A Baby for Hannah (15 page)

“I mean, you’re welcome,” Dennis said, a wide grin on his face.

“We’d better not,” Hannah replied, glancing again at Miriam’s blushing face. “We need to keep moving if we plan to get home soon.”

“Aw, come on,” Dennis urged. “I know the bachelor life doesn’t produce good cooking, but maybe you two can make sandwiches for me. I mean, better than I would make them. I’m pretty clumsy in the kitchen.”

“Oh, of course we can!” Miriam blurted. “It must be hard looking out for yourself all the time.”

Dennis laughed again. “Perhaps, but I don’t think Jake would think well of me if I let the two of you wander the woods weak with hunger.”

“I think we can surely fix sandwiches,” Miriam said, her voice now a high squeak.

“Of course you can,” Dennis said, walking off the porch. “Let me tie your horses to the rail. Come on in.”

Hannah dismounted and handed him the reins. Dennis tied them quickly to a post. Miriam was already on the ground when Dennis turned toward her.

“Here,” Miriam said, holding out the reins, her eyes fixed on his face.

Hannah watched as Dennis took the reins, a soft smile on his face, his eyes lingering for a moment on Miriam’s hands before guiding the horse to the next post. Dennis finished the knot with a quick twist and turned to walk up the steps toward the cabin without a backward glance. Hannah reached over to shake Miriam’s arm before turning to follow him. Had her sister lost all her good sense so soon? How had they gotten into this situation anyway?

Inside, Dennis opened the gas-powered refrigerator door, waving his hand over the stocked supplies inside.

“I’d offer to make the sandwiches myself,” Dennis said, “but like I said, I’m not much good in the kitchen. They wouldn’t be good enough for womenfolk.”

“Oh, I’m sure you’d make a
super
sandwich,” Miriam said, her voice still a squeak.

Hannah glanced at Miriam’s bright-red face and shuddered. For all her fears of what Miriam’s reaction would be, this was not what she had imagined. Her tough sister was falling apart in front of Dennis’s piercing blue eyes.
This would be funny…if it were anyone else but Dennis that Miriam was swooning over,
Hannah thought. “Well,” she said, not looking at either of them, “I see you have everything here we need: tomatoes, salad dressing, lettuce, ham slices, and cheese. I must say that’s pretty good for a bachelor. I never got to see the inside of Jake’s cabin before we were married, but I doubt if it was this well stocked.”

“I like to eat well,” Dennis said, still looking at Miriam’s scarlet face.

“Let me help you, Hannah,” Miriam said, gasping suddenly, and rushing over to stand by Hannah’s side.

Hannah suppressed a laugh at Miriam’s shaking hands as her sister took the tomatoes and lettuce out of the refrigerator.

Behind them Dennis settled into a kitchen table chair, obviously happy to watch them fix his lunch. “It’s not every day I have two such wonderful cooks preparing a meal for me,” he said, his grin spreading over his face again. “Rebecca does a really good job when I visit their house, but this is even better. This must be what the
Englisha
mean by in-house service.”

“You haven’t even tasted our sandwiches yet,” Miriam said, her voice closer to normal. “So don’t be crowing too soon.”

“We might put in tomato stems,” Hannah quipped, quickly slicing a tomato into five pieces.

He laughed heartily. “I doubt that. Jake looks pretty healthy. And by the way, what’s he doing today?”

“He went up to Mr. Brunson’s before we left this morning, and he’s planning on being in town till after lunch.”

“He’s pretty busy with that furniture business, isn’t he?”

“
Jah,
” Hannah said, laying two of the tomato pieces aside, and keeping the three larger ones for the bread Miriam was spreading with salad dressing.

“I think I’ll be hired on for a log cutting job from Mr. Wesley this spring. At least that’s what some of his help told me.”

“Well, you can have it,” Hannah said, laying the meat and tomatoes on the sandwiches. “I never liked it when Jake used to work on the crew. It sounded like awful dangerous work driving the machinery around the mountainside.”

