Abram's Daughters 02 The Betrayal (29 page)

Will you write soon?

With much love, Your sister Leah

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Sadie slumped back in her chair, sighing. Obviously her sister had taken great care to write such a heartfelt letter. Torn between fond memories of their early days together and blanv ing Leah for spilling the beans on her, Sadie let the letter slip from her fingers and drift to the floor.

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The

1 he stately trees lining the road had already begun to turn to golden, red, and orange hues. Because of this and the fact he felt rather glum, Jonas did not rush the mare to his final destination. As a boy he had often gone out this time of year, past his father's orchard to where giant maples and oaks dropped their leaves in such abundance he liked to gather up a select few, choosing the most colorful to press between the pages of the largest book in the house, Martyrs Mirror.

His mother ,had once discovered a red sugar maple leaf marking the page where the account of "four lambs of Christ" a brother and three sisters had been sentenced to death as heretics, though they were indeed followers of Christ. He was stunned when he read the middle sister came to her death singing, then prayed aloud, "Lord, look upon us, who suffer for thy word. Our trust is in thee alone." All four commended their spirits into the hands of the Lord God, offering up their blood sacrifice, their very lives, for their unfaltering faith.

From that day forth, he had often wondered if he, too,

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might be given the heralded "martyr's grace" if ever he were to come to such a fate. For that reason, he had purposed to give his life fully to spreading the goodness of the Lord above, wherever his feet may trod.

This evening, though, there was no need for that kind of grace. But empathy, perhaps. Sitting next to him was a young woman who seemed as sad as she was lonely. The sooner he got her back home the better.

Sadie said not a word as they rode along, evidently waiting for him to do the talking. He held the reins too high, tense as can be. "What do you know of Smithy Gid?" he blurted out his question.

She replied softly. "He's the only son of my father's closest friend, the blacksmith. Our neighbor, as you know."

Jonas contemplated how to phrase his next question. Or should he?

They rode along, too quiet for several minutes. At last he brought up the August Sunday singing held in Abram's barn. "Did you happen to see Leah and Gid together there?"

"I didn't go to the singin' that night." He noticed out of the corner of his eye that she turned to look at him. "I did see Leah and Gid walking through the cornfield over to his house after attendin' the singing."

He could only guess why Leah had even gone to the singing, let alone left with Gid. Nevertheless, this information wasn't earthshaking enough that he should be concerned. Although it did seem odd for a betrothed young woman to spend time with a single man.

"Do you have any reason to believe Leah might be interested in Gid?" Everything within him rebelled against asking

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duch a thing Rebekah's report made not one lick of sense. He knew Leah was as devoted to him as he was to her. And yd the tone of her last letter made him wonder if something wasn't amiss.

"I saw them . . . one other time, too," Sadie added somewhat hesitantly.

"When was this?"

"Not too many days before I left for here."

Tension spread down from his jaw to his neck and now his ohoulders. "Are you sure you saw Leah, with Gid?"

She sighed, fidgeting now. "It happened the day Leah got herself lost in the woods. When she didn't come home for the

noon meal, Mamma sent Gid out lookin' for her, with the German shepherd a gift to Leah from Gid last spring."

He tried to recall if Leah had ever mentioned the dog. Inhaling, he held his breath before continuing. "Does your lather hold out hope for the two of them gettin' together?"

"Oh my . . . ever so much."

That fact still did not establish a reason to suspect Leah of being unfaith4il. "Can you be more specific about what you saw the day Leah got lost?" he asked.

"Well, they were walkin' out of the deepest part of the woods. Gid was playin' his harmonica for Leah, and they were laughin' together. And . . . I'm not sure I ought to say much more."

"Go on, please. . . ." he said, her hesitancy causing his heart to pound. "What is it?"

"I ... I saw them holdin' hands." She paused. "I had an awful hard time believin' it then, but it was so."

He clenched his jaw. No! This had, to be purely innocent

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on Leah's part. Then he remembered how Leah had refused his two invitations to come here ... to be near him this summer. Why had Leah sent her sister instead?

