The Hope Chest Read online

  “I’m going. And don’t be thinking you can boss me around.” She scrunched up her nose. “You may be twenty-one and three years older than me, but you’re not my keeper, Joseph Beachy.”

  “Don’t go gettin’ your feathers all ruffled. You’re crankier than the old red rooster when his hens are fighting for the best pieces of corn.” Joseph’s forehead wrinkled as he squinted his blue eyes and stared at her dress. “Say, isn’t that blood I see there?”

  She nodded.

  “What happened? Did you fall in the river and skin your knee on a rock?”

  Rachel shook her head. “I skinned my knee, but it wasn’t on a rock.”

  Joseph gave her a knowing look. “Don’t tell me it was another one of your tree-climbing escapades.”

  She waved a hand and turned away. “Okay, I won’t tell you that.”

  “Let Mom know I’ll be in for supper as soon as I finish with the plow,” he called to her.

  As Rachel stepped onto the back porch, she thought about all the chores she had to do. It was probably a good thing. At least when her hands were kept busy, it didn’t give her so much time to think about things—especially about Silas Swartley.

  ***

  Silas kicked a clump of grass with the toe of his boot. What had come over Anna all of a sudden? How could she be so friendly one minute and almost rude the next? Worse than that, when had she developed such dissatisfaction with being Amish? Had it been there all along, and he’d just been too blind to notice? Was Anna going through some kind of a phase, like some folks did during their rumschpringe? But that made no sense, since Anna had already been baptized and joined the Amish church.

  Silas clenched his fists and kept trudging toward home. I love Anna, but if she’s really the woman for me, then why is she acting so disinterested all of a sudden? He still couldn’t believe she’d suggested he start courting her little sister.

  “Is that woman simpleminded?” he grumbled. “Rachel’s still just a kinner. Besides, it’s Anna I love, not her little sister.”

  As Silas rounded the bend, his farm came into view. A closed-in buggy sat out front in the driveway, and he recognized the horse. It belonged to Deacon Noah Shemly.

  “Hmm ... wonder what’s up.” He shrugged. “Maybe Mom invited Deacon Noah and his family to join us for supper tonight.”

  When Silas entered the kitchen a few minutes later, he found his folks and Deacon Noah sitting at the kitchen table, drinking tall glasses of lemonade. It didn’t appear as if any of the deacon’s family had come with him.

  “Is supper about ready?” Silas asked, smiling at his mother. “I’m sure hungry.”

  Mom gave him a stern look over the top of her metal-framed glasses, which were perched in the middle of her nose. “Where are your manners, son? Can’t you say hello to our guest before you start fretting over food?”

  Silas was none too happy about his mother embarrassing him that way, but he knew better than to sass her back. Mom might be only half his size, but she could still pack a good wallop to any of her boys’ backsides, and she didn’t care how old they were, either.

  “Sorry,” Silas apologized as he nodded at the man who had come to pay them a visit. “When I saw your buggy, I thought maybe you’d brought the whole family along.”

  Deacon Shemly shook his head. “Nope. Just me.”

  “Noah came by to have a little talk with you,” Pap said, running his fingers through his slightly graying hair, then motioning Silas to take a seat.

  “What about?”

  “Your friend Reuben Yutzy,” the deacon answered with a quick nod.

  Silas took off his straw hat and hung it on a wall peg near the back door. Then he took a seat at the table. “What about Reuben?”

  The deacon leaned forward and leveled Silas with a piercing gaze. “As you already know, Reuben works for an English paint contractor in Lancaster.”

  Silas merely nodded in response.

  “I hear tell Reuben’s been seen with some worldly folks lately.”

  “As you just said, he works for the English.”

  “I’m talking about Reuben’s off-hours.” Noah gave his full brown beard a few good yanks. “Word has it that he’s been going to some picture shows and hanging around with a group of English who like to party some.”

  Silas frowned deeply. “I see.”

  “You know anything about this, son?” Pap spoke up.

  “No. Why would I?”

  “Reuben and you have been friends since you were kinner,” Mom reminded.

