Shunning Ida Mae by Michael R Emmert

Author:Michael R Emmert
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Michael R Emmert
Published: 2022-08-24T00:00:00+00:00

Twenty-One

Atlantic, Iowa

Monday, August 9, 1886

Ida opened her eyes and lay still. The house was quiet. What had awoken her? She looked to where Joseph lay. Why was he gone? It wasn’t like him to do chores this early. Ruth mumbled in her sleep as though dreaming. Walt’s mouth bobbed silently. The kinner were all right. It would be a while before they awoke.

Ida dressed. Preacher Miller’s words bounced in her head and jumbled her thoughts like a tangled mess of yarn. When she tried to push them aside it made her more confused.

She hurried to the barn. Bess nickered from a stall. Elsie, in the holding pen, looked up when Ida drew near. Ida smiled at this pregnant brown-eyed heifer. A new baby calf in a few weeks would be a wonderful addition to the herd.

Where was Joseph? Was he hurt and not able to call for help?

Outside in the waxing light, a robin lifted its voice to greet the morning. Pennsylvania dawns had seldom been this beautiful. Movement near a knoll east of the house caught her attention. As Ida closed the distance, Joseph’s silhouette materialized from the mist. She hoisted her dress above the dew-covered grass and hastened her steps. Most mornings he read his Bible in a rocker by the fireplace before he began chores. He had never come here.

He stood with his back to her and faced a small wooden cross.

She approached and heard him mumble Anna’s name in a thick voice. Should she intrude? She slowed. The preacher’s words pushed her forward. “Be near him. This boosts his self-worth.”

She drew up beside him. Although he didn’t turn, she knew he sensed her presence. A light breeze ruffled his hair. Ida bowed her head and submitted a quick prayer and asked the Lord to care for Anna. It was the least she could do. She waited. Would Joseph turn and walk away?

The first rays of morning light peeped through the elm branches at the edge of the glade. A sudden gust of wind billowed Ida’s skirt and her hands restrained it. Joseph shifted. She looked at him.

His jaw clenched; his Adam’s apple bobbed. His mouth drew into a tight line. For a second it seemed as if she intruded. But in that instant, she knew he welcomed her. He wanted her to stay, not for the children, but him. She knew that just as surely as she knew her name. Side by side they stood, not touching, and not moving.

The morning light intensified. A meadowlark chirped to its mate.

She sensed that he appreciated her, and it seemed as if a cotton fiber connected them, a thread so flimsy and so tenuous that a puff of wind would break it. The thread tugged her closer.

Suddenly Ida’s head swam. Coming across that tiny link roared an avalanche of churning emotions. Joseph’s despair roiled like a darkened wall of clouds. His resentment of losing Anna grew to towering heights and it crowded out everything else. He felt abandoned by Anna.

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