The Brethren (23 page)

Hopefully things would be settling down by the time Zeke spotted Ben. Then the man he’d once called Ichabod could finally and fully unmask Ben’s foolishness. The event was inevitable. He would merely wait for it to unfold.

Isaac indeed! Jesse muttered as he continuing observing from afar. Several men now approached Daniel and Zeke, offering their friendly welcome as father and son began to work side by side.

Later, during a short break from their labors, Zeke looked up and happened to see Ben Martin. ”What’s he doing back here?” he wondered aloud, awful glad to see him. Zeke

273 turned to his father, who was sipping a cup of water. “I want you to meet an English friend of mine.”

Zeke hurried his pace as he made his way down the slope toward Ben, his father following beside him.

“Heard you’d gone home,” Zeke said, offering a smile.

Ben seemed startled, his expression a mixture of surprise and shock. “I … well … I’m back, yes.”

Despite Ben’s strange reaction, Zeke extended his hand and Ben shook it.

Zeke was about to introduce his father when Ben cleared his throat. “I’ve been wanting to talk to you, Zeke.”

“Well, here I am.” Zeke chuckled.

A small smile traced itself on Ben’s face. He turned to Zeke’s father, and a look of confusion crossed his brow.

Zeke’s father squinted his eyes, shielding them against the sun. A look of puzzlement crossed his own features. “Do I know you, young man?”

Ben was silent. For a moment Zeke stood back, curious as the two men awkwardly observed each other.

“Ach, sorry. This here’s Ben Martin,” he said. “And, Ben, this is Daniel Hochstetler, my father.”

Ben reached to accept the older man’s handshake. “Good to meet you, sir. Very good …”

Shaking hands, the two men seemed tongue-tied, eyes locked upon each other. Zeke noted his father’s pale face. “What is it, Dat?”

His father stepped closer to Ben, gripping the younger man’s shoulder. “In all my born days … If you don’t look like…”

274 Dat stopped and shook his head, and Ben gave Zeke a quick, almost guilty glance.

Look like who? Zeke wondered, following his father’s unrelenting stare at Ben’s features.

Dat released his handshake and stepped back to appraise Ben. “All this time, I’ve wondered what the world my Isaac might look like all grown up. And here you are, the spittin’ image of my own imagination.”

Zeke shivered. “What’re you saying, Dat?” He looked back at Ben, who instead of brushing off the strange comment was nodding gravely.

What’s going on?

Just then Preacher Jesse walked over, looking at them as if he might object to this strange meeting. But he said not a word when he stood alongside Zeke, his brow furrowed with something akin to fear.

Dat chuckled. “Ben Martin, you say? There’s no way you might be mistaken on that?”

Ben returned the smile, but his eyes were serious. “I was mistaken for years, but not anymore.”

“What’s that you say?” asked Zeke’s father.

“I have the memories to prove I’m someone else.”

His father crept closer, his face displaying a mixture of disbelief and hope. “Isaac?”

Ben simply nodded.

“I knew it!” Dat exclaimed. He burst out laughing and grabbed Ben by the shoulders.

Zeke’s mouth dropped open, unable to fathom what was happening right before his eyes. Was this another mental trick? Or was his father as deluded as he had been? It made

275 not a whit of sense. And by the incredulous look on Preacher’s white face, it made no sense to him, either.

Preacher Jesse spoke up. “So you actually buy this nonsense?”

Grinning from ear to ear, Dat released Ben and turned to Jesse. “This here is my lost boy, I’m tellin’ you.”

Jesse’s face clouded. “He’d like you to believe that.”

Dat’s eyebrows rose, apparently taken aback at Jesse’s objection. He turned to Ben, scrutinizing him further. “So … Preacher Jesse thinks you’re an imposter? Is that what I’m hearing?”

“Yes, sir,” Ben said. “He does.”

“But you have … memories?” Dat continued.

Ben nodded.

Dat glanced at Preacher Jesse. “Well, then, let’s put this to the test and be done with it.”

The preacher seemed to momentarily consider this, then sighed softly. “Fine.”

Dat cleared his throat and fixed an intense look on Ben.

He took a deep breath, as if regretting the words to come, though he spoke them anyway. “My young Isaac was aware of my terrible secret the dire sin that kept me from accepting the divine lot.” He looked at the preacher. “Jesse Zook knows what I’m talkin’ about.”

