An Amish Christmas Quilt (17 page)

C
HAPTER
13

John sat at the kitchen table the next morning, sipping a cup of coffee. He and the
buwes
had already been out at the chores, and Ellie was unfortunately in bed with a head cold. Matthew and Simon had gone out to exercise some of the horses in the bright morning. He was about to make some toast for Ellie when the guest bedroom door creaked open and Laurel appeared. She made as if to retreat when she saw him alone in the kitchen, but he put his cup down and motioned her forward.

“
Kumme,
Laurel. Will you have breakfast with me? Ellie's not feeling too well and Matthew's out and about with the horses already.”

“
Ach
, I'm sorry for rising so late.” She flushed prettily. “I don't usually do so.”

He waved away her words and started toward the woodstove.

“Let me,
sei se gut,”
Laurel intercepted him. “I'm a
gut
cook and you can finish your coffee.”

John heard the faint anxiousness in her voice and knew she longed to have purpose in this new home, so he sat back down.

For someone who was known as being able to talk a man to sleep, he felt oddly unsure of what to say to his new daughter-in-law. But he found that she was a spritely conversationalist herself, once her hands were busy, and he knew a certain pride in Matthew's choice of a wife.

“Would Ellie like toast and eggs, do you think? Or only the toast? I can also make some fresh orange juice—I know my
daed
always likes . . .” She dwindled off, and John bent his head in frustration that she should feel uncomfortable mentioning her
fater
.

“I'm sorry,” she recovered quickly. “I don't mean to cause any trouble or bad feelings.”

John sighed. “You should feel comfortable in your new home.
Sei se gut
, speak of your
fate
r as you will. You do not offend me.”

He was pleased with her quiet smile and soon was enjoying the breakfast she'd made for him. She'd shredded some cheese in the scrambled eggs, giving them a rich and different flavor, and his toast was laden with sugar and cinnamon.

He watched her prepare a small tray for Ellie, taking the time to take a flower from the Christmas cactus in the windowsill to put in a cup of water, to brighten the food. In all, he again knew thankfulness to Gott, for his new daughter and the future she represented.

 

Laurel knocked softly on the master-bedroom door and entered to the sound of a deep cough from Ellie.

“You're newly married, child,” Ellie wheezed. “Don't wait on me.”

“It's my pleasure.” Laurel smiled. She put the tray on a tabletop, then helped Ellie sit up against the pillows, bringing her a washcloth from the bowl and pitcher. Laurel was relieved that Ellie's forehead did not feel too warm, and she soon settled the tray on the older woman's lap.

“
Ach
, fresh orange juice—what a treat. John wouldn't know how to squeeze an orange if you paid him.”

Laurel giggled. “He was very kind to me this morning.”

Ellie blew her nose in a white handkerchief and nodded. “John's a
gut
man, same as your
fater
is. They're both simply too stubborn.”

Laurel sat down in a small ladder-back chair near the bedside. “Can you tell me what I can do to help get ready for Christmas? I've told Matthew that it's my favorite holiday.”

Ellie smiled though her eyes watered from congestion. “I usually put the tree up about now. Why don't you and Matthew go out and find one today when he's done with the chores?”

Laurel clapped like a little girl. “
Ach
, I'd love to, but may we take Simon—and possibly my baby sister?”

Ellie arched a graying brow. “The day after your wedding, you want to be saddled with
kinner
? I think you need time alone with Matthew.”

“
Nee
, truly. Matthew and I are—fine. . . .” Laurel blushed, remembering the previous night. She was grateful, though, that her new mother-in-law seemed not to notice and was concentrating on her toast.

“Well, suit yourself, child. And if you take some gloves and shears, you might get some pine boughs and holly for the windowsills.”

“
Wunderbar
,” Laurel exclaimed. She loved the scents and sights of Christmas, and she was expert at stringing holly on fishing line without getting pinched overmuch.

“I appreciate your help,” Ellie sniffed. “And I would hug you, my dear, if I didn't worry you'll catch my cold.”

Laurel leaned forward from her chair and caught the
aulder
woman in a tight embrace. “
Danki
for letting me help and for giving me a warm welcome.”

“You're more than welcome, child.”

And Laurel rejoiced at the gentle hand that brushed at the back of her
kapp
.

 

“Here
kummes
Laurel.... Whooee, I didn't know a girl could ride a horse like that.” Simon whistled in appreciation and Matthew turned in the saddle to see the vision of his wife coming across the snow-laden field, riding a black gelding sidesaddle. Her dark wool cloak flowed in the wind and her
kapp
strings blew out behind her like twin miniature banners. She was truly a sight for any man to behold.

