On Her Own

On Her
Own

O
THER
B
OOKS BY
W
ANDA
E. B
RUNSTETTER
:

D
AUGHTERS OF
L
ANCASTER
C
OUNTY
S
ERIES

The Storekeeper’s Daughter
The Quilter’s Daughter
The Bishop’s Daughter

B
RIDES OF
L
ANCASTER
C
OUNTY
S
ERIES

A Merry Heart
Looking for a Miracle
Plain and Fancy
The Hope Chest

S
ISTERS OF
H
OLMES
C
OUNTY
S
ERIES

A Sister’s Secret

B
RIDES OF
W
EBSTER
C
OUNTY
S
ERIES

Going Home

N
ONFICTION

The Simple Life
Wanda E. Brunstetter’s Amish Friends Cookbook

C
HILDREN
’
S
B
OOKS

Rachel Yoder. . .Always Trouble Somewhere Series:
School’s Out (Book 1)
Back to School (Book 2)

W
ANDA
E.
B
RUNSTETTER

B
RIDES OF
W
EBSTER
C
OUNTY

© 2007 by Wanda E. Brunstetter

ISBN 978-1-60742-022-4

All scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

All Pennsylvania Dutch words are taken from the
Revised Pennsylvania German Dictionary
found in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the publisher.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual people, organizations, and/or events is purely coincidental.

For more information about Wanda E. Brunstetter, please access the author’s Web site at the following Internet address:
www.wandabrunstetter.com
.

Cover design by Müllerhaus Publishing Group

Published by Barbour Publishing, Inc., P.O. Box 719, Uhrichsville, OH 44683,
www.barbourbooks.com
.

Our mission is to publish and distribute inspirational products offering exceptional value and biblical encouragement to the masses.

Printed in the United States of America.

D
EDICATION
/A
CKNOWLEDGMENTS

Two are better than one;
because they have a good reward for their labour.
For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow:
but woe to him that is alone when he falleth;
for he hath not another to help him up.
E
CCLESIASTES
4:9–10

C
radling the precious infant she had given birth to a short time ago, Barbara Zook lay exhausted, her head resting on the damp pillow.

“We have four sons now, David,” she murmured into the stillness of her room. “I wish you were here to see our
boppli
. I’m planning to name him after you.” Unbidden tears sprang to Barbara’s eyes as she struggled against the memory of what had happened almost eight months ago. If she lived to be one hundred, she would never forget the unsuspecting moment when her world fell apart.

Barbara squeezed her eyes shut as her mind drove her unwillingly back to that Saturday afternoon when she’d been happy and secure in her marriage—when she’d been full of hope for the future.

Barbara sat in the wicker rocking chair on the front porch, watching her three young boys play in the yard and waiting for her husband’s return. It was their tenth wedding anniversary, and David had taken their horse and buggy to Seymour to pick up her gift. He’d said it was something Barbara both wanted and needed.

She patted her stomach and drew in a deep breath as the rocking chair creaked beneath her weight. “When David gets home, I’ll give him my gift—the news that I’m pregnant again,” she whispered. Barbara had known for a couple of weeks that she was carrying David’s child, but she had wanted it to be a surprise. She was sure her husband would be happy about having another baby, and she was hopeful that this time it would be a girl.

She planned to share her good news the moment David arrived. He had been gone several hours, and she couldn’t imagine what could be keeping him.

Barbara’s stomach rumbled as she noticed that the sun had begun to drop behind the thick pine trees on the other side of the field. It was almost time to start supper. She had just decided to head for the kitchen when the sheriff’s car rumbled up the driveway.

She stood and leaned against the porch railing while Sheriff Anderson and his deputy got out of the vehicle and strode toward her.

Barbara shuddered. Something was wrong. She could feel it in every fiber of her being. “M–may I help you, Sheriff?” she
asked as the two men stepped onto the porch. Her voice cracked, and she swallowed a couple of times.

“Mrs. Zook,” the sheriff said, moving closer to her, “I’m sorry to be telling you this, but there’s been an accident.”

“An accident?”

He nodded. “It happened about a mile out of Seymour.”

Barbara’s heart thudded in her chest. “Is it. . .David?”

“I’m afraid so. We were called to the scene by one of your English neighbors who’d been heading down Highway C and witnessed the accident. He identified your husband’s body.”

My husband’s body?
The words echoed in Barbara’s mind.
It’s not true. It can’t be. David’s alive. Today is our anniversary. He’ll be home soon with the surprise he promised me. David’s always been so dependable. He won’t let me down
.

“I’m sorry,” Deputy Harris said, “but a logging truck pulled out of a side road and hit your husband’s buggy. The stove that was tied on the back flew forward and hit David in the head, killing him instantly.”

The porch swayed in an eerie sort of way, and Barbara gripped the railing until her fingers turned numb.
David’s dead. He bought me a stove. David can’t be dead. Today’s our anniversary
.

The wail of an infant’s cries pushed Barbara’s thoughts to the back of her mind, and her eyes snapped open. Her nose burned with unshed tears as she focused on the joy of having a new baby in her arms. Little David needed her. So did Zachary, Joseph, and Aaron.

“I’ll do whatever I need to in order to provide for my boys,” she murmured.

A knock sounded at the bedroom door, and Barbara called, “Come in.”

The door creaked open, and David’s mother, Mavis, stuck her head through the opening. “How are you doing? Are you ready for some company?”

Barbara glanced down at her son, who was now enjoying the first taste of his mother’s milk. She nodded at her dark-haired mother-in-law. “You’re welcome to come say hello to your new grandson, David.”

Mavis entered the room and closed the door. “Alice told me it was a boy and you’d named him David.” She moved closer to the bed and sniffed deeply, her brown eyes filling with tears. “My son would be real pleased to know he had a child named after him.”

Barbara swallowed around the fiery lump in her throat. “David never knew I was pregnant. He died before I could share our surprise.” She stared down at her infant son. “It breaks my heart to know this tiny fellow will never know his
daed
.”

Mavis reached out to touch the baby’s downy, dark head. “If I could do something to help, I surely would.”

“You already have, Mavis. You and Jeremiah have helped us aplenty, same as my folks.”

Mavis nodded. “Your
mamm
has been real good about watching your
kinner
so you could keep working in the harness shop, and your daed’s been willing to help there despite the arthritis in his hands.”

“That’s true.” Barbara thought about how determined her
husband had been to open his own business here in Webster County, Missouri. Because of it, they had made enough money to put food on the table and pay the bills. The truth was Barbara actually enjoyed working in the shop. To her, the smell of leather was a sweet perfume. These days she found the aroma even more comforting because it reminded her of David.

“This is a day of beginnings for David Zook Jr., and it’s a day of endings for our friend Dan Hilty.”

Mavis’s statement jolted Barbara to the core. “Has something happened to Dan?”

Her mother-in-law nodded soberly. “You didn’t know?”

Barbara shook her head.

“I thought Alice might have told you.”

“Mom didn’t say anything. What happened to Dan?”

Mavis took a seat on the chair next to the bed. “He died of a heart attack early this morning.”

“
Ach!
How terrible. My heart goes out to Margaret and the rest of the Hilty family.” Barbara felt the pain of Dan’s widow as if it were her own. It seemed as if she were living David’s death all over again. Giving birth to her husband’s namesake was bittersweet, and hearing of someone else’s loss was a reminder of her own suffering.