more time they spent outside, the less time they had to make a mess inside.
It was two in the afternoon when Samuel walked with David, leading the five children across the pasture. Rachel had volunteered to watch the baby so that Samuel and David only had to worry about the older children. Samuel had little Anna on his shoulders, his hands holding her bare ankles while she pulled at his hair. Jacob tagged along behind him while Lena and Abram stuck by David. Linda walked alone between her two uncles.
“I’m gonna catch me a big ole fish!” Jacob announced, running ahead toward the water’s edge.
Abram quickly followed, releasing David’s hands to race after his brother toward the water. “Me, too,” he yelled, his little legs moving quickly as he tried to catch up to Jacob.
“Careful now!” David called out.
Linda watched her two little brothers. “I bet Mamm would sure like to be here,” she sighed.
Samuel wished that he had something to say in response to Linda’s statement, something that would make her feel better. Unfortunately, he knew that Linda was probably correct. Lillian would be missing her kinners something fierce by now. It had been over 12 years since she had Linda. Since that time, Lillian probably had not spent more than one night away from her children. But she had a decision to make. Leave the newborn twins in the hospital or trust that her other six children were being well tended.
Samuel smiled at his niece. “She’ll be home soon. In time for plenty of picnics, I’m sure.”
Linda shrugged, her face drawn tight and expression a level of sorrow that Samuel hadn’t noticed before this moment. “Not with the babies. She’ll be too preoccupied and needing my help. Won’t be time for picnics this summer.” She paused, lowering her head. “Won’t be time for much at all with these two new babies.”
She was probably right and that made Samuel realize how powerful strong the ties to family truly were. While he was facing the threat of being arrested for a crime that he did not commit, he had not realized that life continued around him. His niece, this gloriously wonderful girl, was more worried about spending quality time alone with her mother than anything else. All she wanted was to sip meadow tea on the porch, having her mother’s undivided attention for even just thirty minutes. Yet, she knew that moment would never come. The celebration of two new babies, daughters at that, meant that Linda would have much more work at home for the next few years. And, by the time the moment of quiet sharing arose once again, Linda herself might have become a mother and be fighting the same battles with her own daughters.
“Aw Linda,” Samuel said. His heart was breaking for this lovely girl. She had always been so kind, so pleasant, so beautiful on the inside as well as outside. To see her heart so heavy with sadness made him realize how much he had missed by thinking only of himself for so long. “You need something, you come to me. I’m not your mamm,” he said gently, “but I can be your friend.”
She looked up at him, blinking her large blue eyes twice. There were tears on her lashes. “That means a lot, Samuel.” She paused, glancing away for a minute. Then, with a strength that he didn’t imagine she possessed, she stared him straight in the eye. “And I don’t believe anything that people are saying. I know you weren’t driving that car. I know you didn’t kill those boys and just walk away. I believe in you, Samuel.”
For a moment, Samuel couldn’t walk any further. His feet simply stopped moving. Was that what people were saying? Was that what people thought about him? The weight of the accusations clung to him and he realized that his own behavior had brought this situation upon himself. Had he been kind and true during the years, more people would have felt like Linda. Had he been hard working and honorable, no one would have questioned him. Yet, during the years, he had not been kind, nor had he been true, hard working or honorable. So the consensus was that he was guilty. It was easier to believe for the people than to suspect that, maybe, he was innocent.
“Samuel! Come quick!”
Samuel looked up, his train of thought broken by the piercing cry of Jacob. David was wading into the pond water, his hands breaking the surface. “What on earth?” Samuel said and, taking baby Anna from his shoulders, he set her on the ground in front of Linda then started running toward the pond.
“It’s Abram! He’s missing!” Jacob screamed.
Samuel jumped into the pond. “Where?”
Jacob pointed toward where David was trying to find the little boy. “He was over there a minute ago!”
Without waiting for more details, Samuel dove under the surface of the water. It was dark and murky. He couldn’t see anything so he began feeling the water before him. He swam until his lungs felt as though they would burst. Only then, would he surface to refuel himself with fresh oxygen before diving back down under the water. When he rose up gasping for air, he heard Lena crying and Linda weeping by the side of the pond. With fierce determination, he dove back down again, reaching before his face in the murky water, hoping beyond hope to touch the arm or foot of the little boy.
Samuel broke through the water one more time, gasping for air, filling his lungs as best as he could. He thought he heard Jacob crying out for him to keep looking for his brother but Samuel didn’t bother with his nephew’s pleas. Instead, he dove back under the water.
His hands groped in the darkness, feeling through some weeds until he finally bumped against something. At first, he thought it was a tree limb but he quickly felt the soft fabric of pants and realized it was Abram. His hand grabbed frantically at the ankle of the little boy and he pushed himself to the surface, pulling Abram’s limp body through the water.
