Plain Promise Read online

  “What are you going to do now?” Lillian twisted uncomfortably in her seat.

  “I’m going to go right over to Lester Lapp’s house and buy back my farm. I’m sure he’ll sell it back to me, and—” Sadie stopped when Lillian’s face went white. “What’s wrong?”

  “Didn’t anyone tell you?”

  “Tell me what?”

  “Lester Lapp closed on the farm, and the very next day, he sold it to someone else—an Englischer.”

  “What?” Sadie grabbed her chest with both hands. “Who?” Lillian shrugged. “I don’t know. I heard the news from Mary Ellen, who found out from Rachel. And evidently, Rachel got word of it while she was at the farmer’s market.”

  “Ach! It’s Dale Spalek—that Englisch fella in town. He’s been trying to purchase property along our road for years. Remember when he tried to purchase the Lantz place? But Amos Lantz wouldn’t sell to him.” She gasped. “Probably for tourists. They will want to use my shop out front to sell overpriced things to tourists! Mr. Spalek has two stores in town already. He doesn’t need my family farm.” Sadie looked at her friend. “Lillian, what am I going to do now?” She covered her face with her hands. “I’ve made such a mess of everything.”

  After several moments of silence, Sadie uncovered her face and stared at Lillian. Something was wrong.

  “Uh-oh. It appears I’ve made a mess too.” Lillian’s eyes were wide as she slowly focused on the water seeping over the edge of the chair.

  Sadie tucked her chin to her neck. “Did you wet yourself, Lillian?”

  Lillian scrunched her face up. “No, silly. My water just broke!”

  “Pop!” Sarah Jane yelled throughout the house. “Pop! Sadie left a message on the barn phone! Lillian is in labor, and Carley is taking them to the hospital. Pop, where are you?” She ran upstairs and checked every room, then checked each room downstairs again. “Where is that man?” she grumbled. “Pop!” she yelled again. “Barbie is on her way to get us.”

  Twenty minutes later, Barbie was in the driveway. Sarah Jane made one last scan of the house and then hurried down the porch steps.

  “Where’s Jonas?” their Englisch friend asked when Sarah Jane climbed into the front seat.

  Sarah Jane pulled on her seat belt. “I don’t know. I reckon he must have gone to Lizzie’s without telling me. He still does that, sneaks off.” She blew out a sigh of exasperation. “Sometimes I think he enjoys the thrill of sneaking around, when there is no need to. All he does is worry me when he does that.”

  “Do you want to swing by Lizzie’s house and see if he’s there?”

  “No. I don’t have time to be chasing him around today. Lillian is in labor, and I want to be there. I’m sure he’s all right. He always is. Pop is so mischievous, like a child sometimes. He frustrates me. But I’m hoping once he and Lizzie get married, he will stay close to home where I can keep an eye on him.”

  “How’s his cancer?” Barbie asked. She turned off of Black Horse Road onto Lincoln Highway.

  “Most days he does fairly well, although he gets confused sometimes.” She paused and thought for a minute. “The doctors say he might have a touch of Alzheimer’s, but honestly, I think sometimes it’s his medications. I think they make him a tad loopy.”

  “Jonas is such a dear. You know, everyone who meets him loves him.”

  Sarah Jane laughed. “I think Pop scares some people when they first meet him. It isn’t until people get to know him that they realize what a big teddy bear he is. You know, he’d do anything for anyone. Pop has a huge heart.”

  “I guess you’re right. Years ago, I suppose it did take Jonas a while to warm up to me. That seems like such a long time ago.”

  “You’ve been a gut friend, Barbie. Pop loves you. So do I.” She smiled at her friend as they made their way toward Lancaster General. “I can’t wait to see if Lillian has another girl or a boy!”

  The plan was simple, Jonas thought, lying out in the field halfway between his house and Lizzie’s farm. Strap on his walkie-talkie, sneak across the field between their farms now that the snow had cleared, then call her on the walkie-talkie and tell her he was sitting on her front porch. She would have been tickled pink at his playfulness.

  Instead, he had tripped and stumbled, then landed flat on his back. Now he couldn’t seem to move. It had been downright frustrating to hear Sarah Jane hollering for him, and even more so, to watch his daughter ride off with Barbie. And where are they going anyway? It’s almost my lunchtime.

