Anna's Healing (30 page)

Samuel nodded in agreement, and Anna felt butterflies spin in her stomach. She'd been healed for only a few hours, and she was headed back to the hospital.

She glanced over at her quilting, which sat where she'd left it before she'd first fallen ill with the summer cold. The fabric with frogs was pieced together but not quilted. It was folded and waiting for her to return to the task. The quilt was for a child. And this trip? It was for a child too. Anna didn't know who, and she didn't know how it would help, but she was learning that she could trust God with the details.

Everyone began moving at once.

Erin went to Anna's room to fetch her purse. Jacob had been working on the tractor with Samuel before the morning had taken a dramatic turn. He hadn't noticed before now, but his shirt was covered with tractor grease. He disappeared for a moment and returned in a clean shirt, one he had apparently borrowed from Samuel.

Erin and the bishop stepped out onto the front porch, where Dr. Hartman was once again on his phone.

Sandy retrieved the nursing bag she carried with her everywhere.

Chloe pulled the ball cap off her head. It was black with a blue letter on the front. “I'm glad I'm going with you—and I don't mean so that I can report on it. I want to be there, Anna. You mean a lot to me.” She handed the cap to her friend.

“What's this for?” Anna pointed to the T.

“Tulsa Drillers, minor league baseball team.” Chloe placed it on Anna's head. “It's my good luck cap too, so don't lose it.”

Anna smiled and started to turn toward the front door, but Chloe pulled her back. “Don't let the crowd frighten you. Okay? They're only people—some curious, some desperate—but only people.”

“Got it. They are only people.” Anna hurried out into the sunshine to Dr. Hartman's car. She and Jacob slid onto the backseat. It struck her as funny to see Dr. Hartman sitting up front all alone. Anna thought of Clarence, the driver of the handicap van. He always sat up front by himself, though she couldn't imagine much else that the two men shared in common. She suddenly realized that she'd like to see Clarence again. Many of the people who had become important in her life were people she no longer needed. That thought bothered her, and she pushed it away.

They began moving down the lane.

Anna thought she was prepared for what was ahead. She'd certainly seen large crowds of people at the auctions they had held to help the tornado victims and even back home in Goshen, but nothing could have prepared her for the chaos at the end of their lane.

Two officers had positioned their vehicles to allow for a gap barely large enough for their car to pass through. Dr. Hartman must have called ahead, because the officers had been guarding that open space, but at the sight of the black automobile, they moved out of the way.

Instantly the crowd surged forward.

A small scream escaped from Anna. She was sure they would run over someone, but Dr. Hartman simply continued to move forward at a slow but steady speed. When he didn't stop or even pause, the people parted much like Anna had always envisioned the Red Sea parting for Moses.

There were all manner of people waiting in the hot summer sun. Some held signs.

Help me, Anna.

God is alive.

Repent and believe.

Another hoax!

The signs didn't disturb her nearly as much as the faces did. The person holding the hoax sign hollered at the person holding the God sign. They converged on each other and for a moment the majority of people were distracted. Dr. Hartman was able to speed up a little and pull away from the main crowd.

That was when Anna saw that the line of cars stretched well past their farm. That was when she saw the people in wheelchairs, being pushed down the road toward her home.

“Why are they doing this?” she whispered.

No one in the car had an answer.

CHAPTER 46

J
acob hadn't been in the Tulsa hospital before. He had wanted to visit when Anna was there, but it had seemed that he would be a better help to her by staying at the farm. And at the time he'd barely known her.

That seemed odd to him now.

He couldn't imagine his life without Anna. Glancing at her as they sped along the Oklahoma freeway, he wondered if she realized that. Did she know how much he cared? He'd confessed his feelings to her on at least two separate occasions, but how could words describe the emotions pressing on his heart? Now wasn't the right time to try again, especially with Dr. Hartman in the front seat and possible stalkers behind them.

The physician didn't speak much as they traveled toward Tulsa, though he talked occasionally on his phone through the car's Bluetooth system. A motorist who had given Jacob a ride back in Indiana had explained it to him. It seemed
Englischers
spent a lot of effort and money finding ways to do two things at once, but who was he to judge? His life wasn't exactly a straight arrow.

Jacob noticed that Dr. Hartman glanced in the rearview mirror often, as if to be sure that Anna was still there.

She had been visibly upset when she saw the folks outside her
onkel
's farm. Jacob couldn't say he was surprised at the size of the mob, but then he'd traveled more than she had. He'd seen some strange
things. A memory hit him of the time he'd been hitchhiking from one small town in Ohio to another. He'd seen a crowd of folks pulling off from the road. They parked on the grass because the parking area around a small store was full. Curious, he had walked over to see what the fuss was about. A man had been standing under a large tree selling small bottles of water. He claimed the water came from a river in South Africa, and that it had special powers—healing powers.

Jacob had shaken his head and continued walking. He didn't see how water from South Africa could be any different than water from Sugar Creek, Ohio. But the people who had been standing around were reaching for their wallets.

“Have you ever been to Tulsa before?” Anna nervously cracked her knuckles as she stared out the window at the tall buildings.

“
Ya
. My bus came right through the city. I didn't want to go farther south, so I got off.” Jacob laughed at the memory. “But I didn't see any Amish.”

“What did you do?”

