Part 29 (1/2)
Bishop brushed his brow with the back of his hand, then wiped the perspiration on his work trousers. ”Christian's adamant that Nick owes me, so he's twistin' his arm, so to speak.”
”To join church against his will?”
The bishop nodded.
”That's a terrible idea.”
Bishop exhaled loudly. ”Must sound thataway to Nick, too.”
Solomon clasped Aaron's shoulder. ”I'll keep this quiet ... and in my prayers.”
”Denki, Sol.”
Hearing this so soon after having seen Rose Ann and Nick ride off together left Solomon painfully aware there was much to beseech the Lord G.o.d for, indeed.
A few of the bishop's grandchildren were sitting out on the front porch telling stories when Rose Ann headed over there after supper. Nick was nowhere to be seen, which was just as well, since she had been stewing all day about what to say to help soften the blow of her rebuff.
As was often the case, the older boys were taking turns outdoing each other with their various tales, and several of the younger girls s.h.i.+vered with fright as the setting once again became the ravine.
For Rose, that location would now always be taboo. Nothing good could happen deep in a chasm like that. A dangerous path away from the real world.
She trembled as she recalled Nick's caresses, so inappropriate considering she was nearly engaged to someone else. Even though she'd found Mamm's money tin, she deeply regretted having gone to such a secluded place with Nick.
Thinking back on his impulsive declarations, she worried she might have led him on simply by being there. To think he'd said right out that he'd loved her first!
The twilight was very still, without a hint of a breeze. The smaller girls edged closer, till she had her arms around two of them on each side of her. ”Just remember, it's all make-believe,” she whispered to them, no longer convinced she herself believed that.
Rose looked at the sky and took in the changing shades and colors. Within minutes, the first star of the evening appeared as the sky grew darker.
The children were clad in coats or woolen shawls, but she knew it wouldn't be long before they went inside to Mammi Barbara to get warmed up with hot cocoa and to sit near the woodstove. Soon, too, the outdoor storytelling would become a faint memory as another year slipped away.
Glancing across the field to her house, Rose was glad Mattie Sue had stayed put with Hen and Mamm. Even though her niece would've enjoyed seeing the children gathered here, Mattie Sue was much too young for the foreboding tone the older ones seemed to enjoy giving their ”tellings.”
Then, looking back at the sky, Rose saw a falling star.
”Ach, Buck enrol datt! -just look at that!” several of the children said in unison as it streaked a white line down to the horizon and was gone.
”Someone's going to die tonight,” one of the boys said.
”Well, sure they are,” said another. ”People die all the time.”
”No, someone nearby,” an older girl piped up. ”My Mamma says so.
Rose suddenly felt cold. ”Maybe we should go inside now,” she said, and the girls scrunched up next to her nodded and quickly stood up.
”That's the silliest thing I've ever heard,” said the boy who'd had his story interrupted, but even he followed the rest of the children inside.
Rose Ann decided to accept Barbara's kind invitation to stay and have hot chocolate and some fresh brownies, a favorite treat. In short order they were all talking and sitting around the table, along with the bishop and Verna, and the twins, Anna and Susannah, whose husbands had all gone together on an errand.
”Your Dawdi Aaron's got something for each of ya,” Barbara was saying.
Bishop wiped his mouth with his handkerchief. ”It's time I gave ya some of your inheritance,” he said with a quick smile as he pulled out a handful of silver dollars. Amidst their oohs and ahs, he presented each of the eight children there with one bright and s.h.i.+ny coin.
Rose heard a horse whinny outside, and turned to glance through the window behind her. She gasped. Coming up the driveway were the bishop's sons, Christian draped head down over Pepper and being steadied by Nick, who led his brother's horse behind his own. Blood covered nearly all of Christian's head and face.
”Ach, no,” she whispered, tears springing to her eyes. ”Hurry, Bishop . . . go outside right quick!” she said, pointing to the window.
His eyes registered panic. ”Was is letz? - what is wrong?”
Swiftly she rose to pull down the shades, instructing the children to stay in the kitchen as their grandfather rushed out the back door. She could see curiosity in their eyes, though they were obedient when Barbara suggested they all go quickly upstairs.
Nick trudged into the kitchen a few seconds later, struggling to carry his brother into the house. The bishop directed him to lay Christian on the table, where he stood over his unconscious son. Then, as if a light had gone on in his head, he pressed his fingers into Christian's neck, checking for a pulse. ” 'Tis awful weak,” he uttered, shaking with emotion. ”Nick, what happened?”
