Read Online Until Angels Close My Eyes by Lurlene McDaniel - Free Book Online
Authors: Lurlene McDaniel
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nest in front of the crackling fire. “Now, if we just had some food, it would be perfect,” she told him.
In the kitchen they rummaged through the refrigerator and pantry and came up with hot dogs, chips, sodas and a can of baked beans. Ethan fashioned cooking sticks from wire coat hangers, and soon the aroma of cooking hot dogs filled the air. He warmed the beans deftly in a pot over the open flames.
“Who ever thought we’d have a picnic in December?” Leah asked as they ate.
“Who ever thought I’d be so far from home in December?”
“Are you all right about this, Ethan? I mean, do you wish you hadn’t come with me?”
“No. I wanted to come. You would have starved without me,” he teased.
“Probably.” She glanced around the room. The flickering flames sent shadowsdancing against the walls. The wind howled outside. “Tomorrow’s New Year’s Eve, but I don’t think we’re going to party it in.”
“I will not miss the party. I am with you. That is all that matters to me.”
Leah felt a tingle up her spine. “I guess we’ll have to sleep here in front of the fireplace,” she said, fluffing a pillow and stretching out.
“We can do as the Amish do,” Ethan said. “We can bundle.”
“How do we bundle?”
“It’s an old Amish custom, not always approved of by parents and elders. But when dating, a boy and his girl will lie in bed together. They do not remove their clothes, but they spend the night in each other’s arms.”
Leah’s jaw dropped. “This is an
Amish
custom?”
“Sex without marriage is forbidden,” Ethan quickly added.
“I’d guess so. But—wow—doesn’t bundling sort of invite trouble?”
Ethan chuckled. “Winters are long andvery cold. Amish couples do it to keep warm.”
Leah rolled her eyes. If any guy but Ethan had fed her such a line, she would have laughed at him. She thought that lying in bed with a person you love all night long without going all the way would be a temptation too hard to resist. “What happens if a couple gets carried away? What if they mess around and get into trouble?” In a way, Leah found it embarrassing to discuss such ideas with Ethan, but the subject of bundling was so unexpected from the morally upright Amish, she wanted to know more.
“If a girl is with child, then they must confess their sin before the entire church and ask forgiveness.”
“You mean they have to stand up in front of everybody and tell them if she gets pregnant? If that’s the case, then maybe they should keep quiet and just get married.”
“They usually do marry,” Ethan said. “Yet they must still make a public confession.”
Leah made a face. “That’s awful! It sounds pretty humiliating to me.”
“In God’s eyes, sin is sin. It does not matter which of God’s laws we break. Sinners must repent.”
“Does everybody forgive them?”
“It is required to forgive.”
Leah had seen how difficult it had been for Ethan’s father to forgive his son Eli for leaving. “Really?” she asked.
A slow smile spread across Ethan’s face. “Maybe not as quickly as it should be done,” he admitted. “But that is what is supposed to happen.”
Leah hugged her knees and stared into the fire. “Will your father forgive you for leaving?”
“Perhaps he already has.”
“I’ll be honest,” Leah said, still gazing at the flames. “I felt sorry for your parents last night. And I expected your father to put up more of a fight to make you stay. Why didn’t he?”
Ethan got up, threw two more logs on the fire, then returned to sit beside Leah. “He has known for a long time that I have been unhappy. We have had many talksabout it. And I think that losing Rebekah wounded his heart deeply. He has said that perhaps her death was God’s punishment for him.”
Leah thought back to Rebekah’s funeral. Even then she had disliked the stoic that’s-the-way-it-is mentality of Ethan’s family. She had been angry over Rebekah’s senseless
In the kitchen they rummaged through the refrigerator and pantry and came up with hot dogs, chips, sodas and a can of baked beans. Ethan fashioned cooking sticks from wire coat hangers, and soon the aroma of cooking hot dogs filled the air. He warmed the beans deftly in a pot over the open flames.
“Who ever thought we’d have a picnic in December?” Leah asked as they ate.
“Who ever thought I’d be so far from home in December?”
“Are you all right about this, Ethan? I mean, do you wish you hadn’t come with me?”
“No. I wanted to come. You would have starved without me,” he teased.
“Probably.” She glanced around the room. The flickering flames sent shadowsdancing against the walls. The wind howled outside. “Tomorrow’s New Year’s Eve, but I don’t think we’re going to party it in.”
“I will not miss the party. I am with you. That is all that matters to me.”
Leah felt a tingle up her spine. “I guess we’ll have to sleep here in front of the fireplace,” she said, fluffing a pillow and stretching out.
“We can do as the Amish do,” Ethan said. “We can bundle.”
“How do we bundle?”
“It’s an old Amish custom, not always approved of by parents and elders. But when dating, a boy and his girl will lie in bed together. They do not remove their clothes, but they spend the night in each other’s arms.”
Leah’s jaw dropped. “This is an
Amish
custom?”
“Sex without marriage is forbidden,” Ethan quickly added.
“I’d guess so. But—wow—doesn’t bundling sort of invite trouble?”
Ethan chuckled. “Winters are long andvery cold. Amish couples do it to keep warm.”
Leah rolled her eyes. If any guy but Ethan had fed her such a line, she would have laughed at him. She thought that lying in bed with a person you love all night long without going all the way would be a temptation too hard to resist. “What happens if a couple gets carried away? What if they mess around and get into trouble?” In a way, Leah found it embarrassing to discuss such ideas with Ethan, but the subject of bundling was so unexpected from the morally upright Amish, she wanted to know more.
“If a girl is with child, then they must confess their sin before the entire church and ask forgiveness.”
“You mean they have to stand up in front of everybody and tell them if she gets pregnant? If that’s the case, then maybe they should keep quiet and just get married.”
“They usually do marry,” Ethan said. “Yet they must still make a public confession.”
Leah made a face. “That’s awful! It sounds pretty humiliating to me.”
“In God’s eyes, sin is sin. It does not matter which of God’s laws we break. Sinners must repent.”
“Does everybody forgive them?”
“It is required to forgive.”
Leah had seen how difficult it had been for Ethan’s father to forgive his son Eli for leaving. “Really?” she asked.
A slow smile spread across Ethan’s face. “Maybe not as quickly as it should be done,” he admitted. “But that is what is supposed to happen.”
Leah hugged her knees and stared into the fire. “Will your father forgive you for leaving?”
“Perhaps he already has.”
“I’ll be honest,” Leah said, still gazing at the flames. “I felt sorry for your parents last night. And I expected your father to put up more of a fight to make you stay. Why didn’t he?”
Ethan got up, threw two more logs on the fire, then returned to sit beside Leah. “He has known for a long time that I have been unhappy. We have had many talksabout it. And I think that losing Rebekah wounded his heart deeply. He has said that perhaps her death was God’s punishment for him.”
Leah thought back to Rebekah’s funeral. Even then she had disliked the stoic that’s-the-way-it-is mentality of Ethan’s family. She had been angry over Rebekah’s senseless
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