Naomi’s Christmas (34 page)

“Tea or hot chocolate?” she asked, knowing Lovina didn’t have a taste for coffee when
she was pregnant.

“Tea sounds gut.” Lovina hung up her jacket and bonnet and took a seat at the kitchen
table, where she sat looking at Naomi with a troubled frown.

“Please don’t look so worried.” Naomi set cups on the table and a wedge of coffee
cake Libby had brought over last night. “I’m all right. It will be best to get away
for a while, that’s all.”

“But to go right before Christmas…” Lovina shook her head. “I hate to think of you
traveling then. Please, stay with us until after Christmas, at least. Then you can
go.”

“I can’t.” She pressed her lips together, and then she realized she had to say more.
“It’s not that I wouldn’t enjoy Christmas with you and the family. But until all the
talk has died down, I just want to be somewhere else.”

“Ach, well, I’m sorry to see you go, but I do understand.”

Lovina’s loving concern nearly made Naomi’s eyes sting. The kettle boiled, and by
the time she’d poured the tea, she had regained control. She sat down opposite Lovina,
who had already cut a slice of the coffee cake.

Lovina smiled. “I’m eating too much already, I know. I’m either starving or sick,
it seems.”

“These first few months will pass quickly,” Naomi said. “Then you’ll have your energy
back. Have you talked to Midwife Sarah yet?”

The community’s midwife was young and progressive. She always wanted to see expectant
women as early as possible.

“I’m to go in after Christmas.” Lovina was momentarily diverted by talk of the new
boppli, but Naomi suspected that wouldn’t last.

Sure enough, the concerned look appeared in her eyes again. “I understand your wanting
to get away, at least until people understand that the bishop has confidence there
is nothing wrong between you and Nathan. But afterward—will you go back to Nathan’s
children?”

Naomi pressed her palms against her cheeks. This was the question that had kept her
up most of the night. What about the children? But how could she bear to go back,
to be in Nathan’s house every day, with the memory of that proposal that had been
like a slap in the face?

I’ll marry her then.
Not exactly the words a woman wanted to hear. But Lovina was waiting for an answer.

“I don’t see how I can. If Nathan hadn’t spoken…” She let that trail off, Nathan’s
words pounding in her head again.

“Ach, Nathan is as foolish sometimes as most men can be when it comes to women. How
could he think you would marry him after such a proposal?”

“He wasn’t thinking at all. He doesn’t want to marry me.” Naomi said the words evenly,
at the cost of considerable pain in her heart.

“I don’t think Nathan knows what he wants.” Lovina was more blunt than usual. “He
convinced himself he could never love anyone else after Ada died, and now he feels
guilty to think of anything else.”

Naomi stared at her sister-in-law for a moment. “How did you get to be such a wise
woman, Lovina Esch?”

“Ach, it’s not wisdom, it’s common sense.” A smile flickered across her face. “Betty
saw it, too. That’s why she scolded him so thoroughly. You know, I’m starting to like
Betty.”

Some of Naomi’s tension slipped away, and she managed a smile. “I am, as well. If
it hadn’t been for her, I’m not sure how I’d have made peace with Daadi.”

“Now that you have, you must not run away.” Lovina reached across the table to clasp
her hand. “No matter how people may talk or what Nathan may feel, you are still the
same person you were. You have nothing to reproach yourself for.”

“It’s not so easy as you make it sound. And I’m not sure I am the same person I was
before I came to work for Nathan.”

Lovina’s grip on her hand tightened. “I see. You love him, don’t you?”

She may as well admit it out loud. Lovina would know if she lied. “Ja, I guess I do.”
She blinked back the treacherous tears. “If I didn’t love Nathan, it wouldn’t matter
so much. I don’t want to run away. I just don’t see what else I can do.”

Nathan
couldn’t help shifting restlessly as he waited at Bishop Mose’s harness shop for
Seth Miller to pick them up. Events had followed quickly once he’d decided that he
had to speak to the bishop about Jessie.

Maybe too quickly. Should he have gone to Emma instead? But it seemed unfair to push
the burden onto Emma in her current state. What could she do, tied to her wheelchair
at the rehab facility?

Bishop Mose moved steadily through the shop, hanging up his apron, turning the sign
on the door to closed. Then he got his jacket and pulled it on.

