Abram's Daughters 03 The Sacrifice (4 page)

"I'll go along to Strasburg with you . . . with Adah and Sam, come Saturday night."

Gid's face lit up like a forbidden electric light bulb. "Wonderful-gut! Denki for comin' here to say so."

She realized at that moment the power her decision had over him. If she'd said otherwise, she could just imagine the look of disappointment that would have transformed his

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ruddy face. "I best be headin'home," she said.

"Aw, must ya?" His eyes implored her to stay.

"Dat and Mamma don't know I'm gone. I wouldn't want them to fret." She didn't go on to say they were worried enough over Sadie. No doubt he was aware of that; it was to be expected with Gid's mother and Mamma close neighbors and bosom friends. Miriam Peachey had surely heard tell of Mamma's sleepless nights.

"Well, then, I 'spect it's best you return schnell quickly."

At that she moved toward the barn door. "Gut Nacht," she said as Gid strolled alongside her.

"Good night, Leah."

She nodded self-consciously and turned to go, walking briskly toward her father's cornfield. Hundreds of stars beckoned her, and she found herself wondering if anyone had ever tried to count them, at least those twinkling over the Ebersol Cottage.

Staring up at the sky, she pondered her decision to go with Gid this one time . . . and his near-gleeful response. Did 1 dothe right thing?

The last place Gid wanted to be, now that Leah had told him her good news, was back up in the lonely haymow. He returned the puppy in hand to the whelping box and hurried out behind the barn, toward Blackbird Pond. He had to keep looking at the ground, now murky in the early evening hour, to see if his feet were really touching the grassy path that led through the pastureland and beyond to the lake.

With great joy, he began to count the hours till he would see Leah again, not in Abram's barn or out in the field . . . no,

39'..',..

what he most anticipated was their first real date. The long ride to Strasburg was nothing to sneeze at as far as time on the road; he must make sure he took along a light lap robe, in case the evening had a chill to it. They would enjoy a fine meal in town with Adah and Sam, then leisurely return to Gobbler's Knob, a round trip of nearly ten miles. All in all, the night would not be so young when he returned Leah to the covering of her father's house.

Gid's heart sang as he picked up his pace and began to run around the wide lake. Will Leah accept my love at last?

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JLA. Schwartz plodded upstairs to the second-floor bedroom, where, in the corner of the large room, he found his wife reclining on the leather chaise, sipping a cup of chamomile tea. Lorraine's nerves must be ragged again tonight, he thought. He'd learned not to address her when she was in such a state. In the past, when he had attempted to engage her in conversation, she withdrew further still.

As for Henry, he was much more practiced at concealing his misery; he prided himself in his ability to do so. Even Lorraine had no knowledge of his ongoing despair, he was quite certain. On the exterior, his life was as fulfilled now as he had ever hoped it to be faithful wife, grown sons, and a flourishing medical clinic. With their boys gone from home, he and Lorraine had sufficient time to do as they pleased, which most evenings meant sitting in easy chairs and reading silently, enjoying baroque music, or discussing eldest son Robert's zealous letters and spiritual ambition. Lorraine was increasingly anxious, though, and he had begun to recognize the fact around the time the boys spread their proverbial wings. Continually she invited

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him to attend church with her and their neighbors, Dottie and Dun Nolt and their toddler-age son. Without exception, he refused, adding to his wife's dejection. Having attended church only sporadically during their adult years, he was by no means interested in jumping on Lorraine's recent religious bandwagon. To her credit, his wife was a woman who knew how to blend persuasion with loving consideration. This fact, over the years, I Kill helped keep their marriage intact.

His misery had not so much to do with Robert's search for (

Accordingly, each Sunday before Lorraine awakened and (he sun rose, he crept downstairs and got into the car, driving down Georgetown Road, past the Ebersol and Peachey farms, turning onto a dirt lane east of the smithy's spread of land. That narrow byway led to the ten acres he'd inherited from his father, Reverend Schwartz. Having decided against ever building a house there, Henry had held on to the grazing land, letting it appreciate in value over the years. More recently, he had thought of offering to sell it to the local blacksmith, if the Amishman was so inclined. Lorraine, however, had suggested the parcel of land remain in the family, perhaps to be |j;iven at the appropriate time to Robert as a wedding gift.

