The Shepherd's Bride Read online

  “I’ll take care of moving him this afternoon,” Lizzie said as she walked up the steps ahead of him. She opened the front door and stopped so abruptly that he almost ran into her. She shrieked, dropped the bucket she was carrying and charged into the room. Carl rushed in behind her to see what was wrong.

  Suddenly, the room echoed with shrieks as three women rushed to embrace Lizzie. They were all laughing, crying and hugging each other. Joe stood leaning on his walker on the far side of the room.

  Carl skirted the women and moved to stand beside him. “I take it these are the rest of your granddaughters?”

  “They are. Have you ever heard such a noisy bunch? They’re worse than a barn full of sheep.”

  Although Joe tried to hide it with his gruff words, Carl heard the happiness in his voice. Carl was happy, too, that Lizzie’s dream had come true. Now she wouldn’t be leaving.

  * * *

  Lizzie had tears of joy rolling down her face but she didn’t care. “How did you get here? I thought the wedding was yesterday. I didn’t know when I would ever see you again.”

  Greta said, “The wedding was yesterday, but the bride failed to show up for it.”

  Clara grasped Lizzie’s hands. “I don’t know how I can ever thank you. We would have come sooner, but we didn’t know Mary had the money you sent until the morning of the wedding. Uncle Morris wouldn’t let us have visitors until then.”

  Betsy wrapped her arm around Clara’s waist. “Mary showed up at the house demanding that she be allowed to attend Clara on her wedding day. There were already people at the house, so I think uncle didn’t want to look bad in front of them by saying no.”

  Greta took up the tale. “The moment Mary was in the room with us, she gave us your letters and then handed each of us a bus ticket and said that her buggy was waiting for us outside.”

  “We climbed out the window and drove into town as fast as we could. We barely made it to the bus station on time,” Betsy added with a dramatic flourish.

  Lizzie pressed a hand to her heart. “Oh, I wish I had been there to see it.”

  Clara shook her head. “If you had been there, none of us would be here now. You showed us the way. Your courage gave us courage.”

  “I prayed that you had guessed what I was trying to do and that you didn’t think I had simply run away.”

  The three sisters exchanged glances. Greta laid a hand on Lizzie’s shoulder. “We knew.”

  Joe came forward with his walker. “Now that all the screaming is over, I hope a man can have his lunch in peace.”

  Lizzie drew a deep breath. “Ja, Daadi. We will have your lunch ready in no time.”

  She caught sight of Carl as he was slipping out the back door. She left her sisters and caught up with him on the back porch. “Where are you going? You must stay and meet my family.”

  “Another time.” His voice held a sad quality that made her want to fold her arms around him.

  “But I want them to meet you. Stay for lunch with us.”

  “Half the table won’t be big enough for all of you, Lizzie.” It was a pointed reminder that he could not eat with them.

  “They don’t have to know. I won’t say anything. They will think you are an Englisch hired hand.”

  “But I will know, and you will know, Lizzie. I’m glad your plan worked. I’m really happy for you.”

  “Will you be in for supper?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  It was then that Lizzie realized the arrival of her sisters spelled the end of her time alone with Carl. “You have to eat.”

  “We’ve had this conversation before. You like to feed people.”

  “It’s what I’m good at.”

  “Fix me a sandwich, then. I’m going to camp out in the pasture and try to keep that coyote from killing any more lambs.

  “Will you shoot it?”

  “Not if I don’t have to.”

  “Goot. That makes me feel better.”

  “It’s a wild animal, Lizzie.”

  “Every life is valuable, Carl. We are all God’s creatures.”

  She saw him flinch at her words. Maybe she was being too hard on him. The lambs were God’s creatures, too. She didn’t want any of them to die. “You’ll do the right thing. I know that.”

  He nodded and walked away, but she had the feeling that she had somehow let him down.

