A Simple Christmas Wish (7 page)

“You’re here!” A girl wearing a plain blue dress very similar
to Lydia’s burst into the room just as they were finishing up. She paused, looking around her room with an astonished expression. “What is all this?”

“My stuff,” Holly said. “Are you Sarah? Is this your room?”

“
Ja.
I’m Sarah.” She smiled shyly.

“I’m Holly. I’m your cousin.”

“I know that. How old are you?”

“I’m six—but I’ll be seven on Christmas.”

“Your birthday is Christmas?”

“It’s the day before Christmas. Christmas Eve,” Holly proclaimed proudly.

Sarah nodded with approval. “That is nice.”

Holly just shrugged, then pointed to Rachel. “This is Aunt Rachel. Her birthday is three days before mine.”

Sarah looked as if she was figuring something in her head. “Is your birthday on Tuesday?” she asked Rachel.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Rachel said, not eager to be reminded. Now she smiled at Sarah. “When’s your birthday?”

“I just had it. November thirtieth. I turned eleven.”

“Wow.” Holly looked impressed. “That’s pretty old.”

“
Ja.
But not as old as my three brothers.”

“You have
three
brothers?”

“Ja.”
She held up three fingers, counting them off. “Jacob is the oldest. He’s seventeen. And Noah is fifteen. They’re both out of school now. Ezra is thirteen. He’s still in school like me.”

“Wow.” Holly looked stunned. “That’s a lot of brothers.”

“
Ja.
But now I have a sister.” Sarah put a loving arm around Holly’s shoulders.

“I’ve always wanted a sister,” Holly said, but she gave Rachel a sideways glance, as if she was unsure.

“You have got one now,” Sarah proclaimed. Then she frowned at all of Holly’s stuff. “But Mamm will not be happy to see all this.”

“Who is Mamm?”

“Mamm?” Sarah’s brow creased. “Our mother. That’s Mamm.”

“Oh.”

“Amish use some different words,” Rachel explained to Holly.

“
Ja.
We speak English mostly, but we also speak the Dutch.”

“Which is a form of German,” Rachel explained and then wondered why she’d bothered. So much for Holly to take in. Why add to it?

“And what do you call your father?” Holly asked with adultlike interest.

“We call him Daed.”

“I called my daddy Dad sometimes. But mostly I called him Daddy.”

“I’m sorry that your parents died,” Sarah said with a serious expression. “I never met my aenti Miriam. She was Mamm’s only sister, and Mamm thinks I look like her.”

Holly peered at Sarah, looking her up and down, but then she just shook her head. “No. My mother was older and bigger than you.”

Rachel chuckled. “I think she means her coloring. See, Sarah has golden brown hair like your mommy did. And her eyes are the same color of blue.”

“Oh.” Holly nodded. “I guess you do look like Mommy. Maybe she looked like you when she was a little girl.” Holly
reached over to take Rachel’s hand. “My mommy says I look like Aunt Rachel.” She smiled up at her. “That’s right, isn’t it?”

“That’s what your mommy used to say,” Rachel said quietly.

Sarah spotted Holly’s American Girl doll and pointed at it with a shocked expression while her other hand flew up to cover her mouth. “Mamm is not going to like
that
.”

Holly grabbed up Ivy with the possessiveness of a protective mother. “Why not? What’s wrong with her?”

Sarah pointed at Ivy’s face. “She has a
face
.”

Holly frowned in confusion. “What’s wrong with her face?”

Sarah giggled nervously. “I have to go help Mamm fix supper.”

Holly still looked perplexed.

“We’ll make sure Ivy stays up in the bedroom,” Rachel assured Sarah. “I hope that’s okay.”

Sarah looked unsure, but she nodded. “Mamm told me to ask if you need anything.” She looked around the crowded room and laughed. “It looks like you don’t need
anything
.”

“I need to use the bathroom,” Holly admitted as she carefully laid Ivy down next to Bunny.

Sarah showed them where the bathroom was, and Rachel was relieved to learn this house had indoor plumbing. “How does it work?” she asked Sarah.

“What do you mean?” Sarah asked with a confused expression. “You have not used a flushing toilet before?”

Rachel laughed. “Yes, I have, but I’m just curious about how you have water pressure without electricity. Is there a pump to get water to the house?”

