Plain and Fancy (13 page)

“Well, they’re not so good to me.”

Eli whirled around to face Laura. She looked madder than one of his father’s mules when a big old horsefly had taken a bite out of its ear. “How can you say they’re not good to you? Martha Rose took you in, didn’t she?”

Laura opened her mouth, but before she could respond, Eli rushed on. “She gave you some of her dresses to wear, took you shopping for shoes and the like, and both she and Mom have taken time out of their busy days to teach you about housekeeping, cooking, Bible reading, and so many other things you’ll need to know before joining the church.”

Laura’s lip protruded as she handed Eli the picnic basket. “I should have known you wouldn’t understand. You’re one of them.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Eli asked, as he climbed into his rig and took up the reins.

Laura stood on the other side of the buggy with her arms folded. “It means you’re Amish and I’m not. I’m still considered an outsider, and I don’t think anyone in your family will ever accept me as anything else.”

“Of course they will.” He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. “Are you getting in or not?”

“Aren’t you going to help me?”

He groaned. “I might have, if you hadn’t been naggin’ at me. Besides, if you’re going to be Amish, then you’ll need to learn how to get in and out of our buggies without any help when you’re going someplace on your own.”

Laura was so angry she was visibly shaking. If she hadn’t been sure she would be expected to help with the baking, she would have turned around and marched right back to the house. It would serve Eli right if she broke this date!

“Time’s a-wasting,” Eli announced.

She sighed deeply, lifted her skirt, and practically fell into the buggy.

Eli chuckled, then snapped the reins. The horse jerked forward, and Laura was thrown against her seat. “Be careful! Are you trying to throw my back out?”

Eli’s only response was another deep guffaw, which only angered her further.

Laura smoothed her skirt, reached up to be sure her head covering was still in place, then folded her arms across her chest. “I’m glad you think everything’s so funny. You can’t imagine what I’ve been through these past few weeks.”

“Has something bad happened?” Eli looked over at her with obvious concern.

She moaned. “I’ll say.”

“What was it? Did you get hurt? How come I didn’t hear about it?”

She shook her head. “No, no, I wasn’t hurt. At least not in the physical sense.”

“What then?”

“I’ve nearly been worked to death every day since I moved to your sister’s house. It seems as though I just get to sleep and it’s time to get up again.” She frowned. “And that noisy rooster crowing at the top of his lungs every morning sure doesn’t help things, either.”

“Pop says the rooster is nature’s alarm clock,” Eli said with a grin.

How can he sit there looking so smug?
Laura fumed.
Doesn’t he care how hard I work? Doesn’t he realize I’m doing all this for him?

“In time, you’ll get used to the long days. I bet someday you’ll find pleasure in that old rooster’s crow.”

“I doubt that.” She held up her hands. “Do you realize that every single one of my nails is broken? Not to mention embedded with dirt I’ll probably never be able to scrub clean. Why, the other morning, Martha Rose had me out in the garden, pulling weeds and spading with an old hoe. I thought my back was going to break in two.”

“You
will
get used to it, Laura.”

She scrunched up her nose. “Maybe. If I live to tell about it.”

Laura’s days at the Zook farm flew by despite her frustrations. As spring turned quickly into summer, each day became longer, hotter, and filled with more work. Instead of “becoming used to it,” Laura found herself disliking each new day. How did these people exist without air-conditioning, ceiling fans, and swimming pools? How did the women deal with wearing long dresses all summer instead of shorts?

Laura and Martha Rose had gone wading in the creek near their house a few times, while Amon taught little Ben how to swim. The chilly water helped Laura cool down some, but she missed her parents’ swimming pool and air-conditioned home.

Another area of Amish life Laura hadn’t become used to was the three-hour church service held every other Sunday in a different member’s home. She had gone to church only a few times in her adult life—mostly on Easter and Christmas—but she’d never had to sit on backless, wooden benches or been segregated from the men. The Amish culture still seemed strange to her and very confusing. She couldn’t visit with Eli until the service was over, lunch had been served, and everything had been cleaned up. If Laura had ever thought life as an Amish woman was going to be easy, she’d been sorely mistaken. She couldn’t even keep her cell phone charged because Amon’s farm had no electricity. On days like today when she was hot and tired, she wondered if she had made a mistake by asking to join the Amish church.

“It’s not too late to back out,” she muttered as she set a basket of freshly laundered clothes on the grass underneath the clothesline that extended from the porch into the yard. “I can go back to the school in Lancaster or home to Mom and Dad in Minneapolis. At least they don’t expect me to work so hard.”

A pathetic
mooo
drew Laura’s attention to the fence separating the Zooks’ yard from the pasture. Three black-and-white cows stood on the other side, swishing their tails and looking at her.

“Just what I need—a cheering section. Go away, cows! Get back to the field, grab a hunk of grass, start chewing your cuds, then go take a nice, long nap.” She bent down, grabbed one of Amon’s shirts, gave it a good shake, then clipped it to the clothesline. “At least you bovine critters are allowed the privilege of a nap now and then. That’s more than I can say for any of the humans who live on this farm.”

“Kuh,”
a small voice said.

