Abram's Daughters 02 The Betrayal (7 page)

With a hug, Aunt Lizzie met her at the back door wearing an old black cooking apron. Newly scrubbed, the small kitchen was awash in sunlight. The familiar, welcoming smell of freshly baked bread drew Leah to sit at the table and savor the aroma. "Smells wonderful-gut," she said.

"Thought I'd bake a dozen raisin cinnamon rolls and a loaf of oatmeal bread for the Nolt family, down yonder," Lizzie said, bringing a glass of iced tea over to Leah. "How would you like to ride along?"

Leah didn't have the heart to bring up the hoped-for excursion to the woods and discourage Lizzie from her kind and generous deed, especially seeing the bright look of happiness on her face. "Jah, I'll go," she was quick to say, still hoping to go to the woods with her aunt later.

It was during the buggy ride down Georgetown Road that Leah opened up and shared her heart. She told Aunt Lizzie of her recent conversation with Sadie, all the while Lizzie's gaze

71

litMlittitu-cl fixed on the road as she gripped the reins just so.

t "Sadie's not interested in attending Naomi's wedding.

[I iiM'Nn't that seem odd to you?" asked Leah.

I "Sounds to me like Naomi might not want her there."

I I full pressed further. "How can that be?"

I I i/./.ic was slow to respond, taking a deep breath first.

|''HiuiK't im.es friends don't remain close for one reason or

|mu. it her. Honestly, I 'spect we should be awful glad Naomi and

I' 'lie aren't so chummy anymore."

I "Maybe so, but I have a strong feeling Naomi's turned Imv.iy I mm the world completely. If it's not too blunt to say so,

II I'rlicve she is more receptive to the church than ever."

I Lizzie brightened at that. "I trust and pray what you say is

E Then they chattered of this and that, especially of the

Sfli we.rs and vegetables growing in Lizzie's and Mamma's gar-

lili us. Soon, though, Leah asked, "I'm still thinking 'bout that

linn ommon honey locust tree. . . . Remember?"

I "Well, honey-girl, I 'spect we might be able to walk right

|i> > n, once we get home again."

I I c;ih was delighted. Leaning back a bit, she settled into

IIIi<- Imnt seat of the buggy, gazing at the now colorless sky,

lever so glad to have talked openly with dear Lizzie. Now, if

Irlie days would just pass more quickly till Jonas returned to

her.

I Hannah chased after two nasty flies in the front room. Miimma had ordered her to go inside from the garden to tseape the midday heat because she looked "sallow and all done in." Well, here she was, though not sitting down in the

71 72I

I'l j 10 e u e r L ij =L- e w> i s

i

j kitchen with a tall glass of ice water or fanning herself, but

| I downright eager to slap the annoying insects with the flyswat-

I j

ji ter. Truly, she had been suffering a headache off and on all

! I week, not telling anyone but her twin. And what had Mary

!j Ruth gone and done? She'd told Mamma, "Hannah needs

)\\ [ some lookin' after."

jlj Aside from the fact she was gripped with worry over

i'l '

j! | school opening soon, there wasn't much ailing Hannah. 1/

I ( only summer could last all year, she thought. She and her sisters

ji ) j always busied themselves from late spring on with the neces-

| sary tasks of planting and harvesting, cooking and cleaning,

i .

| and on and on it went. There was little else to occupy one's

I1

j | 1 mind during this season, and that was just how Hannah liked

| ' : it.

J Suddenly feeling too tired to stand, she went to the

I j kitchen and sat in the large hickory rocker near the windows.

i She had been happy to keep up her supply of consignment

! handiwork, especially her array of embroidered handkerchiefs

and pillowcases, thankful for the extra money she was earning

j j at both the Strasburg gift shop and the family's own roadside

' | stand.

Hannah put the swatter down on the floor and leaned her

| head against the rocker. Just as she was becoming droopy

I eyed, here came Sadie indoors. "You look all in, Hannah," she

i 11 said, going to the sink for some water.

;li

!;! j "Oh, don't fret over me."

!;| I "Here," Sadie said, offering her the tall glass. "Mamma

j said you had a headache. Two glasses straight down will ease

s it a bit."

