Abram's Daughters 01 The Covenant (23 page)

Still, he couldn't up and tell her not to see Jonas any' more, but he sure could try in a roundabout way. Jah, he sure could, and he would. First thing tomorrow, at the earlyinorning milking, when he and Leah could talk privately. Man to man, so to speak.

After the supper dishes were washed, dried, and put away, Ida sat down and wrote a short note to Fannie Mast, asking what Anna needed most in the way of handmade linens and such. Didn't take her long, though, and since she had plenty

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of space left on the lined writing tablet, she decided to share her news with Fannie, too.

P.S. I'd thought of telling you this the next time 1 visit there, but I don't know when that'll be, so I'm going to tell you now, and you can keep it under your hat for a while longer. Abram and I are expecting a baby come mid'to-late May. So your little one and ours will be ever so close in age. See what talking about babies in your kitchen did to me, Fannie? Ha, ha.

Let me know as soon as you can about Anna's needs. I'll look forward to hearing from you soon.

Lovingly, your cousin,

Ida

Rereading the letter, Ida knew she'd much rather be cro cheting booties for her coming child than fussing over embroidering pillowcases and tablecloths or whatever it was that Fannie would say Anna needed. The reality of having a new baby was slowly sinking in ... taking her over, really. Almost more than her joyful heart could hold. No more tears since yesterday. She wouldn't wish to turn back the clock, even if she could . . . no, she wouldn't think of going back to planning her and Abram's retirement years the "slowingdown years," as Dat liked to say.

She hoped Abram might catch up with her delight here real quick, guessing it might take him longer than when she'd first told him about expecting their girls. He'd come round. Jah, in due time.

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'Ilie next morning Leah sat sleepily on the milking stool, wiping down Bessie's underparts before she got started with Ituiul milking. Dat had come over to her and said he'd help wllh Ilosie. So Leah knew something was up. But she promIfitnl herself if Dat's eagerness to chat was over her lack of i 11 (crest in Smithy Gid she wouldn't mention a word about her plans to meet Jonas Mast tomorrow after dusk at the end 'I I lie lane. She felt she must guard their secret courtship now mi ire than ever.

About the time she began milking Bessie, Dat sat down "ii his own stool nearby. She heard the tinny ping'ping of losie's rich milk against the sides of the pail.

"I know I ain't 'sposed to ask . . . but you won't mind, will you?" Dat said.

She smiled. "Just what're you sayin', Dat?"

"Well, now ... I was just wondering how you liked your luHt singing, is all."

She shrugged a little, cautious to keep things to herself. " 'Twas all right, really."

"Didja see anybody you knew . . . from our church district, I mean?"

Dat wasn't doing such a good job of fishing for informai Ion, but she played along. "Jah, I knew some boys there."

Two milk pails being filled was the only sound in the barn hi that moment. So just why was Dat asking her such quesi ions when he knew she was already into rumschpringe? Was ii Smithy Gid he was so interested in?

She wanted to help Dat out a bit. "Gid was at the singing with his sister." Then she added quickly, "Adah and I sat together at the long table all during the songs."

"Oh, didja now?"

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"She and I stuck right close to each other for a long time." She wouldn't go so far as to say that Gid's sister had ended up riding home with a boy other than her brother. That was all she best be saying. Who a girl paired up with was supposed to be kept quiet. Besides, Dat knew better than to ask.

"Didja happen to talk to Smithy Gid at the singing, then?"

Dat's question startled her. "Dat . . . I "

"Oversteppin' my bounds, I 'spose. You know, Leah, I have such high hopes for you and the Peachey boy."

She thought on that. "You've been sayin' this for as long as I can remember. But . . . truth is, I like someone else. Always have."

Dat snorted a bit from the underside of his cow.

"Does it matter that I'm awful happy?" she asked. "Happy as you and Mamma?" ,

Silence. .. : <. ;-.' .

\ "Dat?" ... ^ '

"Leah, I just don't know. . ." .., ;

"Are you put out with me, then?"

Dat stopped milking and leaned back on his stool, catch' ing her eye behind the cow. "Just try to be choosin' wisely, won'tcha?"

"Which means I don't have a choice at all, jah?"

"You've got your mamma's tongue!"

