The Believer by Ann H. Gabhart Read Free Book Online Page B

himself the time Brother Issachar thought he needed, and the months had passed. He felt no different this October than last. He had been ready to sign his promise to be a Believer then. He was just as ready now.
    The elders and eldresses of the Ministry gathered with Ethan after the morning meal for the signing of the Covenant. He read through the document even though he already knew what it said before he signed his name, promising to live a life of purity, to stay celibate, to give his hands to work and his heart to God.
    Afterward, Brother Martin clapped him on the shoulder with a big smile spread across his broad face. "You will not regret your decision, Brother Ethan"
    Brother Issachar was there as well, and he shook Ethan's hand and spoke no words of concern. But now Ethan thought the doubt was in Brother Issachar's eyes instead of Ethan's. As if Ethan would have to prove his belief. But hadn't it been Brother Issachar's words throughout the years since he had found him on the riverbank that had pushed Ethan along this path? The words that Ethan would be the best gift the river had ever yielded up to the Shakers. He wanted to be that gift. A true Believer.
    It was Sunday and the bell rang to signal time for meeting. Out on the paths to the frame meetinghouse, voices began to join together in the Gathering Song. Brother Issachar left the room to join them, but Brother Martin held Ethan back for a moment.
    "Don't be concerned with Brother Issachar's reticence. He has a tendency to be too much of an independent thinker for a true Believer. A gift to our Society for sure, with his way with wood and his ability to go out and trade with the world, but sometimes he needs to study the Millennial Laws a bit more devotedly. As you have already, Brother Ethan. You are a gift to us here at Harmony Hill. Of that, there is no doubt"
    In meeting, Ethan took part in the back-and-forth steps of the worship dances passing in lines between his brothers and sisters without having to note once the pegs in the floorboards that helped them to make the right steps. Brother Samuel was gifted with a song and Sister Adele had a whirling gift. Elder Joseph said the spirit was strong in the meeting that day.
    Ethan waited for some special manifestation in his own spirit of the step he'd taken, but meeting felt no different this week than it had last week. He told himself that was because he had been a Believer as much the week before as he was this week. He had already made the Covenant promise in his heart. Years ago.
    Ethan had never been visited with any special manifestation of the spirit. No whirling. No shaking. No visions or songs. Brother Martin assured him that was not something he should regard with concern. He said each Believer was gifted in different ways, but no gift was more valuable than the next. Mother Ann had treasured the gift to be simple over any other gift, and that was a gift they could all receive as Believers if they humbled themselves and worked for the good of their society.
    Ethan was ready to do that. He felt his connection with each brother and sister as they passed one another in the lines of the dance. And best of all, now that he was a full member of the Society, then perhaps the Ministry would allow him to go with Brother Issachar and the other brothers out into the world on the trading trips.
    Ever since Ethan was a child, he had enjoyed meeting Brother Issachar when he came back into the village after a trading trip. Sometimes Brother Issachar and the other brothers rode a boat down the river all the way to New Orleans and then walked back after they sold the goods they had. Sometimes they simply took a wagon of goods or seeds into the nearby towns to sell. But whether the trip was long or short, when Brother Issachar came back into the village, he always carried with him some of the air of the world. Air that Ethan breathed in as he wondered about life beyond the village confines. Being curious about that world