The Gift (30 page)

Cora dabbed her eyes with a tissue and opened the car door. Walking toward the house, she enjoyed the sound she made from shuffling her feet through dried leaves. Another gust of wind brought down more leaves, falling like big golden snowflakes. The chrysanthemums planted on the side of Leah’s house and those still in planters on the porch added to the beauty of this wonderful season. Their purple, yellow, rust, pink, and white created a rainbow of color so pleasing to the eyes that Cora found it hard to look away. The breeze coming in her direction brought the flowers’ musky smell to her nostrils. The odor wasn’t as pleasant as some other flowers, but there was something about their fragrance that Cora enjoyed. It was a smell that described autumn.

Maybe someday when I’m able to buy my own place here, I can plant pretty flowers like this, too.

“It’s a bit breezy out there,” Cora mentioned as she went down the stairs with Leah. She quickly ran a hand over her hair to put some windblown strands back in place.

“You are so right,” Leah agreed. “We usually have all the leaves raked by now, but with the wedding coming up, we haven’t had time.”

Cora thought about offering her son’s help with the leaves. It would give him something constructive to do and hopefully make him realize how good it felt to help someone out. But she didn’t suggest it to Leah, knowing Jared would probably refuse. She could barely get him to do a few simple chores at home.

“How are your wedding plans coming along?” Cora asked as she settled herself into Leah’s recliner.

“Fairly well. My dress is finished, the guests have been invited, and everything we’ll need for the wedding meal has either been bought or rented.”

“Will it be a large wedding?”

“Just a couple hundred or so.”

“Will you continue doing reflexology after you’re married?” Cora questioned.

“I hope so, but it will depend on what my husband has to say.” Leah put more lotion on Cora’s right foot and massaged the pressure points on her toes.

“I don’t know why men think they have to decide everything for us.” Cora frowned. “If a woman has a career or wants to do something special, he ought to respect her wishes.”

“Did your husband respect your wishes?” Leah asked.

“Which husband? I’ve been married twice.”

Leah’s eyes widened. “Oh, I didn’t realize that.”

“I left my first husband because he tried to control me. Now I’m the one who’s been left in the lurch, since my second husband left me for another woman.” Cora flinched but not from anything Leah was doing to her foot. It was from the pain she always felt when she thought about the past.

“Your tone makes me think you have many regrets,” Leah said, moving on to Cora’s left foot.

Cora sighed so deeply, it came out as a groan. “My whole life has been full of regrets.” She closed her eyes as a wave of painful memories washed over her. “I’ve never told anyone else this before, not even Evan, but my parents were Amish, which is truthfully why I’m able to say some words in Pennsylvania Dutch.”

Leah’s jaw dropped, and she sucked in her breath. “You were born Amish?”

Cora nodded, wondering what she had been thinking, blurting that out. Well, since she’d said that much, she may as well tell Leah the rest of her story. She had been holding in the things concerning her past life so long that she couldn’t seem to stop talking now. It would feel good to get it all out. “I was born and raised in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. I joined the church when I was eighteen and married an Amish man a year later. We had two children—a girl and a boy.”

“In addition to Jared, you have a daughter as well?”

Cora shook her head. “I had Jared after I married Evan.”

“So you have two sons and a daughter?”

Cora nodded and swallowed hard, hoping she wouldn’t fall apart. “I haven’t seen my Amish children in over twenty-five years, and I’m sure they’ve forgotten all about me by now.”

Deep wrinkles formed across Leah’s forehead. She stopped working on Cora’s foot and just stared at her with a strange expression. “You left your Amish husband and your children?”

“Jah,” Cora murmured, unable to meet Leah’s accusing gaze.
I should have known better than to blurt that out. Now Leah thinks I’m a terrible person and our friendship will be over.

Leah sat on the stool in front of Cora as though frozen.

Tears welled in Cora’s eyes as she lifted her gaze to meet Leah’s. “Please don’t judge me until you’ve heard the rest of my story.”

Slowly, Leah shook her head. “I’m not judging you, Cora. God is our one true Judge, and the Bible says we are not to judge others. If you’d rather not tell me anything more, that’s fine, too.”

Cora pulled the lever on the recliner and sat up. “No, I really need to get this off my chest. I’ve kept it bottled up inside for far too long.”

Leah sat silently as Cora began telling her incredible story.

“I was barely eighteen when I got married, and, like you, I practiced reflexology.”

“You… you worked on people’s feet?” Leah asked, almost disbelieving. If Cora had been a reflexologist, then why hadn’t she said something until now?

Cora’s eyes blinked rapidly. “I can only imagine what you’re thinking. You’re probably wondering why I’ve kept this a secret.”

Leah could only nod in response.

“At first, the fact that I used to practice reflexology didn’t seem important enough to mention. Then later, as we got better acquainted, I was afraid if you knew I used to work on people’s feet, you might think I was critiquing as you worked on mine.” Cora paused to take a breath. “As far as me having once been Amish, that’s a part of my life that I’ve tried to forget.”

