A Wedding Quilt for Ella (30 page)

“Daniel’s comin’ over tomorrow night,” Ella said, daring to speak up. There had been enough talk of death tonight. “I spoke with him tonight, and he wants to explain some things about Aden’s plans before he died. He said he’d come after supper if that’s okay.”

“It must be important?” Mamm said, a puzzled look on her face.

“It is,” Ella said. “He wants to speak with all of us, and it’s kind of important to me.”

“Speak to the whole family?” Dora asked. “What kind of trouble could that mean?”

“There is no trouble,” Ella said.

“We’ll see, then,” Mamm said, dismissing them upstairs with a wave of her hand. “It can’t be too serious, not with Daniel involved. Now go and get your sleep, and…tell Eli goodnight. He’s upset he couldn’t go with you tonight.”

Dora and Ella put their heads in the bedroom together, smiling fake smiles, and hollering “Hi.” Eli glared at them, and they laughed.

“Whoa, whoa,” he said as they turned to go. “I have to have some news at least. You can’t just go and leave me without anything.”

“You tell him,” Dora said, turning on her heels. “I can only think dark thoughts anyway.”

“Don’t mind her,” Eli said. “So how was the evening?”

“Okay, I guess, for my first time out,” Ella said. “We did the garden work, and then the boys made ice cream. I got a little teary-eyed at the end, but I’m not going to tell you why. It concerned Aden.”

“I understand,” Eli said, nodding. “You loved the boy.”

“Yah,” Ella said, “but there’s more. Daniel is coming tomorrow night for a family meeting. He has something to say about the plans Aden had. It might involve you, Eli.”

“Mysterious,” Eli said. “I would be glad to be involved in anything to do with you and Aden. You are the best sister around.”

“I’m not,” Ella said but appreciated the compliment. How could such a stubborn boy who flirted with the dangers of the
Englisha
world be so sweet? It was one of life’s mysteries. “But thanks anyway.”

“Goodnight,” Eli said and settled down on his pillow. “I think I can sleep now, but may the day come quickly when I can get out of this bed.”

“It will come.” Ella shut the door behind her and took the steps slowly, each squeak a comfort to her heart. At least there were some things in life that didn’t change. In her room she prepared for bed but knew she couldn’t sleep yet. With the kerosene lamp turned up high, she grabbed her tablet out of the drawer and wrote furiously.

It’s late spring now. In some ways it seems Aden’s been gone for years now, and my worst fears have come to pass. Even Dora, with her wild imagination, couldn’t have seen this one coming. Mamm and Daett say this is all a sign of Da Hah’s doings, but I tremble with disagreement. I simply cannot believe what has happened.

Bishop Wayne Miller has showed up and almost outright requested my hand in marriage. He had more manners than to ask point-blank. I think my resistance to his talk slowed him down a bit because if I hadn’t showed my rejection of his obviously upcoming question, I have no doubt he would have asked me right then and there to be his promised.

The thought sends chills up and down my spine. No man other than Aden has ever had my love nor ever could. I cannot give my heart to another even if I wanted to. It seems the most serious breach of loyalty my heart could ever make. To allow
another to touch it, place his arms around me, or draw me into his embrace is just not possible.

My heart cries tonight again with a great longing for Aden and an even greater longing to have been his wife. If I could have been his wife for even a night or a week! To have him taken from me before we could ever be truly one seems the cruelest thing of all. It seems to me that if we had been together, I could bear this so much better.

I suppose Mamm and Daett have little sympathy for my sentiments. Love comes again, they say. The heart heals and, besides, they say marriage is more than just emotions. It’s about living together, trusting each other, being loyal to one another, and bearing chidren. They have a point that the Bishop would supply these as well as any man could
—
except Aden, and Aden is gone.

The way Mamm and Daett act does have an
effect on me. Still, I will not give the bishop any favorable answer either now or in the future. If I ever allow another man into my heart, it won’t be like this. I’m really afraid of what Mamm and Daett will say when they find out I must turn the bishop down, not to mention what the bishop will say.

Surely, he won’t harm them. They aren’t in his church district and don’t disobey the Ordnung anyway. Yet one never knows. The bishop looks to me like someone who’s used to getting his way, especially with girls. I doubt he has ever had one reject his advances. He’s got an awful lot of power from what I could tell. I wonder what he will do when it is challenged, as I surely will.

That’s why the answer is so clearly in Daniel’s solution with the house. It will solve so many problems. And if Eli persists in this foolish pursuit of the Englisha girl, I could even give him temporary shelter. That would get me in trouble, but better me than Mamm and Daett. I have less to lose, and this might even cool the bishop’s desire for me.

Wouldn’t that be a good test for him? Does he love me—Ella Yoder who sheltered her brother who ran around with the Englisha girl? Yah, if Daniel doesn’t let me down, we will build the house. I will help build it myself, if necessary, so urgent is the matter. Six months will come around much sooner than one imagines.

Then the sweetest thing happened tonight. Now it seems like it was likely all in my head, but it did so comfort me. Tonight at the youth gathering, I was all torn up after speaking with Daniel and the decision to meet here tomorrow night. I’ve never done things sort of behind Mamm and Daett’s back.

Anyway, I looked at the stars like I used to do with Aden. A really bright one had just come out and twinkled away
.
And then it happened. It seemed like Aden smiled one of his smiles at me just like he used to
—
only this time it came out of the sky, from faraway. Yet it felt exactly the same, as if he sat right beside me like always before, perhaps even a little warmer, if that is possible. I couldn’t do anything but cry for a while.

Ella closed the tablet, placed it carefully on her dresser, and, once in bed, fell instantly asleep.

Thirty-six

T
he quilt should be finished today.
Ella awoke with the determination that it must be so. Somehow she needed to find the time to finish the quilt, but she wasn’t certain how to do that. She dressed in the darkness and was already on the stairs when Dora’s alarm clock went off.

