Beside Still Waters (36 page)

"He missed you." Ben's voice was gentle.

She dared to look into his face. "I can see that."

"He was sad . . . thinking he wouldn't see you again."

She tilted her head, eyeing him.

"Yes, well." She crossed her arms over her chest. "He doesn't need to worry about that now, does he? I'm here. I'm not going anywhere. At least not for a while."

"So . . ." Ben put his hands in his pockets. "You left the quilt for me. I—" He took a step closer. "I don't know what to say. It's beautiful, Marianna. You're—" he paused. "Uh, thank you."

"I should be thanking you. I wanted you to have it. You've done so much." She looked back and saw her father approaching. She turned back to Ben. "Out of all the things I found in Montana, the most important was God. I mean, I knew of Him before, but I now feel I'm on my way to knowing Him in ways I hadn't earlier. Ways I hadn't even known were possible."

"Ready to go?"

She turned to see that her dat held her two boxes in his arms. His face peeked around them.

"Here, let me help you with those." Ben hurried forward and grabbed the boxes, then carried them to the back of his truck.

"Your mem is going to be beside herself when she sees you walk through that door." Dat smiled.

"She doesn't know?"

Dat stroked his beard. "I didn't want to get her hopes up . . . in case you decided not to come." He placed an arm around her shoulders. "She loves you more than you can imagine, sweetheart."

Sweetheart . . .
He'd never called her such before.

Marianna pressed her face into her father's shoulder. She nodded but didn't know how to respond.

"She considers you her miracle, you know. She held you more than the other babies. You were what kept her going after . . . after the loss of your sisters. You were her saving grace."

Marianna pulled back. "But I—" She blinked back tears. "I always thought I was a poor substitute . . . that whenever she looked at me, she remembered what she lost."

Dat pulled her back and turned her to see his face. "You thought that?" He lifted her chin with a curl of his finger so that their eyes met. "Just the opposite. She spent so much time with you as a baby—she favored you in so many ways—that people started talking. They said you received more attention than the boys, that it wasn't right. So she felt she had to make changes. Sometimes I thought she went too far, but one thing a good Amish woman never does is choose to love one child more than another."

Marianna felt a tear trail down her cheek. "I had no idea . . ." Could it be true? That her efforts to be the perfect daughter were not only in vain, but unnecessary. That she was loved—had always been loved—for the gift of who she was to her family. And that alone?

Marianna looked to Ben, and in his eyes she saw peace. He'd made mistakes—one that cost a man his life, and still he turned to God. She'd been the opposite. In trying to be perfect, she'd missed the joy of being loved for just who she was.

No, she never could replace her sisters, but that didn't mean she didn't have something to offer all on her own.

A smile touched her lips at the thought of walking in the front door and seeing her mother in the kitchen.

I'm loved . . . I'm loved.
The phrase sang in her mind as she strode to the car. "C'mon, Trapper." She whistled to her dog. "It's time to go home."

Tramp Soup (Potato Soup)

(contributed by Diana Miller)

1 pound sausage

1 onion, finely diced

5 to 6 potatoes, peeled and cubed

2 stalks diced celery

Salt and pepper

1-1.5 quarts milk

Brown sausage with onion and celery. Drain. Add cubed potatoes and just enough water to cook potatoes until soft, not much. Add milk when potatoes are soft or until it is the consistency you would like. Sometimes I add cream to make it richer.

Serves about 6.

Fruit Tapioca

(contributed by Martha Artyomenko)

9 cups water

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups baby pearl tapioca (I let my tapioca soak in some of the water for at least a couple hours; it makes it cook faster.)

4 small boxes Jell-O (see note below)

1 cup sugar

Fruit—as much or as little as you want

Bring water and salt to a boil. Add tapioca. Cook until clear; keep stirring while it boils. Remove from heat and add Jell-O and sugar. Add fruit.

Notes:

This makes a lot. I would use orange Jell-O and add 2 #10 cans of mandarin oranges and some pineapple. (We were given lots of big cans of oranges and this was a favorite to do with them.) You can use strawberry Jell-O and add strawberries or any kind of fruit, really. It is great to stretch just a little fruit. You can add whipped cream or Cool Whip, if you like. My favorite was to use raspberry Jell-O and frozen raspberries. It you use 2 #10 cans of fruit or more, it serves about 30 people, or if you add less fruit, it can serve about 10.

Oatmeal Butter Crisps

(contributed by Martha Artyomenko)

2 cups oil

2 cups brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

4 eggs

3 1/2 cups flour

6 1/4 cups quick oatmeal (not instant)

1 cup raisins (You can substitute nuts, chocolate chips, coconut, craisins.)

Cream first 7 ingredients.

Add eggs, flour, and oatmeal.

Mix well. Add raisins.

Use cookie scoop to scoop onto trays and bake about 10 minutes at 350 degrees. They should look puffed up and not quite down. Let stand about 2 minutes before removing them from the tray.

This recipe makes a large batch of chewy oatmeal cookies.

Haystacks

(contributed by Martha Artyomenko)

2 pounds ground beef, browned

2 cans kidney beans (12 oz)

Some or all of the following:

Grated cheese or cheese sauce (Sometimes this is made by thinning out melted Velveeta cheese with milk or using canned cheddar cheese soup thinned with milk.)

Cooked rice

Diced tomatoes

Diced green peppers

Shredded lettuce

Tortilla chips

Crushed saltine crackers

Riced potatoes

Garbanzo beans

Salsa

Sour cream

Brown ground beef, add beans. (Sometimes this is seasoned with taco seasonings or even made more like a chili.) Set out bowls of the ingredients you have chosen for your haystacks for your guests. Each person goes through the line piling their haystack with whatever toppings they like. Serves approximately 10 people.

Betty's Salad

(contributed by Martha Artyomenko)

1 head broccoli, finely chopped

1 head cauliflower, finely chopped

1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 cups grated cheddar cheese

1 package fried bacon cut in small pieces

Dressing:

3/4 cup sour cream

3/4 cup mayonnaise or salad dressing

1/2 cup sugar

Dash salt

Mix salad ingredients. Mix dressing ingredients. Toss together.

Notes:

Makes a big bowl, very typical for an Amish wedding salad. It's good but rich.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Every great novel starts with a bit of fact. This story started with more than that.

A few years ago I was asked if I'd ever consider writing an Amish novel. The truth is, I hadn't. But the first seed of an idea was planted, and my mind started to feed and water it. That's how novels usually start.

Later that day I remembered that my daughter had a friend, Saretta, whose parents were raised Amish. They moved from an Amish community in Indiana to Montana, and that is how we met. I also remember my daughter telling me Ora Jay and Irene lost two daughters in a buggy accident.

Hmmm,
I thought. I
'd love to hear their story. Maybe someday, if I see them again, I'll ask.

The next day my daughter Leslie and I went out for some mom and daughter time. We went to a bookstore to browse and get coffee. As we looked over the bargain rack, guess who walked in . . . Saretta. We hadn't seen her for six months at least and there she was.