Abram's Daughters 01 The Covenant (8 page)

"Jonas says he wants to marry me someday," Leah had said with smiling eyes.

"Marry you?" Sadie had to snicker.

"I know, sounds silly. . . ."

"Sure does," and here she'd eyed Leah for a meddlesome moment. "You, at the ripe old age often, are secretly engaged to Jonas Mast?"

Leah had grinned at that, her face blushing shades of pink. "Jah, guess I am."

"You actually said you'd marry him?"

"I can't imagine loving any other boy this side of heaven," Leah had declared, her big hazel-gold eyes lighting up yet again at the mention of the Mast boy.

"Puh!" Sadie had exploded. But now she could certainly understand such romantic feeling. Back then she'd laughed out loud more than once at Leah's immaturity, so green her sister was! How could you possibly know who you wanted to spend the rest of your life with when you weren't even a woman yet? Such a big difference there was between herself and her spunky younger sister. There was not much, if anything, that could prompt Leah to ever think of straying from the fold.

Outside, she found Leah in the tidy little garden shed close to where the martin birdhouse stood ever so high, next to Mamma's bed of pink and purple petunias and blue

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^fchwlur'n buttons. Near the tallest maple in the yard, where

H^I'lie tiro bench wrapped its white grape-and-vine motif

Hii<>:| thr hnse of the trunk. "Hullo," she called as she

H| tchnl t he entrance so as not to startle her sister. She

hi hi'l risk getting off on the wrong foot for this conversa-

Hr''

Hi i . till I timed only slightly, her fingers deep in potting soil.

Htajto luivo a gut nap?"

^^^Hlc nodded, bleary-eyed.

^^^whul brings you out here?"

^^^Hlr Housed a chuckle in Leah's voice. "Just thought we

^^^ghiit, maybe. That's all," she replied.

^^^mlillng almost knowingly, Leah smiled again. "Half

^^Htnl you."

^^^Huli'i remark made it easy for Sadie to push ahead. "I

^^^Voii've kept things quiet, ya know, the way I asked you

H "I litvcn'l told a soul."

H I In? pressure in her shoulders and neck began to ebb H hh if Leah's words had opened a tap in her, unlocking

0 ."nor ,screnity.~"Not to anyone, then?"

i Ini Aunt Lizzie; not Dat and Mamma neither." iilit- was ever so glad. Knowing Leah as she did, she'd h ' have to trust that the name Derry would forever be Im ml of all family conversations from here on out. The Li billing.

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'i1 Hlld Fannie Mast, walking arm in arm, strolled out to nil of them as Leah, her mamma and aunt, and sisters i 'i,l out of the carriage. "Willkumm Familye!" came the | iiU greeting. It was nearly one o'clock in the afternoon I they arrived; the blazing sun beat down, making all of I it hit droopy, though the Sunday ride had been only a

in! I it Ml I' long.

I I'iiuin and his seven brothers and sisters spilled out of the ll> I it'n door into the backyard. Anna, Rebekah, Katie, and l-"ilui Mast gathered round Sadie, Leah, and the twins, li"' I'-rlntf in Pennsylvania Dutch, while Jonas, Eli, Isaac, and lilt' Jrivmiah Mast hung back a bit, arms conspicuously ililiul I heir backs, merely smiling.

I I 'ill unhitched the tired horse and led him up to the barn |< I" wnlered, and Peter quickly turned and headed in that

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"Our mamma must want some quiet talk with your mamma and aunt," whispered Anna to Sadie. Leah had overheard and wondered what that was about.

"Might be cooler outside in the shade, anyways," Sadie replied. "Might catch an occasional breeze, ya know."

Leah didn't have to be coaxed. Far as she was concerned, it would be ever so nice to sit and chat with Cousin Fannie's

children outdoors, though most of them were either in their teens or nearly twenty, so they were closer to being grownups than kids. Still, she hoped for an opportunity to speak with Jonas again after such a long time.

Before they left the kitchen for the backyard, Hannah passed round newly embroidered handkerchiefs to Cousin Fannie and each of her daughters. "Well, now, what a nice thing to do," said Fannie.

"Denki thank you," Anna, Rebekah, Katie, and Martha said in unison.

Mamma's face was wrapped with a smile. "Hannah just loves to surprise folk with her handmade things."

" 'Tis better to give than to receive," Mary Ruth said, leaning her head on her twin's shoulder, and the twosome seemed to tilt toward each other like two birdlings in a nest.

