An Uncommon Grace (19 page)

“Derek landed us smack in the middle of all that mess, and we got those men out even though the copter took heavy damage. I remember how we landed at Bagram Air Base with smoke pouring out of the engine and hydraulic fluids leaking. Half the base were cheering us because they had heard what that commander had said—and they knew we had made the right decision, even though if the base had been thirty seconds further, we would have had to crash-land ‘outside the wire.’ But with Derek’s nerve and skill, and Your answering our crew’s prayers, we made it in. And we saved those soldiers’ lives.”

Another hot tear slipped down her cheek, and she wiped it away. Its very presence irritated her. She was
not
a crier.

“That’s who I am, Father, and that’s what I do. I’m the one who goes in, even if there’s heavy fire, to save lives. Here in Ohio—even though I know that’s where I belong for now—I’m just not sure of who I am.”

She laughed a little. “But there’s one thing I’m absolutely certain of. I definitely don’t have the makings to become an Amish man’s wife, and Grandma seems to think that’s where I’m headed if I don’t forget about Levi real soon.”

She slipped into a cross-legged position. “So what am I supposed to do? I can’t just ignore the guy—I’m treating his mother. But I know Grandma’s right. That is not a man to trifle with. He’s too serious, and he’s too decent.”

She placed the pillow beneath her head and stretched herself full out upon the bed. The longer she talked, the more a tightly wound spring inside of her seemed to uncoil.

“I know Grandma has been praying for me to meet a good man. And frankly, I find it very strange that I spent all that time over in Afghanistan with
men who were my age practically coming out my ears—and the only thing I felt toward any of them was friendship. Now I show up here in Holmes County, where the median age of men appears to be about sixty, and I find myself unable to think about anything else except a noncommunicative Swartzentruber who burns books and wears his hair down around his ears.” She crossed her hands behind her head. “Unless You have a really good plan up Your sleeve, Lord, none of this makes sense to me.”

She closed her eyes. “Of course, not a whole lot You do does make sense to me. I guess that’s why You’re God and I’m not. I’m really glad I’m not. I much prefer Your being in charge.”

It seemed as if she had closed her eyes for only an instant, but she awoke two hours later feeling more refreshed and at peace than she had felt in ages.

The first thing she did was check on Elizabeth, who was sleeping peacefully. Then she went back upstairs.

It seemed a shame not to use the extra energy the nap had given her in a productive way. She decided she would at least make a stab at sorting out a few things in the extra bedroom her grandmother used for storage.

As she considered the best way to start, she noticed, at the top of the stairs, that a small painting that had been propped up on a shelf was gone. It had been nearly hidden by a silk flower arrangement, but it had caught her eye as one of the few decorations her grandmother had that she really liked.

Perhaps Becky had liked it, too, and had taken it into her room.

Grace opened the door to the storage room and discovered it wasn’t quite as junky as she remembered. Perhaps Becky had moved things around, but it seemed slightly emptier than the last time she had been in there. Elizabeth had not been in there because she was not allowed to climb steps yet.

One thing she could pinpoint that was missing was an ornate gilded mirror that had hung on one of the walls.

She walked over to the wall and checked. Sure enough, the wallpaper where it had hung was a brighter color—she wasn’t just imagining things. Evidently, Becky was redecorating her room and had decided to go shopping in the storage room. Fair enough. Becky was the one who had lived with these things most of her life, not her.

As she looked around the room it occurred to her what an odd mishmash of objects were here—as though a crazy person had decided to go through very ancient Dumpsters. There were old movie posters on the wall, a red plastic radio on a table, quilts with oddly shaped pieces stitched together every which way flung over the bed. A box of old photograph albums lay on the floor. She had glanced at them a few days earlier, and they were of people she had never seen and who bore no resemblance to her family. Some even wore Civil War uniforms, but to her knowledge, none of her ancestors had ever fought in it.

