Promise Lodge (30 page)

Sweet relief washed over Deborah's soul. It had cost her father a great deal—had humbled him, indeed—to allow his emotions to override his usual stoic control of them. “I plan to stay away from any more of such trouble,
jah
.”

“And I figure to help by keeping Deborah with
me,
” Noah chimed in. His earnest gaze suggested that he badly wanted to talk to her, sometime when they could be alone.

“If we move to Promise Lodge, we can
all
keep an eye on her!” Johnny crowed. “Let's do it, Dat!”

“
Jah,
you ask us every now and again if we're gonna fish or cut bait,” Menno remarked as he snatched another slice of banana bread from the plate. “And the answer's plain as day! There's a lake right here, so what're we waiting for?”

Mamma was chuckling, looking as happy and relieved as the rest of the women at the table. “We're waiting for your
dat
to make that decision, boys,” she reminded them. “Let's not pester him about it—even if all of us
do
want to come here to be with Deborah and these
gut
friends we've been missing.”

Deborah saw her father fighting a smile. Eli Peterscheim wasn't a man who'd allow outspoken sons or a wishful wife to sway him, yet she sensed his mind had been made up once he'd gotten a look at the Promise Lodge property.

“I had serious reservations when you left Coldstream, Amos, because I believed you were shirking your responsibilities to our church district,” Dat said. “But if any
gut
's to come of Deborah's ordeal with Isaac Chupp, we should see this visit to Promise Lodge as God's taking us by the hand and leading us . . . to our new home.”

Christine nodded, smiling at her girls. “That's how we felt when we came here, too, Eli.”

“No regrets,” Rosetta said firmly.

“You can stake out your property and it'll be waiting for you whenever you're ready to move,” Mattie added as she smiled at Mamma and Dat. “We'd be
so
happy to have you folks here!”

The expression on her father's face made Deborah hold her breath. Had Eli Peterscheim ever
beamed
this way? “I'll put the Coldstream farm up for sale when we get back,” he stated. “It's time to move our family forward. Thank the Lord we don't have to wander through the wilderness for forty years like the Israelites did, to find where we belong.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

After church—when both Eli and Amos had preached about the blessings of forgiveness—and their simple noon meal, Noah stood on the lodge porch. Once again the grass was dotted with raindrops and the rows of vegetables glowed green against the dark, wet soil of the garden plots. Hummingbirds buzzed around him, darting in to sip the nectar from the trumpet vine flowers. Was there any prettier picture than black-and-white Holsteins grazing in a green pasture beside a red barn?

The clatter of dishes and the women's pleasant chatter drifting through the screen door was interrupted by the ringing of the phone. Noah hoped this call brought more good news. Now that the Peterscheims had resolved their problems, a burden had been lifted from his heart. He was eager to proceed with everyone's plans for Promise Lodge—and his future with Deborah. Aunt Rosetta's happy voice made him smile.

“Ruby Kuhn!” she exclaimed. “Just this morning I was wondering how to call you to . . . oh, my, I'm so sorry . . . but what a blessing that you and Beulah are willing and able to live elsewhere. We're all
so
glad you're coming back to Promise Lodge!”

Noah chuckled. He looked forward to helping the Kuhn sisters set up their beehives and the cheese factory, which would provide an income for others who moved to their colony. He sensed that with Ruby and Beulah around, life at Promise Lodge would never be boring.

“It seems that Delbert had every intention of keeping Ruby and Beulah in Versailles,” Rosetta recounted to the others after she'd hung up. “But their youngest sister lost her husband this week, and she'll be moving in with her four kids—which makes a total of a dozen youngsters under their roof. So Delbert will be bringing our friends back—with their bees—in a couple of days.”

“Twelve kids and three adults sharing the one bathroom, as I recall,” Christine murmured. “Five adults, if Ruby and Beulah stayed there. Oh, my.”

“God works out His will in ways we don't always understand,” Noah heard his mother respond. “It's a
gut
thing Ruby and Beulah can accommodate their family's need for more space by coming here.”