“Ah, but it’s fun,” Dennis said, smiling broadly. “But I guess each to his own taste. I love logging.”

“So you log?” Miriam asked, her voice squeaky again.

Hannah glanced at her sister, resigned to the situation. At least Miriam looked normal now without those splotchy red-and-white patterns on her face. There was really nothing Hannah could do about this anyway. Fate…or was it love…or perhaps
Da Hah
Himself…seemed to be against her. But then perhaps she shouldn’t be so dead-set against this if Miriam was really finding love with Dennis. She hadn’t appreciated it when Betty had interfered with her and Jake—and look how that had turned out.

“Yes, I do,” Dennis said. “And what brings you out to the great and wild West?”

“Oh, nothing,” Miriam said. “I’m just visiting for the summer.”

“For all summer?” he asked.“ That’s a long time to just visit.”

“She’ll be working at Betty’s place for the summer,” Hannah said. Miriam would also be taking care of her baby, but that wasn’t something Dennis needed to know.

“Hannah helped Betty for two summers with her riding stable,” Miriam said. “Before she was married to Jake.”

“That was before Will and I moved here,” Dennis said. “Well, I’m glad you’ll be here all summer. I expect we’ll get to see more of each other at the young folk gatherings.”

“I think so,” Miriam agreed, dreamy-eyed, as she sliced the tomatoes.

“The sandwiches are ready,” Hannah said. “We should pray and eat. Betty will be wondering where we have gotten to.”

“Betty will be okay,” Miriam said, smiling for the first time.

Dennis nodded and they sat down, bowing their heads. Dennis didn’t pray out loud, but then he wasn’t expected to. Jake hadn’t either for the longest time.

“So you come from Indiana?” Dennis asked after the prayer as he glanced at Miriam.

“
Jah,
” Miriam said, keeping her eyes on her sandwich. “From around the Nappanee area.”

“I’ve never been there,” Dennis said, chewing slowly. “I guess I ought to visit sometime.”

“With country like this,” Miriam said, “I can see why you don’t visit anywhere else.”

“Oh, I’ve been around,” Dennis said. “My parents live in Idaho, but most of my travels have been in the mountain states. They kind of grow on you, I guess.”

“I can see why they would,” Miriam said. “I absolutely love it out here.”

“Then you should come and live here permanently,” he said, flashing a smile.

“Maybe I will,” Miriam said as the red streaked across her face again.

Hannah swallowed the last bite of her sandwich and stood up. She grabbed a washcloth in the sink.

“No you don’t!” Dennis said, holding up his hand. “You girls made lunch, and I clean up. And that’s the final word on the matter.”

“Okay,” Hannah said. “Then we had better be on our way.”

Dennis nodded and led the way outside. Hannah and Miriam mounted their horses as he untied them. A good distance from the cabin, Miriam turned to look back over her shoulder.

“He’s still on the front porch,” Miriam whispered. “What did I tell you about him? Didn’t I say it would be love at first sight?”

“Quit looking back,” Hannah commanded. “You’re making a spectacle of yourself.”

“No, I’m not,” Miriam said, turning around at the edge of the clearing.

“You know, it’s amazing that of all the cabins we should discover on our ride, it would be Dennis Riley’s,” Hannah remarked as they made their way toward Betty’s.

“Hannah,” Miriam said with a laugh, “I have a confession to make. I didn’t mean to trick you, but I knew you wouldn’t come if I told you. See, after you brought up Dennis Riley’s name, I asked Kendra if she knew where he lived. She told me, and I figured if we kept heading far enough in that direction we’d arrive there. And there it was, just like Kendra said. Now what’s so awful about being in love?”

“What’s awful is not telling me.”

“Well, sometimes a little leading along doesn’t hurt.”

“I just hope you know what you’re doing,” Hannah replied with a sigh.

Sixteen

The Sunday morning sun blazed through the hall window as Jake followed Minister Mose Chupp’s broad back up the house stairs, pausing on the landing as Bishop John opened a bedroom door, peaking inside before he pushed it wide open.
Menno Yoder’s whispered instructions before the service must have been garbled or the bishop forgot which bedroom wasn’t being used for sleeping babies,
Jake thought. He kept his eyes on the floor as the sun went behind the clouds and the window darkened. He followed Mose inside.

