Abram's Daughters 05 The Revelation (9 page)

Tuesday morning, November 5 Dear Diary,

The children are still fast asleep, as is Gid. I have been ivalking the floors all night, just as I did when Mimi was a baby, since sleep escapes me my pain is unbearable at times. I am berinninv to feel like I'm bobbins' along; on a dark sea, my head scarcely above water.

I truly believe I must see a hex doctor if I could just get some help, I know I'd feel much better. No matter what my family thinks Iffme, I must do this for myself. . . and for the baby. Nothing else has ever worked for me.

The more I think on it, the more I have a desire to seek out the healing gift myself. Surely that would drive away my sadness, and it would make many others who desire to be touched happy, too. How I long for this gift to come to me! Would that it could be so.

Respectfully,: . Hannah

78Beverly Lewis -. ,

Peace had come to rest on the countryside around the Ebersol Cottage, and autumn's cyclical touch was unmistakable in every direction as Leah walked with Sadie across the meadow to the cornhusking frolic. "I should've stayed home with Lyddie," Leah said softly. She shivered at the gamut of emotions Lydiann was no doubt experiencing from sadness and disbelief, to intense grief, even probable disgust at the courting relationship she'd unknowingly shared with her own nephew.

"Well, Aunt Lizzie's there, so if Lydiann needs anything. . ." Sadie stopped short.

"Jah, and that's what I'm worried 'bout. What if Lizzie asks what's botherin' her . . . and Lydiann spills the beans?" Leah wished every last one of the family secrets could be boxed up and the lid closed tightly, never to be troublesome again.

"Should I go back to the house?" asked Sadie. "I'd be more than happy to."

Leah sighed. "No, that might signal something's amiss. Let's jus( pray that all is well."

"Do ya think she'll ever be tempted to talk 'bout this with anyone besides us, I mean?"

"For now Lyddie's best left alone to consider all that was at stake for her."

"Not to mention findin' it in her heart to forgive us," Sadie added.

"Our being the ones to give her the sorry news will make that difficult, jah."

"But once it fully dawns on her who Jake is to me . . . and to her, won't she feel relieved that someone stepped in?"

"I can't imagine otherwise." Looking down at her feet, Leah realized she'd worn shoes for one of the first times this fall. This corning Thursday the People would celebrate one of the earliest weddings of the season down at the Kauffmans' farm, where Naomi's youngest cousin was marrying her second cousin, a Zook. Leah wondered how Lydiann would manage the three-hour wedding service, or if she would even go.

"I'm not so sure we're out of the woods with this, to tell ya the truth," Sadie murmured.

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Leah nodded. "Well, just give her some time. She'll do the right liiij^, I'm sure. She won't want to keep being courted by her |ppliew, for pity's sake."

I Sadie put out a hand to stop her. "Frankly I think one of us will Itl up havin' to tell Jake the truth before all's said and done. If he's nyl hing like me, he won't go away quietly."

"Besides, you're still holdin' out hope to get to know him,

In i so:

H Sadie began walking again, though quite slowly, as if her pace Hreie indicative of her pattern of thought. "I just think we haven't tpped the root of it yet. Jake will want to know why Lydiann Hocsn't want to see him anymore, and she'll have to give some anHtVcr to satisfy him. It's an awful can of worms." I Leah pitied Sadie, because even though she'd ignored her Ointed question, she was right in thinking the threads of Jake and Hydiann's predicament were just as entangled as ever before and ladi strand twisted back to Sadie.

I I /ydiann sat down in the chair near the window of her bedroom, Hei light frame feeling as heavy as she'd ever known it. Oh, Jake, IalWeiuly miss you.

H Running her hands over the cane beneath her, she could not get Him out of her mind, in spite of the fact their good-bye this time Hiust be permanent and said very soon. Yet if he were truly Sadie's Ion, why didn't fee at least resemble her in some respect? Even his Hersonality was nothing at all like her sister's. Of course, Jake looked Bnd acted nothing like Mandie, either, but fraternal twins often ; jcemed more like regular brother and sister, or even cousins, than ! twins. Still, she couldn't help but wonder who Jake's real father was. Cmdd it be Jake looks like him.?

