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The clatter of the wind-up alarm clock barely penetrated Ruby’s consciousness. She tried to open her eyes, but the sensation was like thick wool clogging her brain and burning her eyelids. Sleep evaded her last night, and she tossed and turned for hours. The last time she looked at the clock, it read one a.m. Now it was five.
Reaching out her hand from under the warm quilt, she tapped the button on top of the clock, shutting it down. The sun was not up yet, and with her shade pulled across the window, it was much darker in the room.
Today was her son Matthew’s wedding day. She had so much to do, and here she was, having a hard time rolling out of her bed. She told David, Hannah’s father and her next-door neighbor, that she would be there to help organize the kitchen. Hannah had no mother to help her with the wedding as she died before the family moved to this district.
Hannah’s three aunts and uncles plus children were staying with the Fisher family, and Ruby agreed to meet them at five-thirty. On that note, Ruby threw her legs over the edge of the bed, then stood. The braided rug kept her feet from freezing when they touched the floor. November in Pennsylvania became cold at night. Before she could move on to getting dressed, though, she needed her slippers. Rummaging around with her toes, she found them and slid them on.
It didn’t take long for her morning ritual, and once finished, she exited the bathroom into a small hallway which was between the two bedrooms. The dawdi haus had a small living room and an efficiency kitchen with small appliances. Quickly she fixed kaffe in the percolator then set it on the stove and turned the propane to high. It took only a short time making it this way.
Special days like this brought the memory of her husband back to her mind. He’d been gone to Gott for many years, but the pain of his loss still hurt her heart. She smiled. Her husband was not there, but she felt his pride in their son.
Ruby sat at the small table as she waited for the kaffe and drummed her fingers on the wooden top. Once she knew the wedding was upcoming, she traded Matthew living spaces. He needed a large bedroom in the house to bring his bride. After all, he was the legal owner of the farm stay. Ruby signed over the land and business to him as he was the head of their household. She continued as hostess and to cook at the big house, but she knew she had to pull away once Hannah got a feel for the business. Heaven only knew what she would do once it happened. At thirty-seven, Ruby felt too young to be considered an old person. Possibly she could create a business out of her knitting and crochet.
Her new daughter-in-law as of this day worked at the farm stay, and Ruby felt the younger woman would have no problem dropping into the role she had created over the years since her husband’s death.
The aroma of the finished brew reached her and drew her from her thoughts. Standing, she moved to the counter and pulled the lid from an insulated mug. She planned to take it with her as she walked to David’s home not far from hers.
As she threw on a cape over her dress and apron, Ruby glanced at the clock on the wall. She had just enough time to get there. Tardy on the wedding day? Never.
***
Miriam and Levi walked with Ruby to David Fisher’s barn. The man kept his animals in the old barn until the wedding was over, saving his new building for Hannah’s wedding. Everyone supposed he did not want one bit of hay to ruin her day.
The sky was a deep November blue with a few stray strands of clouds, but no weather threatening to ruin the day. “We couldn’t have asked Gott for a more beautiful day for a wedding,” Miriam said. There was a slight breeze stirring the fragrance of dried leaves and corn stalks in the air.
“Jah, I feared for all these people stranded here in a blizzard. I could not imagine how to feed them all for days on end,” Ruby said.
Levi took his wife’s hand saying, “I expect to see you fluttering here and there as you help in the makeshift kitchen near the back of the barn once the service is over. I will catch up with you when things calm down.”
“If we’re lucky, we may get to sit before serving supper!” Miriam laughed.
As they reached the wide-open barn door, the threesome separated with Levi moving toward the men’s side of the barn, and Miriam and Ruby to the women’s area.
