Kate's Song (31 page)

Jumping to her feet, she plucked the hat from his head, clutched one of his suspenders, and pulled him toward the exit. He had no choice but to follow. She would have wrenched the trousers right off his legs.

As they emerged under the overcast sky, Nathaniel could hear guffaws and sniggers echoing through the pavilion. He felt his face flush hot—with anger or embarrassment, he could not tell.

“What in the world were you doing? I want to bury my head, I’m so embarrassed,” Sarah said.

Nathaniel glared at her, every unkind thing he could think of at the tip of his tongue. With his heart pounding, he clenched his fists and tried to smother his temper before it got the better of him.

He snatched his hat from her fingers and jammed it firmly onto his head. Without a word, he wiped all expression from his face and stormed away from her.

“Nathaniel, come back. I didn’t mean to…”

His resolute strides carried him behind the pavilion to where the livestock trailers were parked. Most people kept to the warmth indoors. It would be difficult for Sarah to find him here.

He should be so lucky.

He immediately rebuked himself. Sarah had no fault in this. How could she know he was teasing her? He thought she would find his game amusing, like…other people might.

Leaning against a large trailer, he closed his eyes and willed himself to calm down. The incident was trivial. Why had he reacted with such anger?

Nearby laughter caught his attention. He stuck his head around the corner of the trailer to see five young men standing by another trailer and carrying on an animated conversation. He thought about joining them until he spied Elmer Weaver in the group.

The friendship between Nathaniel and Elmer had completely dissolved with Kate’s absence. Elmer made it plain that he thought it despicable that Nathaniel had abandoned Kate, accusing him of being unduly influenced by Aaron.

“Why would you volunteer for that?” one of the boys said.

“They’re not even married,” said another boy, ribbing the boy next to him.

“So? Marriage shouldn’t give a woman permission to walk all over her husband.” The speaker turned his head so Nathaniel could see his profile. Davie Eicher. “Better it is to single live, than to the wife the britches give.”

“You make that up?”

“No,” Davie said. “It’s in Proverbs.”

Nathaniel had decided to return to the livestock pavilion when he heard his name. “Everyone sees it but Nathaniel.”

He plastered himself against the trailer and held his breath.

“Maybe somebody should warn him.”

Nathaniel heard Elmer loud and clear. “Nah, he deserves what he gets with that one.”

“If you ever want to know the definition of ‘henpecked,’ watch Sarah with Nathaniel,” Davie said.

“Oy, anyhow,” Elmer said. “If you ever see me being led around by the nose like that, hit me upside the head with a two-by-four.”

Nathaniel felt as if all the breath had been sucked out of his lungs. Is this how they saw him? For more than three months he had lived in a perpetual stupor. Had he really let things sink so low with Sarah?

“I liked your sister better,” Davie said softly.

Someone kicked the gravel. “Mamm says she’s gone to Ohio.”

With Ada as his informant, Nathaniel had heard that news before just about everyone else when Ada returned from Milwaukee three days ago. Joe Weaver had the nerve to ask Nathaniel if he would seek out Kate now that she had decided to be baptized.

We will see,
Nathaniel thought.

“She’s living with my sister Hannah,” Elmer said.

“Is she coming back?”

Elmer’s voice went very quiet. “I do not think so. She wants to be baptized in Ohio.”

“Nathaniel would have been better off with Kate, I think,” one of the boys said.

“She’s better off without him,” Elmer said, bitterness oozing with every word.

“He is a good man…and a man of God has to draw the line,” Abner Burkholder said. “I’m sorry to offend you, Elmer. I would not want anything to do with a girl who gets in trouble with an Englischer and then has his baby.”

“What are you talking about?” Elmer said.

“Her baby. Kate’s baby. Had I been Nathaniel, I would have rejected Kate too.”

“What do you mean, Kate has a baby?” Elmer said.

Nathaniel groaned inwardly. It was not right for Elmer to find out this way.

“She has a baby. You…you didn’t know?”

Nathaniel heard a
thud.
It sounded like a body being shoved against the wall of the trailer. “That is a damnable lie. Who told you this?” Elmer said.

“The…the whole community knows,” Abner grunted.

“Who told you?” Elmer said, his voice rising in outrage.

“Let go of him.” More shuffling, more gravel crunching.

“My dat heard it from Ada, I think. Or maybe Aaron.”