  He unclasped the walkie-talkie from the clip on his suspenders and groaned from the pain in his back. “Breaker, breaker,” he rasped. “Lizzie, you there?”

  “Is this my huggy bear?”

  “Lizzie, I got myself in a bit of a predicament.” Jonas tried again to shift his weight.

  “You all right, Jonas?”

  He noticed his straw hat about a foot over, reached to grab it, but the pain was too much. “Lizzie, I took a fall, and I’m laid out here in the field between your haus and mine. Ain’t a thing you can do either.”

  “I’m comin’, huggy bear.”

  “You ain’t comin’ out here, Lizzie. It’s too far for you to walk.

  Nearly half a mile, I reckon.” She’d never make it, Jonas thought, hoping she would have the good sense not to try. Lizzie could barely get up and down her own porch steps and around her house. “Lizzie,” he said again when there was no response. “Don’t you leave your house. Someone will be by to check on you. Just tell whoever it is to come fetch me out in this field.”

  “That could be hours from now. Or days, Jonas. I’m on my way,” she said.

  Hardheaded woman! “Lizzie, don’t you dare. I’m ordering you to stay there. Do you hear me?”

  “I’m not your fraa yet, Jonas Miller. I don’t reckon you can be ordering me to do anything.”

  Jonas sighed, and even that small gesture sent a ripple of pain throughout his body. His pain from the cancer had gotten worse lately. His doctor wanted to put him on medication to manage his discomfort, but had also said it would make him out of sorts. He figured he’d live with the pain, as he was out of sorts enough as it was. Plus, he needed his mind in the right place if he was going to take care of Lizzie.

  “Ach. No, Lizzie,” he whispered to himself. He saw her tiny frame, a dot in the field, moving his way. He pushed the button on the walkie-talkie. “Lizzie, you go on back to the house. You’ll catch a chill, and it’s too far for you to come out here.”

  Silence for a few moments. Then Jonas heard her on the walkie-talkie as he watched her taking baby steps across the field. “I’m comin’, Jonas.”

  He didn’t have the strength to argue.

  “It’s a girl,” Samuel told the crowd in the waiting room of Lancaster General. “We will be calling her Elizabeth.”

  “Wonderful news,” Sarah Jane said. “How’s Lillian?” It had been a short labor and delivery, barely four hours.

  “She’s gut. You can go see her.” Samuel couldn’t wipe the grin from his face, and Sarah Jane was a proud grandma yet again.

  She stood up, hugged Samuel, and headed toward her daughter’s room.

  “Mamm,” Lillian whispered when Sarah Jane walked in. She was holding little Elizabeth in her arms. “Isn’t she beautiful?”

  Sarah Jane held back tears of joy. “Oh, Lillian. She certainly is. Just beautiful.” She gently touched the baby’s cheek, and then cupped Lillian’s face. “She will be a fine baby sister for Anna and David. I think David will want to come in. Is it all right if I go get him?”

  Lillian nodded, but her eyes were fused with the new bundle in her arms.

  Sarah Jane thought for a moment. “As a matter of fact, sweetie, I think I better go. I couldn’t find your grandpa before I left. He probably snuck off to Lizzie’s, but he’ll be hungry and sorry that he missed all this.”

  “It’s fine, Mamm. Send David in. You go find Grandpa.”

  Sarah Jane kissed her daughter on the forehea
d. “Do you need anything? I will be back first thing in the morning.”

  After Lillian assured her that she and the baby were fine, Sarah Jane excused herself, wishing she could stay, and trying not to be irritated with her father

  Lizzie fell for the second time, and she heard her hip pop. As she lay in the field, new spring growth poked her legs and back.

  “I’ll be there soon, Jonas,” she said into the wind. With every ounce of strength she possessed, Lizzie pulled herself to a standing position. She stifled a cry of pain as she edged forward, almost dragging her right leg behind her. Her heart was racing much too fast, and it was difficult to breathe. But her huggy bear was in trouble. She could see him up ahead, sprawled out and not moving.

  “Please, Lord,” she prayed, “let me make it that far.”

