Love Finds You in Amana Iowa (28 page)

He had been thinking more of her and the Vinzenz family than Friedrich, but Amalie was right. None of them would want to esteem themselves higher than either the Federals or their prisoners.

“Let’s collect blankets for the soldiers, and anything else they might need.”

He stood up by the table. “I will speak with the elders.”

She stepped toward the kitchen and then turned back to him. “Hilga is a blessed woman to have you, Matthias.”

His chest tightened with her words. If only he could be certain he would be able to be as loyal to Hilga as Amalie had been to Friedrich.

* * * * *

Amalie slid a knife out of its sheath and removed the cores from the ten heads of white cabbage she’d collected from their fall garden this morning. She fed the cabbage through a hand-cranked shredder and added the thin slices to a large pot with fried bacon. She would let the cabbage simmer until it was tender enough to make coleslaw.

White curtains framed the sunlight streaming through her new windows. Matthias and the other carpenters had built tall shelves, cupboards, and a six-foot-long sink, and then they added plenty of hooks above the long tables to hang baskets and her kettles. The craftsmanship was impeccable, and in spite of their differences, she would always be grateful to Matthias for his detailed work.

Her hands worked quietly and quickly as she loaded wood into the box under the stove to build a fire. It felt good to be back in a kitchen. Her kitchen.

And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men.

The Lord had given her this job and she would work with all her heart to please Him.

As the fire blazed below the stove, she lifted a kettle of water and set it on the left burner. Then she placed the pot with cabbage and bacon on the burner behind it. She would boil beef for the first meal tonight along with the coleslaw and make spiced apples when Karoline returned from the orchard.

The door opened beside her, and she looked up, expecting to greet Karoline, but Louise walked into the kitchen instead.

The older woman moved toward the sink and washed her hands in a bowl. “I am here to help you.”

“You need to rest, Louise.”

Louise didn’t seem to hear her words. Instead she reached for a knife and began cutting the arm roast into chunks. “It will be like the days of old, when I used to feed our whole family at home instead of going to communal kitchen, except I’ll get to feed both my daughters and my son.”

“I’m not your daughter, Louise,” Amalie said, as if she had to remind the woman that she and Friedrich never married. She would spend the rest of her life as a Wiese, not a Vinzenz.

“Oh yes, you are.” Louise set down the knife and reached out to give her a hug. “You are still one of my daughters, just like Matthias is my son.”

Amalie welcomed the hug, though she didn’t know how to respond to the woman’s love for her. Even though she’d spent most of her life living in the room next to her mother and father, she’d never known what it was like to have a mother who cared about her well-being.

Her mother did the typical things a mother should do. When Amalie was a child, her mother escorted her to meals and school and to prayers, but even as she took her to different places, she rarely spoke with her. She couldn’t imagine her mother volunteering to help her work in the kitchen, or saying how grateful she was that Amalie was her daughter.

It wasn’t that her mother didn’t care about her, but she was ever busy in her role as the doctor’s assistant and town midwife, and she thrived in her busyness. Someone was always knocking on her door, asking for her help, and it seemed like she was always available to help everyone except the child she had birthed herself. The busyness fulfilled her in some way, but Amalie missed having a family.

Louise eyed the bowls of rutabagas lined up on the shelf. “Would you like me to mash them for dinner?”

“That would be wonderful.”

“We will work,” Louise said as she lowered a bowl to the table. “And we will talk.”

Amalie added the pieces of roast to the warm water before she stirred the cabbage. She wasn’t sure what she would talk about with Louise, not without talking about their memories of Friedrich. It had been hard enough discussing what she remembered with Matthias. She didn’t know if she had the strength to talk to Friedrich’s mother about him as well.

Louise stepped outside the back door and filled a kettle with water from the pump. When she returned, she placed the kettle on the stove.

“This is a dream for you, isn’t it? To have your very own kitchen.”

“It is.”

“I’m happy for you, Amalie, that you’ve been blessed with this kitchen. And that Matthias built it for you.”

“He didn’t build it for me.”

“Oh yes, he did.”

Amalie shook her head as she sprinkled salt into the boiling beef. “He did it for you and Brother Carl and for his future wife.”

Louise retrieved the potato masher from the cupboard and placed it on the table. “You think Matthias is going to marry Hilga?”

Amalie hesitated, the saltshaker suspended in her hand. She avoided gossip, and she didn’t know Louise to be a gossip either. Was this what mothers and daughters did, as part of friendly conversation, or was Louise fishing for some type of information?

Amalie set the saltshaker beside the masher and turned to spoon the softened cabbage into a bowl. Then she sprinkled oil and vinegar over it. “I cannot comment about the state of his heart.”

“Neither can I, but a mother knows her children, and Matthias’s heart is conflicted.”

As she added dried parsley to the coleslaw, Amalie thought back to her conversation with Sophia weeks ago. Had Matthias changed his mind about Hilga? Perhaps his heart had changed to love another woman. Sophia would be pleased by the news….and so would Niklas.

She turned away from Louise, setting the oil and vinegar back on a shelf. She should be happy for Matthias and the others, but her emotions warred inside her.

She didn’t even understand the state of her own heart.

Let Thy grace, like morning dew falling soft on barren places,
Comfort, quicken, and renew our dry souls and dying graces.
Christian Knorr von Rossenroth

The Bruderrath met every month in one of the seven villages, and this morning the board of thirteen elders gathered in a small room off the stone meetinghouse in Amana. Fifteen minutes before they were scheduled to begin, Matthias walked into the meetinghouse beside Jonah Henson.

