Steadfast Mercy by Ruth Reid

Author:Ruth Reid
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2020-07-07T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

As the bishop dismissed the congregation at the end of service, Caleb scanned the crowd once more for Jonica. He had looked for her prior to the start of service, then several times while everyone was singing, but he didn’t see anyone from Edna’s house.

Disappointment clouded his thoughts. Last night Jonica had been distant. He couldn’t put his finger on what had changed, but something was different. Caleb spotted Faith leaving the barn with the other married women and took a few steps in their direction. Surely she would know if Stephen was ill.

Someone came up behind Caleb and clapped his shoulder, and he turned to find Darleen’s brother David.

“How’s everything going, Caleb?”

Even though the Yoders were a tight-knit family, Caleb doubted Darleen would have said anything so soon about ending their courtship. Especially to one of her brothers. “Everything’s fine.”

“I feel bad. Your daed said you didn’t get your winter wheat planted in time.”

“Jah, I waited too long. I’m learning.” Caleb noticed his daed standing with the bishop and Melvin Yoder. He lowered his head. Why did his father have to tell everyone about his failures?

“You should have let me help.”

Pride had a way of bringing a man to his knees. Determination to prove to himself and his father that he could do something other than construction had caused him to fail. Miserably.

Caleb cleared his throat and raised his gaze back to David. “I underestimated the amount of rocks that needed to be cleared before I could till the ground.”

“A new field always takes longer to prepare.”

“Jah,” Caleb said half-heartedly. “Lesson learned.”

“There’s always next year. Keep the seed dry.”

“The seed is already—”

A commotion outside the door between a group of young boys caught David’s attention. “I better put a stop to them throwing snowballs before someone spooks the horses.” He marched out the door just as the cast-iron bell clanged to signal mealtime.

Caleb migrated toward the bishop’s house with the other men, his stomach growling. But once inside, his hunger pangs waned when he glimpsed Darleen’s glare from across the room. He looked away, but his gaze happened to land on one of her friends, who held a similar expression of wrath. He needed to come up with a reason to leave. Quick. He should’ve known better, known it was too soon.

Gideon Rohrer came up beside Caleb. “Are you in line?”

“Nay, go ahead. I’m thinking I might nett stay.”

Gideon leaned back. “You feeling under the weather?”

Caleb shook his head.

“Something wrong?”

Everything was wrong. Darleen and most of the women in the district were upset with him, but his primary thought was Jonica and why she wasn’t at the service today. When she mentioned not wanting people to know she was in town, he didn’t think she would also avoid God. Besides, if she really wanted to hide, she wouldn’t have gone into Yoder’s Market, where members of their district regularly shopped. Plus, she reconnected with Faith.

“Caleb?” Gideon’s brows pinched together.

“Sorry, mei mind was . . . elsewhere.” He shrugged. “I didn’t sleep well.

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