Chapter 21

21

Mary Elizabeth never understood why the calendar year didn’t start with December—December 25 to be exact.

What was a more important date to remember than the birth of the Christ child?

But the rest of the world followed a calendar that started with January 1 and ended with December 31. She sighed. Well, it was finally December 1. She was a new fraa—how she loved that term—and she was sitting here in a nice warm home stitching on one of the last Christmas themed quilts of the season. There’d be a break to do others and then, perhaps only a month later, they’d begin on new ones for the next Christmas.

It was a comforting thing to have work you loved and that kept you thinking about Christmas through the year. Oh, not the one of trees and Santas and the like but the heart of Christmas—the giving of love and good will for your fellow man. At no other time of the year did people think about giving of heart and hand as they did at this time of year.

Amish Christmases were simple but deeply felt. Gifts were seldom luxury items or even store-bought. A gift made by hand with thought and care was the best, to her mind. So when she had an hour here and there, she sewed or knitted the gifts for her family.

And locked the bedroom door to keep out her new mann so he wouldn’t walk in and catch her sewing the first shirt she’d make for him. Hopefully, there would be many shirts she’d sew in the many years she hoped God would give her with him.

Lavina shifted in her chair and Mary Elizabeth glanced over at her. “Just can’t get comfortable,” her schweschder said ruefully.

“Maybe you should get up and walk about a bit,” Mary Elizabeth suggested. “That usually helps.”

“Then I’ll have to climb the stairs again.” But she got up, and they went downstairs.

“It won’t be much longer,” she reminded her as they walked into the kitchen.

“I know.”

“Tea?”

“Love some.”

Sam limped in. “I thought I heard voices.” He settled into a chair at the table.

Mary Elizabeth pulled a chair over and put his injured leg on it. “Doctor wants you to keep it elevated,” she chided him gently.

“Danki.”

“Coffee?”

“That would be nice.”

She checked the percolator on the back burner of the stove and found it still warm. She poured him a mug of coffee and turned the gas flame up under the tea kettle.

Lavina brought the cookie jar over and set it before him. “Daed always has to have a cookie about this time of day.”

Sure enough, he came in a few minutes later, bringing cold air with him. He took off his jacket and hung it on a peg by the back door. “We’re getting some snow flurries.”

Mary Elizabeth set a plate before Lavina so she could pile the cookies on it. All the women had baked up a storm the past week. Fruitcake cookies sparkled like jewels with their cubes of candied pineapple, maraschino cherries, and ginger. Candy cane cookies and German lebkuchen had taken extra time, but they were expected year after year.

Sam chose a sugar cookie cut in the shape of a reindeer. Mary Elizabeth picked a gingerbread man and smiled. Amish maedels often ate gingerbread men and thought about the man they wanted to marry. Now she had hers. God was gut.

She poured mugs of hot water and, before she sat, knocked on the door of the dawdi haus to see if Grossdaadi wanted to join them.

Soon the table was full of family. The Stoltzfuses did love snack time. It was too bad John was in town working and David was at the farm or the family would have been complete.

When cookies and hot drinks were consumed, everyone but Sam got to their feet. Daed went back to the barn. David swung by to pick up Lavina. Sam reached for Mary Elizabeth’s hand. “Do you have to go now?”

“In a few minutes,” she said. “After I clean up the kitchen.”

Rose Anna winked at Mary Elizabeth as she left the room.

“I wish I had something to do,” Sam said as he watched her clear the table.

“You could take up quilting,” she suggested tongue in cheek. “We could use some help with the orders this time of year.”

“Men don’t quilt.”

“Schur they do. Why, I have a quilting magazine upstairs with an article about men who quilt.”

“I’m not going to learn to quilt. Maybe I could walk out to the barn and help your dat with his seed order or repair some bridles or something.”

“It’s too slippery out there for you to walk that far. If you fall you could set yourself back even more.” She stared at him. He’d always had trouble sitting still. Recuperating had proven hard on him. “Tell you what. I’ll walk out and ask Daed if he has something he needs help with. Maybe the two of you could look over the seed catalogs in here. It’s getting cold for him to be out there anyway.”

“Danki. Be careful.”

She smiled as she pulled on her jacket. “I will. Be right back.”

Her dat jumped in surprise when she slid the barn door open. When he quickly put his hands behind his back, she raised her eyebrows. “What’s going on?”

“None of your business,” he said, but he grinned.

Christmas secrets, she decided, and she walked toward him and tried to see what he was hiding. He dodged her each time she moved toward him and finally he laughed. “If I show you, you’ll have to promise you won’t tell your mudder.”

