After a sleepless night Abram left his bed early to do the chores and get everything ready for his departure. He planned to stay at the hospital until Miriam was released. He would bring her home to recuperate here with him. With Emma’s good cooking and with the threat of Serpent gone, Miriam would heal both physically and emotionally.
True to his word, Isaac picked Abram up at his house and carted him to the county hospital.
“Shall I return this evening?” Isaac asked.
Abram appreciated the offer but he shook his head. “I will stay at the hospital tonight. I do not want to leave Miriam again.”
Isaac nodded. “Do not worry about the farm. I talked to Eva Keim’s twin sons. They will help.”
“You are a good neighbor, Isaac, and a good friend.”
“We take care of each other, Abram. It is the Amish way.”
The way of life Abram had always lived. Only once, in his turbulent youth, he had yearned for a more worldly life. Emma’s accident and Trevor’s death had brought him back to his Amish roots.
Gott had brought good from those two very tragic situations. Hopefully good would come from Miriam’s ordeal, as well. Abram had found the woman he wanted to walk with through life. If only she felt the same.
But she was an Englischer and he was plain. The divide stood between them. Hopefully it would not prove too large to reconcile.
Renewed in hope, he hurried into the hospital and headed for Intensive Care. He stopped at the nurses’ desk to speak to the kind woman wearing scrubs who had reached out to him yesterday.
“How is Miriam?” he asked.
The nurse’s smile was bright, which filled him with relief. “She had an amazing recovery. The effects of whatever drugs her captor had given her wore off last night. We started her on oral antibiotics and were able to release her from Intensive Care this morning.”
Abram lifted up a prayer of thanksgiving and then smiled back at the nurse, eager to see Miriam. “Could you tell me to which room you have moved her?”
The nurse’s face clouded. “I’m sorry, Mr. Zook. She’s gone.”
His heart lurched. “What?”
“A reporter stopped by, asking questions.”
“A newspaper reporter?”
The nurse nodded. “That’s right. I think it worried her. Soon after that she checked herself out of the hospital against doctor’s orders. We would have liked her to stay another twelve hours or so, but we couldn’t keep her against her will. I thought she would have contacted you.”
“Where did she go?”
“I’m not sure. Do you know a man named Frank?”
“Yah, he runs the Amish Taxi.”
“He picked her up. Hopefully he can help you find her.”
“May I use your phone?”
“Of course.” She handed a phone to Abram and pointed to a small desk and chair in the corner. “You’ll have more privacy over there. Dial 8 to get an outside line.”
Abram’s hand was shaking as he plugged in the number for the taxi service. Frank answered on the first ring.
“Miriam Miller,” Abram said. “Where did you take her today?”
“To the bus station. She caught the bus to Atlanta.”
Abram’s world shattered. He sat clutching the phone, unwilling to accept what he had just heard.
Miriam had left him.
He had given her safe refuge. He had also given her his heart. But it was too little too late.
Miriam did not want an Amish man. She did not want Abram. No matter how much he wanted her.
Eleven days later...
Miriam walked to the window of the hotel room and looked at the street below where cars hurried, rushing through the city, heading to their destination. She had been in Atlanta for almost two weeks and had not found Hannah nor heard from her in all that time. Her older sister seemed to have disappeared just as surely as Sarah had.
Perhaps Hannah had discarded her old cell for a newer model with a new number and then left the city for places unknown. If so, the two sisters might never reconnect. The realization brought a heavy weight to rest on Miriam’s shoulders.
The neon sign for the bus station flashed in the distance and brought memories of the day she had arrived in Atlanta, expecting Hannah to meet her. Instead she had found only strangers in the station. Crestfallen, Miriam had made her way to the cheap hotel nearby where she had spent the night crying from loneliness and a confused heart.
How much she yearned for the life she had found in the North Georgia mountains. In her mind’s eye, she saw Abram’s handsome face and felt his strong arms surround her as he lifted her into the buggy. She envisioned Emma waving from the porch and heard the clip-clop of Nellie’s hooves. If only she could be with them again.
Leaving the window, she reached for the blue fabric, recalling how Emma had helped her cut the pattern. Miriam settled onto the bedside chair, threaded her needle and started to sew. The rhythmic in and out of the needle and thread through the cotton cloth brought comfort and soothed her troubled spirit as she labored in the night. With each stitch she remembered the special world she had left behind.
At last, her work completed, she slipped into the Amish dress and gazed at her reflection in the mirror. Staring back at her was a new woman who was ready to leave the Englisch world behind. Miriam didn’t need or want the things of this life. Instead she yearned for the plain way of the Amish. She longed to embrace their faith in God, their love of family and their appreciation for hard work and simple blessings.
Abram may have already moved on with his life, but even without him at her side—as heartbreaking as that would be—Miriam wanted his faith.
She glanced away from the mirror, no longer needing to see her reflection. She knew who she was. She was an Amish woman who was eager to return home.