"Sorry, Dat." ::, : .

, "Well, then?" ., .

"Best not talk about this anymore," she said softly.

Dat's dear face disappeared behind ol' Rosie.

Ach, her father was sorely hurt. She wished she could see

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11 in I'nce again, see around the cow, see just how disappointed Imh must be.

Finally Dat spoke. "Still, as long as you ain't a married woman, I won't stop hopin'."

Sighing, Leah didn't know what to say. Looked as though i here was no way to change Dat's mind. Not just yet. But .umeday she would. She and Jonas Mast would.

Truth be known, Sadie was pleased that Mamma was in i lu* family way. The news had jolted her at first, but now that he'd had time to think, she realized it was wonderful-gut i lining. This way all the fuss would be made over Mamma and her midlife baby, not Sadie's sad and sinful situation. She i i mid hide behind Mamma's skirt tail, so to speak.

Meanwhile, she was beginning to feel a tender bond with ihe little one inside her, though no life flutters had occurred

I ust yet. She wanted to shield her baby from the likes of Derry chwartz. Such hateful remarks he'd made. How a young man

' >uld be so unlike his father the village doctor, a man who helped folk get well was beyond her. Sadie recalled the .miling, polite faces of Derry's parents. Such nice folk. Why,

I1 iey'd even invited her inside, though they'd never laid eyes on her before. She could scarcely believe it still, when she i bought back to that dreadful night.

Now her turn at the produce stand was over. Gladly she left things to Hannah, who never truly complained, just made n known by the way her nose twitched, eyes blinking, too, i hat she didn't so much care for being out here alone with

1'nglish customers. "Remember what Mamma said," Sadie railed over her shoulder. "If ya sell out everything, that'll be it till next spring."

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"I heard what she said" came Hannah's gloomy reply.

"Well, I'm goin' for a walk . . . over to Blackbird Pond, if anyone wants to know." This she said because the last time she'd upped and disappeared, both Dat and Mamma had given her a scolding. None of her sisters had been privy to it. She'd endured the severe tongue-lashing, though at the time she wouldn't have traded those stolen hours with Derry for anything. Now . . . she would do most everything differently if she could, starting with sneaking off Friday nights with Naomi Kauffman. The two of them had spelled trouble all along, and there was no telling what would happen to Naomi if she didn't hurry up and join church.

"Best go in and help Mamma cook," Hannah called back to her.

But Sadie had no intention of heading straight indoors, where she was expected. Taking her time, she took the road down to the Peacheys' long dirt lane, then turned and headed toward their farmhouse, aware of the sun on her back. There was a coolness in the breeze, the first sigh of autumn. She breathed deeply, swinging her arms as she made her way past the smithy's house, through the barnyard, and out into the pastureland toward the pond.

She didn't expect to find anyone out there this afternoon. Both Adah and Dorcas were indoors cooking food ahead for Sunday, no doubt, same as Mary Ruth, Leah, and Mamma. Smithy Gid, more than likely, was helping his father in the blacksmith shop in the barn. She didn't care so much about farm work, or shodding horses, either. Maybe that was the reason she'd gone off to Strasburg, flirting with English boys come Friday nights. For as long as she could remember, she'd had no interest in marrying a farmer. Clear back to grade

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I'hool days. Being Amish, though, what other choice did she Imve?

The area surrounding Blackbird Pond was deserted, and lie was glad. She sat down in the shade of the twisted willow, i he ground beneath her lumpy and cold. She remembered I'laying in this spot more times than she could count when "ihe and Leah were little, watching Smithy Gid dive into the pond, catching tadpoles with his bare hands.

Just now, staring at the murky water, she wondered what ii was if anything she could hope for. Besides being the

I >i-st mamma a child could have, there wasn't much else to

1'iok forward to in her future. She had truly lost her way in i hi' dark woods. All her own doing, too.

Leaning her head down on her knees, she gritted her leflh, knowing she ought to be sorry for all that had gone wrong in her life. But she was more angry than repentant, 'ilu' wanted nothing to do with Derry, would never again darken the door of that wretched lean-to where they'd spent i heir late-night hours. She wished the turkey hunters, next month, would gojind tear the place down, such an old shanty

I1 was, really. Thinking back to the vast woods made her hudder. What had Derry warned her about the dangers lurking there? Yet he'd said she could trust him. Why had she I men so gullible? So completely foolish?

