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Allensville

B EFORE YOU LEAVE FOR WORK this morning, would you mind hitching my horse to the buggy?” Ada asked Ephraim as they ate breakfast together.

He yawned and stretched his jaw. “I thought you were planning to stay home all day and rest.”

“There’s too much going on around here for me to spend the day sitting or doing nothing. Besides, I want to head over to the Petersheims’ to see how Rosa is doing. She’s been confined to her bed for a week now, and I haven’t gone to see her yet.”

“I’m sure she would appreciate a visit from you,” Ephraim said as he reached for his cup of coffee. “But if you keep doing so much around here, plus running errands and taking the time to visit people, you might end up on bed rest too.”

Ada waved away his concerns. “You worry too much, Husband. I know my limits, and I’m feeling just fine.”

“I’m sure Rosa’s husband must be worried about her.

” Ephraim took a drink of coffee and shrugged his shoulders.

“Well, at least I was able to talk you into quitting your job at the greenhouse and staying home where you can rest when you feel mied.” His brows furrowed.

“Of course, you always seem to find something to keep yourself busy, so you’re probably tired most of the time and just won’t admit it. ”

“I’m not always tired, and it’s not in my nature to sit around and do nothing. As you know, I enjoy keeping busy, and I’d be bored silly if I wasn’t doing something beneficial.”

Ephraim reached over and laid his hand on her arm. “I am well aware.” He finished his coffee and put on his hat and jacket. “I’ll get your horse ready for you now, and then I’d better be on my way to the harness shop.”

When Ada stood, Ephraim came around and gave her a kiss. “Be careful today, okay? Not only while driving the horse and buggy, but in everything else you do.”

“I will, and I hope you’ll do the same.” She stroked his chin where his beard had begun to grow nicely. “And I hope things go well for you at work.”

He kissed her again. “They’ll be even better when I get home this evening and can spend time with my sweet fraa .”

When Ephraim went out the back door, Ada headed to the sink with her empty plate and silverware.

There weren’t too many breakfast dishes, so she’d have plenty of time to get them washed, dried, and put away before leaving for Belleville.

She looked forward to seeing Rosa and offering some words of encouragement.

Belleville

“Rosa, are you awake? You have a visitor,” Mom called from the hallway outside the bedroom door where Rosa lay, propped against two supporting pillows.

“Jah, I’m awake.” Although Rosa had no idea who’d come to see her, she welcomed the company, knowing it would help stamp out her boredom, if only for a little while.

The door opened and Mom entered the room with Ada. The sight of her dear friend’s pretty face brought tears of appreciation to Rosa’s eyes.

“It’s so good to see you,” she said, reaching her hand toward Ada.

“It’s wonderful to see you as well. I was sorry to hear about your condition and wanted to come by and offer my support.”

Mom pulled the desk chair close to the bed for Ada and suggested that she sit down. “I have some things to do in the kitchen, so I’ll leave you two alone to chat.”

After Rosa’s mother left the room, Ada took a seat and clasped Rosa’s hand. “How are you feeling? Has the bleeding stopped?”

“I’m still spotting, but it’s not as heavy as it was.” Rosa heaved a sigh. “I hate having to spend all my time in bed, but I will do anything to make sure I don’t lose my baby.”

“I would too, if faced with the same situation.” Ada’s gentle brown eyes matched the sincere tone of her voice.

They both sat quietly for a few seconds, and Ada spoke again. “I’ve been praying for you, Rosa, but if there’s anything else I can do, please let me know.”

“I don’t know what it would be. You’re expecting a baby too, and you shouldn’t be worried about taking care of anyone but yourself.” Rosa leaned back against her pillows again. “Besides, between Mom and Tena, I have plenty of help with my care.”

“What about your husband? I’m sure he’s deeply concerned and has probably been waiting on you hand and foot.”

Rosa shook her head. “Anthony returned to his home in New York, and …” She paused to compose herself.

“And what?”

“The truth is, Ada, Anthony and I are not married, and we never were. He’s not even my baby’s father.”

“What?” Ada’s mouth formed an O, and her eyebrows shot straight up. “Are you serious, Rosa?”

