Living in Harmony (4 page)

“This is it, folks,” announced the driver in an unfamiliar accent. “This is the Thomas Detweiler farm.”

Amy shook her head as though waking from a dream. In the darkness she saw nothing but the gaping mouth of a dirt lane.

The driver lowered his voice to speak to John, who sat next to him in the front seat. “Would you mind much if I left you off here, young man? We've had a lot of rain recently. I could get the vehicle stuck if the driveway has turned muddy.”

“Not at all.” John sounded cheery, as though he were chatting at a potluck instead of having just traveled a thousand miles by six different conveyances. “We have little luggage, so the walk won't be any trouble to us.”

“Wake up, Nora.” Amy shook her sister's arm. “We're here.”

“Where?” Nora straightened, peering around with a frown. “I don't see a thing.”

“Harmony, Maine.” Amy accepted John's hand as she climbed from the van's backseat.

“It's about time,” muttered Nora, not hiding her crankiness.

John paid the driver and hefted both bags by the shoulder straps. The van disappeared down the road in a great hurry. “I can't wait to see my brother's face. It's been years. He's gotten married, become a minster, and fathered two boys during that time.” He slipped an arm around Amy's waist.

Amy clung to him and breathed deeply, glad to be out of the stuffy vehicle with odors of onions and garlic. “That driver must eat his lunch and dinner in there on a regular basis.”

“
Englischers
love to eat on the run.” John filled his lungs too. “Smell that fresh clean air. Do I detect a hint of pine and not the exhaust fumes from tour buses?”

Amy grinned at him despite her overwhelming fatigue. Beyond them lay only inky darkness. “No buses filled with shutterbugs will be nice for a change.”

“How will we find the house?” wailed Nora. “It's pitch-black out here.”

“You can see the dirt and gravel at your feet, can't you?” John mustered an easygoing tone. “We'll put one foot after the other until a house appears in front of our noses. Grab on to your sister and hang on tight.”

His tender patience with Nora warmed Amy's heart. He'd had to call upon it many times since they left their other two sisters and grandparents in Lancaster. Even though Nora begged to accompany them north, she'd done an uncharacteristic amount of complaining on the trip. Amy snaked an arm around Nora's waist. “Lean on me. I'll catch you if you fall. It's been a long day.”

Nora turned her face up. Moonlight filtered through the
canopy and glinted off her cat-green eyes. “What if they don't like us?” she whispered close to Amy's ear.

“What's not to like? Two sweet, always cheerful, hardworking women like us?” Amy patted her back as John laughed under his breath.

“That's what I'm worried about.” Nora's whisper floated on thick humid air.

“We have a clean slate with an opportunity to make good first impressions,” stated John. Then he added, “All three of us, I mean. I've never met Sally before.”

As they walked up the lane, Amy clung to John while Nora clung to her.
Please Lord, don't let John's kin be in talkative moods tonight,
she prayed.
I just want to sleep.

A serenade of nocturnal animals and insects closed in around her, but it did not offer the familiar comfort as it did back home. These critters might be dangerous for all she knew. According to John's book, moose, black bear, fox, and coyote filled the Maine woods. What would prevent a lost wolf from wandering down from Canada? They owned no maps to confine themselves to acceptable national forests.

But before a predator could strike, a rambling white house with a green metal roof and long front porch loomed before them. Flowers bloomed on both sides of the steps, while vines encircled the posts and entwined the handrails. Somehow she'd envisioned Maine's landscape inhospitable to climbing roses, clematis, daylilies, and black-eyed Susans.

Without warning, the front door swung open as they reached the porch. “Welcome, welcome!” a deep voice boomed. Soft yellow light from a kerosene lamp framed a tall man in the open doorway. Amy spotted a second lamp burning on the table behind him.

“Thomas,” greeted John, hurrying up the steps. “You're a sight for sore eyes.” The two men hugged clumsily with much backslapping. “This is my intended, Amy King.” John pulled her up the
steps. “And this is her younger sister, Nora. She was eager to try out your new community.”

Nora stepped into the light and nodded demurely. “
Danki
for letting me come to visit.”

Thomas appeared momentarily befuddled. “Oh…of course. We'll all be joined as family when John and Amy tie the knot. Come in. Meet my
fraa
, Sally.” He stepped aside, and they entered his austere but pleasant front room.

Amy's gaze fell on a tiny woman holding a sleeping infant. She looked no more than twenty—
younger
than she was. Another child peeked out from behind Sally, clutching her dark-brown skirt in his tiny fist. Amy held out her hand to the woman. “I'm Amy King.
Danki
, Sally, for opening your home. I hope you haven't kept your
kinner
up waiting for us.”

Sally stared at her hand as though handshaking weren't a common practice. She squeezed Amy's fingers rather than shaking them. Amy filed away the information for future use.

“Oh, no. This one woke up with a wet diaper. Then his howls woke up his brother. This is Jeremiah.” Sally hoisted the
boppli
up on her hip. “And this is Aden.” She dragged the toddler out from the folds of her skirt. “His shyness will only last a day or two. Then he'll talk your leg off.”

Amy bent down to the boy's perfect oval face. Thick lashes framed his huge dark eyes. “Good evening, Aden,” she greeted in
Deutsch
. The boy blinked several times, frightened by so many new people.

