“I understand your wanting to keep her, Elnora.” Samuel’s patient voice was gentle when he finally returned to the wagon. Gentle and firm. “Especially since the Lord has yet to bless us with children of our own.”
Elnora fixed her eyes on the baby who lay asleep in the nest of pillowy quilts in the wagon bed. Usually, Elnora was unable to tear her gaze from the stars in the night sky. They seemed to wink at each other in the blackness, making her think they were simply bright young children, playing gotcha-games in Heaven. Tonight though, Elnora couldn’t force herself to look away from the tiny miracle of a girl.
“Gelassenheit,” she whispered. “We must trust His divine reasons and timing.”
“We simply can’t keep her. She is not one of us.” Samuel exhaled and swiped his gritty hands on his britches. Exhaustion weighted his words.
“Ja, Samuel, but those she belonged to are now with Our Lord.” Elnora sucked in a breath. “Aren’t we all children of God?”
Her gentle voice wafted with the night breezes.
Samuel rubbed the bridge of his nose. The other men had returned to their families and were already fast asleep in their wagons, evident by several different tones of snoring. He stifled a yawn. “Ah, Elnora. I love you and your compassionate heart. I want so to make you a happy wife.”
“You do, Samuel.”
The baby stirred and began to squeak. Elnora’s voice was tender as she plucked the rooting babe from the nest of blankets. “Come here, Rebekah.”
“Oh mein! You’ve given her a name?”
She smiled and rocked Rebekah to and fro.
Sarah Wagler’s shy voice came from somewhere in the near darkness. “Elnora? Samuel? Are you awake?”
“Yes Sarah, we are.” Elnora bounced Rebekah in her arms, but the infant’s squeaks grew into angry coughs and sputters.
“I heard the baby fussing.”
Crimson colored Elnora’s cheeks. “I’m sorry to have woken you Sarah—”
Her friend waved a hand and cut her off. “Oh no. You see, the baby sounds hungry.” The flickering firelight from the Wagler’s dying fire illuminated her timidity. “And Elijah is only six-months-old. So, I thought I might feed her until…”
Worried creases melted from Elnora’s face. “Thank you for your kind offer, Sarah. We call her Rebekah. Danke.”
Sarah accepted Rebekah gently. She picked her way amid the carefully stacked wares and items back toward her wagon. “Ah, sweet Rebekah,” she cooed. “I will share with you the story of your namesake.”
“Wake me when you bring her back,” Elnora whispered loudly enough for Sarah to hear.
As Sarah and Rebekah retreated to the Wagler wagon, Samuel turned back to his wife. His hazel eyes shone with the tender light of a father. He squatted and scooped both her hands into his. “Elnora, would it be agreeable to you if we keep the child—”
She nodded so that the straps of her covering bounced against her shoulders.
Samuel’s face clouded over. “Dear wife, if we keep her safe only until another English wagon happens by?”
With pain cramping her heart, Elnora managed a compliant smile. “That is agreeable, husband.”
Her words hung in the air as the song of a night bird laced the momentary silence with hope. “But what should become of Rebekah should we not meet another English traveler?”
Samuel’s white teeth gleamed above his inky beard. He stood and ran his thumbs along the inside of his black braces. “Elnora, the English are moving west in droves.” He extended his hand and helped her to her feet. “The Pike is rumored to be the most traveled route in The United States now. We will meet more English; you’ll see.”
Elnora couldn’t meet his warm and weary gaze and instead nodded at the ground.
“Come, wife, let’s go to bed.”
With a heavy heart, she complied. When she laid next to her husband, Elnora closed her eyes tighter than she ever had before. Whether it was to hasten sleep or hold in the tears, she couldn’t be sure.
***
Over the remaining two days of their trip, the wagon train of Amish families moving south from Canada only saw each other.
Elnora kept her voice quiet as they approached their final stop. “Not a single wagon filled with English people has passed.”
Heloise was much too charmed with Rebekah to be bothered with watching for English wagons. “Such a good-natured baby.” Her voice lilted. “At this age, Joseph did nothing but cry.”
Elnora cupped Rebekah’s silken head in her palm and stroked the blonde wisps above her tiny ears. “And she has so much hair.” Elnora’s voice took the same tone as Heloise’s.
Her friend narrowed her wise, blue eyes. “That means she will be healthy.”
“We’re home!” Samuel announced. “Wilkommen to Daviess County, Indiana Territory!”
Elnora plopped Rebekah into a quilt-lined basket. Her eyes welled as Samuel helped her from the wagon. “Oh Samuel, it looks just like Germany!”
He beamed. “So, you are happy then?”
“I am so happy. Danke! What a beautiful place to raise a family. And there is ample wood for your woodworking—”
Elnora gestured wide with one arm toward the thick woods that ringed the clearing. Oak trees that seemed to scratch the floor of heaven stood tall and majestic as their leaves waved in the tender breeze. Shorter, wider trees, blooming in varying shades of snow white and blush pink, punctuated the deep greens and browns of the oaks and lent the entire area a magical feel.
Samuel’s large hand came to rest on her shoulder and successfully squelched her gracious spiel.
“Dear wife, I will go in to Montgomery tomorrow to find an English family to take the child. It will be best for everyone if she is with her own kind.”
Elnora sucked in a hard breath and willed the sudden fringe of tears not to spill onto her cheeks. She held Samuel’s gaze. There, in the hazel eyes she knew so well, she caught a glimpse of the same dull ache she felt beneath her ribs.
She patted her husband’s hand as the threat of those selfish tears subsided. “If it is best for Rebekah, then you must do as you will,” she agreed.
The tugging on the tender ends of her shattered heart, however, didn’t concur.
***
“What do you suppose Samuel found out in Montgomery?” Sarah’s whisper of a voice was edged with curiosity as she rocked both Rebekah and Elijah. The chair was a wedding present to Lucas and Sarah from Samuel and Elnora. Despite the numerous long-distance moves, the precious rocker had held up well as a testament to Samuel’s craftsmanship. Not a squeak sounded from the rockers.
Elnora glanced at the midday sun. “He has been gone since before dawn.”
No sooner had the words passed her lips than the sound of horse hooves called everyone’s attention to the horizon. Samuel was back.
“Here, take Rebekah,” Sarah offered knowingly.
When she was situated in the crook of her arm, Rebekah snuggled against Elnora and sighed a tiny baby sigh.
