Abram's Daughters: The Betrayal Part 7

ly J2e jittery. Was this how it felt to be falling in love? She hoped not, because she absolutely must dismiss her feelings for Elias.

Her thoughts turned to the singing in the barn after nightfall. Of course she wasn't free to go. At just fourteen she longed to be older an adult, to be sure. But she was too young for the true freedom she longed for and too old to be treated like a girl with hardly a care in the world. For truth, in spite of seeing Elias just now, she wasn't too sure she'd ever be happy living.amongst the People forever, being treated the way the menfolk seemed to manage the womenfolk under the thumb, so to speak.

Lately, though, she'd observed one woman whom she wouldn't mind imitating at all. Aunt Lizzie. Her aunt had a lip that wouldn't quit, and Mary Ruth knew it firsthand because she'd heard Lizzie talking mighty straight to Mamma just last night. "I'm telling you, time's running out for Abram," Lizzie said. "Put that in your work ap.r.o.n and mull it over, Ida. I'm fed up with him muzzling the ox." And with that Mary Ruth had darted back into the front room, hiding behind the doorjamb, changing her mind about heading straight for the kitchen. It wouldn't be wise to barge into such a squall.

For tonight she and Hannah would simply sit out on the back lawn, listening to the courting-age young people sing their "fast" songs, having themselves a good time.

Sadie wouldn't be going, either, not the way she'd kept herself away from the meeting today. No, Dat would see to it Sadie was nowhere near the barn singing. As for Leah, being engaged to Jonas would keep her away unless Adah Peachey or Naomi Kauffman talked her into going with them. Jah, 97tJeirayal tonight would be an interesting sight, with more than likely not a single one of Abram's daughters showing up at their own singing.

Dawdi John was a bit sluggish, but sharp as a nail. Tonight he wore his white "for good" shirt, tan suspenders, and black broadfall trousers, same as he'd worn all day. Because of the exceptionally warm evening, no coat was needed, and he'd left his black bowtie in his dresser drawer. His weak eyes, when he removed his gla.s.ses, were somewhat pained as he sat on a folding chair next to his granddaughters in the backyard.

"Nice to hear the young people lift their voices in song, ain't?" Leah was quick to say. Ever since she'd known of his hip problems, she'd gone out of her way to show extra kindness to Dawdi.

"They sing as heartily as the youth did back when I was a lad." He nodded, smiling.

Hannah and Mary Ruth were caught up in their own talk, sprawled out on a large green quilt, frayed round the edges. As for Sadie, she had been sent upstairs following the cornmon meal to contemplate her irreverent behavior this morning. Dat had ordered her off to the hot and stuffy bedroom, called after her that she was "never, ever to feign sickness on the Lord's Day again!" and she was not allowed to leave the premises for a full week.

Leah couldn't blame Dat, really. Sadie had it coming, plain to see although Mamma had actually winced when

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Dat raised his voice. Even Hannah and Mary Ruth had put their heads down, squinting to beat the band. But Leah knew the punishment had come forth in such a fiery way due only to continual problems. Before supper tonight Sadie had refused to hold Lydiann, though their baby sister was as sweet as pudding. She wouldn't budge even when Mamma spoke directly to her. "Take your baby sister for me, please."

Sadie had actually backed away when Mamma held Lydiann out to her, shocking all of them. Mary Ruth came to Mamma's rescue, taking Lydiann in her own arms, and Sadie made a beeline to the back door, sobbing as she ran.

Leah, chagrined, had been sent out to fetch her sister, ordered to do so by Mamma, then Dat... then both her parents in chorus.

She hoped and prayed often that Sadie might snap out of her cantankerous mood. Unknowingly, Dat and Mamma were being pulled into the thick of it. Won't Mamma, at least,put two and two together if Sadie keeps behaving in such a questionablemanner? she had wondered.

Just now she saw Adah Peachey running through the cornfield. Leah waved to her, noticing Gid was nowhere in sight.

