The Winnowing Season (3 page)

All those details aside, the farm had been purchased, and the Kings and the Bylers were depending on her and Samuel’s expertise to make a go of the new apple orchard. She and Samuel had a lot to safeguard, and the work of restoring the orchard hadn’t yet begun. Not really.

“Fine, you want me to shut up. You have it.” She turned and started to walk off. “Oh.” She faced him. “And you can go to that meeting tonight with the church leaders by
yourself
.”

“Be reasonable.” He jerked the black felt hat off his head and threw it across the field. “Without you, the ministers will cancel the meeting. But they’ll
hold me accountable if you don’t go. It could cause enough scandal to make
my
church leaders question whether any of us can go tomorrow.”

“Shoulda thought about that before you stuck your nose into
my
business.”

“Okay, look, we’re both beyond weary at this point. We’ve been pushing too hard and trying to accomplish too much before leaving tomorrow, and I know this meeting couldn’t happen at a worse time, but you don’t have a choice about attending.”

“
Ya?
Well, then, you should’ve thought about that too. Decisions that affect other people’s lives aren’t so easy to disregard when those decisions start messing with your life, are they?” She raised her eyebrows, daring him to argue.

“It’s inconvenient, and it won’t be easy, but Rueben needs to be confronted. The train tickets are for seven in the morning, and—”

“Would you please stop repeating what I already know and admit you were wrong? Just say the words ‘I shouldn’t have contacted the church leaders. Forgive me.’ ”

“Why do you have to see me as wrong in this?”

“A much better question is why would you dare to believe you knew what was right about the destruction of
my
fruit garden!”

A horse and rider thundered over the hill and came to a quick stop. Jacob glanced from Samuel to Rhoda. “A few minutes ago I was unsure where to find you two—until I heard yelling.” He stared at his brother for a moment, then he winked at Rhoda and slid off his horse.

She couldn’t manage a smile.

Jacob picked up Samuel’s hat and held it out to him. “Thirty acres of orchard to search for you two, and the sound of arguing guided me here. Can’t say I’m pleased.”

Rhoda had never heard an edge to Jacob’s tone before, but as he held his brother’s gaze, it was clear Jacob was correcting Samuel. Jacob slapped the reins against the palm of his hand. “Daed says you’re needed in the office immediately. He says something is up that could hinder us from even boarding the train tomorrow.” Jacob shrugged. “He didn’t elaborate. He insisted I stop
updating the bookkeeping and rushed me out the door to find you. What could possibly be going on that might cause that big a problem?”

Samuel angrily knocked the dust off the brim of his hat. “Nothing that a
reasonable
woman couldn’t fix.”

If this man understood anything, he would stop antagonizing her before she resigned from Kings’ Orchard. She glared at him. “There would be nothing for this woman to fix if you’d respected my decisions concerning
my
life.”

He opened his mouth to speak, but she held up her hand, silencing him. “I will not go to Maine and work beside someone who will be the head authority over the business but has no respect concerning my decisions as well as my boundaries.”

Samuel’s face filled with disbelief. “Are you threatening me?”

“Okay, guys.” Jacob pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and waved it between them. He let it dangle and gawked at the red fabric. “Just what I
don’t
want to do—wave a red flag between two bulls.” He made a face. “I thought it was white. Just pretend it is.” He waved it again. “ ’Cause I’m calling a truce.”

It wasn’t like Jacob to get between her and Samuel when they disagreed, but he seemed to realize that what was happening went way beyond two people having a difference of opinion.

“Here.” Jacob shoved the horse’s reins at Samuel, despite the Morgan being twenty or so feet away. “Go. Whatever has you two riled, you both need some time to cool off.”

Rhoda shook her head. “I’m not changing my mind. This isn’t about being angry. I stand on principle.”

“What do you think I’m standing on, Rhoda?”

Jacob thrust the reins toward Samuel again. “Quicksand, the best I can tell. Go.”

Rhoda took a deep breath. “All I want is a sincere acknowledgment that you were wrong to go behind my back.”

“I’m not apologizing, and it’d be nice if you’d be a little grateful that I went out of my way to see that justice was done.”

