Ella's Wish (15 page)

Ella followed one particular figure until the boy turned sideways. It was Daniel. He purposely looked away from her during the service and the meal. Now, with a good look at him, Ella thought that he looked happy. Perhaps Arlene had spoken to him with success. Ella sighed with relief. At least there was one less thing to weigh on her mind.

Several of the married women came from the kitchen table and shooed the menfolk farther away, out toward the yard. They grinned meekly over their toothpicks, tucked their beards in, and complied. Several grabbed loose benches and took them along outside, setting them up in uneven lines under the oak trees.

Ella helped clear the tables in preparation for the hungry young people to fill up even before the utensils could be cleaned. The other young girls took seats, and she followed. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Daniel’s buggy leave. He was alone but turned south at the road, heading toward Arlene’s house.

She had to stop worrying about him even if he seemed like a brother to her.

“You’ll be at the singin’ tonight?” Susie asked, making Ella jump.

Waiting until prayer was done again, Ella whispered back, “I’m going over to Mamm’s for the afternoon, and I have to get home early after that.”

“Hidin’ away are we?” Susie spread butter on her bread. “And why did you jump when I spoke? Are you nervous about something or watching someone?”

“Not really,” Ella said, trying in vain to smile.
Why does guilt plague me even when I’m not guilty?
She had no plans to mention Daniel’s name.

“You know, Ella,
Da Hah
has someone for you,” Susie said, bending toward her, “even if your heart’s been broken. I don’t blame you for thinking of whoever it was you were thinking about.” At that, Susie smiled a knowing smile.

“I expect I’ll just be an old maid with a house full of people and children,” Ella said quietly, hoping none of the girls around them would join the conversation.

“That’s what they all say,” Susie said, spreading the peanut butter on thick before she added a piece of cheese.

Not me
, Ella almost said but changed it to, “What about you?” hoping the conversation would take another direction.

Susie’s cheeks colored slightly.

“Well, it’s about time,” Ella teased, glad the tactic had worked.

Susie paid close attention to her sandwich.

“This fall or spring?” Ella guessed. “It’s been over three years, right?”

“Quiet,” Susie whispered out of the corner of her mouth while she focused her eyes straight ahead.

“You started it.”

“I guess I did,” Susie said, relaxing a bit and letting her shoulders fall a bit. “I can’t wait though! It seems like forever already, but it’s only been four years.”

Ella reasoned that Susie likely had her wedding dress material picked out, and the dress might even be almost made by now. Susie’s joy would be equal to what her own had been, and her expectations would grow higher as the day drew closer. Only Susie’s hopes wouldn’t be dashed to the ground like stones thrown from the hay field.

Thankfully Susie turned to speak to the girl beside her. Ella listened to the soft fall and rise of their conversation. She ate in silence and was glad that the discussion of weddings had been cut short.

When the meal was ending, prayer was announced, and they all bowed their heads. Ella then rose to help with the last round of table clearing. Afterward, she left the house and walked toward the barn, which turned the heads of several boys still in the yard who knew their duty to help her.

Not that she needed the help. At home the women worked in the barns and fields as freely as the men did, but on Sundays, a woman who had to hitch her own horse made the menfolk—even the young ones—fidgety. Someone would feel obligated to offer his help and retrieve her horse from the crowded barn stalls.

Thankfully she saw Susie’s boyfriend, Fred, out of the corner of her eye, getting up from his bench and coming toward the barn. He might or might not be ready to leave himself, but Susie would have no objection if he helped.

“You don’t have to help,” Ella said, just inside the barn door.

“Someone has to,” he said with a smile. “We can’t have a good-looking girl hitching her own buggy, now can we?”

“Watch your mouth,” she said.

Fred laughed and went to get her horse. He stopped the horse outside the barn, took the bridle she held out for him, and put it on the horse. Together they walked toward her buggy, aware that half the folks gathered in the yard were looking their way.

“Susie almost spilled the beans today,” she said, teasing and holding the shafts high in her hands.

“What? That her mother won’t let me see her anymore?” he said with a straight face.

“Fred,” Ella said but had to laugh. “You know what I mean.”

“Birdies fly, and birdies land, and I expect everything happens eventually.”

