A Simple Vow (5 page)

Asa gathered his grass-stained clothes from the bathroom floor. He eased down the wooden stairs in his bare feet, aware of every aching muscle and joint in his body. Andy Leitner had told him he was awfully lucky he’d landed in tall grass rather than on gravel, and that he hadn’t hit his head on a nearby tree. Even so, Asa chafed at the local nurse’s order to lie low for a few days until they could assess how bad his concussion was—and until his horse was checked out by a vet. He had an entire set of antique bedroom furniture waiting to be restored in his shop—not to mention his mission of finding some Gingerich guy . . . whose first name had escaped him.

Asa shuffled carefully between the tightly arranged pew benches that filled the main level of the house, in awe of how many guests must have attended the wedding this morning. When he got to the kitchen, he lifted the foil from a glass casserole pan sitting on the counter. He inhaled the rich aroma of sauced pulled pork, several pieces of grilled chicken, and a huge mound of mashed potatoes that had been hollowed out to hold enough baked beans for three men. Next to the casserole pan sat a plate with two pieces of peach pie and a big wedge of wedding cake.

These people know how to put on a party
. Asa tossed his dirty clothes aside and then opened drawers until he found a fork. He closed his eyes over a mouthful of the pork and let out a blissful sigh. It was an effort not to wolf down the food as a dog would, hungry as he suddenly was. He didn’t bother finding a plate or taking his meal to the table. As he bit into a chicken leg, he didn’t even care that juice dribbled down his chin—

“Anybody home?”

Asa stiffened, the chicken leg suspended in front of his mouth. Had someone called to him through the screened front door, or was he hearing voices as a symptom of his concussion? Maybe someone had come looking for Nora or—

“Asa? Are you in there?”

He held his breath, desperately trying to match that pleasant feminine voice with a face. He wasn’t really in the mood for a visitor, but curiosity got the best of him. “Yeah? Who wants to know?” he called out as he walked toward the front room. He kicked his clothes out of the way so he wouldn’t trip over them.

Melodious laughter tickled his ears, and, when he saw a female face, he ached to put a name to it.
She’s distorted by the screen
, Asa reassured himself, but he hoped she spoke first so he wouldn’t have to admit that he’d forgotten such a lovely young woman’s name . . . if indeed he’d ever met her.

“It’s Edith—the Edith Riehl who’s taking care of the twins.”

Twins?
“Uh—sure, come on in,” Asa hedged, gesturing with the chicken leg. “Pardon my bad manners. Nora brought me some food from the wedding dinner—”

“It smells wonderful,” his visitor said as she stepped inside. Her eyes widened as she took in the room filled with benches.

“—and I’m hungrier than a bear coming out of hibernation, it seems.”

“
Jah
, I bet you are.”

Oh, honey, you don’t know the half of it.
Asa knew he was staring but he couldn’t help himself. This Edith Riehl seemed achingly familiar, just beyond the reach of his recognition as a smile lit her pretty face and her expressive dark brows rose above sparkling brown eyes. When she stopped and nervously pressed her lips together, Asa realized how wolfish he must seem.

“Sorry. That tumble I took is messing with my head. So . . . how
are
the twins?” he asked, grasping at her conversational straws.

“Sleeping like little angels when I left. Lydia Zook opened the market so I could buy some more formula,” she explained, holding up her paper sack. “My two sisters are looking after Leroy and Louisa.”

Fleeting images of two tiny, wailing babies and the backseat of a rig passed through his mind. Asa smiled, hoping this young lady didn’t think he was as lame-brained as he felt. “Guess they’re not very old then,” he remarked, wishing for a graceful way to get rid of the chicken bone he was holding.

“Born six months ago, Will told me,” Edith replied with a shake of her head. “I can’t imagine what his family’s going through, what with his wife’s dying so young from cancer.”

Asa sensed he should feel outraged about something, but he couldn’t put his finger on it—nor did he want to spoil a nice moment with this lovely young woman. “May I offer you some pie or wedding cake?” he asked hopefully. “Nora brought enough to feed—”

“I really should get home,” Edith said as she glanced at the door. “If I’m gone too long—well, I just wanted to check on you. I’m so glad you’re up and around, Asa. Are—are those your clothes? How about if I take them home and wash them?”