Getting out of the car, Henry would go and tend to a small l^rave unmarked by a headstone, trimming the tall grass away with hand clippers. When finished, he stood in deep contemplation, the little mound of earth his altar and the clipped grass

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his pew, surrounded by a choir of insects and birds.

Just this morning he had visited the site and stared down at the memorial of his own making, recalling the momentous night he had hauled to the spot a shovel in the trunk of his car. Having paced the ground, he had made a frantic determination for the location of a proper burial. The hollowness in his soul had been undeniable as he pushed hard and deep into the ground the ball of his foot on the shovel, his arms lifting out the soil one heaping pile at a time. Grave digging was harder work than he had anticipated, both physically and otherwise, but the burial itself had been excruciating. And when the task was complete, the lifeless body of an infant boy lay in the broken earth.

There it was that Henry presented himself to the CreatorGod on Sunday mornings, each and every one since that very first, refusing Lorraine's invitation to a church with walls of stone and mortar. Nowhere else drew him like the open-air cathedral where he was the one and only parishioner, the lone visitor to a child's tiny grave.

Startled out of his musing by Lorraine's gentle voice, Henry jerked his head, a piece of mail slipping out of his hands and onto the floor.

"Dear," she said, "be sure to read Robert's letter."

Lorraine had left a pile of their personal mail from Saturday afternoon lying on the dresser for him. He had been much too busy at the clinic to bother thumbing through the bills and such. He stooped now to reach for his eldest's latest letter. "How are things going for him?" he inquired for Lorraine's sake. Hard as it was for him to admit, son Robert was looking

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for nbsolute truth strangely finding it in a group of Biblebelieving Mennonites.

"lie's planning to come home for Thanksgiving," Lorraine ullored, still seated with cup poised in midair.

"Oh?" He nodded absentmindedly. Late November was I be perfect time for a visit with his strapping son. Perhaps Robert would consider arriving a few days early so that they might join the enthusiastic turkey shooters over on the wooded hillock across the road. We'll surprise Lorraine with aplump turkey for our Thanksgiving feast, he thought, wishing

1111 it Derek, too, might be inclined to desire connection with lumily. Regrettably there had been no word from Derek in the |usr year, a fact that continued to grieve them. Yes, thought I liMiry. Our younger son is long gone in more ways than one.

He settled down with Robert's letter, adjusting his eyeglasses and leaning his head close to the linen stationery in order to follow every line and curve of his firstborn's penmanship.

Thursday, June hfe Dear Mom and Dad,

Thanks for writing, Dad. I received your last letter in the Wednesday mail. And thanks, Mom, for the care packages. Several of my campus friends have gratefully helped me devour your chocolate-chip cookies and banana-nut breads. Because '. of your delectable gifts, I'm one of the best-fed and most popular fellows I know!

I hope to make a trip home for Thanksgiving weekend. Any chance Deny might show up? He continues to snub my .; letters, but I'd like to see him again . . . it's been too long. ;'.

44Id e o e r I y JL, e im> i s . ' '.''

Well, I must head to class. I'll look forward to hearing from you soon. .,,

With love to you both, Robert

Sighing, Henry blurted out, "What do you make of that, Lorraine?"

"Sounds to me Derry has no intention of keeping in touch with any of us." Her voice wavered.

Henry felt sure he knew why; no doubt Derek was suffering a severe bout of old-fashioned guilt, and no wonder. He'd gotten an Amish girl pregnant, only to promptly leave Gobbler's Knob for the army. His son's misbehavior and indifference were an embarrassment. How could Derek ruin the girl's life and simply abandon her?

Henry folded the letter, returning it to the envelope. When it came to guilt, he could relate to having made a few serious mistakes in life some more earthshaking than others.

"We must celebrate the prospect of seeing Robert again," he said suddenly as he prepared to retire for the night. "We can't go on mourning Derek's appalling attitude."

