The Photograph (15 page)

Eva waited on this side of the road while Abner Mast pulled his open wagon out of his driveway. She had checked for mail this late, thinking surely Lily would realize she must get in touch with her family. But there was nothing from Lily or anyone.

Eva thought again of how she'd left Frona with the unfinished
mending.
I'll sew a new dress and apron for
her,
she decided, wanting to do something nice for her.

Once Abner was out on the road and ready to head on, he waved his hand over his head. “Naomi just took the cookies fresh out of the oven for ya,” he called in his deep voice, a grin on his pleasant ruddy face.

“
Denki!
” She crossed narrow Eden Road after the horse pulled forward.

Inside Naomi's sparkling kitchen, the place smelled of cinnamon and vanilla. “Let me guess. You made snickerdoodles,
jah
?”

“That's a right
gut
smeller.” Naomi motioned for her. “
Kumme,
sit at the table with me.”

Eva hugged her friend and got settled at the table. She began to share her private hope that her brothers might not be so caught up with their own families and focus more on finding Lily.

“Well, they love Lily just as you and Frona do,” Naomi said. “Just 'cause you don't see them all too often doesn't mean they don't care. You know what's in their hearts.”

“
Jah
, s'pose.”

“No s'posin' about it.” Naomi folded her plump arms. “Listen, my dear. I bumped into Bena at market, and she said Menno's been worried sick over Lily. It keeps him up at night.”

“Menno himself stopped by to see Frona and me today about her.” Eva felt she should own up to that much.

“So, see there?” Naomi smiled, her round face rosy.

Eva took a second warm cookie from the pretty plate. “These are so delicious,” she said, changing the subject.

Thankfully, Naomi seemed to understand and let it drop. She had that way about her.

Then they got to talking about ways Eva could help direct her worries to praying whenever Lily came to mind. “Prayin' while you make your delicious candies, too,” Naomi suggested.

Sighing, Eva thought of her wonderful little shop. “I guess my whole world can't just be making sweets and selling them.”

“'Tis true, and I, for one, know it ain't.”

Eva wondered what, if anything, to say about Jed Stutzman. Unsure of herself, she ate more cookies than necessary and let Naomi talk gently about how the best exercise for one's heart was to practice reaching out to pick someone up—“and carryin' them, if need be.”

“I certainly would reach out to Lily if I knew where she was.”

“I know ya would.” Naomi's eyes shone with sympathy.

Eva held her breath, refusing tears.

Naomi got up and poured some homemade meadow tea and set it down in front of Eva. “Now, I've been doin' my share of talking. Is there anything you'd like to bring up that we haven't already discussed?”

“Well . . . you remember meeting Jed Stutzman, the fella who took care of little Sammy at the auction?” She paused. “He invited me to go riding come Saturday.”

Naomi's eyes sparkled. “
Ach
, isn't that nice?”

No words of
caution?

“It'll be fun,” Eva agreed.

“And something to look forward to during this sad time.” Naomi tilted her head toward her. “Jed's his name?”

“
Jah
. And not a very common name round here.”

Naomi looked away, her chest rising and falling. “I daresay if you two fall in love, he'll take you away from us.”

Just like Frona said,
Eva thought.

“And I'd have to say selfishly that I'd miss you something awful.”

“It's just a carriage ride,” Eva said, but it sounded empty even to her. Buggy rides could lead to courtship, even marriage, and she recognized that the interest she was feeling from Jed was unlike anything she'd experienced before.

At that precise moment, someone knocked at the back door, and Eva was relieved at the interruption. But then she saw who it was—Fannie Ebersol, who looked sheepish when she noticed Eva sitting there.

“Goodness, Eva, never expected to see
you
here.”

What on earth?
Eva thought.

Fannie's firm jaw—the way she cast her gaze at first Eva, then Naomi—gave Eva a twinge of misgiving.

“W
HAT
DO
YA
MEAN
you pledged on your honor?” Eva asked Fannie when she was seated at Naomi's table.

“Your sister was determined,” Fannie answered. “She didn't want anyone to keep her from leavin', or even to go lookin' for her. That's why I didn't tell you where she went.”

Naomi's face fell. “You've known all along?”

Fannie nodded her head, eyes lowered. “I wanted to keep my word to Lily, since she
 . . .
well, kept all
my
secrets.”

“Oh dear,” Naomi whispered.

Eva felt she might burst. “So where's Lily now?”

“Do ya promise you'll never say where ya heard this?” Fannie looked pale.

Eva glanced at Naomi. “If it saves Lily from ruin, what's it matter?”