"Won't ya come along with me?" Adah called to her.

"I'm keepin' Dawdi company," Leah replied.

"Aw, please come?"

Leah, wanting ever so much to accompany Adah, turned to ask Dawdi, "Will you be all right here for a bit?"

"Sure, go on, Leah. I'm just fine. Besides, Hannah and Mary Ruth will look after me, won'tcha, girls?"

The twins nodded, and Leah rose to meet Adah. Mary99lOelrayat I v 11 (K hopped up from the quilt to claim Leah's vacant folding ( luiir. "Have yourself a nice time," Mary Ruth said, plopping herself down.

Hurrying off with Adah, Leah realized suddenly that she hadn't bothered to dress for the singing, since she hadn't planned to attend. For sure and for certain, she would not impress any of the young men in attendance. No need to when she was engaged to marry Jonas in a few months. Adah, mi the other hand, had combed her hair, taking care to wash lu-r face, Leah noticed, because it was shiny from the scrubbing. "What're you thinking?" Leah asked as they stood in the piping opening to the barn, peering in.

"Just that it's time you had yourself a bit of fun."

"Oh, I'm okay, really I am."

"You don't convince me." Adah smiled thoughtfully. "You look worried most of the time."

"I do?"

"Honestly, I've been wonderin' if you have second thoughts 'bout Jonas."

"What makes you think that?"

to, Adah fell silent suddenly as, one after another, the young lolk made their way into the barn.

Leah waited for her friend to respond, but when she didn't, Leah added, "If I didn't know better, Adah, I'd think maybe it was you who's worried."

That got Adah talking again. "Whatever for?"

"I daresay you don't like the idea of us not bein' sisters-inlaw, for one thing." As soon as Leah said it, she knew she'd been needlessly insensitive.

"Well, jah, 'tis ever so true. ..."

100.

'ly eu? i $ Leah was deeply sorry. "What I meant to say was "

"No ... no, you should never have said such an unkind thing."

Beyond doubt she hated what had just happened; she'd had no intention of exchanging sarcastic words with her dearest friend. "I'm sorry, Adah, honest I am. I don't know what got into me."

"Well, I 'spect I do." Adah breathed in ever so deeply. "I think you're upset at Sadie. Naomi Kauffman told me the most revoltin' story the other day."

"You know I don't care to hear gossip," Leah replied.

"Ain't hearsay. Naomi says she knows what she's talkin' 'bout."

Leah panicked. Naomi probably did know something she oughtn't to be telling. Things concerning Sadie and their Friday-night adventures in the English world. "Is this so necessary to say?" she asked softly.

"Come with me." Adah led her away from the barn, up toward the mule road. "I'm not happy to be the one to tell you this, but..." She paused then, still walking hard. "I think you might already suspect as much. Could be the reason you're on edge."

"What's so important we have to walk clear away from the barn?"

"Your sister, that's what. Sadie took her baptism last year with an impure heart. If Bishop Bontrager knew of it, well, she'd be shunned for certain at least the temporary Bann."

The words sprang to life in Leah, smarting her eyes. "Impure?" .... , "Sadie had herself an English boyfriend." .-.;. ; ,, v , 101Id el r a y at . "I don't like what you're sayin'." She had to speak up. She couldn't just go along with Adah, yet she didn't want to let on she already knew.

"I'm only tellin' you in hopes you can talk sense to Sadie. Help her see the light before Naomi goes to Preacher with this."

Leah's heart sank. "What do you want me to do?"

"Talk openly, sister to sister. Let her know what Naomi's threatenin' to do."

Leah sighed loudly. "What if Sadie won't cooperate?"

"Just try, Leah. For the sake of your family ... and to spare Sadie eternal punishment."

Leah looked now at Adah. She began to wonder if Adah wasn't actually relieved her precious brother was not roman' tically connected to the Ebersol family.

