Promised to Another (22 page)

Joshua jumped at the unexpected voice from the other side of the curtain. David. “Jah. At least we’re all still alive.” He eased himself out of bed. It hurt to move, probably due to his badly skinned knees, but he made his way around the curtain to the other side of the room, maneuvering his IV pole with him as he went. He lowered himself into the chair next to the window, at the end of the bed.

“You weren’t hurt badly?” David asked.

Joshua shook his head. “The nurse said I have road rash. That seems to be what they call this type of thing.” He held up his hand, palm facing out, to show David the raw skin. “It’s on my legs, too. But I was unconscious for who knows how long. Longer than two minutes, for sure. They’re keeping me overnight for observation.”

“I broke my leg.” David exhaled. “And my arm.” He patted the white plaster on his left elbow.

“Jah. Badly, I think, since they did a surgery.”

David shook his head. “Figures that you’d get off easier than me. You always had it easier.” He snorted. “Sports, academics…you excelled at everything you put your hand to.”

Joshua dipped his head. David was more of a quiet soul, the type who would enjoy spending hours making those fancy flies for fishing trips. “Ach, you’re an artist, for sure. I remember the drawings you made in school. Such detail. My people always looked like stick figures. And I never could make those flies you make. I don’t have the patience.”

David chuckled. “Ach, I’m sure you’d do just fine. I’ll teach you sometime, if you like.” He grinned. Then, his smile suddenly vanished, and he grasped his chest, his mouth opening as he gasped for air.

“Are you all right?” Joshua struggled to his feet and lunged at the foot of the bed. “Do I need to call a nurse?”

David’s eyes widened. He made a slight nod, his hands pressing tighter against his chest.

Joshua reached for the call button attached to David’s bed and pushed it. The last time he’d done this, on his own bed, someone had answered on an intercom, asking him what he needed. This time, however, there was only silence. The nurses’ station must have been unoccupied. Should he wait?

David gasped, his eyes bulging with sheer panic.

“I’ll go find someone.” Joshua hurried as fast as his sore legs and the IV pole would let him to the door and peeked out. No one was in sight. He looked around and spotted what had to be the nurses’ station, down the hall to his left, and he headed, however haltingly, in that direction.

A woman was standing beside a large metal cart, onto which she was loading what looked to be empty dinner trays.

Joshua waved his arm at her. “Help! I need help.”

She looked up from the cart, then averted her eyes, looking sheepish. “Sorry, but I’m just a dietary aide. I’m not allowed to help with patient care. You need to find a nurse.”

Dietary aide? Joshua started to back up. “Do you know where I can find one?”

She shrugged. “You might try the nurses’ station.”

“I did. There’s no one there. We need help.” Joshua turned around and saw a tall man in black scrubs coming down the hall. He hurried toward him. “My roommate is having trouble breathing. Can you kum check?”

“Sure.” The man followed Joshua down the hall into the room, took one look at David, and then reached behind him and slapped a button on the wall.

When Joshua looked at David, his heart constricted. He must have passed out. His skin was gray, his lips blue.

The male nurse steered Joshua and his IV pole toward the other side of the room. “You’ll need to keep out of the way.”

A moment later, an announcement came across the intercom. “Dr. Blue, report to room four thirty-five. Dr. Blue, room four thirty-five.”

***

“Go on in, Annie.” Daed shut the back of the van firmly, then stepped around to the other side. Both Tony and Bishop Sol met him over there, Bishop Sol saying something in a low voice.

Were they discussing her and her poor decisions? Of course, they were. What other reason did they have to talk? They were probably making arrangements for Tony to take Joshua and her to the county courthaus tomorrow to obtain a marriage license. But Tony…he was an outsider. Surely, they wouldn’t air her shame in front of him. She glanced back and saw Bishop Sol looking her way. So, she was the topic of conversation, as expected. She dragged herself up the porch stairs and into the haus, tears burning her eyes.

Mamm was in the kitchen, her hands folded over an open page of
Die Ernsthafte Christenpflicht
. Annie recognized the German prayer book and wished she could thumb through the pages herself. Maybe something in there would relate to her situation.

Mamm looked up and quickly wiped her tear-streaked face. Then, she lifted her arms and held them open. With a sob, Annie fell into them, collapsing to her knees beside the wheelchair. Mamm wrapped her arms around her, holding her tight. “Ach, you’re all right. You’re really all right.”

“All right?” That statement was relative. Mamm didn’t know everything. She’d heard only that Annie had survived. She figured now was as good a time as any to tell her the rest of the story.

Annie had just finished choking out the entire tale about her job loss and upcoming marriage when the door opened and Daed came in, still tugging at his beard. He looked older, more haggard. With a sigh, he went over to check the kettle on the stove, poured some hot water into a mug, and added a teabag. Then, he came over to the table and dropped into the chair next to them. Heaving another sigh, he picked up the teabag by the string, dipping it in and out, in and out.

“Isaac.” Lydia smoothed her hands over Annie’s kapp. “Is it true?”

“Jah. It’s true.” He shook his head. “It seems that our gut bishop has taken to heart the recent complaints about his leniency, and so he’s decided to kum down harshly on our Annie. He says he’ll kum by and talk to us about it later; that right now, he has to get home to his frau.”

“But a forced marriage for kissing? That just seems…excessive.” Mamm frowned. “Most of the teenagers in their rumschpringe experiment with…physical things.”

Annie sniffed and got to her feet. “I’m sorry, Daed.”

