Martha stood at the stove, sweat running down her neck though a nice breeze came through the window.
“Perhaps next year we should have a smaller garden.”
“Why would we do that?” Irene asked sharply.
Her aenti had been pleasant through breakfast, and Martha had hoped for a Saturday without argument. But now she was grumbling, a scowl etched on her face.
“I’m not sure we need this much canned food.” Martha gestured toward the rows of canned tomatoes, okra, and green beans. “We’ll never be able to eat this much.”
“Be grateful that Gotte has blessed us with such a harvest.”
“Ya. For certain, only I’m thinking we could reduce the garden next year. Even with a smaller garden, we’d be able to share with the neighbors and donate to auctions.”
Irene muttered something under her breath and stomped out of the room.
Martha continued to can the remaining cucumbers and allowed her mind to slip over the events of the last twenty-four hours.
Matt and Joshua had unloaded the furniture and driven away to make another delivery in South Bend, promising to pick them up within the hour. Martha and Eli had watched as Duncan had once again used paper and a pencil to rub off images of the new map pieces. It had taken a few minutes to put the various sheets in the proper order, and when they were done, it was obvious that something was still missing.
“The piece that Charity showed us,” Eli said.
Duncan had been kneeling in front of the coffee table. Now he sat back on his heels. “She still has a piece?”
“Ya, and I think we’ll be needing it if we’re to follow this map of yours.”
So it was decided that Duncan would drive to the auction house the next day and meet Eli. Together they would go to Jacob and Charity’s. Martha wasn’t about to be left out. She’d refused to leave work the previous day until Eli had promised he’d pick her up. Now they were due at her house in under an hour and she was still standing in the kitchen canning cucumbers. On top of that, she’d managed to irritate Irene once again. But then whatever she did bothered her aenti. Perhaps she wouldn’t worry too much over that one.
How she longed for the days she’d spent in Ohio with her best friend, Fannie. There was no task too burdensome with Fannie’s laughter and positive attitude to lighten things. Well, she would have to be the encouraging one in this household. That much was obvious.
She quickly finished up the canning, cleaned the kitchen, and was pinning a fresh kapp on her head when she heard the clatter of hooves. Hurrying out the door, she assured her aenti that she would be home before dinner. Martha was forty years old, and although she appreciated Irene’s willingness to give her a place to live, she couldn’t abide being treated like a child much longer. It was time to have a talk with Irene, but she dreaded that moment.
Duncan had pulled in behind Eli.
She waved at him and then climbed into the buggy. The scenes they drove by would have made a perfect postcard. One neighbor raised a hand in greeting as he turned his team of Percheron workhorses. In another field, a wife and children stood on the back of a wagon, helping as the men tossed up large forkfuls of hay.
Ten minutes later the three of them were walking up to Charity and Jacob’s front door.
Eli called out and tapped lightly on the door.
Duncan hung back. “What if they don’t want to see me? It sounds as if Pops wasn’t very nice to them.”
“You will like Charity and Jacob. They’re very kind people. Let’s give them a chance.”
Charity knew that Duncan was coming. Eli had stopped by the night before and asked if it would be all right. But when she walked out onto the porch, when she saw the young man, her hands flew to her cheeks and her eyes widened.
“Oh my. You look just like your dat. It’s as if he were standing here on my porch like he so often did all those years ago.”
Duncan blushed, stepped forward, and said, “Pleased to meet you.”
Charity grabbed his hand and pulled him into the house, calling out, “Jacob. Jacob, you have to see Peter’s boy.”
Eli smiled and held the door for Martha, and then they stepped into the house. At first she thought that her eyes hadn’t yet adjusted to the darkness of inside. But then Eli placed his hand on her back, stepped closer to her, and she knew that she wasn’t imagining this scene.
Martha had never seen Jacob responsive, not really. He would gaze in adoration at his wife, but he’d never spoken, and he’d never actually reacted to anyone else’s presence in the room.
Perhaps they’d caught him on a good day.
Or maybe, God was allowing His grace and compassion to shine through Jacob’s deteriorated state, like sunlight piercing through a cloud-covered sky.
Charity had pulled Duncan into the room and over in front of Jacob’s wheelchair. Duncan stooped down to say hello, and when he made eye contact with Jacob, the old man’s smile first trembled, faltered, and then grew. He clasped Duncan’s hand, reached out, and touched his face. Whether he thought that Duncan was his father, Peter, Martha couldn’t say. But there was no doubt that he recognized the young man, and that he was overjoyed to see him.
Martha had been quite focused on the map and the mystery. She couldn’t imagine what would have caused the two men to fight over such a silly thing, or why Jacob would decide to carve up the map and then hide it. Men often remained a mystery to her, but this was above and beyond anything she’d seen before or even read about in a book.
Watching the reunion of a young man and an elderly couple, it occurred to her that Duncan and his sister, Beth, might be the grandchildren that Jacob and Charity never had. And perhaps the elderly Amish couple could fill the hole in Duncan’s life.
The mystery of the map remained unsolved, but the mystery of God’s ways? Well, those were unfathomable. It was almost as if God had a plan for bringing the prodigal home in the form of his son. It was almost as if God had found a way to bless them in spite of the foolishness with maps and treasures.