“But how could you forget that you had two children, whom I assume stayed with their father when you left?”

Cora nodded. “I never forgot Mary and Adam, though. Not for one little minute.”

Leah’s hands went straight to her mouth, stifling a gasp.
Is it possible that… Oh, no, surely not. It just can’t be!

“I want you to understand why I left my husband and children,” Cora continued. “I wasn’t satisfied just doing reflexology. What I really wanted was to be a nurse. Of course, Andrew, my husband, thought that notion was ridiculous. He reminded me often that in order to become a nurse, I’d have to leave the Amish faith. My desire to be a nurse was something I just couldn’t let go. I pleaded with Andrew to leave with me, but he said no, that the English world was not for him.”

It wouldn’t be for me, either,
Leah thought.
Especially not without my husband and children.

“Andrew said that if I left, it would have to be alone. He would not allow me to take our children.” Cora’s eyes pooled with tears, and when Leah handed her a tissue, she wiped her eyes and blew her nose.

“I thought I could stick it out, for my children’s sake, but I guess my selfish desires got in the way of sensible thinking. So one day when Andrew took the children for ice cream, I packed my bags, left a note, and called our driver for a ride to the nearest bus station.”

“Where did you go?” Leah asked, still reeling with shock.

“Chicago. I found a job as a waitress in a small café and saved up my money until I had enough to begin my nurse’s training. Soon after that, I met Evan. When we fell in love, I divorced Andrew and married Evan.” Cora grimaced. “Of course, when I left the Amish faith, I was shunned, and I knew the stand the Amish take against divorce.”

“It’s biblical,” Leah reminded.

“I know.”

“How old were the children when you left?”

“Mary was eight and Adam was five.”

“Did you ever go back to see them?”

Cora’s head jerked as though she’d been slapped. “I tried to, but when I returned to our home in Pennsylvania, Andrew and the children were gone. They’d packed up and moved, and no one would tell me where.” Cora sniffed deeply. “I’ll probably never see Mary or Adam again. I can only imagine how Andrew has poisoned them against me, and I can’t really blame him. Looking back, I realize I was a terrible mother.” She paused to wipe away more tears. “I’ve lived a life full of bitter regrets and tried to hide it by focusing on my life in the English world. But, of course, I’ve messed that up, too.”

Leah hardly knew what to say. She’d liked Cora from their first meeting and thought she was a nice person. Now having learned all this about her past, Leah’s heart was torn. She felt sorry for Cora, knowing it must have been hard not seeing her son and daughter all these years, but at the same time, wasn’t that punishment well deserved for abandoning her family? Leah knew from something Elaine had shared with her that Adam had told Ben that his mother had abandoned him and his sister when they were small children. It had to be more than a coincidence that Cora’s children had the same names as Adam and his sister. Surely, this woman must be Adam’s mother.

Should I say something to Cora? No, I need to wait until I’ve talked with Adam.
Tomorrow was Saturday, so she wouldn’t be watching the girls. Adam planned to take them all out to supper that evening, including Leah, so she would speak to him about this then. Perhaps Adam would want to meet Cora right away, to confirm that she really was his mother.

A
ll day Saturday Leah had trouble concentrating, and by five o’clock that evening she was a ball of nerves. Adam and the girls would be coming by any minute to pick her up for supper. Tonight, when the opportunity arose, she would ask Adam about his mother.

Leah wished her own mother were home already so she could ask her opinion, but Mom wouldn’t be coming home until early next week.

The one thing I do know,
Leah told herself,
is that I shouldn’t say anything about Cora in front of the children. A topic as sensitive as this must be raised to Adam alone.

At the sound of a horse and buggy approaching, Leah peered out the kitchen window.
Maybe when Adam brings me home this evening I will get the chance. I’ll let Adam know that I want to talk to him about something and suggest that the girls go inside and visit with Dad for a few minutes so we can talk privately.

Watching as Adam’s horse pulled his rig up the driveway, Leah’s heart began to pound. She’d been looking forward to this evening until Cora had shared her story about abandoning her children. Now Leah looked on the evening with dread. How would everyone be affected by what she’d just learned? If Cora was Adam’s mother, would a reunion be sweet, or could it go the wrong way? Would Adam accept his mother into his life again, or would he reject her? If Cora really was his mother, Adam had a stepbrother he knew nothing about. And poor Cora wasn’t even aware that her daughter had been killed in a tragic accident. She also didn’t know she had three precious granddaughters. And how would Jared feel, knowing he had an older brother who was Amish?

So many things hung by a thread, depending on what Adam said once she told him about Cora. Of course, it wasn’t certain that Cora was his mother, but there were too many things that fit for it to be coincidental.

For the girls’ sake, Leah would try to relax during supper and show them a good time. Since she and Adam would be getting married in two weeks, tonight was an opportunity for them to do something fun together as the family they would soon become.