  Lizzie spent the rest of the day surrounded by her sisters. They were eager to hear about everything that she had done since leaving home. Her stories about shearing alpacas and sheep had them all laughing. Her grandfather sat on the edge of their group and added a few stories of his own. When she recounted Naomi’s stories about their mother, she caught a glint of tears in Joe’s eyes.

  She made up sandwiches for Carl, but he never came to the house to pick them up, so she left them in the refrigerator for him and left a note telling him where they were on the kitchen table.

  The next morning, he came in while her sisters and Joe were all seated around the kitchen table. Carl’s face was grave. He held a bloody bundle in his arms. Lizzie jumped to her feet. “Are you hurt?”

  “No, but this poor little girl is.” He unwrapped part of the cloth to show them a lamb with a gaping wound on its hind leg.

  Lizzie immediately came over to examine the animal. “It’s a deep laceration. She’s going to need stitches. We should get her to a vet right away. She may go into shock from blood loss. We need to keep her warm.” She lifted the lamb out of Carl’s arms and moved to stand close to the stove with it.

  Greta filled a hot-water bottle and gave it to Lizzie, who tucked it in with the lamb. She looked at Carl. “Was it the coyote?”

  “Yes. It came within fifty feet of me. It has no fear of humans. I think it’s a coydog. A coyote and dog cross. That’s why it’s so big. It’s not killing for food. It’s killing the sheep for fun. Duncan drove it off but not before it had a chance to kill one and maim this poor little one. I’ll go hitch up the wagon.”

  Joe said, “Take the buggy. My trotter is faster than the pony. Greta, you and Lizzie take the lamb to the vet. Carl, you and I need to figure out what we’re going to do about this.”

  “We should notify the sheriff. The animal is big enough to start attacking cattle, too, if it hasn’t already.”

  “All right. Go call him. Then take my gun out and practice with it. I’m not going to lose my whole lamb crop. I can’t afford to lose even one more.”

  Carl knew Joe was right, but the last thing he wanted in his hands was another gun.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Sheriff Bradley came to the farm, and Carl filed a report with him. The sheriff suggested Carl put a notice in several of the local newspapers with a description of the coydog in the unlikely event that it was a pet and not a wild animal. After an entire week passed without another attack, Carl joined Lizzie and Joe in the living room.

  Carl leaned forward and propped his forearms on his thighs. “Maybe the sheriff was right and the coydog isn’t wild. Maybe the owner read about his pet in the paper and decided it was time to keep Fido in his kennel at night.”

  Joe nodded. “Another explanation is that someone else took care of the problem for us.”

  “I’d rather think that he’s home and safe with his family,” Lizzie said.

  Carl looked around. “Speaking of family, where are the girls?”

  “Clara has gone to meet Adrian and Faith and see if she wants the job they have to offer. Sally Yoder took Betsy to meet the Sutter family.”

  He frowned at her. “Wasn’t that the job you were going to take?”

  “I would have been happy to work for them, but I think Betsy will be happier.”

  “You just want to stay here and boss me around,” Joe grumbled.
<
br />   “You’re right. That’s exactly why I want to stay. It’s time for you to do some more walking. You can’t sit around all day like a king on his throne.”

  Joe muttered under his breath, but he stood up with his walker. “I’ll be outside with Greta. I’ve never seen anyone so happy to be hoeing in the dirt. My garden will be twice its size when she’s done. Lizzie, I meant to tell you what a good job you’ve done with that crippled lamb. She’s almost as good as new.”

  “Danki.” Lizzie was smiling as she watched Joe make his way out the door.

  “Is this what you imagined it would be like when they came?” Carl asked.

  By mutual consent, they had avoided spending time alone in each other’s company. She kept her eyes lowered modestly. She rarely looked him in the eyes anymore. “This is so much more wonderful than I dreamed. It fills my heart with joy to see them meeting new people and going to new places.”

  “It does my heart good to see you happy, Lizzie.”

  She turned her face aside. “You should not say such things.”

  “I know it’s not proper, but I wanted you to hear it anyway. You didn’t used to be so proper.”

  “Things were different then. Now I have my sisters to think of.”

