Plain Proposal (30 page)

“Daed!”
Miriam cried. “Please.” She covered her face with her hands until she felt her mother’s arm come around her. When she looked up, her father was gone.

“I will talk to your father, Miriam.”
Mamm
patted her shoulder.

“The way you talked to Saul?” She pulled away from her mother. “The only reason you’re saying you’ll talk to
Daed
is because you know Saul isn’t planning for us to leave now. You talked him out of going. He was ready for us to go start our lives. Now he isn’t the same,
Mamm
. He is so sad. And both of us were so excited.
Ya
, I was nervous and scared, but still excited.” She gazed into her mother’s eyes. “You’ve raised me
gut, Mamm
. I’ll carry my love for God wherever I go. I’m sorry you can’t see that.”

Tears flowed as she raced up the stairs.

“Why didn’t you tell her the truth?” Aaron sat down on the edge of the bed, still in his work clothes. Rebecca sat down beside him and sighed. She leaned down and stepped out of her shoes.

“I think Saul should tell her.”

“And in the meantime, you have to listen to her blame you?” Aaron stood up, looked down at her, and put his hands on his hips. “I do not want that boy taking Miriam away from us.”

“I know you don’t. I don’t either.” Rebecca stood up. She pulled Aaron into a hug and kissed him on the cheek before she burrowed her head against his chest. “But we are going to have to let her make this decision.”

He eased her away. “It sounds like the decision is made. Saul isn’t going to leave his brothers with Zeb. So they will just get baptized, married, and live here in Paradise.”

Rebecca rubbed her forehead. “And what about Saul’s brothers, Ruben and James? They’re only young teenagers. They shouldn’t have to be handling this at their age. And what about Zeb? I think his drinking probably started after Sarah and Hannah were killed. But it doesn’t give him the right to raise those boys that way. Zeb needs some help, Aaron.”

“
Ach
, Rebecca.” Aaron sat down on the bed again and put his head in his hands. “I wish we could just leave it alone, let the
kinner
get married and stay here.”

She sat down on the bed and put her arm around her husband, then rested her head on his shoulder. “I know, Aaron. It would scare me to death for Miriam to venture out into the
Englisch
world.” She paused, kissed him again on the cheek. “But it scares me even more that we might be trying to manipulate God’s plans for them.”

“We ain’t doing that. Saul made the decision not to go so he could stay and tend to his
bruders
and
daed
.”

Rebecca sighed. “I know.” She paused. “It certainly says something about the type of person Saul is, no? He would give up his dreams for family. Isn’t that the kind of person we want our daughter marrying, Aaron? Wherever they choose to live.”

Her husband sighed. “I guess so. But still. . .”

“You know that a small percentage of our young people will venture out into the
Englisch
world.”

Aaron slipped his suspenders off his shoulders and let them hang at his side. “I know. I just don’t want Miriam in that percentage.”

Rebecca couldn’t agree more, but she also didn’t want to be responsible for ruining her daughter’s life, as Miriam had put it.

Shelby walked to the barn after everyone was in bed. She knew her mother would still be awake and probably worried since they hadn’t spoken in a couple of weeks. Shelby’s cell phone had been dead for a while. She put the lantern on the workbench, then lifted herself up to sit between it and the phone. As she picked up the cordless phone from the base, her stomach churned. She loved her parents, but she dreaded going home in a couple of weeks. She couldn’t believe her stay here was almost over.

“Shelby! Thank goodness! Why haven’t you called?”

“Why haven’t
you
called?” Shelby’s voice was flat as she spoke.

“I’ve tried several times. Your cell phone must be dead.”

“Yes. But you have the number to their phone in the barn, the phone I’m calling you from.”

“Well, we’re talking now. Tell me what you’ve been doing.”

“We stay busy, and like I told you before, we get up early, but I—”

“Honey, hold on a sec. I have another call.”

Shelby sighed as her mother put her on hold. She waited.

“Okay. Sorry about that. It was Richard, telling me he’s running late. We’re going to Joe’s Place tonight for dinner. I bet you miss the food at Joe’s.”

Shelby thought about the mouthwatering steaks she used to enjoy at her favorite restaurant back home. “I like the food here too. Rebecca is a great cook. Miriam is a good cook too. I help prepare the meals, so I’m learning to make a lot of different things.”

