Abram's Daughters 05 The Revelation (17 page)

Then, just as loudly as he'd come in, Jake turned around and declared, "I've never\nown what it means to hate another person till today nor did I think I could be rude enough to say so!" At that he dashed down the hall.

Henry stepped out of his office as the clinic door slammed shut, and he almost bumped into Leah, who looked both pale and astonished. He required fresh air, not another painful discussion, but he lingered long enough for her to say, "Maybe you should follow him home, Doctor."

He looked at her incredulously. "Yes, that's absolutely the right thing to do." He tried to collect his wits. Leah was a bright woman, yet if he went to the Masts' home, as she suggested, what would he say? Henry glanced at her again, the unspoken question looming in his mind.

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As if perceiving the reason for his hesitancy, she repeated, "Follow him. Please . . . don't let Jake attempt this revelation alone."

He hurried to grab his coat and hat off the coat tree. My sins have more than found me out. It's long past time to come clean.

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For the Lord God is a sun and shield:

the Lord will give grace and glory:

no good thing will he withhold

from them that walk uprightly.

Psalm 84:11 150:ii ':.:- ' ' , ..:;'- ' ' ''. -. ' :

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77

L/eah had once heard it said that, especially in late autumn, a person's cheerfulness was in direct proportion to the amount of dayliglil one might expect. Yet in spite of the sun's brilliance, she was worried nearly sick as she trudged home.

She opened the back door of the Dawdi Haus, calling for Sadie, whom she found folding a pile of clothes. "Ya best stop what you're

doin

"What is it, sister?"

Leah looked about her to see if they were indeed alone. She felt uneasy telling Sadie what she must, but there was no need to withhold what she knew. "Lydiann broke her promise. She told Jake bout you."

Sadie held the dish towel she was folding in midair, her face turning nearly ashen as she stood like a slight statue.

"Jake knows who you are to him . . . that the Masts aren't his parents by blood." Leah paused to catch her breath, suddenly winded.

"How'd ya hear this?" Sadie's voice sounded unnaturally high.

Leah sighed. "I put two and two together," she said, telling how she'd overheard Jake's heated comment as he left Dr. Schwartz's clinic.

Sadie's lip quivered and she put her hand on her chest, as if lighting back tears. "Ya mean . . . ?"

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Beverly Lewis ' , ;

11 "Jah, dear one. Jake knows the doctor's secret. . . and ours."

i ' "At long last." Sadie reached for Leah's hand. "Time for rejoic-

11 i ing. The truth is out at last!"

||; [j'' Shrinking back, Leah shook her head. "No, this is a terrible

I'[ 11 thing . . . for all of us."

II] j| "It's the best news I've had in a long, long time truly 'tis."

I'1' j Sadie stood tall, eyes shining with what Leah knew to be tears of

j | gladness.

il I | Leah, on the other hand, was terribly worried. Jake and Dr.

I I] ' j| Schwartz were on their way to tell the truth to Peter and Fannie

I1 ii| Mast, and she couldn't help wondering how long before the news

1 I'jl|| 11 might overtake the whole community. What would this mean for

in 11 the Mast family? For herself? How would all of this set with Jonas I l| I that she had known for some time, even the night he'd asked || il J pointed questions about Lydiann's letter to Jake? Yet she had kept

I II j the truth from her beloved, as well as, for a time, from her own dear

i Lydiann.

II Emotionally torn, Leah dreaded what was to befall them, and | ii I the day and the season seemed darker to her than ever before.

Lydiann was out on the road with the team, running a sewing errand for Aunt Lizzie to Deacon Stoltzfus's wife, when she saw a cluster of bundled-up children walking home from the one-room schoolhouse. It seemed like only last week that she, too, had been among the youngsters returning home from a long day in the classroom.

She slowed the horse and called to them. "Any of yous care for a ride?"

All eight of them came running. "Can ya squeeze in tight?" she said, smiling as she remembered how cold it could be walking this time of year.

The children jostled into the buggy, several of them thanking her right away, before she realized she wouldn't be getting to the Stoltzfuses' anytime soon not if she was to deliver the children to their individual homes.

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"So . . . how many sets of brothers and sisters do I have here?" she ftukrd, wliidh brought a burst of laughter, the children catching on tliMl she'd taken on more than she might have originally set out to do.

