The Promise of an Angel (A Heaven On Earth 1) (5 page)

But how large was her measure?

Chapter Three

J
udith never dreamed she’d spend her nineteenth birthday alone. The empty house seemed dull and drafty as she padded to the kitchen in her stockings. She emptied the cold ashes from the side of the cast-iron cookstove into a bucket and carried them outside to sprinkle over the harvested area of the garden.

Mamm
insisted that wood ash mixed with barn muck supported an early spring sprout. Though the
Englischers
who bought from her garden stand told her she had the best produce in the county, she had warned Judith not to become prideful of people’s compliments. “God provides the sunshine and rain,”
Mamm
always said, “and those elements necessary for life are never in our command.”

Judith admired the pink blush of morning sky and prayed. “God, please spare Samuel and let him come home. He needs his family.
Aemen
.” Her eyes were raw from lack of sleep and crying, after she’d spent a sleepless night petitioning God.

She watched as the fine powder of ash dust settled over the brown, frost-damaged vegetation. The small patch of celery had succumbed to the cold temperature, and that saddened her the most. Next planting season she planned to double the crop size. She wanted plenty of creamed celery for her anticipated wedding feast.

She turned back to the house. While dreaming about marriage helped take her mind off her brother, it sure wouldn’t get the chores done.

Judith filled the woodstove with kindling and brewed a pot of coffee. Except for the pan of sourdough biscuits baking in the oven, breakfast was prepared when a knock on the front door sounded.

“
Guder mariye
.” Andrew lifted up the full milk buckets.

She opened the screen door, and as Andrew stepped inside, she looked toward the barn for Levi.

Andrew wiped his boots on the rug. “It sure smells
gut
in here.”

She glanced over her shoulder at him, then closed the door. Trying not to show her disappointment, she smiled. “I hope you’re hungry.” She led him to the kitchen, where she gestured for him to unload the milk buckets.

“You didn’t have to fuss on my account.”

Judith rose to her tiptoes in front of the sink window. “No fuss.” She craned her neck to look around the lilac bush toward the barn. “Wasn’t Levi going to
kumm
today?”

Andrew mumbled something incomprehensible.

Judith turned away from the window. “Did you say—”

His eyes widened like Samuel’s did when he was caught sneaking a treat off her cookie sheet. Only instead of giggling like Samuel, Andrew broke into a coughing fit.

“Can I get you some water?” She removed a glass from the cabinet and pumped the handle of the well several times.

Andrew’s face looked somewhat flushed, and he avoided eye contact with her when she handed him the glass. “
Denki
.”

He must have been thirsty. He drained the water in one gulp.

She reached for the glass. “Let me pour you more, or would you rather have
kaffi
with breakfast?”

“That isn’t necessary. I have other chores—”

She pulled out a chair from the table. “You have to eat. Have a seat, and I’ll make you a plate.”

Andrew held her eyes in a long gaze, then cleared his throat, nodded, and took a place at the table. “How’s the burn?” He motioned toward her hand as she placed a cup of black coffee on the table in front of him.

Judith chuckled. “I suppose all that water you doused on me kept it from blistering.” Opening the oven, she took in a long whiff of baked biscuits as a blast of heat washed over her face. She heaped a serving of fried eggs, potatoes, and hot buttered biscuits onto a plate and handed it to Andrew, who stared at her, then at the plate, but said nothing. Until today, she’d never noticed that he had a sheepish sideways grin. His demeanor was typically more starched than playful. She wasn’t sure what had gotten into him today.

He cleared his throat and bowed his head in a silent prayer.

Out of respect she should have closed her eyes. Instead, she studied the waves of chestnut hair that rippled around the crown of his head.

Andrew lifted his head and grinned, and her cheeks warmed when she realized he had caught her staring.

“Any word on Samuel?”

Judith brushed her hands against her apron. “
Nett
yet.”

He paused between forkfuls of potatoes and stared.

At first, she couldn’t decipher his expression, then she understood. His empty look wasn’t bewilderment, but pity.

“I’m sorry.”

“He’ll be all right. I saw—” How could she go on? She didn’t doubt what she saw, but how could she expect Andrew to believe her when Levi hadn’t?

Andrew’s brows lifted. “What did you see?”

Judith looked down at her hands, clasped in front of her. She wished he hadn’t asked. How could she describe her experience so that Andrew would believe her? A stranger with magnetic blue eyes . . . a blinding light . . . a presence . . . fog . . . chanting.

“Judith, what’s wrong? You’re so pale. Are you ill?”

Good. At least the embarrassing blush had faded.

A knock on the door saved her from having to explain. She rose from the chair and went to answer. The sight of Levi standing on the other side of the screen door brought a wide smile to her face.

“I milked your brother David’s cows first so I could spend more time here.” Levi followed her into the kitchen. “Any word on Samuel?” He pulled out a chair and sat.

Judith turned to the stove. “
Nay
.” She filled a cup with coffee and brought it to him.

Levi looked at Andrew. “How long have you been here?”

Andrew shrugged. “Chores are done.”

“Did Judith ask you if you saw an
Englischer
yesterday?”

Andrew lifted his gaze to Judith.
“Nay.”

“What about fog?” Levi continued as though he had a checklist of questions. He turned to Judith. “You did say the man disappeared into the fog, right?”

