Ella's Wish (10 page)

All around her were the signs of wedding preparations. The grass looked like it had been cut yesterday. A lighter spot in the yard showed where some farm implement had sat. The wood siding on the house looked scrubbed. Across the yard, the pole barn had been completely cleared of farm tools and swept clean. It sat empty now but would soon be filled with benches and tables, set up in long rows for the noon and evening wedding meals. For a brief moment, the unfulfilled plans for her own wedding to Aden stung at her heart, but she quickly dismissed the memory.

The screen door rattled in front of her, and her aunt Sharon opened the door.

“Ach, it’s you!” she exclaimed. “We were all busy upstairs, but Ronda did say she thought someone drove in.”

“I won’t be keepin’ you long, then,” Ella said. “Mamm mentioned that Ronda and Joe might need a place to live.”

“Come inside.” Sharon held the door open. “Yes, it did cross my mind, and I said something to your mamm. Ronda really thought the plan a workable idea when I asked her. It’s certainly much better than the one we have now. But we don’t want to be imposin’ on you. I know you just moved into the house and all.”

“I think it might work, and I need the income,” Ella said.

Sharon smiled. “Don’t we all.” She walked over to the stairs and called, “Ronda, Ella’s here.”

A quick patter of feet came down the steps, and Ronda appeared.

“Good morning!” she exclaimed. “I’m glad it’s you. I did so want to talk to you.”

“Sit down, then,” Sharon said, waving her hand and taking a seat herself. Wiping her brow, she continued, “Am I glad this is my last wedding. I’m gettin’ much too old for this.”

“I’m sorry,” Ronda said, moaning and laughing. “I do have to get married, though, and this seems the only way to do it. Do you know a better way, Mamm?”

“Of course not,” Sharon said. “I wouldn’t want it any other way. And you have been as good a girl…as the rest of them have.”

“Seven, right?” Ella asked and ran the count in her mind.

Sharon leaned back on her chair. “Seven girls and six boys, and I’m ready to let someone else do the work, I’d say. But we don’t want to keep you. So you think you could rent one floor of the house to Ronda and Joe till they can find a farm?”

“Joe thought he had found one,” Ronda added, “but the sale fell through. The man decided not to sell.”

“Ben will take over the farm here,” Sharon said, “since he’s the youngest boy.”

“I guess we could live upstairs or even in the basement,” Ronda said, wrinkling her brow.

“I guess you could call off the weddin’,” Sharon said with a straight face.

“No, we can’t!” Ronda exclaimed.

“I wasn’t serious,” Sharon said, laughing. “Don’t be gettin’ your dander up. I wouldn’t keep you from a good husband like Joe. He’ll be a
gut
one for you.”

Ronda blushed, and again Ella felt a pang in her heart.
Why is love allowed for one and taken away from the other?

“You must be missin’ Aden a lot,” Sharon said softly, “especially on weddin’ days.”

“I do,” Ella said, a catch in her voice.

“I’m sorry,” Ronda whispered. “I was so caught up in my own joy.”

“It’s okay.” Ella reached out to touch her cousin’s hand. “Life goes on, and yours must too.”

“Yes, it does,” Sharon said, leaning forward and bringing the conversation back to the matter at hand. “And we need to get this house cleaned. So what about the movin’ in? Are you two at an agreement?”

“Ronda, you and Joe can have the first floor, and I’ll move upstairs. With the way the house is built, the stairs are right by the front door. I can come and go and won’t be disturbing you.”

“But you’ll have no kitchen,” Sharon said. “It would, after all, be awkward to share the downstairs, and Ronda will feel equally uneasy, knowing your discomfort upstairs.”

“I can put in some cabinets in one of the bedrooms,” Ella said.

Ronda was silent for a moment. “Joe can install them, but perhaps your basement would be better. Did you think of that?”

“That could work,” Ella said, considering the possibility.

“Ach,” Ronda said, “I’m still a little uncomfortable with this plan. I don’t like putting you out of your kitchen. Cabinets take time to build.”

Sharon spoke up and said, “Hostetlers—they’re just down the road—he can make them in no time. I’ll talk to James about it.”

“They’re always months behind,” Ronda said. “How could they get them done so fast?”

“He’ll make an exception when I explain things to him,” Sharon said, getting up. “Now I suppose you two have an agreement, and we have to get back to work. Right, Ronda?”