“Grateful?” He had opened up her life to an authority that, at best, treated her with suspicion. She wasn’t going to tell Samuel that. It was embarrassing. Besides, if he had never seen a church authority treat someone unfairly, he would assume her concerns were only in her mind.

She hated feeling trapped and vulnerable, but what made it unbearable was that Samuel had no remorse for putting her in this spot. The earlier temptation to knock him off the ladder paled in comparison to what she felt now: a searing desire to end her working relationship with Samuel King.

Samuel looked at Jacob, motioning toward Rhoda. “You talk to her. I have work to do.” He started to walk off.

“Samuel,”—Rhoda fisted her hands at her sides—“you’re sure you want to be this stubborn?”

“Not an ounce of doubt.”

“Fine.”

“Samuel!” Jacob stepped in front of his brother and angled away from Rhoda. “This is going too far. Reel it back in.”

He shook his head. “I did what I thought was right, and I’m not apologizing for it.”

Rhoda drew a deep breath and held out her hand.

Samuel frowned. “What are you doing?”

“We’re parting now. You and Rueben have each gotten your way, and I’m done with both of you.”

Confusion and disbelief drew taut lines across his face. “You can’t possibly put what I did in the same category as what he did.”

“I don’t have to. Life isn’t that black and white. He ran roughshod over God’s will in order to damage my life. You did the same, but the will you ignored was mine. The fact that you can’t see what you did was wrong tells me we can’t continue.” She stepped forward, extending her hand again.

Samuel glanced at Jacob, raw emotions washing over his features. And then he shook her hand.

TWO

Jacob peered down at Rhoda. She stared at her hand, the one Samuel had shaken before departing. The October wind ruffled her dress and the strings to her prayer
Kapp
but nothing like what his brother had done to her emotions. Jacob didn’t know what the argument was about, but he knew why it’d gotten out of control—two people who rarely saw eye to eye on anything were dealing with massive pressure and sheer exhaustion.

Was she truly furious with Samuel? Absolutely. Did she have a right to be that angry? He was sure of it, even without knowing what they had argued over. But her willingness to sever ties with Kings’ Orchard surely had less to do with her anger and more to do with fatigue and stress.

Jacob dipped his head, catching her intense stare. “Hi.”

She blinked, and then her beautiful blue eyes focused on his, a trace of calmness returning to her. “I’m not backing down.”

“Then how about if you move forward?” He put his hands on her shoulders and gently nudged her toward him.

She hesitated for a moment before stepping into his embrace. “He drives me crazy, not seeing when he’s wrong.”

“I know.” Jacob could feel her trembling as he rested his cheek against her head.

The weight of getting this orchard into good shape before moving had rested mostly on Samuel’s and Rhoda’s shoulders, as did the success of starting the new settlement several states away. Their horticultural skills were supposed to be the foundation of the new Amish community.

After Landon had brought him the information about the abandoned
orchard in Maine, Jacob had pushed and cajoled the group into buying the foreclosed farm. While Samuel was still under sedation from a leg injury, due to the tornado, Jacob came up with a plan to encourage Samuel and Rhoda—a new orchard in a different state. Jacob didn’t regret talking them into the idea, but he’d been shortsighted, not realizing the stress that would place on the two of them.

The upside was Samuel’s new strategy meant that Jacob would also go to Maine. So once they moved, he would be able to devote his days to helping both of them.

“Rhodes.” He wasn’t sure what to say, but she and Samuel had to resolve their differences. Today. “This incident reminds me of the time I saw a young man pushing a baby stroller with a crying infant inside. The man quietly muttered, ‘Calm down, George. It’s okay. Don’t scream, George.’ As I passed him, I wanted to be encouraging, so I said, ‘You’re really patient with your son George.’ The man answered, ‘I’m George!’ ”

She backed away just enough to see him, a hint of a smile in her eyes. “So one of the characters is Samuel and one is me. Who’s the baby?”

“Uh, well, let’s see.” He shrugged. “I say you get to be whichever one you wish.”

She wagged her finger in his face, her anger draining away. “You just want to make nice.”

He eased her finger to his lips and kissed it. “I witnessed what arguing with you does, and I am no fool.”

She shook her head. “He doesn’t understand what he’s done.”

