Abram's Daughters 02 The Betrayal (19 page)

WM< < Itc sky. How eager she was to see and hold Cousin

mie's twin babies. She and Mary Ruth would be the ones

i{ captivated by the twins' sweet babyhood, she was sure.

'iiiiiih, on the other hand, was somewhat unsure of herself

nhMiinl young ones, infants especially.

Mamma must have been thinking along the same lines, ti it he said, "Girls, be extra careful if you hold either of Fan!!lt'(K babies. 'Specially Jake. He's not nearly as robust and In iilfhy as his sister Mandie. Nor Lydiann, neither one." fe,"We promise to be gentle, Mamma," Mary Ruth quickly ^Hicil from the back of the spring wagon. ^HC luce they arrived Dat let them off within a few yards of ^B hick door, then drove up to the barn. Peter Mast was ^Hting there to help unhitch and water the horse. "Hullo, ^Btim. I see you've got one less mouth to feed," Peter was ^M to say.

^HLeah paid little mind to his comment and walked across i!<> yard and up the back steps, along with Mamma, Aunt I ' ie, and the twins. Cousin Fannie, all rosy cheeked, greeted

11" in splendidly as always. Leah had to grin, wondering why ili' y didn't visit here more often, so pleasant it was. Fannie, II i mother-in-law'to'be, was smiling at each of them, offering mi1 ice-cold peppermint water for "whoever's thirsty." Imagining rhe wedding-day feast they'd be putting on before long, I i .ih clasped Fannie's outstretched hands.

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"Just look at you," Fannie said, eyes aglow. "How's oin next young bride?"

Leah felt her cheeks turn instantly warm, and Mamm.i spoke up right softly. "Best not be sayin' such things just yd."

Fannie gave a nod of the head. Leah, ever so glad none i >l the Mast boys were within hearing distance, went and sat ;il the table with her cousins Rebekah and Katie. Young Martini came over quickly and perched herself on the edge of the lon(, bench, eyes alight with curiosity. Surely Jonas's family h;ul some idea of their plans to marry, though it wasn't their ens torn for couples to speak openly of their engagement thin many weeks before the wedding season.

"Didja pick your bridesmaids?" Rebekah piped up, surpris* ing them all. i

Thankfully Mamma intervened yet again. "Now, Becky. . ." Her eyes turned solemn and her voice a bit prickly,

Aunt Lizzie added more tenderly, "Let's just wait on that," with a peculiar, even restrained, smile.

Jonas and the upcoming wedding aside, the high point of the visit was all of them tiptoeing upstairs to have a look-sro at Jacob and Amanda. "Ach, they're but wee ones," Ainil Lizzie was first to say, reaching with outstretched arms for fiiii haired Mandie. She received her from Fannie and set to cou ing like a contented mamma chick. Mamma's arms were full up with Lydiann, who looked nearly twice as big as Fannies twins, though she was younger.

Leah was hesitant to step up when Fannie held up the next bundle, one a mite smaller tiny Jake. "Do you mind if I hold him first?" she asked Hannah and Mary Ruth.

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*iR|p clucked warmly at this, and Mary Ruth frowned,

'ti(uttlent for her turn.

' ii'i awful cute, Leah quickly decided, cradling him and 'U ilnwn at his miniature button nose, closed eyes, and

vrtl-nhupcd mouth. His fingers were the smallest she'd

" Hi, his nails nearly the size of raindrops.

' ' mnall but mighty," Fannie spoke up, coming over to

Ilitt wrinkled brow with her pointer finger. "His squeal

-imr me out of the deepest slumber right up out of bed

tit) tny feet! Peter thinks he'll catch up with his twin

it no time." She paused for a moment, then "We were

'iiri'led at the outset, truth be told."

li, why's that?" Mamma was next to Aunt Lizzie, with

ii I (linking her bright little eyes at her youngest girl

if hud quite a lot of trouble . . . couldn't suckle so |UNl awful tiny didn't seem ready to face the world.

twins weren't said to be premature." th noticed Hannah's eyes grow wider with Cousin Fanif ry remark. "Do you think . . . um, Mandie took away i| the nourishment from Jake . . . that is, before they

um/"

' u!e Hannah scarcely ever spoke up, all of them turned

i iim-icIs toward her at once. "Well, now, I gather that's

'her possible," Fannie replied. "I never thought of it ay."

I iiiinm nodded in agreement. "Jah, there are times when 'Mil snatches the food away from the other during the luplng. But such was not the case with you and Mary

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Leah couldn't help but smile. Mamma's eyes sparkled witli love just now.

