Shelter in the Storm

by Laurel Blount

  “Bless her heart,” Mona murmured. “I’ll run get your friend.” Her footsteps echoed heavily down the hallway.

  Naomi pulled Miriam closer. “We’ll rest here for a minute, just until you catch your breath, and then we’ll go home. Everything will be all right, you’ll see.”

  She put as much conviction in her voice as she could, but she had no idea if Miriam believed her. To tell the truth, crouched here on this floor, with all her bright hopes wilting like flowers after a freeze, she wasn’t sure she believed herself.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The heavily advertised farm auction had been a disappointment, and Aaron and Joseph were back in Johns Mill before lunchtime. As they rolled through town, Aaron nodded toward the parking lot outside of Yoder’s Fabrics.

  “Ain’t that your buggy, Joseph?”

  Joseph looked over in time to catch a glimpse of Titus, tethered to a hitching rack.

  “Looks to be. Naomi must have come into town to visit Yoder’s. She’s got Miriam sewing again, and I heard them saying they were near about out of some things they needed to finish the quilt they’re working on.”

  He scanned the area as Aaron’s buggy rumbled past the parking lot, but Naomi was nowhere to be seen. She must already be inside the store.

  “She’s a good helper, is Naomi.” Aaron flipped up a lazy hand to wave at a friend driving in the opposite direction. “I wasn’t too sure when Katie asked her to come stay after the baby came. I remembered Naomi the way she used to be, always frail and lagging behind the rest of us youngies. I worried Katie was asking her out of pity and making more work for herself in the bargain. It didn’t turn out like that at all. She carries her load as well as anybody now, Naomi does.”

  “Ja, she does.” Joseph struggled with himself for a moment longer before adding, “Stop here, Aaron, will you? I’ll walk back and drive Naomi home.”

  Aaron veered to the left and slowed the carriage to a stop. “Sure nice of you to take such trouble for Katie’s kossin.”

  As he jumped down from the buggy, Joseph shot his friend a suspicious look. Aaron’s mouth was straight and serious above his short beard, but his blue eyes twinkled mischievously.

  “Naomi’s not had much experience driving,” Joseph explained sheepishly. “She’s said more than once that managing a horse on a road with cars makes her naerfich. I don’t want her getting frightened into an accident. That’s all.”

  “That’s what I said. It’s kind of you to take such care of her. ’Course, best I remember, it was always so, ja? Naomi wasn’t the only one lagging behind the rest of us. Wherever she was, there you were as well, more times than not. Funny, ain’t it, how the past repeats itself? Mach’s gut, Joseph.” Aaron gave his friend one last, knowing smirk, then clucked to his horse, making the carriage lurch forward.

  As Aaron rolled toward home, Joseph began walking back toward the parking lot where he’d seen Titus.

  The twinkle in Aaron’s eye was nothing new. Ever since he’d reached marriageable age, Joseph had gotten sly looks anytime he’d so much as mentioned a single girl’s name. Courtships in their community played out quietly, and folks liked guessing which youngie was pairing off with whom. When wedding plans finally filtered out, people were always interested to see if they’d guessed correctly.

  Joseph wasn’t so young anymore, and it had been a while since anybody had hinted that he might be courting. Now it seemed folks thought he might be settling on Naomi Schrock.

  Maybe he was.

  A notion that had been lurking in the back of his thinking for some days now came front and center. Joseph slowed his pace as he faced it fully for the first time.

  Aaron was right about Naomi. She was a kind girl, and a smart, steady worker. The way she’d rolled up her sleeves and helped him out with Miriam was proof of that. Lately she’d also been helping with Rhoda, who was in nearly as bad a shape as his sister, thanks to his rock-headed brother.

  Between the two troubled women, Naomi’s days couldn’t be easy. Yet every evening when Joseph came in from his woodworking shop, she had a smile on her face and a hot supper readied on the stove.

  It was more than that, though.

  Ja, Naomi was a gut, cheerful helper, but Joseph could have said the same of many other maidels he knew, and he’d never given them a second look. There was something special about Naomi.

