Hope Chest (13 page)

“Reuben’s lost?”

“Sort of.”

“Does that mean Anna’s lost, too?”

Tears sprang to Rebekah’s eyes as she thought about the choice her firstborn child had made when she’d agreed to marry Reuben and leave the faith. She drew in a deep breath and released it with a huff that lifted the ties of her kapp. “Anna’s lost to us in many ways, because her decision to leave our church means we’ll have to shun her now.”

Elizabeth nodded soberly.

“But she’s still part of our family, and it will always be so.” Rebekah touched Elizabeth’s shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. “No matter what happens in the days ahead, we’ll love her and accept her decision to go English the best way we can.”

“Dad, too?”

Rebekah swallowed around the burning lump pushing against the back of her throat. “Someday I hope he’ll come to grips with all this, but in the meantime, I think it’s best if we keep quiet about Anna whenever your daed’s around.”

“What’s gonna happen when Anna comes for a visit? Can we still talk to her like she’s our sister?”

“Jah, of course. She can’t share a meal at the same table with us, and we’re not supposed to have any business dealings with her, but there’s no rule that says we can’t talk to her.”

Elizabeth nodded. “Want me to help with the pie makin’ now?”

“As soon as you’ve changed out of those wet clothes and we get your hair put back in place.”

Elizabeth pushed away from the table and scurried out of the room. Rebekah resumed rolling out the mound of dough she’d left waiting on the cloth-covered table. Things would go better soon. At least she hoped they would.

***

“Ah-ha! So this is where you’ve been all morning.” Joseph squinted and shook his finger at his little brother, who stood in front of the horses’ watering trough, drenched with water from head to toe. “When I sent you back to the barn with one tired horse and asked you to bring another, I didn’t think you’d be gone for nearly an hour.”

Perry hung his head as he dragged the toe of his boot through the mud. “Sorry. I was hot, and Elizabeth came along, soon after I put Tom away—”

“The two of you decided to have a water battle, right?”

Perry lifted his head and gave Joseph a sheepish-looking grin. “You should have seen her, Joseph. She was so wet she looked like a drowned little
hundel.
”

Joseph bit back a smile. He could only imagine how much water must have been thrown at his little sister’s expense. She probably did look like a drowned pup.

“I didn’t just play in the water ’cause I was hot, neither.”

“Oh? What other reason might you have had?”

“When I came back from the fields with Tom, I spotted Elizabeth sitting on the back porch looking kind of sad.” Perry blinked a couple of times and lifted his chin. “She’s been awful gloomy since Anna left home, so I thought it might be good if I came up with something that would take her mind off Anna and make her laugh.”

“That’s admirable of you, Perry, but I didn’t send you out of the fields to get cooled off or to try to make Elizabeth feel better about missing Anna,” Joseph scolded. “I expected you to bring back a fresh horse, and you cost me nearly an hour’s worth of work waiting on you, so now we’ll have to stay in the fields that much longer.”

Perry frowned. “Ah, it’s summertime, Joseph. I oughta be able to have some fun, don’t ya think?”

“You can have all the fun you want when your work’s done for the day.”

“By that time, I’m too tired to do much of anything but sleep.”

Joseph ruffled his little brother’s hair. “Summer’s nearly over, and you’ll be back in school soon. Then you won’t have to work half as hard.”

“Jah, right. Besides all my chores to do at home, I have to work my tired brain takin’ all the tests Teacher Nancy gives us scholars.” Perry grunted. “It’s enough to make my head explode.”

Joseph chuckled. How his little brother liked to exaggerate. He pointed to the barn. “Time’s a-wasting, so let’s get that horse you came after and make our way back to the fields.”

“Jah, okay.”

As they headed for the barn, Perry glanced toward the greenhouse near the front of their property, and frowned. “Sure doesn’t seem right with Anna not helpin’ the folks in the greenhouse anymore, does it?”

