The Miting (28 page)

Leah took the opportunity to say good night to everyone. Her eyes were heavy, and exhaustion pulled her to bed. Chatting with Rebekah and playing host all day had worn her out. Just before she went to sleep, Hannah tapped at her door and asked if she could talk a minute.

Leah sat up. “Sure.”

Hannah settled on the side of the bed. “I think there might be an opening for a full-time cleaner with this lady I used to work for when I first came out of the Amish. I was wondering if you might be interested in talking to her about the job.”

“Oh, yes. That would be great!”

Hannah handed her a piece of paper. “This has her number on it. Her name is Sally and she’s really nice. She likes to hire the former Amish girls whenever she can.”

“I’ll call her tomorrow. Thanks for telling me about it.”

She stood. “You’re welcome. Get a good night’s sleep.”

“Good night, Hannah.”

Leah’s eyes closed before Hannah even shut the door, and she smiled to herself when she thought of getting a job. It was just what she needed. “Thank You, Lord.”

The next morning, Hannah and Leah were eating breakfast as quietly as they could so they wouldn’t wake Rebekah. She was out like a light on the sofa, and Leah wondered how long she’d stayed upstairs to talk with the Schrocks last night.

They heard the doorbell upstairs ring. Leah and Hannah exchanged glances. “Someone is out early,” Hannah commented.

They went on with breakfast, but soon they heard footsteps coming down the stairs, and shortly after, a knock sounded on their door. Leah got up to answer it. Naomi and a police officer were standing in the doorway.

“Leah, I’m sorry to disturb you two, but the sheriff is here to take Rebekah back to her parents.”

Leah glanced at the sheriff as he shuffled his feet, looking apologetic but resigned to doing his job. He cleared his throat. “Her mother called and asked us to bring her home since she’s underage.”

Leah pointed to the couch. “She’s still sleeping. I’ll wake her.”

Leah moved to the couch and gently shook Rebekah awake. She sat up, her eyes bleary and unfocused. “Rebekah, you need to get up. Your
maem
called the sheriff to bring you back home.”

Rebekah stared wide-eyed at the officer. “Am I—in trouble?”

“No, no. I just have to drive you back to your house.”

Rebekah stood and tried to straighten her clothes. Evidently, she’d fallen asleep in them. Leah felt sorry for her. She looked scared and sad.

“I’ll pray for you,” Leah told her.

Rebekah nodded as she gathered her things in the beat-up suitcase and plastic bag. Naomi came to help her, patting her tenderly on the back. “It’ll be all right, Rebekah. We’ll
all
be praying for you.”

The sheriff turned just before he led Rebekah out the door and up the stairs. “We don’t always know what these kids are going back to, but we have to adhere to the law. The Amish used to never get the law involved, but lately”—he shrugged—“the bishops are starting to tell the parents to call the authorities when the kids are underage. I can’t blame them, you know? The world is filled with terrible things, and I would worry, too, if it were my kid.”

Leah, Hannah, and Naomi followed them to the front door and said good-bye to Rebekah. After they left, Naomi sighed. “I wish that hadn’t happened, though I know she has no right to run away at her age. She told us last night there’s trouble in her home.” She leveled a worried look at Leah. “If it was like Martha’s trouble, we might have been able to stop her from going back home, but she wouldn’t agree to talk to anyone about it.” She sighed again. “We can’t do anything for her if she doesn’t want to tell us what’s happening.”

Leah stared out into the semidarkness. “I sure hope she’ll be okay when she gets home.” She went back to the apartment, and Hannah went to work. What happened with Rebekah put a damper on the day, but after praying for Rebekah as she said she would, she got the phone number and called Sally.

Leah was disappointed to learn Sally had already filled the full-time spot, but she thanked her, asking if she’d keep her in mind if another full-time job opened.

Christmas came. It was a quiet day because she just didn’t feel like celebrating. Leah thought of her family and all the fun Benny would be having—and the food—and her parents and sister. She wondered, too, whether Jacob ever thought of her anymore, or if he’d moved his attentions to another Amish girl.

She ate dinner with the Schrocks and then went back to the apartment. Since Hannah had spent the day with her boyfriend’s family, Leah had the place to herself. She watched a couple of Christmas movies and went to bed early.

Leah couldn’t wait for warmer weather with its longer daylight. She sighed as she closed her eyes. She’d read the Christmas story from Luke with the Schrock family earlier in the day. What must Jesus’ mother have thought? Did she know what would happen to her little baby?

Just before Leah went to sleep, she whispered to Jesus, “Thank You for coming to earth. Thank You for saving me from my sins.”

Though she missed her family terribly, she couldn’t imagine giving up her newfound salvation to go back to the Amish. Her heart hurt, but Leah knew Christ would help in the coming year.

C
HAPTER
F
IFTEEN

L
eah heard the phone ringing in the living room as she woke one early spring morning. Hannah answered and the low murmur of her voice lulled Leah back toward sleep, but not before the ache for her family settled over her. The long winter was over, and she was now busier with a couple housecleaning jobs and schoolwork to get her GED, but the frozen loneliness in her heart when she thought of her family never thawed. They seemed so very far away.

In the beginning, some of the ways of the English confused Leah. She couldn’t understand why it was so important to call people before she dropped by to visit, but Naomi Schrock had given her a booklet about being polite, calling ahead to arrange visits, and especially about being clean. Leah had to admit some of the Amish boys weren’t that keen to wash up every day. She knew a few
buves
who went to bed with their feet still caked with manure from the barns. When spring came, the Amish children stopped wearing shoes, so in families where cleanliness was not stressed, washing off the day’s dust and grime wasn’t a priority. On the other hand, it seemed the English were obsessed with getting rid of any dirt or odor possible.

