CHAPTER
16

While at work Tuesday afternoon, Leona shared the specifics of her travel news with Maggie.

Maggie nodded with interest. “Will ya spend the night somewhere, then? It’s a long trip, ain’t so?”

“Jah . . . not sure where, though. Ted said it was too far to go without stopping for rest,” Leona said, glad she could talk to Maggie about this.

“At least you’ll gain an hour goin’ west.”

Leona hadn’t thought of that. “Des gut.”

Maggie glanced around the shop, where only a pair of customers lingered. She lowered her voice. “It wonders me . . . the whole family up and leavin’ the faith.”

“’Tis troubling.” Leona recalled Gloria’s remark about not being permitted to speak Deitsch in the house. She couldn’t imagine it, not as friendly and fun loving as Joe had always seemed.

“Have ya told anyone outside the family ’bout your plans?”

“Just Tom.”

“I s’pose he’s mentioned something to his father,” Maggie said, frowning a bit.

“I’m sure he has by now. At least I have Tom’s and Dat’s approval.”

“Well, don’t forget . . . you have mine and Mahlon’s, too. You can depend on our prayers.”

Leona thanked her, accepting the gentle squeeze of Maggie’s hand.

Upon returning from the shop, Leona slipped away to her bedroom and dropped to her knees, praying that Gloria might be reconciled to God and the People. “O Lord, please guide me in all I say and do. Make me a tool for Thy mercy.”

Then, after supper, once she’d redded things up for her mother, Leona slipped out of the house and hurried across several fields to talk to Tom before her Arkansas trip in the morning.

She found him in the stable, freshening the straw in the horse stalls. “Just came to catch you up on my plans. I leave at nine a.m. tomorrow.”

Tom took off his work gloves and reached to hold her hand. “So glad ya came. I was just thinkin’ of walking over to see you.”

“Well, I don’t want to keep ya from your work. Just wanted to say good-bye,” she said softly, glad it was just the two of them out there with the milk cows lowing as they settled in for the night. “I’ve never gone so far away.”

“I’ll be thinking ’bout ya, Leona . . . and sending up prayers, too.”

“Denki,” she whispered, thankful again for his caring nature. “Will ya keep Gloria and her family in prayer, too?”

“I will now,” he said, a smile creeping onto his face.

“Well, I s’pose I should get home and try to close my suitcase.”

He chuckled and offered to walk with her, but it was still light enough that she insisted she was fine on her own.

“Good-bye, Leona.” He gave her a brief hug. “Have a safe trip, and I’ll look forward to seein’ ya when you’re back.”

She smiled. “Jah, won’t be long.”

The sky was a metallic gray the next morning as Leona rode west in the van. The two middle-aged couples talked softly in Deitsch in front of her while she did a bit of crocheting to pass the time. Mostly, though, she enjoyed watching the landscape change from rural areas to busy cities, each place new to her.

When she felt tired after stopping for hamburgers, Leona leaned her head back, giving in to the sway of the van, which made her sleepy. In her haze, she recalled a blizzard that hit Colerain when she was twelve years old. Farmers were socked in for several days, and for a full week, there had been no school or Preaching services in many districts around the county. Leona’s and Gloria’s fathers had taken their driving horses down to the general store to get flashlight batteries, toilet paper, and ground coffee. And Leona had managed to get over to Gloria’s by wearing Mahlon’s old snowshoes he’d once gotten for Christmas. She, Gloria, and Jeannie had baked dozens of sugar cookies that day, which Jeannie let them decorate at their whim using all sorts of colors and designs. Gloria and her mother carried on about Leona’s three-cookie blue-and-red snowman as though it were a work of art.

When Leona awakened, the van was vacant and Ted Bell was standing outside filling the tank with gas. She stretched and yawned, wondering where they were as she got out to use the restroom and buy a small bag of salted peanuts. A few customers did double takes, gawking at her and the other Amish folk, as well. We certainly aren’t in Lancaster County! Leona thought, relieved that she was traveling by van rather than on her own.

