Mount Hope Page 11

  “Our daed’s a farmer,” Elijah pointed out. “He managed to leave.”

  Turning her body so that she could look directly at Elijah, Mary paused before responding. Fanny didn’t like the way that, in that short moment of hesitation, Mary’s eyes opened as if seeing Elijah for the first time. “Ah, true! But he left the farm in such capable hands!”

  If her former comment had seemed biting and critical, the latter was definitely softer and complimentary. While Fanny was increasingly certain that she did not care for either one of the Coblentzes, it was quite clear that the three Bontragers were oblivious to the flaws that were so painfully clear to her.

  “So you take back your disparaging comment about farmers?” he asked, a semi-teasing tone to his voice softening his reprimand.

  Mary must have noticed that she struck a nerve, for she straightened her back and returned to the slightly flirtatious tone. “Nee, I do not. Your daed is certainly an exception to the rule, but apparently so is his son.”

  Fanny almost blushed for Elijah. Such forwardness! Fanny could tell that Mary was used to charming people with her pretty face and far too familiar rapport. In Fanny’s opinion playing coy was not becoming of any woman, especially one that was targeting that attention at Elijah.

  To her further dismay, while Elijah did not respond to the comment, something warmed in his face. His eyes glowed as he stared at her. “Do you not like farmers, Mary?” “Not like farmers? I wonder if you mean as people in general or as an occupation?” She gave him a forced smile as she answered her own question. “People, yes. Occupation, yes—but only if it’s not mine.”

  “Not yours?” Elijah sounded like a mimicking bird.

  “I do not shirk hard work or long days, but a farmer’s wife works far too hard for that to be a role that I aspire to,” she explained. “There is no joy for me in working before the sun rises and well after it sets. Why, a farmer’s wife probably works even harder than her husband, especially when they have kinner.” She paused, lifting her chin just a little, her forced smile slowly changing into one that reflected a softness. “Nee, I’d much prefer to spend those evenings in the company of my family, particularly my husband. Life is too short to be working so many hours of the day and then be tired for the rest!”

  There was a moment of silence as everyone stared at Mary. If it were not for the lighthearted tone and semi-teasing expression on her pretty face, Mary’s words might have offended more than just Fanny. After all, the Bontrager family came from a long line of farmers, and in all likelihood, Elijah, not Thomas, would inherit the farm one day.

  “I see,” Elijah said softly.

  Miriam, however, wasted no time in pointing out the error of Mary’s comment. “Elijah intends to farm, Mary,” she said. “His heart is torn between honoring God and working the land, although we all suspect that he might have the opportunity to do both one day.”

  Mary’s eyes opened wide and she stared at him with a new level of intrigue. “A possible preacher? Oh my!”

  At this, the color rose to Elijah’s cheeks as Fanny observed the exchange. She wished that she could jump into the conversation and defend her champion from the curious remarks that seemed to pour out of Mary’s mouth. Her nerve, however, would never rise up enough to let her do such a thing.

  “See how modest he is?” Miriam laughed, just a little too loud. “Why, he’ll be chosen for preaching one day, mark my words!”

  His discomfort became even more apparent at his sister’s remark. “That lot falls to God,” Elijah reminded her, “not man.”

  “We shall see,” Miriam replied with a knowing look in her eyes. “Personally I’d be rather bored with playing the preacher’s wife.” Simultaneously Julia and Fanny looked at her, their mouths falling open. Even Jeb looked taken aback by that unusual confession. But Miriam only shrugged her shoulders. “Listening to everyone’s problems. Dealing with strife in the g’may. Nee, I would not like that at all.”

  The strangeness of her comment made Fanny feel uncomfortable. She wanted to remind her cousin that Jeb could very well be chosen to become a preacher—or even a bishop!—in the future. All men who accepted the baptism were eligible to be nominated if the need arose for a preacher in the g’may.

  No one commented, but Fanny noticed an odd look in Henry’s eyes. He seemed to ignore the fact that Jeb stood nearby while he studied Miriam with even more interest than he had before he learned that she was to wed Jeb. Julia, however, appeared to make the same observation, for the wrinkles in her forehead deepened and the corner of her mouth turned down.