Sarah’s brow creased. “There is a windmill that makes
power to get water up into the water tower.” She held her hand up high as if to illustrate the height. “And then the water tower uses
gravity
to get it into the house.” She dropped her hand down as if to explain how gravity worked. Then as if to further explain, she turned on the tap. “See?”

“Really?” Rachel was impressed. “That’s very clever.”

Sarah looked at Rachel as if she questioned her sensibilities, but instead she simply pointed out the lanterns hanging on the wall. “These are for
light
. So you can
see
.” Now she pointed to the matches on a nearby shelf. “You use
these
to light them with.” Then, shaking her head, Sarah went on downstairs. Thankfully, she did not take the time to explain the towels or the toilet tissue to Rachel.

Holly giggled as she picked up the box of matches. “I’m not supposed to play with these,” she told Rachel.

“I know.” Rachel frowned as she took the matchbox from Holly. “Let me light the lanterns for you.”

“I like how this kind of light looks,” Holly said as the lantern flickered to life. “It’s all fuzzy and warm, don’t you think?”

Rachel looked at Holly, sweetly illuminated in the soft golden light. “Yes, it is kind of fuzzy and warm.” She shivered slightly as the chill of the house ran through her. “And fuzzy and warm can be very good.”

Rachel felt uneasy and slightly intrusive as she and Holly went downstairs. She could hear quiet voices in the kitchen and felt the polite thing to do would be to go in and offer to help, but she had no idea how this would be received.

“Should we see if Aunt Lydia needs help?” she asked Holly.

Holly nodded. She’d carried Bunny down with her but looked uncertain now. “Should I leave Bunny here?”

Rachel agreed. “Yes. She probably won’t be much help in the kitchen.”

Holly set Bunny in a chair, then took Rachel’s hand and together they walked into the kitchen. “Excuse me,” Rachel said politely. “Is there something we can do to help?”

Rachel was relieved when Lydia found several simple tasks that needed doing, and soon both Rachel and Holly were busily helping. Rachel could tell that having unexpected guests for dinner had probably put some extra pressure on their hostess tonight. At least they appeared to have plenty of food. As Rachel smelled the pork roast cooking, she realized she was actually quite hungry.

It wasn’t long until everyone was finding their places at a long wooden table illuminated by a large kerosene lantern that hung from the ceiling. Although it was a simple meal with mismatched dishes on a bare wood table, it felt surprisingly festive due to the flickering golden light. Rachel and Holly were told to sit with Sarah on a bench that ran along one side, and the three boys sat on the bench on the opposite side. Then Daniel came in and, without saying a word, sat at the head of the table.

“Good evening,” Rachel said in a friendly tone, trying not to stare at his odd-looking beard.

“Gut-n-owed,”
Daniel said to her.

Lydia set the last of the serving bowls in the center of the table, taking her seat at the opposite end of the table. She took a moment to introduce everyone, and afterward Daniel bowed his head, as did the rest of his family. Rachel nudged Holly, hinting that she should imitate their host too. She waited for him to ask a blessing on the food, but no words
were uttered. Instead, everyone just kept their heads bowed, with no one saying anything. All Rachel could hear was the ticking of a clock somewhere.

Eventually Holly’s head popped up, but Rachel sent her a quick sideways warning glance, tipping her head to signal Holly to keep her head bowed. She wasn’t sure what was going on here, but she didn’t want to be impolite or disrespectful. Finally, after what seemed an awfully long time, Daniel said “amen,” and just like that, the table sprang back to life in an almost other-worldly sort of way.

It wasn’t so much that they were a chatty bunch, but it was clear from the activity that they were all hungry. They’d probably been working hard; plus it was cold outside. As food was passed and served and shuffled about, a few bits and pieces of farm information were exchanged around the table, as well as some thoughts about the weather and the forecast. It sounded as if this snowstorm was expected to last a few days. Rachel hoped they were wrong about that. She told them about the good driving weather she and Holly had enjoyed today. However, no one seemed interested to hear more. In fact, no one seemed terribly interested in the two virtual strangers sharing the table with them. Perhaps this was their way of being polite and unobtrusive, or maybe they were just too hungry to express interest in anything but the food.

