Elijah And The Widow (Lancaster County Weddings 4) (13 page)

The animals!
She ran to the barn, shoved hard to open the door, her adrenaline pumping. Then she urged those animals inside the structure out into the night, praying that they wouldn’t be struck by lightning or spooked by the thunder.

The rain tapered to a drizzle as the fire burned hotter and hotter.
Nay!
she thought,
Keep raining!
It was her only hope of extinguishing the flames.

She shuddered. Her late husband’s new farm equipment was in that barn. She could feel the heat; it seared her skin even from across the yard. She no longer felt wet, but hot and damp and scared.

Lord, please help me.

And then they arrived in buggies and wagons, in cars and trucks—her neighbors and friends and other church families coming to battle the fire they must have glimpsed in the distance. The Lapps came, including Eli. She’d never been happier to see them, all of them. She bent her head and sent the Lord a quick prayer of thanks.

Chapter Seventeen

E
li stared at the barn in shock and concern as his
dat
drove the buggy down Martha’s driveway. It appeared as if everyone around for miles had come to fight the fire. Rick Martin had received the news from Bob Whittier, who had received word from the Jones family across the street from Martha’s farm. Bob had alerted his family and Martha’s relatives, the Amos Kings, across the road. When he’d learned that the fire was at Martha’s, Eli thought he’d go crazy with worry. He was eager to get to her, to be available in her time of need. He wouldn’t rest until he saw for himself that she was all right.

He jumped out of the buggy before his father had stopped it completely. He vaguely heard his mother calling his name, but he kept going. He couldn’t wait to see her. The scene before him was chaos. There were people running this way and that, filling buckets from the water pump in the yard. Someone had started a bucket brigade. As he approached the water line, he passed Rick Martin, who was talking earnestly in his cell phone with what must be dispatch with the local fire department.

Eli spied Martha in the middle of the bucket brigade. He rushed to her side, wanting, needing to get close. “Martha!” He tugged her from the line so that they could talk, and to his surprise she went willingly. She looked a lovely mess with wet hair, dirty nightwear and soot on her cheek and across her forehead.

“Eli!” She brightened as if glad to see him, and his heart kicked into fast gear.

“Are you all right?”

“I’m fine.” But she didn’t look fine. Until he’d grabbed her, she had appeared stunned and slightly out of it, handing buckets to the next one in line automatically.

She wore no nightcap, probably because of the hot weather. Her hair was a gorgeous mess without pins to hold it up, and it flowed down her back in a tangle of wetness, mud and grass. He doubted she was even aware of how she looked, and he knew she’d be horrified if she’d known. He wanted nothing more than to take her into his arms and hold her until the fire was put out and her distress subsided.

“Were there animals inside?” he asked.

She gave a jerky nod. “I opened the barn door, and I think all of them ran out.”

“Come,” he urged her. “My
mam
is here. Go and stay with her. Rest a few minutes. You look as if you’re about to fall down.” He waved his mother over.

Mam
immediately came, frowning as she noted Martha’s condition and the devastation in the young widow’s expression.

“
Mam
, take care of her, please,” he beseeched, and his mother flashed him a surprised glance as she assured him that she would.

“I’m fine. I can go back and help,” Martha insisted, but she looked anything but well.

“Let’s go inside,” his mother urged. “You’re soaked through. There isn’t anything you can do now. The firefighters are on their way.”

The sound of fire engine sirens blasted loudly into the night.

“See? They’re here. Please, Martha, go with my
mam
.” The arrival of the fire department must have reassured her. He saw Martha nod, and he met his mother’s glance, grateful as
Mam
placed her arm around Martha’s shoulders and walked with her to the farmhouse.

With a sigh of relief, Eli turned his attention to the fire. As he drew closer to the barn, he heard a soft bleating sound—the cry he recognized as belonging to Millicent, the goat he’d helped Martha capture. Despite protests of those around him, he ran into the burning barn. Immediately he felt the intense heat. The smell of the fire and smoke was strong. He had to find Millicent quickly or succumb to smoke inhalation or flame himself.

And then he saw the frightened animal in a corner of her stall. She hadn’t escaped through the open barn door. There was no time for him to do anything but snatch up the animal and carry her outside to safety.

“Eli!” Martha screamed. She stood on the back stoop, her eyes wide, her mouth trembling with anxiety. His mother came out of the house beside her and placed an arm around Martha’s shoulders, drawing her close.