Jesse nodded, but Zeke was confused again. Isaac knew our father’s secret? Who remembers much, if anything, from the tender age of four? It seemed an impossible test.

Dat chewed his lip but didn’t speak, as if trying to bite back the tears filling his eyes.

At last he pulled himself together. “When you were

276 young, you loved to carry around a peach stone… .”

Ben brightened as he slipped his hand into his pocket and brought out a peach pit, holding it up. “Like this?”

“Means nothing,” Jesse interjected.

Dat raised a hand before continuing more soberly. “And do you remember where you first received a peach?”

Ben’s grin faded. He glanced first at Zeke, then at Jesse.

“Speak the truth as you remember it,” Dat said gently but with conviction.

Ben looked down at the ground, appearing oddly embarrassed. Or maybe he doesn’t remember, Zeke thought, as Ben seemed to struggle.

“He doesn’t know,” Jesse said. “Because he’s not “

“The peach girl,” Ben finally replied. “The one you … liked.”

Zeke expelled a nervous breath, and Preacher Jesse’s eyes grew wide in apparent amazement.

Nodding sadly, Dat looked at Jesse and said, “My foolish sin was known only by my young son. Mary, bless her dear heart, forgave me in the end. Took me back even though I didn’t deserve such love.”

Embracing Ben’s shoulders again, Dat held on as if he might disappear. “Can there be any more doubt? This young man, this Ben, is my own Isaac … in the flesh!” Suddenly Dat laughed robustly, even hilariously, pulling Ben hard into his arms. “My dear Isaac … my son.”

For a moment, Zeke simply stood there, stunned. Isaac … alive? Even Preacher Jesse was speechless, stepping back in disbelief.

Zeke felt himself go rigid at the thought of his brother

277 still alive, barely noticing the small crowd of men now gathering around them. And yet … hadn’t he, too, on some level, felt drawn to Ben? He had always felt strangely at ease with the younger man. His thoughts flew to his previous conversations with Irvin. God can work miracles!

Unable to resist any longer, and in a flood of bewildered relief and thankfulness to his sovereign God, Zeke joined his father and Ben, the three of them spontaneously connecting in a circle of love regained.

278 ?-

After hanging out the wash at Essie’s, Annie phoned Yonie from the neighbors’ and asked him to drive her to town for her hair-cutting appointment. He seemed surprised she’d called him, but she felt it better to use his driving services than to have someone outside the community see her looking all skimpy and nearly weightless, like a frail flower, with hair only to her chin. Well, maybe she would have it cut slightly longer than that so she could still pull it into a ponytail for the hot summer months. Even if she did that, she had a good thirty-five inches or more to sell for a wig, which Lou had said should fetch between two hundred fifty and three hundred dollars. “Virgin hair” like hers that had never been cut or colored was particularly valuable.

That sort of money will go a long way, she assumed. At least Annie was determined to make it stretch for those shoes, dresses, and maybe even that skirt and blouse she’d seen at the outlet shops. “Or I could always buy some English clothes patterns and sew some up for myself.”

She honestly could not wait to see Ben’s reaction to her new modern look. She wanted to please him … and to

279 please herself, even though she felt jittery at the thought of losing the long, thick hair she’d had since she was a little girl. Yet she had contemplated this moment long enough. It was time for action and she would grit her teeth, if necessary, to get through it.

While sitting on the front porch waiting for Yonie to arrive, she enjoyed the sunshine and watched Zach teach his little brother to play tug-of-war with an old rope. She was reminded of the long rope swing over at Pequea Creek. “Yonie put the swing up just in time,” she whispered to herself, still stunned at how things had fallen into place where Ben was concerned at least in her mind they had.

Yonie’s car pulled into the driveway, and she lifted her skirt a bit to hurry to meet him. “I thought you’d never get here,” she said, grinning.

“Me too.” He told her he’d had to stop off at Dory’s. She laughed. “Well, you’re not runnin’ much of a driving business, then. How’re you ever going to make a dollar if you’re such a slowpoke?”

He bantered back in kind, talking cheerfully with her until he pulled up to the beauty salon. He turned and looked at her, frowning his disapproval. “What’re you thinkin’ of doing, Annie?”

“Oh, you’ll see.” With that, she opened the door. “I’ll call from here when it’s time for you to come get me.”

He was plainly concerned. “Bye for now,” she said, her heart pounding as she waved and headed into the shop.