He had never thought to address the question, not in connection to Leah wanting to stay home for Smithy Gid. She'd indicated her mother needed help with the new little one, though at the time, he had wondered why Sadie or the twins couldn't have pitched in, freeing Leah up to make the visit.

Keeping his gaze on the road, he never once looked at Sadie to his left. Could she be trusted? He wasn't certain.

Why was she here and not Leah?

I'll write to Leah immediately about this, he thought. I must know her side of things.

Observing the road ahead as far as he could see, he followed the line of every ridge and valley, each soaring tree, till his eyes found the sky. He was struck by the coming nightfall something of a lemon color not the predictable rosy hue of setting sun.

"Us the end of summer, he thought, hoping it was not also signaling the end of Leah's affection for him. Yet with each dying moment, summer ebbed toward autumn .. . and there was nothing he could do to slow its progress.

When Leah received Jonas's letter, she didn't have time to read it in sweet solitude. Dat expected her to help with as many of his barn chores as possible, more than usual this week since smithy Peachey and several other farmers nearby needed

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hi* help digging potatoes. Due to severe back pain, he'd finally y I veil in and paid a visit to Dr. Schwartz "to get me some pain Jillls." Being able to offer his help with the harvest had always Wan of utmost importance to her father. He enjoyed the niitke-work-fun mentality of the People, wanting to be (' Minted on by the neighboring farmers.

She hurried upstairs to her room right after dinner, knowhit; she must not dawdle. There she read the letter from Jonas.

Right away she determined something was wrong: Jonas

\\,iiited to know if she'd "spent time with Gid Peachey at a

inging in August" . . . and could she explain his gift of a

utrnan shepherd? :

I hope to hear from you as soon as possible, Leah. Since \ we are betrothed and plan to marry in a few short weeks, I I; trust you will clear this up for me. } .

Surely it is nothing more than a misunderstanding. 1 pray ( so! '.

I'll watch eagerly for your letter. .

With love, ''

Oh, her heart ached for him. None of this had any bearing whatsoever on their love. She must answer him immediately, even take time tonight to write before going to bed. For dear Jonas's sake, she would write long into the wee hours if necessary.

To think that someone who? wanted to cause a fallingout between them this close to their wedding day! She could not imagine how such a thing had come about.

She slipped the letter into the top dresser drawer and

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hurried downstairs to help with kitchen cleanup so Mamma could nurse Lydiann.

All of a sudden, a distressing thought occurred to her. Was it possible Sadie had something to do with this?

Getting Edith settled this night was a chore and then some. Edith wanted to sit by lantern's light in the front room and read one pen-pal letter after another aloud this humorous happening and that event till Sadie was plain tuckered out. On top of that, she was having trouble giving the woman her full attention, recalling how miserable Jonas looked since their trip to town. He was nearly silent at mealtime, not engaging so much with either David or Vera in the goodnatured sort of conversation they'd obviously enjoyed all summer long. Even Mary Mae and Andy, the two younger Mellinger children, weren't successful in getting him to play evening games, she noticed.

Daylight hours were growing shorter, and the family Edith and Sadie included spent more and more time together following supper. Edith wasn't in a hurry to be helped back to the Dawdi Haus; she liked to sit in one of the old rockers in Vera's kitchen and listen to the after-meal talk or ask David to read yet another chapter from the Good Book.

Sometimes Sadie slipped into her daydream world, thinking about Ben Eicher or John Graber while helping Vera with dishes, looking forward to the next singing. Neither boy could hold a candle to fair-faced and handsome Jonas Mast, who she was beginning to think was the most desirable young man anywhere. Still, as much as she admired Jonas, she couldn't

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Mint out and out steal him away from Leah, could she? The ulioiuil side of her pondered this continually, but the cornpelling desire to lash out and have her revenge made Jonas nitiNI enticing. Ever more so as each day passed.

I

Two days later Sadie found herself sitting on the front porch, waiting to bring in the mail.

