Looking for a Miracle (7 page)

Rebekah waved and wheeled herself inside. There seemed to be a lot of tourists milling around today, looking at all the books that had been written about the Amish and Mennonite people and their Plain lifestyle. She moved quickly away from the group of curious onlookers and found the shelf where the books about plants and flowers were kept. She spotted one on the second shelf entitled
Caring for Your African Violets.
Rebekah strained to reach it, but her arm wasn’t long enough. She could attempt standing, she supposed, but she had tried that a time or two without the aid of her crutches, and usually ended up flat on the floor. Falling on her face at home was one thing, but making a fool of herself in front of an audience was not on Rebekah’s list of things to do for the day.

She glanced around, hoping to catch the attention of one of the store clerks. They all seemed to be busy helping the English tourists.

“You are buying a
buch?
” The question came from a deep male voice.

Rebekah gave her chair a sharp turn to the left. Daniel Beachy stood looking down on her with his straw hat in one hand and a crooked grin on his face. “I’m surprised to see you here, Rebekah. Are you alone?”

“Mom’s in town, but she’s on an errand so I’m here buying a book.” Rebekah’s forehead wrinkled. “At least I would be if I could reach it.”

“Which one is it? I’ll get it down for you,” he offered.

Rebekah pointed to the shelf above her.
“Caring for Your African Violets.
”

Daniel’s long arm easily reached the book, and he handed it to her with another friendly looking smile. “Are you a plant lover?”

She nodded. “Oh, jah. Especially African violets. They were Grandma Stoltzfus’s favorite plant, too.” She placed the book in her lap. “I hope to open a greenhouse soon, so I want to learn all I can about how to run the business.”

Daniel’s eyebrows shot up. “A greenhouse, you say? Now that sounds like an interesting business venture. Where will it be located?”

“Near the front of our property. Of course, that won’t be until Dad has time to build it. We lost our barn last night, so the greenhouse project will have to wait another week or two.”

Daniel’s dark eyes looked more serious than usual as he nodded. “I heard about that fire; such a shame it is, too. When is the barn raising going to be?”

“There’s a lot of cleanup work that needs to be done, and then the foundation will have to be laid, so the building probably won’t begin until at least next Friday or Saturday.”

“Tell your daed he can count on my help.” Daniel drummed his fingers against his chin. “Maybe I could help build your greenhouse, too. I’m pretty handy with a hammer and saw.”

“Danki. I’ll appreciate any help I can get.”

Daniel shuffled his feet a few times and stared down at his boots. “Well, guess I’d best get going. I picked up some supplies for my daed, and he’s probably wondering what’s takin’ me so long.”

“I’m sorry for keeping you.”

He patted his stomach. “Naw, it wasn’t you. I spent way too much time eating my noon meal. They were serving roast beef at the Plain and Fancy today. I think I ate my share and enough for about five others, as well.”

“Mom and I were at the Plain and Fancy, too, with our driver, Vera,” Rebekah said. “I didn’t see you there, though.”

“I was at one of the long tables with a bunch of other folks over on the right side of the room.”

“That’s probably why we didn’t see you, then. We three ate at a small table near the window.”

Daniel turned toward the door; then as though he might have forgotten something, he turned back around. “Say, I hear there’s going to be another singing in two weeks. It’s supposed to be over at Clarence Yoder’s place. Do you plan on being there, Rebekah?”

Rebekah thought about the last singing she had attended and remembered how out of place she’d felt. She shook her head. “I’ve got too much work to do if I’m going to get all my plants ready to open for business in August.” A small sigh escaped her lips. “That is, if I have a greenhouse by then.”

“The barn raising will only take a good full day if there’s plenty of help,” Daniel said. “We should have your building up in short order once the work on the barn is done.”

“That would be nice.”

“Well, I’d best go now. See you soon, Rebekah.”

“Have fun at the singing,” she called to his retreating form.

“Guess I won’t go to this one, either,” he mumbled before he disappeared out the door.

“Poor Daniel,” Rebekah whispered. “He likes Mary Ellen so much he’s probably not going to the singing because he can’t stand to see Johnny flirting with her again.” She clicked her tongue. “What a shame my cousin doesn’t see how nice Daniel is.”

