Was that true? Or was his Daed’s anger causing him to toss out farfetched possibilities? Samuel had never heard of anyone being shunned on the grounds of witchcraft. How severe could that shunning be?
Landon and Leah remained quiet, probably in shock. How long before the shock wore off? And when it did, what would his sister and Landon do?
“You’ve put me in a horrible position.” His Daed grabbed his head with both hands, and his hat tumbled to the ground. “If I don’t tell the bishop what I know, and he discovers it later on, I could be disciplined too.”
EIGHT
Jacob fidgeted with the reins as he drove the carriage along the back roads of Virginia. Dora’s arms were crossed inside her heavy coat as she stared at the floorboard.
The answer to his question of how to deal with Dora became really clear after he talked to Esther five days ago. He only needed to ask himself how he would want her to treat him if the tables were turned. But now he searched for the words to sum up all he’d said to Dora during this outing. “It’s not you.” That was completely honest. “You caught my attention, and we enjoyed each outing enough for me to ask for another, but I’ve decided against dating for a while.” That was true too. Unless he met someone he thought he might actually want to build a life with, he wasn’t asking anyone else out.
She didn’t look at him, but her eyes brimmed with tears as her face twisted. He could see why Esther was concerned for Dora. She didn’t handle disappointment well. She should feel only mild disillusionment and annoyance, but she was reacting as if they’d been seeing each other for quite a while.
He’d picked her up about twenty minutes ago, thinking they’d only need to make a loop from her driveway and back again. But she’d gotten overly upset, so he’d meandered down unfamiliar roads, giving them time to talk. He was completely turned around, but it was just as well. She wasn’t absorbing anything other than rejection, and he didn’t want to drop her off at home in this condition.
Dora wiped at her tears. “So I mean nothing to you?”
“That’s just silly. Nothing is way too strong a word. But I’m not looking for a girlfriend. It’s too soon after my last one.”
“Then why did you ask me out … three times?” Her tiny voice and mumbled words did nothing to endear her to him.
He’d already answered that. “I’m really sorry this hurts your feelings, but I told you the first night I asked you out after the singing that I was leaving in April and wouldn’t be back.”
“When you said it, I was hoping you’d take me with you.”
“What?” His voice boomed, and he regretted his response, but how could anyone seriously consider marriage before a first date?
She covered her face, bright red skin showing around her hands and down her neck. They rode in silence, and she finally got her emotions under control, wiped her tears, and drew a ragged breath.
A colonial style home came into view with a much smaller house next to it, probably the accompanying Daadi Haus. A clothesline stood between the two places, and a couple of teenage girls were nearby, wet clothes in hand, one flailing what appeared to be a diaper toward the other. Jacob narrowed his eyes. Most Amish women did laundry on Monday or Tuesday, not Saturday. A moment later one of the girls landed on the ground. Had she simply fallen or been pushed?
The front door of the larger house flew open, and Esther hobbled out of it, the baby on her hip. The little one had grown quite a bit since Jacob first saw him four months ago. He appeared to be ten or eleven months old. Despite all the female turmoil in his life today, he smiled at the scene.
Jacob slowed the rig, his curiosity piqued as he chuckled. “More sisters?”
“What?” Dora jerked a breath in and looked up from the floorboard.
He pointed behind them. “Esther seems to be breaking up a fight between two girls younger than you.”
Dora looked offended. “They are not my sisters, not related at all.”
His interest inched a little higher. “Then who are they?”
Her body tensed into a shrug she didn’t release.
He laughed. “Dora … who are they?”
She plucked balls of wool from her coat. “You know Esther?”
He hadn’t meant to let that slip. “Ya, actually, I do. We sort of bumped into each other in town the other night.”
Suspicion hardened Dora’s face. “Did she say something that changed your mind about me?”
“No. Of course not.” Esther’s only influence had been to help Jacob understand that, since he intended to end things with Dora anyway, sooner was better than later, for Dora’s sake. “So who are the girls?”
“Esther houses young women from across the states who need a temporary place to live. She’s done it for almost six years now.”
Was Esther providing a halfway house for those who didn’t wish to remain Amish? That didn’t make sense. Those still living Amish didn’t help others leave. And when children weren’t in a good Amish home, the Amish often had someone go into the home to help set things right. “So the girls are pregnant.”
Dora nodded.
That situation didn’t happen often among the Amish, but it wasn’t exactly rare either. If the girls hadn’t had on those bulky coats, he might have seen they were expecting. But when a girl found herself in that predicament, she usually married right away. Even if that didn’t happen, parents rarely kicked them out. Did they?
“I love my sister, but how she lives is embarrassing.”
If this was what Esther did regularly, some sort of mission outreach to pregnant girls, her suspicion of Jacob’s phone conversation and her disbelief about his explanation made perfect sense. But Dora’s attitude seemed immature. “I’m sure she’s taken plenty of heat over the years for doing this. Maybe you should try being proud of her.”
Disbelief filled her eyes. “You have her for a sister and walk in my shoes, and then we’ll talk about this. She’s relentless in frank discussions about men. It drives me and my sisters crazy.”