Brushing that thought aside, she picked up a squatty little clock and blew the dust off. Beneath the clock was a small Navajo-type rug. Against the wall were boxes so stuffed with old magazines and comic books that some of the boxes had given way and were now spilling their contents out onto the floor. And then there were the creel baskets, old ones, at least a dozen of them, hanging on the wall.

It was a little too much to take this late at night. Finally tired enough to sleep, she gave a great yawn and headed back down to the couch. She would deal with this another time.

L
evi awoke the next morning and prepared himself for another day of making a living from the land. He missed his stepfather’s help. Last night had taken a toll on him. Four hours of sleep was simply not enough. Even though he was young, the heaviness of his heart this morning made his body feel old.

He dreaded going to the house for breakfast and having to face Zillah, but there was no way around it. Someone would come looking for him if he didn’t appear. His aunt was probably already dishing breakfast out onto the table.

He hated that things had become so complicated. The simple life that so many
Englisch
people seemed to think the Amish lived was exceedingly hard to maintain.

After milking their two cows and doing all the other morning chores, he stomped the dirt off his feet and entered the kitchen. The scene he walked into was a pleasant one. Daniel was curled up asleep on his little pillow in the middle of his mother’s bed, Rose was frying potatoes and sausage, and Zillah was setting out the peanut-butter-honey spread, but the big surprise was that
Maam
was up and standing at the dry sink, slicing bread. She grimaced when she placed a plate on the table, but she gave him a brave smile before seating herself at the table.

“Good morning, my son,” she said. “Did you sleep well?”

“Very well.” He looked Zillah straight in the eyes as he answered. He didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of knowing he had been up half the night.

“Are you sure you slept well?” Zillah asked innocently. “I thought I saw your light burning for quite a while last night. I thought you must be reading.”

“I had nothing to read,” he replied.

His mother glanced between them.

“Henry is bringing the children this morning,” she said brightly. “Rose will be returning home with him.”

“I will be glad to see the children again,” he said, “but sorry to see you go, Rose.”

“I will miss both of you.” She pulled the cast-iron skillet from the woodstove and scraped the fried potatoes into a blue bowl. “But I am missing my
Kinner
as well. Besides, now that your mother is feeling better, it is time I leave. I would not want to cause problems in your church by remaining here too long.”

“With the children here to help me,” his mother said, “I should be fine.”

“With me here, you mean,” Zillah reminded her.

“Oh, I am sure you will be able to go back to your home soon. Albert and Jesse are good workers. Even little Sarah will be a help.”

So—his mother did not want her here, either. That was interesting. It was probably why his mother was trying so hard to pretend to be stronger than she was. Had she known about Zillah’s late-night visit to his room?

His uncle Henry wasted no time coming for his wife. Levi heard the buggy just as they were lifting their heads from prayer.

The children burst through the door, and all became chaos
for a short time until they got settled. At four, Sarah was determined to climb into her mother’s lap, still swollen from the surgery.

“Come here to me,
Liebe
.” Levi lifted Sarah into his own arms. “I have missed you and your brothers. Did you obey your cousin?”

“We did,” Albert said. “But it is better to be here. I was worried about the chores.”

Levi laughed and ruffled the boy’s hair. “Of course you were, little farmer!”

“I saw a bird on their farm that I have never seen before,” Jesse informed him.

“If you draw and color a picture of it, perhaps I can name it for you,” Levi suggested.

“Hello, Henry,” Rose said from across the room.

“It is good to see you again, wife,” Henry said.

Levi knew that if his aunt and uncle were
Englisch,
they would probably hug or kiss one another, but he noticed that their eyes lit up when they saw each other. It was good to see a husband and wife still in love.

“Will you soon be ready to go?” Henry asked.

Rose looked around. “I should feed the children first.”

“Our daughter has already fed all of us well,” Henry said proudly. “She is nearly as good a cook as her mother, but not quite as good I think—not yet.”

“And our son-in-law?”

“Staying at the
Haus
with us, helping feed both our livestock and his.”

“And our other
Kinner
?”

“Healthy but probably already missing their cousins. They played and worked well together.”

“It is a shame,” Rose said, shaking her head, “that they will not see each other again so easily.”

