Jacob's Way (41 page)

Marianne Driver's face was radiant. Her eyes danced, and she looked almost like a young girl again as she came up to her husband.

“Well, I guess my Christmas present is a beautiful wife,” John said. He reached out, drew her to him, and kissed her.

Marianne held him for a moment and then cried, “Isn't it wonderful, John, to have Ben back, and Pru and Martin moving back with the grandchildren? Oh, I'm so happy!”

“So am I, sweetheart,” John said. Indeed, the two of them had been closer together than they had for years. The reconciliation with Ben had worked a miracle in John Driver's spirit. He had not realized how that bitterness had dragged his spirit down, and now his back was straighter and his light blue eyes shone as he held Marianne and said, “Listen to that noise. Isn't it beautiful?”

The noise, indeed, came from three lively grandsons who were playing some kind of a game in one of the rooms. Even as the pair stood there, they came flying out chasing each other and yelling at the top of their lungs.

“Ben has been so good with the boys, hasn't he?” Marianne said. “They fell in love with him in no time.”

Indeed, Ben Driver had won the hearts of his three nephews. The last few days he had spent practically all of his free time playing all sorts of games with them, taking them out for rides, fishing with them in the river, although it was too cold to stay for long, and then he had taken them out to find a cedar tree. Martin had gone along, and the five of them had come back dragging a huge tree that now stood in the largest of the two parlors. It almost brushed the ceiling, and the decorating was part of the fun.

Ben, at the very moment his parents were watching the boys, was standing outside with Pru looking out across the fields. He said suddenly, “Everything seems so dead now, but in the spring everything will be green, and the ground will have a good rich smell to it when it's broken.” He turned to Pru. “I'm glad you and Martin are moving back. I need you, Sis.”

Pru put her arm around him and hugged him tightly. “And we need you, too, Ben.” The two stood looking out over the fields, and soon she asked, “What will you do? Keep on selling out of that wagon with Reisa?”

Ben laughed. “No. The only reason I went was because nobody could drive the mules except me. But Dov can do that as well as I can now.” He looked down fondly at her. “I think you could probably guess what I want to do, can't you, Sis? You always could figure me out.”

“I'd guess you want to stay here and help Dad with the plantation.”

“It was all I thought about during the war. Just get back home and plant cotton and corn and raise horses. Then when I crashed I lost all that. It's come back to me though. Lately all I can think of is this place and working and being with the family.”

“Well, nothing you could do would make Mom and Dad happier.”

At that moment a faint cry came to them, and Ben looked up, squinting his one eye. “There they are. Some of them, anyhow.”

They went at once to meet the wagon. Ben reached up to help Reisa to the ground. He was a little shocked at her appearance. “You're not wearing a kerchief,” he said. Her black glossy hair glowed in the sun, and she reached her hand up almost in embarrassment.

“Since I'm a Christian woman now I don't have to wear a scarf, just dress modestly.”

“I like it,” Ben said.

“You have such beautiful hair,” Pru said, coming to give her a hug. “And that dress. It's new, isn't it?”

“Yes. I bought it from the dressmaker last week. I'm shocked at how much I spent on it.”

The dress was made of dark green satin with a high collar trimmed in white lace, long tight-fitting sleeves, and a long skirt. The bodice had tiny pin tucks down the front and ended at the waist in a “V,” where a small red satin rose with green and white ribbons hung loosely down the front of the skirt. She had on a pair of high-heeled black leather shoes and carried a matching bag.

Jacob had stood beside Sam and Phineas taking all this in, and he suddenly said, “I'm afraid we're bringing a lot of hungry mouths.”

“There's plenty of food. Don't worry about that,” Pru said. Then she asked, “Well, where's Dov?”

“Didn't he get here yet?” Reisa asked with surprise. “He went by to pick up Hilda and bring her.”

Ben suddenly grinned and winked at Sam. “I guess they got delayed somehow.”

Sam and Phineas both laughed, and then they turned, for John and Marianne had come out to greet them. They were followed by Martin and the three boys, who pulled at Reisa, trying to tell her that she would have to help them decorate the tree.

“I've never decorated a tree,” Reisa said to Robert.

This stunned Robert. “Never decorated a tree! Where have you been?”

“Well, I've been in Russia, and my grandfather and I were Jewish. And, of course, Jews don't have Christmas trees.”

“You missed a lot!” David exclaimed. “Come on. We're ready to get started again.”

They went inside the house, and John Driver at once approached Jacob. He shook hands with him warmly and said, “I've got a favor to ask of you, Mr. Dimitri.”

“Oh, Jacob, please.”

“Fine. And I'm John. Would you consider teaching the Old Testament to a group of men of our church? And other churches would like to join in, too. I've been doing a little asking around.”

Jacob beamed. “I would be happy to, but really, I am the one who should learn the New Testament.”

Reisa whispered to Ben, “Isn't that wonderful? It will give
Zaideh
something to do.”