  She drew him, Naomi did. It was like when his mamm had baked her homemade bread. She’d always joke that the men knew just when to turn up in the kitchen for a hot slice fresh from the oven. It was true. No matter where he was on the farm on baking day, he’d catch a whiff of yeasty bread and sense it was time to make a detour by the kitchen.

  Naomi was like that. That sweet gentleness she carried with her seeped through the whole farm, calling to him. He’d be in the middle of working at his lathe and suddenly he’d cock his head and think, I wonder what Naomi is doing?

  He didn’t always go see, of course, but oftentimes he’d wander into the house on one excuse or another. As soon as he saw Naomi sewing at his kitchen table, the white curve of her neck peeping out below the golden hair coiled under her kapp, he always felt a strange rush of fierce, peaceful joy.

  Joseph’s stomach rumbled, reminding him it was near midday, and he hadn’t eaten since an early breakfast. Maybe he could convince Naomi to have a quick lunch in town before they headed back to the farm. Miller’s Café was handy by. They could stop in there and get a sandwich before they started home.

  The more he thought about the idea, the better he liked it. Now that Rhoda was at the house all day and Miriam was spending more time out of her room, he’d barely had a word with Naomi in private. It would be sensible to seize this chance to talk to her alone. He could ask some questions about his sister’s progress that he wouldn’t like to ask in front of her.

  Very sensible, ja. But the truth was, when he thought of Naomi sitting across a table from him, just the two of them alone, something far less than sensible happened to his insides.

  He’d like that, he realized. He’d like that a lot, having Naomi all to himself for a little while. He’d best hurry, though, or she might finish her shopping and head home without him. Joseph stepped up his pace.

  He rounded the corner of the Johns Mill post office and stopped short as his shoes hit the gravel of the parking area. The buggy was still there, he noticed with relief, but he seemed to have arrived just in time.

  A woman stood on the far side of the carriage. He could see the hem of a Plain dress and small black shoes through the spokes of the wheel. She wasn’t alone, though. He could see trouser legs, too. Joseph frowned. Whoever was talking with Naomi had taken the precaution of standing on the far side of the buggy, allowing some privacy from the road.

  Joseph didn’t like that much.

  “Nee, I can’t!”

  The woman’s voice sounded broken, and Joseph strode faster along the side wall of the post office. He wasn’t sure what was happening behind that buggy, but whatever it was, he was going to put a quick stop to it.

  When he finally had a clear view, he stumbled to a clumsy halt, unsure what to do next. Rhoda stood beside the buggy, looking up at Caleb with a stricken expression. Both of them were too absorbed in each other to take any notice of Joseph.

  “You mean you won’t.” Caleb’s reply was low and bitter.

  “Caleb—”

  “I need to do this, Rhoda. It’s the only way I’ll have any peace.”

  “You’ll find no peace in taking revenge, Caleb.”

  “I’m not planning to kill Trevor Abbott. I’m only going to do my best to make sure he answers for what he did.”

  “I think maybe you want him to suffer as you are suffering. Caleb, I understand how you must feel, but Daed says you must forgive and leave Trevor’s punishment in the hands of Gott.”

  “I wish you’d s
top quoting Isaac to me.” Caleb’s voice was hard. “You’re my wife now, Rhoda. Your loyalty should lie with me, not with your father.”

  “It does.” Rhoda’s voice broke on the assurance. “But I was baptized into the church before I became your wife. I must answer to Gott even before I answer to you.”

  There was a heavy beat of silence. Joseph’s pulse pounded in his ears. He knew he should back away out of earshot, but his boots seemed rooted to the ground. So much that mattered hinged on what Caleb said next.

  “So if I leave to search out Trevor, you’ll shun me, then, Rhoda? Like the rest of them?” Caleb spoke roughly, but Joseph heard the pain under the words. Even as a small kind, Caleb had always blustered like a March wind whenever he was hurting.

  “If the church says to, and you know they will. Otherwise, I would be in sin myself. Until you’re truly repentant and turn away from this way of thinking, I won’t have a choice.”

  “Ja. You will have a choice, Rhoda.”

  Caleb stared into his wife’s eyes, and though she was trembling hard, she faced him down. Joseph’s heart sank when his brother’s expression shifted. Holding his wife’s gaze, Caleb pulled off his black hat and dropped it in the gravel at her feet. “So be it, then.”