“And what a blessing that you're setting up apartments for
maidels
and widows, Rosetta,” Deborah's mother remarked. “I'm sure Delbert would've done right by Beulah and Ruby, but you've saved him the expense of building on to his house on very short notice, it seems.”

“They need a couple of those portable toilets like you see in parks,” Lily remarked.

Noah chuckled along with the ladies. As he waited patiently on the porch, he saw Amos and Roman walking beyond the orchard with Eli, pointing out the proposed layout of roads and lots. It had been good to hear both preachers leading their worship service this morning. Noah looked forward to living near the Peterscheims again—and to working alongside Eli as a welder in his own right now. Preacher Eli wasn't as good-natured as Amos, but he was solid in his faith—a leader they could count on as the Promise Lodge colony grew into the future.

At the sound of Deborah's footsteps, Noah turned. She came to stand beside him, smiling sweetly. Now that she and her father had made their peace, her face glowed with an inner beauty he'd always loved. “I'm glad you and your
dat
have settled your differences,” he murmured. “I gave him the what-for yesterday—and Amos did, too. Told him if he wanted to see his grandkids, he'd better practice the forgiveness he preaches—”

“You're a wise man, Noah Schwartz,” Deborah said. “
Denki
for your patience with him.”

“—but I'm putting the cart before the horse,” Noah continued in a rush. His pulse pounded with anticipation. “Walk with me, Deborah. I've got something to show you.”

Her hand fit perfectly in his, and as they strode toward the barn Noah was glad that he, too, had seen the truth of Deborah's confrontation with Isaac Chupp. He searched for the right words—the perfect way to say them—as he led her to the shed where they kept the tools and outdoor equipment.

Noah felt her pulse thrumming as his grip tightened on her strong, slender hand. Deborah looked eager to see his surprise, yet she was quietly waiting for him to reveal it. How far they both had come since their earlier courting days, when he'd kept his thoughts to himself and she had impulsively blurted her questions and demands.

Noah propped open the shed door with a rock. The sun's rays fell upon his gift and he held his breath as Deborah stepped inside. “For you,” he murmured. “I need to paint it white yet, but I—I hope this is what you had in mind.”

Deborah hurried toward the trellis. “Oh, Noah, it's
exactly
what I want!” she exclaimed. “And would you look at these hummingbirds? And the way the ivy follows the arched top and—oh, think how pretty this will be with red rose bushes climbing up both sides of it!”

When Deborah hugged him, Noah felt ecstatic. “Marry me, Deborah,” he whispered. “Let's make it work this time—
please?
I love you so much.”

When she gazed at him, Noah saw himself reflected in her deep green eyes. It was a wonderful place to be, as though he was looking out through the windows of her soul, already at home in her heart.

“You're all I've ever wanted, Noah,” Deborah murmured. “It's you and me now, through thick and thin. In sunshine and shadow.”

They embraced again, their hearts beating as one. When he thought he could speak coherently, Noah eased away from her. “Shall we pick out the place to put your trellis—and our house?”

Deborah thought for a moment. “It's hard to know where we should live until we see where Dat—or your
mamm
—put their houses.”

Noah smiled, not surprised at Deborah's response. She had always placed her family's desires ahead of her own. “No, sweetie, they want
us
to choose—and Mamm has decided to live in the lodge rather than maintain a house,” he reminded her gently. “I suspect Amos will keep trying to change her mind about that, however. He says his house will go up right after ours does, and he doesn't intend to live in it alone for long.”

Noah led Deborah over to a large piece of paper on the wall. “Here's the sketch Amos and I roughed out, with Truman's suggestions about where to put the roads and the water lines and such. This'll help you picture the colony better, I think.”

He watched Deborah's facial expressions as she traced the pencil lines with her finger. “So this row of plots would face the lake . . .”

“We're keeping the space between the lodge, the cabins, and the lake open as common ground for everyone to enjoy,” Noah explained as he pointed to these features. “And of course Mamm's produce plots and the orchard will remain intact.”

