Abram's Daughters 02 The Betrayal (26 page)

You might think me uncaring, Mamma, if I say Leah shouldn't count on me to be a bridesmaid. You can tell her for me. There's so much going through my mind now. Better to ask Hannah and Mary Ruth. Or . . . Adah Peachey, since she and Leah have been bosom friends. Yet I daresn't be .so bold as to suggest whom Leah ought to pick, for goodness' sake. Still, I'm awful angry at her these days.

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Mcttnma, I know it was ever so awkward for you and Dat I Uv the telephone yesterday. I know, too, that your words |{|i of jours were meant to encourage me to confess. Truly, i;y have gone round and round in my head. And, if I'm to | jiimtist, in my heart.

I best be signing off for now. Write when you're able. 1 toe Jonas Mast might tell me of his and Leah's baptism. ' With love,

I Your daughter Sadie

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^ brain rose and dressed in his work clothes before the

Ntcr's first crow. He rolled up his sleeves and headed

I "Hiiptly to the barn, where he wiped down the bloated

I Urrs of his two milk cows before sliding the wooden stool

up 10 Rosie.

l,eah was late in getting out to help, which was unusual I- ) her on a Monday morning if she was coming at all, conI- ring her departing words in the kitchen last evening. Ida uld surely aleit him if Leah was, in fact, ill. The last time one of his daughters had been said to be under the weather," no one guessed she was expecting a. liiltl. Sadie had been both immoral and successful at con' iling it for a time. Even now, thinking about Sadie's decep-

11' 'ii made him want to go out and find the Lump who'd done I > i wrong. He hadn't asked who had been the father of the l'-il y. Best not to know.

The unexpected clatter of a carriage coming up the long l.mi: caused him to crane his neck to look; Abram was

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flabbergasted to see Preacher Yoder in the faint morning light,

"Wie geht's," the brawny man called to him from the sklg yard.

"Hullo! I'm in the barn milkin'."

"I know where you are, Abram" came the reply, reminln cent of the Lord God calling Samuel of old.

He looked up and saw Preacher walking at a brisk p;u < , following the outline of the barnyard where the gravel nn i the back lawn. "Looks to be another mild day on the wny," Abram said, keeping on with his hand-milking chore benciilli Rosie.

"Better weather I haven't seen for September twciiiy second."

"We mark this day?" he asked, puzzled. "What's on yum mind, Preacher?"

Not only stocky, but taller than most Plain men in iln area, Preacher had a fearsome way of filling up the space In occupied. Young folk, mainly those in danger of church ilr cipline, often whispered that the strength of Jehovah God w.i sketched on Preacher's countenance. He had been

He nodded. "That I am." I

ie nodded

Then you

know

your

eldest-

as

she

1 hen you know your eldest soon as she will have to face Deacon Stoltzfus, Bishop

returns honiiv*Bontrager, and

271IO e I r a y a I

iy i ll," Preacher stepped back as if eager to exit. "When do >i '-xpcct the girl back?"

I he girl . .. not "your daughter." Preacher Yoder was mak' severe point, and Abram should have expected as much. > i' Ivei'i along with Bishop Bontrager, was known to dig in ' I h itils. Little or no mercy was the rule, and baptized church

* mik

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'indie is visiting in Ohio. As far as I know, she'll return . > lew weeks. When she does I'll instruct her to follow the 'iluting in submission to the church."

" That is your word on this, Abram?"

"luh, 'tis."

1 >i uncling at the upstairs window, Leah had seen Preacher 'Ici'k buggy through the lane and into the barnyard. She ii li-il it best not to head out to the barn, what with somber Ik nl Sadie going on. Must be the reason why Preacher had niic here so early of a morning. She'd half expected him to mil' calling yesterday afternoon, even while Dat and Jonas ii I none to talk privately in the cornfield. But Preacher Yoder ii I his own way of doing things, and no one ever questioned lit- nine of day he chose to drop in.

SI e carried around in her at least a speck of hope. After II, Sadie hadn't yet turned down her request to be a bridesI ill I in the wedding, an honor Sadie knew was wholly tied ' a confession. Now, with the church brethren involved, it nlnlif he that the way was paved for her sister's redemption.