Quietly Leah slipped out of the room and into the hall way, still holding Jake, who was beginning to stir. Aunt Becky Brenneman in Hickory Hollow had once said and quite adu mantly that talking about an infant in front of him or hci "makes for a self-conscious and shy child," and she felt sinought to spare baby Jake.

"Just look at you," she whispered, smiling down at him, his eyes blinking up at her. "I think you're right handsome myself . . . ev'ry bit as healthy as any baby round here. So what if you're small. Babies are s'posed to be, ain't so?"

He gurgled at her, wiggling, too. She wandered down the hallway, cooing all the while, thinking it providential Sadie was in Ohio instead of here with Fannie's babies.

"My turn." Mary Ruth tapped her on the shoulder.

"Aw, I just got him," Leah protested but reluctantly handed over the sweet bundle. "Careful, now."

Mary Ruth nodded. "Didja forget already that I help with Lydiann . . . and Carl Nolt?"

"I know," she replied, still eyeing the full head of brown hair framing Jake's miniature face. Her heart was ever so drawn to the delicate boy, and she wished she could help pr< > tect him somehow, though it wasn't her place. Still, if she ami Jonas lived at all closer, she had the feeling she would be over here quite often.

"In all gut time I 'spect you'll have your own little ones in love, jah?"

Leah truly hoped so. Many a bride gave birth nine mom I in after the wedding day. But whenever the Good Lord saw fil I < i

197HK hfi future union was right fine. Truth was, she wouldn't pd huving a son first, someone to carry on the respected II tuiini1 and help with Jonas's carpentry work or yard work. i| then ;i|;;iin, she refused to do as Dat had done, wishing hard lor a boy and getting another girl like when she Bit- iilnng after Sadie. No, she would be grateful for any son I jliiii^liter the Sovereign Lord chose to give her once she Li 11 was were wed.

H 11 icy had all gone walking, the five of them Leah, the Hiii,, mid Rebekah and Katie Mast. They talked and strolled ^m-limi ncross a low ridge near the barn, past the windmill, ! up id the high meadow, leaving the farmhouse far behind. Kii;hi off they talked about piling into the pony cart for a luug good time. But both Katie and Rebekah suggested tin , I'cst not be too rowdy, what with the Lord's Day just in miihI the bend. Leah could hardly disagree, and they heeded ^jt' t all of prudence and headed toward the apple orchard for Ht:li I hearted romp through the trees.

H Kcbekah was grinning as she asked, "When do you's start Hn' barefoot over in Gobbler's Knob in the spring, I Hum"

Hj "Whenever it's warm enough." Mary Ruth was first to ^wer. ^B"My feet are so callused it scarcely matters," Katie spoke

^B"Well, let me tell you when Mamma says we can run

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barefoot," Rebekah said, walking just ahead of Leah and Hannah, with Katie and Mary Ruth on either side of her. "We wait till the bumblebees fly," Rebekah announced as if it were some important revelation. "You know, the big, fat ones?"

"Our mamma says the same," Mary Ruth added.

Leah agreed. "Jah, 'cause too soon in the season, and your toes might get frostbit."

To this, the girls let out a peal of unrestrained laughter. They felt a convincing sense of freedom out here, far from the ears and eyes of their elders.

"Looks like we'll be seein' each other several times this

year . . . with Jonas and Leah's weddin' coming up," saiil Rebekah, glancing at Leah.

" 'Course, us girls and Dat and Mamma, too are s'posed to be in the dark about it," said Mary Ruth, grinning now. "But as fast as Jonas's letters keep comin', well, we'd all have to be blind not to see the handwritin' on the wall."

"Just think," Katie spoke up, "once they marry, our parents will be in-laws together 'stead of just cousins. But wh;ii will that make us girls?"

Mary Ruth clapped her hands. "Second cousins and then some, I'm thinkin'. Glory be!"

Leah smiled with delight. The Mast girls were evidently eager to be as closely connected as they could be. After all, Cousin Peter and Fannie Mast, along with their ten children, were soon to become her second family. Five more sisters. And four brothers a first!

When they'd quieted down a bit, Rebekah asked, "What's Sadie doin' out in Ohio?"

Leah's heart jolted. She bit her lip and remained silent.199

^B would wait for either Hannah or Mary Ruth to say what

^t liiul shared with all of them. She guessed Mary Ruth

^MjlJ be the one to answer.

^H Aiul Mary Ruth it was. "Most everyone, at one time or

^BtiicT, needs some thinkin' time. Sadie will be home soon,

li'll see."