She had not thought quickly enough when Leah and Sadie had .at her down and spoken so confidentially. At least a dozen or more questions had come to mind after the fact, taking a toll on her ravaged brain. In truth, she was plain exhausted, the reason she'd stayed home from today's husking bee. All she could think about was her need for sleep.

She went to her bed and lay down, not bothering to cover her-

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self. She whispered Jake's name again and declared to the air how much she had loved him, till her tears found their way across her nose and onto her pillow.

"I'll never love anyone again. I'll stay a maidel my whole liltlong if need be." She was convinced of her feelings, as well as hri words, and she gave in to sleep, wishing she were a little girl again and might remain so. Wishing, too, there might be a gentle way u> break off her relationship with unsuspecting Jake.

Abram knew full well how much Lizzie enjoyed walking through the meadow and up to the edge of the woods and back, sometimes three times a week, getting her fill of nature. Once winter arrived and hunting season came to an end, she'd be back to wandering through the woods, making him mighty uneasy, even though she knew the forest better than most anyone around.

Maybe too well, he decided, sitting next to her in the family carriage as they headed up the road to Dr. Schwartz's clinic. She'd once again insisted that this visit was unnecessary, putting up an awful fuss, saying it didn't matter to her if her thumb mended crooked or not.

"Well, it matters to me," he'd said at last. Like it or not, Lizziehad climbed into the carriage as he'd stood right behind her, nudging her inside like an obstreperous heifer.

She'd let him have it, too, coming close to blessing him out bui good as she repeated that she had no need for a doctor. So strong were her objections that Abram began to wonder if she had some sort of beef with the doctor.

"When's the last time you had yourself a checkup?" He looked at her as she pouted up a storm, and reached around her to try to give her a hug.

She pushed him away playfully. "Ach, Abram, ya just don't listen, do you?"

He chuclded and let her be. "Your thumb will look right fine come Christmas, if ya don't slam it in a car door again."

"I don't plan on gettin' near another automobile."

"If ya hadn't broke it, you'd be over at the Peacheys' place huskin' corn with the rest of the women folk."

"Better I stayed put at home with Lydiann, poor girl. Something

81The Revelation

Hwlill's happened to her . . . haven't, you noticed? 'Tis written all

11Hi i her sad face."

I " I k-r beau's back home, so she oughta be smilin', ain't?" He | t-i growing too old to keep up with his teenage children and

I1 liiir friends. Fact was, young Abe was in and out of the house so tiiiuh these days, Abram was beginning to wonder if his boy uiily tared to show up for supper. Soon to be fourteen, Abe was in .11 ly finished with his education at the one-room Amish school, ti i iglu fine building if Abram said so himself. Led by their two (iifiichcrs, including Gid, all the men who were able had pitched in .t lew years back, after the public elementary schools were conNiilidatcd, raising the schoolhouse in a day much like a smallii .lie barn raising.

Just then Lizzie said, "Peter Mast is bound to be irate about |.ike's seein' Lyddie, ya know."

"Serves him right, don't it? I mean . . . look at the standoff he's m.icje with his family. All for what?"

"Our Leah got their Jonas shunned."

Abram nodded. "That's how they see it."

"So . . . what's keepin' Peter from pulling the rug out from uniln |ake with Lydiann?"

"Assuming he even knows they're seein' each other."

"I low could he not know with how those two were carryin' on lui all to see?" Lizzie reminded him.

"Reckl&ss and in love," Abram offered. "Remember how we -. itc? Not carin' what anybody thought holdin' hands in public?"

"(all, I remember." This woman had a deliciously spunky sweet". ss to her.

"You ain't mad at me, then?" he asked.

"I;or marryin' me?"

11 e snorted, trying to contain his laughter and not succeeding. " No, for draggin' you off to see Dr. Schwartz today."

I Ler smile faded quickly, as if she wished he hadn't brought that n|> again. "Just never you mind 'bout my broken thumb . . . Abram I I icrsol."

From the look on her face, he was in the doghouse or woodlied, one. ;

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All Dr. Schwartz wanted to talk about when he greeted Abram in the patients' waiting room was the beautiful six-point buck his son Robert had bagged with a bow and arrow. "Right over there in those woods across the road," the doctor said, pointing north.