  “There’s a calf,” Elijah said, clearing his throat as he spoke. “Born just two days ago.”

  The attention shifted from Miriam to Elijah, the suddenness of the change in topic surprising Fanny just as much as it appeared to startle the others. But it was so much like Elijah to try to smooth over the awkward moment that his sister had created with her thoughtless comments.

  Fanny caught onto Elijah’s intentions and spoke up. “Oh, ja, the calf!” She took a step toward the barn, pausing as she moved closer to Mary. “Kum, Mary. Let’s go see the newborn calf!”

  As she started toward the barn, Fanny paused long enough for Mary to realize that she had little choice but to accompany her. A grateful-looking Elijah joined them with Julia and Henry walking slowly behind the group. When Fanny glanced over her shoulder, she saw that Jeb remained with Miriam, a stern lecture being given from the former to the latter. Unfortunately it appeared to fall on deaf ears, for Miriam looked unfazed by his words as she tilted her chin in silent defiance.

  It took a moment for Fanny’s eyes to adjust to the darkness of the barn, even with the double doors open and light streaming inside the wide walkway between the individual stalls and the large area for the cows. She imagined that everyone else encountered the same problem so she slowed her pace, just for a moment, in the hopes that they would catch up to her.

  “Fanny,” Elijah said, “go fetch a bottle to feed it, ja?”

  She nodded and hurried toward the back of the barn. There was a short step under a low doorway to get into the milk containment room. The containment system, powered by diesel fuel, kept the milk at 46 degrees Fahrenheit until the collection truck came to fetch it for pasteurization, packaging, and distribution. Fanny always wondered what happened to the milk after it left the farm, and on the several occasions that Elijah tried to explain it, she realized how fortunate they were to live on a farm and have fresh milk on a daily basis.

  There was a bottle of milk already set aside for the calf. Fanny grabbed it along with the large nipple that someone, probably Elijah, had prepared from the morning feeding. It took her three tries to slip the nipple onto the mouth of the bottle, but once she was successful, she hurried back to rejoin the others.

  Only half of them were missing.

  Mary and Elijah stood by the wooden door to the calf’s stall. Julia and Henry were conveniently missing. As Fanny approached, Elijah turned toward her and reached out to take the bottle from her. But as she neared, her foot stepped into a previously undetected pile of manure and she slid forward, the bottle almost slipping from her hand as she fell.

  Elijah moved quickly, bending forward and grabbing her waist with his hand. He pulled her toward him, using his weight to balance both of them so that Fanny would not fall to the ground.

  “Careful now!” he said in a soft voice.

  Fanny’s free hand fell to his shoulder, and for just a moment, she felt his chest pressed against hers as he held her. She forgot that Mary stood just three feet away, her eyes watching them with so much curiosity that, when Fanny realized they were being watched, she blushed and quickly pushed herself away from Elijah.

  “Danke, cousin,” she whispered. Without looking at him, she thrust the bottle into his hand and took a step away.

  But Elijah did not seem to notice. He took the bottle and turned toward Mary. “Careful where you step, Mary,” he cautioned. “Lots of manure in a ba
rn.” Without another word, he squeezed his way into the calf’s pen, holding the gate open for Mary to follow. Fanny realized that while her heart still beat rapidly from the touch of his hands, Elijah had already forgotten about that moment of intimacy when he rescued Fanny from a potential fall. However, it was a moment she would not soon forget.

  Chapter 7

  ON THE FIRST of September Thomas unexpectedly returned home from Florida. There had been no warning—no letter and certainly no phone call. He just walked into the kitchen and dropped his bag on the kitchen floor. At first the family rejoiced, believing that Grossdawdi must be largely recovered from his injuries and, therefore, Thomas was no longer needed to help his father. However, Thomas’s silence on the topic indicated that his departure from Pinecraft might not have been under the best of circumstances. A letter that Timothy sent to Martha and Naomi was the center of a whispered conversation between the two sisters, a conversation Fanny overheard but did not quite comprehend. The only thing she learned was that Thomas’s behavior was at the root of his dismissal and that Naomi’s take on the situation confirmed there was no love lost between her and her nephew. Whenever he was around, his presence set Naomi’s tongue clicking and head shaking, leaving Martha even more subdued than normal.

