Daybreak: The Days of Redemption Series, Book One (7 page)

“I think she’s having a mighty difficult time with the photo being discovered.”

“I imagine she is.”

She lowered her voice. “And even more, I fear that your father is upset with her. When you left, Aaron didn’t eat the biscuit Elsie brought him. Instead, he got up from the table in an all-fire hurry and left Lovina sitting alone.”

“Well, then, she can join our sorry club of disappointed folks. I’m having a difficult time accepting the fact that she’s been hiding something so important from us all.”

“What do you think we should do?”

Her question took him off guard. Never had he ever felt that he should “do” anything about his parents. They were in charge. He adapted. That was the way of things and always had been. “You heard me try to coax them into talking. Until they change their minds, I don’t think we can do a thing.”

“Nothing?” His wife looked aghast. “But this news of hers . . .”

“What can be done? Marie, they’ve always been secretive. Don’t you remember that supper when Elsie asked my parents how they met? She couldn’t have been more than seven, but they both scolded her for asking about things that were none of her business. That photograph only confirms that they had every reason to be secretive. We should have suspected something long ago.”

“I think this is a sign that we need to have a real discussion about the relationships in this family. Perhaps we need to ask Sam and Lorene to come over.”

Sam and Lorene were the only other siblings who’d stayed in the area. The others had moved far enough away to begin new lives. More than once, Peter had found himself envying their distance and independence, especially his brother Jacob who lived all the way out in Shipshewana, Indiana. It had taken a lot of strength for the eldest son to not do what was expected and move into the main house when he married.

But Jacob had never been shy about his desire to live away from his parents.

Peter had always taken the role of the peacemaker in the family. Now he was wondering if perhaps he’d just been too weak to follow his own dreams. Ignoring the lump in his throat, he did his best to concentrate on the topic at hand. “Sam would come over, but I doubt Lorene would.”

“Lorene would come if you asked her,” Marie countered.

Peter sighed. Everything inside him wanted to back away and continue to pretend that everything was fine. But he didn’t know how to do that. “I’ll call Sam now. Your idea is a good one, Marie.” And he knew it was, even though his stomach was tied up in knots.

“And Lorene?”

“Of course, I will go visit with Lorene and ask her to join us.” Anxious to get away from her piercing gaze, he turned and walked to the cloak room. With methodical motions, he put on his wool muffler and his wool coat. His hat and gloves. “I’ll be back in a few hours, Marie.”

“Are you sure you’re feeling well enough to drive the buggy? The roads will be busy.”

“Why wouldn’t I be all right?”

Her anxious gaze turned steady. “Because we both know your mother isn’t the only one hiding things.”

She walked away before he had a chance to reply. Which was a very good thing, of course.

Because he had no earthly idea what he was going to tell her. No woman wanted to hear that her husband had a drinking problem, and that it had been going on for more than a year.

Especially not an Amish woman.

And especially not Marie.

It didn’t take long to get to Lorene’s place of work by buggy. His thirty-two-year-old sister was still unmarried, and a few years ago, she seemed to have had more than enough of living at home. She’d announced one day that she had found herself a duplex on East Miller, just a few houses down from Sam and Mary Beth, and taken a job at Himler’s Cheese Shop. Located in the center of Berlin, it was within walking distance to her new home.

Their parents had been sure that Lorene’s bout with independence was going to last no longer than a week. Perhaps a month at the longest. But it had been more than three years now, and if anything, Lorene seemed far more willing to speak her mind than ever before.

She was honest to a fault. But there was still a wistfulness about her that he’d always appreciated. Peter hoped one day that she would find the man she’d been looking for.

Lorene usually worked the cash register. She was especially good with numbers and working with the English, too. She was able to fill orders with ease for people who wanted to ship large quantities of the Amish-made cheese home.

His sister smiled broadly at him when he approached the front desk. “Hello, Peter. I have to say, seeing you is certainly a surprise!”

“It shouldn’t be that much of a shock.”

“Of course not.” Looking him over, she said, “I’m glad to see you, but if you had needed something from the store, you should have told me. I would’ve picked something up for you and saved you the trip.”

