Promise Lodge (27 page)

Amos hung up the phone. “Did I sound convincing?”

Noah shrugged. “He's more likely to respond to you than to me. Guess we'll see what he says when he calls back.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

Saturday morning, Deborah joined Laura and Phoebe in the Promise Produce Stand bright and early, hoping folks would stop by to purchase the wide array of items they were displaying. Noah had told her that Amos had left a message for her
dat
to call him back, but they'd gotten no response yet. Deborah didn't have much hope of receiving one. She'd sent up prayer after prayer during the night, asking that Mamma receive comfort and healing and that Lily would find the strength to shoulder all the tasks that had fallen to her.

She and the Hershberger girls stood taller when a car slowed down and pulled off the road. A middle-aged couple got out and studied the slats on their sign, which listed all the items they were selling.

“
Gut
morning,” Phoebe called out. “Thanks for stopping by our new stand.”

“Glad to see you folks taking over this camp,” the man remarked. “We live down the road a piece, and we were concerned that the buildings might start to deteriorate—or attract vandals.”

“Look at these beautiful vegetables!” the woman said as she picked up a bunch of radishes. “Get your sacks ready, girls. I love fresh produce but I don't have time to garden.”

“We can be your gardeners, then!” Laura replied pertly. “We've got lots more veggies where these came from.”

“We'd better take some of these brownies and cinnamon rolls, too. A fellow can't live on produce alone. It's just not healthy!” the man teased. He smiled at Deborah as he chose a plateful of brownies and a tray containing half a dozen cinnamon rolls. “Did you make these?”

“
Jah,
I did,” Deborah replied. Her spirits lifted as he also chose a tray of doughnuts.

“I know they're fresh, then—better than anything in the store,” he remarked. “Give us a dozen eggs, too.”

Another car rolled to a halt alongside the road, and then another. Phoebe continued helping the first couple, while Laura and Deborah assisted the other shoppers. By the time this initial flurry of customers had driven off, they were amazed to have more than a hundred dollars in the cash box—and a noticeable dent in their supply of vegetables.

“My stars!” Laura said as she straightened the remaining bunches of green onions, lettuce, and peas. “I'm glad we bagged up some one-pound bags of the salad greens and green beans beforehand. And look how many trays of goodies
you've
sold, missy!”

Deborah grinned, feeling better than she had in days. Nearly half of her supply had sold already. “
Denki
for letting me try out my idea, girls. If you need to go fetch more bags, or pick more stuff from the garden, I'll stay here.”

Phoebe took a quick count of their bagged greens. “We could probably use more onions and radishes, but I think at least two of us ought to be here in case we get several customers at once.”

“I know!” Laura piped up. “I'll fetch more bags, and see if Mamm and Aunt Mattie might pick more stuff for us. They'll be amazed at how fast everything's going.”

Laura sprinted up the lane, holding her
kapp
to keep it from flying off. Phoebe turned on the two fans Amos had hung on the ceiling. “We need a clock,” she said. “We listed our hours on our posters, but we have no way of knowing when it's time to close—not that I'm ready yet!”

Deborah nodded, but she was focused on an approaching white van that seemed awfully familiar. Its turn signal was blinking, and the vehicle was leaving the paved county road to start up the lane to the lodge—but then it stopped. The back door slid open and out jumped her two youngest brothers.

“Deborah, hi!” Menno called out.

“Surprise!” eight-year-old Johnny hollered. “Guess who!”

Deborah rushed out of the produce stand, too stunned to speak. As she grabbed her brothers, Lavern and Lily were hitting the ground, grinning as though they'd come on some grand adventure—as though nothing had gone wrong at home. “What're you all doing here?” Deborah asked in a bewildered voice. “Lily, when you called about Mamma, I figured she might be all banged up, and in the hospital, and—”

“Well, I gave everybody a scare, for sure. But I'll live to see another day now that I'm here with you, Daughter.”