Laura looked down. There stood little Ben, gazing up at her with all the seriousness of a three-year-old. He’d said something in Pennsylvania Dutch, but she wasn’t sure what he was talking about. She’d been studying the Amish dialect for a few months, but she still encountered many unfamiliar words.

“Kuh,” the child repeated. This time he pointed toward the cows, still gawking at Laura like she was free entertainment.

“Ah, the cows. You’re talking about the cows, aren’t you?” She dropped to her knees beside the little boy and gave him a hug.

Ben looked up at her and grinned. He really was a cute little thing, with his blond, Dutch-bobbed hair, big blue eyes, and two deep dimples framing his smile. He studied the basket of clothes a few seconds as his smile turned to a frown.

“Loch,”
he said, grabbing one of Amon’s shirts.

Laura smiled when she realized the child was telling her about his father’s shirt with a hole. She patted the top of Ben’s head. “No doubt that shirt will end up in my pile of mending.”

Ben made no comment, but then, she knew he didn’t understand what she’d said. He would be taught English when he started school. With an impish grin, the boy climbed into the basket of wet clothes.

Laura was about to scold him, but Ben picked up one of his mother’s dark bonnets and plunked it on top of his head. She sank to her knees and laughed so hard that tears ran down her face. The cows on the other side of the fence mooed, and the little boy giggled.

Maybe life on this humble, Amish farm wasn’t so bad after all.

Pauline sat on the front porch, staring at the flowers blooming in her mother’s garden but not really seeing them. She’d been miserable ever since Eli had told her they had no future together and had begun dating that fancy English woman. Not that Laura looked so fancy anymore. She wore the same plain clothes as the other Amish women in their community, but there was something about the way she walked, talked, and held her body so prim and proper that made her seem out of place among the other women in their district.

Every time Pauline saw Laura at church or some other community event, it made her feel sick to the pit of her stomach. She didn’t know if she would ever get over the bitterness she felt over losing Eli to someone outside their faith.

She won’t be outside the faith once she’s baptized and joins the church,
Pauline reminded herself.
She’ll be one of us, and I’ll have to accept her as such, no matter how much it hurts.

“What are you doing sitting out here by yourself?” Pauline’s mother asked as she seated herself on the step beside Pauline. “I figured you’d be anxious to get some baking done before it gets too hot.”

“I don’t feel much like baking today. Can’t it wait for another day?”

“I suppose, but we’re almost out of bread, and you know how much your daed likes those ginger cookies you make so well.”

Pauline made no comment; she just sat there breathing in and out, feeling as though she couldn’t get enough air.

“Are you okay? You look kind of peaked this morning.” “I’m fine. Just tired is all.”

Mom laid a gentle hand on Pauline’s arm. “Still not sleeping well?”

“Not since...” Pauline couldn’t finish the sentence. It pained her to think about Eli, much less speak his name.

“You’ve got to put your broken relationship with Eli Yoder behind you, daughter. You can’t go through the rest of your life pining for something that’s not meant to be.”

Pauline released a shuddering sob. “It was meant to be, until
she
came along and ruined things. Eli and I were getting closer, and I was sure he would ask me to marry him after he finished his membership classes at the end of summer.” Tears slipped from her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. “It’s not fair, Mom. It’s just not fair.”

“Many things in life aren’t fair, but we must learn to accept them as God’s will and move on.”

“I’m not sure I can do that. Not when I have to see Eli and that woman together all the time.”

“Maybe you should go away for a while.”

Pauline wiped her eyes with the backs of her hands and turned to face her mother. “Go away? Where would I go?”

“Maybe you could stay with your daed’s sister, Irma, in Kidron, Ohio.”

“I’ll have to think about it.”

Mom patted Pauline’s hand. “You do that. Think and pray about the matter.”

Laura sat at the kitchen table, reading the Bible Martha Rose had given her. Why did it seem so confusing? She had been to Sunday school and Bible school a few times when she was a girl. She’d even managed to memorize some Bible passages in order to win a prize. Why couldn’t she stay focused now?

“You’ve been at it quite awhile. Would you like to take a break and have a glass of iced tea with me?” Martha Rose asked, pulling out a chair and taking a seat beside Laura.

Laura looked up and smiled. She really did need a break. “Thanks, I’d like that.”

Martha Rose poured two glasses of iced tea and piled a plate high with peanut butter cookies.

“Are you trying to fatten me up?” Laura asked when the goodies were set on the table.

Martha Rose chuckled. “As a matter of fact, you are pretty thin. I figured a few months of living here, and you’d have gained at least ten pounds.”

“Your cooking is wonderful, but I’m trying to watch my weight.”

“You need to eat hearty in order to keep up your strength.” Martha Rose pushed the cookie plate in front of Laura. “Please, have a few.”

Laura shrugged. “I guess two cookies wouldn’t hurt.”

“How are your studies coming along? Has little Ben been staying out of your way?”

“He’s never been a problem. Your little boy is a real sweetheart.”

“Jah, well, he can also be a pill at times.” Martha Rose shook her head. “This morning I found him playing in the toilet, of all things. Said he was goin’ fishing, like he and his daed did last week.”