“Seth will be on time, I think. He is used to punctuality, being a businessman out
among the Englisch.”

“Are you sure it was right to involve him?” Nathan couldn’t help voicing his doubts.

“Seth is Jessie’s older brother. Going Englisch didn’t change the fact that they are
his family.” The bishop’s tone was serene, his patience reminding Nathan of Naomi.
“With Emma unable to help, Seth must take the responsibility.”

“He hasn’t taken the responsibility in the past.”

“No. But now he has another chance to do what is right.” Bishop Mose reached for the
door handle. “Here he is.”

A silver car pulled up in front of the harness shop. By the time the two of them reached
it, Seth had come around to open the doors on the passenger side.

Bishop Mose climbed into the front without hesitation, so Nathan slid into the backseat.
Once Seth resumed his place behind the wheel, he swiveled to look at them, frowning
a little.

“Are you really sure this is necessary? I know Jessie’s behavior has been erratic
and that my mother is worried about her. But maybe confronting her isn’t the way to
go about getting her help.”

The bishop didn’t seem any more affected by Seth’s doubts than he had been by Nathan’s.
“I have spoken to Emma. She
admitted to me that she has never seen Jessie’s speech and behavior so wild. And I
have talked with Lydia Beachy, Emma’s next-door neighbor.”

Seth gave him a sharp look. “Would she have been Lydia Weaver?”

“Ja, the same,” Bishop Mose said tranquilly. “I thought you would remember her.”

Nathan knew Lydia well, too. He had a lot of respect for her sound common sense. If
she had told the bishop something troubling, it must be serious.

“What did Lydia say?” he asked, half wishing he didn’t have to hear the answer.

“She has been troubled about Jessie since Emma first went away. She did not wish to
be a tale-bearer, but she began to be worried when Jessie’s horse and buggy were gone
all night several times. She confronted Jessie, and Jessie insisted she had stayed
with a friend.” He paused. “I have checked with the friend. Jessie was not there.”

S
eth
pulled the car away from the curb, his hands tight on the wheel. Nathan felt as if
there were a lead ball in the pit of his stomach. This was serious, very serious.
The fact that the bishop would take such extraordinary steps testified to how concerned
he was.

“I guess we don’t have a choice.” Seth clipped off the words. “But what are we going
to do if she simply denies it?”

“It is in God’s hands,” Bishop Mose said.

That silenced Nathan. He wondered for a moment if Seth would make some comment, but
he didn’t. Apparently he accepted that, as he’d said, they had no choice.

Emma’s house was about a mile from the edge of town along a sparsely traveled back
road. Lydia’s place was next door, but the lots were big enough that the houses weren’t
very close together. Lydia’s orchard stretched between the houses up the gentle slope.
Probably she would be able to see
the lights from Emma’s house. That might be what had first alerted her to the fact
that Jessie wasn’t where she should be.

“I have asked Lydia to meet us at the house.” Bishop Mose spoke as they turned in
the lane that led to the house and beyond it to the small barn. “One of the sisters
should be here, and I did not wish to bring anyone else into the business who didn’t
already know something of it.”

Nathan nodded. “That is gut. We don’t want to encourage any more rumors.” He hesitated.
“You are thinking that Jessie is the one who started the stories about Naomi and me,
ain’t so?”

The bishop got out of the car and stood for a moment, waiting until they had joined
him. “One of the nights when Lydia says Jessie was not home was the night Sadie was
taken ill.”

Seth shot him a glance, obviously not knowing what they were talking about. But Bishop
Mose did not offer an explanation. As country people always did, he went to the back
door. Nathan and Seth followed, and Nathan wasn’t sure which of them was the more
reluctant.

It was Lydia who came to answer his knock. She nodded to Nathan, darted a quick glance
at Seth, and turned to the bishop. “I have been trying to get her to sit down and
have some tea, but she can’t seem to stop pacing around the house.” She gestured toward
the living room. “I will take your coats.”

“Denke, Lydia. It is gut of you to help in this way.” Bishop Mose made it sound as
if this was like any of the normal occasions on which an Amish neighbor helped as
a matter of course. “Why don’t you brew some of your chamomile tea? That is always
soothing.”

Lydia nodded, taking their coats toward the row of hooks in the back hall.

Bishop Mose gathered the two of them with a glance and led the way into the living
room.