  Silas shrugged. “That’s true, but he doesn’t tell me everything he does.”

  “So, you’re saying you don’t know anything about Reuben being involved in the things of the world?” Deacon Noah questioned.

  “Not a thing, and it’s probably just a rumor.” Silas scooted his chair back and stood. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d best see to my chores before supper.”

  “Reuben’s folks are mighty concerned that if he’s involved with the things of the world, he’ll never decide to join the church. So, you will let me or one of the other ministers know if you hear anything, won’t you?” the deacon called as Silas headed for the back door.

  “Jah, sure.”

  Outside, on the porch, Silas drew in a deep, cleansing breath. What in the world was going on here? First Anna acting off in the head, and now all these questions about Reuben. It was enough to make him a nervous wreck!

  CHAPTER 2

  Rebekah sat in her wheelchair at the table, tearing lettuce into a bowl, while her oldest daughter stood at the stove, stirring a pot of savory stew. They’d been working on supper for the last half hour and still saw no sign of Rachel.

  “Are you sure your sister left the river before you did, Anna?”

  “Jah, Mom. Several minutes, in fact.”

  “Did she say she was coming straight home?”

  “Not really; I just assumed she was planning on it.”

  “Hmm...”

  Just then the back door opened, and Rachel stepped into the room—her face all red and sweaty, her eyes brighter than a shiny penny.

  “Sorry I’m late.” She hurried over to the sink to wash her hands and face.

  Rebekah wiped her hands on a paper towel and reached for a tomato. “Anna said you left the river quite a bit before she did. What kept you, daughter?”

  “I ... uh ... did a little bird-watching on the way home, and Anna must have missed me somehow.” Rachel picked up an empty pitcher and filled it with water from the sink. “Want me to set the table and fill the glasses?”

  Rebekah nodded. “It seems as if you and Anna have been living in a dream world lately. Is this what summer does to my girls?”

  Rachel shrugged. “I can’t help it if I enjoy studying God’s feathered creatures.”

  Anna turned from her job at the stove and frowned. “Sure is funny I never saw you on the way home. If you were looking at birds, then where were you—up in a tree?”

  “What difference does it make?” Rachel’s face flamed, making Rebekah wonder if up a tree was precisely where her daughter had been. Rachel had been climbing trees ever since she was old enough to run and play outdoors, always chasing after some critter, watching a special bird, or hiding from her siblings.

  I wonder if I would have been a tree climber if I’d had the chance. Rebekah’s thoughts pulled her unwillingly back to the past—back to when she’d been a little girl and a tree branch had fallen on her during a bad storm. The accident had damaged her spinal cord, and ever since then, Rebekah had either been confined to her wheelchair or strapped in braces that allowed her to walk stiff-legged with the help of crutches.

  “What kind of stupid bird were you looking at, Rachel?” Anna asked, halting Rebekah’s thoughts.

  “It was a downy woodpecker, and it’s sure as anything not stupid.”

  “Silas is such a kischblich man. He likes watching birds, too, but I think it’s a waste of time.”

  “Just
because Silas appreciates birds doesn’t make him a silly man.” Rachel moved over to the table with a handful of silverware she’d taken from the drawer.

  “And speaking of Silas, I know he brought you home from a singing awhile back. Seems to me he might want to start courting you pretty soon,” Rebekah stated.

  Anna silently kept stirring the stew.

  “Might could be that you’ll soon be making a wedding quilt for your hope chest.” Rebekah smiled. “Or would you prefer that I make one for you?”

  Anna pursed her lips. “It was just one ride in his buggy, Mom. Nothing to get excited about. So there’s no need for either one of us to begin an Amish wedding quilt.”

  “Why not be excited?” Rebekah set the salad bowl aside and turned her wheelchair so she was facing Anna. “Silas has been hanging around our place for years now, and your daed and I both think he’s a nice enough fellow. Besides, you’re twenty-three years old already and joined the church last fall. Don’t you think it’s past time you considered getting married?”