Aunt Lizzie nodded in full agreement. Then, in spite of the white-hot air, they carried their iced-tea glasses outside, finding ample shelter beneath the towering tree in the far corner of the yard. Jonas and his younger brothers, including three-year-old Jeremiah, sat cross-legged in a jumble, off to themselves a bit but within earshot of the girls. Sadie ami Anna sat together, leaving Leah, Hannah, Mary Ruth, and the four Mast girls to sit in a circle nearby.

"Won't be long and we'll all be goin' to Sunday singings,"

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Iflwkuht <-7^s shining with expectation. "Now, ain't that

||h nodded. "How many are in your buddy group?" She I llic i|iicslion of Rebekah, forgetting she was only fif-

th i mil in nny group just yet," Rebekah said, grinning.

I In unkin' Anna 'bout such things. Or Jonas, maybe. lfi> in Ningings all the time."

I'ihim^ her name, Anna turned round, as did Sadie. It illdjn say?" Anna asked, dark, loose strands of hair Itl^ below her prayer cap at her neck. She looked almost UHM |o I"1*-* thinking of marriage this fall. I'Ih-I'mIi wasn't shy and said quickly, "Leah just wanted

11iv I iow many youth go to the singings in our church

I'

li'K' llian I can count, it seems" came Anna's reply.

1>> >[) growin' all the time."

Inv Sudie was talking. "And you've got yourself a beau,

In brought a round of muffled laughter among the girls.

I1 mi Iced the boys leaning back in the grass, chortling Ik Imrd. All except Jonas. He was staring right back at li"i inning his head just now, as if he was trying to get lli'iitlon . . . that he wanted her to go walking with him. IhiH it? Or was he shooing a fly away from his sunburned Hi he didn't think she ought to be looking back at him ill, no. Rut she couldn't help it, really. And, jah, he was telli)4 To her with his head. Of course, now, none of the deemed to notice, so caught up in the mirth of the

111 they were.

Wniina wouldn't approve, not one bit, of Leah going off

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with Jonas by herself. It wasn't the time to be pairing off. Socializing was done at singings, where the church elders expected young folk to spend time talking, singing, and getting acquainted with each other boys with girls after sundown in one of the church member's barns. Not here, in broad daylight, with the family gathered round, and now Dat and Cousin Peter meandering back from the barn, talking slow in Amish, the way the menfolk often did, walking right past them, across the broad green lawn toward the big white farmhouse.

When Leah glanced over at Jonas again, he was busy with little Jeremiah; then he was talking to his brothers. She heard him say they should all play a game of volleyball ... a quiet game, with no raising of voices, since it was the Lord's Day. The rest agreed, even though it was unbearably hot. Right there they divided up teams, under the dappled shade of the willow, and Leah wasn't surprised to be chosen on the side with Jonas, Eli, and their sister, eight-year-old Martha, along with Hannah and Mary Ruth.

"Six players on one side, five on the other. Allrecht all right?" Jonas asked, and everyone nodded in agreement. "We'll play in the side yard." Smiling, he led his little brother up the back steps and into the house.

"Jeremiah must be tired," Anna remarked.

"Jah, it's time for his nap," Katie said.

Leah thought it was awful kind of Jonas, the oldest, to take time out for the youngest. He'll make a wonderful'gut father someday, she decided.

On the way round the house, past the well pump to the side yard, Leah hung back, walking alone. Because of thai, she happened to overhear Rebekah ask Mary Ruth, "Would

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hi I your sislcrs like to come over and help sew up the

1^i|inh planned for Anna?"

pullc, Hannah, and I might," Mary Ruth replied. "But

ll'iHllit on Leah comin'. She doesn't work on quilts,

If tin much sewin' at all, really."

I look cif surprise on Rebekah's face amused Leah. "Are

Wl1 Lenh never quilts?"

'y Rulh lowered her voice, but Leah considered her

If nil I Ik- same. "Nee no . . . Leah works outside with

I'l 'in(4 men's work?"

I mi iUtin't know?" Mary Ruth asked.

Ihrkuh shook her head.

F* not like she gets callused hands she doesn't. And

Hever lifts anything heavy. She's not built at all like a

hit know. She just helps wherever she can, alongside

I keepin' him company. That's the way it's always

llwuys?"

h," said Mary Ruth.

lu'kuh snid~Lio more, and Leah was truly glad. She felt

11111 having listened in. She rather wished she'd walked

ml, up with Anna, Sadie, and Hannah, and resisted the

K) eavesdrop. Truth be told, she felt pained stung,

I Rchekah's startled reaction to her working with Dat

HUM' feel less of a woman somehow. Caused her to think

||lIn thai she was of less worth because she lent Dat a

BJVMcikI of helping Mamma with women's work. At least

kekah Mast's eyes, she was.

illy did she care what Rebekah, or anyone else, thought?