Miriam smiled as she watched her husband walk away. It felt so good to have lost the tension between them if only for a moment. Her heart softened when she recalled his sheepish grin after returning home from Wayne and Anna’s shack only to find her note sitting on the table with the sugar bowl on top of it. But the disagreement regarding Levi’s brother Wayne and his family moving to their home caused a big gap between her and Levi. Miriam knew the family needed a place of safety and warmth the shack they squatted in did not provide but did it have to be her and Levi’s home? But if not them, then who would take them? Levi assured her there must be a family to take them in. What a relief this thought had been. She chastised herself for thinking of it as the service began.
She followed Ruby to sit on the first row facing the wedding couple and their attendants. It was an area saved for the family. Across the way, David and his younger children sat. David waved at Ruby. She had spent the past few months helping Hannah organize the wedding and had kept the father of the bride calmer. The man was a basket case.
Ruby’s face is glowing with a blush. My goodness. Does my dear sister have a man interested in her? Miriam pondered. They were both around the same age, and they were both single because their spouses died.
Returning her thoughts away from romance, she noticed Hannah had selected a robin-egg blue color for her dress and Matthew’s vest. Their attendants, Matthew’s best friend, John Bieler and his wife Susan wore a more luxurious version of the color. They were the only bright notes in the vast space. The men in the congregation wore black trousers and vests with white shirts, and the women wore subdued darker colored dresses.
Bishop Eischler and his three ministers approached the front of the congregation and silence ensued over the more than two hundred individuals.
Miriam bowed her head as the prayer was led by the first minister. Each man had a particular portion of the service to deliver. At the end of the three hours, Bishop Eischler would call Matthew and Hannah to stand with their attendants and exchange their vows.
As the service went on, Miriam remembered her wedding just over a year ago when she married Levi. Sadness overtook her when thoughts of the tension in their home came back to her. There was nothing she could do to change things. The biggest problem was, Wayne was banned from the district. Of course, it was the old Bishop who had done it, but still, he did have a reason. Wayne could not give up drinking. She and Levi noticed Wayne had not imbibed so his affinity to drink must have passed.
Levi had not told her if his brother was coming and if so which family was taking them in. All she did was worry. If she spoke to her brother-in-law, she worried about her shunning, and then, the impossibility to see her patients as they could have nothing to do with her and risk being shunned themselves. What a nightmare. She had to give Levi credit for offering to help his brother's family.
Suddenly, she realized the Bishop was calling the wedding couple to the front, along with their attendants. In a very brief time, Matthew and Hannah had exchanged their vows, and the two couples turned to leave the barn.
Miriam looked over at Ruby when she heard a soft sob play in her sister's chest. She reached over and squeezed Ruby’s arm in support. “It is okay, sister. You now have a daughter and the hopes of boppli in your life again.”
“You are right, but at this moment, I feel as if life, as I have lived, is ending. I am not sure what I will do with myself.”
“We need to make ourselves useful in the kitchen area. The men want to turn these benches into tables.”
They walked toward the back of the barn and met Carly coming toward them with a large pan of chicken casserole. “Some woman in the house told me to bring the casserole out here, and I’m to serve it and make sure not to run out. Where does it need to go?”
Ruby laughed at her friend. “Jah. Over to the steam table. See it? It’s the long metal table with holes in it. Put the pan into a hole. The easiest one is at the end. You will be able to get out of there easily to go to the house for another pan. Be sure not to run out. Just ask the woman next to you to serve the casserole while you are getting another pan.”
Miriam looked at the two women and had to refrain from laughing. Carly looked scared to death, and she knew her friend was afraid. The detective was out of her element. A true friend of the Amish the Englischer was. And loved by both she and Ruby. Even the whole district.
Watching Carly serving the casserole, she took in the interaction the woman had with the community and the others from a distance. She was accepted by all of them. A very unusual happening between the Amish and Englisch. Yes, Carly seemed to have found a home here in Paradise Wells district.
Ruby stayed busy all afternoon. Being with the other women serving the first meal, then the evening meal was a delight. At the moment, her feet were killing her.
