The Road Home (46 page)
Authors: Patrick E. Craig
“Yes, Papa, I'm sure the situation was very hard for Rachel's whole family.”
Jonathan asked, “Can you read a little more?”
The four of them had gathered in the restaurant at the motel the morning after they had found the missing pages of Rachel's journal. They'd had breakfast, and now Jenny was reading to them as they sat together drinking their coffee. Jenny picked up another page and began to read.
December 12, 1949. I can't bear this. Today two policemen came to my door. They asked me if I was married to Robert St. Clair
.
Rachel sat in her rocking chair with her daughter. Jenny had Bear and was holding a book that had pictures of animals with their names printed in large letters.
“Cow,” Jenny said, pointing at the picture.
“Yes, cow,” Rachel said, pointing at the letters. “That's my good girl.”
Rachel looked around their small apartment. She and Robert had been married for three years. The time had been difficult, and she was estranged from her family, but they had each other. Robert had his family problems too. Robert had called his father after Jenny was born and told him about Rachel and the baby. His father had been furious. Rachel heard him shouting over the phone.
“Yes, Father,” Robert answered. “I know I should have come to you, but I love her, and I want to bring her home so you can meet her.”
There were more angry words from the other end of the line.
“I know you could have fixed it, but I wouldn't do that to Rachel. I love her, and I love my baby.”
The conversation had ended with Robert's father shouting something and hanging up. Robert's shoulders slumped as he hung up the phone. That had been three years ago, and Robert's father still refused
to meet her. Robert had gone to New York several times but had always returned without winning his father over.
“Mother is heartbroken, but Father won't let me bring you and the baby home. He's still hurting over my brother Frank's death, and it's made him bitter and hard-hearted. Even though I'm the oldest son, he always favored Frank. When he was shot down over Germany, Dad never recovered. Now he thinks I did this just to get his attention.”
So they had made a life for themselves like two marooned sailors on a desert island. Rachel's papa refused to see her, and Robert's father was just as difficult. It was a terrible situation, but they had each other, and somehow that was enough. And then one day, everything changed.
My heart turned to stone. They said they were very sorry, but Robert had been killed in a car accident. He was driving home from the plant and a trailer-truck ran through a red light and hit his car. He died instantly. Oh God, I can't bear this
.
“So that's why Rachel went to New York,” Jonathan said. “She couldn't go back to her family, and she had nowhere else to turn. And then Robert's family rejected her, and she ran out of money and ended up out on the street. And that's how she met Joe Bender. Of all the bad luck.”
Reuben and Bobby had talked it over and decided they needed to make one last journey to tie up all the loose ends. So now they were in the car headed toward Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Jenny sat in the backseat staring out at the night sky. Everything was so different! Her life had changed so dramatically in just a few weeks. She had met Jonathan and fallen in love, she had been shunned, and she had run away.
She had been kidnapped by drug dealers and rescued, she had been restored to the church, and she had found out who her birth mother and father were.
But the most important change was her new relationship with the Lord. She no longer felt as though her prayers fell on deaf ears, and she knew they never had. Jesus had been with her all her life. He had saved her in the storm, He had put her mama and papa in her life, and He had guided her and guarded her all these years. And now He was bringing her to the end of a journey she had been on since she was born. Jenny had a strange feeling she was going to find the answer to all her questions in Lancaster. Suddenly she giggled. Jonathan glanced over at Jenny with a quizzical look.
“What's so funny?” he asked.
“I just was thinking how
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my life has been the last few weeks. Not what you would expect from an Amish girl.”
Jonathan looked away.
“What is it?” Jenny asked.
“It's nothing,” Jonathan said. “I've just been thinking some things over.”
“What things?” Jenny asked.
“I'd like to tell you when we can speak privately,” Jonathan said quietly.
Jenny looked at Jonathan, and an uncertain feeling came over her. She had been so sure that everything would work out.
Jerusha spread the quilt out on Jenny's bed to look at it. Except for a few tiny, almost invisible stains where the main part of the quilt met the border, the Rose of Sharon quilt looked almost as it had the day she finished it. Now she thought back to the day she had finished restoring it for Jenny. The Lord had impressed her to add one small thing to
the quilt. She had taken a scrap of the red silk and cut out a small, key-shaped piece of the fabric. At first she wondered where to place it, and then she knew.
She had pulled the quilt to her until she had the red rose in her hands. Carefully she placed the key-shaped piece in the very center of the petals. Then using her tiniest stitch, she sewed the key in place. When she finished, she had examined her work. Except for the outline of the stitches, the key was almost invisible against the matching red rose. Now she looked at the key again and ran her fingers lightly over it.
“The quilt is the key,” Jerusha spoke out loud. “Thank You, Lord, for revealing Yourself to me through Jenna's quilt. And now it is truly Jenny's quilt, and I know Jenny's life will be whole and complete.”
Jerusha carefully folded the beautiful quilt and wrapped it in the brown paper. As she did, a memory of Jenna came to her. One day when Jenna was four years old, some of Jerusha's friends and their children came to visit. After the women visited for a while, Jenna came into the house from playing in the yard with tears in her eyes.
“
Was ist los, dochter?
” Jerusha had asked.
“Jonas hit me, Mama,” Jenna said.
Jonas' mother got up to fetch her child. “I will make sure to spank him, Jerusha,” she said.
“Please don't spank him,” Jenna said. “I forgive Jonas.”
“But Jonas did a bad thing, Jenna,” Jerusha replied. “He deserves a spanking.”
“We all deserve a spanking,” Jenna answered softly. “But God forgives us, so I forgive Jonas.”
The women stared at Jenna with surprise, and then Jerusha took her little girl into her lap and held her.
“You are kind, my darling, and you are right. We all do deserve a spanking, but God in His mercy has forgiven us.”
Jerusha smiled at the memory. She remembered being in awe at the
wisdom her daughter had shown. And then she realized she was smiling. Jerusha put her face in her hands and began to cryânot with grief, but with tears of joy. Now she knew that the quilt was indeed the key, not only to Jenny's healing, but to hers as well.
Jenny stood at the desk of the county clerk and held out the birth certificate. The lady behind the desk glanced up at her with a questioning look.
“Can I help you?” she asked.
“Yes,” Jenny said. “This is my birth certificate. I'm adopted, and I'm trying to find out more about my birth mother.”
“Well, dear, I'm afraid that adoption records are sealed.”
“I'm an unusual case,” Jenny replied. “I'm not looking for adoption records because I wasn't given up for adoption. My mother died, and I was stolen. The man who stole me was killed in a car wreck. There was no way to trace me, so I was given to the people who rescued me. My adoptive parents are helping me to locate my birth mother. So there are no legal impediments keeping me from finding out about her. What I'm looking for are any records you might have on my birth parents.”
Bobby stepped forward. “She's right, ma'am. I'm Sheriff Bobby Halverson from Wayne County, Ohio. I can assure you she's telling you the truth.”
“Well⦔ the woman said skeptically. Then she reached out and took the paper from Jenny. “Let me see what I can do.”