Alter Preacher Yoder left the barn to return to his carriage

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and hurry out to the road, Abram finished the milking ami stumbled across the barnyard, heading for the house. The tan talizing aroma of bacon sizzling and Ida's scrambled eggs wiili cheese welcomed him, discouraged as he was.

"Abram?" His rosy wife met him at the back door.

Before she could say more, he was nodding his head. 11> sensed her concern. "Jah, Sadie best be gettin' herself hoim And mighty soon."

"Then, she's in danger of the shun?"

"If she doesn't hurry and confess, she is."

"Ach, what'll we do?" asked Ida, hovering near as he huiif his hat on the wooden peg in the utility room.

"When it comes to our daughters, we never give up <>n 'em."

Ida gave him an encouraging smile, then leaned on 11 crook of his elbow as they headed for the kitchen. "I'll k<< \> this in my prayers."

He wanted to ask about Leah in the worst way but lid.I his peace. The fact she wasn't anywhere around led him i" think she might be upstairs tending to Lydiann.

About the time he might have asked, here came LcmIi carrying his wee daughter. "Let me have that baby of mint , he said, sitting down at the table.

Leah, smiling now, gently offered Lydiann to him. "Sin \ dry and ever so happy."

"Then her tummy's full, too?" He glanced over at Ida, win > was scooping up the eggs and dishing them onto an oval plat ter.

"Oh my, did she ever eat." Ida came over, carrying (In platter. She set it down and gave him a peck on the forehr.ul,

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Hft mnooched Lydiann's tiny cheek, making over their little H "( !iiri you believe how fast she's growin'?" j.Minnn touched Lydiann's soft face with his thumb. Hl>> '. she take after, do you think?"

"Iliird to say, just yet," Ida replied. "But I daresay K i)'8 most like our Leah."

n- Leah . . . How much longer will she be considered oursi, lie wondered. Everything within him resisted telling ih now. If ever.

I mil's eyes shone with delight at Ida's comment. She hurI In set the table, catching his eye. "Sorry I didn't get out [iplp you this mornin', Dat. What with Hannah and Mary >\\ ilrcssin' round for school and all, Mamma needed my i|i wllh the baby."

lllNl I hen the twins rushed to take their places at the table.

A', lookee there," Mary Ruth said, grinning at Lydiann in

rum's arms. "She's her father's baby girl, ain't so?"

This brought plenty of smiles, and Abram figured he knew

iiy, Truth was, he'd spent hardly any time at all with

Unnn. Not because he didn't want to. He was just far busier

ii he'd hoped to be at this phase of his life. Looking to slow

n some, he'd been hoping for the longest time Smithy

I might take over the heavy farming duties once married

I mh. But Jonas Mast had seen to it those plans had gone

>v.

"No . . . no, I say Lydiann's Mamma's girl," said Ida, cooing

.iv and taking the baby from Abram. "I daresay she'll be Wyhiy content to sit on my lap while you feed your face, pi."

I Quickly Leah and Ida took their seats. When Abram

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bowed his head for the blessing over the meal, he added ;in additional prayer. O Lord God, may your watch care rest on out Sadie. . . .

He breathed in audibly, signaling the end of the prayer,

Leah reached for the platter of eggs near her and notieeql Mary Ruth helping herself to three long strips of bacon acroifl the table. "Won'tcha save some for the rest of us?" she joked!

Mary Ruth gave her an apologetic look. "Sorry. Guess p thought I needed plenty of energy today."

Hannah nodded her head.

"And why's that?" Dat asked.

"We're havin' the first test in mathematics," Mary Ruili explained, all smiles. "I s'pose to see what each pupil reciillt from last year."

"In arithmetic, you say?" Dat said.

"It's hard work," Hannah said softly. "Takes a lot oui <>| certain pupils." She smiled at Mary Ruth and they tittered.

"If a certain daughter of mine didn't fret so over grade's, I doubt she'd need any extra bacon a'tall." Dat chuckled a l>n "Ain't so, Mary Ruth?"

Mamma looked up just then, jostling Lydiann, who u-i reaching for the nearby breakfast plate. "Better learn all y"" can this year, girls. Next year I'll be puttin' you both to w< >i I here at home."

Mary Ruth's smile faded instantly. Leah suspected it u.i an indication of how her sister's heart had just sank, to In

sure.

