Abram's Daughters 01 The Covenant (5 page)

So she and Jonas had a special something between them, which was too bad. At least Mamma would think so if she knew, because young women weren't supposed to open up much to young men, unless, of course, they were being i our ted or were married.

Just now, Sadie glanced nervously toward the sunroom, where Mamma was still busy dusting. "Walk me to the outhouse," Sadie whispered to Leah.

"What for?"

"Never mind, just come." Sadie led the way, through the utility room and enclosed porch, then down the back steps,

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past the twins, who laughed as they worked.

Silently they walked, till Sadie said, turning quickly, "Listen, if ya must know, I think I'm falling in love."

"In love? Ach, Sadie, who with?"

"Shh! He lives down the road a ways. His name is Deny."

"So, I'm right then, a fancy boy." Leah wanted to turn around right now and head back to the house. She didn't want to hear another filthy word. "What's happened to you? English boys are big trouble. You oughta know from going to high school and all."

"You sound too much like Dat."

"Well, somebody's got to talk sense to you! Having a wild rumschpringe's one thing, Sadie, but whatever ya do, don't go outside the boundaries of the Ordnung."

Sadie's eyes were ablaze. "Say whatcha want, but zip your lip."

"Maybe I should tell."

Their eyes locked. Sadie leaned closer. "You have a secret, too, Leah."

"Are you threatening me?"

"Call it what you will, but if Mamma finds out about me, I'll know it came from you. And if you go and tell Mamma on me, I'll tell Dat on you. And if Dat finds out you hope to marry Jonas 'stead of Smithy Gid, he'll put a stop to it."

Leah's heart sank. Sadie had her, for sure.

Glaring at her, Sadie opened the door to the outhouse and hurried inside. The second Leah heard the door latch shut, she turned and fled for home.

Sadie emerged from the outhouse, and not seeing Leah anywhere, she headed toward the mule road. The dirt path49

mt

\m\ In ilit- outer reaches of the northwest side of the woods, whim- Aunt: Lizzie's perty little place stood. She felt the Kinuutli dust against her bare feet, but her throat felt tight, ftliniiNi Mire. She regretted having told Leah anything at all nhuui lire English boyfriend. Might be nice to visit her aunt, ( I i hi'i mind off things.

Wlirn she neared the white front fence, Sadie spied Aunt I i.itc opening the screen door. Her aunt came running and *vliving 'd dishrag, her long purple dress and black apron flapping In the breeze. "Well, hullo there. If it ain't you, Sadie!" I i,-lie wore the biggest grin on her suntanned face.

Sadie quickened her step. "Hullo, Aendi Auntie."

"('nine round the back and sit a spell," Lizzie said, leading In r past the tall stone wall that rimmed the cabin high

iiuii^h to keep deer and other woodland critters out of her linwers to the back porch, where three hickory rockers .pilled out all in a row.

The little four-room bungalow was tucked into the edge n| tin- woods, "half in and half out," Mamma liked to say. i >ue could enjoy the benefit of both sun and sky, as well as lowering shade trees flanking the back of the house. And iliefe were ample sunny spots for Lizzie's beloved roses, hi vernier, lilies, clematis, and a variety of herbs. Her vegetalilo gardens, too.

Once they were seated on the back porch, Aunt Lizzie unIuhI, "So . . . what brings you up here and all by yourself, ye I.'"

"Just out for a short walk."

" Tis a nice day for it."

"Jah, hope it'll be nice tomorrow, too." Sadie asked about Pleaching service. "Are you comin' to Peacheys'?"

49 50 e r ly = L- e lu> i s

"Haven't missed a single meeting for ever so long. Don't plan to start now."

Sadie nodded, aware of Lizzie's curious gaze.

"I'm mighty blessed not to be prone to illness, seems."

"Must be all those herbs you grow in your garden. Mamma says they have healing qualities."

"The foxgloves, too." Lizzie pointed to an array of snowy white, crimson, and yellow snapdragons growing wild and a golden throng of buttercups vying for attention.

"Ach, how's that?"

"Them snapdragons open their little mouths and scare the sickness away." Lizzie burst into her jovial laughter.

"Oh, Auntie, they don't really, now, do they?"

Then Lizzie said unexpectedly, "You look a bit bleech sallow. Not feelin' so well?"