Joseph gritted his teeth. Nothing seemed right at their place these days, and Dad seemed to be affected by Anna’s decision to go English most of all. Maybe it was because he was supposed to be the head of the family, and he felt as if he’d failed to live up to the job. Could be that Dad was more angry at himself than Anna. It might even be that he thought if he’d been a better father, Anna wouldn’t have been led astray by Reuben.

“Did ya hear what I said about Anna?” Perry gave Joseph’s shirtsleeve a tug.

“I heard. Just thought it best not to comment.”

Perry raised his eyebrows but said nothing.

As they stepped into the barn, Joseph sent up a silent prayer on Anna’s behalf and another for them all to feel less tension.

CHAPTER 11

It was another warm day, and Rachel, accompanied by Elizabeth, had gone to the town of Intercourse to buy some things their mother needed. Since Dad paid Rachel for working in the greenhouse, she bought a few new things for her hope chest—just in case.

“How about some lunch?” Rachel asked her little sister when they’d finished their shopping. “Are you hungry?”

Elizabeth giggled and scrambled into the buggy. “You know me, Rachel; I’m always hungry.”

“Where would you like to go?” Rachel asked, tucking her packages behind the seat, then taking up the reins.

“I don’t care. Why don’t you choose?”

Rachel nodded and steered the horse in the direction of the Good ’n Plenty restaurant. The girls soon discovered that the place was crowded with summer tourists and that the wait would be about half an hour.

Elizabeth said she needed to use the rest room, so Rachel stood in the hallway outside the door, waiting for her. She grimaced when a man walked by wearing a baseball cap with an inscription on the front that read BORN TO FISH. FORCED TO WORK.

That’s just like me. I’d love to go fishing every day and never have to work in the greenhouse again, but that’s not likely to happen, I guess.

As the fisherman disappeared, Rachel caught a glimpse of a young Amish man coming from the door that led to the restaurant’s kitchen. She thought nothing of it until she got a good look at him. It was Silas Swartley, and he was heading her way.

“It’s nice to see you, Rachel. How are things?”

Rachel slid her tongue across her lips and swallowed hard. Why did Silas have to be so cute? Why had she allowed herself to fall in love with him? Except for biweekly preaching services, she hadn’t seen much of Silas since that night he’d come to the house, looking for Anna. The fact that Rachel had been the one to give him the shocking news about her sister running off with his friend still stuck in her craw. It should have been Reuben or Anna doing the telling, not her. But no, they left without thinking of anyone but themselves. Seeing Silas standing here now, looking so handsome yet unapproachable, left Rachel speechless.

Silas held a wooden crate in his hands, and he shifted it slightly as he took a step closer to her. “Has the cat got your tongue, or are you gonna answer my question?”

“W–what question was that?”

“I asked how things are.”

She swallowed again. “Oh, about the same as usual. How’s it at your place?”

“Everything’s about the same with us, too. I brought in a crate of fresh potatoes from our farm. This restaurant buys a lot of produce from us.” Silas nodded his head toward Rachel. “How come you’re here?”

“Elizabeth and I came to town for a few things. We’re here for lunch.” She suppressed a giggle. “Why else would we be at the Good ’n Plenty?”

Silas’s summer-tanned face turned red like a cherry, and he stared down at his boots. “I ... uh ... don’t suppose you’ve heard anything from Anna.”

Rachel swallowed once more, only this time it was in an attempt to dislodge the nodule that had formed in her throat. It wasn’t so surprising that Silas would ask about Anna. He was obviously still pining for her. Truth be told, Silas was probably hoping Anna would change her mind about being English and come home again. But even if she did, what good would that do him? Anna was a married woman now—out-of-bounds for Silas Swartley.

“Anna wrote me a letter the other day,” Rachel said. “She’s written to her friend Martha Rose a couple of times, too—and of course, to our mamm.”

“What’d she say in her letter to you? Or would you rather not share that information?”

