Chapter Five
On Sunday, nothing could have stunned Sadie more than hearing the bishop announce that her friend Belle was to marry Adam Hershberger, the Amish recluse who lived on the outskirts of town. And, even more surprising, the wedding was to take place in just under twelve days. Not only was it rare to have such a quick ceremony but it wasn’t even wedding season.
When the bishop made the announcement after the three-hour worship service, a soft murmuring rippled throughout the congregation. Like many of the others, Sadie turned to look at Belle, trying to read her expression. But when they made eye contact, there was little emotion on her friend’s face. Belle sat with her back rigid and her hands folded in her lap. She lowered her eyes and began to pray with the others.
Sadie wanted to go to her friend as soon as the service had ended and the church members were beginning to disperse. But everyone seemed to be staring in the young woman’s direction. As if to avoid the curious looks, Belle immediately busied herself among the other women who were setting out the common meal.
Deciding she would talk with Belle later, when they could have more privacy, Sadie wandered across the room to where her other dear friend, Ella, was standing.
“Can you believe it?” Ella whispered with her blue eyes wide and her expression full of distress. “Belle and Adam?”
Not only couldn’t Sadie believe it, she also didn’t understand it. If there was one person Sadie would never have guessed Belle would marry, it was Adam Hershberger. “She hardly knows Adam!” Sadie muttered in a low voice.
Ella leaned her head in closer. “Does anyone?”
It was true. No one knew Adam Hershberger. He rarely left his farm, let alone came to worship. His disfigured face made him the subject of malicious stories that were whispered behind covered lips.
Sadie didn’t blame him for not worshipping with the rest of the community. Not with the idle gossip that circulated about his appearance. Sadie remembered hearing about the fire that had disfigured Adam when he was but a small boy.
Besides, he lived on the far outskirts of town, toward Liberty Falls. From what Sadie heard from other people in Echo Creek, he rarely came to town except to buy supplies a few times a year.
And now he was to marry Belle?
Sadie looked over to where Belle was now standing with her older sisters. Going by the animated expressions on their faces, Sadie guessed that Verna and Susie were giving Belle an earful. It seemed that Ella and Sadie weren’t the only ones blindsided by the bishop’s announcement.
As soon as they could, Sadie and Ella made their way to Belle’s side.
“What on earth, Belle?” Ella said softly. “Adam?”
“I . . . I had to do it,” Belle whispered back. Her pale face and frightened eyes revealed her true feelings. It was plain to see that she did not favor this marriage any more than her friends did. “If I marry Adam, he won’t make my family leave the farm. And after there’s a son . . .”
Sadie bit her lower lip and widened her eyes. She had forgotten that Adam had bought Belle’s father’s farm when the family had almost lost it to the bank. “A son?” she asked, wondering what that had to do with anything.
Belle looked forlorn and averted her eyes. Sadie could read the underlying sadness in them and it broke her heart.
“If I bear him a son he will give the farm back to my daed,” Belle explained. “Otherwise, my family will be homeless. And I can’t have that on my conscience. Not if there’s something I can do to prevent it.”
Sadie knew that Belle’s family was poor and struggled to make ends meet. She had heard that her friend’s family might have to move if they didn’t come up with payment soon. But marrying Adam Hershberger to save the family farm was a sacrifice far beyond any daughter’s duty.
“Oh help!” Nervously Ella scanned the room. “My maem will have quite a lot to say about this turn of events. I’ll never hear the end of it, I’m sure and certain.”
“Perhaps I should leave,” Belle said.
“Let’s go walk a spell,” Sadie offered. There were too many people standing around, whispering and staring at Belle. Sadie felt compassion for her friend, who looked terribly uncomfortable under their pointed scrutiny. There was no sense in adding to the town’s weekly dose of gossip. Putting her hand on Belle’s arm, she gently guided her toward the door. “Fresh air might do us all some good.”
Quietly, they slipped through the door and made their way down the lane.
After they had put some distance between themselves and the Riehls’ farmhouse, Sadie was the first to speak. “Please, Belle, you must reconsider. You don’t love that man.”
Ella quickly added her own thoughts. “Love him? Why, you don’t even know him!”
But Belle stood her ground. “I’ve promised to marry him and I cannot back out.” She paused. “Nee, I will not back out.”
“But he’s . . .”
Turning to Ella, Belle frowned. “Disfigured? Is that what you thought to say?”
“Oh, Belle!” Ella’s expression changed from concern to sorrow. “Would you think so little of me? Nee, I was going to say that he’s such a recluse, and bad-tempered, too.”
“I’m sorry, Ella. I should’ve known you wouldn’t say something so horrid.”
Her friend acknowledged the apology with a soft smile. “Ja, I know that he prefers a solitary life, but that doesn’t mean he’s a bad person. And bad-tempered? Mayhaps that’s because so many people are so cruel to him.”
