An Amish Family Reunion (22 page)

They tried out the sound of baby names to see how they sounded with Byler for the rest of the way home. Once they were in her driveway, Leah turned on the seat. “Thanks, Lily. Not only for the ride but for sharing my joy. Now if I can ask for one more favor—please say nothing about this to your brother.”

Lily grinned. “Because James will tell Emma and that will spoil your fun.” She pinched her fingertips together and drew them across her mouth. “My lips are sealed.”

“I can’t wait to tell Emma and Mom, but I want to wait at least another month. The midwife said that the first three months are the most dangerous in terms of miscarriages.” Leah’s cheeks grew warm just voicing the word.

“I’ll say a prayer tonight for a smooth, safe pregnancy and every night until your little one arrives.”

Leah felt emotion well up, threatening her self-control. She nodded and climbed out into the hot summer sunshine. She would have her own prayers to say that night, starting with words of gratitude for the new life growing inside her. It might be a normal, everyday occurrence, especially considering the large families within the Amish community, but it was a rare, special miracle for her.

She found Jonah in the small office where he kept track of farm operations. He tried to update his log of activities and dairy conditions on a regular basis. It was no easy task to run a grade-A milk operation using diesel-powered generators rather than electric current from the grid. He heard neither his door open, nor the fall of her footsteps. “Jonah,” she said softly.

Bent over his record books, her beloved husband continued to work.

“Jonah,” she said, more insistently.

He startled, dropping the pencil he’d been twirling between his fingers. “Leah, what are you doing in here?” His face filled with concern. “Is something wrong?”

“Nothing is wrong. In fact, things are…quite fine.”

“A relief to hear. Why don’t you rest after your errands in town while I finish up? I’ll be in the house soon.” He turned his focus back to the ledgers.

“I’m not tired, but I do have a question. Did you ever wonder why I was so sick on the bus ride?”

He did not glance up. “Nope. That bus rocked like a ship in high seas.”

“Haven’t you been curious why I haven’t been eating very much?”

“I know you get irritated when your skirts no longer fit, so I assumed you were trying to lose weight. But you shouldn’t. I love you just how you are.”

Leah shifted her stance, stifling a sneeze. Her allergies were signaling that time mingling with cows soon would be up. “Have you ever thought about when God would bless us with children, Jonah Byler? Or do pregnant heifers occupy
all
your thinking time?” Her tone discouraged any further lack of attention.

At last Jonah dropped his pencil and turned to look fully at her. “Leah—a
boppli
?”

“
Jah
, Jonah, a
boppli
. At long last.” When she spotted tears in his eyes, nothing could hold back her own as he enveloped her in his strong arms.

W
ith the supper dishes done and her kitchen tidy, Emma strolled onto her wraparound front porch carrying two glasses of lemonade. She loved this time of day when she could sit and rock, watching James play in the yard with their sons. Her work might be finished, but something niggled at the back of her mind. And this was a good time to get it off her chest. As she watched her husband chase after the boys in the grass, Emma planned her strategy. Discussing a man’s mother could be a minefield, yet her dilemma with Barbara Davis couldn’t be ignored any longer.

“James, please put them in the sandbox,” she called. “They can play for a while before bedtime while you sit here with me.” She patted the second rocking chair, a wedding gift from his brother. “There’s something I need to discuss with you.”

James swept up both boys, one in each arm, and carried them to their sandbox. “You two play nice. Daddy needs to see what Mommy wants. He might be in big trouble.”

Jamie giggled and clapped his hands. “Daddy’s getting a spanking,” he cried with great glee.

James climbed the stairs and settled down beside her. “Did you catch me drinking from the milk carton again?”

Emma bit the inside of her cheek and shook her head.

“I suppose you discovered I ate all the chocolate chips you were saving for cookies?”

“You didn’t! I needed those for tomorrow,” she said, shocked. “But no, that’s not it.”

“Surely you didn’t find my private jet hidden in the woods, did you? I had it perfectly camouflaged.”

She rolled her eyes. “Would you please be serious? I have a problem…with your mother.”

He straightened in the rocker. “What did she do this time?” He winked affectionately.

Emma filled him in on the details of Barbara’s first visit to discuss her upcoming mission trip to Haiti. Then she inhaled a deep breath and forged ahead. “She asked me to attend a meeting at her church with her pastor and so I did.”

“What did you think, Em?”

“I thought what the people from the different churches will be doing is a great idea. They’ll help rebuild lives of those still affected by the hurricane. Those with no particular nursing, construction, or other skills will primarily be spreading the Word of God. The people of Haiti speak French, James, which I don’t know a word of. I’m still not confident with some of my English pronunciations, so my teaching wouldn’t be very good. I know New Order Amish is supposed to witness to their faith, something Old Order doesn’t do, but I don’t want to venture into a foreign land with my limited abilities.” She finished in a rush of words, practically panting for air, and began rocking in her chair with purpose.

“This decision doesn’t sound tough to me.” He stroked his long blond beard, the hallmark of a married Amish man.

“Easy enough for you to say, but what do I tell your mother? You know how determined she can be.”

“I do, but the solution is simple. Tell her you considered her offer but decided this isn’t something you wish to do. Period. You’re a grown woman, Emma, and entitled to make your own decisions.”

“And if she doesn’t speak to me for a month?”

He angled a lopsided grin. “Do you really want me to answer that?”

