Turning Home by Janice Kay Johnson

Author:Janice Kay Johnson [Johnson, Janice Kay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2020-09-29T00:00:00+00:00

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WITH DAYLIGHT STILL lasting well into the evening, Luke decided on Saturday to visit Sol in the hospital. Sol had regained consciousness on Thursday, Luke had heard. They’d been more casual friends than close; Sol—short for Solomon, of course—had been a placid boy who never questioned the rules. He’d apparently grown into an equally easygoing man who would never have dreamed of leaving the Amish life or questioning any part of the Ordnung, the unspoken rules that governed the lives of all Amish. Still, as children they’d gone to school together, and played baseball together during breaks and after the worship service. His father, Abram, was a close friend of Luke’s father’s.

Luke brought Abby along both because he wanted to include her in community events and because in her restrained way she still clung to him. She wouldn’t want to be left for additional hours at her grandparents’ house, however kind Grossmammi and Grossdaadi were to her. He had no intention of taking her into Sol’s room, however; he didn’t know what she’d seen or experienced when her mother died, but it had to have been bad. The waiting room would be full of Amish, because they always gathered in support of any members of their church who might be in need. Any of them would be happy to keep an eye on Abby for a few minutes.

He left Charlie still hitched to the buggy at the end of a row of other buggies and patiently waiting horses, then entered the hospital through a rear entrance, holding Abby’s small hand.

Following directions, he took an elevator up two floors and went down a hall until he saw a waiting room filled with Amishmen and -women. If asked, he couldn’t have named one of them. All he saw was the one Englischer seated among them: Julia. He should have anticipated this; when she’d offered to drive Sol’s wife back and forth as needed, she had meant it. Julia was a woman who would keep promises, he knew.

She still wore her working attire of a drab skirt and white shirt, but the deep fire of her auburn hair stood out like a beacon.

Luke bent to pick up Abby, but the little girl stiffened, her eyes fixed ahead. Wrenching her hand from his, she cried, “Julia!” and raced toward her before he could do anything to stop her.

Julia saw her at the same moment and stood, taking a step, then another, until they collided. Abby hugged Julia’s legs until the woman Luke secretly wanted to hug, too, bent to squeeze his tiny daughter in her arms.

When he reached them, it was to find Abby crying even as tears streamed down Julia’s cheeks. Everyone else in the waiting room gaped. All were members of his church district, and all knew that his traumatized little girl didn’t speak.

Until now, for an Englischer.

A rock in his throat, he stood above the pair, unable to look away from the face of the beautiful woman his small daughter had chosen.

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