“Are you hungry or thirsty?” asked Thomas, looking from Amy to John and back again. “Sally can heat leftovers from supper in no time at all.” He took one bag from John and closed the heavy wooden door against the night. Even in thin lamplight, Amy could see the deep lines that etched his eyes and mouth. Flecks of silver peppered his dark hair, and his beard reached his chest.

John shook his head from side to side. “No, we ate several times
during the last twenty-four hours. We're eager to lay our heads down, if you don't mind. I can sleep in the barn if you have a spare blanket.”

“No need for that. There's room in the house. We have four bedrooms—one for us, one for our sons, one for Amy and Nora, and you can have Elam's old room.”

“Where is our little
bruder
?” asked John, looking around as though Elam was also hiding behind someone's skirts.

Amy watched the smile fade from Thomas's face.

“He's not here, John. You'll have the room to yourself. He's away, working on a logging crew up north. And even when he's home, he's taken to sleeping in the basement.”

“On an English crew?” asked John. “I thought the Amish in Maine didn't work for outsiders the way they do in Lancaster. That's one of the reasons I wanted to move here.”

Thomas walked to his wife's side. “Usually that's true, but you know our brother. A bull moose separated from his heifer isn't as stubborn as the youngest Detweiler.” He punctuated his sentence with an unconvincing laugh. “But we have plenty of time to catch up on family news. The women need their rest.” Thomas guided Sally toward the foot of the stairs. “Amy and Nora can follow us up. You'll find your new room down that hallway. It's the last door on your right. Take along that lamp to find your way.”

John nodded in Amy's direction. “
Gut nacht
. Sleep well. Before you know it, we'll be wed and looking for our own place.”

Stopping in his tracks, Thomas turned back to his brother. “We'll also talk on that matter tomorrow. You indicated in your letter that you wished to marry as soon as possible.”

“We've both taken the kneeling vow and have been baptized,” said John. “We were about to start the marriage classes with the bishop when—” He faltered, reluctant to mention the fire. “When we decided to relocate.”

“
Jah
,
gut
, but things are different here in this district. The bishop will want to meet you both. Then he'll want you to adjust
to our ways before taking the next step.” Thomas spoke almost melodically.

John opened his mouth to speak but closed it again quickly. “We'll talk tomorrow, then.” He lifted the kerosene lamp from the table and headed down the hall, not quite as cheery as when they arrived.

Sally leaned over to brush Amy's cheek with a kiss. “Welcome,” she whispered. Then she trailed her husband up the steps as he held the lamp high.

Nora staggered up behind Sally, dragging their one bag as though it weighed a ton. For a moment Amy paused to admire the plain, homey furnishings of the kitchen and front room, and then she followed last with a springier step. She slumbered that night in her new bed in her new room in an unknown land as though a choir of angels stood nearby, singing sweet lullabies.

Sally didn't sleep anywhere near as well, even though the house's nighttime creaks and groans rang familiarly in her ears. Although she welcomed more females into the household to help with housework and offer feminine perspective, she shuddered at the thought of these two making such a disastrous move. Even though both sects were classified as Old Order, a world of difference separated their Maine community from the Lancaster Amish. Close proximity with the English had changed the Pennsylvania brethren's ways, making them more worldly and tolerant of independent, willful behavior, especially among young people.

Here in Harmony, there was no
rumschpringe
—no testing of the waters before joining the church and committing your life to Christ. The elder sister, Amy, might adjust fine because she had already been baptized and found her life mate. But the younger King girl? Sally had gazed into those moss-green eyes and seen
herself as she was many years ago, before her redemption by the patient love of a good man.

“Is the room too warm for you to sleep? I'll open the window across the hall for cross ventilation.” Thomas's low-pitched words floated in the darkness.

Sally felt the mattress move as he shifted his weight to an elbow. “
Nein
,” she whispered. “I'm just worried about the new arrivals.”

“My
bruder
and his future
fraa
? They'll be fine after a good night's sleep and some of your delicious vittles under their belts.”

She laughed at his teasing—her cooking wasn't her best skill. But she soon sobered. “Don't underestimate their transition.”

He sighed so softly she almost missed it. “True enough. The bishop prefers people to visit first and try out our ways before making the move. Many change their minds once they experience the long Maine winter.”

“And discover we are but a dozen families.”

“But we're growing larger all the time.”

Sally reached for his hand atop the quilt. “You're the best supporter Harmony could have.”

“I am content. The Lord has blessed us richly. There's no reason why John and Amy can't make a happy home here too.”

“It's not about them I worry, but the younger one.”

This time Thomas's sigh sounded like a mule's grunt. “John made no mention of an uncommitted youth tagging along. If he had, I would have discouraged the idea, but I couldn't turn someone away in the dead of night. She looked as though she were about to fall asleep standing up.” He chuckled.

Sally clucked her tongue. “I doubt she will stay. And the expense of her travel will be wasted money.”

“If you are worried, send up the matter in prayer.” Thomas spoke now as one of the district's ministers rather than her
ehemann
.

“I was praying when you decided to chat about the heat upstairs.” She pinched his arm lightly.