For Every Season by Cindy Woodsmall Page A

she grabbed her tripod with one hand and the suitcase with the other.
    Minnie eased open the door. Then she took the tripod and walked down the stairs with her, not saying a word until they were on the gravel lane.
    Iva looked back at the house. Mamm stood at her bedroom window, quietly bidding Iva a final good-bye. Iva blew her a kiss and waved.
    Minnie sighed. “You have her believing you like this plan.”
    “What would you have me do? Heap guilt on top of her fears?”
    They finished walking in silence.
    If only the hard times would disappear, she could stay here where life feltsafe and familiar. But that was childish thinking. Adults were equipped to think in terms of attainable goals. Her goal was to find a place with jobs for her family, preferably where the employers would be more likely to hire Amish rather than others. If nothing else, she had to work there long enough to get sufficient money to come home. The girl she talked to on the phone, Leah, didn’t sound extremely confident about Iva being hired, but she did give permission for her to come. Once there, Iva would do her best to make herself indispensable. Maybe they’d let her sleep on the couch or something.
    “If you’d marry …” Minnie dropped her sentence.
    “What, Minnie? What would happen if I married Leon as Daed wants me to? Leon would save us from our financial troubles, and it would cost no one anything, except me. And Leon. We both deserve better.”
    “He loves you.”
    Her insides knotted. “Maybe. He’s a good man.” That’s all she had to say on the matter, but love wasn’t the same as need, and Leon was so lonely. She understood, and he would have given all he had, which was a lot, to help her family if she would marry him.
    What was love anyway? Was it as simple as one person meeting the other’s needs in a way that made them feel better about themselves and life? If so, that wasn’t good enough.
    But it wasn’t her refusal to marry Leon that had moved Mamm to ask her to go to Maine. No one else was open to the idea of venturing into any new territory, so Mamm was circumventing the men’s objections by quietly sending Iva. Should she admire Mamm for her courage or pity her for feeling so desperate she’d go behind the men’s backs?
    When they arrived at the car, she put her stuff in the backseat and closed the door. “Minnie, I’ll be fine. Stop worrying.” But Iva’s insides were quaking enough for both of them. “I don’t think God puts us on this huge earth so we can be afraid of stepping into the unknown. Isn’t tomorrow an unknown even if we all stay right here where tradition is kept and every piece of ground is familiar?”
    “And if you and Mamm are wrong?”
    “Then I will ask God to forgive me.”
    Minnie hugged her. “Do be careful.”
    “I promise.” Iva got into the car and waved as the driver pulled off.

    Jacob had barely stepped out of the rig when he’d heard Rhoda’s voice, yelling for Samuel. So he’d eased around the side of the house, and by the time Samuel had finished tromping back to where Rhoda stood, Jacob could hear everything they said and not be seen. Maybe he was a jerk to eavesdrop, but he had to know where Rhoda’s heart was. He would never play the fool for another woman, not even for one he loved with his whole heart.
    “Interesting, isn’t it? We’re in another state, and months have passed, but we’ve been in this situation many times—where I find you two because of the yelling.”
    He wasn’t sure if his goal was to add a little humor or simply have an opening line. Either way, Rhoda didn’t move toward him or say anything.
    He couldn’t take his eyes off her. He’d never seen a more beautiful woman. He also had never seen her without her hair pinned up and under a prayer Kapp.
    Lately, Jacob didn’t know what to think of her. Or himself. Or Samuel.
    Her eyes searched his, and as if realizing where his attention was, she ran her fingers across her head. She