“Don’t be ridiculous,” Holly said. “This is practically on our way. Besides, we’d do whatever we could to help you. Salome, too.”
As Carlos started pulling Noelle’s boxes out of the truck, Holly handed her an Advent calendar. “I held one back for you.”
“Oh, that’s so nice.” Noelle felt a surge of gratitude, thinking of the candles. Hope, joy, peace, faith. She needed all of those in her life this Christmas season. She just wasn’t sure where she’d find them.
“Start tomorrow,” Holly said. “And no cheating.” The girl’s grin was so infectious that Noelle smiled back. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d smiled as much as she had today, regardless of seeing Jesse King.
Holly and Carlos followed her up to the door of the Dawdi Haus. Noelle knocked and then opened it.
Moriah, tall and slender like her mother, stood amidst boxes in the middle of the living room. “There you are.” She explained that Salome was resting and that her father was at the big house, eating supper.
Noelle quickly introduced Holly and Carlos to Moriah, as they stacked the boxes next to the living room window. After she thanked the two, Holly said she hoped she’d see Noelle again.
“It will depend on Salome’s back. . . .”
Holly grimaced. “Well, I hope she recovers quickly. Perhaps you could come with her sometime.”
Noelle doubted she would, especially not with Jesse around, but she didn’t say so.
Once the front door closed behind them, Moriah stepped to the window. “Mamm’s mentioned Holly before.”
“Oh?”
“I don’t think it was exactly positive.” Moriah’s brown eyes widened.
Noelle couldn’t imagine what could be negative about Holly, but leave it to Salome to come up with something.
“I need to talk with you about something else,” Moriah said. “Actually two things.”
“Oh?”
“I know how much you like Family Christmas, so I want to warn you that Mamm’s afraid she’s not going to feel up to putting it together this year.”
“What?” Noelle shuddered. Family Christmas, when her parents and all of her sisters and their families gathered, was her favorite few hours of the year.
“Jah,” Moriah said. “She’s in a lot of pain and overwhelmed with the move.”
“She won’t have to do anything. The rest of us can do it all.” Everyone usually pitched in with food, the setup, and the cleanup. No one expected Salome to be in charge.
Moriah’s shoulders slumped. “It’s not that I agree with her, but she seems pretty determined. . . .”
“There’s no reason to cancel it.” Noelle couldn’t imagine not celebrating Christmas with the whole family. They hadn’t all been together since Mamm’s service.
Moriah sighed. “I just wanted to give you fair warning is all.”
“Denki. I appreciate it.” Noelle crossed her arms. “What else did you want to talk about?”
“Jesse stopped by today. Did he find you?”
She concentrated on keeping her voice level. “He stopped by the booth.”
Moriah wrinkled her nose. “Did you see his baby?”
Noelle’s chest began to ache. It felt as if it were only yesterday that Jesse had left her. “Jah,” she said. “I saw the baby. But not his wife.”
“His wife?”
Noelle nodded.
“There is no wife,” Moriah said. “She died seven months ago.”
The next day, Noelle went to Sunday services with her father at the farm of Ben King, who happened to be Jesse’s uncle. When Jesse was fourteen, his father died and then his mother left the Amish. Ben and his wife, Barbara, took Jesse in and finished raising him.
Thankfully, when she and Dat arrived, Noelle didn’t see Jesse. Everyone congregated in the Kings’ cleaned-out shed that had several kerosene heaters running to ward off the cold. Noelle hoped her father was warm enough.
Despite the chill, she yawned through the singing and the scripture reading. But when the sermon started, her heart raced at the sight of Jesse slipping down the outside of the men’s side, his baby asleep in his arms. Noelle shifted her eyes forward, hoping no one had seen where her gaze had momentarily landed. Her racing thoughts matched the accelerated beat of her heart. How had Jesse’s wife died? How long had they been married? How devastating it must have been for him to lose her.
It put Jesse wanting to talk with her in a new light, but she felt the same as she did when she saw him at the market. She wanted to avoid him at all costs.
Noelle couldn’t concentrate on the preaching, although now she wasn’t having a hard time staying awake. However, the last scripture reading caught her attention: “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” Hope. That was what the first candle in Holly’s Advent wreath represented.
She hadn’t felt any hope for a long time. Not since Mamm had her stroke. Not since Jesse left. Certainly not since Mamm had died.
Could God fill her with hope again?
After the service, they all filed out of the shed and into the big, sprawling farmhouse, where it was much warmer. Jesse’s Aenti Barbara held the baby while Jesse helped set up the tables. The little one was awake now, bright-eyed and smiling. Her dark hair stuck up all over her head, and, by her size, Noelle guessed she was seven months or so, which meant she was a newborn when her mother died.
When Moriah approached Noelle, she quickly looked away from the baby. Moriah crossed her arms. “Mamm’s back isn’t doing any better. You’ll need to do both the baking and the selling this week.”
Noelle didn’t answer. It wasn’t a request. It was a command, sent from Salome. Moriah added, “I can come over and help on Wednesday.”
“Denki.” Noelle would need to get the kitchen unpacked on Monday and the shopping done. She could then start baking on Tuesday and finish up, with Moriah’s help, on Wednesday.
Moriah continued to stand with her arms crossed. Noelle wasn’t
