Love Finds You in Amana Iowa (29 page)

“You are welcome to come visit Amana anytime you’d like.”

“I appreciate it.”

“Stop in the Middle Amana kitchen on your way home,” Matthias said as Jonah started down the road to Marengo. “They’ll be happy to serve you a meal.”

Jonah nodded. “Thank you.”

Matthias turned and looked back toward the village. He and Niklas were building a new hotel to host the influx of businessmen and tourists visiting their community. He should join Niklas this morning, but his gaze wandered to the trees that surrounded the cemetery. Even though Friedrich wasn’t there, it was a quiet place away from the clamor of town. A place to think about all that had happened.

As he stepped through the shelter of the trees, he stopped. Amalie was there, kneeling in front of Friedrich’s grave. He should retreat, leaving her to her privacy, but he couldn’t seem to break away his gaze. Mesmerized, he watched her place the flowers in her hands in front of the cross, and then she bowed her head.

Watching her, he felt sick to his stomach. Never once should he have thought that Amalie could be his. He had entertained the idea, even when he knew it was wrong. Even when he knew she was promised to Friedrich.

How could he have done this to his best friend? To this woman who had been faithful to Friedrich? He had longed for what he couldn’t have, and if he didn’t release it, it would destroy him.

He backed away from the trees.

Amalie had loved Friedrich with her entire being, and she would always love him, no matter how long he was gone. Matthias had nothing to offer her, to care for her, nor would he ever have.

Shaking his head, he turned around. Friedrich had been wrong to even ask.

* * * * *

“You can’t go to Chattanooga,” Colonel O’Neill told Matthias. “The entire town is surrounded by Confederate soldiers.”

Matthias scooted forward on the wooden chair in the man’s office. “Private Henson said the soldiers need blankets and clothing.”

“They need blankets. They need food.” The colonel slammed his fist on his desk. “And they need to win this blasted war.”

Matthias steadied his voice. He had thought the challenge would be for the Bruderrath to approve his collection of supplies, but they’d voted unanimously for him to pursue this. He never thought the colonel would disapprove. “We can’t do anything about winning the war, but we can get them the supplies they need for comfort and strength.”

“You don’t understand.” The colonel shook his head. “Chattanooga is under siege. The U.S. military can’t even get supplies in or out of the town. How do you expect you and your unarmed inspirational people to get the stuff to them?”

Matthias wanted to shake the man and tell him that
he
didn’t understand. If God wanted them to deliver the supplies, it didn’t matter if they faced the entire Confederate Army. None of them lived or fought or served with their own strength. Everything was given to them by God.

Matthias leaned forward. “If He chooses, God can make blind eyes see, Colonel, and He can make seeing eyes blind. It was God who empowered a boy named David to defeat the entire Philistine army with his sling, and if He chooses, He can impart this same strength and courage to us.”

The man laughed roughly. “You really do think you’re inspired.”

“You may not think that God speaks today, but we still believe it. And we believe He is directing us to collect and deliver these supplies.”

“I need men like you to fight.”

Matthias shook his head. “I am not supposed to fight.”

“Then you are a waste of my time,” the colonel said. “A waste of a man.”

Matthias stood up. “We would welcome your help to deliver these supplies, but if you choose not to assist us, we will still do what God has called us to do.”

“You are a fool, Roemig.”

Matthias stomped out the door, saddened that the man didn’t recognize his own foolishness. What the world thought was foolish, though, God often redeemed for His good.

All our knowledge, sense, and sight lie in deepest darkness shrouded
Till Thy Spirit breaks our night with the beams of truth unclouded.
Tobias Clausnitzer

Matthias pulled back on the reins and the workhorses stopped in front of the meetinghouse in High Amana. Men and women loaded the back of the wagon with their offerings of blankets, woolen shirts, knitted socks, leather shoes, and jackets.

With the wagon full, Matthias pulled forward and Jonah drove the next wagon in front of the meetinghouse. Their brothers and sisters quickly filled that wagon as well, and Matthias was overwhelmed by their generosity. The donations from the other six villages already packed the Amana meetinghouse, and the men in Amana would carry the boxed supplies over to Homestead tonight for their journey by rail in the morning.

With every bundle passed into the back of the wagon, another soldier would be warm for the winter, or at least warmer than he would be without the blankets or coats.

Matthias thanked the people of High Amana on behalf of the Bruderrath and then carefully drove the team down the steep hill to return on the path to Amana. Not only had the women worked on knitting socks and the crew at the woolen mill worked late into the night to produce more blankets, but people had given sacrificially of their personal clothing and belongings.

Clouds filled the sky and Matthias buttoned his coat as he steered the team home. The temperature dropped a few degrees more every day, and the nights were even colder, dipping into the low thirties. Snow would fill the river valley soon. He couldn’t imagine how cold the soldiers must be at night.

He hadn’t been back to visit Colonel O’Neill, but the elders received the national newspapers. The reporters predicted that the siege around Chattanooga would end any day, but until then, supplies continued to be cut off from the Federal soldiers who occupied the town as well as the few citizens who remained.

He drummed his fingers on the seat to keep them warm. The only way to ensure the safe delivery of these goods was for him to go with them. Brother Schaube had arranged the details of their shipment all the way to Nashville and then he insisted on hiring a guide to accompany Matthias. While Matthias initially balked at the idea of going with someone, it was apparent to him that the only reason he didn’t want a guide was founded in his pride.

He thought he could get the supplies into Chattanooga alone, with God’s help, but the elders believed that he needed someone familiar with the ways of the world to escort him. In the end, he agreed. He might know the intricacies of workings in their Kolonie, but he knew nothing of how things worked on the outside.

