Abby Finds Her Calling (40 page)

Their newehockers, Martha Coblentz and Gideon, Mary Coblentz and Matt, looked on happily from the bench behind the preachers. Because of the circumstances and the season, the congregation was smaller. Several of their relatives out East were preparing their fields for planting and not able to join them. What mattered, however, was that this home was filled to its rafters with love and a peace that passed all understanding.

Again Abby sighed. Across the room, James Graber sat with his dat, appearing every bit as pleased about this marriage as the rest of them. What must be going through his mind as he watched the young woman of his previous dreams marry the man who’d snatched those dreams away?

After the service, as the guests congratulated the newlyweds, Abby saw a chance to speak with him. Merle had joined a conversation with some other fellows, so she approached James with a smile—and baby Harley resting on her shoulder. “How are you today, James?” she asked. “I was just thinking this might be a… tricky service for you to sit through.”

His deep brown eyes flickered, but the uncertainty passed. “I’m okay with it,” he assured her. He looked around to find Zanna surrounded by well-wishers. “It’s easy to see your sister’s happy, and
Jonny’s made an astonishing turnaround. So all’s well that ends well, ain’t so?”

Abby smiled. “Jah, they’ve both done some growing up. Off to a gut start with Jonny’s new mechanical service, and Zanna making her custom rugs at home while she tends this baby.” She chuckled. “I never thought we’d be painting such a domestic picture of
that
girl!”

“Amazing, what the right man can do.”

So true
, she thought wistfully as she looked into James’s deep brown eyes. “I didn’t mean to be nosy or make you feel bad, James. I just—”

He clasped her arm and leaned closer. “Abby Lambright, you wouldn’t know how to make anyone feel bad. You must be made of love and sunshine—just like this fine boy you’re holding.”

Love and sunshine
. And wasn’t that just about the nicest thing anyone had ever said to her? “Denki, James,” she murmured. “You—you’re a mighty fine man, you know it?”

James clapped his hands over his face.

Abby blinked. Had her compliment embarrassed him so badly that he had to hide?

“Peekaboo! I see you!” he teased the baby in a singsong voice. When James uncovered his eyes, he wore one of the silliest grins Abby had ever seen. And he looked good in it.

Harley’s eyes widened. He burped so loudly that James’s laughter made other folks turn to see what was going on—so Abby’s wonderful moment with James became yet another conversation that centered around Cedar Creek’s newest resident and ray of sunshine. Mary and Martha Coblentz both reached eagerly for Harley, which allowed Abby to help Barbara and the girls serve the meal. The way her heart skipped in her chest, she had to hold the steaming chicken casseroles tightly so she wouldn’t drop them.

Love and sunshine.
Love and sunshine!
Even though James would never know how his remark had thrilled her, Abby’s heart sang those words throughout the afternoon.

As the wedding festivities stretched into the evening, it seemed clear that love might also be shining on other couples besides Zanna and Jonny. It was no surprise that Phoebe and Owen Coblentz were caught up in quiet conversation and flirtatious looks, but her nephew Matt wore an intense smile such as she’d never seen as he escorted a pretty young woman and her little girl toward the sheep pastures.

“And who might
that
be, walking alongside Matt?” Emma demanded as she and Abby sliced pies for the light supper soon to be served. “Must be a couple hundred folks here, and I’ve met most of them—even your kin from Ohio and Kentucky. I’d remember a face like hers.”

Abby fought a smile. Even though Matt was a few years younger than Emma, she had tried brownies and special smiles and every way she knew to win his attention lately, so her question deserved a… compassionate answer. It was ironic that her best friend was going through the same thing she was, with a fellow who lived across the road.

“That’s Rosemary Yutzy,” Abby replied as she cut a rhubarb pie. “She’s Lois and Ezra’s niece by marriage, come from over east of Bloomingdale with her father-in-law, Titus Yutzy. Titus raises sheep, too, I hear, and is looking to start some new bloodlines in his flock.”

