Leah's Choice (5 page)

At the Beachy house, the adults and most of the children were still awake. Men stood on the porch and outside the back door drinking cups of steaming black coffee, and someone thrust a cup into Daniel’s hand. Joey was hugged and fussed over and trundled off into the house by his mother and a gaggle of women. Leah was caught up in the crowd and vanished along with the boy.

“Good work for a city boy,” Samuel Mast said as he slapped Daniel on the back. He was grinning. Everyone was.

“Leah Yoder deserves the credit,” Daniel insisted. “She was the one who thought to go where the hay was stored. The weather had gotten so bad, I thought we should turn back.”

“But if the boy wasn’t hurt, why didn’t he run home before it got dark?” A bearded Amish man stuck his hand out and Daniel shook it. “Roman Byler,” he said. “I own the chair shop down the road.”

Daniel began to explain about the dog that Joey thought was a wolf that had chased him and the pregnant goat. Before he knew it, Joey’s mother was ushering Daniel into the house and waving him to a place at the table. Other men were already there, eating sandwiches and vegetable soup.

“To warm your insides,” Joey’s father said.

Daniel hadn’t thought he was hungry, but after the first bite, he remembered that he hadn’t eaten anything since he’d stopped for lunch on the interstate at about one o’clock. After the mishap at the rest stop, when he’d left his coat, he’d ended up running late and hadn’t had time to stop and eat before he reached Seven Poplars. The ham sandwich was good, and the soup delicious. He hadn’t had a better meal since he’d last sat at his mother’s table.

The large kitchen was overflowing with men and women, most talking to each other in Pennsylvania Dutch, laughing and joking. Daniel was surprised by how at home he felt here among these people, even though he didn’t speak their language. But the one person he kept looking for he didn’t see. He’d wanted to tell Leah how much he appreciated her help and what a great job she’d done. Soon the sun would be coming up, and he was tired. He hated to leave without saying goodbye to Leah.

Finally, when the men began to take their leave, Daniel stood, thanked his host and hostess and made his way out to where he’d left his pickup truck. Buggies were rolling out of the farmyard, and men, hands in pockets, walked off into the soft darkness.

He was disappointed that he hadn’t seen Leah, but he knew he should go. Even though his aunt knew where he was, she’d be worried about him. He put his hand on the driver’s door handle and was about to get into his truck when Leah appeared from around the back of the pickup.

“A goodnight to you, Daniel Steiner,” she said.

He looked up at her. “Excuse me?”

“I said goodnight to you, Daniel Steiner,” she repeated.

“I’m not Daniel Steiner.”

“You’re not?” Leah sounded confused. “But I thought you were Caroline’s cousin and—”

“Oh,” he said, understanding the mixup. “Caroline is my cousin. She’s a Steiner, but her mother is my aunt. I’m a Brown, Daniel Brown.”

“Daniel Brown.” Her pretty blue eyes widened. “
The
Daniel Brown…the speaker we were supposed to hear tonight?”

“That’s me.” Feeling awkward, he slipped his hands into his pockets. He really liked Leah, so much so that he didn’t want to say goodbye. “We’re going to reschedule for another night this coming week. I hope you…you and your friends can come back.”

“
You’re
the Daniel Brown—the hero who saved that boy from the mob?”

“Hardly a hero,” Daniel protested.

“I didn’t know…” She hesitated. “Now I feel foolish. I spent the whole night with you and I never asked you about your travels. I never…” She stopped and started again. “I really feel foolish.”

“Don’t. It was a natural mistake.” He struggled to find the right thing to say. He didn’t want her to walk away feeling embarrassed. “I’ll be looking for you—at the presentation. I hope you aren’t disappointed.”

“Ne,”
Leah said. “You couldn’t disappoint anyone, Daniel Brown. Least of all me.”

“I’ll see you there, then?”

“Leah?” A woman called from the porch. “Are you ready?”

“Ya,”
she answered. “Coming.” She smiled at him. “I’m glad you were with me tonight.”

“Me, too.”

“What you said before,” she murmured shyly. “I agree. We made a good team.”

“We did,” he concurred. And then she turned and hurried off, leaving him standing there staring after her and wishing she wasn’t going.