Not only did they have mounds of donated blankets and coats and shoes to deliver to the soldiers, but the women in the community had packed boxes full of canned fruit and salted pork and hard candy along with bags of coffee beans.

He hadn’t counted the supplies, but they had at least a thousand blankets, maybe more, and hundreds of coats and pairs of shoes. Nor could he guess how many socks the women had knitted. On his night watch, he’d seen the candles burning in the windows and knew that many of them were knitting for the soldiers.

He wished Jonah would accompany him, but with the exception of his short stint in the infantry, Jonah hadn’t spent much time outside Marengo. These days, the man rented a horse and rode to Amana almost every weekend, eating at Amalie’s kitchen house and encouraging Matthias and the others in their collections. Often he spent the night in one of the guest rooms as well. It wouldn’t be long before his arm was completely healed, but he didn’t seem to be in much of a hurry to find a new position in Marengo or anyplace else.

Matthias had wondered before how any man could stand in a store or sit behind a desk for an entire day and be content in his work. He feared he would go crazy if he couldn’t be out in the fresh air, working with his hands. Jonah didn’t seem like the kind of man who could be content indoors either, but he supposed a man had to make a living in whatever way he saw fit.

He leaned against the hard back of the wagon seat as he rode through the village of Middle Amana. His guide was supposed to arrive sometime tonight, but it made him nervous, waiting for him at the last possible minute. He had no choice but to resign his concerns and wait, something he would probably have to do multiple times on his journey ahead. But he would be ready to leave at first light.

* * * * *

Inside the main room of Amana’s meetinghouse, Amalie folded a blanket and placed it on top of the neat pile. She’d lost count a long time ago of how many blankets she had folded and stacked, ready to transport to Chattanooga. Matthias and Jonah had collected enough supplies to feed and clothe hundreds of soldiers along with blankets for each one of them as well.

Tonight teams of Amana women divided the clothing into piles and others packed them into crates while the men transported the packed crates to the train station in Homestead. The wood stove burned in the corner of the room, but with all their work, and the dozens of women inside, they probably didn’t need the heat from the stove.

Matthias and Jonah left after their midday meal for High Amana, and she’d expected them to be back by supper, but an hour had passed since they’d eaten and the men had yet to return. Brother Schaube had postponed prayers this evening, until Matthias and Jonah could join them.

“Here’s another one,” Karoline called before she tossed her a navy blanket. Amalie folded it and set it on the pile.

As the weeks and then months passed, the shock had worn off a bit that Friedrich was gone. Nothing had changed for her—she was still working in the kitchen every day, going to prayers every night. The only change was the loss of her hope for the future, for Friedrich’s return and their subsequent marriage. Her life stretched ahead of her, full of peace but also of monotony. The sameness of it frightened her, but this week had been different. They’d worked every night, trying to get everything ready for the shipment.

“Do you think we’ll be done soon?” Sophia whined beside her.

Rosa Schaube handed Amalie another blanket and she began to fold it.

“We must be done soon,” Rosa said. “The men are delivering the supplies to Homestead tonight.”

Sophia collapsed onto a mound of socks. “I don’t think I can fold another blanket.”

“Then start folding socks,” Rosa retorted.

Sophia picked a sock off the pile, sighing as she matched it with another.

When Rosa moved away from them, Sophia scooted close to Amalie. “I wish I could go with them to Tennessee.”

“No, you don’t.”

Sophia didn’t seem to hear her. “Just think of all the soldiers down there, thrilled to see a woman. It wouldn’t even matter that I wasn’t wearing some fancy dress.”

Amalie’s stomach clenched at the thought of being among all those worldly men. “Why would you want that, Sophia?”

“I just think it would be fun.”

Amalie turned the blanket over and made another fold. She didn’t think it would be fun at all.

“There are plenty of good men here in Amana.”

“But very few of them are good enough for me.”

The door opened, and Matthias stepped inside. His hat and overcoat were dusted with snow, and his arms carried a large bundle.

“Except one perhaps—” Sophia moved toward the door.

At that moment, Amalie hated the girl. Really hated her and she didn’t know why.

Was it because she liked to flirt with Matthias?

It shouldn’t matter to her if Sophia flirted with Matthias or even if she married him, but Matthias deserved a woman who was devoted to him and to her faith, not someone who needed the attention of multiple men.

“Let me take that,” Sophia said, taking the bundle out of his hands.

“Thank you,” he replied, but he wasn’t looking at Sophia. His eyes scanned the room until they rested on Amalie. When his gaze met hers, she looked down at the floor, hoping for another blanket to fold, but there were none left. She stepped toward Rosa and began digging through the pile of supplies left to divide. Anything to divert her from Matthias’s gaze.

She found a blanket in the mound and folded it. From the corner of her eye, she watched Sophia speaking to Matthias, with not even an attempt at subtlety. Apparently the woman didn’t care if all of Amana observed her fawning over him.

She sighed and realized she was almost envious of Sophia’s boldness. Sophia didn’t let others deter her when she wanted something. And right now she wanted Matthias’s attention. Amalie was bold, but her boldness usually involved her work, never her relationships.

Was there someone in her life she was willing to risk everything for, even being singled out in their community?

Not even with Friedrich had she been willing to do that.

When Sophia returned to her side, her voice plunged even lower. “I sure would like to go with Matthias on that trip, just so we could be alone.”

“Don’t let the elders hear you.”

Sophia winked at her and then she twirled around before she landed on the stack of blankets. “Think of how fun that would be.”