Aaron?
Nathaniel wanted to jump out from his hiding place and call Abner Burkholder a liar. But deep down he knew Abner was not making it up. Exploding with fury, Nathaniel ran toward the pavilions instead. He stormed through the livestock area, scanning faces for Kate’s eldest brother. How could Aaron have betrayed his trust?

How could Aaron have been so disloyal to his own sister?

Ada stood outside of the smaller pavilion, her arms wrapped around herself against the chill.

She caught sight of Nathaniel. “Sarah is looking for you. She says she’s real sorry for making you mad, and she’d be pleased and proud if you still want to buy her a quilt.”

“Where’s Aaron?”

Ada shut her mouth then opened it again. “Did you hear what I said about Sarah? She’s awfully—”

“I must speak to Aaron.”

“He went with Sarah to find you. Oh, there he is.”

Aaron stormed around the corner of the pavilion with Sarah hanging on his arm. Annoyance was etched on his face. He caught sight of Nathaniel and nudged Sarah in front of him. “She’s sorry for whatever it is she did. Now can we finish with this nonsense?”

With no regard for propriety, Sarah threw her arms around Nathaniel. “I didn’t mean it. Please forgive me.”

All but ignoring the tearful girl, Nathaniel pried Sarah away from him and glared at Aaron. “You broke your promise.”

Aaron’s annoyance increased. “What promise?”

Nathaniel didn’t have a chance to answer. Elmer appeared, charged Aaron, and thrust him roughly into the side of the pavilion, pinning his back against the wall.

“What are you telling people about Kate?” Elmer yelled, tears glistening on his cheeks.

Aaron struggled to break free, but at almost twenty years old, Elmer had grown taller and stronger than he.

“Tell me!” Elmer yelled again.

Aaron scowled, but it was clear he knew exactly what Elmer accused him of. “I told no one.”

Elmer released him with a shove. “You’re lying.”

Aaron looked like he wanted to shove Elmer back. Instead he retreated a step and kept his voice low. “I told no one.” He directed a sharp eye at Ada. “Except my wife. I do not keep secrets from her.”

Ada clapped both hands over her mouth.

Elmer barely glanced in Ada’s direction. “You let her spread it around for you.”

Aaron stood with his feet apart and folded his arms, making a show of indignation. “Ada, who did you tell?”

Ada shook her head in mute distress. All three men stared at her.

Sarah pushed them aside and put a protective arm around her sister. “Don’t pick on Ada. She hasn’t done nothing wrong.”

“I didn’t mean to,” Ada said, her voice grating on Nathaniel’s ears like cheese curds on his teeth. “It just popped out.” Her hazel eyes brimmed with water.

Aaron shrugged his shoulders. “Ada means well. Sometimes things slip.”

Elmer gave his brother a black look. “You told her because you knew she’d repeat it. You wanted her to repeat it. She has the biggest mouth in the community.”

Ada puffed out her chest and huffed at Elmer.

Aaron glared right back at his brother. “The truth was bound to come out sooner or later.”

“The truth! Where is an ounce of truth in this?” Elmer said. “Did you think it would make Nathaniel love Sarah? Or did you want revenge for Kate’s disrespect last summer?”

Aaron shook his head. “I did not make it up. Nathaniel first knew about it, and he shared it with me.”

“Nathaniel! Nathaniel
knew
?” Elmer yelled.

A group of curious onlookers gathered around the center of conflict.

Nathaniel reached out his hand and took Elmer by the shoulder. “I am sorry you had to hear the news this way.”

Before Nathaniel had time to react, Elmer shot out a fist and pounded it solidly into his mouth. The blow sent Nathaniel tumbling to the ground in utter astonishment.

Many in the crowd cried out in dismay. Sarah screamed and tried to run to Nathaniel, but he motioned for her to stay away.

He touched his lip. Blood trickled from the side of his mouth. He wondered if he should have felt some violent emotion at being mistreated like this, but he didn’t. Even sitting in the dirt with a throbbing jaw and a bloody lip, he couldn’t feel any worse about things than he already did.

“Elmer, stop this!” Dodging bystanders, Elmer’s dat ran from the pavilion and grabbed his son by the collar. “You forget yourself.”

Elmer wasn’t contrite. He pointed an accusing finger at Nathaniel. “Do you know what he’s been telling people?”

Ignoring his son, Solomon reached out a hand. Nathaniel took it. “Forgive Elmer for his bad behavior,” he said coldly, pulling Nathaniel to his feet. “He has shamed the Weaver family.”