As Daniel exited the bookstore, he couldn’t get the image of Rebekah out of his mind. She’d looked kind of bewildered and had even acted a bit nervous when he’d first spotted her trying to reach that book. After he’d taken it off the shelf for her and they’d talked about the plans for her new greenhouse, she had seemed to relax some. But then when he’d mentioned the singing, Rebekah had acted kind of distant again.

Maybe some ice cream would cheer her up,
he thought as his gaze came to rest on the ice-cream store across the street.
Think I’ll get a couple of cones and take one over to her.

A short time later, Daniel left the ice-cream store holding two double-dip strawberry ice-cream cones in his hands. He had just started up the sidewalk and was almost ready to cross the street, when a young Amish boy riding a scooter whizzed past.

Daniel jumped out of the way just in time to keep from being knocked off his feet, but in the process, the ice-cream cones toppled over, landing on the sidewalk with a
splat.

“Sorry,” the boy mumbled, but he kept on going.

“Jah, me, too.” Daniel bent to pick up the smashed cones, tossed them into the nearest trash can, and headed back to the ice-cream store.

A short time later, holding two more double-dip cones securely in his hands, he made his way across the street and into the bookstore. At first glance he saw no sign of Rebekah, so he walked up and down every aisle, looking for her.

“May I help you?” the middle-aged Englishman who ran the bookstore asked as he stepped up to Daniel.

“I–I’m looking for a young woman in a wheelchair. She was here a few minutes ago, looking at a book about African violets.”

The man nodded. “She bought the book and then left the store right after that.”

“Well, wouldn’t ya just know it?” Daniel started for the door but turned back around, lifting one of the cones in the air. “Say, would you like an ice-cream cone?”

The man smiled but shook his head. “Thanks anyway, but I’m a diabetic so I have to watch my sugar intake.”

“Jah, okay.” Daniel shuffled his way to the front of the store and headed out the door. “Should have never bought any ice cream at all,” he grumbled. “Guess I’m gonna have to eat both of these cones now so they don’t go to waste.”

Friday morning, Rebekah awoke to the piercing sound of pulsating hammers pounding nails into heavy pieces of lumber, and the grating of saws cutting thick pieces of wood. She had slept well the night before and had even had a very pleasant dream about her future greenhouse, where she’d become quite successful.

She grabbed hold of the bed rails, pulled herself upright, scooted to the edge of the bed, and dropped into her wheelchair. Her arms were strong, and she had become quite adept at this morning ritual. It wasn’t an easy task, but it was better than bothering someone else to come help.

Rebekah wheeled herself over to the window so she could look out at the side yard and see what was going on. From her downstairs bedroom, she had the perfect view of the spot where the new barn was going to be.

She lifted one edge of the dark shade a bit and took a peek. She was surprised to see so many men and boys scurrying about the place. Why, nearly two hundred of them had come to help out. Some were already laying the floor beams and planks, while others had paired off in groups to prepare the panels, beams, and rafters.

Rebekah caught sight of one of the younger men looking her way, and she quickly turned her chair away from the window. From this distance, she couldn’t be sure who had been watching her, but she didn’t need anyone’s curious stares or pitying looks this morning. Besides, she knew she should hurry and get dressed so she could see about helping with breakfast and whatever else needed to be done.

Aunt Mim, Aunt Crystal, Aunt Grace, and Mom were already in the kitchen when Rebekah made her entrance a short time later. Nadine and their cousins Peggy, Maddie, and Mary Ellen were also helping out. The room was warm and smelled of sweet cinnamon buns, reminding Rebekah of Grandma, who had always liked to bake. A pang of regret shot through her, but it was quickly replaced with a sense of peace. She still missed Grandma and probably always would, but Rebekah had finally come to grips with her loss, taking comfort in the fact that Grandma was in a much better place.

“Why’d you let me sleep so late?” Rebekah asked, as she wheeled up to her mother. “I didn’t know anyone was here until I woke up to the racket of all those noisy hammers and saws.”

“You must sleep pretty sound. They’ve been at it for nearly an hour already,” Aunt Crystal said with a wink.