“I’ll be glad to have you,” Ella said, standing to go.

“We didn’t talk of payin’ yet,” Ronda said. “Joe told me a number he could afford, but that was when he expected to pay for Mamm and Daett’s
dawdy haus.”

“I don’t want a lot of money,” Ella said quickly. “Whatever number Joe said is fine with me.”

“Three hundred a month.” Ronda blurted out the figure. “Is that enough?”

Ella nodded. The answer would have been “yes” no matter what Ronda had said. A little money was better than no money.

“Are you sure?” Ronda asked, breaking into a smile.

Ella nodded again.

“Then it’s decided,” Sharon said, “and your weddin’ is closer than it was this mornin’. We need to get back to work.”

“I can’t wait,” Ronda said, a look of delight on her face.

Ella somehow got out the door and into the buggy before the tears came. She drove out to the end of the driveway and pulled the reins at the corner to turn south toward John Darling Road.

I’ll go and visit Arlene at her parents’ house. This might not be a pleasant stop, and it might end with the rupture of our friendship—if Daniel’s actions hadn’t already done so. Do I really want to do this? Why can’t I just drive on by and let the situation take care of itself?
That was the problem. In a close knit community, no problem really stayed away for very long.

Ella drove on, and the horse seemed to take the extra miles well.
Daniel does know how to pick a horse, even if he’s muddled up when it comes to choices on love. I’ve no doubt Arlene is exactly the kind of girl he needs—calm, sunny, and steady while Daniel is given to dark moods
. Gut
people, both of them. Daniel took a chance with me—reaching out to grasp what his brother had held. And so he missed what his own hands contained in Arlene. Yet, surely all is not lost. Arlene seems like a sensible girl, and so surely she will understand
.

Ella turned left into the driveway and pulled up to the hitching post. Arlene’s two brothers, Norman and Mervin, raced out to the buggy, hollering, “It’s Ella’s buggy!”

Thirteen

“
I
s Arlene home?” Ella asked the brothers, still holding the tie strap.

“It’s wash day,” the oldest, Norman, said, pointing toward the wash line hanging between the house and the high side of the barn. “Arlene’s got the first load done. She chased us out, so we wouldn’t bother her.”

“Norman got his hand caught in the wringer once,” Mervin said.

“Not today, though,” Norman said, shrugging. “It was when I was smaller.”

“I never had my hand caught,” Mervin said.

“Arlene doesn’t want either of us caught,” Norman said, glancing at the ground.

“That makes perfect sense,” Ella said, tousling each boy’s hair. “Let me tie up my horse, and then I’ll go look for Arlene.”

The two boys followed her to the house and ran past her when she got to the porch. Since she figured they would announce her presence, she didn’t knock but waited.

They came racing back a moment later.

“You’re supposed to come on in,” Norman said, holding the door open for her.

Ella stepped inside. When they followed, Ella wondered if she should tell them to go play. The conversation ahead certainly wasn’t fit for little ears.

Before she could say anything, Arlene awkwardly opened the washroom door—or rather shoved it open—because of the large hamper of wash in her arms.

“You boys go out and play by the barn,” she said as if she suspected something about the conversation to come. Ella wasn’t sure if this was a good sign or not.

“We don’t want to,” Norman said. “Ella just got here.”

“She’s come to talk to me. Now, get,” she said in no uncertain terms. Then her face softened. “Good morning to you, Ella. I’m glad you came.”

“Come on,” Norman muttered. “We can play horse in the barn since they don’t want us here.”

“Don’t fall through the haymow,” Arlene said, lecturing their backs.

“We won’t,” Norman said, but he didn’t turn around. The screen door snapped shut behind them.

“Well,” Arlene said, shifting the hamper in her hands.

Relief flooded Ella.
At least Arlene isn’t angry
.

“Here, let me carry that,” Ella said, reaching for the hamper.

“How about one side of it?” Arlene said, letting go of one side. The two walked through the front door together and toward the wash line as Ella searched desperately for the right way to begin this conversation.

“Daniel came over the other night,” Ella began when they reached the wash line and had set the hamper gently on the ground.

“That’s not that unusual,” Arlene said with her eyes on the hamper. Gingerly she reached for a dress, clipped it onto the line, and pulled the pulley to move the wire along. “So what did he have to say?”