One product Leah bought for the first time a few months back was deodorant—something
Maem
had never purchased. It was stressed in her strict Amish church that primping by the females was a prideful and sinful thing to do. Feeding the human nature by beautifying the outer body instead of the inner spirit was frowned upon.

Leah thought back to the first time she shaved her legs. She had feared she would shave the skin right off. The stinging nicks and cuts happened less often as she practiced, but it was still a foreign custom. She had to fight the feeling of sinful pride when she smoothed a hand over her gleaming, clean-shaved legs.

She sat up in bed as her roommate knocked on the door.

“Leah?”

“Yes?”

“Are you awake?”

“Yes, but I’m still in bed.”

“I have a message for you.”

Jumping out of bed, Leah grabbed her robe and opened the door. “Who was the message from?”

“A girl who says she knows your friend, Martha. Martha asked her to call and let you know you’re invited to a party this weekend.”

“A party?” Leah was still puzzled.

Hannah paused. “Some of the kids go to different fields or apartments to party. I don’t go, and I’d suggest you don’t go, either. They can get pretty wild.”

Leah frowned. Why would Martha ask her to come to something like that and how did Martha even know where she was living? Since leaving home, Leah had heard nothing from her—until now. But she was so lonely, the thought of seeing her friend again, no matter what the circumstances, led Leah to consider going.

“How do I find out more?” she asked.

Hannah shook her head slightly but gave Leah a small slip of paper.

She glanced at an address downtown on Second Street. “I wonder whose place this is.”

“The girl said the party was either going to be at that address on the paper or another apartment. She said she’d tell you for sure when you call back.”

Leah thanked Hannah and quickly phoned the number on the paper. “Hello? This is Leah.”

“Hi, Leah. I’m a friend of Martha’s. She wants you to come to a party this weekend. She asked me to call ’cause her cell phone is dead right now. Can you come?”

Leah hesitated. “I’m wondering how you got this number for me.”

“She told me she ran into Jacob. He told her where you were.”

So Jacob did get her letter. The realization that he had chosen not to answer stung her. He had apparently moved forward with his life. She swallowed. Time for her to move forward, too.

“Is it going to be at her place—or where?”

“She lives on Second Street, but it might be at someone else’s place. If it changes, I’ll call you back.”

When she still hesitated, the friend of Martha wheedled. “Please say yes. Martha really misses you.”

Leah chewed her lip. Partying wasn’t something that appealed to her at all, but maybe this once would be okay. Just to see Martha and get a taste of home. “Okay. I’d like to see her, too.”

After she hung up, Hannah was quiet.

“Do you think I did the right thing, Hannah?”

Her roommate shrugged, but her eyes were worried.

“Where is Second Street? Do you know? Will I be able to get a ride? I’m not a partier, Hannah, but I am lonely for my friends—”

Hannah put her breakfast dishes in the sink and turned the water on. “Just be careful. I guess we can drop you off when my boyfriend picks me up for the movies on Saturday.”

“Okay. I promise I’ll be careful. Can you also pick me up from the party on your way back from the theater?”

“Sure. We’re going to the seven o’clock show, so by the time the movie’s over and we get a bite to eat, it will probably be about eleven. Does that sound all right?”

“Yes. And thank you.”

The day of the party came and Leah was both apprehensive and excited to be going. She couldn’t wait to see Martha to catch up on all that happened to both of them in the last few months. When Hannah’s boyfriend arrived, she and Hannah climbed into the cab of his truck, and Leah smoothed down her new top and jeans, then fiddled with her hair. Hannah had taught her how to braid it while it was wet, giving her long soft waves when she brushed it out. Still, Leah was nervous about fitting in with a crowd she knew little about. Before long, the truck stopped in front of a dismal-looking gray house. It was two stories tall and had a set of outside stairs that rose steeply and precariously against the left wall of the house. Gray asphalt shingles hung askew here and there, with more than a few cracked windowpanes.

As Leah opened the truck door, Hannah reminded her again to be careful.

“I will,” she promised. She turned and looked at the house. “I wonder which apartment the party’s at?”

“There’s a lot of light in the upstairs windows. I’d think that might be the place.” Hannah pointed upward.

“Uh-huh. I guess I’ll head up there.”

“We’ll wait until you wave.”

“Thanks, Hannah.”

Leah made her way to the rickety stairs and started up. As she neared the battered apartment door, she heard loud music coming from inside. She knocked, but no one could hear over the thumping beat. Leah turned and shrugged toward Hannah, then gave them a wave as she opened the apartment door.

The music rolled over her like a tidal wave, causing her to pull her shoulders up instinctively to protect her ears. A grubby, metal-trimmed Formica table stood in the center of the kitchen; its chairs dragged to the living room, visible just beyond an arched doorway.

Blue smoke from many cigarettes, and another, sweeter smell, filled her nose. She coughed a couple of times and wondered if she would recognize anyone … or if they would know her. A few girls swayed their way through the living room, meeting Leah at the arched doorway. They pushed past her as though she weren’t there, seemingly not surprised that a stranger was in the apartment. As they went by, their breath held the strong, soured smell of alcohol, and their eyes were unfocused. They giggled as they rummaged through the refrigerator.