Paradise Valley by Dale Cramer Read Free Book Online

was only hair – it would grow back. No one blamed them for what had happened.
    She hadn’t seen Jake since that first day at the children’s home, nor had she bumped into him before the service began, but he was here now, sitting alongside his father and brothers. The mere sight of him filled her with joy. Once, before the minister got warmed up, she caught Jake sneaking a glance in her direction. She averted her eyes quickly, but she knew. He was looking for her. She sat a little straighter, held her head a little higher and took pains not to let her gaze linger on him. Until she turned sixteen, even such innocent flirtation would meet with dire disapproval. Besides, even now she suffered the natural insecurities of a fifteen-year-old girl, and Jake had really said nothing of his feelings. How could she be sure that Jake’s gentle caress that day in the barn hadn’t merely been brotherly consolation over her father’s arrest?
    After the service Rachel and her family went outside to wait for a bit while the Mullets and their kin prepared lunch. She lined up at the privy with the rest of the women. The men, in order not to make the line at the outhouse uncomfortably long for the women, gravitated to the barn to use the unoccupied stalls.
    Rachel kept an eye on the group of men going in and out of the barn, but she didn’t see Jake. He must have stayed behind with some of the men and older boys who remained in the house to help set up tables.
    A short while later everyone went back inside for lunch. Each of the long tables held three big bowls of bohnesuppe – it was called bean soup, though it consisted of mostly bread and milk – enough so that everyone could reach one of the hot bowls without having to pass them around. There were loaves of fresh homemade bread and newly churned butter, and for dessert what the children called “moon pies” – half-moon-shaped fruit pies, usually filled with apple snitz.
    For Rachel and the others who had been the last two weeks in the children’s home eating strange food, it was wonderful. To be back among family, breaking bread in a warm Amish home with so many who had shared so much, Ida Mullet’s weak bean soup was a feast for which Rachel was truly grateful. School or no school, life was good.
    After lunch she went outside with a dozen girls and wandered down to the other side of the kitchen garden to catch up on the latest gossip. Lovina Hershberger was there, along with the others who had been imprisoned with Rachel and her sisters in the children’s home. Lovina had always been like a sister to Rachel and Emma, and on this day the girls who had been in the children’s home were the center of attention. Everyone peppered them with questions, endlessly curious about life in that awful place.
    “Did they beat you?” a little girl asked. There were several smaller children with them, including a toddler or two. The older girls were expected to help tend the little ones.
    “Every day, twice,” Lovina said, her eyes twinkling with mischief. She leaned close to the little girl and added in a whisper, “With barbed wire.” Then she burst into hysterical laughter.
    Rachel wagged her head. “No they didn’t. You shouldn’t scare the poor child like that, Lovina. Really, it wasn’t that bad. Most of them were nice. We had warm beds to sleep in, and a hot bath on Saturday.”
    Still chuckling, Lovina said, “The worst of it is now we have to go to school every day.”
    “I won’t,” a six-year-old said, stamping a foot. “I’ll run and hide in the loft.”
    “No you won’t,” Rachel warned. “Our fathers gave their word. They made a promise. Would you make a liar of them? Besides, if you don’t go to school, the attendance officer will know and then they’ll come and put your dat in jail.”
    Tears welled up in the little girl’s eyes. “But why ?” she whined. “Why must we do this?”
    “Because they don’t understand,” Lovina answered patiently.