  Fanny couldn’t blame either one of them.

  From the moment Thomas had returned, his father no longer there to rein him in, he had done nothing but cause trouble. On both Friday and Saturday, he woke late to help with chores. Just the previous night Fanny even heard him return one morning singing a song in a slurred voice. She hoped he hadn’t been drinking, but in the morning his bleary, bloodshot eyes indicated the truth behind her suspicion.

  If only Thomas would find God, Fanny told herself as she watched him nursing some coffee that morning.

  But Thomas, surprisingly, was the least of her worries. Since the gathering the week before, Fanny had noticed a change in Elijah. He seemed more easily distracted, his attention often focused inward rather than on his surroundings. He spent less time reading the Bible in the post-supper hours and more time staring out the window, obviously deep in thought.

  Even in the mornings, when Fanny helped him with the milking, she often had to call out to him that a cow was ready to be moved back into the holding pen because the milking machine had popped off her udders. Usually he was more attentive and didn’t need reminders.

  She didn’t like this change in Elijah, and she suspected that the root cause had something to do with a certain Mary Coblentz.

  The night before Thomas returned, Naomi had invited the newcomers to visit in the evening. With the bishop and his wife in tow, everyone had sat around the kitchen while Fanny and Martha served hot chocolate and popcorn. Mary sat with the other women, but Fanny was far too aware that Elijah continued to let his eyes wander to Mary, even though he was deep in discussion with Henry for most of the night.

  That was the moment that Fanny knew. She watched Elijah, his gaze continually looking in the direction of Mary Coblentz, even though she paid him nary a lick of attention. At first, Fanny thought he was staring at her, for she sat next to Mary on the straight-back chairs that were set up in a semi-circle near the sofa at the far end of the kitchen. But when she smiled at him and he did not respond, she realized that he was looking at Mary.

  Fanny had stolen a glance at the pretty woman sitting next to her and saw that, even though she appeared focused on what Naomi was saying to the bishop, Mary was clearly aware that she was being watched. The soft upturn of her lips and the way that she occasionally touched her ear as if making sure her kapp was properly fastened made Fanny suspect that her appearance of inattention was deliberate.

  Realizing that Elijah was, indeed, intrigued with Mary—if not outright interested!—caused Fanny to feel a tightening in her chest. She couldn’t imagine what Elijah saw in Mary beyond a pretty face and a heavily masked flirtation with him. After all, she had made it quite clear that she did not want to marry a farmer, despite Elijah’s future being solidly rooted in the fields of his parents’ farm.

  What type of wife would Mary make for Elijah? Fanny thought as she felt her heart beat and her head start to hurt. Elijah needed a wife who understood the meaning of hard work. A wife who didn’t mind rising before dawn and going to bed shortly after dusk, especially during the spring and autumn seasons. Elijah needed a wife who respected his decision to follow in the footsteps of his ancestors, farming the land and milking the cows.

  Would Mary roll up her sleeves to help with birthing a cow? Would she mind canning freshly butchered raw beef so that the family could eat during the winter? Could she wring the neck of a chicken and undress it for cooking just hours after it had run across the yard? Fanny highly doubted that Mary had any experience with the activities that contributed to the success of family life on a farm.

  But the more she observed, the more she realized that Elijah was smitten with the pretty-faced Mary Coblentz. His infatuation was founded not in practicality but in her personal charm. And as Mary touched her ear for the sixth time in half an hour, she clearly enjoyed his attention.

  “Excuse me,” Fanny said as she stood up. She had to leave the room to catch her breath. For a few minutes she stood outside the front door and leaned against the porch railing. She gulped the air and fought the tears that threatened to expose her emotional distress. It would do her no good to cry. Elijah had to make his own decisions about his future, and if that future involved Mary Coblentz, then it surely would not include her.

