A Promise for Miriam (28 page)

He’d been in their community for little more than a month, and he’d been careful to remain somewhat apart, somewhat separate at first. Until the night Grace was lost—then he’d come out of his shell a little. Now he was taking another step forward, and it seemed to her, observing him sit up straighter and begin to talk, that it was more than a distance of a few inches—it was a distance of miles in regards to the heart. It was as if he were walking into the stream of the community around him.

“
Ya
,” he admitted. “We dealt with something very similar.”

“How so?” Noah asked.

“The town I was from—it was near Nappanee. Have you heard of it?”

A few murmured that they had.

“Nappanee was quite the tourist spot for
Englischers
, but our little town wasn’t, and we had no desire to be.” He cleared his throat and began again. “There were many within our district who were adamantly opposed to any changes and what the
Englisch
developers first had planned. We did not think it was respectful of our faith or our history.”

“So you talked to them?” Now Ida was sitting forward, listening closely.

“At first we did not. Like you, we had never interfered before. We thought things would work out one way or another.”

Miriam noticed him glance out the window to where the
kinner
were playing once again in the snow. What was he remembering?

“There was some disagreement between those who wished to go to the
Englisch
council and those who insisted we stay apart.”

“What made you finally decide to speak with them?”

Gabe ran his hand up and around the back of his neck. “Several things, I suppose. It seems it never is only one thing. The media descended on the town. It became difficult to do the simplest of things—such as go to town to do the weekend shopping. They took many photos, especially of the young ones, though we would try to shield them.”

He glanced up and met the eyes locked on him. “We finally took to leaving them at home when possible, but that didn’t seem fair either. You should be able to take your
dochder
into town for an ice-cream cone or your boy in to help you pick up feed.”

“It sounds terrible,” Emma murmured.

“I don’t mean to make the
Englischers
sound all bad. Often when we would ask them to take no pictures they would put the cameras away, but you probably don’t understand how much an area can change when something like this happens. Automobiles lined up along the road next to my
onkel
’s place, snapping pictures while he plowed his fields.”

“But it’s private property,” David said.

“The land, yes, but not the roads.” Gabe placed his hands on his knees and pushed on with his story. “I think because we waited, it was harder to present our concerns. We went to the town manager and council when things became even more difficult, but they said contracts had already been signed and there was nothing they could do.”

“So talking about the matter did no good?” Joshua motioned to Abigail to come and sit beside him as she entered the room.

“I’m doing a bad job of telling how things happened.” Gabe looked directly at Miriam and smiled slightly, and her heart flipped like the pancakes on the griddle her mom often used for making breakfast. “If it had not been for the strong leadership within our church, things would have been much worse. The roads were becoming dangerous due to traffic, the kinner didn’t feel comfortable in town, and then came word that another large corporation planned on purchasing land in town to build something similar to what Drake is planning…at least, to me it sounds similar.”

“Was it as bad as an Amish Abbey?” Abigail asked.

“Oh,
ya
, I believe it was.” Gabe’s smile was genuine now. “These people had no interest in educating about our faith or accurately sharing about the history in the area—Amish or
Englisch
. They merely wanted to create an amusement park of sorts and put an Amish label on it.”

“So what did you do?”

“We joined with leaders from other faiths—Mennonite, Episcopal, Methodist, Baptist, and Catholic. We all came together and petitioned the town’s leaders to reconsider the business plan in light of our desire for religious clarity.”

“And they agreed?” Noah shook his head. “I have a hard time believing that. In my experience, the dollar usually rules such decisions.”

“Perhaps someone in the group was owed a favor, or perhaps someone on the council had a real desire to do the right thing—the godly thing. I can’t say. I only know that without the interference from the leaders within our community, matters would have turned out badly. Not only would we have been sorely misrepresented, but our town would have been a difficult area to live in—and a much more expensive one, as the land prices were rising because of the corporation’s interest.”

The group digested what Gabe had related in silence. Finally David asked, “What happened with the new building?”

“They created something like what they have in Shipshewana—the Menno-Hof. It is a museum of sorts, but it was built like a traditional barn raising with the help of the local community. It teaches about the Hutterites, Mennonites, and Amish. It’s very nice. And the tourists are happy to go there rather than photograph my
onkel
’s farm. It’s better for the tourists, better for my
onkel
, and better for the cattle. And, at the museum, they have hands-on exhibits where the children can help feed the animals and such.”

“That sounds like a
gut
compromise,” Abigail said.

“Most everyone thought so, though some would have preferred that things never change at all.”

“That is an option we’re not offered.” Joshua stood slowly, careful not to disturb the child now asleep in his arms. “Gabe, would you be willing to repeat what you’ve just said to our church leadership?”

Miriam didn’t wait to hear his answer. She knew he’d say yes, so she moved out of the sitting room as the family meeting broke up. It was time to check on Stormy and make sure he was ready for his trip to his new home.

She couldn’t help noticing the way Emma smiled at her as she hurried out of the room, though.

Had Emma guessed at her feelings for Gabe? Had she stared at him overly long? Had she blushed when he glanced her way?

When had this happened? When had she fallen
in lieb
with Gabe Miller? And most importantly, what was she going to do about it?

Chapter 34

T
he week between Christmas and New Year’s was usually one of Miriam’s favorite times at school. The students were calmer because the excitement of Christmas was past. The stress of planning for the holiday presentation was over. She was also done working nonstop each evening on Christmas gifts, though it had been worth it—her mother had loved the shawl, and her brother’s wife, Ida, thought the crocheted scarf, hat, and gloves were perfect.