  As he turned away, leaving Rhoda behind him, Caleb saw Joseph standing at the edge of the lot. When their eyes met, Joseph felt the punch of Caleb’s anger as solidly as if it had been delivered by a fist.

  Caleb halted, looking as if he were about to speak. Then he set his jaw and disappeared around the corner of the post office.

  Joseph didn’t waste time wondering if he should follow. Caleb had the bit in his teeth now. If Rhoda hadn’t been able to turn him, Joseph certainly couldn’t. Caleb would leave the church in search of what he was calling justice, and he’d be shunned for it, even by his new wife.

  Rhoda had picked up her husband’s hat. She turned hopefully when Joseph approached, but her face fell when she saw he wasn’t Caleb.

  Joseph had no idea what to say, except, “I am sorry.”

  “He wanted me to go with him.”

  “I heard. I shouldn’t have been listening, but—”

  “I wanted to go,” Rhoda confessed wretchedly. “Daed warned me I might feel that way. We’ve been married so short a time, Caleb and I. It’s natural, Daed said. But he said that I am the best chance Caleb has. If I stand firm, if I am true to my own faith, and Caleb has to bear the brunt of his decision, then he will come back.”

  Maybe, but Joseph doubted it. Some cows herded easy. Some cows would run you down or break their own legs jumping a fence rather than be forced through a gate they didn’t like the look of. Joseph knew better than most which of those groups Caleb fell into.

  He couldn’t think of anything to say that would be helpful, so he stayed silent. Rhoda glanced up from the hat in her hands. The sadness in her eyes told him she understood what he wasn’t saying out loud.

  “I don’t think Daed knows Caleb as well as we do,” she whispered.

  “Maybe not.” Joseph drew a deep breath, trying to dislodge the brick that was sitting so heavily on top of his stomach. “Isaac is right about one thing, though. If anything can make Caleb turn back, it’ll be you, Rhoda. It’ll be the way he feels about you.”

  Rhoda’s lips trembled. “I believed that once, too. But now I don’t think it’s enough, Joseph, not for Caleb. A woman’s love could never be strong enough to hold a man like him to a faith he doesn’t share, not for long. My father warned me of that when I told him I was going to marry Caleb, but I didn’t listen. I should have. I was wrong to choose him, Joseph. I should have waited for—” She broke off abruptly, then whispered, “Someone else.”

  His heart thumped once, hard, as he looked down into her tear-soaked eyes. Before he could think how to answer, someone spoke behind him.

  “Joseph?”

  Aaron’s Katie stood at the edge of the buggy, clutching her baby against her. He could tell from her expression and the way her eyes darted from Rhoda to him and back again that she’d heard at least some of what Rhoda had said. His heart plummeted.

  Katie was a kindhearted woman, but everybody knew if you told her a secret, it’d be all over Johns Mill in half a day’s time. No telling what she’d do with this. And, of course, the first person she’d tell would be Naomi.

  Joseph felt sick. Well, he supposed it served them all right for having such personal conversations in the middle of town.

  “Ja, Katie. It’s me. Aaron’s already headed for home. He dropped me off when we saw the buggy here. Do you need a ride back?”

  Katie shivered, like a dog coming in out of a storm. “I’m sorry. I was just—Naomi sent me out to bring round the buggy. Miriam’s having one of her spells—a bad one.”

  “Miriam’s here? In town?”

  “Yes, Naomi’s inside with her,” Katie said. “You’d best go in, too, Joseph and help. We’ll drive the buggy to the front of the café. Get in, Rhoda. You can hold Sarah while I drive.” When Joseph didn’t move, she urged, “Hurry, Joseph! Miriam’s in a real state.”

  Joseph sprinted around the corner and into Miller’s Café. The scene inside made his stomach lurch with angry disgust. His sister was huddled, glassy-eyed at a table near the door, surrounded by gawking Englischers. Thankfully, a few Plain women had come to stand near Naomi, turning their backs to the crowd and doing their best to shield Miriam from view. One young Englisch boy had his phone out, lifted above the black bonnets of the women, aiming it toward Miriam. When he caught Joseph’s glare, the teenager blanched and slipped the device into his pocket.

