birthday and all, made Sadie feel her sister might take
llr news of the long-lost letter awful hard.
I Not today, she thought. Nothing good would come of the
mil iliis day. Heart pounding, she slipped the letter into her
Iff v. pocket and hurried upstairs, where she deposited it
plvvccn several layers of clothing in her own drawer in the
111 bureau.
I Ivi-ling justified in her choice to ignore this for the time
JfiK. with Leah's best interest at heart, Sadie hurried back
BWiisisiirs and picked up her sewing with trembling hands.
j I cab was glad to get out and breathe some fresh air that ltd noon. Abe and Lydiann were filled with chatter during Ir buggy ride to visit Uncle Jesse Ebersol and his family, and rub was hoping her dearest friend, Adah, might be on hand, I well. Sadie had also agreed to come along, though not as Berly as Leah would have thought, seeing as they'd all been her cooped up in the house. For her part, Aunt Lizzie had
73
i ii II '1 ' I1 '
fi74 / y J~^ e lo I :
looked a bit droopy in the face when Leah announced they were heading over to Jesse's for an afternoon visit. Lizzie felt she ought to stay home with Dawdi John something it seemed to Leah was becoming her lot in life. Leah felt a twinge of sadness at the thought of Aunt Lizzie once again missing out on an opportunity to do the kind of visiting she so thoroughly enjoyed, and Leah promptly decided she would offer to stay behind next outing.
"Too bad Lizzie couldn't join us," Dat said when they were about halfway there.
"She's such a kindhearted soul, never complains 'bout tending to Dawdi's needs," Leah agreed.
Dat turned and smiled at her full in the face. "Sounds like someone else I know." He clicked his tongue and the horse sped up some.
"Oh, for goodness' sake," Leah said, catching on.
Sadie, sitting to Leah's left, patted her sister's shoulder. "Jah, 'tis for goodness' sake!"
Dat said no more, and Leah was suddenly conscious of Lydiann's voice in the seat behind her. "You daresn't tell nobody," Lydiann was saying, soft and low, to her brother.
"I won't promise not to tell," Abe said. "That's girl talk."
"No . . . no, now you listen to me," Lydiann's voice grew louder for a moment, then softer.
From that, Leah assumed Lydiann was cupping her hand around Abe's ear. Evidently she was not to be privy to the rest of this furtive conversation, and she wasn't so sure she cared to be, especially when the name of Carl Nolt was mentioned several times in the space of the next few seconds.
Leah remembered what she had been thinking and doing as a girl Lydiann's age. Nearly all her waking hours had been
74 75^Cke .Prodigal
jpenl working around the animals feeding and watering them, cleaning the stalls, working with Dat in the fields, too. Thankfully Mamma had birthed Abe, which meant Lydiann imild learn to cook and sew at a young age, unlike Leah, who hud never attended a quilting frolic till she was nearly sixteen.
1 >lu- smiled, recalling that first quilting, how she'd pulled up a I hair to the enormous frame where the colorful Diamond-ini he-Square pattern was to be stitched. So much water had passed under the bridge since that September day. Truly now .he was her own person, with the Lord God's help, and mighty glad of it, too. Gone were the days of longing for what .'.lie didn't have, and she was as content as when she had been j (rowing up under Dat's and Mamma's watchful eyes on their peaceful farm.
Sadie startled her out of her reverie. "Oh, lookee there, Leah. Adah's come."
Sure enough, dear Adah was getting down out of the family carriage, her two young sons already scurrying about as she turned to wave.
She looks so happy, thought Leah. Adah's husband, Sam, Leah's fir* cousin, was a hardworking and kind man, and as Sam and Adah picked their way through the snow toward the big clapboard farmhouse, Leah recognized again how nice it was that Adah was now her cousin, as well as her closest friend.
"If Adah and Sam are
llr news of the long-lost letter awful hard.
I Not today, she thought. Nothing good would come of the
mil iliis day. Heart pounding, she slipped the letter into her
Iff v. pocket and hurried upstairs, where she deposited it
plvvccn several layers of clothing in her own drawer in the
111 bureau.
I Ivi-ling justified in her choice to ignore this for the time
JfiK. with Leah's best interest at heart, Sadie hurried back
BWiisisiirs and picked up her sewing with trembling hands.
j I cab was glad to get out and breathe some fresh air that ltd noon. Abe and Lydiann were filled with chatter during Ir buggy ride to visit Uncle Jesse Ebersol and his family, and rub was hoping her dearest friend, Adah, might be on hand, I well. Sadie had also agreed to come along, though not as Berly as Leah would have thought, seeing as they'd all been her cooped up in the house. For her part, Aunt Lizzie had
73
i ii II '1 ' I1 '
fi74 / y J~^ e lo I :
looked a bit droopy in the face when Leah announced they were heading over to Jesse's for an afternoon visit. Lizzie felt she ought to stay home with Dawdi John something it seemed to Leah was becoming her lot in life. Leah felt a twinge of sadness at the thought of Aunt Lizzie once again missing out on an opportunity to do the kind of visiting she so thoroughly enjoyed, and Leah promptly decided she would offer to stay behind next outing.
"Too bad Lizzie couldn't join us," Dat said when they were about halfway there.
"She's such a kindhearted soul, never complains 'bout tending to Dawdi's needs," Leah agreed.
Dat turned and smiled at her full in the face. "Sounds like someone else I know." He clicked his tongue and the horse sped up some.
"Oh, for goodness' sake," Leah said, catching on.
Sadie, sitting to Leah's left, patted her sister's shoulder. "Jah, 'tis for goodness' sake!"
Dat said no more, and Leah was suddenly conscious of Lydiann's voice in the seat behind her. "You daresn't tell nobody," Lydiann was saying, soft and low, to her brother.
"I won't promise not to tell," Abe said. "That's girl talk."
"No . . . no, now you listen to me," Lydiann's voice grew louder for a moment, then softer.
From that, Leah assumed Lydiann was cupping her hand around Abe's ear. Evidently she was not to be privy to the rest of this furtive conversation, and she wasn't so sure she cared to be, especially when the name of Carl Nolt was mentioned several times in the space of the next few seconds.
Leah remembered what she had been thinking and doing as a girl Lydiann's age. Nearly all her waking hours had been
74 75^Cke .Prodigal
jpenl working around the animals feeding and watering them, cleaning the stalls, working with Dat in the fields, too. Thankfully Mamma had birthed Abe, which meant Lydiann imild learn to cook and sew at a young age, unlike Leah, who hud never attended a quilting frolic till she was nearly sixteen.
1 >lu- smiled, recalling that first quilting, how she'd pulled up a I hair to the enormous frame where the colorful Diamond-ini he-Square pattern was to be stitched. So much water had passed under the bridge since that September day. Truly now .he was her own person, with the Lord God's help, and mighty glad of it, too. Gone were the days of longing for what .'.lie didn't have, and she was as content as when she had been j (rowing up under Dat's and Mamma's watchful eyes on their peaceful farm.
Sadie startled her out of her reverie. "Oh, lookee there, Leah. Adah's come."
Sure enough, dear Adah was getting down out of the family carriage, her two young sons already scurrying about as she turned to wave.
She looks so happy, thought Leah. Adah's husband, Sam, Leah's fir* cousin, was a hardworking and kind man, and as Sam and Adah picked their way through the snow toward the big clapboard farmhouse, Leah recognized again how nice it was that Adah was now her cousin, as well as her closest friend.
"If Adah and Sam are
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