Gabriel's Bride (2 page)

“Nor did I.” Gabriel shook his head and stared out over the pasture. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t say anything to
Mam
and
Dat
just now. I need to be the one to tell them.”

Zane gave an understanding nod of his head. “Should I tell them you’ll be around for supper?”

With five kids to feed and acres of wheat to tend to . . . “
Jah
. Supper sounds like a fine idea.”

There was just so much to do.

Rachel Yoder looked around her, eyes darting from one chore to the next. The supper dishes still needed to be put away, her bed needed to be made,
Aenti’s
bed needed to be stripped, sheets and bed clothes washed and hung outside to dry in the fresh spring sunshine. There were funeral clothes to ready.

The thought of the funeral brought tears to her eyes, tears that she fought with all of her being. She didn’t have time to cry; there was too much to do.
Aenti
surely wouldn’t want her crying. Katherine Yoder believed her life had been lived for the Lord and peace awaited her on the other side. She was happy and joyous at the transition, and Rachel knew that she would want her to be as well.

Rachel sniffed back the tears and smoothed her hands down her black everyday apron.

There was just so much to do.

She turned toward the stairs, thinking of stripping the beds and washing all the sheets. But the house would need to be scrubbed from top to bottom.
Aenti
may have been a different sort, but she had lived in these parts since she was a child. Her kind-hearted neighbors and members of the surrounding districts would surely come say a final farewell. It was the Amish way.

Maybe she should get the clothes ready first.

Rachel placed her hand on the banister thinking of her aunt’s dresses. What dress should she pick for her aunt to wear? There was nothing white in her closet as far as Rachel knew. Katherine Yoder had never been married. Still she would have a
fer gut
apron somewhere about. Maybe something made especially for the occasion.

Chills slid down her spine. She hoped not. How sad for her
aenti
to stitch a garment knowing that it would be the last thing she would wear.

“Miss Yoder?”

She stilled her footsteps, spinning around at the call of the voice.

The nice Mr. Evans stood near the front door with his
Englisch
haircut and kind smile. Rachel wondered if that was what got him this job of driving around and retrieving the dead, for his smile alone was sweet enough to calm a family’s grief.

“Jah?”

He flashed her that gentle smile. “We’re ready to go now.”

Rachel dipped her chin, her throat too clogged to speak.

“We’ll have her back by Monday.”

Hopefully by then she would find someone to dig the grave. Maybe locate help in sewing the necessary white funeral clothes. Round up a few willing souls to assist her cleaning efforts.
“Danki,”
she whispered.

“You’re welcome.” Mr. Evans smiled again.

Rachel turned away unable to watch as they loaded her only relative in Clover Ridge into the fancy hearse-car. They would bring her back soon enough, embalmed, though not entirely necessary by state law, but needed just the same. The process would buy Rachel a few more days’ time to gather her resources and lay her aunt to her final rest.

She wiped the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand and continued up the stairs.

2

G
abriel loaded Samuel into the buggy bright and early Tuesday morning. Though he lived outside of Katherine Yoder’s district and had not been chosen as a pallbearer for the service, he knew Old Zeke would want to get there in enough time to visit and make sure everything was in place for the simple Amish funeral.

Matthew and the other boys were coming in a separate buggy closer to time. Gabriel had just purchased his eldest
sohn
a buggy of his own, and Matthew was rarin’ to show it off. They had talked about the perils of pride when they’d commissioned the buggy, but Gabriel himself remembered his first conveyance and how anxious he’d been to drive Rebecca home in it.
Buwe
and their buggies. Some things would never change.

“We’re going over to get Deacon Esh,” Gabriel told Samuel as he clucked the horses into motion.

“I like Deacon,” Samuel replied. “He smells like peppermint.”

“Indeed he does.” Gabriel laughed. Old Zeke had something of a sweet tooth and usually had a pocket full of peppermints to share with willing children.

For the first time in a long while, maybe even years, Gabriel was alone with his youngest. Not that he hadn’t spent any time with him, just that he didn’t often find the two of them together without a woman tagging behind making sure that Samuel didn’t want or need for anything. He supposed that his sister and his daughter both doted on the young
bu
, but it seemed the knowledge that he was loved and cared for had made him confident beyond his years. He seemed to take his sister’s desertion well enough. He’d given Gabriel a sad smile and said, “She’ll be back.” He hoped his
sohn
was right.

“The woman who died, did she have any peppermint?”

Gabriel shook his head. “I do not know. Perhaps her niece has some.”

“Is she old?”

He remembered another time, a couple years back when he had seen Rachel Yoder. She had been young then, not more than twenty-two or three. Wouldn’t be much older than that now. “I don’t think so.”

Samuel sighed in only the way a six-year-old can. “Then she ain’t got no peppermint. Only old people got peppermint.”

Gabriel tried not to laugh as he turned his buggy down the drive toward the Esh place.

The last couple of years had brought great changes to the once rundown property. Shortly after coming to Clover Ridge, Zane Carson had found favor in Old Zeke’s eyes and the man had sort of adopted the reporter from the city. When Zane had decided to stay in Oklahoma and marry Katie Rose Fisher, Esh had taken him in and given him a place to stay in the community as Zane worked toward lessons and winning over the bishop. In return, Zane had cleaned up the place, made it sparkle like new.

