Anna's Healing (43 page)

“I can't see. Move out of my way.”

“Anna, over here! Please, come see my child.”

“Help us, Anna.”

Anna kept moving resolutely forward, and Jacob clutched her hand, determined to protect her from any other crazy person who might have taken it into their head to whisk her away. He wasn't going to let that happen again. He wasn't sure how he could protect her twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, but he was determined to find a way.

The crowd pushed in around them.

Finally they were close enough to the entrance of Samuel's lane that the officers took notice. One spoke to another. A third talked into a radio. The first two began to walk toward them, but Anna held up her hand and shook her head. They hesitated but stopped.

A wooden platform stood behind a small stand that had been built the night before, so that Lacretia could speak to the crowds and be seen and heard. There was even a microphone there, plugged into a
generator. Somehow Anna seemed to know all this, and it occurred to Jacob that perhaps she'd seen it on a television. The thing he couldn't imagine was what she was planning to do. He reluctantly let go of her hand as she stepped up onto the platform. She smiled at him again, and then she pulled the microphone closer, causing it to send out a squeak through the morning's dawn.

“
Gudermiraye
.” She glanced down at Jacob, and he did his best to encourage her with a smile. “Or maybe I should say
good morning
.”

There were murmurs and questions and a few returned her greeting. Mostly they pressed up to the platform, including the news reporters who were zooming in with their cameras. Anna must have noticed the reporters too, because she turned to her right to address them directly.

“I appreciate what you have done to help me since yesterday evening. Thank you for your news reports…” Now she turned back to the people in the crowd “And your prayers.”

The crowd was silencing. They were hanging on to her every word, but Jacob was still worried. What was she doing? And what would he do if someone jumped up and tried to grab her? That was a foolish thought. The officers had formed a semicircle behind her. No one would be snatching Anna this morning.

“I would like to go to my
onkel
's house now and speak with my family. I know they have been very worried. I would also like to eat a little breakfast. No doubt you are hungry too.” She stepped back and said something to one of the officer's behind her.

“It's nearly seven now. I'll be back at eight thirty, which should give everyone plenty of time to eat. I hear there's a
gut
breakfast at the Dutch Pantry in town.”

A light laughter rippled through the crowd, like a breeze Jacob had been waiting for. Could it be that these people meant her no harm? Could he trust that this was all going to turn out all right?

Anna had turned away from the microphone, when one of the reporters called out to her. “Where have you been, Anna? Is it true that someone took you? Can you tell us—”

“Eight thirty. I'll answer all the questions I can at that time.”

As she stepped down, Anna reached for Jacob's hand, and his heart
swelled until he could actually feel it beating in his chest. They turned and started up the lane. Already, Anna's family was running toward them—Martha, Erin, Samuel, and Chloe. She was a part of their family too. Their lives had been irrevocably bound together through the course of events Anna had endured. Jacob looked past them to the house and saw
Mammi
standing on the front porch. Her hands were raised, and he knew, he understood fully, that she was giving praise that Anna had returned home.

The sight humbled Jacob. He had been so caught up in his emotions that he hadn't thought to thank the Lord. His prayers had been answered, but his mind had rushed ahead to the next problem. As Anna's family surrounded her—hugging and laughing and making sure she was fine—Jacob continued to the house. He sat down beside
Mammi
, allowed his head to drop into his hands, and uttered a prayer of gratitude.

CHAPTER 66

A
nna had known, somewhere in the back of her mind, that her family wouldn't like her plan.

“I don't see that it's necessary,” her mother said.

“
Ya
, and you're just now home. Why stir them up again?” Samuel poked at his scrambled eggs with his fork. “We're so glad you're back, and now if life could return to normal—”

“Can't you see? Don't you understand?” Anna felt frustration bubble up inside of her. She forced herself to take a calming breath and pushed on. “We won't be normal as long as I'm hiding away in here. We'll pretty much be waiting for the next desperate person to do something crazy.”

“What will you say to them, Anna?” Erin fidgeted with the strings to her prayer
kapp
. “What can you possibly tell them that will make them go away?”

“And why can't you simply issue a press release?” Chloe had been the most adamant voice against her speaking directly to the crowd. “We can type up anything you want to say. There's no need for you to go out there—”

“Anna's changed.”
Mammi
poured syrup over her hot biscuit, pausing only after she had it to her liking. “She sees things differently now.”

“What can that possibly mean?” Martha asked.

“
Mammi
is right.” Anna was grateful for the cup of coffee she held in her hands, and she wanted one of the hot biscuits, but her stomach
was flipping and flopping, and she didn't trust herself to eat yet. “I am seeing things differently, and I'm sure this is the right thing to do.”

No one had an answer to that, so they finished their breakfast in silence. She glanced up from her coffee cup, saw Jacob watching her, and realized they hadn't shared with anyone their feelings about each other. There would be time, though—plenty of time. For now, it was a sacred and intimate confession between them. She held on to that thought as her family finished their breakfast. It was good to be back with them. It was good to be home.

Lacretia stepped into the kitchen. “It's time if you still insist on doing this.”

Anna nodded, and everyone pushed back chairs and carried plates to the sink. It was decided that they would all go down to the area where the lane turned into Samuel's property together. Because
Mammi
also wanted to go, Samuel cranked up the tractor after he and Jacob had attached the truck bed with the benches. They all fit inside—but barely. Lacretia had offered to drive them down in one of their cars, but Samuel had declined. “If we must do this, we'll do it as simply as possible.”

