The Shunning by Beverly Lewis

Author:Beverly Lewis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2010-07-02T16:00:00+00:00

Twelve

Katie arrived home in time to help with the afternoon milking, feeling a bit weary and quite hungry now, having left in a huff and without her lunch.

Samuel and the boys did most of the heavy work—feeding the horses and hauling the milk to the milk house. It wouldn’t be long before the three men would be doing all of the outdoor work. Katie would take her place in the world of married Plain women, attending work frolics—quiltings, cannings, and, once in a blue moon, a corn-husking, not to mention tending to the Beiler children and eventually her own babies.

Katie was thankful for her past experience with several English families outside Hickory Hollow—cleaning their houses and tending to their young children. The extra spending money had come in handy, and she’d enjoyed riding in a car occasionally. But all that had come to a halt a few months ago when Bishop John had asked her to become his wife.

“Will you be missing me when I get married?” she asked Satin Boy, stroking his glossy mane. The pony kept right on eating. “I’ll come back and see you sometimes, I promise.”

Eli hurried past her. “Don’t be wastin’ time talkin’ to that pony. Best go on in and help Mam with supper. She’s feelin’ grenklich.”

Mam, ill again? It seemed to Katie that their mother was getting sick a lot these days. Strange, too, when she’d always been the picture of health—hearty and robust and working from sunup to sundown. In fact, now that she thought of it, before Katie found that baby dress, she didn’t recollect Rebecca Lapp ever fainting—even once.

Concerned, she left Satin Boy to his supper and dashed toward the house. When she had hung up her work coat and winter bonnet, Katie found Mam standing near the woodstove, staring hard at it.

“Mamma? Are you all right?”

She started, then straightened quickly. “Oh my, yes. I was just off in a daze somewhere, that’s all. The wedding . . . and all.”

“Eli said you were ill.”

“I think it’s just a touch of the flu, maybe. Not to worry.” Then she brought up the question Katie had been dreading all afternoon. “You wanted to talk to me about something?”

“About the fancy baby dress, that’s what it was.”

Rebecca seemed relieved and went to test the potatoes with a fork. “Oh. I thought somebody might’ve stopped by while we were gone. You did lock all the doors, didn’t you?”

What was Mam talking about? “Was Mary Stoltzfus supposed to drop by?” Katie thought for a second, then realized her friend had said nothing at all about visiting today.

“No, no, not Mary. I wasn’t speaking about anybody in particular, really.”

The evasive reply piqued Katie’s curiosity. “Who, then?”

A worrisome look clouded the hazel eyes. “A young woman, maybe? A stranger?”

Katie went to stand beside her mother. “Forgive me, Mamma, but you’re not making a bit of sense. Now start over. Tell me again.”

Rebecca waved her hand in front of her face, a motion that usually signaled the end of a frustrating conversation.

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