Gabriel set the brake and climbed down from the buggy. “Samuel, you need to get into the back and stay there while I help the deacon.”

He nodded his head and reached for his door to comply.

Gabriel started toward the house as the screen swung open and Esh came hobbling out, Zane Carson right behind him.

“Guder mariye,”
he called with a wave.

Old Zeke returned the gesture with a flick of one gnarled hand.

Gabriel hadn’t realized how slow the deacon was getting around these days. He looked to Zane, who shook his head and shrugged as if to say, “What’s a man to do?”

Sure enough, only Ezekiel himself could determine when he was ready to give up some of the more strenuous aspects of his position. It wasn’t normal for a chosen one to stand down before death, but not every man selected to serve God had the health issues that Esh faced. That would surely have bearing in the event that the deacon decided to turn over his station. Gabriel hoped for Old Zeke’s sake that he made that decision sooner rather than later. But there was no sense in talking to the man about it. He was as stubborn as they came.

“Fine day for a funeral,” Esh said once he had been settled into the buggy. He took a deep breath, sucking in the warm spring air.

Gabriel supposed that since funerals were a necessary part of life, that today was as good a day as any to lay a loved one to rest.

Memories of his Rebecca’s funeral came to the front of his mind. He pushed those thoughts away. Too many hard memories had been surfacing lately. Memories he didn’t want to recount.

“Eh?” Esh said, turning around in his seat enough to look at Samuel behind him.

Gabriel gave a small smile, knowing already what Samuel wanted.

“I did not know we had a third man with us today.” Esh gave an important nod of his head while Samuel beamed at being called a man.

Down syndrome had put him considerably behind his peers. Samuel would perhaps live on his own one day, but it was doubtful, and the idea that one day he would marry was a dream as far away as the moon. Still, Gabriel considered him a gift, a vessel for all the sweet disposition of a normal child mixed with all that his mother had possessed as well.

“Let me see what I have here.” From seemingly nowhere, Old Zeke produced a peppermint.

Samuel laughed out loud as Gabriel hid his own smile.

“Danki,”
Samuel said, before looking to Gabriel.

He gave his son a quick nod, then the child tore open the wrapper and pushed the treat into his mouth.

“One for later,
jah
?” Esh handed the child another candy, then with a satisfied smile turned back to watch the road with his wise blue eyes. “You want to talk about it, boy?”

Gabriel almost jumped out of his skin. “Talk about it?”

“Jah.”
Esh nodded. “Your Mary Elizabeth jumping the fence.”

No, he didn’t want to talk about it, but Esh wasn’t really asking. “There’s nothing much to talk about.” He shrugged trying to appear as if every day his only daughter left in the middle of the night, as if his heart was accustomed to being broken in half.

“She won’t stay gone for long.”

Gabriel wished he had that kind of confidence in the matter. Every night he prayed for his child to find her way back home. But he wouldn’t let any of the
buwe
speak her name. It was too painful to hear it said when he knew she wasn’t there.

“You can mark my words on that.”

Gabriel wished he could.

They rode in silence for a few minutes, the only sounds the creak of the buggy and the smack of enjoyment as Samuel ate the tasty candy.

“I’m stepping down.” Old Zeke’s words were such a surprise Gabriel almost pulled the buggy to a complete stop.

Instead, he nodded and searched his mind for the proper response. Finding none, he simply nodded once more.

“I’m telling you because I want you to be prepared.”

Prepared?

“The district will have to choose a new deacon, and I’m putting your name in.”

A dozen conflicting emotions swamped Gabriel. He wasn’t worthy. He was a widower. He didn’t need the responsibility while he was alone now and struggling to raise his children.

“I’ll say that I’d rather you didn’t.” Being a deacon, or any of the chosen leaders, was no easy job. Aside from feeling like he wasn’t worthy, he simply wasn’t up for it.

“It’ll do you good, son.”

Gabriel took a deep breath, slowing the mad thump of his heart. Just because his name went into the lot wouldn’t mean he would be chosen. Only God knew the outcome.

“Course’n it’d be better if you were married.”

He had no intention of getting married again. He’d been so blessed before, marrying a woman he loved with all his heart. Then the Lord had seen fit to take her home at the same time He gave them Samuel. Gabriel would never love like that again. Having experienced it once before, it wasn’t fair to ask another to enter into a relationship that was not as wondrous. Oh, he knew that he’d had something so special with Rebecca, he couldn’t settle for less. He’d make do in his life, knowing that once he had held the world in his arms.

But
, the little voice whispered in his head. He no longer had a woman partner, someone—anyone—to help with chores and teaching the boys the ways of women. Katie Rose was getting ready to get married and Mary Elizabeth was gone, her love of animals and desire for an education pushing her into the
Englisch
world. His mother was doing well after her cancer treatments a couple of years back, but she was not as strong as she used to be. Gideon’s Annie was going to deliver their first child soon. No, all the women in his life were busy living their own lives. Oh, they would help if he asked, but he didn’t feel that was fair, nor was getting married again. He’d just have to manage.

“I don’t think—”

Esh shushed him with a wave of one hand. “You just be open to whatever God has in store for you.”