Chapter Four

T
he following morning, as golden rays of April sunlight spilled through the bedroom window, Leah sighed and snuggled deeper beneath the crisp blue and white Bear’s Paw quilt that had been her Christmas gift from her eldest sister, Johanna. Below Leah’s window, from a perch on the top rail of the garden fence, a wayward rooster crowed.
Just a few more minutes,
Leah thought, burrowing under her pillow.
All I want is a few more…

A high-pitched giggle pierced her groggy haze. “You a-wake, Leah? Mam made pancakes!”

Leah caught the scent of fresh coffee, felt the mattress bounce and groaned. It had been nearly daylight when she’d finally gotten to bed, and she couldn’t have had more than three hours’ sleep.

“An’ bacon!” proclaimed the cheerful voice.

Leah opened one eye and smiled into the round, red-cheeked face hovering only inches from her own. “Morning, Susanna-banana,” she mumbled.

Her sister giggled again. “I’m not a banana. Get up, silly. I’m hungry.” She pushed a mug of coffee under Leah’s nose. “Brought you coffee.” It came out sounding more like
toffee
, but Leah had no trouble understanding Susanna’s sometimes childish speech.

“You’re always hungry,” Leah replied, but it was impossible to remain out of sorts with Susanna, even too early on a visiting Sunday when there was no church and they could sleep in. Her sister was such a sweet-natured soul that simply being near her made Leah smile. “Thanks for the coffee. Tell Mam I’ll be downstairs in two shakes of a lamb’s tail.”

“’Kay.” Susanna’s mouth widened in a grin as she scooted off the bed, carefully sliding the brimming cup to the end of the nightstand. Then she trotted out of the bedroom and down the hall toward the stairs.

Leah stretched and rubbed her eyes before reaching for the coffee. As always, Susanna had sweetened it to her own taste and drowned it in heavy cream, but it was hot and bracing and washed some of the sleep out of Leah’s brain. Yawning, she padded barefoot to the window and threw up the sash. The sun was already high, and the sky was a robin’s-egg blue without a hint of clouds. Spread out before her were Mam’s kitchen garden, rich farm fields and fruit trees in the first blossom of spring.

“Thank you, God,” she murmured as she breathed in the sweet smell of newly turned soil and fresh-cut grass. “Thank you for keeping Joey safe through the stormy night and letting us find him.” Closing her eyes, she offered a simple and silent prayer, asking His blessing on her family and community and for guidance through the coming day.

Almost instantly, a sense of contentment and pure joy washed over her. How was it possible that last night, an evening that had started so fearful, had turned out to be so wonderful?

Not only had Joey been returned to his family without harm, but she’d met a dynamic stranger and helped him deliver a new life into the world. Goose bumps rose on Leah’s bare arms as she exhaled softly. Nothing like that ever happened in Seven Poplars, but it
had
happened last night, and she’d been part of it. She couldn’t wait to tell her sisters about her adventure, especially Johanna. Of all of them, Johanna shared her sometimes rebellious spirit and would understand best how she felt.

Leah had loved coming home after almost a year in Ohio taking care of
Grossmama,
but things here had quickly fallen back into the ordinary. Not exactly boring… There were always chores to do and new challenges to face, especially now that Anna had married Samuel in a whirlwind romance, leaving only Susanna, Rebecca, Irwin and her at home to help Mam. But after the hustle and bustle of
Grossmama
’s more liberal Amish community, her new Mennonite friends, and the relative independence she and Rebecca had experienced in Ohio, it wasn’t easy settling in under Mam’s authority again. And she did have to admit to herself that sometimes Seven Poplar’s conservative customs seemed a little old-fashioned.

So many changes,
Leah thought wistfully. When she and Rebecca had left for Ohio last year, the house had been bursting with unmarried sisters, and when they’d returned, three had found husbands, and Mam had hired and then practically adopted Irwin, a thirteen-year-old orphaned boy who had lived with Joey Beachy’s family. It all took a little getting used to.

Not that her beloved sisters were far away; Miriam and Ruth were just across the field in the little farmhouse with their new husbands, and Anna and Samuel’s farm was next door. But they had their own families and households, and it wasn’t the same as waking up every morning to a gaggle of giggling girls or having so many to share secrets and gossip with after the lights had been blown out at night. Plus, Grandmother Yoder, no longer able to live alone, and her sister, Aunt Jezebel, were now part of Mam’s household.

