Miriam's Quilt (18 page)

He rubbed a thumb against her cheek. “Can you forget it happened or pretend it was a bad dream?”

Miriam couldn’t help herself. “Why… What did he want?”

A line appeared between Seth’s eyebrows. “Reuben is the best of men. But there are things he refuses to understand—things he chooses to ignore that I will not let him ignore. I make him very angry because of it. But I would never do anything to hurt him or his family. I wish he could understand. I would not for the world have you worry.”

Miriam swallowed three times but the lump would not vacate her throat. “What happened with Yost yesterday?”

Seth’s eyes grew wide and then narrowed as they darted from Jacob to Joshua. The little boys grew so quiet, it was if they weren’t breathing. Seth turned his back on Miriam and rested a hand against the wall. “Yost did nothing.”

Miriam knew she shouldn’t get angry, but her embarrassment, her shame at her own brother’s actions overwhelmed her.

“He spreads ugly gossip about you, he tramples through your fields, he harasses you and your family.” She felt she might burst with indignation. “That doesn’t sound like ‘nothing’ to me.”

“It
is
nothing, Miriam. Yost is going through a hard time right now. I never should have suggested group therapy. I offended him. He is angry and needs someone to take his anger out on. I am fine. You have enough pain in your life without my adding to it.”

Miriam growled and stomped her foot.
“You?
You’re adding to my pain? What about Yost? Do you think he bears any responsibility for this?”

Seth came close and took her face in his hands. “Please, Miriam, please. I cannot bear to see you so unhappy.”

“Unhappy?” She pulled from him and swiped a hand across her eyes. “I am drowning in it.”

Seth was the only person who understood her, who listened and didn’t judge. She knew she could tell him anything in her heart and he would still like her. Was Yost purposefully trying to alienate every friend she had?

Who would want to be friends with Miriam Bontrager? If her sister wasn’t embarrassing the family, her brother was. Ephraim was right to stay as far away from her as possible. It was only a matter of time before Seth came to the same conclusion.

The last time she came to Seth’s ranch, she had cried like a baby on his shoulder. This time, she determined to fall apart in the privacy of her own home.

She couldn’t utter one word without bursting into tears, so she spun on her heels and marched out the far door. She jumped onto Daisy and trotted her down the lane.

“Miriam, come back,” she heard Seth call.

Miriam was convinced that she would never show her face at Seth’s again.

She wouldn’t be coming back.

“Good morning!” Martha called.

There were already three tourists waiting outside Martha’s quilt shop the next morning when Miriam and Martha arrived. Martha greeted the couple and their teenage son, and before she’d even gotten the door unlocked, she found out they were from California and were here visiting relatives. Martha was a good merchant. She took a keen interest in every one of her customers.

The shoppers filed through the door. Miriam followed and quickly hopped onto the ladder to light the propane lamps hanging about the store. Miriam found the hiss of the lanterns a comforting, pleasant sound, a constant in every Amish home like the Bible, the
Ausbund,
and the family.

Once the lamps were lit, Miriam dusted the counters and swept while Martha gave her customers a guided tour of the shop. Four more people came in the shop. It looked to be a busy morning.

Miriam massaged her temples and tried to focus her thoughts on work instead of her family troubles. When she returned home last night, Yost was not there. She had shut herself in her bedroom under the pretense of working on Seth’s quilt so she would not have to face Yost when he did come home. What would she say to him? Or should she say nothing? She knew she could not see him without lashing out. Best to cool off first so she wouldn’t say something she regretted later about his disgraceful behavior.

Miriam clenched her teeth. Why did she need to figure out how not to offend Yost, when he made all the trouble? He didn’t deserve special treatment. He deserved a good, swift kick in the
hinnerdale.

“Miriam, will you wrap this quilt for Mrs. Dustin?”

Miriam snapped to attention. Enough of the self-indulgence at work. She went to the counter and Martha carefully handed her the thousand-dollar quilt that used to hang in the front window. Appliquéd with a circle of roses and lilies, it read “I A
M THE
R
OSE OF
S
HARON
.”

“It will go great in the guest room,” the man said as Martha rang up his purchase and took his credit card. “They’ll think they stepped back in time.”

Miriam cleaned her hands thoroughly with a wet sanitary wipe before gently enfolding the quilt in crinkly, white tissue paper and placing it in a large gift box perfect for travel.

Her packing job pleased the man. “I like how you handled that quilt. A work of art shouldn’t be stuffed in a plastic bag with groceries.”

Miriam smiled. “Something this precious requires great care. It will give you years of pleasure, Lord willing.”

She came around the counter and handed the man his box. He thanked her, and he and his family walked out the door. Martha squealed quietly and gave Miriam a swift hug. “Open ten minutes and already made a thousand dollars. What a happy day.”

The little bell on the door tinkled faintly and Laura, with a red face and moist eyes, hurried into the store. She caught sight of Miriam immediately and came to her, agitated and breathless. “I am sorry to bother you at work,” she said, glancing at Martha. “But is there any way you could leave for a few minutes?”

