Abram's Daughters 04 The Prodigal (28 page)

| I lidiv mi choice now but to keep this quiet, she thought. I WMjLn'tih 11rv word.

^Hjir uvnl downstairs, through the small front room of the HRli I I; it is to the connecting door to the main house. In the j i i uplioiird of the big kitchen, she pulled from its shelf a [' \ illume, Martyrs Mirror or The Bloody Theatre. An L.-.uiii i>| seventeen centuries of Christian martyrdom, Mi Ithliiii', one of her father's own great-grandmothers, Catharhii Mi-ylin, Hat frequently read silently from the book. Leah {ill ! ' 11 i lie one to tell Sadie about their special relationship U ll iii;i|

II Liny .iliei that, Sadie had read for herself the heartrending It!* of tlir i'feat-grandmother who'd given up her life for the I*-I I JtmiN

I liltlliy I he Hnal recorded words of this godly woman, Btilhir In many children, comforted Sadie's heart as she held Bf I'in hook ever so close, almost cradling it. .. . ,.

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All that long morning Sadie kept wishing Dawdi John were still alive; she could sit with him and talk about most anything even, she was sure, about her long-lost son. But Dawdi could no longer lend his kind, listening ear . . . gone to heaven, where Sadie had thought all her little ones were, up until a few days ago. It seemed so strange, nearly like a dream, to think her only son lived and with Mamma's cousins. She had to remind herself repeatedly of the reality of it.

Since the house seemed deathly still, she decided to visit Hannah and the girls. She hurried out the back door of the Dawdi Haus, wishing she didn't have to reside alone in an addition typically meant for older relatives. Still, she knew she ought to be grateful for a place to live so near to those she loved.

Hurrying across the wide backyard, she walked toward the mule road, waving to Dat, who was stumbling out of the barn, rubbing his eyes like he'd just awakened from a catnap in the haymow. It was so hot she almost wished she'd stayed indoors fanning herself with the colorful paper fans Lydiann had made a while back at school.

Thinking of her own school days past, she was all the more anxious to see Hannah's girls so cute they were when they stood together all in a row. Young Miriam, already six years old, had become a surprisingly cheerful sort nothing at all the way she had started out. Though she'd never come right out and asked Hannah, Sadie guessed her sister had taken her youngest to one of the hex doctors for that, since she'd seen such a drastic change in not only the baby but in Hannah herself. : v ,

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I Ma Mi\i' and Katie Ann must have seen her coming from

fell' hack porch, because they ran down the steps and hugged

If hiird. "Mamma, Mamma! Aunt Sadie's here for a visit,"

ty culled.

I Pi'elly soon, Hannah and Mimi joined them. "Well, it's

H yti came up today, or we'd start thinkin' you a stranger."

I "Never that." She followed the girls to the porch, where

by nil saf down, full of smiles. "It's sure cooler up here."

I "Jnh, under all these trees," Hannah replied. "Gid says it's

llyhl nice place for a house."

I "Where's Gid today?" Sadie asked.

8 "( Ver yonder, visiting an uncle."

I Ida Mae asked if Sadie wanted some lemonade or some-

||111 else cold to drink. "We have sun tea, too . . . sweetened

jlli honey."

I "' I o:i sounds gut," she said, glad to get her mind off her-

jf . . , and Jake.

I Hut when Ida Mae returned with a tall glass of tea for her, |c was struck by how very dear each of Hannah's daughters IN, To think what life might have been like without even one of itii.... Sadie felt as if she might cry, contemplating each

I1 Ik- wee lives lost to her. Even the one that had just been lind was still so far out of her reach.

I hollowing breakfast Monday morning, Leah went out pile and began hoeing weeds in the vegetable and flower Ifdens, not caring that by now Dr. Schwartz would be Igsing his former housekeeper. Truth was, she wanted to IVe nothing to do with the man, and the best way to avoid

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him was simply to stay as far away from the clinic as possible.Let him explain to Lorraine why I'm not coming back, she thought, still beside herself with anger.

Meanwhile, Sadie was inside, moping about, although no one was in the house to inquire of her sister's dark mood at least not at the present time.

