The Winnowing Season (16 page)

He shrugged. “Being good wasn’t part of the deal. Here goes: the peacemaking meeting scheduled for today has been canceled due to a conflict.”

She grinned, nodding her head. “Not only was it funny, but it fits who we are so perfectly.” She headed for the kitchen. “I’ll get you some stew.”

“Ach!” he called after her. “What it takes to get some cooperation around here!” He suppressed a smile as he turned to Landon and Leah and clapped his hands. “Let’s go.”

Leah’s back was stiff, so she volunteered to take the children upstairs to
their room so they would be out of the way. Phoebe and Landon picked up the head of the mattress, and Samuel took the foot. Samuel pushed, slowly edging the mattress upward.

“No, wait.” Landon barely got the words out before the mattress lurched back at Samuel. “It won’t fit through her bedroom door.”

“I’m losing my grip here,” Samuel belted out.

“Her door must be several inches shorter than the others. Hang on.”

The slick, uneven stairs under the mattress and the pull of gravity, mixed with the lack of an easy grip, kept Samuel from being able to latch on to it. He grabbed a handrail and used his shoulder to keep the mattress—and him—from careening to the foot of the stars. “I’m losing my grip again!”

“Coming!” Rhoda thundered up the stairs, clutched the other handrail, and put her shoulder to the lower section of the mattress. Together, they held it in place.

“Now?” Samuel yelled.

“Yeah,” Landon answered. “Push on three. One … two … three!”

Samuel put all he could into shoving the mattress, and Rhoda did the same. They’d been moving furniture for about seven hours, and she knew only one way to work—with all the force she could muster.

The mattress moved up several steps, then stopped cold, knocking Rhoda and Samuel off balance. He grabbed her arm with one hand and the banister with the other.

Her eyes grew large. “Denki.”

He didn’t let go, making sure her feet were steady.
“Bischt du allrecht?”

She shifted her feet on the uneven steps. “Ya.”

“Hold up, guys,” Landon said. “We’ve hit another snag.”

Rhoda’s arm brushed against Samuel’s. The soft warmth of her skin made all thoughts of unloading the moving van fizzle into nothingness. He needed physical distance from her. Now. He hollered up the stairs. “What’s the deal?”

“It’s wedged between the landing and the ceiling. We’re working on solutions.
Even Phoebe and Steven don’t have a mattress this size, and Rhoda’s petite.” Landon’s grumbling didn’t seem to faze Rhoda at all.

Samuel sighed, leaning his forehead against the mattress.

“At least my mattress is in the house already.” Rhoda nodded and waggled her eyebrows. “I could make the living room my bedroom, ya?”

He’d set his will not to enjoy her company, longing to be kind but distant. It seemed an impossible task. Hiding behind a foul temper was so much easier, but that had been cruel and wrong and childish. Now that he saw the ridiculousness of his behavior, it embarrassed him.

His learning curve left him a long list of things he still didn’t know, but he was very clear on one thing: he would never again be impolite to Rhoda, not even to guard his heart. She deserved his kindness, and that’s what he’d give her. Seeing her in that meeting in front of the firing squad disguised as leaders, and realizing how hard she tried to do what was right, and knowing she had saved his family but had never told him … It was like having his heart transplanted—a selfish, cold one had been surgically removed. One filled with a passion to do what was best for her had replaced it.

His feelings for her aside, he doubted he would ever see life through the same ill-tempered filter again.

She nudged him with her elbow. “I
said
, at least my mattress is in the house tonight.”

He nodded. What he would give to jump into bantering with her. To tell her,
True. That piece of info isn’t the least bit helpful, but it’s definitely true
. She would retort with something sassy and funny. But he said nothing else.

“Okay, we’ve done what we can. Let’s try again,” Landon hollered. “We just have to get it unstuck.”

Samuel and Rhoda pushed, but the mattress wouldn’t budge.

“Hallo?” Steven’s voice echoed through the house.

