Abram's Daughters 04 The Prodigal (13 page)

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lilt1 cause of their breakup. And rightly so, since he longed for pi own household and flesh-and-blood children, which he bun certainly having with Hannah one after another. Yet, Bill* fur, she had failed to give him a son. I Maybe next time the Lord God will see fit to give us a boy, he I In night, moving away from the window and heading to Bpil. I 11'i" ears would have to wait till morning for some word nil Alv. She was just too tired, and not long from now, in a few hours, Mimi would be crying yet again for nourishment. I A lamiliar dread of darkness overwhelmed her as it L'emrd to nearly every night, and Hannah went again to llii'i k on her children, ever worried that they might sleep too Inuiully, never to awaken. Even with her baby safely born, the liiiwlng fear of death seemed to shadow her every move.

I The evening progressed, bringing with it a steady trickle

II visitors to the waiting area Uncle Jesse Ebersol and nearly

in his family and Leah was especially glad to see Adah Imuhir those Svho had come to keep her company through the in iless hours.

I "Ya mustn't wear yourself out," Adah advised sweetly, her lly eyes revealing the concern of a best friend. "Will ya prompt- you'll rest when ya can?" I I ciih's lip quivered and she said she would. I "Phis too shall pass," Adah offered, sitting beside her. "A It'iu ussion is a worrisome thing, but I have a feelin' you'll see Ilin up and goin' about his work and school in no time." I I eah opened her heart and shared what the nurses had id I her to expect about Abe's condition if things went

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normally. To this Adah frowned, yet she stood her ground. "Trust the Lord God for healing," she whispered, glancing around her lest she be heard and misunderstood.

A bit surprised at this, Leah kept her voice low, saying she had been doing just that, but she was awful glad for Adah's encouragement. "I felt I nearly lost my own son this day," she admitted. "And Dat, oh goodness, you best be prayin' for him, too. He needs it as much as Abe, I'm thinkin'."

Saying she would remember the whole family in her prayers, Adah gripped Leah's hand and added, "Nothin's impossible with the Lord God. Ya have to hold on to that."

When all of this recent faith had sprung up in Adah, Leah didn't know. But she wasn't too surprised to hear such things from Miriam Peachey's daughter, knowing what she did about Mammals good friend and the way she believed, though quite secretly, in the saving grace of the Lord Jesus. Like Miriam and Adah, a growing number of the People seemed to be embracing the blessing of prayer.

Come ten o'clock, the family waiting room grew empty and quiet, and soon Leah was alone with Abe once again. She was distressed that he seemed disoriented at times, as though he had lost his way in his mind and could not get back to where he belonged. The nurse had talked about accidentrelated amnesia, something that should fade with time, and hopefully that would be the case with Abe. For now, though, Abe continued to complain about a growing list of symptoms. At first light tomorrow some tests would be done, the nurses assured her. , ". ,\. ?

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Leah settled into the oversized leather chair, aware of A he's steady breathing. Tomorrow we'll know more. She wrestlixl with the thought, hoping the doctor would indeed have more for her to go on, something to help her grasp all the UtrunKc things happening with Abe.

I A horrendous thirst awakened Abram in the night a

I1 ii iwrrhil urge to get out of bed and go to the kitchen for some I wiiu-r. Along with the intense craving was the lingering memliny i >l a nightmare. In his dream, Abram had made repeated I HI tempts to reach Abe, yet he had slipped on the ice himself, I his aims stretched out before him, unable to save his son.

I A i tempting to recover from the dreadful sense of helplessllu'ss, Abram drank the glass dry in one continuous gulp. The Itvenls of the day played in his mind as he padded back to his Iprilroom, and all he could think of now was that Abe and ILt'iih were far removed from him this night. . . nearly an hour Ifwuy by horse and carriage. He was beholden to Henry Ifirhwartz, the k4ndhearted doctor who had probably saved Abe's life. Once Dr. Schwartz had arrived and Abram had carIfli'd his unconscious son out to the doctor's car, he'd clung to Itt measure of hope that Abe was going to be all right in the llnii|.; run and without the help of the hex doctor. I But presently, in the dimness of his room, he prayed lleiitly that he'd made the right decision for his son ... for ILmh, too, who was tending to Abe with her heart, no doubt Piling precious little sleep herself. Time would tell, Abram Iircw. ...- ... .; r.,-v -;.::,

I Such a day it's been, he thought, , :v

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In time Abram yielded to slumber and was disturbed by yet another dream. Abe had slipped into a hole in a pond created for ice fishing, his small hands thrashing about, his weak voice calling for help as he slipped farther and farther from the opening, at last bumping his head against the frozen pond above him and drowning in the frigid waters.