  When she had finally calmed down and returned to the room, she realized that no one had even noticed she had left. Quietly she stole upstairs to the solitude of her bedroom. Being alone in the company of others was worse than being alone in the company of herself.

  Now it was Saturday evening. With worship service in the morning, the young group of friends had gathered in the Bontragers kitchen for some fellowship, for once free from the prying eyes of the adults in the family. Naomi and Martha had taken the buggy to visit a neighbor, but not before Naomi delivered a stinging lecture on how she expected them all to behave in their absence, and how she wanted everyone to leave by eight o’clock. Being too tired for church was not something Naomi tolerated.

  As the newcomer this evening Thomas seemed to dominate the group. Being the oldest, he captured Mary’s attention, an observation that seemed to drive Elijah to the brink of jealousy. He watched his older brother interact with Mary and shook his head from time to time. Fanny realized the irony of the parallels between them: as he pined for Mary, Fanny pined for him. From the looks of how attentive Mary was to Thomas, it was clear that Elijah felt the same way Fanny did upon realizing that another person captured the interest of their intended.

  Ever since Thomas’s return, Elijah had been unusually quiet. Fanny didn’t know whether this was because Thomas promised to help Elijah but failed to follow through or whether it had do with Mary. When Thomas reappeared at the farm, Fanny had returned to her regular chores instead of helping Elijah in the barn, something that disappointed her tremendously, for she had enjoyed those quiet moments together, the silence occasionally interrupted by a short conversation about the cows or his plans for working later in the fields.

  During that time, in Fanny’s closed world, it was just the two of them. No Naomi barking orders. No Miriam trying to be the focus of everything and everyone. No Julia working hard to stand out from the shadows of her older sister. And no Martha, who seemed to do little more than sigh and declare how tired she was.

  No. For Fanny, those early morning hours when she assisted Elijah were the best part of her day. And Thomas’s return from Florida had stolen those cherished moments of peace from her.

  Nor would this evening offer any respite from Thomas’s antics, she soon realized. The nine of them had gathered around the kitchen table and were discussing what to do. Elijah again suggested a game of corn hole, but no one took up the idea. Instead Jeb suggested that everyone sing hymns.

/>   “Oh Jeb!” Miriam said as she rolled her eyes.

  Fanny noticed that Thomas quietly stole from the room while Miriam fussed over Jeb.

  “Singing hymns! We’ll have plenty of time to sing hymns tomorrow at the worship service. Honestly!”

  Jeb started to respond to her, but Miriam had already walked away from him.

  “I suggest we find something to do that is more creative . . . ” she said as she positioned herself next to Mary and Henry. “ . . . and fun!”

  Thomas returned to the room. “I agree!” he said with great enthusiasm. “Instead of singing German hymns,” he continued, waving a hymnbook that appeared similar to the one Benjamin had shown to Elijah at their previous gathering. “I propose that we sing some of these.”

  While Henry eagerly took the hymnbook to examine it, Elijah shook his head. “I think not, Thomas.”

  “Oh come, Elijah!” Thomas said, his voice loud and far too dramatic. “It’s a hymn! What’s wrong with singing a simple hymn?”

  “It’s not from the Ausbund,” Elijah said, his chin jutting forward as he tried to maintain some semblance of decorum. But he and everyone else knew he fought a losing battle with his brother.

  “Oh, Elijah!” Thomas waved his hand at him as if dismissing Elijah’s concern. “How simple minded!” He laughed as he looked at Mary and Henry, shrugging his shoulders with his hands held out before him, palms up. “I give up with him.”

  Benjamin stepped forward, taking the hymnbook from Henry. “I tried telling him last week that the Englische hymns still glorify God. Where is the sin in that?”

  All eyes turned in Elijah’s direction as if they were not just expecting but waiting for an answer.

  The color drained from Elijah’s cheeks. It was one thing to have an older brother who strayed from the faith, but to have the same brother try to force him to stray and to have a friend defend Thomas was clearly more than he could manage.