“How many sisters do you have?”
“Three—Esther, who’s older, and two younger. Four brothers. Two older and two younger. In Esther’s defense she’s no easier on my brothers than she is on us girls.”
“I can imagine.” He came to an intersection that had the name of her road on it. “Right or left?”
“Right.”
“So the stuff she salvages to sell—does she do that for herself or to support the home for the girls?”
“The girls. The good news is the bishop’s wife has a heart for those girls too. Some of the other families in the community also donate to the cause, but not many. Money is tight for most families, and there’s a sense that the girls made their bed, so let them lie in it, which I fully agree with.”
Jacob didn’t see it as Dora did. Was Esther’s financial need for her charity the reason he’d had the same feeling the other night as he’d had the day the tornado came through?
He wasn’t sure, but there was only one way to find out: do a little cautious exploring. He had no idea if the owners of the new homes would be interested in her repurposed flooring, and they’d already picked out what they wanted, but it hadn’t been installed yet. Maybe Jacob could sell one of the two sets of owners on the idea of using salvaged wood in one room of the house. That should help some, and he could find the extra time to install that flooring in one room and still finish on time, couldn’t he?
Within ten minutes he spotted Dora’s house and pulled onto her driveway.
Dora turned to him. “How can you tell when someone really cares about you?”
That was a good question. Jacob got out of the rig, went around the carriage, and opened her door. “I don’t know, but it seems like one way is to stop wanting the person to love you so much that you make yourself believe things that aren’t true.”
That’s what he’d done with Rhoda. He wanted to marry her so much that, despite the insecurity and jealousy that tormented him wher
e Samuel was concerned, Jacob often saw in her what he wanted to—love for only him. How did people tell if someone they loved really loved them back?
Dora stared at the ground. He bent his knees, lowering his body so he could catch her eye. “Remember what I told you. Just because you feel shy at the singings doesn’t mean you should act that way. Be a little bold.”
In a blur of moments, she slung her arms around his neck and kissed him on the lips. Jacob took a step back, and she released him, looking pleased and maybe terrified he’d be angry. He laughed. “Well, Dora Beachy, I guess I got what I asked for when it comes to boldness, huh?”
She grinned. “And it paid off.” She ran her fingers over her lips. “When you’re over the former girlfriend, come back. I’ll be waiting.”
“Dora, no. Don’t wait.”
Without responding she turned and hurried up the few stairs of the front stoop. Pausing, she turned back. “I meant what I said. I’ll wait.” She hurried inside and closed the door.
Jacob returned to his rig, fairly baffled. The girl was an immature mess, and her emotions were all over the place, but she was sweet with a good heart. Hopefully time would take care of the rest.
As he started to pull onto the main road, he decided to turn left so he could swing past Esther’s place. If she was still outside, he would stop for a minute. Should he simply offer to donate money toward the home? That felt wrong, although he didn’t know why. Maybe because she hadn’t told him about the place for unwed moms. But his gut said aiming to work out a business deal would be best.
When Esther’s place came into sight, he saw her and Ammon and four boys. Four? He thought she had two. The eldest appeared to be around five or six. Esther and Ammon were looking at some old doors propped against the side of a shed near a garden. Ammon scowled as he inspected them.
Jacob pulled onto the shoulder of the road, just past the mailbox that had the street number and the names: Ammon and Esther Beachy. Before now, he hadn’t thought of what her last name might be. But this meant Esther’s maiden name had been Beachy, and then she married a Beachy. With less than a dozen Amish surnames in these parts, he’d met a few men who’d married women with the same last name as them. The man Jacob lived with had said that over the decades three different families of Beachys had joined one of the two districts in these parts, and none of them were related. He could see that happening in Maine too. At some point a family of Kings or Bylers might move to the area and be completely unrelated to the founding members.
Esther, with a little one in her arms, looked in his direction, a welcoming smile greeting him before she waved.
She spoke to Ammon, and he glanced up, looking quite solemn. Unless Jacob was mistaken, Esther was nudging him toward Jacob.
Ammon slowly headed his way. Jacob covered far more ground than Ammon.
“Jacob.” Ammon reached out, and they shook hands. “It’s good to see you again. I appreciate that you stayed with Essie and helped gather up her goodies and such until I arrived.” Despite the man’s words Ammon didn’t look grateful about much of anything.
“It was the least I could do. I hope you don’t mind that I stopped by.”
“Not at all.” Ammon shook his head.
Esther shifted the baby from one hip to the other. “I’m surprised you’re in our poor neck of the woods. On a nice day like today, I would’ve pegged you to be working on those fancy houses.”
“I was, and I will again, but I needed to talk to Dora.”
Ammon gave Esther a quizzical look. She moved forward. “Jacob met her at a singing, and they’ve gone out a few times.”
Ammon nodded, not looking the least bit interested. He unfolded what looked like a picture from a magazine.
Esther smiled. “I’m sure she was pleased to see you.”
Jacob shrugged. But it made little sense to keep the conversation between him and Dora private. She was bound to tell Esther every detail the next time they were together. When Dora explained about the kiss, would she make him out to be the one who pursued it? It didn’t matter. If that’s what Dora needed to think, then let her.