. Hannah accepted the glass and began to sip, watching

73fueiraual

V '

- llo iviiim to the sink, now splashing water on her forehead I checks. Sadie patted her face dry with her apron, then i .. IjfJ lor another glass. When she'd poured a drink for her-

ll, nIk' went to the table and sat down, her face as red as I i 'i mull 11ad ever seen it.

They were still for a time; then Hannah got up the nerve

iiy, "I was wondering ... did you ever happen to show off 'i - M birthday hankie I made you, the green-and-gold butterfly

,,. r

Smlic seemed to stiffen at the question, frowned, and I. ...k her head. "Why, no, I didn't."

I liinnnh, taken aback by her sister's sudden unease, forced i nilk1. "Just wondered if someone else in the area might've n ii besides our own family . . . and started making some hi. ii losell."

S;ulic said nothing for the longest time. Then she whisi iell, "That hankie's gone forever, I'm afraid."

"( lone?" Hannah was startled. "But I made it special for I low could you lose it?"

Ssidie shook her head slowly. "I didn't say I did." Her hi- was weak now, as if she'd just returned home from the iuini;il of a close relative, the emotion of the day sapping herfiln'ii|;(h.

"Then what "

"Oh, Hannah, please don't ask me any more. I loved your handkerchief, but it's gone and I won't be getting it back."

i lurt over Sadie's seeming disregard for her gift, Hannah I' 'ink-red her sister's strange reply. Why would she do such ai/iiiii;/

She began to wonder if the woman who'd inquired of the

74

' / u JLs e us i i

cutwork hankie might, in all truth, be the new owner of Sadie's birthday handkerchief. Is that possible? she thought sadly but said not another word to her sister.

Leah waited in the buggy, hand loosely touching the reins, while Aunt Lizzie hurried to the front door of the Nolts' redbrick house. Lavender statice and pale peach dahlias decorated the front yard of the fancy Englischers' house, neat as a pin and as tidy and well kept as the Amish neighbors' yards nearby.

Leah looked forward to this evening, when Dat planned to read to her from the family Bible, translating the verses highlighting baptism. Today at the noon meal Dat had suggested they do this "the sooner the better."

Gladdened, she felt secure in his fatherly love, in spite of his evident disappointment toward her approaching marriage. She was determined to make him proud, even though he was not so happy with her at present. The fact Dat was eager to open the Word of God and discuss the Scriptures meant he was rejoicing at least in her upcoming baptism a requirement for marriage. In spite of himself, he was making it possible for her to marry Jonas.

She heard footsteps and turned to see Aunt Lizzie coming down the walkway, swinging her arms and smiling. Once settled into the driver's seat, Lizzie shared with her that the Nolts' baby was "as cute as a button."

Leah listened with interest. "I should've gone in with you."

"Another time, maybe." Lizzie clucked her tongue, and the horse pulled the buggy away from the curb. "The missus

74 75

II

ihc could use a bit of paid help round the house a few itWons ;\ week. Maybe Sadie what do you think of that?" "JllNl so you know," Leah said, "I think you should steer I nl uskin' Sadie at all." "Mluht do her some gut, don't you think?"

1 I ween you and me, she's put off by our baby sister."

1 i ic nodded. "You think on it, honey-girl. Can you really i i he'd be any other way . . . considering everything?"

I In- notion was talked over till the horse made the turn " 11 < road and pulled the carriage into Dat's long lane. "> maybe Mary Ruth or Hannah, then?" Lizzie pulled 'ii I be reins. "I'll clear it with your father first, though I i he'll be any too eager." Tiuli'ly he'll nix the whole idea ... wouldn't surprise

\iini Lizzie smiled, a twinkle in her eye. "You just leave

' i ! hi me.

I I-.ill was puzzled at Lizzie's confident response, but she " I no more, hoping they'd take themselves off for a walk in d- woods.

lii ihe midafternoon light, they moved quickly up the hilII, Leah and Lizzie stopped for a moment to take in the "lids every little crack and rustle they might expect to !> H1 garter snakes seizing centipedes, and other tiny creaihh'H stirring beneath layers of brushwood and leaves teeming wlilillfe.

75 76

P.c

!

Hi

:t!