Laura’s wild expression sent Miriam’s heart racing. Whatever the matter, it wasn’t good news. “What’s wrong?”

Laura wrung her hands together. “Seth has been hurt.”

Miriam’s heart almost leaped out of her chest. “What happened? Is he okay?”

Laura grabbed Miriam’s hand. “He just got home. I hate to impose like this, but you are so important to Seth. And—and I need your help. I am supposed to leave for school tomorrow, but how can I abandon him like this? Tell me what I should do.”

Miriam tried to comfort Laura even as her own panic threatened to eat her up. She squeezed Laura’s hand. “It’s going to be all right. Everything is going to be gute, Lord willing.” She turned to look at Martha.

Martha shooed them out the door. “Go. I will manage here.”

The buggy sat just outside the shop. They jumped in and started down the road before Miriam had time to gather her scattered wits.

“How is Seth? Do we need to take him to the hospital?”

“He has been at the hospital all night. Once they put a cast on his arm, he refused to stay longer and the policeman brought him home.”

“The police?”

By this time, tears made trails down Laura’s cheeks. “Seth won’t say a word about what happened. It aggravates me how forgiving he is. He walked home from the stable really late last night, and the policeman told me that a truck driver spotted three boys at the side of the road beating up on him.”

Miriam gasped.

“The driver honked his horn and scared the boys away. He didn’t get a good look but thought one or two of them were Amish. I can’t believe it. No Amish boy would do something like this.”

Miriam felt as if she had been thrown from a horse. The world started to spin and she cradled her head in her hands. She knew exactly who those boys were, those boys dressed as Amish.

Never in her life had she found it so difficult to speak. “How badly did they hurt him?”

“He says it’s nothing. He is so long-suffering, I hate it. But his arm is broken and there are bruises on his face, and he can’t stand up straight. When he got home, I sent him straight to bed. Even Ellie is concerned. She’s making him chicken soup. Pookie didn’t bark at him once, and Pookie always barks at him. That stupid dog whined and ran off with his tail between his legs.” Laura snapped the reins. “Who would do such a thing to Seth? He doesn’t have a mean bone in his body.”

With her head still in her hands, Miriam squeezed her eyes shut and tried not to cry. Yost had gone beyond anything she ever thought possible. She hadn’t believed things could get any worse. As they came closer and closer to the Lambrights’ house, Miriam let her screams echo inside her head.

Take me home! Take me home right now!

Knowing what Yost had done, she couldn’t bear to look Seth in the eyes again.

How he must hate her!

The buggy seemed to fly down the road, and Miriam’s sense of dread deepened with each mile. Once they reached the house, Miriam felt as heavy as a pile of stones.

Laura grabbed Miriam’s hand and pulled her across the yard and the fourteen flagstones. They blew through the door, passed Ellie in the kitchen tending to her soup, and went straight to Seth’s bedroom, which was set off from the washroom on the main floor and almost as small as his room at the stable.

Miriam thought it wasn’t possible for her to feel any worse, but when she saw Seth, an icy hand wrapped itself around her throat and she ceased breathing. He lay on his bed with his eyes closed and work boots still on his feet. His face shone ashen white except for three large purple bruises on his left cheek and jaw, and his left arm rested at his side with a cast up to the armpit.

They tiptoed into the room, but Seth immediately opened his eyes. His gaze flew to Miriam’s face, and he pressed his lips into a hard line.

Miriam understood the look. She wanted to crawl into a dark hole.

“Laura,” Seth whispered, “the upset multiplies, the more people you bring into it.”

Laura plopped her hands on her hips. “Oh, and you don’t think news of the attack will be all over the district by dinnertime? Miriam is your friend. I thought she would want to be told first.”

He furrowed his brow. “What have you told her?”

“What do you think?”

Seth studied Miriam’s face. Even though she thought she could never look him in the eyes again, she returned his gaze and hoped he would recognize the regret she wanted to communicate.

His lip twitched almost imperceptibly, and his eyes darkened to coal.

He knew. He knew that she knew.

His entire face became a looming storm. “Miriam, I am okay. Do not concern yourself about this for one minute. It is nothing,” he said with such intensity that he practically growled.

“Don
’
t concern yourself that your brother just broke my arm and put
me in the hospital.”

Miriam shook her head.

Seth must not have liked what he saw on her face. He shifted painfully on the bed and propped himself up on his good elbow. “Laura, do you think I could speak with Miriam alone?”

Laura twisted her lips and studied both of them suspiciously. “Why?”

“We want to discuss your future,” Seth said dryly, before turning his eyes to Miriam and becoming serious again.

“That should take about thirty seconds.” Laura glanced at Miriam doubtfully before shutting the door behind her.

Seth fell back onto his pillow like an old man on his deathbed. He closed his eyes momentarily, and Miriam watched pain travel across his face.