“I expect they do,” she said, getting into the buggy.

“You have a good ride,” he said, slapping the horse on the neck and letting go of the bridle.

Ella drove south toward her parents’ place, half expecting no one to be at home. Instead, Clara raced out the door when her buggy wheels had no more than turned in the driveway.

“We’re all home,” she said, dancing around in front of the buggy. “Eli and Monroe are sittin’ around in the living room.”

That sounded like a good sign. Eli must not be too out of sorts if he hung around downstairs on a Sunday afternoon instead of in his own room.

“So why are you out here helping me unhitch instead of the big boys?”

“I told them to stay put and that I wanted to help you,” Clara said, smiling from ear to ear. “I saw you come from way down the hill.”

“That’s awful nice of you,” Ella said, getting out while Clara pulled the tugs off her side.

“Are you settled in your big house yet? I want to come over again, but Mamm won’t let me. There’s too much work around here.” Clara said, disappointed.

“I expected that’s how it would go with me gone. But maybe you can come sometime later.”

“Now you’ll have Preacher Stutzman’s girls, and I could help with that. Your big house needs me an awful lot, I think.”

Ella laughed. “It sounds like you have more plans than I do or time to do them in.”

“They all need to be done at your place. That’s the problem.”

“Tell you what,” Ella said, unhitching her side and leading the horse forward while Clara held the shafts. “I know something you can do for me, something that can be done right here.”

“Something Mamm will let me do?”

“Yah, I’m sure. See, I have had an idea. I think a quilt shop in my basement would be a real nice business to start up.”

“But how can I help since that’s over at your house?” Clara asked, wrinkling her face.

“I’m not finished yet,” Ella said, holding up her hand. “See, you can draw some more pictures for things I can use on the quilts.”

“Really?” Clara’s said. Her face instantly lit up. “I could even do that at school when I’m done with my lessons.”

“See?” Ella said, smiling and holding the horse’s bridle. “If Teacher Katie asked you why, you can tell her. Say that it’s for my quilt shop, and she won’t mind at all.”

“That’s wonderful,” Clara said, dancing again and causing little pieces of gravel to spin off and hit the buggy wheels. “Then I can make lots of drawings, and you can use what you like.”

“See, things do work out,” Ella said, leading the horse into the barn and finding a stall for him.

As the two turned to walk toward the house, Clara said, “Bishop Miller was here.”

Clara’s words struck Ella like a stroke of lightning from the clear blue sky. “Here?” she gasped.

“Yah,” Clara said, nodding soberly, “he talked with Eli a long, long time, and Mamm cried after he left. Daett looked happy, though.”

“What did he say?”

“They didn’t tell me. They are awful secretive about it. The Bishop took Eli down to the basement for the talk. You don’t think Eli’s getting excommunicated do you?”

“No,” Ella said, feeling rattled.
How did Bishop Miller know Daett wanted him to speak with Eli? Did Daett and Mamm tell him?
Her mind swam with the rushed thoughts, and any answers only seemed to cause more problems than they solved. Clara held the door open for her, chattering away, seemingly unaware of the discomfort her words had caused.

“Hi,” Dora said and then glanced at Mamm.

They looked pleased, as if they shared a secret too good to mention. Ella wanted to grab Dora by the arm, march her upstairs, and demand an answer.

“You have a good Sunday at the new district?” Her dad’s voice boomed across the room.

“It was Aden’s district, so I knew most of the people,” Ella said, attempting a smile.

“Sit down, then, and have a bowl of popcorn. Mamm can make some more. I have to do something for the occasion of my daughter’s return to the old home place,” Noah laughed, motioning toward the popcorn bowl.
What in the world has put Daett in such good spirits?
It wasn’t hard to guess, and Ella felt her heart pound with the tension.

“Noah,” Lizzie said, but her voice had a tease in it.

“Well, she’s come home again. Isn’t that an occasion?”

“Yes, it is,” Lizzie said, but she didn’t look in Ella’s direction.

Ella glanced at her dad’s face. He definitely had a twinkle in his eyes; more than what would be associated with her visit. Clearly her family was up to something.

“I want to know what goes,” Ella said. “You people are up to something. The popcorn will just have to wait.”

