on how to warm them.” She paused to take in a breath. “I won’t leave until after your cows are milked. I do understand the importance of that chore.” She offered a wry smile.
“Danki, Aunt. And don’t worry. I will do whatever needs to be done.”
She rose to her feet with the sleeping child. “To save you some time, I’ll call the social worker while I’m in Wooster. I’ll ask her to stop out when she can. You have to start somewhere.”
Nathan watched her carry Abraham inside. He hoped the boy would sleep until morning so Iris could get some rest. He, however, would sleep no more that night. He had to figure out how to be a daed by tomorrow.
Eleven
July
Abby awoke with a start. The nightmares that had plagued her since A her incarceration had grown more unsettling. Images of sick children, husbands reaching the end of their patience, and stern fathers shaking their fists conspired to provide another restless night. Kneeling beside her bed, she prayed for strength. Later today she would appear again in court. Her lawyer indicated there was a chance she could be released on her own recognizance.
Home. Reunited with Daniel and Laura and Jake. Thinking of loved ones filled her with a tangible ache that neither food nor water could satisfy. Yet, as the specters of her nightmares retreated to the shadows, Abby doubted the judge would be merciful. Her fellow inmates often spoke of his harsh sentences and brusque treatment. Why would her case be any different?
Opening her Bible to the book of Daniel, she read the story of someone far braver than she. Daniel had lived in Jerusalem. After the Babylonians captured the city, he was taken back to Babylon, where he would spend the next sixty years of his life. During this time of great warring tribes, the Persians marched on Babylon and captured the city. Although Daniel was forced to work for the conquering king of Persia as an adviser, he continued to serve God faithfully. Jealous associates plotted to have him thrown into a lions’ den, but God protected faithful Daniel from the hungry beasts. The following morning he walked unscathed from the den.
Abby tried to remember Daniel’s devotion when the deputy arrived at the door carrying her Amish clothes. Today they hung from a hanger instead of being rolled up in a plastic sack.
“Did you launder my dress, Deputy Todd?” Abby asked, surprised.
The woman blushed, her cheeks turning bright pink. “Yes. They wouldn’t have fared well in the jail laundry because the fabric isn’t permanent press. We can’t have you looking a mess when you stand before the judge.” She laid the outfit across the bed.
“Thank you,” Abby said. “I am in your debt.”
After showering and pinning her hair beneath her kapp, she left the cell common area flanked by two deputies. They didn’t handcuff or bind her wrists, yet nevertheless she felt oddly constrained. Even her steps mimicked someone whose ankles had been shackled. At least the court appearance didn’t require a long, jarring car ride. The Wayne County Justice Center housed both jail cells and courtrooms. On the night of her arrest, she’d become nauseated in the backseat of the sheriff’s cruiser.
Mr. Blake, a fresh-faced, shiny penny of a man on this hot July day, sat with her in the hallway. He repeated his warnings of potential consequences if she didn’t comply with the judge’s requests. However, as they waited Abby’s mind drifted back to summer afternoons picking raspberries with Laura and then making gooey cobblers and pies. She remembered other warm days when she would take them swimming in the creek. Once Jake had caught a crayfish and kept it all summer as a pet. Laura helped him to collect dead flies trapped behind the barn windows to feed the critter.
“They have called us, Mrs. Graber. Are you ready?” Mr. Blake broke her reminiscence with a tight grip on her elbow.
She shivered, either from the air-conditioning or from apprehension of what was to come. “As ready as I ever will be,” she said, staggering to her feet. They entered the courtroom and headed toward the polished wooden tables and the railing that separated those whose lives hung in the balance from those who had come to watch. She spotted the woman who typed into a machine and the same gray-haired judge, whose mood hadn’t improved since her previous visit, if his scowl was any indication.
After being seated, Abby scanned the crowd in the packed courtroom.