The Amish Seamstress (47 page)

She came right away. After checking her mother's lungs, she called Lexie and asked her to stop by too, as soon as she could. Lexie was a licensed nurse-midwife with more medical training than Marta.

Klara, Ella, and Giselle all gathered around when Lexie arrived an hour later. She listened to Frannie's lungs with her stethoscope, looking at Marta as she did and nodding. When she was done she said, “We need to keep her as comfortable as possible. Keeping the bed raised will help. If she seems to be in pain, contact her doctor about meds.”

“Is it pneumonia?” I asked.

Lexie bit her lip. “I'm not sure. If it's not, it's very close.”

Klara pulled the covers back up to her mother's chin. “Shouldn't we take her to the doctor?”

Marta shook her head. “Remember she has the advanced directive. This is what she wants.”

Klara frowned.

“It's hard, I know,” Marta said. “But she doesn't want us to prolong her suffering.”

Klara sat back down in the chair by Frannie's side.

“However,” Marta said, stepping to the end of the bed. “I did ask a doctor to come by. Do you remember Ben Yoder?”

Klara nodded, and Marta turned to Lexie, explaining. “He just finished his residency. He grew up Plain.”

Lexie smiled.

“I just want to make sure we're not missing anything.” Marta gripped the metal bar at the foot of the hospital bed and added, “I'm just glad all of you made it home in time.” Her eyes fell on Frannie. “Because she's definitely taken a turn for the worse.”

Ben arrived around ten the next morning to check on Frannie. I was in the kitchen when he arrived, and I dried my hands on a towel as I headed back to the living room.

The young doctor wore khaki pants and a light blue shirt under a dark
coat. “I can only consult with you,” he said to Marta. “Considering she's not my patient.”

Marta nodded. “That's all I want.”

Ben stepped to the side of the bed, the one Klara wasn't sitting at, and spoke quietly to Frannie. He rubbed his hands together, warming them, as he did. I couldn't hear what he said, but she opened her eyes. He pulled a stethoscope from the pocket of his coat, slipped it around his neck, and listened to her chest.

Then he asked her a question.

She nodded.

He said something else to her and she shook her head.

I marveled at his bedside manner, wondering if he planned to set up a practice catering to the Amish. He asked Frannie a few more questions and then repositioned her bed, moved her head slightly, and then bowed his head. Obviously he was praying for her.

She turned toward him, I was certain with tears in her eyes. He bent down and said something more to her.

I swiped at my own eyes. Ben Yoder had a gift. I could see that God had led him into medicine.

He told Frannie goodbye and then stepped toward the door. Marta followed and motioned for me to too. He stopped in the entryway and then smiled when he saw me. “Izzy, what are you doing here?”

“She's
Mamm
's caregiver,” Marta answered.

I nodded.

“Well, you're doing a good job.” Then he spoke to both Marta and me. “Frannie could have a week or so left. Or less. She says she's not in too much pain, but if it increases, call her doctor. Otherwise, she's well cared for, that I can see. All of you are making the process as easy for her as can be expected.”

“
Danke
,” Marta whispered.

“It's up to God's timing,” he said. It was evident Ben hadn't turned his back on his faith. I wouldn't even say he'd turned his back on his family or the Amish church. It seemed God had simply called him to serve in a different way.

After Ben left, I told Marta I didn't need to go home for the weekend.
I was finally supposed to be taking my two days off, starting tomorrow, but now I couldn't bear to leave.

“No, you need a break. There are plenty of people here now to cover for you.”

Disappointed, I asked her, “Will you let me know if Frannie takes a turn for the worse?” A few months ago, I was terrified to be with someone who was dying. Now I was afraid of being away when it happened to Frannie.

Marta assured me she would leave a message on my
daed
's phone if there was any change. “Why wouldn't I? You're family.”

Her words rang warmly in my ears. I
was
family with these people. In a way, I was a better fit here than in my own home.

That night on the way to the
daadi haus
, Giselle trailed behind me. I stopped on the pathway and waited for her. The clouds had broken up and a crescent moon hung above the pine trees towering over the house. “How are you doing?” I asked.

She sighed. “So-so.” As she spoke she stumbled on an uneven rock on the pathway, catching herself before she fell. I quickly stepped to her side, taking her arm.

“Thank you. I guess I'm more exhausted than I thought.”

Once we stepped into the pitch black
daadi haus
, I fumbled for the flashlight on the shelf in the entry but knocked it to the floor. It took me a few moments to locate it, and when I turned it on nothing happened. I hit it on the end and the light flickered.

The house seemed absolutely void. It had sat empty all week, except for me and Giselle. Without Frannie, it felt as if the life had been sucked out of it.

“I'll light the lamp,” I said, making my way to the kitchen.

Giselle's voice was weary. “Don't you get tired of all this?”

“Of what?” I shone the flickering light onto the countertop and located the box of matches.

“Supposedly this is the simple life, but nothing about it is.” She sighed. “Flipping a light switch. Now that's simple.”

I lit the lamp, but the house still felt dark. “It's not so bad.” The truth was, I'd never lived where I could flip a light switch. This was all I knew.

