Rebekah's Quilt (11 page)

Flinging back the covers, she pushed herself to the side of the bed. Her feet met the floor, which was warmed from the rays of sunshine that fell across it. Much to her surprise, the ache in her bruised foot had lessened overnight.

“It’s actually bearable,” she said aloud to an absent audience.

She lifted her leg to take a closer look. The purple mottling had faded, revealing her own skin color visible where what yesterday had been a mess of black. Only a dark outline remained. Her tiny toe wasn’t as swollen, but the nail was solid black. It actually looked a bit loose, like it might fall off if touched. She wrinkled her nose.

Leaning on the bed frame for support, she stood. After a brief rush of tingles in her bad leg, she let go of her support.

“I might not fall,” she mumbled, shifting her weight from foot to foot. Sure, it was uncomfortable, but not painful. Stepping lightly, and being careful to give a wide berth to her doorframe, Rebekah shuffled to her parent’s room.

Elnora’s chipper voice surprised her. “Well, there’s my best girl.” Beanie lay, curled like a newborn pup, in the cradle next to the bed.

“Ma, you look so well!” Rebekah couldn’t hide her astonishment. Her mother’s color had returned and, well, she simply beamed. “You had me quite scared last night.” She eased herself down at the foot of the bed.

Her mother smiled, looking girlish despite her forty years. “It’s simply a miracle that you were able to turn your brother.” Her eyes filled with love, Elnora shifted her gaze to the sleeping baby. He sighed in his sleep.

Rebekah stepped quietly to the cradle. With one finger, she traced his velvety cheek. He suckled without waking. “Ma, does he look a little yellow?”

“All the boys were yellow, each one a little more so than the last. Remember?”

Rebekah searched back through her memory. There were very few that didn’t contain Joseph in some aspect. Finally, her mind grabbed on to a memory. “Yes, I remember! We sit them in the window, right?”

Elnora nodded. “I will have to put him into the sunlight often.”

“Yes ma’am, but the winter is over. It has been warm for some time now.”

Her mother never shifted her gaze from the window. “Your father thinks it will be a mild rest of the season, but I don’t think so. I have seen this early warm weather before.” Elnora turned her attention to Rebekah. After a brief silence, she rose from her bed. “I saw this weather in Germany. I think a change is coming.”

Rebekah studied the worried creases across her mother’s brow. She had always thought that weather was just that. Weather, plain and simple. They dealt with it accordingly as it came. Cold fingers of fear squeezed her stomach as she watched her mother worry over it so. After all, it was March. Winter was over.

Snapping out of her trance, Elnora gestured to the cradle. “Help your Ma push him to the window.”

Carefully so as not to wake him, Rebekah helped Elnora situate Beanie in a growing patch of sunlight. With gentle fingers, Elnora peeled back the tiny quilt swatch Joseph had brought her the night before. Rebekah smiled.

“My quilt is far from done, but it certainly is serving an amazing purpose now, Ma.”

Elnora stroked her daughter’s hand. “It’s perfect my darling. Now,” she stepped back to her bed. Easing down again, she gestured to the door. It appeared to Rebekah that the words simply weren’t forming as quickly as Elnora would have liked them to. It was the same after every birth.

“Do bring the shears, please.”

Rebekah’s hands flew on their own to her singed mane. She groaned. “Oh mother, must we cut it all off?”

Elnora’s eyes sparkled. “I’ll cut it to look just like Joseph’s. After all, isn’t he taking you to the Spring Festival tonight?”

Rebekah’s stomach turned over. “Oh dear, the festival is tonight?”

“It is. Now fetch those shears so we can get you ready.” Her mother smiled again, her eyes twinkling. “And we need to introduce Beanie to everyone, don’t you think?”

Elnora made short work of Rebekah’s haircut. Actually, she made short her hair. After trimming off the mass of melted mane, that which remained danced about her shoulders, light and free. Still, it felt awkward.

Elnora laid the shears on her bedside table. “I believe your green dress will do for tonight, don’t you believe so, Rebekah?”

She nodded, not turning to face her mother.

