A Promise for Miriam (34 page)

But instead of waiting for his response, she dropped the flap, enclosing the buggy in darkness and a little warmth. Then she murmured to Belle, who trotted off at a pretty clip.

She didn’t know what was going on with Gabe Miller or why he insisted on pushing her toward Aden Schmucker. She had decided one thing while watching him tonight, though. She was going to find out his reasons. And when Miriam set her mind to something, sooner or later it was done.

Chapter 41

G
race didn’t remember auctions from their old home, but she was sure they had them. Her dad described them to her as they drove toward Hannah’s home. But it was as though he was describing something from one of her dreams. Some of it sounded familiar—or maybe she was confusing his memories with hers. Maybe she only remembered him talking about them.

None of that mattered.

Grace couldn’t imagine a better weekend. The weather was cold but sunny, which was just what she’d prayed for. There was still a little snow on the ground, but not enough to mess things up.

“Remember not to stay outside. You’ll have your nose frostbit.”

“I won’t.”

“All the items will be in the barns or the house.”

“
Ya
, you told me.”

“Hannah’s
dat
said there will be places to play in the barns as well—so there’s no need to wander around outside.”

She turned to stare at him. There was no threat of a blizzard. Was he worried she’d walk off and become lost in a crowd of people?

He shrugged and she went back to watching out the front of the buggy. There had been a forecast for rain earlier in the week, but it had changed two days ago. Her dad had said God had taken care of it, and she supposed he was right.

Yesterday they had spent Old Christmas at Eli’s house. She’d had hours and hours to play with Sadie. Had there really been a time when she hadn’t known her? As she sat forward in the buggy, peering out over the front of Chance’s rump and looking for her best friend, it was hard to remember. Now she saw Sadie almost every day, and when she didn’t she wrote her a note or drew her a picture.

“Lots of buggies,” Gabe said.

“
Ya
, and cars too.”

“Stay close to me so you won’t get lost.”

“
Dat
, I’m not a baby.” Grace turned to give him the look and saw something painful pass over her dad’s face. Maybe he had gas again. She scooted to the far side of the buggy.

“What, do I smell?”

“You got that look, like you might be about to do something.”

“Oh, I did, did I?”

His hand crawled across the seat, and Grace let out a squeal as she tried to move farther away. He hadn’t tried to tickle her in ages. Why was he acting so strange all of a sudden?

As he pulled Chance to a stop, she glanced back out over the crowd and saw Sadie’s dad standing beside his buggy. “They’re here. They’re here.”

“
Ya
. I told you they would be.”

“There are so many people. Even more than when we have church.”

“That’s
gut
. More people means we’ll raise more money for Laura Kiems. If you see her, you remember to tell her that we’re praying for her and that you made a cherry pie to be auctioned. Abigail said you did a fine job on it.”

Grace nodded as she hopped out of the buggy. She hoped the auction raised a lot of money to help Preacher Kiems’ mother. She had something called heart disease. Miriam had explained to the class last week what that was—how your heart could get tired and not work so well.

Grace waited for her dad to hand her the cherry pie from the box in the back of the buggy. She’d asked him if his heart was old, if he’d need a benefit auction. He’d promised her it wasn’t and that he still had a lot of years left. But she still put her head to his chest to listen to his heart beat whenever he hugged her good night. There was nothing wrong with checking.

She’d told that to Hannah, and Hannah said some things you have to trust to God. That was a little hard to do, especially given their past.

Grace still didn’t understand what had happened to her mom or why God had let that happen. But then, on the other hand, she could have died in the snow cave, and she didn’t. God was hard to figure out, let alone trust, but she was trying.

Sadie met her halfway between their buggies. “I made cookies. What did you make?”

Sadie had worn her dark blue dress and black apron, of course. Grace could just make it out underneath her coat. They always wore their black aprons. They giggled about being older and wearing a white one, but Grace wasn’t in any hurry to be older. Grace looked down at her clothes, identical to Sadie’s, and smiled. She liked it when they dressed the same.