“Oh. Up here, honey!” Phoebe’s usually quiet demeanor disappeared. Her excitement became apparent to all.

“Daed! Daed!” the children clamored from upstairs.

Rhoda looked at Samuel, her eyes bright. “If love can move mountains, it should be able to move a mattress through a too-small opening, right?”

“It’s worth a try.”

“Kumm.” Rhoda motioned to her brother. “If you want to see your wife and children, add some muscle.”

Steven wedged in, putting his hands on the very bottom of the mattress. Rhoda and Samuel pushed from the middle. “Ready? One … two … go!” Samuel grimaced.

With Landon and Phoebe guiding and Rhoda, Steven, and Samuel pushing, the mattress finally dislodged, and they ran with it into the room. Once through the doorway, momentum flung Steven, Rhoda, and Samuel like they were dishrags. Samuel fell against a wall, but he managed to keep Rhoda from landing on the floor. Phoebe caught Steven. The two embraced as if they had been separated for months.

Everyone laughed, though whether from the absurdity of the moment or from relief that Steven had arrived, Samuel wasn’t sure.

“Daed! Daed! Kumm!” The little ones were across the tiny hallway behind a safety gate. Steven told everyone hello, and then he and Phoebe went to the room with their children.

“Whew, we did it.” Landon wiped his brow. “Steven should have shown up sooner.”

“The power of love.” Rhoda sat upright. “Speaking of which, check your phone.”

Landon did so. “Sorry, Rhodes.”

She smiled and shrugged. “No worries.”

Samuel didn’t believe her. If Jacob had called Erlene again, she would’ve called Landon to tell him. Or Jacob could call Landon, but if he knew that number, why hadn’t he called Landon the other night? It didn’t matter. If Jacob could get to a phone, he would call Rhoda a second time.

The fact that he hadn’t seemed to be nibbling away at Rhoda.

Samuel prayed for his brother. It seemed unfair that Jacob’s past had showed up now. He’d returned home broken and different and determined to move beyond his mistakes. He had been dedicated to his family and the Amish ways and had finally met someone who filled his life with meaning. And now he’d been sucked back into his past.

“He’ll call before bedtime. I’m sure of it.”

Samuel wasn’t so sure that Landon was right, but he hoped it was true.

Leah leaned against a wall. “I know Jacob. He’ll arrive without warning. But it’ll be after we have all the beds set up, the furniture arranged, and the kitchen in working order.”

Rhoda stood, dusting off her black apron. “If that’s what it’ll take, we may not see him for a month.”

Her blue eyes bore into Samuel’s, and he knew she wanted Jacob to arrive, and she wanted answers about where he was and why. Samuel didn’t know much to tell her, but he had promised Jacob silence over what little he did know. Besides, how could any good come of telling Rhoda that the man she cared about was with another woman?

Jacob juggled two armloads of groceries and struggled to get the key in the door of Sandra’s apartment. Night had fallen while he was gone, and the porch light wasn’t on.

He opened the door, and Sandra looked up from the rocker. She placed a finger over her lips, shushing him as she rocked Casey. He set the bags on the wobbly kitchen table. The small place had been a trash pit yesterday, but they had hauled out load after load of garbage and useless junk, scrubbed down the place, and bought a few pieces of secondhand furniture. The little apartment was old and not in the best part of town, but it was within walking distance of anything she’d need—doctors, dentists, grocery stores, and pharmacies.

He held up the keys, showing them to her before setting them on the table. He’d already told Casey good-bye before getting groceries. “You have
everything you need for now. I have to go.” He’d been away too long as it was. He had left Kings’ Orchard last Thursday evening, and now it was Sunday night. Sandra had said it didn’t seem like much time to her, but he imagined it felt quite different to Rhoda. As it did to him. The list of items on Sandra’s to-do list was endless—putting better locks on the doors, reattaching a few interior doors, fixing broken cabinet drawers—but the place was clean and safe, and he had to go.