“I'll sit in on that myself, I think,” Ben smiled.

They were standing close together, and Pru's sharp eyes took it in. She nudged Martin and winked, and he said loudly, “What?”

“Oh, hush!” she said. “You're blind as a bat, Martin.”

Martin, in confusion, followed his wife up into the house.

The decorating went on for some time and was interrupted when Sam looked out the window. “There comes Dov and Hilda.”

Everyone waited until Marianne went to the door and came ushering the pair in. They seemed to dwarf everybody else in the room.

Johnny cried out, “Where's your whiskers, Dov?”

“Phineas shave them off. How I look?”

Robert said, “I liked you better with them. I liked to pull on them.”

“Well, you can pull my hair. How's that?” Dov reached out and picked the small boy up, tossed him in the air, and caught him as he came squealing back to his arms.

Everyone had to admire Dov's shave and his new suit and Hilda's new dress. Pru murmured to Reisa, “Isn't Hilda attractive? She doesn't look a day over twenty-five, and she's so well formed. For some reason I didn't think she would be. Every time I saw her she was wearing those awful overalls.”

Finally Marianne said, “Ben, you take these boys outside. If we're going to have a dinner here, we can't have all of you underfoot.”

Instantly the boys began pulling at Ben, and he allowed himself to be hauled outside. The other men followed, and for the next hour all of them practically exhausted themselves trying to satisfy the boys' games.

Dov amazed them by picking up a yearling calf. He simply stuck his head under her, grasped her forelegs, and picked her up. She kicked and bawled, but he merely laughed at her. “I pick her up every day, and someday I pick up a nice, big cow!” He laughed, his eyes sparkling.

Inside, Hilda was helping with the meal.

Marianne said, “You look so pretty, Hilda. I hope you'll burn those old overalls.”

Hilda flushed and said, “I might do that, Mrs. Driver.”

Reisa and Pru, who were standing across the table working on the meal, glanced at each other. Both of them felt that there was more to Hilda than a new dress.

The dinner itself was a masterpiece. Dorrie had outdone herself. She rustled as she walked around, loading the table with food, for Ben had given her her Christmas present already—a new taffeta petticoat. She pretended that it was nothing, but she was proud as punch about it. When he had given it to her, she had unwrapped the package and stared at the petticoat, then gave a slight scream and covered her mouth. “You ain't changed one bit, Mr. Ben! You ain't, indeed! You jist as bad as when you was sixteen years old!”

As they settled at the table, John Driver said, “Jacob, would you ask the blessing?”

Jacob Dimitri looked startled, but he immediately bowed his head and prayed a brief prayer. “We thank thee, Oh God, for this day, for this food, for this friendship. We thank thee for the birth of your son, Jesus, and it is in his name we ask all blessings. Amen.”

An
amen
ran around the table, and they immediately sat down. Looking at the spread on the table, Sam's eyes twinkled with mischief. Turning to Jacob he said, “I reckon this will be a day to be remembered for you, Jacob.”

“How is that, Sam?”

“It'll be the day you took your first bite of ham. Now that you ain't bound to the law no more, set your teeth into this.”

Sam forked a slice of ham and put it onto Jacob's plate. Jacob looked startled, but then he smiled. “I have always wondered what pig tastes like. Here, Reisa, we'll eat our first bite of pork together.”

Reisa took half of the slice of ham, and both took a bite.

“It's salty but good!” Reisa exclaimed.

“Oh, you got lots of treats comin',” Sam said. “Now you get to eat catfish. I'll set you down to some first chance we get.”

The meal went on, and it was a noisy one. The room was full of the smell of cooked meat and fresh bread. Everyone spoke loudly, and finally it got so that they could hear only the person next to them.

When Dorrie started bringing in the plates of pumpkin pie and chocolate cake, Dov suddenly stood up. His action took everyone off-guard, for he always made an impressive figure. “I have something to say.”

Everyone waited expectantly, but Dov appeared to have lost his power of speech. He turned his head to look at Hilda, who smiled at him, and then he said, “Hilda and me—we are going to be married—in the church.”

Instantly the cheers broke out, and the two were swarmed as the visitors got up. Dov was pounded between the shoulder blades, and Hilda was hugged and kissed repeatedly.

Finally, when they took their seats again, Reisa, who was sitting next to Ben, said, “Look at Hilda. She's so happy.”

“Dov, too. I reckon if two people were ever meant for each other, there they are.”

“Do you think people are meant for each other?” Reisa asked suddenly. She turned her large eyes upon him, and for a moment he could not answer.

Finally he nodded. “I think so.”

The house was quiet now, for it was late. The boys had protested to the very last, begging to stay up for just one more half hour, but their pleas had not prevailed.

Now as Reisa sat in the small room on the third floor that had been provided for her, she brushed her hair out, sitting on the bed. She was wide awake, thinking of all of the things that had happened. Boris had taken up station on her lap, and purred with contentment.