"Two Zooks," said one of the girls.

"I'our Kings," said another.

"Mast: twins," said one boy softly.

'I'hiii comment befuddled her, and just when she was finally Imping i<> get her mind off Jake Mast. "That's three stops," she said, I'l.iiu in!', over her shoulder. "Where to first?"

I'Ik- oldest Zook girl spoke up again. "We aren't but a half mile I nun here."

When asked, the others said they were "just a bit farther." Lydiuiii didn't mind, really. She enjoyed listening in as the children Italic*red in Pennsylvania Dutch about their school day.

She heard one of the boys mention Carl Nolt. "He's taking some

>l us sleddin' when the first big snow comes."

She almost blurted out, How do you know Carl? but kept quiet, i.iking in the fond remarks about Carl, who seemed to be someone .pedal to the children.

Well, and of course he is. She hadn't thought of his invitation to mi hide her in his church autumn hayride much at all, but as considerate as Carl had always been, she shouldn't have been surprised .11 his offer. Still, it was much too soon to think about another boy.

Carl was only trying to get my mind off my woes, she decided, dismissing the notion he might have actually been asking her for a date.

At Leah's gentle yet wise suggestion, Henry had gotten into his i ;ir and had driven merely a short distance when he spied Jake running along the road. Stopping, he insisted Jake not travel on foot all I he way home in the chilly air. "Let me drive you," he offered.

Jake shook his head, holding his ground. Henry continued to entreat him all the same, ever conscious of his own churning emotions despising the confession that had led to such obvious antagonism in his own grandson.

After much persistence and suggesting that he, too, go and talk with Jake's parents, he was finally able to coax him into the comfort and warmth of the car.

154,

Jake seemed to cling to the far right side of the front seat. "I have no need of your help with my family," he mumbled.

Henry drove without speaking, trying to overlook Jake's obvious antagonism. He imagined how incensed Derek would have been ai hearing such earth-shattering news, comparing it to Jake's more1 tempered, yet plainly icy demeanor.

Since Henry could not begin to anticipate how the next few minutes might unfold, he concentrated on turning into the driveway.

"This ain't somethin' that oughta be kept quiet any longer," Jake said suddenly. "I've reconsidered: I'm thinkin' you ought to see firsthand what findin' out about your trickery will do to my parents. . . if they believe it."

Henry realized that no amount of spoken regret would remove the pain from Jake's face, nor the justifiable sting from his words.

They got out of the car and headed toward the back door, Henry trudging along behind Jake.

"You and your family bein' English makes all this even more complicated, ya must surely know," Jake said, nervously touching the brim of his hat.

Again Henry was appalled at his own lack of judgment. Had he never envisioned the excruciating scene about to take place here in Jake's childhood home? Why hadn't he foreseen this present heartbreak?

Vaguely he was aware of Jake telling his mother, "There's something important to be said to you and Dat and Jonas." Then Jake, terse yet evidently wanting to exhibit good manners, kept his wits about him and insisted Mandie go upstairs, "for the time being." To Henry's surprise she went willingly, glancing down at them several times as she ascended the long staircase. That done, Jake left the kitchen and hurried out to the barn to fetch his father and Jonas.

The awkward moments that followed seemed nearly endless as Henry stood near the wood stove with Fannie, who appeared to be trying her best to keep her attention on ironing Peter's long-sleeved shirts while waiting for Jake to return with the two men.

All too soon, though, what Henry had confidentially shared

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11ft Juke in the privacy of his office was being voiced aloud in the I" .U'iiij; <>l Peter, Fannie, and Jonas.

"C )mrageous ... if true," Peter said, the anger in his eyes speaking volumes.

"I'm afraid it is," said Henry, "though it's much too late now to nller an apology for my misguided attempt. I primarily had my family's potential embarrassment in mind." He struggled to keep his emolions in check, tempted to hide his long-ago decision behind some kind of purposeful rationale. "When Fannie gave birth to her stillI u I) twin boy, I knew both of you would be heartsick at the loss . . . uul since Sadie had already experienced what she had assumed was i Ik* death of her baby all in the same night it seemed right, somehow, to place premature Jake in Fannie's welcoming arms."

I'ctcr glared at him. "A deceitful deed."

I lenry continued, digging himself deeper into a pit of his own in.iking. "It was a most selfish act, one I wish could be undone."