Yet, as hungry as this family appeared, no one gobbled down their food. No one was in a hurry. Instead, they were content to savor and enjoy the meal, and Rachel thought that was admirable. Too often, she saw people rushing to eat. It was refreshing to witness a family all sitting together and enjoying a meal. It reminded her of some of the old television
shows she used to enjoy on TV—shows like
The Waltons
or
Little House on the Prairie
. Although it was hard to believe that people actually lived like this, she knew they were not putting this act on for her benefit.

Eventually the meal ended, and Rachel and Holly remained in the kitchen to help Lydia and Sarah. Thanks to the number of dishes and the absence of things like a dishwasher, the cleanup was far more tedious than Rachel was used to. When they were finally done, though, there was a good sense of accomplishment to see that all the counters were clear and clean and the dishes were all put away.

“Do you like to play games?” Sarah asked Holly.

Holly’s eyes lit up. “Yes! I have Nintendo in the car and I have—”

“I don’t think Sarah means video games,” Rachel quickly explained.

“Oh?” Holly nodded with a perplexed expression, almost as if she were a tourist in a foreign country, trying to figure out a completely different culture.

“Sarah probably means board games. Like Chutes and Ladders.”

“I like those games too,” Holly said with renewed enthusiasm.

The game Sarah set up appeared to be similar to Chinese checkers. It involved a handmade wooden board and colored marbles, and it didn’t take long before Holly got the hang of it. It also didn’t take long before the two restless older boys disappeared. According to Sarah, they’d probably gone out to the barn to “horse around.” Ezra remained behind, whittling on a piece of wood and eventually joining in the marbles
game. Meanwhile, Daniel tended to the fire and read from a serious-looking brown book. If anyone was curious about their houseguests, they were doing a good job of keeping it to themselves. Perhaps this was simply Amish etiquette.

Rachel had brought her ebook reader with her, and it had a fully charged battery, but she was uncertain about getting it out. She didn’t want to insult anyone with her technology. Instead, she decided to just sit and soak in all this quiet activity. After all, when would she have an experience like this again?

Seeing the children down on the floor—two who appeared to be from another century playing with Holly, who was dressed in a bright plaid jumper with lime green leggings—made for an interesting scene. Rachel almost wished she had her camera, and yet she’d heard the Amish didn’t care to be photographed. She was glad that the children were including Holly and were having fun. After a bit, Lydia joined them in the front room. She had a sewing basket in hand, and with nothing more than a nod in Rachel’s direction, she settled herself onto the high-backed bench near the fire and began to work on mending what appeared to be a pair of trousers. It was all a very homey scene, albeit quiet, and Rachel was determined to enjoy it.

Because, Rachel assured herself, by tomorrow night if all went well, she and Holly would be back in the Chicago apartment and this would be only a memory. It was surprising how the apartment suddenly sounded far more inviting than ever before. She actually missed it. Oh, it wasn’t that Rachel didn’t know how to rough it a little. It was simply that she didn’t quite understand the reasoning behind these rustic deprivations. Sure, it was fun, in a going-back-in-time sort
of way, but as a full-time lifestyle? Perhaps she could understand why Miri had left all this behind her, although it did make Rachel curious too. It was so mysterious to think her modern-minded sister-in-law had grown up in this sort of quaint atmosphere. Perhaps while she was here, she would learn a bit more about Miri’s previous life. For Holly’s sake, she hoped so.

It wasn’t too long until Lydia announced it was time for the children to get ready for bed, but as she and Holly went up to Sarah’s room, Rachel realized there was still only one bed. She was about to go downstairs and inquire about this when she heard the boisterous voices of the older boys as they clomped up the stairs, and just like that, a rollaway cot was set down next to the bed. This was followed by a set of bedding carried in by Sarah and Lydia.

“Here you are,” Lydia said as she placed the folded blankets and things in Rachel’s arms. Rachel thanked them and began to make up the narrow bed.

Now Lydia went over to where Sarah was watching Holly removing her pajamas from her backpack. “And do not forget we have church in the morning,
maed
.”

Sarah nodded. “
Ja,
Mamm. I know.”

“Schlaf gut,”
Lydia said. Then she gave Rachel an uneasy glance and exited the room. Unsure of what Lydia had said, Rachel told her good night and continued wrestling with the cot.