“So if that’s Rosemary’s little girl clinging to her skirts…”

“Jah, Katie’s about three.”

“Where’s her husband?” Emma demanded sharply.

Abby winced. Even in this crowd, her best friend’s voice carried so shrilly that folks at the nearest tables turned to look at them. “Her husband, Joe, got killed in a hunting accident last fall,” Abby explained. “Not long before that, Titus’s wife lost her battle with cancer, the way Lois tells it. They’ve had their share of sadness lately.”

Emma’s eyebrows rose, but she kept the rest of her thoughts to herself. She was watching every step Matt and Rosemary took, however.

Abby quickly put more slices of pie on plates. “I guess we’d better get this pie put out on the tables, Emma. Here it is nearly six o’clock. Where has this day gone?”

As folks sat down to enjoy the simple meal of sandwiches, salads, and pie, Abby sighed with a deep sense of satisfaction. While today’s spring wedding went against tradition in many ways, it was nice that their family and friends could come for this celebration without having to decide which wedding invitations to accept, as they often did in the late fall season out East. Even better, the distant relations who’d been able to make the trip got to see Zanna redeem herself for running out on the wedding they’d come here for last October… and to share the joy of Jonny’s return to his Plain roots—and to meet little Harley, of course.

The baby’s escalating cry made Abby turn, ready to help. Zanna rose from her chair with her wailing son on her shoulder, cooing and singing to him as she headed away from the crowd.

“Come on along,” Zanna murmured. “Harley settles right down to eating when his Aunt Abby’s with us. Besides—there’s something I’ve got to say.”

What could that be? Abby walked alongside her younger sister, down the lane to the little white house. “You’ll be just fine, little man,” Abby assured him in a low voice. “Your mamm’s going to feed you, and then you’ll be napping while the rest of us wish we could.”

The sunset glowed on the pale yellow walls as they stepped inside Abby’s house. Zanna looked so pretty in that shade of periwinkle, so grown-up and sure of herself as she settled into the spare room’s rocking chair to nurse her son. He quieted immediately. The sounds of his sucking made his mother smile as though she already loved him more than life itself. Zanna looked at Abby then, her blue eyes alight.

“I guess you know this wedding wouldn’t have happened, except that you stood by me, sister,” she said softly. “When everyone else wanted to send me away, you took me in. You found me the work
that’s turned into a gut source of income. You put up with my pouting and fits even when Sam and Mamm were ready to toss me out.”

“They’d never have done that, you know,” Abby replied with a quiet laugh. It felt a little awkward to accept Zanna’s gratitude, yet what a wonderful thing, that this girl who’d once been so reckless and immature was expressing her appreciation so sincerely. “If you’d left us like you threatened to back then, Sam would have been out hunting you the next day.”

“Mostly because Barbara and Mamm would have made him.”

Abby chuckled. “Jah, there’s that. But he learned a few things about love and forgiveness, like the rest of us. Men might rule the roost and have the final say,” she offered softly, “but if there’s no love in their hearts, they make life awfully miserable for everyone else. And for themselves, if they’d only see it.”

Zanna’s smile warmed her. “Jonny won’t be that way, I’m thinking. Oh, he’s got a stubborn streak every bit as strong as mine, but… but he’s a changed fella. And I’ve got to thank you, Abby, for allowing him to be his own man and choose the way he wanted to take.”

“It wasn’t easy for him to give up his English ways, I don’t imagine. Or his cars.”

“But he did it—for me. And for his boy here.” Zanna smiled at her again, through tears this time. “Life’s going to be so wonderful-gut for us, Abby! And I didn’t want to let our big day go by without telling you how much I love you for it.”

“Oh, Zanna.” Abby rose to wrap her arms around mother and child as they sat in her rocking chair. “Sister, sister… how could I have done any different? I love you, too, and I always will. No matter what, you can come to me and I’ll be here for you.” Abby looked into Zanna’s face, fuller now and even lovelier because of it. “Nobody’s happier than I am to see you standing before the world with the man you truly love. Things would’ve soured in a hurry if you’d gone through with marrying James, and we can all see that now.”