Deborah gazed at her mother, and then jogged over to help her out of the van. “Mamma! Mamma, I was so scared when I heard you'd fallen, and—and—”

As her mother wrapped her arms around her, it was all Deborah could do not to burst into tears. “Seems that cardboard box of canning jars I dropped kept me from hitting the concrete floor full-on,” Mamma murmured. “And the lid was folded shut, so I didn't get cut. I've got some bruised ribs, and I have to wear this awkward boot for several weeks while I hobble around on crutches. But the doctor says I'll be right as rain after that.”

Thank You, Lord, for lots of little miracles.
Deborah glanced at the gray contraption that encased her mother's right leg up to her knee, and she noticed a purple bruise on the side of her neck, but otherwise Mamma seemed to be all right. It would do no good to ask why no one had returned their calls. Seeing her mother upright—having her entire family crowded around her—eased most of the worries that had plagued Deborah for the past few days.

Her
dat
chatted with the driver, Dick Mercer, as he paid him. Dat glanced briefly at Deborah, surrounded by her younger brothers and sister, before going over to the produce stand. “Looks like a lot of progress has been made at Promise Lodge already, if you're selling vegetables from your new garden,” he remarked.

“
Jah,
we've been busy bees,” Phoebe agreed. “It's our first day to be open. We weren't expecting folks to come all the way from Coldstream to shop!”

Deborah was grateful for this lead-in to a possible explanation, because she hadn't dared to ask why her whole family had shown up without letting anybody know. Her father's expression remained unreadable beneath his black straw hat as he gazed at the trees and the arched metal Promise Lodge sign. “Seemed like a
gut
time for a family road trip,” he remarked. “Dick's going to drive us to the lodge so Alma won't have to walk—”

“And we won't have to carry all those suitcases!” eleven-year-old Menno blurted.

“Let's you and me
run
up there. It'll be a race!” Johnny exclaimed. He drew a line in the dirt with the toe of his shoe. “On your mark, get set, let's
go!
”

Deborah chuckled at her two youngest brothers' energy, even as she wondered how many suitcases they'd packed—which suggested more than a day's road trip. “I'll ride with you,” she murmured as she helped her mother turn around. “Everybody'll be real glad to see you all, and pleased you're doing so well, Mamma.”

As Lily and Lavern climbed into the very backseat, behind Deborah and her mother, her
dat
took his place in the front alongside Dick Mercer. Deborah's heart was thumping wildly. Her father hadn't spoken to her—but he wasn't a man to ride for three hours without something other than recreation and visiting on his mind, either.

“Oh, look at the gardens—and all the trees and shade at the lodge building,” her mother murmured, clutching Deborah's hand.

“Can we stay in one of those cool little cabins?” Lily asked.

“Can we fish in that lake?” Lavern chimed in. “Oh, here comes Queenie!”

“And there's Laura on the porch with her
mamm
and her aunts,” Mamma said as she gazed through the windshield. “They're a sight for sore eyes. Hasn't been the same at home since they left us.”

“Roman's still milking the Hershberger herd, then?” her father asked as he gazed toward the red barn.

“
Jah,
he and Noah and Amos are most likely out there now, finishing up some remodeling they've done in the loft,” Deborah replied.

She wasn't surprised that when the van stopped, her father waved at the ladies on the porch and headed toward the barn. Queenie was barking, circling Johnny and Menno, while Mattie, Rosetta, and Christine were making much of the two boys. When Dick popped the latch on the van's hatchback, Lavern and Lily squeezed out from behind Deborah's seat and began to unload the luggage.

By the time she'd helped Mamma out of the van, the Bender sisters were surrounding them, exclaiming over their guests.

“Who could've guessed we'd see all you Peterscheims today?” Mattie said.

“This is the answer to our prayers about
your
condition, too, Alma,” Rosetta exclaimed as she reached in for a hug.

“You can stay in the cabins Deborah's been painting,” Christine said as she grabbed hold of Lily and Alma. “We wouldn't be nearly so far along with our preparations for new residents if she hadn't been helping us.”

