The Wonder of Your Love (A Land of Canaan Novel) (24 page)

Danielle just shook her head.

“Okay.” She turned to leave. “I’m here until six in the morning, so let me know if either of you needs anything.”

Martha dived into her burger and moaned with delight. Then she glanced at Danielle. “French fry?”

Danielle shook her head. “Those people are holy, aren’t they?”

“What people?” Martha asked around a mouthful.

“The Amish. They’re like all into God and everything, right?”

Martha swallowed. “They have a very strong faith.” She popped a fry into her mouth. “Good folks, the Amish.”

It was quiet for a while, only the low buzz of the television, some late-night talk show, and the beeps and sounds from the other side of the door. Normal hospital sounds. Martha was glad she was going home tomorrow, back to her own bed. And surely Katie Ann was at home making her some creamed celery. She smiled.

“I don’t believe in God.”

Martha snapped her head to the right. “What?”

“You heard me, Martha. There is no God, and people who waste their time praying to Him are doing just that . . . wasting their time.”

Martha thought her heart might break. If this girl needed anyone, it was surely the Lord. “How old are you, child?”

“Seventeen.”

“Not very smart for your age, are ya?”

Danielle squinted her eye at Martha and spoke slowly through half-opened lips. “Just because I don’t believe in God, that makes me stupid?”

“Correct.” Martha shoved the last bit of burger in her mouth.

“You don’t know anything about me. I used to make straight As in school, and I even graduated early.”

“Micky D’s wouldn’t normally be my first choice for a meal, but this is the best burger I’ve ever had.” Martha stuffed her trash into the bag and carefully eased it onto the nightstand, careful not to twist too quickly.

“Did you hear me? I’m very smart.”

Martha didn’t look at Danielle. “Yeah. I heard you.”

“People just wrote all that stuff in the Bible to keep us from killing each other.”

Martha turned to Danielle and lowered her chin. “Really?

Wow, hasn’t that worked well.”

“You know what I mean. It’s all made up, something to keep the masses in order.”

“If that’s what you choose to believe.”

“It’s the truth.”

“If you say so.”

They were quiet for a while, and Martha was starting to feel like she could sleep, but when Danielle spoke again, Martha heard the Lord calling her loud and clear.

“Why do you believe in God? What proof do you have that He exists?”

Martha took a deep breath, clicked the television off, and faced Danielle. “How much time you got?”

Thirteen

L
UCY STARED AT TINY
B
ENJAMIN IN HIS INCUBATOR
in the preemie nursery at Lancaster General Hospital. He was small but healthy, and Lucy missed Ivan now more than ever before.

Ivan, we have a beautiful baby boy
.

Leaving him to go home would be the hardest thing she’d ever done, but the doctors had told her that he would have to stay in the hospital for at least two more months until he was closer to full term. He looked like Ivan with his big eyes, and like Lucy with his small pug nose. He was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen, and she wanted more than anything to be a good mother, even though she and Ivan had never really discussed having a family. Ivan always said that if it was God’s will, it would happen.

Lucy wondered what she could do to get on good terms with God. She’d never really had much to do with Him prior to her affair with Ivan, but she was sure God disliked her even more than she disliked herself. She’d been praying every day, asking for forgiveness and begging that God would show her how to be a good mother. She thought about Katie Ann a lot, sure that Ivan’s wife was a wonderful mother. Lucy wondered if she and Katie Ann might have been friends in another life, but she knew the answer. Katie Ann was a good person. Lucy wasn’t. But as she gazed down at the tiny miracle before her, she had this feeling that maybe there was hope.

M
ARTHA CLEANED UP
in the small bathroom in her hospital room, moving slowly, but not in too much pain. Just glad to be alive.

Thank You, Lord
.

She was brushing her teeth when she heard a nurse talking to Danielle. She turned off the water and pressed an ear to the door.

“Danielle, we have to discharge you today. We’ve let you stay an extra two days. Is there someone I can call to come pick you up?”

Martha held her breath and waited. No answer. The nurse started speaking again.

“Honey, are you sure you don’t want to visit with that policeman who was here a few days ago? Are you sure you don’t know who did this to you?”

Silence again. Martha scowled. That girl had to know who had done this to her. She listened as footsteps exited the room. She needed her butterfly clip from her small suitcase. Shuffling across the floor to her bag, she glanced up at Danielle. She was sitting up in bed, but staring at the floor. Martha had talked to her about God for almost three hours, and even told her some incredibly personal tales about her own faith journey, stories that would have made the average gal shed a tear or two. Not Danielle.

And when Martha had finished baring her heart in an effort for this lost soul to see the Lord for the hero He could be for her, Danielle had merely said, “Is that all you’ve got?”

Martha had fallen asleep in prayer, telling the Lord that she’d tried her best.

She located her clip and headed back to the bathroom. It took her longer than usual to secure her hair, since it hurt to lift her arms very high. She needed some help and wondered where Katie Ann and Arnold were. She thought they would have been here by now.