Nick's face was as white as last winter's snows, his mouth turned down severely. He looked dreadfully guilty. ”He fell,” Nick muttered.
Barbara and Verna had gotten a bowl of cold water, the water rippling as their hands shook. With a cloth, Barbara dabbed at the gash still gus.h.i.+ng blood from Christian's head. His face was deathly white and his chest did not rise and fall as before. Rose stood stock-still with horror ... not knowing what to do.
She looked again at Nick, who'd slumped back against the wall, leaning as though he might collapse without its support.
Then, she saw it - his long hair had been cut roughly, as if someone had taken a knife to it. His short, dark locks fell forward, cropped off just below his ears. Nick's breath came in a short gasp, and his arms hung limp.
Did he lose his temper?
”I'll run for help.” Rose dashed out the back door and lifted her skirt as she ran as hard as she'd ever run through the bishop's pasture, then into Dat's own immense field, her lungs burning. Oh, dear Lord in heaven!
Never once did she slow her pace till she reached the old phone shanty. ”Someone's terribly hurt,” Rose told the operator, then gave the location of the bishop's house. ”Please send help right away!”
After calling for help, Rose ran all the way back to the bishop's house. She found Nick still standing in the kitchen, leaning hard against the far wall, his shoulders hunched forward, eyes gla.s.sy. He glimpsed at her, but she looked away. For the minutes that followed, they watched together in somber silence as the bishop made repeated efforts to keep Christian alive.
0 Lord, please let him live....
But despite the attempts, by the time the ambulance arrived, Christian had drawn his final breath. Rose wept quietly as men wearing white rushed into the house and began yet another fruitless attempt to revive Christian. She bowed her head, s.h.i.+elding her view.
Despite the activity in the room, she heard the bishop and Nick talking in the corner. Nick was describing Christian's fall, saying he'd cracked his head on a boulder deep in the ravine. She wondered, from the bishop's skeptical tone, if the minister thought Nick was lying. And the bishop continued to ask Nick pointed questions even as his son was being wheeled out on a covered gurney.
Suddenly Nick moved away from the man of G.o.d and plodded off toward the barn. In disbelief, Rose watched him go, struck by how exposed he looked without his thick black mane.
Shaken, she returned to the house to sit with Barbara and Verna, who were huddled near the woodstove in the kitchen. Anna and Susannah had gone upstairs to be with the children, and she could hear their soft footsteps just overhead. Oh, how she wished Mammi Sylvia would come to comfort the bishop's wife - the woman's constant weeping ripped at Rose's heart. She was relieved when her father and grandfather arrived to inquire about all the commotion, what with the siren swelling up and down Salem Road.
Not long after, Mammi Sylvia arrived in time to help Rose and Verna get Barbara upstairs to bed. Then, kneeling on either side of her, the women prayed for G.o.d's presence to be near, especially to the mourning mother. Fill the room and our hearts with your sweet solace, 0 Lord, Rose prayed silently. She did not know what else to pray at such a dreadful time.
Her grandmother reached for the Bible on the nightstand and began to read softly from the ninety-fifth psalm, still on her knees. it 'O come, let us wors.h.i.+p and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker. For he is our G.o.d; and we are the people of his pasture.... ' ”
Rose waited till Barbara's heartbreaking cries had faded to soft whimpering, like an inconsolable child's, before slipping out of the room to the stairs. In a state of shock, Rose stepped out the back door, wondering, How can it be - Christian is dead?
She couldn't help but remember her brief conversation with him just yesterday. ”Soon, very soon,” he'd said with such urgency. What had he wanted to tell her? And why, oh why, had she dismissed him so quickly?
Trudging back home, Rose was sick with worry for Nick. What would become of him now? The words of King David's psalm plagued her. Mammi had stopped reading just short of the plea for people not to harden their hearts - as in the day of temptation in the wilderness. . . . Many times Dat had read the entire psalm for evening wors.h.i.+p: It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways.
Family wors.h.i.+p that night was a somber scene - Mamm looked terribly forlorn as Dat read the Bible, his face serious and drawn. Rose's grandparents joined them, as well, and nary a one of them spoke once Dat offered the evening prayers. Afterward, Rose hurried to her room, tears falling uncontrollably as she wept for Christian ... for Nick. For all of them.