“There's a mission downtown, a place that allows you to sleep for free and gives you two meals a day—breakfast and dinner. I stayed there for three days, and then a counselor met with me. He told me there were only two Amish communities in Oklahoma—one in Clarita.”

“I've never been there.”

“It's small, with only a few families, or so this man said. The other was Cody's Creek.”

“That's why you came to our town.”

“Yes.”

“I wouldn't have met you if it wasn't for him.”

Jacob started to argue. He was certain they had been destined to meet. He had no doubt that God would have found a way to put him in Cody's Creek, but before he could say that, Dr. Hartman began to explain to them what was going to happen when they reached the hospital.

“We'll go in through the doctor's entrance. That should keep you away from the news media.”

“They're here?” Anna asked.

“I wouldn't be surprised. With Google it's easy to figure out what hospital you were originally brought to. If I remember right, all the newspapers covered it.”

“But they have no reason to believe Anna is here now.” Jacob reached over and enfolded her hand in his.

“Standard procedure. They'll position a few reporters and camera crews out front.” Dr. Hartman pulled into a parking garage. “I could be wrong, but it's best to be prepared for the worst-case scenario.”

A woman Anna seemed to know met them as soon as they exited the elevator. She wore nurse's scrubs and had a pleasant manner, though she glanced at Anna and away constantly—never quite making eye contact. It occurred to Jacob that she seemed almost afraid of her. He could have been imagining that, though. It already felt like a long day, and it was only noon.

Sandy had pulled in behind them. She hurried off to make sure the paperwork was ready for Anna's tests. Apparently, they didn't want her to have to spend any time in the waiting room.

Anna, Jacob, and Dr. Hartman walked down a long hall and through a set of double doors. Beyond that was another set of doors with the word “Radiology” above them. Also on the door was a yellow triangle, bordered in black and sporting what looked to Jacob like a black fan in the middle. When he asked Hartman about it, he explained that it was required to post the sign so that people would be aware they were walking into a restricted area.

“Everyone from nurses to patients to maintenance workers needs to be aware that they are working around contaminated materials.”

Anna didn't seem surprised by any of this, but everything the doctor was saying concerned Jacob.

“It's nothing for you to worry about. You'll wait over there, in the waiting area. Anna will go back into one of the rooms with an MRI machine.”

“And it's safe for her?”

“Yes. Quite safe.”

Anna put a hand on his arm. “I've done this several times, Jacob. It doesn't hurt and allows them to take a picture of my spine.”

A nurse stepped through the doors and strode toward them. “They're waiting for you, Anna. I'll walk you back there.”

Anna nodded and then turned toward Jacob. “This shouldn't take long.”

He reluctantly went down the hall to the tiny room with a television in the corner and a stack of magazines on a table. There was only one other person there—a stooped, older woman.

“Doctors and their tests,” she muttered to herself, though he thought it might be for his benefit. “They simply want to drain all the money they can out of us. And for what? I can tell my spine is curved.”

She shuffled away when a technician came for her. Jacob was relieved to have the room to himself.

Chloe hurried in. “She's already having the tests? Where's Sandy?”

“Anna went back a few minutes ago. Sandy went to check on the paperwork so Anna could go straight in. I haven't seen her since we arrived. How was your drive?”

“A little strange. I had two cars follow me from Samuel's.”

“They followed you here?”

“No.” Chloe walked over to a vending machine, put a dollar in, and received a bottle of water in return. “Do you want anything, Jacob?”

He shook his head. What he wanted was to take Anna home. “What happened with the cars? The ones that were following you?”

“I took the exit for the Hard Rock Casino on the east side of town.”

“You went to a casino?”

“I didn't go in. I drove through the parking garage, came out the other side, made sure I'd lost them, and got back on the freeway. That's why I'm a little late.”

Jacob sat forward, his elbows propped on his knees. “I've seen people act in strange ways before, but this… why would they follow you?”

Chloe shrugged. “It's a big story. A lot of people are looking for miracles. A lot of them pray for one every day but never receive it. And then there are the skeptics.”

Jacob thought of the signs folks were holding as they waited outside of Samuel's property. How long would they wait there? What did they expect to happen?

“How did it go here? With the staff?”

“What do you mean?”

“How did they treat Anna? Were they friendly?”

“
Nein
, not friendly. Not exactly.”

“What do you mean? I would think Anna would already know the nurses and technicians on this floor. She's been here often enough.”

“I think Anna did know the nurse. She greeted her by name. But the woman acted a little distant, almost as if she was afraid to touch her.” Jacob shook his head. “I could be seeing emotions that aren't there.”

Chloe sighed and took a long drink from her bottle of water. “The next few days are going to be hard, Jacob. Maybe as hard as when she was first injured. Anna's going to need her family and her friends to be there for her.”

“I'm not going anywhere. I'll do whatever she needs me to.”

“I can see why she likes you so much. You're one of the good guys.”

Jacob didn't know how to answer that. Anna had said she liked him? And why was he one of the good guys? What had he ever done that was so out of the ordinary? He was only doing what anyone would do, at least anyone from their community.

But that wasn't exactly true, and he realized it even as the thought crossed his mind. What he felt for Anna—it was special. Other people had been kind to her, but he'd been willing to do anything to brighten her day. He'd stayed in Oklahoma because of her, and he wasn't about to leave now.

The wait seemed to stretch on interminably, but according to the clock they'd been there less than an hour when Anna joined them.