As she hadn’t completely shut the bathroom door, she went to push it closed when she saw movement in the room. Peering through the tiny crack, she watched as Danielle tiptoed around Martha’s bed. She kept watching as Danielle eased the drawer to the nightstand open. It didn’t take her long to find Martha’s wallet. Instinctively she opened her mouth to tell the little thief to step back, but she didn’t.

Danielle had closed the drawer and was back in her bed in less than a minute, and Martha figured it wasn’t the girl’s first rodeo. She also figured Danielle probably needed the sixty dollars in Martha’s wallet more than she did, but lies and thievery irritated Martha more than anything else. She wasn’t sure how to handle this.

Once she finally had her hair semi-secure with the butterfly clip, she smoothed the wrinkles from her pink blouse. If she’d known Arnold was coming, she would have brought her matching pink earrings and necklace, but at the time Katie Ann was already scolding her for taking too much to the hospital.

She eased out of the bathroom and slowly lowered herself onto her bed. Now she just had to wait for Arnold and Katie Ann to get here. She gave Danielle an all-knowing smile, but the girl just sat on the edge of the bed, looking down at the floor.

“I heard you tell someone on the phone that you wouldn’t be released for a few more days.” Martha spoke firmly, tempted to tell Danielle that she was a thief
and
a liar. “But based on what I just heard the nurse say, that was a lie.” She pointed her finger at Danielle and leaned forward. “You want to stay here in the hospital because it’s
safe
. Right?” Martha couldn’t hold back. “Who did this to you, Danielle?”

Danielle put her head in her hands for a moment, but when she looked back up at Martha, her one functional eye was wild with anger. “Are you always this much in everybody’s business?”

Martha sat taller, as tall as she could without putting pressure on her incision. “If I need to be.”

“Well, you don’t even know me, so stay out of my business.”

“Suit yourself.” Martha felt sick to her stomach.

Pay it forward. Do something nice for someone
. The nurse’s words echoed in her head, but Martha figured she had done something nice. She was letting Danielle keep the sixty dollars she’d stolen from Martha’s purse.

As the door swung wide, Martha turned to see Arnold and Katie Ann. “Katie Ann, please tell me that I’m going to a place where there will be creamed celery?”

Katie Ann kissed her on the cheek. “I have a fresh batch at home. I thought you might want to stay with me for a day or two until you’re feeling better.”

Martha didn’t feel all that bad, but being catered to was not something she was going to turn down either. “I guess I’d better.” She turned to Arnold. “So what are your plans?”

“I’m going to see that you get settled at Katie Ann’s, then I’ll head home.” He smiled. “To take care of some things. And pack.”

Martha smiled.

“Yesterday I rented a small house.” Arnold grinned. “Not too far from yours.”

“My house is plenty big. You should have just picked you out a bedroom upstairs. I haven’t even been up there in months. It’d be like having your own apartment.” Martha braced herself for Katie Ann’s rebuttal that was sure to come.

“Martha! That would have been totally inappropriate.” Katie Ann raised her chin and glared at Martha, which only made Martha cackle.

“What? You worried about my reputation? At this age, Katie Ann?” She turned to Arnold. “Will we be having lasagna on Wednesdays, like we used to?”

Arnold moved toward Martha’s suitcase and picked it up. “I sure hope so.”

Martha pointed a finger at him. “Although something has changed since you’ve been gone, Arnold Becker.”

His expression dropped. “What’s that?”

“We used to go to your church in Alamosa, but since you’ve been gone, I’ve been worshipping with Katie Ann and her people.” She glanced at Katie Ann. “I bet they’d let you come too.”

Arnold smiled but didn’t say anything.

Martha had enjoyed attending Mass with Arnold before he left, but his lack of response about the matter made her wonder if he’d consider a change to the Amish way of worshipping, which she tended to prefer these days. Martha had disliked the backless benches at first, but mysteriously several high-backed chairs showed up on the worship wagon shortly after she’d complained. She didn’t understand most of the service, but after the noon meal, Katie Ann would translate whatever Martha didn’t understand, which usually led to a lengthy discussion that Martha always enjoyed. Plus, the meal after worship was always a good one. And if there was another bonus to attending Amish worship, it was the fact that you only had to go to church every other Sunday. Probably because it was three hours long, but Martha was glad to have every other Sunday “off,” as she called it.

“We checked at the front desk,” Arnold said. “And you are cleared to go.”

Martha pulled her purse from the drawer in the nightstand.

Katie Ann picked up the quilt and asked, “Are you sure you have everything?”

Martha shot a slow and coy smile at Danielle. “Probably not, but oh well.”

“Guess we’re ready then.” Katie Ann moved toward the door with Arnold as he carried Martha’s suitcase.

Danielle had lain back down on her bed and was staring at the ceiling.

Martha looked at her long and hard and chose her words carefully. “Danielle, I wish you well.”