knew she’d offended her again when she voiced a thank you. Most Amish considered please and thank you to be fancy words. Showing off. The service to one another and the thanks were assumed, and such words weren’t bandied about, but that was another habit she’d picked up from her more worldly friends back in Ohio.
“I need to go.” Leah gave the coffee to her mother. “The search parties are getting organized.”
“I wouldn’t stand for my Dorcas to be out in the dark with strangers. Not my daughter,” Aunt Martha fussed. “That’s a man’s place, not a woman’s, and certainly not a girl’s.” She threw a meaningful look at Mam. “This is what comes of her running wild out in Ohio, going to fairs with her Mennonite friends, eating ice cream at all hours and taking herself to every frolic in the county.”
“Not every frolic, Aunt Martha,” Leah defended. “Rebecca and I spent most of the time taking care of Grossmama.”
Aunt Martha scowled. “Not what I hear.”
“All these years and all these blessed children, and I’ve lost nary a one before,” Lydia fretted to no one in particular, rocking the baby. “Where can my Joey be?”
“I’m here, Mam,” Jesse piped up.
“You hush,” Lydia corrected. “And get down off that counter before I dust your bottom.”
Jesse ignored her and kept digging in the cabinet. Aunt Martha scooped him up, deposited him on the floor and said. “You heard your mother. Shoo!”
Jesse shooed.
“Joey’s just turned six and he’s scared of the dark.” Lydia glanced at the dark windows. “Where can he have got to?”
“We’ll find him,” Leah promised.
“Be glad you’ve got other children,” Aunt Martha intoned as she cut herself a slice of chocolate cake. “Reuben and I were never so blessed.”
Leah wished her aunt had stayed at home. Lydia didn’t need to hear that. She was worried enough. “Have the kids searched the barns and the house?” Leah asked.
Lydia nodded. “Root cellar to attic. I’ve had the girls digging through the straw in the hayloft and looking under the chicken house. God help him, he’s such a rascal to put us all through this.”
Mam removed her blue headscarf and handed it to Leah. “Give me your kapp and bonnet,” she said. “The woods at night are no place to be wearing your bonnet. And button up your slicker all the way. It will keep the rain off.”
“Be quick about it,” Aunt Martha said. “It’s not seemly for either of you to go uncovered. With all these Englishers and Mennonites wandering about, no telling who might take it into his head to wander in the kitchen without knocking.”
Leah quickly traded head coverings with her mother.
Seconds later, Charley opened the door and peered in. “Come on if you’re coming, Leah. Samuel’s assigning groups to search together.”
“I’ve got to go, Mam.” Leah gave the ends of the headscarf she tied beneath her chin a firm tug.
Fresh tears filled Lydia’s eyes and rolled down her cheeks. “You find my Joey,” she murmured, rocking the baby against her.
“I’ll do my best,” Leah said.
Her mother put her arms around Leah and kissed her on the forehead. “You take care, daughter. I’d not have you come to harm out there in the dark.”
“I’ll be careful, I promise.”
Mam as usual, was worrying unnecessarily. What could possibly happen to her if she wasn’t stupid enough to fall into the pond or walk into a tree? It was Joey Leah was worried about. A lot of things could happen to a lost six-year-old on a night like this…none of them good.
Chapter Two
Twenty minutes after arriving at the Beachy farm, Daniel found himself trudging through a pasture in the rain with his cousins Caroline and Leslie, whom he would be staying with, and a young Amish woman, Leah Yoder. It was a strange turn of events. He’d expected to spend the evening giving his PowerPoint presentation, but this wasn’t the first time that God had steered him in a new direction.
Daniel had learned to listen to his inner voice, and it had never failed him. No message had ever come stronger than the need to join in the hunt for little Joey Beachy and to enlist the Mennonite community in the search. His talk could be given another day. A child’s life might be in danger, and Daniel couldn’t stand by while others went out to find him.
Growing up, he’d often been rebellious. He loved his parents and family, and he knew the importance of the missionary work that they did, but he’d never thought it was the life for him. When he’d left them in Morocco to go to college in the States, he’d insisted on a typical college experience. He hadn’t even gone to the Mennonite Bible School that his parents and his older brother had attended. Instead, he’d gone to the University of Ohio to study nursing. He’d expected to work in a small community hospital in the Midwest when he graduated, but then, like now, God had other plans for him. In the end, he liked to think that his early rebellion against his parents’ expectations had better prepared him for his life.
Daniel suddenly felt his foot slip in a water-filled hole and he threw his hands out to try to regain his balance. At the same moment, Leah grabbed his arm to steady him, keeping him from falling onto his bottom. “Thanks,” he said as he righted himself, giving her a sheepish smile.
“Careful where you step,” she cautioned. “You’ll do Joey no good if you twist an ankle.”
Leah’s grip was strong. Being a farm girl, he supposed she must be used to lifting hay bales and chopping wood, but he still felt a little foolish. He should have been the one coming to her rescue.
Caroline giggled. “And watch out for the cow pies.”
“Plenty of those out here too,” Leah agreed, a hint of amusement in her voice.
“I’m good now.” Daniel pulled away his hand, telling himself he shouldn’t feel embarrassed. He’d have done the same for her, wouldn’t he?
Daniel had been glad when Samuel Mast had picked Leah to accompany his group.
“She knows these woods and fields,” Samuel had explained quietly to him. “We’re glad for your help, but it’s easy to get turned around out there if you don’t know where you’re going. You’ll be all right with Leah. She’s a sensible girl.”
Watching Leah in the dark, Daniel thought that it was probably a good assessment. She was dressed for the downpour in boots and a rain slicker and she’d brought her own flashlight. She was keeping the strong beam steady to light their way.
In spite of the confusion at the Grange, Daniel had noticed red-haired Leah right away. Not only was she particularly attractive, but he’d been struck by how worldly she’d seemed for a young Amish woman. Her starched white kapp and modest blue dress and cape had looked exactly like those of her companions, but Leah Yoder stood out among them. She maintained a certain poise he didn’t usually