The highlight of the afternoon came about when Mrs. Eischler cut her finger while slicing a cake. Bleeding everywhere, she called out for some help. Of course, Mammi Schultz, who appeared to be in her nineties, called out for Miriam to perform a healing.
Because she was the bishop’s wife, the woman protested to no avail. Miriam took over in moments, rinsing Mrs. Eischler’s finger under cold water, then she placed a towel over the wound. Wrapping her fingers around Mrs. Eischler’s, Miriam closed her eyes and focused on her healing.
Mrs. Eischler sat in the chair someone placed behind her and gave in to the healing.
Miriam stayed in her trance-like state for nearly fifteen minutes. Suddenly, she opened her eyes, removed the towel, and looked at the wound. Nothing was there. Not even a red line remained.
“Awk! Miriam! Just look what you have done!”
Bishop Eischler, hearing his wife’s cries, raced into the room. “What is happening here?” His voice stern with a deep rumble asked.
All the ladies backed away, leaving Miriam and Mrs. Eischler in the middle of the room. The bishop looked at the two women expectantly.
“She healed me! Look!” The woman shook her finger in her husband’s face. “She really is a healer!”
The bishop’s face paled. “You are sure, wife?”
Ruby felt her heart plunge to her stomach. The devout religious community paid little attention to her family’s healing skills, but to have it shoved in their faces today might cause a rift between them.
“Jah! Ask any of the others. They saw it. I was bleeding badly. Look.” She reached in the sink and pulled out a blood-covered towel.
The bishop’s eyes narrowed at Miriam for a moment. He said, “As long as you are alright, I’ll leave you all to your work.” He turned and went out the door to the outside. His face was still pale, but Ruby hoped the cold air would revive him.
A couple of hours later, knowing not much was going on in the house, Ruby slipped away and ambled into the back-porch door of David’s house. If only she were able to sit for a bit. She was exhausted. Passing through the kitchen, she reached the large living room. Near the fire was a sturdy wooden rocking chair with a lap quilt folded across the arm.
Ruby sat and placed her feet on a small ottoman in front of the chair. In moments her eyes were closed.
The muffled sound of someone stoking a fire brought Ruby out of her sleep, and she slowly awoke. David knelt before the fire and got the logs burning again.
“Good evening, sleepy head,” David said quietly to Ruby.
Ruby’s eyes flew open at his words, and she slid her feet off the ottoman and to the floor. With this movement, she sat bolt upright in the chair,
“Ach! What time is it, David?” She looked toward a window and saw it was dark outside,
David rose from the fire and looked down into her eyes. “It’s nearly six.”
“Oh, I must go help with supper!”
“Nee... it’s all taken care of. All the company is either gone, or the few remaining stragglers are all in their rooms. David and Hannah are at the farm stay. Do not worry about yourself. It is under control.”
“I must get back to my little home. Make sure everyone is accounted for. Also, see if they need anything.”
“Isn’t this what you have Carly doing?”
“Well, yes, but it never hurts to be on hand...”
“Nee...it only serves to make the person into a nervous wreck and afraid to make any decisions at all.”
Ruby nodded, took David's proffered arm, and walked with him into the kitchen. After their kaffe and a plate of wedding casserole, David walked Ruby back to her dawdi haus. Turning toward David after she stepped up onto the small covered porch, she said, “Thank you for all you have done with the wedding. I am glad all our problems are over. We did not have the best of meetings some months ago.” Ruby smiled guiltily.
“Nee, we did not, but it is in the past. Ruby, I consider you my best friend.”
Ruby was glad the night was dark, and there were no lights on inside because she felt her face flush. This man made her heart pound with excitement. Her breath caught in her throat.
“Jah, I have felt like your friend. I am glad you are mine.”
David made no comment for a moment, then he looked directly at her and bid her goodnight.
Ruby stood on the porch watching him go until the darkness of the night closed around him, and he disappeared into its depths. She sighed, and turned, opening her door and stepping inside. It was strange the feeling sweeping over her. She felt lonely and a bit sad.