Rebekah hugged her back, tears dripping onto the shoulder of Patty’s new dress.
“It’s a miracle, and this new dress, thank you Rebekah. Thank you for coming and seeing the real Patty and Noah.” She turned and smiled up at Peter. “And thank you, for everything.”
Peter beamed and Noah clapped and made a funny grunt.
“While you slept, which was the entire ride,” Peter joshed, “Patty and I discovered, through talking and reminiscing as much as we could, that we are in fact family! Uncle Jonas and Aunt Murron are our shared relatives.”
Rebekah looked at Peter, who apparently thought she should know what he was talking about. “Aunt Murron was our mother’s sister, Rebekah. And Uncle Jonas was Patty’s father. We are cousins!”
“Amazing!” Patty exclaimed. Little Noah clapped his hands and grinned, his chin stuck out.
“Miracle,” Rebekah breathed. “God saw fit to construct a miracle out of all this.”
“Lots of miracles,” Joseph corrected her quietly.
“That’s what I used the last of our money on,” Peter continued. “Upgrading everyone’s tickets, so they could rest comfortably on the packed train.” He glanced at Patty and jiggled Noah on his hip, who grinned. “And made sure all of our family came home to Indiana with us.”
Rebekah’s heart swelled. “What will you do, Patty? Now that you’re here, I mean?”
Patty opened her mouth to speak, but Peter interjected. Always the big brother, Rebekah thought with a laugh. Patty laughed too.
“We talked about that.” Peter hooked one thumb behind a suspender. “Figured on her nursing and caring for folks, perhaps the doc here in town needed some assistance.”
Rebekah nodded. “He seemed as though he did the night we were there.”
The thought of her father, weak and sick in the bed covered with slimy, blood sucking worms burst into the forefront of her mind with fiery clarity. “Joseph—”
“We will go see my future father-in-law whenever you’re ready,” he interjected. “See, already thinking alike.”
“I’m ready now,” Rebekah said, finally waking up in her mind.
“Then what are we waiting for?” Joseph asked. “Let’s go!”
***
Rebekah knocked on the door at the doctor’s clinic then let herself in without waiting for an answer from the other side. “Hello, Doctor,” she called. “My name is Reb—”
“Rebekah Elnora Stoll,” Samuel finished. “My daughter. Come in, come in.”
Rebekah limped across the floor and pulled back the partition that had afforded her father some privacy during his illness. The sight of him, smiling and pink, as opposed to ghastly pale and unconscious, brought a surge of emotion to Rebekah.
She slapped her hands over her mouth and fell to her knees by her father’s bedside. Cleansing tears flowed from her eyes as Samuel patted her head. “Welcome home, Daughter. I hear you’ve had quite the experience. Or journey, I should say.”
Rebekah lifted her head and sniffled. “Heard? From who, Father?”
“Katie came by to check on me just a moment ago.”
“Didn’t know there were two of you plain gals that first night,” the doctor grumbled from the corner. “Still sorry about that misunderstanding there.”
Rebekah and Joseph shared a look. Peter, stone-faced, said nothing.
“Joseph,” Samuel said, extending his hand. “I’d be much obliged if you’d be so kind as to make room for me in your wagon. I’d like to go home today, if the doctor has no complaints.”
“You’re free and clear, Mr. Stoll,” the sour-faced doctor grumbled. Somehow Rebekah was able to take him a mite more seriously without his blue nightcap swishing in the wind.
Samuel craned his neck. “Peter, hallo. Who’ve you got there with you?”
Peter sat Noah down, and Patty stepped out from behind him. Noah, ever mindful of his manners, stepped to the side and took his mother’s hand. He offered Samuel a shy, blue-eyed smile. “My, my, the family resemblance is uncanny,” Samuel said. “Rebekah, the young lad is a spitting image of you, when you were a tot.”
“Really, Pa?”
“Really. Right down to the black fringe of lashes around those big shining eyes.” Samuel smiled. “I take it you already knew you were related?”
Peter held his chin in one hand. “Just discovered it ourselves. Cousins!” He gestured to Patty. “This here’s Patty. Her father married my—well,” he cut his eyes to Rebekah. “Her father married our biological mother’s sister.”
“I see.” Samuel nodded thoughtfully. “You went for the woman you wanted to be your family, and came home with family you never knew you had.”
Nobody spoke. Samuel broke the unintentional silence with a beaming smile and hearty laugh. “God, my boy! He has a wonderful way of working out knots, doesn’t He?”
Peter nodded. “That He does, Samuel. Hey, doc?”
“Um… pr… um…. yes?” The doctor seemed lost in thought, with papers scattered all about a large, oak desk. His nightcap hung on a hook nearby and a jar filled with blackness sat on the edge of the desk. He looked up from his writing. “What can I do ya for?”
“I couldn’t help but notice you were squinting something awful at those papers.”
“Eyesight ain’t what it used to be, sonny.”
“Ever thought about hiring some help? Looks to me that you could use it.”