Sandra shook her head. “Just wait.” She eased from the chair and took Casey into the bedroom.

He supposed they needed a proper good-bye, but he had been trying to get away since early this morning. It took all his resolve not to bolt long before daylight and do so without looking back. But that was impossible.

If it weren’t for Casey, his temptation to bolt would be even stronger. He looked forward to Rhoda and him having a daughter one day, but Casey seemed so vulnerable that she tugged on his heart as if
she
were his. By Friday morning she had stopped scowling at him. By Saturday morning she had become his helper. Their time together over the last couple of days mixed with memories of the night she was born and those first few months of helping take care of her. It melted his heart.

He didn’t know much about Sandra’s childhood, but he knew she’d never been given a stray dog’s chance at a decent life. She had believed Blaine was a better man than her dad. And she said he was, but clearly
better
wasn’t always enough.

Jacob began unloading the groceries. Who knew that setting up a single mom in an unfamiliar city took so much effort? In his rumschpringe days, he moved from one town to the next with no more than a small suitcase and food money in his pocket, but evidently ten times that wasn’t sufficient for a woman with a young child. It gave him a bit of insight into why women tended to be quicker to want to build a nest—and why men tended to prefer the opposite.

He put the half gallon of milk in the refrigerator, along with some condiments, deli meat, and cheese.

She came out of the bedroom, pulling her hair into a band again. “So this is it.” Her smile wavered a bit.

“For now.”

“Thank you.”

Her voice was hollow, and he knew she didn’t want to be left here alone. He needed to choke out the words
you’re welcome
, but he couldn’t. He wished he’d never thought of Sandra and Blaine as friends. Then he never would have been pulled into this mess. Be that as it may, he would never turn his back on helping Sandra. She was more of a victim than anyone, except little Casey.

He gathered the plastic grocery bags and scrunched them.

“Look,”—Sandra took the bags from him—“I know you’re not going to like hearing this, but I have to get a job.”

“Not a good idea. I’ll send more money as soon as I earn it.”

“You don’t have any left. Where will it come from?”

“Once I’m settled, I’ll come up with ways to earn money and send that.”

“That’s generous, and I’m really, really grateful, but I can find something that pays cash only. You always did.”

His pulse jumped, and he stared at her. “Are you sure you know how to do that without raising suspicion?”

“I’m sure. Are you this skeptical of what your girl can accomplish?”

He focused on her, willing her to heed his words. “You’ve got to—”

“Jacob, I know. Don’t give me a list like I’m a kid.”

He nodded. “As soon as we get a phone, I’ll call and give you the number. Then we’ll both feel better about this arrangement.”

“You’re a keeper.” She hugged him. “You gave me your word years ago and you kept it. That’s far better than anything Blaine ever did. And more than I deserve. While I’m going through all this to keep Casey safe, Blaine’s on a beach somewhere in Mexico, drinking margaritas and tequila.”

“Ease up, Sandra. We don’t know where he is or how he’s living.” Jacob wasn’t even sure Blaine was still alive, but he wouldn’t mention that.

“Yes, I do and so do you.” She moved in closer. “He put the loan sharks on my back, the insurance adjuster on yours, and absconded with the money.”

“I’ll send something every chance I get. You know I will.”

“I know. But you’ll need every penny once you marry your girl.”

“You’re worrying. The orchard will bring in great money soon enough, and I’ll be able to keep sending money.”

“You’re something else. There are men all over this country who avoid paying child support, and here you are trying to help us. If there is a God, He’s bound to have good things in store for you.”

Jacob hoped so, but if that’s how God worked—giving good things to good people and repaying evil with evil—then Jacob hadn’t begun to pay for what he’d done. What would he pay for every life he had cost?

But the Word said all had sinned and were justified by His grace through the redemption of Christ. Forgiveness made the only real difference. A tornado might come through people’s lives at any moment, but they could face it with strength and peace as long as they knew they stood before God as one of His—both loved and forgiven.