The Gift (39 page)

Adam’s throat felt dry as he alternated between listening to their bishop speak about marriage and looking at Leah’s rosy cheeks. She’d looked at him so sincerely when she’d answered the bishop’s question only moments ago: “Can you confess, sister, that you accept our brother as your husband, and that you will not leave him until death separates you?”

“Yes,” Leah had said with a decisive nod.

Why didn’t my mother stay true to those vows when she married my daed?
Adam wondered.
Did Dad, Mary, and I mean so little to her that she could forget about the promise she’d made before God and the church?

That old familiar bitterness welled in Adam’s soul. It was wrong to harbor such feelings of anger and resentment toward his mother, but he couldn’t seem to help himself.

I won’t let it consume me,
Adam told himself.
My concentration needs to be on raising my nieces and trying to be a good husband to Leah, even though we won’t be married in a physical sense.

He glanced at Leah once more and relaxed a bit when she smiled at him. Adam was convinced that God had brought them together—if not to be husband and wife in every sense of the word, then to make sure that Mary and Amos’s girls received the love and care they truly deserved. Although Mary had never met Leah, Adam was sure she would have approved of the young woman he’d chosen to marry.

That evening when Leah and Adam arrived at his house with the girls, Leah told Adam that she would help the girls get ready for bed.

“That’s fine,” Adam responded. “While you’re doing that, I’ll put your suitcase upstairs in the room next to Amy’s.”

Leah nodded. She’d known she would not be sharing a room with Adam downstairs, but the reminder that she’d be sleeping in the guest room was most troubling.

What have I done?
she asked herself as she and the girls went into the house.
Marriage is for life, and I’ve just committed to a man who does not love me and who will never truly be my husband.

Resolving to make the best of her situation, Leah followed Carrie and Linda up the stairs and into the room they shared, while Amy went to her room next door. After the younger ones changed into their nightclothes and said their prayers, Leah tucked them into bed. After kissing Carrie and Linda good night, she entered Amy’s bedroom.

“How come Uncle Adam said he was gonna put your things in the room next to mine?” Amy asked when Leah took a seat on the end of her bed.

Unsure of how best to respond, Leah smiled and said, “I want to be close to you and your sisters right now.”

Amy gave Leah a hug, apparently satisfied with that answer. “I’m glad you’ll be living here with us now. I don’t miss my mamm so much when you’re around.”

Tears pooled in Leah’s eyes. “I’ll never be able to take her place, but I want you to know that I’ll be here for you in every way.” After kissing Amy’s forehead and telling her good night, Leah turned off the gas lamp and slipped quietly from the room. When she entered her own bedroom, where her luggage now sat, she went to the window and looked out. A full moon illuminated the yard, and Leah could see Adam’s barn clearly. A light shone through the windows, letting her know that Adam was probably tending the horse. She wondered what he was thinking. Did he have any regrets about marrying her? Was he still upset because she’d told Cora about him? He hadn’t said anything more about his mother or what he planned to do, and Leah was afraid to bring up the subject. She hoped Adam wouldn’t make good on his threat to move. As far as she was concerned, that would be the worst thing to do.

After opening her suitcase, Leah took out her Bible. Taking a seat on the bed, she looked up Isaiah 30:15. “
In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength
,” she read to herself.

Closing her eyes, Leah prayed,
Lord, please help me remember to put my trust in You to work everything out according to Your will.

L
eah scurried around the kitchen, getting breakfast on before Adam and the girls came in. It just didn’t seem possible that a whole week had gone by since her and Adam’s wedding. Even though Leah had been coming over for the past few months to care for the girls, it felt strange to actually be living in Adam’s house, knowing she was his wife.

But I’m his wife in name only,
she reminded herself.
Adam doesn’t see me as anything more than a housekeeper, cook, and someone to take care of his nieces.

As Leah stirred a kettle of oatmeal on the stove, her thoughts took her back to their wedding night, when she and Adam came home with the girls. After a whole week had gone by, Adam still hadn’t mentioned Cora. Was he ever going to say anything? Should Leah bring up the topic? She was confused and didn’t know what to do.

“God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.”
Leah silently quoted 1 Corinthians 14:33.

“What’s for breakfast?” Amy asked, stepping into the kitchen and scattering Leah’s thoughts.

Leah smiled as she turned from the stove. “Since this is such a chilly fall morning, I decided to fix
hawwermehl.
”

Amy’s nose crinkled. “I don’t like oatmeal that much.”

“I like it, and so does Carrie,” Linda said, holding her little sister’s hand as they skipped into the room.