Breaking out in a cold sweat, Abram awakened, wishing for the dawn. He arose again and sat on the edge of his bed, struggling to control his yearning to see with his own eyes that Abe still lived.

I should've stayed at the hospital. ... . \ ..:

Going to get another drink, he stood at the kitchen window and looked out across the snowy pastureland, this plot of land owned by his own father and grandfather before him. Had either of them ever spoken to the Almighty the way Lizzie did . . . the way Ida had always done? The way he'd silently prayed at his injured son's side?

Again he felt a nudging within to call on the name of the almighty One, if only in a whisper. Inhaling deeply, he began. "O Lord God and heavenly Father, will you hear and honor this prayer I make? Will you look after young Abe this night. . . and Leah, too? Will you shine your light of love kindly upon them while they are so far away from my care? Amen."

He felt altogether odd about the act, yet there was something truly strengthening about speaking this way in prayer. He had never done so before in his life, having been instructed against it, and the actual doing was such an eyeopener, he wondered why on earth Bishop Bontrager was so opposed to something so powerful something as potent as some of the People viewed a hex doctor's chanting.

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I \\\\\ even more than the sense of power in the room was It' prevailing peace, an assurance that Abe would indeed surlive.

I "l;alher in heaven, hear my prayers for young Abe," whis' Mivil Mary Ruth as she walked the length of her bedroom, Illh only the light of the moon to guide her way. "Touch my itliiT and Sadie and Lydiann . . . and Dawdi John, too, with l)iir saving grace. Minister your abiding strength to Aunt lUzie and Leah, and call Hannah, my dear twin, and her hus--

111 id, Gid, and their little ones to the eternal truth of your I/(H\I. These things I pray in the name of the Lord Jesus,linen."

I "O Lord God, let Abe live," Sadie prayed silently beneath Ic coverlet of the bed she normally shared with Leah. "Let Bung Abe live a long and healthy life." I She wondered if Leah was able to rest at the hospital. But B, more than likely she was keeping watch over Abe. If I'd Hjed him as my own, I'd be doing the same, she contemplated, hing inOK) the darkness. If I'd stayed put, I would have been me for Mamma to ask for my promise on her deathbed.I Too often she let her mind wander to this: that had she en living at home, Leah never would have been anywhere Bfir the birthing room with Mamma, Aunt Lizzie, and the Bdwife. For Sadie had always been Mamma's right-hand girl, K prior to the years of her rumschpringe, they had scarcely r been apart. She had worked alongside Mamma in most Hfry respect.

H She pictured Abe lying still as a stone in a hospital of Hny strangers Englishers mostly and was startled at a

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keen sense of not wanting to lose him to death. Just as I lostmy only son.

Weeping now, she felt compelled to continue her prayer to the almighty One.

"Dear God, let my brother live so that I might know him ... so that he might come to love me in part as he does Leah." Only after praying this would Sadie allow herself to rest.

What's to become of us if Abe dies? Lydiann wondered, lying wide-awake, having cried her eyes dry. Am I to grow up alone?

She thought she heard Sadie down the hall and raised herself up in the darkness to listen. The graceful, beautiful sister she'd missed knowing for nearly her whole life was sniffling in her bed, crying over Abe, too, probably. Getting up, she pushed her slippers on and tiptoed to the room her mamma Leah and Sadie shared. She tapped gently on the door. "Sadie, it's me . . . Lyddie."

She was told to come in, which she did gladly, especially thankful when Sadie held open the heavy quilt to welcome her to climb in.

"I could use some company tonight, too," said Sadie, her voice raspy.

"That's gut, 'cause I'm awful sad." Lydiann slipped into bed and felt the warmth of Sadie's arm around her. She nes;: tied down like a kitten in a wicker basket.