  He’d done a lot of soul-searching while he was patrolling Joe’s pastures over the past few nights. Soul-searching and longing for a life within the community that had welcomed Lizzie and her sisters with such joy and kindness.

  He had arrived at an answer. He hoped. He would go home and beg forgiveness for Sophia’s death and the killing of the soldier from his parents, his siblings and his church. If they granted him what he sought, then the past would stay in the past. When a sinner was forgiven, the sin need never be mentioned again. Lizzie would never have to know what he had done.

  “I’m going away for a while, Lizzie.”

  She looked up and locked eyes with him. “For how long?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  “But you’ll be back.”

  “It is my dearest hope to return to you as soon as possible.” He couldn’t say too much, but he longed to tell her of his love.

  “Are you going home, Carl?”

  “Ja.”

  She smiled. “Goot. I miss you already. When are you leaving?”

  “The day after tomorrow.”

  She reached out and laid her hand on his. “Then I wish you Godspeed.”

  He left the house feeling hope for the first time in five long years. Lizzie had brought hope into his life. She was the sign he had been waiting for.

  * * *

  “Is that a car I hear?” Joe asked from his chair. The crippled lamb, now known as Patience, was asleep on his lap. Greta was out checking the pasture with Carl and Duncan. She expected them back at any time.

  Lizzie looked out the living-room window. “It is a car. Maybe it’s one of your therapists.”

  “I don’t have physical therapy scheduled for today.”

  She pointed a finger at him. “That doesn’t mean you get to skip your exercises.”

  “Nag, nag. Don’t worry, I’ll do them. I don’t intend to be glued to a walker for the rest my life. Don’t just stand there. Go see who it is.”

  Lizzie brushed off the front of her apron, straightened her kapp and went to the door. An Amish woman and an ebony-skinned girl of about thirteen dressed in Englisch clothes emerged from the backseat.

  The girl darted away from the car and came running up the steps. “Is Kondoo Mtu here? Where is he? I want to thank him for the good life he has given me.”

  Her thick accent kept Lizzie from understanding who she was looking for. “You must have the wrong house. There’s no one by that name here.”

  The Amish woman came and stood behind the girl with her hands on her shoulders. “Kondoo Mtu means ‘Sheep Man.’ When Carl would say, ‘Ja. Ja,’ to her, it sounded like ‘Baa. Baa.’ Hence, Sheep Man. Hello, I’m Jenna King. And this bundle of energy is my adopted daughter, Christina. Her English is improving, but she still has trouble with many of our words. Are you Elizabeth Barkman?”

  “I am.” Lizzie wasn’t sure what else to say. She had expected a letter in response to the one she wrote, not a face-to-face visit.

  “Who is it?” Joe shouted from the living room.

  “I’m Carl’s sister,” the woman said with a knowing smile.

  Lizzie went weak in the knees with relief. Not a wife. A sister. “Oh, I’m very glad to meet you. Come in and meet my grandfather.”

  “Where is Carl?”

  “He’s out checking the lambs. He should be in soon. He still doesn’t know I wrote to you.”

  “I’m very glad you did. When you wrote that Carl had burned my letters, I was hurt. I knew I had to come see him in person. Besides, I wanted to meet the woman who cares so much about him. ”

  Lizzie’s face grew hot. “I do care about him. He’s a good man.”

  “Then perhaps together we can help him find his way back to his family and his faith. You said Carl hasn’t told you why he was shunned. Is that still true?”

  “He won’t speak of it.”

  “It’s a tragic story, but one I think he must share with you himself. If he isn’t ready to do that, then my coming here may have been a mistake.”

  Was it a mistake? Lizzie prayed she hadn’t done the wrong thing by writing to Jenna. “I don’t think it was a mistake for you to come here. Carl told me yesterday that he planned to go home.”

  Relief brightened Jenna’s eyes. “That’s good to hear.”

  “Please come inside while you wait for him.”

  “Danki.” Jenna held out her hand and Christina dashed to her side. Together, they entered the house.