“Amy, would you please set the table?” Leah asked. “I’m making toast, so you can have a piece of that.”

“What can I do?” Linda wanted to know.

“Why don’t you get out the brown sugar and butter?” Leah suggested. “Oh, and Carrie, you can put some napkins by each of our plates.”

While the girls did their jobs, Leah turned the stove down and toasted several slices of bread. By the time they came out of the oven, Adam had come inside from doing his chores in the barn.

“Brr…” Adam rubbed his hands briskly over his arms. “It feels more like winter than fall this morning. You can really smell the wood smoke in the air. Guess a lot of folks did what we did and fired up their woodstoves and fireplaces this past week.” He glanced at Leah and smiled. “Is breakfast about ready?”

Smiling in return, she nodded.

“Great. I’ll get washed up, and then we can eat.” Adam headed down the hall toward the bathroom. When he returned, everyone took a seat at the table. “I’ll bring more firewood in before I leave for work,” he said. “That way you can keep the fireplace going.”

“Danki, Adam. The warmth from the fire makes the living room cozy.” Leah lowered her eyes, feeling the heat of a blush on her cheeks. She appreciated his thoughtfulness, and the gentle way he’d looked at her just now made her feel kind of giddy.

After their silent prayer, Leah dished everyone a bowl of oatmeal and passed Amy the plate of toast. As they ate, Amy and Linda talked about school and how their teacher would soon be giving out parts for the Christmas program. Leah looked forward to attending along with the parents and other family members of the scholars who went to the one-room schoolhouse. For her, Christmas would be different than it had been in the past, since she was no longer living at home with her parents. Now, she was a parent, of sorts.

“Will you be washing clothes today, Leah?” Adam asked. “I spilled some glue on my trousers yesterday, and they need to be cleaned.”

“I’ll do my best,” Leah responded, “but I can’t promise that the glue will come out.”

“It’s okay if it doesn’t. They’re an old pair of trousers.”

“I’ll start washing as soon as I get Linda and Amy off to school,” Leah said. “I need to get it done before Priscilla comes for a foot treatment.”

Adam’s eyebrows squished together. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that, Leah. Now that we’re married, I’d prefer that you stop practicing reflexology.”

Leah stiffened. “But Adam, there are people in this community who count on me to help them with various ailments.”

“If they’re sick, they can see a doctor.” Adam reached for his cup of coffee and took a drink.

“Some folks who see me aren’t sick; they may have back problems or—”

“That’s what chiropractors are for,” he interrupted.

“But, Adam—”

He gestured to the girls. “I rather not discuss this right now. Since you’ve already scheduled Priscilla to come over, you can go ahead and work on her feet, but you’ll need to let her know that this will be the last time you will see her for that.” As if the matter were settled, Adam got up from the table and put his dishes in the sink. After he’d said good-bye to the girls and Leah, he grabbed his hat, jacket, and lunch pail, and headed out the door.

It’s not fair of Adam to ask me to quit doing reflexology.
Leah teared up.
It’s my gift.

As Cora drove to work that morning, she spotted a group of Amish children walking along a path on the side of the road. No doubt they were headed to school. She recognized two of the young girls, as she’d seen them sitting with Carrie at Leah and Adam’s wedding. One of the girls looked so much like Mary when she was a little girl that Cora was tempted to stop and talk to them. But she didn’t want to frighten the girls. Once more, she thought about how she had cheated herself out of knowing these children. Was it too late for that? If the girls knew she was their grandmother, would they welcome her into their lives?

Cora had to find out, and the only way she could do that was to speak with Adam. She didn’t know where Adam lived, but she would go by his hardware store before the week was out. She just hoped and prayed he would be receptive to what she had to say.

That afternoon, Leah scurried around finishing up the housework. She hadn’t done the laundry yet, because she’d gone over to her folks’ house to get her massage lotion for Priscilla’s foot treatment. The old recliner she had always used was still in Mom and Dad’s basement, so she would have Priscilla sit on one of the chairs in Adam’s living room. Oh, how she dreaded telling her friend that she could no longer practice reflexology. If Leah had known Adam was going to take that away from her, she’d have thought twice about marrying him.

Before Leah and Carrie had gone to her folks’, she’d taken Adam’s pants to the laundry area and rubbed some spot remover on the area he’d told her about. Now the house was all clean, including the floors, and she had just gotten Carrie up from her afternoon nap. “Do you want to go for a walk with me out to the phone shack, Carrie? I need to check for messages.”