“I made cherry pie. It’s the first time I didn’t burn the crust.”

“Let’s take them to the tables together.”

“Do you girls want me to go with you?” Her dad had caught up with them.

They turned around and stared at him, and then they both shook their heads. Gabe had that look on his face again. Grace was just sure he had a stomachache. Maybe his breakfast had been bad. He tried to smile, though. “All right. Be careful, and I’ll see you at lunch.”

“That was weird,” Grace said.

“My
dat
did the same thing.”

“Honest?”

“
Ya
. He even offered to carry the cookies for me.”

That started them giggling, and they had to walk closer together through the cold sunshine so they wouldn’t drop their auction items.

Once they had dropped off their baked goods in the kitchen, they headed out to the livestock barn to look at the animals that were being auctioned. As they were headed out of the house and toward the pens, they passed the preacher’s mom.

“Uh-oh,” Sadie whispered. “We could skirt around.”

“Can’t.
Dat
told me I had to stop and talk to her. And she’s seen us.”

“Come here, you two, and let me have a look at you.” Laura Kiems reached out a bony hand, and Grace almost stepped back, but she didn’t because she saw the lonely look on the old woman’s face. So instead she allowed herself to be pulled closer. “Now, Sadie, it seems you grow more every time I see you.”

“My
mamm
says the same thing.”

“And Grace. You look just like my
dochder
described you. She told me all about your going up front in the church service with your
dat
. I wasn’t there to see it on account of…” she pulled in a deep breath and rested a second. “On account of my heart.”

“We brought baked goods,” Grace said.

“That’s
gut. Danki
.” Laura patted Grace with one hand and reached for Sadie with her other.

Though her fingers were awfully thin, they didn’t feel as scary as Grace thought they might. They actually felt soft, like Stanley. She imagined you had to be real careful with someone as old as the preacher’s mom so she wouldn’t break. Looking down at Laura’s hands, she saw they were thin and bony, and she could even see the veins, same as she could with her mouse. Which is why she would never let Stanley out around Stormy. That kitten just played too rough.

“One day, before you know it, you will be wanting to catch a boy’s heart. I don’t mean the one that beats inside. I mean the one that flutters when you see someone special.” Laura pulled in another shaky breath. “Baking helps in the area with boys and men.”

Grace glanced at Sadie, and they both began to giggle.

“Go on now. I saw that you were headed toward the auction animals. Go and see how they look.”

They started to skip away, but then Grace remembered the lonely look.

“Wait for me,” she whispered to Sadie. Running back to the preacher’s mom, she hugged her gently, as softly as she would hug Stanley if he were big enough to get her arms around. “We’ll be praying for you every night.”

Without waiting for an answer, she was gone.

They went over to the barn and watched the animals for a while. There were two bulls, several cows, and even a couple of horses. Someone had donated some pigs, and a donkey stood in a stall at the very end of the barn. He came to the door that was half open, and the girls found a crate to stand on so they could bend over and touch his nose.

“I’d love to have a donkey,” Grace admitted.

“Ask your
dat
.”

“I don’t think we could afford it. Not right now, anyway.”

After they had looked at the animals, they decided to go and check out the other auction items. The second barn wasn’t as big as the first, but it smelled better. Long tables were set up in it, like the ones they used for dinner at church meetings. On the first row of tables were baskets of every size and shape. They had sheets of paper beside them where people wrote down the price they were willing to pay. Every hour someone picked up the sheet and called out who the winner was.

The same was true for the hand-stitched pot holders and table runners. Once the persons picked up the items they had bid on, new items were put out and it started all over again.

The most amazing thing in the second barn was the clothesline strung down one aisle. When they came to it, Grace stepped closer to Sadie and linked her fingers with her. “I’ve never seen so many quilts on a line before.”