Sadie was sure she didn't look any more washed-out than she usually did. After all, being a blonde, her skin was rather pale most of the time, except when she had a sunburn. "A little tired is all," she replied.

Lizzie scratched her dark head, her hazel-brown eyes serious now. "Looks to me like you skipped near a whole night of sleep."

"I was out a bit late," Sadie admitted.

"Then I 'spect you'll be heading for bed bright and early tonight?"

"Maybe so."

Lizzie stopped rocking and reached a hand toward her. "Best be awful careful who you spend your time with, Sadie dear," she cautioned.

The silence hung awkward and heavy in the hot air. This

50 51o 0 e n a ni

^i M) peculiar, Aunt Lizzie poking her nose in where it

Hll'l In-long.

^M Sin- was thinking what she ought to say, when who should w up just then but Hannah, carrying a loaf of bread. Her UPttT IukI appeared round the corner, grinning for all she was wnith iiiul coming up the porch steps.

"Mamma just baked some raisin-and-nut bread." Hannah pliinlfd a kiss on Lizzie's cheek.

SI in V there was only one rocker vacant, Hannah wanli red uvrr and sat next to Sadie, looking like a chipmunk

11lining alter an elusive acorn.

N

ipi brown eyes. Just how long had her younger sister been i Hiding round the corner of the cabin?

I lannah found it ever so hard to sit still and listen to Mini Lizzie chatter about her plans to dig up yet another gar! u plui this time for marigolds when the talk had been i n more interesting before. So what she suspected was true.

Slu- wanted to say something about the fun they would all

11 ivi* lomorrow afthe picnic on the grounds at the Peachey I inn, hui Aunt Lizzie kept prattling on about herbs and flow-

i i. Sadie only stared; her eyes, pale and vague, were focused

>ii tin- deepest part of the woods.

"'Iell your mamma I'll lend her a hand with plantin' kale nnl broccoli on Monday," Aunt Lizzie said.

"We're always glad for extra help," Hannah replied.

"I'll be down right after breakfast."

"Ob, but Mamma will say to come have scrambled eggs niul waffles with us, won't she, Sadie?" Hannah said, turning hi her sister.

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"Wha-at?" Sadie stumbled over herself.

Hannah rose, eager to get home. "We'll see you for breakfast on Monday, Aunt Lizzie." She leaned down and offered her best smile, hugging her aunt's neck.

Quickly Sadie stood and said her good-byes, too, and the two girls walked home, saying not a single word between them.

52 53"TJ'T*-

4 c--

a?

r

-0--U'/l-

^wul tempting the woods again." Henry Schwartz muttered

^H Complaint to the wind. One by one, he proceeded to pick

m^pherry brambles out of his son's jeans cuffs, glad to help

irnlnc, his wife, whenever he could. Derek never could stay

ii*y from that forest, he thought, wondering why his son had

Ilr> I iiliout going to Strasburg with friends when it was clearly

viil -iii where the boy had spent the bulk of his Friday eve-

nitin.

I lenry held high hopes for Derek, wishing he might grow lit of his aimless fascination with so many young women, i i tuldn't he stay home once in a while like his older brother, hi eX'GI back from the war? Except now that Robert was hnrtlly here safe and sound, he slept around the clock, and " -IMm he wasn't loafing in his bathrobe, he was staring at the in w television set. He also seemed to have lost any incentive l.ir job hunting, enjoying his membership in the "52-20

lub," his unemployment pay.

"Give him more time, dear. He'll get his bearings soon > unugh," Lorraine had said when he voiced his concern. "He

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survived D day, for pete's sake."

But Henry wasn't sure it was a wise thing to let a boy coast on his wartime merits. Discharged soldier or not. After all, young Derek had the next thing to a full-time job working for Peter Mast, an Amish farmer over on Grasshopper Level, and planned to join the military once he turned eighteen in December. Robert, at twenty, needed something to get him up and going in the morning. What would be so wrong with his elder son picking up the phone and asking Peter if he had need of another hired hand?

Gathering up the dirty jeans, Henry carried them into the house and down to the cellar, where he found Lorraine piling up damp clothes into the wide wicker basket at her feet. What a hardworking, devoted wife. He knew he was lucky to have married someone like her. She had helped him through most all the years of medical school, even stayed true to him during the year their marriage was sorely tested, looking after the needs of her trio of men. One of which Henry felt he must confront with last night's walk in the woods.

