A Wedding Quilt for Ella
Read A Wedding Quilt for Ella Online
Authors: Jerry S. Eicher
WEDDING
QUILT
FOR ELLA
J
ERRY
S. E
ICHER
HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS
EUGENE, OREGON
Cover by Garborg Design Works, Savage, Minnesota
All Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to events or locales, is entirely coincidental.
A WEDDING QUILT FOR ELLA
Copyright © 2011 by Jerry S. Eicher
Published by Harvest House Publishers
Eugene, Oregon 97402
www.harvesthousepublishers.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Eicher, Jerry S.
A wedding quilt for Ella / Jerry Eicher.
p. cm.—(Little Valley series ; bk. 1)
ISBN 978-0-7369-2804-5 (pbk)
1. Amish—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3605.I34W43 2011
813’.6—dc22
2010021563
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America
10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 / BP-NI / 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Other fine Harvest House Amish fiction from Jerry Eicher…
T
he wedding was in June, and Ella Yoder smiled at the thought as she stood at the kitchen sink looking out over the long sweep of Little Valley’s rolling hills. Low mountains lay to the west, and the scattered Amish farms of Cattaraugus County spread all around her. This was where she felt at home. Here on Seager Hill, her heart was secure, her love was found, and she had no plans to leave—ever. She and Aden would be so happy here.
Ella rinsed the last of the dishes, pausing to consider all the preparations for the wedding. In the months ahead, the house would bustle in an uproar of activity as the family pitched in to get ready for the big day. The extra work wasn’t something the family needed right now. Still, they understood even if they didn’t know Aden was quite the wonderful man that Ella knew him to be.
“It’s the way of the Lord,” her father had said, “when a man and a woman come together in marriage and pledge their lives together in His holy will.”
He had stroked his long beard gravely, but Ella saw his eyes twinkling. She remembered the pleasure that came from his words and thought again of Aden. How good it was to have her dad’s approval of her husband-to-be.
Her mother also seemed content with the choice of Aden, and so surely after the work of the wedding, life would quickly settle back to normal for everyone and continue on as it always had.
The clock on the kitchen wall showed a little past three as Ella put the last of the dried dishes away. Her sister Clara would be home from school at any moment. Her mom and other sister must be on their way back from town by now. In the fields behind the barn, her dad and brothers would soon be ready to call it a day. It would fall on Ella and Clara to prepare supper for the whole hungry family.
Ella glanced out the window toward the schoolhouse. A neighbor’s buggy lumbered slowly up the long hill on its way home, the sun behind it casting wild shadows on the road as the horse shook its head. Farther back Ella could see Clara and some of her school friends walking briskly along, lunch buckets swinging in their hands. As they passed the houses on Seager Hill, they broke off from the group one by one. Clara was her best sister, the sweet one, but that was something best not said out loud.
Ella quickly returned to the kitchen table, grabbing the potatoes. She would peel them, and Clara could take over when she arrived. They needed to make the fire in the kitchen stove, bring the flour out for the gravy, and fry the hamburger patties.
“Hi,” Ella hollered when the door slammed. “Did you have a good day in school?”
Clara looked through the kitchen doorway. “Not
gut,
” she said.
Ella gave her a knowing smile. “Test blues perhaps? I used to have those.”
Clara shook her head and marched quickly upstairs, muttering over her shoulder, “I’m going to change, and then I’ll be down to help.”
Ella drew in her breath. She would carry on with the conversation when Clara returned. A nice sisterly chat might be all the girl needed. She continued with the potatoes until moments later when Clara came into the kitchen, her face still dark.
“So, now,” Ella said with older sister sympathy. “Sit yourself down here, and you can work on the potatoes while we talk. You can tell me about your day.”
Clara plopped down in the chair and stared at the potatoes. “Why must everything come in one day?”
Ella waited. It might not be good to push too hard.
“Teacher asked us to draw a picture for social studies class,” Clara went on. “Then we were to write a story about it.”
“Yah,” Ella said, nodding.
“Teacher Katie doesn’t do that usually. At least it’s the first time she has ever done it for us.”
“This is Katie’s first year, right?”
“Katie didn’t do anything wrong. She’s a good teacher,” Clara said, meeting Ella’s eyes.
“So it wasn’t from too much work?”
“Nee,” Clara said, sighing. “I can do the work.”
“Then…what?”
“Well, I started to draw my picture. At first I didn’t know what to draw, but then I saw Amanda’s picture. She sits in the seat in front of me.”
“You didn’t cheat?” Ella asked firmly. “You know that’s not right.”
Clara shook her head. “Of course not. Amanda’s picture didn’t even give me an idea, really. Amanda’s picture was of a clothesline. And besides, I finished before Amanda did.”
“You shouldn’t be proud about that,” Ella said quickly, thankful this wasn’t about copying someone else’s work.
“I don’t think I was proud. Anyway, that wasn’t the problem. The trouble started when Amanda turned in her seat and saw my picture of the house. She gasped out loud. I was sure Katie would look up and see us, but she didn’t.”
“So it was a nice picture?” Ella said, thinking none of this sounded too serious yet.
“Yah, but I didn’t know it was nice then. I thought Amanda didn’t like it, and so I drew in some more things…so she would like it. Things like a horse and buggy, a fence, cows, and a bull like Dad just got. Then when I was done, I finished my story.”
Ella motioned with her hand for Clara to wait as she lit the kindling in the woodstove. The little stream of smoke swirled out of the lid, and Ella waved it back in with her hand. Slowly the flame grew, and the smoke circled up backwards in the stove. Ella added heavier wood and closed the lid. “Phew,” she said, turning her attention back to Clara. “So you wrote a good story and made a nice drawing?”
“Yah, but I didn’t know that yet. Amanda asked to look at my picture and story at recess. I gave it to her, and she took them both up to Katie. I could hear Amanda whisper that it wasn’t fair I could draw and write so well and that she couldn’t. Katie told her something I couldn’t hear, but Amanda seemed happy about whatever Katie said to her.”
“So what did Katie tell you? I hope she liked it.”
“She said that I have to be careful about such things,” Clara said, “that our people don’t try to be good at drawing and writing stories, and that such things belong just to the
Englisha.”
Clara paused. “Is that true, Ella?”
Ella opened the oven and placed another piece of wood inside.
What should I say to Clara? I certainly don’t want to encourage Clara in disobedience to the faith. After all, Daett always says, “Destructive seeds are planted when the heart is still young.” Is this a destructive seed?
“Maybe…sometimes,” was all Ella could muster up as an answer.
Clara looked distressed. “I wasn’t
trying
to be good or even better than Amanda. It just happened.”
“Then no one can blame you,” Ella said, thinking that was surely safe advice.
“Katie didn’t look happy,” Clara said. “I could tell.”
“I know what we can do,” Ella said, turning quickly to face her sister. “Bring the drawing home with you from school so I can see it.”
“But if it’s wrong, why would you want to see it?”