Abram listened, eager to tell him about Tomato Joe's deer. "The smithy's son-in-law got himself a nice deer yesterday, too. He said he saw four doe and two rack bucks, but he finally got the five-pointer he'd had his eye on." Abram looked at Lizzie. "We're s'posed to be gettin' some canned and cubed meat from Dorcas . . . don't ya forget."

Lizzie nodded and said she'd be expecting it. "Wouldn't surprise me if Leah or Sadie come home with some after the corn-huskin' today," she spoke up.

Abram's mouth watered at the thought of what a fine supper the delicious venison would provide. But his concern for Lizzie renewed as she rose from the chair in the reception area to follow the doctor into one of the examining rooms. Abram was thankful she could be seen today without waiting too long, since there seemed to be only a few patients. "You'll be all right, dear," he said, reassuring her as she glanced over her shoulder. "Dr. Schwartz will take gut care." He winced at the thought of Lizzie enduring the pain of having her thumb rebroken if necessary, but he was mighty glad Dr. Schwartz was the man doing it. He'd been relieved to hear the doctor was still seeing patients till his planned retirement some months away yet.

Reaching for a Time magazine, Abram settled back in a chair and looked at the cover, which featured a man and his horse. It seemed this Goldwater fellow hailed from Arizona and was planning to ride east, though just why that was, Abram didn't know. Even so, he was interested enough to flip through the pages to find the article about this man, who was not just a cowboy but also a member of the United States senate.

"Englishers sure must like havin' their pictures taken," he muttered, somewhat taken with the magazine all the same, though more accustomed to the format of his favorite publication, The Budget.

He looked up now and then to see if Lizzie was coming out of

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the patients' room, thinking he should've gone in with her, especially since she'd never been sick enough to come here before today, far as he knew. We all should be so healthy, he thought.

Lizzie felt a bit awkward having a man other than her husband probe her hand, even if he was a doctor. The X-rays soon showed exactly what Abram had suspected, but having her thumb straightened and reset was not as painful as she might've thought, although at the moment the throbbing had a strong pulse of its own. Still, she was of good, strong stock and wouldn't let this get the best of her. Goodness, she'd been through much worse in her lifetime. Afflictions of the heart, to her thinking, were more difficult to bear.

When it came time for the sling Dr. Schwartz insisted she must wear, he helped guide her arm through it. "You'll need to rest some while your thumb heals," he urged her.

She thanked him but did not agree to take it easy. Truth was, she wasn't the sort to simply put her feet up and slow down, broken bone or not. As far as she was concerned, it was much better all around to keep busy.

She glanced about the room, noticing how tidy Leah kept the place. Neat as a pin. And she wondered what it was like working for this man whose dark brown eyes probed her own. Far as she could tell, Dr. Schwartz was in his midfifties by now, even though he could easily have been mistaken for much older. Worry lines crinkled his brow ffee sort of frown that made her wonder if the village doctor ever slept soundly.

Her jaw tightened when he patted her arm. "Come back in six weeks. We'll see how you're doing," he said with a winning smile. "And you might want to consider sticking with horses and buggies."

His uncommonly gracious manner provoked her all of a sudden, and she felt it was wrong of him to speak to her that way. She was not a regular patient of his, nor a child to be admonished. But she was anxious to return to the waiting room and be on her way, back to the Ebersol Cottage and the life she cherished with Abram and his family.

85Il'p'

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l\s far as Jonas could tell, he was the only person from Grasshopper I ,evel present at the all-day Kauffman-Zook wedding. He'd wanted to be on hand to celebrate with the People and look ahead to his own wedding one day, but there was an even stronger motivation i o steal glimpses of Leah.

While the women prepared to serve the wedding feast indoors, he enjoyed standing and talking outside with the men. He even hoped to visit some with Abram Ebersol, who, unbeknownst to Jonas at the time, had arranged for Jonas's woodworking apprenticeship in MillersbfJrg, Ohio, years ago. The hidebound man who'd once so opposed Jonas's courting Leah had softened considerably over the years.

He wandered over near the barn, where several men, including Smitty and Tomato Joe, stood chewing the fat. No breeze to speak of, two of the men lit their pipes, puffing the sweet-smelling smoke into the air. He caught a whiff or two as he stood there enjoying the sunshine on this early November day, getting a kick out of watching a whole group of Jesse Ebersol's teenaged grandsons standing in a conspiratorial huddle, some of them with visibly fancy leanings.