She scooted a short stool next to his bed and laid a hand over his arm. She felt him tense beneath her touch and, in dismay, withdrew her hand. Her need for forgiveness ached like hunger deep in the pit of her stomach. “I am so sorry.”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

“I am so ashamed.”

Concern flashed in his eyes. “This is why I did not want you to know. I cannot stand to see you so upset. It is worse than the physical pain. Yost does not have a cruel heart. He is young and easily influenced by other boys. They wanted to scare me, not hurt me.”

Miriam hated facing up to the monster her brother had become. “They broke your arm.”

“Nae, I tripped while running away.”

That revelation did nothing to diminish her distress. Miriam felt as low as ever. “I promise that no one in my family will bother you again. I’ll see to that.”

The clouds darkened on his face. “Don’t say that, Miriam.”

Seth deserved to be free of the Bontragers forever. The thought of never going to his stable again made her want to cry, but for once she would be unselfish. For Seth.

“I’ll go now,” she said.

“When will you come back?”

“You don’t want me to come back.”

“Jah, I do.” He pinned her with a stare. “More than anything.”

“Why? My brother has—”

“You don’t know me very well if you think anything that Yost could do would make me reject you. I think I’d die without you. Is that enough motivation to come back?”

“Die without you?”

His declaration briefly stunned her. “You don’t hate me?”

“How could I?”

Relief washed over Miriam like waves on the lakeshore. “I don’t deserve your kindness.”

“Now you are talking hogwash.” The elusive dimple appeared on his face, sending a warm sensation tingling into Miriam’s fingers.

Laura opened the door and came into the room.

“What should we do about Laura?” Seth said. “She has this crazy notion to miss first semester and take care of me. You’ve got to talk her out of that right quick.”

“And leave a cripple to care for the horses?” Laura wiped the last of the tears from her eyes. “You are more important than college. You’ve got to get that house started before it’s too cold, and now you won’t be able to work at the mill.”

“I can walk fine. And the cast comes off in eight weeks.” He pointed at her with an intense gaze. “You will not miss college.”

“And who will take care of the boys and Scilla? And your horses?”

“Jacob and Joshua can manage things today. I’ll be at the stable tomorrow.”

“With one arm?” Miriam said.

Seth lifted his good arm and gasped in pain. He tried to hide it by clearing his throat. “One arm is better than none. I am already feeling better.”

Miriam prepared for resistance. “Better? Jah. I am coming to the stable to help every day.”

“You have your own chores and a job. I refuse to be a burden to anyone.”

“If I postpone my trip one week,” Laura said, “I will only miss freshman orientation and a couple of days of classes. By then you won’t be walking around like an old man with arthritis.”

Miriam shook her head.

Seth did too. “Absolutely not. If anyone needs orientation, it’s a girl who doesn’t even know how to drive a car.”

“He’s right, Laura. You have been waiting for this day for five years. Let me help. At the very least, Seth can sit on a lawn chair at the stable and tell me what to do.”

A ghost of a smile flitted across Laura’s lips. “You mean, boss you around.”

Seth shook his head again. “I can’t ask you to—”

“You are not asking,” Miriam said. “I am telling you. I know more about horses than you, and you can’t stop me. I can run faster than a one-armed man.”

Seth curved his mouth in mock indignation. “More about horses than me? Now, wait a minute. That’s going a bit too far.”

If it weren’t for the nagging emptiness in Miriam’s stomach, Seth’s expression might have made her smile. “I’ll be by first thing in the morning.”

Seth smiled in surrender and shrugged his shoulders. The movement made him catch his breath. When Laura and Miriam leaned toward him in concern, he weakly waved them away. “I’m fine. Feeling better already.”

* * * * *

After hanging her bonnet on the hook, Miriam marched to the kitchen to see if she could help Mamm with supper.

It seemed as if a month had passed instead of just the day. Work had rolled on like a dream Miriam couldn’t quite recall. Neither she nor Martha knew the reason for the steady stream of customers, but today had been one of their best days of the year.

Mamm rolled out dough on the counter while Susie and Hollow sat at the table cutting out biscuits and putting them on the baking pan.

Susie looked good today, more lively and cheerful. She grinned and teased Hollow about his pathetic pieces of biscuit dough. “If you pick them up like that, they will fall apart. You’ll not have a gute circle.”

Hollow laughed and placed his blob of dough on the pan. “They taste the same no matter how they look.”

“Tell that to your pretzel customers,” Susie said.

Mamm looked at Miriam and winked. “Miriam, my dear, how was work?”

Susie jumped up from her seat and wiped her hands on the towel tied around her waist. “Did you hear about Seth Lambright? Isn’t it terrible?”

Miriam felt her face get hot. “Jah. I went to visit him.”

“Visit him? During work?” Mamm asked.

“Martha let me duck out for a few minutes. His face is bruised, and the cast goes up to his shoulder. I didn’t see any other injuries, but he can barely move for the soreness.”