“
Ya
. I heard my
mamm
say they are the reason the
Englischers
are here. They could bring in more money than the animals.”

“These are amazing. Can we walk through them?”

“Sure. We just have to be careful not to touch. We wouldn’t want to dirty them.”

Grace counted a dozen in all. Each had a number clipped next to it, but no sheet of paper.

“They will be auctioned before the noon meal,” Hannah explained as she walked up behind them.

The girls turned around and each gave her a giant hug.

“I remember
mammi
Sarah quilting like this,” Grace said. “
Mammi
Erma did too, but I don’t think I could ever do it.”

“Of course you can, Grace. It’s just a matter of practice.” Hannah walked the girls to one of the quilts at the end of the line and showed them a mistake in the stitching on the border.

“How did you find that?” Sadie asked. “I would never have seen it.”

“My
mamm
and I made this one. Those were my stitches when we began. I wanted to pull them out, but she wouldn’t let me. She said imperfections are important too, and that I’d be able to see how much I’d improved if I left them.”

Grace heard Hannah’s words. She even understood what she’d said, though she’d have to talk to her
dat
about the imperfection thing. There was one thing she knew for certain. She was going to have to ask Abigail about giving her quilting lessons.

Cooking was great and all, but you did the work and then someone ate it. What did you have to show for the hours in the kitchen?

Quilting, now there was something that would last.

“I’d best go help with the baskets. You girls have fun.”

Sadie and Grace watched her leave and then turned round in a circle.

“I guess we’ve seen it all,” Sadie said. “What do you want to do now?”

“Where are the boys?” Grace asked. “I haven’t seen any of them from school, but I’ve seen most of the girls.”

“They’re in the old barn playing ball.”

“Hannah has three barns?”

“
Ya
, but the old one, it has a hole in the roof. Wanna go watch the ball game?”

“Okay. But I’d like to be back in time to see who gets the donkey.” Still holding hands, they swung their arms as they hurried out of the barn with crafts and across a small pasture to a crumbling structure. It reminded Grace of their barn before the men had come and helped her dad fix it up and make it better. It reminded Grace of some of the pictures she’d drawn when they had first come to Wisconsin, pictures she’d labeled
Sad Barn
and
Droopy House
—only the barn didn’t look sad anymore, and the house now felt like home.

“We’ll be able to hear the auctioneers. Don’t worry. They talk fast and very loud. They use some kind of microphone-thing that makes me want to cover my ears.”

“Who’s the auctioneer?”

“There are several, but my
dat
is one.” Sadie started laughing again, and then Grace started laughing. They were both laughing as they walked around the corner of the old barn, which is probably why they didn’t hear the hollering at first.

Chapter 42

M
iriam tried to control her temper as she stared at Aden Schmucker.

His face had turned as red as honey crisp apples in the fall, so there was no doubt she’d heard him correctly.

“Why would your father be discussing me?”

“I’m sure he—”

“Tell me why your
dat
would be discussing my personal life!”

“I wasn’t there, Miriam.”

“You weren’t there. Yet you’re certain I was the subject of conversation. That my personal life was the subject of conversation not once, but twice!”

“If you look at it that way, I suppose—yes, you’re correct.”

Miriam wanted to scream. She wanted to pick up something, anything, and chuck it at him. Unfortunately, at that very moment she saw the edge of two black
kapps
peek around the corner of the barn and then draw back.

Stepping closer to Aden, she whispered fiercely, “Don’t move.”

Then she stormed around the corner of the barn. Sadie and Grace were standing with their backs against the old barn wall, their eyes as wide as half dollars.

“Girls.”

They both nodded in greeting but didn’t say a word.

“Awfully cold morning.”

“
Ya
,” Grace said.

“It is,” Sadie offered.

They stared at her as if she were wearing three
kapps
instead of one. It wasn’t as though they had never heard her raise her voice before. She’d shouted only a few days ago when she’d opened the janitor’s closet and a family—an entire family—of mice had run out toward her.