“I didn’t come for food, I came to see if you could stop by the
haus
this evening.”

“And you didn’t care to simply call the store from the phone shanty?”

“No. It’s pretty important, Lorene.”

A line formed between her brows. “Now you’ve got me curious. See, I’d already planned to stop by. I’m going to make macaroni salad with the girls. Did no one tell you?”

“It must have slipped Marie’s mind.” Frankly, he was surprised any of them could concentrate on their regular schedules given what was going on. He glanced behind him to make sure he wasn’t holding up a line. Since no one was waiting, he was tempted to spill everything to Lorene then and there. But it wasn’t the time. “Okay, then, I’ll see you tonight.”

She studied him for a bit before clearing her throat. “Hold on a sec. I think we’d better talk right now. It’s clear something important is going on.”

Peter watched her speak to Frank, an Amish man who was one of the managers of the store. Frank looked over at Peter and waved. “Peter, hello! Cold enough for ya?”

“Hiya, Frank. It’s cold enough for January, to be sure.”

“Came to steal Lorene for a bit, have you?”

He hadn’t, but he was fine with following Lorene’s lead. “Just for a few moments. We won’t be long.”

Seconds later, Lorene led the way to the small eatery on the side of the store. It was set up much like a snack bar, offering pretzels, hot dogs, and an assortment of drinks and desserts. “This wasn’t necessary, Lorene.”

“Maybe not. In any case, I’ve got a break coming. Let’s grab something to drink.”

Because he was glad to be speaking with her anyway, he complied. After they both got cups of coffee, they sat across from each other in one of the booths. “Now, you have to tell me. What in the world is so important that you’d drive over here simply to ask me to come to the
haus
tonight? What is going on?”

There was no easy way to share the news. “It turns out Mamm was raised English.”

“What?”

“We uncovered a high school graduation photo of her yesterday. When Elsie and I asked questions, she admitted that it was her.”

Lorene looked as stunned as he’d felt. While he continued to fill her in, she grew more and more disturbed. She clasped her hands together so tightly that her knuckles turned white. “Peter, I have to say, I’m shocked. And, I kind of feel like crying. For most of my life, she’s made me feel less than perfect. That I was letting down the long lineage of Amish
fraus
. And all while she’s been keeping something like this from us?”

She shook her head in wonder. “So, what happened? How did she and Daed meet?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, how old was she when she became Amish? What about Daed? Was he an
Englischer,
too? And what about her parents? She never spoke of them. Did they disown her?” Her eyes widened. “Or maybe she disowned them, just like she always used to threaten with us!”

“I don’t know those answers, either.” Now that she brought up all the questions, he ached for the answers, too. “You know how she is. The moment she got upset, she left. She didn’t join us for supper last night. Then, when I tried to get more information from her at breakfast she turned icy.”

“What did Daed do?”

“He says it’s none of our business as well. Which makes me wonder if there’s far more to the story. If they weren’t trying to hide something else, they would’ve been far more open.”

Lorene pursed her lips, still in shock.

“Marie and the girls are upset. Actually, Marie thought it would be best if you and Sam came over this evening to talk about things with Mamm and Daed.”

“What good does she think that will do?”

Peter smiled. “I thought the same exact thing. When have our parents ever cared to hear our opinions about anything?”

“Let’s see . . . Never?” Lorene quipped with more than a touch of bitterness.

“I agree with you. But, I do think Marie has a point. If we do nothing, our parents will decide that their pasts never need to be mentioned again. I don’t think that is right.”

“I agree.” Looking into her half-full coffee cup, she sighed. “As much as I don’t want to sit across from our parents and shoot questions at them, I think it needs to be done. When I think of how different our lives would have been, if we’d ever gotten even a hint that they, too, had had troubles . . . it makes me want to either scream or roll up in a ball.”

“I know, Lorene.” He felt terrible for her. She’d always knocked heads with their mother, and had always come out the loser in their battles.

“Have you talked to Sam yet?” she murmured. “He’ll have plenty to say, too.”