  Anna moved away from the stove and opened the refrigerator door. She withdrew a bunch of celery and took it over to the sink. “I’m thinking the stew needs a bit more of this; that’s what I’m thinking.”

  Rachel headed back across the room, removed a stack of plates from the cupboard, and brought them over to the table. She looked a bit disgruntled, and Rebekah wondered if the girl might be jealous because Anna had a boyfriend and she didn’t. She shifted her wheelchair to one side, making it easier for Rachel to reach around her, then glanced over at Anna again. “I think a lovely quilt would make a fine addition to someone’s hope chest, and if Silas is so sweet on you, then maybe you should—”

  “I’m sorry if Silas thinks he’s sweet on me,” Anna said. “I just can’t commit to someone I don’t love.”

  Rebekah clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. “ Ach. I didn’t mean to interfere. Guess I jumped to the wrong conclusion, but seeing as how you and Silas have been friends for so long, and since you let him bring you home from a singing, I thought things must be getting serious.”

  “Anna has other things she wants to do with her life. I heard her say so.” Rachel covered her mouth with the palm of her hand, and her face turned red as a cherry tomato. “Oops.”

  “When did you hear me say such things?” Anna turned to face her sister, leveling her with a most peculiar look.

  Rachel shrugged and reached for the basket of napkins in the center of the table. “I’m sure you said it sometime.”

  “What other things are you wanting to do with your life, Anna?” Rebekah asked.

  Anna merely shrugged in response.

  “If I had someone as wunderbaar as Silas after me, I’d marry him in an instant.” Rachel’s cheeks turned even redder, and she scurried across the room.

  “My, my,” Anna said with a small laugh. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think my little sister was in love with Silas herself.”

  “Rachel’s only eighteen—too young for such thoughts,” Rebekah said with a shake of her head. “Besides, I’m sure she wouldn’t be after your boyfriend, Anna.”

  “How old were you when you fell in love with Dad?” Anna asked.

  “Guess I wasn’t much more than nineteen. Even so—”

  The back door flew open, interrupting Rebekah’s sentence, and her twelve-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, burst into the kitchen. Her long brown braids, which had been pinned at the back of her head when she’d gone outside awhile ago, now hung down her back. “Perry won’t let me have a turn on the swing. He’s been mean to me all day, Mom.”

  Rebekah shook her head. “You know your twin brother likes to tease. The little galgedieb. I wish you would try to ignore that scoundrel’s antics.”

  “But, Mom, Perry—”

  Rebekah held up one hand to silence Elizabeth. “It’s almost time for supper, so please run outside and call your daed and your bruders inside.”

  “Oh, all right, but if Perry starts picking on me again—”

  “You’ll just ignore him.”

  “I’ll try.”

  Rebekah shook her head as Elizabeth went out the back door. “That youngest daughter of mine has a lot to learn about ignoring a tease.” She clicked her tongue. “Why, I can’t tell you how many times I had to endure teasing when I was a girl.”

  “Did your brothers and sisters tease you?” Rachel asked as she placed a napkin beside the plate nearest her.

  Rebekah nodded. “Sometimes, but most of my teasing came from kinner outside my family—those who thought my handicap was something to joke about, I guess.”

  “Anyone cruel enough to make fun of someone who’s disabled ought to be horsewhipped,” Rachel muttered.

  “I agree,” Anna put in.

  Rebekah smiled. She was glad her daughters felt that way.

  Rebekah’s husband, Daniel, and their oldest son, Joseph, entered the room just then, and Elizabeth and her twin brother, Perry, followed. Soon the family gathered around the huge wooden table, and all heads bowed for silent prayer. When it was over, Daniel glanced at Joseph. “Did you get that old plow put back together today?” he asked, as he filled his plate with a generous helping of stew.

  Joseph nodded. “Jah, I did. Should be able to use it again tomorrow morning.”

  Daniel pulled his fingers through the ends of his full brown beard, now lightly peppered with gray. “No matter what those English neighbors of mine may think, I say you can’t replace a reliable horse and plow with any kind of fancy equipment.”