Jessie was walking with quick strides across the room, and she spun around when she
saw them. Ignoring the other two, she zeroed in on Nathan.

“Have you come to apologize for the way you acted this morning?” she demanded. “You
were rude to me.”

“I did not mean to be rude to you, Jessie.” Nathan kept his voice as even and patient
as if he were speaking to a jittery animal. “You took me by surprise, that’s all.”

“Well, it’s time you came to your senses. All of you.” Her gaze swept the other two,
and Nathan’s breath caught. People didn’t speak to the bishop that way. Not rational
people, anyway.

“Komm, Jessie.” Bishop Mose was calm but firm. He took her arm to lead her to the
sofa. “You must sit down here so we can talk to you. We are worried about you.”

“Nobody needs to be worried about me.” She jerked her arm free. “I’m fine, and I don’t
want to sit down.”

Seth moved quickly to take her other arm. “You don’t want to talk to the bishop that
way, Jessie. Think how upset Mamm would be to hear you.”

Surprisingly, she allowed Seth to lead her to a seat on the couch. “Mamm’s not here,”
she stated. “I can do what I want.”

Seth sat down next to her, exchanging glances with the bishop. “What things, Jessie?
Like going out at night, maybe?”

She looked down at her feet. “Maybe.” She shrugged. “I can take care of myself. I
don’t know why anyone should worry.”

“It’s dangerous to drive a buggy at night,” Bishop Mose said quietly. “Especially
all the way out to Nathan’s place on that busy road.”

“I did not take the main road,” she said quickly. “I went on all the back roads. It
took longer, but it was safer, and no one saw me.” She stopped, her face puckering
a little. “Why are you asking me? How did you know I went to Nathan’s?”

“Because how else would you know about Naomi staying so late the night Sadie was sick?
You wouldn’t tell anyone that unless you knew for sure,” Bishop Mose said.

“Of course I wouldn’t. I’m not a blabbermaul. But I knew Naomi would do anything to
try and catch Nathan. I had to protect him from her. I knew if I watched, I’d catch
her, and I did!” She ended on a triumphant note.

Nathan’s stomach seemed to be turning inside out. Little Jessie, Ada’s baby sister,
sitting here confessing to spying on him. Ada’s heart would be broken if she knew
how sick Jessie was.

“You spied on Nathan and Naomi.” Bishop Mose’s voice had taken on a stern note. “And
then you bore false witness against them, telling people they were sinning when you
had no proof at all.”

“I did have proof! I did!” Jessie’s voice rose and her gaze darted from one to the
other of them, as if she had just realized that no one agreed with her actions. “I
saw Naomi leaving the house in the middle of the night with my own eyes.”

“Naomi stayed because Sadie was sick…” he began, but Jessie didn’t let him get any
further.

“It’s a lie.” Her words shrilled out of control. “You’re lying, trying to protect
Naomi. You want her to take Ada’s place.” She lurched to her feet, throwing off Seth’s
restraining hand. “She’s tricked you!”

Without warning she launched herself at Nathan, swinging wildly, striking his face
again and again as Seth struggled to restrain her. Nathan stood motionless, bearing
the blows, until finally Seth and Lydia and Bishop Mose among them wrestled Jessie
onto the couch.

She deflated all in an instant, bursting into sobs and curling into a ball on the
couch. Seth looked at him, face white.

“Are you okay?”

Nathan nodded. “What are we going to do?”

“The hospital emergency room first, I think,” Bishop Mose said, moving so that Lydia
could bend over Jessie, murmuring something soothing. “They will be able to refer
her to whatever care she needs.”

Seth nodded, rubbing his face with his hands. “I’ll drive her there. Someone had better
come with me in case—” He left that unfinished, because all of them could visualize
what it could be like trying to get Jessie to the hospital if she erupted again.

“I will go,” Nathan said.

“No.” Bishop Mose’s tone was firm. “Your presence would just remind her of her grievance
against you. I will go. Maybe Lydia…”

“Ja, I will komm as well,” Lydia said. “My mamm is with the kinder.”

It felt like shirking his responsibility, but Nathan could understand the wisdom of
Bishop Mose’s words. Why had he
not realized how serious this obsession of Jessie’s was? She had come close to ruining
Naomi’s life out of her jealousy.