After lunch Mamma went off to her bedroom for a catnap, so Sadie decided now was as good a time as any to go to Naomi Kauffman's and pick up the knapsack she'd given her for safekeeping and to cover her tracks a bit.

"Well, it's gut to see you made it out of the woods last night," Naomi said in the privacy of her bedroom. "I was so afraid you'd get swallowed up."

"I'm here, aren't I?" , .:.,;

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I "Ynii were lucky this time. Just don't go back there again." Ilinil leaned over and pulled Sadie's pack with its bunched|rlulliin{U| out from under the bed. "No one here suspects l#!'p we were last night, or what we were wearing. No one

Lit,"

I 0? %l(id you don't have a sister named Leah, thought Sadie.

Unki thank you."

I "Si i , , . did you let him hold your hand the whole time?"

I "I'm pity's sake, Naomi, he's a worldly boy."

I "I'm not blind! I saw him reach for your hand when you

I mil of the car."

I SiuIii- turned the tables. "Have I asked 'bout your English

Lir

I Nnomi squelched a smile. "Ach, and he was ever so good-

pkIn', loo. Ain't so? We oughta sneak out again next Friday

hi. 1 hear there's a doin's over at Strasburg. Wanna go?"

I "Might not be such a gut idea, for us ... well, for me, at

l|t, Neein' as how I'm taking instructional classes for bap-

m, ya know."

[ "But 1 thought*.."

I "Nee no, it's*time I settled some things," Sadie insisted,

bln^ her friend wouldn't suspect.

I "So, then, you're finished with running round? Ready to

h church?"

I That's not what she'd said exactly. Sure, she was taking

BtlNinal classes and all, but she was just going through the

If Ions so far. She hadn't decided whether or not she would

Bow llirough with the kneeling vow when the time came.

I roiirse, she wouldn't be the first young person to change

I mind this close to the sacred ordinance.

' Sadie sighed. "How many times do you really think we

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could go to Strasburg dressed up painted up, too like fancy girls and not get caught?"

"You never seemed worried before."

"I've been thinking. You'd best be goin' to Sunday night singings from now on. Let some nice Amish boy court you, settle down some, get married in a year or so."

Naomi was indignant. "Ach, you've changed your tune, Sadie Ebersol!"

"Well now, have I?" she said, turning toward the door. Naomi followed her into the hall and down the steps.

"You said before you wanted some excitement and fun adventure out in the modern world. Wanted to see firsthand

what you'd been missin'."

Sure, she'd said that. Said it with a vengeance, nearly. But now? Now she had what she wanted a boy named Derry but she couldn't for all the world spill the beans to Naomi. No, such a thing would spread like a grass fire, and next thing she'd know, both Dat and Mamma would be talking straight to her, in front of Preacher Yoder, maybe. Or worse, the bishop.

"Things change." She was glad her friend stayed put at the end of the lane, Naomi's bare toes curled, digging hard into the dirt.

"Are you goin' to start attending singings again?" Naomi asked.

"We'll see." She turned to leave.

"Sadie . . . wait!" Naomi hollered, stumbling after Sadie as if her life depended on it somehow.

She kept walking. "Mamma's expectin' me home now," Sadie said without looking back. No, she'd keep on walking

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nlnne this time, her knapsack close to her heart. No sense in

1'iolonging Naomi's disappointment. No sense lying outright, ' H Her,

I 'tiring the hottest' hour of the afternoon, while Sadie ivi-iH out for a walk, Leah crept up to their bedroom, closed f lie door behind her, wishing for a lock for the first time ever. I ike a curious kitten, she hurried to Sadie's hope chest and

'I'tfncd the lid. All day she'd thought of nothing more than

inling to have a closer look at the modern skirt and blouse

iiIII* had worn last night, and even the white-and-black

' vo toned shoes. She couldn't imagine wearing anything on

I li t feet at all, not till the first hard freeze, for goodness' sake, itch things as shoes, of any kind, were much too confining.

Pushing down into the depths of the trunk, Leah felt for ilie shoes. She moved sheets and pillowcases, enough for

111 ree beds as was customary. There were towels and wash-

loths, too, along with tablecloths, hand-hooked rugs, and

u.shion tops. At last her hands bumped the shoes, and she pulled first one, then the next out, peering at each one, hold-