A Wedding Quilt for Ella (21 page)

Mamm and Daett both got out of the car and spoke with Mrs. Adams. Ella noticed Mrs. Adams waving repeatedly as if she was repelling the words her parents spoke. Obviously she was refusing her mom’s offer to pay for the trip.

Dora stretched her back and stood up when she noticed Ella’s attentive look at what was happening across the road.

“They’re back,” Ella said, confirming the question in Dora’s eyes.

“Daett’s with her, which means Eli must be okay,” Dora said.

“I hope so,” Ella said, motioning for her three younger sisters to come and join them in the yard to wait for the news.

Her dad looked weary as they came across the road. He limped as if his muscles were sore, but his face lit up with a smile as they got within earshot. It was a good thing to see.

“Da Hah sie lob,”
he said fervently. “Eli will make it. He’s got some broken ribs, a ruptured spleen, and a collapsed lung, but Dr. Mast personally stayed till Eli was out of surgery. We’ll be bringing him home the day after tomorrow. There’s nothing that won’t heal up, they said. So it seems
Da Hah’
s will is to give us much grace on this matter.”

“Much grace, yah,” Mamm said, beaming. “After what Eli’s been through, we can be so thankful.”

“Has the bull acted up since I’ve been gone?” Daett asked.

“Monroe’s been keepin’ an eye on it, and it’s running with the cows as usual,” Ella said.

“I wish you would get rid of that bull,” Mamm said. “I can’t stand the thought of keepin’ it on the farm.”

“It’s a good bull, and they’re all dangerous—most of them anyway,” Daett said.

“But that bull attacked Eli,” Mamm said. “It could be one of you next time.”

Daett pondered this in silence for a minute and then looked again at the expression on Mamm’s face.

Finally, he said, “Yah, I will call right away and have Mr. Wayne come by. His trailer runs through here most days on some errand. If he’s in the area, the bull will be out of here by this afternoon. And I’ll have a new bull brought in when I get the money from the sale of this one.”

“I really do appreciate this,” Mamm said, full of relief.

“Do you have lunch ready?” Daett asked in Ella’s direction.

“Nee,” she answered with a shake of her head, “I guess I forgot. We were so busy in the garden.”

“That’s okay,” her dad said. “I see the garden looks real
gut.
You girls do some
gut
work. I think I’ll walk down to the phone now, and perhaps you can have lunch ready when I get back.”

“Yah,” Mamm said, answering for Ella. When Noah had left, she told the girls, “Wash up, and we’ll make lunch quickly.”

Ella was the last one in line for the washbasin because she had dashed back to the garden to pick up tools. They were done for the day, and this would save a trip back outside. She dropped the tools off in the basement through the outside steps. She smiled as she remembered Dora’s sputtering trek downstairs last night with the flashlight. This would no doubt be a Yoder family story for many a year to come.

Mamm’s exclamation reached Ella’s ears through the open basement door.

“Who baked the bread? These look wonderful—and twelve loaves at that!”

“Ella did,” Dora said. “She’s good at such things.”

True, she had baked the bread, but Dora could do the job as well as she could. Ella, on the other hand, was not as good with the horse cultivator in the garden as Dora was.

“Dora’s better with the cultivator,” Ella hollered up the stairs, but no one paid any attention. She decided to repeat the statement when she got upstairs but changed her mind when Dora and her mom were already in a discussion on another subject.

“I think we’ll turn the guest bedroom on the first floor into a recovery room,” Mamm said. “Eli can’t climb the stairs.”

“I’d make him,” Dora said, teasing.

The meal was prepared well before Daett walked home from the phone shack.

“Mr. Wayne should arrive this afternoon for the bull,” he said.

Mamm gave him a grateful smile. “Is Monroe anywhere close to the house?” she asked.

Daett glanced out the front door. “He’s unhitching now and will be on his way in.”

Minutes later, with everyone seated, lunch was served. After the prayer, Monroe launched immediately into the skunk story, including ousting them from their hole.

“You should have seen the girls’ faces when the skunks came tumbling out. I thought they would both run for the house faster than you could say
jack rabbit.
”

“We did not!” Dora retorted. “And it was Ella’s idea to add vinegar to the water. That’s what girl brains are for, to come up with real solutions that don’t have
boom
on the end of them.”

Daett laughed heartily. “It was likely just the water that drove them out. They don’t like wet beds, but I am glad you didn’t let Monroe go shooting them down in that hole.”

“They’re just girls,” Monroe muttered, but he didn’t sound too serious. Another story had been added to the family’s list to be told at reunions and after Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. The best thing, though, was her parents’ good spirits. It was an amazing thing how laughter could continue in the midst of the sorrow they had experienced already. Like the stars, life just went on with its twinkle.

“We have to wash the blankets this afternoon,” Mamm said when lunch was done. “I saw them still hanging on the line.”

“I guess we forgot with the garden on our minds.”

“That’s okay, and I’m glad that’s started,” Mamm said quickly. “We still have time to wash this afternoon. Dora and I will clean up the kitchen while Ella starts with the blankets.”

Ella nodded and left to lug the heavy blankets down to the washing machine in the basement. Later, after they were washed and clean, she would hang them back on the line. Before Ruth came to help her lift the heavy, wet blanket and hang it on the line, the water dripped down the front of Ella’s dress, soaking it. They rolled out the wash line together until blankets hung heavy halfway up the side of the barn to where the line was attached.

Ella checked the quilt and decided it really didn’t need to be washed, just dusted. If there was time, she might start this afternoon on the center work. Carefully she replaced the quilt in its frame.

With the last of the blankets on the line, Ella checked in with her mom, who was upstairs.

“Is it okay if I work on the quilt until the blankets are dry?”