“Yes, I am finally telling you the truth.” More words rushed out of Rosa’s mouth as she filled Ada in on the details of how she had come to know Anthony when she’d been hired as a waitress at his parents’ restaurant.

“Our original plan,” Rosa went on to say, “was for Anthony to stay for only a few days. Then we would stage a big argument and tell my parents that we’d made a mistake getting married and that Anthony would be going back to New York to get a divorce.

Of course, he couldn’t really get one, since we had never gotten married. ”

Ada’s eyes widened, and she blinked rapidly. “Why would you make up such a story?”

“We came up with the idea, figuring that if my folks thought we were married and believed Anthony was the father of my child, they would allow me to come home.” Rosa swallowed against the constriction in her throat.

“I figured that if my parents believed our story, they would allow me to stay on after Anthony returned to New York. I also needed their help raising my baby.”

Rosa lowered her hand to her belly and gave in to the tears forthcoming. “Only now there may not be a baby, and even though Mom has forgiven me for lying to them, I’m not sure about Dad.”

Ada leaned forward and then back, as though she were in a rocking chair. “Oh, Rosa, I had no idea all of this was going on.” She pulled her fingers through the ends of her head-covering ties. “Surely your parents didn’t accept the idea of you and Anthony getting a divorce.”

“They didn’t have to accept it, Ada, because Anthony and I owned up to everything. Instead of faking a breakup, we told them the truth—that we had never gotten married and what we had made plans to do.”

“I’ll bet that didn’t go over well.”

“No, it did not, and Dad ordered Anthony to leave, which he did the following morning.” Rosa reached for a tissue from the table beside her bed and blew her nose.

“Beginning with the rebellious years of my Rumspringa all the way up to now, I’ve made such a mess out of my life.

” She paused to wipe her eyes. “What’s wrong with me, anyhow? Why can’t I make the right decisions?”

“We all make wrong decisions,” Ada said. “I have found that the best way to stay on track and do right is to keep my focus on God and not my own selfish ambitions. Reading the Bible, and spending time in prayer, helps me stay on the straight and narrow.”

“You’ve certainly done that well, Ada, and now you are married to Ephraim and expecting your first child. I’m happy for you, and I believe you will both make good parents.”

“With God’s help, I hope so, but I’m sure we will make some mistakes along the way. That’s just how it is, because none of us humans are perfect.”

Rosa lowered her head. “I’m certainly not, but I’m trying to do better, and with God’s help, I want to raise my baby in the best way possible.”

Ada leaned closer. “Can I ask you a personal question?”

“Of course.”

“You’ve admitted that you and Anthony are not married, and that he isn’t the father of your baby.”

“That’s correct. My relationship with the baby’s biological father, who I never should have been with, was wrong.” Rosa sniffed, hoping to avoid further tears. “I’ve confessed my sin to God and asked Him to forgive me.”

“That’s good. That’s what God’s Word says we should do when we sin.”

They sat quietly for a while, and then Ada posed a question. “How do you feel about Anthony?”

“He’s a kindhearted friend.”

“Okay, but how do you feel about him?”

“I’m grateful he cared enough to bring me here.”

Ada’s mouth opened as if she was prepared to say something more, but then she closed it.

“Is there something else you wanted to say?” Rosa questioned.

“Yes, and I would like you to be completely honest with your answer.”

“Okay.”

“Are you in love with Anthony?”

“Well … umm …”

“The expression I saw on your face when the two of you came to the greenhouse together was very convincing.”

“How so?” Rosa turned her head to the left to glance out the window before looking back at Ada.

“What I saw was a look of love. Can you deny that you have strong feelings for Anthony?”

“It wouldn’t matter if I did.” Rosa lowered her gaze to the Lone Star quilt covering the lower half of her body. “Anthony doesn’t love me, and except for the one brief conversation we had on the phone when he returned to New York, he’s made no effort to contact me.”

“He must feel something for you, Rosa, or he wouldn’t have brought you home. And although it was wrong, he did try to protect you from any disapproval of your parents by pretending that the two of you were married.”

“He only did that because he’s a nice guy, who cares about people.

