Abby Finds Her Calling (38 page)

She heard Gideon’s surprised cough out in the hall, and a few moments later he poked his blond head in the doorway. Adah rushed over to throw her arms around him as though welcoming the prodigal home. After a moment, Zanna stepped out into the hallway to see what was keeping Jonny.

He looked deeply moved by what he’d overheard, yet still uncertain about going in.

“We’ve got your dat buttered up now,” Zanna said in conspiratorial whisper. “Abby’s fed him Christmas dinner and kept him talking positive—and now that they know about the money in those cards, and the house you helped build, having you and Gideon here is one more big surprise. Like we saved the best for last.”

Zanna stepped closer to him and took hold of his hands. While nothing could erase the troubled relationship he’d had with his dat, she so hoped this crisis would lead toward something better between them.

“How can your dat not be pleased to see you, Jonny?” she said earnestly. “And how can he welcome you back—shake your hand and ask you to stay—if you don’t give him that chance? He’s not hooked up to any tubes or machines. There’s nothing to be scared of in there—except your own face, if you look in his bathroom mirror.” She squeezed his hands and then let them go.

Jonny’s lips twitched at her attempted humor. “Don’t get me wrong,” he murmured, glancing toward the door. “I’m glad Dat’s on the mend. But to forgive and forget all the times he said Gideon and I were thankless, and that he couldn’t call us his sons anymore…”

Zanna smiled at his choice of words. Hadn’t there been a time when she’d been less than grateful for all she had? “How can you forgive your dat, or see if he’s truly a changed man, unless you stick around?” she went on before he could protest. “The doctors gave him a whole new life. A clean slate. Can
you
do that for him, too?”

He looked at her as if seeing her for the first time. “When did you get so good at asking the questions I’ve been trying to wiggle out of?” he murmured. “And when did you come to care so much about what happens to my family—especially after the times Mamm and Dat railed at you about carrying a baby and calling it off with James Graber?”

Zanna paused. He’d asked a question that begged for exactly the right answer. “Remember in church when we were kids… when Vernon preached about how we love God because He first loved us?” she ventured cautiously. “Well, I’m trying to do that. Trying so show I care for your parents so they’ll accept me, too, Jonny. I’d like them to be my family someday.”

Had she said too much, too boldly? Had she gotten too heavy-handed, talking of religious principles? Zanna let out her breath, reaching for his hand again with a lighter smile. “Don’t forget—Abby brought your Christmas dinner. And who better to eat it with than your own family? They’ll probably take second plates just because you’re here, Jonny.”

He gazed at her as though she’d become a woman to be reckoned with in the best of ways. His gaze fell to her swelling middle, and the sight seemed to settle him. He took a breath and then stepped toward his father’s hospital room—just as Adah came out into the hallway.

His mother grabbed him. “Jonny, you
did
come! I was so hoping you would, son!” Her voice cracked a little. She rocked him from side to side, then backed away to look up into his eyes. “Jonny, Abby and Zanna have been saying the fellas around town have built us a new place.”

“Jah, and it’s real nice, too,” he replied. “It’s the kind of house I always wanted for you, thinking Dat could have done better at taking care of you.”

Adah’s eyes took on that long-suffering look they all knew so well, but then she smiled. “You kids and I have turned the other cheek a lot of times,” she admitted. “But I’m telling you, Jonny, that pacemaker they planted in your dat’s chest—well, it’s worked a miracle,” she declared softly. “And now a house! And money to replace what we lost in the fire, and—well, I can’t believe all this wonderful-gut fortune that’s come our way.”

She drew in a deep breath and leaned her head against his chest. “But the best miracle of all is having you back home, Jonny. You and Gideon are the answer to all of my prayers.”

As Zanna smiled through a haze of tears, she wrapped her arm around her baby. A mother’s love went beyond what words could say, and she vowed that on difficult days she would remember that her child, too, was an answer to her prayers… a way for God to enter her life and show her what love was really about.