  “Horses aren’t always so reliable,” Anna put in. “I’ve known ’em to be downright stubborn at times.”

  Daniel cast a curious look in her direction but made no comment.

  “I’ve been wondering, don’t you think we need to modernize a bit?” Anna continued. “I mean, working the greenhouse would go much better if we had a telephone ... even one outdoors on a pole.”

  Daniel frowned. “We’ve gotten along all these years without a phone, so why would we need one now?”

  Everyone fell silent, but as Rebekah watched her eldest daughter fiddle with her food, she sensed the frustration Anna felt and wondered if she should say something on her behalf. Before Rebekah could say a word, Anna pushed her chair aside and stood. “I’d like to be excused.”

  Daniel nodded, but Rebekah felt the need to protest. “You’ve hardly eaten a thing, Anna.”

  “I’m not so hungry.” Anna lowered her head, causing her long lashes to form crescents against her pale cheeks.

  “Let her go,” Daniel said. “Just might could be that going without supper is what she needs to help clear her head for better thinking.”

  Rebekah had never been one to usurp her husband’s authority, even if she didn’t agree with everything he said. So with a quick nod, she replied, “Jah, all right then.”

  Anna rushed out of the room without another word, and Rebekah released a sigh. Her oldest child had been acting a mite strange of late, and it had her more than a bit worried.

  ***

  Rachel leaned against the back of her chair, her shoulder blades making contact with the hard wood. Such a silly one, that sister of mine. She seems so dissatisfied with her life these days. Guess maybe she doesn’t know how good she’s got it.

  As soon as the rest of them had finished supper, Rachel cleared the table and helped her mother and Elizabeth do up the dishes and clean the kitchen.

  “Many hands make light work,” Mom said, as Rachel handed her a platter to dry.

  Rachel nodded and glanced toward the hallway door leading to the stairs. Too bad Anna was in her room sulking. If she’d been down here in the kitchen helping, like she should have been, they would probably be done already.

  When the last dish was finally dried and put away, Rachel turned to her mother and said, “I think I’ll go upstairs and see how Anna’s doing. Unless you’ve got something more for me here, that is.”

  Mom shook her head. “Nothin
g right now. I was thinking about going outside to check on my herb garden.” She glanced at Elizabeth, who was drying her hands on a terry cloth towel. “How’d you like to join your old mamm outside?”

  Elizabeth wrinkled her freckled nose. “You ain’t old.”

  Rachel noticed the smile that crossed her mother’s face—that sweet, dimpled expression that made her so special. Even with Mom’s disability, she rarely complained. From all Rachel had been told, their mother had been confined to a wheelchair most of her life. But Mom didn’t allow her disability to hold her back much. It was Rachel’s understanding that her mother had been quite independent when she was a young woman and had decided to open the greenhouse she’d named Grandma’s Place.

  Rachel smiled to herself as she thought of the stories Dad and Mom often told about their courting days and how they almost didn’t marry because of some silly misunderstanding. Mom had convinced herself that Dad only wanted her because he loved flowers so much and hoped to get his hands on her business. It took some doing, but Dad finally made her believe he loved her most, not the plants and flowers. At last, they got married. They ran the greenhouse together, and a year later, baby Anna was born.

  Mom had said she thought it was a true miracle, the way God had allowed her to give birth despite her partial paralysis. Rachel could only imagine how her mother must have felt when she kept having one miracle after another. Two years after Anna was born, Joseph arrived. Another three years went by, and Rachel came onto the scene. Mom must have thought she was done having bopplin, because it was another six years before the twins made their surprise appearance.

  Five miracles in all, Rachel mused. I would surely feel blessed if God ever gave me five children. She drew in a deep breath and released it with such force that Mom gave her a strange look.

  “You okay, Rachel?”

  “Jah, I’m fine; just thinking is all.”

  “Were you daydreaming again?”

  Rachel nodded. Daydreaming was nothing new for her. As far back as she could remember, she had enjoyed fantasizing about things.