“What
has
he done?”

She pulled away. “He turned in a report to my church leaders about Rueben vandalizing my garden, and now I have to attend a meeting—an open meeting—to answer their questions.”

Open? Why?
Usually those types of meetings were held privately between the church leaders and the person being questioned, although sometimes they included family members. Even the private meetings could be embarrassing for
the person being questioned, but they weren’t anything to fear unless someone had broken the
Ordnung
. Had Rhoda done that? If so, he was sure it’d been unintentional. She believed wholeheartedly in the Amish ways. “What about it has you worried?”

“It’ll stir even more fear and speculation about me.”

People’s reactions to Rhoda were rarely neutral. From what he could see, they either loved her or feared her. Most did the latter. Some of her ways even rattled him at times—like the day the sky was clearing from the storm, and yet she knew his parents’ home was about to be destroyed. But she kept her forewarnings hidden from others, didn’t she? “How much does your community know?”

“They
know
very little. They
suspect
plenty.” She picked up part of the branch Samuel had cut and cradled it gently in her hands. “Before I was old enough to know to bridle my tongue about forewarnings, I stirred controversy and fear within my district. It seemed that no matter how much I tried to put people at ease and hide who I was, I made matters worse. And throughout my life the bishop has waffled between trying to do what is right by me and fearing I’m evil.”

Jacob knew her heart, but at times he was concerned that she would pick up on his past before he was ready to tell her. He could see where she would freak others out. “Maybe we can come up with something you could say that would change his mind.”

“Nothing can undo the years of tangled weeds that have taken over his thinking. For him, it began before I turned five, when my Daed went to him for advice about me knowing an
Englisch
neighbor was abusing her child. That was my bishop’s first experience with me, but definitely not the worst.”

She walked farther into the orchard, and Jacob strolled beside her, wishing he had some answers, any answers.

Rhoda turned the stick in her hands round and round. “His wife was pregnant with their sixth child, and one day, while standing near her, I saw her dress move and realized it was the baby kicking. So I reached up and put the
palm of my hand against her stomach. She didn’t like it and immediately removed my hand, scolding me. When her child was stillborn a few weeks later, the incident of touching her belly stuck out in her mind.”

“They can’t possibly blame you for the death of the child.”

“
Blame
would be too strong a word, but it deepened their suspicions and fears. Then every so often I’d do something that added to the rumors and ill will. The saddest part to me is what little I do receive must be of God. And I try to squelch the gift at every turn. Even from the time I was a child, I’ve focused on taking every thought captive, like Corinthians says to. I’ve never used my knowledge for profit. I’ve never felt superior because of it—just the opposite. How could I try any harder to be sure each insight is a godly
knowing
?”

“Easy, Rhodes.” He put his arm around her shoulders. “You don’t have to convince me. There is no one I trust to handle more carefully what God has given them.”

She gazed into his eyes for several moments.
“Denki.”

“Gern gschehne.”
He smiled and squeezed her shoulder gently before removing his hand. “But the bishop had his chance to question you when you were going through the steps to join the faith.”

“Ya. He asked, and I answered. To his credit, he never mentioned his stillborn child. He wanted to know if I dabbled in witchcraft and such, and my answers satisfied him that I didn’t. But that was seven years ago. He was a different man then—more determined to be fair, less jaded and fearful. Since that time, Rueben’s been dogging my trail, keeping notes about my activities, twisting the truth, letting his imagination go wild, and then taking it to the church leaders.”

She was going to walk into a room of mostly good Amish people who had been filled with two decades of rumors about her. He had no doubt that prejudice and hostility had grown strong over time.

“Any ideas why Rueben’s so set against you?”

“We grew up in the same district and attended the same one-room schoolhouse. He never liked me. But the breaking point came last winter. We were at
an Amish gathering, and he was making fun of me in front of his friends. Something was said about his girlfriend, and I saw guilt flash across his face. I realized he was cheating on her, so I twisted his words and confused him until he basically confessed. He believed I knew what he did because of witchcraft, and he was out for vengeance ever since. When he destroyed my garden, I just wanted to deal with it in my own way. And I could have, if Samuel had minded his own business.”