“Come see your dat, son,” Jonny’s mamm murmured, leading him by the hand. “Don’t let the past hold you back. And don’t be letting Gideon get all the glory.”

Jonny stepped into the room behind his mother—and then he extended his other hand back to Zanna, entreating her with his earnest blue eyes. There was no describing the feelings that raced
through Zanna’s soul: the love and joy, the sense that if everyone in this room was for Jonny, no one could be against him. Becky and Maggie rushed toward them, excited to see their brother. Gideon sat on the edge of the bed next to his dat’s recliner, seeming a little astounded, yet pleased, by this turn of events.

No, he’s downright amazed. Aren’t we all?
Zanna thought as Jonny’s hand tightened around hers.

Rudy was watching Jonny closely. “Did I hear right that it was you who found me in the barn and you got the ambulance there with your cell phone?” his father asked. He looked rested and well, yet a familiar edge had crept back into his voice.

Jonny cleared his throat. “Jah. Zanna and I got there just in time, the way I understand it. You—you scared us, Dat.”

His father sighed, shifting in his recliner. “Guess I’ve had a few things scared out of me, too,” he remarked. “I had no idea of the damage I was doin’ by ignorin’ my sleep problem. Told myself I was draggin’ from one day into the next because I was gettin’ old. Had no idea my heart was so bad. The doctor—and the preachers—tell me I was eatin’ away at myself by bein’ mad all the time, too.”

Zanna felt Jonny stiffen, maybe bracing for his dat’s usual lecture about him and Gideon not joining the church. But she held Jonny’s hand—right there where everyone could see it—and prayed for the rest of this conversation to go well.

Rudy’s face sobered and he looked down at his own clasped hands. “It took some tall talkin’, those times when Vernon and Preacher Abe and Preacher Paul came to visit, but they made me see how I’d created my own problems, mostly. I did some confessin’ to them these past couple weeks. In case I didn’t make it out of here,” he added with a nervous laugh.

Jonny gripped Zanna’s hand harder. He looked at his brother as though gauging Gideon’s reaction to what they were hearing, maybe assessing whether they should believe it; whether they should go or stay.

“Your dat and I have had a lot of time to talk,” Adah joined in. “The girls and I have forgiven him for all the hurt that came between us over the years. And now that you boys have rebuilt our home and kept the farm going in spite of the way your dat sent you away,” she went on, looking pointedly at Rudy, “I’m hopin’ that on this Christmas Day your dat will ask your forgiveness for his harsh words. We all love you, Jonny and Gideon. And I hope you’ll find it in your hearts to come back to us.”

Rudy sat straighter, his eyes narrowing, and Zanna fully expected him to tell Adah she’d stepped over the line. To her credit, Adah stood tall and unflinching on the other side of Jonny. She probably knew Rudy and their sons might dance around the issue of forgiveness, and that once the boys left today, they might not return unless she gave them a reason to.

The room got quiet. Maggie, Beth, and Abby had been nodding as they watched with expectant faces. Zanna’s palm pulsed steadily against Jonny’s, sending a clear message:
I love you, too. And I hope you’ll stay.

After a long pause, Rudy cleared his throat. “We can’t expect you boys to answer right out, seein’ as how you’ve both set yourselves up in other businesses,” he remarked. “And truth is, I’m glad you found other ways to support yourselves, knowin’ how our little dairy farm won’t provide a livin’ for three families.”

When he seemed unlikely to continue, Adah picked up the thread. “Your dat’s not one to admit his fears and weaknesses,” she said quietly, “but I can tell you he was mighty worried, while he was so sick, thinking he might never see you boys again. He regretted the way he’d fussed and fumed at you for not wanting to make the farm your life’s work. But it’s hard for him to say that.”

Rudy’s eyes widened and his face flushed. “Don’t go puttin’ words in my mouth, Adah,” he warned, but then he caught himself. He squeezed the arms of the recliner with his strong, muscled hands. He looked at Gideon and then at Jonny, his lips twitching. “What I
meant to say, if your mamm would let me get a word in edgewise, is that I… I can see why my shuttin’ you out and railin’ at you all those years would hardly be reason for you to come home… or to join the church.”

