A Simple Hope: A Lancaster Crossroads Novel (22 page)

And then, the treatment. Gott be praised! The bath of electricity was bringing nerves and muscles in his legs to life again. None of the docs or technicians at the clinic had asked about results, and he had kept this news to himself. “We’ll monitor our progress after seven days,” Doc Finley had told him. But James wasn’t sure he could wait that long to put his legs to the test. Tomorrow, if these pins and needles and muscle contractions kept happening, he was going to speak up.

Even the bristly concern over the Englisher girl in the sugar shack had not whittled down his enthusiasm. Shandell’s attachment to the book of Bible stories had sweetened his view of her, and the more he talked with her, the more he knew in his heart that Gott had meant him to help her.

The Almighty didn’t make mistakes. Gott had put Shandell in James’s path for a reason, and James was sticking by his decision to help her.

He was still a good five minutes from the porch when the rain began to fall—fat, hard drops that pelted his hat and shoulders.

Let it rain
, he thought, savoring the smell of damp earth and wet leaves.
Let Gott’s love rain down on me
.

At the supper table, James bowed his head for the silent prayer of thanks. There was a tension around the table, thick as Mamm’s beef
stew. Sixteen-year-old Matt kept his gaze down on his plate, and Peter was hunched over as if that might make him harder to see. Luke, Hannah, Lovina, Mark, and Verena were uncharacteristically silent as they helped Mamm serve and took their places at the table. After her bit of matchmaking, James would have thought Mamm would be pleased that he and Rachel had returned home today talking and laughing.

James wondered if Dat was still sore about him going into Paradise for the treatments. It seemed to James that his father thought he would simply give up, once Dat had handed down the rules that made the journey so difficult.

He waited for Dat to start the conversation, an unspoken supper tradition among Amish families. Biting through the crisp skin of a drumstick, James watched as Dat tucked into his mashed potatoes, then shot a hard look toward Peter and Matt. Those two were the wild ones of the family, but Peter usually got the brunt of disapproval on account of him being older.

“Tomorrow is another day,” Dat said. “But there aren’t enough hours in the day to make up for neglected chores.” His dark brows drew together. “Playing baseball while there’s much work to be done?”

James blinked. This was news to him.

“But Dat, when you told us to help hoe and reseed the Yoders’ spinach, you said it would take all morning and most of the afternoon,” Matt said, his eyes lowered respectfully.

“Ya. But did I tell you to spend the rest of the day playing baseball with the Yoder boys?”

So that was the reason for the discomfort that hung over the supper table. James chewed slowly, relieved that he wasn’t involved.

“That was only because we finished the field work early,” Peter explained.

“Peter.” Dat held a piece of chicken aloft. “You’re nineteen. You know better than that.”

“Did you fix the field first?” Mark asked. The boy obviously felt responsible for his horse’s damage to the Yoders’ spinach. “Is it hoed and planted?”

“It’s all done.” Matt nodded reassuringly. “Emanuel Yoder said we did a right good job. And before we knew it, Leah was setting out a dinner for us.”

“And then when Manny and Steven needed two more for a game …” Peter shrugged.

“We’ll talk no more about it,” Dat said. “The more pressing matter is when are we going to get to the fertilizing? We’re more than halfway through April and Luke tells me it’s barely been started.”

“What’s that?” With a stab of alarm, James turned to Luke. “I’ve told you for weeks that April is the month for fertilizing … everything but—”

“The peach trees,” Luke finished for him. “I know, you’ve said it enough times. But without you leading the way, it’s just not getting done.”

James knew that it was hard to corral Peter and Matt. He knew that work in the orchard could be tedious. But his brothers didn’t seem to understand what was at stake: the health of the trees, the quality of the fruit, the future of this land that had been in their family for generations.

James’s sisters, who had watched the scolding of their brothers in silence, now piped in.

“I can help in the orchard,” Hannah said, her lips shiny with oil from the chicken.

“Me, too,” eleven-year-old Lovina agreed. “I’m not that tall, but I can climb a ladder.”

“And you can count me in, if Mamm can spare me in the house,” Verena said.

“Of course I can.”

“That’s all good, but it may be too little too late,” Dat said. “I
have half a mind to hire someone on through the harvest. Old Jacob knows a man who used to run a fruit farm up in Lebanon Valley. He’s living with his children now in Paradise. A man like that would prove mighty helpful to all.”

“No!” The objection was out before James could temper his reaction, but he couldn’t sit here and follow along like a trusting sheep while his father hired a man to replace him. All eyes were upon him as he tried to explain. “We don’t need to bring in an outsider. We can get it done, I know we can. Besides, it would cost us money to do a job that’s always been done by this family.”

“I don’t want it any more than you, James, but there’s a lot at stake here.” Dat tossed a bone onto his plate and scanned the table with stern eyes. “Something’s got to change, even if it means me stepping away from the business end to be a foreman.”

Dread was evident on the faces of James’s siblings at the thought of that. Dat did not have his father’s skill for managing the orchard.

“Then who would keep up the business end?” Mamm asked, concern in her eyes. “A plentiful harvest can be wasted if you don’t get it out to market in time.”

“Hmm.” Jimmy grunted. “It’s a matter that needs some thought. In the meantime, we’ll put every ready hand to work.” He turned to James. “I know you’ve got the treatments and all, but can you make the time to supervise for the time being?”