She slowed to a neat stop next to them. “Hiya.” She smiled, nodding at Simon.

Matthew wanted to kiss her right there, but saw no practical way of doing so without startling the horses, so he let his eyes touch her face with tender intimacy instead and was pleased to see her blush.

“You know your
mamm's
not feeling well, so she asked if we might go and find a tree and some greenery for the
haus
. I thought you might
kumme
, Simon, and maybe we can stop for Lucy.”

Matthew wanted to be alone with her but couldn't deny the look of pleasure on his
bruder's
face. “Surely, we can head back now.”

“Let's race,” Laurel called, turning her horse with an expert hand and galloping away. Matthew grinned and followed, Simon's second whistle of appreciation that morning ringing in his ears.

 

Luke Lapp returned to the bright morning kitchen to find Lucy talking excitedly to June, but she turned to him instead even before he could get his boots off.

“
Ach,
Daddi, I had a dream!” The little girl hopped up and down like a bubbling brook.

“A dream, hmm? What about?”

“Nee
, listen,
sei se gut
—this dream was special. I believe it was from Derr Herr.”

Luke grew serious and looked at June over his daughter's small head. June shrugged.

Luke sat down on the couch and drew Lucy onto his knee. “All right, little one, tell me of your dream.”

Lucy's brow furrowed in thought as she visibly concentrated on how to begin. “It was about my kitten, Friend, and John Beider.”

Luke blinked, not expecting such a combination. “
Jah
?” he questioned.

Lucy let out a gusty sigh. “I think John Beider is a lonely man, and Gott told me in my dream to give Friend to him so that he wouldn't feel so alone.”

Luke frowned in thought. As a deacon, he took very seriously what the Bible says about Gott sometimes speaking to people in dreams, but surely not to such a little child.... Then he felt a certain ire rise in his throat
. I've already had one daughter pay a high price to John Beider. Why should my other have to give to the stubborn man as well
?

“Lucy, child, sometimes we think of something in the back of our minds, but it doesn't mean that Gott actually wants us to . . .”

Lucy jumped down from his lap. “You don't believe me, just like Aenti June—and only because you fight with John Beider because of why? Nobody knows!” Her voice became shrill and she stamped a small foot.

Luke gave her a stern look. “Lucy. You will hold your tongue and temper as a child should in this
haus
.”

She bit her lip, struggling with tears, then nodded, grabbed Friend's box, and ran upstairs.

Luke exhaled slowly. “What do you think this is about?” he asked his sister.

“Nothing, most likely,” June said. “The child is missing Laurel—that's all.”

And
I
am too
, Luke thought silently, weary before the day had hardly begun.

C
HAPTER
14

Laurel found it strange somehow to come home, even as Matthew pulled the double sleigh up in front of the cabin where she'd been raised. It was almost as if there'd been some subtle shift in her spirit that acknowledged that she belonged with Matthew, wherever that might be. And she knew she was no longer a little girl, but a woman, full grown, with a life and dreams of her own to be met and fulfilled.

“Come in, both of you,” she urged as Matthew and Simon seemed to hesitate. “Please,” she added and they both hopped down from the sled.

She opened the cabin door to find her
daed
sitting alone at the kitchen table, his back to them. But he turned upon hearing the door and there was no mistaking the look of joy in his eyes as he rose to greet her with a hug. Then he shook hands with Matthew and Simon.

“Sit down. Have some coffee. June is doing laundry and Lucy's upstairs.”

“
Ach,
Daed, we can't stay but a minute. I wondered if Lucy might go with us to look for a Christmas tree?”

Her father appeared to consider. “
Jah
, she may,” he said finally. He turned and walked to the staircase, calling for her little sister. But there was no sudden patter of footsteps in response, and Laurel saw her dad frown.

“I'm sorry. She was upset earlier, and I had to speak firmly to her. Perhaps she is still troubled.” He called again, and then Laurel spoke up.

“I'll go and fetch her, Daed.”

But when Laurel went upstairs, she passed through each room and found no sign of Lucy or her kitten.

She went back downstairs feeling oddly worried. It was not like Lucy to avoid coming when called.

“Well?” Her father looked up with a faint frown.

“She's not up there.”

“What? Maybe she's with June.”

Laurel saw the worry on his face as he went to the back room and spoke rapidly to Aenti June. Soon, she appeared with him, and they both were visibly troubled.

“Would she run away?” Matthew asked in the silence.

“Nee
.” Laurel shook her head. “At least, she's never done so before.”