Peter breathed loudly, as if he was about to erupt into a heated nion, but it was Fannie who began to weep.

After some time Henry offered to direct the dismayed couple to (lit- location of their deceased son's grave, but Peter declared the notion "idiotic."

Turning toward the window, Peter inhaled loudly, and an un-

* omlortable silence fell on the kitchen.

Jake stood alone, his eyes forlorn, like those of a child suddenly displaced, and Henry was aware of the pulse pounding in his own .i' lung temples.

Jonas stepped forward, going to stand with Jake, his arm resting mi Jake's shoulder. "I say we're brothers, no matter what."

To this Peter deliberately turned, his face grave. "No, not brothers. And not my son." He frowned briefly, eyes focusing on Jake, whose face was drawn. "You're an Ebersol," he said brusquely, as if making a pronouncement of evil. "Pack your clothes and get out of my house immediately."

Jonas appeared stunned. "But, Dat!"

"Do not defy me." Peter moved quickly to Fannie, who was sobbing. "Come with me," he said to her, not looking back a single time

156Beverly Lewis

at the young man whom they'd raised as their own. Clearly, he was theirs no longer.

"Dat, mayn't I speak to Mandie?" pleaded Jake. "Can't I have a minute to say good-bye?"

"Hurry up with it," said Peter, his back still to Jake and Jonas.

Henry's heart sank and his blood boiled, but he dared not utter a word: This mess was his doing. Even so, he could not fathom Peter's decision. No, you ignorant man, you cannot renounce your son!

"Listen, Dat," said Jonas. "If ya mean what you say, then I'll be goin', too . . . with Jake."

Abruptly Peter turned in the doorway between the long kitchen and the front room, his countenance surprised but no less unyielding. "Do as you must, Jonas." Then, looking Henry's way, he motioned with his head to indicate that he was also expected to exit now.

Bewildered at the unforeseen turn of events, Henry wasted no time in plodding toward the back door, making his way outside, tormented by what he had just witnessed . . . and the responsibility he bore for it. , What wretched thing have I done to this family? :

I

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157

A

/V.s discouraged as he'd ever been, Jonas headed out on foot with |*ikc. Both of them politely refused Dr. Schwartz's proffered lift, tint I 11 icy made their trek up the hill to Gobbler's Knob, toward the In iiiu1 of Eli Yoder, with only a pillowcase each, filled with a few esM'iui;\l items of clothing. The sun behind them, they discussed the iiiimihuous scene in their mamma's kitchen as the wind kicked up In tin a breeze to full-blown gusts.

On the way Jake expressed his disbelief at their coldhearted oustii ij", by Dat, his voice quaking. "He can't be thinkin' straight... he |uM can't be." Thei? father had given them scarcely any time to gather ii| work trousers and an extra shirt or two, socks, and underwear. In

1.111, Dat had outright barked at them from the bottom of the steps, to !' mas's disbelief. This was a man he suddenly felt he did not know.

Jonas offered some halfhearted encouragement to his brother. I )at\s beside himself with anger, but I would hope he might come Hnind in time." But after what they'd just experienced, he was not il>solutely sure of that.

Jake's face remained taut and expressionless. "Got Schwartz and I'IktsoI blood in my veins . . . but it's Abram's blood that's the culI'lH in Dat's eyes," he muttered.

Jonas listened quietly as his brother ranted, his own head reeling. I 11* could only imagine the enormous pain Jake was feeling.

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"So this means I'm not part of my own family, then? Just like that, everything I've known 'bout my life and who I thought I was is dead wrong."

"Not everything, Jake."

"Aren't ya believing Dr. Schwartz?"

"It's a mighty hard thing, but I can't say differently." What other reason would the doctor have for telling such a tale? Jonas thought to himself.

" 'Tis unbelievable." Jake blew out an angry breath. "And to think I'm not welcome at the orchard house anymore . . ."

Jonas had long since come to both accept and ignore his father's intolerance toward Abram Ebersol and his family, though he wondered how Jake's being kicked out of the house might affect Leah when she found out and surely she would since she had become quite close to Sadie in recent years. With Jake's being Sadie's son, Jonas considered how such a relationship might play out over time. Still, he was hopeful for a sensible resolution to his father's initial reaction, unreasonable and shortsighted as it was.