Deborah held her breath. Her mother appeared ready to reveal the reason behind their visit, or to make some other sort of important statement, but then she glanced toward the kids unloading the back of the van. “We've got a lot to say, and you know Eli will want to do the talking,” she murmured. “As for me, I'm ever so grateful that you've taken care of my Deborah—”

“Oh, we've been happy to have her!” Christine blurted.

“She's been wonderful-
gut
help!” Rosetta declared.

“My Noah's awfully glad she showed up,” Mattie joined in.

Mamma sighed, leaning heavily on her crutches. “I—I wish things at home had gone differently, the day after the fire,” she murmured as she clasped Deborah's hand. “But when God closes a door, He opens a window or two. That day turned out to be a real revelation—a sign that important changes were in order.”

Mamma glanced toward the barn. “Yesterday, when we learned that Isaac Chupp's been stealing from Obadiah's auction proceeds, Eli said he'd had enough. He hasn't made any final decisions, but here we are.”

* * *

Noah sat beside his brother on a hay bale, listening in disbelief as Preacher Eli explained what had been happening in Coldstream. While he wasn't surprised to learn that Isaac had been stealing from his
dat,
he certainly hadn't expected to see the entire Peterscheim tribe arriving at Promise.

“It's been all I could do to hold my tongue during this uproar with the bishop's boy,” Eli declared with a shake of his head, “but I couldn't
believe
Obadiah and his two oldest boys didn't realize so much money was slipping through the cracks of their business! Where did they think Isaac got the money for a
car,
for crying out loud? Do you suppose they really didn't know he had one, or were they turning a blind eye?”

Seated on the goats' milking stand, Amos shrugged. “We've been speculating about those same possibilities,” he murmured. “I'm sorry this whole mess—two barns and Willis Hershberger lost, not to mention Deborah's predicament—might've been prevented, had the bishop been paying closer attention to his reckless son.”

“You saw the writing on the wall before I did, Amos. I don't feel
gut
about leaving the bishop God Himself chose for Coldstream, but I don't feel right about my family being at risk there, either,” Eli replied. “I suspect our horses got turned out of the barn the other night because Isaac was perturbed at me for talking to the sheriff. Who knows what else he might do?”

Noah's heart thudded. Did this mean the Peterscheims planned to live at Promise Lodge? Did he dare hope that because Deborah's family would be within daily visiting distance, the young woman of his dreams could wholeheartedly make her home—her life—with him?

“If I pull up roots, I'll be leaving the contractors and other contacts I've earned my living with,” Eli continued earnestly. “Promise Lodge looks like a nice place. But will I be able to find welding work? It's awfully remote out here.”

As Amos leaned his elbows on his knees, he winked at Noah. “Eli, we were
all
taking that chance when we bought this tract of land,” he answered earnestly. “At last count, we have eight other families seriously interested in joining us—which will keep me in carpentry work for a long while, building their homes. Roman's found a buyer for Christine's milk, Mattie and the girls are selling produce, Rosetta's renting out apartments, and Noah just landed a job making decorative metal gates. Your daughter's selling what she bakes, and I expect she'll do quite well at it.”

Amos paused, widening his eyes at the preacher from Coldstream. “There's work for every hand, Eli. The folks coming to Promise Lodge will need their buggies repaired, and we'll soon be installing ductwork and plumbing you can work on,” he pointed out. “God will look after you and your family the same way He's guided us. You believe that, don't you?”

Noah held his breath. When Amish families moved, it was usually to find affordable land, or so their kids could marry into fresh bloodlines—or because of a disagreement with the leaders of their church district. Preachers, however, tended to stay put because they'd been selected by God to serve their community.

“I—I
have
to have faith,” Eli replied somberly. “A man can sell a farm and buy a new one easily enough, but all the money in the world won't keep his family together—or keep his kids safe. We didn't have to think about that until recently.”

Noah vividly recalled the desperation on Deborah's face when she'd shown up at Promise Lodge with her suitcase and that purple handprint on her neck. He didn't want to think about what might've happened to her had she remained at home, where Isaac could've found other ways to torment her. Eli didn't seem inclined to confess that he'd misjudged his daughter, but it was a big admission for him to tell Amos that starting the Promise Lodge colony had been the right move.