Keeping Secrets (38 page)

Sadie stuffed the last of the buttered muffin into her mouth. Then she looked up wide-eyed and startled.

“What? What?” she stammered, thoroughly confused.

“Well, I ain’t repeatin’ myself.”

Sadie shrugged her shoulders, gathered up the cleaning supplies she needed for the morning, and headed to the bedrooms.

While dusting the dresser in the master bedroom, a movement in the yard below caught her eye, so she laid down the dust cloth and went to the window.

There was little Sadie Elizabeth, toddling toward the bent form of Bertie, shrieking with glee when he scooped her up in his arms. The regal form of Barbara Caldwell moved across the lawn toward them. She was dressed in the latest fall fashion, her hair coiffed to perfection. Sadie watched the sweet-mannered way she patted Bernie’s arm.

It hadn’t always been like that. The darling baby girl had done wonders, completely changing Richard and Barbara Caldwell. These two wealthy landowners had it all, but their one real source of happiness was their cherished daughter.

Sadie sighed, then turned back to her dusting, polishing the top of the dresser to a rich sheen as she contemplated the people and her work at the ranch.

Did she really, for sure, want to give up this to become Mark Peight’s wife? She knew she’d no longer be able to keep her job at the ranch when the first baby arrived.

It was the Amish way. Women stayed home and took care of the children and their husbands. For generations, mothers prepared their daughters for this important role by teaching them the art of running a home smoothly.

Yes, she was eager. She was prepared to be Mark’s wife. She looked forward to her new life with him. But she would miss these people so much. She would come back, yes, but it would never be the same. She wouldn’t know the same camaraderie she had known from working among these people day in and day out.

She set the heavy brass candleholders back on the dresser, then frowned as the taper candle wobbled in its socket. Grabbing a tissue, she tore it in half, folded it a few times again, wrapped it around the bottom of the candle, then put it firmly back in the brass holder. It stood straight and strong.

Sadie smiled to herself. What they don’t know won’t hurt them.

She would miss this house. She loved just being in it, even if it meant cleaning. She enjoyed the work, lifting and replacing and touching objects so far above anything she would ever own.

A muffled screech broke through her absentminded reverie, and she turned to look out the window once again.

She put her hand to her mouth when a shrieking Erma Keim came barreling out of the tack room, her legs churning, her skirt flying above her white knees. A grinning Lothario Bean followed quickly on her heals, both hands holding the pressure nozzle at the end of a long green hose and the water following Erma’s yelling form.

Oh, dear.

Sadie laughed as some of the water connected with the retreating back and laughed again at Lothario’s obvious glee.

But still. She had pooh-poohed Dorothy’s idea of Erma overstepping her bounds with Lothario. She still felt that way. But the scene in the yard was a bit unsettling, nevertheless.

Sadie knew Erma’s behavior would be looked at disapprovingly among their people. The scene playing out in the yard below was why some Amish mothers frowned on their girls working “out.”

Sadie winced as Barbara Caldwell turned to watch, then relaxed as she saw her laugh with Bertie. As long as Erma knew her place, it would be all right, although Lord knew she had sorely overstepped her designated “place” in Dorothy’s kitchen.

As she ran the vacuum cleaner, she thought again about her decision to have her in the bridal party with Reuben. What if she became noisy and, well, like she was today? She was just so overboard.

Back in the kitchen, she spoke to Dorothy about it, which was a big mistake. Sadie wound up defending Erma’s reputation and desperately trying to hush up Dorothy before poor Erma returned.

Dorothy said she would have thought better of Sadie. How could she even think Erma would keep that mouth shut long enough to be in a bridal party? And how did she think that red hair would ever lie flat long enough to be in a wedding?

Sadie spent the rest of the day in a sour mood. When she got home that evening, everything got worse. Anna was throwing up again out behind Paris’ stall, just one easy retch and she emptied her stomach of the food from supper. She was wiping her mouth when an angry Sadie appeared. All Anna could do was sink to the floor of the barn and deny everything.

Sadie confided in Mark, who said she couldn’t expect to fix everyone’s problems. Anna was just passing through a phase. This, too, would pass.

As far as Erma Keim was concerned, he wouldn’t worry about that either. She was a delight. He was glad she was going to be
nâva hucking
, and he planned on finding a husband for her as soon as Sadie helped her tame that red hair.

T
HE DAY OF THE
wedding dawned.

Actually, the day began in the pitch-black hour of four o’clock in the morning when the battery-operated digital alarm went off and woke Jacob Miller from a sound sleep. He found his wife getting dressed in the bathroom. Unlike her husband, she had been wide awake since two-thirty, her mind tossing at the thought of all the disasters that could occur.

He bent to kiss her good morning but was brushed aside like an overgrown housefly.

Aah … well. Mam had a lot on her mind.

Mam woke the whole household, sparing no one, not even relatives in the basement, or Eva and Sadie, who had rejuvenated an old, old bond, by talking until midnight.

Mam popped breakfast casseroles into the oven and got out cups for water and coffee. There was no juice or toast this morning. Cranky little cousins yelled as mothers wet their hair, pulling fine-toothed combs through the long tresses. Mam helped pin capes and adjust coverings.

Erma arrived at five-thirty with a driver and was whisked upstairs with the speed of lightning, though she looked back at the breakfast casserole with genuine longing.

Leah produced all her best hair products and explained the need for neat hair. Rebekah nodded in agreement, exclaiming the wonder of the gels and sprays. They sprayed and pulled and pinned until they finally stepped back and smiled.

“Look at you!” Rebekah cried. “You’re gorgeous!”

Erma bent her head to look in the mirror, then put her hands to her cheeks in dramatic fashion.

“Well, you may as well have ironed my hair and been done with it.”

