CHAPTER
11
The following Wednesday after breakfast, Lena rode with Cousin Harley for the planned visit with Rebekah Petersheim and her grandchildren, thankful for the lift since the roads were slick with a layer of ice, and now snow was falling again.
“When would ya like me to pick you up?” Harley asked, holding the reins taut.
“Oh, in a couple hours.”
Harley glanced her way and nodded. “I’ll come in time to fetch ya for the noon meal.”
“Denki.” Lena nodded.
“Think nothin’ of it. We’re just glad you have it in your heart to help Cora Ruth some.”
Recalling how her Mamma, especially, had always instructed her that others come first, Lena Rose smiled. So much about life and God’s grace, too, had been gleaned from her parents—they’d spent time instilling the importance of serving others into her and her younger siblings.
At Melvin Ebersol’s lane, Harley directed the horse to turn in, going all the way up to the back walkway before getting out to help Lena Rose from the carriage. He held on to her as they crept over the ice to the back door, as well, taking such good care, and Lena was grateful for Harley’s fatherly way with her. “Denki, I’ll see ya in two hours, then,” she told him.
“Have yourself a gut time.” He smiled.
The door opened, and there was Cora Ruth’s oldest child, five-year-old Emily Ann, smiling up at her.
“Mammi’s upstairs with the babies,” the sweet little girl said in Deitsch, her hair all rumpled like it needed brushing.
“That’s all right, honey-girl. Denki for letting me in.”
Emily Ann closed the door behind her and showed Lena where to hang her outer clothing and bonnet. Then Lena followed her into the warm and spacious kitchen, where she went over to see what Abe and Bennie were doing in the corner on the floor. Their heads were practically touching as they played with wooden Lincoln Logs.
“We’re building a barn,” four-year-old Abe said, looking up at her with a serious look on his freckled face.
Two-and-a-half-year-old Bennie held up several pieces in his chubby fist, showing Lena a drooly smile.
She gently patted Bennie’s silky blond bangs and said maybe they’d grow up to be master builders someday. “If ya keep practicin’,” she added, remembering how Chris loved to build with Lincoln Logs, too.
Just then, Emily Ann came with a book and sat down on the floor near her little brothers. “This is my library book,” she said, big blue eyes wide. “I like this story.”
“You must’ve read it before,” Lena said, taking a seat on the floor right beside her.
“Jah, Mamma reads it to me.” The little girl sighed loudly. “I asked Mammi Petersheim to, but she’s busy with the twins.”
Lena well knew the familiar story of Henner’s Lydia, about a little Amish girl who got very distracted while trying to make a hooked mat before going to market. It was a book Lena’s mother had read to her and Emma when they were little.
It wasn’t long before Rebekah joined them, and seeing Lena there on the floor with the children, she tilted her head and grinned. “Yous look so cozy, but there are chairs to sit on.” She motioned for Lena and Emily Ann to go with her into the nearby sitting room, which they did.
“Won’t ya read the story to me now, Mammi?” Emily asked, climbing onto her grandmother’s lap. Emily opened to the first page. “It’s the best book ever.”
“Oh jah, ’tis.” Rebekah looked at Lena, clearly uncomfortable.
“Please, Mammi?” Emily Ann persisted.
Rebekah kissed Emily’s forehead and sighed. “I’m all in, dearie. Best be lettin’ Lena Rose read it to ya.”
But Emily stayed on Rebekah’s lap, just turning the pages slowly, pointing out the characters to her Mammi while trying to tell the story in Deitsch in her own way.
Rebekah glanced away at one point, blinking back tears, Lena was ever so sure, and her heart went out to the woman.
So Lena offered to read the book to Emily Ann. Happily, the little girl hurried over and stood beside Lena, leaning against her arm during the story. Like Chris used to.
When the book was finished, Emily Ann went back to the kitchen to play with her brothers. Rebekah turned to look out the window, then down at the floor. Finally, sighing loudly, she twiddled her thumbs, avoiding Lena’s gaze.
Lena hesitated as the silence seemed to pull the air out of the room. But soon, from out in the kitchen, came the sound of Emily Ann’s exuberant giggles.
Proceeding with caution, Lena ventured ahead, hoping for the best. “My younger brother Benjamin used to have trouble reading English, so he would practice by reading out loud to Mamma,” Lena said.
Suddenly, Rebekah’s eyes were intent on her, as though following every word.
“I watched him with Mamma . . . the way she was able to help and encourage him. Mamma was a substitute teacher at a Mennonite school before she died.”
“She helped your brother, ya say?”
Lena nodded and was about to tell Rebekah more when Emily Ann burst into the room and asked to show her grandmother a block tower she’d made. “Right quick . . . before it falls down!”
Lena smiled as Rebekah allowed herself to be led to the kitchen doorway, but the woman glanced back. “I’d like to hear more ’bout your brother’s troubles reading English.”
“I’ll be happy to tell ya,” Lena said, and Rebekah brightened.
———
Later, while the children were occupied at the kitchen table with a morning snack of orange slices and raisins, Rebekah sat next to Lena, her words hushed to a whisper. “I . . . ’spect you noticed . . . my hesitation to read.”
“I’d be thrilled to help, if I can,” Lena said gently in English, so the children wouldn’t understand.
“Ain’t sure anyone can, to tell the truth.” Rebekah looked away and shook her head slowly, as though embarrassed. “Not like I didn’t do my best to learn back when.”
Lena put her hand on Rebekah’s arm. “Well, you already know