Standing there in the midst of the woods, Leah was struck with a startling thought, one she spoke right out. "What do you s'pose would've happened if Sadie had delivered her baby full-term ... if her infant son had lived?" she asked. "How

would Dat and Mamma have reacted Sadie not havin' a

husband an' all?"

Lizzie paused for a moment. "Well, now, that's not so hard to say."

Surprised, Leah studied Lizzie. "Would Dat and Mamma have taken it in their stride?"

"I didn't say that . . . just that I think in time they would've come to accept the baby their flesh-and-blood grandson, after all."

"Something we'll never know for sure, prob'ly."

"But when all's said and done, the Lord knew best. He saw fit to call the precious little babe home to Glory."

"Just think how torn Sadie would've been her whole life long over the baby's father bein' fancy and all ... not having him by her side."

"I doubt the lad much cared," Lizzie broke in, moving up the hill again.

Leah suddenly wondered who the father of Sadie's baby might've been. All she'd ever known was his first name Derry. Even that made her squirm; it sounded to her like someone who might double-dare you to do something you'd later regret.

She matched her stride to Lizzie's, pleased to see the locust tree not four yards ahead. "You found it. How on earth?"

Lizzie hurried to pat the thick, grand trunk. Such an

76 77

^HltMisc and powerful tree. "Well, there aren't so many like

^Hoiu', ain't so?"

^H'll's mighty special. . . even scarce, I'd say." She turned to

^H limn whence they'd come. "How hard would it be to find

^Htany home from here, do you think?"

^H'l'll mark the way back." Aunt Lizzie reached down for a

IRit'iliiun-sized stone to mark the trees.

I "Then, you won't fret over me coming here alone?"

I Lizzie's smile faded. "Oh, I'll never say that."

I Hie sun broke through the uppermost canopy, causing a

Ifhlit stream of light to illuminate the grassy patch near their

Id'i. "Lookee there!" Leah felt more confident than ever.

I" I .'f there be light.'"

I "Now, don't be thinkin' this is some heavenly sign or such

lfiiiiiscn.se."

I At that Leah laughed along with Lizzie, yet she did won-

Uci why the sunbeam had found them at that precise moment.

I When the kitchen was redd up after supper and Mamma PUnl none to her room to nurse Lydiann, Dat and Leah sat BuKt'ther at the table, the large family Bible open between Mir in. Sadie and Mary Ruth played a game of checkers on the in' ii >r while Hannah embroidered a bluebird on a white cotton Iliiimlkerchief. Dawdi John, who had come to share the supper Ihiiiir with the family, sat in a hickory rocker near the door llnuling to the back porch, a relaxed smile on his tanned and wrinkled face.

77 78',i !

93,

iu jB(

"We'll begin with the Lord Jesus being baptized by John," Dat said, his finger sliding down the page as he read. '"I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. . . . '"

"Is that John the Baptist speaking?" Leah asked.

Dat nodded. "Our Lord set the example for us, even though He was the sinless Lamb of God."

Leah listened with rapt attention.

Dat continued. "Now, here's my favorite passage in this chapter. 'And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.'"

Leah's ears perked up at the mention of a dove. Jehovah God had sent a gentle white bird, a symbol of peace, to rest on the Son of Man's head as a blessing.

"You must not take lightly this thing you're 'bout to do." Dat folded his callused hands on the Bible. "Membership in the church is a sign of repentance and complete commitment to the community of the People. It's also the doorway that leads to adulthood."

At this comment Leah noticed Sadie's head bob up as if she were listening, which was right fine. 'Specially now, thought Leah, recalling their recent prickly exchange.

Dat began to quote Mark chapter sixteen, verse sixteen. " 'He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.'" :

"A divine pronouncement, and ever so frightening," Leah said, in awe of the Scripture.

At this Dat closed the Bible and reached for another

79lOeirayal

Iti Martyrs Mirror, over eleven hundred pages in length. It If heir recorded heritage of bloodshed and abuse in all, Ifllt'pn hundred years of Christian martyrdom. "Obedience

111 nl lends to a path of redemption, though it is exceedingly Iftw . . . and few will ever find it," Dat said before beginlo rend.

I'Wr lire a people set apart we walk the narrow way,In

E)ul nodded reverently. " 'Tis our very life and breath."

{"Without spot or blemish," Leah added, knowing the