“Come child, what’s wrong?” Her hand was light on Rebekah’s back.

She sniffled as the unwelcome tears wet her cheeks. “Oh Mother!” Turning, she buried her face in Elnora’s shoulder. “I know I am not supposed to think about how I look, but I can’t help it!” Her words were coming in broken sobs. “My hair is the only thing in the whole village that is different. I don’t want to look English!”

Elnora rubbed her back, running her fingers through her newly-cut hair. “Oh, sweet Rebekah. The Lord doesn’t want us to obsess over our appearance, for to Him, we are all his beautiful children. Let me tell you a secret.”

Rebekah raised her face and sniffled again. A wisp of blonde fell across her cheek. “When the Lord made you, he made you beautiful. You’re beautiful because you’re filled with His love. Nothing on the outside will ever change that.” Elnora tucked the stray piece behind Rebekah’s ear. “Just between us, I think your hair looks lovely.” Grinning, she touched her forehead to Rebekah’s.

Finally, an ounce of gladness crept into Rebekah’s mind. “Thank you, Ma. I just felt so …

so …” Her search for the proper word was fruitless, Rebekah shrugged. “I just wish I didn’t even care about my hair in the first place.”

“It was a shock, darling, that’s all. You’re still my best girl. Now run along so I can get Beanie ready so your father can measure him.” She smiled a sweet smile at her. “See you downstairs, Daughter.”

Everyone was already downstairs by the time Rebekah, dressed in her favorite green dress, and joined them. Her throng of brothers was alternating between picking at a loaf of bread and fawning over Beanie, who celebrated the grand meeting by sleeping through it.

Elnora was glowing as she and Samuel sat on the loveseat and answered the boys’ questions.

“Is this what was going on in the hall last night?”

Elnora started to answer, only to be cut off by another boy.

“How long is he?”

“We’re about –” Samuel started, only to be interrupted by yet another brother.

“How are you going to measure him if he can’t stand up yet?”

Glancing at Samuel, Elnora opened her mouth.

“I’ll stretch out his legs and you can hold him up!”

“No,
I’ll
stretch out his legs and
you
can hold him!”

“How much does he weigh?”

“How much did I weigh?”

Rebekah raised her eyebrows as the questions flew around the sitting room. Her parents didn’t seem bothered though. A knock on their still-closed door drew her attention away from the question-and-answer session.

“I’ll get it,” she volunteered. Of course, no one heard her.

Pulling open the door, her smile found its usual place as Joseph came into view. “Good morning!”

Glancing down into his arms, he looked back to Rebekah. “I have some food here. Ma insisted on having me bake, even in her condition.” He held the platter out to her.

“Your Ma is a very sweet woman,” Rebekah said, accepting the goodies. “Mmm, I smell cinnamon.” Her gaze fluttered back to meet Joseph’s, where it stayed for a moment. Again, her heart began to thunder.

He removed his hat. “Mind if I come in and see Beanie?”

How impolite, Rebekah!
“Of course!” She stepped aside. “How is your Ma feeling?”

He nodded as he waded into the fray that was the Stoll household. “She’s feeling better. Pa is fixing her a special chair so she can sit at–” He paused before letting the other words spew forth in a rush. “At the festival tonight.”

Rebekah looked closely at her friend. Was he blushing?

Joseph stepped over to where Elnora was still attempting to field questions from the boys. “Did I miss the measuring? He’s bigger than I thought last night,” Joseph gushed, his voice filled with awe.

Samuel appeared from the kitchen, measuring rope in hand. “Every one of you little boys was measured against this rope at birth,” he announced over the din. “Then, I hold the rope to the wall and mark the measurement.”

The twins looked at each other and nodded. Apparently, they had been the ones wondering how Beanie was to be measured since he couldn’t yet stand. Rebekah hid her smile behind her hand at their enlightened expressions.

Joseph held Beanie as Elnora bent and carefully straightened one chubby leg. Her father pinched the end of the rope at Beanie’s head in one finger and measured him, crown to foot. As soon as Elnora let go of his leg, he curled it back against his body with a tiny sigh.

