Gasthof Village, Indiana Territory
“Today’s the day,” Rebekah told her parents. “Do you think he will come?”
Elnora patted baby Beanie on the back and rocked quietly in her chair in the quilting room. “He’s a grown man, Rebekah. He may be your blood relative, but this life isn’t for everyone.”
Samuel sat in the other rocker, the one Rebekah normally took. He was so tired lately, she again pretended not to notice. “Your mother is right,” he added. “That’s why there’s such a long discernment period. It’s not a light decision to take on.”
“You two are right, as usual.” She studied her mother, who aged considerably since her journey to New York to find Katie. The sun’s rays through the window highlighted her laugh lines that were now there, even when she wasn’t laughing. Her eyes, always so sparkling and happy, had dulled and now drooped at the sides. “I hope I’m as wise as you, when it’s Joseph and I sitting in our quilting room someday.”
Samuel reached over and took Elnora’s hand. Since she’d brought him home a week ago, he had rarely left his wife’s side. Something about that, as heartwarming as it was, was out of the ordinary and strange. It elicited an emotion deep down within her that she didn’t like. Mr. Williams’s words plagued her dreams nightly. Does Pa sense another heart seizure coming? Does Ma?
She shook her head free of the troublesome thoughts.
Outside in the hallway, Thomas, who wasn’t more than a foot away from Rebekah at any given time since she returned home, meowed loudly. Rebekah smiled and stepped out to watch as he played with his stuffed cat.
The tiny stuffed animal that Mrs. Cheng had hidden in the newehocker dresses, just for him, was just as much of a surprise for him as it was for her. As was the black silk dress she sent for her mother, that Rebekah knew nothing of. Elnora had widened her eyes, then put it away in a drawer. Whether she’d wear it for Rebekah’s wedding to Joseph remained to be seen.
The tiny cat for Thomas however, came with a handwritten note pinned to it, written hastily in broken English, had shocked her more than anything.
This was my son cat. I make for him as a new mom, many year ago. He loved it with all its hart. For Little Thomas. Who you love with your hart. Remember me fondly, Mrs. Cheng.
“Meow?” Rebekah asked as she perched on the top step. “Mrow mrow.”
“Hisssssssss!” Thomas held up his hand like a paw full of claws. “That means I’m a mad cat,” he whispered. “I was trying to nap, until you came meowing at me.”
Rebekah rolled her eyes and smiled. “Oh, I thought you were a mad cat because you found another mud puddle to get into.”
Thomas’s eyes widened and he peeked over his shoulder, into the quilting room where their parents sat, rocking together, hand in hand. “Shhh, Sissy. Nobody knows about my new secret mud puddle.”
A knock came at the door. “I’ll get it,” Rebekah called. “And you best stay far away from that mud puddle today,” she whispered. “It’s Uncle Peter’s baptism day...”
“Maybe,” Thomas corrected her.
“You’re right, maybe.” She held out her hand. “Here let me hold your paw—er...your hand. I’m still not too steady going down stairs.”
“Okay, Sissy,” he said, dutifully helping her down the stairs. “But I make no promises about the mud puddle. Cats don’t keep promises anyway.”
Rebekah thought about the big gray tomcat who swaggered in one winter morning and made his home in the barn. Once, during a massive windstorm, a nest of baby squirrels were blown out of a tree. Rebekah awoke to that cat, affectionately named Tommy by little Thomas, yowling his head off at the front door. At his feet, sopping wet from rain, was an infant squirrel. Rebekah thought Tommy had killed it and brought it to her, as he sometimes did with bunnies, until she picked it up. It was breathing.
As soon as it was safe in her hand, Tommy darted off into the driving rain and unrelenting wind, only to return a moment later with yet another baby squirrel. Sopping wet himself, Tommy didn’t stop until all five baby squirrels were safe, and very much alive, with Rebekah.
Though he was a barn cat and her mother warned her incessantly that he might pass her ringworms, she let the grizzled gray cat sleep in the house from then on, when he was of a mind to, of course. They’d had a time that winter, all bottle feeding the babies, since Tommy never produced the mother squirrel, who was probably lost to the storm itself. The babies survived, though, and thrived. Little Thomas still fed them, from time to time.
“Sometimes cats keep promises,” Rebekah reminded him. “Remember Tommy and the squirrels.”
“That’s true. But Tommy isn’t just a regular cat, Sissy. He’s human too, just like us.” He reached the door first and pulled it open. “Only smarter.”