  She pressed forward, not knowing what she would do when she reached him. But something inside her drove her onward, to Jonas, to her love. “I’m coming,” she whispered. And with each painful step, she held her chin high and fought the urge to quit, to lie down, to rest.

  But she fell again, and this time the pain in her hip caused her to cry out. It felt dislocated, completely out of joint. She closed her eyes, grimaced, allowed herself to feel the pain, and then she struggled to stand up again. “Please, Lord,” she said. “Just let me lie beside him, hold his hand.”

  Her legs wouldn’t lift her, and Lizzie feared she had gone as far as she could. She’d lie here in the field, within only a few yards of him, until someone found them. “Jonas!” she cried with all her might. And then she laid her head back, tears flowing down her wrinkled face. “I can’t do it,” she cried. “I’m sorry, my love.” And she closed her eyes.

  It was a few moments later when the breeze carried the sound of his voice. “Lizzie?”

  “Jonas?” She struggled to lift her head. “Jonas?” she asked louder.

  “I’m here, Lizzie. But I can’t move.”

  Lizzie pushed herself up onto her elbows and realized something. Her upper body was working far better than her lower body. She inched along on her elbows, dragging her legs behind her. “I’m coming, Jonas.”

  “Stay there, Lizzie. I’ll come to you,” Jonas said.

  She fell onto her back and waited. But nothing.

  Lizzie lifted her head. “Jonas?”

  But there was silence. “Jonas!” she yelled. “Jonas! Answer me, you silly old man!”

  She propped herself back up on her elbows and dragged herself forward through the tall weeds, a few inches at a time, not sure she’d ever felt such pain or determination. Then she saw him—inching toward her, his face filled with pain, but with the same determination she had. “Jonas,” she whispered. She continued to pull herself toward him.

  “Lizzie.” His voice was low and hoarse. “Wait. I’m almost there.”

  But Lizzie pressed forward, her heart pounding through her chest, both hips preventing her legs from assisting with her efforts. And finally . . . she was within two feet of him. She lay on her stomach and reached her hands as far as they would stretch. Jonas did the same.

  “You silly woman,” he breathed as his fingers met with hers. “You silly old man.” She intertwined her hand with his and stared into his tired eyes. “I’m so tired, Jonas.”

  “I know. I’m tired, too, Lizzie.”

  “Maybe we should rest for a bit.”

  As they both closed their eyes, Lizzie felt the crisp winds swirling, heard the rustling weeds swooshing to and fro around them. A tiny insect buzzed in her ear, but she was too exhausted to wave it away. Jonas clutched tightly to her hand, and Lizzie could hear his labored breathing. She would figure out what to do after a little rest

  “I think little Elizabeth looks like Anna,” Sarah Jane told Barbie on the drive back to the farm. “They both have those incredible blue eyes like Samuel.”

  “I can see Lillian in both the girls too, though.” Barbie turned toward her and smiled. “Beautiful children.”

  “I’m so thankful this was a short, easy delivery for Lillian. You know, she had quite a time when Anna was born. Twenty hours of difficult labor.”

  Barbie nodded as she turned onto Black Horse Road. “I remember. We thought Lillian would never have that child.”

  “Danki for taking me to the hospital, Barbie. I have a fresh batch of cookies I’d like to send home with you for Thomas and the boys.”

  “That’s not necessary, Sarah Jane. I wanted to go.” She snickered. “But I’ll still be glad to take those cookies off your hands. Do I dare ask if they are my favorite?”

  “Raisin puffs. Your favorite.” Sarah Jane unclasped her seat belt. “Come in. Let’s have a cookie. Hopefully, Pop is home and found himself something to eat.”

  “Well, the buggy is here,” Barbie said. “Your dad didn’t get far. If you’d like, I can swing by Lizzie’s on my way home.”

  “I might have you do that, if he’s not inside. He could be napping by now, though. He usually lies down about this time of—”

  Barbie grabbed her forearm hard. “Sarah Jane!” She pointed toward the wide-open meadow spanning the space between their farm and Lizzie’s house.

  Sarah Jane’s heart pounded violently. “Oh no,” she said. “Pop!” she yelled. “Pop!”

  Her legs were already moving toward the field when she realized there were two people lying amid the tall weeds. She broke out in a run, praying aloud. “Please, God, please, God, please, God . . .”