She wished she could cry and release some of the tension Inside. Might make more room for her baby to grow. Then .he realized how awful silly that was. Getting better rest at night and eating her fruits and vegetables would assure her of .1 healthy son or daughter. Knowing so little about what she might to do between now and when the baby was to be hirihed, she'd hurried to the Strasburg library this past

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Wednesday and checked out a book on such things while Miriam Peachey chose dress material. Then, so Miriam wouldn't know where she'd gone after making her own purchase of yard goods for her sisters' dresses, Sadie had hidden the book away under the backseat of the buggy. Suddenly it dawned on her. She could observe Mamma eat what she ate, do what she did to have a healthy child. Come to think of it, her baby and Mamma's would grow up like siblings. Now, wasn't that peculiar?

She stood and walked the whole length of the side of the pond, seeing Gid's German shepherd, Fritzi, bounding toward her. "Here, girl," she called, happy for some company now. When the dog caught up with her, she knelt and rubbed its neck on both sides, where Gideon said she loved to be stroked. "Are you supposed to be out here, away from your new pups?" she whispered. "Whatcha doin' so far from the whelping box?"

Docile-eyed Fritzi looked up at her as if to say, I needed torun free for a bit.

"Jah, that's all right. Come along with me." So Sadie strolled clear round the opposite side of the pond, Fritzi ai her side, a silent companion.

Looking up at the sky, she wondered how almighty God might choose to punish her for her transgressions. There were times when she remembered the Scripture Dat often read from the book of Romans "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."

She hadn't been devoted to God the way she should've, not in the least, otherwise she wouldn't be in this sad predicament. Having been called "according to his purpose," she'd

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lllfully sinned . . . even after her baptism. Preacher Yoder, if In- know, would counsel her to make things right, and mighty

mm. Well, repenting to the preacher and the deacons was me thing. Their going home and sharing the news of her immorality with their wives so they could spread the shameInl word through the community at upcoming quilting I ires . . . well, that was another thing altogether. Such potenunl gossip would not only hurt her chances of ever being

11Milled again, but Leah's and the twins' reputations would be lulnu-d, too. Yet once she became great with child, would it mill t er if she'd confessed to the brethren? The awful truth would be evident.

t Ui, she hardly knew what to do these days. Didn't know \v 11:11 she believed in, either.

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j nuns hurried the horse just a bit, eager to see Leah again.

11rr hazel eyes the specks of gold in them had brightened when he'd asked her, back on the night of their first singing, il lie could come calling. "Jah, that'd be fine," she'd said, and In- had walked back to the horse and open buggy with an rslr;i spring in his heels.

Now, coming up over the hill, he spied Abram's flourishit \\s, acres of corn in the distance. Nearly half of it was harvented, he coTild see in the fading light. He might've offered

111 lend a hand if it wasn't that his own father needed him for iIn- (all pruning of the apple orchard, some trees twenty feet hi|',li. The rigorous thinning process took hours of daily work, I "hi I it was best to press on and finish before the snow began In lly.

When he reached the spot where the long Ebersol lane imci rhe road, he slowed the horse and pulled over onto the i iyht shoulder. He glanced at the new dashboard, speedometer, and glove compartment he had installed just this week, Imping Leah would find his courting buggy to her liking and

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not too fancy. Truth be told, he took more than a little pleasure in knowing just how fast his horse pulled the open carriage. And the glove compartment, well, it was right nice for seeing Leah home from singings and whatnot, if she had any particular need of it.

Jumping down from his shiny black buggy, he stood near the horse, watching for Leah. Originally he had offered to come by much later in the evening after Abram's house was dark but she'd said she could easily meet him out here earlier, at the end of the lane. Being out late seemed to be of concern to her just why, he hadn't the slightest notion. After all, tomorrow was the "off-Sunday," so courting couples could sleep in a bit. Had Abram spoken to her about not staying out too long? Jonas wanted to start things out on the right foot wouldn't think of offending his dear girl's father, thai is, if Leah had even revealed just who it was she planned to meet tonight. More than likely, she'd kept Jonas's name out of any conversation altogether.