Judith turned toward the cabinet, feeling as though a clammy blanket of dread had been wrapped around her shoulders. Maybe if she ignored the question, he’d drop it. She removed a plate from the cabinet.

“Did you notice any fog, Andrew?”

“Nay.”

Judith cringed. Why must Levi tell the bishop’s son, of all people? She removed the lid from the cast-iron skillet, piled the plate with fried eggs and potatoes, and brought it to the table, pretending not to notice both of their stares.

“Andrew didn’t see any man or fog.”

“So I heard.” She slapped the plate on the table in front of Levi. What was his purpose in asking Andrew . . . to make her look delusional? She eased into the chair at the end of the table.

Levi leaned over the plate and took a deep breath. “This smells
gut
.” He looked at Andrew. “What do you think, Bishop Junior—will she make a fine
fraa
?”

Andrew glanced at Judith and then at Levi. “
Jah
.”

Levi turned to Judith and winked. “I spent a
gut
share of last night wondering why you made up the story of the
Englischer
.” He speared potatoes with his fork. “Because of Martha,
jah
?”

Judith cuffed her hand behind her neck, trying to thwart the anger she felt boiling up inside her. Her muscles tightened while she applied steady pressure and willed herself to keep silent.

She shot up from the table and grabbed the pot holder on the counter. With her shoulders squared, she proceeded to the table with the kettle. “More
kaffi
, Andrew?”

He wiped his mouth with a napkin and pushed back from the table. “
Nay
, I have to be going.” He walked to the kitchen entry and paused. “Happy birthday.”

Judith smiled, pleased he had remembered. “
Denki
.” She returned the kettle to the stove, then followed him to the door. “It was very kind of you to take care of the animals.”

Andrew nodded and lifted his hat off the wall hook. “It was no trouble.” His gaze drifted toward the kitchen, and she wondered what caused his now sullen expression.

He looked back at her. “Judith, don’t take that from him. You deserve better.”

She didn’t know what to say.

His eyes widened. “Perhaps I shouldn’t have spoken so forwardly.
Denki
for breakfast.”

“
Jah,
have a
gut
day.”

Judith returned to the kitchen. She picked up Andrew’s plate and utensils and carried them to the sink. “I wish you hadn’t said that about my cooking.” She decided not to respond to his comment about Martha.

Levi put down his fork and crossed the room to meet her next to the sink. “That you’d make a
gut fraa
? Why?”

She shrugged. “Did you see Andrew’s face? I feel sorry for him.”

Levi cupped both his hands over her shoulders. “Don’t feel sorry for him. There are many maids his age in the next district who would love to marry Bishop Junior.”

Judith winced at the way he mocked Andrew, as though he were predestined to follow his father’s ministry role.

Levi rolled his eyes. “But according to Andrew, there was only one person he’d ever marry.”

“I know he spent a lot of time with Esther while she was ill.” She wanted to add that she hadn’t heard rumors of Andrew participating in
rumschpringe
or that he made a practice of meaninglessly kissing other women.

Levi stroked his hand over her cheek, and all reason to defend Andrew left her thoughts. Her eyes closed. Last night he had surprised her with a kiss. Today she’d be better prepared to respond.

“Are we alone?” he whispered.

“Uh-huh.” She opened her eyes and leaned in toward him as his gaze drifted to her lips.

He leaned forward, but the squeak of the front door opening stilled them both.

“Judith?”
Aenti
Lilly called from the entry.

Levi stepped back, his eyes locked on her. “Would you spend time with me tonight?”

Every nerve in Judith’s body flared to life. She steadied her fluttering heart with a deep breath. “Today isn’t Sunday. There’s no singing tonight.”

He grinned. “I don’t want to sing.”

Aenti
Lilly entered the kitchen. “There you are. Amos is driving me to the hospital to take food to your parents. I thought maybe you’d like to go along and see Samuel.”

Judith wiped her hands against her apron. “
Jah
, I would.”

Levi cleared his throat. “Tell your
daed
not to worry about the cows. I’ll
kumm
back later this evening to milk them.”

Judith smiled, looking forward to seeing him later. “I’ll tell him,
denki
.” She walked him to the door.
Sorry
, she mouthed.

Aenti
Lilly removed Judith’s cape from the wall peg and handed it to her. “We’ll be gone the better part of the day. I have a few egg deliveries to make on our ride into town.”

The twelve-mile buggy ride into town passed uninterrupted as Judith relived those few moments with Levi. Even the blaring car horns of the drivers behind their buggy didn’t disrupt her daydreaming. She sighed, recalling how Levi said she’d make a good wife. Her life’s purpose to serve God and her husband in faithful obedience would happen in the near future. How wonderful it would be when the others no longer viewed her as a girl, but as a married woman.

After making several stops to deliver eggs, they arrived in the city limits of Hope Falls.

Onkle
Amos turned onto Oak Street and stopped the buggy at the front entrance of the medical center. “I’ll see if there’s a place to tie the horse,” he said as she and
Aenti
Lilly stepped down from the buggy.

While
Aenti
Lilly asked the woman at the volunteers’ desk for Samuel’s room number, Judith took in the new surroundings. She’d never been inside the hospital and marveled at how clean and modern the place looked.