Daed waved her off. “I forgive you, Annie. And when I said that Joshua is like a son, I wasn’t teasing. I just didn’t expect…well, never you mind. It’s over. Done. And, nein matter the bishop’s reasons, it’s final.”

“But what will we tell people when they ask? They’ll think that Annie’s with child.” Lydia closed her prayer book with a thump.

“Let them think what they will. It’ll soon be proven false. There’ll be nein boppli nine months after this wedding, ain’t so?” Daed pulled the teabag out of the tea completely and dropped it into a small bowl. He grimaced. “But I see nein reason for them to marry tomorrow. I think it should be done the usual way—announced in church on Sunday, with the wedding two weeks later. In fact, I intend to speak to Bishop Sol about this. It’s one thing to fire Annie. But any more than that…nein.”

“I thought you were standing guard outside Joshua’s room,” Annie said quietly, not wanting Daed to think she was blaming him.

“A nurse came. She told me I had to use the phone down in this one special room, and she took me there. It was fancy, with a koffeepot and a television.”

Annie pulled in a shaky breath. “Where will you want us? Joshua and me, I mean. In my room or his?”

“His. It’s larger. And I expect we’ll be putting his parents up as soon as they get wind of this.” Daed looked at his watch. “An Englisch neighbor is likely to drive up anytime now to tell us we have a phone call.”

“Did you get a person when you called the phone shanty Joshua mentioned?”

“Jah. One of their neighbors. They’d heard the phone ring earlier and didn’t get down to tend to it before. They were going to get the word out about the accident to Joshua’s parents, and to David’s, as well. Of course, I didn’t know about the wedding then.” Gravel crunched in the driveway. Daed stood, and Annie followed his gaze out the window. A neighbor’s car. He grunted. “As I expected.”

You should go back to bed,” the male nurse urged Joshua.

Once he’d complied, climbing back into the hospital bed, the nurse snapped up the side rails, then called for another nurse, who wheeled him out the door, down the hall, and into another room. It was dark, but the other patient was watching television. The volume was turned down low, but Joshua could see the eerie blue light flashing on the other side of the curtain. Evidently, his new roommate wasn’t quite ready to sleep.

But then, neither was Joshua, remembering how gray-blue David had looked. Was he dying? They’d just reconciled; the past was forgotten; a new friendship was forming. It seemed so wrong for him to lose a friend just when he’d made one. Joshua closed his eyes.
Lord, please spare David, if it is Your will. Guide the hands of the doctors and nurses. Help them to know what to do. David is a gut man, Lord. Take care of him….

The volume of his roommate’s television increased. Joshua opened his eyes and glanced up. The ten o’clock news. He was never up this late. Amish went to bed much earlier, so that they were well rested enough to get up around five or so. What time did they wake patients in the hospital?

Pictures of the accident flashed across the screen, while a male reporter recounted the event in an emotionless monotone. He said that two Amish men remained in the hospital in critical condition. Hmm. Joshua didn’t think he was so critical. But David might be.

No “might” about it.

So much had changed for Joshua this Lord’s Day. He’d kissed Annie—her very first kiss. Resolved a longtime feud with David. Gotten in a buggy wreck. And then found himself an engaged man. Certainly not the way he’d planned to spend the day. Well, maybe the first two. The fourth, in his wildest dreams. The third? It had been his worst nightmare come true.

Annie.
If everything went according to the bishop’s plan, tomorrow would be their first night as a married couple. And under such a situation…she must feel so ashamed. Yet it was his fault for asking her to come to him. Begging her to ask him to kiss her.

He groaned. If only he could be back at the Beilers’ farmhaus, in bed. If only this were nothing more than a dream.

For a moment, he considered the possibility of this being a temporary illusion. He’d heard of drug-induced hallucinations. Casting a wary glance at the fluid bag hanging from his IV pole, he thought that perhaps the whole wedding thing had been a figment of his overactive imagination, fueled by his overtired body. Not that he minded marrying Annie. But he wanted to woo her. Win her. He didn’t want her handed off to him in this manner.

He rolled over, turning his back on the television and his thoughts. He closed his eyes again.
Lord, please be with David.

***

Annie tiptoed to the door of Cathy’s room, opened it slightly, and peeked inside to see whether she was awake. She figured she ought to give her an update on David and his injuries. But when Annie touched her hand and whispered her name, she didn’t budge. Mamm had said they’d given her some strong pain pills. She supposed she could tell her in the morning. So, she left the room, quietly shut the door behind her, and padded down the hall to her own bedroom.

Her
old
bedroom. She stopped and looked around at her dresses, hanging in the closet. Her ancient dresser, badly in need of refinishing, which housed her personal items. Her hope chest…she’d have the husband, unwilling though he may be, but not her own home. At least, not yet.

It crushed her spirit to think about how Joshua must resent her. The news was probably already spreading like wildfire around the community. The Amish grapevine was an efficient machine. Annie Beiler had been fired, and she and Joshua Esh were being forced to marry.

She wasn’t sure which piece of news pained her more.

As soon as possible, she would go to the schoolhaus to collect her personal items. Would the students assemble for class tomorrow? Or would their education be put on hold until a new schoolteacher had been selected? Annie had already started preparations for the Christmas program the students performed, but the new teacher wouldn’t know that. She’d have to pass along her notes, so that she’d know what had been done.

She opened a dresser drawer, lifted out her nightgown, and tossed it on the bed. Then, she pulled off her kapp and unpinned her hair, letting it fall to her waist. Reaching for her hairbrush, she sat down on the edge of the bed and began running the brush the length of it. One hundred strokes.