"Sometimes that's far easier said than done," Lorraine replied, dabbing at her eyes.

He acknowledged the grim fact with a nod of his head.What else is there to do?

+

Soon after Leah started working part-time at the village clinic, she began to recognize her interest in children, espe-

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Clltlly the youngest ones with obvious injuries. She loved to SjtKMisole or distract them in the waiting room by using the lOt'k puppets Hannah had knitted. She often did the same at home while caring for Lydiann, who, at times, seemed rather incident prone scraped knees, brush-burned elbows, and all.

Leah had surprised herself with her immediate like for the ilnctor and his wife; she felt sure she'd met good solid folk, nit hough worlds apart from her in culture and upbringing. There was not one iota of plainness about Henry and Lor-

11iine, but that didn't stop Leah from enjoying their company. The doctor's infectious laughter, though seemingly forced at linn's, and Lorraine's delicious specialty cakes and breads she M'l nut for the clinic staff during short breaks in the flow of piitient traffic made Leah feel most welcome.

This Monday morning she hurried into the clinic and made i iffee for the receptionist, as well as the coming patients. That

1l< >ne, she did a bit of dusting, which, before today, had not been i >ik' of the things expected of her. Till now she had swept and washed the floors and windows, making doubly sure the examination rooms and miniscule restroom were sanitary, along with sweeping the steps "and sidewalk. In many ways she was considiTi'd the clinic's sole housekeeper.

Lorraine had recently hinted she might need a bit of help, i'.specially with the large kitchen floor and the many knickknacks that accumulated dust in both the living and sitting looms of the Schwartz residence. So far Leah hadn't jumped at I he opportunity to assist Lorraine with additional tasks, mainly In'cause Mamma's strawberries were coming on awful fast now niid there would be plenty to sell at the Ebersols' roadside stand. In diet, at this moment, Mamma and Miriam Peachey were out

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in the hot sun picking berries while Hannah and Mary Ruth completed the washing. And Lydiann, more than likely, was babbling to Dawdi John next door in the Dawdi Haus. Only occasionally did Mamma ask her father to watch her youngest, but since Leah was expected home in time for the noon meal, Lydiann would be in Dawdi's charge only a short time. After that Leah herself would help tend to her baby sister, along with her afternoon chores outside. By taking Lydiann along with her to the barn and whatnot, she hoped to develop a strong love of the land and the farm animals in the wee toddler. And, too, it wouldn't be long and Lydiann would be someone to talk to while working outdoors someone besides Gid, that was, and Sam Ebersol's older brother, twenty-year-old Thomas, recently hired by Dat to help with fieldwork part-time.

During a lull between patient appointments, Leah got up the nerve to mention the doctor's grazing land, "not so far from the Peacheys' place," interested to see what Dr. Schwartz might say about it.

When there was little or no direct response to her cornment, she forged ahead. "Have you ever thought of putting cattle out there? Such nice grazing it would be."

The good doctor scratched his head and looked nearly disoriented for a few seconds. Then he said, "I've thought of different things over the years. Everything from building a house and barn on it ... to putting up a stable for horseback riding. In the end, I always come back to its being too great an effort to bother with putting cattle or anything else on it, though."

She paused to study him. Tall and lean, he was a man with plenty of options flitting in his head. But he fell silent, and in

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|;i short time another patient came up the walk and in the I door.

1 Leah was surprised to see her mother's cousin Fannie iMast, with young Jake and Mandie in tow. She at first felt Isheepish standing there, then pained, remembering Fannie [was to have been her mother-in-law. Without meaning to, she (found herself gawking at the twins; she hadn't seen them in two years and they'd grown so much.

This woman, equally as plump as Mamma now, if not

I more so, had always been a bubbly hostess when the Ebersols

I visited the Mast orchard house on Grasshopper Level, not but

la thirty-minute buggy's ride from Gobbler's Knob. Today,

though, when Fannie caught Leah's eye, her mouth drooped

and she turned away, taking the twins' hands and guiding