Sam leaned forward at the restaurant where Ben had gone to meet him for lunch. “What do you mean you want

280 to return to the life you missed?”

“I want to give my life back.” To my family who lost me, Ben mentally added.

“It would be a huge adjustment.”

“And I can’t imagine it,” said Ben. “But I can’t let it go all the same.”

Sam mentioned the dawn-to-dusk hard work, giving up a car for a horse and buggy, wearing homemade clothing … all the things that would be required of Ben should he choose to become Plain. “Unless, of course, you were to join up with the Mennonites. Most of them drive cars.” Sam wore a mischievous grin. “I’d say keep that nice car of yours, ain’t?”

“Well, I was born into an Amish family… .” Ben hadn’t said it aloud before, and the declaration sounded foreign to his ears. He wondered what the implications might be for his adoptive family how they would react and whether it might ultimately hurt them and himself, as well.

But he was curious to know more. “The language barrier what about that?”

Sam shook his head. “I think you could learn to speak fluent Dutch pretty quickly, Ben.”

“It’s funny, I still remember some words and phrases … and I understand more than I can speak.”

“Not surprising, really,” Sam replied. “It was your first language.”

Ben asked if Sam would be willing to coach him, and Sam chuckled.

“I’ll trade you. You teach me how to drive a car, and I’ll teach you Dutch.”

281 “Thanks,” Ben said, laughing.

Sam leaned forward. “Uh, just a suggestion, Ben. You’ll be wantin’ to quit saying thanks so awful much.” Sam explained that the use of thanks was looked on as suspect and wasn’t part of daily Amish conversation. “You can show your gratitude in other ways. But we say it less … and show it more.”

Ben smiled. “You just referred to yourself as one of the People.”

Sam laughed, nodding his head. “I s’pose once Amish always Amish. I’ve heard that repeatedly from folk who leave the community. You can’t take the Plain out of a person. It’s next to impossible.”

“So what are you going to do about clothes and cars and such, here on the outside?” Ben asked.

“Oh, I’ll look and try to act English, but inside, I’ll know. I’ll always know who I am.” Sam looked solemn. “I daresay, you had better have a good reason to leave your modern life behind. But you, and only you, must count the cost on that.”

“I’ll miss my car, no question. My cell phone, too.” Ben found their talk fascinating, especially since Sam was on the way out. “What about my family back in Kentucky? Would I be allowed to stay in contact with them?”

“I don’t see why not.”

“Ever think of letting Louisa know you’ve gone fancy?” Ben asked.

Sam lit up. “Oh, I wrote her, all right. Just heard back from her, too.”

The fact that Sam didn’t volunteer more about Louisa made him wonder.

282 Surrounded by bright lights and electric gadgets, Annie stared into the wide mirror, feeling guilty as all get out and tempted to flee. She watched as the stylist divided her long hair into several lengthy ponytails, then lopped them off, one by one. I can’t turn back now… .

She hoped against hope that Ben would appreciate her new look. No, she was holding her breath that he would understand what she was going through to become the modern young woman he could wholeheartedly embrace as his

own beloved wife.

After the stylist finished cutting, she used a blow dryer on Annie’s now barely shoulder-length hair. Will Lou be surprised I actually did it? she wondered.

She knew she would have no time to run to the neighbors’ phone later today or to sit down and write to her pen pal. Truth was, she wanted to look extra pretty for her dinner date with Ben tonight. She had even purchased a light pink lipgloss and a compact of pressed powder to take away the everlasting shine on her nose.

Once her hair was fluffed and swinging free when she moved her head, Annie received payment for her hair and went to sit near the window to wait for Yonie to return for her The blond woman sitting nearby was thumbing through a magazine, and although Annie couldn’t see the cover completely, it looked to be a craft magazine.

Not wanting to be nosy, but unable to quiet her interest, Annie asked about the magazine, and the pretty woman spoke right up, obviously happy to chat with her. The woman said she enjoyed creating art from cloth patches and items like bottle caps, soup cans, and paper clips, all

283 arranged in an imaginative design. “It’s something like quilt making. All you need is a mental blueprint,” the blonde told her.

Annie couldn’t help but contemplate her own art and life. Did she have a plan? Julia called the Bible such a blueprint, and Annie was sure she ought to be following the Scriptures more closely, too. Why do I resist it so?