“I’m not the one who can’t keep secrets,” she reminded him. “That’s Rose Anna.” Not only did her younger schweschder do her best to find out what she was getting for Christmas—she’d always blabbed what others were getting when she found out about gifts in progress.

He brought out what he’d been holding—a pretty spice rack for her mudder. “Think she’ll like it?”

“She’ll love it. Daed, Sam’s bored. I told him maybe he could help you with the seed order or something.”

“It’s done. I’m concentrating on finishing my gifts this afternoon.”

“Maybe I can drop him off at David’s when I go to town.”

Jacob hid the spice rack. “Gut idea. I’ll hitch up the buggy for you.”

Sam nearly jumped out of his chair when she told him she’d take him to his bruder’s haus.

But when they got there, Lavina answered the door and told them that David had just left to help a neighbor with something.

“I should have called,” Mary Elizabeth said.

“Kumm, have some tea with me,” Lavina invited.

“I can’t. I have errands to run for Mamm. But Sam can.”

Lavina smiled at him. “That would be nice. We can be cooped up together. Doctor said it could be any day now.”

Sam stiffened and turned to Mary Elizabeth. “I could go with you. Maybe Lavina would like to rest.”

Mary Elizabeth hesitated, but when she saw her schweschder rub at her lower back she felt a little uneasy. “David should be home soon. And Lavina shouldn’t be left alone.”

“I’m not a kind,” Lavina told her, frowning.

“Nee, you’re about to have one, and you shouldn’t be alone.”

“I could run the errands,” Sam offered.

“You don’t need to be sliding around in the snow,” Mary Elizabeth said.

The oven timer dinged. “Cookies are done.” Lavina headed for the kitchen.

“Cookies?” Sam followed her. “What kind?”

“Gee, see you later, Mary Elizabeth,” she said, her lips quirking in a grin.

Sam turned and gave her a quick kiss. “Oh, sorry, lieb. Have fun and I’ll see you soon.”

“Don’t let the door hit you on the way out,” she murmured and left.

* * *

Sam thoroughly enjoyed helping Lavina. He set his cane aside, pulled the trays of cookies from the oven, and was invited to have several. They smelled so gut he couldn’t resist blowing on one and popping it into his mouth.

“Ow.”

“You’re as bad as a kind. You need to wait ’til they’re cool.”

He grabbed a glass of water to cool his mouth. It was worth it. “That was wunderbaar. I might be able to wait until another one cools.”

Lavina smiled as she used a spatula to move the cookies to a big plate. “We have enough to make about two dozen more cookies. You can take some home with you.”

He watched her rub at the small of her back again. “Let me put the next batch in the oven. Your back is hurting.”

“It’s been aching all day.”

“Then sit.”

“Neither of us should be on our feet,” she said. But she sank gratefully into a chair.

“I’ll sit, too.” They worked dropping spoonfuls of dough and when they were finished, Sam slid them into the oven and set the timer as she instructed.

A few minutes later, she suddenly uttered a cry, and he heard something splashing. She slapped a hand on her mouth and stared at him with horror in her eyes.

“What is it?” he asked, his heart leaping up into his throat.

“My water just broke.”

He jumped to his feet and felt a twinge in his injured leg at the sudden movement. Then he was grabbing at the back of her chair as his feet slid in the water on the floor. Not water, he told himself. The water that surrounded a boppli in the womb. Amniotic fluid.

The boppli was coming.

“Stay there,” he croaked when she started to rise. “I don’t want you slipping.”

He grabbed a couple of dishtowels from the kitchen counter and threw them down to absorb the liquid.

“We need to call David.”

Sam reached into his pocket for the cell phone Peter had insisted he get after the accident. He hit speed dial and handed her the phone.

“David? You need to come home. The boppli’s coming. Really coming this time.”

She pulled the phone from her ear and stared at it.

“What’s the matter?”

“He hung up.”

“What can I do?” He hoped he could do whatever it was. Right now, he was feeling the kind of terror he imagined all men felt when confronted by the prospect of being around a woman who might give birth at any minute.

How he wished he could call Mary Elizabeth. But she didn’t have a cell phone.

“Shall I call your mudder?”

“Ya, please.”

But the phone rang and rang until the answering machine in the phone shanty picked up, and he listened to the message her mudder had left on it. He gave the phone to Lavina so she could say what she wanted and awkwardly tried to wipe up the dampness on the floor.

She finished the call and handed him back the phone. “Can you call the midwife for me? The number’s over there in the address book on the kitchen counter.”

He got the book for her and pressed it and the phone into her hands. She made the call and then looked at him.