“Don’t worry about it,” Mom said. “As you can see, I have plenty of help. I thought it would do you good to sleep a little longer this morning. Ever since our trip to the garden center in Lancaster, you’ve been busy cutting and repotting all those plants you bought and studying that book on African violets.”

“Your mamm was telling us more about your new business venture,” Aunt Mim said as she made a place at the table for Rebekah to park her wheelchair. “It sounds exciting—hopefully prosperous, too.”

Rebekah reached for a sticky cinnamon bun and smiled. “I sure hope so.”

“Rebekah’s going to use some starts from Grandma Stoltzfus’s plants in her greenhouse,” Mary Ellen put in.

Aunt Mim smiled. “That sounds like a good idea.”

“Grandma was real special, and she taught me to appreciate flowers and plants,” Rebekah said, reaching for a glass and the pitcher of cold milk, also on the table.

The back door flew open just then, and Rebekah’s fifteen-year-old twin cousins, Jacob and John, rushed into the kitchen. “We need somethin’ cold to drink!” Jacob wiped his sweaty forehead with the back of his arm. “It’s already hot as an oven out there.”

John nodded in agreement, his brown eyes looking ever so serious. “That’s right, and when a body works hard, a body deserves a cool drink!”

Aunt Crystal nodded. “I think these boys are real workers. We should give them some iced tea. Better send some of it out for the other men, too.”

“There are several jugs in there,” Mom said, pointing to the refrigerator. “Just help yourself and take the rest outside. I think there are some paper cups on the picnic table.”

John stared at the plate of sticky buns sitting on the table. “You wouldn’t happen to have enough of those so we could have some, would you, Aunt Sarah?”

She laughed. “There’s more on the counter behind you. Help yourself and take some out to the other workers, as well.”

The boys piled some of the cinnamon rolls onto a plate, grabbed some jugs of iced tea, and headed back outside.

As soon as Rebekah finished eating her breakfast, she rolled her wheelchair over to the sink, where her mother stood washing dishes. “What can I do to help?”

“Why don’t you and Mary Ellen shell some peas for the salads we’ll be having with our noon meal? You can go outside on the porch to do it, if you like.”

“Okay,” Rebekah said with a nod.

Mary Ellen gathered up two hefty pans and a paper sack full of plump peas, and Rebekah followed her out the back door.

Mary Ellen found a metal folding chair that had been propped against the side of the house near the door and pulled it up next to Rebekah’s wheelchair. She placed one of the pans in Rebekah’s lap and put the other in her own. Then she distributed the peas equally between them.

“How’s the courtship with Johnny going?” Rebekah asked as she picked up a handful of pea pods and began to shell them lickety-split.

Mary Ellen’s face broke into a wide smile. “It’s going real good. He’s been over to our place to see me nearly every night for the past week.”

“Do you like him a lot?”

“Jah, I do. He’s so much fun and pretty good-looking, too, don’t you think?”

Rebekah wrinkled her nose and emitted a noise that sounded something like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. “That’s not for me to be saying. Johnny might not take kindly to me making eyes at him.”

“I’m not asking you to make eyes at him, silly. I only wondered if you think he’s good-looking or not.”

Rebekah shrugged her slim shoulders and grabbed another handful of pea pods. “I suppose he’s all right. He’s just not my type, that’s all.”

“Who is your type, might I ask? Is there something you’re not telling me? Do you have your heart set on anyone special?”

Rebekah shook her head.

“I’ll bet it’s Daniel Beachy. I’ve seen the way you steal looks in his direction whenever you think no one’s paying any attention.”

Rebekah’s face turned crimson. “I have no interest in any man, and none have interest in me.”

“Maybe they do have an interest, and you’re just too blind to see it.”

“Don’t you think I would know if someone cared for me?”

“Maybe so. Maybe not.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that you might not be paying close enough attention.”

Rebekah made no further comment on the subject, and Mary Ellen decided it was probably best to drop the subject. No point in embarrassing her cousin any further; she had enough to deal with.

“Sure is a hot one today,” Rebekah complained. “I don’t envy those poor men working out there in the sweltering sun all day.”

“Jah, but I’m sure they—” Mary Ellen’s sentence was interrupted when a man’s heavy boots thudded up the porch steps.