“Here, I’ll take him,” Rebekah whispered at Joseph’s shoulder.

Ever gentle, he placed the tiny boy in her arms. In the moment that their eyes locked, a sizzling heat, like bacon in a skillet, shinnied up Rebekah’s backbone. Immediately, she shifted her attention to her father, who was just finishing placing Beanie’s mark on the wall. Already, he was taller than three of his brothers had been at birth.

Samuel let out a hoot. “Look at that! He is a big strapping boy! What did you call him last night Joseph?”

Shifting a tiny nub of grass from one side of his mouth to the other, Joseph spoke. “Bull. Beanie Bull.”

“Ah yes, Beanie Bull,” he recited slowly, printing the letters on the doorframe.

Rebekah stepped over to the measuring wall. “Was he bigger than I was, Pa?” She searched the wall, not seeing her name near the bottom like everyone else’s.

Samuel and Elnora exchanged a look. “Well, is he?” The smile melted from her face with the silence.

“We didn’t start that tradition until Jeremiah was born,” Samuel explained.

Squatting, Rebekah studied the wall. Sure enough, there was her first mark.

REBEKAH – AGED 7

“Oh, I see.” Rebekah’s knotted brow loosened. “Well, if we’re counting first marks, then I was taller than all of you!”

The choir of boys disagreed in a mishmash of tenors and basses.

With a warm smile, Rebekah stepped to her father’s side. “Well, how big is this little hookin’ bull?”

Samuel waved his hands, slowly sending a hush over his boys. Once they were quiet, Rebekah slipped Beanie into his arm. “The new baby is 23 inches long. And weighs…” Joseph handed him a sack filled with potatoes. Samuel hefted Beanie in one arm and the sack in the other “A little more than a ten pound sack of potatoes! I’d say twelve pounds!”

Samuel stood, beaming, with his sack of spuds and his newborn babe. The little boys milled about before drifting
en masse
outdoors.

Elnora graced by, taking a seat in the sitting room. “My, that was an event.” She motioned to Rebekah and Joseph. “Come, sit. Are you excited for the festival tonight?”

“Yes Ma’am.” Joseph avoided Rebekah’s glance as he took the seat across from Elnora. “My Ma’s been baking since last night to prepare for it.”

Elnora eased back on the loveseat. “We’ve been soaking apples – at least I hope somebody put the apples in to soak, because I honestly don’t remember doing it.”

Rebekah giggled. “Pa put them in to soak yesterday … I think.”

After sharing a laugh, a quick screech from Beanie brought Elnora to her feet. “Well children, I believe Beanie and I better go nap before the festivities tonight.” Joseph rose when she did.

Elnora’s voice was suddenly tinted with tiredness. “Won’t you bake the pies, Rebekah?”

“I will, Ma.”

After watching Elnora and Beanie retreat up the stairs, Joseph turned back to Rebekah. He looked everywhere but at her and, hat in hand, danced from foot to foot.

Rebekah reached to scratch a rouge itch behind her ear.
I’ve never seen him so jittery
. A piece of newly cut hair brushed across her cheek. She froze.
Oh my hair. He must be put off by my hair!
A sensation of creepy-crawlies, just beneath the skin, scurried down her arms.

Joseph cleared his throat. “Well, I’d better get home.” Still turning his hat in his hands, he shuffled to the door. He spoke again without turning to face her. “I’ll come for you before dinner, if that’s alright with you.”

“That’ll be fine. I’ll see you then.”

Without a goodbye, Joseph hesitated only a moment before pulling the door shut behind him.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Puzzled, Rebekah stared at the closed door.
He’s never acted so strange before.
Cold knots of uncertainty formed in her stomach. Wringing her hands, Rebekah started to the kitchen.

“Pa? Are you in here Pa?” Rebekah tried to call for him quietly, so as not to wake Elnora and Beanie.

Samuel’s voice came from out the back door. “Go on! Get out of here!”

Lifting her skirt slightly, Rebekah hurried to see what had brought on the commotion. “Oh no!”