  Lizzie scanned the hillside, looking for Carl. There wasn’t any sign of him. A sick feeling settled in her stomach. What was he going to say when he found out what she’d done?

  In the living room, Jenna and Christina took a seat on the sofa. Lizzie introduced them to her grandfather. Christina couldn’t sit still. She was up and down a dozen times to pet the lamb in Joe’s lap and look out the window. Jenna gave Joe an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry. She’s just so excited to see Carl again. She hasn’t seen him since they came back from Africa.”

  “Carl was in Africa?” Joe was clearly shocked.

  Lizzie leaned forward knowing she was finally going to learn about Carl’s past.

  Jenna nodded. “We had a younger sister named Sophia. She was drawn to missionary work. She chose not to be baptized and left home to work with a Mennonite group in Africa. She fell in love with a young man working there and they decided to marry. Sophia wanted someone from the family to attend her wedding. You can’t blame her. My mother’s health wasn’t good. I didn’t want to go, so Carl went.”

  Christina beamed. “He came to my village. He made us all laugh. He made Sophie happy. We liked him.”

  Jenna’s eyes grew sad. “The wedding never took place. The village was raided by rebel soldiers and everyone was killed, including Christina’s parents. Carl and Christina were the only survivors.”

  Christina left the window to stand in front of Lizzie. “The bad men came and shoot, shoot, shoot. Kondoo Mtu, he saved me.”

  Jenna leaned forward. “Christina, no! We don’t speak of this.”

  But the excited child continued, “He get gun and kill the bad man who killed my father. He shoot him dead. We hide. Then more soldiers find Sophia and my mother. They kill them, too.”

  Lizzie went rigid with shock. A loud buzzing filled her ears. No Amish man would raise a gun to another human. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

  Jenna jumped to her feet and put her arms around Christina. Regret was etched deeply in her face. “I’m so sorry, Lizzie. This isn’t how I wan
ted you to find out.”

  Lizzie couldn’t draw a breath. It was as if the air was gone from the room. “Carl killed a man? He shot him?”

  “Yes, I did,” Carl said from the doorway.

  Lizzie turned to stare at him, but she couldn’t speak. Never had she imagined such horrible things could happen to someone she knew.

  Christina dashed across the room. She threw her arms around him. “Kondoo Mtu, do you remember me?”

  “Yes, I remember you.” He kissed her cheek and she beamed at him.

  “Thank you for bringing me to Jenna. She is good lady.”

  “I know. Why don’t you go down to the barn and tell the lady there that you would like to feed the lambs? Tell her that I sent you. Her name is Greta.”

  When the child did as he asked, he looked straight at Lizzie. “Now you know.”

  What should she say? She hadn’t been prepared for anything like this.

  After a long minute, he looked down and gave a deep sigh. Then he turned and started to walk away.

  Behind her, Lizzie heard Jenna call his name. He stopped. He spoke without turning around. “You shouldn’t have come here, Jenna. Why did you?”

  “She’s here because I wrote to her,” Lizzie admitted. Why wouldn’t he look at them?

  “You shouldn’t have done that, Lizzie.” He shook his head sadly. “I knew this was too good to last.”

  He walked away without another word, leaving Lizzie in shock and wondering what to do next.

  Jenna put her arm around Lizzie’s shoulders. “I’m so very sorry.”

  Lizzie managed to speak without breaking down in tears. “Don’t be. It’s Carl’s choice to remain apart.” Apart from her and the love she would so willingly give him.

  “Come, sit down and I’ll tell you the rest of the story.”

  Lizzie followed her back to the sofa.

  When they were seated, Jenna said, “Carl returned to our family a broken man. He was haunted by his actions and Sophia’s death. At night, he would wake up screaming. We did all we could to console him, but it didn’t help. He refused to ask for forgiveness. He didn’t believe he deserved it. He stopped going to church services and eventually our bishop had no choice but to place him in the Bann until he repented. Instead, Carl left without telling anyone where he was going.”