They put a new covering on Erma’s glossy, now-subdued, red hair and were astounded at the results. What a difference it made!

Sadie combed her hair at least five times before it suited her. She needed both Leah’s and Rebekah’s help in pinning the white organdy cape and apron.

Mark appeared in his new black suit, his shirt as white as white could possibly be. His hair cut to perfection. Sadie took one look and knew she had never seen him look better.

Was it really true? Was this striking man about to become her husband?

Sadie glanced toward Reuben and winced when Erma linked her arm through his. She smiled gamely at him, bolstering his courage with a quick whisper of, “Remember the saddle.”

Poor Reuben.

Sadie hung on to Mark’s arm in sheer alarm when a whole army of buggies, vans, buses, and vehicles of every description wound their way up the rural road toward the Detweiler home. When their own ride was at the door, Sadie gulped down a few swallows of black coffee before following Mark to the waiting carriage that would take them to the Detweilers for the service.

The glossy pine benches in the Detweilers’ spotlessly clean shop were set in neat rows. The wedding guests took their seats. Mark and Sadie sat beside each other with Reuben and Erma on one side, Kevin and Leah on the other. They greeted the wedding guests: family, friends, and members of the community.

There was only a handful of Mark’s relatives from Pennsylvania, but Sadie was grateful for every single one that came, for Mark’s sake.

The family belonged to a sect of the Old Order Amish who dressed a bit different from Sadie’s community. They greeted Mark with a sort of curious fascination, as if he was an ancient relic that had survived a remarkable amount of excavation.

He had been given up as a bad sort, a black sheep. Was it any wonder, coming from that sort of family? And here he was, looking normal. It was a miracle. Atlee and Meely’s oldest. My, my.

The single boys filed in and were seated on the men’s side of the shop, the girls on the women’s side. The service began when the first song was announced, a wave of slow, undulating tunes from the German hymnbook enveloping them in the familiar way.

The ministers rose to go to an adjacent room for a conference with Mark and Sadie. This was when the ministers explained the rules and value of Christian marriage and asked if they wished to become man and wife. The ministers wished them many blessings, as was the custom.

When they were dismissed, Mark and Sadie were joined by their
nâva huckers
. Blond-haired Kevin was so striking alongside Leah; Reuben’s face was white and tense, while Erma averted her eyes in the greatest show of humility she had ever managed.

Slowly, they walked among the congregation and sat in six special chairs in the ministers’ row. The three women sat facing their men, their heads bent, their eyes downcast in the proper way.

The singing ended when the ministers came back from their conference. Then the first speaker stood up and spoke. When he finished, they prayed. Then the second minister stood up and told the story of Tobias, a touching tale of a youth and his bride.

When he came to a certain part in the story, he announced to the wedding guests that Mark and Sadie wished to be united as well.

Very solemnly, their eyes downcast, Mark and Sadie rose. The minister asked them if this was their wish, and they promised it was with a subdued “
Ya.
” The minister joined their hands, pronounced a blessing, the congregation stood in prayer, and they returned to their seats.

Never once did they raise their eyes while the remaining ministers gave testimony. Only when they rose from the last prayer, and the final, rousing, German hymn had begun, did Sadie dare raise her eyes to Mark’s own.

He met her eyes. One fleeting look.

How could a lifetime of love be poured forth from those dark eyes in a few seconds? It took her breath away.

She loved him so. With all her heart and soul. Even the fear of the tough times ahead diminished in the face of this love. She was so secure now. His love to her was real. She could never doubt that.

When the song ended, he looked at her again and smiled, a slow easy smile that warmed her the whole way through.

“My wife,” he whispered for her ears alone. Her eyes shone into his.

The remainder of the day was a movement of color, warmth, smells, hands shaken, hugs accepted, senses awed by light and sounds.

Their wedding table was a corner. Mark sat on one side, Sadie on the other, their attendants on either side.

There were candles, chinaware, stem glasses, and silverware on white tablecloths of Sadie’s choice. The cloth napkins were an off-white color, as were the placemats and accessories.

The mashed potatoes and fried chicken were cooked to perfection, although Sadie hardly remembered what she ate or how it tasted. The women slaved over ovens and stove-tops, getting everything just right.

Sadie loved how the butter was molded in a perfect butterfly-shape on the butter plate. She exclaimed over the perfection of the whole wheat dinner rolls, sadly disturbing the butterfly to spread a small amount of butter on her roll.

Would she ever forget Dorothy’s remark about doubling her weight?

Jim and Dorothy dressed in their wedding finery. Dorothy wore a blazing-pink polyester suit with a large corsage from the Dollar General firmly imbedded in the lapel. Her hair looked really good, for Dorothy. Jim smiled and beamed beside his portly, brightly-colored wife.

Richard and Barbara Caldwell were seated at the English table, the one that had special servers for important guests. They were as resplendent as Sadie had imagined, and little Sadie Elizabeth was a vision in yellow.

Beside them, Bertie Orthman and Lothario Bean and his lovely little wife, followed by their beautiful daughters, were all laughing and seemed to be enjoying their first Amish wedding.

Then Marcellus and Louis came back from wherever they had gone and Sadie leaned over. “Mark!”

He looked to where Sadie pointed, and his eyes became soft with emotion as he looked at the two lovely children, their dark faces alight with interest. He watched as Jim bent to tie a shoe and brush off a bit of dust. Dorothy hovered and filled their plates like a pink mother hen.

“They’re definitely two of the lucky ones,” Mark said meaningfully.

Sadie nodded, found his hand, and squeezed it reassuringly.

After dinner, they opened a towering mound of gifts. Richard and Barbara Caldwell came to talk to them, and Sadie found herself choking up, unable to speak. Richard Caldwell quickly gathered Sadie into a bear hug while Barbara patted her white organdy cape.