Arms of Love (40 page)

Adam rocked slowly in his chair, letting his head rest back, and tried to start memorizing the verse Isaac had given him. But then his attention was drawn to a prayer of thankfulness as he recalled asking Lena if she would marry him, and he closed his eyes on the sweetness of the memory . . .

She had been sitting beside the bed, as was her wont, and Ruth had insisted that Joseph rise and take some exercise. So they were alone for the first time since the attack. She was reading from her Bible, her lashes downcast, and he thought how truly beautiful she was as she paused to puzzle over a passage, unconsciously biting her lip or tracing the page with a delicate finger. It both soothed him and set his heart pounding to watch her. Then he had reached out to her, and she snapped her full attention to him.

“Adam, what is it? Do you hurt?” She closed the Bible and knelt down next to the bed, taking his hand in hers.

“
Ya
. . . ’tis my heart that hurts, Lena Yoder,” he confessed, letting a half smile play about his lips.

“Shall I call for Ruth?”

He laughed. “
Nee
, my love . . . that
gut
woman would not satisfy, I fear.”

“Then what is it?”

He grew serious. “Lena, I have never asked you, not formally . . . and now I have it all backward, with you the one, as the
Englisch
say, ‘on bended knee.’ ”

He saw the confusion on her pretty brow and realized he was bumbling things. “Lena, you are the love of my heart, and through you, through the
Gott
who loves us both, I have found freedom. I would share that freedom with you for a lifetime, my dearest. I am asking you to be my wife.”

Her pretty lips parted, and he waited, forgetting to breathe, as a look of pure joy suffused the creamy skin of her face.

“
Ach
, Adam . . .
ya
. Yes. I would be so proud.”

His eyes had filled with tears as she crept gently forward across his chest to seal her promise with a kiss.

He thought he was dreaming now when he felt her from somewhere behind him, above him, kissing him lazily. His mouth returned the kiss of its own accord, then he blinked his eyes open to see her smiling face upside down as she leaned against the back of his chair.

Lena had been feeding crumbs to the geese that, she had discovered with delight, had a small nesting going under a teaberry bush. They had warned her off loudly, and she smiled, swinging her now-empty basket over her arm. Tomorrow was her wedding day, and she could hardly contain her joy and the thankfulness she felt for Adam’s life.

She turned the corner of the house and mounted the steps, looking up to see him drowsing in a chair, his head back, his dark eyelashes thick crescents on the strong bones of his cheeks. She set her basket down and proceeded at a tiptoe, not wanting to wake him—not yet, in any case.

Since his recovery time, Lena had found herself more and more inspired to touch him, kiss him, and to savor the very fact that he was alive. Now she positioned herself behind his chair, noting how the dark strands of his hair clung a bit to his forehead with the heat of the spring day. Then she stretched on tiptoe to find his mouth with her own, gently at first, like a butterfly tiptoeing on a leaf, then with increasing savor when his eyes opened and he stared up at her like she was something from a dream.

“Hello,” she said.

He smiled . . . a smile to melt her senses and send her heart racing.

“Hello, I was dreaming of you. Am I still?” He arched his neck for another kiss, and she happily complied.

“I do not know.” She giggled like a young girl when she finally drew back to draw breath. “Are you?”

“
Ya . . . ya
, and I would sustain the dream—if you would so comply.”

She sighed. “With pleasure.”

Chapter 37

R
uth twisted to try to glimpse herself in the small mirror that hung in one of the upstairs rooms where she was trying on her wedding dress with Ellen in attendance.

“How’s it look?” she asked doubtfully, feeling a bit like she was going to some fancy masquerade dressed as an Amish lady.

Ellen clapped her gentle hands. “You look beautiful, Ruth—though I know that is not to be the point of our simplicity of dress. But the brown goes so well with your red hair, and the white bit sets it off too. I know that Samuel will be so happy.”

Ruth frowned. “I feel a bit like I shouldn’t be wearin’ this yet— even though I appreciate all of the time sewin’ that you put into it.”

“Why not?” Ellen asked as she stretched to adjust the prayer covering.

“Well, I’m not really Amish, am I? I don’t know your words. I mess up on your ways. I know the bishop said that it would work out, but I’m not a quick study at much in life.”

Ellen smiled at her, hugging her a bit. “Everything will be well, Ruth. You will see. And after the way you’ve taken to mothering Faith as well as saving the lives of both Joseph and Adam . . . you are part of the family. ’Tis simple.”

Ruth craned her neck once more at the mirror. “I guess if you think so, but I have the feeling that being Amish is more than dressing plainlike.”

“
Ach
, I suppose it is being a person, that’s all, with all of the problems and complications that life brings. Being Amish doesn’t shield you or protect you from the world—in fact, it is the opposite. You may walk into town in that dress and find that you are stared at for being Plain. Or that people make false assumptions about why you do what you do. But I am glad to give you your first Amish dress, and we will make others together.”

Ruth stopped looking in the mirror to turn and catch Ellen up in a firm hold. “Ye’re a good . . .
gut
. . . woman, Ellen Wyse. I am proud to call you friend.”

They laughed together, then set about adjusting the hemline of the dress properly for the wedding the next day.

Joseph was alone in the keeping room, sitting near the hearth, when Lena came in with a bright smile on her lips. Then he saw her stop when she noticed him, pause, as if uncertain. He realized that she and he had not had any time alone together and wondered now if it was something that she wished. He knew, as part of trying to change in life, that he must set things aright with this beautiful girl who was to become his daughter-in-law.

“Would you sit with me a bit, Lena?” he asked.

“Of—of course. Is there anything I can get you? Some cider perhaps?”

He shook his head. “Please, Lena. Only a moment of your time.”

She perched cautiously on the chair near him, and he cleared his throat.

“I will speak quickly. I do not know how much you know or understand of what I have been and done to Adam, but I want you to know that I have begged forgiveness of
Derr Herr
for my behavior. And now I would beg your forgiveness as well, for hurting the one you love.”

He watched her visibly wrestling with what to say. “
Herr
Wyse . . .”

“
Fater
. . . if you can, Lena. If not, Joseph will be more than fine.”

She shook her head. “
Fater
, of—of course. ’Tis not my place to be asked for forgiveness, but I must tell you that I fear . . . I fear for any
kinner
Adam and I may be blessed with who will live under your roof.

I—I know that you beat Adam. I saw, one day when we were young. I would not want that for my sons.”

Joseph bowed his head for a moment. “
Ya
, I beat him often, but I give you my solemn word that I am changing, that I will never lift a hand to another child or youth, especially one of my own family. Lena, I can only tell you what Adam told me recently, that
Gott
is revolutionary. He is changing me and the bitterness of my heart.”

“God is for you,” Lena said slowly.

“I want to believe that.”

“If God is for you, then who am I to oppose you? Or to not forgive you?
Gott
forgives me, all the time.”

“I have never spoken to you, Lena, of the loss of your mother. I am very sorry. I—I know what it is to lose a mother at a young age.”

He felt her study him, weighing his words.

“
Danki
. . . Your son has helped fill that void. I believe that God gives back. He promises to ‘make up for the years that the locust has eaten.’ And there would be no Adam without you.”

Joseph exhaled, feeling as though he had been loosed a bit more from the cords that bound him.

“Thank you, Lena . . .
dochder
, if I may.”

She nodded, a slight smile on her lips, then rose to come forward and press a kiss of goodwill against his cheek. Then she left him sitting alone with his thoughts, deeply moved and heartened.

Chapter 38