Dear to Me (16 page)

 Gabe flicked the reins to get the horse moving faster. He knew the answer to that question. He loved Melinda and didn’t want to lose her. But did he love her enough to give up the only way of life he’d ever known and go English?

 Gabe pulled into the Hertzlers’ yard sometime later and parked his buggy next to the barn. Since he would be there a few hours, he decided to unhitch the horse and put him in one of the stalls.

 As Gabe led the gelding through the barn door, he spotted Melinda standing on the other side of the building in front of an animal cage with her back to him.

 He hurried to get the horse situated in a stall then strolled over to where she stood. “Hey! What are you up to?”

 Melinda turned, and Gabe saw that she held a raccoon in her arms.

 “You shouldn’t carry that coon around like that,” he admonished, wishing he’d said something sooner about her taking such chances. “What if the critter bites or scratches you real bad?”

 Melinda lifted her chin and looked at him as if he’d taken leave of his senses. “Reba’s as tame as my cat. And for your information, she likes it when I hold her.”

 “Humph! She’s a wild animal. You can’t be sure of what she might do.”

 Melinda’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t want to argue with you, Gabe. I’ve been taking in wild animals since I was a young girl, and I think I know what I’m doing.”

 Gabe blew out his breath in a puff of air that lifted the hair off his forehead. She was right; they shouldn’t be arguing. Besides, his irritation had more to do with what she had told him about wanting to leave the Amish faith and becoming a vet than it did with the silly raccoon. He needed to handle this situation carefully so he didn’t make Melinda mad. If she became angry with him, she might jump the fence and go English just to spite him. Even so, Gabe knew he’d have to tell Melinda that he didn’t want her to leave; nor did he want to leave with her.

 “I didn’t mean to upset you,” Gabe muttered.

 “All’s forgiven.” Melinda put Reba back in her cage and turned to face him. “I was wondering if you’ve thought any more about what we discussed the other night.”

 He glanced around nervously. “Are—are we alone?”

 She nodded. “Papa Noah’s still at work, Mama and Grandpa are inside the house, and the last time I saw Isaiah, he was digging in the dirt out behind the barn.”

 Gabe plunked down on a bale of straw, and Melinda seated herself beside him. “In answer to your question,” he said, “I have thought more about what we discussed the other night, and I’ve also been praying.”

 “Have you made a decision?”

 “I’m hoping you’ll change your mind and decide to be content with being Amish.”

 “As I told you before, I am content being Amish. I’m just not content being unable to properly care for any animals I find that are hurt.” She frowned. “And I’m sure not content with always being scolded by my folks for helping my animal friends.”

 “So what it boils down to is that one of us has to give up something we feel is important in order for us to be together.” He hurried on before he lost his nerve. “If you left home to get the schooling you would need to become a vet, and I went with you, then I’d be giving up a way of life I love and respect.”

 She nodded slowly.

 “And if you stayed Amish to please me, then you’d be giving up your desire to care for more animals than you’re doing now.”

 She nodded again. “That’s true, but if I leave home, I’ll also be giving up my family and the way of life I’ve become accustomed to, same as you. Sacrifices would have to be made on both our parts if we decided to go English.”

 Gabe massaged the bridge of his nose as he contemplated their problem. As far as he was concerned, it was a no-win situation. No matter how it turned out, one of them would be unhappy. Truth be told, he figured if they left the Amish faith together, they both would be unhappy. Melinda might think being a vet was what she wanted, but he knew one thing for sure—if they went English, Melinda’s relationship with her family would be greatly affected.

 “We don’t have to make a decision right now,” Melinda said, touching his arm. “However, I need to get registered for classes at the college in Springfield before the end of August. In the meantime, I’m going to see about getting my GED—graduate equivalency diploma.”

 “I know what a GED is, Melinda.” He slowly shook his head. “I’ll bet your folks would be upset if they knew what you were planning to do. Are you going to tell them soon?”

 She grunted. “I plan to, but it needs to be said at the right time, in the right way. Maybe after I pass the GED test I’ll tell them.”

 Gabe stood, feeling the need to end this discussion. He didn’t want Melinda to take the GED test, but he figured there was no way to stop her from doing so, since she seemed to have her mind set on it. The best thing he could do was continue to pray that she would change her mind.

 “I’d best round up Isaiah so we can get busy on that dog run.” Gabe took a few steps toward the door but turned back around. “Do you know where your daed had planned to build it?”

 “He cemented some posts in an area to the left of the barn.”

 “Are you coming out to keep us company?”

 “I’ve got a few things I need to do inside the house right now. Then some corn needs to be shucked.”

 “Maybe I’ll see you later then.” Gabe hurried out of the barn, grabbed some tools from the back of his buggy, and went to look for Melinda’s brother. He hoped a few hours of hard work would get him calmed down.

 Gabe found Isaiah digging in the soil just as Melinda had said. Streaks of dirt covered the boy’s pale blue shirt and dark brown trousers, and several murky-looking smudges were smearing his face.

 “What are you doing out here?” Gabe asked, squatting beside Isaiah.

 “Lookin’ for an old bone Jericho buried some time ago.”

 Gabe squinted. “Why would you be doing that?”

 “My dog’s bored and needs somethin’ to do. Thought if he had a bone to chew on, he might be happier.” Isaiah’s mouth turned down at the corners. “Since I’m not supposed to let Jericho off his chain during the day, I figured it wouldn’t be good to let him loose in order to look for the bone himself.”

