Chapter Six
On Thursday, Ella was working at the store. Both Drusilla and Anna were too overcome with grief to work.
Or so they said.
If anyone should have been upset, it was Ella. But here she was, working at the store, covering both of her stepsisters’ shifts.
As she stood in the back of the store, unpacking boxes that needed to be inventoried and placed on the shelves or in storage, Ella still could not believe the news.
Just the previous evening, Linda had returned from the store, a somber look upon her face. At first, Ella had thought that her stepmother was distraught about the store. Surely something had happened. News, perhaps, that did not please her stepmother. Perhaps about the loan.
Ella had known better than to inquire. If Linda wanted to share the news, she would. Still, all during the supper meal, Ella waited and watched, her anxiety increasing when she realized that Linda had barely touched a morsel of food.
Her mood was contagious—Drusilla and Anna had clearly been infected by it. For once, they both remained silent. Ella could hardly understand the morose atmosphere, but she preferred the quiet over her stepsisters’ usual conversation, which either contained gossip or constant bickering.
After clearing the plates, Ella had brought over dessert plates and a fresh peach pie. But Linda waved it away. Neither of her daughters took a piece, either. Now Ella knew that something serious was afoot.
Pushing aside her empty plate, Linda took a deep breath and exhaled. The wrinkles around the edges of her eyes seemed deeper than usual. “I suppose I should just say it.”
“Say what, Maem?” Drusilla asked.
Linda shut her eyes and shook her head. For a long moment, she sat there, her hands covering her mouth. “Oh, such terrible, horrible news. Most upsetting, I fear.” She sighed and dropped her hands. “I have been trying to think of a way to tell you. But there is no easy way.”
Ella froze in place, her hands laden with dirty plates that she had been carrying over to the sink. Now Ella knew that her worse fears must surely be before them. A dozen different scenarios flooded through her mind. Linda was ill. The store was bankrupt. The bank had foreclosed. Each scenario increased Ella’s panic.
And then, finally, Linda shared her news.
“Sadie Whitaker.” She raised her eyes and stared at Ella. “She’s missing.”
Ella gasped and almost dropped the plates. “Sadie?” Shocked, Ella took a step backward and leaned against the counter for support.
She had just talked with Sadie after the worship service on Sunday. They had spent the fellowship hour ensuring that everyone had plenty of food. Afterward, they had enjoyed their own meal with the other people who had helped serve the rest of the congregation. And Sadie had even mentioned that she wanted to go to the youth singing that evening, asking Ella if she might be able to attend, too.
“Missing?”
“Ja, missing,” Linda confirmed.
Ella felt as if something heavy was pressing against her chest. She could barely breathe. Oh, how she prayed that nothing bad had happened to Sadie. “When?” she managed to ask.
“Monday night, it appears. No one knows where or how. She’s just”—she paused and averted her eyes—“gone.”
For the rest of the evening, Ella had been in complete shock. Besides Belle, Sadie was one of her very best friends. She had known that things were not good in the Whitaker household, at least not for Sadie, especially when it came to Rachel, her stepmother. But unlike in Ella’s case, Sadie’s father was still alive to act as a buffer.
Now, with Drusilla and Anna having cried their way out of working, Ella had been enlisted to help at the store. Perhaps the distraction would be good for her, she thought. Throughout most of the morning, everyone who entered seemed to have more news about Sadie. Unfortunately, none of it contributed information about her whereabouts; it was instead merely speculation as to why she had disappeared. Ella tried not to listen, but she began to be more and more convinced that Sadie had run away. And while that, too, broke her heart, at least no one was speculating that something sinister had happened to her.
“Oh, you should see her father,” Esther Kauffman said, clucking her tongue as she gossiped with Linda at the counter. “So distraught.”
“I can only imagine,” Linda responded, which made Ella look up, wondering if her stepmother would feel distraught if she went missing. “And poor Rachel. After all she’s done to raise his daughter.” Linda gave a long, drawn-out sigh. “It’s so hard being a mother to another woman’s child,” she said, sorrow in her voice. “You give so much, and then”—she made a gesture with her hands as if holding nothing within them—“they just run off.”
“Oh, and Rachel did so much for Sadie. Such a sorrowful state of affairs, that she would hurt her father and Rachel in this way.”
Ella was glad when Esther finally left, taking her wagging tongue with her. She could have shared a different perspective with both Linda and Esther about how Rachel Whitaker truly treated Sadie. Though she was not as harsh as Linda, Rachel’s envy of Sadie was known by everyone.
Just before noon, Ella was in the back of the store, where she was unpacking a box of yarn. The bell over the door jingled and, to her delight, she saw Belle walk into the store.
“Belle Hershberger!” she called out as she quickly left the box of yarn in the aisle and hurried around the front counter. She gave Belle a quick embrace, feeling a sense of relief at finally seeing her friend.
“Gut morgan,” Belle said, a slight smile on her face. “How are you, Ella?”
“Why, I’m just fine today,” Ella said as cheerfully as she could. She didn’t want to burden Belle with her own woes, for her friend was clearly not her regular, cheerful self. She hadn’t been that way in a long time, ever since her father had that accident on the road to Liberty Falls a month before. Ella could understand the change in her friend, given that Belle had demonstrated the true meaning of being a dutiful daughter by marrying Adam Hershberger to help save her father’s farm.
“And you?”
Belle shrugged. “As well as can be expected, I reckon.”
Ella felt as if the weight of the world were on her friend’s shoulders. She would have done anything to have been able to help Belle with that burden. “I’m sorry, Belle. I wish things would get better for you and Adam.”
Belle quickly changed the subject. “How is life in Echo Creek? I feel so out of it, living so far away.”