There was a long and painful silence. At last Fannie said, “I'll only tell you what Lily told me 'cause she hasn't written like she said she would . . . and I'm worried.”

Eva held her breath.

Fannie began to share more. “Lily's staying somewhere in Ohio.”

“Where in Ohio?” Eva asked.

“I'm not sure, really,” Fannie said. “Lily talked 'bout different places over several weeks' time, but I don't remember now.”

How could she forget?
Eva wondered. “Please try,” she urged. “If you could just remember the city or town . . . that would help us ever so much.” She felt frantic.

“Well, if it helps any, Lily was supposedly gonna stay with her boyfriend's married sister and family for a while.”

Eva's mouth dropped open. “A boyfriend? That's why she left?”

Fannie bit her lip. “I hate bein' the one to say. . . .”

Hearing it helped in some ways but also raised so many questions that both Eva and Naomi started talking at the same time. “Go ahead,” Eva said, motioning for Naomi to continue.

“
Nee
 . . .
you first, she's your sister.” Naomi eased back into her chair.

“Since Lily's gone fancy,” Eva said, scarcely able to get it all out, “then her beau must surely be English.”

“
Jah.
” Fannie continued, seemingly eager now to reveal that the young man in Lily's life was twenty-one and a mighty
gut
horse trainer. “He's from somewhere over near Canton, if I remember correctly. Lily met him a year ago when she went with my family and me to Kidron to visit relatives. She hit it off with this
Englischer
fella and said that he hardly noticed she was Amish, which kinda had me surprised.”

She ran off to be with a worldly beau
.
Eva tried to let this sink in.

“He must've been writing to her all this time to influence her so,” Naomi said, looking thoughtfully at Eva.

“That's where I came in—the go-between,” Fannie confessed, sounding somewhat embarrassed. “Lily gave her boyfriend my
address, which meant the envelope was always addressed to me, but with no return address. My mother actually thought
I
had a beau in Ohio.”

Eva struggled to remain calm. “How'd Lily get out there?”

“My brother Thomas picked her up that night and took her to Strasburg, where she met a van driver. She wouldn't tell me much else. And Lily kept other things secret, too,” Fannie admitted. “It was the oddest thing—she was open 'bout certain things but not others.”

“And you haven't heard from her to know if she got there in one piece?” Naomi asked, looking concerned.

Fannie shook her head. “I can't understand it for the life of me. She promised to keep in close touch.”

A tremor ran down Eva's back. “Is it possible Lily changed her mind about where she wanted to end up? Maybe she didn't go to Ohio, after all.”

Fannie sighed loudly and leaned her face into her hands. Then, after a time, she looked out the window. “Makes no sense why she hasn't written to me
 . . .
or to
you
, Eva.”

Fannie's emotions and her obvious concern for Lily seemed to point to the fact that she was finally telling the truth. Or so Eva believed.

Jed's pulse raced as he drove toward Eden Valley that evening in Jonas's buggy, thinking it wise to chart his course to the spot where Eva had suggested meeting on Saturday. He'd made a mistake, having failed to ask her out for tonight, since he planned to leave for home next Monday afternoon.

Even now, he could not erase Eva's guileless expression when he'd first seen her at the auction and her surprise when she'd spotted Sammy riding on his shoulders. And her pretty face—
the delightful yet unexpected connection to the photograph in his pocket.

Providential,
he thought.
And yet
 . . .

The fly in the ointment was the forbidden photo itself, lingering proof of Eva's disobedience. On the other hand, if she
hadn't
had her photo taken, Jed might never have sought her out.

Can anything good come of something so
wrong?

Hidden beneath his struggle was the biggest question of all. Why had Eva had her picture taken?
Do I
dare ask?

The prospect was both exciting and alarming.

On Eden Road, he got stuck behind a slow-moving buggy—
probably an older horse—
and decided not to attempt to pass, but slowed up and sat back in his seat. Passing by a large farmhouse, he saw three little Amish girls jumping rope while their older brothers hung back near the stable, heads together.
They're up to something
, guaranteed.
He smiled and remembered when he was their age, always looking for a way to make mischief with his brothers after chores were done or on lazy Sunday afternoons. And some evenings, too, when the older youth were busy at Singings and other gatherings.

Finally the pokey horse and carriage turned off, and Jed urged the horse onward, noticing a young woman walking this way, her head down. He slowed again, staying well inside the right lane.

It was still light enough that as he came closer to the woman, he saw that it was Eva, deep in thought. Goodness, if he didn't keep running into her, although it was less surprising when he was traipsing around her neck of the woods.