Bn'l heen her idea not in the first place to choose

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outdoor work over the chores Mamma and her sisters did. Il wasn't that she couldn't cook or bake or clean house. She could easily do so, if need be. Yet, after all these years, she felt she didn't fit in at quilting frolics or canning bees. Sure, she enjoyed making apple butter or things like weeding the vegetable and flower gardens and helping Mamma with potted plants. There had been no question in her mind whether or not to consider changing ranks, so to speak. At least no( till just now this minute listening to her sister and cousin discussing her place in life.

Still walking shoulder to shoulder with Mary Ruth, Rebekah spoke up suddenly. "I think Leah's right perty, don'l you?"

Mary Ruth shrugged her shoulders. "Guess I never thought of her thataway."

"Well, she is," Rebekah insisted. "And I wouldn't be a bit surprised if more than one boy takes a likin' to her once she starts goin' to singings. You just wait 'n' see."

"Maybe so," Mary Ruth said softly.

Leah veered off to the right, making a beeline for the side yard, where the volleyball net was already set up and ready for play.

She preferred that neither Mary Ruth nor Rebekah know she had heard every word they'd said. What Jonas thought of her was all that really mattered. Did he find her attractive now, after all these years?

The volleyball game was not so much competitive as enjoyed for the fun of it. That, and for one another's corn-

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fy, Liwh wns especially pleased that Jonas kept setting up

I Nrtll for Ikt to tap over the net. In fact, she found it curi-

| JMftt how many times that happened during the course of

'U'fnnon. She had tried not to let Jonas distract her from

I well. For the sake of her teammates, she attempted to

mI* the flutterings in her stomach, tried to ignore them

|tvi feelings wouldn't show on her face, where just anybody

gill hol'lce how much she cared for Jonas Mast.

|LA| whn ever so glad to have a peaceful yet short visit with ^Bf drinking ice-cold spiced tea with Lizzie, too, catching ^|thlt\Ks here on Grasshopper Level. Abram and Peter Bu since wandered into the front room, settling into a ^MVii Hcrene dialogue voices subdued man to man. ^njrht> yu noticed all the celery we planted," Fannie said ^Hfuning her chubby elbows on the trestle table. Hlii'l say that I looked, really, but 'spose you're thinking ^Bryln' your daughter come November, jah?" She pre^Hfu ii to be nosy over family matters, but Fannie had ^Hrrii vague about things such as this. ^Ur Anna's otir bride-to-be, all right." ^M'U'i the girls and I will be glad to help with whatever ^H(l lor the wedding day," Ida offered. When her own ^HfiN became marrying age, the favor would be returned. ^Vnn't be too much longer and we'll both be grand^Hfi, I 'spect." Fannie sighed as she fanned herself with ^WV handkerchief from Hannah. <

^VhtU a joyful day that'll be." ^Hpw 'bout your Sadie . . . has she caught a young man's

^| (llnchcd a little, though she hoped Fannie hadn't

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noticed. She didn't know what to say to that, really. Ami Lizzie was keeping quiet too quiet, maybe. Seemed it wasn'i anybody's business that Sadie was spending far too much time outside the house come nightfall, two . . . sometimes three nights a week. She wasn't about to share that with Fannie, whose children hadn't given them a speck of trouble during their teen years. Not yet, anyways.

"Back when she turned sixteen, Sadie started goin' to singings, and she seemed to enjoy it for a time. Here lately she hasn't been going." Ida wished she might turn the topir of conversation to something else completely, talk of other relatives or recipes, anything at all.

"Well, why do you 'spose that is?" came Fannie's nexi question.

Lizzie rose and went to the back door, looking out.

Ida shook her head. "Can't always put much stock in some of the young people. You know how it is before they join church. They want to have their fun."

Some of the young people . . .

Why on earth had she clumped Sadie in with so many others thataway? Fannie would surely guess that something was amiss after all, her cousin's wife wasn't so thickheaded. She was a bright woman, a few years younger than Ida, who'd seen her share of trouble amongst the young folk in the aren during rumschpringe. Just probably hadn't bumped into any of her own daughters sneaking into the kitchen door in the middle of the night, carrying their fun much too far.