After checking that her stepmother wasn’t watching, Ella grabbed Belle’s hand and led her in between two rows of shelves far away from the front counter. “Oh, Belle. The craziest thing has happened!”
“What is it?”
“Sadie,” Ella whispered. “She’s disappeared.”
Gasping, Belle covered her mouth with her hand. “Oh help!”
Ella nodded. “Ja, missing. No one knows where she’s gone. Her daed’s distraught as all get-out.”
“I imagine so!”
And then Ella narrowed her eyes as she leaned closer so that she could whisper into Belle’s ear. “Last Sunday Sadie had told me that her stepmother was up to something. I don’t think Sadie has met with foul play but has run away.”
Another gasp. “I will pray for her.”
“That’s all we can do, I fear. Pray.”
They visited for a few more minutes, Ella soaking up as much of Belle as she could. Now that her dear friend lived north of Echo Creek, some distance outside of town, they didn’t get to see much of each other. And without Sadie around to accompany her, Ella didn’t think she would be walking all the way out to the Hershbergers’ farm too often.
It was later in the afternoon, after Belle had left, that Ella noticed the clocks on the shelves. She paused and studied them, each one more beautiful than the next. She remembered that someone had been coming to meet with Linda about clocks, and for a moment, she wondered if that had been Hannes, the stranger she had met at the pond. Was he the clock vendor?
“Maem?” she said when she returned to the back of the store.
Linda sounded vexed when she asked, “What is it, Ella?”
“I just noticed those clocks.” She glanced over her shoulder in the direction of the aisle.
“The wedding clocks?”
“Ja, those. When did they arrive?” she asked.
“Oh, just the other week. Someone arranged for a vendor to come, and he left some for display.”
Ella couldn’t help but wonder why her stepmother had the wedding clocks in the same aisle as the kerosene lanterns. That didn’t seem like the proper placement for such an expensive product, one that was intended to be a gift from a man to his new bride.
The bell over the door jingled, and Linda looked up. “Go see who that is and if you can help.” It wasn’t a request but a demand.
Obediently, Ella hurried to position herself behind the counter.
Miriam King wandered down the aisle, and upon seeing Ella, she smiled. “Well look who is here today!” She set her empty basket onto the counter. “It’s always so wunderbarr to walk in here and see you.”
Ella blushed. “Danke, Miriam. It’s always gut to see you, too. Did you have a nice visit with your family the other week?”
“How kind of you to ask! John and I had a delightful visit with my bruder and his family, danke for asking.” She leaned over the counter and craned her neck to peek into the office where Linda sat. “Awfully busy, I see. That’s gut, I suppose.”
“Might I help you with something, then?” Ella asked.
“Indeed. We’re hosting church this week, you know. I’ll be needing some flour to make extra bread.”
Without hesitating, Ella immediately offered her help. “Oh, Miriam, please do let me make the bread for worship. You’ve enough to do to prepare for so many people coming to worship in your haus.” She didn’t want to add that Miriam had no daughters still living at home to help her.
“Well!” Miriam appeared taken aback by Ella’s kind offer. “Aren’t you just so thoughtful, Ella Troyer!” She glanced in the direction of Linda’s office. “I’ll take you up on that, Ella, but only if your stepmother agrees.” Without waiting for Ella to respond, Miriam called out for Linda to join them.
“Good day, Miriam!” Linda said, a smile glued to her face. “How are you?”
“Why, I’m right as rain!” Miriam gushed. “Especially since your Ella just offered to help me by baking bread for the worship service this Sunday. It’s being held at our place this week, you know. I came in to buy the flour and yeast to make it all myself, but, as always, kind Ella was good enough to volunteer to help me.”
Linda winced. It was barely noticeable, but Ella saw it right away. “Of course we know. We’re looking forward to it, as usual.”
“But I told Ella that I would not agree to her baking the bread without your permission.” Miriam leaned closer to Ella and gave her a friendly nudge with her arm. “You’re always such a busy young woman. I’d hate to add to your workload.”
For a moment, no one spoke. Miriam waited expectantly for Linda to grant her permission while Ella braced herself for the backlash she would undoubtedly incur afterward. She could tell Linda was angry that she had made such an offer. But for the life of her, Ella could not imagine why!
“Of course,” Linda said at last, her voice strained. “I’m sure that would be just fine.”
Miriam clapped her hands together, delighted. “Wunderbarr!”
After a few more minutes of visiting, Miriam finally left the store, her basket as empty as when she had arrived.
The door had barely shut when Linda whirled around and, with her hands on her hips and a dark scowl upon her face, glared at Ella. “You foolish girl! How dare you!” she hissed. “Not only could you have sold her the flour and yeast! But now it will cost me the same for you to make all of that bread, plus your time spent baking and not doing other things!”
Ella shrank away from her stepmother. “I’m sorry, Maem. I . . . I thought it was the right thing to do.”
“The right thing? The right thing?” Linda yelled, her voice rising with each word. “What would you know about doing the right thing?” She squared her shoulders and stared down her nose at Ella. “Not only will you make that bread, Ella Troyer, but you will pay for those ingredients, and don’t you think for one minute that I will let you forego any other chore. Honestly, Ella, sometimes you just speak without thinking.”
Lifting her chin, Linda turned on her heel and stormed into her office, stopping only long enough to slam the door behind her.
Ella stood near the counter, confused by her stepmother’s reaction. There was no sense arguing with her, that much she knew. If she had to pay for the ingredients, so be it. She knew she had done the right thing, whether or not Linda agreed. And she did not regret making the offer.
Still, she could only wonder what terrible list of chores Linda would give her now in order to punish her for having volunteered to help the deacon’s wife.