I witnessed that plenty of times at the restaurant in New York where he cooked.

Sometimes a homeless person would come in, just to get out of the weather for a bit, and Anthony would cover the cost of their meal.

And he always spoke kindly to everyone.”

Ada began rocking in the chair again. Rosa wondered if she might be practicing for the time when her own baby would be born.

Or maybe her dear friend rocked in an effort to keep the air between them peaceful.

It wasn’t that they’d never had any big disagreements, but things had become strained when Rosa became so rebellious during their teen years.

Ada had tried to reason with Rosa several times back then, especially regarding some wrong choices she’d made.

Perhaps she had come here to do that again, only this time it had to do with Anthony.

Maybe Ada thought Rosa should admit her true feelings for him, but that was not going to happen, because admitting it to her friend would be admitting it to herself.

Rosa was not willing to do that—especially when it served no purpose, since Anthony was never coming back to the Big Valley.

It’s better that way , Rosa thought. If I saw him again, I might drown in a puddle of tears.

“I’m bored, Mom. When can I go back to school?”

Elsie slipped a tray of peanut butter cookies into the oven and moved over to the table to stand beside the chair where Alvin sat working on an assignment for school. “The doctor said you could return to school on Monday, and that’s just a few days from now, so you won’t be bored much longer.”

He let out a noisy snort. “I wanna go to school, but it’ll be just as bad as stayin’ home all day ‘cause I’ll be stuck inside.” He lifted his broken arm and with his good arm pointed to the cast. “The teacher’s not gonna let me go outside and play in the schnee with the other kids.”

“That’s true, Son. When I saw your teacher after church last Sunday, I reminded her to keep you in during recess, so there is no chance of you getting hurt again.”

Alvin’s lips pressed into a tight grimace as he sagged against the back of his chair.

“It ain’t fair, Mom. I’m sure not looking forward to standin’ at the window and watchin’ all the other kinner outside having fun in the schnee.

Pretty soon, it’ll be spring, and then there’ll be no snow to play in. ”

“There’s always next year.” Elsie gave his shoulder a tender squeeze and went back to the counter to start placing more cookie dough on a second tray.

Having two people in the house suffering from boredom at the same time was a bit too much for her to cope with.

Thankfully, Ada had come by earlier, so Elsie figured Rosa’s boredom had been put aside, at least until her friend went home.

New York City

Anthony didn’t have to be at work until noon, so he took a seat in his favorite reclining chair and pulled the handle on the side to put up his feet.

He was about to reach for the remote to turn on the TV when he caught sight of the Bible Rosa must have put in his duffel bag.

He’d placed it there the other day but hadn’t looked at it since.

He felt a strange pull to pick it up and read a few verses.

Anthony had never been that interested in what the Bible had to say before now.

Even while staying in the Petersheims’ home, Anthony hadn’t been inclined to really listen when Mahlon read some passages of scripture each morning.

And as far as getting anything out of the messages the Amish ministers had preached during church services, Anthony hadn’t the foggiest notion of what was being said.

With the preaching and reading from the Bible being done in German, he couldn’t understand any of the words.

Why am I curious now, though? he wondered. Am I really so bored that I would turn to the Bible for entertainment, or is it possible that there’s an unknown voice in my head directing me to read from this book because I’m lacking something in my life?

Anthony thumbed through a few pages in the Old Testament, where some verses had been underlined with a red pen. “Strange. Really strange,” he said aloud. Why would anyone underline these particular verses?

Feeling a need to do so, Anthony read the first verse out loud. “‘For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.’ Jeremiah 29:11.”

“Hmm … I wonder if that verse applies to me, or was it meant for someone in the Bible? Maybe God was talking to a man named Jeremiah, and it has nothing to do with me or anyone else who might read the Bible.”

With the way things had been going in Anthony’s life, he certainly needed some peace and a hope for his future.

But was this scripture something he could cling to?

Were any of the verses in the Bible meant for him, or were they only for religious folks, like the Amish people who attended the Petersheims’ church?

Anthony set the Bible aside, clicked the lever, and rose from his chair. Like it or not, the only future he had today was going to work at a job he didn’t like.