“It was nothing special.” Rachel shrugged. “Just that she and Reuben are pretty well settled in now. She got herself a job as a waitress, and Reuben’s still painting houses and all.”

A lady wearing some strong-smelling perfume walked out of the women’s rest room, and Rachel’s nose twitched as she fought the urge to sneeze. “Guess they’ve got to have lots of money, since they’re living in the modern world and will probably be buying all sorts of fancy gadgets.”

Silas’s dark eyebrows furrowed. “Sure wish Anna would’ve waited awhile to marry Reuben and not run off like that. Maybe if she’d thought it through and given me more time to win her heart, things might have turned out differently for all of us.”

From the things her sister had said about Silas, Rachel doubted he could have ever won Anna completely over, but she wasn’t about to tell him that. No point hurting his feelings more than they’d already been. “Anna’s gone now, and I’m pretty sure she’s never coming back,” she mumbled.

“How can you be so sure?”

“I just know, that’s all. My sister and her husband are walking a different path now, and Anna made it clear in her letter that it was her choice to join Reuben in the English world, and she hopes we’ll accept her decision.”

Silas shook his head. “I’ve known Anna since we were kinner, and I always thought we were good friends. It’s hard to accept the idea that there’s no future for me and her now.”

Rachel’s heart ached for Silas, but more than that, it ached for herself. She was sure he would always love Anna, even if they couldn’t be together. So much for hoping he might ever be interested in plain little Rachel. Hopeless, useless daydreams would get her nowhere, yet no matter how hard she tried to push it aside, the dream remained. “The future rests in God’s hands,” she mumbled as Elizabeth came out of the rest room.

“Jah.” Silas turned and headed out the door.

***

Silas left the Good ’n Plenty feeling like someone had punched him in the stomach. Anna and Reuben weren’t coming home. Old memories tugged at his heart. He had trusted Anna, and she’d betrayed that trust by sneaking off with his friend, the whole time letting Silas think she cared for him. Could he ever trust another woman not to hurt him that way? Even if Anna changed her mind and came back, he knew she would never be his. She was a married woman now ... married to his friend Reuben.

Deep in his heart, Silas knew he had to accept things as they were and get on with his life, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t imagine any kind of life without Anna Beachy.

Poor Rachel. She had looked so sad. He figured Anna’s leaving must have hurt Rachel as much as it had him, only in a different sort of way. He would have to remember to pray for her often ... and all the Beachys, for that matter. No Amish family ever really got over one of their own running off to become English, and from the look he’d seen on Rachel’s face today, he figured she had a long ways to go in overcoming her grief.

Silas climbed into his buggy and gathered up the reins. “Giddap there, boy,” he said to his horse. “I’ve got some work waiting for me to do at home, so let’s get going.”

***

“Was that Silas Swartley you were talkin’ to?” Elizabeth asked when she stepped up to Rachel.

“It was him all right.”

Elizabeth stared up at Rachel. “Well, what’d he have to say?”

Rachel wrinkled her nose. “If you must know, little
naasich
one, he was asking about Anna.”

“I’m not nosey. I just wondered what he had to say, that’s all.”

“Jah, okay.” Rachel knew that just because she felt frustrated over the conversation she’d had with Silas, it wasn’t right to be snippy with Elizabeth.

“I think he used to be real sweet on our big sister. I heard Mom say somethin’ about it to Dad once.”

Rachel grimaced. “Jah, he was. I’m afraid he’s still pretty broken up over her and Reuben leaving.”

Elizabeth grabbed Rachel’s hand and squeezed her fingers. “Anna’s never comin’ back, is she?”

“Probably not, unless it’s just for a visit.”

“Can we hire a driver and go to Lancaster sometime? I’d surely like to see my big sister again.”

“That probably isn’t such a good idea,” Rachel said, pulling her sister along as they made their way down the hall. “At least, not right now.”

“How come?” the child persisted.

“Because Dad won’t like it. Maybe later, down the road, he’ll be willing to let us go there.”