Rebekah fully intended to see Joseph on the other side of the door, coming to escort her to the Wagler’s house for Sunday meeting. Or perhaps, even Peter. Who was there though, she didn’t expect at all.
“Good morning, Katie,” Rebekah forced a smile.
They’d passed Katie on the way home from Montgomery in the wagon a week ago, but when Peter pulled over to pick her up, she disappeared into the woods without a word. She hadn’t spoken the few times they’d crossed paths since coming home either. It seemed the few moments of familial bliss they’d shared in New York were all but forgotten for Katie, and that hurt Rebekah’s heart further. She couldn’t imagine the effect her stony silence had on Peter.
“Good morning Rebekah, Thomas.” She smiled down at the little Stoll. “I see you have a cat.”
“I do. His name is Tom. Like Tommy, only more grown up.”
Katie and Rebekah shared a look, and smiled.
“I’m glad you’re here. Would you like to walk with Thomas and me to the Wagler’s house? I’m hoping Peter shows up to be baptized...”
Rebekah bit her tongue. Katie’s face went from normal to downcast with such ferocity, Rebekah feared she may be having a heart seizure like her father. “Katie, I’m sorry if I—”
“You don’t have anything to apologize for, Rebekah,” Katie started. “But I would like to walk with you. If you don’t mind.”
“Of course I don’t.” She started out the door, and stopped short. “Can you run up and tell Ma and Pa that I’m walking over to the Wagler’s with Katie please?”
Thomas tucked his cat in his pants pocket and started up the stairs, but stopped short. He turned around, a terrified look in his eyes. “Do I ask them if I can come with you and Katie, Sissy?”
Rebekah didn’t bother to look to Katie for permission. She didn’t need it. “Of course, Thomas. You’re my little buddy. Where I go, you go.”
He grinned his gap-toothed grin. “You’re my best friend. Even if you are marrying Joseph Graber on December the third.”
Katie looked down, but Rebekah couldn’t help but chuckle as she stepped out on the porch and shut the door. “I missed that boy so.”
Katie forced a smile. “Thank you for coming to talk with me. I know I have not been a very good friend. Or anything else.”
“None of us are perfect, Katie.” Rebekah smiled. “I’m glad you’re here.”
Thomas dashed out the door and closed it behind him with a bang. “We are ready to run!”
“That’s his new saying,” Rebekah explained. “I am not quite sure where he got it from.”
Katie trudged along beside Rebekah as Thomas ran on ahead. “I have to apologize, for so many things.”
Rebekah wanted to interject and give Katie a list of things, a lifetime’s worth of things she could be sorry for, but she bit her tongue instead.
Today, I let her say her piece.
“I’ve been a bad friend. And an even worse future sister-in-law.” The path they were on was the same one that she and Joseph walked bare. It was also the one that Joseph brought her down to give her the birthday present, the hand carved fishing pole made from the branch of their tulip tree, that started their road to engagement. The pole still sat in her room, in the corner. And still smelled just as delightful as it did that day last year.
“I’ve been deceptive and manipulative. Shame on me. But nothing was worse than what I did in New York.”
Rebekah’s heart began to slap against the inside of her chest. The recent memory of Patty, speaking about the goings on in the tar paper shacks by the docks sparked to life in her mind. She never thought about it, but that was, in fact, where she found Katie. Inside one of those shacks...
“What happened?”
Katie looked at her with wide eyes. “I put all of you in danger. You got hurt, a lot, and it was all for my sake. I was incredibly unappreciative and selfish.”
That was a rather responsible answer.
“So it did not have anything to do with the tar-paper shacks on the docks, right?”
“Right.” Katie looked thoughtful. “I still don’t know what was so bad about them. I never did figure it out.”
“Me neither.” Rebekah laughed, a relieved laugh. “Truly I tell you, I wasn’t sure what you were going to say.”
“I understand.” Katie batted her eyes, as though she was fighting back tears. “I don’t like that I made you question me though.”
The Wagler’s farm came into view over the turn in the path. Had they gone the other way, they would have ended up at Joseph’s house. Katie looked at Peter’s house, where he currently did not live, and stopped. “I’m so, so sorry.”
“I’m going to run on ahead,” Thomas shouted from the end of the path. “Don’t worry, Sissy, I see where we are going and I know the rule. I’ll wave at you from the porch.”
Rebekah waved him off. “Save me a seat next to you, okay?”
“Okay, Sissy!”
Rebekah sighed and looked at the Wagler’s farm. They lost their son to Rumspringa. Now, it appears that they’ve lost their adopted son to Katie’s Rumspringa.
