“Having a bopplin can make some maters sad. Or mad. But even that is no excuse for my behavior.” She sucked in a breath. “I owe you an apology, Thomas.”
“You do not owe me an apology,” Thomas said. “I just want my happy schwestie back again. And for Lil’ Bit not to cry all the time.”
She extended an arm and pulled him close. “And, I think we have Lil’ Bit’s problem taken care of, thanks to Katie and Peter.”
“How about your problem with Katie? Is it taken care of, too?” He looked up at her innocently.
She nodded. “Yes, that is taken care of, too. Which brings me to my apology to you.”
“You really do not have to.” Thomas pulled away from her hug and studied his bare feet powdered with dirt. “I do not really like apologies. I just want everyone to be happy. Like we used to be.”
Rebekah continued anyway. “Faith. Hope. Love. Three gifts from God, and three gifts I not only forgot, but that I took for granted.” She looked down at him. “I forgot to have faith in my family. I forgot to hope for the best. And I forgot the importance of love. Not only between Katie and myself, but between me and everybody. Joseph, you, mater and fater. Everyone. For that, I am wunderbaar sorry.”
“So, what you are saying is that you messed up?”
“Ja.” She gave a little giggle. “I messed up. I should be a better role model for you. I am sorry, little bruder.”
“You are forgiven. Actually, there’s really nothing to forgive, but it feels good to say.” He grinned up at her. “Forgiveness always feels so good.”
“Is that so?” Rebekah bit back a smile. “And just who have you had to forgive lately, besides your silly schwester?”
“Sun,” Thomas said without missing a beat. “He climbed all the way up my leg and while I was putting my trousers on this morning. Up my leg, under my shirt, and sat on my shoulder. It hurt so bad, but I forgave him and felt better.”
Rebekah remembered her weird nightmare, and stood, speechless. Finally, she untied her tongue. “Ja, well, forgiveness is the best.” She exhaled and tried not to think about the strange nightmare anymore. “Komme mit mir, how about I walk you home?”
Thomas patted his front overall pocket and shook his head. “You can get started now, Schwestie.” He turned on his barefooted heel and dashed off in the direction of the barn. “I have to find Sun, then I will catch up to you. Tell mater not to wait on me for dinner if you beat me there,” he called over his shoulder.
“As you wish, Thomas,” she shouted. The grin on her face finally felt sincere, and the whole of her soul felt lighter. She started down the trail to her old house. “As long as I’m apologizing,” she told the sleeping Lil’ Bit, “I had better do it correctly. Next stop, mater and fater.”
Thomas and Sun caught up to Rebekah as they turned onto the lane that led to her childhood home as the long, golden rays of the setting sun were beginning to recede from across fields, taking their warmth with them and leaving a fresh chill in their wake. Elnora was outside ushering their hens into the chicken coop.
“Hallo, Mater!” Thomas called, rushing ahead. “Look who came with me! Schwestie and Lil’ Bit.”
Rebekah hefted Lil’ Bit in his sling. He was sleeping soundly and seemed incredibly content. She sucked in a breath. For the first time in a long time, it did not catch in her throat. It felt good.
Elnora, with her bright smile, turned and waved them in. “Hallo! It is good to see you both. Or should I say all three of you?”
They met in the hazy golden sunset. “I almost did not recognize you with a quiet infant,” Elnora said. “May I hold my kinskind? In his…” she gestured to the sling, “…contraption?”
“Ja.” Rebekah slipped the sling over her head. “Thomas, can you untie the back please?”
“Oll recht,” Thomas said.
When she was free of the sling, Rebekah smiled. “Here, let me put it on you, Mater.”
She slipped the sling onto her mother, just as Katie had slipped it onto her.
“And I will tie the back,” Thomas shouted.
Shockingly, Lil’ Bit slept the entire time. “The goat’s milk Katie suggested seemed to settle his stomach quite well. And of course, this sling.”
Elnora swayed with her kinskind. “She and Peter dropped some of the goat’s milk by here on the way to the Wagler’s haus. In case you came this way.” She smiled at her daughter. “Katie said to tell you that both you and her owe your thanks to Aloysius and his goats. She said you would know what she meant.”
Rebekah giggled. “Yes, I suppose we do.”
“Katie has grown up good, no?”
“Ja, she has. Finally.” Rebekah nodded. She shifted her gaze, and an embarrassed heat warmed her neck. “Maybe I will be the one that grows up next.”
“You already are.” Her barefooted mother looked beautiful in the falling twilight. Young. Happy. “Komme, Thomas. Let’s go check on your fater.”
“Mater,” Rebekah called, “have you seen—”
“I saw Joseph pass by,” Elnora interrupted. “Go find him, Dochder. Thomas and I will dance in the kitchen with Lil’ Bit until you come back.”
***
The darkness, long fallen by the time she reached the Graber’s homestead, did nothing to darken her mood. She walked up to the front door of her husband’s childhood home and knocked loudly with a newly blossomed confidence.
No answer.
She stepped back and looked up at the windows. Each one was dark.
She knocked harder, and still, nobody answered.
“It appears that nobody is home tonight,” she said. Rebekah stepped down and dashed across the path to the barn, just to be sure that they were truly not home. Like the house, the barn was dark and quiet. With a shrug, she started back in the direction of her own childhood home.
Her parents’ downstairs windows were lit to a cheery glow by the time she arrived back at the homestead. Back inside the confines of her old kitchen, Rebekah saw just how old her mother looked. While she had looked young and happy beneath the sunshine earlier, something about being inside made her age show.
She offered Rebekah a welcoming smile. “Did you find Joseph?”
Rebekah shook her head. “No, not yet.” She returned Elnora’s smile to change the subject. “How is fater?”
Elnora answered her question with a look that said more than words ever could. Her mother’s face registered somewhere between hopeless, scared, and sick. Still, Rebekah needed to hear the words.
“I was surprised to hear him at the house earlier when Katie and Peter arrived,” she prodded.
“He was looking forward to holding both of his new baby kinds together,” Elnora said. “Tired him out something awful though. Came home and went right up to bed.”
Rebekah chewed the inside of her cheek. “He did not get to hold Lil’ Bit with bopplin Ruth. That is probably on account of me.”
“No, he did not,” she said. “But it was not on account of you.”
Rebekah looked up at her mother, who smiled sweetly. “Once Peter got a hold of Lil’ Bit, he was not keen on putting him down or handing him off. It was really the sweetest thing. They do favor, don’t you think?”
“I do.” Rebekah drummed her fingers on the tabletop. “Do you think dat is asleep?”
“Well, I was just about to let Thomas give Lil’ Bit his bottle.” Elnora winked at her daughter. “How about you go up and see him yourself?”