Grossmama
was going to live with Anna and Samuel this summer. Anna had wanted her to move in sooner, but Mam had been firm. She’d insisted that Anna needed a few months to adjust to being a wife and mother to Samuel’s five children before taking on
Grossmama
, no matter how well the two of them got on together. That would leave Aunt Jezebel here, but compared to her sister, Aunt Jezzy was a dream.

“What’s taking you so long?” Rebecca called from the doorway. “You aren’t even dressed.” She came in and plopped onto the unmade bed. “
Grossmama
won’t be happy if her pancakes are cold.”

Leah rolled her eyes and forced back a snappy response. “Sorry. I didn’t expect anyone to wait breakfast on me this morning.” She went to the corner where her clothing hung and took down a fresh shift and a lavender-colored dress.

“Mam said not to wear that,” Rebecca said. “Wear your good blue one. Aunt Martha thinks that the lavender is too short, and she’s bound to come visiting today. She’ll want to hear all about that Mennonite preacher you were running around with in the dark last night.”

Leah wrinkled her nose. “Since when does Mam take Aunt Martha’s advice on what we should wear?”

Rebecca shrugged. “I’m just telling you what Mam said. I think Mam thinks it’s too short, too.”

Leah’s mouth puckered as she hung the lavender dress with its neat tailoring back on the hook and took down the dark blue one her mother had given her for her birthday. Leah liked the blue. It went well with her eyes and her dark auburn hair, but she was particularly fond of the lavender dress she and her Mennonite friend, Sophie Steiner, had cut and stitched. Sophie’s mother had a new electric-powered Singer that practically sewed a garment for you. Maybe the lavender was a little shorter than the blue dress, but it covered her knees and the neckline and sleeves were modest enough to satisfy even the bishop.

“And your good
kapp
,” Rebecca added. “No scarf today.”

Leah sighed. She and Rebecca had spent so much time together in the last year that they should have been as close as Ruth and Miriam, but somehow, this sister always brought out the worst in her. She loved Rebecca dearly, but they were just too different to have the relationship she had with Johanna or dear Anna. Leah loved to be doing something with her hands: picking blueberries, making jam or selling vegetables to the English tourists at Spence’s Auction. By contrast, Rebecca was happiest at home, drinking tea with Mam or Aunt Jezebel, reading a prayer book or writing a letter for publication in the
Budget
.

Rebecca never questioned the rules. She’d always been the good girl of the family, the serious one. She’d been baptized at age sixteen, before she’d even ventured into the outside world. It never occurred to Rebecca to be cross with Aunt Martha for her criticizing or bossy ways. In Leah’s mind, Rebecca was simply too meek for her own good. And worse, Rebecca couldn’t understand why Leah sometimes longed to kick out of the traces, and why, at almost twenty-one, she had yet to make the lifelong commitment to join the Amish Church.

Leah gathered her brush,
kapp
and her clean underclothes and started for the bathroom. “I’ll be quick,” she promised her sister. “Tell Mam, five minutes.”

“What was he like?” Rebecca asked.

“Who?”

Rebecca raised an eyebrow. “You know who. The Mennonite preacher. Was he as fast as they say?”

Annoyed, Leah stopped short and glanced back over her shoulder. “As fast as
who
says? Who around here knows him well enough to say something like that? That he’s fast?”

Her sister smiled. “It’s what they say about all Mennonite boys, isn’t it? People say that they’re wild, that they try to take liberties with Amish girls.”

“That’s nonsense. And Daniel isn’t a boy. He must be twenty-five, maybe older.”

Rebecca snickered. “And it’s just
Daniel
now, is it? But then you probably got to know him well out there in the woods. He didn’t try to steal a kiss, did he?”

“No. He didn’t. And Daniel Brown’s not a preacher. He’s a nurse, a good one.”

“And you know that how?”

“Because he helped a baby goat to be born when we were out looking for Joey. It was stuck, a leg tangled. The nanny would have died and the kid with her if Daniel hadn’t known what to do.”

“So he’s not a preacher. But he is a missionary. He must have been lots of places, known lots of English girls. Fancy foreign girls, too.”

“I suppose he has, but he was nice.
Is
nice. And when he gives his program, I’m going to be there to hear it.”

“If Mam lets you go again.”