Feeling like it might be a wise thing to change the subjn i, Leah stuck her neck out and asked, "Dat, would smiili\

275C_he Idetrayal

Hfhry Imppen to know who owns the grassland northeast Kilt property line?"

"I know who does," Dat replied. "That land belongs to the"I doctor."

I 'I. Schwartz?"

"I Icury Schwartz has done nothin' with it all these years, hy do you ask?"

Lfiih was caught like a driving horse in the path of a recki mitomobile. "Jonas and I were there yesterday afternoon,

II."".'Jo then you know it's perfect grazing land and a cryin'

me not to put animals on it." Dat shoveled another spoon' il 1'ijgs into his mouth. While chewing, he managed to say, hi were trespassin' if you's were over there." ' 'I u' recalled Jonas had suspected as much. How peculiar i in English doctor, of all people, wanted to let that land ii there with no intended purpose.

Him it struck her hard as a bushel of potatoes falling on m i head. Dr. Schwartz owned the land where someone had

'"i; ii liny grave. Awful strange!

She reached for her glass and drank down half of the imy milk, straight from Rosie to Mamma's table. Could it But no, surely not. Had Derry's father buried Sadie's blue 'I'y in his own field?

"What is it, Leah?" Mamma was asking, staring at her. I' "1 guess I'm not feelin' so gut right now." She slid off the inch and rushed out of the kitchen.

f She heard Dat say as she headed upstairs, "Goodness' |ke, Leah was sick last night, too."

Well, she couldn't help how she was feeling. She had to

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take herself off to her room for a while. She needed to brealhe slowly . . . think this over carefully. Besides, what could s\VM say was wrong with her later, when she went out to hose dotifl the milk house, feed the chickens, gather the eggs, and ml and fertilize the yards? How could she begin to say that ( Henry Schwartz must have buried his own grandson ulia Dat's, too on that fertile plot of land? How could she confol that Sadie had conceived the dead baby with the docloM wicked son? I

Nearly worse than all of that, Dr. Schwartz hadn't had ill decency to tell Sadie about the burial. He could have done m in confidence, one way or another. Mercy knows, this mi|M have helped ease Sadie's desperation and suffering, even tiiviM her a place to privately kneel and ponder her great loss.

Henry Schwartz was a licensed physician and a tnistm family friend. She'd seen the framed certificates on the wall his medical clinic, felt the steadfastness in his handshake. why should such a smart doctor give a stillborn, premaiuM baby a burial? If he indeed had done so. Made hardly ntfl sense.

She felt helpless and sad at once. Helpless to know whB to think . . . and awful sad for Sadie, who knew nothing m this, and just as well. , ; I

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i k was helping Ida put up the late cabbage the Tuesday

i' i I oah's baptism, making sauerkraut in her sister's kitchen.

I Whs my understanding you and Abram were plannin' to

iik openly to Leah two days ago." With both Hannah and

> i y Ruth away at school and Leah safely outside with

nun, she felt at ease bringing this up.

"We changed our minds, is all," Ida explained. "Leah

.n'l feeling so well." "C )h? Leah'sW

Ida nodded, absentmindedly it seemed. "Abram decided should wait a bit."

Wait longer!

Lizzie didn't like the sound of this. Both Ida and Abram

"I used the selfsame remark as an excuse too many times

I i he past months. Honest to goodness, she didn't think it teio wait one more day. After all, Leah was old enough to I courted and marry, so why not acknowledge her maturity lihis important matter?

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"I say it's past time" was what she felt like saying, and did so flat out.

"Well, now, Lizzie, is it your decision to make, do ymi think?" Ida's blue eyes could grow dark with displeasure mi occasion, and this was clearly one of those times.

"If you're draggin' your feet scared of what Li':ili't response might be well, I'm willin' to tell her myself."

"I'm sure you are." Ida straightened and then continued to stir the wilting cabbage in the kettle of boiling water. "Uul I think you best be waitin'."

"Waitin's all I've been doing Leah's whole life long." hi.- 'w wished to push back the years. Back to when her daughter w.m but a toddler so cute Leah was and Lizzie wished she mi^ly! whisper it was she who was Mamma. But with the help am Bishop Bontrager, the three of them had made an agreenicrtB to last until Leah reached courting age. Lizzie had stuck liyj her word, keeping the hardest promise of her life. I