“I’m going to go see Samuel next.”

“You don’t need to. I’ll tell him and Mary Beth when I get off work this afternoon. I’ll stop by their
haus
on the way home.”

“I hope he’ll want to join us.”

“He will. And we’ll need to call the others.” Her eyes widened. “What do you think Jacob is going to say?”

As the eldest of the six of them, Jacob had borne the brunt of their parents’ criticism. He’d moved to Indiana the moment he’d met his wife. Peter could remember him coming back only a handful of times over the last twenty years. “Only God knows the answer to that, I’m afraid. But something tells me that Jacob is not going to take this well.”

“He won’t, and neither will Aden or Sara.” After glancing to her right to make sure no one was eavesdropping, she murmured, “We’re a dysfunctional lot for a reason, Peter. I only hope this news doesn’t throw us all into a bigger mess than we’re already in.”

She was teasing, of course. But there was more than a grain of truth to what she was saying. Each one of them bore the scars of their parents’ interference and constant putdowns.

She closed her eyes. “Peter, when I think of what she put me through with John Miller, I want to scream.”

“John Miller?” He tried to place the man—and Lorene’s relationship with him. “He’s the woodworker, right?”

“He used to simply be a woodworker. Now he owns one of the most successful businesses in Berlin, Miller’s Fine Furniture. He must have fifty people working for him.”

“I’ve seen the store, but I didn’t know you had ties to the owner.”

“I don’t. I mean, not anymore. John and I tried to court, but Mamm made me stop seeing him because she didn’t think the Millers were good enough.”

“What was wrong with them?”

“John’s mother passed away when he was young, and his daed never really recovered from it, I’m afraid. John and his twin brother, Thomas, were always the kids who needed a shower, who needed cleaner clothes. . . .” She shrugged. “They’d needed a lot of things, I suppose.”

Frowning, Lorene added, “I knew that I wasn’t any better than John, but I was too afraid of making Mamm upset with me for the rest of my life to go up against her. So I began to have doubts about him.” Quietly, she added, “Finally, I pushed John away.”

“I’m sorry, Lorene.” Yes, it was becoming increasingly obvious that each one of them had gone to a great deal of trouble to try to keep up appearances that the Keims were one of the finest families in the area.

It would be humbling for everyone to finally discover the truth—that they were no better than anyone else.

And perhaps a great deal worse.

chapter six

After Lorene clocked out, she decided to find her boss before she hitched up her buggy and drove home. “What do you know about John Miller?” she asked Frank without preamble.

Her boss knew just about everyone in Berlin, and everyone came to him for information about people or places, or even the history of the town.

Which was why he didn’t seem surprised by her inquiry and put down the box he was carrying to calmly consider her question.

“John Miller? Hmm . . . Well, he has a mighty
gut
business. It’s Miller’s Fine Furniture, you know.”

She’d known that, but had only recently discovered the news. There were so many families with the last name
Miller,
she’d never connected the down-on-his-luck man she once loved with the well-run business. “Is he married?”

Frank thought about it for a moment, then shook his head. “I don’t think so. Don’t know why, either.” He shrugged. “Guess the Lord hasn’t decided to bless him with romance yet. Why all the questions? Are you wantin’ furniture?”

“Maybe.” She looked around. “Frank, do you know if Kim is still here today?”

“I do. She’s in the office.”

“Danke.”

Two minutes of conversation gave her the answer she needed. Kim would be happy to drive her over to the furniture store, then back to the store so she could pick up her buggy and head to Peter’s. And she could leave within the next few minutes.

That was all the news Lorene needed to confirm her sudden plan. She wasn’t going to waste another moment wondering about what could have happened with her and John Miller.

Fifteen minutes later, Kim had parked her sedan and was popping open a can of soda and slipping a book out of her purse. “Take all the time you want, Lorene. The only thing I’ve got waiting at home is laundry. I’m happy enough to sit here in the car and read.”

“Thanks.” She exited the car, and walked up to the store. As soon as she entered, she was charmed by the smell of lemon oil and freshly cut wood.