She walked down the sloping lawn to the mailbox and I hanked the postman for the delivery, then thumbed through i he pile of letters on her way up to the house. Right away she i ml iced an envelope addressed to Jonas from Leah. Seeing her sister's handwriting and name in the upper left-hand corner made her heart pound hot and hard.

Leah broke her vow. She promised to keep my secret forever! she thought. She doesn't deserve to be happy. . . .

Quickly, without thinking ahead to what sadness this might cause Jonas, she slipped the letter into her dress pocket. Then, hurrying into the house, she headed to Vera's kitchen and deposited the stack of letters on the counter as usual.

Glad no one was anywhere around, she pulled Leah's letler out of her pocket. Holding it in both hands, she stared at i I, aware of the heat in her face, the rage in her heart.

Leah belongs with Smithy Gid, she told herself. Dat knows it, so maybe 'tis best. . . .

Vera's trash receptacle was kept under the sink, and Sadie

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reached down to open the cabinet door. Jittery with a guilty conscience, yet flush with anger, she held Leah's letter over the waste can, took a deep breath, and let it drop into the rubbish.

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1 he day came and went with no mail back from Leah, although Jonas was glad for a letter from his mother. She had written of being extra busy with Jake and Mandie. They bring us great joy, times two. There was also a cheerful letter from his brother-in-law, Nathaniel, and one from his next-youngest brother, Eli, with talk of the apple harvest.

Jonas was aware, on some level, of the singular squeak of a car's brake as the postman stopped in front of the house each day. Anfcle-deep in sawdust out back in the carpentry shop with David, he imitated the master carpenter's every movement, taking great care to craft each desk or chair into a shining example of excellence. All the while he was mindful of the hammering of his own heart.

What's keeping Leah? he wondered.

Thinking back to her response to his earlier letter raising the subject of them living here after the wedding, he wished now he hadn't put the question to her in writing. He should have waited to talk with her in person about the prospect

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once he returned home. Her return letter, he recalled, had been one of loving words, even of encouragement. She wanted him to be happy in his life's work, as long as Bishop Bontrager would sanction such a thing. She wanted what he wanted, with the blessing of our sovereign Lord and the church.

Despite her seemingly positive approach to moving, he had sensed an underlying hesitancy, even disappointment. He decided to reread that particular letter tonight. First, though, he must take good care in making the dovetail joints on the dresser drawers for one of David's regular clients. After that he planned to sweep out the workshop and redd up before going to the house for supper.

With no word back from Jonas, Leah began to think something must be wrong. Surely he had understood the things she'd written to him, that she and Gid were merely friends, neighborly and all, as one would expect when families in close proximity work together. Nothing more, she had written, still shocked Jonas had been led to believe otherwise. She'd explained why she had been present at the singing, how she'd gone with Adah at her request. Also, she'd told Jonas in no uncertain terms that King belonged to the whole family, not just to her . . . and she'd even asked Dat's approval, wondering how prudent it was to accept such a gift.

Even so, in spite of all she'd written him, she felt something was terribly amiss. A single day turned into an agonizing two . . . then three. Jonas was clearly ignoring her letter. But why? Had he read between the lines of her earlier letter? Had he sensed her reluctance to live in Ohio? Surely he did not question the bishop's stern stance on keeping to home or that

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i Key hikl both promised to live amongst the People of GobItier's Knob, vowing so at baptism.

Worse, had Jonas chosen to believe the near accusations ill it ml Smithy Gid and herself?

Truth be known, she had begun to wonder if their preiuiil ure affection kissing as they had might have been a

11.id omen, indeed, just as she had brought up to Jonas that very day. Yet he'd brushed it off.

She went about her work in a fog. Never having been one

10 question herself, she began to question everything. She u-called the tiniest details of her life with Jonas, the joyful Hatches that had begun with their earliest days and family visits to Grasshopper Level: picnics on the lawn, romps in the meadow, daisy picking, volleyball games all of it including I heir most recent Sunday afternoon together, soaking up sunbeams in Dr. Schwartz's empty meadow.