He had set the goat down and hurried to where Martha stood. “Millicent,” he gasped.

She blinked back tears. “You shouldn’t have gone inside. You could have been killed!”

“I’m fine.” He flashed the two women a smile of reassurance. How could he explain that he had to rescue Millicent? She was a part of his happy memory of his and Martha’s animal chase.

He glanced back at the barn and sobered. “The farm equipment,” he said. “I’m afraid it’s ruined.”

“Equipment doesn’t matter. What matters is life—
your life
,” she said. He saw something on her face that startled him and gave him hope. He caught glimpses of concern...worry...
love
.

“Martha, I—” He wanted to take her into his arms and tell her that she had nothing to worry about. He would always be there for her. “We need to talk later. But for now I’ve got to go.”

“Eli—”

“Martha,
please
.” He sought help from his mother.
“Mam...”

“Come.” Katie Lapp gently urged Martha back inside.

“I’m sorry.” A man dressed in fire gear approached. “You’ll have to move these vehicles. You!” the man said, pointing at Eli. “We’re shorthanded tonight. Can you assist?”

Eli didn’t hesitate. “Yes, I can help.” He searched for his brothers. Spying them, he shouted, “Jed, Noah, Jacob! The firefighters need our assistance.”

His brothers rushed to lend a hand, grabbing to help with the hose attached to the tanker truck.

Less than an hour after the fire truck had arrived, the flames were extinguished. Eli stared at the darkened building before heading toward the house.
Thank God.

* * *

Martha stared at her burned barn through her kitchen window and wondered where she would house her livestock. Her sheep had already taken shelter in the lean-to Ike had once used to store his old plow. It was the same building her sheep migrated to when seeking shade during the extreme heat of the late summer afternoons. But that structure was barely big enough for her lambs.

Her horses had escaped from the pasture but hadn’t gone far. Someone had rounded them up and brought them to safety on the house lawn. Her mare. Her gelding. Her three draft horses. They stood nearby, hitched to trees in her backyard.

The area around the barn was muddy from the rain and the firemen’s hose. Her chickens were scattered in all directions, but Martha felt too tired to go outside after them. She realized there wasn’t much she could do. Katie Lapp had been kind and caring, offering to help her change out of her muddy clothes. That she still wore her nightgown and robe shocked and embarrassed her. At Eli’s mother’s urging, she’d gone to her room to change. When she returned, Katie was on the back porch, but she’d left a fresh pot of steaming tea on the kitchen table. She turned from the window and stared at the teapot, hankering for a cup but aware that there were things that needed to be decided.
What to do next?

Sarah Lapp, Eli’s sister-in-law, rapped on her back door and entered the room. She had come with Jedidiah and had joined the bucket brigade. “Martha? Are you well?”

Martha managed a small smile as she turned to her. “I’m fine.” But she was exhausted and felt numb.

“Let me pour you a cup of tea,” Sarah offered, regarding her with blue eyes filled with concern.

“Danki.”
Martha sat at the table, stared into space. All she could envision was Eli running into the burning barn to rescue her milk goat. She’d never been so terrified in her life. If anything bad had happened to him, she didn’t how she would have coped. She closed her eyes.
Because I love him.

“Here.” Sarah set a cup of tea in front of her.

“Everyone is all right,
ja
?”

Sarah nodded. “No one was hurt in the fire.”

“Thanks be to God.” Martha shuddered, hugged herself with her arms.

“Drink your tea,” Sarah ordered kindly.

She obeyed, sipping on the tea, which was made exactly to her liking. The hot sweetened brew revived her. “I’m sorry,” she apologized. “Seems like everyone is always coming to my rescue.”

“There is nothing to apologize for. Life happens, and we all pull together in times of need.” Jedidiah’s wife poured herself a cup of tea and sat down across from her. “We’re happy to help. You’ve helped all of us when we needed you.” Sarah smiled. “You brought us food and helped clean my house after Gideon was born.”

That didn’t seem like much. It certainly didn’t seem like the same thing. She said as much to Sarah.

Sarah reached across the table to cover her hand with her fingers. Martha felt the woman’s warmth and caring. Her friendship and kind words went a long way to making her feel better.

“Danki,”
she murmured to the young woman, and Sarah squeezed her hand. The Lapp family was always there for her. Eli seemed to show up whenever she needed him.

