Amish Circle Letters II: The Second Circle of Letters (10 page)

Then where is she?
Menno couldn’t help asking himself this question, his mind trying to come up with a dozen different scenarios. Had she gone to visit her family? No, he told himself, for she would never leave the
kinner
alone, especially at night. Had she gone for a walk? That didn’t make sense, either, for she would have returned by now. His mind flickered to that one niggling thought that, perhaps, she had packed up and left. Was it possible?

“Well, you best get inside, Mr. Yoder. No sense standing out here freezing to death,” the officer said.

Menno said nothing, merely nodding his head.

He waited until the officials were occupied before he turned to leave the spot where he had stood for the past two hours. He wandered around the remains of the barn, shaking his head at the destruction and loss. The barn could be replaced but Mary Ruth? If she wasn
’t in the barn, where could she possibly be? He wandered aimlessly in the dark, deep in thought as he worried that she might have been inside the barn, perhaps in the hayloft when the fire had struck. If she had, they’d never find her. Yet, the officer hadn’t said that.

Pausing by his buggy, Menno tilted his head and glanced back at the barn. For a second, an idea came to him and he reached inside the buggy, under the seat, to get a flashlight. He flicked it on and, with a quick glance over his shoulder to make certain the police and firemen were not watching him, he began to circle around the barn.

Mary Ruth was strong, of that he was sure and certain. If she had been there when the fire had started, she would have tried her best to free the cows, as many as she could. But then what? His feet crunched on the snow as he walked a long and wide perimeter, at least forty feet from the shell of the barn. He shone the light around the fields, looking for hope against hope that he would see her there.

Nothing.

There was a small dip in the ground and Menno slid his way down the hill toward the stream that ran through the back of the property. He fell once, the coldness of the snow quickly turning to wet on his clothing. Standing, he brushed it off and shone the light around again. This time, it fell upon an old stone pump house, one that he no longer used as the well brought water to the house.

His heart raced as he approached it. The snow was not unmarred and he followed the trail. As he neared it, the flashlight beam flickered and he had to hit the side of it twice in order for it to continue shining on the ground.

There was a small opening and, when he bent down to peer inside, he saw her.

“
Mein Gott
!” He flung the light aside and crawled into the pump house. She was crumpled on her side, the thick smell of smoke clinging to her clothing. He pulled at her legs, dragging her out of the old stone structure until she was outside, lying on the snow. He felt tears of joy as he drew her to his chest, holding her tight so that the warmth of his body could thaw her. She was cold but he could feel her chest moving, ever so slightly.

Scooping her into his arms, he struggled to his feet and began what seemed to be a long journey home. She was limp and seemed lifeless but she was still breathing. That was all that mattered. His feet slid on the snow but he managed to stay upright as he struggled up the small hill and toward the lights that shown in the driveway from the fire trucks.

“I have her!” he tried to shout but his voice came out cracked and unintelligible. He tried again, this time, his voice booming in the night. “She’s here!”

He held her tight to his chest as he raced toward the house, repeating himself over and over again. From inside, someone must have heard him for Steve flung open the door and helped him carry her inside. There was a collective gasp among the people in the kitchen but Menno ignored them, heading immediately for the downstairs bedroom. He kicked open the door and, while still holding her, flung back the covers of the bed.

Gently, he lowered Mary Ruth onto the mattress and quickly removed her shoes. With his giant hands, he rubbed at her toes and legs, trying to get the circulation moving. Then, he pulled the covers up, tucking them under her chin.

“Get more blankets,” he growled over his shoulder. “
Upstairs!”

No one questioned him. Instead, they immediately moved, the commotion in the kitchen loud and active. Menno ignored it as he sat beside his wife, using his hands to massage warmth into her limbs.

“Come on, come on,” he mumbled, his eyes never leaving her face. “You have to make it, Mary Ruth. I need you ever so much,” he whispered. “I love you ever so much.” He continued rubbing her skin, oblivious to Rachel tossing two more heavy quilts over Mary Ruth’s body. Miriam and Leah stood in the doorway, unable to contain the flow of tears streaming down their cheeks and clinging to each other as they praised the Lord that Menno had found his wife, that she was still alive, and that she would most likely survive.

It took almost fifteen minutes before she moaned and rolled her head on the pillow. She barely fluttered her eyes but she reached out a hand and took her husband
’s in hers. She didn’t awaken but she was responding.

Outside, in the kitchen, the police were clambering about, demanding to call an ambulance. Menno heard them and immediately lifted his eyes to stare at Rachel. “Nee! No ambulance! I want to tend to my wife myself.”

“Menno,” Rachel said softly. “What if she is ill? What if she needs medical care?”

“
Nee!” He stared back into the face of his young wife. “I will care for her. Here, in our home.”

Miriam stepped forward and placed a hand on Menno
’s shoulder. “What if she had smoke inhalation? What if she suffered burns?”

Menno almost sobbed at the words. He shook his head but couldn
’t speak. The relief that he felt at finding Mary Ruth alive was so overwhelming that he could barely think straight.

“And the
kinner
,” Miriam reminded him. “She will need time to recover. If you truly love her…” Miriam did not finish the sentence but let Menno fill in the blanks for himself.

She was so beautiful, her hair hanging down her shoulder from where it had fallen from her bun. Her prayer
kapp
was gone and her face was covered in soot. Even her dress was smudged with blackness. Yet, there was a peaceful look about her face. In that moment, Menno knew that she would live and he knew that he would prove his love to her. But, in order to do that, she had to get well.

