Hester's Hunt for Home Trilogy by Linda Byler

Author:Linda Byler
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2017-08-20T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 16

Covered completely in black, her hat pulled well over the sides of her face, Hester stood alone by the casket. It was a plain, wooden box where her husband lay, waiting to be lowered into the wet soil of Lancaster County, in the graveyard where mounds of fresh earth were heaped over the graves of the children who had not survived the winter.

The singsong voice of the minister reading the leid failed to bring any response from the grieving widow, while Frances blew her nose copiously behind her. Elias bowed his head, wept quietly, but remained calm, his face a harbor of peace.

The horses and carriages tied along the fence were in a neat row, the group of mourners all in black. The trees had not yet begun to push their buds, their branches stark and black as well. The grass was olive green mingled with the dead brown of winter, bent over, waiting to be pushed out of existence by fresh, lively, new shoots.

After the Lord’s Prayer, Hester stayed by the grave as Frances and Elias turned to go. She felt a tap on her shoulder. Hester turned.

“You can ride back with me.” It was Johnny, the brother-in-law. Without Naomi, his wife.

“No.”

Without another word he turned away, a deep crimson spreading across his face, his eyes blinking with humiliation at the low-lying fury in her one word of refusal.

The funeral dinner had been prepared by members of the Amish community. Long tables were set in William and Hester’s house, then filled with great platters of sliced beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, along with cheese and applesauce. Hester sat humbly with Elias and Frances, William’s brothers and sisters, and the family’s large, rowdy group of children. She spoke when she was spoken to and acknowledged well-wishers, but nothing seemed real.

She did not want to be noticed. She wished they’d all go away and leave her alone. Yet she did not want to be alone with her thoughts this first evening, with William’s passing so close. It seemed as if he should be there sitting by her side, laughing, always glad to be among his brethren.

She was so weary, so bone-tired, and yet she still needed to spend the remainder of the day with William’s family, the dreaded Johnny among them. She sighed a small breath of defeat. She was seated on a bench beside the fire, William’s sister Amanda holding her infant daughter beside her, surrounded by children, aunts, and cousins. She didn’t notice her at first. It was only when a narrow black form sat on the bench beside her and a hand reached over to clasp her brown one firmly in her own that she turned her head to see two bright-brown eyes, like polished stones, peer up at her like an inquisitive sparrow.

“Hester.” The word was spoken solidly, well placed, like bricks, square and useful and sensible. The voice was low, accompanied by a dip of heavy eyelids held there, shutting away curiosity, as if she wanted to share a moment of silence, of companionship.

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