Mamm thought for a moment and then said, “That might do you a lot of good. Just don’t forget about the blankets.”

“Thanks,” Ella said. She took Clara’s drawing down to the basement and carefully traced the outline of the house onto the white quilt block. Just the outline of the drawing—even without the stitches—looked beautiful. It looked as well, if not better, than she had envisioned.

For thread, she chose black, blue, and dark green. She planned to stitch in such a way as to produce a nice shadow effect. Ella completed the first few stitches and then stepped back to examine the results. Her judgment had been correct. The color scheme worked completely.

Ella worked steadily until around three-thirty when, with a bang of the door upstairs, Clara announced her arrival home from school. She soon could be heard bounding down the basement steps.

Clara took one long look and gasped. “It’s wonderful, Ella,” Clara said.

“I think so too,” Ella said. “Would you like to help?”

“I haven’t learned those stitches yet. Besides, Mamm wants me back upstairs before too long.”

“Well, then, you can do the straight lines on the other side. I’ll ask Mamm if you can. It would be a good place to learn.”

“Would you really let me?” Clara asked, amazed. “I can really work on your center block?”

Ella nodded, and they went upstairs quickly to confer with their mom.

“I guess what I had planned for her, Ruth can do,” Mamm said. “I’ll be happy for any quilt lessons you can give her.”

They returned to the basement. While Clara threaded her needle, her face aglow, Ella gave instructions. Ella then watched Clara carefully as she started down the penciled line.

“Am I doing okay?” Clara asked, her fingers shaking. “What if I mess up your quilt?”

“Worst case, we can always cut the thread out.”

“I don’t want to cut it out. It might ruin your quilt.”

“You’re doing okay,” Ella said. “Just relax.” She watched for a few more minutes and then went back to her own stitches.

“I think I’m learning,” Clara said after a while. “Do you think so? Are the stitches tight enough?”

Ella glanced up, checked, and then nodded.

“Boys are so difficult,” Clara abruptly said a few moments later.

Ella pulled the thread through, her eyes intent on the stitch. “They are worth it, though.”

“How can you say that,” Clara asked, “after you’ve lost Aden?”

“Because he was still worth it, that’s how I know. Whatever you have to go through to find someone like that, it’s worth it.”

“Won’t
Da Hah
just be takin’ him away from me, like He did Aden?” Clara paused, her thread held in the air.

“I don’t think that’s how it works,” Ella said. “We’re all different, and
Da Hah
doesn’t choose the same every time.”

“You really think so?”

“I do,” Ella said, her needle steady as she carefully pulled it through the cloth.

“Paul makes me feel
so gut,”
Clara said. “Not like Ezra, even though Ezra might be a better person.”

Ella smiled. “You’ll be figuring it out in due time.”

“But Paul scares me,” Clara said, her voice breathless.

“Paul’s a
gut
boy.” Ella paused between stitches. “He comes from a nice family, and it’s good to be lovin’ someone,” Ella said, and silence fell between them.

When chore time arrived, they went upstairs to change but were distracted by the angry bellows outside.

“The truck is here to pick up the bull,” Mamm said.

Hopefully the departure of the dangerous animal would be complete before she had to see it again. When they stepped outside a few minutes later, Daett had just closed the gate of the trailer, the dark form of the bull inside. He held up his hand to tell them to wait on the porch as the truck drove forward.

“I’m glad it’s gone,” Clara said, sighing in relief.

“One less trouble around here, that’s for sure,” Ella said.

Twenty-six

E
lla changed the sheets in the downstairs guest bedroom the evening before Eli’s planned return home. She fluffed the goose feather pillows and made sure the kerosene lamp on the dresser was filled. From Mamm’s description, it sounded as if Eli would need extensive care, perhaps even through the night. In that case, a continuous night-light in his room might be useful.

Last night at prayer, Daett thanked
Da Hah
for His many blessings, in particular that Eli had been spared. This was no doubt the proper thing to say, but wouldn’t it have been better if Eli hadn’t been injured in the first place? The accident seemed so unnecessary and senseless, and it had spun their world even further out of control. Now it was as if everyone had to spend time catching up.

Does God really have a plan?
she had asked herself last night as she prayed, her head on the couch cushion, her knees on the hardwood floor. The answer hadn’t come. Acceptance of the Almighty’s ways was a firm tenet of her faith, whether one understood or not. Still, there was the hope that perhaps someday it would all make sense.

Her dad’s words had caught her attention when he prayed, “Now unto Him that is able to keep us from falling and who will render judgment on that final day, we give thanks, honor, and praise.”

Judgment? Is that it? Will the answers come at Judgment Day? Perhaps God allows these things so that He can render judgment to each human heart, give a test so He can see whether we stay faithful, honest, and just through the trials that come our way. It could well be, and I do want to be worthy of that day of judgment, whenever it comes for me.

Later in her room, she took a few moments to make note in her tablet that Eli’s homecoming was to happen tomorrow.

Eli is expected home soon, and I hope his recovery will be swift. I can imagine the pain he’s in with his broken ribs. Mamm says there’s not much that can be done with broken ribs—not like a broken arm or leg where the busted parts are held perfectly still by the cast.

Poor Eli. I suppose he’ll learn the lessons God wants him to learn. I can’t imagine him becoming bitter about this. His loss is not as great as mine, but I still can take lessons from his good attitude. One must carry on through thick and thin. This is one thing I am thankful for, but I plan not to mention this to them. I suppose Mamm will figure it out anyway. Someone will need to care for Eli on Sundays and perhaps even on youth nights. That someone will be me. I will insist on it. I just don’t want to face the world out there yet. It seems so strange and unfriendly without Aden in it.

Ella replaced the tablet and climbed into bed. Sleep came quickly, her weariness deep.