Chapter Fourteen

 

 

The next day, Hal rushed to get from one senior citizen client to another. She’d had many a sleepless night lately, but today she had a clear conscious. For the first night in ages, she slept so sound she woke up late and had been behind all morning.

Too late, she arrived at Mrs. Johnson’s apartment after the lady called Barb Sloan. She handed the phone to Hal. Hal explained she was just a little behind and Barb hung up. Finally a little after lunchtime, Hal finished her rounds.

She couldn’t wait to get to the farm. As she stopped, she spotted the horse and buggy parked by the barn. John must be going somewhere. Maybe she would catch him before he left. She rushed up the porch steps. The clinic door opened. John was waiting for her. He kissed her, stepped out on the porch and closed the door behind him.

He said, “I want you to go for a ride with me over to Luke Yoder’s farm this afternoon. Visit his family. Is that all right?”

“Okay.”

“Wait here. I will tell Emma to watch the clinic.”

Their destination was about five miles away. An hour later, John turned into the Yoder driveway. Chickens scratched in the barnyard, clucking over finding a bunch of cinch bugs. The Yoder dog yapped his company coming warning toward the house. He ran over to stand under the clothes flapping on the line. The dog turned his head with the sway of a blue shirt, eying it wistfully. Hal noted how neat Amish hang up wet clothes. Starting with small clothes and going to larger ones, the colors, green, blue, purple and pink, reminded Hal of a rainbow.

Luke came out of the house to greet them. “Get out and come in.” The dog barked playfully. Luke looked at the clothes line just in time to see the dog lunge at a shirt sleeve. “No, Jonah. Stop that,” he yelled. He turned toward the screen door and called, “Levi, come out here and get that dog before he eats another hole in one of my good shirts.”

Levi burst out of the house and rushed past John and Hal on the porch steps. John shook hands with Luke. By that time, two women, one dressed in a soft green dress and the other in black, came out of the house. Another boy and two small girls stood behind the women. Luke introduced his dark-haired wife, Linda. She had a quiet, unassuming air about her much like her husband.

When Luke introduced his children, they nodded and ducked their heads to watch their bare feet. “The boy is Mark, the taller girl is Jenny and the other is Rose.” Pointing to the woman in black, he said, “This is my mother, Margaret Yoder.”

Under her prayer cover, Margaret’s dark brown hair was threaded with silver. When they shook hands, she gave Hal a warm smile that reached to her light brown eyes and made the wrinkles fan out at the corners.

The men sauntered off to sit under a shade tree. The children ran to catch up with Levi and the dog.

Linda said, “I’ll fix us all a glass of tea.”

“We have been curious about you. It is so nice to meet you after all we have heard,” said Margaret, looking at Hal intently.

“Mama Margaret, while I fix the tea why not take Nurse Hal to see our garden. I will yell when I need help carrying the glasses,” suggested Linda.

“I’d love to see your garden,” Hal told her. “Emma is making a garden. She’s teaching me how.”

“Come this way. Our garden is down by the road.” As they walked along, Margaret asked, “How is the clinic doing?”

“The clinic is fine, but I was hoping that it would be busier than it is. I haven’t had a patient for days. I guess that it is a good thing if no one needs my help,” Hal said, reminding herself that was what Emma would say.

“Perhaps. The clinic might take time. Sometimes, Plain people have trouble getting used to new ideas. You might find this to be true with the clinic,” suggested Margaret

“You might say that about English people, too, if you were among them for awhile,” suggested Hal.

“I did find that out many times,” Margaret said with a slight smile. “You see for a long time I lived an English life.”

Hal couldn’t have been more surprised if Margaret had stepped on her toes. “Really? You’re English?”

“No, I am Amish. I left the Amish ways behind when I was young. Married a successful lawyer and became English. My husband had money so I had all the English conveniences I wanted.” Margaret clasped her hands behind her back and kept walking.

“How did you wind up here? Oh, if you don’t mind me asking,” Hal said.

“I do not mind. I want to tell you. John says you are having a hard time getting used to Amish ways. He thought it might help if I share my story with you.” She stopped. “As long as we have come, for Linda, we best take a look at the garden.”

“Your rows are neat just like Emma’s. This is a very nice garden,” Hal complimented.

“If only everything in our lives could be put into neat, orderly rows. Right, Nurse Hal?” Margaret asked, smiling at her.

“Yes, but tell me how you became Amish again.”

“I was not happy with a wonderful husband and money. As hard as I tried not to, I kept thinking about the life and the man I left behind. It was Luke’s father Levi Yoder that I loved,” she said, her voice trembling with the thought of painful memories.

“So you went back to Levi.”

Margaret put her hands behind her back and looked off into the distance. “Not right away. Levi had married another woman, my sister. At that point, there was no reason to go back. But my sister envied my way of life. Not knowing any better, she eventually left Levi and disappeared.”

“Then you made up with Levi?”

“No, I was not welcomed in the Amish community in Pennsylvania where we lived. All I asked of Levi was that I be allowed once in a while to see Luke, mine and Levi’s son.” Hal showed her surprise at that news. “That is another story, I’ll save for another time. Anyway since my sister left, the child was without the only mother he had known. Levi agreed to my visits once a year but made it clear he was uncomfortable with me being around. I had been shunned by the Amish community which means that no one, not even my parents, sisters and brothers could talk to me. After awhile, my husband left me, because he realized I did not love him. Levi came to feel he wanted me back in his life. That is when we made up and remarried.”

“What a wonderful love story, but how did you get to Iowa?”