“I got him!” he cried out as he frantically clawed at the water, trying to pull the little boy’s head above water. Samuel tossed Abram over his shoulder and swam as best as he could to the edge of the pond.
Linda was holding Lena, both girls sobbing uncontrollably. Little Anna had been plopped down in the grass, a safe enough distance from the edge of the pond so no one had to worry about her. She was crying, however, from the tension in the air and the fact that no one was paying attention to her. And Jacob…sweet Jacob…was kneeling by the edge of the pond, his hands clasped in silent prayer and his eyes squeezed shut.
Samuel pulled himself from the water and quickly dropped Abram onto the ground, the impact of the fall causing some water to pour out of the sides of his mouth. Lena screamed and buried her head into Linda’s stomach. Samuel ignored them and began pumping on the little boy’s chest. One, two, three. Then, leaning forward, he pinched the boy’s nose and blew into his mouth.
“What’s he doing to Abram?” Lena screamed.
Linda tried to console her but Lena continued to scream. David had emerged from the water, hurrying to the girls to hold them in his arms and protect them from watching what Samuel was doing. He tucked Linda and Lena into his body, shielding them enough but still being able to look over his own shoulder to watch.
One, two, three. Breathe. One, two, three. Breathe. Samuel felt his heart stop when he realized that Abram was not responding. One, two, three. Breathe. Please God, he prayed silently, adding a plea for no more tragedy for his family.
One, two, three…Samuel refused to give up. He c
ontinued to pump at the little boy’s chest between breathing into Abram’s mouth. How long had the child been underwater? One, two, three. Breathe. It couldn’t have been that long? His mind quickly thought back, trying to figure it out. After all, David was watching them while he and Linda were talking. One, two, three. Breathe. He thought of Lillian’s struggle with her new babies. There was no way he could give up, to have Lillian return home from giving birth to have to deal with burying a child. One, two, three…
Abram’s chest jumped and a puddle of water poured out of the sides of his mouth. He began to cough and Samuel quickly turned him onto his side. Holding the boy on his lap, Samuel began to cry, the tears pouring down his cheeks from his eyes. How close had God come to taking poor Abram, he wondered. He clutched the little boy to his chest and wept. How would he have been able to tell Lillian that he had failed? That he had let her sweet baby boy drown? The thought of even having to tell her about this near miss forced more tears down his face.
“What were you doing, Abram?” Samuel sobbed, rocking the little boy back and forth while Abram sobbed. “Why did you go into the water?” The little boy didn’t answer. His voice was choked with sobs and he clung to Samuel’s chest. Samuel held him tightly, kissing the boy’s head and crying with him. “Don’t ever do that again, you hear me?” he asked between his own grief. To his relief, the little boy nodded his head, his wet hair tickling the underside of Samuel’s chin.
David walked over to Samuel and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Well done, Samuel,” he said solemnly, his own voice cracking. Samuel didn’t have to look up to know that there were tears in his brother’s eyes. “Without you, he’d be gone for certain.”
“Don’t say such a thing,” Samuel whispered, glancing at the two older girls. He was relieved to see Linda leave Lena to console Anna who was still crying in the tall grass. “What’s done is done, ja?”
“But you saved him, Samuel,” David said, his voice dropping so that the girls couldn’t hear. “One minute he was there, the next he was just gone! I couldn’t find him. He just slipped under the water and, by the time I got out there, I couldn’t find him.” He lifted a hand to his eyes, Samuel suspected to wipe away tears. “How you did it, I have no idea.”
“Luck. Love. I don’t know,” Samuel said quickly, still holding Abram. He rocked the little boy in his arms, holding his as tight as he could to his chest. They were both soaking wet and covered in dirt from the pond and the ground. Abram trembled, sobbing as he clung to Samuel. “It just wasn’t his time, thanks be to God.”
No one felt in the mood for the picnic and it was quickly decided that everyone wanted to head back home to the safety of the farm, where things were familiar and the dangers well known. Samuel carried Abram in his arms, too aware that the little boy refused to release his hold around Samuel’s neck. Samuel didn’t care. The fact that the little boy was alive and breathing was a miracle, as far as he was concerned. A true miracle gifted to them by God.
Katie sat in her chair, listening to the story as David and Samuel stood before her. Her hand went to her mouth as she gasped when she realized how close she had come to losing her grandson, Abram. The color drained from her face and Samuel realized how old she was looking. There was simply too much stress in the family for his aging mother to cope. Jonas stood by the window, his hands behind his back as he looked outside. He didn’t speak during the confession from his two sons, nor did he turn around when they finished.
David paused, glancing at his daed. “Samuel saved Abram’s life,” he said. “I would never have known what to do.”