“I need my suitcase from our room upstairs. Maybe a clean dress?”

Then she waved her hand and shook her head. “Nee, let’s wait until David’s here. I don’t want you to hurt your leg climbing the stairs.”

“I’ve been managing the stairs at home.”

Suddenly the color drained from her face and she doubled over. “Oh my,” she exclaimed when the pain passed. She glanced at the clock on the wall. “Remember the time for me so we’ll be able to time the contractions.”

He noted the time and then dumped the damp towels in the sink, trying not to shudder as he washed his hands. Contractions. Where was David?

The oven timer dinged. He picked up potholders, took the baking pans out of the oven, and set them on the top of the stove.

“You need to turn the oven off,” she reminded him.

He stared at the controls. Allrecht, he figured it out. He didn’t know much about operating an oven.

The back door slammed open and David rushed in looking frantic. He rushed to her side and took her hand.

“Are you allrecht?”

She nodded. “I called the midwife, so she’s expecting us. Can you get my suitcase and my green dress?”

“Schur.” He glanced at Sam. “Watch her until I get back?”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

David was back in seconds with the suitcase and a dress.

“You brought blue,” Lavina told him.

“Huh?”

“You brought my blue dress not my green one.”

“Lavina, you’re only going to wear it for a little while and we’re kind of in a hurry here.”

She bent over with another contraction. Sam looked at the clock. “Ten minutes since the last one.”

When the pain passed she looked at her mann. “The green one.”

“Get it,” Sam said. “It’s faster than arguing.”

So David ran upstairs and brought back the green one. Sam excused himself so she could change in the kitchen. Then, when David called him back in they helped her into a jacket and grabbed her purse and suitcase. They walked her out to the buggy and helped her inside between contractions.

Sam watched them leave and realized his knees were shaking. He made his way back into the house, careful not to slip on the stairs, and sank down into a chair in the kitchen.

That’s where Mary Elizabeth found him when she returned. Sitting there half-sick from too many cookies and cups of coffee. And nerves.

“Where’s Lavina?” she asked, glancing around.

“Having her boppli,” he said, grabbing his cane. “Come on, I’ll tell you all about it on the way there.”

* * *

A new member of the family joined the celebration of the birth of the Christ child when the family gathered the next week.

Grossdaadi had the seat of honor next to the fireplace in the Zook living room. He held his great-grandson Mark in the crook of one arm as he read the story of the birth of the Christ child from his Bible. One child who had changed the world, thought Mary Elizabeth. She loved watching Mark studying the flames with his big, serious blue eyes while Grossdaadi read about a boppli born so long ago who had taught so many about love.

Lavina quietly told her that Grossdaadi had looked sad when she walked in like he was missing Grossmudder, so she’d handed Mark to him. So the oldest member of the family held the newest. There was something so special about that, Mary Elizabeth thought.

She sat next to Sam and sent up a silent prayer of gratitude for her first Christmas with her new mann and wondered if next year Grossdaadi might be holding her first kind as he read the Bible.

It was sad that Grossmudder wasn’t there with them, but Mary Elizabeth felt she must be happy to be with her Father and Jesus.

Tonight they gathered to hear about the birth of Jesus, and they basked in the glow from the fire and the candles set on the mantel. It was cold and snowy outside, but gathered here on this holy night all was well.

Amos and Waneta Stoltzfus had been invited, and Mary Elizabeth didn’t think she’d ever seen him so relaxed. So peaceful. Oh, he’d cast a disapproving glance at John when he walked in wearing Englisch clothes, but there hadn’t been any comments. Waneta glowed with an inner happiness and couldn’t keep her hands off her first grandson.

Mary Elizabeth and Rose Anna set out the huge supper they’d spent the afternoon cooking. Lavina was only allowed to sit and do things like slice loaves of bread and arrange cookies and slices of cake on a plate since she was a new mudder.

“Amos is behaving tonight,” Rose Anna said in a low voice as she helped Mary Elizabeth arrange slices of baked ham on a platter. “Maybe things are going to work out and John will stay.”

“It’s Christmas,” Mary Elizabeth warned her.

“She’s right,” Lavina said, giving her youngest schweschder a sympathetic look. “It takes time.”

“Besides, I thought you decided to give up on him and see Peter.”

“I like Peter but . . .” she trailed off and walked over to stand in the doorway and look out at John sitting in the living room.

Linda walked in carrying Mark and held him out to Lavina. “Someone wants you.”

“I’ll take him up to my old room and nurse him.”

“We’ll wait until you come down to eat.”

“Nee, don’t wait.”