  “I’ll call 911!” Barbie yelled.

  Sarah Jane ran as fast as she could across the meadow. “Pop!”

  20

  SADIE LEFT THE HOSPITAL, ELATED FOR LILLIAN AND the birth of Elizabeth. But she also felt a profound sense of panic at her own situation. Her farm was gone. And somehow, she was going to have to buy it back.

  She thanked Carley for bringing her home, although she’d never felt more homeless or unhappy in her life. God presented her with an opportunity at happiness, with Milo and his wonderful family in Texas, and she had ungraciously walked away from all He offered. She hung her cape on the rack and sat down on the bench at the kitchen table. Maybe she’d made a terrible mistake by not giving things more time between her and Milo.

  But every time she’d start to get close to Milo, Kade’s face would pop into her mind. She wished she had never met Kade Saunders. Then she would have fallen happily in love with Milo and lived the life she was meant to live. Now, the familiar bitterness she tried so hard to steer away from crept back in. Why would God show her a glimpse of true love with a man she could never be with? Questioning Him was driving her right back to a place she didn’t want to be.

  Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of horse hooves coming up the drive. She pulled herself up and went to the door, although she was not in the mood for visitors. After a few moments, she recognized her guest, and this was the one person she was glad to see on this gloomy afternoon.

  “Hello, Lester,” she said to Lester Lapp. The elderly man hobbled up the porch steps and tipped his straw hat in her direction.

  “Sadie, it’s gut to see you home.”

  “From what I understand, I don’t have a home. I was hoping to buy back my farm from you, but I heard it’s already been sold again.”

  Lester pulled off his hat, scratched his head. “Ya know the only reason I bought this place so quickly, Sadie, was so the property wouldn’t go to an Englischer. Bishop Ebersol had your power of attorney, so I snapped it up.” He paused. “And I’d have sold it right back to you if I’d known you were comin’ back.”

  “Then why did you sell it?” She knew her tone was accusing, but he just said he didn’t want the property to go to an outsider.

  He took a deep breath and walked to the rocker on the porch. He eased onto the seat, but Sadie kept standing. She folded her arms across her chest and waited for an answer.

  “Mary has the cancer,” he said. “I’m sure you know that.”

  Sadie softened her look and voice. “Ya, I do
. I’m so sorry, Lester. How is she?” She genuinely cared for Mary and Lester, but Mary had been diagnosed with breast cancer months ago. What did this have to do with her farm?

  “The city doctors are trying an experimental medication on Mary, and the cost is two thousand dollars a month. I know the community would draw from our fund to cover it, Sadie, but it puts a huge burden on our district. When someone offered me double what I paid for your farm, I reckon I didn’t see past the fact that the fella was Englisch. That money will go a long way toward Mary’s care.” He shook his head. “I’m real sorry, Sadie. I figured you to be stayin’ in Texas, making a life there.”

  “So did I,” she mumbled.

  “Maybe you can buy it back from the Englischer? I’ll give you the profit I made to do just that.”

  Sadie knew the sacrifice Lester was making by extending such an offer, but she also knew that the community would cover Mary’s medical expenses, one way or the other. If she didn’t get her farm back, she was homeless.

  “Why would anyone offer twice what the property is worth?” she finally asked. “I don’t understand. Mr. Spalek is very greedy to snatch up my property from you, offering to pay such a ridiculous—”

  “Whoa, there,” Lester interrupted. “It ain’t Dale Spalek who bought the property. It was your friend . . .” Lester ran a hand through his long beard. “What was that fella’s name?”

  “What? Who?” No one Sadie knew had that kind of money or intentions.

  “Why, it was that Saunders fella. Kade.”

  “What?” she asked again. Her blood was starting to boil as she realized that Kade was indeed the only person she knew with the means to purchase her farm at double the value. “Evidently, he is not my friend. Why would he want my farm?” she demanded.

  Lester shook his head. “I don’t know, Sadie. But yours wasn’t the only place he bought. He bought the old King place too. Isaac had that place priced way too high, and that’s why it’s been sittin’ there for almost two years. But Mr. Saunders paid top dollar for all ninety-eight acres.”