  Joseph muttered under his breath as he shouldered gently through the protective circle of women, dropping down in the chair next to his sister.

  “Miriam?”

  His sister was too lost in her terror to answer him. Her eyes were fixed straight ahead and her bonnet was askew, her face smudged and mottled, mucus running from her nose.

  Joseph’s heart spasmed with pity and anger at the sight. He cast a reproachful look at Naomi, who was white as skimmed milk and more flustered than he’d ever seen her. She met his eyes, and for a second he thought she was going to burst into tears.

  “A man,” she whispered. “He caught her over near the restrooms, started taking photos. He wouldn’t stop, and he frightened her.”

  Anger bubbled up inside him, bringing along a spate of frustrated questions. Why had Naomi brought Miriam to town in the first place? Maybe Naomi wasn’t frightened of pushy Englischers, but Miriam was, and for good reason.

  He started to speak then caught himself. This wasn’t the time.

  “Come, Mirry.” He slid his arms under his sister’s knees and behind the small of her back. He lifted her easily and turned toward the door just as Katie reined Titus to a stop in the road outside. “It’s all right. I’m here now, and I’m taking you home.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Late that afternoon in the Hochstedler kitchen, Naomi bent to open the gas oven. A hot breath of air, smelling richly of roast beef, puffed into her face. She carefully lifted the heavy lid and poked at a potato with a fork. It was done to a floury perfection, so she snugged the lid back down and lowered the heat.

  She was thankful roast beef was gut left over because it was unlikely anybody in this house had an appetite tonight. Rhoda had left with her father an hour ago, still clutching her husband’s discarded hat, her face frozen into miserable disbelief. She hadn’t said much about what had happened in town, but Naomi had pieced it together. Caleb had asked his wife to leave Johns Mill with him, and she’d refused. She’d held on to her faith and lost her husband.

  Rhoda’s problems made Naomi’s heart ache, but they were the least of her worries. Even after they’d arrived safely back at the farm, Miriam had trembled and cried uncontrollably. Naomi had finally given her one of the pills the hospital doctor ha
d prescribed.

  The younger woman was upstairs sleeping now, and she’d likely sleep through until the morning. Naomi felt in her bones that the pushy photographer had wiped out all the promising progress Miriam had made. It would be twice as hard to recover that lost ground after such a setback.

  The trip to town that Naomi had planned so pridefully had been a terrible mistake. She’d known her feelings for Joseph would lead her into trouble if she wasn’t careful, and so they had. She’d been overcome by a foolish desire to be noticed by him, and now she felt sick at the mess she’d created.

  Naomi tied her black bonnet over her prayer kapp with shaky fingers. Then she pulled her shawl off the peg by the kitchen door and wrapped it around her shoulders before picking up the thermos of coffee she’d brewed. She paused with her hand on the doorknob and whispered a prayer for Gott’s help.

  It was almost time for Aaron to come for her, so she couldn’t put this off any longer. She had to face Joseph and ask his forgiveness. He’d barely spoken to her since they’d returned home, and he’d gone out to his woodshop as soon as Miriam had fallen asleep.

  After the sheltered warmth of the kitchen, the evening air felt bitterly cold. A sneaky wind found the vulnerable spot between the top of her shawl and the bottom of her bonnet, making her shiver. She walked in the fading light toward the glowing window of Joseph’s woodshop, and summoning up all her courage, she rapped on the doorframe. She could hear the sound of the lathe inside, so she wasn’t surprised when Joseph didn’t answer.

  She edged the weathered door open. Joseph had his back to her, bent over his lathe, peddling with his foot as he carefully chiseled the curve of a table leg. Fragrant curls of wood fell away as he worked. They scented the room with a fresh, promising aroma, mingled with the sharp tang of varnish.

  Clutching the warm thermos in her hands, Naomi stood silently, unwilling to startle him and risk him spoiling the piece. As she waited, she studied the space Joseph had claimed for his own, back in the day when this farm had been a busy dairy with plenty of uses for every sheltered spot.