“It’s your own fault,” Zillah said archly. “My father says
you should not have left our church.”

There was a pained silence around the table.

“It was not a decision quickly or easily made,” Henry said, calmly and firmly. “You should not speak your mind on something you know little about.”

“Boys,” Rose said, “your beds are freshly made up for you, and Sarah—you will be sleeping with Zillah.”

“No!” The little girl looked at Zillah in alarm.

“Now, Sarah,” Rose said, “it is only for a short time.”

“No, no, no, no!” She began to scream, and her screams woke the baby, who began to howl.

“Now see what you have done, Sarah,” Zillah said angrily. “You have made Daniel cry.”

“I’ve never seen Sarah act like this,”
Maam
said.

Zillah stomped over to pick up Daniel. Not yet knowing his need to be held in an upright position, she settled into the rocking chair, plopped him down over her knees, and began to pat his back. He vomited all over the bottom of her dress.

With the exception of dandling other women’s babies at church, Zillah had never had the care of younger siblings—unlike so many girls her age. Instead of taking it in stride, she let out a gasp, handed the baby to Rose, and fled upstairs.

“This is not going well,” Levi observed.

“Not well at all,” Rose agreed, grinning slightly.

“Are you ready to go, wife?” Henry said.

“I’ll go get my things,” Rose said. “I have already packed.”

She came back downstairs in a few minutes. To everyone’s surprise, Zillah was directly behind her, clothed in a fresh dress and carrying her own bundle of clothing.

“I want to go home, too,” Zillah said.

“Already?” Claire asked.

“Yes. I want to go. Now.”

No one said a word of protest.

“I’ll ride with you and Rose,” Zillah informed Henry.

Henry looked uncomfortable. “Could you take her, Levi? It’s a long ride home and if I remember right, Bishop Weaver’s place is in the opposite direction.”

The last thing Levi wanted to do was spend any more time with Zillah—but he could not turn down his uncle’s reasonable request. His uncle’s horse was not young. It could handle the five-mile distance, but it would be cruel to make it have to go all the way to Bishop Weaver’s and then back. Besides, the fact that Zillah wanted to go home so soon was an enormous blessing. He did not want to give her time to change her mind! For the first time, he was grateful for Daniel’s digestive problems.

Grace was surprised to find the children all home again and Rose, Levi, and Zillah gone. Claire made no explanation, but she did send the children upstairs to play after Grace had greeted them.

“Would you like for me to take a look at your incisions?” Grace asked. “I’d feel better if I knew there was no infection. Those bandages have been on there a little longer than they should.”

“I would like that,” Claire said. “But how much do you charge?”

“What is it with you people?” Grace grumbled. “Levi was determined to pay me for taking him to Columbus, and now you want to pay me for something as simple as making certain you’re healing properly.” She opened up her medical basket. “I’m not charging anything, okay? Just relax.”

“But you’re
Englisch.
”

“Is that a crime?”

“No.” Claire looked puzzled. “It is no crime.”

“Look, I know you don’t go to
the doctor unless you absolutely have to. I know it’s an ordeal to hitch up your buggy and go all the way into Millersburg to the hospital. I happen to have the skills to determine if things don’t look right, and I have a car to take you to the hospital if it is necessary. Frankly, Claire, I’m here to make certain your kids aren’t orphaned on my watch—even if I am
Englisch
.”

“So who put antifreeze in your oatmeal this morning?” Claire asked.

Grace looked at her in astonishment. “Where did you hear that?”

“Levi said it yesterday when I was in a bad mood. He said it is a phrase that the
Englisch
use. What is antifreeze?”

“Not something you want to put in your oatmeal.” Levi was quoting her? Maybe Grandma was right. Maybe she did need to stay away from him.

“I accept your offer, Grace. Thank you. It was embarrassing having a man doctor deliver Daniel. It is much easier being seen by a woman nurse.”

“Nurse practitioner,” Grace corrected her automatically as she pulled fresh bandages out of the basket Levi had created for her.