Rudy exhaled as though such words were costing him. “You’d make your mamm awful happy if you came back, but I—I’ll leave that for you and God to decide.”

While Zanna wasn’t surprised that Jonny’s dat couldn’t come right out and ask for his sons’ forgiveness, and had made Adah out as the one who’d missed them, the change in Rudy was still something to behold. Everyone was looking to Gideon and Jonny for their answer, and the silence made a lot of questions swirl in her mind.

What about Jonny’s driving business—the van and the stretch limo, not to mention the motorcycle he loved? Could he give them up, along with his cell phone, to live the Plain life again? More important, could he move back to Cedar Creek and become a member of his family?

Can he make a life with me and our child… join the church and make it all fit together like everyone here wants him to?

N
ever in her life could Abby have predicted the scene she was witnessing, nor could she look away from her sister’s face. How many emotions had Zanna expressed in these past months? Bitter defiance… terror… soul-shaking loneliness… doubt… heart-wrenching rejection… unconditional love for the child growing inside her.

Right now, Zanna’s quiet joy filled the crowded hospital room.

Jonny stood, focused on his father, so he didn’t notice the radiant young woman on his left—nor could he realize how this picture resembled a wedding ceremony.

Abby set aside that romantic thought. But it seemed yet another blessing, to sense such a turnaround in Jonny and to feel Zanna’s unflinching faith in how things would work out. With him or without him, she would make a devoted mother. Somehow Abby knew which way it would be as she waited for someone to break the spell by responding to Rudy’s plea.

Maggie and Becky had stopped chatting about the new house. The Christmas cards and cash were strewn on the bed, forgotten. Gideon, too, was caught up in the anticipation: his strawberry blond
hair framed his handsome face in a sleek English cut similar to his brother’s, but his expression bespoke the tug-of-war in his mind. He was a couple of years older than Jonny, yet he waited for his little brother to make or break this moment.

Just when Abby felt compelled to end the silence, Zanna giggled. Her hand went to her midsection, her laughter filled the room—and then she placed Jonny’s palm against her belly where hers had been. “This is
so
your child, Jonny Ropp,” she said in a giddy whisper. “He’s kicking me to get things moving again. Can’t sit still for a minute, this one, and has to be the center of attention. Can you feel that?”

Jonny’s anxious expression turned to one of utter amazement. “Is that his foot or his hand? Hey!” he cried, looking from Zanna’s grin to her belly. “He’s punching me on purpose. But he can’t possibly know who I am.”

“And why not?”

Zanna’s arched eyebrow made Abby snicker. Jonny Ropp might own two cars and a motorcycle, but her sister sat in the driver’s seat now… and she was steering this situation exactly where she wanted it to go.

Adah elbowed Jonny, laughing. “You were the same way. Moving around inside me at all hours of the day and night,” she said. “It’s a wonder I didn’t have sleep deprivation worse than your dat by the time you were born. Gideon was much better behaved, even then.”

“Jah, but who do you love best?” Jonny teased without missing a beat. It felt like one of those questions he’d asked as a little boy, and after getting his mamm’s reaction the first time, he said it whenever he wanted things to go his way.

Zanna knew that trick! They really were birds of a feather and they deserved each other.

Abby exchanged a knowing glance with the Ropp girls before winking at Gideon. It didn’t really matter how Adah answered Jonny’s question, did it? Zanna had found a surefire way to draw him
into her life again, and he’d harked back to his childhood—a happier time with his family.

When Jonny realized everyone was watching him, he drew his hand back. He still looked bewildered, but in the best way possible. “All right, then, Dat—and Mamm. If you’re wanting Gideon and me to come back to Cedar Creek, how do you propose we make our livings?” His voice sounded high and tight, but he went on. “I can’t see Vernon letting me drive folks. And while it was fine to fix up your machinery and milk your cows while you were laid up, neither of us wants to be a dairy farmer.”