Pulling over, he waved to her, leaning out the right side of the enclosed carriage. “Eva
 . . .
it's Jed. Would ya like a ride somewhere?”

She looked startled, so he quickly reassured her. “I was just out here double-checking where we're going to meet Saturday evening.”

She smiled at his explanation. “'Tis a welcome surprise.”

Jed got out and stood near the horse, holding the driving lines. “We could ride a little while now, if you'd like.”

She didn't say at first if she would or not but glanced over her shoulder, presumably toward her house. “My sister's expecting me home.”

“Of course. I didn't mean to interrupt. Need some time alone, maybe?”

She shook her head and crossed the road, then got right into the buggy. “I don't mean to be standoffish. It's just a nice evening for a walk,” she added.

Something
's bothering her,
he thought as he returned to the carriage. He could sense it, and not because she was reluctant to talk. Eva was completely different than she'd been today at market. Her exuberance had vanished.

She folded her arms and turned to look out the window on her side. For a good minute or longer she was silent.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

Eva took a breath and let it out slowly. Another moment passed before she turned to him. “My younger sister's run off. It's that simple, really, and it's ever so hard on my family
 . . . and embarrassing, too. B
ut most everyone here knows, so I guess you might as well hear it, too.”

Jed was at a loss for words.

“I think I've shocked ya,” Eva added.

“You're obviously worried for her.”

“Putting it mildly,
jah
.” Eva hung her head again. Then, sighing, she sat up straighter and said, “I just learned Lily's gone to live in Ohio.”

“A long way off,” he said, then added feebly, “Stayin' with relatives?”

Eva shook her head, visibly upset. “You don't understand, Jed.
She left without tellin' us where she was going—not a word, not a clue.”

He wondered if this sister was sowing her wild oats as some did before joining church. Eva shared more of her concerns, admitting she didn't think Lily was capable of handling herself among strangers. “We've all been through a sad time with my mother's recent passing,” she added. “My candy shop has made the biggest difference for me, keeping me busy. Lily didn't have anything like that.” She stopped talking and peered at him. “Listen to me, rambling on.”

He felt so drawn to her, pulled into her heart and her life, and deeply touched by her compassion for her missing sister.

“I really need to get home,” she said abruptly. “I don't want Frona to worry that I've jumped the fence, too.”

He didn't know how to respond.

Eva sat without speaking as Jed drove to the spot where she'd said they should meet Saturday evening. On the way, they passed a makeshift sign,
Homemade Soaps for Sale
, and Eva explained that when these neighbors had first started selling soaps, Lily had insisted her mother and sisters go over and buy several as an encouragement.

“Sounds like Lily's a very caring person.”

“
Jah
, she is.” Eva bit her lip. “She's just mixed up right now.”

A curtain of silence fell between them once more; then Jed decided to speak up. “I really want to get to know
you,
Eva.” By this, he hoped to assure her that Lily's issues would not interfere with that.

Yet Eva remained quiet until she got out of the buggy. “I'll see ya Saturday, Jed.”

He watched her hurry up the road and wondered if she might have preferred to cancel their upcoming date.
I'
m glad she didn't,
he thought and hoped he wasn't being selfish. As it was, he had little time to win her heart.

Jed slapped the reins and considered Eva's rebellious sister, who'd apparently escaped to his home state, of all places. Indeed, he felt sorry for Eva and her family.
Surely Eva has moved past
the mistake of having her photo taken—a youthful indiscretion.
He presumed she'd be mortified if he brought it up, particularly now, with Lily's disappearance on her mind. He preferred not to risk doing anything to break the connection he felt with the sensitive young woman.

Eva's
been through a lot.

———

On her way back to the house, Eva's eyes caught sight of the large bushes alongside the house, where the back sidewalk met the driveway. She and Lily had often tossed their scooters into the shade of those bushes when they were little. Oh, she wished Lily were around so she could share her thoughts of Jed. Talking with Frona about such things just wasn't the same.

“Frona!” she called as she rounded the house and stepped into the empty kitchen. “I have to talk to you!” She darted from room to room, looking for her sister. “Fro-na!”

Just about the time she was beginning to think her sister had gone somewhere, Eva found her out in the stable pouring grain into a feeding trough. “I've been lookin' all over for ya,” she said breathlessly.

“I thought you were over at Naomi's.”

“I was.” Oh, she felt so
ferhoodled
.

“What's the matter, Eva? Your face looks all red.” Frona came forward. “
Ach
, you've been cryin'.”

“Fannie Ebersol finally talked about Lily. She thinks Lily's somewhere in Ohio.”