^M I t-;ih was relieved. Seemed Mary Ruth most certainly had

^Hfptcd their father's explanation hook, line, and sinker.

^M "hut ain't it strange she should be livin' so near to your

^Hn, Leah?" Rebekah said, turning around and looking right

^H "I low do you know this?" Leah asked, standing still with ^M others.

^H Rebekah seemed eager to volunteer the information. HMhsi Mellinger, Mamma's cousin's wife, wrote and said how

hi>rricd she was over Sadie."

"Jah, Sadie cries most ev'ry night, Vera writes," Katie

tillled, joining arms with older sister Rebekah. "Just why

v mid that be?"

"Could be she's missin' home, but if so, why'd she go all

In way out there in the first place?" Rebekah asked, eyes

>v..||-.

Leah shook her head and was starting to speak when Mary Mmh said, "There's nothin' wrong with Sadie that a little rest wi in't help. And that's all there is to it."

"The same kind of rest your aunt Lizzie Brenneman Beded back when she was a teenager?" said Rebekah.

R Perplexed and uneasy, Leah said, "Seems to me we're rl.ilkin' foolishness now. What can you possibly mean?"

"Well, if you don't know, I best not be the one to say."

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With that Rebekah spun around and headed on her way.

"Come back!" Mary Ruth called to her, exchanging bewil dered glances with Hannah and Leah.

"There's only one reason your parents would semi :t courting-age daughter away!" Rebekah hollered back. "Thinl on that."

Heartsick anew, Leah suggested she and the twins return to the house. "Let Rebekah say what she will," she said softly, "Come, let's go."

Mary Ruth and Hannah followed, but Katie Mast turned and bounded after Rebekah, deep into the orchard, the oppo '. site direction from the house. "What do you s'pose she meant \ to imply about Aunt Lizzie?" Mary Ruth asked. I

"I wonder . . ." said Hannah. |

Leah felt she ought to put a halt to this. "Sadie needs our ; understandin', not hearsay."

For a short while they trailed the creek as it fell over rock, and twig, looping past small oak trees and patches of moss. ;

Then, when the house and barn were again in sight, Haiv \ nah stopped walking. "Last year Dawdi John told me the '' strangest thing," she said. "Did either of you know Aunt Lizzie lived in our Dawdi Haus at the tail end of her rumschpringe?" j

Mary Ruth looked startled. "You sure?" J

"Since Dawdi has a clear mind and wouldn't think of 1 lyin', I tend to believe him," Hannah replied. "He said Lizzie ; joined church in Gobbler's Knob 'stead of the Hickory Hollow : district." i

"News to me," Leah said. "Did Dawdi say why that was?" :

"I guess 'cause for a time, Lizzie needed Mamma's love to

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| i I !'? through some rough days. Just what... I don't know." Ill it once Hannah turned pale.

I Wlnit is it?" asked Leah, her own mouth suddenly dry. I Vim don't s'pose .. , the reason Aunt Lizzie never married

I'

I 'I l| , don't let's be speculatin'!" Mary Ruth interrupted,

I1 iu r crimson red.

I I Hhutild say." Leah deliberately took the lead and began til-Hi^ faster than they had before, hoping her sisters might lit i\v hor back to the house and quickly at that.

*

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P unday, following Preaching service, Sadie climbed into the Idcllinger family two-horse carriage. She sat in the second Bur with Edith Mellinger. Edith's grown son, David, his wife, rcra, and their young family Joseph, Mary Mae, and kndy sat up front, the two smaller children perched on heir parents' laps.

I The ride back to the Mellingers' farmhouse dragged on Ifid on. She had already sat through the main sermon, which Bus miles lor^g, much like the Preaching service back home. Fitr today she'd felt the hot pangs of conviction from the first lymn and Zeugniss testimonies till the benediction. The IlHsages of Scripture read were some not so emphasized by Bther Bishop Bontrager or Preacher Yoder. Today's main serRon had been about Galatians, chapter six, verse eight ForU that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption which lilt the fear of the Lord God in her. Did this mean "sowing bild oats," like she had done during rumschpringe and fcyond? The part about the flesh reaping corruption had her fcumped, really. Did it mean she could be punished further for

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her immorality, even more than she had been already, losing her baby and all? Ofttimes she worried God might not allow her to have more children if she was ever to marry. Oh, she trembled at the thought!

The minister had also preached on the latter half of the verse: but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap lifeeverlasting. That part had caught her attention but good, and she pondered it still.