Now, in the evenings, she could work on whatever project struck her fancy, or maybe none at all. Tuesday evening she sat staring at an unopened book.

“You look terrible,” Esther said, bringing her a cup of hot tea.

“Really? Because I feel worse.” The words sounded right when she formed them in her mind, but they came out resembling, “Ree? Be-oz I fee hearse.”

“Still stuffed up, huh? Why don’t we try steaming it out of you? I’ll put some water on the stove—”

Miriam shook her head as she sipped the tea, but the first swallow went down the wrong way and she began coughing, and then she couldn’t stop.

“Say, you sound worse than you did yesterday.” Esther moved next to her on the couch. “Worse than you did in class today, even.”

“I’m fine.” Miriam blew her nose and then said, “Honest. I swallowed wrong, is all.”

Putting the cup down, she pulled the layer of quilts up to her chin, and clenched her teeth together. Esther was doing the best she could, but their apartment was freezing! How cold was it outside?

“Miriam? Have you taken your temperature tonight?” Esther’s cool hand on her forehead startled her out of the dream she’d been slipping into. “Your temperature, honey. Did you take it?”

“No.”

“Let’s do that. What about Tylenol? Have you taken any?”

Miriam tried to shake her head, but the pounding was too intense. “This morning,” she murmured.

“All right. Sit up a little.”

Next thing she knew, Esther had popped the thermometer they kept in the medicine cabinet in her mouth and was bustling into the kitchen, pouring juice into her mug. “Take two of these with the juice. It will go down better.”

Removing the thermometer she held it up to the light and squinted at the numbers. “Oh, my! You won’t be teaching tomorrow. I guess we’ll be having Eli notify the substitutes for the morning. Maybe you’ll feel better by afternoon.”

Miriam wasn’t better by afternoon, but she did wake up warmly ensconced on her mother’s couch, covered in quilts.

“It was
gut
of Eli to bring you home,” Abigail said. “We wouldn’t want you around the students, spreading germs. Did you not realize how sick you were?”

“No,
mamm
.” Miriam snuggled into the couch and stared out the window.

“Perhaps you did and you were being stubborn. We both know how you can be when it comes to missing a day of school.”

Miriam closed her eyes. Better to pretend she was asleep than argue with her mother. The shivering was the worst part. If she held herself very tight, then she could force her body still, but then she’d relax, and the spasms would start again.

“It’s only the fever, dear.” Abigail laid a cool washcloth on her forehead. “Stop fighting it. Give it forty-eight hours and you’ll feel much better.”

She tried to remember when she’d first begun to feel badly, but it all fell away from her, like when she was a girl and tumbled into the waters of Pebble Creek. The water and summer and sounds in the kitchen merged until the back door slammed, pulling her from her sleep.

“Seems there’s a lump on my couch. Where’s a man supposed to sit?” Joshua bent and kissed her on the forehead. “She’s soaking wet, Abigail.”

“
Ya
? That’s
gut
. Probably her fever has broken. And can you tell me why you let that dog into my house?”

Miriam stirred when Pepper pressed his nose between the quilt and pillow, seeking her face. “Hey, boy.” Her voice croaked worse than one of the frogs Luke was prone to sneak in the classroom.

“See there? She’ll speak to the dog, where she won’t even open her eyes for me.” Joshua settled in the chair across from her.

“Hi,
dat
.” Miriam smiled at him as she ran her fingers over Pepper’s silky ears.

“How’s my girl?”

“Better.”

“You sound terrible. Can’t say as you smell too great, either.” Joshua winked and reached for the
Budget.

“I guess I’m going to live.”

“Glad to hear it.” Joshua lowered the paper, all the teasing now gone from his eyes. “Next time you ring the school bell right away instead of waiting until the next morning when something’s wrong. I don’t like the idea of you girls being there alone with one of you sick.”

Instead of answering Miriam nodded, staring down at Pepper as tears clouded her eyes. Had she been that sick? Had her fever been that high? Surely it hadn’t or they would have called Doc Hanson.

Then she saw the prescription bottle on the table in front of her. Doc Hanson had been here? And she didn’t even remember?

She struggled to sit up as Abigail walked into the room.

“When was Doc here?”

“Yesterday.”

“But…” Miriam ran her fingers through her hair. “But I was at school yesterday.”

Abigail set a tray of food down on the stool in front of her. “Honey, today is Thursday. You haven’t been at school since Tuesday, and Esther sent you upstairs for most of the day then. Let me take that washcloth and fetch a fresh one. It looks as if your fever finally broke.”

“Thank
Gotte
it did,” Joshua said, once again behind his paper.

“Doc Hanson was here? I don’t even remember that.”

Abigail returned with a fresh washcloth and tried to place it on her forehead, but Miriam pulled it away from her hands and began running it over her face and down her neck. The cloth felt wonderfully cool and clean. “So he left medicine for my fever?”

“
Ya
, and the influenza. You had a nasty case of it. Looks like the medicine worked though.” Joshua peeked over the top of the paper at her.

“Maybe it was his medicine that worked.” Abigail sat in her chair and picked up her knitting. “Or it could be time, my chicken soup, and the herbs I’ve been using worked. Who knows?”

“Is that what I smell?” Miriam asked.

“Proof that you’re feeling better when you can complain.” Abigail stared out over her reading glasses. When had she started wearing them to knit? It occurred to Miriam that her parents were aging, and the thought made her start to cough.