Laura laughed. “Where’s the little guy now?”

“Down for a nap. I’m hoping he stays asleep awhile, because I’ve got a bunch of ripe tomatoes waiting to be picked. Not to mention fixing lunch and getting a bit more cleaning done. Church will be here this Sunday, you know.”

“I’d almost forgotten. Guess that means we’ll have to do more cooking than usual.” Laura reached around to rub a tight muscle in her back, probably caused from standing long hours at the stove.

“Not really. I’m just planning to fix a pot of bean soup and some sandwiches.”

“Isn’t the weather kind of hot to be having soup?”

“We enjoy soup most any time of the year, and my daed always says, ‘A little heat on the inside makes the outside heat seem cool.’” Martha Rose chuckled. “Dad has lots of sayings like that, and plenty of jokes to tell, too.”

Laura bit into a cookie and washed it down with a sip of cold tea. She hadn’t really seen a humorous side to Eli’s father and wondered if he held back because of her. She had a feeling Mary Ellen wasn’t the only one in Eli’s family who didn’t care for her, and she had to wonder if she would ever truly feel a part of them.

“How’s the Pennsylvania Dutch coming along?” Martha Rose asked. “Do you feel like you’re understanding the words better yet?”

“I can figure out what many words mean, but I’m still having trouble speaking them.”

“Practice makes perfect. I think it might help if we spoke less English to you.”

Laura nearly choked on the second bite of cookie she had taken. “You’re kidding, right?”

Martha Rose shook her head. “I think you need to hear more Deitsch and less English. It will force you to try saying more words yourself.”

Laura groaned. Wasn’t it enough that she had to wear plain, simple clothes, labor all day on jobs she’d rather not do, conform to all kinds of rules she didn’t understand, and get along without modern conveniences? Must she now be forced to speak and hear a foreign language most of the time?

As if she could read her thoughts, Martha Rose reached over and patted Laura’s hand. “You do want to become one of us, don’t you?”

Tears gathered in Laura’s eyes, obscuring her vision. “I love Eli, and I’d do anything for him, but I—I didn’t think giving up my way of life would be so hard.”

“You say you love my brother, but what about your love for God? It’s Him you should be trying most to please, not Eli.”

Laura swallowed hard. How could she tell Martha Rose that, while she did believe in God, she’d never really had a personal relationship with Him? She wasn’t even sure she wanted one. After all, what had God ever done for her? If He were on her side, then wouldn’t Eli have been willing to leave his religion and become English? They could have worshiped God in any church.

“Laura?” Martha Rose prompted.

She nodded. “I do want to please God. I just hope He knows how hard I’m trying and rewards me for all my efforts.”

Martha Rose’s forehead wrinkled as she frowned. “We should never have to be rewarded for our good deeds or service to God. We’re taught to be humble servants, never prideful or seeking after the things of this world. There’s joy in loving and serving the Lord, as well as in ministering to others.”

Laura thought about that. The Amish people she was living among did seem to emanate a certain kind of peaceful, joyful spirit. She couldn’t figure out why, since they did without so many things.

Martha Rose pushed away from the table. “I think we should end this discussion and get busy picking in the garden, don’t you?”

Laura eased out of her chair. While she had no desire to spend the next few hours in the hot sun bent over a bunch of itchy tomato plants, at least she wouldn’t have to listen to any more sermons about God and what He expected of people.

A short time later, as Laura crouched in front of a clump of rosy, ripe tomatoes, she thought about home and how she’d never had a fresh out-of-the-garden tomato until she’d come here. Yesterday, she’d gone over to the Petersons, who were Martha Rose’s closest English neighbors, to call her parents. Dad had been gone on a fishing trip, which was a surprise since he rarely did anything just for fun; and Mom had mentioned that she would be hosting a garden party this weekend and was having it catered.

Probably won’t have anything this fresh or tasty to eat,
Laura thought as she plucked a plump tomato off the vine.

Her thoughts went to Eli. Martha Rose had told Laura that Eli liked homemade tomato ketchup, which Laura hadn’t learned to make yet. There were so many things she still didn’t know, and even though she disliked many of the chores she was expected to do and still hadn’t gotten used to wearing a dress all the time, she never got tired of spending time with Eli. The more they were together, the more she was convinced she had done the right thing when she’d decided to become Amish. Despite the fact that Eli could get under her skin at times, he treated her with respect—nothing like Dean had done when they were dating.

Laura wasn’t looking forward to another long church service this Sunday, but the promise of attending a singing that night gave her some measure of joy. It would be held in the Beachys’ barn, and Eli had promised to take her. Since he would be coming to Amon and Martha Rose’s for the preaching service, he would probably stick around all day, then later escort Laura to the singing. If things went as planned, she should be baptized into the Amish church by early fall, and she hoped she and Eli could get married sometime in November. Of course, he needed to propose to her first.

Eli felt a mounting sense of excitement over his date with Laura, and even though he’d told her awhile back that she should learn to get into the buggy herself, he helped her in this time, not wishing to cause another rift between them. Truth be told, Eli worried that Laura might not like the Amish way of life well enough to stay, and he didn’t think he could deal with it if she decided to return to her old life.