“
Wie geht’s,
you two?” Daniel asked with a nod in their direction.

Rebekah waited to see if Mary Ellen would respond, but when her cousin made no comment, she smiled up at him and said, “I’m doing okay. How’s the work on my daed’s barn coming along?”

Daniel yanked off his straw hat and wiped the perspiration from his forehead with the back of his hand. “It’s going well enough. Whew! Today’s sure hot and humid, don’t you think?” His question was directed at Rebekah, and she swallowed hard as his serious dark eyes seemed to bore straight into her soul.

“Jah, I was just saying that to Mary Ellen before you showed up,” she murmured, feeling another flush of warmth, but excusing it as coming from the heat of the day.

“I’ve talked to your daed about helping with the greenhouse,” Daniel said, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. “He said he hopes to begin working on it sometime next week.”

Rebekah swallowed again. Why was Daniel being so nice, and why did he keep looking at her in such a strange way? It wasn’t a look of pity, she was sure of that much, but she couldn’t decide what his tipped head and lips curved slightly upwards meant. “I—I really appreciate the offer of help,” she said. “I’ll be grateful to anyone who helps build my new greenhouse.”

Daniel stared down at his boots, rocking back and forth on his heels as if he might be feeling kind of nervous all of a sudden. Then he cleared his throat a couple of times and looked up at her again. “Well, guess I ... uh ... had better get back to work before my daed comes lookin’ for me and accuses me of sloughin’ off.”

He turned and was about to step off the porch when Rebekah called out to him. “Did you get some cold tea yet?”

Daniel lifted his hat over his head and waved it at her. “I had some, danki.” He took the steps two at a time and actually ran back to the job site, leaving Rebekah to wonder about his strange behavior. Had he been nervous because Mary Ellen was sitting there beside her and hadn’t said one single word to him? Had he wanted to say something to her but not been able to work up the nerve? Jah, that was probably the case, all right.

“You could have at least said hello to Daniel,” Rebekah said, squinting at her cousin, who had seemed intent on shelling peas the whole time Daniel had been on the porch, rather than joining in on their conversation.

Mary Ellen’s eyebrows drew together. “I figured if he had something he wanted to say to me, he wouldn’t have been talking to you.”

“Maybe the reason he was talking to me was because you just sat there, shelling peas like there was no tomorrow and never taking part in the conversation at all.”

Mary Ellen merely shrugged in response, but a few seconds later, she poked Rebekah with her elbow and whispered, “Daniel seems like a nice person, don’t you think?”

Rebekah nodded but kept her focus on the pan of peas in her lap.
If you think he’s so nice, then why aren’t you giving the poor fellow a chance?
she silently fumed.
If I had someone like Daniel Beachy interested in me, I sure wouldn’t be wasting my time on the likes of that juvenile Johnny Yoder.

Daniel kicked at a hefty stone with the toe of his boot as he ambled across the yard toward the new building that was rapidly going up. Had he made a fool of himself during his conversation with Rebekah? She’d been friendly enough, he supposed, but she had acted kind of nervous, too. And her cousin Mary Ellen hadn’t said a single word the whole time he’d been on the porch—just sat there shelling peas as though he didn’t exist.

Does Mary Ellen disapprove of me? Maybe she thinks I’m not good enough for Rebekah. She might have even said some things against me to her.

Daniel didn’t have a fancy way with words like Johnny did, and he sure wasn’t nearly as funny or persuasive. But he was a hard worker, and he cared about Rebekah—so much so that it actually hurt. He figured that ought to count for something.

He kicked another stone and grimaced.
Maybe I’m just too unsure of myself. Maybe I ought to come right out and tell Rebekah what’s on my mind and be done with it. At least then I’d know where I stand with her. If she doesn’t care for me at all,
I should at least give her the chance to say so.

“Hey, Daniel, are you comin’ back to work anytime soon, or did you plan to stand there all day kickin’ at stones?” Daniel’s father shouted from where he knelt on one of the rafters of the new barn.

Feeling a rush of heat cover his face, Daniel cupped his hands around his mouth and hollered back, “I’m on my way, Pop!”