Ammon turned the image one way and then the other. “Tell me again what you’re wanting me to help you do?” A phone rang, and Ammon jolted. Clearly that interested him. “Essie, I have to catch this.”
“I know that. Geh.” She shooed him away.
He held the picture toward Jacob. “If you have time, would you help her figure that out? I’m a farmer”—he sighed, tossing a slight smile Esther’s way—“not a room designer.”
Jacob clutched the paper, and Ammon ran for the phone.
The little one on Esther’s hip opened and closed his fist. She kissed his cheek. “Mach’s gut, Daed.” She spoke for the little boy, waving bye to Ammon with his hand. She shifted the boy on her hip. “You don’t have to help me. Ammon shouldn’t have asked it, and I can figure it out on my own.” She gazed into the little one’s eyes and smiled. “Isn’t that right?”
“I’ve got a little time.”
She looked up, her brown eyes reflecting peace. The little boy he’d first seen at the construction site ran to her and tugged on her dress. “Mammzu, Ich bin hungerich!”
His words were a little hard to understand, but Jacob definitely caught “Mamm” and that he was hungry.
Essie rested her hand on his head, telling him that he hadn’t eaten his dinner she’d cooked but that if he’d play while she spoke to Jacob for a bit, she’d see to it that his Daed let her warm up that meal for him a little later.
The boy wrapped his arms around her. “Ich lieb du.”
She tousled his hair and said she loved him too, and then he ran off. Chuckling, she looked at Jacob. “Where were we?”
He studied the picture. It showed six shutters connected through hinges in such a way they folded up like an accordion. “This is ambitious.”
“But the real question is, can it be done with the shutters I have?”
He went into the shed. It was filled with old doors and shutters and windows. “More treasures?”
“Ya. If all goes well, we’ll have everything ready for the annual City of Chelsea Fire Sale three Saturdays from today.”
“Do you still have the pine flooring?”
“Ya, but not here. It’s at the warehouse.” She shifted the sleepy baby onto her shoulder. “I’ll cut up the planks and use them to make tabletops and picture frames.”
“Are they still whole?”
“Ya. Why?”
“I’d like to talk to the owners of the houses I’m working on about using it. Could you give me a week before cutting them?” Easing farther into the building, he noticed she had quite a collection of old pieces of junk. He inspected the shutters for dry rot and uniformity.
“Your idea is very kind, but I promise there’s no need for favoritism just because you’re seeing my sister while you’re in the area.”
He stood two shutters upright. “It’s not favoritism. I … would like to do something that would go toward the home you give those girls.”
She put her knit neck scarf over the face of the now-sleeping baby. “Dora mentioned the pregnant girls to you? She’s mortified by their presence and my connection to them.”
“You’re right about that, but we passed by here, and I saw you and a couple of young women outside, so I asked questions.” Some of the slats in the shutters looked loose, so he jiggled them. They were sound. “With the right tools and hardware, these can be connected like the one in the picture. But I don’t know what your skills are, so I can’t say whether you can do it or not. The shutters aren’t completely symmetrical, so that’ll cause a bit of trouble.”
“Do you know exactly how I would add the hardware so the shutters would fold like they’re supposed to?”
“Sure.” He stood two shutters side by side. “The first step would be to stand the pair that will share a hinge, and—”
“Essie!” Ammon bellowed as he charged out of the phone shan
ty.
“Right here where you left me.” Her voice was a gentle melody.
“We’ve been doing it all wrong. Can you believe it?” He grabbed the little boy who was hungry and hurried toward the house, yelling for the other two children. Ammon motioned at her. “You too. Kumm.”
She looked longingly at the shutters. “I guess that’s all the work I’ll get to do.”
A stab of disappointment for her went through Jacob. He put the shutters back and passed her the page from the magazine. “Maybe we could talk about it another day.”
“Essie!” Ammon turned and hurried back toward her, scowling as if coming after a disobedient child.
“I’m sorry, Jacob.” Esther’s cheeks turned pink. “He doesn’t mean to be rude. He’s under a lot of stress as he tries to take care of his family.”
“No need to apologize to me. Go help your husband.”
Her gentle brown eyes intensified as if she hadn’t understood his words. She shook her head. “My—”
Ammon had put the two- or three-year-old on the porch, and then the man all but ran to Esther. “I forgot about your knee.” Ammon cupped his hand under her elbow. “Now will you walk already?”
Esther blinked, pulling her attention from Jacob. “Ya.”
Ammon clicked his tongue, hurrying her along. “If you’d stayed home the other night like I said, you wouldn’t be injured.”
Jacob watched as Ammon helped her hobble up the stairs to the house. The man seemed to be whispering harshly the whole way. The children were already inside when Esther and Ammon disappeared into the home. Once they were inside, he heard Ammon yelling. A door slammed, and the baby started crying.
What had he just witnessed? He started to walk toward the rig, but as Ammon’s outburst kept ringing from inside the house, Jacob couldn’t budge. Disheartened for Esther, Jacob shook his head.
Seasons of Tomorrow Page 7