“Katie,” Rebekah shifted uncomfortably. “May I be honest?”
“Of course.” Her eyes were downcast and she looked meeker than she’d ever looked before in her two decades of knowing her. Normally spiffy and spry, Katie now looked incredibly sorry.
“I don’t think I’m the one you should be telling this to.”
Katie looked up at Rebekah. “You weren’t the first one I came to with this, Rebekah.”
Knots fell in Rebekah’s gut.
Joseph.
“No, not Joseph.” Katie’s eyes twinkled. “I wouldn’t do that to you.”
“Thank you, Katie. For saying that.” Is that Katie giving me her blessing?
“It was Peter.” Katie twisted her toe in the dirt. “I’ve been going to see him every day since we’ve been back.”
Rebekah was taken aback. “You have?”
“Of course.”
“Is he coming to be baptized today?”
She shrugged. “He never said.”
Rebekah started walking toward the Wagler home. “Well, let’s go see if he’s there!”
“I’m not going.”
Rebekah stopped walking. She turned back. “What?”
“I’m not going.” Katie scanned the horizon. A buggy pulled up along the back road. Rebekah watched as she hid herself behind a tree. “I was so jealous, Rebekah. I thought he’d moved on with Patty and her son, sweet little Noah. I have to get my head on straight. I have been in almost constant prayer. She’s his cousin and yours too. I have felt foolish before, but never like that. Never that foolish.”
“If you were afraid he moved on, doesn’t that tell you that you love him and you should come?”
“I don’t know if he’s coming. What if he sees me there, then rushes in and gets baptized, then...? I don’t know. Maybe he regrets it later.” Katie stepped back out on the trail. The buggy was just Rebekah’s Ma and Pa and brothers. Not Peter. “He has to make this decision for himself. I am taking myself out of the...what do you call it, you were good in math.”
“Equation?”
“That. Yes.”
“Church is starting, Katie,” Rebekah started out of the woods and toward the Wagler’s. “I wish you’d reconsider and come.”
A smile of sorts flickered across Katie’s face. “I’m with you. I’m home and gladly so.” She shifted her weight. “There’s something else, Rebekah.”
Rebekah dipped her head and studied Katie. “Yes?”
“I did something especially horrible to you while we were in New York City.”
Icy bits of fear shinnied down her backbone. “You did?”
Katie studied the ground and kicked at a toadstool. “If I hadn’t gone there, you wouldn’t have had to endure the worst apple pie in New York City.”
Rebekah puffed out a laugh with such force her covering strings flew forward and whipped back, hitting her in the nose. “It was terrible, wasn’t it?”
“I know you know what the ingredient was that left the crust bitter. I told Nellie Bly so.”
Rebekah beamed. To have been spoken of highly, by Katie, made her heart fill with a new warmth that hadn’t been there before. “I did name the ingredient, though I had to think on it for a while, and I believe it just got knocked in by accident.”
“Was it orange peel?”
“It burned too much to be orange peel,” Rebekah started. “Good guess though, it certainly had the bitterness of orange peel.”
Katie nodded.
“But I believe it was watercress.”
Katie flung her arms. “Yes, of course it was watercress!”
The girls shared a laugh, a comfortable one. A familial, loving one.
“Come with me, Katie.” Rebekah tried to keep the begging note from entering her voice. But above all else, she simply didn’t want to let this warm feeling with Katie go.
“I wish I could, Rebekah.” The smile faded from Katie’s face. “But not today. Just not this service.”
***
True to his word, Thomas Stoll, and his cat, saved Rebekah a seat in the Wagler’s barn. Peter’s absence, of course, was noted by everyone in attendance. They’d been there, watching and singing as he was instructed in the ways of the Amish for the past year. They’d seen his growth, and even grown with him. They grew to love him, and he them and their ways. So they thought. The mark of pain was evident on everyone’s face in the Wagler’s barn and it embarrassed Rebekah considerably.
With Joseph across the aisle from her in the men’s section, she felt naked. Exposed. With no one to hide behind and nowhere to bury her face to hide from the world. She must have looked scared because Thomas slid his cat into her lap. He didn’t speak, that would have not been fitting behavior for a Stoll child, and they all knew better. He didn’t have to. The simple silent gesture spoke volumes.
Then, the hymn they were singing from the Ausbund came to a natural end. Now would be when Peter was called up to join the Church. And the faith. And the community. And the Wagler’s, as their son. Just as Simon Wagler, Joseph’s foster father, pushed himself to his feet, someone coughed behind Rebekah. She turned and squinted into the sun.