Nathaniel grimaced at the man’s aloof tone. He obviously didn’t approve of how Nathaniel had handled things with Kate. But what could he do? Kate had made her own choices. Both she and Nathaniel had suffered the heartbreaking consequences of those choices.

Solomon pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to Nathaniel.

“Thank you,” Nathaniel said. He dabbed his throbbing lip, soaking up the plentiful blood. Elmer had hit him hard.

“But, Dat, he told Aaron that Kate got pregnant and now she has a baby.”

With jaw tight and body rigid, Solomon studied Nathaniel’s face as if to discover the truth of his son’s words. “Why would you say this?”

Nathaniel spit the blood from his mouth and wiped his chin. Unexpected despair washed over him as he thought of Kate and what he had lost. “It is time to tell the truth.”

“And what do you think the truth is?” Solomon said through gritted teeth.

Nathaniel kneaded his forehead. The pain of remembrance saturated his senses. “Kate had a boyfriend in Milwaukee, and she has a child by him. A beautiful brown baby like his father.”

Upon hearing this, some of the onlookers gasped, while others seemed unsurprised.

“I was deceived above everyone else,” Nathaniel said. “But how could any of us have guessed her true character? She seemed so modest and pure.”

Solomon altered his expression slightly and stared at Nathaniel. “Who told you this?”

“I went to Milwaukee. I saw them with my own eyes.”

Elmer pinned him with a ferocious glare. “You saw nothing.”

Solomon’s hands began to shake uncontrollably. He turned slowly in a wide circle, surveying the faces of his closest neighbors and friends. “And none of you thought to come to me for the truth?”

Some of the men hung their heads.

Solomon turned to face Nathaniel in the way a convicted man confronts his accuser. “My daughter…,” Solomon said, voice trembling, “my daughter is as pure as the driven snow. The baby is Maria Trujillo’s. Jared, the man who beat Kate, was the father of Maria’s baby.”

“I saw her with a dark-skinned man and the baby.”

“Carlos,” Solomon said. “Maria’s brother. He and Kate are friends. They took care of the baby when Maria worked.”

“People saw them hugging,” Nathaniel said, grasping for anything to justify himself.

“The Englisch are different from us that way. But you have made something ugly out of nothing at all. My Kate has done nothing to defile herself.” He pulled a small wallet out of his pocket and retrieved a wrinkled photograph. “Here is Maria and her baby.
Her
baby. Not Kate’s.”

Struck dumb, Nathaniel barely looked at the picture. His mind couldn’t even wrap itself around what he had heard. Where was the truth?

“You knew her the whole summer and you still believed she was capable of such a thing?” Elmer said.

Solomon wiped his hand across his mouth and lowered his voice so only Nathaniel could hear. “Because of you, our family has lost her. She’s not coming back.” He swallowed his next words and turned away.

Elmer jabbed his finger into Nathaniel’s chest, fire blazing in his countenance. “Do you have any idea what you have done to her? I saw her. I know. She trusted you, and you crushed her. You crushed her.”

Aaron stood frozen with his arm around Ada. Solomon had words for them too. “My son, I have kept away from you for three days. I have prayed for guidance before I acted. Now I ask you to examine your soul. There is no end to the damage you have done with your lies. You will proclaim your sins before the church or I will do it for you. Make all things right, or you are no longer my son.”

Whatever his offense, Aaron showed no contrition. His father turned from him.

Then, with one grief-stricken look at Nathaniel, Solomon trudged away with Elmer close behind.

* * * * *

Nathaniel forgot how to breathe. He stood like a statue and watched Solomon and Elmer walk away. The crowd of spectators dispersed.

“Well,” Ada said, puffing air into her cheeks and straightening her shoulders, “that was the biggest overreaction I have ever seen. All I did was tell a few friends—something I thought was true, mind you—and Elmer goes around smacking people.”

“Gossip is a grievous sin,” murmured Nathaniel.

Ada flicked her wrist in the direction Solomon had gone. “It’s not gossip if it’s true. Don’t you think so, Sarah? If you think a story is true, then you’re not gossiping by retelling it. Gossip is when you say something false about somebody to ruin their reputation.”

The irony of Ada’s words buzzed in Nathaniel’s head like an angry wasp. He did not reply to her absurd logic. All he could hear was Elmer’s voice echoing in his head. “
You crushed her. She trusted you, and you crushed her.”