Bishop John’s face had been sober all morning as he stood in line by the barn, greeting the men as they walked past him. Something was troubling him, and it didn’t take too many guesses to figure out what it was. News of the coming Mennonite revival meetings had buzzed all along the line of men this morning. Ben Stoll must have paid other Amish friends visits in addition to the one at Jake’s furniture shop.

Where was this matter going to end? Obviously Bishop John intended to tackle the problem head-on this morning. Jake tried to still the racing of his heart as he took a chair against the wall.

Outside the sun was breaking through the clouds again, and rays of sunlight pierced through the window. Jake squinted and scooted his chair sideways, but the width of the beam still reached him. Shading his eyes, he glanced at Bishop John, who was staring at the floor.

Jake stood, his legs weak, and walked to the window and pulled the shade. He glanced back where shadows now lay across his chair. In the silence his shoes echoed loudly on the hardwood floor as he walked back to his chair.

Bishop John cleared his throat.

“I suppose both of you have heard of the goings on in the community. I didn’t receive a visit from Ben Stoll, which doesn’t surprise me at all, but many of our men did. Elizabeth told me she thinks that well over half the church members were personally visited and given brochures and invitations to the upcoming Mennonite revival meetings. Have either of you received a visit?”

“I didn’t,” Mose said. “And Clara didn’t mention anything. I’m sure she would have if Ben had stopped by while I was away from the farm.”

“I see,” Bishop John said, clearing his throat again. Silence settled on the room, and Jake’s heart pounded in his chest. This was not going to look good for him, as Ben was obviously only stopping in at the homes of those he considered easy targets. Protesting and repeating what he had told Ben would do little good.

“Ben stopped by the shop on Saturday,” Jake said, not looking up.

“I see,” Bishop John said. “And what did he have to say?”

“He said he stopped by for a friendly visit and to invite Hannah and me to the meetings.”

“And you told him what?” Bishop John asked.

“That I thought he was wrong in what he was doing, and that he should take his tent revival somewhere else.”

Mose laughed. “There’s not much chance of that, I don’t think.”

“It doesn’t sound like it,” Jake said. “Ben says he has a call from God, whatever that means. I think he’s even planning to do some of the preaching himself.”

“I hope you were firm with him, Jake. He needs someone to bring correction to him. He’s a confused young man. It’s hard for me to imagine what these Mennonite preachers put into their members’ heads, but they do produce radicals is all I can say. I mean, who would send a young man out to do meetings and let him preach on some flimsy feeling that he has? It’s reckless, if you ask me.”

“I thought I might have been a little hard on him,” Jake said, shifting on his chair.

“Well, that’s also possible,” Bishop John said, nodding. “We have to be careful about both extremes, but it is
gut
to hear that you sought to correct the man. Ben needs it.”

Jake relaxed a bit. Perhaps he had done okay after all.

“What are we going to do about this within the community?” Mose asked, rubbing his hands together. “I’m afraid some of the church members might have given Ben a greater welcome than what Jake did.”

“I’m thinking the same thing,” Bishop John said. “And I think we ought to take some further steps with the congregation.”

“Perhaps we should call a special meeting specifically to warn them of the dangers Ben and those people pose,” Mose said. “We could call such a meeting today after church while this is still fresh in everyone’s mind.”

“We could do that,” Bishop John said. “In fact, I think that’s the least of what we can do. My feelings are that even further steps should be taken.”

“Like what?” Mose asked.

Bishop John clasped his hands in front of him, “Of course we would need unity in whatever decision we make, but we
must
act. I’m thinking Ben and Sylvia might need to be warned that excommunication will be used against them. That is, if they continue pushing these meetings, which are clearly targeted at us, his former church. Our understanding with Ben when he left the community was that he and Sylvia would join a decent church, and this doesn’t sound like a decent one, even if they call themselves Mennonites.”