“You mean you don’t know?” Dora asked, gasping.

Ella shook her head.

“She doesn’t,” Dora said, rising from the couch. “Then I’ll tell her right now. She has to know what’s going on.”

“No, you won’t,” Mamm said, standing to face Dora. “You sit right back down, Dora. I’ll tell her the news.”

“I don’t think I like this,” Ella said in a voice barely above a whisper.

“There are so many secrets around here,” Clara protested. “The bishop visits Eli, and now Ella doesn’t know. What next?”

“You just keep your little head to yourself,” Dora said, shaking her finger at her. “Some things are just for grown-up ears.”

“Then why do they happen in front of me?” Clara said, sounding rebellious.

“You’ll have to ask
Da Hah
that,” Mamm said with her hand on the upstairs doorknob.

“I think I’ll look to the chores,” Eli said, getting up.

“It’s not time yet,” Clara said. “Why so soon?”

“Then I’ll look to lookin’ after them. They’ll come soon enough,” Eli said, heading toward the front door.

“You’ll do nothing of the sort,” Daett said. “Now sit back down until chore time. Your Mamm will tell the story to Ella upstairs, and you’ll be just fine in here.
Da Hah
is doin’ great things for our family, and you don’t need to be runnin’ away from them.”

“Yah,” Eli said, calmly sitting back down.

Ella couldn’t believe her eyes. Her stubborn brother had just obeyed without protest. She turned to silently follow her mom up the steps.

Twenty

L
izzie had a look of deep contentment on her face as she sat down on Ella’s old bed, motioning with her hand for Ella to be seated.

“What’s this all about, Mamm?” Ella asked, trying to relax.

“I guess we could have spoken downstairs, seein’ this is all good news. But I guess I’m still a little old-fashioned about such things. Some things were just not meant by
Da Hah
to be publicly said, such as the doin’s of a man with the woman he loves.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Ella said, meeting her mom’s eyes.

Mamm smiled mysteriously. “You don’t?”

“No, I really don’t.”

“Then why do you think Bishop Miller was over here speakin’ with Eli?”

“I don’t know that either. Really.”

“You are tellin’ me the truth?”

“I don’t lie, Mamm, especially about somethin’ like this. The bishop could tell on me.”

“Then he didn’t speak with you? Perhaps at your house? And you didn’t tell him about Eli needin’ his talking-to?”

“He didn’t come by the house, so I couldn’t have told him anything of the sort.”

“Well,” Lizzie said, frowning for a moment and then relaxing, “then this is a wonder indeed, perhaps even more than we had thought.”

Ella clutched the side of the bed and tightened her grip on the familiar quilt. It brought little comfort as questions whirled through her mind.

“Mamm, maybe you’d best tell me about the bishop and what he wanted with Eli.”

“Yah, maybe,” Lizzie said, seeming to ponder the whole experience for a moment. “He came the other night and said he had heard some things about Eli and the
Englisha
girl. Of course, he told all that to Daett in private first and then spoke with Eli for more than an hour.”

“How did he know about Eli? I sure didn’t tell him.”

“He must have heard somewhere, which doesn’t surprise me. Eli should have known these things can’t be kept quiet.”

“Eli seems to have taken this well,” Ella said. “He doesn’t seem nearly as stubborn.”

“Da Hah
has been good to us,” Lizzie said and then lowered her voice. “Daett thought the bishop could do him good, and he was right, as usual. But that still leaves you. We thought you had given the bishop a good word…about your relationship with him…before he came.”

“I didn’t,” Ella said firmly. “How could I? He didn’t stop by.”

“But you will when he does come by, won’t you? Especially now? Especially now that the bishop came on his own free will? Think what that means. He came to speak with Eli without being asked. What a heart he must have for our family. Surely he must already consider the matter with you almost a done deal. He must care an awful lot about you, Ella, to take up Eli’s matter on his own. How can you turn him down now?”

Ella heard Preacher Stutzman’s words from the Sunday preaching so loud she could hardly hear her mom’s question. “At the well, the servant found a woman who was worthy of Isaac. She drew the buckets of water—she and her servants—for all the camels. The servant knew then his master Abraham’s desire had been answered. It was the sign that a bride for his son Isaac had been found.”