Before Asa could protest, Edith rushed toward him and grabbed up his shirt and pants. “I promise I won’t mix them in with the dirty diapers,” she teased.

Asa felt vaguely embarrassed when Edith rolled his pants and shirt together and stuffed them into her grocery sack. “You don’t have to do that.”

“It’s okay, really,” she insisted. She gazed up at him from just a few feet away, her smile lighting the whole front room. “We’re doing laundry tomorrow anyway.”

Before he could beg her to stay, Edith hurried toward the door. When she wiggled her fingers at him, something snapped into place in his mind. “Hey, there’s money in my pants pocket. Take whatever you need to cover that baby stuff.”

Edith’s smile rivaled a sunrise. “That’s very generous of you, Asa. Take care, and I’ll see you when I can.”

When the door banged, the front room suddenly felt very empty. Asa went to the door and watched Edith break into a jog as she headed down the blacktop road. Had he said something offensive? Upset her enough that she was running away from him? Or was his face messed up from landing so hard after Midnight threw him?

Asa wandered into the half bath tucked under the Hooleys’ stairway and looked in the mirror. One side of his face sported a huge purple bruise, and he was supposed to put ointment and a Band-Aid on his red forehead wound. He hadn’t combed his hair after his shower, and his five-o’clock shadow bristled along his jawline. Luke’s apple-green shirt was hanging lopsided at the collar because Asa had buttoned it wrong. And where had that grease spot come from?

Asa sighed. He should probably phone home to say he’d be detained in Willow Ridge for a while, yet he suddenly lacked the energy to make the call. “You’re a mess, Detweiler,” he muttered as he ambled back to the kitchen.

And that was true before Miss Riehl came calling and made you realize how many pieces are missing from this puzzling situation
.

* * *

When Edith entered the back kitchen door, voices in the front room told her they had company. She stashed the sack with the formula and Asa’s clothes in the pantry, hoping her absence hadn’t become too noticeable. Putting on a bright smile, she went to greet their guests.

What a sight it was to see Bishop Tom and Vernon Gingerich, the white-haired bishop from Cedar Creek, standing on either side of Dat near the fireplace while their wives, Nazareth and Jerusalem, sat on the couch holding the babies. Loretta and Rosalyn gazed at Edith as though to ask what had taken her so long, while Dat appeared as edgy as a cat trapped between two curious—but well-intentioned—dogs.

“Bless her, Lydia Zook let me into the market so we’d have enough formula for tomorrow,” Edith said as she went to stand behind the sofa. “And she’s asking ladies from around town to bring any baby things they can spare for us, as well. What a relief that is!”

“
Jah
, I can imagine it’s been a scramble, figuring out how to care for these precious wee ones,” Nazareth said as she lifted pink-shirted Louisa to her shoulder.

“And it’s an act of true Christian charity, taking them in without a moment’s notice, too,” Bishop Tom remarked.

When Leroy began to fuss, Jerusalem stood up to walk with him. “What with our little goats living next door, giving such
gut
milk—”

“Why, we could provide all the food you’ll need for these little angels!” Nazareth chimed in as she stood up to sway with the baby she held. “At six months, they’re old enough to tolerate goat milk, and it’s so much better for them than formula.”

Vernon’s blue eyes twinkled as he considered this. “I can recall several babies in our family who thrived on fresh goat milk when their
mamms
couldn’t feed them,” he said as he smiled at Dat. “Seems God knew exactly where to bring these little souls who’re so dependent upon the charity of strangers. It’s a blessed mission you’ve taken on, Deacon Cornelius. You’re an inspiration to us all.”

Edith and her sisters bit back grins. With two bishops declaring Dat the epitome of unconditional love, there was no way he could take the babies back to Roseville now—or at least not until they had a stable home to go to.

Dat murmured something about Edith and her sisters being the ones who’d taken charge of the twins. Then he gazed intently at Vernon. “Say, you wouldn’t happen to be related to the Will Gingerich who brought us these
angels
, would you?” he asked. “He lives just outside of Roseville—and is apparently caught up in a rather unsavory situation, because as his wife was dying she named another man as the babies’ father.”