“In the morning, every morning,” James said, determined to get the orchard back on track. “They don’t need me at the clinic until ten or eleven. We can do what it takes, Dat. If we work together, the fertilizing will get done.”

“I hope so,” Jimmy said. “I’m counting on all of you. Any more neglect, and we’ll have to hire someone.”

That will not happen
, James vowed.
Not while I am able to roll myself out into the orchard
.

T
hat night, Rachel could not fall asleep. Her feet were cold, her pillow was flat, and her heart ached with worry and hope for James. Finally giving up, she pushed back the covers and slid out of bed. The floor felt like ice beneath her bare feet, so she slipped on a pair of socks and wrapped a blanket over her shoulders. Treading lightly up the stairs to her old bedroom, she considered getting her paint tubes and brushes out. It would be nice to get started on the paintings for Kiki, but she didn’t have the canvases yet, and she had decided that her time would be better spent painting at the Paradise art store while she was waiting for James.

The door was ajar, and she yawned as she pushed it open. She was far too tired to paint, but the little window seat was a good spot to think and pray. When she tucked her feet under her and pressed her palms to the cold glass, she could see a field of stars shining between the thin clouds.

“Oh, dear Gott,” she whispered, sending her prayer up to the heavens, “I’m so grateful that James has opened his heart again.”

The sight of the starry sky brought her comfort. The twinkling pinpoints of light reminded her of a little song called “Tell Me Why,” which she sang with Mamm and her sisters while doing chores. The song had so many questions: Tell me why the stars shine, why ivy twines, and why the sky is blue. And the answer to all the questions? Because Gott made things that way.

Her breath was clouding the window, and she rubbed the glass clear with the edge of the blanket. It was silly to think that she was going to solve her future with James in one night. You couldn’t sew an entire quilt in a day. Right now she needed to quiet her racing mind.

“Rachel?” Rose murmured from the bed. She rolled over and opened one sleepy eye. “What are you doing?”

“I couldn’t sleep, and looking at the stars always calms the heart.”

“Mmm.” With a deep breath, Rose propped herself up on one elbow. “How come you can’t sleep?”

Rachel shrugged. “Different things. Mostly thinking about James.”

“You’ll catch a chill by that window.” Rose scooted over and patted the mattress beside her. “Kumm.”

The sheets were still warm from Rose’s body, and Rachel sank into the cozy cocoon of blankets. Snuggled beside her sister, Rachel felt her mind easing. Here, she could be a girl again; a sister, a daughter.

“What’s happening with James?” Rose asked groggily. “Mamm said you’re driving him into Paradise every day.”

“It’s a treatment the doctors are testing, and I need to drive him to the clinic every day.”

“That’s a lot of travel by buggy. Can’t he hire a car?”

Taking the shortcut of sisters, she quickly explained the concerns
of James’s father and the bishop. She told Rose how James had tried to cut her off, how she had refused to end their courtship, and how, out of the blue, James’s mother had come over to ask her to drive him to his new treatment. “That was a big surprise, seeing Edna come down the lane looking for me. But in the end, it’s all an answered prayer. Gott’s smiling down on me.”

“But I don’t understand.” Rose stifled a yawn. “If it’s all good news, why can’t you sleep?”

“It’s just that I’m not sure what James is thinking of me now, after he tried to break it off. He seems like the same old James, but I don’t want him to feel like he’s stuck with me just because I’m the person driving him to Paradise nearly every day.”

“Seems to me it would be the other way around. What with James not being able to walk and all. Don’t take this the wrong way, but do you worry about being stuck with him? Especially if he has to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.”

“I love him, Rose. For better or worse. I know we haven’t taken vows, but he’s the one for me. We’re two peas in a pod.”

“What a wonderful thing, to be so in love. I hope it happens for me someday. There’s no boy that even looks at me twice.”

“What about Eli Esh?”

“He’s nice and all, but I think he’d rather be off fishing with his friends. My feelings for him are not strong and sweeping as a fierce wind. I want a love like that. Such sureness in your heart that he’s the one you’ll spend the rest of your life with.”

“It will happen for you, Rose. You’re just sixteen.”

“And no fella has ever even given me a ride home. I’m miles away from a love like that.”

“But it will happen. Gott wants you to have a husband and a big, loving Amish family. He wants our children to play together, to help each other in the fields, and to work side by side at quiltings.”

“I hope so. Back before the accident, when I would see you with
James, the way he smiled for you and the way you looked at him …” Rose tucked her hands under her chin and sighed. “It made me all wobbly inside. I knew it was true love.”

“And you could see that? Really?” Rachel smiled. “You must have very good eyes, indeed.”

“Everybody could see it. Not so much, anymore. Since the accident, James is like a closed book. So quiet, and the only time he comes around is for church. How do you get him to talk?”

“Sometimes he doesn’t talk at all. But today? Once we got going, he was the James I fell in love with.” Rachel burrowed her cheek into the pillow as sleep nipped at her. “I still love him so. I just hope he feels the same way toward me.”

“Hope is a very good thing,” Rose said in a woozy voice. “One of the three things that last, ya? That’s what the Bible says.”

“Faith, hope, and love.” Rachel closed her eyes, content now as she remembered the words of Gott:
And the greatest of these is love
.