A short while later, as I crawled into my bed and extinguished my lamp, I thought of what it meant to be Amish, all the way back to my ancestors, Abigail and Gorg. I shuddered to think about what my life would have looked like if they
had
been excommunicated back then, if they hadn't repented and passed their Amish heritage all the way down to me.

It gave me a new appreciation for Zed's film,
Carving a Legacy
. True, Abraham Sommers didn't turn back to the Lord until later in life, but his revelation of truth and steps toward reconciliation had left a foundation of faith for his family.

I remembered that Frannie had wanted to see the film, and then I nearly sat up in bed when the idea struck me. Zed needed to show it to her! To the whole family, actually. Together. What could be better, for all of them, than Zed's beautiful reminder of where they had come from.

T
WENTY
-F
IVE

Z
ed was the one charged with bringing me home for the weekend, and he showed up the next morning right on schedule. Giselle and I were both still out in the
daadi haus
when he knocked on the door.

Unable to contain my enthusiasm, as soon as he came in I blurted out that he should show his film to Frannie and the rest of the family.

His eyes lit up. “That's a great idea. I have my computer in the car. We could show it right now.”

“Perfect. You took out that picture of my face, right?”

“Ah,” he said, looking embarrassed. “No. I forgot. I'm sorry.”

My shoulders slumped. We would have to wait.

Giselle stepped out of the kitchen. “Oooh, I want to see the film too. Why don't we make an event out of it, just like going to the movies? We can all gather around
Mamm
's bed to watch it together.”

“I'll be gone all weekend,” I said.

“It can wait. You'll be back on Monday, right?”

I nodded, fearing Frannie might not last that long. I didn't want to be the one to say it, though, so I held my tongue. Surely she could hold on until then.

“Monday it is,” Zed said. “But it'll have to be in the evening. I'm working all day.”

As I gathered my things, I could hear Giselle and Zed talking easily, like old friends. It wasn't long before they were on the topic of the costumes for his next film. It sounded as though Giselle had told him her plan for weaving the fabric for all of the costumes, and he was thrilled.

On the way to my house, he swung by Susie's shop so I could drop off my latest batch of work. I showed her the bookmarks I'd been making, and she agreed they would sell well. “Like wildfire,” she said.

By the looks of her belly, she'd be having a Christmas baby soon, with either Marta or Lexie at her delivery. I embraced her warmly before Zed and I left to continue on to my parents' house.

Because he had to get to work, he wasn't able to come in when he dropped me off. I thanked him, told him goodbye, said I would see him on Monday, and then I grabbed my bag, swinging it slightly as I started up the back steps to the house. I'd only been gone for two weeks this time, but it felt like forever.

Mamm
was in the kitchen when I walked in, making beef stroganoff, which happened to be one of my favorite dishes.

“Where is everyone?” I asked.

“Skating. Tabitha and Linda took the boys. You should go on down.”

“I have some work to do.”

“Why don't you work in here? After dinner you can help me make snowball cookies. I thought I'd give them out to the neighbors this year. And I'll make an extra plate for you to take back to Klara's.”

We chatted as she cooked and I embroidered, sitting on the step stool against the wall, close to the woodstove. I told her about how Frannie was doing and about Lexie, Giselle, Ella, and Zed arriving. I left out telling her about my trip with Zed and Giselle into Lancaster, though.

I told her about Ben Yoder coming by and how well suited he seemed to being a doctor, trying not to be obvious as I gauged her reaction. How she felt about Ben not joining the church, I thought, might give me an indication to how she would feel about me if I chose to do the same.

“I can see why his parents let him
be
,” I added casually. “It's good they didn't stand in his way.”

Mamm
smiled a little but didn't respond. Instead, she changed the subject, telling me what Tabitha and Linda had made the boys for Christmas—hot chocolate mix—and said that all of my siblings would come for Christmas Day. “They're doing Christmas Eve with their in-laws this year.”

“How's
Daed
's business?”

“
Gut
. He delivered several more tables to be given as gifts.” She motioned to the desk in the living room. It was covered with papers. “He's having a hard time keeping up with everything. We're going to figure out how I can help.”

I was relieved to hear that.

“I have a stack of mending. It's in your room. I told Tabitha to do it, but she hasn't.”

“I'll work on it later,” I said. “No problem.”

There was a commotion at the back door and then in the mudroom. A moment later Stephen and Thomas came inside in their stocking feet, their cheeks rosy and chapped, their hair dark with sweat and their eyes bright.

“We had so much fun,” Stephen said, sliding on the linoleum toward
Mamm
and wrapping his arms around her waist. Thomas followed and did the same. The two of them nearly knocked her down. She laughed and shooed them away. “Go break the ice in the trough,” she said.

“We just took our boots off.” Stephen started toward the living room.

“Now!”
Mamm
commanded. “Get it done before your
daed
gets home.”

Stephen hung his head a little and started toward the back door as Tabitha and Linda came in, telling me a quick hello. “Set the table, girls,”
Mamm
said.