“Peter!”
She couldn’t help herself. Her brother was there! The collective breath the church had been holding exhaled and for an instant, everything felt all right.
Slowly, he walked up the aisle and extended his hand to Simon Wagler. “Today is a special day, Pa, and I am sorry I am late.”
As her eyes began to focus in the dark barn from looking into the light, Rebekah noticed that Peter was filthy.
“May I speak to the church?”
Simon stood beside his son, but didn’t let go of his hand. The older man’s eyes misted and his lower lip trembled as he held onto Peter’s hand. The sight was almost too much for Rebekah.
“Good Amish people, I mean no disrespect in my appearance or my tardiness. Due to circumstances that were beyond my control, my wagon overstayed its welcome at the livery stable in Montgomery during my recent...travel.” He didn’t look at Joseph and he didn’t look at her.
Peter, what in the world are you doing?
“So, in order to make things right, I had to stay on at the livery and work off my debt. I didn’t want to ask for money or help. I needed to work it off on my own, and work things out in my mind.” He brushed his nose with his free hand while Simon held fast to the other. “You people,” he started, “you people are everything good in this world. My recent travels were eye-opening, and I came home, ashamed of my English-born blood. But as some of you may know, Rebekah and I accidentally found another relative and her son. A boy who is mute, and as loving and kind as the day is long.”
Everyone stared at him in the silent barn.
“It was when we were boarding the train back here, back home, that I knew. I knew this was my life, with or without a spouse. So, I ran off to collect Patty and Noah, our English blood kin, and used the money that was supposed to be for any additional expenditures at the livery, to buy them tickets here. Well, not here, but to Montgomery, where we got her a job with the doc who took care of Mr. Stoll.” Finally, he looked at Rebekah. His eyes were filled with moisture and his dirt-streaked face, sincere. “I couldn’t wait to bring what little blood relations I have here. Home, where life makes sense and things are as they should be.” He glanced at Simon. “I came straight from work, Pa. My debt is paid and now I’m ready. Ready to join the Church, if you’ll have me.”
Simon pulled Peter into an embrace. Thomas reached over and patted Rebekah’s hand. “I knew he’d come,” he whispered.
“How’d you know,” she whispered back.
“Because I’ve known Uncle Peter practically my whole life.”
Rebekah shook her head and bit back a smile.
“Of course we’ll have you.” Simon’s normally meek voice boomed. “Right, Church?”
“Amen!”
When their embrace was over, Simon led Peter to a bowl of water at the front of the pews set up in the barn. “Mama?” He extended his hand to Mrs. Wagler, who held her back, but hobbled up to join her husband and her soon-to-be son.
“Kneel down, Peter,” Simon instructed.
Peter did as he was told.
“Now, bow your head. Hide your face in your hands to show that you are humble in this church house and answer my questions truthfully.”
“Yes sir, Pa.” Peter’s voice softened as he bowed his head.
“Do you renounce your worldly ways, and commit to live a plain life, only for Jesus Christ?”
“I do,” Peter boomed.
Rebekah’s lips tilted upward. The loudness of Peter’s voice was remarkably un-Amish.
“Do you commit to the Amish Church, and should you marry, agree to bring your family up in the Anabaptist way?”
“I do,” Peter boomed again.
This time, Rebekah was almost positive she heard her mother snicker.
“Now Peter, do you renounce the evil one? And the ways of the English?”
“Yes, I wholeheartedly do renounce both.”
Simon picked up the bowl of water. “Peter, do you commit to serve in the Gasthof Village church ministry, should the need arise in the future?”
“I do! Humbly, Pa.”
Simon looked out the audience. “I ask my wife, Sarah, Rebekah, and anyone else who would like to do so, to come forward now and extend their hand over Peter’s head for the pouring of the water.”
Rebekah stood up. Carefully, she glanced from side to side, but Katie was nowhere to be seen. She should be here for this...
Thomas caught her hand. His eyes were question marks. Rebekah tugged him along with her. Together, they walked up to where Peter knelt, face in his hands, a picture of humility, and extended their hands next to Sarah Wagler’s.
“I baptize you, Peter Wagler, in the name of Jesus Christ, who defeated death and rose again so that all who love Him might have everlasting life.” He tipped the bowl and the water ran through Sarah, Rebekah, and Thomas’s fingers before cascading over Peter’s head.
Rebekah, all smiles, looked up. There in the tree line, out the far side of the barn, she saw her. Katie. Not so far away that she couldn’t see her tear streaked face.