“Fine,” he finally said. “Call the ambulance then. But I want to go with her.”

“You should be here for the
kinner
in the morning. They’ll need to hear about this from you. Get them off to school and then come to the hospital,” Rachel said gently, not wanting to upset Menno more than he already was. “If neither of you are here in the morning, they’ll be most concerned,
ja
?”

Reluctantly, he agreed but looked up at Rachel. “You will stay with her? I want her to know why I
’m not there if she wakes up. I want her to know that I will be there as soon as possible.”

“Of course, Menno,” Rachel agreed. “
I won’t leave her side.”

Within five minutes, the ambulance had arrived and Menno watched, his heart sick as his precious wife was taken away on a cold, metal gurney, covered with a white sheet and gray blanket. There were no words to express the grief that he felt as he stood on the porch, oblivious to the cold, and watched the ambulance speed away to Lancaster General Hospital, with only Rachel to accompany and comfort Mary Ruth.

“What do you mean Mary Ruth is at the hospital?” Katie asked, her eyes big and wide, frightened at the news that her mother was sharing with her before breakfast. “Is she sick?”

“
Nee
,” Anna said, shaking her head.

“What happened?”

Anna sighed and handed her daughter the plates to set the table. “The barn caught fire and she must have tried to free the cows.”

The color drained from Katie
’s face. She stood in the kitchen, holding the plates in her hands but she did not move. “Did she get burned?”

“
Nee
, nothing like that,
Dochder
. But the doctors wanted to see her, to make certain she wasn’t ill from the smoke,” Anna explained.

“Is she going to be all right?”

Anna nodded her head. “Ja, right as rain, I imagine. Now, no more questions. You need to get ready for school. I’ll know more when you return home.”

Reluctantly, Katie stopped herself from asking any more questions, although a dozen were popping into her head. She wondered how the fire had started. She wondered if the barn was destroyed. She wondered if Melvin had been scared. Still, she could tell that her mother wasn
’t in the mood for answering more questions. Clearly, she’d have to wait until she returned home to learn more about what had happened.

Menno had not slept at all. After everyone had departed, it had been time to tend to the cows. However, he didn
’t know what to do with them. He accepted Ben Miller’s offer to keep the cows at his farm, the same place where Katie’s pony was boarded. Jonah and Ben had left the house and herded the remaining cows over the pasture and toward the Millers’ barn, leaving Menno at his home to address the children when they awoke.

The previous evening, the girls had slept through the commotion, their bedrooms being in the back of the house. Melvin, however, had awoken and stumbled to the top of the stairs, wondering what was going on. Thankfully, Leah had redirected him to his room and sat with him for a while. No one had mentioned anything, either about the barn having burned down or about Mary Ruth having gone missing.

Now, Menno was faced with that grim task.

He paced the floor of the kitchen, trying to think of the best way to tell the
kinner
about the barn fire and Mary Ruth. He knew that it would open old wounds, too fresh from when their
mamm
had died last summer. He didn’t want to alarm them, that was the most important thing.

Melvin was the first one to come downstairs, his hair a mess and sleep still in his eyes. He mumbled a greeting to his daed and looked around for Mary Ruth. The table wasn
’t set. There was no food cooking on the stove. And, as he smelled the air, the only odor was burnt wood.

“Where
’s Mary Ruth?” he asked, rubbing at his eyes.

“Son,”
Menno started. “Don’t you remember last night?”

He shook his head. Then, something dawned on him. “Why aren
’t you in the barn,
Daed
?”

“There was a fire last night, Melvin,” Menno started to explain.

Melvin’s eyes flew open and he stared around the house, confused. “A fire? Here?”

“The barn burned down.” Menno gestured toward the table and watched as Melvin quickly sat down, but not before he glanced out the kitchen window. His son gasped and turned to stare at his father as he slid onto the bench. “Mary Ruth was taken to the hospital.”

A look of alarm immediately crossed Melvin’s face. He started to jump up but Menno placed his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “What? Is she going to die?”

“
Nee
,
nee
,” Menno reassured him. He had expected such a reaction from his son, especially after having just lost his
mamm
the previous summer. It was the very reason everyone had insisted that Menno remain at home to inform the
kinner
. “It was just a precaution. She’s going to be right fine, Melvin.”

But Melvin didn
’t look like he believed his father. “Why was she out there?”

Menno gave a simple shrug of his shoulders. That is
the
question, he wanted to say. Instead, he said, “We don’t know yet. But they found a lantern that they believe caused it. Something happened and the lantern fell, shattering and catching the hay by the back room. We lost a few cows but it seems Mary Ruth managed to free a good number of them.”

A dark shadow passed over Melvin
’s face and he lowered his eyes to the floor.

“Now, don
’t you fret none,” Menno said gently. “I’m going over to Miller’s after I get you kinner set off to school to tend to the cows, and then I have a car coming to take me to the hospital. I might not be back after you return from school but, I’m counting on you to keep the girls away from the barn.” The last thing Menno needed was for something to fall and injure one of the
kinner
. By the weekend, Menno would be in a better position to assess what might be salvaged, if anything, from the wreckage.

It was Wednesday afternoon when Mimi heard the news. Her mouth fell open and she could hardly believe her ears. Steve had driven over to tell her what happened at the Yoder’s farm and to let her know that Mary Ruth was going to be fine.

“What happened?” Mimi gasped after Steve told the story.