 “Why not just give him a new bone?”

 “Don’t have one,” Isaiah said with a shrug. “Mama hasn’t made any beef soup in a while, and those are the only kind of bones Jericho likes.”

 Gabe chuckled as he rose to his feet. “How about you and me getting busy on that dog run, and you can worry about finding Jericho a bone later on?”

 “Jah, okay.” When Isaiah stood and slapped the sides of his trousers, dirt blew everywhere. Gabe stepped quickly aside, and the boy sneezed. He pulled a dusty hanky from his pocket and blew his nose. “You think Jericho will be happier once he has a pen of his own?”

 “I believe so.”

 “It’s important for dogs to be happy, same as people, jah?”

 “I suppose.” Gabe clenched his fingers.
I’d be happy if I had my own business, stayed right here in Webster County, and married Melinda. I’ve got to figure out some way to make her see how foolish it would be to leave the Amish faith. Doesn’t she realize how many people will be hurt if she goes English? Me, most of all.

“How are things going with you these days?” Noah’s boss, Hank, asked as he lowered himself to the ground where Noah knelt, studying a struggling pine tree.

 Noah looked over at Hank and smiled. “You mean how are things going here or at home?”

 “Both.”

 “Here, things are going well enough, but at home I’m not so sure.”

 Hank pulled his fingers through the sides of his reddish-brown hair. “What’s going on at home?”

 “It’s the same old thing. Melinda’s critters stirring up trouble, and Faith getting perturbed with Melinda for shirking her duties because she’s preoccupied with her animals.”

 Hank thumped Noah on the back. “At least you know where your daughter is, and you don’t have to worry about her running all over creation in some fancy souped-up car, like some of the English kids who live in this area are doing.”

 “That’s true. I guess we should be grateful that Melinda spends most of her time in the barn tending to some critter or working at the veterinary clinic with Dr. Franklin.”

 “When does she find the time to be courted? I heard that Gabe Swartz has an interest in her.”

 “Oh, she manages to fit that into her schedule. But whenever Faith needs something done, Melinda has a dozen excuses.” Noah groaned. “Sometimes I wish Faith and I could have had more children, but then there are days when either Isaiah or Melinda does something foolish that I think maybe the Lord gave us all the children He knew we could handle.”

 Hank snickered. “I hear you there. When Sandy and I first decided to adopt, we talked about getting four or five kids. But after we got Cheryl, and then Ryan, we knew we were blessed and decided two children were enough to make our family complete.”

 “I guess God knew what each of us needed.” Noah leaned closer to the fledgling pine tree and squinted. “Raising children is a lot like taking care of the trees you grow here on your Christmas tree farm.”

 “How so?”

 “They both need lots of attention and plenty of nurturing in order to make ’em grow. I just hope I’ve nurtured my children enough.”

Melinda sat in a wicker chair on the back porch, shucking corn and watching Gabe and Isaiah work under the sweltering sun. She could hear the steady
thump, thump, thump
as they pounded nails to hold the wire fencing that was being connected to the wooden poles Papa Noah had previously put in.

 A piercing scream halted Melinda’s thoughts. Had Gabe been hurt? Was it Isaiah?

 She dropped the corn, leaped off the porch, and dashed across the yard.

 When Melinda arrived at the dog run a few seconds later, she discovered Isaiah holding his thumb and jumping up and down. “Ouch! Ouch!” he hollered. “Ach! That hurts me somethin’ awful!”

 “What happened? Are you seriously injured?”

 “He smacked his thumb with the hammer,” Gabe explained. “But he won’t let me get a good look, so I don’t know how much damage was done.”

 “Give me your hand,” Melinda ordered, grabbing hold of her brother’s arm.

 “Don’t touch me!”

 “I need to see how bad it is.”

 “You’d better let her look at that,” Gabe put in.

 Isaiah whimpered but finally released his thumb for Melinda’s inspection.

 She held it gently between her fingers. The skin was red and swollen, and the nail was beginning to turn purple. “You might end up losing that nail,” she said with a click of her tongue.

 Isaiah sniffed, and a few tears trickled down his cheeks. “How can ya tell? You ain’t no doctor.”

 “No, but she’d like to be.”

 Melinda glared at Gabe then looked quickly back at her brother. What was Gabe thinking, blurting out something like that in front of Isaiah? “What Gabe meant to say is that I’ve doctored enough animals to know many things. Besides, I lost a couple of nails myself when I slammed two fingers in my bedroom door when I was a girl.”

 Isaiah rocked back and forth on his heels, moaning like a heifer about to give birth.

 “You’d best go up to the house and ask Mama to put some ice on your thumb. If it’s cared for right away, the nail might not come loose,” Melinda instructed.

 “Guess I won’t be able to help ya no more, Gabe. Sorry about that,” the boy mumbled.

 Gabe patted Isaiah on the shoulder. “It’s okay. I’ll do what I can on my own. We probably wouldn’t have gotten it all done today anyway. I’ll come back in a few days to finish the project.”

 “I can help you,” Melinda volunteered after her brother had scurried away. “After I’m done shucking corn, that is.”

 Gabe’s expression was dubious at first, but then he nodded. “I’ll take any help I can get.”