“Well, I’d rather not tell you. It’s a little embarrassing, really.”

“For him or for you?”

“I was thinking of you,” Ella said, wishing this conversation wasn’t necessary. “Perhaps I should let him tell you his side of the story.”

“I’m really interested in your side.” Arlene met her eyes. Her smile was now gone. “I already know Daniel’s side of it.”

“He has spoken to you, then?”

“Not since he spoke to you, but I know his side of things. I’ve dated him for more than four years.”

“That’s what I told him. That and some other things. Perhaps I was too hard on him.”

“I doubt it,” Arlene’s said, but her face softened again. “I’m sure he needed it. Sort of a big sister talking-to, yah?”

“I suppose so. He would have been like my brother when Aden and I married.”

“So he asked you to be his sweetheart?” Arlene asked.

Ella detected a tremble in Arlene’s voice. “Yah.” Ella kept her eyes focused on the clothes hamper. “I feel bad about this. I have searched my heart…to see if I encouraged him. I really didn’t, Arlene. I don’t think I ever did. He was like a brother to me—always helpin’ out after Aden died.”

“Sometimes things turn into what they weren’t intended to be. I suppose I could have spoken up, but I wanted to see how far Daniel would take it. He’s always dreamin’ about things that are never to be his. He thinks he’s so much less than Aden. I guess he thought with Aden’s girl, he might be more like his brother.”

“But I’m not better than you,” Ella said, feeling the words burst out of her.

“It depends. In
Da Hah
’s eyes, no, but men and women aren’t made the same.”

“You are the one for him, and I told him that.”

“I know,” Arlene said, wiping the tear that had dripped onto her cheek.
“Da Hah
and I know it, but Daniel apparently doesn’t.”

“But he’ll be back. That’s the reason I came to talk to you—or part of the reason. The other reason I’m here is to tell you where I stand, so you would have no doubt. I thought it would be better to hear it all from me—for yourself.”

“He’s got dreams in his head, Daniel does.”

“Mostly muddled thinkin’, I would say.”

“He can’t see the road ahead for the stars in the sky. I don’t know, Ella. Sometimes such a mind has to be cleared first before it can walk very far again.”

“I’m sorry for my part in this,” Ella said, hesitating. “I had no idea. I guess I was so caught up in my own world of grief that I never thought about where I was going.”

“I’m not blamin’ you,” Arlene said. “I could have spoken up if I’d wanted to.”

“Maybe it’s just Daniel who’s to blame,” Ella said haltingly. Daniel still seemed like her brother, and one was careful about speaking of family.

“He is,” Arlene said, laughing for the first time.

“And who best to straighten him out than the one who loves him the most, yah?”

Arlene laughed again, clipping the last of the clothes onto the line. The rolled-out wire went off high into the air. The pieces were wet and hanging heavily on the line.

“I’ll be seein’ to him, then,” Arlene said. “That is…when he comes back around.”

“Oh, he will,” Ella said, although her heart wasn’t so sure. Daniel had looked about as stubborn as Eli when he left her the other night.

After a silence, which signaled to Ella that there was nothing more to be said, she spoke, “Well, I need to get back to my house. I’ve been gone all day yesterday, helpin’ out at home.”

“Glad it’s not me with that big house,” Arlene said. “I have enough to do, the way it is.”

“Ronda and Joe will be rentin’ the first floor,” Ella said, relieved the friendship had been preserved. “I need the money, and I don’t need all that house.”

“No husband comin’ up?” Arlene asked with a twinkle in her eyes.

Ella shook her head. “My heart was already taken.”

“You got your eyes in the stars too?” Arlene said. “Don’t let it keep you from findin’ your way around down here.”

“I loved him,” Ella said. “I can never love another like that.”

“I know,” Arlene said, “but
Da Hah
might still have other things in mind for you. And don’t be sayin’ no just because you remember the past that can’t be no more.”

Ella felt a shock of horror.
Does Arlene know about the bishop? If she does, then the whole world knows. It will only make things more difficult if people begin assuming things
. “Do you know anything?” she asked through tight lips.

Arlene laughed. “No, I only knew about Daniel, but it looks like there’s more to be known. That’s not hard to imagine, Ella. Really, now just be thinkin’ straight, will you? Aden snatched you right up the moment he saw you. You know that’s true.”