Thomas looked longingly over his shoulder at his delightful puddle. He turned back toward Rebekah. His happy demeanor melted away. “Who’s going to clean me off when I get dirty after you marry Joseph Graber?”
A strange note hung in the youngster’s voice as he tried to brush the mud out of his hair. Dark smears streaked across his dark blond head in response.
Rebekah’s heart puttered to a stop. Joseph Graber. Just hearing the name of the dark-haired, lanky man who was to become her husband tied her stomach up in knots. She’d known Joseph her entire life. They’d taken Rumspringa together, and he’d long ago grown to be her best friend. However, something about hearing his name now sent an unprecedented surge of warmth through her veins. Joseph’s handsomely dimpled face appeared so vividly in her mind that Rebekah was powerless to mask the dreamy grin that overtook her lips.
“Pa said at church yesterday that you and Joseph were going to get married.” Thomas paused as the emotion attached to his words permeated the air like wood smoke.
Rebekah’s head swayed in acknowledgement, but the thought of Joseph’s dazzling azure eyes so fresh in her mind made it impossible to form words.
“Hey, why weren’t you at church yesterday?”
“Hmm?”
Thomas’s cross voice pulled her from her makeshift daydream. “Sissy, I said why weren’t you at church yesterday?”
Joseph’s blue-eyed image fizzled from her mind and icy water sloshed from the overflowing bucket onto her feet. “Oh, church.”
Thomas huffed as he shook clumps of mud from his fingers.
Rebekah hefted the bucket to her hip. “Well, Joseph and I both had to stay home yesterday. We aren’t supposed to be in church when we’re published.”
“Published?”
“That’s what Pa was doing when he announced that Joseph and I were to be married.” Rebekah shifted her weight under the bulk of the bucket. “Ready?”
With his muddy arms crossed tight across his chest, Thomas squeezed his eyes shut. “I hope December third never comes. I’ll miss you too much.”
Rebekah bit her bottom lip. As blessed as she was to have Joseph as her husband-to-be, she couldn’t ignore the fact that God had sincerely smiled upon her when he put little Thomas Stoll in their family.
“Sorry, it’s going to be cold.” Closing her eyes, Rebekah dumped the bucket over Thomas’s head.
“Whreeeeek!” he squealed. “That is icy, Sissy!”
Thomas hopped around and flung his arms. Drops of mud flew everywhere until he realized something. “Hey.” He stomped his bare feet in the fresh layer of mud. “Another mud pud—”
An icy breeze whipped around the barn, cutting Thomas’s realization short. “I’m d-done with mud today.” He shivered and squatted down to hug his knees. “Can you draw me a hot bath, Sissy? P-p-please?”
Rebekah swallowed back a giggle. “Of course. I’ll draw some water to heat now. You go get ready.” She hefted the bucket to her hip again. “I am sorry, Thomas. I didn’t know it’d be that cold.”
“It’s a-a-alright.” He drew his doe eyes up to meet hers. His lower lip trembled. “I s-s-still don’t want you to move away from me.”
Despite the bits of watery mud still clinging to him, Rebekah extended her free arm. Thomas sprang to his feet and pressed against his sister’s side and she wrapped him in a bear hug. “I’ll always be your sister, Thomas. And you can come spend nights with us. We can make rhubarb pie and stay up late. Then, you can ride to church meetings in our buggy...”
Our buggy. Rebekah’s thoughts trailed off again. Mine and Joseph’s very own shared buggy.
Thomas wriggled in her grasp. “Thithy, I can’t breef.”
“Oh!” She loosened her hug. Thoughts of Joseph would have to wait until Thomas was taken care of, for sure. “Well now, let’s get you into a nice warm bath.” At once, she began pumping more icy water from the well into the bucket.
Thomas rested a small, dirty hand on her arm, giving her pause. “You’re my best friend, Sissy.”
She stood up and smiled at him as a bead of sweat slid down her nose. “You’re my favorite muddy brother.”
His somber, dirt-streaked face broke into a bright grin. “I love you.”
Rebekah’s heart ached with a sudden, unexplainable emotion.
Is this what it feels like to grow up?
She covered his gritty hand with hers. “I love you too, Thomas. Nothing will ever change that. No matter what house we each live in.”
A splintering crash from the vicinity of the barn shattered the tender moment. Pulling Thomas close, Rebekah knocked over the bucket of water meant for his bath. “What was—?”
Before she could finish, a wail cut her words in half.
“Halp!” The familiar voice sounded eerie and strangely hollow.
A shudder clenched her backbone. “Pa?”
Rebekah and Thomas stared in awestruck horror as Samuel staggered out of the barn, his arms clutched to his chest. Spittle trailed from the corners of his mouth as he sucked hard to make the air follow through to his lungs.
The word tore from Rebekah’s throat with such ferocity that she could taste blood. “Pa!”
She broke free from her brother and dashed toward their father.
One hand stretched desperately out before him, wide-eyed Samuel tumbled to the ground before Rebekah could catch him.
***
The sun was racing toward the horizon by the time Elnora emerged from the room she shared with her husband, Samuel. She wiped her hands on her apron and her blue eyes darted about, careful not to meet anyone else’s, as she appeared to be searching for the right English words to console her waiting family.
Unshed tears glistened in her eyes. “Your father,” she started, “he is very sick man.”
The years of living in Gasthof Village, Indiana had erased most of Elnora’s German accent. However, even when she spoke English, her words still twanged with the musical hint of Pennsylvania Dutch, as did all the families who’d settled the American wilderness with the Stoll’s over two decades ago.
Bile rose in Rebekah’s throat, which was still raw from the scream. Not Pa, not my sweet, strong, handsome Pa.
Baby Beanie, the newest Stoll addition that Rebekah delivered herself, was oblivious to the somber goings-on. Stretching his chubby arms toward Elnora, he babbled, “Ga-ga-ga…Pa!”
Elnora plucked up Beanie and held her baby against her heaving chest.
“First word is Pa,” she managed in pained, syllabic words.
Tears sprang to Rebekah’s eyes and she knotted her hands in her lap. She couldn’t meet her mother’s watery gaze and she was unwilling to meet the questioning ones of all her younger brothers. Sucking in a gasp of courage, Rebekah readied herself for the questions which she knew, at least at this point, were still unanswerable.
Is he in pain?
What happened?
