Lena sighed. “I had no idea.”
“Things were awful tense between us, since I was expected to shun him, too. You can only imagine.” Rebekah shook her head. “S’pose I felt somewhat guilty, too, because I was nearly the last one to realize he’d been tinkering with our grape juice, makin’ his own wine!” She wrinkled her brow into a hard frown. “Finally, one of the preachers thought it would be best if I left home for a time, in hopes of getting Michael to understand the foolishness of his ways. I had my doubts, though, whether that might just push him further over the edge, but I obeyed and came here to be with Cora Ruth and her family.
“Truth be told, I shouldn’t have stayed as long as I did, considering Michael’s awful state, but once the twins were born, Cora Ruth needed me. I kept thinkin’ I should get myself home, but before I could, the worst possible thing happened. My husband died suddenly.” Rebekah wiped her eyes.
Lena sighed, bearing the pain of it. “I’m so sorry, Rebekah. I didn’t know you were carrying such a burden.” Lena reached to embrace her and wished she could do something to ease the poor woman’s pain and the guilt Rebekah was enduring, as if she were responsible for her husband’s untimely passing.
“My deacon does say there’s a bright side to all this, though,” Rebekah added.
Just at that moment, Ada and her two daughters, Ada Mae and Joanna, opened the back door and walked in. “Oh, so sorry . . . didn’t know you were getting ready to leave,” Ada said, clearly embarrassed to have broken in on their conversation like this.
“ ’Tis all right,” Rebekah said. Then she glanced at Lena. “We’ll talk later.” And she headed outdoors.
Lena felt sorry for the interruption and wondered how Rebekah managed to be so resilient, given her circumstances. To think she was willing to better herself so that one day she could read to her grandchildren. She’s surprisingly determined, even optimistic, despite all she’s suffered.
The next morning, Lena made time before breakfast for some letters to her siblings. Now that she didn’t know when she’d be home for a visit, she was drawn to writing like never before. The letters would have to be enough till she found a time and a place to return—preferably for good.
When Lena was ready to go to James Zook’s to clean, she had in mind to discuss his too-generous pay of two weeks ago. But when she brought it up first thing, he only chuckled and drummed his thick fingers on the table. “I’m fine with what I paid ya—it’s a closed case. Besides, I’d like for you to cook sometimes, too. All right?”
She agreed despite her objections, knowing that the more she saved, the more money she would have toward rent or whatnot when she returned home.
Lena considered the folk she had gotten to know during her months here—Mimi, Rebekah, and James Zook. Somehow, they had come to rely on her, and that knowledge softened her homesickness. The way Harley talked, a person might think she was indispensable, although Lena expected that at least Rebekah Petersheim would be ready to be on her own in a few short weeks. Her connection to the Stoltzfuses and the others she’d met here sometimes made her feel as though she were playing an inner tug-of-war. Was it risky to put down roots of any kind when she hoped to be on her way soon? Yet the longing for home seemed all the worse when she just kept to herself. And here lately it had been all the stronger because she had yet to receive a letter from Hans, even a belated Christmas card.
After she’d cleaned and scrubbed the kitchen and even cooked up a nice hot dish of noodles and roasted chicken, Lena took a few minutes to look at the Christmas cards James had strung up across the entrance to his front room, smiling to see the many he’d received from grandchildren and other family.
Before she left, Lena asked if he needed any letters taken out to the mailbox, and right away he asked if she’d help him write a few thank-you notes. “My handwriting ain’t so legible no more,” he said. Briefly, he went to the next room and returned with a box of notes and a worn brown address book. “Denki, Lena Rose.”
“I’m delighted to help.” And she sat with him at the table as he dictated the short notes to several relatives in other communities.
His eyes welled up. “This may seem like a small thing to you, but it’s a big help to an old man like me.”
She patted his arm and asked if he had plans for New Year’s Day tomorrow.
Nodding, he pulled out his red kerchief and wiped his eyes. “Melvin and Cora Ruth Ebersol invited me over for the noon meal. I guess they’re havin’ a big group in—some family, some spares like me.” He stuffed the kerchief back into his trousers pocket.
“Well, I know you’ll have a wunnerbaar-gut time,” Lena said as she rose and prepared to leave. “And you’ll enjoy those cute Ebersol children, too!”
“Hallich Neiyaahr!” James said as she put on her coat and bonnet.
“Happy New Year to you,” she replied, a tear in her eye as she headed outdoors. Her Dawdi Schwartz had come to mind just then, and she wondered how he and Mammi and Chris were really doing together in their little Dawdi Haus.
And Hans, too. What’s he been up to that has kept him too busy to write?
Surely the aftereffects of the storm hadn’t occupied him all this time.
But Lena decided not to let herself brood over her disappointment. Instead, she would do her best to enjoy her new friends and the compassionate family where God had placed her for