“I find this very sad,” Sadie said. “Getting married for convenience, rather than love? That’s not for me. Why, I can just look at my own daed and how he married so quickly after my maem passed away.”
Ella concurred. “Mine, too.”
Belle frowned. “But both of your daeds were happy when they remarried, ja?”
Sadie shrugged. “My daed isn’t unhappy. But she sure does rule the house. It’s not a partnership like he had with Maem. And she sure is hard on me at times.”
She wasn’t going to gossip about her stepmother, so she didn’t mention the past week, which had been filled with constant criticism and berating. Even if she did choose to tell her friends how Rachel was treating her, Sadie knew this was not the appropriate time to discuss such things. Her issues with Rachel were nothing compared to Belle’s current state of affairs.
Belle gave her friends a forced smile that was meant to reassure them. “I think I’ll just walk home now,” she announced. There was a faraway look in her eyes which her friends had never seen before. “Might you tell my family when you go back inside?”
Ella and Sadie watched as Belle walked down the driveway, her head hanging and her shoulders slumped over in defeat.
“Such a heavy burden she carries,” Sadie said with a sigh. “I just can’t imagine marrying a man I didn’t love.”
Ella shook her head. “Me neither.”
The sound of crunching gravel announced the approach of someone. Sadie glanced over her shoulder and saw Anna Rose Grimm walking toward them. Her eyes traveled the long driveway and watched as Belle disappeared down the lane.
“Such shocking news,” Anna Rose said. “It’s all everyone’s talking about.”
“I can only imagine,” Sadie replied. Oh, how the townspeople of Echo Creek loved to gossip.
Anna Rose stood next to Sadie. She was older than Sadie and, like Ella, blond-headed. With her pale skin and her propensity for wearing pink dresses, she always looked like a little fairy. Her older cousin, Elizabeth, was the teacher at the local schoolhouse, and sometimes Anna Rose helped her with teaching the lessons. She was kind and patient in that way.
“Are you coming back tonight for the singing?”
Sadie shrugged. Her heart felt heavy and she wasn’t in the mood for attending a singing anymore. In general, she didn’t like them much anyway. Too many of the young men clamored for her undivided attention. Not one singing passed when Sadie wasn’t asked to walk home with someone or ride in some fellow’s buggy. And she always politely declined.
She felt embarrassed by the interest the young men showed in her. It wasn’t that she didn’t like them. She just didn’t like them that way. And she knew better than to lead on a man she had no intention of marrying.
“I’m not much in the mood, Anna Rose.” No, attending a singing that evening was the last thing Sadie wanted to do after hearing today’s distressing news.
Someone called Ella’s name from the Riehls’ house. She sighed. “Best get going, then.”
“Tonight?” Anna Rose prompted Ella.
But Ella shook her head. “I doubt I’ll be able to go,” she said as she walked away.
That didn’t surprise Sadie. Ella’s stepmother rarely let Ella do anything. Everyone knew that it was because Linda Troyer wanted her own daughters, Drusilla and Anna, to get all the attention—which they usually did. But it was never for the reasons Linda wanted.
Anna Rose looked at Sadie. “Please come,” she pleaded again.
Without Ella, there was no way Sadie was going to attend. “I don’t know, Anna Rose—”
Anna Rose exhaled and made a face. “I know several young women who would love to have so many men ask them to ride home in their buggies.”
Sadie frowned, suspecting that Anna Rose was referring to Drusilla and Anna. “Then those young women would be rather vain,” Sadie responded.
Anna Rose laughed. “True. Very true.” She placed her hand on Sadie’s arm. “Say you’ll come, then. It won’t be any fun if you aren’t there.” She paused. “Perhaps this will help. My cousin will be attending and he can bring us home. Then you will have a valid excuse for disappointing so many of the boys looking to escort you home.”
“Mayhaps,” Sadie reluctantly responded.
“Please!”
Seeing the look of desperation on Anna Rose’s face, Sadie finally relented. “Okay then. I’ll go. But don’t leave me alone with those Troyer girls. You know I can’t stand their willingness to share their opinions with anyone who will listen.”
Anna Rose laughed. “You and everyone else in Echo Creek. No wonder no one’s gone calling on them yet.”
Sadie shook her head. “Not so, Anna Rose. I’ve seen Drusilla at our neighbor’s farm on more than one occasion. Seems she’s struck up quite a friendship with Jenny Miller’s older bruder, Timothy.”
Opening her mouth, Anna Rose let a small gasp escape. “You don’t say!”
“I do say, but only because you must be the only person in Echo Creek who doesn’t already know it.” Sadie wasn’t one to carelessly spread gossip. Common knowledge, however, did not fall into that category.
“I wonder if they’ll marry this season.”
Sadie gave a slight shrug, knowing that speculating about such things did fall in the category of gossip.