“No, I suppose not, but I want her to know I’m willing to witness my faith, just not in Haiti. And I’ll hold bake and rummage sales, sew things, and pack up supplies to benefit the cause. My heart goes out to those people, the same as hers.”

“Then tell her exactly that. Stand firm, dear wife. We are our own family. We’ll serve the Lord in our own way. Now, how about we catch some fireflies with the boys before bedtime?”

She smiled at him. “There’s something else—a problem I’m having with my own
mamm
.”

He threw his head back, laughing. “You’re getting it from both sides? And you haven’t run away from home yet?”

Emma repeated her conversation with Julia about their sons’ lack of language skills, practically word-for-word.

James listened patiently until she finished. “Your mother is right. We should be talking
Deutsch
in front of them so they’ll learn and so I’ll improve. And I think her solution is perfect. You take the boys there for the month while Matt is home but turn them over to her care. You and Martha do all the housework and cooking while you’re visiting with your brother and Dad. Julia will have plenty of time to teach her grandsons. By the time I come for the family reunion, she’ll have taught them
Deutsch
—if she doesn’t send them and you home in a hired van first.”

Emma felt her stiff back muscles begin to relax. “How did you get to be so smart, James Davis? Was it at that fancy college?”

“By eating a handful of chocolate baking morsels every day until the bag is empty.”

“In that case, tomorrow I’ll buy three bags—one of them just for me.”

Without a cloud in sight, the July sun began to fry the two Miller women like bacon on the griddle. Hannah and Phoebe had been hard at work all morning, picking green beans in the garden. After lunch they returned to the straight rows as soon as the dishes had been washed. Hannah wiped her brow with a sodden handkerchief, trying not to think about the bee buzzing around her head. “A couple more rows and we’ll be done. Then tomorrow we’ll blanch and can. I’ll bet we’ll be able to put up at least a hundred quarts this year.” Despite her cheery tone, Hannah received nary a word in response. Phoebe, kneeling on a cushion between the rows, was concentrating on the low beans hiding behind leaves.

“How about green beans for supper? I’ve worked up quite a taste for them today,” asked Hannah.

“Sure,
mamm
, that will be fine.” Phoebe advanced her kneeling pad like a robot, but didn’t look up from her work.

“That was a joke, daughter.”

Phoebe peered up, wiping sweat from her eyes with a sleeve. “A joke? What do you mean?” The girl looked pale and wan, and perhaps even thinner than her usual one hundred pounds.

“Never mind.” Hannah rose shakily to her feet. Her legs had stiffened in the uncomfortable position. “That’s enough gardening for today. It’s sweltering out here. We’ll finish the last rows tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? No, please let’s get this done now.” Phoebe kept plucking with her small fingers with feverish determination. While Hannah watched, a bead of perspiration ran down her already streaky cheek as she added the beans to her overflowing basket.

Hannah hoisted her bushel basket to one hip. “Come on. At least let’s head to the house for some cold water.” She stretched out a hand.

Phoebe’s expression could only be described as terrified. “But if we don’t get them all picked, how will we do the canning tomorrow?”

“Will it be the end of the world if we don’t finish canning?”

The young woman’s face indicated it might very well be. “But I had hoped to spend most of Wednesday at the library after morning chores. Please don’t drag this out so I miss my day in town.”

Hannah smiled down with pity. “I haven’t forgotten your date to work on the book with Eli, but we don’t need to suffer heatstroke in the meantime. Come,” she ordered, and again offered a hand. “If I must finish picking by myself, so be it.”

Phoebe dusted off her palms and then allowed Hannah to pull her up. She hefted her basket to her almost nonexistent hipbone. “The librarian, Mrs. Carter, will help me look up addresses on her computer this week. I want to allow as much time as possible. Eli won’t be there. He has…business with a Mennonite woman and will use his day off to go to Kidron. I’ll see him next week.”

Hannah studied her as they climbed the porch steps. An afternoon in front of a library computer screen during the best weather of the year? Her shy stepdaughter was growing up if she took this project so seriously. “I have an idea. Let’s play hooky this afternoon. It’s too nice a day to be cooped up. We’ll hike up to the high sheep pasture. You can bring your pencils and sketch pad, and I’ll bring my Bible to read. We won’t come down until Ben and your dad send out a search party. What do you say? You’ll still have Wednesday to go to Winesburg.”

Phoebe grabbed Hannah around the waist and hugged. “I say yes, since I’ve seen enough green beans to last a lifetime.”

Hannah needed to bread pork chops for dinner and take down a load of laundry from the line before her afternoon of leisure. She sent Phoebe on ahead with a small cooler of soft drinks and some peanut butter cookies. An hour later, she found the girl easily enough. Phoebe was perched on her favorite flat rock, close to the ancient stone wall. Her tablet and supplies lay forgotten by her feet, next to an open can of orange soda. Instead of drawing, she had taken down her bun and sat brushing out her dark waist-length hair. Despite the fact they were alone except for sheep, Hannah was momentarily shocked by her behavior. Amish women never took off their
kapp
s in public, nor let their hair fall freely.

“What are you doing?” she asked as she reached the summit. “Why are you grooming your hair
here
in the middle of the afternoon?”

Phoebe glanced up before resuming her one hundred strokes. “My scalp was hot and itchy. And I wanted to see what brushing hair felt like outdoors. Once, while I waited to be served at the ice-cream shop, I watched a shampoo commercial on the television set on the wall. A lady in a long white gown sat in the forest, brushing her hair with an absolutely joyous look on her face.” Phoebe tossed the brush back into her tote bag.