High above them, in trees silhouetted against a dark sky, whippoorwills called from unseen branches, and Leah felt sud' den despair. The thing she had greatly feared had come to pa.s.s. Sadie had been found out. Just how much Naomi knew, she had no idea. But she intended to worm it out of her.

In a few minutes' time, she and Adah had walked all the way to the brink of the forest. Without speaking, they turned and stood there, looking down over the Ebersol Cottage, as Leah liked to call her father's house. In the near distance she spotted a single upstairs window aglow Sadie's and her bed' room where her bold and surly sister sat alone contemplating her Lord's Day misbehavior.

Meanwhile, their two-story bank barn was alive with light and music. Lightning bugs blinked yellow-white sparkles here and there over the field and beyond to the Peachey farm, 102.

Lu jQe making Leah think sadly of Smithy Gid. What a good thing he'd stayed at home and let his sister go it alone to singing this night. Indeed.

"Won'tcha come to the singing with me, please?" Adah asked.

"I'm not dressed for it," she said.

Adah looked her over, brushing Leah's ap.r.o.n off. "There, now."

Her dear friend's pleading eyes tugged at her heart. "S'pose I could go with you, but only for a little bit."

"Wonderful'gut!" Adah's face lit up and she reached for Leah's hand, and the two of them went running down the mule road toward the barn.

Gid caught himself breaking into a full grin, having just now spotted Leah Ebersol and his sister Adah come strolling into the barn, hand in hand. And just when he was starting to wish he'd stayed home to frisk with his new litter of German shepherd puppies. Soon he would be advertising again by word of mouth the way he liked to, since it took nothing away from his growing savings account letting folks know his full-bred pups were weaned and ready to purchase. His father had mentioned not two days before that he was well pleased with the amount of money Gid had saved over the past few years, thanks to the thriving side business. Gid would have liked to be looking to marry before too long, though the girl he really wanted to court was Abram's Leah, who was all caught up with a beau clear out in Ohio. Just what was Jonas Mast thinking, learning the carpentry trade? Gid wondered. But it wasn't his place to question. He knew 103lOetrayaL there had been talk amongst the brethren and this had come straight from his own pop that Bishop Bontrager didn't take too kindly to young men who chose to make their way by doing something other than farming. Working the soil was the expected way in the eyes of the People. Anything else was "mighty English." Besides, there was ample farmland in Lancaster County.

Gid slowed his pace, hoping to appear relaxed as he approached Leah and Adah, who were talking off by themselves. Not wanting to barge in he did and he didn't he hoped to make Leah feel comfortable with his presence. Yet what was she doing here, where the singing activities were meant for coupling up? Surely Leah and Jonas Mast were secretly engaged by now. But that was anyone's guess ... at least up until the second Sunday after fall communion, when the deacon named each couple in the district who planned to marry during the wedding season. After the publishing, Abram Ebersol would stand and invite everyone sixteen and older to the wedding, also announcing the day and month.

Gid had lor^g thought he might have some reason for staying away from church that day. Wouldn't think of putting on like he was ill, though. Although, if he thought on it long enough, he could be. But he would try to put on a smile for the Ebersols, no matter what inner turmoil he would battle that day. Because wedding or not, Abram and his family were mighty special in his book.

"Hullo, Leah ... and Adah." He stopped a few feet from them, forcing his gaze on his sister and away from Leah, who always seemed to draw his eyes to hers. How was it a girl could 103 104 e r I y X^ e iv i s wear her sweet spirit on her face? It had always been that way with Leah.

"Oh, Gid, you're here!" Adah said, letting go of Leah's hand and gripping his arm.

He felt his face flush red. "I decided to come over at the last minute."

Adah turned to Leah. "Same as you did, Leah," his sister declared, eyes sparkling.

"Oh, Adah ... for goodness' sake." Leah turned from Adah and looked at him, smiling pleasantly, not flirtatiously. "I came to keep your sister company, is all," she said.

