Miriam and the Stranger (17 page)

I
t was Sunday afternoon, and Miriam laid Mose’s letter on her upstairs bedroom dresser. She had read the letter twice. With a trembling hand, she walked over to the window and fingered the dark drapes. Outside she could see the slanting sunlight flooding the plants set near the greenhouse with a soft glow. Autumn was nearly over, but winter didn’t arrive as quickly on the prairie as it did in Possum Valley. Sometime before Christmas Uncle William would move everything inside. The only plants that could stay outside as the cold set in were Christmas trees, and Uncle William didn’t sell those. Once in a while an
Englisha
customer asked for Christmas trees, and Uncle William would smile and say, “We don’t handle those.”

The message would be transmitted in a gentle way that the Amish didn’t celebrate the birth of Christ like their
Englisha
neighbors did. Eventually the questions would stop when everyone in the area had learned the young community’s ways.

Now if Tyler Johnson would only interest himself in questions about Christmas trees, how much better her situation would be. Miriam sighed and turned away from the window. She hoped Tyler’s continued conversations this past week with Uncle William were about other matters. Surely Tyler wouldn’t ask more questions about Mose and herself. But what else was Tyler interested in? She couldn’t imagine. Whatever the subject was, Tyler might have invented it so he could continue to hang around. Yet what would he gain by such actions? Did Tyler really think she was a prisoner in the community? He seemed to, but how could he think that? She was no princess in an
Englisha
fairy tale. She was an old maid, while Tyler was handsome enough to qualify as a prince. Miriam groaned out loud. This attraction between them must come to an end. She could not fall for an
Englisha
man’s charms, nor he for his need to rescue a princess.

Surely Tyler would soon leave the area, or perhaps she could leave early for Shirley’s wedding. That would place an extra burden on Betsy, her substitute. Betsy had already been a bundle of nerves when they spoke today after the services about the upcoming week of substitute teaching. But somehow Betsy would manage the schoolhouse just fine. The children were good students and wouldn’t make her job harder.

Miriam seated herself on the bed and focused on the letter from Mose. She would be his
frau
soon, and from then on there would be no further questions of where her loyalties lay.

Miriam reached over to retrieve Mose’s letter from the dresser. She opened the pages and read the greeting again, “Dear Miriam…”

Miriam looked away from the page. How was she even worthy to date this man? Mose was a minister, and perhaps soon would be a bishop, and all while she had awful things hidden in her heart. Perhaps Mose would soon suspect something. Wouldn’t a holy
man see right through her? That hadn’t happened when Mose was here. But it might when she saw him again at Shirley’s wedding.

Miriam continued to read,

Greetings in the name of the Lord. I trust you have kept yourself in the fear of God since we have seen each other. There is much in this world that tempts us and draws us away from all that is pure and holy. I comfort my heart that you are a woman who seeks only what is right, and rejects evil in all its ways.

Miriam laid the page down to stare out of the window. Mose was correct on one point; she did try to live right, even if she wasn’t doing very well right at the moment. Of course, she hadn’t exactly done anything wrong yet, Miriam comforted herself. Perhaps Mose would find a little mercy in his heart if he knew the full story. She had not gone looking for this temptation called Tyler Johnson.

Miriam looked down to read again,

I looked into your face often while I visited in Oklahoma, and I told myself you are both beautiful and holy. It’s not often that a man is given such a gift, Miriam. I don’t wish to speak too boldly, but you have been greatly blessed of the Lord. I find my heart lifted in gratitude to God that I have been allowed to live to see this day. I never would have wanted Rachel to leave me and this earth, but the Lord decides such things. His grace also supplies our needs, and in this area great grace has been given me in that I have met you.

Calmness crept over Miriam’s heart. Mose’s words were what she needed. He spoke both rebuke and comfort. Miriam got to her feet. She would not think about Tyler anymore. Mose and she would stand together against the world and all that threatened them. That was the end of the matter.

Miriam approached the dresser again and took out a tablet. She should have written Mose earlier, but she hadn’t. She would write now. She would thank him for his kind thoughts toward her, and for words that both rebuked and comforted.

Miriam began to write,

Dear Mose,

Greetings in the name of Jesus. I received your letter on Friday, and I have read it through several times now.

Miriam paused to study the words. Were those too plainspoken? Mose might think her forward. Still, it was best that Mose see her heart and know that she did long for him. What woman wouldn’t want to long for her future husband?

Miriam continued to write,

I should have written sooner, but I did want to wait until I received your first letter. I’m hoping you had a decent trip back home on the Greyhound. I couldn’t see you through the window when you left Coalgate, but I was waving. I’ve thought of you often since then and pray that the Lord will keep watch over you. Thank you so much for your kind words and also for the words of rebuke and warning. I know that I am a creature
subject to failure, and often ask the Lord to keep me on the straight and narrow. Your concern is much appreciated.

I spoke with my substitute teacher again today about my visit to Possum Valley for Shirley’s wedding. A longing has come over me to travel there sooner, but I don’t know if I should indulge myself or not. It doesn’t seem quite right to impose a greater burden on Betsy than she already carries…

Miriam wrote for twenty minutes before she folded the pages and slipped them into an envelope.

