cause for her action. Hours before, she’d determined to stay true to her faith and her community and reject thoughts of the handsome Englisch man. But what happened when she saw that hutch tilting toward him in the water? An emotional wave unlike anything she’d ever felt washed over her, and her feet carried her toward him at a run.
This doesn’t mean I care for him. I’d feel the same no matter who was in danger.
Would she? Oh, how she hoped that were true.
“There.” Maummi finished weaving her hair into a tight braid and tied off the end with a strip of leather.
“Finished in good time,” Papa said from the other side of the fire. He stood and lifted the rocking chair he’d been working on. “Good thing you are light, Mader, else this might dump you on the ground. When we arrive home, I will do a proper repair.”
“Home?” Rebecca, seated beside Papa, started to attention. “Not to Troyer?”
Papa placed the chair on the hard-packed dirt near the fire. “The Lord has restored a portion of what the enemy took from us, and I am grateful. But He has seen fit to put us in debt to an Englisch man.”
Maummi quoted a proverb. “‘The debt that is paid is best.’”
He smiled. “Ja. I cannot ask Bishop Miller to repay the large debt I owe Luke Carson. We must return home, so I can repay my own debt as soon as needs be.” He turned a tender smile Emma’s way. “It appears the Lord has granted me more time with my daughter.”
Warmth flooded Emma at the love she saw in her papa’s face. Rarely did he display emotion, and even more rarely did he speak of it. Instead, he showed his love every day through hard work and dedication to his family’s well-being. Tonight, when her feelings were so near the surface, his unexpected words moved her nearly to tears.
A satisfied grunt that was almost a purr came from low in Maummi’s throat, though the news that they weren’t going to Troyer hit Rebecca hard. Her mouth turned downward in a pout. “But I thought the Lord told you to send Emma to Troyer in the first place. Did He change His mind, then?”
Emma held her breath, shocked at her sister’s question. Such disrespect as to question both the Lord and Papa in the same breath. Rebecca must be extremely disappointed in the decision to voice such a rebellious thought.
Papa turned a thoughtful expression her way. “Would you have me question the reason for the Lord’s directives like Job of old?”
The mild rebuke was as harsh as Papa ever gave, and Rebecca snapped her mouth shut. He stared at her a moment and then put a hand on the top of her bowed head. “The Lord’s reasons are unknowable, daughter, but we must trust that He has them.”
When she nodded, Emma released the breath she’d been holding. Papa was right. Though returning home might look contradictory to the Lord’s initial direction, who knew but that He sent them on this disastrous journey in order to accomplish His unfathomable will? What that might be, involving the theft and destruction of their belongings, she could not imagine, unless it was to emphasize the truth of His sufficiency and their dependency on His daily provision for their needs.
Or perhaps He wanted us to meet someone along the way.
She shoved a sudden thought of Luke out of her mind.
Papa gave the chair a gentle push that set it to rocking, and then he stood back and spoke to Maummi. “Come and try out my work.”
Emma rose and helped her grandmother stand. The broken pieces of the chair leg had been fitted together and secured with sturdy slats from the useless crates and bound with rope like a splint on a broken leg. Two spindles in the back had to be removed, but they were not side-by-side, so the resulting gaps weren’t big enough for a body to slip through.
When she’d seated herself gingerly and gave a trial rock or two, she nodded. “A fine job. Danki, Jonas.”
At the sound of approaching hooves, Emma’s muscles tensed. Had the thieves returned to steal Papa’s new oxen? A quick glance at Papa’s face confirmed the idea had occurred to him too, though the only sign that he anticipated trouble was a tightening of his lips as he straightened and faced the approaching stranger. She couldn’t make out details, but she relaxed a fraction when she saw the