Linda just smiled and set the percolator on the stove. Sam wandered into the kitchen and swiped a cookie from the plate Lavina had arranged. Mary Elizabeth fussed at him for disturbing the artistic arrangement Lavina had made, but he just grinned at her and asked when they were going to eat.

“Soon,” she said. “Go ask who wants coffee and who wants hot chocolate.”

“I know what he’s giving you for Christmas,” Rose Anna told Mary Elizabeth after he left the kitchen.

“Rose Anna!”

She looked at her mudder. “I said I know. I didn’t say I’d tell.”

“Why don’t you pour the coffee when it’s done?”

Rose Anna shrugged and started setting out cups and saucers. Sam returned to say everyone wanted coffee, no hot chocolate. Grossdaadi wanted hot cider if there was any otherwise he’d take coffee, danki, so she poured some cider in a small pan and heated it on the stove.

Jacob wandered in and snatched a sliver of ham when his fraa’s back was turned. “Stop that,” she said without turning.

“Eyes in the back of her head,” he muttered as he grabbed another piece. “Are we eating soon?”

“After Lavina takes care of your grandson.”

“Bet he’d like some of this ham.”

Linda laughed and shooed him out of the room.

Lavina came down a few minutes later, but she didn’t have Mark with her. “He was ready for a nap.”

Mary Elizabeth frowned. “Have you been crying?”

“I was just thinking about Grossmudder. She loved Christmas.”

“And she would have loved Mark. She loved bopplis. Bet Grossdaadi’s missing her even more right now than usual.”

She was glad Lavina had put Mark in his arms when he sat in the big chair by the fire with his Bible.

“Maybe next year Mark will have a cousin to play with,” Lavina said.

Mary Elizabeth smiled. She’d been thinking earlier that it would be wunderbaar if she and Sam had a boppli next Christmas.

“That would be the only thing better than tonight.”

“I can’t wait for tomorrow,” Rose Anna said. “Wait until you see what Sam got for you, Mary Elizabeth.”

“Rose Anna—”

She held up her hands. “I told you I’m not telling her!”

Later, as she drifted off to sleep, Mary Elizabeth smiled as she remembered how Rose Anna had been so excited about Sam’s gift. He didn’t need to give her a thing. She had everything—everyone—she wanted.

Second Christmas was the day they had always exchanged gifts. David had made a beautifully carved cradle for Mark and a rocking chair for Lavina. He loved his knitted woolen muffler she made to keep him warm as he worked outside in the winter. Linda delighted in the spice rack Jacob had made for her. An avid reader, he exclaimed over the books she’d found him and wanted to start reading right away. Grossdaadi immediately put on the warm navy sweater the women in the family had taken turns knitting for him.

Sam loved the new shirt she made him for church. And then he handed her the present he’d made—a hand-woven basket filled with new thimbles, sewing scissors, and all manner of things to use when she sewed. Linda had picked up the supplies at Stitches in Time. Then he handed her another gift. He’d made a second basket and filled it with packets of flower and vegetable seeds.

She pulled a card from the basket and tears began slipping down her cheeks as she read it: “For your first kitchen garden. Believe that with God’s help you’ll have it soon.” She hugged him. It was the perfect gift.

The house soon filled with friends stopping by to bring holiday wishes and gifts. Mary Elizabeth wasn’t surprised to see the bishop and his fraa, but he seemed unusually ebullient today. After visiting for a time, he said something to Sam and the two men went into the kitchen. The bishop came out a few minutes later, nodded at her, and then left with his fraa.

Sam walked out of the kitchen looking stunned. He sank down onto the sofa next to her, and she felt him trembling.

“Is something wrong?”

He smiled at her, and she saw then that he had tears in his eyes. “Nee, something is very right.” He glanced around at the family and stood.

“We just had the most wonderful gift. I’ve been trying to buy Sarah Fisher’s farm. The bishop just came to tell me that she’s changed her mind and agreed to hold the loan. Mary Elizabeth and I will be buying it and moving into it soon. God is so gut.”

He sat again and looked at her. Mary Elizabeth barely heard the excited exclamations of her family as she stared into Sam’s eyes. “Is it true?”

Sam nodded. “She heard about my accident from a friend who still lives here and called the bishop to talk. Then she and her family in Ohio discussed it. They felt they wanted the farm to stay in the Amish community, not be sold to Englischers. And they wanted us to have it.”

Her hands still clutched the basket of seeds for her first kitchen garden. She set it on the floor at her feet and threw her arms around him.

“Merry Christmas, Sam.”

“Merry Christmas, lieb.”

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