As they drove closer, Chloe leaned in and said, “Looks like twice the number of news crews as we had last night. Didn't take long for the word to get out.”

There were indeed even more news vans lining the lane.

Instead of being filled with despair at the sight, Anna felt a surge of hope. Perhaps if they could get the word out, this might work.

She squeezed Chloe's hand. “Stop worrying. You look like a mother with a wayward babe.”

“I feel like one too!” Chloe shook her head before squaring her shoulders and smoothing frown lines away from her forehead. “Always smile for the camera.”

“
Ya
. Sounds like
gut
advice.” The cameras made Anna uncomfortable, but she understood that a statement wouldn't be enough. The people who were hurting needed to see and hear her. Not because of who she was, but because of what God had done.

Lacretia had briefed the team at the entry on what was about to happen. They had spread out around and in front of the podium.
Anna's family stood behind her. There wasn't enough room up on the wooden platform for everyone to stand together, but they waited close by. She could hear them and feel their support and love and prayers. She reminded herself of the real reason she was doing this, took a deep breath, and began.

“As many of you know, I was injured in an accident nearly a year ago here on my
onkel
's farm. Jacob…” She turned and smiled at him, and he looked back at her with complete love and steadiness. That look, that love, gave her courage. “Jacob saved me. He's a friend, and he helps out around here.”

There was the flash of cameras, and she could hear the whir of film crews. They had spoken of this, and it may have been the main reason her uncle resisted the plan. The Amish preferred not to be photographed. In this case, however, it seemed they were way past that problem. After all, her picture had been leaked all over the news when she went missing. Anna stood straighter and smiled for the cameras. She might need to ask forgiveness from her church later, but it was time to do this.

“I think you all have probably looked over my medical records by now. You probably know a lot about me—even what I had for breakfast this morning.”

Laughter spread through the crowd, and the tension eased. The sun was now shining fully. It was going to be another hot day. Anna noticed several families in the crowd, families with little ones who needed to be back at their home, not camping outside an Amish farm.

“I suffered a complete spinal cord break. After some time in the hospital, I was transferred to a rehabilitation facility. Eventually I returned here to my
onkel
's farm. I'm not telling you anything you don't know, but I wanted you to hear the basic facts from me.”

“How is it that you can walk now?” This from a newswoman who was scribbling madly on a pad.

Anna waited for her to look up. “I don't know.”

“You mean—”

“I mean I don't know. I went to sleep one night a paraplegic and woke the next day able to walk.” People in the crowd shifted to better
see her, but there was total silence. She could hear the call of a cow to a calf, and the neighing of one of the horses. “What I do know is that my family, my entire family and church and friends, prayed for me while I was ill. I believe that their prayers are what caused God to answer and to heal me.”

The reporters had stopped writing on their pads. Every eye was now trained on her, but Anna turned and sought her grandmother.
Mammi
smiled and nodded slightly, one hand lifted halfway to heaven.

“I can't tell you why God did that. I don't understand anymore than you do, but what I do know, what I'm certain of, is that He cares for us. He has a plan for me and one for each of you. Whether I'm in a wheelchair or standing in front of you, He can use me, and one way is as good as another.”

“But what of my child?” This from a woman who rolled a stroller back and forth. She looked frail and worn. She looked as if she wanted to lie down and sleep for days. “My child is dying. Are you saying that God can use her death? I'll have nothing to do with such a terrible deity.”

Anna thought of Karen and Spencer and Peggy. She had refused to give Lacretia their names, only saying that it had been a misunderstanding, one they had managed to clear up. No one had been hurt, and she didn't want to press charges. But the pain in this woman's eyes, the woman whose babe was dying, it was the same pain she'd seen in Spencer's eyes.

“When I was a child, I would play outside until darkness fell.” Anna swallowed and pushed on. “I'd stay there as long as my
mamm
would let me. But she cared for me, and so she would call me inside. She'd call me home. She didn't do that because she was angry or because she disliked me. She did it because home was where I belonged.”

The woman who had asked about her child began to weep. Anna wanted to go to her, but she knew she couldn't. She was relieved when a man stepped forward and put his arm around her.

“Are you saying there's nothing you
can
do for us?” A man with one leg stood near the back of the crowd leaning on his crutch, but his voice could be heard clearly. “Or that you
won't
?”

“I was not given the gift of healing, if that's what you're asking me.”

“Then why? Why were you healed and so many others are still hurting?”

“I don't know.” Tears slipped down Anna's cheeks. She'd asked the very same question so many times in the last week, and still she had no answer. “What I do know is that we all have a finite amount of time. We should spend that time wisely, with the ones we love.”

There were many more questions. Anna tried to respond to each one, though after a few minutes she was aware that she was repeating herself. Obviously, she was not giving them the answers they had sought.

She had no miracle cure.

She had no answers.

She was a young woman, and she was still figuring out what had happened. As two reporters in front vied for her attention, she thought again of Spencer and Peggy, and their love for Karen.

She held up a hand to stop the reporters, stepped closer to the microphone, and tried one more time. “Our families are a gift,
ya
? Our love for one another, that is a true miracle.
Gotte
's love for us? It's difficult to understand, but we can still believe in it in the same way we believe that the sun will set this evening and rise again tomorrow. You want me to tell you how to stop the pain that plagues you.”