"No need for both of us to be lonely tonight," Sadie whispered.

Lydiann smiled through her tears. "Were you ever, well, lonely before . . . ?" ' " , , : ; . '

"Before I moved home, ya mean?" ,, '', .;

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"Til have to say I was always missing my family. . . espei Lilly Mamma . . . the mother who birthed both you and me. We wore always ever so close."

Lydiann wondered if she dare ask the question burning \mi 11in her. Was this the right time to bring up such a thing?

1 'In.- sighed and tried to go to sleep, but rest would not come.

11ii 11ing over, she lay facing the ceiling.

"What are ya thinkin' now?" Sadie asked.

"Not sure if I oughta say."

"You can ask me whatever ya like. How's that?" :

She could just imagine Mamma Leah saying this wasn't a

'"id idea not tonight, not now, not ever. But Lydiann

liln'f so much care at the moment what anybody thought.

> she asked, "Why were ya treated so, Sadie? Why'd ya have

< no away?" ; : . .... . :. .,. .. .

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I wo days following New Year's Day, along about midday, Abe was released from the Lancaster hospital. Evidently Dr. Schwartz had been keeping in touch with the attending physician by phone, for he kindly offered to drive both Leah and Abe home "to avoid further jostling in a buggy" was precisely the way the doctor had put it to Leah. She realized anew what wonderful-good friends and neighbors the Schwartzes were, and she'd gotten up the nerve to tell Dr. Schwartz as much during the ride back to Gobbler's Knob. Together, she and Abe had sat in the backseat, Abe leaning against her and quietly complaining of dizziness the length of the trip.

Once she resumed her work at the clinic, Leah intended to ask Dr. Schwartz privately about Abe's continuing symptoms, including his insistence that he had not returned to the frozen pond. The rest of the family would, no doubt, be just as concerned as she once Abe got settled back at home.

Meanwhile, they all of them had much to be grateful for, because their boy's injuries could have been far worse.

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I Lydiann tried to keep herself from bawling as she greeted I A he, she was so happy to see him. "What was it like at the | hospital? Did the nurses take gut care of ya? Did they let you I fill" ice cream?"

f "I think we best let your brother rest up before ya ask too I ninny questions," Mamma Leah said, to which Dat agreed, | nodding his head.

The entire family, including Dawdi John, who'd hobbled

(iver from next door, stood in Mamma's kitchen, awful happy

Id see Abe again. But it wasn't long before Mamma Leah and

Dat were taking him upstairs to lie down.

"Isn't he all better?" Lydiann followed them to the bottom I of the stairs and looked up with longing as her brother leaned I hard on Dat's arm.

I Briefly turning around, Dat chided her, "Hush now." I Lydiann hurried to Sadie's side at the cookstove, where I she had cooked up her best corn chowder. "What do ya make

of that?" she whispered. "Abe comes home and he can hardly ' walk. I saw him, Sadie. His balance is off-kilter!"

"Don't ya worry none," Sadie replied. "He'll be as gut as

new. .. you'll see."

But Abe wasn't better that evening or the next morning,

neither one. And Lydiann worried something truly terrible

had happened to him over on Blackbird Pond, something

Abe might never recover from.

Then and there, she decided it best not to tell her school

friends what she'd seen with her own eyes, even though they

were all asking about Abe. Dat had already gone to the school

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and informed the teacher that Abe would be missing some days just how many, no one could say.

The day following Leah's return with Abe, Sadie found her in the kitchen sweeping the floor. Silently, she set about cleaning up the wood stove, wondering how to raise the subject of the letter she'd hidden in her bureau drawer. She considered yet again the new barrier it was bound to create between the two of them as she continued her work, rubbing hard at the cookstove's surface. Maybe this still wasn't the best time, but Sadie couldn't wait another minute. Ever since her decision to come clean, the letter had begun to bore a hole in her bureau drawer, as well as in her heart.

So when Leah stopped sweeping to fetch the dustpan, Sadie straightened and inhaled deeply. The second she reappeared, Sadie blurted, "It's time I talk to ya 'bout something, sister."

"Oh?" Leah was obviously innocent to what Sadie had in mind, for she continued with her work, bending low to sweep the floor debris onto the dustpan.