There, she had written her first love letter. Ivan, when he was after her money, had once written to her and she had responded, but those hadn’t been love letters. Not in this way. Mose would be her husband next year unless something terrible happened again.

Miriam laid the letter on the dresser and slipped out into the hall and down the stairs. Aunt Fannie looked up from her rocker with a smile. From the other rocker Uncle William’s gentle snore filled the living room. Miriam tiptoed across the floor.

Aunt Fannie’s smile broadened. “Don’t worry. He’s slept long enough for a Sunday afternoon.”

“I heard that,” Uncle William muttered, straightening up in his rocker. “Is the popcorn ready?”

“So like a man,” Aunt Fannie scolded. “What about
my
nap?”

“I’ll get the popcorn,” Miriam said with a laugh. Their lighthearted teasing warmed her heart.

Aunt Fannie rose from her rocker to follow Miriam into the kitchen. “Are you missing Mose?” she teased. “Tomorrow it will be a week he’s been gone.”

Miriam kept her voice steady. “I was reading his letter again, and I wrote him back.”

“That’s so dear,” Aunt Fannie cooed. “I never had a chance to write William letters because we both still lived in Possum Valley. But that would have been so romantic.”

Miriam bit her tongue and didn’t say anything. Aunt Fannie would take her silence as embarrassment, which was sort of true. She was embarrassed over her lack of proper feelings for the man she was to marry. What she had written in the letter moments earlier sounded almost too personal. She didn’t have a right to say the words.

“I think we’re going to the hymn singing tonight,” Aunt Fannie announced. “You’ve inspired me, and I feel young again. I hadn’t expected to have a dating girl in the house so soon.”

Miriam managed a smile. After a moment of silence, she changed the subject.

“I’m thinking about leaving early for Possum Valley. Do you think that would be overly selfish?”

“Oh, that would be perfectly fine,” Aunt Fannie gushed. “You’re in love, and I’m sure the schoolboard will support this decision, unless…” Aunt Fannie’s face fell. “Does this mean Mose will steal you away from us before the term is over? Maybe you shouldn’t tempt him.”

Miriam felt the heat rush up her neck. “I’m not a temptation, Aunt Fannie.”

“Oh, but you are.” Aunt Fannie clucked her tongue. “I’m comforted that a man has finally arrived with the sense to see it. You’re being courted now by a minister, and perhaps even a bishop in a few weeks.” Aunt Fannie stopped short. “When is the ordination, by the way?”

“I don’t know.”

Aunt Fannie paused a moment. “It’s the week before the wedding, I think. That’s when most of the churches around Possum Valley have their communion time. Don’t tell me you didn’t think of that. You should be there, in attendance. What better way to show support for Mose?”

“But how will that look if I walk in and… I’m not even promised to him yet?”

Aunt Fannie was on her feet in an instant. “I’ll slip a little note in with your letter,” Aunt Fannie declared, “and it will be taken care of, and oh, Miriam, this is such a dream.”

“Is my popcorn about ready?” Uncle William roared from the living room. “All I hear is women’s voices chattering like magpies.”

“The nerve of the man,” Aunt Fannie muttered, but she hollered back, “Yes, dear. Coming up.”

“Maybe you should go calm him down,” Miriam teased.

Aunt Fannie chuckled. “That’s the spirit. I’m thinking Mose is already doing you a lot of
gut
. The two of you will raise a household of
kinner
for the Lord and bless the whole community in Wayne County. Isn’t that so
wunderbah
?”

Miriam didn’t answer as she turned the gas burner on the stove to high and poured in the popcorn. With the handle twirling in her hand, Miriam asked, “Is Tyler… Mr. Johnson… still talking to Uncle William?”

“Ach,
yah
.” Aunt Fannie sounded exasperated. “The two jaw together worse than women. In fact, Tyler asked if he could stop by this afternoon, so we’d better make extra popcorn, now that I think of it.”

Miriam stopped in midspin. “He’s coming? This afternoon?”

“Yep,” Aunt Fannie replied cheerfully. “You know, sometimes I think the man wants to join the community. Wouldn’t
that
be something if William and I had a hand in another of the Lord’s
gut
works? And you’ve played your part too, I think.”

“That would be
wunderbah
,” Miriam managed, “but I haven’t done much.” Miriam whirled the popcorn popper even faster.

“Oh, you have,” Aunt Fannie insisted. “I think Tyler sees in you the perfect picture of what’s so lacking out in his world. Not many women are like you, Miriam. Tyler finds it easy to speak with you, and that’s also
wunderbah
.”

If Aunt Fannie only knew, Miriam thought. The loud popping of kernels filled the kitchen, and Miriam emptied the popcorn into a large bowl. Aunt Fannie stepped closer to pour a stream of golden butter over the white kernels, followed by salt from the shaker.

“William will love that,” Aunt Fannie said as stray sunbeams played on the popcorn.

Outside an automobile drove into the lane, and Miriam breathed a quick prayer. “Help me, dear Lord, and protect me from temptation today.”

Chapter Seventeen