Zanna swiped at her eyes and then blotted Harley’s rosebud mouth. He was nearly asleep. “It’s a gut thing God knew what was going on, and how it was all supposed to turn out.”

“And a gut thing you listened to Him, and to your heart. Think what we’d all be missing if we didn’t have our boy here.”

Zanna sighed happily. “You say the nicest things, Abby.” She looked up with shining blue eyes, as though she might laugh and cry at the same time. “You see the world as a wonderful place—and where it’s not, you help make it that way. I—I hope I can be like you someday.”

Abby paused over her notebook that night, thinking out her next report for the
Budget
as she sat against her headboard, ready for bed. Her little house felt very quiet without Zanna and Harley in the spare room. What a blessing, that she’d been able to offer Zanna a sanctuary where she could find her place, her purpose in the world. Abby had found her own calling along the way: restoring peace and mending torn relationships just as she repaired people’s clothes in her Stitch in Time shop. Who could have believed, back in October, that a runaway bride would bring so many positive changes into all their lives?

How is it we meet our mates?
Abby pondered the first line she’d written and decided to let God guide her pencil.

Why do some folks feel an instant attraction to each other—or love at first sight—while others search all their lives, yet remain alone? The wedding of Jonny Ropp to Zanna Lambright in Cedar Creek today pointed up a possible answer to that, while it also joined a young couple in a marriage we once denied would ever happen.

Three weeks ago Zanna gave birth to a fine baby boy, Harley Leroy, and in the meantime Jonny rose to her level of faith, believing that everything would work out if they trusted in God’s plan for their lives. What a wonderful thing it is when two people tame each other’s wilder ways and train themselves like morning glory vines that wind higher around a trellis to catch the sun!

Just as marvelous is Rudy Ropp’s return to full strength, and his wife Adah’s happiness in the home rebuilt for them after a fire destroyed the previous one. Now that Jonny and his brother, Gideon, have rejoined their family, they’ve launched their new machinery repair and cage-free poultry businesses, which are off to promising starts. All of us have learned a lot about loving folks whose opinions and needs don’t always go along with our own—and don’t always follow the Old Ways.

Forgiveness is such a gift. Forgiveness—for Zanna’s going astray, and for the strained relationships within the Ropp family, and for strong words that caused a rift in Cedar Creek six months ago—has made her marriage to Jonny Ropp possible. Had so many folks not rethought their beliefs and allowed Zanna to follow hers, we wouldn’t have witnessed this wedding today. We might have lost a young woman whose faith has inspired us all, and we wouldn’t have rejoiced in the reunion of Jonny and Gideon Ropp with their parents. Better yet, we celebrated Jonny’s joining the church last week as he dedicated himself to Christ and Plain living. And best of all, we have little Harley Leroy now! He’s surely made of love and sunshine, and he spreads delight wherever he goes.

I’ve taken that as my purpose, too: to spread love and sunshine—or, as Isaiah said it, to preach good tidings to the meek and bind up the brokenhearted—and to give my best to the work God brings me every day. May April bring you many blessings, dear friends—along with opportunities to share yourselves and your love. ~Abigail Lambright

Abby extinguished her bedside lamp, smiling in the darkness.
Love and sunshine!
The words still rang in her heart. She looked out the window, past the mercantile and across the road toward the Graber house. The lamp still flickered in James’s upstairs window. She settled into bed. Abby didn’t know what tomorrow might bring, but she believed it would be wonderful.

M
att Lambright slipped out of the stream of nearly two hundred wedding guests who were filing out of the house and into the front yard after his aunt Zanna’s marriage to Jonny Ropp. When he reached the pasture fence, he loosened his stiff white shirt collar. After more than three hours of sitting in front of the crowd as a newehocker, he was ready for some fresh air.