Free Ella's Wish by Jerry S. Eicher Page B

what you mean. Is this your daughter’s mind you’re askin’ about?”
    “Well?” Noah smiled.
    “Then you’d best leave it alone,” Mamm said. “We both hope she makes it up in the bishop’s favor, but you’d best not be pushin’.”
    “I’m not,” Daett said, “but my heart was just hopin’ she could help out with Eli’s problem. Perhaps she could ask the bishop to speak with him. I think Eli would listen then.”
    “I had not thought of that,” Mamm said.
    Noah nodded. “Perhaps if Ella speaks to him—the bishop is a wise man beyond his years—and if he would speak to Eli, maybe his words may well turn Eli to his senses.”
    “Have you made your mind up yet?” Mamm asked.
    Ella opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She saw clearly what her father saw. Her relationship to the bishop could well be the answer to Eli’s problem. Eli might listen and mend his ways if he were instructed by a person of such spiritual authority.
    “Then Da Hah be praised,” Daett said. “Who can account for the wisdom of the Most High? I will have a daughter married to a great man and save my son from the folly of his ways. Can a man be more blessed than that?”
    “There’s always trouble down the road,” Mamm said, but a smile played on her face.
    Ella tried to collect herself and tell them she could not give the bishop a good answer, but the face of Eli rose before her, and her voice remained silent.
    Daett searched the floor for his paper, reached out, and gathered it up. “Then Da Hah has sent comfort along with our trouble.”
    The full impact of her father’s words gripped Ella. How can I disappoint them? What had seemed almost finished now looked like it would never end.
    “You can have your old room tonight,” Mamm said, smiling and wiping her eyes of tears. “Dora hasn’t moved in yet. I asked her to wait awhile.”
    “I think I’ll go to bed, then,” Ella said, getting up. She felt dizzy, her body was weary to the bone, and her heart beat wildly in panic. How am I to get out of this dilemma? Surely a continued relationship with the bishop—and perhaps marriage—is too great a sacrifice to ask for, even to get help for Eli .
    She found the door to the stairs. Although the floor appeared fuzzy in front of her, she successfully climbed the steps and made it to her room. Her hand turned the bedroom doorknob and pushed open the door. By the dim light from the window, she paused and then walked slowly forward. She found the matches in the same old place and lit the kerosene lamp.
    Everything was as she had left it. Even the quilt on the bed hadn’t been changed. Ella walked to the window and pulled the blinds back. There was no moon in the sky, which made the stars bright overhead. She let the tears come as the blinds slipped from her fingers and back into place. Her heart was so weary.
    Beside the dresser, she blew out the light but lay under the covers wide awake. She wished she had her journal with her. At least then she could write for a while and get her muddled thoughts onto paper.
    The evening’s decision couldn’t or, rather, wouldn’t be turned back. The strength wasn’t in her to do so. Nor could she pretend affection when the bishop returned for his answer. How am I to fool him even for a time?
    She tossed and turned and tried to imagine what would happen. The bishop’s handsome face rose before her, and she heard his earnest words at his first visit. His interest in her was all too obvious. In a way Dora had been right. He was not unattractive, but her heart twisted at the thought.
    Aden was my love—the sole focus of my attention—for so many years. His place can never be filled, not even if I want it to be, which I don’t, regardless of how well-thought-of and self-confident the bishop is .
    There must be a way out somehow . Da Hah hasn’t forsaken me yet, and surely He isn’t going to now . Wearily, she climbed out of bed, walked to the window again, and pushed back the