Leah took out her intense frustration, even fear, on the vinelike weeds that had determined to choke out the staked tomato plants. All the while she mulled over what on earth would happen if Jake Mast who was indeed Lydiann's beau somehow obtained his father's permission to marry young . . . assuming his father wasn't privy to his son's courtship of one of Abram Ebersol's daughters, that is. Her imagination ran away with her regarding Lydiann and Jake's courting relationship, revealed by Leah's Saturday-night kitchen vigil. Sadly she thought of the strong possibility of deformed and mentally retarded babies such an aunt-nephew union might produce. And dear Lydiann what would she think if she discovered she was in love with her sister's son? The emotional implications alone were enough to cause serious problems for Lydiann and Jake.

She wished the dilemma might simply disappear, but there was no escaping what she now knew must be swiftly deal I with. Even so, she must carefully contemplate this and ask God for help in knowing what she should or shouldn't do.

And there was the matter of Sadie, too. If Leah were to tell her of Lydiann and Jake, would she become distraught al this devastating news? Leah recalled all too well the hopelessness and the long, sad nights that had beset Sadie following the loss of her son all those years ago. Sadie had sniffled into the wee hours each night, competing with baby Lydiann's own

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m of crying. Most likely Sadie was already reliving all of that,

PU1 Wiiuiuls having been reopened by Leah herself. And now

hi* Inlesl discovery. . .

I Lcnh didn't know what to do. She longed to run to the

UUINt* nnd check on her sister, embrace her, but maybe it was

UiNl nIk' chop away these nasty weeds, though it would likely

M Siulic some good if she were the one out here hacking away

u lite pesky vines. Goodness, how she must need something to

mund on right about now!

I Aunt Lizzie wandered over from the barn, looking pink in

fcp luce. "It's too hot for weeding, Leah," she said, wiping her

uw, "But if I know you, you'll keep on workin' no matter

Ih.ii 1 say."

I Leah had to laugh at that. "I think ya know me too well,"

Kw replied, leaning on the hoe. "I don't quit till the job's

I Lizzie turned and glanced toward the house. "Where's

Indie?"

I "Inside."

I "Tryin" to keep cool?"

I Leah said nothing, hoping Lizzie wouldn't take it upon

icrsLilf to fetch Sadie just now.

I "Is something the matter with your sister?" Lizzie frowned

llul shielded her eyes with one hand. "For the past couple of

liiys she's been down in the mouth."

I "Seems so" was all Leah would say. All she could say.

I

I "I'm thinkin' it's time we made us some ice cream. Choc-

|i|alc, maybe. Might put a smile on all our faces, ain't so?" f Leah nodded and watched Lizzie head toward the house, |n>ping Sadie might be sheltered away in her bedroom, except with its being so hot, she hardly thought her sister would want

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to be upstairs in the Dawdi Haus. '

Returning to her weeding, she forced her thoughts to the upcoming farewell for the teenage boys headed out to Ohio. She wondered how the mothers, sisters, and even sweethearts would ever manage saying good-bye. Gid had mentioned to her and Dat last week that it would be nice for some of the women to bake cakes and serve them on the first Sunday in August, following the final Lancaster Preaching service for more than two handfuls of boys. Since the church meeting and the subsequent singing would be held at Old Jonathan Lapp's house, Leah had already talked with his unmarried daughter about providing several hot-water sponge cakes for the common meal.

Just then the thought popped into her head that she ought to talk to Gid about somehow getting Jake Masi included in the group of young men headed to Ohio. A solution, maybe? she wondered, realizing it would mean having to share the truth about Jake with her brother-in-law. I'll have tutalk to Sadie, too ... tell her about Lydiann being in love with Jake wanting to marry a close blood relative!

But the thought of the awful heartbreak such a plan woukl cause Lydiann, as well as Sadie, kept her from marching right up to Gid and Hannah's place. How on earth could she be responsible for setting such a thing in motion? With a shudder, she realized that what she was thinking of doing was nearly equal to what Dat had done about Jonas Mast, arranging to have him work in Ohio as a cabinetmaker's apprentice.

Feeling distressed, Leah left the garden and headed back to the house for some ice-cold lemonade.

275 p/ense storm clouds, which before Tuesday's noon had iPcnleiied rain, had all but dissipated when Leah met Sadie % I he small porch off the Dawdi Haus, where Sadie was beat% I'liKs.

"Sister, I'm afraid I have something mighty difficult to tell Ml," Leah began softly, hating to find herself the bearer of in news as she explained how she'd stumbled onto the lately! it conversation in the kitchen between Lydiann and Jake.