“After Levi’s father, Jeremiah, died, we sold the farm. My past history had made it hard for Plain people in Pennsylvania to accept me. We did not think they ever would completely. In Iowa, we made a fresh start and were happy.” She bent to pull a buttonweed. “Until Levi died last year.”

“I’m sorry.”

Margaret turned to look her in the eye. “That is the way life is.”

“Are you trying to tell me Amish people here may never accept me?”

Margaret advised, “Your story is different from mine. Most of them will find you friendly once they meet you. But there are a few that might make it hard on you. You can be strong and endure or run back to the English way of life.”

“Thanks for the advice. I’m not ready to give up yet. The few people I’ve met do seem to like me. Except for Stella ----,” Hal stopped. She darted a questioning glance at the older woman.

Margaret’s lips tightened as she nodded. She said, “I think you are beginning to understand me now.”

“Do you think she is a real threat to me?”

“Right now? Yes.” Margaret confirmed. “I should not tell this, but I think you ought to know. Stella Strutt has been telling people not to go to your clinic. That is why you have not had patients. You have to get out to meet Plain people so they can judge you for themselves. Stella would not be able to keep up her tales if everyone got to know you.”

“How do I do that?”

“Come to Jane Bontrager’s quilting bee for starters. I will see what I can do to get you invited to other gatherings. Soon there will be no one left that does not know you for Stella to say negative things to,” Margaret planned.

Linda called from the porch, “Come help me with the glasses once.”

As they turned back to the house, Hal said, “Thanks for telling me your story. It helps to know I am not alone. On more thing, John tells me if we marry I will have to be submissive to him. If I can’t do that, he will not marry me. How did you handle that with Levi?”

Margaret giggled, “Very simple, Nurse Hal. Let the man think he is in charge. After all, he is the head of the household. It is a comfort to know the burdens are on his shoulders. You can get him to see things your way when you need to. It always worked for me.”

Hal grinned. “I think I can handle that. As for Stella, she is a force to be reckoned with. She has never liked me. My clinic doesn’t stand a thimble full of a chance if she continues to keep people from coming.” A thought had Hal concerned, “Helping me will put you in a bad light with her.”

Margaret laughed. “I am used to Stella. I do not fear her any more than she does me.”

“Well, I do fear her. I unintentionally do things that Stella doesn’t approve of,” Hal said, looking at John under the tree visiting with his friend.

Margaret saw the glimmer of light in Hal’s eyes as she looked at John. “Yes, like your fondness for the Lapp family.”

“Yes and Stella is beginning to suspect it,” Hal shared.

“I see. John has been a widower for too long. He needs a wife and mother for his children. All the more reason for you to figure out where your heart lies. That is where you will feel at home no matter if you become Amish or stay English,” Margaret said approvingly.

“I love John’s children. We are like a family already,” Hal shared.

“I think that is a good thing.”

Hal shook her head. “I wonder if I’ll be able to fill the shoes of Diane Lapp for John and the children. Maybe I shouldn’t ask you this, but ----.”

“What you say will stay with me.”

“I wonder if John’s wife was very pretty. What did Diane look like? When I look at Emma, I wonder if she looks like her mother.”

“Emma is surely obgagooked.”

Hal looked puzzled. “I’m sorry. My Dutch is not very good yet.”

“She is the spitting image of her mother,” Margaret explained.

“I thought that might be the case,” Hal said, looking down at the ground.

“Diane Lapp was sick for a long time. After she died, her death was hard for her family to get over. You are like a breath of spring. You brought them back lavendich.” Margaret grinned at Hal’s questioning look. “I’m sorry. Lavendich means alive. Never fear about taking her place. You will make your own place in that family. As for mistakes. Everyone makes them. We all have our share of things we wish we had not done. Someone once said failure sometime in your life is inevitable, but giving up is unforgivable. Never give up, Nurse Hal.”

Hal gave her a hug. “I really appreciate you telling me this. It makes me feel better.”

Later on the ride home, Hal watched the countryside slide slowly by, thinking about all of Margaret’s advice. Emma had been right as usual. The scenery was easier to take in at a slower pace. She just wished she could enjoy it. She sighed and laid her head on John’s shoulder. If she wasn’t so worried, she’d let the buggy’s gentle vibration and the rumble of the wheels put her to sleep.

“Why are you so quiet?” John asked, leaning his cheek over on her head.

“Just thinking about my visit with Margaret.”

“Did she tell you about being English once?”

With admiration in her voice, Hal said, “She told me the whole story. She’s a brave woman to come back to a community that didn’t like her and stay because she loved Levi and her son.”

“Brave she was.”

“Did you know that Stella Strutt is warning people not to come to the clinic?” Hal blurted out.

John see-sawed on the reins, slowed the horse and pulled to a stop on the side of the road. His eyes held a fierce look. “Is that what she is doing?”

“Yes, Margaret says it is. Didn’t Elton tell you that when you talked?”

“No, I do not think he knows or he would have said something,” said John in concern. “What do you want to do about this?”

“Margaret says I should get to as many gatherings as I can like the quilting bees so I meet people. She says if they get to know me, they won’t pay any attention to Stella. Do you think that will work?”

“Yes, Margaret is a smart woman. I think it will help. Elton is on your side when it comes to Stella. Should I go see the bishop about this?” He offered.

“Don’t bother Elton yet. Let’s just wait awhile.” She wrapped her arm around John’s and snuggled up next to him. “Okay?”

“Okay,” he said, meeting her halfway for a long, tender kiss.