“Could be one of our families will want the orchard as part of their tract—even if Ruby puts her hives there,” Deborah murmured. Then she smiled. “What about this plot? Am I right that the apple trees would be the back boundary, and the house could face Rainbow Lake? It seems far enough from the entry road that we wouldn't be bothered by folks coming and going—”

“And this section is big enough to raise hay for our horses, and for a barn,” Noah said as he pointed to these spots within the plot's boundaries. “It only totals about fifteen acres—one of the smaller plots—but since I don't intend to farm for a living, that's fine by me. Less fence to maintain. Less mowing, too—although I'd be happy to let Aunt Rosetta pasture her goats with us to save me some labor.”

Deborah laughed. “Tell me true, Noah. Is this the spot
you
like the best?”

He grinned as he slipped his arm around her. “And how'd you know that, missy?”

She shrugged, looking very happy. “You're talking about acreage for hay and Rosetta's goats as though you've already figured out where you want the house and your outbuildings.”

Noah smiled at her observation. “It helped that your
dat
liked the looks of this place to the south of it. If he puts his forge in this corner, we could build it big enough for both of us to use,” he explained. “Amos told him, though, that you and I had first choice. And I want
you
to be happy, Deborah.”

“That's quite a nice gift Amos and your
mamm
have given us.” She sighed pensively. “When I came here, I never dreamed I'd be—that
we'd
be—picking out a new place that's nowhere near where we would've settled had we married sooner. I love you, Noah. You're so
gut
to me.”

Deborah's smile did funny things to Noah's insides. Her tender words made him feel he'd become a man who was truly worthy of her. “Let's have a look, shall we?” he suggested. “You'll get a better feel for this plot if we walk around it instead of deciding by how it looks on paper.”

As they left the shed, the sun and clouds shifted, casting an ethereal light over the lodge and the lake, the grassy hills, and the woodlands that rolled farther than they could see in all directions. When they reached the approximate front boundary of the plot they'd discussed, Noah led Deborah to the top of its gentle rise several yards back from where the road would be constructed.

“If we built the house here, we'd catch the breeze,” he pointed out. “And we'd be looking out over the lake, toward the lodge and the gardens.”

“Better to be within sight of your aunts' places than looking at other families' property, don't you think?” Deborah remarked. She shielded her eyes with her hand, her face aglow in the rays from the setting sun. “Your
mamm
and aunts are right. This place surely must resemble the Garden of Eden, even if some of the trees and underbrush need to be cleared away. And look—a double rainbow!”

Noah's breath caught. Against a backdrop of clouds, two shimmering bands of color seemed to rise out of the lake and arch over the orchard, one above the other. “Wow, it's not often you can distinguish all of the colors. Twice,” he whispered as he held her hand tightly.

“It's the sign of God's promise to His people.” Deborah gazed at the sight for several seconds, lost in thought. “Maybe He wanted you to take your time while we were courting before, Noah. He might've even used my impatience—our breakup—and Isaac's troublemaking to bring us where He intended for us to live. After all, you don't see the rainbow until you've come through the rain.”

Noah smiled, because
he
couldn't see anything except Deborah's gentle smile and shining eyes, and the love that radiated from her face as she gazed at him. He knew he'd recall this moment as the new beginning of their life together. He held her close, kissing her cheek. “There's no place like home,” he murmured.

“
Jah,
” Deborah replied. “And here we are.”

Rosetta Bender loves to cook, and as she prepares for the opening of the Promise Lodge Apartments, she'll be trying out her favorite recipes for her new friends the way you and I do! In this recipe section, you'll find down-home foods Amish women feed their families, along with some dishes that I've concocted in my own kitchen—because you know what? Amish cooking isn't elaborate. Plain cooks make an astounding number of suppers from whatever's in their pantry and their freezers. They also use convenience foods like Velveeta cheese, cake mixes, and canned soups to feed their large families for less money and investment of their time.

 

These recipes are also posted on my Web site,
www.CharlotteHubbard.com
. If you don't find a recipe you want, please e-mail me via my Web site to request it—and to let me know how you liked it!