Jonah sat on a wooden bench in the lobby, but Matthias paced the floor. He wouldn’t allow himself to predict what the council would decide, but he wanted to collect these goods, for himself and for Friedrich and on behalf of the sacrifice Jonah and so many other men were making for their country. Friedrich had given up his life for their country, and part of Matthias wished he could go fight. But another part of him knew his motives would be all wrong.

“Welcome, Brother Matthias,” Brother Schaube said as he opened the door. “Jonah.”

Jonah stood up and shook the man’s hand while Matthias went into the room. Society members were rarely allowed to petition the Bruderrath; outsiders were never allowed to speak to the board. Still, Jonah wanted to wait for Matthias outside, prepared to answer any questions the elders might have about the soldiers in Tennessee.

Brother Schaube directed Matthias to a wooden chair that faced the men. The thirteen trustees sat in an L-shape, six against one wall and seven against the other. They were all dressed alike in their dark coats and trousers, and every man was clean-shaven, but there was no similarity in regard to age. The men were elected from the church elders, and their ages ranged from men in their thirties to those in their eighties. A combination of wisdom from experience and a desire to embrace new technology and ideas. Matthias fidgeted in his chair as they stared back at him. He hoped all the men would embrace his idea.

“You have a request,” Brother Schaube began.

Matthias scooted forward on the seat. “In Matthew, our Savior curses those who knew someone was hungry and didn’t offer him something to eat or knew someone who needed clothes and did nothing to clothe him.”

Brother Schaube’s eyes filled with concern. “Do you know someone in need?”

He nodded slowly before he spoke again. “The Federal soldiers in Tennessee need both food and clothing.”

“What do you know of the soldiers?” Brother Schaube asked.

“Jonah said that when they were fighting in Tennessee, it was already bitter cold at night. Some of the men no longer have shoes to wear and others lost their bedding on the battlefield. I thought—” Matthias took a long breath before he continued. “I thought we could collect woolen blankets and clothes and socks for these men and then send the extra supplies down to Chattanooga to help the soldiers.”

Brother Schaube leaned forward. “How many soldiers are down there?”

“I don’t know the exact number, but Jonah said there were thousands.”

Brother Schaube paused as he considered the request. “The need is great, but we have no way to deliver supplies to these soldiers.”

“I would like to go to Marengo to speak with Colonel O’Neill,” Matthias said. “I’m certain he would help us get clothes and blankets to the soldiers.”

The elder studied him. “Why do you want to involve yourself with this war, Matthias?”

“I want to help those in need, not involve myself in a war of any kind.”

Another one of the elders rubbed his hands together, his gaze intent. “We are all concerned that you want to do more than help the soldiers. We are concerned that you want to fight.”

Matthias squirmed under the man’s gaze. If he was honest, he had thought about what it would be like to join the army, but his motive wasn’t selfless like Friedrich’s had been. He didn’t want to rescue anyone; he wanted revenge. In his anger, he wanted to kill the men who had murdered his friend on the battlefield. A brother who was rescuing one of their wounded soldiers.

God hadn’t spoken to him to go, as He had to Friedrich, and Matthias feared within himself what he would do if he were to fight in a battle. He didn’t think he could rescue the enemy as Friedrich had. But even if he never went to war, he could pray for peace and he could help the men who were compelled to go fight.

He glanced into the eyes of all thirteen men who waited silently for his answer. “I want this war to end, but it is not for me to fight against the Confederacy.” He took a deep breath. “Our community can help those who are fighting, though. We can demonstrate God’s love and desire for peace to those soldiers from Iowa and other parts of our Union.”

The elders paused for a moment before the head elder spoke again. “God is pleased with your heart, Matthias. We will pray about this opportunity as a council and then notify you when we reach a decision.”

Matthias nodded and then met Jonah on the other side of the door. They could only pray that God would inspire the elders to allow them to proceed with collecting the supplies.

Matthias relayed the discussion to Jonah as he escorted the man to the western edge of town. Two of Brother Fehr’s peacocks squawked behind the fence beside them, one of them fanning his iridescent feathers as he and Jonah drew close. Jonah stood mesmerized as the regal bird defended his territory.

“I hate to leave,” Jonah said as he watched the bird.

“Will you start back to work soon?”

Jonah shook his head. “I clerked at a dry goods store before I went to war. The owner said he wants to hire me again, but he doesn’t have enough business right now and probably won’t until the war ends.”

They continued their walk through the trees and plants in the specimen garden, toward the cemetery.

“What made you want to join the army?” Matthias asked.

“I never wanted to join,” Jonah said as he buttoned his coat. “A recruiting agent came to the store and asked me to take the place of a man who’d been conscripted. I needed the money to pay off a debt.”

Matthias’s throat constricted. He glanced at the sling across Jonah’s shoulder and his mind went back to the line of men waiting by the enlistment office in Marengo. Had Jonah been the one to fight in Matthias’s place, or had the man sent as his substitute been killed in the battle like Friedrich?

“You didn’t want to fight?” Matthias’s voice cracked.

“I wanted to do what was right.”

Matthias nodded. The answers weren’t easy. Jesus told them to render unto Caesar what was Caesar’s, and their Caesar had commanded him to fight. Yet they were also supposed to obey God over man, and Jesus blessed the peacemakers. And He told His followers to turn the other cheek.

Perhaps God did speak differently to those who served Him, asking each of them to serve in a way that exemplified God’s heart. Some He commanded to seek peace while others were supposed to fight for the poor. And others were supposed to care for the needy—offering even a simple cup of water in Jesus’s name.

He couldn’t take water to Chattanooga but he could offer warmth to the soldier in Jesus’s name.

Matthias shook Jonah’s hand.