Sudie's efes widened as she promptly abandoned her (i iic, draping the rugs over the porch railing. "Ach, are ya yn so sure?" Shaking her head in apparent disbelief, Sadie's it r I urned ashen, as if she might be ill. "This can't be."

"Bui it is, and we must do something to put a stop to it Pit I light quick."

"Why must this be happenin'?" Sadie moaned. "On top of Veiything else!"

I,t'iih leaned on the banister. "If we don't do anything, \$y prob'ly will end up married. We can't stand by and ll't'ly hope they change their minds 'bout each other."

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"We have to think more on this," Sadie said. "Let's walk up to the high meadow go somewhere more private."

Agreeing, Leah hurried off with Sadie, the two of them talking through the ins and outs of this almost unthinkable quandary.

When they'd exhausted all possibilities, including telling Lydiann privately of Jake Mast's parentage something both feared would come to no good end Sadie tearfully begged Leah not to mention a word to anyone. "Not even to Gid," she said. "I'm just not ready to think 'bout having Jake sent away."

"Well, honestly, it's the wisest choice we've discussed," Leah said.

"Jah, I see that." Still, Sadie said she couldn't bring herself to agree to anything, least of all something that would take her only living child farther away from her. ,

All that day and the next, Leah went about her chores and responsibilities, hoping a better solution would preseni itself. She wasn't too surprised when Lorraine Schwariz stopped by the vegetable stand, asking for her, and Lydiann sent the doctor's wife up to the house, around to the back door.

Lorraine's eyes were full of concern. "We miss you terribly, Leah. We can't be without your wonderful help."

So as not to open up the troublesome topic with the doctor's unsuspecting wife, Leah promised to return to work the following day, saying she had not been feeling well latelywhich was entirely true. Surely Dr. Schwartz, wretched man

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Ht he whs, would understand the source of Leah's illness hiitlKI liiiriiiiic relay this exchange to him. As justified as her I Inn hud been, Leah felt sorry about having stayed put at f , living innocent Lorraine in the lurch.

v'lirn Lorraine had gone her way, Leah turned her atten| lo Sndio. She understood why her sister wanted to keep

I i about' Jake, wanting nothing to hamper her chances of ii'-nln)j[ Into him a selfish but unsurprising reaction, for

I1 Smile's present grief, along with her hope for at least one Kji iJiK'ounter with her son, caused Leah to consent for now | i i'p mum about Jake and Lydiann's romance. Yet each day

11 a puNNed brought opportunity for Sadie's sister to fall more Mtply In love with Sadie's son.

lull week had passed since Leah had heard Jake's dec|t' 11 in of love for Lydiann, and she felt increasingly anxious. I vhh 11ware that this Sunday there was to be another singi. h riins the cornfield at the Peacheys' place, where Dorcas li! her husband, Tomato Joe Zook, lived with their young faulty now chat Smitty and Miriam had moved to the Dawdi I(M m, There was no question in Leah's mind that Lydiann nil i It I tfo, particularly with the singing this close to home. wiMle wouldn't even need to bother asking Abe for a ride ll>' ii she could simply walk over there. I I onh wished she could approach Lydiann with her conI 111. about Jake, but neither she nor Sadie felt that was wise. It1 ili In particular had a strong desire to shield Lyddie from Iti 11 ul h about her forbidden courtship with Jake, and unit1 ' i vlng as Dr. Schwartz might be, she felt concern for him

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and especially his good-hearted wife, as well. Truth be told, Lyddie wasn't so good at keeping secrets, and in the wink of an eye, everyone might know that the doctor, whom so many had trusted, was responsible for this horrible deed. Worse still, Jake's relationship to the only family he had ever known could be placed in jeopardy as Sadie's past reputation was once again brought to light. Ach, but such a revelation would be a devastating blow to Dat and Aunt Lizzie, too! Leah dreaded the thought of telling anyone at all, though Gid might actually be able to quietly help do something about the mindboggling Druwwel. And what an entangled problem it was!

She had prayed all week long there might be a better answer. If she could just convince Sadie how essential it was for Jake to leave ... to help her understand that what Leah assumed her sister wanted most desperately a privateencounter with Jake most likely wouldn't happen anytime soon, and in a few months the wedding season would be upon them. No, they couldn't simply mark time when something this important was at stake. Leah must act immediately.