That afternoon, Gloria drove her mother to the grocery store, where they stocked up on sodas, chips and dip, and other snack items, including ingredients to make Chex mix for the guys watching basketball on TV. At the store, her mother spotted a round loaf of sourdough bread and snatched it up to put it in the cart.

“We used to bake our own bread,” Gloria commented.

Her mother stopped walking, turned, and stared at her. “Do you know that was my least favorite thing about being Plain?” She swept her long bangs over her brow. “That and hitching up the horse and buggy. You probably never realized how much I disliked that job, either, especially when I did it alone.”

“It was a challenge, but I really thought you enjoyed the bread making, Mom, and all the other baking we did together.” With Leona, too . . .

Gloria pushed the cart forward while her mother turned her attention back to the shelves, deciding what she needed to stock their small pantry. “We could bake a special cake to welcome Leona. What do you say?”

“It would be simpler to purchase a ready-made cake.”

“Okay with me.” Gloria smiled at her mother’s attempt to cut corners, but she was pleased to see her warming up to the idea of Leona’s visit.

So much has changed since my parents welcomed her like one of us!

Carefully, Gloria removed her mother’s favorite vase from the hutch, having already stacked the supper dishes and utensils in the dishwasher. “Mom, where do you want to display the fresh flowers we picked up?” she asked as she arranged them in the vase. Her mother had already settled onto the sectional with a magazine she’d bought on impulse at the store, her feet up.

“You decide, honey. You have a good eye.”

Adam glanced up from a chair on the opposite end of the room, his phone in hand. “Aren’t you gonna blow up some balloons and put up some streamers, too? Those ought to make Leona feel right at home.”

Gloria almost laughed at his sarcastic tone.

“Come now, Adam,” Mom said, flipping the page of her magazine. “Leona can surely live with a few cut flowers. After all, this is our home.”

Gloria hoped her mother was right, but looking around, she couldn’t help but feel embarrassed at how very English their place looked. She glanced at Adam in his ripped jeans. What have I done, encouraging her to visit?

“When does she arrive in Hot Springs?” asked Adam, still staring at his phone.

“Tomorrow afternoon.”

He groaned. “I can’t get off work, or I’d offer to drive you down there.”

“Aren’t you nice,” Mom murmured.

Adam set aside his phone. “I’m actually lookin’ forward to seeing her—wondering if she’s still as Plain as ever.”

Gloria looked at him. “Maybe you’ll have a chance to talk. Did ya ever really get to say good-bye?”

Adam shrugged. “I did my best. We weren’t really dating—only went out that one time . . . but if our family had stayed, I suppose we would’ve.”

It all came back to her—Leona’s excitement over Adam’s interest, their hope of maybe being related through marriage one day. . . . “Well, you’re with Donnalynn now, and she’s wonderful. Bet you’re glad I coaxed you into coming to church with me, right?”

Adam gave her a thumbs-up and took up his phone again, returning to texting.

Mom rose and headed toward the kitchen. “I think I hear your father scouting out a second helping of dessert.”

Gloria found a spot for the bouquet on the side table, where it wasn’t so noticeable.

Leona was surrounded by pleasant chatter as the van rolled across the miles. Manny Stolzfus, one of the Amishmen from a neighboring church district, moved up front to the passenger seat to visit with Ted for a few hours, so his talkative wife, Sarah, sat with Leona and struck up a conversation.

“Have you ever been to Hot Springs?” Leona asked.

“Oh, a couple times . . . we just love to walk at Garvan Woodland Gardens,” replied Sarah. “Will this be your first visit, then?”

“I’m heading on to a small town northwest of there—Hill View. An old friend of mine is pickin’ me up.”

“My goodness, some of our Amish cousins live there.” Sarah leaned forward to pull a bit of mending from her sewing bag.

“Seems like the People live almost everywhere now, doesn’t it? I read recently that Amish are settled in at least thirty states.”

Sarah shook her head. “Well, ain’t that somethin’!”

Leona opened her poetry book and started to read, remembering how she and Gloria had enjoyed reading aloud to each other from this very book. She still could scarcely believe that, after three long years, she would see her former friend tomorrow. At last!