“That’s good. You’ll have to try out some new recipes for me and Richard when you get home.”

Shelby’s heart leaped in her chest. “Mom? How often is Richard there?”

The line was silent for long enough that Shelby knew the answer.

“I was going to talk to you about that, Shelby. I know you don’t know Richard all that well, but he’s become so important to me, and we’ve been spending a lot of time together while you’ve been away. You’ll love him as much as I do.”

“Mom! Is he
living
there?”

“I know I always said I didn’t believe in living together, but it’s different because I’m older, Shelby, and I’ve already been married to your father.”

“Lead by example, Mother.” Shelby shook her head.

“Shelby, try to understand— Hang on, honey. Let me tell Richard I’ll call him back.”

Shelby stood still, the phone at her ear, for about ten seconds, then slammed it back into the carrier. She jerked around to grab the lantern but knocked it with her elbow. It rolled about two feet away and rested against a hay bale. Within seconds the hay swelled to a glowing orange ball, and Shelby froze.

Water.
She ran out of the barn, turned on the faucet, and pulled a garden hose into the barn. By the time she got to the bale, the fire had spread to the workbench and the east wall. Chickens were cackling, the horses were reared up and kicking the stalls, and Shelby’s heart was pounding out of her chest. She was unsure whether to run for help or to keep spraying the stream of water on the fire.

Please, God. Help me. What do I do?

Instinctively she ran to the horse stalls and flipped the latches, and the animals ran free to safety. She opened the chicken coop, hoping the chickens would follow her as she ran out of the barn to get help. Aaron met her in the yard.

“Shelby! Are you all right? Are you hurt?”

She shook her head but couldn’t speak. Ben, Elam, and John ran past her, followed by Miriam. But Aaron sent them back. “It’s too late! Go back! Wet the yard in the front of the
haus
with the other hose—try to keep the fire from spreading to the house.”

Why didn’t I call 911?
Shelby looked on as the rest of the family tried to control the spreading fire and made sure animals were a safe distance away. Even little John was coaxing the chickens toward the backyard.
What have I done?

“Shelby! Are you all right?” Rebecca threw her arms around her. “Are you hurt?”

“I—I. . .” She couldn’t talk.

Rebecca eased her away and cupped Shelby’s cheeks in her hands, and even in the moonlight, Shelby could see the concern on Rebecca’s face. “Nod if you’re okay.”

Shelby did.

“That’s all that counts.”

Rebecca kissed Shelby on the forehead, then went to help secure the animals. Shelby heard sirens, so she knew the fire wouldn’t spread to the house. She stood alone in the middle of the yard and buried her face in her hands, sobbing.

16

M
IRIAM WATCHED MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY CLEARING
the rubble from the fire the next day. Even though the barn had been leveled, the animals survived and the fire never got near the house. Luckily, a neighbor down the road spotted the smoke from his place.

She smiled at Saul as he walked by her carrying a load of debris. Several areas still smoldered, and Saul’s father and brothers were busy keeping the hot spots wet. Her own brothers were busy building temporary housing for the chickens and pigs, and her Uncle Noah, Uncle Abe, and friend Kade Saunders helped her father drag the larger pieces of burnt lumber to the far side of the house. Miriam counted more than sixty people helping out on this hot Saturday morning. The following Saturday most of those same people, plus some, would be back for the barn raising.

She blew a loose strand of hair from her face and accepted a tray of glasses of iced tea from Sadie Saunders before passing them out herself. It didn’t matter that her mother was trying to ruin Saul’s life; his entire family was still here helping. That was the way things were done, and Miriam briefly wondered how folks would be out in the
Englisch
world during a crisis. She still hadn’t given up hope that she and Saul would be leaving for Pittsburgh in a couple of weeks. She had to figure out a way to convince him to go.

“Do you know where Shelby is?”

Miriam turned at the sound of her mother’s voice, sloshing tea from one of the glasses onto the tray. “She’s upstairs.”

Mamm
frowned. “I’m worried about her. Poor thing was in shock last night and pale as a ghost before she went to bed. She didn’t say much.”

Miriam tried to put her own hurt and resentment toward her mother aside. “I thought I heard her crying during the night. And before she went to sleep, she just kept saying how sorry she was, over and over again.”

Mamm
shook her head. “It was an accident, and God saw fit to spare us any harm. I’ll go check on her.”