" 'Twas my idea, for sure," Adah agreed.

"Well, I'm glad you're both here." Their talk quickly turned to King, Leah's dog, and it seemed she considered him a devoted pet.

"Dat likes having King round, too," Leah stated. "He's even said it might be nice to have one or two more dogs."

Adah brightened again. "Really?"

Leah was nodding. "Dat thinks havin' dogs on the prop' erty keeps outsiders honest."

"Not that he distrusts the English, I don't s'pose," Gid spoke up. He knew Abram well enough to know better.

Leah shrugged. "Dat sometimes worries over us girls ... be in' there's only one man to do the protectin'." She must have suddenly caught herself, realizing what she'd said, because she looked quickly at Adah and turned too rosy in the cheeks.

Gid stepped closer and found himself forming a circle with the two of them. He thought he smelled a hint of homemade soap probably Adah, who'd cleaned up right good for 105.

the evening. Still, there was a unique freshness about Leah, the way her eyes shone with joy, her surprising openness. She was as confident as any girl he knew; not shy at all, nor too frank like one of the girls here from the Gra.s.shopper Level area. He hadn't seen her, but some of the fellows had said Jonas Mast's s.p.u.n.ky sister Rebekah was in attendance, along with three other girls from that district. "Bold Becky" had shown up tonight to one of her first singings since she'd turned sixteen. He was careful not to concentrate too hard on Leah, dividing his attention between both her and Adah ... though it was mighty difficult.

P.

106m107 (_^ -^- - - -ps 4- & -t-I e-^nM< 1="" vjlonday="" morning="" after="" completing="" her="" milking="" duties,="" leah="" hurried="" off="" on="" foot="" to="" pay="" a="" visit="" to="" naomi="">

Arriving at Kauffmans' dairy farm, she hurried across the barnyard to the milk house. There she found Naomi looking mighty surprised to see her. "I hope you don't mind me comin' so early."

"Leah, what is it? Something happen over at your place?"

"Everything's just fine." She paused. "I have to talk to you." She werft on to share in whispered tones what Adah had confided last night. "I'm worried sick 'bout Sadie what might become of her if you ... well, if you go to Preacher before she has a chance to repent on her own."

"She's had plenty of time, wouldn't you say? Nearly a year's pa.s.sed since she started spendin' time with her worldly beau. And what's worse, she kept seein' him after she was bapI ized. I know she did 'cause Melvin Warner, Derry's English hiend, told me so. 'Course, now, I was wild, too, 'cept not ihinkin' on bein' baptized ... not till recently." Naomi took 108.

a deep breath. "I just don't understand how Sadie could tempt the Lord G.o.d thataway. And she never made things right with the church brethren, neither." Naomi looked at her with stony eyes. "Has she confessed these things to you?"

Leah couldn't lie ... not before G.o.d and her fellow baptismal candidate. "It's a touchy subject, the rumschpringe ... so private it is, you know."

"Which is why Dat's been talkin' to Preacher Yoder and others about doin' away with it. Goodness' sake, I nearly got myself in a fix. Sadie and I ... we went together clear up to Strasburg, seekin' out fancy fellas. We were narrisch crazy. Truly we were."

"You don't have to come clean to me, Naomi. You've repented to G.o.d and Preacher, as we all must."

"Then, will you urge Sadie to do the same? Plead with her to go to the brethren."

"Why, so you won't have to?"

"Ach no, but ain't it true if a person knows of sin and doesn't encourage the sinner to own up ... well then, they may be found to be just as guilty?"

Leah hated to think she, as well as Aunt Lizzie, was at fault right along with Sadie. Oh, they'd made futile attempts to get Sadie to express regret, pushing for her to at least tell Mamma what she'd done. Jointly and separately they'd done so, till they were blue in the face. But Leah couldn't reveal any of this to Naomi. It would never do to let her in on the fact that Leah had known all this for a long time.