Katie shut her eyes for a moment, her mouth moving in silent prayer. Samuel knew that she was thinking of the many nieces and nephews that her own siblings had buried. Every year, they had attended at least one or two funerals for children that had been killed from falling out of buggies or getting kicked by horses. Other children died from illness. But such tragedy had, so far, escaped their own immediate family.
His parents had just returned home. Both David and Samuel had dreaded the moment that they would have to explain what happened. While they knew it was an accident, they both felt responsible, as if it reflected poorly on their ability to watch the kinners. It had been decided that David would be the one to speak, Samuel feeling that his own recent contributions to family stress and heartache was enough for one lifetime.
When Katie finally spoke, she had leveled her gaze directly at Samuel. “God has a message for you,” she said softly. Her eyes were brimming with tears but she fought having them stream down her cheeks. But there was a gentle smile on her face.
“For me?” Samuel asked, not understanding what his mamm was saying. He had expected her to yell at them, be upset with them for not having watched the young boy more closely. Even Jonas turned from the window to look at his wife, a question in his expression.
She nodded. “You didn’t give up on Abram,” she continued. “He doesn’t want you to give up on Him, either, just as He is not about to give up on you.”
For a moment, no one spoke. Katie’s words seemed to echo in Samuel’s mind. Perhaps she was right, he thought. When he had been straying from the church and community, bad things had happened to him. When he had made the decision to turn his life around, tragedy had struck. What Samuel had perceived as God turning His back was actually God showing him just how alone he would be without his family, community, and church. Now that he was living his life in a more Christian manner, Samuel had just witnessed a miracle about not giving up, no matter how difficult or insurmountable the task may appear.
“God is telling you how powerful He is. He can give and He can take. You need to learn a lesson from this, Samuel. God wants you to learn from His decisions,” she said, pausing to make certain that he was paying attention to her. “You follow Him and He will take care of you. But,” she said, lifting up one finger and pointing it at him. “If you stray, you will find yourself walking down a very lonely path.”
“Katie,” Jonas said sharply. “We should never presume to know what God is thinking.”
For the first time in Samuel’s memory, he watched as his mother voiced disagreement with her husband. She shook her head. “No, Jonas,” she said. “He wants Samuel to learn this lesson.”
“If the bishop hears…” Jonas said.
“The bishop won’t hear,” she snapped. The tension was apparent. Samuel had never heard his parents bicker before this moment. Those discussions were saved for behind closed doors and away from any of the children. Yet, he could see from the dark circles under his mamm’s eyes that she was, indeed, feeling the weight of so much hardship. “I can speak freely in my own home without fear of the bishop!”
“Mamm,” Samuel said, placing his hand over hers. He didn’t want to hear his parents fight, not because of him. “Words spoken can’t be retrieved,” he whispered, repeating the saying that she had often said to him.
His words seemed to jolt her back to her normal calm self and she looked at him, studying his face. Her eyes flickered back and forth as they seemed to memorize everything she saw. She looked tired. These past weeks had been hard on her, perhaps harder than on anyone else, except Samuel. Finally, a faint smile lightened her face and she squeezed his hand. “I see it has worked, Samuel. You have indeed learned a lot from this experience. God has moved you.”
There was nothing left to say. Samuel smiled back, although the happiness was not showing in his eyes. While his heart rejoiced that Abram had not drowned, his spirit was still weak. With Jake not being able to call the lawyer, there was no way for them to know what was going on with Paul’s recovery or the police investigation. It left a terrible dark cloud over his soul, a cloud that followed him wherever he went.
“If you don’t mind,” Samuel said, his voice soft enough to let everyone know that he, too, was emotional about the events of the day. “I’m going to retire early tonight. Might just actually get some sleep.” And he disappeared up the stairwell and into the darkne
ss, hoping that a good night sleep would help erase the pain of the day.
Chapter Twenty-One
After a long day helping her daed in the fields with haying, Mary Ruth was tired. Her muscles ached and the back of her neck was sunburned. It was hot and humid, the weight of the air draining her of any energy. She was thankful when her mamm told her to sit outside on the porch where an early evening breeze could refresh her. Sitting on a folding chair, she leaned her head back and shut her eyes, holding the cool glass of meadow tea that her mamm had brought out for her.
She hadn’t been permitted back to the Lapp farm. Her daed had been adamant about that fact, reminding her mamm that, promise or no promise, he was the head of the household and he didn’t want Mary Ruth back there. “Not until matters are cleared up”, he stated firmly, leveling a stern look at his daughter. Although Mary Ruth wasn’t too certain that even if matters cleared up he would permit her back to the Lapp farm.
Mary Ruth had tried to argue but that had made things worse.