“
Gut
morning,” she said to her mom in the kitchen. “I’m heading for the barn.”

“Monroe isn’t even up yet,” Mamm said in surprise. “What’s the hurry?”

“The quilt,” Ella admitted sheepishly. “But it doesn’t have to be done if we don’t have time.” And yet she hoped her mother would understand somehow.

“I don’t think we have too much on the list for today,” Mamm said.

“Thank you,” Ella whispered and left.

In the barn she opened the gate to let in the first round of cows. They mooed wearily, as if they didn’t wish to be up yet, and ambled slowly in. She had them locked in the stanchions when Monroe and Dora, all sleepy eyed, showed up. Daett walked in a minute later, a big grin on his face.

“My, my, someone’s up early this mornin’.”

A flush of emotion ran through Ella. The day was starting out good.

“She can milk my cows,” Dora grumbled. “I feel like I’ve been beaten on the head all night long, as if maybe I’m the next one to leave this world.”

“Get off that horse,” Monroe said. “I’m
gut
and tired of hearin’ you drive it.”

“That’s in
Da Hah’s
hands,” Daett said, “and we’d best be leaving it there. So let’s not hear any more about it. I’ll do the silage, Monroe, and help on the next round of cows.”

“Let’s hear no more about it. You hear that, Dora?” Monroe said when Daett was out of earshot.

Dora didn’t say anything. She grabbed a milk bucket and began her work, making the milk ping loudly against the bucket’s metal sides.

“Just leave her alone,” Ella said in Monroe’s direction. “She’s had a hard night.”

“Yah, leave her alone,” Dora grumbled as if she wasn’t there.

Ella laughed as she got her own milk bucket but got no response from Dora. Her spurt of energy and good feelings continued.

“What’s the hurry?” Dora grumbled when Ella quickly finished her first cow.

“I want to finish my quilt today.”

“You would think of that—and first thing in the mornin’,” Monroe spoke up from a few cows down.

“Just mind your own beeswax,” Dora retorted.

Monroe made a sputtering sound and then was silent. Ella figured his compliance had more to do with disinterest in the subject than consideration for Dora.

Daett came in to help on the last round of cows, and they finished in record time. Dora and Ella left for the house while Monroe stayed behind to finish the final chores. The stars had already begun to dim from the rising light of the sun in front of them. It filled the sky with a reddish hue as they made their way up the walks.

“What does Daniel want tonight?” Dora asked, her curiosity still aroused.

“He wants to talk about Aden’s things. You can hear it from him when he comes,” Ella said. She didn’t want to say more. Daniel could explain this all better than she could. It would be better coming from him. That would look better than if her family got the idea she had cooked up the plan.

“You and Daniel are up to somethin’.” Dora eyed her sharply in the early morning light.

“You’ll find out tonight.” Ella stuck with her plans. Dora’s curiosity would just have to wait.

“I think I figured it out,” Dora declared. “You’re planning to steal him from Arlene.”

“Dora!” Ella exclaimed.

“It has something to do with Bishop Miller,” Dora continued, apparently rattled by the outburst. “This is a way to get around what Mamm and Daett want you to do. What’s puzzling is you’ve never been stubborn before, but you seemed to have changed lately.”

“You’re not even close,” Ella said with an edge in her voice.

“So you’re takin’ the next brother,” Dora continued in the same tone. “They used to do that in the Old Testament. Yah, when an oldest brother died, the sister took the next one. Arlene will be heartbroken.”

“You have lost your mind,” Ella said, suddenly more amused than angry.

“No, I don’t think I have,” Dora grumbled, following her into the washroom. Ella let Dora take the first turn at the basin and then started as Dora wiped herself with the towel.

“Should we throw the water out?” Ella asked when she was done.

“No,” Dora said, her voice dark. “The boys never do it for us. Anyway, we aren’t dirty like they are.”

“That is a point.” Ella laughed. She couldn’t believe how happy she continued to be and smiled at what Dora would surely say about the “dark clouds following soon enough.”

Clara and Mamm had breakfast set out, and so Dora and Ella sat down to wait for the menfolk. Mamm stepped over to the stair door and hollered up, “Time to get up, girls.”

Soft footsteps soon were heard coming down the stairs, and Ella smiled as the younger girls appeared one after the other. They seated themselves on the back bench well before the bangs and splashes in the washroom began.

“How can two men be so noisy?” Dora commented. “Seems like they could keep the noise down.”

“They’re men,” Mamm said. “Just be thankful they are.
Da Hah
has been good to us.”

“A man is a bad thing,” Dora said, her face resting on her hands.

“Don’t be listenin’ to her,” Ella told Clara, who was smiling.

“She won’t anyway,” Dora retorted.

Monroe entered the room loudly and sat down, and Daett came in right behind him. Eli, awakened by all the noise, hollered from the bedroom, “I’m hungry.”

“I’ll bring you a plate later,” Mamm called back. “We have to have prayer first. Pray in there, will you?”

Eli mumbled something they couldn’t hear. After prayer, Mamm loaded a plate of food and disappeared in the direction of the bedroom only to return shortly, saying, “He’s looking much better this morning.”

“Da Hah sie lob,”
Daett proclaimed, eggs and bacon piled high on his plate. “Soon the boy will be on his feet again, and I sure can use him in the fields.”

“Do you want one of the girls to help?” Mamm asked. “I can spare one of them today.”

“Might have to,” Daett said with a nod, “now that I think of it. Monroe and I have our hands full with the back field. We’re disking and planting the corn. The front, behind the barn, still has a day or so of plowing to be done. It sure looks like rain, maybe tomorrow already. The sky was mighty red this mornin’.”