Her father sighed. “I know where the child is—at your
daed's haus
, Matthew.”

Laurel listened to the explanation about the dream and then quickly went with Matthew and Simon out to the sled.

“I'll follow,” her
daed
called, and Laurel felt sorry for the worry he must be feeling.

She slipped into the sled next to Matthew and was glad when he urged the horse to hurry.

 

Ellie was sleeping and John had finished drying the last of the dishes when he heard the soft knock at the door.

He went to open it and had to peer down at the little girl standing on his front porch with a small box. “Lucy Lapp?” he asked finally, perplexed.

“
Jah
.” The child nodded. He saw that she wore only a light cloak and hurried her inside out of the cold.

“Does your
fater
know you're here?” John asked after a moment while the child stared up at him with big blue eyes.

She shook her head. “But Gott knows.”

John put his hands on his hips in thought. “That's true.” He smiled to himself.
Bright little thing she was....

“I had a dream last
nacht
—about you,” she announced.

“About me?” He was truly surprised. “What about?”

“I know you and Daddi don't like each other.” There was no accusation in the child's voice, but John ducked his head all the same.

“I don't—I don't ‘not like' your
fater
. It's more . . .”

“You don't like him or else you wouldn't be mad at him all the time.”

Oddly frustrated by this simple logic, John had the urge to call for Ellie to help deal with the youngster. Then he noticed the box again.

“What's in the box?”

She held it up to him. “She is part of my dream. Gott told me how lonely you are, and He said I was supposed to give her to you.” Her little voice wavered, but she went on with visible bravery. “Now you won't mind being alone so much.”

John took the box carefully, feeling as if he were moving in a dream.
How can this little one know so much about me?
He put his hand in the box and lifted the scraps of flannel to reveal the kitten that Matthew had found.

“So,” John murmured. “This is where he got her to. I'd say Matthew found her a
gut mamm
in you.”

Lucy nodded, biting her bottom lip. “But now she's yours.”

John looked into the little girl's face, struggling so clearly to do what she thought was right, no matter the cost to herself. He knelt down next to her, cuddling the kitten under one palm.

“Lucy Lapp, I don't think I've ever had so selfless a gift in all my days. And I would love to have the kitten. . . .”

“Friend,” she interrupted. “Her name is Friend.”

John smiled. “I'd love to have Friend, but the truth is that we can't have cats about because Ellie has allergies from them—her nose runs too much.”

The child looked at him, puzzled. “I don't understand. Then why did Gott tell me to bring her here?”

He shook his head, thinking hard, knowing the answer mattered. “Well, simply because Ellie's nose runs doesn't mean that you and Friend can't
kumme
here and visit as often as you'd like. In fact, I'd enjoy that.” And he realized it was true. Somehow, through Derr Herr's Light, Lucy had found a way into his heart, and he felt the years of enmity between himself and her
fater
begin to melt away.

 

Matthew, Laurel, and Simon all tumbled over themselves to get into the Beiders' back door. Luke Lapp hurried behind.

Matthew drew a deep sigh of relief when he saw Lucy, seated on the floor with his
daed
and playing with the kitten and a small ball of yellow yarn.

“Praise Gott,” Laurel cried, flinging herself down next to her sister and catching her close in a tight embrace.

Matthew moved to kneel behind his wife, rubbing her back.

“What's all this?” his
fater
asked.

“Lucy ran away. Her dad thought she'd be here, but we weren't certain.” Matthew glanced over to where Luke Lapp stood stiffly on the edge of the circular rug.

“
Ach
. . .” his
daed
murmured.

Matthew watched his
fater
put down the yarn and rise to go and greet Luke Lapp. Amazingly, his
daed
's hand was extended and somehow then engulfed by Laurel's
fater's
hand. It was a brief moment, but it took Matthew's breath away as he watched the seeming dissolution of an old enmity.
And all because of a kitten, and a dream . . . and Gott.

“I will take Lucy home,” Matthew heard Luke announce finally. “But after the tree is chosen, perhaps you—John Beider—and yours would
kumme
to my
haus
for supper.”

“Uh, Luke—
danki
.” Matthew's
daed's
voice was shaky with emotion. “We'd love to, but Ellie is feeling under the weather.”

“Ellie wouldn't miss this for the world,” Mathew heard his
mamm's
voice carry from the bedroom archway, where she'd obviously been watching the whole thing.

Matthew looked into Laurel's blue eyes, which were awash in amazement and luminous with unshed tears, and he knew the Christmas season had truly begun for their two families.