Nazareth and Jerusalem sucked in their breath as Vernon’s eyes widened. “Oh my, that complicates things,” he murmured. “That branch of the family tree severed itself from the rest of us a couple of generations ago—over some silly feud I can’t even recall. But
jah
, Will is my great-nephew. Clearly, I need to venture over that way to visit with him and his troubled family. Sooner rather than later.”

“While you’re there, I’m sure you’ll find a
gut
, stable home these babies can grow up in,” Dat said purposefully. “We’re happy to help Will in his time of need, but every child should be raised by its own kin.”

“That’s the best thing for all of us, to be surrounded by a family who loves us,” Bishop Tom agreed quietly. “With everyone praying on it, and meanwhile caring for the babies as we’re able, I believe God will lead the folks involved to make the right decisions.”

“Indeed, we’ll look back to this day as a pivotal point when our faith changed lives,” Vernon said in a low, eloquent voice. “The babies’ lives, of course, but our own, as well. We’ve been placed in an urgent position of opportunity to be the hands and feet of our Jesus in today’s world.”

Everyone nodded, considering what the two bishops had said. Edith believed their sentiments possessed the power of sermons, elevating this situation to a higher purpose. She felt even more earnest about carrying out the favor Will had asked of her this morning, giving him—and Asa—the chance to straighten out their knotty dilemma.

Edith found herself thinking about Asa . . . how his dark hair shimmered like ravens’ wings, and the way he’d sworn to care for the twins even though he hadn’t fathered them. When Leroy began to fuss, Edith stepped over to take him from Jerusalem. “Probably hungry again,” she suggested.

“Smells kind of ripe, too,” Jerusalem replied with a chuckle. “Better for these wee ones to be with you than with Naz or me. Until we married Tom and Vernon, we’d been
maidel
school teachers all our adult lives, you see.”

“
Jah
, we didn’t do any baby-raising as young women, and now we’re too old,” Nazareth continued the story with a chuckle. “I’d probably prick the poor things with the diaper pins—”

“Or put the diaper on the wrong end altogether,” Jerusalem teased.

“Puh!” her sister retorted. “Who’s the aunt responsible for Bennie’s showin’ Luke and Ira how to drink the sugar water out of the hummingbird feeders because she didn’t realize things had gotten too quiet?”

Jerusalem’s graying eyebrows waggled at her younger sister. “And they’re the
sweetest
nephews of the bunch, ain’t so?” she shot back. “No finer men in Willow Ridge than those three.”

Edith laughed at this back-and-forth between the middle-aged sisters, even as Leroy began to wail—which inspired Louisa to do likewise. “If you’ll excuse us,” Edith said as Loretta relieved Nazareth of the twin she’d been holding.

“We’d best be goin’ anyway.” Bishop Tom reached for his hat. “My cows’ll be wonderin’ what happened to me if I don’t get to milkin’ them soon.”

“And we’ll be starting back to Cedar Creek,” Bishop Vernon said as he gestured for his wife and sister-in-law to precede him toward the door. “I’ll get in touch with Will and see how we can help on that end—and meanwhile, we’ll keep you all in our thoughts and prayers. It’s been a blessing to get better acquainted with you Riehls today.”

Edith led the way upstairs, murmuring baby talk to settle the infant she carried, as Loretta and Rosalyn followed her with the other crying baby. Once in Edith’s room, they laid the babies on the towels she’d spread upon her bed.

“We’ll need to figure out what to use for a crib,” Loretta said as she unfastened a diaper. “And we need a changing table, and—”

“Maybe the ladies will bring some of those things to the store for us tomorrow,” Edith replied. She deftly removed Leroy’s stinky diaper and dropped it into the enameled pail, closing the lid after her sister did the same with Louisa’s. “I was amazed that Lydia Zook was willing to organize—”

Rosalyn leaned in close and lowered her voice. “What we really want to know is how your visit with Asa went.”

“
Jah,
we saw you heading up the road like a moth to a flame,” Loretta whispered. “Is he doing all right?”

“Is he as cute as we’re guessing?” Rosalyn quizzed her. “We barely caught a glimpse of him—”

“Are you
happy
now?” Dat demanded behind them.

Edith nearly bumped her sisters’ heads as they all straightened at once. Their father’s expression told of his frustration—and of how he’d caught them pink-cheeked from scheming again.