A Love For Leah

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“But what he said was powerful,” Leah replied. “A good preacher doesn’t need to shout to deliver God’s message.”

“Ya, I agree.” Thomas bent to pick up a stick lying on the edge of the blacktop and tossed it into the woods. “When a sermon is too long, a man’s thoughts drift. I like the short ones best.”

It was late afternoon and they were on their way back to Sara’s house after worship. Ahead of them, a few hundred yards, walked a young family: a mother, father and three children. Some distance behind them, another couple strolled. Buggies passed at regular intervals, followed by an occasional automobile or pickup truck, but this was a narrow country road with little traffic other than locals, a safe road for walking.

The Kings’ farm, where services had been held today, was two miles from Sara’s, but the weather was mild and the spring sun warm on his face—so warm that Thomas looked overdressed in his coat and vest. She suspected that he would rather remove the coat and walk home in shirtsleeves, but it wouldn’t be proper on the Sabbath. Thomas seemed fast, almost reckless at times, but he wasn’t outright rebellious.

Leah was comfortable enough in her gray cotton dress and black leather oxfords. She considered herself a good walker, and although Thomas’s legs were a lot longer than hers, she had no trouble keeping up.

Thomas groaned and patted his stomach. “I think I might have had one too many helpings of Anna’s shoofly pie.”

“Greedy. You should have stopped at one slice.”

He chuckled. “I thought it was delicious, but I couldn’t be sure until I ate a second piece.”

“Three,” she reminded him. “You had three slices.”

“Small slices,” he admitted, and laughed with her. “This isn’t so bad, is it? Walking out with me? Unless you’d rather be driving.”

She shook her head, thinking of her little black car parked behind Sara’s chicken house. “I don’t mind walking,” she answered. “It’s good exercise. We walked all the time in Brazil. There are no roads where we were. It was travel by boat down a river, fly or walk. Mostly, we walked. It could take hours or days to get to a sick patient or a village where Daniel was preaching.”

“You walked for days through the jungle? Weren’t you afraid?”

“Sometimes. Not often. Most of the tribespeople are quite shy of strangers. We always traveled with a guide, someone who could speak their language. Usually, we were welcomed into their villages and treated as honored guests. If I was afraid of anything, it was the snakes.” She shuddered, just thinking of them. “There are several that are extremely poisonous. Deadly, even with modern treatment. I never learned to lose my fear of snakes.”

“You said there were lots of insects. Mosquitoes?”

“Far too many. And some carry diseases such as malaria and dengue fever.”

“And here I thought Delaware mosquitoes were bad.”

“They can be.” She rubbed her arms. “Don’t remind me. They aren’t out yet, and it’s much too pleasant to think about them.”

“August was bad last year. We had a lot of rain and they hatched by the millions. Huge and hungry.”

“Lovely,” she said. “I can’t wait.”

Thomas chuckled. “Well, I guess we raised a few eyebrows when we left the Kings’ together.”

“I’m sure we set them all atwitter,” she agreed. She was surprised at how much she was enjoying the day. She’d expected having Thomas walk her home from church would be awkward, but she found him comfortable to talk to. He had an easy laugh, and it was nice having him beside her.

“My grandfather saw us and nodded his approval.” He made a reluctant sound. “I feel a little bad about deceiving him, letting him think that we’re walking out together.”

“But, we are, aren’t we? We did promise Sara a six-week trial.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Thomas said. “It isn’t really a ruse. Not if we do date like we promised. Even if we both know that this isn’t going to work out.”

“Exactly,” she agreed. “You know, honestly, I can’t see why you haven’t found someone. There’s nothing wrong with you that I can see.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

His tone seemed a little stilted. “Don’t take it personally, Thomas. And who knows? Maybe Sara will prove us wrong. Maybe we’ll fall madly in love.”

He chuckled with her. “Right.”

Leah stopped walking and looked up into his face. “But I warn you, you’ll have to be careful what you say. My sisters are relentless. They’ll try to drum every bit of information out of you. They’ll interrogate you just like one of those detectives on the television shows.”

“Have you watched a lot of television?”

“Ne. Not much, but you can’t help but see it now and then when you travel a lot.”

“I suppose you miss it now that you’re living with Sara.”

“Ne.” She shook her head. “I don’t. Mostly television is reporters shouting about fires or shootings or some movie star’s latest scandal or people running around and blowing up things. Life is better without it.”

“I suppose.” He took her arm, guided her off into the grass as a truck passed and then released her.

Leah felt a warm rush of pleasure. How long had it been since she’d felt a man’s touch? It felt good, and the realization made her wonder how she could so quickly forget that she had once been a married woman. And now was Daniel’s widow.

Subdued, she turned the conversation to Thomas after they had walked a short way. “Your family must be eager for you to settle down and start a family. As much as my family wants me to marry again.”

“You could say that.”

When she didn’t comment, he found himself telling her about the conversation he’d had with his grandfather about the farm. “I wasn’t expecting that,” he concluded. “I never thought that he’d threaten me about the land.”

“What will you do?” she asked.

“I’m not sure. I wanted to shout back at him. To tell him that he couldn’t pressure me into marrying just anyone. But I bit my tongue. I just...”

She nodded. “I understand. It isn’t easy with those we love. They want to help, but they cause more problems. It’s one reason I decided to stay at Sara’s. Mam pities me because of what happened to Daniel and our baby. She wants to protect me and to tell me what to do with my life at the same time.” Leah flashed a brilliant smile. “But I’m not letting her get away with it.”

“Still,” he said, “you must have...” He wanted to say suffered but, instead, just trailed off. “It was a great loss,” he finished.

Leah swallowed back the surge of hurt that threatened her peaceful day. “I have to believe that they’re in a better place. It helps that I know the two of them are together in the Lord’s care. And that if I live a good life I’ll see them again.” She forced a smile. “I know that. Just as I know that my Daniel would have wanted me to live on, for all of us.”

“Ya,” Thomas said. “I see the wisdom in that.” He touched her arm lightly. “I think you are a brave woman.”

She shook her head and chuckled wryly. “Not brave. Just trusting that God has a path for me and that all I have to do is to try and find it.”

They walked a little farther in silence, and then he said, “You make me realize that my problems are small.”

“Finding a wife?”

“That is an obstacle. But it’s more than that. My grandfather, my father, my whole family expect me to follow tradition and become a blacksmith. But it’s not what I want. It’s not how I see my life. Does that make me selfish?”

She stopped and looked up at him. “You shouldn’t feel guilty because you don’t want to be told what to do for a living. My family certainly didn’t want me to marry a Mennonite and go to Brazil as a missionary. But it was my choice. Surely, each person has the right to choose what’s best for them.”

“Ya. It’s what I think, too. But it’s hard to disappoint my grandfather and my father. It means so much to them.”