Suddenly she needed to see him more than she needed to breathe.
Eli.
She loved him. She couldn’t tell him, but she could be there whenever he needed her.
I love him.
And she was both overjoyed and saddened by the realization that she was that far gone on him. But she couldn’t let him know.

* * *

Eli glanced about the activity-filled yard in search of Martha. He didn’t see her anywhere, and he became alarmed. If anything had happened to her...

He hurried toward the house, bumping into his
dat
as he went.

“
Soohn
,
the fire is out. Where are you going in such a hurry?”

“Martha—” he began, panic settling in.

Dat
studied him and said quietly, “She’s in the house.”

Eli closed his eyes as he released a sigh of relief. “
Dat
, I—”

“Go. Not much to do here but clean up, and it’s late. We’ll come back tomorrow to finish the job.” He paused. “Don’t be too long. Your mother will be worried sick, and everyone is tired.”

Eli nodded and continued toward the farmhouse. He knocked on the door as he did when working there and entered without waiting for Martha to come.

“Martha!” he called.

A red-haired woman at the stove turned, and Eli saw that it was his sister-in-law. “Sarah, where’s Martha?”

“She just went outside.” Sarah gazed at him knowingly. “We just had tea. I’m making another pot. Would you like some?”

He shook his head. “I didn’t see her.”

“You must have missed her.”

“She’s all right?” he asked Sarah.

“
Ja
, she is fine. Tired, in shock. She’s lost her barn and all that new farm equipment. Her animals are still running around, and she knows she needs to gather them, but she’s so tired.”

“Jedidiah, Jacob and Isaac are rounding up her livestock now. Jacob said that Joe has room in his barn for her cattle and draft horses.”

“That’s
gut
. Jed and I can house her chickens.” Sarah poured water into a teapot and added a tea ball of loose tea leaves.

“Will you tell her I was asking about her?” Eli said.

Sarah gestured toward the door behind him. “Why don’t you tell her yourself?”

He turned and through the screen saw her standing there. She had changed clothes. She was neatly dressed with her hair rolled and pinned under a white
kapp
as if it weren’t three o’clock in the morning. Their gazes met, locked.

“I was worried,” he said.

“I was terrified when you ran into the barn.”

His spirits rose. “We’ll all help,” he said, “with your animals. Horseshoe Joe will house your cattle and draft horses.”

“Jed and I will take your chickens until a coop can be built for them,” Sarah added, reminding him that she was listening.

“You’ve all been wonderful.
Danki.
”

“It’s the middle of the night—you should be asleep.”

Martha managed a weak smile. “We should all be asleep, but fate had other plans for us.”

“Thank the Lord that no one was hurt,” Sarah said as she poured another cup of tea and gestured for Martha to take it.

“
Dat
wants to leave, but I’ll be back tomorrow.”

“You’ve done so much here, Eli. It doesn’t seem right that you’ve had to come back and work here.”

He saw her sway on her feet. “Sit down, Martha,” he beseeched softly, “before you fall down. I will be back tomorrow.” He gestured for Sarah to follow him so that he could talk with her privately. “Who has Gideon?” he asked her.

“My cousin Josie.”

“Will you be able to stay with her tonight?”

Sarah nodded. “I can, but I think it would be better if we take her home with us. It will do her
gut
to be away from here for a while. I’ll bring her back after she’s had a rest.” She hesitated. “What time will you be back tomorrow?”

Eli shrugged. “Not too early. It’s late and none of us has had much sleep.”

“I’ll bring her back after ten thirty.”

Eli nodded, then glanced toward the woman at the kitchen table. She stared ahead as if in a daze. Martha looked down then, lifted and sipped from teacup. He decided it was a good time to approach her. “Sarah is going to take you home with her,” he said softly. “I’ll see you back here tomorrow morning.”

“There’s no need—”

“Martha,” he said quietly, his voice firm. “Please go with Sarah. My
bruders
will see to your animals. There is nothing else you can do. I’ll feel better knowing that tonight you’ll be in Sarah’s capable hands. You’ll get a better night’s sleep away from this place.”

“I don’t want to impose—”

“You can never be an imposition,” Sarah assured her. She went to the table and topped off her teacup; then she took the seat across from Martha and sipped her tea. “We’ll enjoy a few quiet moments while we finish our tea, and then I’ll help you pack a few things to take with you tonight.
Ja?
”

Martha looked from Sarah to Eli, and Eli saw indecision in her eyes. He begged her with his gaze to go. “Please,” he mouthed.